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World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World #6 Disinformation, Inc.
Global Politician/Ocnus.Net ^ | Dec 17, 2006 | Professor Daniel M. Zucker

Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT

VEVAK learned its methodology from the Soviet KGB and many of the Islamist revolutionaries who supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini actually studied at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, the Oxford of terrorism. Documented Iranian alumni include the current Supreme Leader (the faqih) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under whose Velayat-e Faqih (Rule of the Islamic Jurisprudent) apparatus it has traditionally operated. Its current head is Cabinet Minister Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ezhei, a graduate of Qom's Haqqani School, noted for its extremist position advocating violence against enemies and strict clerical control of society and government. The Ministry is very well funded and its charge, like that of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the Pasdaran) is to guard the revolutionary Islamic Iranian regime at all costs and under all contingencies.

From the KGB playbook, VEVAK learned the art of disinformation. It's not so difficult to learn: tell the truth 80% of the time and lie 20%. Depending on how well a VEVAK agent wants to cover his/her tracks, the ratio may go up to 90/10, but it never drops below the 80/20 mark as such would risk suspicion and possible detection. The regime in Teheran has gone to great lengths to place its agents in locations around the world. Many of these operatives have been educated in the West, including the U.K. and the United States. Iranian government agencies such as embassies, consulates, Islamic cultural centers, and airline offices regularly provide cover for the work of VEVAK agents who dress well and are clean shaven, and move comfortably within our society. In this country, because of the severance of diplomatic relations, the principal site of VEVAK activities begins at the offices of Iran's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.

Teheran has worked diligently to place its operatives in important think tanks and government agencies in the West. Some of its personnel have been recruited while in prison through torture or more often through bribery, or a combination of both. Others are Islamist revolutionaries that have been set up to look like dissidents - often having been arrested and imprisoned, but released for “medical reasons”. The clue to detecting the fake “dissident” is to read carefully what he/she writes, and to ask why this vocal “dissident” was released from prison when other real dissidents have not been released, indeed have been grievously tortured and executed. Other agents have been placed in this country for over twenty-five years to slowly go through the system and rise to positions of academic prominence due to their knowledge of Farsi and Shia Islam or Islamist fundamentalism.

One of the usual tactics of VEVAK is to co-opt academia to its purposes. Using various forms of bribery, academics are bought to defend the Islamic Republic or slander its enemies. Another method is to assign bright students to train for academic posts as specialists in Iranian or Middle East affairs. Once established, such individuals are often consulted by our government as it tries to get a better idea of how it should deal with Iran. These academics then are in a position to skew the information, suggesting the utility of extended dialogue and negotiation, or the danger and futility of confronting a strong Iran or its proxies such as Hizballah (Hezbollah). These academics serve to shield the regime from an aggressive American or Western policy, and thereby buy more time for the regime to attain its goals, especially in regards to its nuclear weaponry and missile programs.

MOIS likes to use the media, especially electronic media, to its advantage. One of VEVAK's favorite tricks is setting up web sites that look like they are opposition sites but which are actually controlled by the regime. These sites often will be multilingual, including Farsi, German, Arabic French, and English. Some are crafted carefully and are very subtle in how they skew their information (e.g., Iran-Interlink, set up and run by Massoud Khodabandeh and his wife Ann Singleton from Leeds, England); others are less subtle, simply providing the regime's point of view on facts and events in the news (e.g., www.mujahedeen.com or www.mojahedin.ws). This latter group is aimed at the more gullible in our open society and unfortunately such a market exists. However, if one begins to do one's homework, asking careful questions, the material on these fake sites generally does not add up.

Let's examine a few examples of VEVAK's work in the United States. In late October, 2005, VEVAK sent three of its agents to Washington to stage a press event in which the principal Iranian resistance movement, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), was to be slandered. Veteran VEVAK agent Karim Haqi flew from Amsterdam to Canada where he was joined by VEVAK's Ottawa agents Amir-Hossein Kord Rostami and Mahin (Parvin-Mahrokh) Haji, and the three flew from Toronto to Washington. Fortunately the resistance had been tracking these three, informed the FBI of their presence in Washington, and when the three tried to hold a press conference, the resistance had people assigned to ask pointed questions of them so that they ended the interview prematurely and fled back to Canada.

Abolghasem Bayyenet is a member of the Iranian government. He serves as a trade expert for the Ministry of Commerce. But his background of study and service in the Foreign Ministry indicates that Bayyenet is more than just an economist or a suave and savvy businessman. In an article published in Global Politician on April 23, 2006, entitled “Is Regime Change Possible in Iran?”, Bayyenet leads his audience to think that he is a neutral observer, concerned lest the United States make an error in its assessment of Iran similar to the errors of intelligence and judgment that led to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, with its less than successful outcome. However, his carefully crafted bottom line is that the people of Iran are not going to support regime change and that hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually has achieved greater popularity than his predecessors because of his concern for the problems of the poor and his fight for economic and social justice. To the naive, Bayyenet makes Ahmadinejad sound positively saintly. Conveniently overlooked is the occurrence of over four thousand acts of protest, strikes, anti-regime rallies, riots, and even political assassinations by the people of Iran against the government in the year since Ahmadinejad assumed office. So too, the following facts are ignored: the sizeable flight of capital, the increase in unemployment, and the rising two-figure rate of inflation, all within this last year. Bayyenet is a regime apologist, and when one is familiar with the facts, his arguments ring very hollow. However, his English skills are excellent, and so the naОve might be beguiled by his commentary.

Mohsen Sazegara is VEVAK's “reformed revolutionary”. A student supporter of Khomeini before the 1979 revolution, Sazegara joined the “imam” on his return from exile and served in the government for a decade before supposedly growing disillusioned.

He formed several reformist newspapers but ran afoul of the hardliners in 2003 and was arrested and imprisoned by VEVAK. Following “hunger strikes”, Sazegara was released for health reasons and permitted to seek treatment abroad. Although critical of the government and particularly of Ahmadinejad and KhameneМ, Sazegara is yet more critical of opposition groups, leaving the impression that he favors internal regime change but sees no one to lead such a movement for the foreseeable future. His bottom line: no one is capable of doing what needs to be done, so we must bide our time. Very slick, but his shadow shows his likely remaining ties to the MOIS.

http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_27144.shtml


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http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007010435,00.html

US kill 'Brit Al-Qaeda suspects'


BRITISH terror suspects have been killed or taken prisoner in a US air

blitz against al-Qaeda targets in Somalia, it was claimed yesterday.



Meles Zenawi, PM in neighbouring Ethiopia, said: "Many international

terrorists are dead."



Mr Zenawi, whose troops invaded last month to stop Islamic extremists

overthrowing Somalia's tottering government, added:



"Photographs have been taken and passports from different countries

have been collected.

"We have injured people coming from Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan,

and the United Kingdom . . . the figure changes constantly."



The Foreign Office said last night all claims were "being looked into"

as it was reported that seven British terror suspects had been
captured.



British Muslims are being urged by UK-based militant websites to join

al-Qaeda in a "holy war" in Somalia.



The US said since Sunday its gunships had pounded the group's suspected

hideouts in the south of the African nation to try to kill "the

principal al-Qaeda leadership in the region".



Among them are Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, 32, who allegedly planned the

1998 attacks on US embassies in Nairobi in Kenya, and Dar es Salaam in

Tanzania in which 225 people died.



Mohammed, who has a £2.6million price on his head, is also suspected
of

planning a car bombing in Kenya, which killed ten Kenyans and three

Israelis plus a simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner

in 2002.



Terror suspects, Kenyan Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and Sudanese Abu Taha

al-Sudani, are also targets.



The air strikes by AC130 gunships killed at least 19 people.



Local villagers claimed four civilians were among the dead, including a

boy of four at Afmadow on the Kenyan border.



Other villages said to be sheltering al-Qaeda terrorists were also hit,

including Badel.



On that raid, government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said:



"So many dead people were lying in the area. We do not know who is who,

but the raid was a success."



Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf said yesterday the US



"has a right to bombard terrorist suspects who attacked its embassies

in Kenya and Tanzania".



The attacks were the first military action by the US in Somalia since

1994, a year after 18 US troopers died in the "Black Hawk Down" battle

when two Black Hawk helicopters were shot out of the sky in Mogadishu,

the capital, by Somali warlords.



The troops headed a UN force to fight famine.



Elsewhere, Ethiopian helicopter gunships continued to pound rebel

positions yesterday. Last month Ethiopia drove the Islamic Courts
Union,

a Muslim rebel group, out of Mogadishu.


1,861 posted on 01/11/2007 12:40:40 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All; FARS; Founding Father; milford421

Uncle Hamas Cares for Palestinians


RADICAL WELFARE IN THE GAZA STRIP
Uncle Hamas Cares for Palestinians
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,455632,00.html
By Ulrike Putz in Gaza City

The West classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization, but in the Gaza Strip,
the Islamist organization is widely respected for helping families in
need.
International aid groups also praise Hamas for being free of
corruption.

Etidal Sinati's life in poverty began one night in March 2003. Israeli
helicopters were flying air attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp in
northern
Gaza City and Etidal's husband Mohammed and a group of other men from
the
neighborhood went out to assess the damage. But the Israelis weren't
done; an
attack helicopter returned and fired on the onlookers. Etidal's husband
was
killed, leaving her with seven children and no one to provide for them.
Overnight, the Sinatis became a welfare case -- and loyal to Hamas. The
radical Islamist group took the destitute family under its wing.

"My husband was not a Hamas supporter. In fact, he was for Fatah," says
Sinati, now a widow. It is cold in her two-room hut; a mentally ill
uncle sits
in a corner occasionally laughing to himself and pulling his wool
blanket over
his head. "But without Hamas we wouldn't have survived, and even with
their
support it's been difficult."

The official pension for the wife of a "martyr" -- a Palestinian killed
by the
Israeli military -- is €100 every three months. For a large family
living in
Gaza, this is about enough for one good seafood meal, but is not enough
to
live on. "So Hamas adopted my children," says Etidal Sinati. The widow
receives €15 a month in child support for each child, and all of her
children
attend a school run by Hamas free of charge. "I voted for the crescent
in the
January election," says the illiterate Etidal. The crescent moon is
Hamas's
symbol.

A party for the poor

At first glance Hamas, a party that looks after the poor with its money
and
charity, appears to be playing a well-known tune on the instrument of
populism. On the other hand, every major international aid organization
is
singing the Islamist group's praises when it comes to the quality of
its work.
"In the International Crisis Group's 2003 report, the most important
American
NGOs gave perfect marks to Hamas's work; they couldn't have achieved a
better
result," says Helga Baumgarten, a lecturer at Birzeit University in
Ramallah.

Baumgarten believes that the success of the party, which emerged from
the
radical Muslim Brotherhood in 1987, is based on two factors: the highly
professional work of the group's welfare agencies and Hamas's oft-cited
integrity. "In fact, all studies have concluded that Hamas operates
without a
trace of corruption," says Baumgarten. "This has enabled it to gain the
respect of the population over the years."

Nevertheless, Hamas is no moderate party. It sees itself as the
spearhead of
Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation. Following its
surprising election victory in January, the organization refused to
renounce
armed conflict or to recognize Israel. Its repeated use of suicide
bombings
against Israeli citizens since its founding has also contributed to
Hamas
being classified as a terrorist organization in the West -- despite its
day-to-day charitable activities.

But it is difficult to say whether Hamas deliberately uses its
charitable work
to generate sympathy within the population. "Social commitment is not a
means
to an end; I would not interpret this merely as exploitation," says
Baumgarten. And even if it were, parties the world over operate no
differently.

Building on faith

Al-Mujamma al-Islami, or the Islamic Center, in southeastern Gaza City
is
proof positive that Hamas literally builds on faith. The mosque on the
ground
floor of the newly constructed center has been in operation for weeks,
while
the center's employees sit between boxes on the fourth floor above the
women's
gallery in the prayer room. The center, founded in 1973 by Sheikh Ahmed
Yassin
making it the oldest Islamic charity in Gaza, had grown too big for its
old
headquarters. Its 150 employees just moved in to their new offices on
the
weekend.

At first the wheelchair-bound Yassin, who founded Hamas in 1987 and was
killed
in a targeted Israeli missile attack in 2004, managed the
organization's funds
from the living room of his modest house a few streets away. Today the
center
has evolved into a giant charitable institution in Gaza, operating 16
kindergartens, 30 Koran schools, and providing thousands of families
with
money, food and clothing. The center also pays child support for 5,000
orphans. Etidal Sinati also collects aid payment for her seven children
here.

Nidal Shabana, the center's director, currently manages an annual
budget of
about $1 million. Despite his prominent position, Shabana remains a
modest
man, although a hint of pride for his work trickles through when he
talks
about the Islamic ping-pong team that recently won the Gaza
championships
under his tutelage. "Modesty and honesty are principles that are
especially
valued in Islam," he says. When asked his opinion about the growing
strength
of Islamist parties in the Arab world -- a phenomenon viewed with great
concern in the West -- Shabana becomes circumspect. The behavior of
Islamic
leaders happens to be exemplary, he says, adding that their hands are
clean.
In a roundabout way, Shabana is saying that he considers the political
leaders
in neighboring Arab states to be corrupt and morally weak.

Since the 1970s, the failure of authoritarian regimes in the Arab world
--
dominated by ruling families intent on lining their own pocketbooks and
bloated, inefficient bureaucracies -- has led to Islamist groups
filling a
social and political vacuum in the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon,
Egypt and
Jordan. The fact that Hamas hasn't received recognition as the sole
governing
party in the Palestinian Territories is by no means just a local quirk.
Resistance to Hezbollah's quest for power up the road in Beirut is
similar.
These religious fundamentalist organizations are a threat to the
region's
established regimes; it's not just Israel and its Western allies that
are
interested in keeping the Islamists in check.

Etidal Sitani is also aware that the organization that has thrown her
family a
lifeline is facing pressure from within the Palestinian Territories and
from
abroad. But this has only strengthened Sitani's support for her
benefactors.
Her eldest son recently tried on his father's uniform. But while the
father
was a reservist in one of the Fatah Movement's security forces, the son
plans
to fight for Hamas. "I will not allow him to join the militias just
yet. After
all, he is only 15," says the mother. "He can do it when he is 20."


1,862 posted on 01/11/2007 12:46:30 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All; milford421

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/news/204050,3_1_EL10_A4HAMAS_S1.article

[end of article]

A Salah traveling companion, who also was arrested but was released after six months, briefed Ashqar on statements Salah made to Israel's Shin Bet security service. Ashqar summarized in writing what he learned. Ferguson pointed to testimony that the written material, found among documents in Ashqar's home, was signed with an alias.

"There is only one reason for Ashqar signing that report with an alias: Ashqar is Hamas," Ferguson told the jury.

When asked by a federal grand jury in Chicago if he was Hamas, Ashqar refused to answer.

Ferguson also pointed to testimony that Ashqar directed money to families of Hamas "martyrs" killed in terrorist operations and those captured and jailed by Israeli authorities.

Aliases, lots of money

"We're talking about someone who is a graduate student at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss., and you see hundreds of thousands of dollars coursing through his accounts," Ferguson said.

While living in Oxford, Ashqar had a telephone in a bogus name and a fax in a different alias, Ferguson said. "He was concealing his name because he was aiding Hamas," the prosecutor said.

Federal agents found that Ashqar spoke on his telephone 568 times in several years with Mousa Abu Marzook, an alleged top Hamas leader who also is charged in the case and is a fugitive believed to be living in Damascus, Syria.

Ferguson also pointed to testimony that Ashqar served as an archivist who kept an extensive file of Hamas-related documents, involving matters ranging from electronic jamming equipment to terrorist operations.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.


1,863 posted on 01/11/2007 6:07:10 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All

January 11, 2007 Anti-Terrorism News


(Afghanistan) NATO: 150 fighters killed in Afghanistan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070111/ap_on_re_as/afghan_violence_10

(Afghanistan) UK Troops Battle Taliban - British troops fought furious 4-hour battle at close quarters with Taliban
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1246866,00.html

Indonesian police kill 2 suspected militants after bomb and gun battle
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/latestnews/2007111/43618.htm

Russian Police Kill 4 Suspected Terrorists in Caucasus City
http://mosnews.com/news/2007/01/11/dagestanoperation.shtml

Iraqi officials: 6 Iranian workers held
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070111/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_070109175551

(Iraq) U.S. forces raid Iranian consulate in Iraq
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070111/ts_nm/iraq_iran_raid_dc_2

(Iraq) US plans action against "Iranian, Syrian elements": New Bush strategy for Iraq
http://www.dawn.com/2007/01/11/top11.htm

(Iraq) Britain 'to pull 2700 troops from Iraq '
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21042696-1702,00.html

(Iraq) Basra mission to finish soon: Blair
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Basra-mission-to-finish-soon-Blair/2007/01/11/1168105082055.html

(Somalia) Embassy bomber 'killed in attack'- American intelligence officials
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2541262,00.html

Al-Qaeda Leader Reported Killed in Somalia Was "Close to the Top"
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1576291,00.html

(Somalia) Embassy bomber 'Alive In Somalia' - US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger tells BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6251077.stm
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20070111\ACQRTT200701110608RTTRADERUSEQUITY_0255.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.nasd

Somalia, Ethiopia said clash with Islamic militia
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070111/ap_on_re_af/somalia_322

(Somalia) U.N. backs deployment of African troops to Somalia
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070111/ap_on_re_af/un_somalia_5

Yemen: Authorities Fear Infiltration By Al-Qaeda Operatives From Somalia
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.375390530&par=0

Kenya detains wives of Somalia al Qaeda suspects
http://za.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-01-11T113135Z_01_BAN141470_RTRIDST_0_OZATP-SOMALIA-20070111.XML

Canadian suspects alleged in Somalia
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/2007/01/10/3298738-cp.html

(Somalia) Weapons Raids in Somalia After Violent Night - Mogadishu violence Wednesday morning after insurgents attacked government barracks
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/world/africa/11somalia.html?hp&ex=1168491600&en=b9e74525fbe3d835&ei=5094&partner=homepage

(Pakistan) Musharraf: Pakistan is safe as an Islamic republic
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pakistan_is_safe_as_an_Islamic_republic/articleshow/1139084.cms

(Florida) Terror ruling faces scrutiny - U.S. wants to revive charge for Padilla, 2 others
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-spadilla11jan11,0,1550199.story?coll=sfla-news-broward

(Chicago Hamas Trial) Terror trial defendants described as humanitarians
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/politics/16430096.htm

(Bosnia Trial Update) Related hearings to start Monday in Canada, U.K.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070111.wxmaximus11/BNStory/International/home

(UK) Six to go on trial over London bomb plot
http://www.peterboroughnow.co.uk/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1967766&sectionid=5054

Philippines won't halt ASEAN summit despite bombings
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070111/wl_asia_afp/aseansummit_070111111312

(Philippines) Bombs timed for Asia summit- police
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21042926-1702,00.html

Iran: Explosions Recorded in South
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.375407997&par=0

China tells US not to meddle in ties with Iran
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467710268&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

(Iran) President of Iran woos allies in Latin America
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/11/wiran11.xml

IDF troops discover Hizbullah weapons near border
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467711243&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

(Israel) Lawyer: Ex-Cleveland imam questioned
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070111/ap_on_re_us/imam_held_1

Palestinians: IDF arrests Hamas head near Jenin
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3351190,00.html

(Australia) Hicks must be tried soon, Howard tells Bush
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21044195-1702,00.html

Sudan: 17 hurt, 12 arrested in pro-Saddam rally
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467710980&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Related News:

(UK) Girl in International Custody Battle Attending Pro-Taliban Madrassa in Pakistan (my title)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2541433,00.html
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13561371,00.html
http://www.dawn.com/2007/01/11/top6.htm

(Australia) Muslims 'more Australian than Anglos' - Australian Muslims More Entitled to Australia
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21043927-1702,00.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/01/11/1168105114588.html

Moroccan Editor Faces Five Years in Prison for Insulting Islam
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aeepTOy4xykU

(U.S.) The Boston mosque's Saudi connection - Islamic Society of Boston funded in part by Islamic Development Bank, a leading funder of suicide bombing
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/01/10/the_boston_mosques_saudi_connection/

CAIR spokesman refuses to denounce Hamas, Hizballah as terrorist groups
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/014790.php

Spain 'will be oldest population in world in 2022'
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=81&story_id=35457


1,864 posted on 01/11/2007 6:51:25 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All; Founding Father; milford421; FARS

UAE FM rejects Arabs' aid for invasion of Iran


http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=48785&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

UAE FM rejects Arabs' aid for invasion of Iran

Thursday, January 11, 2007 - ©2005 IranMania.com
Related Pictures

Archived Picture - The United Arab Emirates' Foreign Minister Abdallah
bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan termed rumors and reports about Arab states'
assistance with a possible attack on Iran as unwise and insane, Fars
News Agency reported.
Archived Picture - Speaking to reporters during a joint press
conference
with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki, al-Nuhayyan lauded the
two countries' extensive relations, and said that the United Arab Emirates and Iran are due to expand mutual cooperation through forming
joint committees and encouraging more investments in the two countries.

LONDON, January 11 (IranMania) - The United Arab Emirates' Foreign
Minister Abdallah bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan termed rumors and reports about
Arab states' assistance with a possible attack on Iran as unwise and
insane, Fars News Agency reported.

Speaking to reporters during a joint press conference with his Iranian
counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki, al-Nuhayyan lauded the two countries'
extensive relations, and said that the United Arab Emirates and Iran
are
due to expand mutual cooperation through forming joint committees and
encouraging more investments in the two countries.

"The said committees are due to study different grounds for enhanced
cooperation," he added.

The top diplomat further viewed Iran's relations with the Persian Gulf
Cooperation Council (PGCC) as historical, and underlined that regional
nations are profoundly interested in developing ties with Iran due to
the strong bonds existing between the Iranian and regional nations.

He also said that during his meeting with Mottaki, the two sides have
discussed cooperation in areas of energy and trade, and mentioned that
both countries are zealously pursuing development of mutual relations.

Asked about recent rumors alleging that the US intends to use its bases
in certain Arab states to raid Iran, the UAE foreign minister
underscored, "The United Arab Emirates has always been and will remain
a
friend to the Iranian nation."

"Based on my connections with the (Persian Gulf) Cooperation Council, I
believe that promulgation of such ideas is insane and unwise," he
continued.

He also dismissed reports about the establishment of an Iranian office
by the US embassy in Dubai, which is due to make contacts with Iranian
opposition groups, and said that if his country senses such movements,
it will deal with the issue seriously.

"If the UAE feels that the consulate of any given country is violating
international conventions, it will no doubt deal with the issue
seriously," the UAE top official reiterated.


1,865 posted on 01/11/2007 7:02:25 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All

Inaugural Fashion
Illustrated essay highlighting fashions worn by first ladies at
inaugural ceremonies for U.S. presidents. Features video clips and images of
some of the inaugural gowns. Part of a PBS Online NewsHour program
covering the 2001 presidential inauguration.
URL: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/inauguration/fashion.html
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/23149


POTUS: Presidents of the United States
This collection features "background information, election results,
cabinet members, notable events, and some points of interest on each of
the [U.S.] presidents. Links to biographies, historical documents, audio
and video files, and other presidential sites are also included."
Includes indexes to names and subjects, and a brief bibliography. From the
Internet Public Library.
URL: http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/23133

Guide to Research: Declassified Documents
This research guide provides links to sources for learning about and
obtaining copies of formerly classified U.S. government documents. Topics
include the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and federal government
websites. Also includes a link to Executive Order 12958, under which
thousands of pages of documents were declassified at the end of 2006.
Although some sources are only available to Georgetown University students,
most are available to the general public. From Georgetown University
Libraries.
URL TRUNCATED, SEE LII ITEM
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/23134


Senate Chamber Desks
This presentation features historical details about the U.S. Senate
chamber desks. "The Senate purchased 48 desks for its chamber in 1819,
adding desks as new states joined the Union. To date, more than 1,600
senators have occupied these historic desks." Features a Senate seating
plan, an interactive timeline of the evolution of the desks, and "desk
history & mystery" (which includes a section about the so-called "Candy
Desk"). From the U.S. Senate.
URL TRUNCATED, SEE LII ITEM
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/22939

Benjamin Franklin: An Extraordinary Life, An Electric Mind
Companion to this 2002 documentary series that explored Benjamin
Franklin's "career from humble beginnings in Boston to international
superstardom: first as a scientist and revolutionary, and then as a founding
father and America's first diplomat to France." Features essays, a
timeline, "Ben A to Z," a teacher's guide, and more. From Twin Cities Public
Television.
URL: http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/23145


Morehouse King Collection
This site provides an introduction to the 2006 acquisition "through the
efforts of a group of prominent Atlantans, [of] a 10,000-piece
collection of handwritten notes and unpublished sermons of Martin Luther King
Jr. [Morehouse class of 1948]." The collection is housed at the Woodruff
Library, Morehouse College. Features a brief preview of the collection
with selected images, a timeline of King at Morehouse, and a listing of
King celebration events. From Morehouse College.
URL: http://www.morehouse.edu/kingcollection/
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/23131


California Poison Control System: Mushrooms
This fact sheet features health and safety material about mushroom
identification and mushroom poisoning. Provides facts and fiction about
mushroom identification, symptoms of mushroom poisoning, and what to do
and not do in cases of mushroom poisoning. From the California Poison
Control System, a service administered by the University of California San
Francisco, School of Pharmacy, providing emergency information on
poisons to California residents.
URL: http://calpoison.org/public/mushrooms.html
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/23123


Kumbh Mela, India
Brief introduction to "a cycle of pilgrimage known as the Kumbh Mela
... one of the largest celebrations on earth, and millions of Hindus
visit four cities on a 12-yearly cycle to expunge their sins by bathing in
especially holy stretches of the Ganges and its tributaries." The
Allahabad Kumbh Mela "is the largest and holiest of all melas." From Lonely
Planet.
URL: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/theme/religion/rel_kumbh.htm
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/23136


1,866 posted on 01/11/2007 7:14:47 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All

http://wimmera.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=lifestyle%20news&subclass=news%20extra&story_id=546316&category=news%20extra

Wednesday, 10 January 2007

Courting Fiji hardly worth China's effort

Canberra Times
FIJI is unlikely to get much joy "looking north" to China to repair the damage to its economy from post-coup international sanctions. China has been courting Fiji for years, for "strategic reasons" and to ensure Fiji stays in line on the One China policy.

It has also been reasonably generous with its aid as it has built up an enormous trade surplus with the US, become more frank about its development as a superpower, and undertaken a charm offensive in Africa, Central and South America, and South-East Asia and the Pacific.

China has commercial interests in the region, particularly fishing, and is a potential competitor, particularly against Malaysia, South Korea and India, in exploiting Fiji's land resources.

But these are comparative things. Trade between Fiji and China is worth about $70million a year, less than a tenth of the Australian trade, running at about $800million in imports from Australia and about $600 million in export income, the latter representing about a quarter of Fiji's exports.

That part of its export income not derived from tourism is already under pressure because another nation China as it happens is crippling Fiji's capacity to compete with its manufactures.

China has in recent years extended its aid to Pacific countries, including soft loans, but its increasing assistance to Fiji in recent years is only a fraction of the aid from Australia, New Zealand, and, at lower levels, the US and the European Union, all of which are reviewing their commitments, particularly those going directly to government.

For China to fill the gap, were it so minded, would probably require it to enter a complex array of trade and aid commitments of up to $1billion a year.

China is quite capable of being opportunistic but it is highly unlikely it would see this as worthwhile. It certainly wouldn't be in commercial terms, if only because Fiji is an economic basket case. Its resources are trifling in terms of what China wants, particularly if more extensive exploitation created commercial and political problems with its other partners such as the US and Australia.

One of the political reasons for getting involved in Fiji, or doing more anyway, is also disappearing. For many years there has been a fierce cheque-book diplomatic war between China and Taiwan, in which aid, bribery or both has been used as a bargaining lever in exchange for positions taken on the One China policy.

Fiji has itself played in such games in the past, one of the reasons why it and other susceptible Pacific nations have been wooed so assiduously by China with high-level visits and Chinese participation in regional forums.

But there are signs the cheque-book war is about to close, with Taiwan close to admitting it cannot match the Chinese bidding. This has little to do with Fiji; it turns rather more in contests for the favours of various Central and Southern American countries, where China is presently on a charm offensive.

Not that such aid has necessarily been of great use, focused as it has been on monuments and large projects, rather than at the village level and on infrastructure development, which Fiji still needs.

There are some, of course, who will see something more sinister were China to climb seriously into bed with Pacific nations. It is what our Prime Minister John Howard meant when he used the word "evil" and referred to "these places being taken over by interests very hostile to Australia".

This is the prospect of the Pacific becoming some sort of battleground between China and the US for military and political interest. That is a contest which is perhaps inevitable in the long run, and perhaps China has the long run partly in mind as it flirts with potential friends; but it is hardly a contest now.

China has no blue-water navy or obvious ambitions to extend its military reach southwards or eastwards, and shows every sign of rather liking, at least in a passive way, a US presence promoting a broad stability in its neighbourhood.

Seen from Canberra, a good deal of the shade from the US alliance umbrella has been provided by Australia and New Zealand, with minimal interference from the US. In recent years, however, Australian diplomacy, economic developments and local mismanagement, corruption and civil disintegration in most of the Pacific nations, have created considerable tensions between Australia and these Pacific nations.

No doubt it causes some US alarm and probably annoyance at Australia. But we have certainly not lessened our commitment to helping these nations their people at least as can be seen in our increasing aid programs.

But we have had to be firm, above all else, about basics of governance, and Fiji's leaders can hardly complain about being found beyond the pale. If China were to extend its role beyond relatively benign handouts to active interference in our backyard, there would be obvious repercussions in its relations with Australia presumably of rather more significance to it.

But we should give China which has, after all, more diplomats and spies in the Pacific than we do credit for realising Fiji is hardly worth the effort.



Source: The Canberra Times editorial

Wimmera Mail Times
Copyright © 2007. Rural Press Limited


1,867 posted on 01/11/2007 7:21:35 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All; milford421; FARS; Founding Father

http://wimmera.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=national%20news&subclass=general&story_id=546915&category=General&m=1&y=2007

Thursday, 11 January 2007

Muslims more suited to Australia: Mufti
By Paul Carter

Australia's controversial mufti Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali has landed himself in hot water again, this time by saying Australian Muslims are more entitled to the country than those with a convict heritage.

Prime Minister John Howard said he expected the mufti's comments to amuse Australians, however one Muslim leader was quick to apologise for the sheik.

Speaking in Arabic on Egyptian television Sheik Alhilali said, according to a Seven Network translation, that white Australians arrived in the country shackled as convicts.

"We (Muslims) came as free people. We bought our own tickets. We are entitled to Australia more than they are," he said.

The mufti was on the Egyptian chat show explaining the controversy last year over his comments likening immodestly-dressed women to uncovered meat.

But according to the translation, he said the controversy was a white conspiracy aimed at terrorising Australian Muslims.

Mr Howard laughed off the spiritual leader's convict comments.

"I think it will bring a wry smile to the face of Australians who don't actually feel the least bit offended that many of our ancestors came here as convicts," Mr Howard told reporters in Sydney.

"It's almost a badge of honour for many Australians."

But while the convict jibes might be forgiven by some, as they are when levelled by English cricket fans, the sheik's comments are expected to cause outrage in some quarters - especially the claim that white Australians "are the biggest liars".

And then there was his claim that outrage over his controversial meat sermon was "a calculated conspiracy", that started with him, "in order to bring the Islamic community to its knees".

He also said "Australian law guarantees freedoms up to a crazy level", when reportedly referring to anti-Muslim courts and the harsh sentencing of a Muslim gang rapist in Sydney.

Islamic Friendship Association president Keysar Trad criticised and defended his close friend, saying some of his comments were "ill-advised".

"I believe his intention was to indicate that we choose to be in Australia because we love Australia, because his Egyptian interviewers were asking him why he stays and puts up with the controversy here," Mr Trad said.

"He was defending Australia, but saying sometimes democracy fails, and the reaction to his comments put a lie to the democratic principle of free speech.

"But I, as a Muslim Australian, do feel the need to apologise for anyone who is offended by these comments."

Mr Trad also questioned the accuracy of the translation, saying the mufti's opponents were waiting with malicious intent to misrepresent his comments.

"It's evident by the controversy that has erupted again that there are people out there watching every comment he makes," Mr Trad said.

Brought to you by AAP

AAP

© AAP 2007


1,868 posted on 01/11/2007 7:26:51 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All; Founding Father; milford421; FARS

http://wimmera.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=national%20news&subclass=finance&story_id=545106&category=Finance&m=1&y=2007

Friday, 5 January 2007

Downer gives nod to uranium exports

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says Australian companies can begin exporting uranium to China early this year.

In a short statement, Mr Downer said Australia and China had ratified a Australia-China Nuclear Transfer Agreement, and the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement through an exchange of Diplomatic Notes in Beijing.

"The agreements will enter into force 30 days after ratification," he said.

"Accordingly, the legal framework for Australian uranium producers to commence exports to China is expected to be in place early in 2007."

Mr Downer said that the timing and quantities of exports would be a matter for commercial negotiation.

Brought to you by AAP

AAP

© AAP 2007


1,869 posted on 01/11/2007 7:31:59 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All; Founding Father

http://www.politicaldogs.org/2007/01/mccarthyism-deja-vu.htm


1,870 posted on 01/11/2007 7:43:25 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All; Founding Father

Where the left gets it talking points on the hanging of Saddam:

http://leninlives.blogspot.com/2007/01/reflections-on-murder-of-saddam.html


1,871 posted on 01/11/2007 7:47:25 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All; DAVEY CROCKETT; Founding Father; milford421; FARS

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/300.php?nid=&id=&pnt=300&lb=hmpg1

Cubans Show Little Satisfaction with Opportunities and Individual Freedom

Rare Independent Survey Finds Large Majorities Are Still Proud of Island’s Health Care and Education

GallupCuba_Jan07_img.jpgForty-eight years after Fidel Castro entered Havana at the head of a triumphal guerrilla army, Cubans in the island’s largest cities are still proud of his revolutionary government’s achievements in health care and education but they express little satisfaction when asked questions about their personal freedoms and daily life.

Fidel Castro confers with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Aug. 11, 2001, in Bolivar City, Venezuela (ANDREW ALVAREZ/AFP/Getty Images)

About three-quarters are positive about their country's education and healthcare systems but only one quarter say they are happy with "their freedom to choose what to do with their life."

Cubans are also divided about the communist state that has ruled the island nation for nearly five decades. A little less than half (47%) say they approve of their government and 40 percent say they disapprove. Approval is highest among those aged 55 to 59 (61%) and lowest among young adults aged 25 to 29 (38%).

These are some of the findings of a rare independent survey of 1,000 Cubans in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. Gallup’s Costa Rican affiliate—Consultoría Interdisciplinaria en Desarrollo (CID)—conducted face to face interviews in the two cities from Sept. 1-15.

The September poll took place during a period of uncertainty in Cuba. President Castro has not been seen in public since July 26, just before he underwent surgery for intestinal bleeding. He handed over power during his recovery to his brother, Raúl, in late July.

Individual Freedom

GallupCuba_Jan07_graph2.jpgCuban politics has been dominated by Castro for nearly five decades. It is a one-party communist state with no independent media. Freedom House, which ranks countries around the world on political rights and civil liberties, gives Cuba its lowest ranking of 7 for both.

Cuba is also one of the world’s most tightly controlled economies. Although the government has granted a limited number of licenses to small businesses, such as market stalls or tiny restaurants, most self employment consists of illegal trading on the black market.

Defenders of the revolution minimize the importance of civil liberties and economic freedom, pointing out the communist government’s achievements in health and education. The Gallup survey suggests, however, that Cubans themselves are acutely conscious of their extremely limited individual opportunities.

Cubans in Havana and Santiago are largely dissatisfied with their personal freedom. Only one in four (25%) say they are satisfied with their “freedom to choose what to do with [their] life.” This is far lower than the average of 80 percent in the rest of urban Latin America. It is also the lowest percentage among the more than 100 countries polled on this question, according to Gallup, ranking below impoverished and politically unstable countries such as Ethiopia (30% satisfied) and Zimbabwe (32%).

GallupCuba_Jan07_graph3.jpgOnly a third (34%) say they are able to use their talent as much as they would like compared to two-thirds (66%) of other urban Latin Americans. And only half (53%) answer affirmatively when asked if they were able to choose “how you spent your day yesterday,” compared with an average of 75 percent in other Latin American cities.

Moreover, few Cubans believe they are able to improve their lives. Only a third (31%) say they currently have a “plan, idea or invention in mind to improve [their] standard of living” and less than half (42%) say people in their country can “get ahead by working hard.” In the rest of urban Latin America, 46 percent say they have ways to get ahead and 77 percent think people in their country can get ahead through hard work.

Cubans also score relatively low on other indicators of personal well being: 56 percent say they are “proud of something” done the previous day (72% other urban Latin Americans), 63 percent say they experienced enjoyment the previous day (79% other urban Latin Americans) and 62 percent say they laughed or smiled (82% other urban Latin Americans).

Public Services

GallupCuba_Jan07_graph1.jpgCuban dissatisfaction with their personal lives does not mean they are negative about the revolutionary government’s achievements in health care and education. A near unanimous 96 percent of respondents say that health care in Cuba is accessible to everyone. Gallup polls in other Latin American cities have found that on average only 42 percent believe health care is accessible.

A lower, but still high, percentage (75%) say they have confidence in their country’s health care system and about the same proportion (76%) say they are satisfied with their personal health. This is a smaller proportion, however, than the average in other Latin American cities, where 85 percent say they satisfied with their personal health, according to Gallup.

More than three-quarters of Cubans (78%) say they are satisfied with their educational system, while only six in ten (59%) other urban Latin Americans do. They are nearly unanimous (98%) in saying that education is accessible to everyone, regardless of their economic situation. In other Latin American cities, only half (52%) say education is accessible to all. Cubans are also more likely to say that college education in their country is superior to higher education in other countries (50% urban Cubans, 25% urban Latin Americans).

Transportation and housing, however, are generally seen as deficient. Only 9 percent of urban Cubans say they are satisfied with their transportation system, compared with 56 percent in other Latin American cities. Only 12 percent are satisfied with the island’s roads and highways (53% of urban Latin Americans). Cubans, moreover, are less likely to have a vehicle (14% versus 27% of other urban Latin Americans).

Fifty-one percent of Cubans say they are satisfied with their housing compared with 80 percent of other urban Latin Americans. About half say they are satisfied with the community where they live (49%) and the quality of the air (53%) and water (58%). In other Latin American cities significantly higher percentages say they are satisfied with their communities (76%), air (65%) and water (73%).

CID-Gallup president Carlos Denton said interviewers did not request government permission to carry out the poll and that Cuban officials did not interfere with their work. As a precaution, however, the survey teams sent out their results every night over the internet and burned the individual questionnaires.

The questions asked were the same as those used in the Gallup World poll, a survey of more than 130 countries and areas.


1,872 posted on 01/11/2007 7:52:48 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All; milford421

http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?fr=yalerts-keyword&c=&p=%22FBI%22&ei=utf-8

1. FBI: E-Mails Circulating In Indiana Threaten Death To Recipients Open this result in new window
WRTV TheIndyChannel.com via Yahoo! News - Jan 11 3:41 AM
The Indianapolis office of the FBI on Wednesday issued a warning about an e-mail scam that has been circulating in Indiana.
Save

2. FBI seminar a hit with Hollywood Open this result in new window
Reuters via Yahoo! News - Jan 10 10:56 PM
FBI memo to Hollywood: If it's not too much trouble, could you please portray our counterterrorism efforts with a bit more realism?
Save

3. FBI Investigates Threatening E-mail Scam From 'Hit Man' Open this result in new window
WJXT News4Jax.com via Yahoo! News - Jan 10 8:23 PM
An e-mail from someone claiming to be a hit man, making chilling promises to kill the recipient unless he is paid thousands of dollars, has sparked an FBI investigation.
Save

4. FBI weighing civil rights probe in HPD shooting Open this result in new window
Houston Chronicle - Jan 10 11:58 PM
The FBI said that it likely will open a civil rights investigation to monitor ongoing inquiries into the shooting death of Robert McIntosh by a Houston police officer.
Save

5. FBI seminar a hit with Hollywood Open this result in new window
Reuters via Yahoo! Singapore News - Jan 10 10:56 PM
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - FBI memo to Hollywood: If it's not too much trouble, could you please portray our counterterrorism efforts with a bit more realism?
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6. FBI seminar hosts H'wood scribes Open this result in new window
The Hollywood Reporter - Jan 10 9:13 PM
FBI memo to Hollywood: If it's not too much trouble, could you please portray our counterterrorism efforts with a bit more realism? Hoping for an answer in the affirmative, the FBI hosted its first workshop for screenwriters Wednesday at the Federal Building in Westwood.
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7. Boy Missing in Mo.; FBI Investigating Open this result in new window
ABC News - Jan 10 12:38 PM
FBI Investigating 13-Year-Old Boy's Disappearance After Getting Off School Bus in Missouri
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8. FBI seminar a hit with Hollywood Open this result in new window
Reuters via Yahoo!7 News - Jan 10 5:56 PM
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - FBI memo to Hollywood.
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9. FBI looks at hanging probe Open this result in new window
The Clarion-Ledger - Jan 10 11:03 PM
The FBI is monitoring the investigation into the hanging of a Newton man whose body was found Jan. 2 in the carport of the home of friends.
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10. FBI seeks leads in series of bank robberies Open this result in new window
The Daily Review - Jan 11 3:17 AM
The FBI and local police need the public's help in tracking down a bank robber believed to have committed at least seven heists in the last two months in the East Bay, Modesto and Sacramento areas.
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1,873 posted on 01/11/2007 7:59:50 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All; Founding Father

http://www.tariqramadan.com/welcome.php3

Published WEDNESDAY 10 JANUARY 2007
NEWS
Wanted : Constructive debate on Islam
by Jacob Hein
A European form of Islam can lead the way for the religion in the world at large. But it requires that European problems be solved at the European level, says Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan
By Jacob Hein For The Straits Times
GENEVA - WHILE the Danish government may have stubbornly defended its people’s right to exercise freedom of speech during the Prophet Muhammad cartoon controversy, the Danes themselves are displaying signs of uncertainty and unease in the aftermath of worldwide, (...) ... continue


NEWS
image1

10 January 2007 :

Wanted : Constructive debate on Islam
by Jacob Hein

LECTURE : AUDIO & VIDEO


9 January 2007 :

Changing the present and dreaming the future
by Tariq Ramadan

[and there is lots more]


1,874 posted on 01/11/2007 8:12:28 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All; Founding Father

[goes with my last post]

http://www.weeklystandard.com/content/public/articles/000/000/012/800naxnt.asp?pg=1

The Weekly Standard


The State Dept. Was Right
To deny Tariq Ramadan a visa.
by Olivier Guitta
10/16/2006, Volume 012, Issue 05


ON SEPTEMBER 20, the State Department denied a visa to Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan on the grounds that he had contributed around 600 euros to a French charity classified as a terrorist organization since 2003 because of its relationship with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. This latest exclusion follows on the revocation of Ramadan's visa to live and work in the United States while teaching at Notre Dame in 2004, a step taken at the express request of the Department of Homeland Security. While the American Civil Liberties Union and the leftist literary group PEN, among others, present Ramadan as a moderate and accuse U.S. authorities of intolerance, the background and views of Tariq Ramadan suggest the government's move was entirely justified.

For starters, Ramadan is the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, the highly influential Islamist organization born in Egypt in 1928. It was the Brotherhood that invented the now-familiar Islamist modus operandi of covert organization, assassination, and extremist theology. Its goal was to overthrow the Egyptian regime, install a fundamentalist Muslim government, and impose sharia (Islamic law) as the new constitution. Tariq's father, Said Ramadan, was a major figure in this organization, expelled from Egypt by Gamal Abdul Nasser for Islamist activity.

Said Ramadan took refuge first in Saudi Arabia, where he was a founder of the World Islamic League, one of the largest Saudi charities and global missionary groups. He then moved to Geneva, where in 1961 he created the Islamic Center, a combination mosque, think tank, and community center. The philosophy of the Muslim Brotherhood influenced a generation of wealthy Muslim kids, including Osama bin Laden. Interestingly, Said Ramadan also had U.S. connections: He had a close relationship with Malcolm X and was personal mentor to Dawud Salahuddin, a black convert to Islam who murdered an Iranian dissident, Ali Akbar Tabatabai, in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1980. After fleeing the United States, Salahuddin spent a few days in Geneva visiting Said Ramadan before taking refuge in Iran. Profiled in the New Yorker in 2002, Salahuddin confirmed that Ramadan remained his adviser and spiritual guide until Ramadan's death in 1995.

Said Ramadan was one of the most important Islamist thinkers of the 20th century. He is probably the author of "The Project," a 14-page document dated 1982 found by the Swiss secret service in 2001. "The Project" is a roadmap for installing Islamic regimes in the West by propaganda, preaching, and if necessary war. (It can be read here.)

Tariq Ramadan was born in 1962 in Switzerland. After toying with a career as a professional soccer player, he settled into the family business as an Islamic scholar. He became a teacher of philosophy and theology in Swiss universities. Most European secret service agencies are convinced that, at the end of the 1980s, the Muslim Brotherhood chose Tariq Rama dan to be their European representative. In 1991, he went to Cairo to study with Islamist professors. Upon his return to Switzerland, he founded the Movement of Swiss Muslims. His objective was to reach Muslim youth by Islamizing modernity rather than modernizing Islam.

Charming and smooth, Ramadan holds out Islam as the solution to all the problems of Muslim youth--in keeping with the slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood, "Islam is the solution." The first indication of his fundamentalism came in 1993, when he lobbied to outlaw a play called Mahomet, being produced in Geneva, which represented the prophet in a light that did not fit with Ramadan's views. In 1995, Alaa el-Din Nazmi, an Egyptian Secret Service agent assigned to watch the Ramadan family, was murdered in Geneva. No one has been arrested for the crime.

Ramadan is also a pragmatist. When he realized that his Swiss venture was leading nowhere, he turned to France. There he won the support of one of the main Muslim organizations linked to the Brotherhood, the UOIF (Union des Organisations Islamiques de France), along with the main Muslim youth organization, the UJM (Union des Jeunes Musulmans). His notion of Islam as the solution was favorably received by many French Muslim youths and partly explains the radicalization of this community. But his popularity really took off when he threw in his lot with the antiglobalization crowd. Rama dan is an opportunist, and saw the appeal of this growing movement. Thanks to this alliance, he quickly became a media star in France.

By 2004 Ramadan was de facto spokesman of the French Muslim community, spending most of his time in Lyon, France's second-largest city, instructing the young Muslim population. His charisma and gift for public speaking made him a hit in the French suburbs, where high-rise public housing projects have become Islamic ghettos. Ramadan cultivated a "moderate" reputation by taking part in interfaith seminars and sitting on a commission on "Islam and Secularism." Indeed, some view him as a brilliant intellectual preaching a modern and tolerant Islam. The European Union has made him an adviser on religious issues.

But not all who know him are buying. One of Ramadan's interfaith partners, Fr. Christian Delorme, had this to say in 2001:

I am today convinced--and it took me time to understand it--that Tariq Ramadan's thinking and actions are dangerous. I believe he is not at all a man of dialogue. He knows how to charm his audience, but in reality, he wants a total separation between Muslims and other communities. I am convinced that Tariq Ramadan deeply hates the West.

For all his interfaith zeal, an examination of Ramadan's work fails to turn up any positive discussion of Christianity or Judaism. He calls Arabs "my brothers and sisters" while addressing all others as "madam," "sir," or without any honorific. When Ramadan faced off with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French interior minister and presidential hopeful, in 2004 on French TV, he repeatedly called the minister "Sarkozy" instead of the usual "Mr. Sarkozy" or, as the French say, monsieur le ministre. During this debate, Sarkozy pressed Ramadan to condemn the stoning of adulterers, a form of capital punishment endorsed by his brother, Hani Ramadan, head of the Islamic Center in Geneva. Tariq declined to go beyond his previous call for a moratorium on corporal punishment and the death penalty while Islamic scholars study the matter.

More to the point, Ramadan has multiple links to terrorism. In 1995, in the midst of terrorist attacks in Paris orchestrated by the Algerian Islamist group GIA, Jean-Louis Debré, French interior minister, denied Ramadan entry to France because of his links to the group. According to Roland Jacquard, who runs a terrorism watchdog website, Ramadan is not directly involved in terrorist activities, but many of his supporters are. For example, Ramadan greatly influenced Djamel Beghal, a French citizen arrested for plotting to bomb the U.S. embassy in Paris and sentenced to 10 years in jail in March 2005. Sylvain Besson of the Swiss daily Le Temps quotes court papers showing that Beghal "was a speechwriter for Tariq Ramadan." Ramadan denies ever meeting Beghal, although Beghal was living in Leicester in 1998 while Ramadan was studying there.

And Ramadan often speaks equivocally. Commenting on the September 11 attacks ten days after they occurred, he explained that one couldn't say for sure that bin Laden was behind them. He then asked, "Who profits from the crime?" noting that no Arab or Muslim cause was the better for it. This is an argument used by Islamist conspiratorialists who accuse Israel of perpetrating 9/11. In an interview with the French newsmagazine Le Point, Ramadan used the neutral term "interventions" when speaking of the major terrorist attacks in New York, Bali, and Madrid. And when asked recently by an Italian magazine whether car bombings against U.S. forces in Iraq were justified, he was quoted as saying: "Iraq was colonized by the Americans. Resistance against the army is just."

Ramadan's views about Israel are unsurprising: He strongly favors the elimination of the Jewish state. As one French DST (equivalent to the FBI) agent told the magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, Ramadan's long-term goal is to bring about the legal extinction of the state of Israel through a major Muslim lobbying campaign, first in Europe, then in the United States.

For her 2004 book Brother Tariq, Caroline Fourest, a French expert on Islamic fundamentalism, studied Ramadan's 15 books, 1,500 pages of interviews, and--most important--his 100 or so tapes, which sell tens of thousands of copies each year. Her conclusion: "Ramadan is a war leader." When an interviewer from the weekly L'Express asked Fourest how she could be so sure that Ramadan was indeed the "political heir of his grandfather," Hassan al-Banna, here's how she replied:

Because I've studied his statements and his writing. I was struck by the extent to which the discourse of Tariq Ramadan is often just a repetition of the discourse that Banna had at the beginning of the 20th century in Egypt. He never criticizes his grandfather. On the contrary, he presents him as a model to be followed, a person beyond reproach, nonviolent and unjustly criticized because of the "Zionist lobby"! This sends chills down one's spine when one knows the extent to which Banna was a fanatic, that he gave birth to a movement out of which the worst Jihadis (like Ayman al-Zawahiri, the number 2 man of al Qaeda) have emerged, and that he wanted to establish a theocracy in every country having a single Muslim. Tariq Ramadan claims that he is not a Muslim Brother. Like all the Muslim Brothers . . . since it's a fraternity which is three-quarters secret. . . . A Muslim Brother is above all someone who adopts the methods and the thought of Banna. Ramadan is the man who has done the most to disseminate this method and this thought.

In response to her book, Ramadan calls Fourest an agent of Israel but doesn't refute her findings. Predictably, as soon as her book was published, an Islamist website threatened Fourest and posted her address and the pass code to get into her building.

Fourest is not the only one who has seen through Ramadan's game. Prominent moderate Muslims also accuse Ramadan of double talk. For instance, the head of the largest French antiracism association, SOS Racisme, Malek Boutih (an Arab Muslim), told Ramadan after talking with him at length: "Mr. Ramadan, you are a fascist."

But while the French have come to see Ramadan as one more Islamist, the British have honored him with a fellowship at Oxford University and, more important, a seat on the Blair government's committee tackling extremism. As one stunned European diplomat told Radio France Internationale, "It's like putting a diabetic in the middle of a pastry shop."

But Ramadan has learned from his mistakes and is taking ever greater pains to conceal his true identity. In fact, his writings over the past year have been almost above reproach: He has even gone so far as to criticize some of the excesses in the Muslim world after the pope's recent remarks about Islam.

Ramadan's stint in England has refurbished his credibility and given him a new start. This is handy, from his point of view, as the United Kingdom is the ideal launching pad from which to reach the main objective: For the Muslim Brotherhood, the big prize has always been the United States.

Olivier Guitta is a foreign affairs and counterterrorism consultant in Washington.

© Copyright 2007, News Corporation, Weekly Standard, All Rights Reserved.


1,875 posted on 01/11/2007 8:18:04 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All; Founding Father; FARS

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/154auoqp.asp

The End of Deterrence
A nuclear Iran will change everything.
by S. Enders Wimbush
01/11/2007 12:00:00 AM


1,876 posted on 01/11/2007 8:22:24 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=13153&R=111DF1B777

Will the U.S. Win in Somalia?
The Somali campaign is off to a promising start, but questions remain.
by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
01/10/2007 8:00:00 AM


LESS THAN A MONTH AGO, the situation in Somalia seemed dire. The Islamic Courts Union (ICU), a radical group that is affiliated with al Qaeda, was on the brink of destroying the U.N.-recognized transitional federal government (TFG). Seventeen terrorist training camps were operational and terrorists from Afghanistan, Chechnya, the Arabian peninsula, and other places were flocking to Somalia to train in or staff these camps. ICU leaders brimmed with confidence.

But when the ICU began what it intended as the final assault on Baidoa, the south-central Somali city to which the TFG had been relegated, the Ethiopian military (which was protecting the TFG) responded with greater force than expected. The ICU had no good response to Ethiopian airpower. And recent revelations by U.S. intelligence and TFG officials show that U.S. air and ground forces were active from the outset, including CIA paramilitary officers, Special Operations forces, Marine units, and helicopter gunships. The Ethiopians and TFG took Mogadishu from the ICU on December 28 and have reversed most of the ICU's geographic gains.

The ICU is now preparing an insurgency, just as the head of its executive council, Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed, has called for. A senior military intelligence officer told me that ICU forces' tendency to "melt away" as Ethiopian troops advance is reminiscent of the Taliban's dispersal after Kandahar fell in Afghanistan.

While the Somali war is far from over, this is an appropriate time to consider the likely future of the conflict: America's decisions over the next few weeks will have a great impact on the success or failure of the mission.

THERE IS CURRENTLY REASON for optimism. While some observers seem certain that the Islamic Courts will succeed in mounting a powerful insurgency, it is important to note that this is not what the ICU wanted. The Islamic Courts expected to rout the Ethiopian forces protecting Baidoa and kill or capture the TFG's leaders. For them, insurgency is the last resort, not the master plan.

But just because insurgency is a last resort does not mean that it cannot succeed. A confidential U.N. report on Somalia released in late 2006 warned that "the ICU is fully capable of turning Somalia into what is currently an Iraq-type scenario, replete with roadside and suicide bombers, assassinations and other forms of terrorist and insurgent-type activities."

One factor that will determine whether the ICU successfully launches an insurgency in the near future is the scope of the losses it suffers on the battlefield now. Military intelligence analysts feel that the ICU will bounce back unless a significant portion of its fighters are killed or captured. There appears to be an important opportunity at present: a large number of ICU fighters are massed in Ras Kamboni, a coastal town near the Kenyan border where they appear to have gone to regroup.

Estimates of the number of ICU fighters in Ras Kamboni provided by intelligence analysts and sources within the TFG vary widely. The number of fighters has been placed as low as 600 and as high as 5,000. But clearly there is a significant contingent. ICU members in Ras Kamboni appear to be communicating with high-level al Qaeda leaders: according to a senior military intelligence officer, their calls for assistance motivated Ayman al-Zawahiri's January 5 tape which urged his followers to go to Somalia to fight alongside the ICU.

Ethiopian, TFG, and American forces are currently forming a cordon around Ras Kamboni in an effort to prevent ICU fighters from escaping. But there are signs that the ICU is also attempting to regroup in Kenya and Yemen, just as the Taliban regrouped in Pakistan after it was toppled from power in Afghanistan.

Beyond the question of how many ICU fighters can be taken out of action in the next few weeks, another critical military question is how long Ethiopia will continue its push. When Ethiopia intervened in Somalia in the mid-1990s to break up the radical al-Ittihad al-Islamiyya, it allowed the group's core leadership to escape intact. Those leaders went on to form the Islamic Courts. If Ethiopia does not finish the job this time, there will, again, be long-term consequences.

BUT THE WAR IN SOMALIA will not be won through military might alone. The ICU's rise was aided by the lawlessness that prevailed in the country after president Mohamed Siad Barre's fall in 1991. Rival warlord factions followed. A Council on Foreign Relations backgrounder points out that "[t]he warlords' militias were notorious for indiscriminate violence: Women and girls were often raped and locals could not move about the city without fear of being killed."

Some Somalis were willing to accept the ICU's strict version of sharia (which even entailed shooting people who tried to watch soccer matches) because they viewed the group as a stabilizing force. If the country again descends into chaos, that could help the ICU rise again.

TFG cabinet member Dahir Jibreel, the permanent secretary in charge of international cooperation, is currently in the Washington, D.C. area attempting to raise needed money for the ministry of foreign affairs. He told me that although the U.S. government has allocated $56 million to Somalia, it's not clear how much money will reach the TFG. Some money has been earmarked for an anticipated African Union peacekeeping force, while other funds will go to nongovernmental organizations.

Jibreel said that the transitional government has "acute needs": TFG soldiers and civil servants aren't receiving salaries, and the government hasn't been able to establish tax collection yet. Although he is "very happy that there is a concern at all levels for the situation in Somalia," he hasn't received any guarantees.

"At the end of the day, we want appropriations," Jibreel said. "We want money and resources to be given to implement what has to be done. The security forces of Somalia have to be established and maintained, the civil servants have to be paid, the democratic system has to be invested in, and we have to overcome the militias that are marauding around. We need resources--not earmarking for NGOs or U.N. organizations, but actual direct financial and technical assistance."

It is essential that the transitional government receive the aid it needs to work toward a stable and secure civil society in Somalia. As blogger Bill Roggio noted, "The lesson of the last four or five years is that it's not hard to win the war. It's hard to win the peace." If we lose the peace in Somalia, we may feel the repercussions for years to come.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross is a counterterrorism consultant and the author of My Year Inside Radical Islam.
© Copyright 2007, News Corporation, Weekly Standard, All Rights Reserved.


1,877 posted on 01/11/2007 8:25:18 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All; Founding Father; FARS

US to target anti-Iraq activity
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned that the US will take action against countries destabilising Iraq.

Her statement comes hours after US forces stormed an Iranian consulate in the northern Iraqi town of Irbil - prompting condemnation from Tehran.

In a major policy speech, President George W Bush said the US would take a tough stance towards Iran and Syria, whom he accused of destabilising Iraq.

Mr Bush also vowed to increase troop numbers in Iraq by more than 20,000.

Democratic Senator Joseph Biden, the chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he thought Mr Bush's strategy was a "tragic mistake".

Consulate raid

US troops raided the Iranian consulate in Irbil at about 0300 (0100 GMT), taking away computers and papers, according to Kurdish media and senior local officials.

Our troops will have a well-defined mission
President George W Bush

Five US helicopters were used to drop troops on the roof of the consulate building, according to an Iranian website close to the revolutionary guards.

Vehicles cordoned off the access roads while troops broke down the front door, arrested five men inside and confiscated computers and documents, it said.

Iranian television has said they had been transferred to US central command in Baghdad.

Iran's foreign ministry condemned the attack, and summoned the ambassadors of Iraq and Switzerland which represents American interests in the Iranian capital to protest against it.

'Vital region'

Ms Rice was speaking alongside new Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace, to give details of the Bush administration's revamp of its Iraq policy.

The top US diplomat said Iran and Syria should "end their destabilising behaviour" in the region.

This is a very risky strategy because it is really predicated on not what the US troops do, but on what the Iraqis do
James Carafano
Iraq Study Group military adviser

"The United States will defend its interests and those of our friends and allies in this vital region," she added.

She also said she was ready to meet Iran's leadership if it suspended its enrichment of uranium and pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"I repeat an offer that I have made several times, today. If Iran suspends its uranium enrichment, which is an international demand and not just an American one, then the United States is prepared to reverse 27 years of policy and I will met with my Iranian counterpart any time, anywhere."

On Wednesday, Mr Bush said fresh troops in Iraq would help to secure Baghdad's streets as part of the new strategy.

On Thursday, Mr Gates said he would seek to increase US forces by 92,000 soldiers and marines over the next five years for the long-term fight against terrorism.

In a poll conducted the day after Mr Bush's announcement, six in 10 Americans said they opposed an increase of troops in Iraq, with a substantial section of people saying they doubted that it would end the war more quickly.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6252567.stm

Published: 2007/01/11 16:05:24 GMT

© BBC MMVII


1,878 posted on 01/11/2007 8:39:49 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All

Historic ship records go online
Details of more than 30 million people who emigrated from Britain by ship are being published on a new website.

Previously family history researchers would have had to make the journey to The National Archives in London to read the lists.

But now people will be able to access the information online from their home or local library.

Details of people who left Britain by sea between 1890 and 1960 will appear at www.ancestorsonboard.com.

Passengers on the Titanic, which sank in 1912, children from the Barnardo's and Quarriers' children's homes who were sent to the USA and Canada and Jewish migrants fleeing to South Africa from Russia are among those on the 1.5 million pages of lists.

The database includes records from the period of mass migration between 1890 and 1914 when around 131,000 people emigrated from Britain every year.

'Missing link'

A series of records called BT 27 has been digitised and will be put on the website, in stages, over the next six months.

BT stands for Board of Trade, and 27 refers to the shelf number at The National Archives where the originals are held.

Name, age, address, occupation, marital status, departure date and destination of each passenger are the kind of details that are likely to be on the lists.

The pay-to-view database, which took a 125-strong team nearly a year to complete, was developed by family history website findmypast.com and The National Archives.


PASSENGERS TO NEW ZEALAND ON STEAMSHIP REMUERA, 1923
Rabbit catcher John Woodrow
Fireman Rufus Workman
Prison officer Barbara Clark
Dairymaid Elizabeth Barr

Elaine Collins, commercial director at findmypast.com, said: "The passenger records may well provide a missing link for many genealogists who have hit a brick wall in their research, as well as helping those outside of the UK to trace back to their British heritage."

Dan Jones, head of business development at The National Archives, said: "These records were previously only available on site at The National Archives and we hope that digitisation will open up a hugely valuable resource for genealogists and social historians all over the world."

The list includes departures from ports in England, Scotland and Wales as well as Irish ports before 1921 and ports in Northern Ireland after 1921.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/6244213.stm

Published: 2007/01/10 01:18:14 GMT

© BBC MMVII


1,879 posted on 01/11/2007 8:42:30 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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To: All

Ecuador and Colombia 'reach deal'
Ecuador says it has reached a deal with Colombia over the aerial fumigation of coca crops along the border, putting an end to a diplomatic crisis.

Ecuador's President-elect Alvaro Correa said Colombia had agreed to give notice of any spraying in the border area.

A team of experts from the Organization of American States (OAS) is due to study the health impact of glyphosate.

Mr Correa met Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at Daniel Ortega's inauguration in Nicaragua.

'Vital'

The agreement came a day after Ecuador took its case against Colombia to the OAS.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Francisco Carrion has described the aerial fumigation programme as a hostile act.

The Ecuadoreans argue that Colombia's spraying destroys crops and poses serious health risks on their side of the border.

Colombia says the programme is vital to combat illegal coca production and it is targeting plantations controlled by drug traffickers and the left-wing rebels.

Colombia remains the world's largest producer of cocaine, although its share has dropped to 54% from 74% in 2000.

Its drug-eradication programme is supported by the US.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6251809.stm

Published: 2007/01/11 14:16:45 GMT

© BBC MMVII


1,880 posted on 01/11/2007 8:44:49 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (Pray for peace, but prepare for the worst disaster. Protect you loved ones.)
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