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Locked on 11/17/2004 9:45:25 PM PST by Admin Moderator, reason:
Thread #22: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1282666/posts |
Posted on 11/03/2004 12:20:59 AM PST by nwctwx
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Bookmark, and I hope you forgive me, Cindy, for my stoopid question! (the one the other day.) I'm just a babe in the woods (metaphorically speaking).
I just came across this...I didn't see it posted here on TM, but please forgive me if it was posted previously:
***
Mixed Messages
While a slew of new terror threats have been issued since the election, Homeland Security has lowered the threat level for some targets. Determining the likelihood of a new attack is a vexing exercise
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Nov. 10 - Just a few days after the U.S. election last week, American intelligence officials picked up an eye-popping message on a Web site linked to Al Qaeda. The message warned Americans that the victory of President George W. Bush, "the criminal," would be met by a wave of imminent new terrorist attacks. "The upcoming few days will show you that what you have agreed to [by re-electing Bush] will drag you into an unbearable hell," read the posting.
The message, and a slew of others that have emerged in recent days, serve as sobering reminders that trying to make sense of the terrorist threat facing the country remains as vexing and confusing as ever.
The Homeland Security Department today unexpectedly lowered the threat level from Orange (high) to Yellow (elevated) for financial buildings in New York; Newark, N.J., and Washington, D.C.—a move that surprised and even puzzled some counterterrorism officials. Barely three and a half months ago, Secretary Tom Ridge had cited "alarming" and "rarely seen" intelligence suggesting that Al Qaeda operatives might be planning to attack the buildings—a move that heightened concerns that the terrorist group might seek to disrupt the presidential election.
But today, Ridge's deputy, James Loy, presented a markedly different picture—and one that the Bush administration was reluctant to fully acknowledge in the course of a hard-fought election campaign that revolved in large part about who was stronger in waging the war on terrorism. The financial-sector buildings that prompted the original concern—such as the World Bank Building in Washington and the New York Stock Exchange—have since been "hardened" and are now better equipped to withstand a potential attack, Loy explained to reporters in a conference call Wednesday afternoon.
Moreover, Loy said that, while administration officials were originally concerned about computer files seized in Pakistan suggesting the buildings had been "cased" or under surveillance, "there's never been any evidence" that Al Qaeda had developed any actual plans to attack them or that there was anything "out of the ordinary" suggesting an attack against any other targets.
Loy emphasized that "we're concerned today as we were a month ago" about a possible attack. Still, the inevitable result of the announcement will be to send a mixed message at a time when, ironically enough, some officials and counterterrorism experts believe the terror threat actually seems to be growing, rather than diminishing.
While some officials breathed a small sigh of relief last week when the election came and went without any terrorist incident, outside experts tell NEWSWEEK there actually has been a marked upsurge just within the last week of jihadi vows of revenge and other threats to U.S. citizens.
"I've never seen it so high," said Ritz Katz, director of the SITE Institute, a Washington-based group that specializes in monitoring terrorist Web sites. "Every day we go online and there are more and more calls to attack Americans. We're seeing more and more messages saying that, for electing Bush, the American public deserves to be hit."
The concern among some U.S. counterterrorism officials has been amplified in recent days by the predictably ferocious response among jihadis to the Fallajuh offensive in Iraq as well as new intelligence suggesting that the Osama bin Laden videotape released on the eve of the election may have been even more ominous than previously thought. In particular, sources tell NEWSWEEK, U.S. officials have now concluded that the bin Laden tape was probably connected to the surfacing of another tape a few days earlier in Pakistan in which an angry, hooded, fluent English-speaker—dubbed "Azzam the American"—vowed that "the streets of America will run red with blood."
U.S. intelligence officials are increasingly convinced that the man in the tape was in fact Adam Gadahn, a southern California native (born Adam Pearlman, the son of a 1960s psychedelic musician) who converted to Islam as a teenager and was earlier this year identified by the FBI as a key Al Qaeda operative who served as a translator in bin Laden's training camps.
Perhaps even more significantly, Katz said, the Azzam tape appears to have been made by a shadowy video-production company called Sahab that is traditionally used by Al Qaeda. If true, that would suggest that the Azzam and bin Laden tapes were related, and should perhaps be viewed as two parts of the same message.
Looking for further clues, a more complete translation of previously unreleased portions of the bin Laden tape shows that he made explicit threats that what would seem to be part of a sophisticated strategy aimed at crippling the U.S. economy. In portions of the tape that were never aired by the Arabic news network Al-Jazeera, bin Laden cited the cost-benefit ratio of the September 11 attacks: a $500,000 investment by Al Qaeda to pull off the operation compared to an estimated $500 billion cost to the U.S. economy including the "loss of a huge number of jobs."
"So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy," bin Laden said in the tape. Showing an unexpectedly keen ear for the U.S. political debate, bin Laden made a point of referring to the "size of the contracts acquired by the shady Bush administration-linked megacorporations, like Halliburton."
What to make of all this? Many U.S. counterterrorism officials are stumped … and anxious. The significance of the Internet postings is hard to read. The Web site of the group called the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades—which issued the post-election threat to plunge the United States into an "unbearable hell"—is closely monitored by U.S. counterintelligence and received some attention earlier this year when it took credit for the Madrid railway bombings. In fact, the group's linkage of that event to the Spanish elections a few days later was a primary factor in prompting warnings from Bush administration officials that Al Qaeda might be planning an attack to disrupt the U.S. elections, a major factor behind Ridge's original Code Orange announcement.
But the site is also known to take credit for events, like last year's electricity blackout in the Northeast, that it clearly had nothing to do with, making its reliability subject to question. And for all the heightened security fears in recent months, the FBI has yet to uncover any evidence of a particular Al Qaeda plot inside the United States, much less being able to identify any "sleeper cells" or operatives who might be in a position to carry them out.
Still, officials say, the "totality" of the threat environment seems troubling—one reason some were surprised by the timing of today's announcement. Indeed, Attorney General John Ashcroft (who announced his resignation Tuesday in a statement touting his success in waging the war on terrorism) reinforced the message in a private comment to his own staff on the morning that John Kerry conceded the election. For those who might be tempted to relax, Ashcroft told his staffers as they were leaving the meeting, just remember one point: "Al Qaeda," he said, "hasn't issued a concession speech."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6455571/site/newsweek/
Yasser Arafat was a passionate, intelligent man who worked hard for a Palestinian state, former Sen. George McGovern says.
"One man's version of a terrorist is another man's version of a freedom fighter," said McGovern, who chaired a Senate committee on the Middle East and met Arafat several times in Lebanon and North Africa.
BARF!
Noted and added to my memory bank
I've seen bits and pieces of that information over the last week, Donna, but I haven't seen MSM put it all in one place like that. Interesting in itself.
I think this article hits pretty close to home from an intel analyst point of view. I've felt the same dichotomy evaluating the available traffic when doing my summaries. What jihadi traffic is truely AQ, what traffic is bravado and sidelines cheerleading? As the President has said, the terrorists only have to be lucky once, we have to be correct 100% of the time.
The second part is that America IS showing strength and not backing down in the face of contrary (and uninformed) public opinion. That in itself is a huge deterrent.
You're so subtle and I totally agree.
Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
ON THE NET...
http://www.alm2sda.net
http://66.148.85.35
http://www.alm2sda.net/images/index_01.gif
http://www.alm2sda.net/site/
http://www.alm2sda.net/vb/
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Ahmad+Alkhalel+%0D%0A%22&btnG=Google+Search
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22megdady79%40hotmail.com%22&hl=en&lr=&filter=0
http://www.infovlad.net/index.php?p=88
incoming...
Ok.
Monday, Nov. 1, 2004 10:13 a.m. EST
Iran Lawmakers Vow 'Death to America' with Nuke Vote
Lawmakers in Iran shouted "Death to America" on Sunday as they voted unanimously to resume enriching uranium at the country's Bushehr nuclear facility.
Parliament speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said Sunday's vote is a "message for the outside world ... that the parliament won't give in to coercion," in quotes picked up by the Associated Press.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/11/1/101511.shtml
Iran's Top Man Demands
2 Nukes By Year-end
But Iran May Already Have Nukes
by R.A. Coombes
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the defacto ruler of Iran (he replaced the religious founder of Iran, Ayatollah Khomenei after his death) has placed an ultimatum to Iran's government and military leaders to get 2 nuclear bombs finished before the end of 2004 or else everyone involved will lose their status as Muslims. The Ayatollah was meeting with a group of senior government and military officials when he allegedly stated bluntly to them: "We must have two bombs ready to go in January or you are not Muslims."
http://aoreport.com/news83_iranukes2004.html
Yes, I saw that.
Another peaceful statement as the "holy" time of Ramandan is ending.
ON THE NET...
http://communicate.msn.com/Sweetislam/messageboard.msnw
http://communicate.msn.com/Sweetislam/smalltalk.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=5543&LastModified=4675497267709651833
http://beta.communities.fr.msn.com/Sweetislam/peopleofislam.msnw
http://groups.msn.com/-Soldiers-Of-Allah-/messages.msnw
http://www.soldiersofallah.com/
http://www.soldiersofallah.com/soafinal.swf
http://www.islamonline.net/english/Views/2004/01/article06.shtml
http://groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/soldiersofallah
http://permai1.tripod.com/soa2.html
http://www.angelfire.com/nd/SoldiersOfAllah/
http://groups.msn.com/SOLDIERSOFALLAH/_homepage.msnw?pgmarket=en-us
http://bahai-library.com/wwwboard/messages01/810.html
http://www.iammuslim.net/pages/poems/SoldiersofAllah.htm
http://www.bangladesh.com/forums/showthread.php3?postid=126063#post126063
http://soldiersofallah.blogspot.com/
http://beta.communities.msn.co.uk/SOLDIERSOFALLAH
http://beta.communities.msn.de/SOLDIERSOFALLAH
http://www.communities.ninemsn.com.au/SOLDIERSOFALLAH
http://www.communities.ninemsn.com.au/SOLDIERSOFALLAH/settings
http://nz.msnusers.com/SOLDIERSOFALLAH
http://groups.msn.com/SOLDIERSOFALLAH/_homepage.msnw?pgmarket=en-za
http://communities.ninemsn.com/SOLDIERSOFALLAH
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22SoldiersofAllah%22&hl=en&lr=&filter=0
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Soldiers+of+Allah%22&hl=en&lr=&filter=0
http://www.lyrics.ly/lyrics.php/Soldiers+of+Allah/Lyrics/1924
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=9411
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138404,00.html
"Four Killed When Van, Tractor-Trailer Crash"
Friday, November 12, 2004
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A commuter van collided head-on with a tractor-trailer early Friday on a Mississippi River bridge, killing four people and injuring four others, authorities said.
Diesel fuel spilled from the 18-wheeler and caught fire near the Illinois end of the bridge. It was extinguished a short time later."
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s04110051.htm
ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA
E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com, Web Site: www.assistnews.net
Friday, November 12, 2004
MILITARY CHAPLAIN BELIEVES NATO-LED PEACEKEEPING FORCES SHOULD PROTECT SERBIANS FROM ALBANIAN VIOLENCE IN KOSOVO
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
KOSOVO (ANS) -- In his personal commentary for Forum 18 News Service, a military chaplain, who prefers not to be identified, argues from personal experience of the recent violence in Kosovo that the KFOR peacekeeping force needs to defend the Serbian population and its Orthodox churches more effectively.
The chaplain believes that international organizations naively did not understand the
minds of the people of the region -- and so did not understand what was necessary to provide religious freedom.
He says the international community “needs to state clearly that independence will not be granted until minorities have full rights and security.
“The big challenge is changing people's mentality before independence can be considered -- and this requires a long-term commitment to genuine peace and genuine justice from both Albanian politicians and the international community.”
During the upsurge in anti-Serb violence in March, the chaplain stood on a hillside south of Kosovo's regional capital Pristina and for 360 degrees all around fires were burning.
“The violence was well organized. I knew it was not just houses that were burning, but schools and churches. I drove across Kosovo afterwards and saw the terrible aftermath. In the southern town of Prizren signs were still visible ‘Protected building -- any damage will be prosecuted.’ But the signs had done nothing to prevent the churches and monasteries from being reduced to blackened ruins.
“As a Christian priest, eight months after the violence, I still find it hard to find words to describe seeing with my own eyes the burnt-out churches, monasteries and homes -- and even a hospital. It was a terrible, evil act. The Serbs have totally fled from Prizren. Everything they had there has been burnt. In the western town of Pec, some of the churches were attacked but are still standing.
“I think back to before the violence, to the churches that were so rich, where God was worshipped through the centuries. The people had put so much into their places of worship. It was a great, even fantastic experience to visit them. Now many have been burnt out in acts of sacrilege. I saw holes cut in holy images, icons slashed across with knives. In one church a blackened chain hung from the ceiling where once a chandelier had lit the sanctuary. Even the doors were destroyed.”
The priest says individual soldiers within the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force were outraged, angry not only at the violence against the buildings but against the people.
“They told me it was hard to respect the Albanians after what they had done. They try to be neutral, but say it is difficult now.
“Some of the KFOR forces did well -- even at risk to themselves and their lives. But others did not, simply running away and letting the mobs burn down what they wanted. They could and should have done more.”
The widely divergent responses of different national contingents is well-known and has already been debated within KFOR, he says.
“But the reasons for the different reactions are clear: some were better equipped and trained than others, and had a clearer mandate from their politicians. The Germans were in such internal disarray that they just hid in their camp, which provoked a terrible row in Germany. One other national contingent I observed just packed up their gear and ran. Some nations simply had soldiers who were not prepared to fight (see F18News 6 May 2004 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=314).”
The chaplain said KFOR national contingents were already well known as being either "Serb-friendly" or "Serb hostile" even before the March attacks.
“Although some members of other KFOR contingents accused their colleagues of being ‘Serb-friendly,’ it was the latter who understood the situation correctly. They understood that -- in contrast to 1999 when the Albanians needed defending -- the boot was on the other foot and the Serbs were now the ones who needed defending. Yet some nations' soldiers failed to recognize this,” he said.
“Even abandoned and disused Orthodox churches were attacked. Pristina's unfinished Serbian Orthodox cathedral, which had been surrounded by barbed wire, was attacked again after the German KFOR troops guarding it fled. Only the blackened walls still survive (see F18News 24 March 2004 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=286 ).
“I do not think that every Albanian wanted to burn down everything Serb, but many of them want the Serbs to leave. They are also intent on removing all traces of any Serb presence. Churches are important symbols and historical monuments -- they show that the Serbs have been in Kosovo a long time. Some Albanians intended to show that KFOR cannot defend Kosovo's Serbs and wanted to take the opportunity to get rid of the churches as symbols. They wished to show that Serbs have no future in Kosovo.”
The priest believes that: “While shadowy Albanian leaders planned, organized and executed the violence, many Albanians were eager to participate. Local Albanian police were not neutral: many helped the attackers by showing them the best route to take. This has made it all but impossible for Serbian police officers to trust and work together with their supposed Albanian colleagues.
“Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were the targets, not Christian churches per se. In Prizren I saw the churches, bishop's residence, monasteries and Serbian houses burnt out, but the Albanian Catholic church was untouched.
“Although Albanian attacks on Serbs are motivated by ethnic hatred, religion is an important element -- even if the Albanians are generally not very devout Muslims. The Serbs have seen their possibility to worship taken from them as churches and monasteries have been destroyed and it is too dangerous for them to move freely around Kosovo. They face obstacles to worshipping God. Going to church is dangerous.”
The chaplain said that perhaps the international organizations now ruling Kosovo -- KFOR, the United Nations administration UNMIK and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- “understand what religious freedom is, but they have been naive to believe they could build bridges between the two communities. They thought they could heal the wounds in a short time, but failed to appreciate how people in this region carry history. They did not understand minds -- and therefore what was necessary to provide religious freedom.”
He said however difficult, KFOR has to protect priests, monks and nuns. To do this they will need many more soldiers than they have today. They will have to be everywhere.
“KFOR needs to be redeployed. Originally deployed in Albanian areas to protect the Albanians, its camps are still mainly in Albanian areas. Now it has to relocate to the Serbian areas to protect the Serbs, as today it is they who need protection. Providing such protection is a big challenge and, to be honest, I do not think it is possible. I think the Serbs will be squeezed out of Kosovo, except perhaps for one or two strongholds. To
maintain any significant Serbian presence would need far more foreign soldiers.”
He saw no Kosovo Albanian politicians able or willing to give such protection.
“It was disappointing to find no Albanians prepared to condemn the March violence and to admit it was wrong. No one would take a clear stand. Even Albanians who were thoughtful and reflective failed to speak out. The Kosovo Albanian government did immediately pledge to support the rebuilding of churches with money, but I am skeptical. Maybe a handful of churches might be rebuilt, but in any event there will be no Serbs left to worship in them.
“I cannot see that Kosovo will soon be independent as the Albanians hope and expect. The March (2004) riots -- which left 30 churches and monasteries destroyed, 19 people dead and 250 homes looted and burned -- proved that they are not mature enough to be a sovereign nation. They showed the international community that if it leaves Kosovo the province would at once descend into persecution of the Serbs and bloodshed. Houses and churches would be burnt and the people killed. It is not yet time for independence. I believe the international community understands this. To become an independent nation the Kosovo Albanians would have to guarantee minority rights.”
The fear remains though that despite continuing concerns over the security situation in Kosovo, countries contributing troops might need forces elsewhere in the world and no longer be willing to use their time, money and human resources to protect Kosovo's Serbs and other minorities, he said.
“For its part the Serbian Orthodox Church was not active enough in the 1990s in condemning government actions -- even massacres -- against Albanians. This was despite the lead of Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren and the ‘cybermonk,’ Fr Sava of the monastery at Decani in western Kosovo, who were very vocal in criticizing the policies of Slobodan Milosevic. This was not just a matter of words. The Decani monks, who are now under almost constant siege, sheltered many Albanians fleeing for their lives from Serb paramilitary units in April 1999.
“However, there were also church figures who acted more as Serbs than as Christians. Such a failure could have stemmed from the pressure the Orthodox Church had been under in Kosovo from the majority Albanian population, or from the strong link between the Orthodox Church and the nation. The Serbian Orthodox Church is a national and a nationalistic Church, thereby creating the danger that when crimes are committed in the
name of the nation it does not take a clear stand against them.”
He says had the Church with one voice spoken up forcefully in the 1990s, perhaps the Albanians would have remembered that now. Even had the Albanians still gone ahead with their attacks over the past five years, including the March 2004 attacks, as a united Christian Church the Orthodox would have done what was right.
“It is hard for the Orthodox Church to do anything now to protect its shrines. It could try to develop dialogue with those in charge of Kosovo today, urging them to guarantee religious freedom and freedom of movement. Although I believe it should not leave anything untried, I am afraid this will not lead to much.
“Some in the Serbian government are now mulling over the idea of partitioning Kosovo. I am not sure how good a solution this would be. Serbs are scattered across Kosovo and creating a safe haven for them in northern Kosovo might mean giving up other places which are important for the people living there and for the Church, such as Pec, the historic home of the Orthodox Patriarchate. Such a plan would provide some security, but so many Serbs would have to move. The international community would have to build
houses for those moved from their homes.
“If the Serbs abandoned certain areas of Kosovo their churches would not last long -- months at the most. Unprotected churches would be quickly demolished,” he said.
No common Christian sentiment exists between the Serbian Orthodox and the Christian Albanian minority, most of whom are Catholics, but with Protestants too, the chaplain explained.
“I saw no contacts between Serbian and Albanian Christians. (In the areas I was in, I did not meet any Protestants.) Maybe the Catholic Church could have done more as Orthodox churches were destroyed after 1999 and especially in the March violence. The Catholic Albanians might have been a group that could have been used to communicate to the rest of Kosovo's Albanians, though I do not know if this would have worked. I do not believe the local Catholic Albanians acted any differently to other Albanians during the attacks (during the war in Bosnia we saw Catholic Croats fighting Orthodox Serbs).
“Although numerous mosques have been built in Kosovo since 1999 -- many with Arab money -- Albanians told me they cared little about them. They told me they needed other things first. Only old people go to the mosques and many are empty.”
Changing people's mentality is the big challenge, he said.
“The international bodies in Kosovo -- UNMIK, KFOR and the OSCE -- as well as the international community more widely need to tell the Albanian public that independence will not be granted until minorities have full rights and security. This is one lever of pressure they have.
“KFOR must focus more on protecting the Serbs, their churches and other buildings, and ensure freedom of movement. Some churches are not in villages and for Serbs to enjoy their religious freedom they need protection to visit such churches.
“Attackers have been able to act with impunity, but this must stop. Those who organized the March violence -- and earlier attacks -- must be prosecuted. The authorities know who they are -- KFOR intelligence knew many of those who organized the violence -- but the difficulty has always been to provide proof that will stand up in court. If cases go to court and then collapse because proof is not strong enough that will make the situation worse. Witnesses brave enough to come forward will see that nothing happens and would be vulnerable, despite a witness protection program (see F18News 6 May 2004 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=314).”
The priest said photographs are held of those actually committing the violence, but prosecuting them would not catch the big fish, the organizers who are often prominent figures in Kosovo Albanian society.
“Albanian politicians need to provide money to rebuild Orthodox churches, as well as houses, schools and other facilities for the Serbian population. They need to work to provide security to the Serbs and freedom of movement. Their president, Ibrahim Rugova, and other leaders need to spell out unequivocally that the March violence against the Serbs was wrong and condemn what happened. Continuing attacks and murders of Serbs must stop. Maybe financial pressure on the Albanian-led government might help, but the greatest pressure is to withhold independence.
“As a Christian priest, I believe Christians around the world should put pressure on local religious leaders -- whether Muslim, Orthodox or Catholic -- to behave in accordance with the dictates of their faith, though I am not sure how much this will achieve. Violence cannot be defended by any religious view. Christians too can pray. They can also travel to Kosovo to help in reconciliation, though such a commitment needs to be long-term:
short-term flying visits will achieve little.”
He concluded: “It will be impossible for the international bodies to leave Kosovo soon -- restoring peace and justice to Kosovo is a long-term commitment. Changing the mentality of the inhabitants is a crucial task in this, though it will take a very long time.”
Commentaries are personal views and do not necessarily represent the views of F18News or Forum 18.
For the physical consequences of the March violence in Kosovo, see F18 News
6 May 2004 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=314. For reports
of the violence at the time, including related violence in Serbia,
Montengro, Macedonia and Bosnia, see F18News, 2004:
18 March http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=280,
19 March http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=282,
19 March http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=283 and
24 March http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=286.
For more background information, see Forum 18's Kosovo religious freedom survey at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=137
A printer-friendly map of Kosovo & Serbia (map title Serbia and Montenegro) is available at
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=europe&Rootmap=yugosl.
The map follows international legal usage in indicating the boundaries of territories. Kosovo is in international law part of Serbia & Montenegro although administered by the UN.
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to F18News http://www.forum18.org/
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
http://www.forum18.org/
If you need to contact F18News, please email us at: f18news.editor@forum18.org
Forum 18
Postboks 6663
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NORWAY
** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Garden Grove, CA. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in Sept., 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station.
** You may republish this story with proper attribution.
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