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Please read just a few of the headlines that World Net Daily has published.
February,
2007
LAW OF THE LAND
Judge orders 'gay' agenda taught to Christian children
Rules kids need teachings to be 'engaged and productive citizens'
A federal judge in Massachusetts has ordered the "gay" agenda taught to Christians who attend a public school in Massachusetts, finding that they need the teachings to be "engaged and productive citizens."
U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf yesterday dismissed a civil rights lawsuit brought by David Parker, ordering that it is reasonable, indeed there is an obligation, for public schools to teach young children to accept and endorse homosexuality.
Wolf essentially adopted the reasoning in a brief submitted by a number of homosexual-advocacy groups, who said "the rights of religious freedom and parental control over the upbringing of children … would undermine teaching and learning…"
David and Tonia Parker and Joseph and Robin Wirthlin, who have children of school age in Lexington, Mass., brought the lawsuit. They alleged district officials and staff at Estabrook Elementary School violated state law and civil rights by indoctrinating their children about a lifestyle they, as Christians, teach is immoral.
"Wolf's ruling is every parent's nightmare. It goes to extraordinary lengths to legitimize and reinforce the 'right' (and even the duty) of schools to normalize homosexual behavior to even the youngest of children," said a statement from the pro-family group Mass Resistance.
It also is making available background information about the lengthy dispute.
"In the ruling, Wolf makes the absurd claim that normalizing homosexuality to young children is 'reasonably related to the goals of preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our democracy.' According to Wolf, this means teaching 'diversity' which includes 'differences in sexual orientation.'
"In addition, Wolf makes the odious statement that the Parkers' only options are (1) send their kids to a private school, (2) home-school their kids, or (3) elect a majority of people to the School Committee who agree with them. Can you imagine a federal judge in the Civil Rights era telling blacks the same thing – that if they can't be served at a lunch counter they should just start their own restaurant, or elect a city council to pass laws that reflect the U.S. Constitution?" the organization said.
Lawyers for the families said they already had planned an appeal of the judge's opinion.
But Wolf's claims followed very closely the reasoning submitted earlier in a brief by Human Rights Campaign, the ACLU, Massachusetts Teachers Association, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders and other advocates for the "gay" agenda.
Earlier, Mass Resistance President Brian Camenker had wondered why such national groups were "so interested in a parent's right to decide what moral issues are taught to his children by adults in elementary schools, especially regarding homosexuality."
"They must see David Parker's case as quite a threat to their ability to push their message on children," he had said. His organization has posted information about the judge's ruling on the Internet for readers to review.
But the judge concluded that even allowing Christians to withdraw their children from classes or portions of classes where the religious beliefs were being violated wasn't a reasonable expectation.
"An exodus from class when issues of homosexuality or same-sex marriage are to be discussed could send the message that gays, lesbians, and the children of same-sex parents are inferior and, therefore, have a damaging effect on those students," he opined.
"Under the Constitution public schools are entitled to teach anything that is reasonably related to the goals of preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our democracy," the judge wrote. "Diversity is a hallmark of our nation. It is increasingly evident that our diversity includes differences in sexual orientation."
And, he said, since history "includes instances of … official discrimination against gays and lesbians … it is reasonable for public educators to teach elementary school students … different sexual orientations."
If they disagree, "the Parkers and Wirthlins may send their children to a private school …[or] may also educate their children at home," the judge said.
Parker was arrested and jailed in Lexington in April 2005 over his request – and the school's refusal – to notify him when adults discuss homosexuality or transgenderism with his 6-year-old kindergartner. That despite a state law requiring such notification.
The incident made news around the nation and even Gov. Mitt Romney agreed with Parker.
However, in April 2006 the same school presented the book "King and King," about homosexual romances and marriage, to second-graders and again refused to provide notification.
Parker and other parents followed with the federal civil rights lawsuit, alleging school officials were refusing to follow state law.
Just days later, David Parker's son, Jacob, was beaten up at Estabrook Elementary, officials said. MassResistance said a group of 8-10 kids surrounded him and took him out of sight of "patrolling aides," then pummeled and beat him.
"The state must fight 'discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation' in ways that 'do not perpetuate stereotypes,'" the lawyers for the school district had argued at an earlier motions hearing. They also explained to the judge that, in their opinion, parents have no right to control what ideas the school presents to elementary schoolchildren.
"David Parker's dilemma … threatens the parental rights and religious freedom of every Massachusetts parent, and indirectly every parent in America," said John Haskins of the Parents' Rights Coalition.
"As the Lexington schools themselves are arguing, the state's right to force pro-homosexuality indoctrination on other people's children arises directly from former Gov. Mitt Romney's nakedly false and unconstitutional declaration that homosexual marriage is now legal."
Haskins said when the Massachusetts state Supreme Court demanded homosexual marriages in the state, it didn't have the constitutional or legal authority to order the governor to act or to order the Legislature to make any changes, and the creation of same-sex marriages in Massachusetts actually was accomplished by executive order from Romney.
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LAW OF THE LAND
Diss a 'gay'? Go to jail!
Activists warn Christians targeted under new 'hate crimes' proposal
Two Christians in Australia have been indicted for criticizing Islam, and another for criticizing Zionism. A filmmaker has been threatened with arrest for using the word "homosexual" rather than "gay." Now a German priest faces jail time for publicly criticizing abortionists, and in Holland, "fornicators" and "adulterers" are protected classes and cannot be criticized.
All courtesy of the concept of federal "hate crimes" legislation, which unless defeated soon could be mandatory in the United States, warns a rising chorus of critics.
"All that matters are the delicate feelings of members of federally protected groups," said Michael Marcavage, director of RepentAmerica.com "Truth is not allowed as evidence in hate crimes trials. … A homosexual can claim emotional damage from hearing Scripture that describes his lifestyle as an abomination. He can press charges against the pastor or broadcaster who merely reads the Bible in public. The 'hater' can be fined thousands of dollars and even imprisoned!"
All this, he noted, to attack incidents that according to the FBI's 2005 Uniform Crime Report make up on one-fifteenth of 1 percent of all crimes.
The language is in a new proposal pending in Congress, H.R. 254, or the David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act. That, according to Rev. Ted Pike, of the National Prayer Network, starts out with a federal police state enforcement of "anti-hate" laws but would, as it has in other parts of the world, "lead inexorably to the end of free speech."
The plan, proposed by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, is "stealth legislation at its most devious," Pike has written in a campaign to alert people to the potential problems. He said people respond with, "This bill just wants federal power to prosecute bias-motivated violent crimes in the states – what's wrong with that?"
"There's plenty wrong with that!" he said. First, the Constitution does not grant federal government the "police state privilege" of being your local law enforcement. "Unless the government finds evidence of slavery in the states, jury tampering, voter fraud, or crimes involving interstate commerce (where jurisdiction is unclear), the Constitution's message to the federal government is blunt and emphatic: 'Butt out of local law enforcement!'"
However, Pike said the authors of the new legislation have been clever, inserting in the proposal assertions that because five states do not have hate laws, the federal government has "no choice" but to "enhance federal enforcement of hate crimes." That includes new ranks of federal agents to address the "serious national problem" that exists.
Worse yet, there are some key phrases that open doors wide that many people don't want opened. For example, Pike said, the bill is to "prevent and respond to alleged violations," meaning "the government does not even have to wait until a hate crime has been committed but may act pre-emptively to 'prevent' crime."
Such cases already have developed in other nations, where the "progressive" effort to "advance" anti-discrimination laws are further down the road, he noted.
Peter LaBarbera, of Americans for Truth, noted that in Canada and France both, legislators have been fined for publicly criticizing homosexuality. Three years ago, a Swedish hate crimes law was used to put Pastor Ake Green, who preached that homosexuality is a sin, in jail for a month.
"And recently, a British couple told how they were denied the chance to adopt because it was determined that their Christian faith might 'prejudice' them against a homosexual child put in their care," LaBarbera added.
Already in the United States, Catholic Charities of Boston halted all adoption operations in the state after being told under Massachusetts' pro-'gay' nondiscrimination law, only agencies that placed children in homosexual-led households would get licensed by the state.
Pike said to get around the U.S. Constitution's demands for certain circumstances to exist before the federal government can intervene, the legislation blatantly adds the statement that hate crimes actually are "slavery."
"Violence motivated by bias is a relic of slavery that can constitute badges and incidents of slavery," the proposal proclaims.
Additionally, Pike notes, another "absurd ruse" is that "hate criminals affect interstate commerce, by terrorizing their victims into traveling across state lines – or not."
"Considering the pervasive influence of interstate commerce upon our lives, how often can the government meddle in local hate crimes enforcement? Any time," Pike wrote. "In fact, this ridiculous argument could be used to justify federal intervention in a crime of any kind, since any crime victim might be scared into different spending or traveling choices."
He said America's justice system requires proof of physical tangible damage before an arrest, but H.R. 254 changes that. "It seeks to establish a different 'bias motivation' justice system, which will be defined in courts by judges, as has happened in Canada."
"Judges will establish legal precedents – precedents that protect groups such as homosexuals not only from physical bias-motivated violence but also from 'verbal violence,'" Pike warned. "This will include the 'hate speech' of Bible-believing evangelical Christians.
"H.R. 254 thus does more than violate states' rights in law enforcement. It also leads inexorably to an end of free speech!" he wrote.
The plan, being supported by "the powerful Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith" is the seventh attempt to get such legislation turned into law just since 1998, Pike said. The bill is pending in the House Judiciary Committee, and is a streamlined version of earlier proposals that passed in the U.S. House.
LaBarbera noted that in "post-Christian England," the government even has set out to prosecute "homophobic" speech.
"It is almost inconceivable that the same country that gave us the rule of law and limited government – and powerfully gifted Christian preachers like George Whitfield who helped shape America – now bows down to the homosexual revolution of organized sin masquerading as 'civil rights,'" LaBarbera said.
"Is it progress to empower a legal and cultural revolution that criminalizes the common sense idea that society should put the welfare of children first by favoring natural parenting (mom and dad) over an experimental version (dad and male lover) that models perversion to innocent children in their own home?" asked LaBarbera.
He suggested a visit to www.StopHateCrimesNow.com to hear the testimonies of those who have had first-had experience with so-called "hate crimes" laws. A 75-year-old grandmother describes how she was jailed for testifying about the Bible, in the United States.
"Prime Minister Tony Blair unwittingly cut to the nub of how 'sexual orientation' laws inevitably destroy religious freedom when he said that Britain's 'gay'-inclusive nondiscrimination laws should not exempt Catholic adoption agencies that refuse, for reasons of faith, to place children in homosexual households:" said LaBarbera.
“There is no place in our society for discrimination. That’s why I support the right of gay couples to apply to adopt like any other couple. And that way there can be no exemptions for faith-based adoption agencies offering public funded services from regulations that prevent discrimination," Blair had said.
Jackson-Lee's proposal states that "the incidence of violence motivated by the actual or perceived … sexual orientation … of the victim poses a serious national problem," and that "disrupts" communities. Since "existing federal law is inadequate" and "such violence affects interstate commerce" and "violence motivated by bias that is a relic of slavery can constitute badges and incidents of slavery," the thought police plan is needed.
Members who commented on a blog expressed alarm.
"This lays the groundwork for the 'thought police,'" said "onlymom," while "curveboy" said, "the implications of such a bill would put dissent of the government under hate speech and (offenders could) be arrested and thrown into detention camps... hate bill legislations needs to be dealt with in a fine line. once crossed there won't be any freedom of speech...."
"Citrine89" was more terse, "Scary stuff." And "Mochamoma" said, "Hurt someone's feelings? Shall we arrest the 6th graders now or later?"
At www.FaithAndFreedom.us a writer warned it was another attempt to "create new special rights for homosexuals."
And Mary Starrett, communications director for the Constitution Party, said "only strong public outcry and a Republican controlled Congress kept this type of legislation from becoming law" earlier. Now that Republican controlled Congress is gone.
"H.R. 254 would make certain types of speech a federal offense. So-called 'hate crimes' legislation is dangerous for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the blatant unconstitutionality of such laws. 'Hate crime' laws would allow federal 'thought police' to interfere in the law enforcement authority of states and localities - something our founders were clear was NOT to be allowed," she said.
"H.R. 254 would require every state to pass and enforce 'anti-hate' laws. It would outlaw stating a 'bias' against certain 'federally protected' groups such as homosexuals," she said.
Jim Clymer, national chairman of the party, has warned such legislation "could mean the Bible would be considered 'hate literature'' and preaching from it would be 'hate speech' because of references to religious teachings on homosexuality or other behaviors. The Orwellian implications of these types of laws mean Bible-believing Christians could become criminals simply because they spoke out about their beliefs."
Starrett noted in Canada and some European countries, it already is a crime to use the Internet to criticize "federally protected" groups such as homosexuals and Muslims. "In England, two men who called Islam 'wicked' were indicted … and now face seven years in prison."
A report by Concerned Women for America said the bill "sends the message that it is more hateful to kill a homosexual than a little child."
"This bill sets the table, and places us on a slippery slope toward religious persecution," said Matt Barber, CWA's policy director for cultural issues. "If it becomes law, it can easily be misapplied and used as a hammer against free speech.
"This bill attempts to get into the mind of the offender and penalize him for his thoughts. Are the bill's proponents going to now lobby for a Federal Department of Thought Enforcement?"
Repent America, some of whose members already have served jail time simply for proclaiming the biblical message, is joining in sounding the alarm.
"Having been charged under Pennsylvania's hate crimes law for declaring the truth about homosexuality, I can assure you that if this bill is passed and signed into law, it will be used to put Christians behind bars," said Marcavage.
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FAITH UNDER FIRE
Evangelists beaten for handing out tracts
4 took Christian message to conference that taught Islam
Four evangelists who are supported by Voice of the Martyrs have suffered beatings by a crowd of irate Muslims, but they first succeeded in handing out more than 13,000 Christian tracts at a conference on Islam.
Officials with VOM, a U.S.-based Christian group helping members of the persecuted Christian church worldwide, said one of the beatings was so severe that the Christian apparently suffered internal bleeding as a result.
But the message was delivered, much as Jesus described in Matthew 16:18, where he announces that "thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Gates, of course, generally are immobile, implying that it is the Christian message that advances. That is what happened at the Pakistan conference, VOM said.
"We are thrilled to stand with such courageous Christians," said Todd Nettleton, a spokesman for VOM. "These men bravely carried Christ's message of love to some of those who need it most, even though it was costly to do so.
"We are blessed to be able to provide medical care for them, and to continue to provide gospel materials to Pakistani Christians who risk so much to live for Christ," he said.
The team was at a Muslim festival in the city of Pakpattan on a Friday late last month. The four-member team handed out more than 13,000 Christian messages at that event before being attacked by radical Muslims.
VOM reports that three members of the team were beaten up, then taken to the police station where they were detained and questioned before being released.
The fourth member, however, "was badly beaten by a mob of more than 100 angry Muslims, who then dragged him through the crowd before taking him to the police station," the VOM reported. "He was beaten so severely that he reported blood in his urine and his stool."
VOM said workers on the scene are overseeing his hospitalization and care.
Tens of thousands of Muslims gather for similar conferences each year in Pakistan, where they are lectured on the demands of Islam and ordered to follow the Quran's instructions on handling apostates, VOM said.
VOM is a non-profit, interdenominational ministry working worldwide to help Christians who are persecuted for their faith, and to educate the world about that persecution. Its headquarters are in Bartlesville, Okla., and it has 30 affiliated international offices.
It was launched by the late Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, who started smuggling Russian Gospels into Russia in 1947, just months before Richard was abducted and imprisoned in Romania where he was tortured for his refusal to recant Christianity.
He eventually was released in 1964 and the next year he testified about the persecution of Christians before the U.S. Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee, stripping to the waist to show the deep torture wound scars on his body.
The group that later was renamed The Voice of the Martyrs was
organized in 1967, when his book, "Tortured for Christ," was released.
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FAITH UNDER FIRE
Men jailed for being on public sidewalk
Gideons arrested after school officials complain they were handing out Bibles
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Two men who are members of Gideons International, the Christian organization that is famous for, among other ministries, placing Bibles in motels and giving them to children, have been arrested after trying to hand out Bibles on a public sidewalk in Florida, according to a law firm.
Officials with the Alliance Defense Fund have confirmed they will be representing Anthony Mirto and Ernest Simpson, who were arrested, booked into jail and charged with trespassing.
Jeremy Tedesco, one of the ADF's lawyers on the case, confirmed to WND that the organization's clients were on a public sidewalk when they were handing out Bibles and school officials summoned police.
(Story continues below)
"The First Amendment protects the right to engage in religious speech on a public sidewalk," ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman said. "Members of the Gideons have been highly respected for decades as peaceful providers of free Bibles to those who want them."
The arrest happened Jan. 19, when Mirto and Simpson were on the sidewalk outside of Key Largo School in Key Largo, Fla., and were distributing copies of the Bible to those interested.
"Neither man entered school grounds," the law firm said. "After the school's principal called police, a Monroe County sheriff's officer asked the men to leave immediately or face trespassing charges. As the men prepared to leave, the officer decided to arrest both individuals."
A hearing is scheduled March 5 in Monroe County Court in the cases, and ADF attorneys are preparing motions to dismiss the charges.
"Officials cannot use fear of arrest as a means of bullying law-abiding Christians into silence," Cortman said. "These men broke no laws when they decided to communicate their message on a public sidewalk."
Tedesco noted that sometimes school officials have a misconception about whether they can control activities on school grounds and adjacent public sidewalks. But the First Amendment does provide a protection for speech on those parcels of ground that are public, he said.
"There's no reason why they should be put in jail," he said.
In a statement to WND, Becky Herrin, of the public information office in the Monroe County sheriff's office, stated as a fact the point that the defendants in the case clearly are disputing, and which ultimately may have to be decided by a jury.
"A copy of our police report (see attached) … clearly states that the people in question were arrested for trespassing on school property – not on a public sidewalk… In fact, they were given the opportunity to step off school property and onto public property, and they could have continued with their activities if they had done so. They chose instead to remain, against repeated warnings, on school property so deputies were forced to arrest them," Herrin stated.
The report forwarded to WND, however, reveals the two were arrested while in their truck in a "no parking" zone. The report said that on the complaint from school principal Annette Martinson, when the two defendants were ordered by the deputy to leave an area that included a bike path, "both defendants slowly walked away towards a teal in color pick up truck that was parked in a no parking zone in front of the school."
One suspect then wanted the officer's ID, and, "I then handed Simpson … my business card and he continued to walk toward the parked truck," said the police allegation from officer John Perez.
The officer then confirms, "I observed both defendants enter the pick up truck and remain seated inside." He watched for several minutes, then approached the pickup truck, parked in a "no parking" zone, "I asked both defendants why they where (sic) refusing to leave," and "Defendant Simpson III stated, we where (sic) just leaving."
Perez then confirmed that after he got a call from the sheriff's office notifying him that Simpson was complaining "about a deputy at the Key Largo School asking him to leave, I advised Sgt. Mixon I was out with Simpson and he was going to be placed under arrest for trespassing."
"The truck was parked in a no parking zone in front of the school … not on a public street but on school property. The only 'public street' adjacent to the school is Highway U.S. One and there is no parking on the highway," Herrin added.
The ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the truth, through strategy, training, funding and litigation.
The Gideons, a group founded in the late 1800s, has as its "sole purpose" the goal "to win men, women, boys and girls to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through association for service, personal testimony, and distributing the Bible in the human traffic lanes and streams of everyday life."
Members of the Gideons, who pay their own expenses so 100 percent of the donations to the group go toward Bible purchases and distributions, have placed the Bible in 181 nations in 82 different languages over the years.
The organization focuses on hotels and motels, hospitals and nursing homes, schools, colleges and universities, the military and law enforcement and prisons and jails.
"The demand for Scriptures in these areas far exceeds our supplies that we are able to purchase through our donations. Much more could be done – if funds were available. However, we are placing and distributing more than 1 million copies of the Word of God, at no cost, every seven days in these areas…" the group said.
The organization only gives away the Bibles with the Gideon logo on the covers, but plain Bibles are available for consumers to purchase at its distribution center at P.O. Box 140800, Nashville, Tenn., 37214-0800. Information about the products is available on the group's website.
The
Gideons serve as an extended missionary arm of the Christian church and
are the oldest Christian business and professional men's association in
the United States.
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FAITH UNDER FIRE
Exposed! China's organ-on-demand transplants
'Bloody Harvest' says prisoners kept healthy until paying customer arrives
A new report called "Bloody Harvest" documents China's "anything goes" transplant industry where a cornea is available to anyone with $30,000 and people are kept as prisoners until their organs are needed, when they are executed by a doctor's needle just as soon as the cash hits the hospital accounting office.
The report from David Matas, an international human rights lawyer, and David Kilgour, the former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific, was just released and updates previous documents alleging the existence of the billion dollar industry.
The new report, taken cumulatively, provides the proof, Kilgour told WND.
"We've talked to a lot of people who received organs, people who managed to get out [of China] by the skin of their teeth. We talked to a lady beaten up so badly she heard a doctor say she was going to die and her organs would be no good. We've looked at the web sites offering organs. We think we now have overwhelming evidence for any fair-minded or reasonable person," he said.
"Every single item points in the same direction, and nothing points in the direction of innocence," he said.
(Story continues below)
Web sites have posted prices, in U.S. dollars, of $150,000 for a kidney or pancreas, $150,000-$170,000 for a lung, and $130,000-$160,000 for a heart, and those same sites suggest the maximum wait for a liver available for transplant would be two weeks, although the same wait period in British Columbia was 52 months.
"The astonishingly short waiting times advertised for perfectly-matched organs would suggest the existence of a large bank of live prospective 'donors,'" the report said.
Some of the most damning evidence came from several individuals who have fled the industry. One woman testified her husband, a surgeon, had removed the corneas from an estimated 2,000 people who, at that point, still were alive. But they then were operated on by other surgeons to remove other organs, and the bodies then cremated.
The money trail was tracked from the patients to the hospital, but it remained unclear whether the hospital, the government, or the surgeons were benefiting the most, the report said. But it concluded that the magnitude of the atrocities goes beyond even what Hitler pursued in his attempt to eradicate Jews and other groups of people, he said.
"This is just about at the limit of the human imagination, some people would say it's beyond. We avoid direct comparisons, because it really is unique. Even the Nazis didn't try to do this," he said.
He characterizes it as "carnivore capitalism" where nothing matters but the money. The report lists new evidence showing that hospitals are telling potential transplant recipients that they have live organs awaiting delivery and there have been tens of thousands of transplant surgeries performed in the past few years – with no other available source of organs.
China's human rights record is atrocious, the report said, with more deaths attributable to its Communist government than to Stalin and Hitler combined. The nation routinely violates the rights of Christians, democracy advocates, human rights advocates and others, including using detention, torture and execution.
But the targets for the burgeoning industry at this point are mostly members of a religious sect called Falun Gong. That's a belief system that was assembled in the early 1990s by Li Hongzhi and incorporates ideas from Buddhism and Taoism. It's generally seen as a peaceful movement, but China government officials have labeled it a dangerous cult and banned it.
But in a social atmosphere that tolerates only what officials decide they want to allow, there is no accountability for hospitals or physicians who are constantly short of funding, and there is zero tolerance for dissent, the nation's transplant industry has exploded because there has been no barrier to marketing – and selling – the organs of "enemies of the state."
"Once a customer arrives into China, somebody's killed for the organ, whether it's a prisoner sentenced to death or a Falun Gong practitioner, and they just have this huge supply of people in jail waiting to be killed for organ donations," Matas told reporters at a recent news conference.
Liver transplants, counted at only 22 before 1999, multiplied to 500 just last year. And while China has admitted "harvesting" the organs of inmates executed for capital crimes, the number of those executions has remained about the same – in the 1,600 to 1,700 range – for a number of years. However, while reports that are available to the public show there were about 30,000 transplant surgeries in China prior to 1999, that total rocketed to 90,000 by the end of 2005.
Those 60,000 organ transplant surgeries during the years 2000-2005 each needed a donor organ, and historically in China the numbers show only a fraction of all transplants are provided by living donors, such as in kidney cases, or a body made available voluntarily following a traffic accident or other circumstances.
"There is no indication of a significant increase in … these categories in recent years. Presumably, the identified sources of organ transplants which produced 18,500 organ transplants in the six-year period 1994 to 1999 produced the same number of organs for transplants in the next six-year period 2000 to 2005," the report said.
"That means that the source of 41,500 transplants for the six-year period 2000 to 2005 is unexplained," the report said.
Some of the explanation comes from a volunteer who testified to the authors about calling 80 hospitals in China, asking about transplants. Ten locations admitted using "live" Falun Gong practitioners as organ suppliers.
One hospital official was asked about the organs for transplant. "…And it was from healthy Falun Gong practitioners…?"
"Correct. We would choose the good ones because we assure the quality in our operation," the hospital official said."That means you choose the organs yourself?"
"Correct…"
"Usually, how old is the organ supplier?"
"Usually in their thirties."
"What if the chosen one doesn't want to have blood drawn?"
"He will for sure let us do it."
"How?"
"They will for sure find a way. What do you worry about? These kinds of things should not be of any concern to you. They have their procedures."
"Does the person know that his organ will be removed?"
"No."
The researchers, both from Canada, noted that there is no doubt Canadians are taking part in "organ tourism," which is traveling to China for a transplant. Confirmations have come in from hospitals in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary that such trips were taking place.
Patients from the United States and other affluent countries, also, undoubtedly, are taking part in the industry, the report noted.
Kilgour told WND that the report reveals that Falun Gong practitioners, probably tens of thousands, are held in detention camps while, during their lives, they assemble products for export. But they are blood-typed and given various tests regularly.
Then there's a computer matchup of tissue. "His or her day comes up, somebody's waiting in a hospital in Shanghai, and you can die that day. The patient flies back to America with a new kidney," he said.
Patients routinely are told they are getting organs from executed prisoners who volunteered for the donation. The description of "executed prisoner," technically, is true, he said, but the caveat is that the "prisoners" never commited – or were convicted – of any crime.
The report suggests the rest of the world could help by preventing patients from traveling to China for a transplant where neither the donor nor the family have consented, stopping funding for after-care for patients who have commercial transplants abroad, stop training of doctors who will return to China and join the transplant industry and ban shipping anti-rejection drugs and other necessities for transplants to China.
"We believe that there has been and continues today to be large-scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners," they said in the report.
Kilgour earlier told the Epoch Times that the 2008 Olympic Games, awarded by the International Olympic Committee to China, also should be used as a lever to stop the activity
Chinese officials have admitted "harvesting" organs from "executed prisoners," but that admission did not come until 2005, and the report authors say it might have been made to divert attention away from the industry of killing innocent sect members for their organs.
The authors said the report on the study, which was done at the request of the Coalition to Investigation the Persecution of the Falun Gong in China, a non-governmental organization in Washington and Ottawa, also is available at www.organharvestinvestigation.net.
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Imam leads
Democrats in prayer of conversion
Muslim leader at party's winter meeting
also asks Allah to stop 'the occupation'
With heads bowed reverently, Democrats were led in prayer yesterday by a Muslim imam who essentially asked Allah to assist in converting the party members to Islam, according to a scholar and author.
Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch and author of "The Truth about Muhammad," took note of the invocation given at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting by Husham Al-Husainy, imam of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center, a shiite mosque in Dearborn, Mich.
According to a transcript of the prayer, which can be seen on a video clip provided by HotAir.com, the imam said:
In the name of God the most merciful, the most compassionate. We thank you, God, to bless us among your creations. We thank you, God, to make us as a great nation. We thank you God, to send us your messages through our father Abraham and Moses and Jesus and Muhammad. Through you, God, we unite. So guide us to the right path. The path of the people you bless, not the path of the people you doom. Help us God to liberate and fill this earth with justice and peace and love and equality. And help us to stop the war and violence, and oppression and occupation. Ameen.
Spencer, in a post on his Jihad Watch website, said he found it interesting to see the Muslim leader praying, "in veiled terms to be sure, for their conversion to Islam, and, oh yes, for the destruction of Israel ("And help us to stop the war and violence, and oppression and occupation").
"Imagine if a Christian priest or minister had prayed at a DNC meeting that those attending be guided away from the path of those doomed by God," Spencer said.
He explained the imam was echoing the Fatiha, the first sura, or chapter, of the Quran and the most common prayer of Islam.
It asks Allah: "Show us the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast favored; not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray."
The traditional Islamic understanding is that the "straight path" is Islam, Spencer points out.
On the other hand, he continued, the path of those who have earned Allah's anger are the Jews, and those who have gone astray are the Christians.
Spencer cited the classic Quranic commentator Ibn Kathir, who says:
Allah asserted that the two paths He described here are both misguided when He repeated the negation "not." These two paths are the paths of the Christians and Jews, a fact that the believer should beware of so that he avoids them.The path of the believers is knowledge of the truth and abiding by it. In comparison, the Jews abandoned practicing the religion, while the Christians lost the true knowledge. This is why "anger" descended upon the Jews, while being described as "led astray" is more appropriate of the Christians. Those who know, but avoid implementing the truth, deserve the anger, unlike those who are ignorant. The Christians want to seek the true knowledge, but are unable to find it because they did not seek it from its proper resources. This is why they were led astray. We should also mention that both the Christians and the Jews have earned the anger and are led astray, but the anger is one of the attributes more particular of the Jews.
Allah said about the Jews, (Those (Jews) who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath) (5:60).
The attribute that the Christians deserve most is that of being led astray, just as Allah said about them, (Who went astray before and who misled many, and strayed (themselves) from the right path) (5:77).
Iran prepares people for 'messiah miracles'
Government broadcasts series on imminent appearance of apocalyptic Islamic 'Mahdi'
Official Iranian radio has completed broadcasting a lengthy series on the imminent appearance of a messianic figure who will defeat Islam's enemies and impose Islamic Shiite rule over the entire world – even speculating on specific dates the so-called "Mahdi" will be revealed.
"Be joyous my heart, miracles of the Messiah will soon be here," reads a poem used to conclude the first broadcast. "The scent of breaths of the One we know comes from near. Grieve not of sorrow and melancholy, as assured I was … last night that a Savior will come, it's clear."
After the coming of the 12th imam, or Mahdi, "liberal democratic civilization" will be found only in "history museums," explained the program.
"Contrary to the views of western theoreticians, who usually depict an ambiguous and dark future for mankind, Muslim experts believe human history, despite its many ups and downs, has a very auspicious fate," explained the program. "Muslims believe hopes for the realization of such a happy ending for the world are called 'Awaiting Redemption,' and means waiting for man's problems to be solved by the Savior at the end of time. This awaiting influences many, and inspired them with activity and enthusiasm in confronting darkness and oppression for changing the existing situation. …"
This messianic figure will be a direct descendant of Muhammad, according to the broadcasts.
"In short, when he reappears, peace, justice and security will overcome oppression and deceit and one global government, the most perfect ever, will be established," it said.
The Mahdi will appear suddenly, according to the report, in Mecca. Though no one can know the day, Shiites believe, the report actually suggests possibilities in the Muslim calendar.
The Mahdi will lead a cataclysmic battle against a descendant of Muhammad's archenemy, Abu Sofyan, culminating in the cities of Kufa and Najaf. His enemy, though, is destroyed later in Jerusalem.
"Another beautiful moment of the Savior's appearance is the coming down of Prophet Jesus (PBUH) from heaven," says the report. "Hazrat Mahdi receives him courteously and asks him to lead the prayers. But Jesus says you are more qualified for this than me. We read in the book Tazkarat ol-Olia, 'the Mahdi will come with Jesus son of Mary accompanying him.' This indicates that these two great men are (sic) complement each other. Imam Mahdi will be the leader while Prophet Jesus will act as his lieutenant in the struggle against oppression and establishment of justice in the world. Jesus had himself given the tidings of the coming of God's last messenger and will see Mohammad's ideals materialize in the time of the Mahdi."
As WND reported last month, in a greeting to the world's Christians for the coming new year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he expects both Jesus and the Mahdi, to return and "wipe away oppression."
"I wish all the Christians a very happy new year and I wish to ask them a question as well," said Ahmadinejad, according to an Iranian Student News Agency report cited by YnetNews.com
"My one question from the Christians is: What would Jesus do if he were present in the world today? What would he do before some of the oppressive powers of the world who are in fact residing in Christian countries? Which powers would he revive and which of them would he destroy?" asked the Iranian leader.
"If Jesus were present today, who would be facing him and who would be following him?"
In a videotaped meeting with Ayatollah Javadi-Amoli in Tehran, Ahmadinejad discussed candidly a strange, paranormal experience he had while addressing the United Nations in New York last September.
He recounts how he found himself bathed in light throughout the speech. But this wasn't the light directed at the podium by the U.N. and television cameras. It was, he said, a light from heaven.
According to a transcript of his comments, obtained and translated by Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, Ahmadinejad wasn't the only one who noticed the unearthly light. One of his aides brought it to his attention.
The Iranian president recalled being told about it by one of his delegation: "When you began with the words 'in the name of Allah,' I saw a light coming, surrounding you and protecting you to the end."
Ahmadinejad agreed that he sensed the same thing.
"On the last day when I was speaking, one of our group told me that when I started to say 'Bismillah Muhammad,' he saw a green light come from around me, and I was placed inside this aura," he says. "I felt it myself. I felt that the atmosphere suddenly changed, and for those 27 or 28 minutes, all the leaders of the world did not blink. When I say they didn't move an eyelid, I'm not exaggerating. They were looking as if a hand was holding them there, and had just opened their eyes – Alhamdulillah!"
Ahmadinejad's "vision" at the U.N. is strangely reminiscent and alarmingly similar to statements he has made about his personal role in ushering in the return of the Shiite Muslim messiah.
He sees his main mission, as he recounted in a Nov. 16 speech in Tehran, as to "pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance."
According to Shiites, the 12th imam disappeared as a child in the year 941. When he returns, they believe, he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world.
Ahmadinejad is urging Iranians to prepare for the coming of the Mahdi by turning the country into a mighty and advanced Islamic society and by avoiding the corruption and excesses of the West.
All Iran is buzzing about the Mahdi, the 12th imam and the role Iran and Ahmadinejad are playing in his anticipated return. There's a new messiah hotline. There are news agencies especially devoted to the latest developments.
"People are anxious to know when and how will He rise; what they must do to receive this worldwide salvation," says Ali Lari, a cleric at the Bright Future Institute in Iran's religious center of Qom. "The timing is not clear, but the conditions are more specific," he adds. "There is a saying: 'When the students are ready, the teacher will come.'"
World Net Daily
January, 2007
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HOMELAND
INSECURITY
New Muslim congressman avoids loyalty
questions
Ellison had been greeted by shouts of
'Allahu Akbar!' from campaigners
When the first Muslim congressman in U.S. history, Keith Ellison (Hakim-Mohammed) of Minnesota, won the 2006 election and was making the regular thank-you-to-my-supporters speech, he allowed his fans to shout, "Allahu Akbar!," the same phrase allegedly used by the 9/11 suicide pilots.
Since November he's addressed various different Islamic groups and organizations, and he's used the Quran to be sworn into office. He's also been linked to Islamic organizations with questionable agendas.
What he hasn't done is respond to requests from WND to confirm that he will, in fact, base his decisions on the laws of the United States on the U.S. Constitution, not the Quran.
It was during his campaign that he raised the issue of his Islamic beliefs himself, and confirmed then that they would play a large role in his decision-making process:
(Story continues below)
"I am inspired by the Quran's message of encompassing divine love, and a deep faith guides my life every day," he wrote in his promotional materials.
He later told a group meeting in Detroit that, "I'm not here to be a preacher, but in terms of political agenda items, my faith informs these things."
He was given unprecedented permission during this week's swearing-in ceremonies to place his hand on a piece of the nation's archival history – the Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson – for his photo-opportunity with family and friends.
The two-volume edition, published in London in 1764, was brought to him in a special case sent by messenger from officials at the Library of Congress.
Ellison said he chose to use the Quran because it showed Jefferson believed wisdom could be gleaned from many sources, although as superstar performer and WND columnist Pat Boone explained Jefferson quoted often from the Bible in his writings, not the Quran.
(Another explanation for Jefferson's possession of a Quran could have been a desire to know his enemies. It was during Jefferson's presidency that the U.S. took on the Muslim slave-traders and pirates on the Barbary Coast of Africa in war.)
Rick Jauert, a spokesman for the congressman, was reached at his campaign headquarters in Minnesota two weeks ago, and confirmed that the congressman does not believe there will be a conflict between his religious beliefs and his duty under the U.S. Constitution.
But when asked which would take priority if there is a conflict, or to describe how the congressman will resolve the differing philosophies provided by the U.S. Constitution and the Quran, which calls for beheading "infidels," he said he could not answer immediately.
Since then, WND has been unable to obtain answers from the congressman or his staff.
One blogger was a little concerned over the situation:
"During the victory celebration for the nation's first Muslim congressman (not that there's anything wrong with that... in principle), Congressman Keith Ellison's supporters scream 'Allahu Akbar!', the same phrase that the 9/11 hijackers screamed, the same phrase suicide bombers scream, the same phrase head choppers scream before slicing off the heads of hapless and bound victims. May God protect this country," the blogger wrote.
In a campaign document talking about his faith, Ellison said, "As a young man I was outraged and frustrated by the racism and injustice I saw in my community and the world around me. Those experiences propelled me to become a social activist, using my words and actions to draw attention to the very serious problems of inequality, racial injustice and poverty in our society.
"As I matured, I had to confront my anger and face it down. I eventually realized that it is easy to be a critic pointing out problems and failings, but it is a far more difficult thing to be part of creating the solution. As my father used to say, 'Any jackass can kick a barn down; it takes a carpenter to build it back up.' Eventually I understood what my father had been telling me, and I committed to being one of the carpenters."
But he confirmed he still holds that "outrage" at the direction of the United States.
Ellison said he decided to seek congressional office because, "I am for peace now, for universal health care, and for a sustainable future."
"I will fight for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and for an international reconstruction effort; for universal single payer healthcare so that Americans can get the medical care that they need whether they have a job that offers insurance or not; for green energy, conservation, environmental justice, and a sustainable future for our country and the world," he wrote.
He recognizes Israel, and said "a lasting peace in the Middle East should be one of the United States' most focused goals."
"Right now Hamas represents the greatest obstacle to this path, and until Hamas denounces terrorism, recognizes the absolute right of Israel to exist peacefully and honors past agreements, it cannot be considered legitimate partners in this process," he wrote.
Jauert explained that Ellison's conflicts between his faith and the law would be no more than those Catholics who support abortion, and then face objections from church leaders who believe they should not be allowed to take part in church rites.
"Not every follower of Islam supports Sharia law," Jauert told WND.
In his speech in Detroit, Ellison said it appears people "see their religion as an identity thing, much in the same way Crips or Bloods might say, 'I'm this, this is the set I'm rolling with.' They've never actually tried to explore how religion should connect us, they're into how religion divides us … they haven't really explored … how my faith connects me to you."
But as WND reported earlier, he's been linked to a radical Islamic school of thought that requires loyalty to the Quran over the U.S. Constitution.
A black convert to orthodox Sunni Islam, Ellison spoke to the North American Imams Federation, or NAIF, at the group's Nov. 19 conference in Minneapolis.
His talk flowed into a breakout session listed on the agenda simply as "American Open University," according to the conference program. It turns out the university is a "distance-learning" center based in Alexandria, Va., and known to local law enforcement as "Wahhabi Online."
Later that day, Ellison met with NAIF's president, Omar Ahmad Shahin, who lectures at the same American Open University. (He also met at the time with New York imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.) The radical Islamic school trains many of NAIF's more than 150 members, who control mosques across America.
American Open University supports Sharia, or Islamic law. And its founder and chairman, Jaafar Sheikh Idris, has denounced the U.S system of democracy as "the antithesis of Islam" and argued no man has the right to make laws outside Allah's laws expressed in the Quran.
"There is a basic difference between Islam and this form of democracy," he says. "The basic difference is that in Islam it is [Allah's] law as expressed in the Quran and the Sunna that is the supreme law within the limits of which people have the right to legislate.
"No one can be a Muslim who makes or freely accepts or believes that anyone has the right to make or accept legislation that is contrary to that divine law," Idris adds. "Examples of such violations include the legalization of alcoholic drinks, gambling, homosexuality, usury or interest, and even adoption."
Ellison's campaign also was backed by the Washington-based lobby group Council on American-Islamic Relations, a partner organization to American Open University-affiliated NAIF. CAIR held fundraisers for Ellison, a civil-rights lawyer and one-time acolyte of Louis Farrakhan who admits to making anti-Semitic remarks in the past (under various alias including Keith Hakim, Keith Ellison-Muhammad and Keith X Ellison).
CAIR's founder has argued the Quran should replace the Constitution as the highest authority in the land. The group's director of communications, moreover, has expressed his desire to see the U.S. become an Islamic state.
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2006: Muslim year of perpetual outrage
It began with the Danish cartoons. It ended with the flying imams. The year 2006 was a banner year for the Religion of Perpetual Outrage. Twelve turbulent months of fist-waving, embassy-burning, fatwa-issuing mayhem, intimidation and murder resounded with the ululations of the aggrieved. All this in the name of defending Islam from "insult." Let's review.
In late January, masked Palestinian gunmen took over a European Union office in Gaza City to protest the publication of a dozen cartoons about Islam, Muhammad and self-censorship in the Danish newspaper the Jyllands-Posten. They stormed the building, burned Danish flags, and spearheaded an international boycott of Denmark's products across the Muslim world.
The rage was manufactured pretext. The cartoons had been published four months earlier with little fanfare. It wasn't until a delegation of instigating Danish imams toured Egypt with the cartoons – plus a few inflammatory fake ones, including an old image of a French hog-calling contest participant deceptively portrayed as "anti-Muslim" – that the fire started burning. Think the mainstream media will remember that? Not likely. They fell for the ruse and were slow to acknowledge it after American bloggers and Danish television exposed the scheme.
What was really behind Cartoon Rage? Muslim bullies were attempting to pressure Denmark over the International Atomic Energy Agency's decision to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for continuing with its nuclear research program. The chairmanship of the council was passing to Denmark at the time.
Alas, Western journalists, analysts and apologists were too clouded by their cowardice and conciliation to see through the smoke. More than 800 were injured in the ensuing riots, and 130 people paid with their lives. The innocents included Italian Catholic priest Andrea Santoro, who was shot to death in Turkey on Feb. 5 by a teenage boy enraged by the illustrations. The Muslim gunman shouted, "Allahu Akbar!" as he murdered Father Santoro while the priest knelt praying in his church. Several brave moderate Muslim editors who stood up to the madness were jailed, fined and convicted of crimes related to insulting Islam. The Danish cartoonists remain in hiding.
The world soon tired of Cartoon Rage, but the "peaceful" Muslim ragers were just warming up. They found excuses large and small to riot and threaten Western infidels. In India, they protested the magazine publication of a picture of a playing card showing an image of Mecca and also burned Valentine's Day cards. An insult to Islam, they screamed. In Spain, they protested a Madrid store for selling a postcard with a mosque on it with the words "We slept here." An insult to Islam, they protested. In Pakistan, they burned down a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, a Pizza Hut, and toppled Ronald McDonald. In Jakarta, they smashed the offices of Playboy magazine. You know why.
In June, the trial against lioness journalist Oriana Fallaci for insulting Islam commenced in Bergamo, Italy. She had been charged by professional Muslim rager Adel Smith of the Muslim Union of Italy of "vilipendio" – vilifying Islam – in her post-9/11 books slamming jihad. A judge had refused to throw out the case. She faced a pile of death threats and accusations of "Islamophobia" for speaking truth to Islamo-power.
Fallaci's death from cancer during the fifth anniversary week of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks pre-empted the trial in Italy, but her passing did nothing to pre-empt the eternal rage of the perpetually outraged. The day she died, the grievance-mongers were shaking their fists and calling for the head of Pope Benedict XVI for his speech that made reference to a 14th-century conversation touching on holy war and jihad. For engaging in open, honest intellectual and spiritual debate, he was condemned, lit afire in effigy and targeted anew. The ragers bombed Christian churches in Gaza City and Nablus. They murdered Italian Sister Leonella Sgorbati, an elderly Catholic nun shot in the back by a Somalian jihadist stoked by Pope Rage. "Whoever offends our Prophet Muhammad should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim," a Somalian cleric had declared. The Vatican made nice with Muslim leaders.
New outrages are always in bloom. In late September, it was a Berlin production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" that featured the decapitated head of Muhammad. A week later, it was a banyan tree attacked by Indonesian Muslims who wanted to disprove its mystical powers. A few days after that, it was former British foreign secretary Jack Straw, who had the audacity to make the very obvious observation that full Muslim veils impede communications between women and Westerners. Offensive! Disturbing! An insult to Islam!
Not to be outdone, a delegation of extortionist imams boarded a US Airways flight in Minneapolis in November and tried to manufacture an international human-rights incident. They clamored for a boycott and threatened to sue.
The good news: The fire did not catch here this time.
The bad news: As Oriana Fallaci warned before her death: "The hate for
the West swells like a fire fed by the wind. The clash between us and
them is not a military one. It is a cultural one, a religious one, and
the worst is still to come."
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HOMELAND INSECURITY
Quantico mosque leader promoted
Pentagon honors Wahhabi-trained Muslim chaplain
In a special ceremony, the Pentagon recently promoted a Wahhabi-trained Muslim chaplain who catered to al-Qaida detainees at Guantanamo and fought to establish the first mosque in Marine Corps history.
Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England personally promoted Navy chaplain Abuhena Mohammed Saifulislam from lieutenant to lieutenant commander. Saifulislam also received a Joint Service Commendation Medal at the Pentagon ceremony held on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Pentagon officials say the ceremony was unprecedented.
"It's unusual for a deputy secretary to personally promote an officer of that rank," said one official who wished to go unnamed. "No one has known of such a high-level dignitary doing that."
England also earlier this year personally dedicated a new Islamic center at Marine headquarters in Quantico, Va., on the advice of Saifulislam, a Bangladesh immigrant who became a U.S. citizen in 1995.
The Muslim chaplain, who is stationed at Quantico, recited verses from the Quran in Arabic and English at the summer dedication ceremony, which included representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, several leaders of which have been convicted on terrorism-related charges.
Saifulislam, which is Arabic for "Sword of Islam," received his religious training at a radical Islamic school raided by federal agents after 9/11. The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences, based in Leesburg, Va., is run by Taha Jaber Al-Alwani, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Sami al-Arian terror case. A federal affidavit used to obtain a warrant to search the school alleges Al-Alwani gave at least $50,000 in jihad money "to support suicide bombings."
Saifulislam insists he is moderate and condemns "terrorism," but critics say his Wahhabi background and associations should give the Pentagon pause.
"The Pentagon is giving him a permanent, taxpayer-supported platform from which to convert grunts to Islam," said terror expert Paul Sperry, a Hoover Institution media fellow and author of "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington."
"With the Quantico mosque, the Pentagon is facilitating the study of the holy text the enemy uses, heretically or not, as their manual of warfare."
Saifulislam's promotion along with the dedication of his new Quantico mosque – the first of its kind in the 230-year history of the Corps – comes on the heels of a Muslim spy scandal at Gitmo involving another Muslim chaplain.
Army Capt. James "Yousef" Yee, who ministered to al-Qaida detainees, was charged with mishandling classified information. Yee, a convert to Islam, quit the Army and the charges were dropped. But two of his Muslim military friends at Gitmo were convicted of espionage-related crimes.
Yee's predecessor at Gitmo was Saifulislam, who was first assigned to the terrorist prison camp after 9/11. While at the Cuban base, the Navy imam privately counseled al-Qaida prisoners in their native tongues of Urdu and Arabic. "I must give hope for them to cope," Saifulislam said at the time.
He set up the diet and prayer regimes for the detainees, recommending they be served halal meals – including traditional dates and lamb – prepared according to Islamic dietary law. Gitmo detainees can now choose from a menu of 113 Muslim-appropriate meals.
In addition, Saifulislam saw to it that detainees receive copies of the Quran and have access to prayer beads and skull caps. Saifulislam also set up a program to train guards to be more sensitive to the religious customs of their Muslim prisoners.
West Point bows to Mecca
Multiculturalism appears to trump concerns about Islamist infiltration of the military. Following the Marine's lead, the Army in October dedicated a new mosque at West Point.
The U.S. Military Academy's first worship hall for Muslims boasts green carpets, shoe racks and a pulpit facing Mecca. Officials agreed to set up the mosque, large enough for dozens of followers, after Muslim leaders complained that the office where Muslim cadets gathered for Friday prayers had become too crowded.
The Army has been recruiting international cadets from Muslim countries such as Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. Muslim enrollment at the academy in New York has jumped to 32 from just two in 2001.
"We live in a world where everyone is looking at the United States saying, 'You're anti-Islam,'" explained West Point Chaplain Col. John Cook. "But here at West Point, that's not what we do."
The U.S. military now boasts more than 10,000 Muslim soldiers, many of them black converts. On the eve of the Army's push into Iraq, Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar, a black Muslim convert, fragged commanding officers at a military camp in Kuwait. He killed two of them and wounded 15 others.
Akbar, recently convicted of murder and given the death sentence, said at the time he did it out of loyalty to the umma, or global community of Muslims.
"You guys are coming into our countries," he said, "and you're going to rape our women and kill our children."
Within months of Akbar's traitorous 2003 attacks, the Defense Intelligence Agency issued an internal report warning that Muslim soldiers pose a possible security threat, according to national security reporter Bill Gertz in his new book "Enemies."
It was also in 2003 that Yee was accused of spying for the enemy while serving as a Muslim chaplain at Gitmo. Yee graduated from West Point, site of the Army's new mosque.
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TRAIL OF TERROR
Christian woman facing fight for sons
Battle is over husband's desire to see them 'good Muslims or dead'
A Christian woman who once served as an FBI informant on her husband's alleged support of terrorism now is seeking divorce from the self-described radical Muslim who told her he would be proud if their two teen sons blew themselves up for Allah.
But she's finding herself on her own – completely – after a judge allowed her lawyer to withdraw, refused to allow an interested lawyer from appearing in her court, and then refused to allow time for any other replacement to be found before today's trial.
At stake are Rosine Collin Ghawji's sons, whose futures have been defined by her husband as being "good Muslims" or dead, she said.
The situation is developing in the case in which Mrs. Ghawji is seeking not only her freedom from her husband, Maher Ghawji, but also to protect her sons Louis and Takek from any violent Islamic plans their father may have for them.
Joe Kaufman, who has run an anti-terrorism organization for
several years, noted that both of the Ghawji sons have, in e-mails and
other communications, told friends their father was planning to take
them to Syria against their will, and one noted that his grandfather
has promised to beat him up when he arrived there.
Mrs. Ghawji's local lawyer was given permission by a Memphis, Tenn., judge on Dec. 19 to withdraw from the case, another lawyer willing to represent her – Larry Klayman -- was denied permission to enter the case, and the court ruled that the trial date – today – would not be delayed.
Klayman, who'd been contacted about the case a few months earlier, told WND that the facts read "like a John Grisham novel." Only this case is real life, with the FBI holding ex parte meetings with the judge, the federal agency "wiring" her to record and report on her husband, her husband allegedly threatening the children that they would be better off dead than Christian, and allegations of extramarital affairs.
And Mrs. Ghawji, if her allegations are correct, is up against more than just a judicial system and a divorce trial; but against some of the most radical factions in the world today, including the adherents of blind Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, now serving a life sentence in the SuperMax prison in Colorado on accusations he helped in the planning of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings in New York.
The couple married in 1986, and she said she noticed her husband's unusual activities almost from the beginning. She said between 1987 and 1992 she often waited in the women's room of a mosque for hours while her husband was meeting with Rahman, and later the FBI visited her and asked about some of her husband's acquaintances, including a man the FBI described as being on a "terrorist watch list" who had rented an apartment from her husband.
She said it appeared about that time that her husband's brother, Haitham Ghawji, started appearing more often in their lives.
She said a letter from Haitham justified killing non-Muslims and encouraged Maher to join Jihad, and when Haitham was visiting their home, where the family lived in Memphis, in 1996, he wanted to watch the news one evening.
When the report aired about the attack at the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in which 19 American military personnel died, he said, "We got them! The Americans … we got them. They think they are going to rule the world, but they do not know what it is to have war on their own soil, but pretty soon they will," she reported.
The next year when the family obtained a home computer, she started watching the communications through it, and eventually talked with the FBI. They asked her to continue monitoring those, and forward to them e-mails, telephone numbers and the like.
She said on Sept. 11, 2001, a few hours before the terrorism attacks, her husband's brother sent an e-mail announcing some of his friends were coming to the U.S., and they should be made to feel welcome.
When, at a dinner party, a guest remarked how difficult it was to bring items on airplanes because of the new security measures, her husband responded: "Don't worry. We will find another way to get them."
A short time later, he erupted in rage because she had been teaching French to a little Russian Jewish boy in their home. At that point he threatened to kill her with a poison other doctors wouldn't detect and announced he was Wahhabi Muslim, whose beliefs include violence against non-Muslims.
It was at that point an FBI agent convinced her to wear a recording device and monitor her husband's financial dealings, which included donations to a front group accused of raising money for Hamas, she said.
It was also then that he cut off financial support for his family and threatened to take the children to Syria, so she sought a restraining order. But a judge, Donna Fields, ordered the boys to spend every other Sunday with their father even though they pleaded not to.
FBI agent Jim Raddatz told her he suspected her husband of leading a double life – as a physician but also as terrorist financier with connections to a Florida organization that he was unwilling to discuss.
But then he also told her her husband had contacted the FBI and they were upset with him because he hadn't provided them with some information.
Ghawji also staged a campaign of rhetoric, condemning the U.S., Jews and Israel, and praising suicide bombers, and at one point looked her in the eyes and said if their children were not good Muslims, they would be better dead.
It terrified her, she said.
Her husband also had an affair, and possibly more, with a spokeswoman working for the Islamic Society of Central Florida, she said, when details of their actions were confirmed by a private investigator.
That organization, she said, tried to sponsor a fundraiser featuring Siraj Wahhaj, who is on the U.S. Attorney’s list of potential co-conspirators to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
She alleges her husband told her for as little as $1,000 he could hire a "hitman" to kill her, and expressed pride in being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Documents also show Haitham Ghawji has been linked to convicted felon Rafat Jamal Mawlawi, who also is connected to Enaam Arnaout. On April 4, 2005, the FBI conducted a raid on Mawlawi’s residence, and the Memphis Flyer reported authorities finding a hidden stash of loaded weapons and ammunition clips, $34,000 in cash, two pictures of Mawlawi shouldering a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, a gruesome videotape of war casualties with Arabic text and more than 20 passports to Morocco, Syria, Iran, and other Middle Eastern countries.
In a "Government Evidentiary Proffer Supporting the Admissibility of Co-Conspirator Statements," on page 67, the U.S. Government indicated that "H. GHAWJI" was mentioned.
No spokesman for her husband, the courts, or the FBI could be reached for a comment over the New Year's Day holiday.
But just recently as allegations of terrorism connections were developing – and being substantiated, the judge sealed the court records in the two-and-a-half-year-old case, scheduled the hearing, allowed the lawyer to leave the case and took the unusual step of ruling that Mrs. Ghawji would not be allowed to bring her case in any other jurisdiction.
Klayman said from the appearance of government participation in the case, with FBI agents meeting with the judge, he contacted FBI general counsel Patrick Kelley with questions about what was going on, because of issues that include equal protection, due process and others.
Kelley's response to Klayman was that he should "do what you
have to do," he said.
World Net Daily
January, 2007
Other
related articles from other sources:
FAITH UNDER FIRE
Descendant of Muhammad converts to Christianity
But faces threat to life if forced to return to Turkey
A Turk who claims to be a descendant of Islam's prophet Muhammad has converted to Christianity while living in Germany.
But Sedar Dedeoglu, of Luedenscheid, now faces a threat to his life if he's forced to return to Turkey, and is seeking help from German authorities.
Dedeoglu, who is involved in Christian outreach programs among Muslims, has been receiving death threats from Muslims unwilling to accept his conversion. His relatives also regard the apostasy as shameful.
If Dedeoglu is returned to his native country, he very likely would be killed, his lawyer says.
Despite this threat, the German Federal Migration Office and several courts of justice have rejected asylum applications by the Dedeoglu family. They claim Christians are free to practice their religion in Turkey.
To avoid deportation, Dedeoglu, his wife Husniye and their daughter Isil now hope at least to be tolerated in Germany as a "case of hardship." According to their attorney, Oswald Seitter, it is impossible to overlook the extraordinary danger the Dedeoglu family is facing.
For Muslims, he said, it is undeniable Dedeoglu descends from Muhammad's daughter Fatima and her husband Ali. In Dedeoglu's hometown, Elazig, in eastern Turkey they used to be revered as a holy family. According to Seitter, the apostasy of a family member is regarded as an insult of the prophet himself.
Dedeoglu's case has become so widely known in Turkey that his life is in real and imminent danger, the lawyer said.
"We should rejoice that a such a person has become a Christian, and we should avoid any actions which could put his life in additional danger," Seitter told an evangelical news agency.
Seitter is an evangelical Christian and used to be the speaker of the synod of the Protestant Church in Wuerttemberg.
Dedeoglu came to Germany in 1997 and asked for asylum because of political persecution of the Kurdish minority in Turkey. Four years later, he and his family converted to the Christian faith. They are members of an Evangelical Brethren church.
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Hillary's
team has questions about Obama's Muslim background
Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a Madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?
This is the question Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s camp is asking about Sen. Barack Obama.
An investigation of Mr. Obama by political opponents within the Democratic Party has discovered that Mr. Obama was raised as a Muslim by his stepfather in Indonesia. Sources close to the background check, which has not yet been released, said Mr. Obama, 45, spent at least four years in a so-called Madrassa, or Muslim seminary, in Indonesia.
"He was a Muslim, but he concealed it," the source said. "His opponents within the Democrats hope this will become a major issue in the campaign."
When contacted by Insight, Mr. Obama’s press secretary said he would consult with “his boss” and call back. He did not.
Sources said the background check, conducted by researchers connected to Senator Clinton, disclosed details of Mr. Obama's Muslim past. The sources said the Clinton camp concluded the Illinois Democrat concealed his prior Muslim faith and education.
"The background investigation will provide major ammunition to his opponents," the source said. "The idea is to show Obama as deceptive."
In two best-selling autobiographies—"The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" and "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance"—Mr. Obama, born in Honolulu where his parents met, mentions but does not expand on his Muslim background, alluding only to his attendance at a "predominantly Muslim school."
The sources said the young Obama was given the name Hussein by his Muslim father, which the Illinois Democrat rarely uses in public.
His father was black and came from Kenya. Mr. Obama’s mother, the daughter of a farmer, came from Wichita, Kansas. Mr. Obama's parents divorced when he was two years old. His father returned to Kenya.
Later, Mr. Obama's mother married an Indonesian student and the family moved to Jakarta. Mr. Obama returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his maternal grandparents.
The sources said the background check concerned Mr. Obama's years in Jakarta. In Indonesia, the young Obama was enrolled in a Madrassa and was raised and educated as a Muslim. Although Indonesia is regarded as a moderate Muslim state, the U.S. intelligence community has determined that today most of these schools are financed by the Saudi Arabian government and they teach a Wahhabi doctrine that denies the rights of non-Muslims.
Although the background check has not confirmed that the specific Madrassa Mr. Obama attended was espousing Wahhabism, the sources said his Democratic opponents believe this to be the case—and are seeking to prove it. The sources said the opponents are searching for evidence that Mr. Obama is still a Muslim or has ties to Islam.
Mr. Obama attends services at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago’s South Side. However, he is not known to be a regular parishioner.
"Obama's education began a life-long relationship with Islam as a faith and Muslims as a community," the source said. "This has been a relationship that contains numerous question marks."
The sources said Mr. Obama spent at least four years in a Muslim school in Indonesia. They said when Mr. Obama was 10, his mother and her second husband separated. She and her son returned to Hawaii.
"Then the official biography begins," the source said. "Obama never returned to Kenya to see relatives or family until it became politically expedient."
In both of his autobiographies, Mr. Obama characterizes himself as a Christian—although he describes his upbringing as mostly secular.
In “The Audacity of Hope,” Mr. Obama says, "I
was not raised in a religious household." He describes his mother as
secular, but says she had copies of the Bible, the Koran and the
Bhagavad Gita in their home.
Mr. Obama says his father was "raised a Muslim,
but by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist...." Mr.
Obama also describes his father as largely absent from his life. He
says his Indonesian stepfather was "skeptical" about religion and "saw
religion as not particularly useful in the practical business of making
one's way in the world ...."
In the book, Mr. Obama briefly addresses his education in Indonesia. "During the five years that we would live with my stepfather in Indonesia, I was sent first to a neighborhood Catholic school and then to a predominantly Muslim school; in both cases, my mother was less concerned with me learning the catechism or puzzling out the meaning of the muezzin's call to evening prayer than she was with whether I was properly learning my multiplication tables."
Mr. Obama graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School; he became the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review. He later settled in Chicago, joined a law firm and began attending and helping local churches.
Mr. Obama is married to Michelle Robinson and they have two daughters, Malia and Sasha. In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois state Senate. Eight years later, he became a U.S. senator from Illinois.
The sources said Ms. Clinton regards Mr. Obama as her most formidable opponent and the biggest obstacle to the Democratic Party’s 2008 presidential nomination. They said Ms. Clinton has been angered by Mr. Obama's efforts to tap her supporters for donations.
In late 2006, when the Illinois senator
demonstrated his intention to run for president, the Clinton campaign
ordered a background check on Mr. Obama, the sources said. Earlier this
week, Mr. Obama established an exploratory committee, the first step
toward a formal race.
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Orthodox
priest was kidnapped and beheaded
MOSUL, Iraq Relatives
of an Orthodox priest who was kidnapped and found beheaded three days
later said Thursday that his captors had demanded his church condemn
the pope's recent comments about Islam and pay a US$350,000 (€280,000)
ransom.
More than 500 people attended a memorial service Thursday for father
Amer Iskender in the northern city of Mosul after his decapitated body
was found Wednesday evening in an industrial area of the city.
Iskender was a priest at the St. Ephrem Orthodox church in Mosul.
"He was a good man and we all shed tears for him," said Eman Saaur, a
45-year-old schoolteacher who said she attended Iskender's church
regularly. "He was a man of peace."
Relatives, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal,
said the unidentified group that seized Iskender on Sunday had demanded
a ransom and that his church condemn a statement made by Pope Benedict
XVI last month that ignited a wave anger throughout the Muslim world.
In a speech at a German university the pope quoted a medieval text that
characterized some of the Prophet Muhammad's teachings as "evil and
inhuman," declaring Islam was a religion spread by the sword.
Before Iskender was kidnapped, his relatives said, the church already
had put up signs condemning the statement and calling for good
relations between Christians and Muslims. The message was posted again,
they said, after the priest's kidnappers made their demand.
"It was a tragedy," said Hazim Shaaiya, 60, who had come to the
memorial service to pay respects. "Father Amer Iskender was a peaceful,
kind religious man."
Relatives said the priest's oldest son had been in contact with the
kidnappers on mobile telephones. He negotiated the ransom payment down
to US$40,000 (€32,000) and had agreed to pay, but contact abruptly
ceased Tuesday night.
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