Department of the Defenseless

By Joe Kaufman
FrontPageMagazine.com Monday, January 28, 2008

There used to be a time when the greatest threat within the United States government emanated from Arabists in the State Department, Arabists meaning those persons who favor Arab interests and positions in international affairs. Today, a new threat has emerged and from the most unlikely of places, the Department of Defense (DOD), and this time it’s not from Arabists but from Islamists, coming from outside the department, looking to infiltrate the most sensitive of areas in our nation.

On September 1, 2006, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England was featured as a speaker at the 43rd annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America or ISNA. He began his speech by stating the following:

Friends, fellow Americans, people of faith - Good afternoon! Thank you to Dr. Louay Safi for the kind introduction, and a special thank you to Sheikh Muhammad Nur Abdulla, and Dr. Ingrid Mattson, for your leadership and for the invitation to join you at this Islamic Society of North America conference.

Thank you also for the pleasant lunch, and the opportunity to dialog with the Society’s leadership. It was most beneficial to share ideas and values.

It is a profound honor for me to be here with you today, representing all the men and women in the United States military, and all the civilians who serve America in the Department of Defense and throughout the US Government.

ISNA was established by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB)-associated Muslim Students Association (MSA) in 1981, helped into existence by a group of MSA alumni and a teaching assistant at North Carolina State University (NCSU) named Sami Al-Arian, who only two years prior co-founded Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Egypt. ISNA was incorporated using the same physical address as the MSA, which was also the address used to incorporate the American Hamas financing wing, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF).
In December of 2003, ISNA was the subject of a terrorism investigation launched by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee “into possible links between nongovernmental organizations and terrorist financing networks.”

In June of 2007, ISNA was named an “unindicted co-conspirator” in a legal case brought by the Justice Department against HLF officials that dealt with the funding of millions of dollars to Hamas. During the trial, a May 1991 MB document bearing ISNA’s name was presented as evidence, stating: “The Ikhwan [Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and G-d’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

Even today, right on ISNA’s official website, one can read the following quotes: “May Allah fight the jews and the christians. They took the graves of their Prophets as places of prostration . Two deens [religions] shall not co-exist in the land of the Arabs.” And “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. ‘O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.’” The statements have been on ISNA’s site since March of 2006, months before England gave his speech.

Furthermore, ISNA Executive Council member Muhammad Nur Abdullah (see above) and board members Jamal Badawi, Yusuf Ziya Kavakci, and Muzammil Siddiqi all currently serve as Sharia Scholars for the ‘Fatwa Bank’ on Islam Online. Contained in it is a fatwa (religious ruling) mandating violence against American troops, entitled ‘Seeking Martyrdom by Attacking US Military Bases in the Gulf.’ It states, “[A]ttacking American soldiers who came to launch war against Muslims is an obligation and Jihad, as they are true invaders. Hence, killing any transgressing American soldier is an obligation and a kind of Jihad since those occupying troops came to invade Muslim lands.”

For such a high-ranking government official, as Deputy Secretary England is, to participate in an event sponsored by ISNA is alarming to say the least, but the series of events that followed the speech were far worse and will have much greater implications for the future.

England was named Deputy Secretary in May of 2005. Prior to that, he had held two terms as Secretary of the Navy. Serving on England’s staff, while he was with the Navy, was an individual by the name of Hesham Islam. Islam, an Egyptian-born former Naval officer (Retired Commander) and former Merchant Marine for Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, while at Naval Postgraduate School, wrote a thesis exhibiting what has been described as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic viewpoints. Islam has since moved on to join Deputy Secretary England’s DOD staff as his Special Assistant for International Affairs.

It has been reported that it was Commander Islam that suggested England address ISNA’s annual conference. And of course, England going to ISNA was an open invitation for ISNA to return the favor by coming to DOD, which the group took advantage of.

On April 26, 2007, DOD issued a “News Article” about ISNA’s visit with the agency the day before. A photo in the release depicts Deputy Secretary England with the President of ISNA Ingrid Mattson and the U.S. Vice President of ISNA Mohamed Hagmagid Ali. It was taken at England’s office in the Pentagon.

Also attending the event was the President of the Muslim American Society (MAS) Esam Omeish, who, last September, resigned his government appointed position to the Virginia Commission of Immigration, after a video surfaced showing him advocating violent jihad. Information regarding Omeish’s attendance is found on the website of American Muslims for Constructive Engagement (AMCE), an organization created by the International Institute for Islamic Thought (IIIT) to bring radical Muslims closer to the U.S. government. In March of 2002, IIIT’s Virginia offices were raided by the FBI in a terror financing probe. In March of 2006, DOD helped pay for an IIIT conference.

Now, it needs to be said that the April photo op and the England speech were not the first times DOD had had dealings with ISNA. In truth, ISNA has been a part of DOD’s Muslim chaplaincy program since July of 2002, when it was named as an “endorser of Chaplains.” However, not everyone was happy about ISNA’s involvement in this program.

In a meeting of the terrorism subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee held in October of 2003, Senators Charles Schumer, Jon Kyl and Dianne Feinstein voiced concern over ISNA’s role at DOD. Senator Schumer cited the fact that Siraj Wahhaj, an individual named by the U.S. government as a possible co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was at the time a board member of ISNA. Nonetheless, little was done; ISNA kept its position.

Today, thanks to its chief advocate in the government, Hesham Islam, ISNA’s role within the Department of Defense is stronger than ever. As has been discussed in depth by such journalists as Bill Gertz, Frank Gaffney and Kenneth Timmerman, this relationship has forced the Islamic law expert for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Stephen Coughlin, out of his job.

Coughlin, a major in the Army Reserves working as a civilian contractor for the Joint Staff, had recently put together a 333-page document exposing radical Islam’s threat to the West, entitled “TO OUR GREAT DETRIMENT”: IGNORING WHAT EXTREMISTS SAY ABOUT JIHAD [PDF]. As well, he had raised concerns about the dangerous ties of ISNA and other groups that have been courted by Commander Islam. Coughlin understood what many inside the government do not, that there are mainstream American Muslim organizations that threaten our country from within.

While groups like ISNA and MAS work hard to create a false aura of moderation and modernity, and while they cunningly strive to make inroads in the most sensitive of U.S. government sectors, these same groups hide within their websites declarations of violence aimed at non-Muslims. In reality, they hide their true self. And when individuals, such as Stephen Coughlin, come along, they try to discredit them and remove them from the process. This time, they were successful.

Earlier this month, DOD’s Central Command (CENTCOM) canceled a speech that was to be given in front of its personnel by Ahmed Bedier, a leader of the Hamas-related Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). In doing as such, CENTCOM, the arm of the government responsible for combat operations abroad, exhibited integrity.

It is time for the Defense Department to follow its military offspring and match that integrity by removing ISNA and its friends from its offices. These organizations are threats to our security and have no business taking part in our government, let alone being in our country.

DOD does a great job protecting us, by fighting our enemies abroad. It mustn’t forget that those same enemies have counterparts stationed here, as well.

“Ultimately we can never be full citizens of this country… because there is no way we can be fully committed to the institutions and ideologies of this country.”

- ISNA board member, Ihsan Bagby, ‘Political Activities of Muslims in America,’ 1991

“We are those who have given a pledge of allegiance to Muhammad that we will carry on Jihad as long as we live.”

- ISNA official website,‘Fighting in the Cause of Allah (Jihaad),’ March 17, 2006 - Present

Tehran Has Been Told It Will Pay A Price For Killing Americans, But It Never Has

Bush and Iran

Wall Street Journal Editorial

The traveling Mahmoud Ahmadinejad circus made for great political theater this week, but the comedy shouldn't detract from its brazen underlying message: The Iranian President believes that the world lacks the will to stop Iran from pursuing its nuclear program, and that the U.S. also can't stop his country from killing GIs in Iraq. The question is what President Bush intends to do about this in his remaining 16 months in office.

Over the last five years, Mr. Bush has issued multiple and sundry warnings to Iran. In early 2002, he cautioned Iran that "if they in any way, shape or form try to destabilize the [Afghan] government, the coalition will deal with them, in diplomatic ways initially." In mid-2003, following revelations about the extent of Iran's secret nuclear programs, he insisted the U.S. "will not tolerate the construction of a nuclear weapon."

In January of this year, as evidence mounted that Iran was supplying sophisticated, armor-penetrating munitions to Shiite militias in Iraq, Mr. Bush was tougher still: "We will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."

In February, he added that "I can speak with certainty that the Qods Force, a part of the Iranian government, has provided these sophisticated IEDs that have harmed our troops." And as recently as this month's TV speech on Iraq, the President alerted Americans to the "destructive ambitions of Iran" and warned the mullahs that their efforts to "undermine [Iraq's] government must stop."

We belabor this rhetorical record because it so clearly contrasts with how little the Administration has done about it. As with Syria, the Bush Administration has repeatedly told Iran that it would have to pay a price for its hostile behavior while in the end demanding no such price. This undermines U.S. diplomacy, but in the case of GIs in Iraq it is worse: It means the Commander in Chief is letting an enemy kill Americans with impunity. And the Iranians have got the message: Mr. Ahmadinejad felt confident enough to declare this week at the U.N. that the issue of its nuclear program was "closed."

The Saudis Are Still Pulling Our Strings

With Friends Like This ...

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said Wednesday that the kingdom soon will open an embassy in Baghdad for the first time since Saddam Hussein's 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, a step the U.S. has pressed the Saudis to take.

The announcement by Prince Saud al-Faisal came after a Riyadh delegation returned from Iraq, where al-Faisal said it had investigated the possibility of the embassy's opening.
"After we received the delegation's report, it is expected that an embassy will open soon," al-Faisal told reporters in the Red Sea port city of Jiddah.

The United States has pushed the kingdom to open an embassy in Baghdad as a sign of support for the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which Sunni Saudi Arabia has kept at arm's length and often criticizes as biased against Iraq's Sunni Arab minority.

An umbrella insurgent group of Iraqi Sunni Muslims — Jihad and Reform Front — has warned Riyadh against the opening, saying in a recent Web posting that the move would only comfort the Shiite-dominated government.

... Sunni Saudi Arabia would presumably act as a deterrent to Shiite Iran. The problem is; the Saudis are the ones most responsible for financially supporting Islamic terrorism! Does this make sense to anyone?...

Meanwhile ... Saudi Arabia will probably skip a Mideast peace conference called by President Bush if it doesn't tackle substantive issues such as the status of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, the kingdom's foreign minister said yesterday.

Saud al-Faisal's remarks echoed the skepticism of other Arab leaders over a meeting Washington has billed as a major step forward but whose agenda and participants remain unknown.

"The kingdom sees no benefit in any peace meeting or conference if it is not comprehensive and if it doesn't tackle major issues," Faisal said. "If the conference doesn't provide these things, then the kingdom's participation is doubtful."

... if memory serves, President Bush met with those former NAZIs, the "Saudi Royal Family" very quickly after 9-11. Just who runs the Executive Branch of our government? - It makes me wonder.

Understandably, Bush Gets High Negative for Terror War

Six years after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush gets low marks for his role in the war on terror. And more than four out of every five American adults say that gruesome day involved the most significant historical events of their lifetimes, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows.

According to the poll:

-34% gave Bush positive marks for his leadership fighting the way on terror, while 65% gave him negative marks. This is markedly worse than three years ago, when, as he was re-elected, two in three respondents gave the President positive marks for his handling of the war on terror. Just 62% of Republicans give their standard-bearer positive marks on the issue.
-61% said they think of that fateful day at least once a week.
-16% said they think of the attacks at least once every day.
-77% of those in the East said they think about the attacks at least once a week.
-46% of those in the West said they think about the attacks at least once a week.
-90% of those in the East said they see the attacks as the most significant historical event of their lifetimes.
-75% of those in the West said they see the attacks as the most significant historical event of their lifetimes.

The survey, conducted Sept. 6 -9, 2007, included 938 respondents and carries a margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage points.

-83% said the entire nation should observe a moment of silence or visit a memorial to honor the people who were killed that day.
-16% of Americans said they have visited Ground Zero in downtown Manhattan since the attacks.
-62% of Americans said the nation is now better protected against terrorist attacks compared to before Sept. 11.
-14% said the nation is less well protected compared to six years ago.
-23% said there is no difference between our preparedness before and after the attacks.
-91% said they believe the U.S. will be attacked again by terrorists on American soil.
-47% believe that attack will come sometime in the next five years, 19% said it could come at any time in the next decade. Another 25% said they expect another attack, but they were unsure when it might take place. Just 4% said they believed the U.S. was immune from future terrorist attacks, while 4% were unsure.

... its interesting that a full 1/3rd of Americans don't think we're prepared or protected. I'm one of those 1/3rd. With the Presidents love of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, his scrooge-like greed for illegal immigration, and his refusal to fight the W.O.T. on ALL fronts; we are in REALLY BIG TROUBLE!

Attacks On A Daily Basis - The War We're Still Not Fighting

Connecting the Dots
By Frank J. Gaffney Jr.
The Washington Times 8/30/2007

What do the following recent news items have in common?

--Sen. John Warner returns from a weeklong excursion to Iraq in the company of inveterate defeatist and Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin to announce the United States must begin withdrawing 5,000 troops from Iraq by Christmas. The Virginia Republican says he wants to use this symbolic step — which he might or might not try to impose legislatively in coming weeks — to pressure the Iraqi government to make more progress on various fronts.

--Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell revealed to the El Paso Times that the United States had caught Iraqi terrorists trying to get into the country across its still-unfenced southern border. According to a report subsequently published in WorldNetDaily, Adm. McConnell's office revealed that, "During fiscal 2006, there were 14 Iraqi nationals caught trying to enter the U.S. illegally, while so far in 2007, that number is 16." The online publication quoted the DNI as saying, "The goal is for terrorists to gain admittance to the United States, and then produce 'mass casualties.' "

--Outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' Justice Department is paying the Islamic Society of North America for the privilege of having government lawyers man a booth at ISNA's upcoming annual convention in Chicago. The Washington Times' indefatigable Audrey Hudson broke the story, noting that federal employees at Justice are concerned this "outreach" to the Muslim-American community will jeopardize an important terrorism trial now under way in Dallas. After all, ISNA is one of a large number of Islamist front organizations identified as an unindicted co-conspirator by federal prosecutors in the Holy Land Foundation terror-financing case.

These three developments actually have several things in common:

(1) They each shed light on the magnitude of the threats we face in what truly is a War for the Free World. Mr. Warner's trial balloon is a reminder of the greatest danger we face in waging that war — the prospect of being defeated politically on the home front. Adm. McConnell's revelations make it clear that our enemies overseas are not waiting for such a defeat, and the humiliating withdrawal from Iraq it will precipitate, to try to attack us here at home. And the hash-up by the Justice Department calls attention to the fact that, even if no more foreign-based terrorists get into our country, we already have in our midst organizations that are sympathetic with, if not actually serving the interests of, our Islamofascist foes.

(2) Each of these news items tends, if anything, to understate the problem. Mr. Warner's is not only the latest of congressional demands to begin the surrender of Iraq to those who wish us ill there. It is also perhaps the most modest. The more irresponsible seek the immediate removal of all U.S. forces — a logistical impossibility and strategic disaster. Others envision changing the mission at once, quickly removing some of our troops and putting the rest on remote bases, effectively ceding much of Iraq to the terrorists and their enablers.

For his part, Adm. McConnell's admission raises the obvious question: If we caught more than a dozen Iraqi terrorists slipping into the U.S. during each of the last two years, how many were not intercepted? Typically, the ratio is something like for every one nabbed, 10 get through.

Indeed, WorldNetDaily reports that "the U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted 60 Iraqis crossing the nation's southwestern border in 2006 who were seeking asylum in the U.S., while that number so far in 2007 is 178." What is interesting is that the El Paso Times was told by a U.S. intelligence analyst, "There's been evidence that human smugglers, or coyotes, are telling Iraqis to ask for amnesty if they are caught." How many desiring to do us harm are among those seeking amnesty (caught and uncaught) — and whose wish might be realized if extraordinarily ill-advised legislation like H.R. 2265 recently introduced in Congress is adopted? (For a troubling analysis of this bill, see here).

The problem with the Islamic Society of North America is but the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of such groups in this country. Most were established by, funded from or otherwise lashed up with Saudi Arabia. They typically are vehicles for promoting the intolerant Wahhabi strain of Islam, inculcating a sense of separateness and grievance among American Muslims and advancing the insidious, even seditious, agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The three headlines also, regrettably, indicate a certain cluelessness in the U.S. government. Congressional figures, intelligence officials and bureaucrats in various governmental departments are neither fulfilling their sworn obligations to defend the Constitution of the United States nor serving the American people well by their failures to recognize — let alone deal effectively with — the great and growing dangers we face, abroad and at home.

It is past time for an honest rendering of the facts suggested by "connecting these dots": America will not be made more secure by surrendering in Iraq. Our porous borders pose an open invitation to terrorists. Our continuing failure to secure them will, in due course, make possible not just "mass casualties" but possibly national calamity. And Islamist organizations may declare themselves the self-appointed leaders of the Muslim-American community, but no good can come from our government associating with or otherwise legitimating them.

U.S. Justice Department Co-Sponsors Islamic Conference

The Justice Department is co-sponsoring a convention held by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) — an unindicted co-conspirator in an ongoing federal terrorist funding case — a move that is raising concerns among the Justice's rank and file.

Justice lawyers have objected to the affiliation with ISNA, fearing it will undermine the case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in Dallas.

"There is outrage among lawyers that the Department of Justice is funding a group named as a co-conspirator in a terrorist financing case," said a Justice lawyer who spoke to The Washington Times on the condition of anonymity.

According to an e-mail from Susana Lorenzo-Giguere, acting deputy chief of the Voting Rights Division, the sponsorship will involve sending government lawyers to man a booth for the Labor Day weekend event in Illinois.

"This is an important outreach opportunity, and a chance to reach a community that is at once very much discriminated against, and very wary of the national government and its willingness to protect them," Mrs. Lorenzo-Giguere said in an e-mail obtained by The Washington Times.

"It would be a great step forward to break through those barriers. And Chicago is lovely this time of year," Mrs. Lorenzo-Giguere said.

... eventually, you have to come to the question; Is anyone in the Bush administration in charge of anything? The answer seems to unfortunately be, YES! ... and that our government is actually working against its own people.

Insurgent Education In America - Terrorist Attacks Every Day

American Universities Elevate Islam Over Christianity and Jews

Academic Prohibition
By Rabbi Aryeh Spero
FrontPageMagazine.com 8/7/2007

In today's America, you can burn our flag but you can not mistreat the Koran. Burning the flag is freedom of expression, a form of allowable speech our courts tell us, but mistreating the Koran is a criminal felony punishable under hate-crime legislation. If you are a Moslem you can, together with your brothers, wave posters at public protests on college campuses calling for "Killing the Jews", "Destroy Israel" and declare "Jews are Sons of Apes". This our college administrators tell us is "free speech". However, you have no right, even in private, to demean a book if it is the Koran. If you do, you go to jail. This is a form of expression unallowable -- perhaps America's only remaining prohibition.

... How distressing it is that so few are willing to accept, and engage in, the confrontation necessary to preserve our culture, and that so many have become so soft that they make exuses for their cowardice. How alarming it is that so many in high places here no longer believe in our own heritage, seeing in it only evil and racism while imputing to all other cultures, and Islam, nobility only.

People give respect and gravitate to those things in society that society venerates. In the past, it was Chritianity and the American civilization. If, because of political correctness, we raise the Koran above the Bible, as Pace University has done, cherish Moslem sensibilities over Jewish life, as San Francisco State has done, then our children will look to Islam for those things transcendant. After all, our courts and universities are telgraphing that message.

How pitiful it is that the Judeo-Christian community has become so intimidated, insecure, and cuckolded that one of the primary defenders of our culture, a person willing to fight the Islamic propagandists face-to-face and head-on, is Christopher Hitchens, an atheist.

... terrific article; read it all here.

Some Americans say our government has done a great job keeping us safe, after all, no attacks since 9-11, right? WRONG! We're being attacked on a daily basis! This new type of warfare (actually an old type) makes inroads into a nations culture and institutions. Countries like America and England are especially vulnerable because of our freedom loving societies and well-meaning nature. The combination of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS and Islamic Insurgent activity is bringing us down as sure as any bomb.

Islamic Education For All

Great Britain plan would move toward 'religion of state', and it's already happening in America!

A new government study is being condemned by the Christian ministry the Barnabas Fund because its proposals would move closer to imposing Islam in the United Kingdom as "a religion of state."

Among the proposals from the study being considered for implementation is the provision by universities for Islamic studies for all students.

The report was initiated by Bill Rammell, the minister of state for higher education and lifelong learning, officials said. He appointed Ataullah Siddiqui, senior research fellow at the Islamic Foundation, to write it.

The Barnabas Fund, in an analysis, said the report "signals another step toward the Islamisation of Britain and its education system"

"Should this report be implemented, education will be handed over more and more to Muslims who will train and shape the next generation," the analysis said.

... it's not just the UK. The Tigress has taught subject matter within the International Baccalaureate Program, a program used throughout America. It has an Islamic Study segment!

... follow the "IB" link and do a search on Islamic Studies. You'll be surprised!

Is The Government of Iraq About To Fall?

Iraqi Government In Deepest Crisis

US and Iraqi officials are trying to prevent complete disintegration

By Sam Dagher, Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the July 27, 2007 edition

Baghdad - Iraq is in the throes of its worst political crisis since the fall of Saddam Hussein with the new democratic system, based on national consensus among its ethnic and sectarian groups, appearing dangerously close to collapsing, say several politicians and analysts.

This has brought paralysis to governmental institutions and has left parliament unable to make headway on 18 benchmarks Washington is using to measure progress in Iraq, including legislation on oil revenue sharing and reforming security forces.

And the disconnect between Baghdad and Washington over the urgency for solutions is growing. The Iraqi parliament is set for an August vacation as the Bush administration faces pressure to show progress in time for a September report to Congress.

... read the entire 3 pages; CSM did a very thorough job!

Bush Standing Firm Against Withdrawal But Still Refuses To Fight The Real War

By Michael Ledeen

Big wars require big strategies, and we do not have one. Yet. I believe the country would support one if the case were made clearly and honestly. Taking the war to our enemies in Damascus and Tehran does not require troops on the ground or bombs from the air, except in the limited cases of terrorist training camps and weapons factories. It requires, above all, two things: support for the democratic forces in Syria and Iran, and the will to confront our enemies. That will can be easily expressed, but no president has had the coherence and courage to do that. Iran has been at war with us for nearly thirty years, but no president has ever said we want an end to the terror regime in Tehran.

It’s long past time to hear those words.

... Ledeen does a great job describing the WORLD WAR ON TERROR which we're not effectively fighting.

The I-Bomb Is Coming, Many Cities Attacked Already!

Calling the new comprehensive immigration reform bill the "I Bomb," top talk-show host Michael Savage vowed to "derail this train of treason."

Said Savage in an e-mail to NewsMax.com our "Culture [is] being destroyed by greed, greed, greed.

"Bush is the chief culprit. He's wanted this from day one. In fact, we played a sound bite yesterday of him gleefully looking forward to the Democrat-controlled New Congress last Fall! At last he could push through his ultra-internationalist agenda."

Iran is Nuclear; Deal With It, Says IAEA's ElBaradei

Iran's progress in enriching uranium has rendered unrealistic world powers' quest to prevent Tehran from gaining nuclear expertise, the U.N. atomic watchdog agency director said. Mohamed ElBaradei did not take issue with a U.N. Security Council demand that Iran suspend enrichment in exchange for a suspension of sanctions against it and talks on a solution that would allay suspicion Tehran is trying to build atom bombs.

"Quite clearly, suspension is a requirement by the Security Council, and I would hope the Iranians would listen to the world community," ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in remarks published by the New York Times and confirmed by an IAEA official.

"But from a proliferation perspective, the fact of the matter is that one of the purposes of suspension - keeping them from getting the knowledge - has been overtaken by events," ElBaradei said.

... firstly, ElBaradei heading the IAEA is like al Sadr controlling the Catholic church; secondly, the Bush admin was never going to do anything about Iran anyway. Israel, it's your move (but your leadership is as weak as ours!)

Madness! Making The Same Mistakes Over and Over and Over ...

Afghan 'super-madrassas' built by U.S. military - 'We have to give the religious leaders the respect they feel they deserve

In a move that echoes the hearts-and-minds strategy of the Vietnam War, the U.S. military is planning to build two "super-madrassas" in Afghanistan in an effort to win over religious leaders and to convince parents not to send their children to madrassas in Pakistan run by Islamic extremists.

The planned super-madrassas, under construction in the border town of Paktika, Afghanistan, will accommodate 1,000 boys each, the London Telegraph reported.

Madrassas – Islamic religious schools – provide not only religious education, but room and board for children. During the period when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, most conventional schools were closed down. For many parents, the choice has been between a religious education or no education at all.

For many in the border regions, the madrassas of Pakistan have been the only option. Those schools, often under the control of hardline clerics, have often been little more than incubators for hatred against the West and, at times, recruiting centers for jihad.

... this is called; ENABLING TERRORISM!