The founder of the United American Committee recently returned from a visit to Europe where he met with Conservative politicians and saw the actual conditions in France & Holland. Those conditions should serve as a warning to Americans.
Please see UAC founder Jesse Petrilla’s article in today’s FrontPage Magazine describing in detail his recent experiences in Europe with jihad and liberalism, and the implications it has on America. Read it now by clicking here.
Please forward this article to everyone you can, and post links to it on your blogs to warn the nation of the failed policies that brought about Europe’s problems, and how those problems will come to America if we stay on the same course.
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Army Sgt. 1st Class James Morton records himself reading a book to his daughter, Emily, at Camp Victory, Iraq, Jan. 27, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Frank Vaughn
Reading Program Connects Deployed Soldiers With Their Children
By Army Sgt. Frank Vaughn Special to American Forces Press Service
CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, Jan. 29, 2009 – A program in Iraq is helping deployed soldiers bond with their children back home through books.
United Through Reading, a nonprofit organization, gives deployed soldiers an opportunity to record themselves reading stories on a DVD that is shipped home for their children to watch.
The program, available worldwide for deployed units, is coordinated here by Army Capt. (Chaplain) Mike Jones, chaplain for the 10th Mountain Division Special Troop Battalion, and his assistant, Army Spc. Annamarie Greenfield.
To participate, soldiers first choose a book from the collection, along with a miniature stuffed animal to help them tell their story. Soldiers may send the book and the furry friend home with the DVD as a keepsake.
“That’s one of the neat things about this program,” Greenfield said. “The book and the animal make a good heirloom for kids, grandkids and so on.”
More than 80 soldiers have participated in the program since its inception here in June.
“We have handed out around 140 DVDs so far,” Greenfield said. “Some soldiers come back to do it again and again.”
Army Sgt. 1st Class James Morton, noncommissioned officer in charge of the battalion’s security section, is one of the program’s repeat customers. He said he enjoys reading books via DVD to his 4-year-old daughter, Emily.
“I first discovered this program when I was deployed to Qatar in 2005,” Morton said. “Since coming to Camp Victory, I’ve done it at least seven or eight times.”
While the United Through Reading program helps soldiers like Morton stay connected with their children and loved ones, the benefit to their families is apparent as well.
“One of the major reasons I do this over and over again is because of the stress relief it gives my wife,” Morton said. “She pops in a DVD of me when my little girl is sad.” Morton said his daughter is glued to the television when he’s on the screen. “She likes having daddy around,” he said. “She’s definitely a daddy’s girl.”
While the program benefits deployed soldiers with children, it is not limited to parents.
“People can read stories to nieces, nephews, cousins or whomever they choose to do this for,” Greenfield said. “We can even set them up to read to school children they don’t even know if they so desire.”
(Army Sgt. Frank Vaughn serves in Multinational Division Center.) (Defenselink here)
COLONEL’S MARK – An Iraqi Army colonel raises his right hand outside of the Zafraniyah polling site to show his purple index finger, a sign he voted during the “special” voting day of the provincial elections in Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 28, 2009. The vote took place before the general provincial election, scheduled for Jan. 31, to accommodate Iraqi Security Forces, detainees, hospital patients and other special needs cases. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Douglas York (source)
Today is a wonderful day that will be ignored by those in the media who do not care about our men and women in the Armed Forces and the people we have liberated, but the news is available if you only seek outside of the United States! There are a few places within the states that are carrying this story, but they pay the AP for the copy right. Amazingly, they all say the same thing! That’s real journalism? LOL.
I admit, after reading these articles, I do not believe I could write a better article than Taipei Times has written. So without further adeiu, here is their article with a little interruption for an image and a quote from ABC News.
Early voting begins in Iraq elections.
AGENCIES, BAGHDAD Thursday, Jan 29, 2009, Page 4
Iraqi policemen hold up their ink-stained fingers after casting their vote in the country’s provincial elections in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009. The polls opened Wednesday for members of the Iraqi security forces, detainees and hospital patients. General voting is scheduled on Saturday. (Hadi Mizban/AP Photo), courtesy of ABC News.
Soldiers, police, prisoners and displaced people began early voting yesterday ahead of Saturday’s provincial election in Iraq, which will determine the political landscape across the country as US forces withdraw.
Iraqis held in detention were also expected to take part in the early voting.
US and Iraqi authorities hoped the election would open the political process to more groups and further erode support for extremist networks….
And this really IS B*N*S*N and you won’t have seen this in the msm. But, you can read the rest of this one here.
I know this one doesn’t fall in the usual “great news from the sandbox” that B*N*S*N usually shares. However, this really DOES qualify as B*N*S*N in my books.
AFP/POOL/File – A guard leans on a fencepost as a Guantanamo detainee, left, jogs inside the exercise yard at Camp 5 …
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A military judge at Guantanamo Bay Thursday rejected President Barack Obama‘s request to suspend the trial of a Saudi accused in the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, the Pentagon said.
“Judge James Pohl denied the motion” put forward by the prosecution at the request of Obama to suspend the trial for 120 days, said Defense Department spokesman J.D. Gordon, confirming a report by The Washington Post.
The October 2000 attack on the Cole left 17 people dead and injured many more.
In his first full day in office last week, Obama ordered the closure of the controversial detention center within a year and for a review of the cases of each of the “war on terror” suspects still held there.
But no decision has yet been made on what to do with the estimated 245 detainees still held at Guantanamo, most of them without charge.
Saudi defendant Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, 43, was due to say whether he pleads guilty or not at a hearing set for February.
See what I mean? Who’d a thunk it? Thanks to CJ for sending me this one.
This series of posts quoting various Islamic Jurists’ Fiqh on offensive Jihad is derived from FOMI’s Offensive Jihad Thread, which I saved prior to the forum’s censorship by the Swedish government. The Offensive Jihad Thread is preserved in FOMIJihad.chm.
Sharia: the path to the living waters; threatening to drown the world in blood. It is Islamic law, derived from Allah’s word and Moe’s Sunnah, the constitution & precedent.
“Umdat as-Salik wa ‘Uddat an-Nasik (Reliance of the Traveller and Tools of the Worshipper, also commonly known by its shorter title Reliance of the Traveller) is a classical manual of fiqh for the Shafi’i school of Islamic jurisprudence.” Here is the Wikipedia entry.
The book is about 1200 pages long. While you can search it at Muhaddith, there are some limitations to the search. The text has been posted an an educational site. I suggest using the Ctrl F search function to find what you are seeking if you go here and delve into it: http://www.nku.edu/~kenneyr/Islam/Reliance.html .
Scribid displays a scanned image of the book. Somehow they arranged a means of searching it, which works much faster than I expected. Of course you can’t cut and paste from it, but it should be useful for verifying content found in other sources.
Allah.com displays a text file, so you can copy & paste. That will facilitate using quotes in blog posts. Unfortunately, they renamed and rearranged the books, and added a half dozen. Two columns are displayed, on the left, a list of the books and a code for deciphering the original names. Book O is transmuted to Book 9. Links to the entry points are in the right hand column.
Offensive Jihad is fard Kifaya, a communal obligation jointly binding on all capable male Muslims until a sufficient number are recruited. This concept is raised in quotes from several Jurists. Numbers in parenthesis refer to order in this series of posts.
Fard denotes obligatory religious duty. Fard al-ayn is binding on all individuals, such as the five daily prayers. Fard al-kifaya is a communal obligation. The obligation to attack Kuffar is fard al-kifaya. The obligation to repulse invaders is fard al-ayn..
The duty to attack Kuffar is particularly addressed to the Imam. This is raised by several of our Jurists.
al-Mawardi (5)
al-Ghazali (6)
Ziauddin Barani (11)
Ziauddin Barani (13)
Ziauddin Barani (15)
Shah Wali-Allah (19)
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam (23)
Several of the rulings we examined mention the ayat which make offensive Jihad obligatory.
9:29. Fight against those who (1) believe not in Allâh, (2) nor in the Last Day, (3) nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allâh and His Messenger (4) and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islâm) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.
9:38. O you who believe! What is the matter with you, that when you are asked to march forth in the Cause of Allâh (i.e. Jihâd) you cling heavily to the earth? Are you pleased with the life of this world rather than the Hereafter? But little is the enjoyment of the life of this world as compared with the Hereafter.
9:39 If you march not forth, He will punish you with a painful torment and will replace you by another people, and you cannot harm Him at all, and Allah is Able to do all things.
Allah commanded Muslims to fight Jews & Christians. He reprimanded those who refused, threatening them with Hellfire and luring them with the promise of Paradise.
Umdat as-Salik tells us what the Caliph does and why:
O9.8: The Objectives of Jihad
The caliph (o25) makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians (N: provided he has first invited them to enter Islam in faith and practice, and if they will not, then invited them to enter the social order of Islam by paying the non-Muslim poll tax (jizya, def: o11.4) -which is the significance of their paying it, not the money itself-while remaining in their ancestral religions) (O: and the war continues) until they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax (O: in accordance with the word of Allah Most High,
“Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day and who forbid not what Allah and His messenger have forbidden-who do not practice the religion of truth, being of those who have been given the Book-until they pay the poll tax out of hand and are humbled” (Koran 9.29),
The Caliph makes war on “people of the Book” because Allah ordered it in 9:29. Later in the chapter, the duties of the Caliph are listed. One of them isof interest.
O25.9-8 and if the area has a border adjacent to enemy lands, an eighth duty arises, namely to undertake jihad against enemies, dividing the spoils of battle among combatants, and setting aside fifth (def: o10.3) for deserving recipients.
Riyad-us-Saliheen, Book 11, Chapter 234 lists several relevant ayat and many relevant ahadith, with commentary. Other relevant ayat are translated and explained, along with relevant ahadith in the following topics in Ibn Kathir’s Tafsir. These demonstrate the obligation of Jihad, supremacism & triumphalism.
I have now made available to you ample evidence of the fact that Islam is a war cult, not a “great religion of peace”. If you will turn to Sahih Bukhari and read these books, you will know that Moe was a warmonger. That should be sufficient to convince you that Islam has not been hijacked by a violent minority of extremists.
Sderot Student, 23, Addresses UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
Liraz Madmony, 23 of Sderot, grew up under Palestinian rocket fire for eight years of her life. Although a rocket has never directly hit her home, Liraz has experienced the terror of rocket explosions countless times. “We don’t have a bomb shelter in our house,” she recently told SMC. “Every time, the Tzeva Adom is set off, our family races to the shower, the only room that is most ‘secure’ from a rocket attack.”
Liraz Madmony with Israeli representative to the UN.
Liraz is a law student in a Ramat Gan college in central Israel and is heavily involved with student organizations such as WUJS (World Union of Jewish Students). “Many times I’ve missed my law classes and student activities because of the rocket attacks. It’s almost impossible to lead a normal life when you are forced to live under with warning alerts and raining rockets.”
While Liraz admits that balancing life as a college student and a resident in a war-zone can at times be very difficult, she recently found the time to share her story with the world community. Thanks to a trip coordinated by UN Watch two weeks ago, Liraz Madmony addressed the UN Human Rights Council Special Session on Gaza in Geneva, on behalf of the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) on January 12, 2009.
“It was a very moving moment for me,” says Liraz. “Here I was standing in front of all these people–in Geneva, Switzerland–representing the people of Sderot and all our years of suffering and terror.”
Liraz is just a normal person, leading a normal life, wanting only the rockets to stop. In the last 8 years dozens of UN resolutions were passed condemning Israel. Not one has ever been passed condemning Hamas. And yet Israel is suppose to accept all the resolutions passed by the UN.
From 90210 to Sderot: Get the Story Right!
I just returned from a two week visit to Israel. I spent my last weekend in Sderot and the Western Negev. One year out from volunteering in Sderot, I have written this piece on the international media’s lack of context in covering the current conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Hundreds of journalists from all over the world just left Sderot and the surrounding areas covering the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. Where were they one year ago? Where were they four years ago, eight years ago? I spent six weeks volunteering in Sderot exactly one year ago, and I can tell you, the journalists were no where to be found.
Unfortunately for Israel, it took eight years for the international community to understand that innocent civilians in a western democracy live daily under the current threat of rocket fire. During this time, the range of the threat expanded from a tens of thousands to over one million innocent Jewish and Muslim Israeli citizens.
In these eight years, has the UN Security Council ever condemned nearly a decade of rocket fire on innocent civilians of one of its member states, Hamas’ use of human shields, and its use of schools, hospitals, and mosques to store and launch rockets at Israel?
Are you laughing at me for even thinking to ask such a question? Well you should be, because why would anyone assume the international community to be, um, sensible?
Maybe they could be just a little rational? Nah, that’s just too silly!
Furthermore, has any news organization mentioned the fact Israel is the only western democracy in the entire world that has a significant – let alone any – part of its population living under the threat of daily rocket fire?
“Oh it’s just Israel, who cares right?” “They can take it?” Or rather, “Maybe they deserve it, right?”
Well you know what I have to say that…
I’d also like to thank the international media for providing ZERO context for the humanitarian issues of the Palestinian people.
Let me describe to you a little bit of Israel’s commitment to helping the Palestinians suffering from the wrath of their authoritarian, fanatical terrorist rulers, Hamas.
From the beginning of Operation Cast Lead, December 27, 2008, until January 12, 2009:
– 926 truckloads (22,046 tons) of humanitarian aid were delivered to Gaza
– 449 dual nationals were evacuated from Gaza
– 3000 units of blood were donated by Jordan and transferred into Gaza
– 5 ambulances were donated by Turkey and transferred into Gaza
– 5 ambulances were transferred from the West Bank to Gaza on behalf of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society
– 34 people were evacuated to Israel for medical needs
On Jan. 7, 2009, the IDF decided it would ceasefire for three hours each day in order to let humanitarian aid reach civilians in the Gaza Strip.
I love when this gets mentioned, and they say three hours is simply not enough. So, Israel should stop defending its civilians all together, fully commit itself to giving aid to the other side, and allow terrorists to fire rockets at it and threaten one million of its population?
Do you find it a tad bit odd that Israel is forced not only to defend its own citizens, but those of its enemies as well? Well I don’t…I mean, isn’t every western democracy supposed to do that during wars? Duh!
I got a question for you Mr. and Mrs. International Media.
Israel is the bad guy? Are you kidding me!
What does Hamas do for Israeli civilians? Oh yeah, they’ve been terrorizing them with rockets for the last eight years!
What other country, when immersed in a full scale war, commits itself to providing humanitarian aid to their enemy? Oh yeah, Russia!
I am suppose to accept that the world media isn’t biased against Israel. And then I am suppose to acknowledge the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny too. Right. If it was not so tragic, I would laugh.
An Illusion of Normalcy?
An uncertain calm rests upon Sderot at the moment. The sounds of war have disappeared, replaced by the sounds of a city slowly coming back to life. The click of the intercom followed by the voice that repeatedly stated Tzeva Adom, followed by the rocket explosion a few seconds later seems to be something of the past.
But daily news reports on Palestinian terror activity from Gaza are constant reminders to Israelis in Sderot and the western Negev that the calm remains seemingly temporarily.
Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire on Saturday night, January 17 at 2:00 am, which ended Operation Cast Lead, a 3-week offensive against Hamas. It was Israel’s longest offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, following two brief military offenses in the Gaza Strip in 2004 and 2006 in response to Qassam attacks that killed two Israeli girls, and wounded several other civilians.
Sderot children play around protected shelters.
Two day after the ceasefire was declared; Palestinian terrorists fired 8 mortar rockets at Israel on Tuesday morning, January 20. Palestinian militants also opened fire on IDF soldiers in Gaza. On Tuesday evening, the last of the IDF troops had pulled out of Gaza before the inauguration of US President Barack Obama at 6 PM. Israel time.
On Tuesday, January 27, Palestinian terrorists carried out the first deadly attack on Israel since the ceasefire concluded. An Israeli soldier was killed on Tuesday morning when an explosive device set at the Kissufim crossing along the Gaza Strip border exploded as an IDF force patrolled the area. Another officer was seriously injured, with one leg amputated and another severely damage. Two other soldiers suffered from extensive shrapnel wounds, but were categorized as lightly hurt. They remain hospitalized.
IAF jets struck a weapon manufacturing site in the Rafah area late on Wednesday night, in response to a Kassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel several hours earlier.
t was the IDF’s first attack on a building inside the Strip since the end of Operation Cast Lead.
The Kassam was fired at southern Israel a day after Gaza operatives breached the cease-fire with a deadly bomb attack along the border.
The rocket hit an open area in the Eshkol region, causing no casualties or damage.
Hamas can violation a cease-fire and the world says nothing. Israel strikes back and there are riots in the streets. Can anyone see a double standard here? I do.
Like always, Israel will do what it has to do to survive. And like always I once again send out a plea for donations for the Sderot Media Center. The donation you give goes directly to the victims of the terror. To donate either click the logos on the top or bottom of the page or go here. The people of Sderot will be very grateful.
Miss Beth's Stomping Grounds 