Dagan: Syria more willing now than ever to attack Israel

Dec. 18, 2006 16:04 Updated Dec. 18, 2006 19:26
Dagan: Syria willing to attack Israel
By SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL

Mossad chief Meir Dagan reading a report on Iran. Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski


Despite Syria's peace overtures it is "more willing now than ever before" to take military action against Israel, Mossad Chief Meir Dagan told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday.

Dagan said that following Israel's war with Lebanon, Syria felt more secure and confident in having its own personal confrontation with Israel.

He went on to say that the Syrian army was building up its anti-tank missile units, after having seen that this was Israel's Achilles' heel in the Second Lebanon War. He also told the committee that Syria was secretly buying stocks of anti-tank missiles from Russia.

Dagan stressed that the condition was so volatile that if Israel were to send a warning signal to Syrian President Bashar Assad - as it did in June when IAF jets buzzed his summer palace while he was present - this would be reason enough for Syria to wage war.

Dagan reminded the FADC that Assad's modus operandi was to "whip out a white rabbit of a peace overture" to dispel international pressure coming from the US.

In fact, said Dagan, on Sunday, when Foreign Minister Walid Moallem was interviewed by The Washington Post, saying that Syria was willing to start negotiations without preconditions, the Arab press printed the exact opposite; that Syria would not return to the negotiation table.

Dagan summarized the Syria enigma by saying that the Israeli government had no reason to believe that Syria was making any real moves towards peace.

The next most pressing issue on Israel's agenda, Dagan said, was the Iranian nuclear threat.

"Iran is approaching nuclear ability. The Iranian president wants 3000 centrifugal processors in bunkers by March 2007."

However, Dagan asserted that the Mossad did not believe Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was capable of meeting the deadline, saying that the Mossad believed it would take until the end of 2007.

He explained that if there were "no sanctions on Iran and no technological holdups," by 2008 Iran would have 25 kilograms of enriched uranium and by 2009-2010 they would already have nuclear warheads.

Dagan finished his address by saying that the Iraq civil war was "dangerous" and that the day the US left, Iraq would go back to being an Islamic extremist state, which would be "a geopolitical change that will harm Israel."

© 1995 - 2006 The Jerusalem Post. All rights reserved.

Iran seeks to replace dollar with euro

by Hiedeh Farmani
Mon Dec 18, 6:45 AM ET

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has announced it would replace the dollar with the euro in foreign transactions and state-held foreign assets, in an apparent response to mounting US pressure on its banking system.

"The government has ordered the central bank to replace the dollar with the euro to limit the problems of the executive organs in commercial transactions," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters Monday.

"We will also employ this change for Iranian assets (in dollars) held abroad."

Amid US allegations that Tehran funds militant groups and is seeking a nuclear weapon, reports have suggested the US treasury has put major pressure on European banking giants to halt transactions involving Iranian clients.

Bankers in Iran have complained in recent weeks that it was becoming increasingly difficult to receive Iranian-held money denominated in dollars from European bank accounts.

They said that this was because of US pressure on European banking giants not to allow dollar-denominated funds to be sent into, or out of, the Islamic republic.

Elham implied the move would apply to oil revenues from the world's number four crude producer, although it would be difficult for Iran to force oil buyers to pay for all of its crude oil in euros.

"Foreign income sources and oil revenues will be calculated in euros and we will receive them in euros in order to put an end to our dependence on the dollar," Elham said.

In reality, Iran could still receive payment for oil in dollars and then convert it into euros for the state budget.

The move comes amid mounting pressure from the United States for the UN Security Council to agree sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.

Elham added that Iran's budget would in future be calculated in euros.

"Until now the budget has been calculated according to revenues in dollars, but this calculation will now change," he said.

Economy Minister Davoud Danesh Jafari had already said in November that Iran would carry out transactions with currencies other than the dollar and its use of the greenback would drop to a minimum level.

Morteza Tamadon, a member of the government's budget and planning commission, said the government was looking to reduce its dependence on the dollar due to the greenback's recent slump as well as because of US pressure.

"Iran wants to reduce this vulnerability," he said, adding that the most reasonable option for the government would be to use a basket mixing both currencies.

"This is a political manoeuvre as a reaction to the US ban on dollar transactions with Iran," said leading economist Mohammad Reza Behzadian.

However he cast doubt on whether Iran would ever be able to demand that all foreign exchange payments for its oil be made in euros.

"Iran has said that 60 percent of oil sales are already being carried out in dollars. I suppose the government would keep the remaining amount in dollars because it has to.

"The exchange of petrodollars into euros would be very costly for Iran, inflicting high money loss during the procedure. The dollar is very much preferred by foreign sellers."

"It's mainly a political move," Investec analyst Bruce Evers told AFP in London.

"But also they may feel, possibly rightly so, that the euro is a stronger currency, and that with the dollar as weak as it is they're losing out and it could help them recoup some of the lost revenues."

At the Singapore G7 summit of the world's most industrialised nations in September, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called for a tough stance from the world's financial leaders against Tehran.

He said the United States had evidence that major banks had become inadvertently implicated in terrorist financing, adding that US authorities were therefore engaged in an "educational" campaign.

The United States broke off relations with Iran after the 1979 storming of the US embassy in Tehran by student radicals, and ties have remained frozen ever since.

North Korea insists on nuclear status

By BURT HERMAN, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING - North Korea insisted Monday it be treated as a full-fledged nuclear power as six-nation arms talks convened for the first time since its atomic test, but the United States said time was running out for Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear arsenal and threatened more sanctions.

U.S. officials dismissed the communist regime's opening comments as unsurprising rhetoric, while the chief American delegate said it was time to move forward on disarmament.

"The supply of our patience may have exceeded the international demand for that patience, and we should be a little less patient and pick up the pace and work faster," envoy Christopher Hill told reporters.

The resumption of the talks — consisting of the United States, China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas — came after a more than 13-month break during which the communist North tested fired a new long-range missile in July and then set off an underground atomic blast Oct. 9.

North Korea had refused to return to the multinational talks in anger over the U.S. blacklisting of a Macau bank where Pyongyang deposited some $24 million, alleging the bank was complicit in the North's counterfeiting of $100 bills and money laundering to sell weapons of mass destruction.

On Monday, the North again called for Washington to lift those restrictions and demanded U.N. sanctions imposed for its nuclear test explosion be lifted, according to a summary of its opening statement released by one of the delegations.

Washington previously agreed to discuss the financial issue at separate talks alongside the nuclear meeting. The North's experts were expected to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday, although Treasury officials in Washington said a time and a place for the talks had not been set.

The North demanded again Monday that it be given a nuclear reactor for electricity generation and also that its struggling economy get other help in meeting its energy needs until the reactor is built.

Pyongyang repeated its assertion that it be considered a nuclear weapons power and that the talks be transformed into negotiations over mutual arms reductions in which it would be accorded equal footing with the United States. If its demands aren't met, the North said, it would increase its nuclear arsenal, according to the summary.

But the United States and other countries stressed the main focus would be on getting the North Korean regime to give up atomic arms.

"We would like denuclearization via a diplomatic negotiation. If they don't want that, we're quite prepared to go the other road ... which is a pretty tough road," Hill said, implying North Korea could face further international sanctions.

In Washington, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns brushed off the North's opening salvo as no surprise.

"If past is prologue, I mean that's the way the North Koreans operate," he said. "Let's see where we are by the end of the week."

Burns said the talks were expected to last three or four days, with Hill expected back in Washington before Christmas.

Hill said he expected to have talks with the North's delegation, but added that the U.S. would not give up the multi-nation negotiations to engage in one-to-one talks with Pyongyang.

"The reason," he said, "is that we want other countries to take responsibility for their security in the region, namely China," one of the North's closest allies.

Japanese negotiator Kenichiro Sasae told reporters that North Korea would have to give ground. "The position of the North Korean delegation is wide apart from the rest of us and we cannot accept it," he said.

In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his government expected North Korea to be more flexible. "North Korea should take a step forward toward the dismantlement of its nuclear weapons," he said.

The North pledged in September 2005 to abandon its nuclear arms program in exchange for economic aid and security guarantees, and Hill said the other countries at the talks hoped to lay out a plan to form working groups to discuss its implementation.

"What I want to see from the North Koreans is a willingness to get on with implementing their elements of the September agreement," Hill said. "Our expectation is to get this done this week.

China, the North's key benefactor, noted the sides had some "very pronounced differences" but pushed for results.

"We have finished the stage of commitment for commitment and now should follow the principle of action for action," Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu told reporters, echoing phrasing from the earlier agreement.

South Korean nuclear negotiator Chun Yung-woo proposed that the parties push for implementing the 2005 agreement within a few months.

"We urged North Korea to take bold and substantial initial steps to dismantle its nuclear program and stressed that the other five countries' corresponding measures should also be bold and substantial," he told reporters.

The latest North Korean nuclear crisis erupted in 2002 after U.S. officials said the North had admitted to a secret nuclear program in violation of a 1994 disarmament deal, leading to the communist nation's withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

North Korea is believed to have enough radioactive material to make about a half-dozen atomic bombs, and its main nuclear reactor remains in operation to create more weapons-grade plutonium.

AP writers Audra Ang, Bo-mi Lim, Alexa Olesen and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

North Korea demands end to sanctions

N Korea demands end to sanctions

North Korea has refused to give up its nuclear weapons unless global sanctions against it are lifted, as the US warns it is losing patience with the reclusive nation.

Addressing the six-party forum at the first talks since its October nuclear test, North Korea's chief envoy has also repeated a demand for a nuclear reactor before the country will consider disarmament.

In response, chief US envoy Christopher Hill has warned that Washington's patience has "reached its limits".

Mr Hill says North Korea is at a fork in the road at which it needs to give ground.

"We don't have the option of walking away from the problem," he said.

"Their future is very much at stake.

"We do need to see some results."

Mr Kim says his country's ultimate goal is to abandon its nuclear programs.

But he has also demanded North Korea be provided with a light-water nuclear reactor to meet its civilian energy needs and substitute energy aid until the reactor is completed in order for it to begin doing so.

A one-on-one meeting expected between the US and North Koreans on Monday did not take place.

The US, along with host China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, want to see North Korea take concrete steps to implement a joint statement agreed upon in September 2005.

In the statement, North Korea agreed in principle to give up nuclear weapons in return for aid and security guarantees.

Washington imposed its financial curbs more than a year ago after determining that Pyongyang was engaged in money-laundering and counterfeiting American currency.

The UN levelled sanctions in October in response to North Korea's nuclear test.

- Reuters

© 2006 ABC
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, CNN and
the BBC World Service which is copyright

Pentagon May Inquire into Evangelical Video

Pentagon May Inquire into Evangelical Video
By Jeff Swicord
Washington, D.C.
18 December 2006

Separation of religion and state is one of the founding principles of American democracy. Recently that constitutional principle has been tested by several high profile events involving conservative evangelical Christians and the military. Jeff Swicord reports on the latest incident.

"There are over 25,000 Department of Defense leaders working in the rings and corridors of the Pentagon. Through bible studies discipleship, prayer breakfasts and outreach events, Christian Embassy is mustering these men and women into an intentional relationship with Jesus Christ." So begins a promotional video for "Christian Embassy," an Evangelical organization whose ministry targets high-powered government and military professionals.

The video has been criticized by a religious freedom watchdog group, which claims it violates the American principle of separation of religion and state.

At a news conference in Washington D.C. the Military Religious Freedom Foundation asked the Pentagon to investigate whether the video appearance of uniformed officers on location at the Pentagon, violates military regulations and the United States Constitution. Mikey Weinstein, the foundation president, says the video is symptomatic of a larger problem.

"I have received thousands of complaints from people being tormented all over the world from a radicalized version of Christianity being pushed upon them. Ninety six percent of the complaints that come to me are from Christians."

According to U.S. military policy on religion, "professionals and especially commanders must not take it upon themselves to change or coercively influence the religious views of subordinates."

Robert Varney, the Executive Director of Christian Embassy, the organization that produced the video, declined VOA's request for an on-camera interview. But in a telephone conversation he said, in his words, "Investigations are good. And in the end, the Pentagon investigation will show there is no merit to the complaint."

The Reverend MeLinda Morton disagrees. She is a former Air force chaplain, and works with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

"It definitely was against regulations and that it demonstrates incredibly poor officership that this never entered their mind. Well, why doesn't this enter their mind? Because the whole issue of religiosity in the military has become such a systemic problem. It has infiltrated the military so much, that that is the problem that no one gives this a second thought."

In the video a lieutenant colonel refers to Evangelical Christian officers as being "Godly men," a term Reverend Morton says shows favoritism toward one belief over another. She says this has a coercive effect on subordinates and is bad for moral and order.

Part of the video’s soundtrack provides an example of this problem. "These Godly men are taking godly principles that they are learning in the Christian Embassy Bible studies and they are applying those things to their personal lives. And as a result they are going to go out and they are going to lead men. And their soldiers are going to benefit from the fact that these military men who are also Godly men."

"Now you draw a line, a line that is in no way to be drawn by regulation or by ability. Suddenly the good officer is the Godly officer. And the Godly officer is defined in fundamentalist Christian terms."

In another segment, a general says when he meets people in his office, he tells them up front that he is a Christian. "I found a wonderful opportunity as a director on the Joint Staff, as I meet the people that come into my directorate, and I tell them right up front who Jack Caton is. And I start with, ‘I am an old fashioned American and my first priority is my faith in God, then my family, and then country.’ I share my faith because it describes who I am.

"That is not the concept of officership that has long been held in the military. The concept of officership that has long been held in the military held distinct the privilege of separation of church and state. And said, yes there are things that you bring to the table as an officer, particularly as a senior officer. And no, you do not share with your staff and with those people who work with you every detail of your personal life."

Christian Embassy has pulled the video from its website. The group says it will return to the site in the future with a disclaimer stating that nothing in the video is endorsed by the U.S. military. The Pentagon says it needs more time to determine whether Military Religious Freedoms Foundation complaint warrants an investigation. The foundation says it is ready to take the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court. .

All this follows a religious controversy at the U.S. Air Force Academy, in which Evangelical Christians were accused of bullying cadets of other faiths.

Pa. Christian college sues government over job posting service

Posted on Mon, Dec. 18, 2006

Pa. Christian college sues government over job posting service
Associated Press

PITTSBURGH - A Christian college in Pennsylvania and a religious law group have sued the state and federal governments over the school's bid to use a state-funded employment service to post openings for jobs with religious requirements.

Attorneys representing the Christian Legal Society and Alliance Defense Fund filed the suit Thursday in Pittsburgh on behalf of Geneva College in Beaver Falls and the Association of Faith-Based Organizations, a coalition based in Springfield, Va.

The plaintiffs say the school is being denied the use of the employment service, which includes an Internet-based service called CareerLink, because of a nondiscrimination policy barring job postings that require applicants to have particular religious backgrounds.

"Religious organizations have every legal right to hire employees that share their beliefs and values," Timothy J. Tracey, a lawyer for the Christian Legal Society's Center for Law and Religious Freedom, said in a statement.

The plaintiffs want the nondiscrimination policy declared unconstitutional when it applies to religious organizations and the government ordered to allow faith-based groups to post their employment notices on CareerLink.

The suit names U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry Stephen M. Schmerin. A U.S. Department of Labor spokesman declined immediate comment. State labor department spokesman Barry Ciccocioppo also declined comment, saying officials had not seen the lawsuit.

Christian Legal Society, based in Annandale, Va., is an association of Christian lawyers, law students, professors and judges, according to its Web site.

www.CentreDaily.com

Islamic Extremist Threatens Christian Convert in India

Islamic Extremist Threatens Christian Convert in India
Caller identifies himself as ‘terrorist,’ tells pastor to ‘start counting your days.’

NEW DELHI, December 18 (Compass Direct News) – A caller identifying himself as an Islamic terrorist has threatened to kill a Christian convert from Islam in the southern state of Kerala.

Pastor Paul Ciniraj Mohammed, head of Salem Voice Ministries (SVM) in Kottayam district, has already survived one suspected murder attempt.

The extremist phoned Ciniraj on Thursday (December 14) and told him to “start counting your days, as we will kill you in a few days’ time.”

“He spoke to me in a very loud voice and said he was from an Islamist terrorist group,” Ciniraj told Compass.

Ciniraj took the threat seriously because the caller also mentioned Bashir Tantray, a 50-year-old engineer and volunteer with several Christian organizations who was killed, reportedly by Islamic militants, on a busy road in Barmullah district in the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir on November 21. (See Compass Direct News, “Militants Kill Prominent Christian Worker in India,” November 21.)

“Our local newspapers did not report on Tantray’s killing, so nobody – even most Christians – knows about it here,” Ciniraj explained. “This means the caller could actually be from the group that killed Tantray.”

SVM runs a number of orphanages, village schools and adult literacy classes in the state.

Anxiety at Home

Ciniraj said he did not immediately report the threat to police as he did not want his family to know about it or be concerned.

“However, my wife and children heard me praying about it and got very scared,” Ciniraj said. “Especially my youngest son, 12-year-old Lesley. He has been dreaming that someone is trying to kill me.”

Since learning of the threat, Lesley has refused to sleep alone.

“My other two children, Besly and Hepzy, are also scared seeing Lesley bursting into tears several times a day,” he added.

Ciniraj said he would soon report the threat to police.

Earlier Attacks

Earlier this year, on March 16, men on a motorized rickshaw deliberately rammed into Ciniraj while he was out riding his motorbike, fracturing his knee. When Ciniraj filed a complaint at the Kottayam police station, police said they suspected the incident was a failed murder attempt. (See Compass Direct News, “Pastor Survives Suspected Murder Attempt in Kerala, India,” April 7.)

Three days later, while Ciniraj was still recovering in the hospital, two men carrying weapons attempted to break into his house.

Ciniraj’s wife and two of their children were asleep in the house at the time, while Lesley was staying overnight with his father at the hospital. Mercy Ciniraj woke suddenly at about 2:40 a.m. after hearing a strange noise outside the house. When she looked through a window, she saw two men with weapons standing at the front door.

When she tried to call the police, she discovered that the telephone line had been cut. Terrified, she started shouting the name of Jesus. The noise startled neighbors, who switched on their lights. The intruders quickly jumped back over the gate and fled.

The attack came almost a year after Hindu and Muslim villagers burned down Ciniraj’s prayer hall in Trivandrum and attacked his associate following a baptism ceremony on April 1, 2005. Ciniraj was also attacked when he visited the damaged prayer hall on April 3. (See Compass Direct News, “Villagers Beat Christians, Burn Down Prayer Hall,” April 15, 2005.)

Kerala state has one of the highest concentrations of Christians in India, at 19 percent. The majority of these Christians, however, belong to traditional churches that do not approve of evangelism among the other major religious groups.

Muslims account for 23 percent of the population in Kerala, and Hindus 57 percent.

Assaults Countrywide

Nationwide, the All India Christian Council reported on December 12 that at least 16 confirmed incidents of Christian persecution took place in November.

Of the 16 incidents, seven took place in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh and two in Karnataka, another southern state. Two incidents were confirmed in northern Jammu and Kashmir state, and at least one incident was confirmed in Gujarat (west India), Bihar and Assam (east India), Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh (north India).

Copyright © 2006 Compass Direct

Collegiate groups evangelize the Konyagui of West Africa

Collegiate groups evangelize the Konyagui of West Africa
Dec 18, 2006
By Emily Peters
Baptist Press

SENEGAL, West Africa (BP)--Cramped in a pitch-black, mud hut while rain poured outside, Ouachita Baptist University students Austin Wadlow and Tyler Butler talked with the Konyagui man for hours.

They searched Scriptures by flashlight to disciple the man with the sprouting gray hairs and infectious smile. He had been hungry for more teaching since the last students from Arkansas came through his village three months earlier. The previous team named him Nick -- short for Nicodemus -- because of his questions about being born again.

“This guy, Nick, came up and had been studying his Bible like crazy,” Wadlow said. “He had all kinds of questions about God. It was awesome because he didn’t see the rain or the dark as a reason to wait for later.”

Wadlow and Butler built on the work of the previous Ouachita Baptist team as they discipled Nick to a new level of faith.

That’s exactly what the Arkansas Baptist Collegiate Ministries hoped would happen when they signed an “engagement agreement” with the International Mission Board to send teams of college students to serve among the Konyagui people for the next three years. Each trip is designed to build on the last to eventually evangelize, disciple and form a church among the Konyagui without the benefit of a full-time missionary on the field.

The two men on the first mission trip were college ministers who, with the help of a missionary, scoured the African bush seeking Konyagui villages. They learned Konyagui means “people of the bees,” because they launched swarms of stinging insects during tribal warfare of centuries past.

These days, the Konyagui are known as mild-mannered, hard-working farmers living in Guinea and Senegal. Most are Catholic or Muslim, but newborn babies are still adorned with the fetishes of an animistic faith.

Wadlow, a recent Ouachita Baptist graduate, and Butler, a sophomore, came on the second trip to build relationships with the Konyagui.

They worked long afternoons in the hot, sub-Saharan sun alongside the Konyagui men, trying to garner respect for themselves and for those Arkansas students who will follow. Somehow communicating through a language barrier, Butler helped build a mud-brick house while Wadlow thatched a roof with hay and cleared some fields for planting.

“We spent 24 hours a day sweating,” Wadlow said.

But this three-week trek wasn’t like many college mission trips that aspire to leave behind new buildings or other material possessions.

“Honestly, we spent 85 percent of our time sitting around and talking and drinking ataya,” Wadlow said. Ataya is strong African tea brewed hot while the men enjoy long afternoon breaks. That’s where the Arkansas students were able to share Bible stories with the help of an interpreter and a couple of missionary traveling companions.

The team also spent time playing with children and learning tribal customs at a village festival.

The Arkansas team that followed Wadlow and Butler this past summer traveled with field missionaries, but teams after that will be on their own. They’ll work with the contacts and information gathered by the teams before them.

“This is not just a casual mission trip,” said Wadlow, who came to realize the need for a long-term strategy to reach the Konyagui. “It’s not about getting as many people as possible to come from your BSU (Baptist Student Union). It’s about sending what is needed for the Konyagui.”

He said students and others who come shouldn’t be lightweight believers seeking a trip solely to make memories, because new believers like Nick want to be challenged to grow.

“God’s spoken to me about revering His Word,” Wadlow said. “When [the Konyagui] see we respect the Word enough to know it without our Bibles, it means so much to them.”

Copyright © 2001 - 2006 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press

Two mommies is 'too many,' Dobson writes in Time column

Two mommies is 'too many,' Dobson writes in Time column
Dec 18, 2006
By Michael Foust
Baptist Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Pointing to biblical truth, social science and intuition, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson asserts in the latest issue of Time magazine that children are better off with a mother and a father and that society should avoid the "untested" and "far-reaching social experiment" of homosexual parenting.

Dobson's column, "Two Mommies Is One Too Many," was published in the Dec. 18 edition in light of news that Vice President Richard Cheney's lesbian daughter, Mary, is pregnant with her partner, Heather Poe.

"[T]he majority of more than 30 years of social-science evidence indicates that children do best on every measure of well-being when raised by their married mother and father," Dobson wrote. "That is not to say Cheney and Poe will not love their child. But love alone is not enough to guarantee healthy growth and development. The two most loving women in the world cannot provide a daddy for a little boy -- any more than the two most loving men can be complete role models for a little girl."

Dobson's column accompanied an opposing column, "Two Mommies or Two Daddies Will Do Fine, Thanks," by Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of Family Pride, a homosexual organization. Chrisler used most of her column responding to the social science research cited by Dobson, who she called a "religious and political extremist" and even said Dobson was "lying."

"According to the 2000 census, the vast majority —- more than 75 percent -- of American children, are being raised in families that differ in structure from two married, heterosexual parents and their biological children," Chrisler wrote. "We are a nation of blended and multi-generational families, adoptive and foster families, and families headed by single parents, divorced parents, unmarried parents, same-sex couples and more. Despite Dobson's assertions to the contrary, there is no single 'traditional' family structure in the United States."

Dobson, though, said the debate over homosexual parenting has "nothing to do with politics" but instead concerns "what kind of family environment is best for the health and development of children, and, by extension, the nation at large." The traditional family, he said, is "supported by more than 5,000 years of human experience."

"Isn't there something in our hearts that tells us, intuitively, that children need a mother and a father?" he asked in his column. "Admittedly, that ideal is not always possible. Divorce, death, abandonment and unwed pregnancy have resulted in an ever growing number of single-parent families in this culture. We admire the millions of men and women who have risen to the challenge of parenting alone and are meeting their difficult responsibilities with courage and determination. Still, most of them, if asked, would say that raising children is a two-person job best accomplished by a mother and father."

Dobson cited three studies, including one from 1996 by Psychology Today, which he quoted as saying, "fatherhood turns out to be a complex and unique phenomenon with huge consequences for the emotional and intellectual growth of children." Dobson summed up research by educational psychologist Carol Gilligan thusly: "[M]others tend to stress sympathy, grace and care to their children, while fathers accent justice, fairness and duty. Moms give a child a sense of hopefulness; dads provide a sense of right and wrong and its consequences."

Other researchers, Dobson said, "have determined that boys are not born with an understanding of 'maleness.' They have to learn it, ideally from their fathers."

"A father, as a male parent, makes unique contributions to the task of parenting that a mother cannot emulate, and vice versa," he wrote.

America, Dobson asserted, should have learned something from "no-fault divorce," which swept the country in the 1960s and has left a legacy of "countless shattered lives within three generations, adversely affecting children's behavior, academic performance and mental and physical health." Homosexual parenting, he said, would be "another untested and far-reaching social experiment."

Focus on the Family, Dobson said, "does not desire to harm or insult women such as Cheney and Poe."

"Rather, our conviction is that birth and adoption are the purview of married heterosexual couples," he wrote. "Traditional marriage is God's design for the family and is rooted in biblical truth. When that divine plan is implemented, children have the best opportunity to thrive. That's why public policy as it relates to families must be based not solely on the desires of adults but rather on the needs of children and what is best for society at large."

Focus on the Family sent an e-mail to supporters asking them to send a "brief, polite note" to Time editors thanking them for publishing the column. Homosexual activists, Focus said, are asking their supporters to write Time and tell the magazine Dobson's column was inaccurate. Letters to the editor can be e-mailed to letters@time.com

Copyright © 2001 - 2006 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press

Groups call for relief for Iraqi Christians

Groups call for relief for Iraqi Christians
Dec 18, 2006
By Ken Walker
Baptist Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BP)--Several groups are calling for improved treatment of Christians in Iraq, whom they say are being martyred, persecuted or forced to flee the country in order to survive.

Julia Sorisho Rodgers of Christians for Assyrians of Iraq said among the atrocities are the bombing of more than 15 churches, the kidnapping and murder of 13 Assyrian women in Baghdad in August, and the beheading of a priest in Mosul in October.

“A lot of people in Washington don’t know who the Assyrians are,” said Rodgers, who organized a Dec. 4 rally outside the White House to protest the treatment of Assyrians, who include Christians, Catholics and Orthodox Church members.

“It’s highly personal for me because so many of my relatives [are] there,” added Rodgers, a Chicago native whose parents emigrated from Iraq. “They’re suffering from violence, lack of jobs and persecution. We’re being isolated for our faith.”

In addition to petitions circulating on the Internet, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has urged granting refugee status to these persecuted believers.

In November, the USCIRF wrote to Paula Dobriansky, under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs, urging her to expand refugee options for the ChaldoAssyrian and Sabean Mandean communities.

It also asked Dobriansky to urge the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to resume full refugee status for Iraqi asylum seekers and speedily assess claims.

In a Dec. 7 letter of response, Dobriansky said the government is concerned about Iraqi refugees’ plight.

She pointed out the government has funded the International Catholic Migration Conference to provide emergency financial, material and social service assistance to refugees in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

In addition, Dobriansky said the U.S. has strongly urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to accelerate the pace of its refugee status determination screenings and refer Iraqis who need resettlement.

“The U.S. will provide funding to key UNHCR offices in the region to enhance their capacity to process such referrals and has received assurances from these offices that they will begin immediately to make referrals,” Dobriansky wrote.

However, the deputy director for policy at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom doesn’t interpret the letter as offering any commitments to grant refugee status.

“While the letter suggests the agency has promised to start doing that, we haven’t seen that happen yet,” Tad Stahnke told Baptist Press. “We still remain concerned.”

It is fair to say the U.S. government has done something about the situation by providing funds to the UNHCR, Stahnke said, but other issues the agency raised have yet to be addressed.

But concern for Iraqi Christians extends beyond refugee status. At least two groups have started electronic petitions calling for special protection of religious minorities.

Christians for Assyrians of Iraq (CAI) started its petition (http://ninevehplains.wordpress.com/) in mid-November. The Canadian-based Council of Assyrian Research and Development has also posted a petition at www.cardonline.org.

Both call for creating a special administrative unit in northern Iraq. CAI says that will allow Assyrians and other Christians to practice their faith, speak and teach their language, and work their land without fear of persecution.

USCIRF Commissioner Nina Shea said these Christians are caught between supporters of the war in Iraq who don’t want to acknowledge there are problems and those against the war who shun discussions of human rights.

In the middle are numerous innocent victims, said Shea, who recently briefed the Iraq Study Group about human rights conditions there.

“They are being bludgeoned by the Islamic extremists,” said Shea, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and director of the Center for Religious Freedom. “Their priests have been beheaded, churches bombed and there’s a recent report of a crucifixion of a teenage boy.

“The United Nations refugee report has determined they are being targeted for their faith. Although they represent about four percent of the population, they represent 40 percent of the refugee population from Iraq.”

There is some confusion over the terminology for these believers, said Rodgers, who chose to use “Assyrian” as the primary identifier, although others are known as Chaldeans or Syriacs.

ChaldoAssyrian is a political label assigned to various Christian groups during a transitional period prior to adoption of Iraq’s new constitution, according to Shea.

She said Sabean Mandeans are a small sect who still follow John the Baptist; another that is neither Christian nor Jewish is known as the Yizidis.

However, the common thread for all is they are being forced to flee or live under oppressive conditions for the “crime” of not being Muslim, added Shea, a speaker at the White House rally.

Pointing out that in 1940 one-third of Baghdad’s population was Jewish compared to only 25 Jews across all of Iraq today, Shea said the same thing is happening to Christians.

“There’s a saying in Iraq that after Saturday comes Sunday,” Shea said. “It’s been in graffiti; it’s on the walls. That means after the Jews come the Christians. The Jews have all left (except) an elderly remnant that’s too old to leave.

“Now the Christians are being driven out. I don’t see a way forward for them unless there is this administrative district. For humanitarian reasons, we need to grant refugee status to those who want to leave.”

The author of a 2004 report on human rights abuses, Shea said Iraq is undergoing the kind of Islamization that has existed for years in Saudi Arabia.

Although historically Iraq has been a pluralistic society, she said extremists are pushing to enforce Islamic law, both criminally and behaviorally.

As a result, Kurdish governors are refusing to hook up Christian villages to utilities and water and sewer systems that have been paid for by American taxes, Shea said.

When those residents leave for other nations, including those who hope to join relatives in the U.S., they are often the target of Islamic extremists, Shea said.

“There’s an extinction of an ancient Christian community,” Shea said. “It’s not only a loss to the church, it’s a loss for Christianity because they date to apostolic times.

“It is a loss for U.S. foreign policy interests because these people tend to be more skilled and professional.... They are also a force for moderation in Iraq. These people obviously don’t want Islamic fundamentalism seizing the day there.”

Although Rodgers supports granting refugee status to those who want it, she said CAI is more interested in a long-term solution that would enable Christians to stay in Iraq.

Christ’s followers have been there for hundreds of years and they want to remain, said Rodgers, who attends a Baptist church in Arlington, Va.

“We believe Christians are commanded to love others as ourselves,” Rodgers said. “Our faith will help us peacefully co-exist with people who are different.”

Copyright © 2001 - 2006 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press

Pro-Life Nurse Refuses to Assist in Abortion, Hospital Concedes

December 18, 2006
Pro-Life Nurse Refuses to Assist in Abortion, Hospital Concedes

by Kim Trobee

If you ever wondered what difference one person can make, wait until you hear about Mary Bauer.

At 48, Bauer changed careers, got a degree in nursing and accepted a position in the labor and delivery unit at a Chicago hospital. But it’s what happened on her first full day of work, and her reaction to it, that really set Mary apart.

Fresh from orientation and looking forward to her new job, Bauer was told she would be assisting in the abortion of a 22-week old unborn baby with Down syndrome.

“And I just told them, ‘I can’t take that patient. I’m very pro-life. I cannot participate in any way, shape or form. I just can’t do it, so I need an alternate assignment.’”

She went home that night, unsure of whether she would keep her job, and did two things. First, she requested prayer from friends and second, she researched Illinois law. Bauer found two statutes that protect the right of a healthcare worker to object on moral grounds. She went back to work and told her co-workers.

“You can say no too!’ They never knew they had a choice and they said, ‘We always thought this was part of our job and we had to do it.’”

Her prayers were answered. The hospital responded favorably, adopting a policy to protect workers from taking part in morally objectionable tasks. But Chuck Donovan with the Family Research Council says not every healthcare worker experiences such a happy ending.

“I would be fearful that, for many healthcare professionals, they sort of suffer in silence and fear that there will be no one to come to their aid. I would hope that that would not be the conclusion, but we have much work to do.”

He’s hopeful that, even in the upcoming liberal Congress, the Abortion Nondiscrimination Act will see movement.

© 2006 Focus on the Family. CitizenLink is a registered trademark of Focus on the Family.
All rights reserved.

Teacher: NEA Uses School Safety Rhetoric to Push Homosexual Agenda

Teacher: NEA Uses School Safety Rhetoric to Push Homosexual Agenda

By Jim Brown, Bill Fancher, and Jenni Parker
December 18, 2006

(AgapePress) - A former chairman of the National Education Association's Ex-Gay Educators Caucus says the NEA is engaging in a "big misinformation campaign" with the goal of changing public opinion on homosexuality, starting with the youngest generation.

The NEA has unveiled a new web page [Caution: This page contains pro-homosexual material] on "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students," stating that the educators' union is "committed" to fighting harassment, bullying, and discrimination aimed at those students. The page cites statistics from a study published by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, and even provides a link to an interview with that group's founder, homosexual activist Kevin Jennings.

Conservative critics of Jennings have blasted him for promoting what they see as radical pro-homosexual policies and ideas. Culture and media critic Bob Knight of the Media Research Center calls the GLSEN founder a "very controversial" figure, one "who has covered up an incident of molestation [of a 15-year-old boy by a homosexual man], who presided over a session in Massachusetts in which kids as young as 14 were exposed to graphic descriptions of homosexual sex acts," and who has said he wants children, even kindergartners, to be acquainted with homosexuality.

The NEA's web page on GLBT students provides a link to an NEA Today article and interview with Jennings called "Safe Schools for Everyone." In it, the homosexual activist advocates teachers helping to combat the problem of harassment faced by GLBT students -- by working "to create a classroom culture of respect and acceptance from day one."

California teacher Jeralee Smith, who founded the NEA's Conservative Educator Caucus and formerly chaired the union's Ex-Gay Educators Caucus, says the new web page on GLBT students is all part of the union's ongoing agenda to legitimize homosexuality. However, she says she hopes this latest move by the national organization will finally open the eyes of some of its members.

"Maybe, finally," Smith comments, "some of the conservative and Christian teachers and other faiths who take issue with children being urged to adopt a gay identity" will recognize the NEA's pro-homosexual agenda for what it is. "Maybe, finally, some of these people will really believe that this is what their dues money is going for," she says.

Is the NEA Helping to Spread GLSEN Misinformation?
In July, at the NEA's annual convention, the educators union voted overwhelmingly to endorse legal same-sex civil unions and same-sex "marriages." And now, with its new web page on GLBT students, Smith feels the NEA is using misinformation in an effort to change public attitudes toward homosexuality, and she suspects the union's embrace of GLSEN's "safe schools" rhetoric is little more than a smokescreen for its support for and collaboration with the activist organization's agenda.

According to GLSEN's 2005 National School Climate Survey, homosexual students were five times more likely than the general population of students to report having skipped school in the last month because of safety concerns and were twice as likely as the general population of students to report having no plans to pursue any post-secondary education. The survey also found homosexual students who reported experiencing harassment had an average grade point average a half point lower than that of homosexual students who were not harassed.

Jennings, as quoted in NEA Today, says the "safe schools" initiative is "not about how you feel about gay people, it’s about making sure all of our students achieve.” However, Smith believes the NEA's and GLSEN's special emphasis on GLBT youth is telling. She says the NEA has no business encouraging students to adopt a homosexual identity, and the organization needs to recognize that all students are equally deserving of a safe learning environment.

"Children -- by children, I mean anyone younger than 18 -- need to all be protected from any kind of harassment at school," the California teacher insists. "I teach physically handicapped children," she notes; "my kids look different from everyone else in very obvious ways, and kids like mine are much more likely to get bullied and harassed at school."

Also telling, Smith suggests, is which data the National Education Association chooses to report about GLBT students, and what it chooses to omit. She notes, for instance, that the NEA's new web page does not provide statistics about the many young people who have had same-sex sexual encounters in the past but have since abandoned such behavior.

© 2006 AgapePress all rights reserved.

Commentary & News Briefs

Commentary & News Briefs
December 18, 2006
Compiled by Jenni Barker

...Rabbi Andrew Bossov and Rev. Karen Onesti are celebrating different holidays this month, but one extraordinary gift. Doctors have approved surgery to give the New Jersey rabbi one of Onesti's kidneys. Onesti, who pastors a United Methodist church, met Bossov four years ago through the Interfaith Council of Greater Mount Laurel. When she learned that his decreased function allowed him to get on the list for a transplant, Onesti jumped at the chance to help him. After months of testing for compatibility, she called Bossov to let him know that the transplant team has approved the donation. The surgery could be done next month. [AP]

...A Methodist church has delivered more than 75 gifts to Mission, South Dakota, as part of a ministry to the state's Indian reservations. First United Methodist Church of Yankton works each year with Tree of Life Ministry, an ecumenical extension of the United Methodist Church of the Dakotas. Church member Jane Gilmore says children on the Pine Ridge, Rosebud and Crow Creek reservations should have the opportunity to open something at Christmas. Tree of Life executive director Russell Masartis says the organization worked with tribal officials to make sure that all families received gifts. The reservations held five Christmas fairs, in which heads of household could pick out a gift or two for the children in their homes. [AP]

...Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is preparing to host the second annual "Faith and International Development Conference" on February 1-3, 2007. The 2007 conference is structured around the themes: "Do justice/ Have mercy/ Make peace/ Take care." A recent Christian Reformed Church Communications article pointed out that event sponsors -- the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee; the Mennonite Central Committee; Bread for the World; and Calvin's Lily Vocation Project -- hope to see last year's attendance figures double to at least 600 students from across the U.S. and Canada. Students attending the three-day gathering will focus in a deeper way on issues surrounding faith and development. Calvin junior Andrew VanStee, this year's conference chair, says he is "really excited" to see so many students interested about these topics; however, he notes, "they don't always have the knowledge base to get involved." VanStee says he and other conference leaders are "hoping to provide a place where people can move beyond saying, 'I care about this. This is important to me,' and [go on to] move into this area and do so knowledgably." Each of the four conference themes targets a key area of international development -- peace building and reconciliation; global health; environmental care, and economic justice; addressing these issues will be keynote speakers coming from a broad range of backgrounds. Among these are Anglican pastor and physician Peter Okaalet of Uganda, the Africa director of the Christian medical assistance group, MAP International; Baptist minister Rev. Celestin Musekura of Rwanda, president and founder of African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM, Inc.); and Augusto de la Torre, the World Bank's senior regional financial section advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean. As in 2006, the conference will be run by students; Roland Hoksbergen, a conference mentor, says, "God has blessed us with students who have tremendous motivation to see a difference in the world and [to make] Christ relevant in their day-to-day lives. They're saying, 'Help us understand how to make a real difference.' And that's the sort of request, when students make it, we want to be there for them." [Pat Centner]

...A special Catholic celebration of the Rosary in Southern California will be the largest outdoor event of its type in nearly 50 years. The Rose Bowl in Pasadena will host "The Rosary Bowl" on Saturday, May 19, 2007. According to Religion News Service, the full name for the celebration is "A World at Prayer Is a World at Peace: A Rosary Celebration, The Rosary Bowl." Planning the celebration, which is free of charge and open to the public, are Holy Cross Ministries of Easton, Massachusetts, and its local member Family Theater Productions of Hollywood in collaboration with the archdiocese of Los Angeles. According to Catholic belief, the Rosary combines prayer, meditation and reflection on important events in the life of Jesus Christ, as seen through his mother, Mary. According to Father John Phalen, president of Holy Cross Family Ministries, "The Rosary Bowl carries forward the tradition and mission of the 'Rosary priest,' Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, CSC …." Father Peyton conducted 40 Rosary rallies throughout the world that drew 28 million people, and he also coined the famous slogan, "The family that prays together stays together." The 2007 Rosary Bowl will be the first celebration of its magnitude since Peyton's death in 1992. Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, is urging parishes, schools and individuals "to unite in prayer, labor and sacrifice in helping organize our communities' participation" in the celebration, which he describes as an "opportunity to enhance the prayer life of everyone through the Holy Rosary." [Pat Centner]

...Traditional marriage proponents in New Jersey are circling the wagons following the state's legalization of homosexual civil unions. New Jersey has become the third U.S. state to approve civil unions for homosexual couples seeking the same rights and privileges afforded to married couples. Len Deo is president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council, which opposed the civil unions bill and had asked that an amendment be attached to it defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The amendment, however, was struck down by the state Senate. Deo says the Garden State has a powerful homosexual lobby. "This is another step towards a radical redefinition of marriage," he observes; "and the same-sex 'marriage' proponents, even in their testimony in the committee hearings, stated that over and over -- that they want the title, marriage, and they will not stop until they get that title." The New Jersey Family Policy Council spokesman says the group will now be pushing for a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. And although there is resistance in the governor's office and in the leadership of both the Senate and the Assembly, Deo notes, he believes the will of the people to protect traditional, one-man, one-woman marriage in New Jersey will eventually prevail. [Jim Brown]

...Ireland's High Court has rejected a bid by a legally married lesbian couple to have that marriage recognized in Ireland. The two women were legally married in Canada and subsequently returned to their home in Ireland to argue that, because homosexual marriage is internationally accepted, the Irish marriage law should be re-evaluated. But Justice Elizabeth Dunne disagreed, saying marriage was understood under the 1937 Irish Constitution to be confined to persons of the opposite sex. She further stated that "having regard to the clear understanding of the meaning of marriage in the numerous authorities opened to the court ... I do not see how marriage can be redefined by the court to encompass same-sex marriage." In her 138-page ruling, Justice Dunne also expressed concern about the effect of same-sex marriage on children, saying the lack of conclusive research into the results of homosexual parenting made it necessary to reserve judgment on the issue. [Fred Jackson]

...An Egyptian-born author says the United States is asking for trouble if it does not take steps to drastically restrict immigration from terrorist-harboring Islamic countries. Nonie Darwish has written a book called Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror. The former Muslim is deeply concerned that the U.S. will experience the problems of Europe and other areas of the world that have allowed unfettered Islamic immigration. So Darwish believes the U.S. should immediately stop issuing religious visas to Muslims wanting to immigrate here. "We have to ask [would-be immigrants] the question," she asserts, "do you want to live under shariah law?" And those who answer yes should never be granted a visa, the author insists, "because Sharia law is totally incompatible with Western democracy. It is cruel and unusual punishment, it is humiliation for women, and if a person wants to live under Sharia law, they might as well stay in the Muslim world." The United States should use a questionnaire to screen those desiring entry into the U.S. from Islamic nations, Darwish suggests, and should "only issue visas to Muslim doctors, engineers, or others whose fields of expertise would benefit the United States." And definitely, she adds, the U.S. should not allow in any religious extremists who indicate that they want to turn America into the same kind of place as those oppressive Islamist-controlled societies from whence they came. [Chad Groening]

© 2006 AgapePress all rights reserved.

Virginia parishes split from Episcopal Church

Acceptance of homosexuality reason for break-ups

By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press Writer

FAIRFAX, Va.
Two of the most prominent Episcopal parishes in Virginia voted overwhelmingly Sunday to leave The Episcopal Church and join fellow Anglican conservatives forming a rival denomination in the U.S.

Truro Church in Fairfax and The Falls Church in Falls Church plan to place themselves under the leadership of Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, who has called the growing acceptance of gay relationships a "satanic attack" on the church.

Truro rector Martyn Minns was consecrated a bishop by the Church of Nigeria earlier this year to lead Akinola's Convocation of Anglicans in North America.

"This has been our spiritual home, so separating is very hard," Minns said at a news conference announcing the parishes' decision. "There's also the promise of a new day. A burden is being lifted. There are new possibilities breaking through."

Virginia Bishop Peter Lee, a centrist, had won praise even from his critics for his extensive outreach to all sides in the conflict. He said Sunday that the votes "had compromised these discussions and have created Nigerian congregations occupying Episcopal churches."

Four other Virginia parishes have left, and eight more are voting or will vote soon whether to follow suit, according to the Virginia diocese. None is as eminent as Truro and Falls Church, however.

A lengthy and expensive legal fight is expected over those historic church properties, which are worth millions of dollars. "We fully intend to assert the church's canonical and legal rights over these properties," Lee said in a news release, calling it a "sad day for the church."

The Episcopal Church, the U.S. wing of the global Anglican Communion, has been under pressure from traditionalists at home and abroad since the 2003 consecration of the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Under Anglican tradition, Akinola's move into Episcopal territory amounts to an invasion, since archbishops agree not to start churches outside the borders of their own region. Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will consult with her advisers on how the denomination should respond, said Bob Williams, the national Episcopal spokesman.

While theological conservatives are a minority within the 2.2 million- member U.S. denomination, their protests have had an impact.

Ninety percent of Falls Church parishioners and 92 percent of Truro members who cast ballots in the last week supported cutting ties with The Episcopal Church, parish leaders said.

The loss is spiritual as well as financial; the parishes are among the largest and most vibrant in the diocese, together claiming more than 4,000 members.

"It was a very, very emotional time," said Jim Oakes, Truro's top lay leader, who supported the split. "In some ways it's like a death in the family."

Nationally, Episcopal researchers estimate that at least one-third of the nearly 115,000 people who left the denomination from 2003 to 2005 did so because of parish conflicts over Robinson.

Seven of the 100 U.S. Episcopal dioceses have threatened to break from the denomination, but have so far stayed put. The closest any have come to leaving was a vote earlier this month in the Diocese of San Joaquin, in Fresno, Calif., endorsing a first step toward seceding. But that diocese must take a second vote next year before they can formalize a split.

The feud has been far more damaging to the 77 million-member Anglican Communion.

Most overseas Anglicans believe gay relationships violate Scripture and contend liberal interpretations of the Bible are far outside the bounds of mainstream Christian belief.

Struggling to hold the communion together, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, has said that the communion may have to create a two-tier system of membership, with branches that ordain partnered gays given a lesser status.

Akinola is among the conservatives who aren't waiting for a negotiated solution.

In a statement Friday, Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, said that the archbishop of Canterbury has not "indicated any support" for the mission.

© 2006 BREITBART.COM, LLC
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

U.S. weapons prompt Hamas arms race?

U.S. weapons prompt Hamas arms race?
Worries ammo flowing into Gaza to be used against Jewish state

Posted: December 18, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

TEL AVIV – The United States for the past few days has been providing arms to militant groups from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party to bolster it against rival Hamas factions, WND has learned.

According to Israeli and Palestinian security officials, the U.S. weapons shipments have prompted an arms race with Hamas, which has been smuggling into the Gaza Strip larger than usual quantities of weaponry from neighboring Egypt.

The Israeli security officials expressed concern some of the weapons obtained by Fatah and Hamas could be used in attacks against Israeli troops operating in Gaza or in raids of Israeli military stations and communities near the Gaza Strip.

"There is a massive increase in weapons brought in (to Gaza) since last week," said an Israeli security official.

In a WND interview earlier this month, a senior Fatah militant told WND any U.S. aid and weapons given to his security organization will be used to attack Jews and "fight Israeli occupation."

According to Palestinian officials, the U.S. last week provided Abbas' Force 17 security detail with 250 new assault rifles and 5,000 rounds of ammunition. Israel aided in the delivery of the weapons to Force 17 militants in Gaza associated with Fatah strongman Mahmoud Dahlan, the officials said.

The Palestinian officials said the U.S. has provided at least 1,000 rifles this month and that more weapons shipments are expected this week.

Force 17 serves as Abbas' personal security detail and as de facto police units in the West Bank and Gaza. Many of its members also openly serve as militants in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group.

Force 17 and Hamas have been clashing in Gaza since Abbas this weekend called for new Palestinian elections. Abbas' move was widely scene as an attempt to dismantle the Hamas-led PA.

Yesterday, the convoy of Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar came under fire as it passed through Gaza City. Members of Hamas accused Fatah of trying to assassinate al-Zahar.

Hours later, Hamas assaulted a Force 17 base in the Gaza Strip just outside Abbas' office and Gaza residence. Abbas was in the West Bank at the time.

A presidential guard official denounced the Hamas attack as an assault on the "symbol of Palestinian legitimacy."

WND reported earlier this month U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated in a meeting with Abbas that the U.S. would fulfill an earlier pledge to bolster Force 17 with American training and with new weapons, including 6,000 assault rifles. The U.S. reportedly aims to enhance security forces associated with Abbas against Hamas in Gaza.

Hamas maintains a 6,000-strong militia in Gaza that has several times engaged in firefights with Fatah.

Hamas and Fatah last engaged in heavy fighting in the Gaza Strip and West Bank in October after negotiations to establish a national unity government between the two appeared to have fallen through.

A senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WND that Fatah security officials noted in the October firefights Hamas members used weaponry more advanced than what was known to have been in the Hamas arsenal, including newer styles of assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The official said Abbas requested more weapons from the U.S.

According to multiple reports, the U.S. agreed to aid Force 17. The U.S. considers Fatah "moderate," while it labels Hamas a terror group.

Last month, the New York Times reported the U.S. proposed expanding Abbas' Force 17 from 3,500 men to 6,000 as part of a $26 million plan to strengthen the Palestinian leader.

The Associated Press, Haaretz and Israel's leading Yediot Aharonot daily reported new training facilities for Force 17 are slated to be set up in Jericho and in Gaza, at a cost of $2 million each, according to the U.S. proposal. Palestinian sources told Haaretz the training of select numbers of special Force 17 forces started already in September under the guidance of an American military instructor.

The last known weapons transfer to Force 17 took place in May and reportedly consisted of 3,000 assault rifles and more than 1 million rounds of ammunition.

At first, the U.S., Israel and the PA denied the reports of the weapons transfer, but Olmert in June announced he had approved the shipment of U.S. weapons and ammunition, explaining the transfer was meant for Abbas' personal protection.

"I did this because we are running out of time and we need to help Abu Mazen," Olmert told reporters.

The shipment required Israeli consent to pass through checkpoints. It was delivered by a convoy protected by the Israeli Defense Forces, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials involved in the transfer.

Militant leader tells WND rifles provided for Abbas 'security' to be used against Jews

Earlier this month Abu Yousuf, a senior member of Force 17, told WND any new U.S. weapons transfers would be used against Israel. Abu Yousuf, like many Force 17 members, is also openly a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, the declared "military wing" of Abbas' Fatah party.

Abu Yousuf hinted new weapons provided by the U.S. to Force 17 could be shared with the Al Aqsa Brigades.

"These weapons will put to use against the Israelis," said Abu Yousuf. "Force 17 is proud that we were the first to lead the Palestinian people during tough times such as resistance operations (against the Israeli army during large-scale operations in northern Samaria in 2002). We will also be the first to lead the Palestinians in the current struggle against Israeli occupation."

Many have noted the connections between Force 17 and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror organization.

In June, Abbas appointed senior Brigades leader Mahmoud Damra as commander of Force 17. Damra, who was arrested by Israel last month, was on the Jewish state's most-wanted list of terrorists. He is accused of masterminding a string of attacks and of leading a terror cell based in Ramallah allegedly responsible for scores of shootings against Israelis.

Together with the Islamic Jihad terror group, the Brigades has taken responsibility for every suicide bombing inside Israel the past two years, including an attack in Tel Aviv in April that killed American teenager Daniel Wultz and nine Israelis. The Brigades also has carried out scores of deadly shooting and rocket attacks against Israeli civilians in recent months.

Asked to confirm other Force 17 officers also are members of the Brigades, Abu Yousuf replied: "During our official service and during our job hours we are soldiers. What we do in our free time it is our business. Of course, as members of Fatah, some of us are members in the Brigades and we take part in the defense and protection of our people and in the fight against the Israeli occupation."

The State Department includes the Brigades on its official list of international terror organization.

Hamas threatens to resume suicide bombings

Hamas threatens to resume suicide bombings
Terror group warns if government toppled, 'all options open'

Posted: December 18, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

TEL AVIV – Hamas is debating whether to resume suicide bombings inside the Jewish state and may allow its so-called military wing to openly engage in anti-Israeli attacks if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is aided in his calls for new Palestinian elections, Hamas members told WND.

"If the Israelis or the Americans and international community interferes in Palestinian affairs and encourages Abu Mazen (Abbas) to go on with elections, this will lead to internal Palestinian clashes, but the fighting will not just remain internal," said Abu Abdullah, who is considered one of the most important operational members of Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades, Hamas' declared "resistance" department.

Abu Abdullah warned if the Hamas government falters the terror group "will use all tools it has, including coming back to suicide attacks inside Israel."

Abbas this weekend called for new Palestinian elections in a move widely scene as an attempt to dismantle the Hamas-led PA. Hamas has said it would boycott any new ballots. As Palestinian president, Abbas has the authority to abolish the PA and order new elections held.

Hamas won a majority of Palestinian parliamentary seats in elections earlier this year.

Since his call for new ballots, Hamas and militants from Abbas' Fatah faction have been engaging in heavy fighting.

Yesterday, the convoy of Hamas Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar came under fire as it passed through Gaza City. Members of Hamas accused Fatah of trying to assassinate al-Zahar.

Hours later, Hamas assaulted a Force 17 base in the Gaza Strip just outside Abbas' office and Gaza residence. Abbas was in the West Bank at the time.

A presidential guard official denounced the Hamas attack as an assault on the "symbol of Palestinian legitimacy."

Hamas members also reportedly opened fire at a major political rally in Gaza last night held in support of Fatah. Three people were wounded at the gathering, Palestinian security officials said. An estimated 100,000 Fatah supporters participated in the rally.

Hamas sources told WND the terror group is debating whether to publicly reintroduce its "military wing" and carry out attacks against Israel.

"It is only a matter of a political decision before we restart attacks and put our military wing into effect," said a top Hamas source.

The last Hamas suicide bombing inside Israel took place in 2004. In November, a Palestinian woman attempted a suicide attack on behalf of Hamas against Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip. The woman blew herself up prematurely after being identified by Israeli soldiers.

Hamas largely has refrained from openly carrying out attacks against Israel since it took over the Palestinian government, although the terror group took part in the raid of an Israeli military station in June in which Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped.

Israeli security officials say Hamas members have participated in rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip aimed at nearby Jewish cities. Also, Israel says Hamas facilitates attacks by the Popular Resistance Committees, an umbrella of terror organizations operating in Gaza.

Still, Hamas' "military wing" has reportedly been active.

Abu Abdullah previously told WND Hamas has been preparing in the Gaza Strip for attacks against Israel.

"In the last fifteen months, even though the fighters of Hamas kept the cease-fire, we did not stop making important advancements and professional training on the military level. In the future, after Hamas is obliged to stop the cease-fire, the world shall see our new military capabilities," Abu Abdullah said.

Iranian students hide in fear for lives after venting fury at Ahmadinejad

Robert Tait in Tehran
Monday December 18, 2006
The Guardian

Iranian student activists who staged an angry protest against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week have gone into hiding in fear for their lives after his supporters threatened them with revenge.

One student fled after being photographed holding a banner reading, "Fascist president, the polytechnic is not for you", during Mr Ahmadinejad's visit to Tehran's Amir Kabir university. At least three others have gone underground after being seen burning his picture. Vigilantes from the militant Ansar-e Hezbollah group have been searching for them.

In a startling contrast to the acclaim Mr Ahmadinejad has received in numerous recent appearances around Iran, he faced chants of "Death to the dictator" as he addressed a gathering in the university's sports hall last week. Several hundred students forced their way in to voice anger over a clampdown on universities since he became president last year.
While his aides played down the incident, the Guardian has learned details of the violent and chaotic events.

The disclosures came yesterday as early returns from Friday's council elections indicated that Mr Ahmadinejad's hardline supporters had failed in their attempt to take control of several key local authorities. Turnout was estimated at about 60% after reformers urged liberal-minded electors to vote in large numbers to protest against the government's policies.

Last Monday's university demonstration triggered violent clashes between student activists and crowds of Basij militia, who were there to support the president. A shoe was thrown at Mr Ahmadinejad while a student had his nose broken by an aide to a cabinet minister.

Protesters later surrounded the president's car, prompting a security guard to fire a stun grenade to warn them off. Four cars in the presidential convoy collided in their haste to leave. Mr Ahmadinejad's staff later insisted he had remained calm and ordered that the students should go unpunished. But some of those present say he accused them of being paid United States agents who would be confronted.

"He threatened us directly, saying that what we were doing was against the wishes of the nation," said Babak Zamanian, a spokesman for Amir Kabir university's Islamic students' committee. "After that, the students protested even more sharply, calling him a lying religious dictator and shouting, 'Forget America and start thinking about us!'

"We were chanting, 'Get lost Ahmadinejad!' and 'Ahmadinejad - element of discrimination and corruption.' You could see from his face that he was really shocked. He wasn't flashing his usual smile, and at one stage I thought he was going to cry. He told his supporters to respond with a religious chant hailing Ahmadinejad, but he was so shaken he was actually chanting it himself."

Another student said: "He was trying to keep control of himself, but you could see he was angry and upset."

Witnesses say Mr Ahmadinejad also tried to ridicule the students by referring to the university disciplinary code, under which those with three penalty points are suspended from studies. "He joked that he was going to issue a presidential order for those with three stars to be enlisted as sergeants in the army. That made the students really angry," said Mr Zamanian.

The university authorities' contentious use of the disciplinary code was said to be a trigger for last week's protest. About 70 students have been suspended and threatened with expulsion for various political activities, including writing articles critical of the government.

Last month, the authorities demolished two building belonging to the Islamic students' committee - a moderate grouping representing diverse opinions. An elected student body was also disbanded. Women students have been told to wear conservative dress and remove any makeup.

In this atmosphere, activists at Amir Kabir university - a traditional hotbed of political activism - regarded Mr Ahmadinejad's visit as a deliberate provocation and decided to protest. While many chanted, a hard core waved banners and burned his portrait, some ignoring instructions to cover their faces.

The 21-year-old student holding the "fascist president" banner was among those threatened with expulsion. He is said to be in grave danger after foreign news outlets, including the Guardian, published a picture of his gesture. Friends say he went into hiding after being confronted by two vigilantes.

"They said they would pull his father out of the grave [an ancient Persian threat]," said one student. "He is in real danger. Vigilantes have been standing at the dormitory doors asking for him."

Students now fear an even fiercer crackdown. "We believe [the authorities] will react much worse than before," said Armin Salmasi, 26, a leading activist. "We are already under constant surveillance. The student movement in Iran is going to be driven underground - just like it was before the revolution."

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006

Ahmadinejad Opponents Leading Elections

Dec 18, 10:56 AM (ET)
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Opponents of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took an early lead in key races in Iran's local elections, according to partial results announced Monday, with moderate conservatives winning control of councils across the country.

If the final results hold - especially in the bellwether capital, Tehran - it will be an embarrassment to Ahmadinejad, whose anti-Israeli rhetoric and unyielding position on Iran's nuclear program have provoked condemnation in the West and moves toward sanctions at the U.N. Security Council.

The incomplete results announced by the Interior Ministry suggested that the winners were mostly moderate conservatives opposed to the hardline president, rather than reformists.

However, reformists, who want to bring a measure of liberalism to Iranian society and improve the country's relationship with the West, were quick to proclaim victory.

"Early results show that Mr. Ahmadinejad's list has suffered a decisive defeat nationwide," the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the largest reformist party, said in a statement. "It is a big 'no' to the government's authoritarian and inefficient methods."

The pro-reformist newspaper Etemad-e-Melli said in an editorial: "The most important message of Friday's vote was that the people have chosen moderation and rejected extremism."

A freelance Iranian journalist of reformist sympathies, Iraj Jamshidi, described the vote as "a blow to Ahmadinejad," who was elected in June 2005.

"After a year, Iranians have seen the consequences of the extremist policies employed by Ahmadinejad. Now, they have said a big 'no' to him," said Jamshidi.

In the key race for Tehran, candidates supporting Mayor Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, a moderate conservative opposed to the president, had taken the lead.

The Interior Ministry said only about 500,000 votes had been counted so far in Tehran, about 20 percent of the expected turnout. Final results, however, were released from all municipal districts outside the capital.

In the southern historical city of Shiraz, as well as in the provincial capitals of Rasht, northern Iran, and Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, not one pro-Ahmadinejad candidate won a seat on the city council.

The partial results indicated, separately, that reformers might be making a partial comeback, after having been suppressed in the parliamentary elections of 2004 when many of their best candidates were barred from running.

In the elections for the Assembly of Experts, a conservative body of 86 senior clerics that monitors Iran's supreme leader and chooses his successor, opponents of the president also appeared to have done well.

Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who lost to Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential election runoff, drew the most votes of any Tehran candidate to win a seat on the Assembly of Experts.

By contrast, an ally of the president, Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, won an assembly seat with a low vote total. Yazdi is regarded as Ahmadinejad's spiritual mentor.

Hasan Rowhani, who was Iran's top nuclear negotiator under former President Mohammad Khatami, was also elected to the assembly. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly accused Rowhani of being too soft in negotiations with the Europeans.

Turnout overall was more than 60 percent - substantially higher than that of the 2002 local elections when turnout was about 50 percent, and marginally above that of the presidential elections last year when turnout was 59 percent.

Government officials have so far given no comment on the partial results. They were quick, however, to praise the turnout, saying it would send a strong message to the West that Iran is a democracy.

A political analyst, Mostafa Mirzaeian, said Iran's political lineup was changing in favor of more moderate voices - although he stressed those winning were still within the ruling Islamic establishment.

"Results also show that a new coalition has developed between reformers and moderate conservatives, at the expense of hard-line extremists who support Ahmadinejad," he said.

More than 233,000 candidates ran for more than 113,000 council seats in cities, towns and villages across the vast nation on Friday. Local councils elect city mayors and approve community budgets and planning projects.

All municipal council candidates, including some 5,000 women, were vetted by parliamentary committees dominated by hard-liners. The committees disqualified about 10,000 nominees, according to reports in Iranian newspapers.

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All right reserved.

My belief, faith in God will be my greatest gift to my child

My belief, faith in God will be my greatest gift to my child
BY KRISTI STEPHENS

CANTON I am 25 years old. I am still young, but my dark brown hair has a few strands of gray finding their way to the surface, I have scars and the stories that go with them ... and now I have my own little one being formed inside of me.

At times, I fear the world we are bringing our little child into. But the things I have believed since childhood, and which have grown stronger and more firmly set into my heart and mind as I have grown older and seen the joys and pain of this world, have given me hope — and I know that they will be the greatest gift I give to our children.

I believe that no matter how hopeless, how painful, how purposeless this world may seem, there is a loving Creator behind it all, offering to give us life in the midst of our living. For I have discovered that life is much more than the breath I breathe or the steps I take. True life is found when I reach back up to the God who made me and live each day knowing Him, and therefore seeing myself and the purpose with which I was created more clearly as time goes by.

Some may think that I believe this because I have never seen the reality of this world. But I have held dying children in my arms, wondering how long they will live before starvation and disease take them away. I have cried along with dear friends who are suffering the deep, searing consequences of their own choices — and I have cried with those who suffer due to the choices others have made for them and evil committed against them.

I have wrestled with the reality of death, cancer, pain, evil, poverty and injustice. Perhaps the things I have been allowed to see in my 25 short years have brought a depth of understanding along with the strands of gray shimmering in my hair.

Yes, it is not naiveté which causes me to passionately believe this. It is looking in the face of the realities of this world which causes me to realize that the only explanation for all of this is a loving God’s relentless pursuit of a creation in rebellion, and I thank Him every day for not giving up the pursuit of my own rebellious heart.

And so, I rest my hand upon my swelling belly and entrust this tiny human being into the hands of my loving Father God who has brought me safe thus far, knowing that He will do the same for my little child.

My little one, my dearest prayer is that you trust Him. For whatever suffering and pain you will face in this world, you can find hope, meaning, purpose — and real life — in the hands of the God who has never lost control... and will never stop pursuing you.

This I believe — and always will.

©2005 by Kristi Stephens. Reprinted by arrangement with This I Believe Inc.
© 2006 The Repository

ACLU honors Arab and Muslim activists

ACLU honors Arab and Muslim activists
By: Khalil AlHajal / The Arab American News

Detroit - The American Civil Liberties Union honored members of the Arab American, American Muslim and activist communities on Thursday in a celebration of the national Bill of Rights Day at the Swords into Plowshares Gallery in downtown Detroit.

Plaintiffs in the federal court case to halt warrantless wiretapping by the National Security Administration were presented the ACLU's Bernie Gotfried award for their "courageous efforts."

"To be a plaintiff means having your name in the papers," said ACLU of Michigan Executive Director Kary Moss. "If you have concerns about your family, about your business… it requires risk, it requires courage, and it requires a commitment to values."

In August, Judge Anna Diggs Taylor of the U.S. District Court in Detroit ruled that the surveillance program - launched secretly by the Bush administration in 2001, allowing the NSA to listen in on phone calls and emails of U.S. citizens without a warrant - violates the rights to free speech, privacy, and the separation of powers. It was the first and only federal ruling to strike down the controversial program. The Bush administration has since asked to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to throw out the decision. The court has allowed the program to be kept in place pending appeal. Further hearings are expected to be held in late January.

The ACLU sued the National Security Agency last January on behalf of journalists, activists, scholars, and lawyers who say the surveillance has hindered their ability to communicate with clients and contacts overseas.

"We made a very compelling case," said Moss.

She said that the plaintiffs in the case being academics, lawyers, and journalists allowed for effective articulation of the issues and violations involved, and that they were being honored as "people who have stepped forward time and again."

Honoree Noel Saleh, ACLU civil rights attorney and president of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, said he felt that Congress had "fallen down on its job," and that it was critical for him to have gotten involved in the case.

"On a professional level I was concerned about my ability to communicate with clients… and as a citizen I felt it was critical to step up and participate… that this be challenged because as Judge Taylor said, we don't have an imperial presidency with unbridled, unrestricted power.

Judge Taylor said in her opinion on the case "There are no hereditary kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all 'inherent powers' must derive from that Constitution."

Saleh said he felt vindicated by the strength of the decision.

"One success of the litigation is that it empowers individuals and their representatives in Congress to ask questions…"

Nabih Ayad, of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and another plaintiff and honoree, also spoke of community empowerment through the court case and through various organizations and communities reaching out and cooperating with each other.

"Dialogue, communication, and bridge-building are absolutely key," he said. "Civil rights is a struggle for all… what good is our Constitution if when we need it, we can't use it?"

Dawud Walid, of the Council on American Islamic Relations was also honored.

"We're thankful for the ACLU's leadership in this issue as well as in other issues," said Walid.

He said he felt CAIR may have been targeted for surveillance because the organization is often in contact with foreign, often demonized media agencies such as Al Jazeera.

"We comment on various issues, sometimes not in favor of certain (U.S.) government practices and policies, including issues on the war in Iraq or the Patriot Act… that gets us on the radar to be surveiled… We have a lot more fighting to do."

A fourth honoree, William Swor of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said about the lawsuit "It’s important not just for our community, it's important for America. We are Americans."

December 15 was declared national Bill of Rights Day by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1941 on the 150th anniversary of the adoption of the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.