Why I Call It Islamosupremacy

The true intention of all Mohammedans is to enforce conversion or kill the individual. If you are a woman your life may be spared to be a concubine.
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Patrick of Clarity & Resolve Blog
November 24, 2005

The supremacy of Islam and its adherents and the contemptible inferiority of the infidel: This core Islamic value may be found in the Koran, in the sunna, in the sharia, and in the way infidels are reviled and violently attacked wherever peaceful religionists have ascendancy ("Therefore do not falter or sue for peace when you have gained the upper hand." —Koran 47:35).

And yet, when the mullahs, imams, and sheiks come right out and say it, we call them extremists, fundamentalists, or radicals.

Tehran, 21 Nov. (AKI) - A close advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati has condemned non-Muslims, saying they "cannot be called human beings but are animals who roam the earth and engage in corruption."

Jannati made the controversial remarks on Sunday at a ceremony in north-eastern Iran to commemorate the 'martyrs' of the Revolutionary Guards and the (1980-1988) war against Iraq.

It's all in Muhammad's happy-fun hate and war manual (i.e., what Muslims perceive to be God's literal, unalterable word), available at Barnes & Noble, Borders, and other fine great Satan book retailers.

The meanest beasts in God's sight are those that are deaf, dumb, and devoid of reason. Had God perceived any virtue in them, He would have surely endowed them with hearing. But even if He made them hear, they would have turned away and refused to listen. —Koran 8:22

The basest creatures in the sight of God are the faithless who will not believe... —Koran 8:55

The unbelievers among the People of the Book and the pagans shall burn forever in the fire of Hell. They are the vilest of all creatures. But of all the creatures, those who embrace the Faith and do good works are the noblest. —Koran 98.6-7

Source: http://clarityandresolve.com/archives/2005/11/why_i_call_it_i.php

Sen. Coburn Attends Ten Commandments Monument Rally

Apparently the ACLU is coming to the Bible Belt to bash Christians into submission of their atheistic agenda. I might mention I voted for Tom Coburn. God bless him and may the wisdom and revelation of Jesus Christ be upon him for the work he does for his constituency.

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FOX News
Sunday, November 20, 2005

TULSA, Okla. — A group of pastors fired up a crowd of more than 300 people during a rally around a monument engraved with the Ten Commandments on the Haskell County Courthouse lawn.

U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn spoke Saturday at the gathering in favor of the monument, which a recent American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit says is a sign of the government favoring one religion over another.

But Coburn and others who were vocal at the rally contend that the statements listed in the Ten Commandments are guidelines to a moral, law-abiding society regardless of religious beliefs.

"I wish this was in every courthouse on the lawn," said Coburn, R-Okla. "We need more of this, not less."

Jim Green, the Stigler resident who is the plaintiff in the ACLU case, was contacted by telephone and declined to comment because of the ongoing litigation.

The suit is the first of its kind in Oklahoma since a July ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that Ten Commandments displays on government property are not inherently unconstitutional.

The eight-by-three-foot granite slab contains the Ten Commandments on one side and the text of the Mayflower Compact on the reverse. It stands just to the side of a sidewalk leading up to the front steps of the courthouse.

Mike Bush, the Stigler pastor who was instrumental in raising money to construct the display, said in the last two weeks about 2,835 signatures have been collected in a petition supporting the monument.

"My heart is thankful to see so many people coming out," Bush said. "All our laws are based on the 10 laws up here on our courthouse lawn."

Tim Turner, pastor of a Eufaula church, told the crowd that the problem isn't in Stigler, where there is apparently overwhelming support for the Ten Commandments at the courthouse. The problem is in Washington, D.C., where politicians and judges make separation of church and state decisions for the nation, he said.

"Today is just a little rally," Turner said. "The real battle is coming."
After the formal speeches, the floor was opened to anybody wishing to share their thoughts.

Wyvonne Bollinger stood up and told the crowd about her son, Doyle Bollinger Jr., who died in Iraq in June of 2003. She said he joined the military to guard America and its values, many of which are expressed on the courthouse monument.

"If we don't believe in the Ten Commandments, we don't believe in anything," Bollinger said. "It's what protects us."

In an interview, Coburn said the Ten Commandments are not strictly a Christian belief system, even though they come from the Bible. He also disagreed with the idea that people who practice a different religion might be intimidated by the Ten Commandments when they enter the Haskell County Courthouse.

"We can either deny our heritage . . . or we can embrace that heritage," Coburn said. "The creators of our Constitution were men of faith."

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C176158%2C00.html
© Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005 ComStock, Inc.
Copyright 2005 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

Vatican Rejects Actively Gay Priests

It is apparent the bureaucracy and the traditionalists of the Roman Catholic Church are hammering morality in the background. The Vatican, meaning Pope Benedict XVI, has rejected homosexuality for the Priest and officially calls for compassion for homosexuals in general. However, the Vatican has fallen short of calling the gay deviantism a sin therefore have compassion for the sinner.
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By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago

Reiterating its stand against sexually active gays in the priesthood, the Vatican also says in a new document that men with "transitory" homosexuality must have overcome their sexual tendencies for at least three years before entering the clergy.

The long-awaited "Instruction," due to be released next week, was posted Tuesday on the Internet by the Italian Catholic news agency Adista. A church official who has read the document confirmed its authenticity; he asked that his name not be used because the piece has not been published by the Vatican.

Conservative Roman Catholics who have decried the "gay subculture" in seminaries will likely applaud the policy because it clarifies and perhaps toughens what the Vatican expects of seminarians and their administrators.

Critics of the policy warned that, if enforced, it will likely result in seminarians lying about their orientation and will decrease the already dwindling number of priests in the United States even further. Estimates of the number of gays in U.S. seminaries and the priesthood range from 25 percent to 50 percent, according to a review of research by the Rev. Donald Cozzens, an author of "The Changing Face of the Priesthood."

The document, from the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, says the church deeply respects homosexuals. But it also says it "cannot admit to the seminary and the sacred orders those who practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture."

"Those people find themselves, in fact, in a situation that presents a grave obstacle to a correct relationship with men and women. One cannot ignore the negative consequences that can stem from the ordination of people with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies," it said.

"If instead it is a case of homosexual tendencies that are merely the expression of a transitory problem, for example as in the case of an unfinished adolescence, they must however have been clearly overcome for at least three years before ordination as a deacon."

Vatican prohibitions on sexually active gays becoming priests are not new, and a 1961 document says homosexuals should be barred from the priesthood. But the issue came to the fore in 2002, at the height of the clergy sex abuse scandal in the United States.

A study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice found most abuse victims since 1950 were adolescent boys. Experts on sex offenders said homosexuals are no more likely than heterosexuals to molest young people, but that did not stifle questions about gay seminarians. In addition, some Catholic researchers said "gay subcultures" in seminaries were alienating heterosexuals, prompting them to drop out.

The new document underlines that long-standing traditions and church teaching consider homosexual acts "grave sins" and also intrinsically immoral and contrary to natural law. "Therefore, in no case can they be approved," it says.

Thomas Plante, a psychologist who for more than 15 years has conducted evaluations of prospective seminarians for U.S. dioceses and religious orders, said the document would have an "enormous" ripple effect on the future U.S. priesthood if it is followed.

"Sexual orientation in almost all the evaluations I've done over 15 years hasn't really mattered," he said. "Now what's coming out of the Vatican is that it matters in a big way. That's a real challenge because we think that there are many, many, many gay men who are fabulous priests."

He questioned how seminary directors would apply the new regulations, and suggested that many may resort to a "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The candidates too, may try to hide their sexual orientation because homosexuality is now a deal-breaker, said Plante, who is chairman of the psychology department at Santa Clara University in California.

"That puts us in a bind because in order to do a real evaluation, you need to have some understanding of their sexual history or behavior, regardless of their orientation," he said.

The document, called an "Instruction," is only five pages long, including footnotes. It was signed by the prefect and secretary of the congregation on Nov. 4, and says it was approved by Pope Benedict XVI on Aug. 31.
The text makes no reference to current priests, directed instead to people entering seminaries and preparing for ordination.

Its title reads: "Regarding the criteria of vocational discernment regarding people with homosexual tendencies in view of their admission to the seminary and to sacred orders."

The sex abuse scandals have forced an unprecedented introspection into the clergy and how to train future priests. In September, Vatican-directed inspectors started visiting all 229 American seminaries. Part of their mission has been to seek any "evidence of homosexuality."

The Vatican has often visited the issue of homosexuality, reflecting an unbending theological opposition but also an acknowledgment that discrimination based on sexual preference is not justified.

In 2003, homosexuality was described as a "troubling moral and social phenomenon" in a document by the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then headed by German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict this year.

Vatican teaching also holds that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered." The church, however, says gays and lesbians should be treated with compassion and dignity.

Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051122/ap_on_re_eu/vatican_gays.

Gingrich sees Iran threat to U.S. like Nazi Germany

In the midst of Democrat accusations of Bush lies and leftist phobias about Supreme Court nominations and the leftist witch hunt to find a Bush Administration illegality under every rock that can be found, Iran (one of the axis of evil) is quietly perpetuating a rogue nation terrorist agenda. Newt Gingrich (who is contemplating a 2008 run for the Presidency) views Islamofascist Iran as 21st Century Nazis. Nazi Germany used the blitzkrieg to quickly subdue France (you know the guys who always call for a bail out), Eastern Europe and then Western Europe. Then using "Master Race" theory exterminated 12 million people of which 6 million were Jews. Islamofascists using surprise technological weaponry (EMP or Nukes) could attempt their goals, including extermination as the "Final Solution," for Mohammedan world domination.


A note on Gingrich: the liberals should appreciate him because he left office due to infidelity. Or there might be a lack of appreciation. Gingrich did not try to retain his office for the so-called greater good of the nation. Rather he left office demonstrating accountability unlike one Democrat I know who lied then was impeached then Senatorially exonerated for the ... O let's see, yeah the greater good of the nation.
Conservatives visit http://www.slantright.com.

_________________________________________

By Joseph Farah
Posted: November 20, 200510:50 p.m. Eastern
WorldNetDaily
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – The threat posed to the national security of the United States byIran was likened only to the one posed by Nazi Germany in the 1930s, by formerHouse Speaker Newt Gingrich, who suggested Tehran could be planning for apre-emptive nuclear electromagnetic pulse attack on America that would turn athird or more of the country "back to a 19th century level of development."

Gingrich made the stunning statements, which echo warning of othercongressional leaders and national security experts, in testimony before asubcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committeelast week.He said the "extraordinary challenge that the current regime in Iranposes to the safety of the United States" requires "extraordinary measures tomeet it."

"Not since the failure of the League of Nations in the 1930s to confront theaggression of the dictatorships in Japan, Italy and Germany have we seen thewillful avoidance of reality which is now underway with regard to Iran," saidGingrich.

"There are lessons to be learned from the 1930s and those lessonsapply directly to the current government of Iran."Gingrich pointed with alarm at a report first published in G2 Bulletin thatIran had tested the firing of ballistic missiles from a merchant ship in whichwarheads were detonated in midair over the Caspian Sea rather than at a land orsea target. National security experts and scientists commissioned by Congress tostudy the threat of electromagnetic pulse attacks on the U.S. concluded that Iran was preparing for just such a scenario. So does Gingrich.

"In short, a country with a track record of carrying out its murderousideology may soon have the capability to deliver on its publicly declared andunambiguously stated intentions to inflict mortal harm on the United States on amassive scale," warned Gingrich last Tuesday at the hearing of the FederalFinancial Management, Government Information and International SecuritySubcommittee chaired by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.

"A nuclear tippedintermediate-range Iranian missile launched from a merchant ship off the coastof the United States could do just that. That, or Iran could simply supply itsterrorist handmaidens with a small scale nuclear device to use against U.S.targets here at home or abroad."

The threat is compounded by recent disclosures by the International AtomicEnergy Agency that Iran is in "non-compliance" with its treaty obligationsagainst developing nuclear weapons.Gingrich concluded that: Iran is the most dangerous regime in the world and the "single most urgent threat to American national security."

The threat can only be understood in the context of "The Long War Against the Irreconcilable Wing of Islam, which is a worldwide war in which the UnitedStates and its allies are unavoidably engaged, and in which the U.S. has activecampaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan."

The U.S. cannot be held hostage or rendered impotent by delays ofinternational bureaucracies in dealing with the threat posed by Iran.One key to preventing or degrading the Iranian nuclear threat is persuading Russia to stop helping Tehran.

The U.S. has no option but to seek regime change in Iran.

Gingrich said there are reasons to believe Iran "is testing the capability tolaunch a surprise attack on the United States from a merchant ship of ourcoasts."

"An attack by a single Iranian nuclear missile could have a catastrophic impact on the United States by causing an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) over aportion of the country," he said. "Such an attack could quickly turn a third ormore of the United States back to a 19th century level of development. Electrical transformers and switching stations would fall. Without electricity,hospitals would fails, water and sewage services would fail, gas stations wouldbe unable to provide petroleum, trucks would not be able to distribute foodsupplies, and essential services would rapidly disintegrate."

Gingrich said "this is not idle speculation, but taken from the consensusfindings of nine distinguished scientists who authored the Report of theCommission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse(EMP) Attack, which was delivered to the Congress on June 22, 2004, the same daythe 9-11 commission report was published."

Gingrich pointed out that such a sneak attack – especially if launched from amerchant ship at sea – could have the added benefit of deniability by Iran.

"Contemplating an EMP threat makes more troubling reports that certain Iranianmissile tests resulted in missiles that have detonated in flight at or nearapogee, which the Iranian press has reported as successful events," explained Gingrich.

"Normally, it would be expected that the ability to target specificlocations would be the standard for success for ballistic tests. However, if theability to launch an EMP attack was being tested, detonation at apogee would bethe measure of testing success. As noted by the EMP commission, a country withlimited nuclear capabilities and few choices as to delivery platforms has only afew options to deliver a deadly blow. An EMP attack would be on such strategy."

Today, Iranian lawmakers approved a bill requiring the government to blockinspections of atomic facilities if the International Atomic Energy Agencyrefers Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.When the bill becomes law, it will strengthen the government's hand inresisting international pressure to permanently abandon uranium enrichment, aprocess that can produce fuel for either nuclear reactors or nuclear bombs.

Iran resumed uranium-reprocessing activities a step before enrichment at itsIsfahan Uranium Conversion Facility in August.Last week, WND and G2 Bulletin reported most of the U.S. civilian population,military bases and nuclear-weapons assembly plants are within range of missileattacks by terrorists or rogue nations using merchant ships as launchingplatforms – an increasing concern by counter-terrorism and national security experts.

G2 Bulletin and WND first reported the shocking findings of the U.S. EMPcommission that rogue nations, such as Iran and North Korea, have the capabilityof launching an undetected, catastrophic EMP attack on the U.S. – and areactively developing plans.

"These electromagnetic pulses propagate from the burst point of the nuclearweapon to the line of sight on the Earth's horizon, potentially covering a vastgeographic region in doing so simultaneously, moreover, at the speed of light,"said Dr. Lowell Wood, acting chairman of the commission appointed by Congress tostudy the threat.

"For example, a nuclear weapon detonated at an altitude of 400kilometers over the central United States would cover, with its primary electromagnetic pulse, the entire continent of the United States and parts ofCanada and Mexico."

The commission, in its work over a period of several years, found that EMP isone of a small number of threats that has the potential to hold American societyseriously at risk and that might also result in the defeat of U.S. militaryforces.

"The electromagnetic field pulses produced by weapons designed and deployedwith the intent to produce EMP have a high likelihood of damaging electricalpower systems, electronics and information systems upon which any reasonablyadvanced society, most specifically including our own, depend vitally," Wood said.

"Their effects on systems and infrastructures dependent on electricity andelectronics could be sufficiently ruinous as to qualify as catastrophic to theAmerican nation.

"The commission concluded in its report to Congress earlier this year:
"EMP is one of a small number of threats that may hold at risk the continued existenceof today's U.S. civil society.''

Joseph Farah is editor and chief executive officer of WorldNetDaily.com.

L’Intifada en Los Estados Unidos: The French riots and us.

Mexican immigration may be a thorny issue for this nation for quite some time. As illegal aliens or at least their progeny, become legal voting citizens, then an emerging voting block unfolds. My own experience with Mexican labor has actually been favorable. The Mexican labor force works hard and is family oriented. Often time money is sent back to extended family in Mexico.

Even though I am wary of how an assimilated voting block of Mexicans may affect culture in the USA, I am terrified of the possibility of Mohammedans attempting to immigrate to the America. As compared to Mexicans, Mohammedan religion is intolerant of Western culture. At least Mexicans are a part of Western culture. Mohammedans will riot when (not if!) offended. The Mohammedan mindset of assimilation is not adaptation but of overwhelming the indigenous population. America, do not allow this to happen.

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By Mark Krikorian
November 17, 2005, 8:31 a.m.

“Their parents’ generation was invited to France as laborers who were expected to return home but didn’t.”— “France Beefs Up Response to Riots,” Washington Post, November 8, 2005

“This program expects temporary workers to return permanently to their home countries after their period of work in the United States has expired.” — President George W. Bush outlining his worker-importation plan, January 7, 2004

As Muslim insurgents burn France’s suburban Occupied Territories, Americans can be forgiven for thinking “Thank God we have Mexicans and not Arabs.” Mexicans are Christian and politically passive, and large numbers of them and their children have assimilated thoroughly into the American people. Niall Ferguson made just this point in the Los Angeles Times.

But American supporters of mass immigration might want to postpone the self-congratulation. While it’s true that in this area, as in so many others, America’s problems are less acute than other nations’, the proposals before Congress to massively increase the importation of foreign workers could create two, three, many Clichys-sous-Bois in our future.

There are two reasons for this, one about Mexicans and one not. Regarding Mexicans: If you think we have a lot now, just wait until the president’s plan gets passed. The Mexican-immigrant population has been soaring, and all of the “temporary” worker proposals before Congress would supercharge that growth, both through their legal entry mechanisms as well as through the additional illegal immigration they will inevitably stimulate. The total number of Mexicans in the U.S. has grown from less than 800,000 in 1970, to 2.2 million in 1980, 4.3 million in 1990, 7.9 million in 2000, and 10.8 million this year (that’s 37-percent growth just in the past five years).

Despite ludicrous claims by administration operatives that Mexican immigration will disappear on its own, Mexico’s own census agency forecasts between 3.5 and 5 million new immigrants to the U.S. per decade over the next generation, under current U.S. policy. Passage of the president’s plan or the McCain/Kennedy proposal — or even the less-egregious Kyl-Cornyn bill — would result in even more rapid increases in Mexican immigration, perhaps doubling yet again within a decade.
This is important because numbers matter; a Mexican immigrant population of 20 or 25 million is qualitatively different from today’s already-huge 11 million.

It would create more of a constituency for the Aztlan irredentism that is already a normal part of political debate on the Left in California; more immediately, it would facilitate the Mexican government’s anti-assimilation initiatives (described in detail here by Heather Mac Donald) designed to create a regime of shared Mexican-U.S. sovereignty over much of our population, with Mexico City serving, in effect, as a second federal government that local and state officials would be answerable to. And when we rouse ourselves to reassert our exclusive sovereignty, as the French state tried to do in the no-go zones of its immigrant suburbs, the pushback might well be as intense.

But, of course, the word “Mexico” never appears in any of the worker-importation plans before Congress. The old Bracero Program (that ran for 20 years until the 1960s and sparked the illegal-immigration wave in the first place) was limited to Mexicans — Mexican men, in fact — but today’s anti-discrimination ethos makes such restrictions impossible. So what happens when American employers eventually realize there are workers abroad willing to accept wages even lower than Mexicans will accept?

After all, Mexico is an upper-middle-income country by global standards, with a per-capita GDP in purchasing-power-parity terms of $9,600 — if you want huge amounts of really cheap labor, go to Indonesia (242 million people, 88 percent Muslim, per capita GDP $3,500) or Pakistan (162 million, 97 percent Muslim, GDP $2,200) or Bangladesh (144 million, 83 percent Muslim, GDP $2,000) or Egypt (77 million, 94 percent Muslim, GDP $4,200).

We have been fortunate in that our Muslim population is comparatively small (1 percent of our population, compared with 10 percent in France), well-educated, prosperous, ethnically diverse, and geographically dispersed — all factors making radicalism and alienation less likely. But a new foreign-worker scheme could undo these benefits, by importing large numbers of poor, uneducated, ghettoized Muslim peasants, who will be expected to go back, but won’t.

Instead of risking our security with huge, unmanageable foreign-worker programs, the Senate and president would be wise to adopt the House Republicans’ approach of promoting attrition of the illegal population through consistent, across-the-board law enforcement, something we’ve never tried before. This would facilitate the assimilation of legal immigrants already here, enable the immigration bureaucracy to catch its breath, encourage low-wage industries to modernize, and shrink the sea within which foreign radicals — of all kinds — are able to swim.

Neither George Bush nor John McCain — nor even Ted Kennedy — want immigrant uprisings in America’s cities.

But their immigration proposals would move us in that direction. We need to choose a different path.

— NRO contributor Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/krikorian200511170831.asp
Find more at http://www.slantright.com.

Assad Takes New, Harsher Tone With U.N.

It looks like the a confrontation is brewing. Possibly Syria is feeling safe with some money and power nations like Iran and Russia backing them up.
Time will tell.
The link was found at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051117/ap_on_re_mi_ea/syria_defying_the_world.

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By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 17, 5:48 AM ET

In Syria, even the prisoners are supporting the government in its standoff with the United Nations: They're on a three-day hunger strike to express solidarity.

It's all part of a new and more aggressive stance by President Bashar Assad, who's made clear in recent days that his country intends to fight back hard against a U.N. probe that implicated Syria in murder.

Some may dismiss the hunger strike as a government-staged stunt. But it shows how far Damascus will go to prove that normal Syrians support the president:

• Children ages 6 to 10 have held a pro-regime sit-in.
• Syria's black, red and white flag flutters from all balconies and car windows.
• And, according to an association that cares for prisoners, 90 percent of inmates in Damascus jails began a hunger strike this week to protest the international pressure.

It all comes in the wake of a hardline speech last week in which Assad told his people the U.N. investigation into the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was just a Western pretext to come after Syria.

"It's a declaration that they're not going to cooperate," said Joshua Landis, a University of Oklahoma professor, who is spending the year in Damascus as a Fulbright scholar.

In his speech, Assad said Syria would resist, rather than yield to the pressure, because the "enemy's" strategy was to "kill yourself, or I kill you."
"The result is the same, but when you kill yourself the enemy deprives you of two things: First, the honor of defending yourself; and second, the possibility of harming him," the president said.

Assad's defiant tone was surprising given that all 15 members of the U.N. Security Council voted to pass a resolution that calls on Syria to cooperate fully with the probe or risk unspecified "further action."

But in the speech, Assad indicated that he believes Syria still has some bargaining chips to play in the region, especially in Lebanon and Iraq.
"It was not a negotiating speech," said Sateh Nourredine in a column in Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper. "It was meant to threaten to overturn the table."

Iran and Russia are providing some backup.

Iran, Syria's longtime strategic ally in the region, is the main backer of Hezbollah, the Lebanese guerrilla group that Washington labels as terrorist. Iran's foreign minister visited Damascus on Monday, giving Syria a much needed boost.

Russia also has remained relatively supportive of its former Cold War ally: On Wednesday, Russia's national security chief Igor Ivanov met with Assad and distanced his country from America's strong criticism, saying Syria was cooperating with the U.N. investigation.

Syria has so far opposed the U.N. investigators' request to question six officials, reportedly including Assad's brother-in-law, about Hariri's murder in Lebanon.

Landis said the challenge for Assad now is to keep Syrians on his side.
"Syria's in for a very dark period ahead," said Landis. "The president is in a real struggle to keep people close to him."

Normal Syrians fear that if their country is in any way punished by the United Nations, the population of 18 million would end up paying for the regime's decision not to cooperate.

Already there are signs of public nervousness, reflected in a weakening Syrian pound as the demand for the dollar increases.

Despite measures to shore up the local currency, the Syrian pound traded at 56.60 pounds to the dollar on the black market Wednesday, down from 54 to the dollar a couple of months ago, weakening the buying power of the local currency.

Putting a brave face on the developments, Syria's deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Abdullah al-Dardari, told a news conference late Tuesday that Syria "cannot be broken."

But he added: "It is wise that a person know what he's facing."
Some Syrians say reform is the best way to rally people around the regime and deflect pressures.

But Assad dashed the hopes of many who had expected him last week to announce specific steps for political and economic change. He said that although the reform process will continue, it will not be sped up.

"I do not claim that we are moving fast and have never said that," he said.

Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

Is the Valerie Plame-CIA Leak Case Crumbling?

O what wicked web liars weave when they set out to deceive? Theyget caught in their own web of deception. Fitzgerald is reaching forimaginary straws to prosecute a case that is emerging as a witchhunt for Conservatives when the only witches are self-incriminatingliberals.

Again it appears the Democrats are sinking in their own mud. Go to http://www.slantright.com/ to read more.

___________________________________________________________

by Jim Kouri, CPP
November 17, 2005 06:34 AM EST

What a difference a few weeks make in the world of politics. One day, the Democrat Party and the mainstream news media are celebrating the indictment of a key White House staff member, then suddenly facts start to emerge that just might put a damper on the prosecutors case.

Recall how Patrick Fitzgerald announced the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice charges. During his jovial press conference, Mr. Fitzgerald lectured Americans about how serious it is to leak classified information. He avoided using the term "covert" when describing Valerie Plame, because in order for the leak charge to be a crime that's exactly what she would have had to be -- a covert agent. And it's pretty clear now that she wasn't.

Suddenly there is growing doubt about Fitzgerald's case since the legendary journalist Bob Woodward announced that he knew about Plame's identity weeks before the exchange between Libby and Newsweek's Matt Cooper. And he further stated that it wasn't Libby who told him.

Bob Woodward's own description of when and where he learned the identity of a CIA operative contradicts Patrick Fitzgerald's allegation that Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide was the first to make the disclosure to reporters. Recall how Fitzgerald stated as fact that the leak began with Libby's conversations with reporters. Apparently, that's not true.

Woodward claims he told his editors at the Washington Post last month that he had learned about Valerie Plame's identity and her work at the CIA more than two years ago, but declined to name his source.

Another less reported, but equally important, event occurred following Libby's indictment. Major General Paul Vallely, US Army (Ret.) said that prior to the alleged leak, Ambassador Joe Wilson bragged to the general that his wife, Valerie, worked for the CIA. And General Vallely is not the only person making such claims.

Also, news organizations are asking, through their attorneys, that US District Judge Reggie Walton deny a court motion by special prosecutor Fitzgerald for a blanket protective order keeping all pretrial evidence in Libby's case out of public view. One wonders if Mr. Fitzgerald disclosed this evidence to Libby's trial attorneys. Libby's legal counsel is entitled to full disclosure.

As the trial date approaches look for more stories to break. For instance, Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press" is a key figure in the case since he denies having told Libby about Plame's CIA position. Libby testified that he believed it was Russert who told him about Plame. Mr. Russert's conduct as a newsman has been criticized by several news watchdog organizations for his coverage of a case in which he is deeply involved.

I predicted that the attorneys for Libby would make things very uncomfortable for some members of the mainstream news media. These people have crossed the line between being unbiased journalists and covert political operatives perhaps once too often. Does anyone believe Dan Rather and Mary Mapes were the only ones? Elite media's cozy relationship with the DNC and liberal activist groups must be exposed to the American people, many of whom still believe what they read in the newspapers and see and hear on their televisions.

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. He writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a staff writer for New Media Alliance (thenma.org), and he's a columnist for TheConservativeVoice.Com, AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com.

[Found at http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=10030]

© 2005 The Conservative Voice. All rights reserved. Some portions ©The Associated Press.