watchman

This is very dangerous. The U.S. government is playing Russian roulette!

U.S. Newspapers Feature Hamas Propaganda on Op-Ed Pages http://thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=article&id=3496 The New York Times and the Washington Post have published two op-ed articles written by prominent Hamas member Ahmed Yousef. The Los Angeles Times has also published an op-ed by the organization’s political bureau deputy, Mousa Abu Marzook. The Yousef by-lines appeared in the June 20 New York Times and Washington Post, and the Marzook article appeared in July. Hamas is a known terrorist organization. In “What Hamas Wants,” Yousef claims that Hamas’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip should not be referred to as a “coup,” insisting that Hamas did everything it could to try to work out a peaceful power-sharing arrangement with its political rival within the Palestinian Authority, Fatah. “From the day Hamas won the general election in 2006 it offered Fatah the chance of joining forces and forming a unity government,” Yousef wrote. “It [also] tried to engage the international community to explain its platform for peace.” Problem is, the international community had a problem with Hamas’s official platform, which for one refuses to accept Israel’s right to exist. It was Hamas’s unwillingness to compromise on its hardcore anti-Israel doctrine that was the reason financial aid to the joint Hamas-Fatah unity government was revoked by the United States and the European Union. But Yousef failed to discuss the withdrawal of funding and the reason behind it in his editorial, instead implying that his organization made a sincere effort to work with Fatah and the international community. “Hamas even adhered to a unilateral cease-fire for 18 months in an effort to normalize the situation on the ground,” he wrote. “For 18 months we have tried to find ways to coexist with Fatah, entering into a unity government, even conceding key positions in the cabinet to their and international demands, negotiating up until the last moment to try to provide security for all our people on the streets of Gaza. “None of these points appear to have been recognized in the press coverage of the last few days,” Yousef whined. Yousef was referring to coverage around the time Hamas, possibly at the signal of Iran, broke out into full-scale warfare against Fatah in June, shooting security guards, setting off bombs, throwing some captured Fatah supporters off rooftops and executing others in the streets, sometimes in front of their wives and children. In his “Engage With Hamas” editorial, Yousef refers to his organization’s bloody actions in Gaza as securing the area and blames problems in the area on “the Israeli agenda of ethnic cleansing and conquest.” The leader also insisted that Palestinians want the same things Western citizens want and denies that Hamas-controlled Gaza could be a breeding ground for terrorism. Throughout the piece, Yousef was careful not to draw attention to his group’s stance against Israel’s existence, which is clearly outlined in the Hamas charter. The op-eds are not the first or most outlandish instance of the American press granting preferential treatment to terrorists. The Times published another Yousef op-ed in November 2006, and the Washington Post and Newsweek together publish a featured column by cleric Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, whom the U.S. government has accused of issuing a religious edict condoning the truck bombing of U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut in 1983. In his July 24 “On Faith” column, Fadlallah, who has had close ties with Hezbollah in the past, asserts that jihad is always either “defensive” or “preventative,” and never aggressive. “In the light of this, jihad is no different than any human and civilized concept of self-defense,” he writes. For a look at whether or not Islam is a peaceful religion, read “Is Islam a Threat?” Newsweek interviewed Fadlallah in 2003 and 2004, publishing his support of Iraqi terrorist leader Moqtada al-Sadr’s form of violence and his view that President Bush “regards himself as the Second Coming of Christ” and that “we should send him to a psychiatrist.” Fadlallah also refers to suicide bombings as “martyrdom operations” and implies that Israel uses F-16s and rockets to intentionally kill innocent civilians. More importantly, editors chose to describe Fadlallah in a favorable light and posted his comments unchallenged and undebated. Other editors have gone so far as to write in support of terrorists, such as former Chicago Tribune public editor Don Wycliff and the Boston Globe’s editorial board, who claimed Israel was largely to blame for the Palestinian civil war in Gaza. For more on the mainstream media’s unobjective and even irrational treatment of violent extremist causes, read “Manipulating the Media” and “The Terrorists’ Megaphone.”

UNIFIL, Hezbollah Join Forces http://thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=article&id=3471 The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (unifil) was beefed up significantly in the wake of last summer’s war between Hezbollah and Israel; its mandate at the time was to maintain peace in southern Lebanon, monitor the cessation of hostilities and provide assistance to the Lebanese government when needed. Nowhere in unifil’s job description did it mention employing Hezbollah terrorists to act as policy advisers and bodyguards. Less than a year later, however, that is precisely what is happening. This week, the Christian Science Monitor reported that unifil forces are now collaborating with Shiite Hezbollah terrorists for protection against attacks thought to be carried out by Sunni terrorist groups. The bizarre arrangement comes on the heels of two recent vehicle bombings carried out by suspected Sunni al Qaeda terrorists. On June 23, six Spanish and Colombian unifil soldiers were killed and three more wounded when a bomb blasted their armored personnel carrier to the side of the road near Metulla. Less than a month later, on July 16, six Tanzanian soldiers survived a second attack north of Tyre. The bombings followed intelligence warnings that UN forces should expect attacks from Sunni terror groups, including al Qaeda affiliates and Global Jihad. unifil’s response to these attacks is hard to fathom. Rather than use the more than 13,000 well-armed soldiers stationed throughout southern Lebanon, unifil leaders have employed Hezbollah terrorists to act as bodyguards and policy advisers against attacks from Sunni terrorists. “According to unifil sources, intelligence agents from Italy, France and Spain met with Hezbollah representatives in the southern city of Sidon in April. As a result, some Spanish peacekeepers subsequently were ‘escorted’ on some of their patrols by Hezbollah members in civilian vehicles,” reported the Monitor July 24. The lunacy doesn’t end there. The day after the six peacekeepers were killed in June, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos called Manucher Mottaki, the foreign minister of Iran, Hezbollah’s primary sponsor. It seems that phone call made a difference: “According to a Hezbollah official in south Lebanon, there has been at least one meeting between the Shiite party and Spanish unifil officers since the bombing” (ibid.). The UN’s courting of Hezbollah will not be without hard consequences. Though Hezbollah’s violent activities may have quieted for now and the group may be gladly working with UN forces against Sunni terrorists, this Iranian-sponsored terrorist organization remains one of the deadliest in the world. News reports show that even now, Hezbollah is restocking its shelves, retraining its soldiers and repositioning its missile launchers in preparation for another war with Israel. Hezbollah-inflicted violence is imminent, and the actions of unifil are only serving to fuel the ambition of this Shia terrorist group. Regrettably, it will likely be Israel that suffers the deadly consequences of the UN’s foolish fling with Hezbollah. Also on theTrumpet.com: • Whose Side Is Europe On?

Israeli Men Dodge Draft http://thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=article&id=3445 "One in four Israeli men eligible to serve in the Israel Defense Forces is dodging the draft, according to figures released by the army. This figure is the highest in the history of the state. . . . " [Edit: Entire article was posted and without quotation marks. I removed most of the article and added the quotes and the ellipses. -- Matt]

Hamas Plot to Control Temple Mount Foiled http://thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=article&id=3391 A Hamas plot to gain control of the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem was foiled by Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency. Shin Bet thwarted Hamas’s plans with a year-long sting operation that led to the arrest of 11 Hamas officials, the agency revealed Monday. The detainees, 10 of whom possess cards identifying themselves as Israeli citizens, will be indicted for membership in a terror group and financing terrorist activity. “Their goal is to gain full control over the Temple Mount,” said a Shin Bet security official. Officials said the attempted takeover was a “strategic move” to bolster Hamas’s standing with the Palestinians and Muslim world. Hamas’s activities on the Temple Mount included organizing post-fast Ramadan meals to recruit support, and undertaking renovations to give Hamas a foothold in the area. Just last month, Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in a violent civil war with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah organization claiming dozens of Palestinian lives. Many observers believe that its next move will likely be an attempt to take over the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Thus this ascendant radical organization’s plot to take over the Temple Mount comes as no surprise—and it surely represents only the first of more such attempts in the future. Jerusalem, particularly the Temple Mount, simply represents the choicest prize that Muslims could gain. Israel has controlled East Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, since the Six Day War in 1967, but international pressure is mounting for Israel to relinquish control to the Palestinians as a concession for peace. Israel has refused and resisted even more since Hamas gained a bigger political presence in the Palestinian elections last year. However, biblical prophecy reveals that Jerusalem will be split in half again between Israeli control and Muslim control. This split will likely result in the Temple Mount being transferred to Palestinian control. For more information on this prophecy, read “Jerusalem Is About to Be Cut in Half.” Shin Bet’s efforts in foiling the Hamas plot may, in the end, be for naught.

Al Qaeda Lends Support to Hamas http://thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=article&id=3375 After Hamas successfully wrested control of the Gaza Strip, Western nations were anxious to cut any remaining ties they had with Gaza. Where others rush out, al Qaeda rushes in. Al Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahri extended his group’s support to Hamas and called for all Muslims to send aid to the Gaza Strip. In this case, “aid” is comprised of money and weapons. “Provide them [Hamas] with money, do your best to get it there, break the siege imposed on them by Crusaders and Arab leader traitors,” al-Zawahri said. He also encouraged followers to “[f]acilitate weapons smuggling from neighboring countries [into Gaza].” Experts have long feared Hamas would take control of Gaza and turn it into a terrorist haven for attacks on Israel. Their fears have proven justified. While it may not seem extraordinary that two extremist Sunni groups would align, there has been somewhat of a rift between the two in the past. Early this year, al Qaeda criticized Hamas for forming a unity government with the Western-supported Fatah party. But now, with Hamas now cleaning Fatah blood from its streets, al Qaeda is eager to lend a helping hand. Hamas downplayed the offer, saying it was not interested in the brand of global jihad that has made al Qaeda recognizable around the world. However, the similiarities between the two run deep. Both Hamas and al Qaeda are Sunni outgrowths of the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood, and both are strongly affiliated with Iran. Hamas, in spite of these similarities, has kept its distance from al Qaeda in order to stave off international pressure. However, without the cover of Fatah, Hamas finds itself in a precarious position. Gaza has become an outcast to everyone but terrorist groups that share some of the same radical agendas. With a fledgling government to establish, Hamas will need all the help it can gather. Al Qaeda’s offer may be too much to refuse. Whether or not this specific alignment occurs, we are witnessing an increasing level of collaboration among radical Islamist groups of various stripes. Increasingly, the common denominator is the Shiite Islamic Republic of Iran, which, with its connections to both Hamas and al Qaeda, continues to improve its credentials as the chief state sponsor of terrorism and king of the radical Islamist movement.

Pentagon E-mail Downed by Hacker http://thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=article&id=3350 An electronic attack forced the Department of Defense to take between 1,000 and 1,500 Pentagon computers offline last Wednesday. The intrusion affected the department’s unclassified electronic mail system, which transmits messages regarding administrative business. Defense officials detected no penetration of systems containing classified messages on military operations. On the same day, a congressional panel reported that electronic systems at the Department of Homeland Security had also been hacked. “What does this mean? It means terrorists or nation states could be hacking Department of Homeland Security databases, changing or altering names to allow them access to this country, and we wouldn't even know they were doing it,” Congressman James Langevin said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon comes under hundreds of electronic attacks each day but declined to say why the Wednesday penetration necessitated disconnecting such a large number of computers. U.S. military dependence on network technology has increased in recent years, while arguably its network security has not. As it has integrated more and more elements into its electronic systems, the Pentagon has turned increasingly to commercially developed software, which is more advanced but less secure than programs the military could produce in-house. The military depends not only on commercial software systems from providers such as Cisco, but also necessarily ties many of its systems to civilian networks. In the U.S., 95 percent of military transmissions are communicated using secure connections to civilian networks. In recent years, supercomputer laboratories, nasa systems, research centers, software security developers including Cisco, and other networks have been hacked, many from locations inside Europe and China. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has highlighted network dependence as one of the United States’ largest weaknesses for several years. “One of the main reasons we won World War ii was because the British broke German radio code,” he wrote in June 1999. “We could lose the next war before we even begin, if somebody breaks our military codes.” For analysis on U.S. technology dependence and the consequences if America gets logged off, read “America’s Achilles Heel—and Germany” and “The Penetrable Fortress.”

Question: Why is the world playing the negotiating game with this sociopathic extremist dictator? This goes to show that whenever a crazy leader like this does something disasterous in the world, it could have, and should have been stopped. There is no negotiating with a person like this. He will see the western world fall, and see islamic extremism rise, or he will do whatever he can to make it happen. We should not give him a chance. Actually there is nothing new of the world's pacifist reaction. Several years before Hitler came to power in Germany, like President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hitler informed the world through his book Mein Kampf, how Hitler planned to enslave Europe. The world especially the liberal media just laugh at him. Ten years before World War 2, Winston Churchill strongly warned the world the dangers of Hitler but the newspaper & radio ridiculed his warnings. The world strongly influenced by liberal media made the fatal mistake of relying on the League of Nations to contain Hitler. It is no small matter for the liberal media to be wrong on Hitler! Now the world strongly influenced by liberal media is unfortunately making the fatal mistake of relying on the very unreliable United of Nations to contain President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Is history repeating itself only this time with more dangerous nuclear weapons?