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Tuesday, November 30, 2010
HUNTERS - SHOOTERS: The Florida Security Council 2010 (Please Forward)
Rep. King says prosecute WikiLeaks
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U.S. Rep. Peter King says prosecute WikiLeaks U.S. Rep. Peter King, in line to be the next chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has once again demonstrated he’s the right man for the job. As the story below notes, Rep. King has publicly called for WikiLeaks to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act and designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. In our view Rep. King is correct. The continuing dumps of these classified documents will ultimately damage our ability to successfully prosecute the war on Islamist terrorism, if for no other reason than other countries will feel reluctant to share vital intelligence information with us. U.S. Rep. King’s determination, his willingness to identify our enemies by name and ideology, and his public criticism of political correctness, deserve our thanks. If you would like to send Rep. King a short email, thanking him for his efforts to protect our safety and freedoms, please click here. Scroll down to the Action Alerts and click on the top alert titled “Thank you! U.S. Representative Pete King.” That will take you to the text box for the e-mail. Feel free to edit the e-mail as you would like to thank him for his efforts. After you have edited the letter, enter your name and contact information then click send message. Make sure to mention you’re part of ACT! for America! Please email rather than calling his office. We don’t want to jam his office phone lines with messages of “thank you”! http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2010/11/29/131664547/wikileaks-is-a-terror-outfit-rep-peter-king WikiLeaks Is A Terror Outfit: Rep. Peter King Categories: National Security, White House, Congress 10:01 am November 29, 2010 Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican, said late Sunday that the unauthorized release of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks, some with sensitive and embarrassing information related to foreign allies, was worse than a terror or military attack and should be dealt with accordingly. That's saying something coming from King who many in the media view as one of the nation's leading political voices for a region that was intimately affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. King, who represents a Long Island district, is also expected to chair the House Homeland Security Committee when Republicans take over the lower chamber in January which will give him a highly visible perch from which to press his views. King expressed his opinion on New York City's all-news radio stations Sunday. An excerpt from an Associated Press/WINS radio report: “This is worse even than a physical attack on Americans, it’s worse than a military attack,” King said. King has written letters to both U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking for swift action to be taken against WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. King wants Holder to prosecute Assange under the Espionage Act and has also called on Clinton to determine whether WikiLeaks could be designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. “By doing that we will be able to seize their funds and go after anyone who provides them with any help or contributions or assistance whatsoever,” King said. “The Attorney General and I don’t always agree on different issues. But I believe on this one, he and I strongly agree that there should be a criminal prosecution,” King told WCBS 880. King reiterated his views Monday morning on NBC's Today Show. King's statements indicate the kind of pressure the Obama Administration is likely to come under to use the full extent of executive power against Assange. Anything short of that could leave the administration open to further charges that it is relatively weak on national security matters. That could allow the administration's critics to build on attacks they made after Obama announced his plans, since frustrated, to close the Guantanamo prison facility and his administration's controversial decision to have civilian trials for some admitted or suspected terrorists. Both President Obama and Secretary State Hillary Clinton are due to make statements Monday morning to talk about the WikiLeaks release. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACT for America P.O. Box 12765 Pensacola, FL 32591 www.actforamerica.org ACT for America is an issues advocacy organization dedicated to effectively organizing and mobilizing the most powerful grassroots citizen action network in America, a grassroots network committed to informed and coordinated civic action that will lead to public policies that promote America’s national security and the defense of American democratic values against the assault of radical Islam. We are only as strong as our supporters, and your volunteer and financial support is essential to our success. Thank you for helping us make America safer and more secure. The news items, blogs, educational materials and other information in our emails and on our website are only intended to provide information, news and commentary on events and issues related to the threat of radical Islam. Much of this information is based upon media sources, such as the AP wire services, newspapers, magazines, books, online news blog and news services, and radio and television, which we deem to be reliable. However, we have undertaken no independent investigation to verify the accuracy of the information reported by these media sources. We therefore disclaim all liability for false or inaccurate information from these media sources. We also disclaim all liability for the third-party information that may be accessed through the material referenced in our emails or posted on our website. HOW CAN I TELL OTHERS ABOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION? Send a personalized version of this message to your friends. HOW CAN I SUPPORT YOUR ORGANIZATION? Click here to give an online donation. |
MEF Wire: Baram on "The Battle for Iraq" (with audio)
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Please take a moment to visit and log in at the subscriber area, and submit your city & country location. We will use this information in future to invite you to any events that we organize in your area. The Battle for IraqA briefing by Amatzia Baram http://www.meforum.org/2790/battle-for-iraq
Dr. Baram began his talk by contrasting the Iraqi election results of 2005 with those of 2010, finding some striking differences. The Shi'a parties, which were originally one bloc and won 47.3% of the seats in 2005, were by 2010 divided into three factions, the largest of which is led by the current Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and no longer advocates an overtly Shi'a Islamist, pro-Iranian agenda. On the Sunni side, offshoot parties of the Muslim Brotherhood had their proportion of seats reduced from 16% in 2005 to less than 2% in 2010, while Ayad Allawi's secular bloc won 28% of the seats in 2010, up from a mere 9% in 2005. In short, Allawi tripled his representation and became the biggest party in parliament.
A compromise, a pre-condition for the success of the new government, seems to have been reached, but in view of his semi-dictatorial and sectarian policies during his first term as PM, Maliki is suspected by the Sunni minority. The U.S. suggested a compromise whereby Maliki becomes Prime Minister and Allawi is made President, with the Iraqi constitution altered to allow the President to have real power. This promising idea fell through. Instead, Allawi will apparently lead a committee for national security and strategic decisions, but its real authorities are not clear for now. Mr. Baram went on to emphasize that the surge was only one factor in achieving limited political stability in Iraq, and that engagement with the Sunni tribes was equally if not more important to the success in quelling around 90% of the insurgency within less than two years. Nevertheless, the tribes now feel abandoned and betrayed by the U.S. as Maliki has arrested Sunni leaders in tribal areas, often without due process, and reduced salary payments to the tribal policemen/militiamen and Sunni city militias (al-Sahwah and Sons-of-Iraq). Many Sunnis are therefore alienated from Maliki's government. As a result, a minority of Sunnis has returned to the insurgency. Even so, most Sunnis are generally pragmatic and still willing to work with the Americans or even with Maliki, if he shares power. Mr. Baram stressed the need for continued engagement with the Sunni tribes. (In fact, many Shi'i tribes, too, are more than willing to keep in touch with the Americans). He concluded by noting that some tribal Sunnis, including some of those who were Saddam's staunchest supporters, no longer view Israel as an expansionist threat. Some even consider Israel as a potential ally against Iran, the latter being considered the real expansionist threat. Mr. Baram recommended to keep the U.S. connection to the tribes and make sure that power at the center will, indeed, be shared more-or-less equally between all three main political blocs: Shi'is, Sunnis and Kurds. Asked about the nature of Grand Ayatollah Sistani, Mr. Baram explained that, unlike the rest of the Iranian leadership, Sistani is not the sort of radical who believes in forcing the Shari'a on the people, and that despite his influence he prefers to keep out of Iraqi politics. However, in the near future he could serve as an arbiter of political power among the main blocs in the Iraqi parliament.
Related Topics: Iraq Amatzia Baram This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL. | |||||
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According to Mr. Baram, there were three reasons why the political deadlock persisted for eight months: 1) Iraq's voting system is similar to that of Israel's, which allows parties that do not have the largest number of seats to form ruling coalitions. Maliki and Allawi, each believed that he should be Prime Minister. Allawi, because his party is the largest, Maliki because he could build a governing coalition more easily. This is precisely the Israeli syndrome: Livni heading the largest party, but Netanyahu succeeding in building a majority coalition. 2) There is an intense rivalry between the two leaders. 3) Thirty-five years of essentially Sunni hegemony and dictatorship and, afterwards, the bloody civil war of 2005-2008 left a heavy legacy of mutual fear and mistrust. Each camp can be satisfied only if they have all the security and economic authority, leaving nothing of substance to the opposite camp.
How One Man Awakened
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 I RECEIVED the following email a little while ago. I am always interested in how people come to realize Islam is not a "religion of peace." I've collected many such stories, and they remind me that when someone doesn't seem to "get it," all is not lost. Information sinks in and sometimes has a delayed effect. Here is how one man came to understand that the comforting notions about Islam we get from our politicians and mainstream media are misleading and incomplete:Hi CW, I wanted to share my story with you because you might find it interesting. You have my permission to post any of it if you would like to. But first let me say I have been looking into Islam 24/7 minus sleep and eat time for almost three months and I think your site might be the most important I have found yet because it actually helps answer the question of what to do. I spent about six hours reading on your site tonight. That is the longest I have spent on any site upon first discovering it. And I will be back tomorrow to read more and I am sure I will be back several times. I’ll even have to make a MUST READ section in my blogroll for your site. THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO! In '98 I was working evening shift and saw a late-night commercial offering a free Koran. Because I have an interest in all religions, especially Christian Cults, I ordered it and read it even though it was a very difficult read. I noticed peaceful verses and violent verses but did not know what to make of it all. Then after 9/11 I read the Koran again and this time I discovered a verse that talked about later verses superseding earlier verses. But I did not know which were early and later verses. Even after this and 9/11 I still believed that Islam was not a big concern for me as the only ones blowing things up were “terrorists” and not all Muslims were terrorists, right? Then came 9/09/10. It was the day that changed my life and mission. Because I have Mormons, Oneness Pentecostals, Word of Faithers and Bible Missionaries in my family, I had devoted the last 10 years to Christian Cult Apologetics, and then along came Pastor Terry Jones. Needless to say he and his Burn a Koran Day changed my life. Here is why: On 9/9/10 I visited a friend's political blog and saw a post about the Burn a Koran Day. I’m not really sure why, but I thought, "This jerk could set the whole world ablaze if he burns those Korans." I visited Jones' site and also went to his Facebook page and a Facebook page that was against the Koran burning. What I saw shocked me. It went like this: "We will kill you all if you burn our Koran,” and non-Muslims responded by saying: "Not if we kill you all first." The non-Muslims were posting videos of Muslims burning people alive, beheading people, stoning people, hanging people, beating women, etc. I had seen a couple of these videos but had no idea there were so many. And of course on 9/11 they were showing all the tributes on TV which included the jumpers from the towers. I was really overwhelmed but still spent a total of five days on those Facebook pages.  One day as soon as I awoke, it dawned on me that I never saw a single Muslim denounce those atrocious videos without also half-heartedly justifying them. And many Muslims outright condoned the terrible acts. That day I noticed that far too many of the ones who condoned such acts were living in the West. I knew right then that there are not as many “moderate Muslims” as myself and most people thought. I decided that day that I would be changing the focus of my ministry and dedicating my life to studying Islam and telling others about its dangers. I started a blog on Islam and because I am disabled I plan on doing anti-jihad work full-time until I die.I have been really blessed in that I have been able to educate my friends about Islam with hardly any resistance and they have been educating others. So far I have lost no personal relationships in doing so even though I alienated a couple of people in a Word of Faith Recovery forum I run for people who have had bad experiences in WoF churches — but all I did was quote the Koran and Ahadith. I guess my friends have listened because they respect me and tell others that if they have a question about religion, I am the guy to ask — they know about all I do is study. I had the idea that I would get myself some conversation-starting Islam T-shirts so I could strike up a conversation with my local Muslim convenient store clerks and strangers, but after spending time on your site tonight I no longer feel that is necessary. I think after I spend some more time on your site reading your ‘what to do” and “how to do it” articles, I should have the confidence and skill to not be afraid to start conversations with anyone. SO THANK YOU SO MUCH. I saw you say you're not Christian, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist, so I hope you take no offense in me saying that I hope God will bless you for all the great work you have done. I would bless you with a donation if I could. THANKS AGAIN, Damon Whitsell TheReligionOfConquest.com  |
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