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Posted on 04/01/2006 5:00:12 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
[a post for study and research]
No terrorism in deadly Toronto doughnut shop explosion: police
Last Updated Sun, 02 Apr 2006 20:23:42 EDT
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/news/credit.html
Police have ruled out terrorism as the cause of an explosion at a Tim
Hortons doughnut shop in a trendy downtown area of Toronto on Sunday,
killing one man.
The victim was likely an arsonist or attempting suicide, Staff Sgt. Don
Cole
of Toronto police told reporters hours after the explosion.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/pix/timhortons2_060402.jpg
Emergency officials walk outside the Tim Hortons in Toronto where an
explosion killed a man on Sunday.
"He's not a strap-on al-Qaeda bomber guy," Cole said. "It sounds to me
like
a guy who either wanted to do a torch job or commit suicide."
Police said the man apparently carried a can of gasoline into a
washroom
stall about 1 p.m. local time at the doughtnut shop in the city's
Yorkville
area, and set off a flash fire that killed him.
The victim was an unidentified male who was pronounced dead at the
scene
with severe burns to his body. Nobody else was injured.
Police Chief Bill Blair earlier described the incident as a flash fire
rather than a bombing. Two blocks in the downtown area were cordoned
off as
police investigated.
"It appears that there has been a very hot and intense fire in an
enclosed
area within the washroom," Blair said. But he declined at the time to
speculate on the cause of the fire.
"Until we determine precisely what happened in that cubicle and what
caused
those flames that took that man's life, I really can't speculate," he
said.
Explosion triggered flash fire: police
Police said the victim was not a Tim Hortons employee.
They have not confirmed reports the man was seen entering the washroom
with
wires or possibly explosives strapped to his body.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/pix/timhortons_chief_cbc_060402.jpg
Toronto police Chief Bill Blair answers reporters questions outside the
doughnut shop Sunday. (Patrick Morell/CBC photo)
After the incident, a police robot was used to remove a duffel bag from
the
doughnut shop, which is on Yonge Street just north of the intersection
with
Bloor Street. Explosives experts detonated the bag with a loud bang.
Police did not say what the package contained.
Eunice Almeida, 23, a regular patron of the coffee outlet, told the
Canadian
Press a shock wave went through the restaurant.
"There was an explosion in the men's washroom, then there was a
stampede and
everybody ran out," Almeida said.
Blast rattles shop workers
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/pix/timhortons_robot_060402.jpg
A police robot removes a suspicious parcel from the shop in the
aftermath of
the explosion.
Employees who appeared shaken were escorted from the scene, and some
attempted to shield their faces from the throng of television cameras.
They refused to answer questions, but Tim Hortons district manager Amin
Islam said they were doing well. "I'm just making sure they're going
home
safely," he said.
Daryl Fuglerud, a spokesman with Toronto's fire department, told
reporters
the man who died had burns to his body.
"It doesn't appear that there was much of a fire at all," Fuglerud
said.
"There was a very small amount of smoke upon our arrival."
Fuglerud said the investigation was turned over to police because it
was a
"possible criminal" case.
This was the group's comment:(unknown truth of statement)
{ True...and Tim Horton's has recently been bought by US Co. Wendy's.}
The fire near the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons site, Colorado, is now fully contained.
Per 850koa.com on the radio news at 7:30 pm Mountain time.
I have not heard a word about the Toronto bomber on the radio.........
Canada is full/involved also with the Russian Mafia, Davey will know more about that, it tickles her 'fancy'..
U.N. to Iran: Come clean on nukes
http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=33784
Wacko Prime Minster alert...
Who is the terrorist?
4/2/2006 KurdishMedia.com - By Ardalan Hardi
In the last few days members of the Turkish security forces have attacked Kurdish civilians across Northern Kurdistan with vengeance. Hundreds have been arrested and eight have been killed including three children. And what does the Prime Minster of the so-called democratic Turkish state has to say about the civil unrest in Kurdistan? And I am quoting him verbatim:
“The security forces will intervene against the pawns of terrorism, no matter if they are children or women. Everyone should realize that", says Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Mr. Erdogan the dictionary describes terrorism, “As the calculated use of violence (or threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear.” Now who is the terrorist? 20 million Kurds who have been forced to live under decades of brutality, torture, unjust and ruthless occupation of the Turkish state can not be terrorists. Children are not terrorists but killing them is a terrorist act. No, Mr. Erdogan, you and your state are the terrorists not millions of Kurds who simply want to live like human beings.
Isn’t it every human being’s right to be able to practice, preserve his or her native language and culture? Mr. Erdogan, the Kurdish issue is not going to be solved by more threats and terrorist acts of your security forces, but by understanding what a great American president Thomas Jefferson wrote "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."
Like every human being on the face of this earth the Kurds want these very things. Recognition of Kurdish rights and peaceful resolution through dialog is the only road to peace in that reign. Avoiding the reality that stares you in the face, time after time, is nothing but pure self-deception.
Aren’t you the one who calls on Israel and Hamas to establish dialogue in order to revive the Middle East peace process? Last time I checked Hamas was on the same list that lists the so-called “terrorist” PKK as well. Please, Mr. Erdogan, stop making nonsense and pay attention to what you are saying. Not only the Kurds, but the world has had enough of your hypocrisy. Instead of talking maybe you should listen once in a while. Listen to what EU spokeswoman Krszting Nagy said about your country, "The region needs peace, economic development and real exercise of cultural rights for Kurds,” adding that this was not a new problem and was raised constantly by the European Commission in its talks with Turkey.
Unfortunately, like all terrorists you only cherry-pick what is convenient to you and your diabolical plans.
It isn’t time to place them under a RIP sign?
http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=11858
Experts: If Attacked, Iran May Retaliate With Global Terrorism
Posted on Saturday, April 01 2006 23:15:15 PST by Intellpuke
Read 127 times
As tensions increase between the United States and Iran, U.S. intelligence and terrorism experts say they believe Iran would respond to U.S. military strikes on its nuclear sites by deploying its intelligence operatives and Hezbollah teams to carry out terrorist attacks worldwide.
Iran would mount attacks against U.S. targets inside Iraq, where Iranian intelligence agents are already plentiful, predicted these experts. There is also a growing consensus that Iran's agents would target civilians in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, they said.
U.S. officials would not discuss what evidence they have indicating Iran would undertake terrorist action, but the matter "is consuming a lot of time" throughout the U.S. intelligence apparatus, one senior official said. "It's a huge issue," another said.
Citing prohibitions against discussing classified information, U.S. intelligence officials declined to say whether they have detected preparatory measures, such as increased surveillance, counter-surveillance or message traffic, on the part of Iran's foreign-based intelligence operatives.
Terrorism experts considered Iranian-backed or controlled groups - namely the country's Ministry of Intelligence and Security operatives, its Revolutionary Guards and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah - to be better organized, trained and equipped than the al-Qaeda network that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Iranian government views the Islamic Jihad, the name of Hezbollah's terrorist organization, "as an extension of their state. ... operational teams could be deployed without a long period of preparation," said Ambassador Henry A. Crumpton, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism.
The possibility of a military confrontation has been raised only obliquely in recent months by President Bush and Iran's government. Bush says he is pursuing a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but he has added that all options are on the table for stopping Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons.
Speaking in Vienna last month, Javad Vaeedi, a senior Iranian nuclear negotiator, warned the United States that "it may have the power to cause harm and pain, but it is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if the United States wants to pursue that path, let the ball roll," although he did not specify what type of harm he was talking about.
Government officials said their interest in Iran's intelligence services is not an indication that a military confrontation is imminent or likely, but rather a reflection of a decades-long adversarial relationship in which Iran's agents have worked secretly against U.S. interests, most recently in Iraq and Pakistan. As confrontation over Iran's nuclear program has escalated, so has the effort to assess the threat from Iran's covert operatives.
U.N. Security Council members continue to debate how best to pressure Iran to prove that its nuclear program is not meant for weapons. The United States, Britain and France want the Security Council to threaten Iran with economic sanctions if it does not end its uranium enrichment activities. Russia and China, however, have declined to endorse such action and insist on continued negotiations. Security Council diplomats are meeting this weekend to try to break the impasse. Iran says it seeks nuclear power but not nuclear weapons.
Former CIA terrorism analyst Paul R. Pillar said that any U.S. or Israeli airstrike on Iranian territory "would be regarded as an act of war" by Tehran, and that Iran would strike back with its terrorist groups. "There's no doubt in my mind about that. ... Whether it's overseas at the hands of Hezbollah, in Iraq or possibly Europe, within the regime there would be pressure to take violent action."
Before Sept. 11, the armed wing of Hezbollah, often working on behalf of Iran, was responsible for more American deaths than in any other terrorist attacks. In 1983 Hezbollah truck-bombed the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241, and in 1996 truck-bombed Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. service members.
Iran's intelligence service, operating out of its embassies around the world, assassinated dozens of monarchists and political dissidents in Europe, Pakistan, Turkey and the Middle East in the two decades after the 1979 Iranian revolution, which brought to power a religious Shiite government. Argentine officials also believe Iranian agents bombed a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, killing 86 people. Iran has denied involvement in that attack.
Iran's intelligence services "are well trained, fairly sophisticated and have been doing this for decades," said Crumpton, a former deputy of operations at the CIA's Counterterrorist Center. "They are still very capable. I don't see their capabilities as having diminished."
Both sides have increased their activities against the other. The Bush administration is spending $75 million to step up pressure on the Iranian government, including funding non-governmental organizations and alternative media broadcasts. Iran's parliament then approved $13.6 million to counter what it calls "plots and acts of meddling" by the United States.
"Given the uptick in interest in Iran" on the part of the United States, "it would be a very logical assumption that we have both ratcheted up [intelligence] collection, absolutely," said Fred Barton, a former counterterrorism official who is now vice president of counterterrorism for Stratfor, a security consulting and forecasting firm. "It would be a more fevered pitch on the Iranian side because they have fewer options."
The office of the director of national intelligence, which recently began to manage the U.S. intelligence agencies, declined to allow its analysts to discuss their assessment of Iran's intelligence services and Hezbollah and their capabilities to retaliate against U.S. interests.
"We are unable to address your questions in an unclassified manner," a spokesman for the office, Carl Kropf, wrote in response to a Washington Post query.
The current state of Iran's intelligence apparatus is the subject of debate among experts. Some experts who spent their careers tracking the intelligence ministry's operatives describe them as deployed worldwide and easier to monitor than Hezbollah cells because they operate out of embassies and behave more like a traditional spy service such as the Soviet KGB.
Other experts believe the Iranian service has become bogged down in intense, regional concerns: attacks on Shiites in Pakistan, the Iraq war and efforts to combat drug trafficking in Iran.
As a result, said Bahman Baktiari, an Iran expert at the University of Maine, the intelligence service has downsized its operations in Europe and the United States. But, said Baktiari, "I think the U.S. government doesn't have a handle on this."
Because Iran's nuclear facilities are scattered around the country, some military specialists doubt a strike could effectively end the program and would require hundreds of strikes beforehand to disable Iran's vast air defenses. They say airstrikes would most likely inflame the Muslim world, alienate reformers within Iran and could serve to unite Hezbollah and al-Qaeda, which have only limited contact currently.
A report by the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks cited al-Qaeda's long-standing cooperation with the Iranian-back Hezbollah on certain operations and said Osama bin Laden may have had a previously undisclosed role in the Khobar attack. Several al-Qaeda figures are reportedly under house arrest in Iran.
Others in the law enforcement and intelligence circles have been more dubious about cooperation between al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, largely because of the rivalries between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Al-Qaeda adherents are Sunni Muslims; Hezbollah's are Shiites.
Iran "certainly wants to remind governments that they can create a lot of difficulty if strikes were to occur," said a senior European counterterrorism official interviewed recently. "That they might react with all means, Hezbollah inside Lebanon and outside Lebanon, this is certain. Al-Qaeda could become a tactical alliance."
Intellpuke: "It would seem that Newton's law - for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction - applies to international politics as well as physics. You can read this article by Washington Post Staff Writer Dana Priest, with contributions by Post researcher Julie Tate, in context here.
Experts: If Attacked, Iran May Retaliate With Global Terrorism
Posted on Saturday, April 01 2006 23:15:15 PST by Intellpuke
Read 127 times
As tensions increase between the United States and Iran, U.S. intelligence and terrorism experts say they believe Iran would respond to U.S. military strikes on its nuclear sites by deploying its intelligence operatives and Hezbollah teams to carry out terrorist attacks worldwide.
Iran would mount attacks against U.S. targets inside Iraq, where Iranian intelligence agents are already plentiful, predicted these experts. There is also a growing consensus that Iran's agents would target civilians in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, they said.
U.S. officials would not discuss what evidence they have indicating Iran would undertake terrorist action, but the matter "is consuming a lot of time" throughout the U.S. intelligence apparatus, one senior official said. "It's a huge issue," another said.
Citing prohibitions against discussing classified information, U.S. intelligence officials declined to say whether they have detected preparatory measures, such as increased surveillance, counter-surveillance or message traffic, on the part of Iran's foreign-based intelligence operatives.
Terrorism experts considered Iranian-backed or controlled groups - namely the country's Ministry of Intelligence and Security operatives, its Revolutionary Guards and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah - to be better organized, trained and equipped than the al-Qaeda network that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Iranian government views the Islamic Jihad, the name of Hezbollah's terrorist organization, "as an extension of their state. ... operational teams could be deployed without a long period of preparation," said Ambassador Henry A. Crumpton, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism.
The possibility of a military confrontation has been raised only obliquely in recent months by President Bush and Iran's government. Bush says he is pursuing a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but he has added that all options are on the table for stopping Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons.
Speaking in Vienna last month, Javad Vaeedi, a senior Iranian nuclear negotiator, warned the United States that "it may have the power to cause harm and pain, but it is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if the United States wants to pursue that path, let the ball roll," although he did not specify what type of harm he was talking about.
Government officials said their interest in Iran's intelligence services is not an indication that a military confrontation is imminent or likely, but rather a reflection of a decades-long adversarial relationship in which Iran's agents have worked secretly against U.S. interests, most recently in Iraq and Pakistan. As confrontation over Iran's nuclear program has escalated, so has the effort to assess the threat from Iran's covert operatives.
U.N. Security Council members continue to debate how best to pressure Iran to prove that its nuclear program is not meant for weapons. The United States, Britain and France want the Security Council to threaten Iran with economic sanctions if it does not end its uranium enrichment activities. Russia and China, however, have declined to endorse such action and insist on continued negotiations. Security Council diplomats are meeting this weekend to try to break the impasse. Iran says it seeks nuclear power but not nuclear weapons.
Former CIA terrorism analyst Paul R. Pillar said that any U.S. or Israeli airstrike on Iranian territory "would be regarded as an act of war" by Tehran, and that Iran would strike back with its terrorist groups. "There's no doubt in my mind about that. ... Whether it's overseas at the hands of Hezbollah, in Iraq or possibly Europe, within the regime there would be pressure to take violent action."
Before Sept. 11, the armed wing of Hezbollah, often working on behalf of Iran, was responsible for more American deaths than in any other terrorist attacks. In 1983 Hezbollah truck-bombed the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241, and in 1996 truck-bombed Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. service members.
Iran's intelligence service, operating out of its embassies around the world, assassinated dozens of monarchists and political dissidents in Europe, Pakistan, Turkey and the Middle East in the two decades after the 1979 Iranian revolution, which brought to power a religious Shiite government. Argentine officials also believe Iranian agents bombed a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, killing 86 people. Iran has denied involvement in that attack.
Iran's intelligence services "are well trained, fairly sophisticated and have been doing this for decades," said Crumpton, a former deputy of operations at the CIA's Counterterrorist Center. "They are still very capable. I don't see their capabilities as having diminished."
Both sides have increased their activities against the other. The Bush administration is spending $75 million to step up pressure on the Iranian government, including funding non-governmental organizations and alternative media broadcasts. Iran's parliament then approved $13.6 million to counter what it calls "plots and acts of meddling" by the United States.
"Given the uptick in interest in Iran" on the part of the United States, "it would be a very logical assumption that we have both ratcheted up [intelligence] collection, absolutely," said Fred Barton, a former counterterrorism official who is now vice president of counterterrorism for Stratfor, a security consulting and forecasting firm. "It would be a more fevered pitch on the Iranian side because they have fewer options."
The office of the director of national intelligence, which recently began to manage the U.S. intelligence agencies, declined to allow its analysts to discuss their assessment of Iran's intelligence services and Hezbollah and their capabilities to retaliate against U.S. interests.
"We are unable to address your questions in an unclassified manner," a spokesman for the office, Carl Kropf, wrote in response to a Washington Post query.
The current state of Iran's intelligence apparatus is the subject of debate among experts. Some experts who spent their careers tracking the intelligence ministry's operatives describe them as deployed worldwide and easier to monitor than Hezbollah cells because they operate out of embassies and behave more like a traditional spy service such as the Soviet KGB.
Other experts believe the Iranian service has become bogged down in intense, regional concerns: attacks on Shiites in Pakistan, the Iraq war and efforts to combat drug trafficking in Iran.
As a result, said Bahman Baktiari, an Iran expert at the University of Maine, the intelligence service has downsized its operations in Europe and the United States. But, said Baktiari, "I think the U.S. government doesn't have a handle on this."
Because Iran's nuclear facilities are scattered around the country, some military specialists doubt a strike could effectively end the program and would require hundreds of strikes beforehand to disable Iran's vast air defenses. They say airstrikes would most likely inflame the Muslim world, alienate reformers within Iran and could serve to unite Hezbollah and al-Qaeda, which have only limited contact currently.
A report by the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks cited al-Qaeda's long-standing cooperation with the Iranian-back Hezbollah on certain operations and said Osama bin Laden may have had a previously undisclosed role in the Khobar attack. Several al-Qaeda figures are reportedly under house arrest in Iran.
Others in the law enforcement and intelligence circles have been more dubious about cooperation between al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, largely because of the rivalries between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Al-Qaeda adherents are Sunni Muslims; Hezbollah's are Shiites.
Iran "certainly wants to remind governments that they can create a lot of difficulty if strikes were to occur," said a senior European counterterrorism official interviewed recently. "That they might react with all means, Hezbollah inside Lebanon and outside Lebanon, this is certain. Al-Qaeda could become a tactical alliance."
Intellpuke: "It would seem that Newton's law - for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction - applies to international politics as well as physics. You can read this article by Washington Post Staff Writer Dana Priest, with contributions by Post researcher Julie Tate, in context here.
Security forces on high terror alert in N. Israel
www.chinaview.cn 2006-04-02 20:50:42
JERUSALEM, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Israeli security forces increased deployment in northern Israel amid warnings of specific terror attacks, local Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Sunday.
The police has raised their alert level in the northern area Sunday morning and deployed across the region after security forces seized two suspected terrorists in the industrial zone of Beit Shean, a northern Israeli town.
Roadblocks have been erected on the main road to the northern towns of Afula and Beit Shean while rescue services have also reinforced their presence in the area, the report said.
Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has also tightened security at northern West Bank checkpoints for fear of possible security threats.
The IDF has received 73 general warnings and nine specific alerts that Palestinian militant groups are planning to carry out attacks in Israel.
Following a suicide bombing last Thursday night at the entrance to the settlement of Kedumim, which killed three Israelis, Israeli army has been pounding the northern Gaza Strip with a massive artillery, air and naval attack for the past two days, targeting Qassam launching sites.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent armed wing of the Fatah movement, has claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack.
Israeli security forces arrested on Friday the brother of the suicide bomber in the village of el-Bureij southwest of Hebron. The man was transferred for questioning by security forces, said the report.
Over the weekend, the IDF also arrested a would-be suicide bomber with a 10-kilogram explosive belt strapped to his body at a roadblock in the Jordan Rift Valley.
The army's alert of terror attacks came as President Moshe Katsav opened talks with leaders of five parties emerged after Tuesday's general elections on forming a coalition on Sunday. Enditem
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-04/02/content_4375678.htm
Al Qaeda's secret agent -- online
TODAY'S EDITORIAL
April 2, 2006
Until late 2005, the Internet hacker who called himself "Irhabi 007" -- "irhabi" is Arabic for "terrorist" -- was a key enabler of Abu Musab Zarqawi's Internet recruiting and propaganda efforts outside Iraq. He is now in custody in the United Kingdom. It turns out "Irhabi" is a 22-year-old West Londoner fluent in Arabic and English whose rather unremarkable combination of Islamist sympathies and technological aptitude ended up making him indispensable to the world's most dangerous terror network.
The story of how and why he was apprehended, just now trickling out thanks to researchers at the Washington-based SITE Institute, suggests a mix of technological savvy and old-fashioned gumshoeing to fight the Internet jihad.
"Irhabi 007" made his mark in al Qaeda message forums helping insurgents and propagandists spread videos and multimedia, tighten Internet security and hack Web sites. It's not yet clear to what extent he aided al Qaeda outside forums and Web sites. But his role as teacher and Web expert was extolled by his cohorts; he offered a "Seminar on Hacking Websites" and is said to have demonstrated it on sites run by the state of Arkansas and George Washington University. "You are one of the top people who care about serving your brothers," one admirer wrote on a message forum. "Carry on serving jihad and its supporters."
The intelligence community apparently knew about "Irhabi" long before he was apprehended and followed his work with interest. But for reasons not yet clear, Western governments did not stop him. Perhaps they failed to locate him; perhaps they preferred to keep him free as a means of tracking terrorists and communications networks.
The "Irhabi 007" connection unravelled in the last several months, when British authorities linked the cessation of the hacker's activities -- the summer of 2005 marked the end of his exploits, according to SITE -- to the Oct. 21 arrest of 22-year-old Younis Tsouli of West London. Mr. Tsouli, arrested with three others under the Britain's Terrorism Act, is charged with several acts of conspiracy and possession of terrorism-related wares.
It might turn out that Mr. Tsouli's activities in support of al Qaeda in Iraq extended beyond his computer into London's shadowy terrorist cells. But it might also turn out that this technologically capable young Islamist acted alone from an apartment in ways that greatly aided a deadly insurgency.
As frightening and unpredictable as the Internet jihad seems, in some respects it is fought on our own territory. Western nations are wealthier and more technologically advanced than al Qaeda; we possess the resources to regain the upper hand. With the proper means to trace the electronic fingerprints, plus the time-honored know-how to unravel the connections, the West can find the Internet jihadis and win this war.
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060401-090504-2895r.htm
God's Love Toward
a Radical Muslim
by Mohd. Saleem
Email article to a friend
I am no more than an ordinary man who has been spending life as if knowing nothing. I was born in a wealthy Muslim family in Pakistan, but when I was a few months old, I was carried to Saudi Arabia by my father. When I was about six, my mom passed away. As I grew older I had so many questions like almost everyone experiences at some point in life. Why am I here? Where did I come from? Is there really a God and if so where is He? Why doesn't He talk?
I have been studying the Quran since I was around 12. Later I also started reading other kinds of Islamic books like the Life of Prophet Mohammad, Hadiths, etc. I have been Wahabi or Ahlae Hadiths like most of the Saudi Muslims are. (Osama Bin Laden is also one of them.) They are very extreme and I have been one also.
I had been taught that Islam is the only way to Heaven. I was told, "If you do this, you'll get so and so blessings in Heaven," and "if you do that, you'll get so and so blessings in Heaven." I became an extremist for the religion Islam.
Well, I believed what I was doing was right, and if it is right, then there is no risk in digging. I had read about the prophets in the Quran and Hadiths, but Jesus Christ was the only personality that really touched me more than any others. I found out that Christians believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I very much wondered why they believe that. I started searching for Jesus Christ more and more. I had a Christian friend who used to study with me. I asked him one day if I could have his Bible. He was surprised and said "Sorry, you cannot have it." I assured him no one would ever know, "It will remain between me and you." But my father came to know that I read the Bible and that it was in our home. He was very angry and he knew I have only one Christian friend. So he took me with my uncle to this friend's home and warned them saying, "If you do this again and try to preach Christianity to a Muslim child, you'll have to suffer a lot and you know it. We will complain about it to Islamic Police (Mutawa) and you could be exiled from this country forever." I was a bit worried. I shouldn't have done this to my friend's family.
My father warned me, and so did my uncle, to pray five times a day as I used to pray, and one time in the mosque. I kept going, and many times when there was no one in the mosque I used to cry and ask God to show me, "who is this Jesus and who are you?" Often while the Imam (leader) of the prayer was praying in Arabic (as it's compulsory to pray in Arabic only), I did not give much attention to what he was saying. One day I was praying in the Mosque, during Zuhar's prayer (noon prayer). I wasn't thinking of Jesus Christ that time. I saw an image of a handsome person on the floor where we bow our heads in prayer. I was shocked. I never saw such a thing before. It was kind of an image on water. I heard in myself that this is Jesus Christ. This is the Lord!
I was worried what and how could that be, as I have learned in the Quran that God is only one, yet Christians take Jesus as the Son of God and also call Him God. This is the greatest sin which God can never forgive. I could not leave without completing my prayer just for this reason. So I completed it and began thinking about it later. My hunger to know about Jesus Christ grew more and more.
I did not have a Bible with me anymore. One day I was passing with a friend through shops and I came to an internet shop. I was on the Net on yahoo.com and there came a thought in my mind: type "Who Is Jesus?" I did, and got lots of web sites. I was amazed that I could search about Jesus Christ there.
A web site provided very nice information about who Jesus is, and prophecies about Him in the Old Testament, and how amazingly they are fulfilled in the New Testament.
I was very much amazed. I never knew how and why to accept Jesus Christ. I was very happy to visit this site. I kept coming to this web site often. Some of the other Christian web sites were blocked as you may know very well. One day I thought of giving Jesus a try and so I said the salvation prayer on their web site. After that I also started thinking, "Did I do the greatest sin? I will never ever get to heaven," and so on.
I also had been seeing that same image of Jesus Christ often when I used to go in the Mosque to pray. One day I was walking toward a market using a short cut. It's a bit lonely area. Not many people cross through there. I was walking and had been thinking and asking God if what I was doing was right and should I be Christian or Muslim? I heard a voice behind me saying "My son, you are on the right path." I was again amazed. I had never had experienced these kinds of things.
But in all I had been going through, I became happier when I came to know the Holy Bible, which says many things. For example it says,
"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'"1
And it says,
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."2
God has been faithful to me!
I had learned in the Quran that our first parents, Adam and Eve, were living in Paradise until they committed sin. (This is the same in the Bible.) But in the Quran I was told they were forgiven of their sins. I asked my Muslim friends, "If they were forgiven of their sin, then why did God being so merciful and gracious make them leave the garden? Does it mean He did not forgive them?"
If, according to the Quran, the Torah (Pentateuch), Zabur (Psalms) and Injeel (Gospels) are the Word of God, then how can they change? If they have changed, as many Islamic scholars say, then who changed them and why? They claim that the Bible has changed and they feel so happy in that, but to know the truth we need to be humble and seek to find out if everything we believe is really true. Where would I be if I did not search my Bible and ask God's guidance for my life? The God of the Bible replies like no other! That is reality!
In the Quran it says that some revelations are abolished or forgotten.3
What does that mean? In fact it's exactly the opposite in the Bible.
In the Torah, Numbers 23:19,
"God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind."
And in Zabur (Psalms) 31:5,
"Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth."
And in Injeel (the Gospel of John) 17:17,
"Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."
Never did I find a single verse in the Bible saying that God lies or that He changes His verses and leads people astray.
In the Quran we are told to believe in all prophets and all the revealed Books of God which includes the Torah, Zabur, Injeel and even Daniel. If we do not believe in them, that they are the words of God, we are not Muslims. I have been praying this prayer before sleeping when I was Muslim. It can be read in Surah Al-Baqara 285. If we read the Quran we have to read the Bible also which can never change.
Many measures and efforts have been taken to destroy the Bible from this earth but they have never been successful. That proves that God who revealed knows very well how to keep it protected. I challenge all who say that the Bible has changed to prove it to me with evidence. Hundreds of scientist have studied it and have confirmed its clarity and what has been written.
The prophecies made in the Bible are being fulfilled in our very day. These are some of the most amazing things and confirm who is the author of this book. The very creator of this world knows what is going to happen tomorrow and the coming days. He does not predict it like a psychic but knows it!
It's also amazing to understand the differences between Jesus and Mohammad. In the Bible it says:
"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God!"4
Why is Jesus Christ called the Glad Tidings, the Word of God, held nearest to Allah, but nothing is mentioned about Mohammad as such?
Surah Maryam
He said: I am only a messenger of thy Lord that I may bestow on thee a faultless son.
Why a faultless son?
Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith, Hadith 4.506, narrated by Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "When any human being is born, Satan touches him at both sides of the body with his two fingers, except Jesus, the son of Mary, whom Satan tried to touch but failed, for he touched the placenta-cover instead."
Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith, Hadith 4.641
Narrated by Said bin Al Musaiyab:
Abu Huraira said, "I heard Allah's Apostle saying, 'There is none born among the off-spring of Adam, but Satan touches it. A child therefore, cries loudly at the time of birth because of the touch of Satan, except Mary and her child."
Also, why was Jesus Christ faultless and without sin, whereas Mohammad was touched by Satan and lead a sinful life? Many times in the Quran, Mohammad is reminded of repenting his sins. Every Muslim who reads the Quran with understanding knows it very well.
The Bible also says Jesus Christ did miracles and did many other things which no one except God can do. Why did God allow Him to do these things which only He did...things like giving life to death, and healing the sick? Why?
Why did Mohammad never do that? Despite many people of his time asking for miracles he refused. But one miracle is recorded in the Quran that he parted the moon in two. What benefit did it bring to humanity?
Before Jesus Christ was born, angels were sent to announce the noble birth of a faultless son through a virgin. But Mohammad being the greatest of Prophets in Islam does not have that much privilege? Why is nothing similar said for Mohammad?
If God really was able to make a virgin give birth, then why would it be difficult for Him to call Him His Son?
The Quran tells that there will be a revelation for mankind and mercy5 -- revelation and mercy to all mankind even after Mohammad. Why? Why is it ordained? What kind of mercy to the world? The Quran does not answer that. Muslims will have to read the Injeel (Gospel) to find out about God's mercy for mankind.
In the Injeel (Gospel), Mark 10:46-47, one blind man cries out to the Lord Jesus Christ saying:
A blind man, Bartimaeus, was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Also in the New Testament:
"Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life."6
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."7
The Lord Jesus Christ is not the mercy that was meant for people of His time or of His area only. God made Him Mercy for ALL MANKIND EVEN AFTER MOHAMMAD.
We know from the Bible that we are sinners and away from the Lord. Jesus Christ is the only provision for us to reconcile us with the Lord, because He was sinless and became sin for our sake. Our sins were transferred to Him.
Jesus Christ bore our sins and became sin for us. In Injeel (Gospel), it says:
"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."8
To many other people, He said "your sins are forgiven" indicating He wants them to be saved from sins! He bore their sins!
Also from the New Testament:
"God made Him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."9
Many people have found God's mercy in the Lord Christ and have been changed. One of them is me. Many look for the miracles, authority, Truth and only truth in the wrong places, and I also have been doing so, until I met Him, the only One who not only knows the way to God but Himself is The Way. In Jesus' very words:
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him."10
Mohammad and Muslims have been praying every day many times in their much-devoted prayers for guidance, and amazingly the last and greatest of Islam's Prophet kept praying for it till his death.11
Was Mohammad on the straight path? Is Islam the straight path? I encourage all Muslims to ask him or herself is it really true what they are doing to get to heaven? Many times in the Quran we come to know that Heaven is the place for whomsoever God wills. Here is one:
Surah An-Nur 14
Were it not for the grace and mercy of Allah on you in this world and the hereafter a grievous penalty (In Hell) would have seized you in that ye rushed glibly into this affair.
Surah At-Taub 111
Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their good for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise)
What do we understand of it?
Surah Al-Maida 35O
Ye who believe! do your duty to Allah seek the means of approach unto Him
I pray God will give hunger in each of us more each day and we will turn to Him for our Spiritual food and our salvation! I have used many Quranic verses to show my Muslim brothers and sisters to know what it actually says for us to do!
I do not believe heaven is a place with a price tag on it, which can be bought by our deeds, but only through God's Mercy and grace. I pray God will give hunger in each of us more each day and we will turn to Him for our Spiritual food and our salvation! It is made so simple like never before. Come to Him with a humble heart. Seek His Face and find yourself in His arms!
We become a new creation in Christ. It was written long ago, but today it is still true! How our minds and our thoughts change because the One who created us knows how to fill that missing gap and to reinstall our spiritual life in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the only Way to Him! So Brothers and sisters, open your hearts and minds to accept His amazing Love. Allow the Lord Jesus Christ into your life and see what happens next. The greatest adventure in the Universe begins. Whenever I have been in trouble He has been there and comforted me like no one ever could. He has shown me that He's alive forever and He loves us very much. I praise and thank God for sending His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to die for me and for all of us, and making the marvelous and glorious bridge to reach Him! To understand how to begin a relationship with Him, please see: Getting Connected.
http://www.everystudent.com/wires/radical.html
Possible Attack Against Iran Would Lead to Terrorist Threat
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?catid=136&newsid=85611&ch=0
Indonesia prepares for terrorist attack
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=44c8b408-2915-4557-b1eb-0579524c1598&k=2774
Is that the thud of a falling nuclear deal in WashingtonApril 02, 2006
By Mayank Chhaya, Indo-Asian News Service
Washington, April 2 (IANS) It is not yet quite the thud of a fallen nuclear deal that is being heard in Washington, but intimations of its mortality are not altogether unfounded.
It is conceivable that eventually the US-India nuclear deal would be ratified by the US Congress and Senate, albeit with great reluctance, but signs of the deal being dead on arrival on Capitol Hill are equally noticeable.
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/13711.php/Is_that_the_thud_of_a_falling_nuclear_deal_in_Washington?(NEWS_ANALYSIS)
US 'committed to a diplomatic solution' of Iran nuclear crisis
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=510062006
````````````````````Nuke plants alert
Nuclear Reactor Shut Down
WATERFORD -- One of the nuclear reactors at the millstone power plant in waterford is shut down right now.
During maintenance workers discovered a faulty water pump in a back up safety system.
http://www.wfsb.com/Global/story.asp?S=4714931
Small Hole in Pipe at Nuclear Plant
http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/us/02plant.html&OQ=_rQ3D1&OP=79fb235dQ2FrQ3CQ2F8rQ60NP-eNNfTrTGGQ5CrGWrGTrQ20-rGTQ24Xn6fIQ2AfUX
Will Muslim Nations Control the World Oil Market?
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/28792
UGANDA : Northern war situation worst form of terrorism : UN
http://www.andnetwork.com/app?service=direct/0/Home/$StorySummary$0.$DirectLink$1&sp=l27579
U.S. Policy at a Crossroads: The Relevance of the Roadmap in the Aftermath of the Hamas Victory
http://www.judeoscope.ca/article.php3?id_article=0322
Communication key for terrorism preparedness
http://www.pjstar.com/stories/040206/TRI_B9DGS5CT.064.shtml
Report: Zahar says 'there's no room for Israel on this land'
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/701501.html
Al Qaeda Prison Escapee Surrenders
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190231,00.html
Saudi King pledges to annihilate Al Qaeda
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&month=April2006&file=World_News2006040214730.xml
Al Qaeda Loses To Tradition
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htterr/articles/20060402.aspx
``````````````````McCain erks me...
McCain: Russia deserves ‘harsh treatment’
Senator says U.S. should respond harshly to Russia’s anti-democratic moves
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12121191/
Russia keeps spying eyes on the West
Though an ally, U.S. still seen as 'strategic threat'
Douglas Birch, Baltimore Sun
Sunday, April 2, 2006
Washington -- Even as the United States and Russia are cooperating to resolve international crises and track militant Islamic groups, Moscow is working at least as hard at stealing U.S. military and industrial secrets as during the Soviet era, current and former intelligence officials say.
Moscow's spies operate under a larger variety of covers than in Soviet days, experts say, and their morale is the highest since the mid-1980s. The Russian diaspora has created a pool of emigres, some of whom can be bribed, cajoled or blackmailed into helping.
"The Russian target is still very much there, still doing the things they did years ago," said Michael Donner, chief of counterintelligence for the FBI, in an interview. "We are scrambling to keep up."
The twist, perhaps, is that the U.S.-versus-Russia spy game can no longer be painted in black-and-white, good-against-evil terms, as it generally was when members of the Politburo gathered each year atop Lenin's Tomb.
The two nations are not just rivals, they are partners in efforts to resolve nuclear crises in Iran and North Korea, and they share intelligence on groups such as al Qaeda.
"You're allies and friends in one arena and you kind of battle each other in the other arena," said David Szady, who served as the FBI's chief of counterintelligence from 2001 to this January. "Those relationships are absolutely essential. It is crucial that that cooperation exists (to combat) terrorism. But everybody has needs for intelligence, and therefore there are those needs to collect it."
Experts say Russia's secret agents spend a lot of time gathering inside gossip about America's political leaders, although much of what they get is probably available in newspapers, magazines or on the Internet.
"There is a Soviet tradition," said Dimitry Simes, a scholar who studies Russia at the Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom in Washington. "You only trust the things that are classified and the things that you steal."
The amount of Russian espionage in the United States dipped in the wake of the Soviet collapse in 1991, officials and experts say, but rebounded by 1994 under then-foreign intelligence chief and later Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a "massive" expansion of intelligence-gathering efforts in Western Europe and North America, Jane's Intelligence Digest reported. Officials and experts say Russian spying has significantly increased under Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel.
"In 1989 and 1990, after the Berlin Wall fell, we all wanted to light candles and sing 'Kumbaya' and wait for the peace dividends to role in," said James Casey, chief of the Eurasia section of the FBI's counterintelligence division. "But things haven't changed as much as we thought they were going to change in 1989."
The Kremlin considers Chechen insurgents and Islamic militants the greatest threats to its security, Casey said. "But in the same breath they'll talk about the United States. They still consider us a strategic threat."
In Russian intelligence circles, the United States is no longer called the glavny protivnik, or main adversary, as in Soviet days, said Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB general who worked as a spy in New York and Washington in the late 1960s and early 1970s. "Now, it is 'priority No. 1.' ''
The designation sounds less ominous. But in terms of manpower and level of activity, Kalugin said, there has been "a total restoration, even an intensification" of Russian spy activity in the United States.
Russia, he said, hopes to rebuild its influence with the former Soviet republics and the oil-rich states of Central Asia. The Kremlin was stung by the victories of pro-Western governments in Georgia and Ukraine over the past 21/2 years, and by NATO's expansion into the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in 2004.
"A great power humiliated wants to restore its influence worldwide," said Kalugin, who has lived in the United States since 1995. He was tried in Moscow in 2002 and convicted in absentia of spying for the United States.
Mostly, though, the Russians are interested in gathering military and technical secrets, FBI officials and outside experts say, particularly regarding U.S. efforts to build a ballistic missile defense system and space-based weapons. Moscow apparently also has targeted information about stealth technologies, such as those used to conceal warplanes and submarines.
It is unclear how much Russia stands to gain from acquiring equipment such as high-tech sensors or lasers. John Pike, an arms expert and director of GlobalSecurity.org, said the manufacture of advanced devices requires not just sophisticated components but experienced managers, robotic systems and highly trained workers.
"The challenge today is to find something that can be stolen and that can be used when you bring it home," he said.
Russia's military-industrial complex may not be up to the task, Pike said. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia's military technology was 10 years behind that of the United States; today, it is about 25 years behind, he said.
"I think they have made essentially no technological progress since the end of the Cold War," Pike said.
Mutual cooperation between Washington and Moscow goes beyond the countries' diplomatic corps. Even the spies, it seems, are talking to each other.
Russian and Western security agencies began working together on a limited basis after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, although there was a significant retreat by the mid-1990s. Efforts at cooperation expanded again after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, to include the sharing of information on suspected terrorist networks.
That could help explain why, in January, when the Russians said they caught four British diplomats trying to acquire military secrets by downloading data from a fake rock, Russian authorities did not expel the alleged spies.
In February, Nikolai Patrushev, director of Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, told the Interfax news agency that Moscow, too, was awash in spies seeking military secrets.
"Their operations in Russia are becoming exceptionally daring," he said.
Western experts say the level of Western spying against Russia may have declined along with that nation's global and regional influence, and the diminished threat posed by its conventional military forces. One big question is how far Russia will go in abandoning efforts at democratic reform.
"Just five years ago, the Russian media was relatively free. There was some freedom in parliament and in the courts," Kalugin said. "But today that's all over. Russia is in a state of drift -- and a drift toward the old days rather than forward."
Western governments are interested in Moscow's close commercial and diplomatic ties to North Korea and Iran. Last month, the Kremlin confirmed that it planned to sell $700 million worth of TOR-1 surface-to-air missiles to Iran, according to news reports.
Gerald Richards, a retired FBI counterintelligence agent who occasionally gives lectures at the Spy Museum in Washington, said some tourists are "absolutely amazed" when he tells them Russians are still aggressively spying on the United States.
"I would be absolutely awed and amazed and mind-boggled if they weren't," Richards said. "Knowledge is power, and it's to their benefit to know everything that we're doing. We're the big cheese now. Everyone wants to spy on us."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/04/02/MNGKTI00EG1.DTL
Indian medical student attacked in Russia
Sunday, April 02, 2006 20:15 IST
MOSCOW: In a racist attack, an Indian medical student in the city of Ryazan, south of Moscow, was attacked by a group of school boys.
Four school boys have been arrested and booked for beating an Indian student out of "racial hatred," News.ru website reported on Sunday quoting sources.
The prosecutor's office has launched criminal investigation under article 282 of the Russian criminal code for inciting ethnic and racial animosity.
With the beginning of April, the month of Hitler's birthday, racial crimes are expected to further go up in Russia.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1021649
1 killed, 5 injured in railroad accident in central Russia
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060402/45087367.html
Test-fired: Iran's new underwater missile (footage
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6548
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1607933/posts
Nineteen indicted in racketeering
scheme-Defendants' counsel deny link to Hizbullah
Arab American News ^ | 4-2-06
Posted on 04/02/2006 12:19:20 PM MDT by SJackson
DETROIT - A federal grand jury here charged nineteen individuals with
operating a global racketeering conspiracy in an indictment unsealed
this week, announced United States Attorney for the Eastern District of
Michigan, Stephen J. Murphy. The indictment alleges that portions of
the profits made from the illegal enterprise were given to Hizbullah,
which is listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S.
government.
Nine of the individuals were arrested.
continued........
Stay safe.......
Reading your good posts......
I asked Scott about the violence in April.
He thought it was due to the fact that the season is changing and people want to "do something".
April 19th, 1993 "Waco" [clinton did something]
April 19th, 1995 "OKC"
April 20th 1999? unsure of date....Massacre at Littleton, Colorado High school
April 20th, Hitler's birthday.
This is a good history, comments are full of facts:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1607804/posts
Islamic regime finances Nazi groups in Europe
Daneshjoo.org ^ | 4-2-06
Posted on 04/02/2006 7:02:55 AM MDT by SJackson
Islamic regime finances Nazi groups in Europe
SMCCDI (Information Service)
Mar 30, 2006
The Islamic regime has increased its financial help to several
European Nazi and Far-Right groups, especially, in France, Germany
and Austria. Thousands of Dollars and Euro have been already
distributed in that line.
The money is being distributed by businessmen with links to some of
Dubai's Import-Export circles which are working with the Islamic
regime's Intelligence.
continued.......
```````snip WOW check this out does this connect the Russian
Mafia to binny boy???????
On September 3, 2001, the London al-Quds al-Arabi, an independent
Arabic language daily newspaper in London, ran a report relying
heavily on the previous day’s Sunday Express (London) newspaper. A
plane originating in northern Africa had crashed on arrival at Malaga,
Spain, on August 29, killing the pilot and three passengers and
injuring others, including a Moroccan “suspected of being a bag-man
for bin Laden,” who was treated briefly at a nearby hospital and
released. The intelligence services of three countries were said to be
tracking him; the Express cited Israel’s Mossad as believing that the
passenger was going to a meeting with, among others, associates of
Mogilevich.
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_624.shtml
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Davey has pulled an interesting group of info into her post #74.
One has to think about what OBL was buying.
Good post by Davey.
Would you tell the truth, if you were related to OBL.
You go Granny! LOL
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