Iraqs Inconvenient Truth :: Iraq War News Updates

Dear America…

Please be sure to watch Senator Fred Thompson’s speech before the Republican National Convention tomorrow night. Fred is scheduled to speak at the Convention opening.

Fred is taking the lead in making certain that core conservative principles of limited government, low taxes and a strong America stay front and center in the debate that is going on across the nation.

And look for Fred’s email to you tomorrow on how you can be part of the drive to take strong conservative principles back to government at all levels. Thanks.

“This building will help serve the people of Ramadi,” said Latif Obaid, the mayor of Ramadi. “Now, the city’s officials have an official place to work and focus on the public.” The three-story building also serves as a symbol of restoration in the recuperating region.

Saturday, 30 August 2008

Mahmoud Marre (left), a local Iraqi contractor, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric Jett, a team leader with 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, look over the newly-reconstructed 17th Street Municipal Building in Ramadi, June 22, 2008. Photo by Lance Cpl. Casey Jones, Regimental Combat Team 1.

RAMADI — Citizens here, along with city and provincial leaders, came together to take part in the grand opening of the 17th Street Municipal Building, Aug. 24.

The municipal building, also known as the “Red Building” by the locals because of its distinctive color, will serve as the local government’s city hall. The building will be occupied by the mayor, city council members, and other elected and appointed city officials.

“This building will help serve the people of Ramadi,” said Latif Obaid, the mayor of Ramadi. “Now, the city’s officials have an official place to work and focus on the public.”

The three-story building also serves as a symbol of restoration in the recuperating region.

“The building is symbolic,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric Jett, a team leader with Civil Affairs Detachment 2, 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, and a native of Oceanside, Calif. “It’s a landmark; a keystone building in the center of Ramadi. It symbolizes to the locals that their government is back on its feet.”

Before the renovation efforts, the building was used as a student dormitory.

The structure was severely damaged during fighting early in the war and needed extensive repairs to refurbish it. It was often used as a launching pad for attacks by insurgents.

“The building was hit by almost every type of munitions known to Coalition forces,” said Capt. Angel Torres, the commanding officer of Civil Affairs Detachment 2. “It was just a frame with a big hole in the middle of it.”

For the last year, the mayor of Ramadi worked inside the local police headquarters for an extra layer of security. But now that the city is a great deal safer, the local government decided to move the mayor’s office to a separate location.

With the security gains in the region, the Iraqi people have embraced peace and have begun reconstructing their city. According to Obaid, the grand opening of the municipal building was a visible testament to the tireless efforts of the people of Ramadi and Coalition forces.

(By Lance Cpl. Casey Jones, Regimental Combat Team 1

In 2006, a Angel-faced but tough former small-town mayor named Sarah Palin became a long-shot candidate for Alaska governor demanding a higher ethnical standard in state government. The timing of her reform message and a widening scandal produced a tornado that reshaped thepolitical landscape.

Sarah Palin Bio

Don’t Miss » Top Bargain Clearance and New York Times Bestseller List

Surprising everyone, Palin thumped by wide margins both a sitting governor in the Republican primary election and a former governor in the general election to become Alaskas first female chief executive and its youngest ever. Get your copy now

The announcement came the morning after Barack Obama’s well-received address at the Democratic convention

Sarah Palin Governor Of Alaska ~ John Mccain's Selection For VP

Republican presidential nominee John McCain today selected Alaska governor Sarah Palin, a relative political novice, as his vice-presidential running mate.

The move is a bold play for the potentially millions of disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters who yearn to vote for a woman candidate in the November election and who have remained impervious to Democratic pleas for party unity.

The announcement came the morning after Barack Obama’s well-received address on the final day of the Democratic convention, a transparent effort to keep pundits from discussing Obama. Story continues Here.

JOINT BASE BALAD — In a region where many men are often judged on their ability to thwart progress, he is counted among a growing number that can make things happen. And he has been making good things happen for his fellow countrymen since long before coalition forces arrived six years ago.

Friday, 29 August 2008

By Staff Sgt. Les Newport
76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

Mr. Hashim Abd Al-Amir Mahdi, owner of the Miran Company and operator of the new Joint Base Balad Container Repair facility shares a light moment with Command Sgt. Maj. Paul Crabtree of the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. The facility is yet another project of the burgeoning Iraqi based industrial zones initiate that provides Iraqis with economic growth opportunities on the perimeters of installations of Coalition forces. Photo by Staff Sgt. Lesley Newport.

JOINT BASE BALAD — In a region where many men are often judged on their ability to thwart progress, he is counted among a growing number that can make things happen. And he has been making good things happen for his fellow countrymen since long before coalition forces arrived six years ago.

His name is Hashim Abd Al-Amir Mahdi and he is an Iraqi business leader who has been able to sustain long-term contracts with Coalition forces and provide valuable jobs for local nationals. Hashim recently took yet another step in his long journey to help restore normalcy to the land between the rivers.

Hashim hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new container repair facility at Joint Base Balad, marking the most recent and largest contract his business, the Miran Company, has negotiated with Coalition forces.

According to Command Sgt. Maj. Paul Crabtree, the contract has the potential for saving the US government more than one million dollars a year.

“The last I heard, we have over 10,000 containers [at JBB], and if they needed repaired we had to send them to Arifjan in Kuwait, a country and a half away,” said Crabtree. “Then we have to ship them back.”

Crabtree also points out that the facility, an Iraqi-based industrial zone project, is a catalyst for continued progress in Iraq, providing jobs for Sons of Iraq. The group has been given considerable credit for supporting the Iraqi government’s efforts to bring peace to the region.

As local leaders have worked to increase security, local business leaders and sheiks have forged an alliance to move forward with economic development opportunities like the container repair facility. A tertiary effect has been diminishing returns for insurgents according to Crabtree.

A kindergarten and primary school opened in the She Shon area during ribbon-cutting ceremonies Aug. 21. “We are very thankful this project is now complete,” said Fatema Rhady, the headmistress of the kindergarten. “I hope that this will show Iraqi contractors that here, just like in America, they shouldn’t be scared of anything by helping us. We are all just trying to help the children.”

Thursday, 28 August 2008

By Pfc. Michael Schuch
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division

Capt. Sean Nolan, of San Antonio, and a soon-to-be student of the newly-refurbished primary school in Jisr Diyala, await cookies and cake during the school’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Aug. 21, 2008. Photo by Pfc. Michael Schuch.

Soldiers from the 415th Civil Affairs Battalion helped local contractors renovate two schools in She Shon to ensure the children of the area have the opportunity to receive a formal education.

“We are very thankful this project is now complete,” said Fatema Rhady, the headmistress of the kindergarten. “I hope that this will show Iraqi contractors that here, just like in America, they shouldn’t be scared of anything by helping us. We are all just trying to help the children.”

Participants cut the kindergarten’s ribbon first, marking the school’s opening and ability to begin classes in September. Children in the area received cookies, a special treat in celebration of the momentous day.

The school repairs took six weeks to complete. A local Iraqi contractor hired skilled citizens from surrounding towns to perform the work. This helped create jobs and increase the flow of money for the small urban village.

The school received new doors, windows, paint and remodeled bathrooms. The school boasts the only playground in the area, in addition to the numerous classrooms.

The children are put through two classes: a starter class, which introduces them to the educational system in slow, smooth steps, and a preparatory class, which ensures children are ready to move on to the grade school that follows.

Following the Kindergarten’s opening, Soldiers from 415th CA Bn. made the local primary school their next stop.

The Maka al Mukarama Primary School, run by headmaster Mahamed Muhmod Hussein, received fresh paint, new doors and windows, remodeled bathrooms and minor structural repairs.

This two-story school boasts nearly two dozen classrooms and offices, a large courtyard and a court with soccer nets and basketball hoops.

The two remodeled and operational schools provide a significant advantage to the children of She Shon, further demonstrating the commitment of the Iraqi people, Iraqi security forces and coalition forces to improve the health and welfare of the Iraqi children.

Dear America, We frequently point out the wrong-headedness of British policy towards the cultural jihad occurring there. Why? First, because Britain’s politically correct policy has led to increasing radicalization of British Muslims and has increased, not decreased, threats of terrorism.

And second, because where Britain is now is where we in America will be at some point in the future if we do not learn from their mistakes and choose NOT to do what they have done in standing against this threat.

The article below gives example after example of the failure of this policy. One thing from the British experience is clear. The average citizen of Britain has been no match for the country’s elites, who fashioned the policy of appeasement that has brought Britain to this place. There was no organized, grassroots push back to keep this from happening.

Cultural jihad is happening here in the United States as well. But we can still stop it – and you can be an effective voice in this effort.

Beginning September 13th, ACT! for America will be conducting one-day “Leadership in Action” conferences in California, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, and New Jersey. This exciting and informative conference will equip you and empower you to be an effective force against the creeping subversion of cultural jihad and the threat of Islamofascism.

To register or find out more, simply click here http://www.actforamerica.org/ . If you don’t live near one of these locations, but know people who do, forward this email to them and encourage them to attend. Just last week the Ft. Wayne, Indiana chapter hosted an event with Brigitte Gabriel and Guy Rodgers. Twenty-two people who attended found out about it because one of them received an email from a friend in Oregon.

That’s the power of the internet at work. That’s people power. And that’s what it’s going to take to keep America from going down the same road that Great Britain has traveled. So we encourage you to register for a “Leadership in Action” conference near you, or forward this email to those you know who live near one of our scheduled locations.

As the recent Tyson Foods situation demonstrates, organized and informed grassroots people power does make a difference.

British Submission

By Douglas Stone
FrontPageMagazine.com | 8/21/2008

http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=F5BFAB45-7CB7-4FEB-8BF3-7E75014BE5BB

Foot baths for Muslim students at Michigan universities? Muslim cabbies in the Twin Cities who refuse to carry seeing-eye dogs? The FBI and other government agencies taking sensitivity training from radical Muslim organizations? You think we’ve lost the plot over here? Take a look at British submission to Islamofascist demands and threats, as that once great nation succumbs to creeping dhimmitude.

It has reached the point that in mid-April, the British Foreign Office instructed the Royal Navy not to return pirates to jurisdictions sporting sharia law (such as Somalia) for fear that their human rights will be violated. They have even been discouraged from capturing pirates, because the freebooters might ask to be granted asylum in Britain, a request with which the UK might have to comply under international and European Union human rights law.

This for a Navy that almost singlehandedly defeated piracy in the early 19th century, and a nation that retained the death penalty for this scourge of the high seas until the late 20th century.

Welcome to Britain today.

Another recent outrage involves special handling of a traffic violation. Seems that a Muslim driver was stopped by police while speeding between two homes in the north of England. When he appeared in court, he explained his high speed – over twice the speed limit – was necessary to accommodate his two wives. His explanation was accepted, and he was allowed to keep his license.

That comes fast – very fast – on the heels of a decision by the British government to grant full spousal benefits to multiple wives. It won’t affect more than an estimated 1,000 individuals. And it mercifully won’t affect the indigenous Christian, Hindu or Jewish population, as traditional bigamy laws apply. Britons may rest easy, as it will only cover multiple wives married in a jurisdiction that practices Sharia law, such as Pakistan or Saudi Arabia.

These are not isolated instances; there are a myriad more: Swimming periods at pools restricted to Muslims only; the establishment of a BBC Arabic language station staffed by Arab broadcasters and managers with track records of being anti-American, anti-Israel and anti-Western; the refusal of female Muslim medical students to wash their arms as that practice might reveal the forbidden flesh between wrist and elbow; an attempt by a national union of university lecturers to call for a boycott of Israeli academics; and, a local Council ban on pig-themed toys, porcelain figures and calendars on workers’ desks because it might offend Muslims.

No comment from the Home Office or No. 10 Downing Street. No comment from the government, because it has been their policy to appease Britain’s large Muslim population in response to menacing behavior up to and including the bomb outrages of July 7, 2005.

It’s no coincidence that Muslims constitute a substantial portion of the Labour Party’s electoral support in London and in much of its heartland in northern England. In the expected close election for Parliament that will be held by mid-2010, an increasing Muslim population may be the difference between victory and defeat for the Labourites.

But Labour’s bien pensant hardly needs convincing. Like most on the left today, they fancy themselves champions of the underdog and the oppressed, and sympathy for Islam, and Arab and Muslim causes fits neatly into their intellectual program. Along with America and Israel-bashing, it goes to the very heart of how liberals view themselves and, more important, how they wish to be viewed by others. It supplies them with the appearance of a self-abnegation that is supposed to relieve their Western, middle-class guilt with a cleansing humility but is nothing but moral exhibitionism; and, as always, involves other people’s money, other people’s freedom, and other people’s comfort – never or very rarely their own.

A classic of political correctness run amok, wonderful as a burlesque if it weren’t slowly undermining Britain’s way of life and its will to oppose extreme Islamism.

Worse is that acceding to this nonsense gives Islamofascists confidence that they are on the winning side of history. That if they just shout a little louder and push a little harder, they may expect more of the same that becomes increasingly normative until it convinces the longer-settled among the UK’s population that they have no power to stop, let alone reverse, the process.

One might have become inured to the gutless behavior of France or Italy, but many in the U.S. are still under the impression that, like other countries in the Anglosphere, the British remain clear-eyed, realistic and most importantly resolute about the threats with which the West is confronted. But they aren’t; and while these cultural changes are in the realm of the comical right now, they are beginning to affect British public policy, domestic as well as foreign.

——————————————————————————————-

ACT for America
P.O. Box 6884
Virginia Beach, VA 23456
http://www.actforamerica.org/

ACT for America is an issues advocacy organization dedicated to effectively organizing and mobilizing the most powerful grassroots citizen action network in America, a grassroots network committed to informed and coordinated civic action that will lead to public policies that promote America’s national security and the defense of American democratic values against the assault of radical Islam. We are only as strong as our supporters, and your volunteer and financial support is essential to our success. Thank you for helping us make America safer and more secure.

Rice Discusses Troop Withdrawals with Iraqis (AP)  ~  Iraq Oil Minister Sees Possible Oil Oversupply  ~  Iraq has allocated 500 million dollars to support the construction industry  ~  D.N.O company expected to start exporting Iraqi oil during 2008  ~  New amusement park to launch soon in Erbil, Iraq….

______

Rice Discusses Troop Withdrawals with Iraqis (AP)

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew into Baghdad on Thursday for discussions with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top Iraqi officials, hoping to iron out remaining differences in a U.S.-Iraq security deal that envisions the withdrawal of American troops.

“The negotiators have taken this very, very far,” she told reporters, “but there is no reason to believe that there is an agreement yet.” She flew into Baghdad amid indications that a draft deal had been concluded, but she said that was premature.

“There are still issues concerning exactly how our forces operate,” Rice said. “The agreement rests on aspirational timelines.”

Rice declined to talk about specifics, but U.S. officials said more work is needed to reach agreements on a timeline for U.S. troop withdrawals, immunity for U.S. troops and the handling of Iraqi prisoners.

“Ultimately the prime minister has to make the call on moving forward,” Rice said. She described her visit as “a chance for me to meet with the prime minister and see what we can do from Washington to get to closure.”

Iraqi and American officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday that negotiators had completed a draft agreement that extends the legal basis for U.S. troops to remain in Iraq beyond the end of this year, while calling for them to move out of Iraqi cities as soon as June 30.

A senior U.S. military official in Washington said the deal is acceptable to the U.S. side, subject to formal approval by President Bush. It also requires approval by Iraqi leaders, and some members of Iraq’s Cabinet oppose some provisions.

Also completed is a companion draft document, known as a strategic framework agreement, spelling out in broad terms the political, security and economic relationships between Iraq and the United States, the senior military official said. The official discussed the draft accords on condition that he not be identified by name because the deals have not been publicly announced and are not final.

In addition to spelling out that U.S. troops would move out of Iraqi cities by next summer, the Iraqi government has pushed for a specific date — most likely the end of 2011 — by which all U.S. forces would depart the country. In the meantime, the U.S. troops would be positioned on bases in other parts of the country to make them less visible while still being able to assist Iraqi forces as needed.

There are now about 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

U.S. officials have resisted committing firmly to a specific date for a final pullout, insisting that it would be wiser to set a target linked to the attainment of certain agreed-upon goals. These goals would reflect not only security improvements but also progress on the political and economic fronts.

It was not clear Wednesday how that has been settled in the draft security accord, which the two governments are referring to as a memorandum of understanding. The draft agreement must be approved by the Iraqi parliament, which is in recess until early next month.

Late Wednesday a second senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two sides have come up with a draft agreement that addresses the issue of the timing of future U.S. troop withdrawals, but the official would not say whether the two sides had agreed on 2011 for a final pullout. The official suggested there would be a series of timelines set, linked to conditions on the ground, and that the draft worked out by the negotiators required more talks at higher levels of the two governments.

An Iraqi official who was involved in the protracted negotiations said a compromise had been worked out on the contentious issue of whether to provide U.S. troops immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law, but he did not give details. In Washington, the senior military official said the draft agreement reflects the U.S. position that the United States must retain exclusive legal jurisdiction over its troops in Iraq.

While Iraqi negotiators signed off on the draft, another official close to al-Maliki said the country’s political leadership objected to parts of the text, including the immunity provision. He would not elaborate and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Iraq Updates

______

Iraq Oil Minister Sees Possible Oil Oversupply

22 August 2008 (AFX News Limited)

Oil supplies meet and may slightly exceed current world demand, Iraqi oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani said at a press conference in Warsaw, Poland on Thursday.

Sharhristani did not say whether or not the supply situation meant OPEC needed to cut output at its September meeting, saying the group would have to first review its market data.

Sharhristani also said he expected Iraq’s OPEC target to reach 4.5 million barrels per day within five years and 6 million barrels per day within 10 years. Iraq Updates

______

Iraq has allocated 500 million dollars to support the construction industry

22 August 2008 (Iraq Directory)

The building and construction sector in Iraq, had witnessed a precedent phenomenon regarding the high prices of construction materials, particularly iron ,cement and bricks (stone reinforced concrete), which burdened the citizens along with their direct impact on the level of performance of companies contracting with the state now, due to the different prices.

The experts attributed the rising prices of construction materials, that the local market is effected by the world prices in the first degree, and then monopolistic practices of traders and the chaos of the domestic market. Others decried the importance of the step directed by the state to provide construction materials with global specifications and reasonable prices ,and to enter as a partner in the construction materials market, because the administrative routine is an obstacle to such initiatives.

Specialists in constructive sector called on the government intervention to handle with this phenomenon of rapidly rising prices, particularly after the government’s declaration about preparing for the reconstruction campaign this year, according to expectations it will be “the construction and reconstruction year.

The specialists notified on what a high official stated of a plan to rebuild the city of Baghdad, according to a global designs within 3 years at a cost of 6 billion dollars, by local and international companies include construction of residential and commercial complexes and hotels, and to rehabilitate roads and different service projects, and they wondered how prices will evolve when the scheme started in .

Iraqi Finance Minister Baqer Jabr Al-Zubaidi announced that the strategic priorities of the current year’s budget, lies in the rehabilitation and construction industries developed, aimed at solving the housing crisis, once he acknowledged that the government needed to 400 billion dollars for the rehabilitation of infrastructure in the country. He explained that his ministry has allocated 500 million dollars to the Ministry of Industry, to support the plants and construction industries and companies affiliated to it, pointing out that it recently engaged the private sector in the rehabilitation and development of the cement factories in Kufa, Karbala and Anbar, in what will provide construction materials with world specifications and suitable prices.

The rise of construction materials prices reflected also upon real estate prices, rising 200 percent, doubling the housing crisis. The estimates illustrate the Iraq needs about 3 million housing units to solve the crisis in the coming years.

Reports indicate the contribution of merchants and contractors in raising the prices of construction materials, through their control of quantities of these materials from the local market, by buying loads of cement and iron before arriving to Iraqi ports, or warehouses of traders, which activated the sector, but doubled the prices. Iraq Updates

______

D.N.O company expected to start exporting Iraqi oil during 2008

22 August 2008 (Iraq Directory)

D.N.O the Norwegian oil and gas company, announced that the profit declination was lower than expected in operating profit for the second quarter and ,stressed that the production will rise strongly once they get access to the export of Iraqi oil.

And the company’s profits decreased before deducting interest and taxes to 125 million krone ($ 23.06 million) in the period between April and June compared with 185 million krone a year ago.

According to Reuters survey of nine analysts views, who had predicted a decline of profits to 110 million krone due to the drop in production in Yemen and the higher expenses.

Unlikely to most oil companies, D.N.O have not achieved full advantage of high oil prices because it sells most of its oil production in Iraq’s domestic markets where prices are lower than global levels.

The company said in a statement, “D.N.O will witness a leap in production levels as soon as they are permitted to export the oil from Toki field (in northern Iraq). And even then the company expected to keep the production stable.”

They added: “Based on discoveries made during the first six months and with the ever prospecting program, the company expects to achieve further growth in reserves and resources through in 2008.”

D.N.O mentioned repeatedly that it expects to win the license of the oil export from Iraq during 2008.

(U.S. dollar equals 5,420 Norwegian krone) Iraq Updates

_______

New amusement park to launch soon

Families in Erbil to have more fun and amusement at Family Fun.

By: Aiyob Mawloodi  ~  22 August 2008 (Kurdish Globe)

A giant entertainment project in Kurdistan Region’s capital city of Erbil will begin welcoming people next month, said Jamal Yassin, the main engineer of the project.

The Family Fun amusement park, a joint venture between the public and private sectors, is built on a $US50 million budget and situated on a 130,000 square meter of land in a northeast Erbil neighborhood. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) donated the land, and Darin, a local Kurdish company, is building the amusement park.

Family Fun consists of two major parts. The first includes shopping malls, stores, and markets, and the other is a large-scale amusement park.

The second phase of the project, which includes various amusements, many new to the region and the country as a whole, is 95% complete. Another section of the park is only 60% complete and will not be open until next year.

The amusement park, the largest and most modern in the capital and the region, has new summer rides in large sizes that make them unique in the country. They include a 572-meter railway called Alabora, which is an Italian amusement ride that carries 42 people and is nonexistent in Iraq; Condor, with the capacity to carry 56 people; a carnival ride 45 meters in height with a capacity to carry 192 people, and more.

There is also an extensive parking area with a 150,000-plus car capacity.

The park is expected to be an attractive tourist site and a modern entertainment center. Builders believe it will attract thousands of local and foreign tourists on a daily basis, and serve as a respite for Erbil residents seeking to have fun with their families and hoping to find fresh air. The park, with its wide green area and large number of trees, is clean and environmentally friendly.

But challenges must be addressed before Family Fun can open completely for business.

One of the major problems with the project, according to Yassin, is the electricity power supply for the compound.

“Power shortages will cause us trouble in the future, since power generators are not sufficient for the amusement park,” said Yassin. “Alabora alone consumes 1 megawatt of electricity; the whole project needs 6 megawatts.”

The water shortage is also a source of concern, since the two water wells licensed by the KRG to be dug for the project are insufficient for irrigation of a 40,000 square meter of green area and other water needs, Yassin explained.

Other minor setbacks of the project, according to project managers, include the surrounding of the park, i.e., the North Industrial Area and Sheikh Ahmed Cemetery, which distort the appearance of the park; and 100 Meter Street, which is very crowded and makes it difficult for visitors to cross the street and enter the park. They want to construct a pedestrian bridge over the street to solve this problem. Darin and the KRG will work together to seek solutions for other issues. Iraq Updates

Dear America,  I am honored and proud to announce to you the publication of my new book They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It. This book picks up where Because They Hate left off - and it promises to be a blockbuster. And I don’t mince words and I am not politically correct:

Quotes from Chapter 3:

“Islam has created and unleashed an uncontrollable wave of hatred and rage on the world…Going forward we must realize that the portent behind the terrorist attacks is the purest form of what the Prophet Mohammed created. It’s not radical Islam. It’s what Islam is at the core…The time of moderation and watered-down religion is over …It’s not radical Islam. It’s not Wahhabi Islam, it’s Mohammed’s original Islam.”

The following chapter titles will give you an idea of how dynamic and hard-hitting this book addresses the issues.

“Purists Drink Their Islam Straight”
“The Muslim Brotherhood Project for North America”
“Reviving the Caliphate: One World Nation Under Allah, Supersizing the Muslim World”
“The Subtle Islamization Agenda: Boiling the West Alive”
“Madrassas in America and Abroad: Molding an Islamofacist Youth”
“Tolerance: A One-Way Street”

My publisher, St. Martin’s Press, has designated They Must Be Stopped as one of their lead titles of the year and will be heavily promoting it throughout the fall. It’s going to be a “wake-up call” heard clearly across America!

What’s really exciting is that the final two chapters highlight ACT! for America as an essential solution to the challenge of stopping militant Islam! The growth of our organization following publication will be phenomenal.

They Must Be Stopped will be available in bookstores nationwide September 2nd.

But in advance of that, I am offering our members three ways to get a special, personally autographed copy of the book, mailed from me to you. This promotion will be invaluable in furthering ACT! for America’s nationwide grassroots efforts educating and mobilizing citizens to rise in defense of our security, our liberty and our values.

Indeed, your contribution will help fund the candidate “voter information flyers” we will be publishing in October. These voter information flyers will document how candidates for President, U.S. Senate and U.S. House respond to a questionnaire we will provide them that covers policy proposals dealing with Islamic terrorism and national security.

To receive a personally autographed, “hot off the press” copy of my new book, all you have to do is select one of the following three options:

* Become a Patriot Partner with a monthly gift of at least $20.

* Make a one-time contribution of at least $100.

* If you’re already a Patriot Partner giving at least $10 per month, increase your monthly gift by $10 or more. (If you choose this option, when you click on the donation form, click on the “monthly support” option and THEN check the “change gift” box. Then fill in the new amount of your monthly gift and complete the form.)

To choose any of these three options online, simply click here.

To print out a reply form to mail a one-time contribution of at least $100, please click here.

(Please note that you can expect to receive your book in the mail around mid-September).

As I write your name in your book, my heart will be thrilled knowing each and every one of you are standing up for freedom, and taking courageous action in this time in our civilization’s history. You have my heartfelt gratitude and deepest respect.

Always devoted,

Brigitte Gabriel

P.S. Remember, when you help ACT! for America with your contribution, you will not only receive a “hot off the press” copy of my new book.

You’ll also be helping us fund our voter information project that will enable voters across America to see how candidates for President, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House stand on important policy proposals that will help us defeat the rising tide of Islamofascism.

So please don’t delay. Click here to become a monthly Patriot Partner or make a one-time contribution of at least $100 online. Or click here to print out a reply form to mail with your contribution of at least $100.

Thank you!

————————————-
ACT for America
P.O. Box 6884
Virginia Beach, VA 23456
http://www.actforamerica.org/

ACT for America is an issues advocacy organization dedicated to effectively organizing and mobilizing the most powerful grassroots citizen action network in America, a grassroots network committed to informed and coordinated civic action that will lead to public policies that promote America’s national security and the defense of American democratic values against the assault of radical Islam. We are only as strong as our supporters, and your volunteer and financial support is essential to our success. Thank you for helping us make America safer and more secure.

Brigitte Gabriel

P.S. Remember, when you help ACT! for America with your contribution, you will not only receive a “hot off the press” copy of my new book.

You’ll also be helping us fund our voter information project that will enable voters across America to see how candidates for President, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House stand on important policy proposals that will help us defeat the rising tide of Islamofascism.

So please don’t delay. Click here to become a monthly Patriot Partner or make a one-time contribution of at least $100 online. Or click here to print out a reply form to mail with your contribution of at least $100.

Thank you!

Posted By Jill Stanek At Her Blog: Here

August 21, 2008
Stanek on Hannity re: Obama/Born Alive Last night Sean Hannity interviewed me about my experience at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, IL, holding a baby who had been aborted alive for 45 minutes until he died.

The interview extended to Barack Obama’s leadership role in opposing the IL Born Alive Infants Protection Act, to give abortion survivors legal rights.

One other point clarified during the interview: Obama denied for 4 years he voted for the identical language in IL that was passed overwhelmingly on the federal level, including a unanimous vote in the US Senate. NARAL went neutral on the bill as well.

The Democrat Party platform’s hidden Soros Slush Fund

  By Michelle Malkin  •  August 20, 2008 05:03 AM ~ From Michelle Malkin’s Blog

My syndicated column today delves into the Democrat Party platform and exposes how untold amounts of taxpayer funding would be steered to militant, George Soros-backed left-wing groups. Welcome to Barack Obama’s “Social Investment Fund Network.”Follow the money.

That goes for both presidential candidates who carry the Soros taint. Ugh.

***
The Democrat Party platform’s hidden Soros Slush Fund
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008

The Democrat Party platform is like a bag of pork rinds. You never know what high-fat liberal government morsel you’re gonna get.

Buried in the 94-page document is a noble-sounding proposal to create a “Social Investment Fund Network.” The program would provide federal money to “social entrepreneurs and leading nonprofit organizations [that] are assisting schools, lifting families out of poverty, filling health care gaps, and inspiring others to lead change in their own communities.” The Democrat Party promises to “support these results-oriented innovators” by creating an office to “coordinate government and nonprofit efforts” and then showering “a series of grants” on the chosen groups “to replicate these programs nationwide.”

In practice, this Barack Obama brainchild would serve as a permanent, taxpayer-backed pipeline to Democrat partisan outfits masquerading as public-interest do-gooders. This George Soros Slush Fund would be political payback in spades. Obama owes much of his Chicago political success to financial support from radical, left-wing billionaire and leading “social entrepreneur” Soros. In June 2004, Soros threw a big fund-raiser at his New York home for Obama’s Illinois Senate campaign. Soros and family personally chipped in $60,000. In April 2007, Obama was back in New York for a deep-pocketed Manhattan fund-raising soiree, with Soros lurking in his shadow (yes, that’s him behind Obama grasping onto the stairs).

No doubt with Soros’s approbation (if not advice from the hands-on “progressive” activist or his advisors), Obama fleshed out his Social Investment Fund Network plan last December. In concert with his mandatory volunteerism pitch and $6 billion anti-poverty plan, Obama called for the creation of a “Social Entrepreneurship Agency” to dispense the funds in unspecified amounts. The agency would be a government-supported nonprofit corporation “similar to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” which runs public television. (And we’ve all seen how fair and balanced that lib-dominated, Bill Moyers-boosting private-public enterprise turned out.)

Obama cites the Harlem Children’s Zone, which provides after-school activities and mentors to children in New York, as an example of a program that should be funded. (HCZ’s former senior leader, Shawn Dove, is now an official at Soros’s Open Society Institute.) The problem with such initiatives, as Mitchell Moss pointed out in the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal several years ago, is that these private-public partnerships formed under the guise of economic renewal often become nothing more than fronts that coordinate “an enormous safety net for social services.” Private donations give the illusion of self-help and philanthropic independence, but in reality, the “clients” are never weaned from the teat of the welfare state. They simply learn how to milk it more efficiently.

Even more troubling is how the Democrat Party/Obama plan would siphon away untold millions or billions of public tax dollars into the Soros empire without taxpayer recourse. Obama promises “accountability” measures to ensure the money is spent wisely. But who would assess effectiveness of the spending? Why, experts in the social entrepreneurship community, of course. Fox, meet henhouse.

Soros has donated some $5 billion of his fortune to left-wing non-profit groups through the Open Society Institute — which is committed to Soros’s militant ideology of toppling the “fascist” tyranny of the United States, which he says must undergo “de-Nazification” in favor of “justice.” The mob at Obama-endorsing MoveOn, purveyors of the “General Betray Us” smear against Commanding General, MNF-I, David Petraeus, is the most notorious Soros-backed political arm. But scores of other activist non-profits have received Soros funding under the guise of doing non-partisan “community” or “social justice” work — and it is exactly such leftist activist groups that would be first in line for the Democrat Party/Obama’s “social investment” seed money.  Story Continues HERE

The Plagues That May Visit The Messiah’s Speech On Mount Denver

August 20th, 2008 ~  Posted By drillanwr At: Pat Dollards Blog

Zechariah 14:15: And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.

Grasshoppers, hail, rain, lightning all possible during Obama speech

By Alan Gathright - Rocky Mountain News

Planners of Barack Obama’s acceptance speech for the Democratic presidential nomination at Invesco Field may want to keep a weather-eye out for history of a different kind.

Think: grasshopper swarms blotting out the sun and lightening strikes, marble-size hail and 53 mph winds.

All these have occurred in the Denver area on Aug. 28 through recorded history, according to National Weather Service.

A Focus on the Family video drew international headlines with a video humorously urging people to pray for a “biblical” deluge on Obama’s big night under open skies with 75,000 people.

“One of the guys here joked that ‘Focus on the Family is praying for the wrong stuff. They could be praying for the grasshoppers, they might get that instead of the rain,’ ” recounted Carl Burroughs of the National Weather Service in Boulder.

That’s because records show Aug. 28, 1875 was smack in the midst of a 12-day swarm of grasshoppers that “almost darkened the sun,” blanketed streets, “devastated” Denverites’ gardens and devoured ripening grain crops in the countryside.

An AccuWeather.com forecast for Obama’s address calls for rain and a temperature of 39 degrees, though — as any Coloradan will tell you — Rocky Mountain weather can change in a minute — let alone 13 days.

Still, that 15-day forecast calls for a hot day on Aug. 28, with a high of 91, followed by a cool, rainy night.

History says that’s not out of the ballpark of possibilities.

The record high for Aug. 28 was 94 degrees in 1969. The record minimum temperature was 42 degrees in 2004.

A record .68 inch of rain fell on that day in 1882.

The severity of summer thunderstorms tends to weaken as the days cool toward the end of August.

But on that day in 1970, a 53 mph wind gust was recorded at Stapleton International Airport.

On Aug. 28, 1968, lightening strikes seriously injured a man riding a roller coaster at a Denver amusement park and an airline worker at Stapleton while triggering several house fires in the city.

On that day in 2002, three-quarter inch hail rattled Parker.

On the bright side, snow had never been recorded in Denver in August.

But, there was 1.3 inches of hail on Aug. 31, 1951.

(nods to my ‘retired’ Marine buddy Chuck)

Not to worry, however.

The Messiah has been performing miracles since he was but a young prophet of Hope and Change when he lived in the Village Of Che … er, Chi in the company of his first disciples.

A glimpse of the young Obama in action

By John Blake - (CNN)

In 1987, I got a sneak preview of one of the most unlikely political stories of our time. It would take me nearly 20 years to figure out that I had stumbled upon a slice of American history.

I was a summer intern in Illinois at the Chicago Tribune newspaper. An editor dispatched me to City Hall to cover a demonstration. When I arrived, I found a group of angry African-American women shouting at a group of white city officials in a crowded waiting room.

I tried to talk to some of the women, but it was difficult to pry any of them away from the demonstration because they were so angry. Some of the women grew so agitated that they started to shove the flustered city officials and yell in their faces.

Now there was nothing unusual about this scene. Chicago has long been a tough political town and that certainly was the case when I arrived there in the mid-1980s. Chicagoans had elected Harold Washington as the city’s first black mayor four years earlier, but racial tensions were still simmering.

The city had recently been dubbed “Beirut on the Lake” because of the constant clashes between Washington and the city’s white political establishment. I still remember how stunned I was when I watched a race riot erupt on television the previous summer when black demonstrators tried to enter a public park in a white, working-class neighborhood. People even warned me not to venture into certain white neighborhoods after dark.

So, the ugly demonstration at City Hall didn’t surprise me. This was Chicago. But then something unusual took place.

As the City Hall demonstration threatened to veer out of control, a lanky man suddenly walked up to the women protesters. He appeared to be in his mid-20s, and he wore a short afro and overalls.

The women’s shouts trailed off when they saw him. The young man had an annoyed look on his face and, motioning with his index finger, he summoned the women to a corner in the room. They formed a circle around him, some still mumbling in anger.

“What did we come here for?” he asked them.

They gave an answer in unison.

He asked another question and they gave another collective answer.

As the man posed his questions, the anger of the women subsided. It seemed like this was an exercise that they had all rehearsed beforehand to keep the women’s anger in check.

The women then took a collective breath, pivoted and resumed their demonstration, with the young man leading the way this time. The entire episode didn’t last more than five minutes.

That moment, for whatever reason, never left me. It’s not as if the man said anything clever or inspiring. I actually don’t remember anything he said after his first question.

How, I wondered, could these tough, angry women listen with such deference to someone who was so much younger and seemed so different?

Despite his humble appearance, he didn’t look like he came from the same world as they did. I could tell by his diction that he was well educated. And I didn’t see any evidence of hard living in his smooth, honey-colored face. He looked like a kid standing next to these angry women with their hardened faces.

Yet these women hung on his words like quiet schoolchildren listening to their teacher.

I left the demonstration with no story but with this thought. I felt sorry for the guy. His protest was doomed to fail and no one would probably hear of him. Poor people don’t evoke too much sympathy. I thought he could do a lot more with his life if he did something else.

Fast-forward to 2004. That’s when I started to hear about a young politician coming out of Chicago. Then I heard about a famous speech the same politician gave that year, but I missed the speech on television. Three years later, I heard that the same guy was running for president and someone says he’s a former community organizer from Chicago.

Chicago? Community organizer? No. Could it be? I looked up the politician’s name on Google and I did a little math. Then I called up his picture on the Internet and I recognized his face.

I didn’t know his name when I saw him leading that demonstration 20 years ago, but now I knew.

His name was Barack Obama.

Baghdad, 21 August 2008 (AP)

The Lebanese prime minister met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Wednesday, becoming only the third top Arab figure to visit Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Fuad Saniora has said that his one-day trip is an opportunity to renew contacts, following more than a decade of cool relations between Beirut and Baghdad.

In a joint press conference with Saniora, al-Maliki said the two countries would sign several agreements soon, including one on Iraq exporting oil to Lebanon. He did not provide details.

The U.S. has encouraged visits to Iraq by moderate Arab leaders to shore up support for the Iraqi government, as a counterweight to Iranian influence.

Iraq is also eager to improve ties with its Arab neighbors, as part of the government’s growing confidence following improvements in security.

Lebanon’s parliamentary majority leader, Saad Hariri, visited Iraq last month, followed by Jordan’s King Abdullah II, the first Arab head of state to fly to Baghdad since the 2003 war.

Saniora will focus on bilateral ties, particularly trade, in his talks with al-Maliki, an Iraqi official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to brief reporters. The Lebanese leader was accompanied by four Cabinet ministers.

It was not immediately clear whether Saniora would head to the southern city of Najaf, for a meeting with Iraq’s Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Leaders of the powerful Lebanese militia Hezbollah have close personal ties with the Shiite religious hierarchy in Najaf, and some Lebanese Shiites trace their family origins back to what is now Iraq.

Earlier this week, Saniora said that his trip is an opportunity to renew contact between the longtime trade partners. Relations between Lebanon and Iraq soured in the mid-1990s after Iraqi agents killed a dissident in Beirut. But the two maintained embassies in each other’s capitals even after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

In other developments, Iraqi troops arrested the son of a prominent Sunni leader during a raid in Baghdad late Tuesday. The arrest of Adnan al-Dulaimi’s son Muthanna, 44, come eight months after the detention of another son and prompted an outcry among Sunni politicians.

Al-Dulaimi is one of the three top leaders of the largest Sunni Arab parliament bloc, the National Accordance Front.

In a telephone interview, al-Dulaimi said the arrest is “targeting national reconciliation, the political process and democracy in the country.” He said the arrest of his two sons is meant to silence him, and that Muthanna is not involved in politics.

Al-Dulaimi said that his son was arrested by a U.S.-Iraqi joint force at his father’s house in al-Adel neighborhood of western Baghdad, and that troops told him his son is suspected of taking part in displacing Shiites and demolishing a house. However, the U.S. military said no American troops were involved in the Tuesday night’s arrest of al-Dulaimi’s son.

It was not clear whether the latest arrest would upset the delicate political cooperation between the Shiite majority and Sunni minority.

Al-Dulaimi’s political bloc consists of three parties and holds 44 out of 275 parliament seats. Last year, his Iraqi Accordance Front pulled out of the 39-member Cabinet last year, saying it was not getting enough say in decision-making.

The bloc returned last month after al-Maliki’s crackdown on Shiite militias.

Also Wednesday, al-Maliki ordered an investigation into arrest raids by Iraqi security forces in the volatile province of Diyala the day before. An aide to Diyala’s provincial governor was killed in a firefight between local guards and the troops, and a university president and a member of the provincial council, both Sunnis, were arrested.

Diyala’s deputy governor, Awf Rahoumi, said the interior minister is to form a committee to investigate the incidents. At the University of Diyala, students staged a protest, asking for the release of the university president. IraqUpdates

 

Still trying to spotlight all the major news articles published today on the new revelation that Barack Obama voted against identical Born Alive legislation as IL state senator that passed on the federal level overwhelmingly.

Washington Post, today, front page:

The narrative of the presidential campaign appeared to be set on the issue of abortion: Sen. Barack Obama was the abortion-rights candidate who was reaching out to foes, seeking common ground and making inroads. Sen. John McCain was the abortion opponent….

But both those impressions have been altered since the Rev. Rick Warren’s Saddleback Civil Forum in CA ….Obama’s hesitant statement at the forum that defining the beginning of life is “above my pay grade” took even some supporters by surprise. Since then, the National Right to Life Committee has challenged him on an obscure law that protects babies born alive after failed abortions, saying that his opposition to the measure in the IL state legislature proves he is an extremist….

Continue reading “Washington Post article on Obama/Born Alive”

Post From: Jill Stanek’s Blog

______

Hannity, Colmes, and Beckel shout about Obama/Born Alive On August 19, Hannity, Colmes, and Beckel got into a shouting match over Barack Obama’s opposition as IL state senator to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

At issue was whether it was worded identically as the federal bill, which Obama has denied for 4 years.

It was. Obama was lying.

Beckel did not like that Obama was standing accused of supporting infanticide.

Which he does.

Colmes, sarcastically: “Barack Obama would kill Jill Stanek’s baby.”

__________

Post From: Jill Stanek’s Blog

CBN expose on Obama/Born Alive

David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network helped launch a firestorm of controversy on August 16 when asking Barack Obama in an interview after the Saddleback Showdown about the accusation he had misrepresented his opposition to IL’s Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

National Right to Life had just announced the discovery of documentation that Obama opposed identical verbiage as the federal Born Alive bill, contrary to multiple statements otherwise.

This interview provides a great synopsis and update of the controversy so far,

According to the Leslie Sacks blogspot, “The Human Rights Council at the United Nations has now banned any criticism regarding Sharia Law and human rights in the Islamic World. According to President Doru Romulus Costea – and following the efforts of delegates from Egypt, Pakistan and Iran – the Council will no longer tolerate criticism of either Sharia or specific fatwas in the name of human rights.”

Dear America,

“This is going to be an amazing experience for all of us,” Bustamante added. “I’m looking forward to helping my fellow female police officer and being a part of the positive historic changes occurring here…MORE>>>

Monday, 18 August 2008 ~  By:  Staff Sgt. Margaret C. Nelson
1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division

KIRKUK — Thirty-seven females attended the first day of training at the Kirkuk Police Academy outside of Kirkuk City, Aug. 16.

It’s been a year since the academy has seen any Iraqi females in blue, and never a class of this size.

“We need these females badly,” Lt. Col. Muid, a cadre at the academy said. “It is our religious custom not to touch our women, so we cannot search females. Our female IPs will be extremely important to use at checkpoints and government buildings throughout the province.”

The cadre pointed out that they would also be bringing a different perspective to policing.

“Women think differently than men,” he said. “They will bring fresh ideas to how we conduct business.”

The 37 females are split into squad-like elements. Each squad will have a female military police Soldier assisting - Sgt. 1st Class Sumalee Bustamante and Spc. Jennifer Swierk.

“This is going to be a big challenge,” Swierk said, referring to the cultural differences, “but I’m proud to be a part of this page in Kirkuk’s, if not Iraq’s history.”

“This is going to be an amazing experience for all of us,” Bustamante added. “I’m looking forward to helping my fellow female police officer and being a part of the positive historic changes occurring here.”

For Nowal, 30, a trainee who has never held a job and lives with her brother - also a member of the Kirkuk police force - the experience so far has her realizing she has a lot of work ahead of her.

“I am very tired,” she said of the first day of training. However, she is determined to “serve my country.”

In lieu of the recent increase in female suicide bombers, these women are undaunted by the dangers of the field they have chosen. When asked what they would do if they were to spot one at a check-point, as a group they did not hesitate to answer:

“Man or women, if you come through our check point we will stop you.”

“Terrorists are not welcome in the province of Kirkuk,” Intesar, 29, said. “They are not Iraqis - they are not Muslim. It is not our way.”

The women must complete a four-week course and fulfill the same standards as the males to graduate. Following two hours of calisthenics each morning, which consists of marching, running and various drills geared toward team-building, the day is spent rotating from indoor to outdoor classroom instruction on law enforcement procedures ranging from democratic policing, human rights, hostage survival, basic first aid and responding to an ambush.

In sharp contrast to Jawad’s dim description of the country, the region is now rebuilding. Restorations and reopening of schools are taking place daily in Iraq, with Ramadi seemingly leading the way. The Industrial High School in Ramadi was the latest school to open in the city.

Monday, 18 August 2008 ~ By:  Lance Cpl. Casey Jones
Regimental Combat Team 1

RAMADI — In most parts of the world a school house stands as a symbol - a symbol of education, of growth, of innocence.

But in al-Anbar province, school houses had been used early in the war as a domicile for malicious acts conducted by insurgents against Coalition forces, not for educating the future leaders of tomorrow.

In a November 2006 Washington Post article, Abdul Sattar Jawad, the former dean of the College of Arts at Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, wrote, “The mass [violence in the country] underscores the chilling fact that the most dangerous place in Iraq is not the mosque, the marketplace or the military checkpoint, but the classroom.”

In sharp contrast to Jawad’s dim description of the country, the region is now rebuilding. Restorations and reopening of schools are taking place daily in Iraq, with Ramadi seemingly leading the way.

The Industrial High School in Ramadi was the latest school to open in the city.

“It’s great that the city was able to get this school opened up,” said Khalid Abdul Salam, an assistant to the Director General of Schools. “The school is going to be a wonderful institution not only for the students, but for all of Ramadi. As the youth of the city continue to earn an education, they will assist the city and the province in making their country prosperous.”

The structure required heavy renovations as it was badly damaged during the war. The combined efforts of Civil Affairs Detachment 2, the International Relief and Development team and the Director General of Schools made the renovations possible.

The project was a high priority for the city as the school will serve as an institution for young males seeking to learn valuable trades. Educators there will teach the students construction and electrical work, along with a variety of other skills.

“Education is the key to any society’s advancement,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric Jett, a team leader with Civil Affairs Detachment 2. “This school will allow young people from all across al-Anbar to come and learn a trade. It also has the added benefit of getting the young males off the streets and giving them something productive to do. This school will give them opportunity to become functioning members of society.”

JOINT BASE BALAD — Military police sponsors, a chaplain and one huge-hearted civilian reached out to help the local community in Balad, Iraq, by giving two handicapped Iraqi children wheelchairs recently.

I first met him at the Pentagon in February 2007. At the time, William G. “Jerry” Boykin was a three-star Lieutenant-General in the United States Army, serving as Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. As such, he was responsible for overseeing the gathering and analysis of all military intelligence related to the Global War on Terror. He had read my first non-fiction book, Epicenter, and had invited my wife, Lynn, and me for lunch to discuss my research and conclusions.

Plus: Crisis in Pakistan as Musharraf resigns

By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Washington, D.C., August 18, 2008) — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf resigned this morning, telling his country of 167 million people in a televised address, “I hope the nation and the people will forgive my mistakes.” Pakistan now enters a dangerous moment of instability.

It is not yet clear who will replace Musharraf, and as I’ve written before, Pakistan has long been one car bomb away from a bin Laden-ally seizing power. Should an al Qaeda-type Radical gain control of the country and its nuclear weapons, we could be facing an apocalyptic moment. Let us pray without ceasing that a Reformer will emerge who is respectful of Islam but is committed to true freedom, democracy, and the rule of law and who can root out corruption and protect minorities throughout the country. Note, however, that the last Reformer who began emerging there was Benazir Bhutto who was then assassinated after returning from exile.

For all his many flaws, Musharraf was steadily becoming a Reformer. After 9/11, he became a key ally of the U.S., helping us in our war against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan rather than interferring. He and his security forces worked closely with us to capture numerous top jihadists, including Khalled Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11. He was also supportive of protecting Pakistan’s rapidly growing Christian minority, which has been very important because Muslims are turning to Christ there in record numbers (I just met with a top Pakistani Christian leader for lunch last week and learned that there are now more than 2.5 million MBBS or Muslim Background Believers there.) Musharraf, to his great credit, also dramatically reached out to Israel, in defiance of the jihadists in his country. He once shook hands with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, something the Saudis won’t even do, and gave a remarkable speech to the American Jewish Congress in New York City in 2005.

Let us pray for this important nation as it enters a time of great change and risk.

—————————-

MY INTERVIEW WITH A FORMER DELTA FORCE COMMANDER

I first met him at the Pentagon in February 2007. At the time, William G. “Jerry” Boykin was a three-star Lieutenant-General in the United States Army, serving as Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. As such, he was responsible for overseeing the gathering and analysis of all military intelligence related to the Global War on Terror. He had read my first non-fiction book, Epicenter, and had invited my wife, Lynn, and me for lunch to discuss my research and conclusions.

After taking us and some mutual friends on a tour of the E-Ring — the building’s innermost corridor of offices, reserved for the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and their top assistants — General Boykin took us to a private executive dining room where we began to chat. We talked about his family and his years in the military. We talked about his thoughts on the on-going battles in Iraq and Afghanistan, and about the rising Iranian nuclear threat. He asked me about my assessment of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and why I believed the president’s Shia eschatology, or End Times theology, was driving Iranian foreign policy. It was not a subject that was being discussed inside the Pentagon’s higher echelons at the time, and he was curious. It was the beginning of a friendship that would soon deepen between two our families.

As I was already doing research for my forthcoming non-fiction book, Inside The Revolution (due out March 2009), I found myself intrigued by Boykin’s first-hand knowledge, and perspective, both as a high-ranking general, and as a devout evangelical Christian. Few men I had ever met in Washington better understood the mindset and mission of the Radicals better than he did. Boykin had, after all, been hunting them for nearly thirty years. When the Iranian Revolution erupted in 1979, for example, Boykin was a 31-year old commando training with the U.S. Army’s newly formed and highly classified counter-terrorism unit known as Delta Force. No sooner had Radicals seized the American Embassy in Tehran and took dozens of America diplomats and Marines hostage in November of that year, Boykin and his boss, Col. Charlie Beckwith, the legendary Delta commander, were ordered to the Pentagon. There they were briefed on the latest intelligence and were ordered to begin planning a rescue.

This was America’s first direct confrontation with Radical Islamic Jihadists. No one in Washington had ever encountered a crisis quite like this. In the months that followed, Boykin and his colleagues studied everything they could on the Ayatollah Khomeini, the nature and loyalty of his followers, the students that had stormed the Embassy compound, and the religious and political beliefs that drove them to wage Jihad against the West. When President Carter finally ordered the ill-fated rescue of our hostages, Boykin was one of the Delta team leaders penetrating Iranian airspace in the dark of night. The mission, sadly, was a disaster, not simply for the failures of equipment and training, but because it emboldened the Radicals, giving them a sense of divine choosing and invincibility.

Now, Boykin has just released his memoirs — Never Surrender — and they are absolutely fascinating. In an almost thriller-novel-like-read, he describes what led up to the ill-fated rescue mission, and just what went wrong. He also takes you inside his world as he and his special forces compatriots liberate Grenada from pro-Soviet Communist forces, and later hunt down Manuel Noriega, the drug-running, Satan-worshipping Panamanian dictator. By the early 1990s, Boykin was commander of Delta Force, including during the whole Black Hawk Down episode in Somalia. In his book, he takes you inside the operation and provides details and analysis of how events really played out in a way the movie never did. As I wrote in my endorsement: “Never Surrender is a phenomenal book by a man of great courage and an inspiring faith. Boykin takes us with him inside some of the most intriguing special operations in modern American history. He explains the magnitude of the threat posed by rogue states and radical leaders who don’t simply want to frighten us but to annihilate us. I loved every page. You will, too.”

I asked the General if I could interview him both for the release of his book, and in doing research for my own. He graciously agreed, having also been our keynote speaker at the Epicenter conference in Jerusalem. Here are a few excerpts from our conversation:

“With all your years experience in the Pentagon, commanding Delta Force, hunting jihadists around the globe,” I asked, “in your judgment, how serious to US national security is the threat of radical Islam in the 21stcentury?”

“When I came into the army in 1971 we were focused on the Soviet Union,” Boykin replied. “Even though we were fighting in Vietnam, our real threat was the Soviet Union. But I would say to you, Joel, that the threat that Radical Islam presents to not only America but to the world today is an even more serious threat than when we were in a nuclear standoff during the Cold War. And it’s more concerning to me because this is an enemy that is hard to understand, it is an enemy that is easy to ignore, and it is an enemy that is absolutely relentless.”

What’s the mindset of the Jihadist movement? What do they want? What’s driving them?

“Well, first of all I think that it is very clearly based on their own manifesto that they are adhering to a very radical, an extreme interpretation of the Qu’ran. They clearly believe that infidels - infidels defined as those that do not serve Allah - must either be converted or killed.”

What, then, is the worst case scenario?

“I think the worst case scenario is that they continue in their pursuit of weapons of mass destruction,” he said without hesitation. “Weapons of mass destruction are available to them now, particularly chemical and biological, [and] those are not hard to make. But the worst case scenario is, I think, that they have nuclear capabilities that within these terrorist organizations, within the Jihadist movement; that they intimidate Europe to the point that Europe is no longer capable of standing against them as they have done historically; and that they take their extremism to the entire world and people start to buckle under the intimidation and pressure of really what I would see as a huge Islamic movement.”

How close is Iran to having nuclear weapons?

Boykin told me that based on everything that he had seen and heard during in his tenure at the Pentagon, he believes that “within two years, maybe three” the Iranians will “develop a nuclear weapon, a deliverable nuclear weapon.” Translation: 2010 or 2011. “We know that he [Ahmadinejad] has centrifuges spinning. We know that he has the technology. He has the scientists, and he certainly has the determination…. Ahmadinejad is a very, very dangerous man, in my view. I believe that the world should pay close attention to what he has said. Some would say, ‘Well, that’s just rhetoric.’ But let’s go back and look at Hitler’s rhetoric in 1933 and what ultimately occurred.”

Given all that you know about the Ayatollah Khomeini and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, I asked, which one is more dangerous? For Boykin, it was not a close call. “I think Ahmadinejad is far more dangerous than the Ayatollah Khomeini because given that he now has more resources,” he told me. “Certainly has more money as a result of the oil in Iran. He has greater weapons capabilities. He has a more sophisticated army and military in general. And regardless of what the [2007] National Intelligence Estimate says, he is developing nuclear capabilities.”

In your view, I asked, do you believe the West can successfully deter or negotiate with Ahmadinejad and his regime in a classic balance of power approach that worked with the Soviets?

“My view is that negotiating with Ahmadinejad is a waste of time,” Boykin replied. “I don’t think there’s anything that you can appeal to in Ahmadinejad’s [view of] geopolitics, of life in general, that would result in any kind of meaningful agreement with the West….I think Ahmadinejad sees himself as a man who is [supposed] to hasten the arrival of the Mahdi. He has even indicated that in his speeches….Ahmadinejad believes that the Madhi will come as a result of his efforts, part of which includes destroying or at least subjugating Israel. And so I think that the threat goes beyond just nuclear weapons. I think the threat really is a threat of growing Radicalism within Iran which is influencing much of the thinking in the rest of the Islamic world….And ultimately, when a man is that driven — when a man is that convinced that Allah is holding him accountable to do that [destroy Judeo-Christian civilization] — I think to believe that we could negotiate with him in any meaningful way is just inane.”

Never Surrender — a must read from a true American hero.
Joel’s new weblog site.
To join 64,827 other >> FLASH TRAFFIC << subscribers who are receiving (free) geopolitical and prayer updates from Israel and the epicenter, please click here.
To purchase a copy of NEVER SURRENDER from Amazon.com, please click here
Would you consider making a $25, $40 or $60 monthly donation to The Joshua Fund? To learn how, and/or make a secure, tax-deductible financial contribution — by mail or on-line — please click here.
To watch the Epicenter Conference speeches on-line, and learn more about the conference’s purpose, please click here

SON OF HAMAS LEADER TURNS TO CHRIST

A huge story broke first in Israel in Haaretz about a week ago, and now on the Fox News Channel. The son of the leader of Hamas has renounced his affiliation with the terrorist group, has renounced Islam, and has become a follower of Jesus Christ. The full-length interviews are absolutely fascinating. Links to both stories are available on The Joshua Fund weblog.

Please pray:

1. That this young man’s faith deepens and grows and that he can be discipled by an older, wiser man of God.

2. That the Lord keeps this young man safe from those Radical jihadists who would try to take his life.

3. That the Lord would answer his prayers and his family’s eyes and hearts would be opened and they would all come to faith in Jesus as well.

4. That