The Arabic “nun” symbol, or N, which stands for Nazarene and
refers to Christians, ominously began appearing, stamped in red, on Christian
homes in Mosul, Iraq, two weeks ago.
5 things you can do to help Iraq’s persecuted Christians
From Eternity Newspaper
Updated
Friday 15 August 2014
“They
changed our church into a mosque, ruined historic museums, and destroyed a
monastery and manuscripts that were 1000 years old. Iraq is gone. Iraq is
finished. We’re finished. It’s impossible for us to go back,” – Iraqi
Christian.
If
you’re like us, you’ve probably felt outrage and despair reading about the
situation in northern Iraq. Islamic militants continue to seize Christian
towns. On Thursday (7 August) they captured Iraq’s largest Christian city,
Qaraqosh, forcing thousands more to flee. In the process, militants
continue to demand: Christians must leave, convert or die. Three weeks ago,
Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, which is also the site of the ancient city
of Nineveh, was the first city to receive the ultimatum. It now stands empty of
Christians. Cities and towns across northern Iraq are emptying of Christians,
whose families have lived in the region for thousands of years. They are now
sheltering in mosques, churches, refuge camps in Kurdish cities without their
belongings.
So
far away from the situation, it’s easy to feel helpless. But there are
some things you CAN do. Here’s 5 things you can do to help Iraq’s persecuted
Christians:
1. Stay informed
The
situation in Iraq is changing quickly, as The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS)
seizes more and more territory every day. To support Christians in Iraq through
prayer and letting others know what’s going on, it’s a good idea to stay on top
of the news coming out of the area. Eternity is regularly
updating its stories on the situation, pulling news from a variety of
mainstream media sources so if you don’t have time to scan the many news
outlets, you
can read the most recent Eternity summary, here. It’s also got links to
other stories so you can stay informed.
2. Be active on social media
Many
Christians have already changed their profile picture to the arabic letter for
“N” in solidarity with Christians who’ve had the letter painted on their homes
in Mosul.
On
the use of the “n” symbol, one Islamic expert wrote recently on Facebook:
“I
think for many years now Christians have seen the treatment of their brothers
and sisters in various places around the world and not known how to express
themselves. ISIS has inadvertently given us a symbol of solidarity for
Christians who are suffering.”
Changing
your profile picture to the “n” symbol is one way to show solidarity. Christianity
Today published
a letter
from a Christian based in Iraqi Kurdistan, in the north of the country, where
many of the Christians from Mosul have fled. She said “It’s encouraging to see
that around the world people are supporting us. We are still proud to be
Christians. We will always be Christians.”
Another
thing you can do is share articles, photos and statuses about Iraq’s
persecuted Christians to build public awareness, because the mainstream media
isn’t giving it much attention.
3. Write to your MP
What’s
the point? We’re so far away from Iraq, how could talking to our Government
help? There are a few ways it can help. Firstly, just by talking to them
about it, you are raising awareness. Secondly, you can call on the Government
to use its position on the UN Security Council to get the international
community to pay more attention to the suffering of Iraqi Christians. Some have
called what’s happening a genocide. It’s worth raising it with your local MP as
a matter needing attention. Don’t know who your MP is? Find out here via your electorate.
4. Pray
The
first and perhaps most powerful thing you can do is: pray. Bible Society
Australia has some suggested prayers:
Please pray for the Iraqi Christians forced
from their homes in Mosul under threat of death.
Pray for God’s protecting hand to be with
them and his provision for them is plentiful in this time of urgent need.
Pray that the Bible Society team in Iraq is
safe amongst the crisis and are able to carry out their work to reach families
in desperate need.
Pray that others would recognise the plight
of their brethren and provide support for them.
5. Give
Did
Jesus Speak Koine Greek?
I think we have to trust scholarly consensus. which is:
Jesus spoke Aramaic. There was an Aramaic version of the Gospel of
Matthew-There is an Aramaic substratum of the New Testament. The New Testament
is full of Hebraisms, Aramaism, and Semitic figure of speech. But the bulk of
the New Testament-including the writings of Paul-were written in Greek. Certain
books may have had "original Aramaic"-we do have Aramaic New
Testaments-such as the Peshitta and the Palestinian Aramaic-but these are
translations back into the Aramaic-we don't have original Aramaic texts. I
think that arguments of Andrew Gabriel Roth-prove lthat Jesus and the Apostles
spoke Aramaic as their first language and that the Gospel was originally in
Aramaic-scholars examining the texts can say-1 Maccabees was originally written
in Hebrew, for instance-they also believe that the New Testament-as we-have
it-conceding that there is an Aramaic substratum-is Greek-
Allen West: ‘Barack
Hussein Obama is an Islamist’ August 14, 2014 By Matthew Burke
Former
congressman, Lt. Col. Allen West proclaimed on Wednesday that there is only one
true explanation that Obama is “purposely enabling the Islamist cause.” West, a favorite among many in the
pro-freedom, pro-Constitution Tea Party movement, listed six instances where
the Obama regime has been “working counter to the security of the United States
of America”:
1. The unilateral
release of five senior Taliban back to the enemy while the enemy is still
fighting us.
2. Providing weapons of support to
the Muslim Brotherhood-led Egyptian government — F-16s and M1A1 Abrams tanks —
but not to the Egyptian government after the Islamist group has been removed.
3. Negotiations with Qatar and
Turkey, two Islamist-supporting countries.
4. Negotiations with Hamas, a terrorist
group.
5. Returning sanction money, to the tune of billions of
dollars, back to the theocratic regime led by Iran’s ayatollahs and allowing
them to march on towards nuclear capability.
6. Obama’s evident support of Islamists in Libya.
Along with the above, West cited the
recent report that Obama has lifted longtime restrictions against Libyans
attending flight schools and receiving nuclear science training in the U.S,
only two years after the terrorism that took place in Benghazi, Libya.
There is only one logical reason for the Democrat president to make these
anti-American decisions, West concluded Wednesday on his website, that there is no other reason why Obama would prop-up
America’s enemies:
Sorry, but I can only explain this one way: Barack Hussein
Obama is an Islamist in his foreign policy perspectives and supports their
cause. You can go back and listen to his 2009 speech in Cairo, where Muslim
Brotherhood associates were seated front and center.
All the circumstantial and anecdotal evidence points to that conclusion. The
pivot away from the Middle East seems to be nothing more than an opportunity to
enable Islamists and their goals. Anyone supporting this Libyan ban being
lifted is indeed an enemy of this state.
In June, the former congressman from
Florida called for Obama’s impeachment, following Obama’s negotiation with terrorists, releasing
military deserter Bowe Bergdahl
in exchange for the U.S. release of five notorious Muslim terrorists from
GITMO.
Barack Obama’s longtime pastor for over two decades, Jeremiah Wright, told
author Ed Klein two years ago that “Barack Obama was steeped in Islam” and that he “knew very little about Christianity.”
“When I asked the Reverend Wright about this whole question
of Islam and Christianity. He said, well, you know, Barack Obama was steeped in
Islam. He knew a lot about Islam from his childhood. But he knew very little
about Christianity. And I made it easy for him to feel not guilty about
learning about Christianity without turning his back on his Islamic friends.”
How long will US wait to save Iraq's Christians from extinction?
By Jay
SekulowPublished August 11, 2014FoxNews.com
Now is not the time to
allocate blame. Now is not the time to debate who “lost” Iraq – whether it’s
President Bush’s fault for starting the war or President Obama’s fault for
trying to end the war prematurely. Now is the time to act. In the aftermath of
the Holocaust, the world’s leaders made a simple vow: “Never again.” Never
again would they stand aside and watch genocide happen. Sadly, that was an
empty promise for Rwanda’s Tutsi minority and for the victim’s of Cambodia’s
killing fields. Will it be an empty promise again for Iraq’s Christians and
Yazidis? There’s little question that we’re watching genocide unfold before our
eyes. The Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS) is the direct
descendant of Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI),
the terrorist force that our military fought to the brink of extinction during
the Surge in Iraq. Fleeing to Syria, they re-armed, formally broke with Al Qaeda
(Al Qaeda leadership viewed them as too vicious), gained battlefield success
against President Bashir al-Assad’s inept and brutal army and then returned to
Iraq, in force. They captured Mosul, one of Iraq’s largest cities.
They
control much of the Anbar province.
They
control a vast area of Syria.
They
control territory the size of a nation-state, and they’ve declared the
existence of an Islamic Caliphate, a Caliphate more savage than any seen since
medieval times.
Like
the Nazis marked Jewish homes and businesses, the Islamic State is marking Christian homes and businesses. Like their ancient forebears, the Islamic State is
demanding the Christians to “leave, convert, or die.”
In an action arguably even more brutal than ancient atrocities, the Islamic
State is following through on its threats by beheading Christian children. And if you think that the Islamic State is content with
merely conquering parts of Iraq and Syria and slaughtering ancient Christian
communities, think again. Using a social media campaign under the hashtag
#CalamityWillBefallUS, the Islamic State has posted photos of beheaded victims and
declared, “We will kill your people and
transform America to a river of blood.” These are not idle threats. The Islamic
State is now the richest, most heavily armed terrorist group in world history.
The statistics are sobering. The following is from our American
Center for Law and Justice report (which I
presented just weeks ago at an Oxford University, Exeter College course on
Middle East Affairs) on the Islamic State’s history and capabilities:
ISIS
has captured significant amounts of high-tech U.S. military equipment abandoned
by the Iraqi armed forces. Fifty-two 155mm M198 howitzers have been captured by
ISIS. These American-made weapons have a range of up to twenty miles and can
incorporate GPS targeting systems. In addition to the howitzers, ISIS has
captured 1,500 Humvees and 4,000 PKC machine guns that can fire close to 800
rounds per minute.
This
weaponry has allowed it to dominate even the Kurdish “Pershmerga” militia in
open combat. Kurdish weapons simply can’t penetrate the Islamic State’s armor,
and even our bravest and most loyal Kurdish allies have been forced to retreat
in the face of Islamic State attacks, raising the terrifying specter of the
loss even of Kurdistan, our close ally and the only safe haven for Christians
in Iraq.
Faced
with this crisis, the Obama administration has responded with limited
airstrikes, but this is a half measure. While these strikes are welcome, we
have to do more. We must arm the Kurds. We have a loyal and brave ally on the
ground. We cannot allow them to be outgunned by a terrorist militia. And we
have to flood Kurdistan and other embattled Iraqi enclaves with humanitarian
aid. Christians and other religious minorities like the Yazidi are literally dying of thirst in their flight from the Islamic State. In 1973 our ally
Israel faced a combined onslaught from the forces of Egypt, Syria, and Iraq.
Taken by surprise on Yom Kippur, Israel’s defensive lines strained to the
breaking point. With its ally in danger, the U.S. Air Force launched “Operation Nickel Grass”
to save our ally from extinction at the hands of vastly larger forces.
Our
airlift – combined with the bravery of IDF soldiers and pilots – saved Israel.
Now,
our airlift, combined with the bravery of the Peshmerga, can save Iraq’s
Christians, save our loyal allies in Kurdistan, and stop genocide.
What
are we waiting for?
Karl Rove on Obama
Barack Obama believed his
legacy as president would be that he ended the Iraq war. It looks increasingly
that his legacy could be that he lost it. By their admission, President Obama
and Vice President Joe Biden inherited a war that had been won. In 2011 Mr.
Obama said America was "leaving behind a sovereign, stable and
self-reliant Iraq," and Mr. Biden proclaimed Iraq "one of the great
achievements of this administration." Mr.
Obama then committed a massive error in judgment by withdrawing all U.S.
troops. That allowed the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or
ISIS, the world's most formidable, merciless and dangerous terrorist army. ISIS
is now establishing an Islamist caliphate that stretches from Aleppo in Syria
to Fallujah and Mosul in Iraq and beyond. The president was warned about the
ISIS threat for months, yet did essentially nothing. As in so many other
important moments when decisive action was required, his actions were haphazard
and reactive, his leadership detached, his will almost nonexistent.
See
full article at the WSJ.
End of Iraq? Country we knew will be gone if persecution
of Christians, minorities continue
David
Curry, Fox News, August 14, 2014
Watching
and listening to reports about what is happening in Iraq, I, like you,
experience a wide array of thoughts and emotions. I am at turns broken-hearted,
outraged, and disappointed. One thing I
am not is surprised. For quite some
time, I have been well aware of the atrocities perpetrated in Iraq against
Christians and other religious minority groups—and of the need for the world to
understand what is actually taking place. On Wednesday, the situation
in Iraq was upgraded by the United Nations to a "Level 3 Emergency,"
the organization’s highest ranking of severity in a humanitarian crisis. As the
president of an organization that exists to serve the most persecuted religious
group in the world—Christians—Open Doors mobilizes Christian aid workers who
spend their lives on the frontlines as horrific events unfold. Open Doors
has been predicting for years that Iraq would soon be emptied of Christians and
now it is happening. ISIS is forcing people to choose between abandoning
their faith or enduring consequences that range from paying outrageous fines to
facing certain death. In the 1990’s, the Christian population in Iraq was
estimated at over 1.2 million; now, fewer than 300,000 remain. Iraq as we
know it won’t exist if the genocide and targeted persecution of Christians
continues. It will likely resemble failed states like Somalia and others that
harbor terrorists and have virtually no religious diversity. As we have seen
played out in story after story, Islamic radical groups such as ISIS seek to
annihilate any group whose beliefs differs from their own.
While I am grateful President Obama and other leaders have
finally acknowledged this genocide, I am puzzled by why it took so long. ISIS
is set on destroying a whole people group. Similar to Nazi Germany, they
are spreading over multiple countries—and marking the homes of Christians with
the Arabic Christian symbol, an action eerily similar to Nazi’s use of the Star
of David. Tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians—nearly the nation’s entire
Christian population—have been fleeing for their lives since June. Was
this not reason enough for world leaders to do something? Religious persecution
of any kind should not be tolerated. Nonetheless, I am heartened that America
has finally acknowledged this genocide and has made it a top priority. But I
can’t help but wonder how long the attention now directed towards the
persecuted of Iraq will last. One thing is certain: the persecution of
non-Muslims will persist unless something is done to stop ISIS. Open Doors has
worked with this dwindling population of Christians in Iraq for many years and
we will continue to do so by providing food and shelter for those who have been
forced from their homes. But what persecuted Christians and other religious
minorities need now, more than ever before, is courage. I implore you,
from the relative safety of your stateside home, to pray for the people of
Iraq. Pray for the aid workers risking it all to serve the persecuted, and pray
for President Obama and those advising him. Pray for our leaders to have even a
fraction of the courage these regular, ordinary Iraqi people have displayed in
the face of unspeakable terror. Finally, let the administration know that your
attention span for the safety of the persecuted is long—and you expect theirs
to be as well.
David Curry is the President of Open Doors USA. For nearly
60 years, Open Doors has worked in the world's most oppressive countries,
empowering Christians who are persecuted for their beliefs. Christians are the
most persecuted religious group in the world. Each year, Open Doors releases
its World Watch List, a ranking of the 50 countries where Christian persecution
is worst.
Stephen says…the Media
refuses to report on the killing of Christians-if it wasn't for the Yezidis
being targeted we probably wouldn't hear anything about the killing of
religious minorities in Iraq-seeing that the Yezidi are not Christian. In
"Crucified Again" Raymond Ibrahim explained why the media represses
stories about the killing of Christians by Muslims. Their narrative is that
Muslims are an aggrieved people-the victims of Christian victimizers-if they
reported on Islamic persecution of Christians and its 1400 year history-their
narrative would be called into question. The media doesn't want the truth to
come out because they have an anti-Christian agenda which they share with
Islam. But Fox has done a good job on reporting on the persecution of Assyrian
Christians.
Check out this article about
the Yezidi: http://www.vice.com/read/why-is-the-islamic-state-trying-to-eradicate-iraqs-yazidi-minority-813?utm_source=Outbrain&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=mainrss
Troubling double
standard: Outcry over Gaza deaths but near silence over Iraq, Syria
After a few weeks of Israel-bashing, we are back to the
regular indifference. It seems that with Israel’s war in Gaza on the wane, so
too are the world’s humanitarian concerns. The streets of Europe are getting
quieter. Protests outside Israeli and American embassies and on the steps
of houses of worship are thinning. International committees are drafting
fewer resolutions and college students are demonstrating on fewer campuses.
With the violence in Gaza subsiding, the world seems ready to move from
bleating outrage over Israel’s actions to indicting it, in the words of UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, for a “criminal act.” For the world’s oppressed
and tyrannized, it’s an inopportune time for the outrage to run dry. From Iraq
comes news that 40,000 Yazidis, a religious minority chased from their homes by
the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), are dying from lack of food and water. These
stranded refugees are in danger of joining, in harrowing numbers, the 6,000
other Iraqi civilians butchered this year by ISIS. No less victimized at
the moment are the Kurds, gruesome photos of whom were paraded by ISIS on
Twitter, and Iraq’s Christian communities, decimated in the recent blitz of
Mosul. Renounced even by Al Qaeda for its brutality, ISIS is making life
unlivable in Iraq and beyond. Of course, it’s not just the region’s religious
minorities facing expulsion and massacre. The Syrian civil war’s death toll,
now reported with more monotony than CBO statistics, has exceeded
160,000. Conservative estimates count civilians a third of the total
dead, including 15,000 women and children; others have reported a much higher
percentage of innocents. Further east, a number of residents equal to the
entire population of Boston were recently cleared from North Waziristan so
Pakistan’s military could battle the Taliban. Children are still the primary
victims of Boko Haram in Nigeria and in South Sudan, and if anyone thinks that
innocent civilians are being spared daily horror in Libya, Mali, Eastern
Ukraine and North Korea, they haven’t been reading the news. The protestors,
commentators, NGO workers, human rights activists, and others, who spent the
last month vilifying Israel’s campaign in Gaza more than Arab regimes did, are
not ignorant of these non-Gaza tragedies. Many of those who found
themselves more outraged by Israel than by ISIS are, in fact, educated,
globally-engaged westerners who sincerely believe that Israel’s war against
Hamas violated morality and international law to a degree unsurpassed the world
over. How is that possible? Consider three reasons:
First, part of the reason that Gaza’s dead got much more
publicity than the victims of ISIS may be that, prior to the Gaza war, most of
the news coming from the Middle East was doing significant damage to the White
House. From metastasizing jihadi threats in Libya and the Levant to failed
peace talks and foundering nuclear talks with Iran, the big story from the
region was the Obama administration’s comprehensive failure. The mainstream
press was glad to relentlessly pursue the Gaza story, to the exclusion of many
others, to give a momentary reprieve to the smoldering ruin of President
Obama’s foreign policy.
The second reason is simple but unpardonable ignorance. Many
western elites are outraged by Israel’s actions in Gaza far more than, say,
China’s oppression of Tibet, because they find western ‘aggression’ more
objectionable than non-western. Why for instance, does Egypt’s blockade of Gaza
draw very little ire compared with Israel’s? Besides being morally
questionable, this belief betrays a profound ignorance of facts: Israel’s
targets in Gaza, unlike China’s in Tibet, are mortal threats; and Israel,
though democratic, is not ‘western,’ but is in fact made up of mostly
persecuted Arab and Soviet refugees.
The third reason is plain old anti-Semitism, masquerading as
anti-Zionism. Observing mass protests, where Europeans hurl firebombs at local
synagogues to protest decisions being made 2,000 miles away by a government in
Jerusalem, one can see the world’s oldest hatred at work.
This combination of advocacy, ignorance and bigotry combines
to produce one of the most bizarre spectacles in the western world: a
significant cohort of well-educated, well-intentioned people working to convict
Israel of ‘war crimes’ in Gaza, while ignoring thousands of innocent children
being killed just a few miles away. This selective outrage must end.
Richard Grenell is a Fox News Contributor and
fellow with The
Project To Restore America. He served as the spokesman for four U.S.
Ambassadors to the U.N. including John Negroponte, John Danforth, John Bolton
and Zalmay Khalilzad. He currently writes from Los Angeles where his
pieces can be seen at www.richardgrenell.com. Follow him on Twitter@RichardGrenell.
Jeremy Stern is a research analyst with Capitol Media
Partners and is based in Los Angeles.
Obama authorizes airstrikes in Iraq, says 'America is
coming to help'
Published August 08, 2014
President Obama announced Thursday night in a televised
address that he has authorized the U.S. military to conduct airstrikes "if
necessary" against Islamist militants in Iraq, and the military has
conducted a mission to drop humanitarian aid there to help religious minorities
stranded amid the violence.
Obama said in the statement from the White House the U.S.
military is authorized to launch targeted airstrikes if Islamist militants
advance toward American personnel in northern Iraq. Declaring that
"America is coming to help," he also said that the U.S. decided to
conduct the drops to the 50,000 or so religious minorities stranded on a
mountaintop in the country's north, who have been forced to flee their homes as
the militants advanced.
Obama said the religious minorities are under the threat of
genocide from militants from the Islamic State (IS), the group formerly known
as ISIS, and are stranded on the mountain without food or water. He said
airstrikes could also be used to help protect those civilians.
The Yazidis, who follow an ancient religion with ties to
Zoroastrianism, fled their homes after the issued an ultimatum to convert to
Islam, pay a religious fine, flee their homes or face death.
"Earlier this week, one Iraqi in the area cried to the
world, `There is no one coming to help.' Well, today, America is coming to
help," Obama said. "We're also consulting with other countries -- and
the United Nations -- who have called for action to address this humanitarian
crisis."
The announcements reflected the deepest American engagement
in Iraq since U.S. troops withdrew in late 2011 after nearly a decade of war.
Obama has staked much of his legacy as president on ending what he once called
the "dumb war" in Iraq.
Obama acknowledged that the prospect of a new round of U.S.
military action would be a cause for concern among many Americans. He vowed
anew not to put American combat troops back on the ground in Iraq and said
there was no U.S. military solution to the crisis.
"As commander in chief, I will not allow the United
States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq," Obama said.
Even so, he outlined a rationale for airstrikes if the
Islamic State militants advance on American troops in the northern city of
Irbil and the U.S. consulate there in the Kurdish region of Iraq. The
troops were sent to Iraq earlier this year as part of the White House response
to the extremist group's swift movement across the border with Syria and into
Iraq. He also said he has authorized strikes "if necessary" to help
Iraqi forces break the siege of the civilians on the mountain, and protect the
people trapped there.
“The United States of America cannot turn a blind eye,”
Obama said.
Both C-130 and C-17 cargo aircraft participated in the drop,
escorted by F-18 fighters. All aircraft have since safely left the immediate
airspace over the drop area.
The crisis in Iraq has escalated since IS seized control
Thursday of the country's largest Christian city, Qaraqoush. The militants told
its residents to leave, convert or die, which sent tens of thousands of
civilians and Kurdish fighters fleeing from the area, according to several
priests in northern Iraq.
Last week, IS also seized the northwestern town of Sinjar,
forcing tens of thousands of people from the ancient Yazidi minority to flee
into the mountains and the Kurdish region.
According to the U.N., between 35,000 and 50,000 fled to
nearby Mount Sinjar and other areas, "reportedly surrounded by ISIS armed
elements" and lacking water and other aid.
Earlier Thursday, the White House stopped short of
committing America's military to stopping a potential "genocide" in
Iraq, declining to say whether doing so is in "America's core
interests."
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest acknowledged the
situation is nearing a "humanitarian catastrophe" and said Obama has
demonstrated a willingness to use military force to protect America's core
interests.
But when asked repeatedly by Fox News whether preventing a
genocide counts as being in America's core interests, Earnest did not answer
directly. Asked the same question twice more, Earnest responded that "each
of these situations is evaluated on a case-by-case basis."
However, Obama later made clear in his remarks that the
decision to authorize strikes is based in part on hoping to prevent a possible
genocide.
Earnest and other administration officials nevertheless
argue there is no American military solution to Iraq's problems and the country
must seek a political solution.
The administration, along with the United Nations, is facing
increasing pressure to get more involved to prevent the crisis from worsening.
The U.N. Security Council on Thursday condemned the attacks
on minorities in Iraq and urged international support for the Iraqi government.
The council said that the attacks could constitute crimes against humanity and
that those responsible should be held accountable.
"The members of the Security Council also urge all
parties to stop human rights violations and abuses and ensure humanitarian
access and facilitate the delivery of assistance to those fleeing the
violence," said Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, who read from
a statement after an emergency consultation requested by France.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
How the Media Craft Victory for Hamas
Ben Shapiro, August 7, 2014 - 6:14
AM
On Tuesday, CNN's Wolf Blitzer
hosted Hamas spokesman Osama Hamden. The week before, Hamdan labeled Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "a new image of Hitler" on the
network. But now, for some reason,
Blitzer stumbled into a random act of journalism: He asked Hamdan about
comments he had made suggesting that Jews used Christian blood in matza. Hamdan
stumbled around and blamed the Jews for their action in Gaza. Blitzer called
Hamdan's comments an "awful, awful smear." The very fact that this
represented a unique moment in the media coverage of the Israel-Hamas Gaza war
demonstrates the malpractice of the media. The first questions on the media's
collective tongue should have been: What does Hamas stand for? What are its
goals? Why does it use women and children as human shields? Why does it hide
military resources in civilian areas? But that had to wait for a month. In the
meantime, CNN viewers saw an unending stream of dramatic images from Gaza of
Palestinian Arab suffering: heavy blasts from Israeli ordinance, screaming
women, bleeding children. Every so often, CNN punctuated its coverage with
death toll statistics — never mentioning that it received those statistics from
the Palestinians themselves, and neglecting to mention the Palestinians'
regular practice of classifying dead terrorists as civilians. Then CNN asked
questions about Israeli "proportionality" and wondered aloud about
whether Israeli strikes were sufficiently "targeted." If you want to
know why the conflict between the dramatically overpowering Israeli military
and the sadistically brutal Hamas has continued for weeks, look no further than
CNN and its like-minded media brethren. Hamas' goals in this conflict did not
include military victory; Hamas may be evil, but it is not stupid. Its main
goal was to shore up its base by achieving small concessions from Israel and
Egypt, as well as the Palestinian Authority; those concessions could only be
achieved if Israel could be portrayed as an international aggressor against a
terror group. And that's where the media manipulation came in. Hamas placed
heavy restrictions on journalists and even threatened them. Hamas put women and
children and mentally ill people in harm's way for the cameras, and as a
deterrent to Israeli military action. And the media went right along with it,
proclaiming balance all the way. When I was on CNN this week with Alisyn
Camerota, she maintained that CNN provided balance by presenting "both
sides," to which I responded that presenting both sides in a battle
between Hamas and Israel is not balance, but anti-Israel bias. No Western media
member would, in 1944, have assumed that balance meant quoting both Winston
Churchill and Julius Streicher. To do so would have been to forward propaganda.
But that is precisely what the media have done. They have turned balance into a
synonym for amorality. In doing so, they have handed a propaganda victory to
evil.
Media go nuts over presidential
corruption... in Nixon White House
By Dan Gainor
·Published
August 08, 2014
·FoxNews.com
A White
House in disarray. The nation torn between left and right. Government agencies
used for dirty tricks against political opponents. The CIA involved in domestic
spying.
It’s a good
thing the American media are on the scene, giving detailed reports about the
White House’s abuse of power and the scary actions of President … Nixon.
Wait. What?
The late President Richard M. Nixon? The one resigned 40 years ago on August 9?
That’s
right. Journalists who snooze at the mere mention of Obama scandals, still want
to revel in the triumphs of yesteryear. No wonder. That was when the most
powerful people in America were reporters and editors because they helped take
down the president of the United States.
Forty years later, Tricky Dick
dominated the news in the past week. There were stories by CBS, PBS, MSNBC, The
New York Times, and the founder of the feast, The Washington Post. We were told
about a new Nixon documentary. Nixon’s flair for fighting the press. His art of
the non-apology, apology. Even his many mistresses. (Oops, that’s JFK.) CBS,
the network that filmed the actual resignation, did several stories leading up
to the anniversary. The network even interviewed its own cameraman – because
there’s nothing journalists love more than interviewing other journalists
telling how cool they used to be. MSNBC almost burst through your TV screen in
glee. Host after host talked Nixon – “Morning Joe” Scarborough, Chris “Tingle”
Matthews, Rachel “Jeopardy” Maddow and more. (Heck, they probably are airing a “Lock Up”
episode on Nixon, too.) MesSNBC’s on-air “talent” were thrilled because it let them indict the
GOP for something 40 years ago and continue to hype the fiction that
Republicans plan to impeach
Obama. Time magazine gave readers “9
Things You Didn’t Know About Richard Nixon,” from a
1952 cover story. Those included such exciting factoids as Nixon had worked as
a carnival barker and used to live next door to people who owned “a smelly,
cannibalistic brood of minks.” Perhaps that was an early press metaphor.
Sometime funnyman Stephen Colbert mock celebrated the former president. “Nixon
is my all-time favorite non-Reagan president, non-Cheney vice
president, and non-oats Quaker,” he told his audience. The Post ran 14
different stories in the five days leading up to the anniversary. Nixon
appeared in obits of former staffers, donor stories, and even had a strange
mention in the corruption trial of former Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell. Ironically,
one story involved dirty trick allegations that a Post staffer plagiarized part
of “The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan.” And books.
Lots and lots of other books about the past and very little insight about the
present. Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah
Palin noticed the connection. She mocked the Obama
administration and the media via Facebook. “Remember the 18 minute gap in
Nixon’s White House tapes during the Watergate scandal?” she asked. “Now
Obama’s IRS top dog claims a communications gap of 1,052,000 minutes. Hmm.
Wonder if the press will recognize similarities. Maybe a smidgen?” wrote Palin.
Her inquiry was largely ignored. But over every Nixon story hung an implied
question: How would journalists handle a similar scandal today? The answer is
easy. If another Republican president committed similar crimes, journalists
would hound that president every day of the rest of his life – like they tried
with George W. Bush. But if that president were a favored Dem, then the scandal
would get a bare mention and journalists would move on, ever in quest of that
elusive prey – Republicans. It’s always that way. Had Nixon been a Democrat,
his liberal politics would have been more than sufficient armor against
the full-court press. That’s right, liberal Nixon. Former Nixon
advisor Pat Buchanan recently reminded PBS “NewsHour” that
Nixon was “enormously consequential.” He ticked off a series of Nixon’s
first-term accomplishments that would please almost any leftie voting today.
“He opened up China, he had negotiated arms control of the Soviet Union,
he had ended the draft, he had desegregated the South, he had enacted
the 18-year-old vote, built E.P.A. and OSHA, and the
Cancer Institute,” Buchanan explained. That’s why a Democrat Nixon would
have been spared investigation. He would have finished both terms and retired
as a popular, liberal president. Carter would likely never have happened. The
same with Reagan. The entire past 40 years of American history would have been
forever altered. Even the media would have never learned their signature maxim
that the way to advance in journalism is to smear Republicans. Who knows, maybe
they’d even investigate an Obama scandal.
Islamic State beheads,
crucifies in push for Syria's east BEIRUT
(Reuters) - Islamic State has crushed a pocket of resistance to its control in
eastern Syria, crucifying two people and executing 23 others in the past five
days, a monitoring group said on Monday.
The insurgents, who are also making
rapid advances in Iraq, are tightening their grip in Syria, of which they now
controls roughly a third, mostly rural areas in the north and east.
The group, an al Qaeda offshoot, has
fought the Syrian army, Kurdish militias and Sunni Muslim tribal forces.
The Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights, a Britain-based monitoring organization, and residents in Syria's east
said that fighters from the al-Sheitaat tribe in eastern Deir al-Zor had tried
to resist Islamic State's advance this month.
In al-Shaafa, a town on the banks of
the Euphrates river, Islamic State beheaded two men from the al-Sheitaat clan
on Sunday, the Observatory said, and gave residents a 12-hour deadline on
Monday to hand over members of the tribe.
In other parts of Deir al-Zor
province, the militants crucified two men for the crime of "dealing with
apostates" in the city of Mayadin, and two others for blasphemy in the
nearby town of al-Bulel, the Observatory said.
Islamic State has made rapid gains
in Syria since it seized northern Iraq's largest city, Mosul, on June 10, and
declared an Islamic caliphate on territory it controls in Syria and Iraq.
The Observatory said a further 19
men from the al-Sheitaat tribe were executed on Thursday, 18 shot dead and one
beheaded, on the outskirts of Deir al-Zor city. It said the men worked at an
oil installation.
“No one will now dare from the other
tribes to move against Islamic State after the defeat of the al-Sheitaat,” said
Ahmad Ziyada al-Qaissi, an Islamic State sympathizer contacted by Skype from
Mayadin.
Tribal sources say the conflict
between Islamic State and the al-Sheitaat tribe, who number about 70,000,
flared after Islamic State took over of two oil fields in July.
One of those, al-Omar, is the
biggest oil and gas field in Deir al-Zor and has been a lucrative source of
funds for rebel groups.
The head of the al-Sheitaat tribe,
Sheikh Rafaa Aakla al-Raju, called in a video message for other tribes to join
the fight against Islamic State.
“We appeal to the other tribes to
stand by us because it will be their turn next ... If (Islamic State) are done
with us the other tribes will targeted after al-Sheitaat. They are the next
target,” he said in the video, posted on YouTube on Sunday.
A
Syrian human rights activist from Deir al-Zor who fled for Turkey last year
said rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad had retreated to al-Sheitaat
tribal areas from which they had been trying to mount resistance to Islamic
State's expansion.
He said, on condition of anonymity,
that the resistance had been crushed in the last few days. "The situation
is very bad, but the people can't repel them," he said. He said that in
tandem with their violent campaign, Islamic State was distributing gas,
electricity, fuel and food to garner local support. "It is a poor area.
They are winning support this way. They won a lot of support this way. They are
halting theft and punishing thieves. This is also giving them
credibility."More than 170,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil
war, which pits overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim rebels against Assad, a member of
the Shi'ite-derived Alawite minority, backed by Shi'ite militias from Iraq and
Lebanon. The insurgency is split between competing factions, with Islamic State
emerging as the most powerful. In Raqqa, Islamic State's power base in Syria,
its hold appears to be growing only firmer even as Syrian government forces
intensify air strikes on territory held by the group. One Syrian living in an
area of Islamic State control near Raqqa said the number of its fighters in the
streets had grown dramatically in the last few weeks, particularly since it
captured the army's 17th Division at the end of July. The group has carried out
beheadings, levied a tax on non-Muslims, and settled foreign fighters in confiscated
homes, said the resident, who asked for anonymity due to security concerns. But
despite that, as in Deir al-Zor, it has won a degree of respect among locals by
curbing crime using their version law of and order. For youths without work,
salaries offered by Islamic State are one of the few sources of income. "The
(Islamic) State has respect and standing and its voice is heard," said the
resident, speaking by Skype.
(Additional reporting by Suleiman
al-Khalidi in Amman; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
US sending arms to
Iraq's Kurds in battle against militants, official says Published August 11,
2014
The United States is sending weapons to Kurdish forces in
Iraq who have begun to roll back gains made by Sunni militants, a senior U.S.
official confirmed to Fox News. A senior State Department official told The
Associated Press that the Kurds are "getting arms from various sources.
They are being rearmed." Providing weapons to Kurdish forces is a reversal
of U.S. policy, which previously had only allowed for selling arms directly to
the Iraqi government. In recent days, the U.S. military has been helping
facilitate weapons deliveries from the Iraqis to the Kurds, providing
logistical assistance and transportation to the north.
Sources say the weapons from the U.S. will not be provided
directly from the Pentagon. Officials wouldn't say which agency is spearheading
the effort, though the CIA historically has done similar arming operations.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf noted that the
administration previously mentioned the new arms deliveries, which she
suggested are being made to contend with the "heavy weaponry"
obtained by Islamic militants.
"The Kurds need additional arms and we're providing
those," she said in a statement.
Rush Limbaugh: The “Smart”
People Took Over... And Now Where are We?
August 11, 2014
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/08/11/the_smart_people_took_over_and_now_where_are_we
RUSH: Watching MSNBC this morning by accident. I assure you by accident. For some reason the monitor in here came on
MSNBC instead of CNN. I was in a state
of disbelief. And I have to tell you,
folks, it was funny. I mean, these are
all Obamaites and they look like a family in the waiting room at a hospital
when the situation is dire. I mean, it
was funny. They're clearly like the
family in the waiting room of the hospital worried about the patient. The
doctors went in trying to remove Obama's foreign policy, the latest cancer in
the administration, and they couldn't find the doctrine. They couldn't find the Obama doctrine, they
came out and they told the family of the patient, which was the MSNBC people,
and they were just totally depressed.
Stop and think about this for a second.
This is almost indescribable, and yet it is the reality we face
today.
Starting in 2004,
barely a year after George W. Bush invades Iraq to get rid of Saddam Hussein,
starting in 2004 and continuing all through 2008, the media and the Democrat
Party launch a multiple-times-a-day assault. I mean, it's all we heard on Bush
about Iraq, about how it was wrong-headed, it was immoral, it was unnecessary.
We should have been in Afghanistan. What business do we have in Iraq.
They did everything, the Democrats, Obama. Even Obama's
speech in 2002 that put him on the map was about Iraq, about how dumb it was,
how silly it was and we ought not ever be there and we shouldn't ever go there
and he was never gonna vote for it and blah, blah, blah. Then we started with the body counts, and in
the midst of all this there were other scandals supposedly surrounding
Bush. But for essentially five years the
American media and the Democrat Party set out to summarily destroy the George
Bush administration and primarily the second term, obviously. The news was filled each day with multiple
stories about a supposedly plunging economy, that we were headed into a
recession while employment was almost full, 4.7%, while the job situation
looked good. The economy was fine. It
was soaring. We were coming out of two recessions and 9/11, and yet the media
every day, every network beating Bush up, beating Cheney up, "No blood for
oil." Every day it seemed we had a story on how our troops in Iraq were
nothing but terrorists. John Kerry and
John Murtha, you name it, it was never-ending. It was a drumbeat about how no
way, no how should we ever be in Iraq. When it came time for the surge from
General Petraeus, MoveOn.org runs an ad in the New York Times called General
Betray Us, and they accuse him on the morning of testimony about the surge
before a Senate committee of lying. He
hadn't even opened his mouth. The media
picked that up and accused Petraeus of lying, and Hillary Clinton was right
there accusing Petraeus of lying before he even said a word.
Then the presidential campaign of 2008 kicks up and it's all
about Iraq, and then there are debates, and it's all about Iraq, and it's
filled with Obama saying he's gonna get us out, if it's the first thing he
does. The left wing, the American media,
was totally absorbed with Iraq. Iraq was
in every way representative of the worst of the United States of America and
we've got to get ourselves out. In fact,
one of the first things Obama ever said as president was how he was going to
get us out. It was as though they had
succeeded, in their own minds, of convincing everybody in this country that the
absolute worst thing this country has ever done outside of slavery was
Iraq. Remember all the stories of
"torture" at Abu Ghraib? Remember all the stories of Club Gitmo and
Korans flushed down the toilet that didn't happen? Remember all of the lies, all of the
in-your-face lies, all of the efforts to saddle this country with a defeat in
Iraq and hang it around the neck of George W. Bush? Everything they could do to destroy this
country's morale on Iraq was done -- daily, multiple times a day --- including
impugning military personnel, uniformed military personnel. I remember such
stories as John Kerry in Pasadena, California, making a speech at some school
or something and he said: You either get smart or you end up in Iraq. Where is he?
Remember all of the stories about the American military and, "Oh,
how bad must America be if all of these young men and women are joining the
military! It must be that there's no
future in this country because of Bush! "They can't get an education. They
can't get into a school. They can't get a job because of the recession,"
which didn't exist, "and so the only option they had was to join the
military." The Democrat Party went
so far as to discredit volunteers. I
mean, I'm just trying to remind you -- and I'm leaving out 90% of it. I'm
trying to remind you of what we lived with, what we as citizens had to put up
with in this country for five years multiple times a day, 24/7, 365 -- and now
where are we? Where
are we now? We're back! Because the "smart" people told us they
were gonna fix it. The "smart" people told us it should have
never happened. The "smart" people told us it was never worth a
single American life. It was never worth a single American defense
dollar. It was never worth an ounce or a moment of our time. It was
the worst boondoggle ever, and it was typical of right-wing conservative
warmongers. "They just love war, and they just love killing people,
and they can't wait," and they showed us the pictures of the torture with
the underwear on the heads of the terrorists at Abu Ghraib. They literally had
conniption fits and near strokes over the meanness of the United States and our
torture regimen and the waterboarding, and the Democrat Party promised everyone
that that would come to an end when they came to power.
There would be no more torture, there would
be no more war, there would be no more Abu Ghraib. There would be no more
anything that George W. Bush did, because they were the "smart"
people, and they were gonna get us out of there, and they were gonna close Gitmo,
and then they were gonna get us out of Afghanistan, because none of it was
worthwhile. None of it made any sense. None of it was what the United States is
really all about. It was all illegitimate.
The Democrat Party and its willing
accomplices in the American media spent five years poisoning and polluting the
minds of as many Americans as they could reach on how illegitimate the entire
Iraq and War on Terror enterprise was, in essence. When it became clear
that the war in Iraq was part of the War on Terror, then they tried to distance
it. "Oh, no, no, no, no! Iraq's not part of it. That's a sideshow that
Bush did for whatever stupid reason.
"The War on Terror is in
Afghanistan!" Well, how is that working out for the really smart
people? I am sitting here in total amazement -- actually I'm not 'cause I
know these people. But still it's surreal. After five years of
hearing how incompetent and inept and foolish and stupid and dumb George Bush
was, "the cowboy," and Dick Cheney, "Darth Vader," and Rumsfeld!
Remember? They tried to destroy all three of these men.
Cheney and Rumsfeld have devoted most of their lives to serving this
country, and they attempted to destroy them. Scooter Libby outing Valerie
Plame? Remember all of this? It's all part of the Iraq
situation. Remember Valerie Plame's wonderful playboy husband, Joe
Wilson, who goes over there Niger and tries to find yellowcake and thinks it's
a Betty Crocker dessert and says there isn't any after he had first said there
was?
It was one of the most coordinated
anti-American military efforts I have ever seen and the "smart"
people got elected to office in part because they successfully blasphemed
everybody involved in it, and promised that it would never happen again, and
promised that the world would be a place of peace and promised that the world
would once again love and respect the United States. Now the world is on fire
and the truly incompetent, totally clueless, egghead, stupid theoreticians from
the faculty lounge are finally in charge -- and, voila! Look where we
are. Barack Hussein Obama -- B. Hussein O. -- just said that the bombing
of Iraq "is more and more looking like a long-term project." B.
Hussein O., who was elected to see to it that this never happened again because
this was never worth it in the first place, because this only happened because
of incompetent, stupid idiots like Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and George W.
Bush. No, America was gonna be a better place! America was gonna have a
bigger heart. America wasn't going to torture again, and America
certainly wasn't going to defend people who didn't deserve to be
defended. America was never again gonna engage in silly foreign affairs
follies, because the truly "smart" people were now in charge. I
wonder if the media will look into the Obama investment portfolio and start
asking if he has any Halliburton stock.
Remember all of that? The Iraq war was illegitimate because of
Halliburton, where Cheney had once been the CEO, and Halliburton offers support
services like food for the troops. Halliburton also was eeeevil,
profiteers on death and mayhem. It was blood for oil, and none of it was
worth it -- and if we only elected "the smart people," why, peace
would break out! White doves would escape the Olympic flame without being baked
alive. Once again the US would be loved and respected. All it would take is a presidential apology
tour and a presidential tour getting us out of every conflict in the
world. Now it's been reduced to the
point that the president of the United States boldfaced lied Saturday in front
of God and everybody, when he refused to take responsibility for the lack of
troops in Iraq. (impression) "Hey, you know what? It wasn't my idea get
out of there with no troops left in Iraq." He's blatantly, bold-faced
lying, 'cause he's rolling the dice that his sycophant, soon-to-die-of-anal-poisoning
media -- and, by the way, that has nothing to do with... That's just butt
kissing. When you die of anal poisoning
it's 'cause of butt kissing. Don't let your mind run away from you. I've had people say, "You really
think...? That's the most insulting thing." Why?
It's not.
Anal poisoning has to do with butt kissing, and that's what
the media does. (sigh) And did you know that I am from the Balkans? Did you know that? I didn't know! I must have
been born in the Balkans 'cause Obama says the reason none of what he's doing
is working is because the media has been "Balkanized," and what he
means is me, talk radio, and Fox News. RUSH: How long is it gonna be before the media
starts asking Obama about the "exit strategy," hmm? Didn't we
start hearing about the exit strategy before George W. Bush even committed
troops to Iraq in 2003? Oh, yeah, "What's gonna be the exit
strategy?" George W. Bush went around this country for a year
building up support for this, United Nations, remember that? General Powell still
holds all that against him. Oh, have you heard this? Obama and Hillary...
Have you heard this? Well, that's a differently thing. Hillary
criticizing Obama. I'll get into that. That's been Syria, too, and
this is... It's gonna be a huge El Rushbo self-back pat. I mean, I was
right about this. We were supporting ISIS. We were anti-Bashar Assad. We were
supporting ISIS. I was the one who raised the possibility, and I remember being
ridiculed about it elsewhere in the Drive-Bys. But, no, Mrs. Clinton is
saying that now. She's agreeing with a general on Fox saying we supported
the wrong side in Syria. I'll get to that. No, no, no. Obama
and Hillary Clinton... Wait for it here, folks. They are blaming bad
intel for not being prepared on ISIS. I am not kidding you. I've
got it here in the Obama Iraq Stack. They are blaming bad intel.
Now, we've heard that before, right? We heard that bad intel was the
responsible for the lack of weapons of mass discovery destruction, and when
that excuse was offered, who was in there ridiculing it? Why, I think it
was Barack Obama and I think it was Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, and all of
the rest of the Wizards of Smart in this unfortunate Regime. But, yes, they
fixed this, I thought, with Panetta at the CIA. It was all gonna be
fixed, remember?
RUSH: I got an
e-mail, I checked it during the break.
"Rush, you sounded really angry in that opening
monologue." Folks, I am angry. If I left something unclear, let me state it,
briefly. For five years this country was
lied to by the Democrat Party and the media.
They were lied to about Iraq every day, multiple times a day; lied to
about the economy; lied to about torture; lied to about the US military; lied,
lied, lied about George W. Bush. It
created public opinion, anti-Bush, anti-America, as it was. It created a false
public opinion that set up the election of Barack Obama under totally false
premises.
We have somebody
unqualified, unprepared, not smart, not ready for this, doesn't know what he's
doing and may not even care about foreign policy. Damn right I'm mad. This was not supposed to ever happen
again. I listened to what they said. I know how they got elected. I know how they ginned up public
opinion. I know what was done. Let me put it this way. I don't forget what was done. We all know.
Folks, I am practically fit to be tied over this 'cause I had to sit
there for five years, 2004 on, I had to listen to liberals saying what stupid
idiot Bush was and he sounds like a cowboy and how he's dumb.
Then Obama comes on
the scene. I had to listen to people tell me how smart he was, and I had to
listen to people tell me how stupid Palin was, how stupid Cheney was, how
stupid Rumsfeld was, and how dangerous they were and how incompetent, and
Halliburton. For five years we all had to listen to a bunch of lies about the
American military, uniformed military personnel, generals, secretary of
defense, president, Scooter Libby, throw it all in there.
We had to listen to a
set of lies all for the purpose of destroying a legitimate military
operation. They're all legitimate once
we commit to them, folks. That's the
point. They're all legitimate once we
commit. Once we commit, we win. They secured defeat. They tried to secure defeat.
I haven't forgotten any of it. They did all of that to build up the Democrat
Party as the alternative. With the
Democrat Party and such brilliance as Obama and Joe Biden and John Kerry and
Dianne Feinstein and Elizabeth Warren and whoever the hell else, none of this
was ever gonna happen again because they were so smart. They'd be able to talk to bad guys. They'd be able to negotiate with
the bad guys. They'd be able to relate to the bad guys. They'd be able to
apologize to the bad guys. They'd be able to reach the bad guys where Bush
couldn't and Bush didn't want to. They'd
be able to reach out to 'em and they'd be able to speak French to 'em or
whatever and show 'em we're really erudite. We're really European, we get it.
We're really smart. We're smarter that dumb hick cowboy from Texas and that
blond bald-headed guy from Wyoming.
We're smart. We can deal with
you. We understand your grievances
against the United States.
That's another thing that ticks me off. Obama and these guys, Clinton, too. Clinton's out there running around all over
the world during the campaign doing this stuff.
They were all running all over the world telling our enemies, "Hey,
look, hey, look, we understand, but you'll be able to deal with us 'cause we
get it and we're no threat to you. And we, too, agree the United States has
overstepped its bounds on many occasions. And we agree with you the United
States has been X." That's what we
elected. That's what we got. And it happened because for five years the
media ran poll after poll after poll, opinion number after opinion number after
opinion number, approval number after approval number, story after story lying
about the economy, lying about foreign policy, lying about Iraq, doing all
these things. And what really ticked me
off was the Bush administration didn't respond to any of it at any time. They now acknowledge that was a bit of a
mistake. So the Democrats and the media
had a punching bag and they just kept hitting it and hitting it and hitting
it. And the American people had no
choice but to believe it. There was no
counter-theory ever offered except here and on Fox News, and that was it. Now we're right back where we are and it's
worse. It is worse now than before we went into Iraq. It is worse.
This bunch, ISIS and what they're doing and the free rein they think
they've got to operate, it's worse. And
it's not happening over there and doesn't mean anything to us. That's what this bunch also tried to tell us,
that what goes on in Iraq, what goes on in Afghanistan, doesn't affect us, none
of our business. We need to get out of those places. We can't impose our way.
You've heard the drill.
Obama's Boldfaced Lie: It Wasn't
My Idea to Leave Iraq
RUSH: Now that we've had to go back in it's insult to injury with the way
Obama's explaining this. Let's go to sound bite seven. This is
Saturday morning at the White House. The president's speaking about the
Iraq air strikes before getting on the helicopter to fly to Martha's Vineyard.
Oh, yeah, and the media is all hot to trot about that. (imitating media)
"Oh, wow, it's so cool. Barry's going to the Vineyard. Yeah, we get to go
to the Vineyard, think we'll see Skip Gates? Wow, how cool, you think
we'll see Larry David? Man, we get to go to the Vineyard. Obama's going
to the Vineyard. You think we'll run into William Styron?
Wait. He died. What about his wife? Think we'll run into
William Styron's wife? Oh, man, cool. "Do you think we'll run
into Dershowitz? Dershowitz hangs out there. Wow, this is
cool. Barry's going to the Vineyard. He's gotta make a speech first
on Iraq. After he finishes that, then we get on the helicopter with him
or Air Force, we go to the Vineyard, yeah, man. We're going to the Vineyard,
'cause Obama's going to the Vineyard. Man, it's cool." Yeah, ticks
me off. This is nothing but a bunch of frat boys. Hell, I wouldn't
even give 'em that credit. Anyway, here's Obama before getting on board
Marine One and heading off to the Vineyard. OBAMA: What I just find
interesting is the degree to which this issue keeps on coming up, as if this
was --RUSH: Wait just a second. Stop that a second. My
bad. He's answering a question here and I should have read the
question. Here's the question he was asked by a reporter who couldn't
wait to get to the Vineyard with him. "Mr. President, do you have
any second thoughts about pulling out all ground troops from Iraq?"
Key question. Do you have any second thoughts about pulling all ground
troops out of Iraq, because -- hint, hint -- he did. Folks, he got elected
in large part because of that promise, because by the time he was elected the
American people had been talked into hating everything about Iraq. And
getting us out of Iraq was gonna restore us as a whole nation, and we could
party again, and we could get down, and we could get back to living as we did
without the body counts and George Bush and Cheney and the news every day that
America could be loved. It was key and Obama was gonna do it, and he promised
to do it. And close Gitmo, too. All of this stuff. "So,
Mr. President, do you have any second thoughts about pulling all ground troops
out of Iraq, and does it give you pause as the US is doing the same thing in
Afghanistan?" OBAMA: What I just find interesting is the degree to
which this issue keeps on coming up, as if this was my decision. Under
the previous administration we had turned over the country to a sovereign,
Democratically elected Iraqi government. When you hear people say,
"Do you regret, Mr. President, not leaving more troops?" that
presupposes that I would have overwritten this sovereign government that we had
turned the keys back over. RUSH: You hated 'em! OBAMA: And said,
"You know what, you're democratic, you're sovereign, except if I decide
that it's good for you to keep 10,000 or 15,000 or a 25,000 Marines in your
country, you don't have a choice." RUSH: He stood right there,
that's on the White House lawn, he lied in front of God and the country and the
world saying that (imitating Obama), "Well, you know what, everybody acts
like it's my decision to pull out of Iraq, uh, you know, there's a sovereign
government." You hated the sovereign the government. You hated
Maliki. You hated -- who's the other guy they hated? They all hated this
other guy, preceded Maliki. I'm having a mental block. I'll think
of his name. Cheney's buddy. Can't remember his name. Mental
block. He was trying to take over Iraq or become its president before
Maliki slithered in there. Anyway, so he says we had to get out because
Iraq made us. We've had this back and forth on the Status of Forces
Agreement I don't know how many times, and Obama hasn't found the truth on this
yet. Let's go back, here he is again, same Saturday morning, repeating this
lie. OBAMA: So let's just be clear. The reason that we did not have
a follow-on force in Iraq was because the Iraqis were -- a majority of Iraqis
did not want US troops there, and politically they could not pass the kind of
laws that would be required to protect our troops in Iraq. That entire
analysis is bogus and is wrong, but gets frequently peddled around here by
folks who oftentimes are trying to defend previous policies that they
themselves made. RUSH: This is just psycho-something. Still blaming
Bush. This man got elected promising to get every evidence of any
American presence out of there, and he did. And when he did, he very
proudly proclaimed it. And now he's blaming the Iraqis and Bush for what
he did. I can understand it. It's worked for him for five
years. Why stop now? Nobody's gonna defend the Iraqis, and there
aren't too many people that are gonna defend Bush. So if people still
blame Bush for the economy, let's go ahead and blame Bush for this. Yeah,
Bush screwed up. Yeah, that's exactly right. The Iraqis, they so hated America,
they didn't want any American troop presence, and they wouldn't agree to us in
a Status of Forces Agreement. Let's just play one of many sound bites that I
can play for you of Obama bragging about getting out of Iraq single-handedly,
forecasting that he was gonna get out of Iraq single-handedly, promising he was
gonna get out of Iraqi single-handedly, sound bites of him bragging about it.
But here, let's go to Boca Raton, Florida, October 22nd, 2012, the third presidential
debate between Obama and Mitt Romney. This goes by kind of quickly, 14
seconds.
ROMNEY: You and I agreed, I believe, that there should have been a
Status of Forces Agreement.
OBAMA: That's not true!
ROMNEY: Oh, you didn't? You didn't want a Status of Forces
Agreement?
OBAMA: No. What I -- what I would not have done is left 10,000
troops in Iraq that would tie us down!
RUSH: See?
OBAMA: That certainly would not help us in the Middle East!
RUSH: He's running for reelection in 2012 and he's gotta tell this
deranged base of his that he got us out of there. There weren't gonna be any
remaining American troops. Not 10,000, not 2,000, not 1,000. No Status of
Forces agreement 'cause there weren't gonna be any troops, and he's making this
point running for reelection 'cause his base is out there and they've got to
hear it. They've got to hear we're totally out of Iraq; they've got to hear
we're not going back. This Iraq business is as fundamental to Obama as
tax cuts is to a conservative candidate. He's got no wiggle room. You
can't do a George H. W. Bush and say, "Read my lips." He's got to
stick to it. Even in this debate, "No, I would not have done it. I
wouldn't have left 10,000 troops." Now he's blaming it on everybody else,
but he was taking credit for it there in the debate, taking credit for leaving
no troops there The name I was trying to think of was Ahmed
Chalabi.
Ahmed Chalabi.
He goes way back as one of the early allies
-- well, quote/unquote. Ally's a strong word.
But back in the early 2000s he was one of the potential future Iraq
leaders who would happily be allied with the United States.
He never was. He ended up being corrupt like
everybody else over there is, and it didn't work out. But, ladies and
gentlemen, let me go back to this business of Obama. We talked about this last
week.
How do you deal with this, when
somebody's lying right to your face and you want so desperately to demonstrate
that other people? I think the best thing I could do is this. I sandwiched two
stories here.
The first one is from the
Cybercast News Service but this story is everywhere.
"Obama: Pulling All Troops Out of Iraq was Not My
Decision." (snorts) He got elected promising to do it; he got
reelected affirming that he did it. He has sought credit for this every
which way but Sunday, and now all of a sudden it's Bush's problem, and he also
says, well, he couldn't get the Iraqis to guarantee security for American
troops. That's what he just told Romney. He said, "What I would
not have done is left 10,000 troops in Iraq that would tie us down. That
certainly would not help us in the Middle East." Romney said, "You
and I agreed there should have been a Status of Forces agreement," and
Obama did say that but he couldn't let Romney get away with it because that
would have meant Obama agreeing with some troops staying, and Obama's base
would not tolerate even a uniform staying. So he had to tell Romney he was
wrong. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! I never signed on for a
Status of Forces Agreement! Never, never, never! I would never leave 10,000
troops! Never." New York Times, June 23rd this year, a little over a month ago. "Diplomatic
Note Promises Immunity From Iraqi Law for US Advisory Troops." Now,
what this Status of Forces Agreement really is...What Obama's trying to say is,
"I'm not gonna leave American troops over there if they aren't granted
immunity from Iraqi law." Meaning: "I don't want our troops
charged with war crimes or whatever trumped-up phoniness unless the Iraqis give
us immunity in the status of forces agreement." Well, the New York
Times ran a story a little over a month ago that says the Iraqis did indeed
promise immunity; Obama rejected it. The reason is: Obama didn't want
Bush's war in Iraq to have resulted in a stable democracy there. This
wasn't supposed to happen, either, but Iraq was never supposed to be
secure. That's why Obama didn't want
to leave any troops there, so he used this phony Status of Forces Agreement.
But the Iraqis did promise immunity, and the New York Times reported that in
June of this year. Obama's
just making it up or lying about it. I don't know how to say this. But
he didn't want a stable Iraq because he couldn't afford for anything Bush did
to look like it worked.
Ergo, "Bush is responsible for this," is how it all flows
together.
STEPHEN MISSICK: It
is time for action in Iraq. Christians must unite against Islamic extremism. We
must expose the evil. I think it is time we try to put an end to Islamic
extremism-permanently. STOP TOLERATING ISLAMIC INTOLERANCE.
I am tired of Leftist attacking Christianity
and western civilization and ignoring GENOCIDE that is happening right in front
of our faces. What is going on in Iraq right now-has been going on for 1400
years.
Ethiopia's Armenians: Long history, small numbers
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The
numbers at the St. George Armenian Apostolic Church in Addis Ababa are not
adding up. Church records show an average of two funerals a year, but a wedding
only every three years and a baptism every five. "Some people don't come
to church vertically. Only horizontally," Vartkes Nalbandian said with a
laugh. Vartkes is among a small handful of people keeping Ethiopia's Armenian
community alive. Despite a fall in numbers from a peak of 1,200 in the 1960s to
less than 100 people today, the Armenian school, church and social club still
open their doors. "There is more to a community than just statistics. We
are proud of the Armenian contribution to Ethiopia. It's worth fighting
for," said 64-year old Vartkes, the church's fulltime acting archdeacon
since the last priest left in 2002. But given the shrinking numbers, the fight
can feel daunting. Armenian goldsmiths, traders and architects were invited to
settle in Ethiopia more than 150 years ago by Emperor Johannes IV. Buoyed by
the ties between Ethiopian and Armenian Orthodoxy, the community thrived. After
the Armenian Genocide in 1915, Haile Selassie, Ethiopia's regent who later
became Emperor, opened his arms to the Armenian people even wider, adopting 40
orphans as wards of court. In return, the Ethio-Armenians proved fiercely
loyal. One trader used his European connections to buy arms for Ethiopia's
resistance movement against the Italian occupation during World War II. Others
ran an underground newspaper. Several gave their lives in service of their
adopted homeland. "Those were the best days," said 61-year old Salpi
Nalbandian, who runs a leather business with her brother Vartkes and other
family members. "We were valued members of the court. We made the crowns
the emperors wore on their heads. We were not like the Italians, we weren't
invaders. We contributed." But the community's fortunes have changed
through the years. Ethio-Armenians had their property and businesses
confiscated when the communist Derg seized power in 1974. Many families left
then, fearing for their lives. The Nalbandians stayed, determined not to give
up on a country they had called home for four generations. Salpi and Vartkes'
musical family has made a lasting contribution to Ethiopia's heritage. Great
uncle Kervork wrote Ethiopia's first national anthem, and their father Nerses
became well known for his pioneering work in Ethio-Jazz, which blends
traditional Ethiopian five-tone scales with the diminished scales of Western
jazz. The pair have become the gatekeepers to a part of Ethiopian culture and
history that is in danger of being forgotten. Ethio-Armenians are gradually
resembling a diaspora within a diaspora. Children and grandchildren who live in
the U.S. and Canada now make pilgrimages to Addis to see the place where their
ancestors grew up. Most of the Armenian buildings in the Armenian
"safar" — or neighborhood — in Addis Ababa's city center are now
empty or gone, victim to the city's appetite for high-rise buildings that are
beginning to dominate the skyline. St. George's Church holds maybe 200 people
but seems larger because it often stands dark and empty. Golden orthodox
crosses are the only objects that catch the light from high small windows in
the church's pointed dome. The African sunshine struggles to brighten the
church's dark green walls. The remaining Armenian families are scattered around
Addis' outskirts, including the Nalbandians, who were forced to vacate their
family home. The only reason the house, which in a traditional Armenian style
has a wrap-round balcony — is still standing is because Salpi is fighting
against the local government to preserve it as a museum dedicated to her
father's life and work. She has had some help upholding her father's legacy
from Aramatz Kalayjian, an Armenian filmmaker. He has being working on
"Tezeta," a documentary about Ethio-Armenian music, since 2012. "The
only remnants of a great cross-pollination of cultures are the few Armenian
community members left, the music, history books, and memories that tell of the
relationship between Armenians and Ethiopians," Kalayjian said. Vartkes
Nalbandian disagrees with Kalayjian's view that the community is fading. He
notes that a Syrian-Armenian man recently visited the Addis community with a
view to moving there with his family. "The school is open, the church is
open, the club is open," he said. "It doesn't matter if I open the
church on a Sunday and preach to many people or just a handful. As long as our
spirit is strong, our identity is, too."
Part of the reason Ethiopia was
so generous to the Armenians is because they belong to the same “Monophysite”
church tradition.
American boy killed by Hamas and
the White House says nothing
Then there is the Obama administration’s twisted response to the
kidnapping and murder of Naftali Fraenkel, Eyal Yifrach and Gilad
Sha’ar. Over 18 days, Obama never called Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu or Palestinian leader Mahboud Abbas to voice concern over
the abduction of Fraenkel, a dual American-Israeli citizen. In fact, Obama
never publicly commented on the kidnapping of this American boy, or the
grotesque anti-Semitism and support for the kidnapping that mushroomed across
Palestinian society while he stayed silent – until the lifeless bodies of
Fraenkel and the other boys were discovered on June 30. By contrast, Obama did
call Netanyahu on July 10, complaining about the reported police maltreatment
of an American-Palestinian teenager who seems to have thought going to a riot
in a war zone was a good way to spend a summer vacation. And Obama prioritized
this case – to the highest level possible in the world of diplomacy – knowing
that the State Department had already descended on Israeli authorities within
hours, and that Israeli officials had already taken action to address it.
To this day, the Obama administration has refused to admit there
was any Palestinian perpetrator involved in the teens’ kidnap and murder. From:
By Anne Bayefsky, Published July 12, 2014,FoxNews.com
Michael Goodwin on Israel from New York
Post:
Even
before the shooting stops between Israel and Palestinian terrorists, the one
guarantee is that Israel will get most of the blame. Already the demands from
the United Nations that Israel show “restraint” are as predictable as
Palestinian rockets. The tiny Jewish state is under fierce attack, with
millions of its citizens spending long hours in bomb shelters. Yet any response beyond a mere
tit-for-tat is labeled disproportionate, putting Israel in the impossible
position of being damned if it does and doomed if it doesn’t. Of course, it
must strike back hard, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears
resolved that the Hamas that started this war will not be the same Hamas when
it is over. How and when we get there remains unknown, but one thing we do know
is how we got where we are. Reader Andrew Stern lays out the past in clear
terms. He writes: “According to Israel’s ambassador to the US, Hamas has fired
8,000 rockets since the Israel Defense Forces withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Aside
from the occasional one fired at a police station or military post, virtually
all have been fired randomly at civilians. In addition to being acts of war,
each is also a war crime. “The media has failed to note that unlike the West
Bank, Gaza is NOT occupied. It is free of all Israeli military presence. The
media also failed to mention that Hamas is not just a terror group. Hamas is
the democratically elected government of Gaza — one of the first ones in the
entire Arab world.“So Hamas is the government which the civilians in Gaza —
with rocket bases behind and under their homes and their children’s schools —
chose overwhelmingly to govern them, and to fire 8,000 rockets at Israel on
their behalf. This is the choice they made — AFTER Israeli forces withdrew from
Gaza.“So much for the notion that the Israeli occupation is the root of
instability in the region.” In addition to justifying a firm Israeli response,
that history also illustrates why Netanyahu resists American pressure to keep
making territorial concessions in the hope of peace. The idea of a Palestinian
state has always rested on the promise of “two states living side-by-side in
peace and security.” Over decades, versions of that promise were tied to a
formula that had Israel trade some of the land it seized in wars with other
Arabs in exchange for peace. The formula more or less worked with Egypt and
Jordan. Gaza proves its fallacy, or at least its limits. The reality is that
Gaza, an unoccupied Palestinian state with its own elected government, is a
terrorist state. It does not want to live in peace with Israel, no matter the
borders. It refuses to accept Israel’s right to exist within any borders. That
is the central fact fueling the conflict, and yet President Obama and Secretary
of State John Kerry continue to insist that Israel negotiate with a so-called
unity government that includes Hamas and the West Bank leaders of Fatah. But as
Israelis put it, how do you negotiate with someone whose single aim is to kill
you? Very, very carefully, that’s how. And you certainly don’t give up land
that will make it easier for your enemy to attack you. The demand that Israel
negotiate with Hamas is especially rich coming from Obama. He refuses even to
negotiate with Republicans, whom he seems to regard as terrorists because they
don’t agree with him. Israel, unfortunately, has to deal with the real thing. Still,
the Israeli public remains remarkably willing to accept Palestinian
independence. What it refuses to accept is that it must give up more land, and
then have only a limited right of self-defense when that land becomes a launching
pad for attacks. That makes additional disengagement from the West Bank
unlikely. That is where we are. Until the Palestinians accept Israel, there can
be no lasting peace. Israelis know that, and it’s time America’s leaders accept
it, too.
Apart from noticing it, you may
be also be wondering why?
While this site aims to bring funny pictures,
quotes, cartoons and videos to a sad a broken world, every now and then it is
important to highlight how sad and how broken our world actually is. The
picture above is not a funny picture at all, nor is there a joke to be made
about it or any laughs to be had. It represents blatant, horrific and wicked
persecution for a group of Christians in a town called Mosul, Iraq. Please keep
reading and let me explain by answering a few quick questions:
But what does it stand for?
It is currently being used
as a shorthand way to write "Nazarene" or represent someone who
follows the most famous Nazarene - our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
How is it being used in Mosul, Iraq?
The Islamic State
militants who are now controlling the city are trying to force Sharia law
on everyone, not just the Muslims. Every house belonging to Christians is being
marked with a large letter 'N' to show that it is a Christian home and then
given the occupants three options - to move, to pay a 'Christian' tax, or to
face death. They then have 24 hours to decide.
How is it being used on the Internet?
Christians from all over
the world have been changing their profile picture to the same letter in order
to show support (1 John 3:16-18), as a means of encouragement (Thessalonians
5:11) and also so far quite successfully to bring global media attention to the
wicked and evil persecution (1 Corinthians 4:12) faced by Christians in these
areas.
The Yazidis are a small,
misunderstood and long-persecuted religious sect rooted in the town of Sinjar,
in northern Iraq, and also in parts of Syria and Turkey.
No one knows the exact size of
the Yazidi population. Estimates range from tens of thousands to 500,000 or
more. Over centuries, they have been the target of violence and purges,
including during the Ottoman empire, and have survived as a close-knit
community that does not proselytize.
Much confusion surrounds their
beliefs, but scholars say Yazidi teachings are a mix of several traditions,
borrowing from Christianity and Islam, and including some practices resembling
ancient traditions in Persia.
The Yazidi believe that a supreme
being created the world but does not rule it. Instead, his will is carried out
by seven angels, chief among them the Peacock Angel, known as Malak Taus.
Yazidis believe continual rebirth leads to purification, and therefore the sect
does not believe in hell. The tomb of Sheikh Adi, in the town of Lalesh north
of Mosul, Iraq, is a Yazidi shrine and pilgrimage site.
Yazidis pray to Malak Taus, who
is also known as the Fallen Angel. But unlike fallen angels in some Christian
traditions, who are banished from heaven, the Peacock Angel was redeemed.
Still, the Peacock Angel is also
known to Yazidis as "shaytan," which is the Arabic word Muslims use
for the devil. This is the source of the belief among many Iraqi Muslims that
Yazidis worship the devil, and it is among the reasons Yazidis are being
targeted by the militant Islamic State group.
The last Christians in Iraq
Car by car, family by family,
frightened Iraqi Christians by the thousands fled their ancient Iraqi homeland
over the weekend. With broken hearts and little more than the clothes on their
backs, they’ve left behind their houses, businesses, and churches – everything
they’ve known.
The Islamic State (ISIS) terror
group announced through their mosques on Friday afternoon that local Christians
must either convert to Islam, pay an exorbitant Muslim tax – the jizya,
which amounts to protection money – or leave the city. If they did not conform
to these demands by noon on Saturday, July 19, there would be “nothing
for them but the sword.”
Christianity is not new to the
region. It was introduced by two of Jesus’ own disciples – St. Thomas and St.
Thaddeus (also known as St. Jude) in the 1st Century.
But the ancient roots of Iraq’s
Christianity have now been violently ripped out of the country’s spiritual
soil.
Most of the Nineveh Plain’s
Christians – once numbering more than a hundred thousand – had already fled to
Erbil and other destinations in Kurdistan before ISIS’s recent declaration,
seeking the protection of the Kurdish Peshmerga’s warriors.
Now the rest of the refugees –
many of the last Christians in Iraq – have joined them.
It’s not surprising that the
vicious tactics of the IS/ISIS terrorists horrify most observers. As is often
reported on social media – with substantial videographic evidence – they have
beheaded, mutilated, raped, stoned and even crucified those whose behavior is
“unIslamic” or whose religious convictions displease them.
“...condemned in the strongest
terms the systematic persecution of minority populations in Iraq by Islamic
State (IS) and associated armed groups. He is particularly disturbed by reports
of threats against Christians in Mosul and other IS-controlled parts of Iraq,
including an ultimatum to either convert, pay a tax, leave, or face imminent
execution…”
The UN, US, EU and numerous
others have all denounced IS/ISIS.
But the various powers’ “strongly
worded” official condemnations seem to be little more than indignant
complaints.
President Obama, for example, has
demonstrated no inclination to apply American muscle to ISIS. Speaking about
their activities in Syria, he
explained,
"What we can't do is think
that we're just going to play Whac-a-Mole and send U.S. troops occupying
various countries wherever these organizations pop up…."
Rather than fighting fire with
fire, western leaders apparently imagine that diplomatic endeavors – including
“strongly worded” denunciations – will stop zealous murderers in their tracks.
Really?
Obama and his cohorts seem to
have an astonishingly high regard for their persuasive skills.
At the same time, they
demonstrate only a dim awareness of the terrorists’ fierce religious fervor.
Devoutly committed to radical
Islamist ideology – whether of the Sunni or Shia variety – fanatics like ISIS,
al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and Iran’s ayatollahs quite sincerely view the West as the
primary force of evil in the world.
Why would such “holy warriors”
negotiate with western evildoers?
Only, perhaps, to deceive them.
In Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia,
Nigeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and elsewhere, it is abundantly clear that
such niceties as “dialogue” are of little interest to bloodthirsty savages.
In the meantime, as American
strength diminishes around the globe, the dangers posed by radical Islamist
groups like ISIS are exploding exponentially.
And where does this leave the
Iraq’s Christians and other minorities whose lives are at stake? Sadly, they
are well aware that no host of valiant defenders is going to come to their
rescue. In fact, the Iraqi Army virtually melted away when ISIS appeared.
So for the Christians, “Convert,
pay the jizya tax, or die,” means, quite simply, that there is little
alternative but to flee -- except in a small number of villages
over which Kurdistan has extended a protective umbrella.
Thus, most Christians have fled.
Still, some intrepid Iraqi
Christians refuse to give up. “If we all leave, it sends the message that
there is nowhere safe for Christians to live in Iraq — and this worries me,”
Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Yohanna Petros Mouche, told the Washington
Post. “I’m not a vagabond. This is my home, and I
will die here if necessary.”
Such fortitude is inspiring. And
yet courage and determination cannot eclipse such excruciating losses.
Whether Iraq’s Christians stay or go, nothing can remove the devastating sense
of injury and injustice they are experiencing.
“Many Christians
interviewed expressed a sense of utter abandonment and desolation,” the
New York Times reported. They remarked that the sound of
church bells mingled with the Muslim calls to prayer – a symbol of Mosul’s
long-standing religious tolerance – “would likely never be heard again.”
Mideast crisis: Mr. Obama, whose side
are you on?
President
Obama found numerous ways to make the United States less relevant in the last
six years, but he came up with a new one in his misbegotten foray into the Gaza
war: He’s so wrong that even Israel feels it’s safe to ignore him. The decision
by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reject Obama’s pressure for a
unilateral ceasefire and instead widen the campaign against Hamas reflects a
new low in the Obama presidency. More
important, it is impossible to argue with Netanyahu’s decision. The terror
threat is so grave that Israeli military leaders, bolstered by strong public
support, believe they can’t return to business-as-usual. They aim to deliver a
knockout punch to the rocket arsenal and the tunnel network to make sure Hamas
doesn’t emerge intact and ready for another war. Yet Obama’s push for
negotiations would have won for Hamas in peace what it failed to win in war.
Secretary of State John Kerry was advocating terms that would have granted many
of the terrorists’ demands, and guaranteed more conflict. One journalist accused
Kerry of acting like Hamas’ lawyer, and a top Israeli politician told Kerry to
“leave us alone.” Either that, or get on board. With most Arabs, led by Egypt
and including many Palestinians, agreeing with Israel that a weakened Hamas
means a more peaceful region, this is a rare moment of consensus and a chance
for real progress. But the White House’s blunder gave the Palestinians hope
they will be rewarded for their provocation — and a reason to keep fighting. Mr.
President, whose side are you on?
Charles Krauthammer said Friday on
"Special Report with Bret Baier," that it is "astonishing"
to learn that the United States has not supplied the Kurds with weapons to hold
back Islamic militants in Iraq. "They're essentially using javelins and
harpoons here," the syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor said,
"against the ISIS army, which has captured tons of sophisticated American
weapons." Krauthammer pointed to rearming Israel during its war with Egypt
in 1973 as an example of how easy it would be to arm the pro-American Kurds. “It’s
not hard stuff to get in, it’s all sitting in our bases in Germany.”
Krauthammer said. “You could send a plane today and it would be there in 18
hours.” The reason, Krauthammer said, is that everything has to go through the
Iraqi government, which has cut off all supplies to the Kurdish area since
December of last year.
"Why in God's name we don't
resupply, or supply our allies that can hold back ISIS is beyond me,"
Krauthammer said.
Only America can save Iraq's last Christians
By Nina Shea, Published July 29, 2014, FoxNews.com
The Arabic “nun” symbol, or N, which stands for Nazarene and
refers to Christians, ominously began appearing, stamped in red, on Christian
homes in Mosul, Iraq, two weeks ago.
By mid-July, it was accompanied by another statement,
painted in black, “Property of the Islamic State.” And with that, the
Christians found their worst fears confirmed.
On July 19, ISIS, the Sunni Muslim insurgent group declaring
itself the Islamic State, carried out unabated and unabashed religious
cleansing against Christians and the non-Sunni Muslim communities. Today, in
this place of Nineveh of the Bible, the ancient heart of Iraqi Christianity,
there’s not a single Christian left. All have been stripped of their possessions
and deported.
In recent years, Iraq’s Christians have experienced
relentless persecution by various extremist groups, and, along with a civil
conflict in which the Christians remain neutral, it has taken a hard toll on
their numbers. In 2003, Iraq’s Christians, at 1.4 million, were among the
region’s most robust Christian communities. Since then, more than a million of
them have fled. Their banishment from Mosul is irreversible.
Whether these newly displaced people, among the last
Christians to speak Aramaic, Jesus’ own language, will be able to remain in the
region at all is likely to depend on America’s response.
Remarkably, after their mass deportation, the Iraqi
government did nothing to help Mosul’s Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants,
even while the Iraqi Army failed to protect them, allowing ISIS to handily
capture Iraq’s second largest city on June 10. Baghdad, however, did manage to
send planes and bus convoys to evacuate the Shiites among the exiled
minorities. Iraq’s government facilitated the resettlement of Mosul’s Turkmen
and Shabak Shiite communities in Najaf and elsewhere in the south, reported
Archdeacon Emanuel Youkhana with the Christian Aid Program. (ISIS did not
target Turkmen and Shabak Sunnis.)
Left to fend for themselves were the Christians and a few
remaining Yezidis (a dozen Yezidis recently in their home province of Sinjar
had their eyes gouged out and were then killed by ISIS for refusing to convert
to Islam).
Following these events, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Sako
registered the “shock and pain” of all Iraq’s church leaders, emphasizing their
sense of raw “injustice.”
“How much the Christians have shared here in our East
specifically from the beginnings of Islam. They shared every sweet and bitter
circumstance of life … .Together they built a civilization, cities and a
heritage. It is truly unjust now to treat Christians by rejecting them and
throwing them away, considering them as nothing,” the patriarch effectively
eulogized.
The eradication of the 2,000-year-old Christian presence
from Mosul is indeed shocking. The recent release of several kidnapped Orthodox
nuns and orphans had given some hope that, influenced by local Sunnis, ISIS
would eschew the barbarism that is its stock and trade in Syria.
One Mosul Muslim, law professor Mahmoud al Asali, did speak
up for moderation, but was then murdered. A Baghdad gathering of Muslims
wearing “I am a Christian” signs in solidarity was ignored. No such mercy was
to be had.
Unless they converted to Islam or paid protection money, the
Christians were told, they would get “nothing but the sword.” It was now clear,
the 30,000 to 50,000 Christians who fled Mosul over the last decade wouldn’t be
able to return, and the several hundred still remaining there this month needed
to get out fast. (Iraqi Christian parliamentarian Younadam Kannan said at least
five Christian families too sick to leave renounced their faith for Islam “to
stay alive,” though one of their daughters did flee.)
Before casting out the Christians, Shiites and Yezidis,
Caliph Ibrahim, as ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi now is called, made certain
to take all the possessions of the “unbelievers.”
Cars, cellphones, money, wedding rings, even one man’s
chicken sandwich, were all solemnly declared “property of the Islamic State” and
confiscated. A woman who gave over tens of thousands of dollars was also
stripped of bus fare to Erbil.
With temperatures in the area reaching 120 degrees, the last
of the exiles left on foot, carrying only the small children and pushing the
grandparents in wheelchairs. Those who glanced back could see armed groups
looting their homes and loading the booty onto trucks.
ISIS has set out to erase every Christian trace. All 30
churches were seized and their crosses stripped away. Some have been
permanently turned into mosques. One is the Mar (Saint) Ephraim Syriac Orthodox
Cathedral, newly outfitted with loudspeakers that now call Muslims to prayer.
The 4th century Mar Behnam, a Syriac Catholic monastery outside
Mosul, was captured and its monks expelled, leaving behind a library of early
Christian manuscripts and wall inscriptions by 13th-century Mongol
pilgrims.
Christian and Shiite gravesites, deemed idolatrous by ISIS,
are being deliberately blown up and destroyed, including on July 24, the tomb
of the 8th-century B.C. Old Testament Prophet Jonah, and the Muslim
shrine that enclosed it.
Before fleeing, the Vatican reports, the Orthodox Christian
community did successfully spirit away the relics of Thomas the Apostle who, it
is said, introduced Christianity to Nineveh.
The last of Mosul’s Christians, those some 5,000 professors,
doctors, lawyers, mechanics and their families that left between June 10 and
July 19, find themselves suddenly destitute and homeless because of their
faith. Some went to the nearest Nineveh Christian villages, temporarily
sheltering in schools and churches. These villages would be vulnerable to ISIS
attacks, too, but for their protection by the Kurds, who are, themselves, Sunni
Muslim. Water and electricity have been cut off for some by ISIS, who told one
Christian town official, “You don’t deserve to drink water,” reported
Archdeacon Youkhana. The residents are desperately digging wells.
Many more have fled to Kurdistan, where there are ancestral
Christian villages and big cities.
On July 19, the Kurdish Regional Government issued a
statement welcoming the Christian exiles. It pledged the KRG to continue its
“efforts and abilities to help those displaced” and called on the Kurdish
people “to give all they can to aid the displaced Christian families.” It notes
the Iraqi government “did not assume its responsibilities toward the displaced
persons living in Kurdistan.”
ISIS control over Iraq’s territory presents an enormous
threat to the region.
The religious cleansing of Mosul’s minorities is only part
of the problem, but it is a grave crime against humanity, as well as a
humanitarian catastrophe, that should no longer go overlooked in U.S. policy.
Nina Shea is director of Hudson Institute’s Center for
Religious Freedom
Hamas backers spend fortunes on rockets and tunnels while
Gazans live in misery
HAIFA, Israel – The latest ceasefire between Israel and
Hamas ended Friday morning when Hamas resumed its costly campaign of rocket
attacks on Israel even as its 2 million constituents suffer from wrenching
poverty.
Although the millions of Palestinians packed into the small
strip suffer from chronic unemployment, and lack of electricity and running
water, Hamas and its backers such as Qatar have spent hundreds of millions of
dollars on tunnels and rockets with one goal in mind: killing Israelis.
“When you look at
what Hamas did with all the cement and the materials that went into Gaza for
‘building’, and you now see that most went on the tunnels, you understand that
from their point of view the civilian side is not important,” retired Maj. Gen.
Yaakov Amidror, former national security advisor to the prime minister of
Israel and director of the Intelligence Analysis Division in Israel’s Military
Intelligence, told FoxNews.com.
So far, Israel has destroyed some 32 terror tunnels – each
one requiring the equivalent of 350 truckloads of building supplies and costing
up to $3 million to create, according to the IDF. And 3,360 short and
medium-range rockets have been fired at Israel by Hamas and other militant
Islamist groups, likely costing millions more.
Hamas’ arsenal- estimates suggest they still retain a
significant number of missiles - includes home-made crude Qassam rockets,as
well as longer-range more sophisticated weapons such as the Iranian Grad and
Fajr5, and Syrian-made M302’s. Hamas had scores of rocket launching sites, many
placed in or close to schools, mosques, and hospitals - including missiles
hidden in UNRWA schools on three separate occasions.
Regional experts argue that Hamas’ terror infrastructure
shows the terrorist group elected to power in 2006 shows its economic policies
place war on Israel above the welfare of its own people. Gaza’s total gross
domestic product is approximately $750 million, and although funding for
attacks on Israel often comes from patrons like Iran, Turkey, and Qatar, true
economic aid from Gaza’s allies should be spent to better the lives of
Palestinians, experts say.
“Hamas is the same movement that runs both the civilian and
the military [in Gaza],” said Amidror. “So when the money is going to Hamas, it
is going both for civilian and military purposes. There is no question that
Qatar is the biggest funder of Hamas. In the past it was more taxes from the
tunnels that ran from the Sinai Peninsula [that funded Hamas], but today there
is no question that it is Qatar more than anyone else.”
In 2012, the former Emir of Qatar visited Gaza and made a
donation of $400 million to Hamas, a donation The New York Times reported would
go towards “two housing complexes, rehabilitate three main roads, and create a
prosthetic center, among other projects.”
Hamas appear to have diverted the funds to terror projects.
The Qatari smoke screen of donating to ‘civilian projects’ fools few people,
Israeli officials say.
In one of his final speeches last month before he stepped
down as president of Israel, Shimon Peres also highlighted Qatar as the main
financier of the Gaza regime.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Peres “charged
Qatar, saying that Qatar had no right to spend millions of petrol dollars to
enable Hamas to build rockets and tunnels instead of developing Gaza.”
Meanwhile, the Palestinians who suffer under Hamas’
governance can only watch as money that could have been spent to improve their
lives is spent on rockets and tunnels now being systematically destroyed by the
IDF.
“Most of Gaza’s civilians survive in substandard living
conditions without the infrastructure to support basic sanitation, running
water, and a sewer system,” said Itamar Gelbman, a former IDF special forces
lieutenant and a U.S.-based security consultant. “The unemployment rate is over
40 percent and for the lucky ones who actually do work, they have to settle for
an average salary of $16 per day.” Gelbman said instead of building terror
tunnels, Hamas could have used the same money, equipment, and engineering to
construct sewage and water treatment facilities, improve old infrastructure,
build schools, and even create beach front resorts While
its leaders live lavish lifestyles with luxurious villas on the Mediterranean
shore, most Gazans sit and suffer as government workers go unpaid and money
that could have been used to improve many lives continues to be squandered on
Hamas’ pursuit of destroying Israel. “Only judging by their deeds you
understand that there is no way that [Qatari] money went to civilian programs”
said Amidror. “The materials went for military purposes.”
In Syria and Iraq thousands of
innocents are dying every week, mostly out of the view of the international
media. Muslims killed at the hands of other Muslims, or Muslims killing
Christians, executed by Qatari and Saudi Arabian-sponsored jihadists for
refusing to convert to Islam. The international outcry, relative to that on the
Hamas-Israel conflict, is minimal.
Gaza Strip conflict: Israel
wins war but is badly wounded by media coverage
Haifa,
Israel – On Monday afternoon, August 4, day 27 of the latest war between
Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed to FoxNews.com
that it has carried out 4,712 air strikes on strategic targets in the Gaza
Strip. According to Hamas figures there have been around 1,800 fatalities in
the enclave, “mostly women and children.” Israel, mainly due to its Iron
Dome missile defense system, has sustained 66 casualties, only three being
civilian. You do the math. If, as its most vociferous opponents charge,
Israel is committing war crimes in its bombardment of Gaza, a bombardment that
comes in response to more than 10,000 rockets fired indiscriminately into
Israel over recent years – and more than 3,300 in the last 27 days alone
-- how come the death toll in Gaza averages less than 1 person for close
to each three targeted Israeli strikes into what is, by common consent, one of
the most heavily populated urban areas on the globe? Does that smack of random
bombing? Does it reflect a lack of morality? Or does it reflect, as Colonel
Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan has stated time
and again during this and previous Israel-Gaza conflicts, that “Israel is the
one country in the Western world today that is standing up for its morality and
for its values against the onslaught of international jihad.” There has been
scant questioning by the international media and by governments around the
world of the figures on the dead given by Hamas. There has been very little
attention paid to whether or not Hamas’ assertion that most of the dead are
women and children is correct. Previous conflicts involving Hamas have shown
them to be more than a little economical with the truth where figures are
concerned. Hamas’ policy of embedding itself in heavily populated areas, its
firing missiles from or close to schools, hospitals, and mosques, appears
to be cynically designed to draw maximum casualties. The 4,712 Israeli
airstrikes that have reportedly decimated Hamas' terror infrastructure, had
they been carried out by any other force, would likely have caused the death of
many tens if not hundreds of thousands of people. In Syria and Iraq
thousands of innocents are dying every week, mostly out of the view of the
international media. Muslims killed at the hands of other Muslims, or Muslims
killing Christians, executed by Qatari and Saudi Arabian-sponsored jihadists
for refusing to convert to Islam. The international outcry, relative to that on
the Hamas-Israel conflict, is minimal. “Don’t think for a second please that
Hamas cares for the children’s blood,” Mossab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas
founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, explained in a Fox News television interview a
few days ago. “They want the children of Gaza to die. This is what gives
them Arab and Islamic world sympathy, and this is what will condemn Israel internationally.
This is their game and they’re happy about it.” Yousef has bravely
spoken out against his family’s deeply ingrained doctrine and Hamas’ terrorist raison
d’etre.
The convert
to Christianity’s life is constantly at risk as he attempts to show a world
broadly indifferent to Hamas’ macabre tactics, just what is going on, and why
-- even allowing for stray Israeli shells that have occasionally, tragically,
hit the wrong targets -- Israel has, in Yousef’s words, “No choice but to
defend itself.”
“The only
way, I believe, to fight an organization like Hamas” Yousef explains, “is to
unmask them by exposing their ideology; what they stand for. Hamas is not a
political party. It’s not even a Palestinian organization. Hamas hijacked the
so-called ‘Palestinian cause’ and infiltrated the society to push their
religious ideological agenda.”
Hamas is
sponsored, funded, armed, and given technical support and guidance primarily by
Qatar, Iran, and Turkey.
In fear of
losing world sympathy, Hamas never refers to the number of its terrorists that
have been killed.
It won’t
allow the international media to show pictures of its hundreds of dead
fighters; Israeli sources suggest that as many as 800 of the dead are
terrorists.
If Hamas did
let the media see a truer picture of Gazan casualties, the chances are that
open-minded people would soon figure out for themselves that a very significant
proportion of the dead are terrorists, something that would clearly suggest
Israel has indeed been selective in its choice of targets.
While for
most decent people the preservation of human life is paramount, Hamas has
indoctrinated its children from as soon as they can speak to believe that death
and rewards in heaven are to be prized above all else.
Speaking on
Hamas’ Al Aqsa TV only last week, Hamas Chief of Staff, Muhammad Deif crowed,
“Today you [Israelis] are fighting divine soldiers, who love death for Allah
like you love life, and who compete among themselves for martyrdom like you
flee from death. We love death like our enemies love life!”
But despite
the figures that appear to back up Israel’s assertion that its army is doing
all it can to minimize civilian losses, the masses of air strikes it has
aborted at the last second because the potential collateral damage (innocent
civilian count) would be too high, and the fact that it has uncovered a
dizzying network of terror tunnels dug from Gaza into Israel that had been
prepared for use in a mass terror attacks on Israeli soil, some observers feel
that Israel has been tried and summarily found guilty by a majority of the mass
media without all the relevant evidence having been duly considered.
Speaking to The Algemeiner on July 30, Colonel Kemp put
Israel’s media dilemma in perspective.
“The starting
point for so much of the world’s media, opinion-makers, political leaders,
NGOs, human rights groups, will always be that whatever Israel does is wrong…
You see images of dead babies, dead boys on the beach, women screaming about
their children, and no reality can overcome those images. It’s understandable
in a way, because it is heart-wrenching… the problem is that there’s no
reference, no open-mindedness to the fact that the only reason that these
children have been killed is because of Hamas’ aggression towards Israel.”
To the
Islamist fanatics the only international law they recognize is Koranic Sharia
law-a law they falsely think comes from God (it comes from their false prophet)
and a law that they desire to make the universal and highest law on earth. To
them, its a war of conquest-conquering the world for God.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan faced a new outcry on Friday over his attitude to the media and women
after he branded a prominent female journalist a "shameless woman"
and told her "to know your place". Just ahead of Sunday's
presidential election which he is clear favourite to win, Erdogan savaged
Amberin Zaman, who writes for the Economist and the Turkish daily Taraf, over
comments she made in a television debate. She had asked the main opposition
leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the debate whether any Muslim society was capable
of challenging its authorities. Erdogan lashed out at Zaman, without mentioning
her directly by name, at an election rally in the eastern city of Malatya on
Thursday, calling her a "shameless woman". "A militant in the
guise of a journalist, a shameless woman... Know your place!" he declared.
"They gave you a pen and you are writing a column in a newspaper... and
you insult a society that is 99 percent Muslim," he said, drawing loud
boos from the crowd. This is not the first time Erdogan has lashed out at
journalists, who have come under increasing pressure in Turkey, which has more
reporters behind bars than any other country in the world. The government's
attitude towards women is also under heavy scrutiny, after Deputy Prime
Minister Bulent Arinc caused a furore by suggesting women should not laugh
loudly in public.
- 'Her safety threatened' -
The Economist released a statement
in response to the salvo, saying "we stand firmly by" its
correspondent of 15 years. "The intimidation of journalists has no place
in a democracy. Under Mr Erdogan, Turkey has become an increasingly difficult
place for independent journalism," it said. Zaman responded to Erdogan
through her column in the Taraf newspaper, writing: "You are lynching a
Muslim woman who described what you are doing. Because women are sitting
targets, aren't they?" She said she had been the target of a smear
campaign by pro-government media outlets, who had called her a "Jewish
bitch" who should become a "concubine" of Islamist jihadists in
Iraq.
The Liberal News
Media is really the Democrat Propaganda machine-they won't change-therefore it is
incumbent on us to challenge the evil system and hopefully bring it down.
Hundreds of Egyptian
women and girls kidnapped, forced into Islam, claims report
By Jack Ellis
Published June 20,
2014
Fifteen-year-old
Amira Hafez Wahim slipped out of the Christian church in Luxor, Egypt, where
she had attended services with her mother in February, promising to dash to a
nearby store and return quickly. Five months later, she has not been seen
since, although her parents immediately suspected a 28-year-old Muslim man
named Yasser Mahmoud, who had tried to kidnap her before, had succeeded this
time. When her father went to the Civil Status Authority for a copy of her
birth certificate, his fears were confirmed: Her name had been changed and she
was now listed as Muslim. Amira is one of approximately 550 Coptic Christian
girls and women who have disappeared in Egypt over the last three years,
according to a report from the Egyptian Association of Victims of Abduction and
Enforced Disappearances. Ebnar Louis, the Cairo activist who founded the
association in 2010, said police are typically indifferent to reports of
missing girls. “We file an official police report, but it is often ignored,”
Louis told the humanitarian think tank Atlantic Council. The reasons behind
this alleged police indifference are unclear. It could be individual sectarian
bias, inadequate resources and funding, or plain incompetence. The report
concluded that many of the missing females were abducted by Salafi Muslims and
forced to convert to Islam and marry their captors once estranged from their
families. It found the abductions increased after secular strongman Hosni
Mubarak was overthrown in 2011 and replaced by Muslim Brotherhood-aligned
Mohammed Morsi. Although Morsi was in turn ousted by the military nearly a year
ago, the abductions have continued. Of the 550 missing females AVAED has
investigated, only 10 have returned home and offered testimony. But the 10 who
made it back tell a familiar tale that Louis’ group believes reveals an
organized effort by Salafi extremists to kidnap, marry and convert Coptic women
and girls. The American Center for Law and Justice, which has called on the
Obama administration to speak out for religious freedom in the Middle East and
Africa, believes there is an ominous goal behind the abductions. “The
kidnappings are increasing, and many in the Coptic community believe that it is
an attempt to systematically reduce the population of the Coptic community,”
said ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow. Sekulow noted that the 550 figure
far exceeds the approximately 300 Nigerian school girls recently kidnapped and
forced to convert by Muslim terrorist group Boko Haram. That case drew
international condemnation, but the lower-profile, drawn-out wave of abductions
in Egypt has gone largely under the radar.
“The
international community must stand boldly to let the Egyptian authorities know
that this is a matter of grave concern," Sekulow said
The story of Coptic Christian girls
being abducted by Muslim men is unfortunately not new, but is scarcely reported
by the Democrat Liberal News Media Establishment.
Iraq crisis: Rarely has a US president
been so wrong about so much
By
Dick and Liz Cheney WSJ
As
the terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) threaten Baghdad,
thousands of slaughtered Iraqis in their wake, it is worth recalling a few of
President Obama's past statements about ISIS and Al Qaeda. "If a J.V. team
puts on Lakers' uniforms that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant" (January 2014).
"[C]ore Al Qaeda is on its heels, has been decimated" (August 2013).
"So, let there be no doubt: The tide of war is receding" (September
2011).
Rarely
has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. Too
many times to count, Mr. Obama has told us he is "ending" the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan—as though wishing made it so.
His
rhetoric has now come crashing into reality. Watching the black-clad ISIS
jihadists take territory once secured by American blood is final proof, if any
were needed, that America's enemies are not "decimated." They are
emboldened and on the march.
The
fall of the Iraqi cities of Fallujah, Tikrit, Mosul and Tel Afar, and the
establishment of terrorist safe havens across a large swath of the Arab world, present
a strategic threat to the security of the United States. Mr. Obama's
actions—before and after ISIS's recent advances in Iraq—have the effect of
increasing that threat.
America is Becoming a police State
With
so much happening internationally and the number of scandals, crises and
general screw-ups of the Obama administration here at home, it’s worth noting a
disturbing development here on the domestic front: a rapidly expanding police
state.
On
my radio program last week I had the pleasure of speaking with Cheryl Chumley,
a reporter for The Washington Times, about her new book, “Police State USA: How
George Orwell’s Nightmare is Becoming our Reality.” The title says it all, and
aptly describes the shocking transformation of what had been our free society.
We
all know about the scope of National Security Agency (NSA) spying. It’s fair to
say at this point in our lives that the notion of privacy is all but dead and
gone. However, it didn’t start there. In her book, Mrs. Chumley takes us on a
ride through history, reminding us of the original intentions of the Founding
Fathers versus the assault on the original design by “21st century realities.”
Keep
in mind, people in the political class constantly reveal their contempt for
regular citizens. That contempt is the inevitable result of a group of people
who have convinced themselves that big government is necessary because the
little people can’t control their own lives.
These
same politicians and bureaucrats then begin to see themselves a genuinely
better than everyone else. After all, if they were just like us, then they’d be
part of the rabble, and they can’t have that. The solution to their dilemma is
a police state.
Mrs.
Chumley’s chapters in “Police State USA” provide a treatise on all the elements
of society that are under attack as big government seeks to sustain itself
through a police state, including aspects of an expanding and increasingly
paranoid bureaucratic system that has decided the individual is the problem.
Regarding
our nation being under attack by thugs intent on creating a police state, Mrs.
Chumley notes:
“The
Founding Fathers wouldn’t recognize America today. The God-given freedoms they
championed in the Bill of Rights have been chipped away over the years by an
ever-intrusive government bent on controlling all aspects of our lives in the
name of safety and security. NSA wire-tapping and data collection is Orwellian
in its scope. The TSA, BLM, and IRS are all jockeying for control of our lives.
Warrantless searches are on the rise and even encouraged in some communities.
Free speech, the right to bear arms, private property, and freedom of religion
all are under attack. The Constitution has been tossed on the same trash pile
as the Bible.”
Spying
is one thing, but control is, in fact, key. During the Obama administration,
most of us have grown concerned about the massive buy-up of ammunition of
various federal agencies. The U.S. Postal Service, the Department of
Agriculture, the Commerce Department and even the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, among so many other agencies, have acquired
billions of rounds of ammunition.
In
an article for Newsmax, Mrs. Chumley spoke with Philip Van Cleave, president of
the Virginia Citizens Defense League, who asked a telling question: “Why
exactly does a weather service need ammunition?
“NOAA
— really? They have a need? One just doesn’t know why they’re doing this,” he
said. “The problem is, all these agencies have their own SWAT teams, their own
police departments, which is crazy. In theory, it was supposed to be the U.S.
marshals that was the armed branch for the federal government.”
In
addition to mini-police forces attached to federal agencies, Mrs. Chumley
addresses the “acquisition by police departments of major battlefield equipment
emboldens officials to strong-arm those they should be protecting.”
The
New York Times reports, “During the Obama administration, according to Pentagon
data, police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns;
nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and
night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft.”
Silencers?
Machine guns? Now why would local law enforcement need that sort of gear?
They
do if they’re conditioning everyone, including local law enforcement itself, to
believe that a police state is necessary and inevitable.
The
good news is, that’s a lie. It doesn’t have to be either.
Speaking
to a solution, Cheryl Chumley’s book concludes with a call to “Throw the bums
out — why virtue, accountability are key.”
It’s
one thing to have this unfold, and quite another to allow it to continue. One
of the first things necessary to take back this nation is becoming informed.
“Police State USA” is the book that will get you there and inspire you to
defend this nation from big government zealots who believe you won’t notice
what they’re up to.
Tammy
Bruce is a radio talk-show host, New York Times best-selling author and Fox
News political contributor.
Assad's inferno: Can
Syria be saved?
Published June 20,
2014
Syria
continues to descend deeper and deeper into perdition, surpassing even Dante’s
legendary nine circles of hell. When President Bashar al-Assad initiated the
conflict more than three years ago, he promised that others would pay
heavily—and they have. Assad’s inferno has reached far beyond Syria’s borders. As
I write, a Muslim Frenchman, who did a year’s stint with the ISIS in Syria, is
in custody for murdering four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels on May
24. This was an ominous act of terrorism that confirmed European and U.S. fears
about the whereabouts of the estimated hundreds, if not thousands, of jihadist
adherents who made the trek to Syria to join up with the ISIS and similar
groups. While not allied with Assad and his Iranian benefactors, ISIS continues
to thrive in Syria amidst the chaos his regime has generated and fostered. Now
it has also violently expanded its capture of territory in Iraq. It all began
in March 2011 with the arrest and torture of Syrian schoolchildren, an outrage
that sparked an outcry from their parents and led to mass, peaceful protests in
major Syrian cities. But Assad could not bear any public criticism, let alone
suggestions for reform. His regime responded with an ongoing mix of brutal
repression aimed at instilling fear among Syrians, and the desire to do maximum
damage to them and their country.
The
UN stopped trying to keep count of the dead from the three years of conflict
last January.The official death toll of 160,000 is already out of date and
continues to rise.
Syria
has been designated the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. More than 9
million people—about 40 percent of the population—have been displaced,
one-third of them living as refugees in neighboring Jordan, Lebanon and other
countries.
More
than 50 percent of the refugees are under age 18, constituting a lost
generation deprived of education, proper health care and other humanitarian
assistance.
The
future for Syria’s youngsters, as well as for their families, is uncertain.
Even
if one day they could return home, what would they find? Assad’s regime has
systematically destroyed buildings, even whole neighborhoods, in cities and
towns across the country. Syria’s ancient heritage has also not been spared.
The leveling of the 400-year-old Eliyahu Hanabi Synagogue in the Damascus
suburb of Jobar, with the attendant loss of generations of Syrian Jewish
artifacts, was just the latest destructive assault on religious and cultural
sites.
Cloistered
in Damascus, insulated from much of the destruction his loyalists have
produced, Assad has outlived persistent forecasts of his demise. His staying
power is unlike other leaders in the region who were quickly felled by the Arab
Spring uprisings.
Assad
has survived, albeit with extraordinary costs to this own country, ignoring
demands for his departure and refusing even to negotiate with opponents. Two
peace conferences in Geneva failed, and two UN/Arab League envoys, Kofi Annan
and Lakhdar Brahimi, resigned in frustration.
Assad’s
reelection as president, cynically held in the midst of civil war and with the
result never in doubt, gave him a public endorsement to carry on his reign of
terror for at least another seven years. Never mind that the alleged high
turnout took into account only those who could find places to vote inside
war-torn Syria, or to line up at some embassies in other countries. Among the
first to congratulate Assad upon his victory was the head of the Iranian
election monitors team which, along with representatives of Venezuela and other
self-styled bastions of democracy, gave full approval to the voting process and
the results. Iran has been an Assad ally like no other, sending regular
shipments of arms, often through Iraqi airspace, and also supplying the
Lebanon-based Hezbollah, another foreign force that entered the Syrian war to
help Assad.
Iran’s
role in the Syria conflict, however, has been mostly disregarded in the P5+1
talks focusing on its nuclear program. “No deal is better than a bad deal” is
the current mantra, but will “no deal” actually prevent Tehran from achieving
the capacity to build a nuclear weapon? Finding a way to extend the talks
beyond the July 20th deadline is vital. And, if all the parties agree, adding
the Syria file to the agenda will also be critical. That will give the five UN
Security Council members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. -- and
Germany another chance to devise a common approach on the Syria crisis, however
difficult Russia in particular, largely supported by China, has proved to be in
forging a consensus on Syria. Saving Syria and preventing its war from further
inflaming the region, and beyond, should be an urgent international priority.
The U.S. can exert leadership, but without cooperation from others, there will
be no way out of the intricate maze of hell Assad has fashioned.
Kenneth
Bandler is the American Jewish Committee’s director of media relations.
State vs. faith: What’s at stake in the Hobby Lobby case
Monday the U.S. Supreme Court will decide Sebelius v. Hobby
Lobby Stores, a case that will clarify whether business owners can express
their religious beliefs through their business policies.
Here’s the issue. Hobby Lobby, a nationwide chain of
arts-and-crafts stores, objects to providing the so-called “morning-after pill”
to its employees as mandated by the Affordable Care Act (the “ObamaCare”
law). The company already provides generous health care benefits to its
13,000 full-time employees and will more than comply with the required minimums
in the new law, but its owner, David Green, a devout Christian, will not pay
for the pills that prevent implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus. If
life begins at conception, Green reasons, then the pill causes an abortion. A
trial court ruled against Hobby Lobby, fining Green $1.3 million per day
for non-compliance, beginning January 1, 2013. The Tenth Circuit reversed its
decision and now the case is in the hands of the nine Justices.
It’s the highest profile of many recent state-versus-faith
cases, several of which involve Christian entrepreneurs who decline to
participate in same-sex weddings—florists, photographers, deejays and bakers.
It’s nothing less than a secular Inquisition. In response,
legislators in nearby Arizona passed a bill to protect the religious liberty of
business owners, permitting them to refuse transactions that contravene their
faith. Missouri, Georgia and Kansas have similar bills in the pipeline.
Predictably, many in the media were apoplectic, single-mindedly
framing the Arizona bill as “anti-gay,” “bigoted” and a return to the days of
“no blacks allowed.” And through this narrative, more opinion-shaping than
reporting, they browbeat Governor Jan Brewer into vetoing the bill.
However, the situation is so different in degree from Jim Crow
that it’s different in kind. These Christian business owners don’t want to turn
away gay customers; that money is as green as any other. They simply don’t want
to contribute in any way to the gay marriage movement. So they’ll sell you
roses, just not for a wedding. And they’ll sell you cupcakes and birthday
cakes, just not a wedding cake. Homosexuals can buy 99 percent of the products
in such businesses. It's hardly “no gays allowed.”
The real agenda here is “no faith allowed.” It’s happened in the
public schools; now it’s happening in the workplace. And the tactic is an old
one: Hijack the discussion and blame the believer.
“Justify your bias,” says the reporter. “Explain your
discrimination. Repent of your ignorance. Be tolerant of those who disagree
with you.” They conveniently ignore that the logic cuts both ways.
Justify your bias against Christians. Explain your
discrimination against people of faith. Repent of your ignorance of
the First Amendment. Be tolerant of those Christians who disagree
with you.
One wonders what the media would say about a black baker being
jailed for refusing to cater a KKK rally or an Israeli lawyer being fined for
not representing neo-Nazis. The violation of conscience is equally egregious.
There’s more at stake, though, than mere single-mindedness and
double-standards. If the law requires business owners, under threat of state
punishment, to abdicate their bona fide religious beliefs, then we are adopting
a new form of governance -- one that’s more Pyongyang than Peoria.
And on with sweeping implications. An adverse ruling in the Hobby
Lobby case—or any similar religious liberty cases—means that private,
faith-based schools and colleges will be next.
Also in the crosshairs will be pastors. Preach that the practice
of homosexuality is sin and be slapped with a gag order, a fine, and maybe some
jail time.
An exaggeration? Look at Sweden if you want a crystal
ball.
Pentecostal pastor Ake Green was prosecuted and sentenced to a
month in prison (eventually overturned) for preaching against the practice of
homosexuality.
Look also at Canada where William Whatcott has been arrested
repeatedly and fined thousands of dollars for his street teaching on the issue.
The charge? “Hate speech.”
If you don’t like what the Bible says, criminalize the sharing
of it. Yes, this is Canada, not Iran.
Ultimately we’ll see the coup de grace, the closing of
churches that refuse to marry gay couples. It’s almost inevitable since the
principle is the same: You can’t deny some “customers” service because of your
faith.
Couldn’t happen? Look at Denmark where in 2012 the Parliament
voted 85-24 to compel its Lutheran churches to perform same-sex weddings.
This is why the Hobby Lobby case matters so much -- and not just
for business.
If we live in a country where we can’t express our faith through
our business, then we may someday live in a country where we can’t express our
faith at all.
Michael Zigarelli is
the editor of Christianity9to5.org
