Iran says will help U.S. if it quits Iraq

Iran says will help U.S. if it quits Iraq

Sun Nov 26, 2006 9:45am ET



TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday Iran was ready to help the United States and Britain in Iraq but only if they pledged to change their attitude and withdraw their troops.

The remark comes amid growing calls for Washington to engage Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Syria, to help prevent Iraq plunging into civil war.

A senior U.S. official said this month Washington was "in principle" ready to discuss Iraq with Iran but said the timing of such talks was unclear. Ahmadinejad has previously said he would talk but only if Washington changed its behavior.

"The Iranian nation is ready to help you get out of that swamp (in Iraq) on one condition ... you should pledge to correct your attitude," Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech to a parade of the Basij religious militia.

"Go back and take your forces to behind your borders and serve your own nations," he added.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani should make a delayed visit to Tehran on Monday to discuss Iraq after a curfew in place since a mass car bombing on Thursday was due to be lifted.

Ahmadinejad regularly condemns the U.S. occupation of Iraq and complains about U.S. bases in the region. Washington accuses Iran of seeking to foment unrest, while Iran blames the violence on the presence of U.S. troops.

The Iranian president also criticizes what he says is a hostile U.S. and British attitude to Iran, particularly over its disputed nuclear programme.

Western countries, including the United States and Britain, accuse Iran of seeking to develop atomic bombs, a charge Iran denies. It says its aim is to generate electricity.

Ahmadinejad urged countries in the region to work together to expel foreign forces from their soil.

"Let us put our hands together and expel enemies who are against humanity from our countries and our sacred lands," he said.

Iran has in the past called for a security pact between Iran and other regional states, but Gulf Arab countries, dominated by Sunni Muslims, have long been suspicious of Shi'ite Muslim Iran's intentions in the region.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Muslim barber who taught kids jihad flees U.S.

Muslim barber who taught kids jihad flees U.S.
Judge allowed him to keep passport when released prior to sentencing

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

A Muslim who allegedly used his Seattle barber shop to teach children "how to shoot and fight the Americans" has fled to Somalia to avoid prison after he was convicted on federal counterfeiting and weapons charges.

Ruben Shumpert, a black American who converted to Islam, was among more than a dozen arrested by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force two years ago on charges including immigration fraud and bank fraud, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

Shumpert was able to leave the country because a judge allowed him to keep his passport when he was released from custody prior to sentencing. A condition of Shumpert's release was that he surrender the passport prior to his sentencing, which was scheduled for Tuesday.

While he was not convicted on terrorism-related charges, federal agents allege Shumpert's barber shop was a gathering place for radical Muslims where he showed children videotapes of "fighting, shooting and killing with images on his computer screen of al-Qaida and the Taliban," the PI reported.

In court documents, the agents called his shop a kind of "anti-American training ground for Muslims."

Federal authorities have issued a warrant for the arrest of Shumpert, also known as Amir Abdul Muhaimin.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Redkey said Shumpert had been free on personal recognizance and faced sentencing under a plea agreement.

According to Redkey, Shumpert made a phone call from Somalia to an FBI agent on the Joint Terrorism Task Force from Somalia. The convict apparently has little fear of being tracked down as the African nation, considered a hotbed of radical Islam, has no extradition treaty with the U.S.

Redkey told the Seattle paper it has become more common in recent years for judges to allow defendants to turn in their passports after they are released from custody, but the U.S. Attorney's Office is reviewing the practice.

Vandalized church gives gifts to suspect

Vandalized church gives gifts to suspect

© 2006 The Associated Press

MISSOULA, Mont. — Congregants of a church that was badly vandalized have collected "love baskets" full of electronics for the three suspects.

"The judge will give them consequences, but as a congregation we want to reach out and extend love and mercy to them," said Jason Reimer, a pastor at the South Hills Evangelical Church. "A lot of us, whether we're churchgoers or not, have been in their shoes before and have made some bad choices. But God forgives us."

Justin Wurth, 18, Duane Barry, 19, and Tyler Pearce, also 19, are accused of breaking into the church just before midnight Nov. 12. Police say they stole money and electronic equipment, smashed windows and computer monitors and sprayed a fire extinguisher in the church gym.
Authorities arrested them at the church and charged them with felony burglary. It was not immediately clear whether they had lawyers.

"We've collected several hundred dollars' worth of gift cards, X-Boxes and controllers, a DVD, a VCR," Reimer said. "All three young men still live with their parents or grandparents, so we hope the message will be clear."

Chavez vows to beat the "devil"

By Brian Ellsworth

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez on Sunday promised hundreds of thousands of supporters he would win a resounding victory in his December 3 reelection bid he describes as a challenge to Washington.

The former soldier and self-styled revolutionary is favored in the polls to beat rival Manuel Rosales after building a solid political base through a social development campaign financed by oil revenues.

Chavez supporters flooded Caracas thoroughfares waving flags and banners, congregating in different parts of the downtown a day after Rosales sympathizers held a similar march to close his campaign in the capital city.

"We are confronting the devil, and we will hit a home run off the devil next Sunday," said Chavez, who ruffled feathers in October by calling President Bush the devil in remarks at the United Nations.

"On December 3 we're going to defeat the most powerful empire on earth by knockout," Chavez said.

Donning red like most of his supporters, Chavez delivered a two-hour speech marked by his signature combination of fiery leftist rhetoric and crowd antics typical of pop music concerts.
He spent nearly ten minutes trying to see which of four groups of demonstrators could cheer louder -- then told them all to be quiet.

"Whoever talks first will turn into a donkey," he thundered, only to break into his unmistakable giggle.

Following his speech, Chavez drove through the packed Avenida Bolivar standing atop a campaign vehicle, dancing to political jingles and occasionally reaching into the crowd to shake hands with supporters.

POLARIZED SOCIETY

The weekend, with massive government and opposition rallies choking the capital's streets, reflected the country's political polarization.

In the opposition stronghold of Altamira, Chavez supporters on their way to the march leaned out of windows waving posters of their "Comandante," and screamed "Viva Chavez."

Residents in expensive sports-utility vehicles honked their horns in protest and shouted the opposition slogan "Dare."

But a street cleaner and parking attendant held up their hands and spread their fingers, a symbol of Chavez's goal of sweeping 10 million of Venezuela's 16 million voters.

The demonstrations themselves were also markedly different, with Chavez's joking spontaneity contrasting with Rosales' emotional but stern and unsmiling appearance in the opposition's Saturday march.

Rosales in August united a fractured opposition movement that failed to oust Chavez through a botched coup and a grueling two-month oil strike in 2002 and a failed recall referendum in 2004.

Most polls give Chavez a wide lead, with one AP-Ipsos poll showing Chavez sweeping 59 percent of likely voters compared to only 27 percent for Rosales, who points to opposition-linked polls that show the race much tighter.

First elected in 1998, Chavez, a close ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro, has galvanized the nation's poor with promises of a revolution. But he has sparked outcries among middle class critics who call him an authoritarian.

The State Department describes him as a menace to regional democracy, though Venezuela remains the fourth-largest exporter of oil to the United States.

(Additional reporting by Saul Hudson)
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Christian Organisations Call on Blair to Tackle Worldwide Persecution

Christian Organisations Call on Blair to Tackle Worldwide Persecution

A host of leading Christian and religious organisations have signed a joint letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair to tackle issues of persecution on a global scale.

by Daniel Blake

A host of leading Christian and religious organisations have signed a joint letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair to tackle issues of persecution on a global scale.

The joint letter to Blair marks the 25th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion and Belief on 25th November 2006.

In it the Christians call for a cross-departmental strategy for tackling religious persecution worldwide.

The letter, signed by 24 UK-based religious leaders and faith-based organisations from different traditions, highlights “the violations of religious freedom that are taking place worldwide and outlines fifteen recommendations to the government on ways to assist in countering violations of religious freedom”, explained Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a human rights group that has backed the letter.

The recommendations include:

1) To appoint an envoy for religious freedom to investigate cases of religious persecution and prepare briefings for relevant government departments and parliamentary committees.
2) To require British Embassies and High Commissions to prepare an annual report on the state of local equality and tolerance, including freedom of religion and belief.
3) To train Foreign Office and Home Office Case Officers (and others where appropriate, such as in the Research Directorate), to ensure promotion of the right to freedom of religion and belief, accurate reporting of religious persecution, and the provision of relief and asylum for victims of religious persecution.
4) To support peace and reconciliation initiatives designed to counter religious hatred and promote understanding.

CSW’s Advocacy Director, Tina Lambert, said: “Twenty five years after the adoption of this UN declaration, the international promotion of the elimination of religious intolerance and discrimination still lags far behind mechanisms adopted in other areas of human rights, such as the elimination of racial discrimination.

“It is time the international community recognises the need to commit to ensuring the implementation of this declaration.

“In the worldwide Church, some estimate that upwards of 250 million people are suffering as a result of their faith, with Christians being harassed, attacked, imprisoned, tortured and even killed for their choice of faith. UN instruments clearly indicate that it is a basic human right to adopt and practice a religion or belief.”

Lambert concluded: “On the anniversary of this UN declaration, we hope that those who still suffer so much for exercising this right will be remembered. Through this letter to the UK government, we a calling for a more proactive stance in promoting religious freedom worldwide.”

Ecumenical Christian Delegation Concludes Historic Visit to China

Ecumenical Christian Delegation Concludes Historic Visit to China

by Jennifer Gold

Posted: Saturday, November 25, 2006, 7:28 (GMT)

The World Council of Churches’ General Secretary, Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, has concluded his tour of China on 22 November 2006.








World Council of Churches (WCC) General Secretary, Rev Samuel Kobia, has led an ecumenical delegation on a China tour, which ended 22 November 2006.(WCC)

Leading an ecumenical delegation, Kobia publicly affirmed that, “it is in the best interests of the government to actually expand the space for the practice of religion”.

The WCC general secretary said he had been impressed by the way in which Christian communities are growing in the country, and by the enabling and safe environment in which Christians practice their faith.

He encouraged the government to ensure wider participation and involvement of religious people in efforts to bring about the Chinese vision of a “harmonious society”.

“It would be detrimental to the government if it is not seen to be providing freedom of religion,” he said.

“If China wants to be the kind of global player that it is clearly becoming, then there are norms and standards" in terms of religious freedom "which will be expected of its government, and I think they are aware of this,” he said.

On 22 November, Kobia and members of an ecumenical delegation visited the Dong Zhou Children's Village in San Yuan County, Shaanxi Province.

They spent time with 29 children under the age of 14 whose parents are in prison, or were executed or unable to meet their basic needs. “Although the parents of these children paid for their own crimes, their children are innocent,” an official told the delegation.

The Village, which is supported by the Amity Foundation, the Shaanxi Christian Council and the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), aims to provide a healthy environment and protect the children from becoming child labourers, garbage collectors, street children or from falling into illegal activities.

The official praised the role played by Christians in supporting the Village in order to help “these children who should have lived a life like those growing up happily with their families”.

“Love, education and hope are the three words that characterise what I have seen here,” Kobia told the staff and supporters of the Village.

“This project was born out of an active, practical love. And when the children feel loved and have been given education and training here, then they have hope for the future. There is no better gift that this community can give to these children than hope,” Kobia said.

The delegation was moved by the response of a 9-year-old girl who expressed gratitude on behalf of the children.

On the previous day, Kobia visited the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and addressed a group of scholars.

Dr Zhuo Xinping, and other scholars affiliated with the Academy, who focus their research on a wide variety of specialisations within Christianity, engaged in dialogue with Kobia and members of the delegation.

The WCC general secretary presented an overview of the changing landscape of Christianity today.

The ecumenical delegation accompanying the WCC general secretary on his visit 15 to 22 November to China was composed of Rev Dr Tyrone Pitts (WCC central committee member, general secretary of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, USA); Rev Dr Seong-Won Park (WCC central committee member, from the Presbyterian Church of Korea, South Korea); Rev Fr Gabriel Papanicolaou (ecumenical officer of the Church of Greece), Dr Mathews George Chunakara, (WCC Asia secretary) and, as consultants, Dr Monika Gaenssbauer (director of the China Study Project of the Protestant churches and mission agencies in Germany) and Rev Deborah DeWinter (WCC programme executive for the United States).

PETA Mistakenly Targets Alaska Church Over Nativity Scene

PETA Mistakenly Targets Alaska Church Over Nativity Scene

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The pastor at Anchorage First Free Methodist Church was mystified.
Why was the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals chastising his church?

No animals are harmed in the making of the church's holiday nativity display. In fact, animals aren't used at all.

People, however, do dress the parts — Mary, Joseph, wise men, etc. The volunteers stand shivering at a manger on the church lawn, a silent tribute to Christmas.

The Rev. Jason Armstrong was confused by an e-mail earlier this week from PETA. It admonished him for subjecting animals "to cruel treatment and danger," by forcing them into roles in the church's annual manger scene.

"We've never had live animals, so I just figured this was some spam thing," Armstrong said. "It's rough enough on us people standing out there in the cold. So we're definitely not using animals."

Jackie Vergerio, PETA's captive animals in entertainment specialist, said her organization tracks churches nationwide that use real animals in "living nativity scenes."

Seems the confusion started with the church's choice of phrase. PETA flagged Free Methodist's display as a "living nativity," and indeed, that's how the church describes it on its Web site.
To PETA, that means animals.

"Those animals are subject to all sorts of terrible fates in some cases," Vergerio said. "Animals have been stolen and slaughtered, they've been raped, they've escaped from the nativity scenes and have been struck by cars and killed. Just really unfathomable things have happened to them."

In the letter to Armstrong, Vergerio shared some sad fates of previous nativity animals — like Brighty the donkey, snatched from a nativity scene in Virginia and beaten by three young men. Ernie the camel fled a creche in Maryland but was struck and killed by a car. Two sheep and a donkey had to be euthanized after a dog mauling at a manger scene in Virginia.

Free Methodist's display is totally peaceful, Armstrong said. The congregation erects the stable. They spread some straw and don costumes. Some may dress as manger animals.

"We have some puppet camel things we put out," Armstrong said. "We have a cow hood thing that a person will wear that actually just looks spooky."

The volunteers stand beneath a brightly lit electric star, as Christmas music fills the frosty air. They don't even speak. Consider it a meditative tribute to the holiday season.

"A lot of folks will think we're plastic statues till one of us moves," Armstrong said.

The scene usually unfolds for a few nights during the week before Christmas. Sometimes people stroll by, or troll past in vehicles to observe.

"No one's come by protesting or thrown bloodstained fur at us or anything," Armstrong said. "We even use a plastic baby."

© Associated Press. All rights reserved.
© 2006 FOX News Network.

Nablus: Explosive teddy bears found in lab

Nablus: Explosive teddy bears found in lab

Joint paratrooper, Shin Bet force uncovers explosives lab in West Bank city, finds toys with wires hanging from them, apparently slated to be used as deadly explosives

Efrat Weiss Published: 11.25.06, 14:51

A joint paratrooper and Shin Bet force uncovered an explosive lab in Nablus Friday night. In the lab, the forces found teddy bears with wires hanging from them, apparently slated to be used as explosive devices.

The lab was detonated in a controlled manner, and there were no reports of injuries.

The forces also found in the explosives lab three belts made from cloth, ready to contain explosives, a hollow coat used for hiding explosives, and 20 light bulbs and light sockets used for activating explosives.

Test tubes, a hollow gas tank, hollow pipes, batteries, 40 liters of hydrogen peroxide and ohms were also found in the lab.

Since the beginning of the year, Israel Defense Forces soldiers operating in Nablus hit 41 gunmen who were planning, according to the defense establishment, to hit IDF troops or Israeli citizens.

Some 320 wanted terror suspects were arrested in the West Bank city and its surroundings since the beginning of the year, most of them affiliated with Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Fatah and Hamas.

At the beginning of the year, another explosives lab was uncovered in the city's casba. The forces located the lab in an abandoned building after receiving intelligence.

Captain Assaf Cabra, a company commander at the Haruv battalion, addressed the operation at the time: "We launched a regimental operation in Nablus, which included searches, seizing weapons and arrests. We uncovered the explosive lab in the casba, which contained between 40 to 50 kilograms (88 to 110 pounds) of explosives for preparing explosive devices."

The defense establishment reported that the terror organizations were working with greater vigor to carry out terror attacks from the city, and in the past months many explosive belts were captured in the area and gunmen were arrested on their way to carry out attacks in Israel .

Copyright © Yedioth Internet. All rights reserved.

'Gutless' publisher nixes bookover fears of Islamic sensitivity

'Gutless' publisher nixes bookover fears of Islamic sensitivity
Thriller dumped after booksellers, librarians refused to stock novel with Muslim bad guy

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Award-winning author John Dale's latest novel is a gripping, page-turner of a thriller by all accounts, but it won't be in stores soon because his publisher has dumped the novel after booksellers and librarians said they wouldn't carry it because the "baddie" was a Muslim terrorist.


Dale, an Australian writer, was commissioned in March 2004 by Scholastic Australia, a leading children's publisher to write a "tough, snappy thriller," that would cause their young readers to "break out in sweats and their eyes to bulge without giving them actual nightmares."

The result was "Army of the Pure," a book Dale described to the Australian as a contemporary action adventure written to appeal to his own son, "a book he could not put down."

The novel tells the story of four children pursued by Afghan terrorists after they discover a plot to blow up a nuclear reactor in a Sydney suburb.

Scholastic was pleased with the book, calling it a "gripping page-turner" and Dale's writing "almost flawless."

But that was before the marketing department had its say.

The company surveyed "a broad range of booksellers and library suppliers" about carrying the new book and were met with concerns over its featuring of a Muslim terrorist.

"They all said they would not stock it," said Andrew Berkhut, Scholastic's general manager, "and the reality is if the gatekeepers won't support it, it can't be published."

The "gatekeepers," however, had no problem with terrorists in two recent Australian bestsellers. Richard Flanagan's "The Unknown Terrorist" and Andrew McGahan's "Underground" portray terrorists as victims who were driven to violence by the West.

McGahan's "Underground" has Muslims executed en masse or herded into ghettos as the war on terror twists Australia into an unrecognizable society.

Flanagan, who describes Jesus Christ as "history's first ... suicide bomber," dedicated his book to David Hicks, an Australian currently detained at Guantanamo after being captured fighting with the Taliban.

In a 2004 documentary, Hicks' father read excerpts of his son's letters, written before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in which he said that he was training in Pakistan and Afghanistan to ensure "the Western-Jewish domination is finished, so we live under Muslim law again," and warns his father to ignore "the Jews' propaganda war machine."

Dale's not happy with any of the gatekeepers, his publisher included.

"There are no guns, no bad language, no sex, no drugs, no violence that is seen or on the page," Dale told the Australian, "but because two characters are Arabic-speaking and the plot involves a mujahideen extremist group, Scholastic's decision is based "100 percent (on) the Muslim issue."

Scholastic's decision was "disturbing because it's the book's content they are censoring," he said.
"A gutless" publishing decision, added Lyn Tranter, Dale's agent. "I am appalled that this is censorship by salesmen."

In addition to being an author, Dale is director of the Center for New Writing at the University of Technology in New South Wales.