Iranian soldiers firing Katyushas into Israel

Iranian soldiers firing Katyushas into Israel
Multiple sources confirm Hezbollah aided by Revolutionary Guard units

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Posted: July 15, 2006
3:25 p.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein

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© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
HAIFA, Israel -- Iranian Revolutionary Guard Units reportedly stationed in Lebanon fired many of the Hezbollah missiles that have slammed into the Jewish state the past few days, multiple sources told WorldNetDaily.

Over 150 Katyusha rockets have bombarded northern Israeli towns since Israel started retaliating inside Lebanon this past Wednesday following a Hezbollah raid in which two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped and three soldiers were killed.

The major port city of Haifa, Israel's third largest population center, was struck Thursday night, marking the furthest a Hezbollah rocket ever traveled inside Israel and placing over 2 million residents toward the north of the country within rocket range.

Israeli security officials told WND today they have "concrete information" Iranian soldiers stationed at Hezbollah positions in Lebanon have aided in efforts to fire missiles into Israel since Wednesday.

Jordanian officials told WND they are "100 percent sure" Iranian Revolutionary Guard unit soldiers have fired rockets into Israel. They also said the Syrian army has provided Hezbollah with intelligence information on the locations of strategic Israeli targets to aid in Hezbollah rocket fire.

A Ba'ath party official operating out of the Golan Heights told WND he has information Iranian soldiers have been firing rockets into Israel.

A senior Egyptian security official told WND it would be "very logical" if Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers have been helping Hezbollah fire the rockets.

Israel has long maintained Iranian Revolutionary Guard units have traveled regularly to south Lebanon to help train local Hezbollah fighters in terrorist tactics and to fortify Hezbollah positions along Israel's northern border.

At times, Revolutionary Guard soldiers can be seen operating openly at Hezbollah outposts in plain view from the Israeli side, military officials say.

Iran and Syria are the largest financial sponsors of Hezbollah. Israel says many Hezbollah rockets were made in or upgdaded by Iran.

Hezbollah today launched dozens of rockets into northern Israeli cities, including several into the city of Tiberias.

Hundreds of rockets have been fired the past three days into Israeli towns near the Lebanese border. Carmiel, Hatzor Haglilit, Peki'in, Safed, Nahariya, and Moshav Ben-Ami in the western Galilee have been hit. Four Israelis died in the rocket fire. Dozens have been wounded.

A rocket slammed into Haifa Thursday, prompting the Israeli Defense Forces today to deploy Patriot missile batteries in the city, the first time the batteries have been deployed in Israel since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

The missile defense system cannot destroy Katyusha rockets but could protect against surface-to-surface missiles, such as those possessed by Syria.

Wake-up call for Israel?

Wake-up call for Israel?

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Posted: July 15, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Joseph Farah

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© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
This is a hard column for me to write.

It's difficult because what I need to say about the two-front terrorist attacks on Israel is nothing new.

I've said everything that needs to be said many times in as many new ways as I could imagine.

Suffice it to say I am not shocked by these developments. I am not even a little bit surprised. In fact, I predicted it.


I knew that Israel's evacuation of Gaza was not solving problems with terrorism but creating bigger problems for another day.

I knew that Israel's evacuation of Judea and Samaria was not solving problems with terrorism but creating bigger problems for another day.

I knew that Israel's unilateral evacuation of southern Lebanon was not solving problems with terrorism but creating bigger problems for another day – not to mention selling out the Jewish state's Christian friends in the region.

However, the point of this column is not to point out how smart I am. The point is to show how predictable it is that appeasement of evil aggression always leads to more evil aggression.

Indeed, I have become so weary of making these points over and over again that, a few months ago, I actually gave up on Israel – deciding it was a lost cause to defend people who were unwilling to be responsible with their own national security.

After all that, here we are.

Israel is battling on two fronts – Gaza and Lebanon – two territories from which it unilaterally withdrew its military presence in what could only be interpreted by its enemies as an unconditional retreat and surrender.

Likewise, Israel is on the verge of finalizing plans to do the same thing in the West Bank. If it had completed that operation, it would now be fighting on three fronts.

Maybe some good can still come out of this unmitigated policy disaster for Israel. Maybe some official are ready to realize and admit they made some tragic errors. Maybe it's not too late to reverse course. Maybe, if Israel begins to see its very survival is at stake, it will correct course, defend itself and, in the process, do all free people in the world a big favor at the same time.

What does Israel need to do now? It needs to do what I have been advocating from the beginning – defeat the bad guys, destroy them, kill them all.

Nothing short of this response will do anything more than buy time until the next barbaric assault on Jewish civilians by Hezbollah, which, I understand, translates in Farsi to "Hitlers in headscarves." As I've said before, it's time for Israel to make humus out of Hamas.

This is no joke.

Israel is not only tempting God with its own future with its policy of national surrender, it is endangering the rest of the world, encouraging the Islamo-fascists whose ultimate goal is a global khalifate.

I know Israel has faced tremendous pressure from the U.S. and the rest of the world. I know. I've been there defending Israel and indicting the rest of the world all along. But, at some point, as this generation of Israelis needs to understand, if the Jews of Israel don't care about their nation, if they don't care about paying for territory more than once with Jewish blood, if they don't care about the future viability of a Jewish state, no one else can be expected to care.

I still do care. For the life of me, I can't stop caring. In fact, the Bible commands me to care. I only wish the people of Israel had the same faith in those Hebrew prophets that I have.

Hispanic group boycotts Disney

Hispanic group boycotts Disney 'white supremacists'
Mexica Movement: 'We are radical. More radical than you can imagine'

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Posted: July 15, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
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© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Mexica Movement activists protest in L.A.

A radical Hispanic group is promoting a boycott of the Walt Disney Company because, contends the Mexica Movement, the entertainment giant "has made a habit of hiring talk show hosts who spread the Minutemen white supremacist racist agenda."

The boycott announcement specifically cites radio legend and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Paul Harvey, as well as popular talker Doug McIntyre. Both Harvey and McIntyre are nationally syndicated by ABC, which is owned by Disney.

McIntyre was instrumental in exposing a taxpayer-funded Los Angeles school backed by radical groups that lay claim to the Southwestern U.S. As WND reported, the principal of the Academia Semillas del Pueblo Charter School, Marcos Aguilar, has said he believes in racial segregation and sees his school as part of a larger cultural "struggle."

Among the school's supporters are the National Council of La Raza Charter School Development Initiative; Raza Development Fund, Inc.; and the Pasadena City College chapter of MeCHA, or Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan.

"La Raza," or "the Race," is a designation by many Mexicans who see themselves as part of a transnational ethnic group they hope will one day reclaim Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs. In Chicano folklore, Aztlan includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas.

On its website, the Mexica Movement calls for "an immediate international boycott against The Walt Disney Company and all of its holdings. We are asking for this boycott because Disney has made a habit of hiring talk show hosts who spread the Minutemen white supremacist racist agenda against the Mexican and Central American communities in the United States."

The organization will continue calling for the Disney boycott, it says, "until we are assured of the immediate firing of all of Disney’s ABC racist radio terrorists who are spreading racist hate against the Mexican and Central American community by inciting threats of violence against us."

The Mexica Movement calls Harvey and McIntyre "the top racist Nazis in this campaign against our people" who, they say, "are promoting racist hate against our people and they are promoting an atmosphere of fear in our communities."

Saying McIntyre has "incited bomb threats" against the MeCHA-supported school in Los Angeles, and that Harvey – "the other monster" – is "proud of the racist genocide that Europeans committed against the Indigenous people of this continent," Mexica calls the almost universally loved elder statesman of talk radio "the KKK of the radio airwaves."

"Yes, we are radical," says the Mexica Movement on its website. "More radical than you can imagine."


As WND has reported, a website documenting the statements and tactics of Hispanic activists says it is these radical groups themselves that are the ones guilty of racism and hate speech.

WeHateGringos.com begins with a warning that the site "contain graphic examples of hate and racism that has and is occurring in large cities and small towns across America."

States the site: "The website WeHateGringos.com is dedicated to exposing the other side of illegal immigration ... the side our president, many in Congress, the media and especially the racist hate groups do not want us to see."

Indeed, earlier last week top presidential adviser Karl Rove traveled to Los Angeles to speak to La Raza in person. The Bush administration has contributed millions of dollars directly to "La Raza."

WND Editor Joseph Farah wrote of Rove's outreach: "The group sponsors and directs racist schools. It promotes the 'reconquista' movement that claims the American Southwest belongs to Mexico. In fact, its very name – which translates to 'the race' – exposes its agenda. … These people are Mexican Nazis."

And columnist Michelle Malkin reported that La Raza "snapped up $15.2 million in federal grants last year alone and more than $30 million since 1996. Undisclosed amounts went to get-out-the-vote efforts supporting La Raza political positions. The U.S. Department of Education funneled nearly $8 million in taxpayer grants to the group for a nationwide charter-schools initiative."

Three Patriot anti-missile missile systems deployed in Haifa. Tiberias hit by a second Hizballah rocket barrage amid heavy damage from first

Three Patriot anti-missile missile systems deployed in Haifa. Tiberias hit by a second Hizballah rocket barrage amid heavy damage from first

July 15, 2006, 7:02 PM (GMT+02:00)

Five people injured in the earlier five-rocket volley.

Our military sources doubt whether the Patriots, positioned in an Israeli city for the first time in three years, are much effective against Hizballah rockets. Their deployment may be intended as a morale booster.

The last time they were brought out for the US invasion of Iraq, to guard against another missile attack by Saddam Hussein.

The ancient Roman town, holiday and pilgrim center, 35 km from the Lebanese border on the shore of the Sea of Galilee was targeted for the first time Saturday, July 15. The lake authorities have shut down all its beaches and told trippers to take shelter. A rocket landed further south near Kibbutz Maoz close to another important town of Beit Shean, indicating that Hizballah has now begun using its longer-range Fajjar-5 rockets whose range is 45 km. Israeli military sources warn that Hizballah is preparing to launch rockets next against Tel Aviv. Those rockets are secreted by Hizballah in thousands of villages across south Lebanon in fortified rooms built in private homes.

On the fourth day of war, 20 Hizballah rockets landed in and around Nahariya, Hatzor Haglilit, Carmiel, Biria, Dalton, Safed, Baram and Hatzor before 10 am, causing damage and fires but no known casualties.

Haifa and Acre are still on rocket alert.

At least 30 locations across northern Israel’s Galilee were targeted by some 270 Hizballah rockets Friday, killing another two Israelis, a grandmother and grandson of 5 in Moshav Meron and injuring dozens. Nahariya hospital has opened a special emergency trauma unit.

Israel: Iran Aided Hezbollah Ship Attack

Israel: Iran Aided Hezbollah Ship Attack

By MATT MOORE
Associated Press Writer

AP Photo/MOHAMMED ZAATARI

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A missile fired by Hezbollah, not an unmanned drone laden with explosives, damaged an Israeli warship off Lebanon, the army said Saturday. Elite Iranian troops helped fire the missile, a senior Israeli intelligence official said.

One sailor was killed and three were missing.

The intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information, said about 100 Iranian soldiers are in Lebanon and helped fire the Iranian-made, radar-guided C-102 at the ship late Friday.

The official added that the troops involved in firing the missile are from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, an elite corps of more than 200,000 fighters that is independent of the regular armed forces and controlled directly by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Initial information indicated the guerrillas had used a drone for the first time to attack Israeli forces. But the army's investigation showed that Hezbollah had fired an Iranian-made missile at the vessel from the shores of Lebanon, said Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan.

"We can confirm that it was hit by an Iranian-made missile launched by Hezbollah. We see this as very profound fingerprint of Iranian involvement in Hezbollah," Nehushtan said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Another Hezbollah missile also hit and sank a nearby merchant ship at around the same time, Nehushtan said. He said that ship apparently was Egyptian, but had no other information.

Nehushtan said the body of one of the four Israeli soldiers missing in the attack was found aboard the damaged warship. Other Israeli military officials said two bodies had been found.

The Israeli vessel, a Saar 5-class missile ship named the "Spear," was heading to its home port in Israel on Saturday, the army said.

A military official said the ship is one of the most technologically advanced in the Israeli fleet, boasting an array of Harpoon and Gabriel missiles, along with a system for electronically jamming attacking missiles and other threats.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said the missile detection and deflection system was not operating, apparently because the sailors did not anticipate such an attack.

The Israeli intelligence official said Hezbollah also has Iranian-made drones, and warned that they are more accurate than missiles.

Israel launched an offensive after Hezbollah guerrillas crossed the Israel-Lebanon border on Wednesday and captured two Israeli soldiers. Israel has bombarded Lebanon's airport and main roads in the most intensive offensive against the country in 24 years, while Hezbollah has launched hundreds of rockets into Israel.

The intense fighting has sent shock waves through a region already traumatized by Israel's battle against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

A senior IDF officer said the ship was struck by an Iranian-made C802 missile

Missing sailor’s body recovered

Body of one of four sailors who went missing during Friday’s Hizbullah attack on Israeli Navy ship operating off Beirut shore recovered by IDF forces; search for remaining three sailors continues, damaged vessel being towed back to Israeli territorial waters. IDF: Missile that hit ship Iranian-made
Hanan Greenberg

The body of one of four sailors who went missing during Friday’s Hizbullah attack on an Israeli Navy ship operating off the Beirut shore was recovered by IDF forces, who are continuing the search for the other three.

The sailor killed in the attack has been identified as Sergeant Tal Amgar, 21, of Ashdod.

The sailors who remain missing are: Sergeant Yaniv Herschkowitz, 21, of Haifa; Corporal Shai Atias, 19, of Rishon Lezion; Master Sergeant Dov Sternshus, 37, of Carmiel.

The ship is currently being towed back to Israeli territorial waters.

A senior IDF officer said the ship was struck by an Iranian-made C802 missile, but he refused to say whether or not Iranian activists were behind the launching itself.

The army said two C802 missiles were fired at the vessel; the first missed the ship and struck an Egyptian boat some 60 kilometers (37 miles) off the Lebanon coast.

The stern of the ship was hit shortly after 8:30 p.m. Friday night and a conflagration ignited on the helicopter landing pad. The hit also damaged the ship’s internal operating systems.

After the naval commanders managed to extinguish the blaze, they began a crew count, which revealed that four crewmembers were missing. Reinforcements were called to the scene and began searching for the sailors under heavy enemy fire.

An initial investigation revealed that the vessel was apparently struck by a missile, not a booby-trapped remote control drone as previously thought.

The damaged vessel was a Saar 5 navy gunship that was 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the Lebanese shore when it was hit while enforcing the sea blockade which was imposed on Lebanon Thursday.

Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah was the first to report of the attack on the Israeli ship.

Speaking defiantly in an audiotape aired on Hizbullah's Al-Manar television, Nasrallah addressed himself to Israelis, saying: "You wanted an open war and we are ready for an open war."

"Soon you will find how stupid your new government is and how it is incapable of reading the situation. It has no experience. You said in your opinion polls that you believe me more than anyone else. Believe me now – you attacked every house in Lebanon and you will pay for that," he said.

"Look at the warship that has attacked Beirut, while it burns and sinks before your very eyes," Nasrallah said.

Despite the incident the Navy continued its sea blockade of Lebanon and carry out attacks on Hizbullah targets. During exchanges of fire with Hizbullah gunmen a missile was fired at an Israeli vessel, but missed and hit a civilian boat apparently belonging to Egyptian merchants, according to the IDF. The crewmembers were rescued, but major damage was done to the boat.

Washington has information according to which Israel gave Damascus 72 hours to stop Hizbullah’s activity along the Lebanon-Israel border and bring abo

Report: Israel gives Syria ultimatum

London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat says Israel gave Syria 72 hours to stop Hizbullah’s activity, bring about release of kidnapped IDF troops. ‘Israel will not end military activity until new situation created that will prevent Syria, Iran from using terror organizations to threaten its security,’ newspaper quotes Pentagon official as saying
Roee Nahmias

The London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat reported Saturday that “Washington has information according to which Israel gave Damascus 72 hours to stop Hizbullah’s activity along the Lebanon-Israel border and bring about the release the two kidnapped IDF soldiers or it would launch an offensive with disastrous consequences.”

The report said “a senior Pentagon source warned that should the Arab world and international community fail in the efforts to convince Syria to pressure Hizbullah into releasing the soldiers and halt the current escalation Israel may attack targets in the country.”

Al-Hayat quoted the source as saying that “the US cannot rule out the possibility of an Israeli strike in Syria,” this despite the fact that the Bush administration has asked Israel to “refrain from any military activity that may result in civilian casualties.”

'Hizbullah made the same mistake'

The report also mentioned that President George W. Bush has repeatedly put much of the blame for the recent escalation on Syria.

“It is no coincidence that the Hizbullah operation comes at a time when the international community is working to impose sanctions on Iran due to its nuclear program and settle the score with Syria by establishing an international court to try those behind the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri,” the Pentagon source said.

According to the source, Hizbullah made the same mistake as Hamas when it did not predict the ramifications of its actions and ignored the regional and international changes since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The source said that Israel has indicated that it “will not end its military activity until a new situation is created that will prevent Syria and Iran from using terror organizations, such as Hamas and Hizbullah, to threaten its security.”

Syrian Ambassador: Israel's Nuclear Installations Could Be Targeted

Syrian Ambassador: Israel's Nuclear Installations Could Be Targeted

"We are not mercenaries, we will not be drawn into this war."

- Syria's new U.N. ambassador, Dr. Jafar Ja'afari, in an interview in New York.

After being booted by the Lebanese, Washington, and the U.N. Security Council last year, Syria's ambassador made it perfectly clear that Damascus has no intention of returning to Beirut.

"We cannot go in, then go out and come in like mercenaries, it will not happen. But, we wish the Lebanese well," added Ja'afari.

Syria is still seething over its alleged involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Harriri, who died in an attack on his motorcade in Beirut in December 2004.

Damascus insists it had no part in the attack on the Lebanese official, despite accusations made by several investigators from the U.N. security council to the contrary.

The Council followed the investigation by renewing a previous demand for Syria to vacate Lebanon (resolution 1559).

The Harriri assassination prompted an end to a Syrian occupation of their embattled neighbor, which lasted almost 20 years.

Syria's delegate explained that the root of the current crisis stems from the fact the new government in Lebanon has no real army to speak of.

"They have no army. It is small, it has little control and everyone knows this."

While the diplomat made no excuses for the Hezbollah attacks on Israeli soldiers, he wondered whether it warranted such a strong response by Jerusalem.

He also insisted that Israel's "nuclear centers" could eventually be targeted by Hezbollah.

"Nobody wants to talk about [Hezbollah] attacks on those nuclear centers do they? They could have radiation fallout all over the region."

It is unclear what nuclear facilities the Syrian was referring to.

Israel's main nuclear installation is outside the city of Dimona in the Negev desert. The facility, several hundred miles south of the Lebanese border, is well defended from potential attacks.

The Syrian insisted that his government knows of "seven such nuclear centers all over the country." He refused to provide any additional details.

The ambassador also did not hesitate to remind reporters that when Damascus was in Lebanon, Hezbollah attacks on Israeli settlements were few in number, thanks to the Syrian army.

The diplomat also pointed out that Hezbollah could not operate with such impunity within his country, because the Syrian military "would never permit it."

Ja'afari insisted that Washington was well aware of the impotence of the current Lebanese government, and as such, bears some of the responsibility for the current escalation of tensions.

"Why do they give Israel such permission [to use military force]? The U.S. is the only superpower. They should use their power to decrease, not increase such tensions."

Ja'afari reluctantly admitted there is little organizations such as the U.N. Security Council can do and that the current crisis will likely play itself out according to timetables coordinated between Jerusalem and Washington.

"What can the U.N. do? The United States will use its veto? Its foolish but they will use it."

Iran, Syria Linked to Israel Soldiers' Abduction

Iran, Syria Linked to Israel Soldiers' Abduction
NewsMax.com Wires
Friday, July 14, 2006
BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Iran's warning against any Israeli retaliation on Syria, and its taunts that Israel can't hurt Iran, highlight what many see as the real hand behind Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers.

At the White House and in Arab capitals, the belief is strong that the Mideast's top two hard-line states, Iran and Syria, are playing a dangerous game to increase their influence. However, analysts say it could backfire and weaken Hezbollah, and by extension its two patrons.

"We would be idiots if we believed it was only about the Israeli captives," Hazem Saghieh, a senior Lebanese columnist with the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat, told The Associated Press.

"The issue, at the end of the day, is all about Syria and Iran, and Hezbollah is just giving them more trump cards," Saghieh said.

Wednesday's seizure of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas came at a time of mounting tensions between the two Mideast powers and the West.

Iran is embroiled in a diplomatic fight with Europe and the U.S. over its nuclear program. Washington accuses Syria of sending insurgents to Iraq, interfering in Lebanon and hosting the Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Syria is also believed to have been behind the collapse of a deal that would have led to the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas militants along Israel's frontier with Gaza on June 25.

Iran and Syria, analysts say, believe the intensified violence will help strengthen their positions in their conflicts with the West and show they hold the key to a settlement of the Arab-Israeli issue.

The White House said Wednesday, hours after Hezbollah took the two Israelis, that it holds Iran and Syria responsible.

On Friday, French President Jacques Chirac implicitly suggested the two states might have a role in the expanding crisis, saying he has "the feeling, if not the conviction, that Hamas and Hezbollah wouldn't have taken the initiatives alone."

Moderate Arab governments like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia appear to have the same belief - though they haven't said so outright because of a reluctance to show splits with fellow Muslim nations. Instead, it's reflected in their mild criticisms of Israel's air campaign in Lebanon and their indirect denunciations of Hezbollah.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that Israel couldn't hurt Iran in its campaign, declaring Israel and its Western supporters "do not even have the power to give Iran a nasty look."

Earlier, he called Syrian President Bashar Assad and assured him that if Israel attacks Syria "it will be equivalent to an attack on the whole Islamic world and the regime (Israel) will face a crushing response."

Ahmadinejad has often fanned anti-Israeli sentiment to bolster his image as a fierce opponent of the West, saying Israel should be "wiped off the map" and casting doubt on the Nazi Holocaust.

The Iranians "have an interest in fomenting as much trouble here as they can and think that it will benefit them somehow in terms of their ambitions in the region and ultimately how they resolve the nuclear question," said Dennis Ross, a former U.S. Mideast envoy.

"In the case of Syria ... they feel this makes them a factor, that people have to pay attention to them," he said.

But they may have miscalculated.

In Lebanon, there is mounting resentment against the Hezbollah action, which has killed a tourism season many had expected to be one of Lebanon's best.

If Hezbollah fails to win a prisoner swap for the soldiers and if Israel carries out its threat to push Hezbollah away from its border, the group will be blamed for the damage to Lebanon.

"Hezbollah will definitely emerge as a loser," said Saghieh, the columnist for Al-Hayat. "It's hijacked the country and is demanding the Lebanese pay with their lives for its actions."

"The people and other political parties are going to demand that Hezbollah account for its actions since it has always claimed that its resistance offered us protection," he said.

Paul Salem, director of the Middle East Center of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Hezbollah's military presence in the south was seen by many Lebanese as a deterrent against any Israeli attack on Lebanon and even on Iran.

"But if you use your military power, you lose it," said Salem. "It will no longer be a deterrent."

While Iran doesn't have a stake in seeing the violence end, Syria might "if they decide that it's becoming more costly to them," Ross said.

"That's where the Saudis could play a major role," by pressuring Damascus, he said.

Saudi Arabia has harshly criticized Hezbollah, without naming it directly, for escalating the situation, saying "uncalculated adventures" could precipitate a new Middle East crisis.

Will This War Go Nuclear?

Will This War Go Nuclear?
David Horowitz
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Here is the situation: World leaders are lining up, either on the side of the Islamic terrorists (France's Chirac and Russia's Putin) or the side of their victims (the United States and - somewhat - Great Britain).

The Vatican, which has an unsavory record with regard to the periodic slaughters of the Jews, has thrown its moral weight (such as it is these days) onto the scales against the Jews. As the Hezbollah terrorists fire hundreds of rockets into Israeli cities from Lebanon, the Pope condemns Israel's attempts to destroy the rockets aimed at its citizens.

Israel's chief of staff is forced to concede that those rockets can reach farther than previously thought, putting more Israelis in danger.

Meanwhile, the Syrian terrorist state tells Time magazine that it could destroy Israel's nuclear sites.

Hezbollah and Hamas, and their patron Iran, have sworn to remove Israel from the face of the earth - in those very words.

Iran has defied the world community in asserting its determination to complete its nuclear program. Syria supports Iran, hosts Hamas and is a party to this malignant Islamic crusade, and so apparently is the international left which is lining up squarely behind the jihadists - as it has done throughout the open preparation of this second holocaust.

The left's favorite apostle, Noam Chomsky, only months ago was embracing Hezbollah's Hitler, Hassan Nasrallah, and his genocidal agendas.

So here is the issue: If you were Israel's prime minister, could you afford to wait until Iran attains nuclear warheads for Hezbollah's missiles? Or can you be sure it hasn't already been supplied such warheads by Russia or China through Iran?

Could you afford to wait to see if Syria will supply the chemical and biological weapons it has cached for Saddam Hussein to Hezbollah and Hamas? Or would you proceed to plan B and obliterate them now?

While the Israeli prime minister ponders this question, leftists who are encouraging the forces of genocide - Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria, and Iran - might want to think how all the present bloodshed and the next terrible decisions that Israel must take to defend itself - and their consequences - will lie on their heads.

David Horowitz is a nationally known author and lifelong civil rights activist. He is the founder of FrontPageMag.com.

Israel’s Challenge

Israel’s Challenge
By P. David Hornik
FrontPageMagazine.com | July 14, 2006

Israel is like the archetypal retired gunslinger in Westerns who tries to stay out of trouble but ends up rejoining the fray when the provocations get too severe. In Israel’s case, though, the price of “retirement” has been inexcusable.

During the months of post-disengagement Qassam attacks on Sderot and other Gaza-bordering communities, it was painfully obvious that Israel’s restraint would end on the day the Qassams took a worse toll than injury, traumatization, and making life unlivable for thousands of Israelis. The “policy,” if any, of the Sharon and Olmert governments was to count on the Qassams’ relative inaccuracy and hope one’s luck would hold out.

The only surprise, then, was that when the fatal attack came it was not over the Gaza border fence by rocket, but under it by tunnel; and not against civilians but against soldiers, two of whom were killed and one kidnapped in the dawn raid at Kerem Shalom almost three weeks ago. It was only then, after a catastrophe whose occurrence, if not its exact nature, was entirely predictable, that Israel launched a large-scale military action in Gaza.
The script repeated itself Wednesday on the Lebanese border in a Hizbullah assault that took an even worse toll of eight Israeli soldiers dead and two kidnapped.
Here too, Hizbullah’s encampment along the border since Israel’s ill-conceived evacuation of Lebanon in 2000 was clearly a time-bomb waiting to go off. In particular, Hizbullah’s positioning of twelve thousand Iranian-supplied rockets along the border led to demands by IDF commanders for preemptive action. But, again, the Sharon and Olmert governments preferred to wait and see. On Thursday it was too late for scores of residents of northern Israeli communities, from Haifa to tiny villages, as the rockets rained down on them sowing death and injury.
The Hizbullah onslaught has also made clear that whatever Israel has done so far in Gaza has in no way restored its deterrence. Seemingly, by a rational calculation Hamas, Hizbullah, and their backers in Damascus and Teheran would conclude that the Kerem Shalom raid was not worth it: in retribution for two soldiers killed and one abducted, Israeli forces have killed dozens of terrorists in Gaza along with collateral deaths of civilians, damaged infrastructure, ominously hit official structures like Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s office and the PA Foreign Ministry, and arrested dozens of Hamas figures in the West Bank.
Israel’s enemies, though, are fanatics who are willing to pay any price if they perceive themselves to be prevailing by inflicting harm on Israel and wearing it down. Teheran is also seeking to divert attention from its nuclear plans at the upcoming G8 summit by shifting the focus to the Israeli sphere. So far, the jihad axis can also take satisfaction in the fact that Israel’s Gaza operations are yet to achieve either of their two main declared aims: retrieving kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit or stopping the Qassam fire, at least nine Gaza-fired rockets having landed in Israel on Thursday alone.
Israel’s challenge, then, is to prove that attacking it is not worth it and restore its deterrence. It responded on Thursday by pounding not only Hizbullah but also Lebanese infrastructure and military targets from air and sea on the assumption that Lebanon can be gotten to disband Hizbullah and reassert sovereignty over its southern border. That would entail a degree of independence from its Syrian masters that Lebanon may not really possess. Israel may eventually engage Syria as well, but its early battle plan appears to be trying to play the Lebanese card.
Above all Israel has to be prepared to remove the Hizbullah missile hoard, much of which is hidden underground, even if this requires a ground invasion that risks casualties. The missile arsenal not only constitutes an unacceptable threat in itself but constrains Israel in acting against Syria and Iran. A freer hand against Iran may eventually be an existential necessity.
Israel begins the confrontation with certain clear handicaps. Hamas and Hizbullah, tiny as they are compared to the IDF, enjoy massive backing not only from Iran and Syria but from the world jihad movement in general, and fighters and infrastructure can always be replaced if Israel limits itself to temporary incursions and selective strikes.
Israel also can hardly count on world support, and is helped little by being attacked on its sovereign territory from places where it removed all vestiges of “occuaption.” Already on Thursday—after less than a day of fighting in Lebanon—France’s foreign minister condemned Israel’s “disproportionate act of war.” The EU as a whole said it was “greatly concerned about the disproportionate use of force by Israel in Lebanon [and] deplores the loss of civilian lives and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.” Predictably the Europeans could not wait to verify reports or to consider Israel’s rationale for hitting Lebanon, which is hosting the jihadist movement that attacked it, a member of which is a minister in its cabinet. And this is only a foretaste.
Israel’s advantages include not only its superior operational capacity but also a growing realization among its leaders and populace that it has done all it could to reach accommodation with foes who do not want accommodation and is now fighting with its back to the wall. It has not taken long for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose sights were set on yet further withdrawals from the West Bank while hoping the Qassams wouldn’t do too much harm, and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, a longtime extreme dove who still talks of himself as a man of peace and dialogue, to get harshly initiated into Middle Eastern reality.
It is critical for Israel’s future that they now leave behind their delusions about a Middle East that can either be made peace with or kept at bay with fences. At least in adamantly refusing to negotiate another lopsided prisoner exchange, Olmert is showing greater resolve than some previous Israeli governments. He needs to revive an older Israel that knew what the stakes were and knew how to win. That means—at least—hitting Hamas so hard that it will be left reeling and unable to pose a further threat; uprooting southern Lebanon’s kingdom of terror; and then not meekly retreating to let the enemy recuperate and rebuild. It also means not letting sensitivity to world reactions loom so large that one is helpless. Israel has no place left to turn and no choice, at this late hour, but to fight.

Moment of Truth

Moment of Truth
By David Horowitz
FrontPageMagazine.com | July 14, 2006

Americans need to take a hard look at what is going on in the Middle East, because it provides the clearest picture possible of the war we are in. On one side are al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hizbollah, Syria and Iran and their allies: Russia, France, Greece, and the UN majority. On the other is the only democracy in the land of Muslim and Arab terror. The origins of this front in the war on terror are crystal clear: the desire of the Muslim terrorists -- the elected majority among Palestinian Arabs and the occupying Shi'ite army in Lebanon, backed by Syria and Iran -- to destroy Israel and push the Jews into the sea.

The war reveals the impossibility of a Palestinian state and the necessity of a civilized occupying force in a region that is populated by a people who have been terminally brainwashed into an ideology of hate, which makes their self-government a crime waiting to happen.

There were 10,000 Jews living in Gaza until recently. They were so creative that while representing less than one percent of the population they accounted for 10% of the entire gross national product of the country. Productive and law-abiding as they were, their existence in Gaza required a Israeli army presence to protect them. So uncontrollable is the genocidal hatred of Palestinians for Jews (more than a million Palestinians on the other hand live peacefully in Israel enjoying more rights than any Arabs or Muslims living in their own countries). The Israeli army in Gaza was also necessary to prevent genocidal Palestinians Jew-haters from lobbing rockets into Israeli schoolyards.

Eventually, the Israeli leadership made a decision to capitulate to Arab Jew hatred and uproot the Jews living in Gaza, and to withdraw the forces that protected Israel from being attacked by Arab criminals. In the months that followed, the Arabs did nothing to improve their new homeland, which they now controlled completely. Instead, they elected genocidal terrorists to govern them. They destroyed the horticulture industry the Jews had created and that provided 10% of their GNP. They lobbed 800 or so rockets into Israel. During all this mayhem no word of condemnation for the Gaza aggressors came from the UN, France, Russia and rest of the Jew-hating, terrorist-appeasing and terrorist-supporting international community.

Consequently, the Hamas army command, based in Syria, authorized a further aggression -- a tunnel into Israel and the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier. For good measure, Palestinians in the West Bank executed an 18-year old Jewish hitch-hiker for the crime of being a Jew. Still no condemnation of the Palestinians from the Jew-haters in France, Russia and at the UN. This support encouraged Iranian-sponsored Hizbollah to initiate another aggression, this time from the north.

The goal of the United States and Israel and all freedom-loving and civilized people in this war must be the destruction of the Hamas and Hizbollah leadership, their military infrastructure and capabilities. If there was a UN worthy of the name, it would expel Syria and Iran from its body, and send a Security Council armed force to the West Bank and Gaza to institute an occupation whose duration should not be less than a generation. During this occupation, the hate schools of the West Bank and Gaza should be revamped so that the children of Palestinian Arabs are taught basic rules of civilized behavior -- tolerance instead of ethnic and religious hatred, condemnation of suicide bombers instead of reverence for them as martyrs, and such common decencies as regarding monsters like Samil Kuntar, a Palestinian terrorist who took a father and child hostage and smashed the child's head against a rock and who is regarded as a hero and official model for Palestinian children as the monsters they are.

The world will not be a safe place or a decent one until the present regimes in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria and Iran are gone. This is a war all Americans must support.

Shummer60- Iran was also present at the Korean missile launches.

Options for U.S. Limited As Mideast Crises Spread

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 13, 2006; A19

The Bush administration suddenly faces three rapidly expanding crises in the Middle East, but it has limited options to defuse tensions in any of them anytime soon, U.S. officials and Middle East experts say.

Israel has sent troops into Gaza and Lebanon over three captured soldiers -- one held by Hamas in Gaza and two seized yesterday by Hezbollah in Lebanon. The United States and its allies set a collision course with Iran over its nuclear program. And there is mounting concern that Iraq's sectarian violence is crossing the threshold to a full-blown civil war.

A common thread in the three crises is Iran -- for its support of the two Islamist groups, its alleged funding and arming of Iraqi militias and extremist groups, and its refusal to give a final response to the Western package of incentives designed to prevent it from converting a peaceful energy program into one to develop nuclear weapons.

"There seems to be a hand in each one of these -- Iran's and Syria's," Assistant Secretary of State C. David Welch said in a telephone interview from Amman, Jordan. "Today does cross a threshold because, as Hezbollah has now said, this action was planned. It was intended to escalate and widen the battleground."

U.S. tensions with Iran have not been this high -- or covered so many issues -- since the 1979-1981 hostage crisis, said Shaul Bakhash, an Iran expert at George Mason University. Shortly after Iran's 1979 revolution, 52 Americans were seized at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held hostage for 444 days.

The common tactic in the three crises appears to be daring defiance by Iran and its allies, particularly in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, to gain position at the same time they are facing mounting pressures. "Here you have actors who are basically pariahs who are trying to find their way back in. They're doing it the way they know best -- brinksmanship," said Robert Malley, director of the International Crisis Group's Middle East program. "They want to change the rules of the game."

Because of the simultaneous crises, the Bush administration is poised to use the Group of Eight summit of industrialized nations in Moscow this week to rally support against Iran as a bad actor unwilling to embrace the standards of the international community, U.S. officials say. The United States is also pushing for a new resolution at the United Nations next week on Iran's failure to suspend uranium enrichment.

The White House said it is holding Iran and Syria responsible for the flare-up along Lebanon's border because of their long-standing support for Hezbollah. It charged that the seizure of two soldiers was deliberately timed to "exacerbate already high tensions in the region and sow further violence.

"Hezbollah's actions are not in the interest of the Lebanese people, whose welfare should not be held hostage to the interests of the Syrian and Iranian regimes," a statement said.

Iran's role differs in each crisis, as do the issues.

The most pressing is the new violence along Israel's borders. Overnight, the confrontation with Hamas mushroomed dramatically into a confrontation that includes Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria and Iran. Iran is using Hezbollah to improve its own leverage, analysts say.

"The Iranians think they have a regional role," Bakhash said. "If the Israelis are beating up the Palestinians in Gaza, they may feel compelled as supporters of the Palestinian cause to have Hezbollah take a stand at this difficult moment." Hezbollah was founded in 1982 with the funding, arms and training by Iranian Revolutionary Guards dispatched to Lebanon after Israel's invasion.

On the nuclear issue, Tehran has taken a tough position on its right to enrich uranium for its civilian energy program, which is allowed under terms of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but which can be subverted for a nuclear weapon. Iran says that the United States particularly wants it to surrender this right to undermine its long-term development as a modern nation. But several Western nations are convinced Iran is intent on procuring a nuclear weapons capability.

In Iraq, Iran has fostered sectarianism by aiding fellow Shiites in powerful militias, including renegade cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq's Badr Brigades, which were originally trained in Iran, U.S. officials say. The militias have defied calls to disarm, undermining the control of the new government and preventing smaller Sunni militias from cooperating as well. U.S. officials say Iran's goal is to prevent stability and a U.S. victory in Iraq that might lead to pressure on Iran.

The Bush administration has few ways of directly pressuring Iran on any of the three fronts. "They have sanctioned themselves out of leverage on Iran," Malley said. "They have cornered themselves out of a lack of influence on any of the parties that are driving this -- Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and Iran. Counseling restraint or condemning actions is pretty meager when you think of the influence the United States should be wielding."

The United States reached out to Arab allies -- Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia -- to weigh in with Syria and, through Damascus, to Iran. In Paris for talks on Iran's nuclear program, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on all sides to "act with restraint." She also talked to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

But the U.S. options stand in stark contrast to the U.S.-brokered cease-fires in 1993 and 1996 between Israel and Hezbollah, via Syria.

WILL SAME-SEX "MARRIAGE" IMPINGE ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

WILL SAME-SEX "MARRIAGE" IMPINGE ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

By Marsha West

July 14, 2006

NewsWithViews.com

“Slowly but surely, the Church is waking up to the danger same-sex “marriage” poses to society as it begins to grasp the correlation between the preservation of traditional marriage and religious liberty. As I have reported before, legal experts have issued stark warnings about the future of religious freedom should homosexual “marriage” become the law of the land. Catholic Charities of Massachusetts, for example, has been forced to suspend adoption services because it believes children deserve mothers and fathers. But now that men can legally “marry” other men in Massachusetts, such quaint views are frowned upon as “bigotry” and “discrimination.” ~ Gary Bauer

Even with all the hullabaloo about same-sex “marriage” in the news, some proponents of the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) are either unable or unwilling to articulate their reasons for desiring a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage. Why the silence? This is one of the most important issues of our time. Why aren't those who want to preserve traditional marriage shouting from the rooftops to get the America’s attention? The stakes are too high to allow the Left to win this battle. People of faith, what are you doing to put a stop to this insanity? What?

Jesus stated unequivocally, "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters” (Matthew 12:30). Come out from among the scatterers, people of God! Let’s gather together and resist the God-haters. Lest we forget, we’re in a battle for the heart and soul of America!

According to the latest polls 59% of Americans oppose same-sex “marriage.” But many citizens are fearful of speaking their minds because they might be accused of being bigoted or intolerant. Liberals are skilled at using intimidation tactics against their opponents. For them, the ends justify the means.

When liberals try to intimidate you, never be afraid to state your case. You have that right! So suck it up. Stand firm. Look them square in the all-knowing eye in the center of their forehead, and drench them with truth. (Warning: A good drenching of truth could cause liberals to melt into a steaming puddle of sludge like the Wicked Witch of the West did when Dorothy tossed a bucket of water in her face.) Truth is potent against the enemy.

Recently I had an opportunity to talk with an opponent of the FMA. Sandy’s a Christian, albeit a liberal one. When the subject of the FMA came up, she told me she sees nothing wrong with same-sex marriages. After I explained the profound affect it will have on families, and society in general, she shrugged and said, “I don’t believe that.”

I pressed Sandy to explain how same-sex marriage would benefit society. Her response was that she works with a “gay” man who has been in a committed relationship for over 20 years. “He’s a wonderful, loving, person who wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Then she tossed the lethal grenade, “Besides, they can’t help that they’re gay. They were born that way.”

Ahhh, the “gay gene” rationalization.

I asked her why she believed they were born that way. According to her, scientific studies have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that some people are born gay. Thus, homosexuality is as normal as heterosexuality. I pointed out that data could be manipulated to reflect the bias of those conducting the studies, which is what happened in the “gay gene” study. I also mentioned that I know a number of people who are former gays and that some of them are married, have children, and are no longer attracted to the same sex. To that she huffed, “My friend says there is no such thing as a former gay, so your friends must not have been gay, they just thought they were.”

Even though the discussion got pretty heated at times, we both managed to keep our cool. My goal was not to change her mind; only to pass on information she may not have heard before. The conversation ended with Sandy having the last word: “As long as they’re not hurting anyone they should be able to do whatever they want to.” Then she changed the subject.

Not hurting anyone? Dr. Tim Dailey, Senior Fellow for Cultural Studies at the Family Research Council, has documented certain studies that describe the many health and societal risks associated with the homosexual lifestyle. In his recent book, Dark Obsession, Dr. Dailey notes,

Human Papillomavirus (HPV)?which can lead to anal cancer -- infects over er 90 percent of HIV-positive gay men, and 65 percent of HIV-negative gay men.

Gay men are at increased risk for contracting hepatitis -- a potentially fatal liiver disease that increases the risk of liver cancer.

Homosexuals acquire syphilis at a rate ten times that of heterosexuals.

Men who have sex with men comprise the single largest exposure category of people with AIDS. Homosexual men with HIV have a 37-fold increase in anal cancer, a 4-fold increase in Hodgkins disease, a 2.7-fold increase in cancer of the testicles, and a 2.5-fold increase in lip cancer.

Thirty-six percent of homosexuals engaging in unprotected oral, anal, or vaginal sex failed to disclose that they were HIV positive to casual sex partners.

The incidence of anal cancer in homosexuals is 35 times greater than that of the general population.

Lesbians have more male sex partners then their heterosexual counterparts, putting lesbians at greater risk for contracting STDs.

Lesbians are three times more likely to abuse alcohol.

Homosexual and lesbian relationships are far more violent than traditional married households.

Seventy-five percent of lesbians have pursued psychological counseling of some kind -- many for treatment of long-term depression.

Life expectancy for gay and bi-sexual men is eight to twenty years less than average.

There is a significantly higher rate of suicide for homosexual men than heterosexual men.

Dr. Dailey concludes with,

These behavioral, physical, and societal ramifications paint a dismal picture of a lifestyle that is portrayed to the public as equivalent to the traditional nuclear family. Unfortunately, if the Federal Marriage Amendment does not become the law of the land, homosexual unions will soon hold a place alongside true marriage between a man and woman -- the God-blessed family unit that has been the backbone of civilized society since the dawn of creation. This will have happened in large part because of a debate that never took place? a debate that would have revealled the facts about the homosexual behavior before we so recklessly enshrined it into law.

Points to Ponder

Conservative columnist Dennis Prager gave a talk on same-sex marriage and suggested the following guidelines,

"Studies show” is the mantra of those who don't think. Avoid the oft-used phrase, and beware that data can be manipulated to reflect the bias of those conducting the studies.

It is better to have a loving mother and a loving father than to have two loving mothers or two loving fathers. Never let that argument go.

Avoid using the term "gay marriage." Use the phrase "same-sex marriage" instead. Under current law, gays already have the civil right to marry, just like anyone else. The issue at hand is whether a person can marry another of the same sex.

If you dislike or hate gays, do not join the battle for traditional marriage. Anti-gay attitudes and behavior only provide ammunition for the media to portray conservatives as "bigots."

Homosexual acts are a sin, but that is irrelevant when making the argument to people who don't care about the Bible as their source of ethics.

If it is argued that love should be the criterion for marriage, then raise such questions as "If two brothers love each other, why shouldn't they be allowed to marry?" or "If two men and a woman all love each other, why shouldn't they be allowed to marry?" or "If a father and son love each other, why shouldn't they be allowed to marry?" Same-sex marriage will lose this argument in the public square because "Love is not the criterion for marriage. Man and woman is the criterion."

Someone may argue, "If you're so concerned about protecting marriage, why don't you push for the passage of laws against divorce?" What does heterosexual divorce have to do with same-sex marriage? Yes, marriages fail, and divorce is tragic. Cars also crash and injure and kill people. This doesn't mean we should stop driving, though.

Whatever you do, stay on topic until your opponent understands the point you’re trying to make. When someone doesn’t have a good defense, they quickly change the subject. Don’t let anyone lead you down a rabbit trail! And don’t be afraid to ask, “Do you understand my answer?” When they say yes, then move on.

© 2006 Marsha West - All Rights Reserved
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Marsha West is the Founder and Editor of the E-Mail Brigade News Report, an online news report for conservative people of faith. Marsha is a freelance writer specializing in Christian worldview. She is a regular contributor to NewsWithViews.com, Alainsnewsletter.com, CapitolHillCoffeeHouse.com, plus her commentaries appear in MichNews.com and bibleteacher.org.

Marsha is also designer and webmaster of a Christian apologetics website, On Solid Rock Resources. She is currently writing a series of children's books for homeschoolers. Marsha and her husband reside in historic Jacksonville Oregon.

IS AMERICA TOO PUSHY?

IS AMERICA TOO PUSHY?

By Dr. Laurie Roth Ph.D.
July 14, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

Gorbachev came out this week and said we had a disease worse than AIDS. He implied that we seem to think Democracies will work around the world and they won't. We have a "winners" complex. I guess he has company with much of our media and some of congress who think we are pushy, arrogant and rude. After all, after we took out a chunk of the terrorist threat in Afghanistan, its just unforgivable how we turned their country into a Christian style democracy with the 10 commandment plaques placed in their rebuilt airport. We did the same evil in Iraq. Once we stopped the acid baths, let the kids out of the prisons and stopped the butchering of the citizens, we then started building Baptist churches everywhere and put up those annoying statues of Abraham Lincoln. How rude and arrogant can we be?

Folks, our problem isn't pushing our way on everyone else! I am the first to understand that there are crazy, dictatorial regimes all over and we pity the people living there. Most of us realize that we can't change them all! However, in this information highway we live in and the aggressive nature of Fundamentalist Islam, the passionate crusaders for Jihad don't think it is good enough to meditate in their places of worship just how much they hate and want to kill. They have to do something about the hate! They have to get on planes, strategize and come to our living rooms and cities. That is where we are forced into a HUGE clash. What are we supposed to do….show more understanding while they plan to kill us?

While they import murder, we are supposed to export nothing but understanding? Rubbish! We must finish stabilizing the new democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, while dealing intensely with the murderous plans of N. Korea and Iran. I wish we could just ignore the meanies and be safe! We can't! They will only continue nuclear and terrorist plans and wipe us out. Remember, 9/11 was our reward after nearly 8 years of appeasement and looking the other way with Bill Clinton.

It was only a few months after George Bush came into office that we were attacked. So, its not our aggression and arrogance that gets us attacked. It is the passionate nature of our enemy who plans to wipe out the infidedals, which is you and I. They believe they are alive for glorious Jihad! I think we should show more understanding though. Let them understand this: "We will find you and kill you when you attack Americans anywhere. We will hold you and your Government responsible and take you out!!! So, hate all you want but keep it to yourself or die." That is the kind of "understanding" we need, not a ticket to Oprah.

The confusion I do see in this country is towards our own self!!! To fix the poverty problems, employment problems and our neighborhood problems you don't redefine your reality, constitution, money and borders!!! You don't cut off your leg to help someone else walk! The push with our Government for the North American Union, talks of new currency, a highway through the center of our country, and lack of border security is unforgivable and dangerous! I feel betrayed even at the notion of it!!! We are a sovereign nation, with a culture, a language, borders and laws. We can help our neighbors and address the complications of economics and illegal aliens AND continue being America, defending our borders and keeping us all safe. You can't help your neighbors by becoming a 3rd world, crime ridden country just to feel their pain. It has been our goodness, generosity and WEALTH that has allowed us to fix, repair and help countless countries for years. It will be hard to continue that if we are living under a bridge…..but oh…so understanding!

© 2006 Dr. Laurie Roth - All Rights Reserved
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Laurie Roth has a Ph.D. in Counseling and held a small private practice for many years. She earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. She is the proverbial "pastor's daughter" when it comes to her sense of adventure and her independent thinking. Laurie is a singer/songwriter with five CD albums to her credit, one track, which landed her in Billboard's top 40 ranks and on the cover of Cash Box Magazine. She plays the piano, keyboard, and violin and has a voice that can penetrate your very soul.

In the late 90's, Laurie hosted and produced a successful PBS television show called "CD Highway" that aired nationally on 130 TV stations. What made the show a success was Laurie's on-air persona as she interviewed stars such as Al Green, Blondie, Pat Bennitar, Chicago, 3 Dog Night, Lou Rawls, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Christopher Cross, Men at Work, Billy Rae Cyrus, Diamond Rio, Rita Coolidge, and dozens more.

Laurie is also an accomplished Author, Cartoonist, and Artist. She has hosted successful radio shows in Boston and L.A. before going national. Tune in to The Roth Show, Weeknights from 7:00 to 10:00 pm PAC and find out for yourself! You can listen live on cable radio network (live on the internet) channel 6 or visit The Roth Show web site and click on "where to listen" www.therothshow.com Call the Roth Show at: 1-800-837-9680

SPAGHETTI PUSHING LEADERSHIP

SPAGHETTI PUSHING LEADERSHIP

Coach Dave Daubenmire
July 13, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

In the early 1990s the school where I was employed was looking for a new principal. As the football coach and a parent of three children in the district, I was very interested in the direction our school was going to take and I saw the selection of our new leader as a very important decision. The superintendent and the board appointed a committee to interview candidates. Although they love to talk about getting the "community's input" in the selection process, the real purpose of the committee is to make sure they can spread the blame if the selection turns out to be a bust. It is a good way for those in authority to cover their own hind ends.

Realizing how important the job was, I made sure that I wiggled my way onto that panel. There were twelve of us, (plenty to blame if it turned out wrong) and most were looking out for their own interests, not those of the school. As each candidate took his turn before the group, I kept most of my powder dry, trying to do more listening than speaking. It became apparent that one of the candidates, and I couldn't figure out why, was the favorite of many in the group BEFORE he had even been interviewed. I had no pre-interview favorite; I wanted the best man, but more importantly, a real leader. One candidate really won my heart when one of the old buzzards on the committee, worried that she might have to work a little harder, or be challenged to teach a few more classes, asked him a question about how he might handle the issue of veteran teachers who were reaching the end of his/her career.

"Well," he said. "I guess I'll ride the stallions and shoot the nags."

"Wow!" I thought, "A man after my own heart." Needless to say, not everyone appreciated his frankness.

It soon became clear that one particular gentleman had enough support. He said all of the right things, at least in their ears, "tolerance, consensus, diversity, community, test scores," etc. But something didn't sit right with me. After listening to his well-practiced drivel for about 30 minutes, near the conclusion of the interview, I leaned forward and cut right through the crap.

"Let me ask you a question. This school is in great need of strong leadership. We have all of the resources necessary to really launch towards greatness. I heard Woody Hayes say at a football clinic a few years ago, 'You can pull boiled spaghetti a lot better than you can push it.' I've heard all of the things you have said, and most of it sounded pretty good, but the one question I have for you is this. Are you a spaghetti pusher or a spaghetti puller?"

He just stared blankly at me and smirked. He had no idea what I was talking about.

Most of the wet-spaghetti around the room liked him. He got the job. I knew we were in trouble. Today, as is so typical of our society, he is a superintendent of schools, a real consensus-following leader.

Where are the spaghetti pullers?

What is the difference, you might ask? Picture a pile of freshly boiled spaghetti sitting on your countertop. If you put your hands at the back of the pile and shove it, you will find that the spaghetti has a tendency to spread out in many different directions. Although it moves, it tends to spin, and is very difficult to get into the bowl. If somehow you can grab the front of the noodles and pull on them, you will find that the rest of the pile falls nicely in line.

You can pull spaghetti a lot better than you can push it.

There is a leadership vacuum all across America. Not in the business world. No, that is an area where leadership is rewarded. Bill Gates is a spaghetti puller. So is Donald Trump. Bill Parcells, Pat Riley, and most great coaches know which end of the pile to stand on. Simon Cowell, the judge on "The American Idol" is famous for telling it like it is. Americans love that, need that. His spaghetti-pulling has made him a millionaire.

But outside the business world, especially in the political/educational/religious world, we are moved in circles by spaghetti pushers, men who claim the title of "leader" but who are constantly in the back of the pack pushing on the noodles. No wonder Americans seem so directionless.

Congress is full of them, spaghetti pushers. With the exception of Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo, name one national leader who is ever out-front on an issue. Social Security is going broke, so what do the "pushers" do? They take a poll, see what "the people" think, and then decide to do nothing about it. Too risky. They'd rather watch America run around in circles than stand up, speak up, and pull.

Come on now, think about it. Quickly allow a list of potential presidential candidates run through your mind. Can you name one who will get out front and pull? One who will lead the country in the direction we need to go? One who has a strong vision about where he/she wants to go and is tugging to drag everyone else along? Aren't most of today's leaders pushing the pile? See, they've gotten along in the public arena by being behind the pile, "leading" by consensus, holding a title that somehow convinces the noodles that they are the "authority" and providing leadership!

A popular phrase today is "grab the bull by the horns." Isn't that interesting? Which end are the horns on? When was the last time you heard someone say "push the bull by the butt"? The reason that doesn't work is, no matter how hard you push, the horns will determine where the butt goes; most likely in circles. Many thought that the Cowboy President understood how to handle bulls. Unfortunately, the polls have caused him to wilt like limp spaghetti, and he spends most of his time pushing the pile, while most in his Party stand silently behind him and watch America spin.

There are 435 members of the House of Representatives. How many can you name? Dennis Hastert is Speaker of the House. He seems to push a lot of spaghetti and prides himself on "reaching across the aisle." Most of the Congressmen that make the news are famous for breaking the law….DeLay, William Jefferson, Bob Ney. The rest in Congress just sit and stare at the pile of pasta, trying to figure out which direction the noodles would like to go. "The American people are for fairness…" as if fairness is leadership. And when was the last time they actually did what the American people wanted? "Close the borders will you, buddy?"

The US Senate has 100 members. Most are faceless, pompous, self-righteous cowards. "Mr. President, I would like to respond to my honorable colleague from Virginia…Blah, blah, blah. None of them follow the Constitution (I honestly doubt if they have read it), except when they want to pass unconstitutional legislation. Oh, then they talk about "rights," and "democracy" and my favorite, "the rule of law." What leader in America is fighting for what is right, rather than for what the noodles want?

Meanwhile, our government is bankrupt, our borders are over-run, private property is being stolen, and God is illegal.

But what can we do? The spaghetti pullers have a lock on the political process. They choose their national leaders--and they always choose the ones who have pushed the most spaghetti, or have pushed it the longest. The candidates talk a good game and say all the PC things, and then once elected, immediately move to their spot in back of the wet spaghetti.

Judge Roy Moore ran for governor of Alabama. Now there is a spaghetti puller. Alabama, the heart of the Bible Belt, instead chose a proven pasta-pusher. Judge Moore was too radical because he wanted to get out front and pull. The Party lined up behind incumbent Governor Riley and pushed. Alabama, like the rest of America, is going in circles.

Americans have become convinced that the greatest virtue a politician can have is the willingness to compromise. Compromise is just a nice word for spaghetti-pushing. Check your history. All great leaders pulled on the noodles. Did you ever see a farmer with a team of horses pushing a plow?

Responsibility is a unique concept. It can only reside and inhere in a single individual. You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you…If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the blame to someone else. Unless you can point your finger at the one who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you never really had anyone who was responsible. ---Admiral Hyman Rickover

Jesus was a spaghetti puller. In fact, he told us ''Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God'' (Luke 9:62). America is running in circles because our leadership is on the wrong end of the plow.

It is time to ride the stallions. America needs leaders who will pull!

PRO SECOND AMENDMENT INCUMBENTS & GUN RAIDS

PRO SECOND AMENDMENT INCUMBENTS & GUN RAIDS

By: Devvy Kidd
July 14, 2006

NewsWithViews.com

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce. ... The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives and liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the State. – James Madison, author of U.S. Constitution, Federalist Paper No. 45

This column is two fold in scope: supporting pro Second Amendment incumbents and the recent raid on Richard Celata who owns KT Ordnance. I happen to know Richard and consider him a friend. I purchased a fine set of Made in America cast iron cookware for my new home from him; Richard is a distributor of this product and a wonderful line of organic products from Promised Land. This raid was conducted by the ATF, FBI and Canadian ATF. The raid was conducted with a search warrant, but the affidavit is still under seal. The local Sheriff determined that the warrant was valid and allowed foreign law enforcement to participate in a witch hunt against an individual engaged in a legal enterprise.

Richard still has not been indicted or charged with any crime; his life sits in limbo. These federal dragoons came into his home (20+), confiscated his computers, all of his inventory, some of his tooling and fixtures, his computer and paper records. In other words, a vocal supporter of Dr. Edwin Vieira's project to reconstitute the state militias under the control of the state as mandated by the Second Amendment is now a target of the Bush Administration. Richard notified me the day after the raid that the FBI questioned him about specific individuals. Besides Edwin and Aaron Zelman (Jews for the Jews Preservation of Firearms Ownership, Inc.), Richard was asked if I was "anti-government" and "seditious." As regular readers know, I have been making every effort to educate and motivate Americans to pursue the critical issue of the state militias by putting Dr. Edwin Vieira's scholarly writings on a CD so everyone can learn. It would appear that these CDs and the message is starting to get under the skin of the shadow government.

The first question that came to the minds of many was how could Canadian law enforcement (ATF) participate in this raid? No doubt this was done under international treaty: "Celata was told, without being shown any supporting evidence, that five of the pistols he had sold were used to commit murders in Canada." The claim here is that Richard has committed an offense against the laws of a nation; see below.

The BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) originally was under the Treasury Department, but in 2003, control was transferred to the insidious, worthless Department of Homeland Security. For window dressing and PR value, the name was also changed to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to their official propaganda page: "The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) is a tax-collecting, enforcement and regulatory arm of the U.S. Department of the Treasury."

"....tax collecting, enforcement and regulatory arm of the U.S. Department of the Treasury." If that is their mission, why did they raid Richard's business? Taxes owed on the products he sold? Even though the affidavit is conveniently sealed, there is no chance this is the reason. Apparently, the claim - backed up by nothing - is that Richard sold guns used in Canada to kill people.

Larry Becraft is a constitutional attorney with over 26 years experience in the courtroom with an emphasis on federal prosecutions. He has an excellent section on his web site all Americans should read so they understand the law, not what some civil service employee who cares nothing for the law, only their paycheck says is the law; see here. Additionally, Larry has three excellent, short columns on jurisdiction and treaties, see here. As Larry so correctly states: Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress has the power to make criminal ONLY four types of conduct: treason, counterfeiting, piracies and felonies on the high seas, and offenses against the laws of nations.

Remember this if nothing else and I have harped on this in previous columns: Congress cannot arbitrarily alter, amend or change the U.S. Constitution without a constitutional amendment. "The highest law of the land is the Constitution of the United States." Stephen K. Huber, Professor of Law, University of Houston."The general misconception is that any statute passed by legislators bearing the appearance of law constitutes the law of the land. The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and any statue must be in agreement with it to be valid. It is impossible for both the Constitution and a law violating it to be valid; one must prevail over the other. The Sixteenth American Jurisprudence, (2nd ed., Section 256), states:

"The general rule is that an unconstitutional statue, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it. A void act cannot be legally consistent with a valid one. An unconstitutional law cannot operate to supersede any existing valid law. Indeed, insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the land, it is superseded thereby." There's also a very important sentence in the "history" section on the BATFE home page cited above:

"In the Anti-Arson Act of 1982, Congress amended Title XI to make it clear that arson is a federal crime, giving ATF responsibility for investigating commercial arson nationwide." This is where we get into the big question of federal jurisdiction. Arson is an event which takes place inside one of the states of the Union. It is strictly the jurisdiction of the states to investigate suspicious fires within their state boundaries. If a state needs better equipment and training, then it's up to that state legislature to make sure their version of the ATF receive the proper funding, not call in the federal calvary.

On July 12, 2006, an alert was put out by Citizens Committee for the Right to Own and Bear Arms:

Urgent Action Required! Stop Gun Confiscation in Citizens’ Hour of Need. Stop the Forcible Confiscation of Firearms from Law-Abiding Americans. Support the Vitter amendment …call your U. S. Senators!

During Senate consideration of the Homeland Security appropriations bill (H.R. 5441), Senator David Vitter will offer an amendment (# 4551) to prohibit the use of funds appropriated under this bill for the confiscation of lawfully possessed firearms during an emergency or major disaster.

After Hurricane Katrina, many residents legally armed themselves to protect their lives and property from widespread civil disorder. With no way to call for help, and police unable to respond, honest citizens were able to defend themselves and their neighbors. However, the then-New Orleans Police Superintendent issued orders for the confiscation of firearms, allegedly under a state emergency powers law. “No one will be able to be armed,” he said. “Guns will be taken. Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns.”

Various reports indicate that military and law enforcement agencies from several states participated in confiscating guns from New Orleans residents While no one condones the mindless violence of those who looted a helpless city or attacked their fellow citizens and rescuers, Congress can, and should, act to protect the self-defense rights of citizens at the times when those rights are most vital.

The Vitter Amendment would:

Prohibit using federal funds to seize firearms or restrict firearms possession, except in the circumstances allowed by current federal or state law.
Not prevent gun confiscation from convicted felons and other “prohibited persons,” and would have no effect on law enforcement operations outside of disaster relief situations.
Emergency powers legislation prohibiting government officials from restricting the rights of law-abiding gun owners during declared states of emergency has already been enacted into law this year in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Alaska, Idaho, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma. Stop Gun Confiscation in Citizens’ Hour of Need. The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Urges You to contact your United States Senators and urge them to for the Vitter Amendment."

Notice this provision: "Prohibit using federal funds to seize firearms or restrict firearms possession, except in the circumstances allowed by current federal or state law." Here we go again. Except allowed by current federal or state law. That's what the jar head New Orleans Police Superintendent did, so does this amendment really cure the problem or just prolong it?

I'm sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, this is just more treating the symptoms instead of curing the cancer. I wrote about this very issue after Katrina. The sterling fact remains is that if the state militias had been in operation at the time of Katrina, we would not have seen the disaster, tragedy nor any attempt to disarm Americans; see here. Please note this sentence from above: "While no one condones the mindless violence of those who looted a helpless city or attacked their fellow citizens and rescuers, Congress can, and should, act to protect the self-defense rights of citizens at the times when those rights are most vital." NO. Congress doesn't need to act to protect the self-defense rights of citizens. The Second Amendment already does and THAT is the ultimate and final solution. If the American people continue to allow Congress to pass more "new" legislation regarding restrictions, conditions or threatening to withhold funds regarding the Second Amendment, the end result will be more of the same. More anti-gun laws and more unconstitutional meddling by the federal machine. If we don't go after the solution, the problem will only continue to be treated with more "pro" Second Amendment bills that are absolutely unnecessary; see here. How can you possibly expect to limit federal encroachment if you keep asking Congress to pass more laws? Think about it.

Our pretend election cycle is underway and pro-Second Amendment organizations are asking everyone to support pro Second Amendment incumbents. Have you seen one pro Second Amendment member of Congress stand up for Richard Celata? Name me just one. Has reelecting pro Second Amendment incumbents been effective in the past? Only in so far as continuing to treat the cancer instead of cut it out. I ran against the dweeb, Congressman Wally Herger, up in Northern California. Waffle Wally made cooing noises about the Second Amendment and was endorsed by the NRA over me; actually the NRA wouldn't even knowledge my candidacy. On the other hand, Herger has and continues to vote for every new world order treaty that comes down the pipeline, NAFTA, GATT and CAFTA.

The goal of a one world government under the communist UN would include a disarmed America (fat chance). How can one say that Waffle Wally is for the Second Amendment when he consistently votes to abrogate America's sovereignty to a world body? Herger is nothing but a lap dog for his global masters. He's intellectually shallow, factually challenged and panders to the seniors and vets for votes. He is the quintessential example of a sorry excuse for a member of Congress and should have been booted out of office ten years ago. Does it make any sense to continue voting for incumbents who will pay lip service to the Second Amendment and dream up more and more unnecessary gun laws while they continue to vote for a one world government?

In my mind, the Second Amendment is the most important one because guns are not only the teeth of liberty to guard against the tyranny of government, the Father of the Constitution, James Madison, Fourth President of these united States of America, clearly stated: "A well regulated militia, composed of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country." James Madison (1st Annals of Congress, at 434, June 8th 1789). This is exactly why I wrote the column on Katrina and the state militias. There is NO need for another law to stop the unlawful acts that took place as described above. Those who participated in violating the Second Amendment against citizens should be indicted and held accountable.

JPFO has put out an alert to let people know that JPFO, the Montana Shooting Sports Association and The Claire Files online community are organizing a series of fundraising events for KTO based in Dillon, Montana. As JPFO rightly points out, the raid and confiscation of Richard's inventory has put a terrible strain on his ability to feed his wife and two young children.

Is anyone getting tired of this endless merry-go-round that continues to escalate? How many more I asked after Angel Shamaya? Now it's Richard. Today or tomorrow it will be one or two more law abiding Americans who get raided by foreign law enforcement and federal US dragoons in order the send the chilling message: We will bankrupt you, put the lives of your family in danger from trigger happy agents for the sole purpose of snooping into your private business for associating with people like me and Dr. Edwin Vieira and for trying to educate your local Sheriff and state representatives on the history of the Second Amendment. One of these days these dragoons are going to raid a women's gun group or head of one or even kick down my door. It's coming and then what? Will gun owners be moved when they see women with their faces bashed in or standing terrifed with little children during one of these raids simply because they are pro-Second Amendment or support Edwin's project or will they just chant the worn out "support pro Second Amendment incumbents"?

This can stop, but it won't until everyone gets on the same sheet of music: the true meaning of the Second Amendment and the requirement that Americans are armed and an active participant in the organized militias of the several States of the Union under control of the state legislatures. This will remove all attempts by the communists, silly twittering females and gun haters both in the state legislatures and Congress to pass any more new "laws" that unconstitutionally alter or amend the Second Amendment - which they clearly have NO authority to do. Sincere Americans can continue writing letters to their Congress critters begging them to uphold the Second Amendment. Great. As we all can see, writing letters or sending e-mails begging our elected via compromised ballot machine representatives has become about as effective as an elephant scratching his back with a tooth pick.

There are approximately 80 MILLION gun owners out there who belong to hundreds of pro Second Amendment organizations. If only 25% of these organizations would get behind Edwin Vieira's proposal to reconstitute the state militias, we would see one state after another adopt this constitutional remedy because there would be such heat from YOU, they won't have any choice. It won't happen overnight, but the first step is education and then action. Edwin's columns are here for free.

However, since everyone has time problems these days trying to work and take care of family obligations, I put some of Edwin's columns on the state militias and the Second Amendment on a CD so you can listen to it at home or while you're driving a vehicle or truck delivering goods across the land. I have put out thousands in just a few short months. We need to put out tens of thousands of them in order to reach enough gun owners to start pounding on their state legislatures. You can get this gem for $2.00; scroll to the bottom for details. Make as many copies as you can and get them out. Please contact the directors/board members of any gun organization you belong you along with one of these CDs. Ask them to become part of the solution so we can eliminate the anti-gun problem instead of just continuing to do what isn't working.

There's no money in the cure, only the treatment. Do we want to cure this problem or continue treating it with letter writing, donations and lobbying?

© 2006 - Devvy Kidd - All Rights Reserved
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Devvy Kidd authored the booklets, Why A Bankrupt America and Blind Loyalty, which sold close to 2,000,000 copies. Devvy appears on radio shows all over the country, ran for Congress and is a highly sought after public speaker. Your complimentary copy of the 32-page report may be obtained from El Dorado Gold. Devvy is a contributing writer for www.NewsWithViews.com.

Firefighters make progress in Calif. blaze battle

Firefighters make progress in Calif. blaze battle
Slow movement of fires spanning 60,000 acres a positive sign, official says
The Associated Press

Updated: 7:20 p.m. CT July 14, 2006
YUCCA VALLEY, Calif. - Thousands of firefighters aided by aircraft worked Friday in fierce heat to keep two giant wildfires from gaining a foothold in the heavily populated San Bernardino Mountains where millions of trees killed by drought and bark beetles could provide explosive fuel.

Slow movement of the 53,000-acre Sawtooth fire and wind pushing the nearby 8,300-acre Millard fire away from the mountaintop Big Bear resort region were positive signs, even though heavy smoke filled the sky.

It was unclear if any portions of the blazes had joined in the rugged landscape, but scenarios in which a merger would seriously increase fire activity were believed unlikely, U.S. Forest Service officials said.

‘A real critical piece of line’
Some 2,700 firefighters labored in triple-digit heat. Fire officials said it was still important to establish a line to keep flames from moving into the wilderness of dead trees on the slopes leading up to resort communities.

“It’s a real critical piece of line, if we can construct it and hold it,” California Department of Forestry Capt. James Yazloff said. “It’s very critical we don’t allow it to go up to Big Bear.”

Several thousand people live in and around Big Bear Lake, which went through its last big scare in Southern California’s onslaught of devastating wildfires in 2003.

The Sawtooth blaze, which has destroyed 45 homes and 118 outbuildings since being ignited by lightning a week ago on the Mojave Desert floor below the eastern flank of the San Bernardinos, was 20 percent contained.

It still was a potential threat to 1,500 homes, 1,500 outbuildings and about 50 commercial buildings, said Kristel Johnson of the U.S. Forest Service.

“It’s still just kind of an ongoing battle. There’s definitely some progress. It’s not moving all that fast,” said Don Roberts, a Joshua Tree National Park ranger serving as a fire information officer.

Little chance of merger
Slightly southwest of the Sawtooth, the Millard fire, also started by lightning, already was in timber in the San Gorgonio Wilderness.

But it was south of Big Bear and winds gusting to 25 mph were pushing it away from that area, said Jim Wilkins, a Forest Service spokesman. However, about 75 scattered homes and a fish hatchery were in its path.

On Thursday, authorities told Big Bear residents that there was little chance the fire would reach their homes. But just in case, sheriff’s deputies warned residents east of Big Bear Lake that they should be ready to evacuate.

Concerns about what would happen if the fires merged focused on the possibility of an ultra-hot fire front that could create its own unpredictable winds.

“If they come together, there’s a potential for significant fire behavior,” said Glenn Barley, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry. “It can make for strong, erratic winds.”

But a merger also could essentially create firebreaks by quickly burning up brush in each fire’s path.

“They’re going to burn each other out in that area,” predicted Tracey Martinez, a San Bernardino County Fire Department spokeswoman.

A chance of thunderstorms over the weekend brought concern that new blazes might erupt in the parched stretches of the Mojave Desert and foothills.

Ahmadinejad Says Israel Does Not Have Power to Harm Iran

Ahmadinejad Says Israel Does Not Have Power to Harm Iran

Friday , July 14, 2006

TEHRAN, Iran — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that Israel could not harm Iran, even as the Jewish state expanded its offensive into Lebanon to target the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

"Despite the barbaric and criminal nature of the occupiers of Jerusalem, the regime and its Western supporters do not even have the power to give Iran a nasty look," the agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in Osku, in northwestern Iran.

His declaration came just hours after he warned Israel against extending its Lebanon assault into neighboring Syria, saying such a move would be seen as an attack against the whole Islamic world. Ahmadinejad made those comments in a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar Assad, to assure him of his support, IRNA reported.

Syria and Shiite Muslim Iran are allies, and together are the top backers of the Shiite Hezbollah guerrilla group in Lebanon.

Israel has intensified its attacks on Lebanon, striking bridges, airports and the main highway leading to Syria to put pressure on the government and force Hezbollah to free the two Israeli soldiers it captured Wednesday.

Ahmadinejad also said attacks and threats against Lebanon and Syria prove that Israel's "fake regime" would not survive under peaceful conditions, and he urged Israel's allies to stop supporting its military operations.

"One day all supporters of Israel, especially the U.S., should be held accountable," he said.

He held the Jewish state responsible for unjust conditions in neighboring countries, saying Israel's "impudence and shamelessness" help deny the region of advanced technology.

"Opposition to Iran's achievements toward peaceful nuclear technology is an example," Ahmadinejad said.

Iran is under international pressure to suspend its nuclear program and resume negotiations over a package of incentives offered last month by permanent members of the U.N Security Council plus Germany. The Islamic country could face punishment by the council if it rejects the package.

The U.S. accuses Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to build weapons. Tehran has denied the charges, saying its nuclear program is geared only toward generating electricity.

Iran and Israel have been arch enemies since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, which toppled a pro-Western monarchy and installed an anti-West, pro-Palestinian clerical establishment in Tehran.

In April, Iran said it would give the Palestinian Authority US$50 in aid after the militant group Hamas won power in Palestinian parliamentary elections.

Iran threatened Israel in May that it would be Iran's first retaliatory target in response to any U.S. attack.

Last year, Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust was a myth and that Israel should be wiped out.

Report: Syrians shoot at Israel

Report: Syrians shoot at Israel
Lebanese sources predict provocation from Damascus

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Posted: July 14, 2006
1:35 p.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
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© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
AL-ZAURA REGION, Golan Heights – While Israeli military sources in the Golan Heights are reporting Syrian military gunfire directed inside the Jewish state, Lebanese political sources are telling WND they expect a provocation of some kind from Damascus.

Israeli Defense Forces are attempting to determine the exact source of the gunfire. If the source cannot be determined, sources say, Israel may choose to ignore or officially deny it occurred in an effort to avoid widening what is rapidly becoming a regional conflict.

Meanwhile, Lebanese sources predict a small, limited provocation against Israel – perhaps a small skirmish or the use of Palestinian groups on the Syrian side of the border firing mortars under the direction of the Syrian army. It would not be a major attack, the sources say, just a minor provocation in conjunction with Iran to show Syria is in solidarity with Hezbollah and the Palestinians, who launched the original attacks against Israel on two fronts – Gaza and southern Lebanon.

Yesterday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said an Israeli strike on Syria would be considered an attack on the whole Islamic world that would bring a "fierce response."

"If the Zionist regime commits another stupid move and attacks Syria, this will be considered like attacking the whole Islamic world and this regime will receive a very fierce response," Ahmadinejad was quoted by Iranian state television as saying in a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Israel has blamed Syria and Iran for the Hezbollah rocket attacks on towns and cities in northern Israel. In recent weeks, Israel has buzzed the palace of Assad with fighter-bombers as a warning against hostile actions.

Ahmadinejad has called repeatedly for the destruction of Israel – or for moving the Jewish state to Europe. Iran is believed to be developing a nuclear weapons program and has long-range missiles capable of striking the Jewish state.

Hezbollah rockets yesterday rained down on northern Israeli towns as the Jewish state's warplanes carried out strategic strikes against the Hezbollah's infrastructure and the Beirut International Airport. A total air and sea closure was imposed over Lebanon.

Hezbollah threatened to use longer range rockets against the major northern port city of Haifa, in which case military officials tell WND Israel would likely launch a major ground invasion inside Lebanon.

The fighting was instigated by a well-orchestrated Hezbollah attack against Israel's northern border yesterday in which two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped and three others were killed.