Former Deputy Secretary of State under Bush malcontent Colin Powell, Richard Armitage, was the source that "outed" Valerie Plame. Apparently it wasn't a vast right wing Oval Office conspiracy masterminded by Vice-President Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, and President Bush after all. Instead, it was a disenchanted, non-teamplayer, who got his marching orders from Colin Powell that "leaked" a non-covert CIA employee's name to the media.
Perhaps the Justice Department owes the American people a sincere apology as well as Scooter Libby for this inane inquiry into the leak since the Justice Department was told two years ago by Armitage that he was the source. It certainly raises the question as to what was Patrick Fitzgerald's motive since he knew from the moment he was given this assignment that Armitage was the source.
Better yet, perhaps the Justice Department should investigate Fitzgerald's handling of the inquiry and whether he had a political motive.
One now has to question how Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame can proceed with a civil suit against Cheney, Libby, and Rove for defamation of character since they did not leak nor harm Wilson or Plame. One also has to wonder if Cheney, Libby, and Rove have a valid reason to counter-sue Wilson and Plame for false accusations?
Monday, August 28, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
Eschatological, Historical, and Exegetical Analysis
Debatable hermeneutical assumptions aside, the book of Daniel in both the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament teaches that the rise to power of a world leader who works great blasphemy and abomination of desolation in the Temple of Jerusalem signals the beginning of the ends of time.
According to Daniel, the Great Tribulation will mark “the day of the L-rd.” It is interesting that only in Daniel 9: 24-27 is the word ‘messiah’ used in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament. Daniel’s prophecy predicts the coming of a ‘messiah’ who will judge the man of sin [ evil leader ] and his followers.
At the time of this ‘messiah’s’ coming, Israel will turn to the ‘messiah’ so that her sins and transgressions will be “brought to an end.” {Zechariah 12:10} This Judgment Day will culminate in the fulfillment of every prophecy in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament while at the same time consecrate the Temple in a New Jerusalem.
For the Faithful believers of G-d, the question may be arising as to who is this man of evil? Some argue that this is all bunk while others offer interesting analysis based on history and scripture. For some students of the ends of time, one group proposes that we are currently moving towards this prophecy. The vitriolic hatred spewing from the Islamic fascists mouthpieces led by Iran’s Ahmadinejad can only raise one’s interest in the ends of time discussion.
Going back to Daniel, the prophecy tells of one influential and very powerful leader emerging in the North. Hence, the “king out of the North” will seize the world stage and gather other nations to join him in his attack on Israel. Zechariah in chapter 14 declares that the city of Jerusalem will be seized by the King of the North’s forces. The L-rd will fight this battle at the Mount of Olives. According to Daniel 11:45 and Zechariah 14, the final beast, the false prophet, and all those who fought against Israel will come to their terrible end at the hand of G-d.
Was Daniel’s prophecy merely a pipe dream? No. Daniel’s prophecies coincide with historical events recorded by Josephus as well as coincide with other Hebrew Bible and Old Testament prophecies. Additionally, in the Christian theology, Christ referenced Daniel’s ‘abomination of desolation’ prediction in his Olivet Discourse while the writer of Revelation elaborated on the ends of time using similar words and sentiments expressed by Daniel and Isaiah.
Daniel’s message of over 2500 years has stood the test of time. His focus was on Middle East events of unrest, contention, and terrorism as well as on Jerusalem as the center of power and prophecy. More importantly, Daniel was the conduit of G-d’s plan for humanity and His people to whom He had promised redemption, eternal life, and that He would make good on that promise.
(To those Christians' who debunk and disregard the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, it leaves one to wonder how Christians can disregard the Hebrew Bible’s prophecies and laws since these are the basic tenets upon which Christ based his teachings.)
According to Daniel, the Great Tribulation will mark “the day of the L-rd.” It is interesting that only in Daniel 9: 24-27 is the word ‘messiah’ used in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament. Daniel’s prophecy predicts the coming of a ‘messiah’ who will judge the man of sin [ evil leader ] and his followers.
At the time of this ‘messiah’s’ coming, Israel will turn to the ‘messiah’ so that her sins and transgressions will be “brought to an end.” {Zechariah 12:10} This Judgment Day will culminate in the fulfillment of every prophecy in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament while at the same time consecrate the Temple in a New Jerusalem.
For the Faithful believers of G-d, the question may be arising as to who is this man of evil? Some argue that this is all bunk while others offer interesting analysis based on history and scripture. For some students of the ends of time, one group proposes that we are currently moving towards this prophecy. The vitriolic hatred spewing from the Islamic fascists mouthpieces led by Iran’s Ahmadinejad can only raise one’s interest in the ends of time discussion.
Going back to Daniel, the prophecy tells of one influential and very powerful leader emerging in the North. Hence, the “king out of the North” will seize the world stage and gather other nations to join him in his attack on Israel. Zechariah in chapter 14 declares that the city of Jerusalem will be seized by the King of the North’s forces. The L-rd will fight this battle at the Mount of Olives. According to Daniel 11:45 and Zechariah 14, the final beast, the false prophet, and all those who fought against Israel will come to their terrible end at the hand of G-d.
Was Daniel’s prophecy merely a pipe dream? No. Daniel’s prophecies coincide with historical events recorded by Josephus as well as coincide with other Hebrew Bible and Old Testament prophecies. Additionally, in the Christian theology, Christ referenced Daniel’s ‘abomination of desolation’ prediction in his Olivet Discourse while the writer of Revelation elaborated on the ends of time using similar words and sentiments expressed by Daniel and Isaiah.
Daniel’s message of over 2500 years has stood the test of time. His focus was on Middle East events of unrest, contention, and terrorism as well as on Jerusalem as the center of power and prophecy. More importantly, Daniel was the conduit of G-d’s plan for humanity and His people to whom He had promised redemption, eternal life, and that He would make good on that promise.
(To those Christians' who debunk and disregard the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, it leaves one to wonder how Christians can disregard the Hebrew Bible’s prophecies and laws since these are the basic tenets upon which Christ based his teachings.)
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Just When We Thought
Just when we thought perhaps his silence might last, Jimmy Carter has decided to crawl out from some hole and express an opinion on Israel. Personally, his audacity to even begin to reprimand anybody about a failed Middle East policy is incredible.
Perhaps someone should refresh this retired peanut farmer's feeble memory that it was his inept Middle East policy of hiding in the White House that allowed the Iranians (led by their current leader Ahmandinejad )to go unpunished and undaunted after they attacked, captured and held hostage 52 American citizens for 444 days. Not only did Carter completely fail in this crisis, but his inaction emboldened the jihadists in their grand design to destroy freedom and liberty. The Iranians not only humiliated these hostages, but they destroyed our embassy and burned our flag.
Meanwhile, Carter hid in the White House presumably by a fire while wearing a sweater...his version of an energy policy. Leadership? Carter wouldn't know it if it smacked him across the face.
Thanks, Mr. Carter, but Israel and the US do not need any comments from the peanut gallery.
Perhaps someone should refresh this retired peanut farmer's feeble memory that it was his inept Middle East policy of hiding in the White House that allowed the Iranians (led by their current leader Ahmandinejad )to go unpunished and undaunted after they attacked, captured and held hostage 52 American citizens for 444 days. Not only did Carter completely fail in this crisis, but his inaction emboldened the jihadists in their grand design to destroy freedom and liberty. The Iranians not only humiliated these hostages, but they destroyed our embassy and burned our flag.
Meanwhile, Carter hid in the White House presumably by a fire while wearing a sweater...his version of an energy policy. Leadership? Carter wouldn't know it if it smacked him across the face.
Thanks, Mr. Carter, but Israel and the US do not need any comments from the peanut gallery.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
WWIII? WWIV?
History records that the US has been involved in nine world wars as a sovereign nation and as part of the British Empire. Two wars, however, seem to be ignored by historians and political scientists as world wars. The Cold War, contrary to popular opinion that it was a none shooting war, was a global ideological war fought on many fronts. And yes, there was shooting involved. Don't think so? Try asking the 58,000+ who gave their lives in Vietnam. The Cold War lasted from 1945 till 1990-92. The Cold War deserves the designation of WWIII.
The War on Terror is an ideological struggle between the forces of democracy and the forces of a controlling and vengeful,hating Islamo-Fascists ideology that has but one goal: destruction of freedom and liberty. The War on Terror deserves the designation of WWIV.
The War on Terror is an ideological struggle between the forces of democracy and the forces of a controlling and vengeful,hating Islamo-Fascists ideology that has but one goal: destruction of freedom and liberty. The War on Terror deserves the designation of WWIV.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Lamont and Israel
After winning the Connecticut Democratic Primary for the Senate nomination, Ned Lamont responded to questions about the Israeli-Hezbollah War. He suggested that Israel should consider giving up more land to the Hezbollah demands.
This is the mentality of the defeatists, and this is the mentality of those who want to make our national security policy.
After today, is there any doubt who should be in the Senate and working with the Bush Administration to make national security decisions?
This is the mentality of the defeatists, and this is the mentality of those who want to make our national security policy.
After today, is there any doubt who should be in the Senate and working with the Bush Administration to make national security decisions?
Let's Review, Once Again, The Perils of Extremists
If one wants to truly understand the War on Terror, study the Holy Crusades. The capture of hostages,the torture of hostages, even the beheadings of hostages make the connection to the Holy Crusades all too obvious. This in no way belittles or lessens the horrors of such atrocities, but these events should make it evidently clear to all people that it isn't just Americans who are the targets.
Every person is a potential target of these fundamentalist extremists. Their targets are in the millions and their goals can be reduced to a few: eliminate the infidels and exterminate the non-believers. Their ultimate goal is to purge the world of all but their version of Islam.1
Infidels is an English word for the Arabic kufr, which means an unbeliever. Islam was founded on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad who issued the first jihad against Jews… which he called infidels.
Al Qaeda is a radical, extremist Wahhabis fundamentalist Muslim group that has one goal: a world filled only with their followers. It doesn't matter if someone is American, Korean, Spanish, Indian, Lebanese, British, or even French. If you are a non-believer of the Wahhabis brand of Islam, you are an infidel.
Islamic fundamentalism has been growing rapidly since the 1970s. Perhaps the West's first clue of potential problems was the oil embargo in 1974. One only has to re-examine the fall of the Shah of Iran, the Ayottollah Khomeini's Revolution in Iran, and the capture of the 52 American hostages in 1979 to sense we were confronting a serious threat. Jimmy Carter's feeble pacification and willingness to placate this terrorist situation only worsened the American fate. The reaction of Carter to the crisis in the Middle East encouraged the growth of a hatred and disdain for the Western Great Satan. In the mid 1980s the fundamentalist had developed a strategy: manipulate the Palestinian situation and create a disturbance with Israel. Thus, the intifadah was born. Unbeknownst to the Palestinians, the leaders of the Islamic movement really did not give a hoot about the plight of the Palestinians. They did, however, relish using these poor souls plight to further their major goal: divide the Western world.
Emerging as the leader of this movement was a Saudi by the name of Usama bin Laden. By 1998, bin Laden had recruited operatives in a global network with a single mission: the planned destruction and indiscriminate slaughter against the infidels. In 1998 he declared a jihad in the name of the World Islamic Front. According to Middle Eastern expert Bernard Lewis,bin Laden made it clear in his jihad declaration that he was not focusing on a jihad in a moral sense, but "in the classical and traditional sense of a holy war against apostates and infidels---apostates, of course, are the existing rulers of most of the Islamic countries, seen as renegades from Islam and puppets of their infidel patrons and sponsors." Bin Laden's message is a frightening one.
If you, as President of the United States in 1998, had received this message, how would you have responded? Bin Laden told his followers "to kill Americans and their allies, both civil and military….By God's leave, we call on every Muslim who believes in god and hopes for reward to obey God's command to kill Americans and plunder their possessions wherever he finds them and whenever he can. Likewise we call on the Muslim ulema and leaders and youth and soldiers to launch attacks against the armies of the American devils and against those who are allied with them from among the helpers of Satan".
As the leader of the free world, as the Commander in Chief, and as the Chief Executive, would you have paid heed to this warning? When the Sudan offered you the opportunity to arrest bin Laden would you have jumped at it or ignored it? When bin Laden took responsibility for blowing up two American embassies in Africa, would you have responded by launching a Cruise Missile into an aspirin factory?
There is a consistent pattern which the politicos on the left are missing: "It was discernible in the Riyadh massacres of November 8, 2003, when the target was Lebanese Christians at Khobar, the terrorists spared one American because he was Muslim. The Al Qaeda operatives have happily killed Filippino, Swedish, British, Italian, South Africans, and Indians. Muslims who do not share the extremists' vision asophisticated."2 The sophisticated, well armed Hezbollah is as dangerous as Al Qaeda. It is Hezbollah which has struck Israel and the United States with impunity, and the hapless, pathetic farce of an international body known as the UN acquiesces while running in retreat from terrorist organizations.
"These killings are not about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal or American actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, though those are grievances. These are not about Israel, though that is another grievance. In fact, most of the Islamist terrorists victims worldwide are not Americans or even Westerners, but Asian and Middle Eastern Christians, Muslims, and Hindus. For the extremists, the justification for the slaughter is not current foreign policy but rather as an apocalyptic war to purge the world of all but their version of Islam."3
"Spaniards will not be spared because Spanish troops are gone from Iraq. Europe cannot make its way into the terrorists good graces by distancing itself from America, any more than the United States can mollify the Islamists by acting through the United Nations or wooing world opinion. These are fantasies."4
Think about it briefly. Does Al Qaeda's leadership really care about the lives of the young Muslims who are willing to die as martyrs for their cause? No. Life is dispensable, it is worthless. If life were valuable or meaningful to the Al Qaeda leadership, they wouldn't be so willing to have suicide bombers. The leadership of Al Qaeda is much like Hitler and the Nazi leaders and like the Japanese leaders of WWII. Everything is done for the glorification of their goal: global domination based on cruelty, torture, and dehumanizing behavior. If their cause is so noble, then why are the Al Qaeda leaders and operatives not leading the suicide missions themselves? No, it's all about domination and power.
The sad truth is that a whole group of people has become the pawns of the Islamic fundamentalist movement. The Palestinians are used as the whipping boy, the rallying cry, and the focal point to draw attention away from the real mission of the Wahhabis movement. Unfortunately, the imams, caliphs, and sheiks have become blinded by this fatalistic religious movement. Their schools, houses of worship, and books are filled with hatred for the Infidel, the non-believer. This radical hatred is accomplishing what the Wahhabis want: dissension among the non-believers as to what to do about the war on terror.
Al Qaeda's enemy is anyone who opposes its program for the restoration of a unified Muslim ummah, ruled by a new Caliphate, governed by reaction Islamic sharia law, and organized to wage jihad on the rest of the world. The lesson of Riyadh and Khobar is that we can resist this program, in which case, tragically, we may see more videos of beheadings. Or we can acquiesce to this program and see a great many more hostages captured, tortured, and beheaded. These are the choices. We are in a war we must win. Everything else is wishful thinking.5
Sometimes the grievances and issues involved in the conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims are ethnic, territorial, social, economic, but the real struggle is religion. Religion is the major, defining struggle in these areas: Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Kashmir, Sinkiang, Philippines, Palestine, Timor, West Africa, and Sudan.
Only the uninformed would argue that these conflicts are something other than manifestations of Western dominance over the Islamic world. This conflict has been growing since the end of the Holy Crusades and the Treaty of Carlowitz resulting in the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the hands of the Christian world. Ever since the Holy Crusades the Muslim world views all problems as ultimately religious, and all the final answers are naturally religious. For the present leaders of the fundamentalist sect of Islam, the goal is elimination of Western powers and the extermination of infidels.
Bernard Lewis raises the pertinent question, which some people fail to see just as some, failed to see it with the rise of Hitler. "Will the cause of freedom triumph over terror as it did over the Nazis and Communism?"
Every person is a potential target of these fundamentalist extremists. Their targets are in the millions and their goals can be reduced to a few: eliminate the infidels and exterminate the non-believers. Their ultimate goal is to purge the world of all but their version of Islam.1
Infidels is an English word for the Arabic kufr, which means an unbeliever. Islam was founded on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad who issued the first jihad against Jews… which he called infidels.
Al Qaeda is a radical, extremist Wahhabis fundamentalist Muslim group that has one goal: a world filled only with their followers. It doesn't matter if someone is American, Korean, Spanish, Indian, Lebanese, British, or even French. If you are a non-believer of the Wahhabis brand of Islam, you are an infidel.
Islamic fundamentalism has been growing rapidly since the 1970s. Perhaps the West's first clue of potential problems was the oil embargo in 1974. One only has to re-examine the fall of the Shah of Iran, the Ayottollah Khomeini's Revolution in Iran, and the capture of the 52 American hostages in 1979 to sense we were confronting a serious threat. Jimmy Carter's feeble pacification and willingness to placate this terrorist situation only worsened the American fate. The reaction of Carter to the crisis in the Middle East encouraged the growth of a hatred and disdain for the Western Great Satan. In the mid 1980s the fundamentalist had developed a strategy: manipulate the Palestinian situation and create a disturbance with Israel. Thus, the intifadah was born. Unbeknownst to the Palestinians, the leaders of the Islamic movement really did not give a hoot about the plight of the Palestinians. They did, however, relish using these poor souls plight to further their major goal: divide the Western world.
Emerging as the leader of this movement was a Saudi by the name of Usama bin Laden. By 1998, bin Laden had recruited operatives in a global network with a single mission: the planned destruction and indiscriminate slaughter against the infidels. In 1998 he declared a jihad in the name of the World Islamic Front. According to Middle Eastern expert Bernard Lewis,bin Laden made it clear in his jihad declaration that he was not focusing on a jihad in a moral sense, but "in the classical and traditional sense of a holy war against apostates and infidels---apostates, of course, are the existing rulers of most of the Islamic countries, seen as renegades from Islam and puppets of their infidel patrons and sponsors." Bin Laden's message is a frightening one.
If you, as President of the United States in 1998, had received this message, how would you have responded? Bin Laden told his followers "to kill Americans and their allies, both civil and military….By God's leave, we call on every Muslim who believes in god and hopes for reward to obey God's command to kill Americans and plunder their possessions wherever he finds them and whenever he can. Likewise we call on the Muslim ulema and leaders and youth and soldiers to launch attacks against the armies of the American devils and against those who are allied with them from among the helpers of Satan".
As the leader of the free world, as the Commander in Chief, and as the Chief Executive, would you have paid heed to this warning? When the Sudan offered you the opportunity to arrest bin Laden would you have jumped at it or ignored it? When bin Laden took responsibility for blowing up two American embassies in Africa, would you have responded by launching a Cruise Missile into an aspirin factory?
There is a consistent pattern which the politicos on the left are missing: "It was discernible in the Riyadh massacres of November 8, 2003, when the target was Lebanese Christians at Khobar, the terrorists spared one American because he was Muslim. The Al Qaeda operatives have happily killed Filippino, Swedish, British, Italian, South Africans, and Indians. Muslims who do not share the extremists' vision asophisticated."2 The sophisticated, well armed Hezbollah is as dangerous as Al Qaeda. It is Hezbollah which has struck Israel and the United States with impunity, and the hapless, pathetic farce of an international body known as the UN acquiesces while running in retreat from terrorist organizations.
"These killings are not about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal or American actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, though those are grievances. These are not about Israel, though that is another grievance. In fact, most of the Islamist terrorists victims worldwide are not Americans or even Westerners, but Asian and Middle Eastern Christians, Muslims, and Hindus. For the extremists, the justification for the slaughter is not current foreign policy but rather as an apocalyptic war to purge the world of all but their version of Islam."3
"Spaniards will not be spared because Spanish troops are gone from Iraq. Europe cannot make its way into the terrorists good graces by distancing itself from America, any more than the United States can mollify the Islamists by acting through the United Nations or wooing world opinion. These are fantasies."4
Think about it briefly. Does Al Qaeda's leadership really care about the lives of the young Muslims who are willing to die as martyrs for their cause? No. Life is dispensable, it is worthless. If life were valuable or meaningful to the Al Qaeda leadership, they wouldn't be so willing to have suicide bombers. The leadership of Al Qaeda is much like Hitler and the Nazi leaders and like the Japanese leaders of WWII. Everything is done for the glorification of their goal: global domination based on cruelty, torture, and dehumanizing behavior. If their cause is so noble, then why are the Al Qaeda leaders and operatives not leading the suicide missions themselves? No, it's all about domination and power.
The sad truth is that a whole group of people has become the pawns of the Islamic fundamentalist movement. The Palestinians are used as the whipping boy, the rallying cry, and the focal point to draw attention away from the real mission of the Wahhabis movement. Unfortunately, the imams, caliphs, and sheiks have become blinded by this fatalistic religious movement. Their schools, houses of worship, and books are filled with hatred for the Infidel, the non-believer. This radical hatred is accomplishing what the Wahhabis want: dissension among the non-believers as to what to do about the war on terror.
Al Qaeda's enemy is anyone who opposes its program for the restoration of a unified Muslim ummah, ruled by a new Caliphate, governed by reaction Islamic sharia law, and organized to wage jihad on the rest of the world. The lesson of Riyadh and Khobar is that we can resist this program, in which case, tragically, we may see more videos of beheadings. Or we can acquiesce to this program and see a great many more hostages captured, tortured, and beheaded. These are the choices. We are in a war we must win. Everything else is wishful thinking.5
Sometimes the grievances and issues involved in the conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims are ethnic, territorial, social, economic, but the real struggle is religion. Religion is the major, defining struggle in these areas: Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Kashmir, Sinkiang, Philippines, Palestine, Timor, West Africa, and Sudan.
Only the uninformed would argue that these conflicts are something other than manifestations of Western dominance over the Islamic world. This conflict has been growing since the end of the Holy Crusades and the Treaty of Carlowitz resulting in the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the hands of the Christian world. Ever since the Holy Crusades the Muslim world views all problems as ultimately religious, and all the final answers are naturally religious. For the present leaders of the fundamentalist sect of Islam, the goal is elimination of Western powers and the extermination of infidels.
Bernard Lewis raises the pertinent question, which some people fail to see just as some, failed to see it with the rise of Hitler. "Will the cause of freedom triumph over terror as it did over the Nazis and Communism?"
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