Islam, the often touted religion of peace, tolerance and compassion.

It's most difficult to understand this religion when we, the so-called civilized world, continue to see and read about the atrocities perpetrated on and toward the women, children and "non believers" in Muslim countries in this, the 21st century.

When you see Muslims like Hamas and the Palestinians who send their children to certain death by strapping suicide belts onto their bodies and sending them off to kill and maim the innocent, ask yourself, if they don't care, why should we?

They teach their children from birth to hate people they have never met, and raise them with the same hatred and murderous intentions as with generations past. All in the name of God Allah.

What about lowlife Muslim groups like Hezbollah that hide among the women and children in wartime knowing for certain they will be killed or injured in retaliatory strikes against their fighters, just for the public relations factor. It is absolutely disgusting and makes one wonder. WTF

What tolerance? Where is the compassion? What Peace? Please!

Why Should World Care re Muslim Kids Killed?

I don't know why all the anguish over caring for the Muslim boys and girls being killed in the present war. Muslims don't care about the boys and girls.

They have schools where they teach neurotic lessons to their own offspring. There instructors teach them in play acting how to behead an infidel.

Muslim kids stage mock beheading.

They have telecasts for children running constantly in the Middle East Arab geographies whereby children viewers are taught to hate the "Jew-pigs," the latter term coined by Muslims who teach their own that Jews are descended from monkeys and pigs.

They have suicide belts tied to their daughters and sons.

Shocking images of Muslim children playing terrorists.

They take their little girls to circumcise them — genital mutilation. Muslim mothers hold down the screaming daughter while the father takes a razor blade or scissors to cut away part of the girl’s private parts.

Egyptian girl undergoing Female Genital Mutilation (FMG)

They take their children to witness lashings of teens in the town square.

They walk their boys and girls to the crane where a teen girl’s head is laced in a noose for hanging. Then they stand there with their children, seeing the girl’s legs and feet kick violently till all life is gone from her body. All week long they take their children to see humans hung from poles alongside the roads.

Hanging and public executions in Islamic countries are still common place.

They direct their own children to the pit where a woman has been placed with dirt up to her breasts. Then they hand stones to their boys and girls to help in crushing in her head. The stones are the sizes prescribed by the Koran — not too large so as to kill quickly and not too small so as to take forever to murder the woman.

The Religion of Peace - Stoning in Islam

So why should the United Nations weep over Arab children being killed in the present conflict?

Why should the free nation leaders call for a breather in the conflict so that families with children can escape being killed?

Far better to be killed by a bomb at an early age in Islam than live to be psychologically deranged as the adult killers are in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Hezbollah is composed of such neurotic children-grown-to-adult age.

So let the war work its way through. Blood is blood to Muslims.

They live for blood, from earlier childhood. The Muslim adults should be proud to have their children killed in the war for they consider such a religious sacrifice to Allah; it is a pious act.

One Muslim mother sacrificed three of her adult sons to Allah as suicide bombers. She then kissed three more grown sons in front of a crowd, stating she was willing that they be suicide cases, too. She would then be a proud Muslim mother who had six adult sons snuffed out by their own choosing as sacrifices to Allah.

I just don’t get why civil citizens of the planet worry about the Muslim children being killed. The Muslim adults surely don’t care.

By J. Grant Swank Jr. (07/29/2006)

Agree or disagree with Mr. Swank, the point is well taken.

Personally, I do believe that Islam is a Perverted Religion.

It makes me want to hear from the one voice of reason, Dr. Wafa Sultan, to try and regain any faith I may have had in the people of this sorry ass religion called Islam.

The Muslim society today, in my opinion, is worse off than it was in the 12th century. At least then, they were trying to do something positive for humankind.

Debbie Schlussel has this - On Qana & Dead Muslim Kids: The One Thing Muslims & Media Love More Than Dead Jewish Kids

What is happening in the Middle East is a great example of how people of different cultures can view the same thing and come away with totally different opinions and ideas.

With U.S. involvement in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Syria, not to mention the problems with Hamas, the Palestinian's and North Korea, it is easy to say that the United States is in a real predicament and that the Bush administration in real political trouble. I for one, would not want to be in his (Bush's) shoes these days.

Some in the MSM say with midterm elections approaching, the Bush comeback is now in serious doubt. Is this wishful thinking on their part or an accurate assessment of the obvious?

Mideast strife derails Bush comeback

The latest crisis in the Middle East has disrupted President Bush's plans domestically and internationally at a sensitive juncture, reopening divisions with allies abroad and jeopardizing attempts to restore public confidence at home, according to officials, analysts and diplomats.

The discord at a conference in Rome yesterday over a proposed cease-fire in Israel and Lebanon underscored the widening gap between the United States and Europe over how to stop the fighting. And the images of mayhem from the two-week-old war, combined with the rising death toll in Iraq, have further rattled a domestic audience that polls show was already uncertain about Bush's leadership.

The crisis imperils one of Bush's signature ambitions. This is a president who eschewed Middle East peacemaking of the past as futile, embarking instead on a grand plan to remake the region into a more democratic, peaceful place. A year ago, a wave of reform seemed to take hold. Yet today radicalism is on the rise, Iran is believed to be closer to nuclear weapons and Bush is sending thousands more troops to Baghdad to quell spiraling violence.

"You've got Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories aflame, you've got Iraq still aflame, and you've got the Iran issue now unresolved," said Carlos Pascual, a senior State Department official until this year. "It has hurt the U.S. internationally because it has only reinforced in everyone's mind that the U.S. was not being strategic, it was not looking ahead to how to handle the whole panoply of issues in a way that's both realistic and effective."

On the other hand one of China's online news agencies, the People's Daily Online, sees the Middle East turmoil providing the U.S. with an opportunity rather than a predicament in what they call the United State's "Great Middle East (Democratic Transformation) Project."

Middle East turmoil provides U.S with opportunity

The situation in the Middle East has been deteriorating since early this year with incessant bombings in Iraq, repeated crises on the Iranian nuclear program, frequent abductions of Israeli soldiers, the resurgence of Palestine-Israeli conflicts and military clashes between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah is approaching Syria. So, the region has been plunged into the stark and most turbulent turmoil.

The similar chaotic situation had occurred only at the beginning of the 1980s. Afterward, the situation in the region has never been so turbulent as it is today, though conflicts happened at times. The international community is, as a whole, worried about a new, all-round war that might possibly break out in the Middle East, and the US government is most worried about it. But what has puzzled people is that the United States responded to it slowly, and sent its diplomatic envoys there for manoeuvring only after the United Nations, the European Union, France and Russia.

International terrorism spread all over the globe shortly after September 11 attack in 2001. Around the outbreak of the Iraq War in 2003, the United States proposed the "Great Middle East (Democratic Transformation) Project" and its hegemonic posture reached the unprecedented height strategically.

At present, turmoil in the Middle East is resultant from the continuous development of the long-term contradictions in the region on one hand and, on the other it also has something to do with the absolute hegemony of the United States. So in this sense, the turmoil in the region does not conflict with the US ultimate intention.

The Unite States, Iran, Syria, other Middle East countries, and even more Islamic militant forces are drawn into the present escalating military conflicts and the Great Middle East Project has gone into bankruptcy. Meanwhile, the U.S. can fully arouse the forces of various parties to refrain Israel's military strikes from going too disproportionate, so that Syria, Iran and other countries involved would retain restraint. Hence, a corresponding basis has been laid for the United States to "bring great disorder under heaven" into "great order and peace across the land." In other words, this provides the U.S. a great opportunity.

Meanwhile, the aspiration of the international community, big powers in particular, to overhaul and rein in the situation in the Middle East and put it in order, has reached its climax over the past two-plus decades. For the time being, the international community, including the UN, the EU, France, Russia and China, are all ready to contribute their efforts to steadily resolve the Middle East issue appropriately instead of letting the situation out of control in the region.

The conflicting parties are relatively reasonable with their calculations, as fighting a large-scale war does not conform to their original intentions. The new Israeli government had dealt harsh attacks at Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah, but the escalation of the conflict will go against the desire of the government iself. For Hezbollah, if the situation is continuing to worsen, it will definitely not have the all-out support of the Lebanese government, and the one-third of the seats it has had in the cabinet might lose the base of the people. And Hamas, too, does not want to bet on the livelihood of people. Hence, there is a fairly big room for international mediations

Bio-security, in the Middle East strewn with various types of complex contradictions, is very fragile indeed. The international community unanimously supports the effort to establish peace at the Middle East region, and it is therefore both necessary and urgent for a regional security mechanism to set up and provides the the aim of the United States with a fairly favorable international support.

"Misfortune may be an actual blessing." A resembled challenge to the U.S. has provided it with a major potential opportunity. For the next step, the United States should stop Israel, the most important and reliable ally in the Mideast region, from using its forces as disproportionate. And this constitutes a major, severe test for the U.S. to seize the opportunity and make the full use of it.

Or is this simply the opportunity the U.S. has been waiting for to move toward the "New Middle East." (a different and much less known project)

Only time will tell.

What's wrong with this picture? ... while we fight for their rights, they kill Americans.

Signs of the Times

From the Arlington National Cemetery: The Bombing of the Marine Barracks, Beirut Lebanon.

On October 23, 1983 at 6:22 a.m., a large delivery truck drove to the Beirut International Airport where the Marine Barracks was located.

After turning onto an access road leading to the compound, the driver rushed through a barbed-wire fence, passed between two sentry posts, crashed through the gate, and slammed into the lobby of the barracks.

The driver detonated explosives with the power equal to more than 12,000 pounds of TNT. The explosion crumbled the four-story building, crushing service members to death while they were sleeping.

The terrorist attack killed 220 Marines and 21 other U.S. service members who were stationed there to help keep the peace in a nation torn by war.

It was the bloodiest day in the Corps' history since World War II, when Marines fought to secure Iwo Jima.

From CNN: Iran responsible for 1983 Marine barracks bombing, judge rules.

Iran is responsible for the 1983 suicide bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 241 American servicemen, a U.S. District Court judge ruled Friday [May 30, 2003].

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth said the suicide truck bombing was carried out by the group Hezbollah with the approval and funding of Iran's senior government officials.

From TimesOnline: God's army has plans to run the whole Middle East by Amir Taheri.

Terror has been its principal weapon. Throughout the 1980s Hezbollah kidnapped more than 200 foreign nationals in Lebanon, most of them Americans or western Europeans (including Terry Waite, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s envoy). It organised the hijacking of civilian aircraft and more or less pioneered the idea of suicide bombings against American and French targets, killing almost 1,000 people, including 241 US marines in Beirut and 58 French paratroopers.

Charles Johnson is doing a excellent job of rounding up photos and reports of anti-Israel demonstrations around the world. The fact that a pro-Hezbollah sentiment has been repeatedly witnessed is disgusting, especially in America. Below are links to his posts but be sure to click on the links within the posts for many more photos.

More Signs of the Times with photos and links.

Israeli targets in U.S. on heightened alert
Fear of attacks by Hezbollah sleeper agents as military campaign in Lebanon continues.

Bulgarian border guards stopped a British lorry carrying radioactive material en route to Iran at it's northern border with Romania, the country's Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NPA) said.

The lorry, registered in Turkey, had been hired by a British company to transport the material to Iran.

Turkish truck carrying radioactive material en route to Iran stopped at Bulgarian border

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Bulgarian authorities on Thursday were checking the cargo of a Turkish truck en route to Iran after it was found to be carrying radioactive material without the necessary documentation, authorities said.

Bulgarian customs officers stopped the truck, which had come from Britain, on the border with Romania, customs officials said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Agency was alerted on Wednesday by customs officers that the radiation level around the truck exceeded normal levels.

According to Sergei Tsotchev, the agency's chief, the main source of radiation was identified as Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope widely used in industry and in medical therapy. The shipment also contained Americium, a radioactive metal.

Radioactive materials can only be transported through Bulgaria with the Nuclear Regulatory Agency's advance permission and that of authorities in other countries the shipment would pass through, Tsotchev said, adding that the driver did not provide the documents.

A U.N. official, who asked not to be named, said the material represented no known proliferation threat, even though it was headed to Iran, and did not pose an environmental exposure threat.

Radioactive material of this type can easily be used to build dirty bombs.

More with: Dirty Bomb Material Intercepted

The New York Times is reporting Saturday the delivery of U.S. high tech weapons to Israel, which they say may anger some Arab governments and others due to the appearance that the United States is aiding the Israeli military in their bombing campaign against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. To the NYT, it's no different than the support Iran is giving to Hezbollah by arming and resupplying the terrorist organization in it's war against Israel.

Well there is a big difference, but of course the NYT has a different agenda so it's blind to the truth.

U.S. Speeds Up Bomb Delivery for the Israelis

WASHINGTON, July 21 — The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, American officials said Friday.

The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials said.

The munitions that the United States is sending to Israel are part of a multimillion-dollar arms sale package approved last year that Israel is able to draw on as needed, the officials said. But Israel’s request for expedited delivery of the satellite and laser-guided bombs was described as unusual by some military officers, and as an indication that Israel still had a long list of targets in Lebanon to strike.

The new American arms shipment to Israel has not been announced publicly, and the officials who described the administration’s decision to rush the munitions to Israel would discuss it only after being promised anonymity. The officials included employees of two government agencies, and one described the shipment as just one example of a broad array of armaments that the United States has long provided Israel.

One American official said the shipment should not be compared to the kind of an “emergency resupply” of dwindling Israeli stockpiles that was provided during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, when an American military airlift helped Israel recover from early Arab victories.

David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, said: “We have been using precision-guided munitions in order to neutralize the military capabilities of Hezbollah and to minimize harm to civilians. As a rule, however, we do not comment on Israel’s defense acquisitions.”

Israel’s need for precision munitions is driven in part by its strategy in Lebanon, which includes destroying hardened underground bunkers where Hezbollah leaders are said to have taken refuge, as well as missile sites and other targets that would be hard to hit without laser and satellite-guided bombs.

Sources include "anonymous employees of two government agencies".

Again I would like to thank the Times and the "anonymous losers assholes of two government agencies" for their unwavering support to the U.S. in this War on Terror.

More with HEZBOLLAH'S FAVORITE NEWSPAPER

Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world. They have many points of connection, and both inherited from Judaism a belief in one God who created the world and cares about the beliefs of human beings.

In recent centuries, mutual distrust between Christians and Muslims has continued to grow, although some have realized the conflict has more to do with political tensions and divergent cultural world views than with religion, as efforts are being made on both sides to find common ground and engage in respectful, meaningful dialogue.

However, many of us non-Muslims, wanting to know, ask "What is it that you don’t understand?"

We, the non-Muslims—the infidels, heathens, unbelievers, apostates, enemies of Allah, najis (soiled), as you prefer to call us—would like to know what is it that you don’t understand and what is it that makes you behave so badly toward us? You blame us for your problems and believe if we embrace Islam and help establish the Islamic ummah, the earth would be cleansed of us, transformed to paradise, and all your problems disappear?

Respectfully, we disagree. We believe that you and your system of belief are at the core of your problems; that you need to critically examine the facts, rather than conveniently blame others for your ills. Keep in mind that beliefs and ideas make people human, that beliefs are roadmaps of life. To the extent that the roadmap is rational and enlightened, the path of life is illumined, pitfalls are avoided and obstacles are removed. The terrain of life has greatly changed since the roadmap of Islam was given to the wondering primitives of Arabian Peninsula.

The twenty first century presents great challenges and opportunities that demand new ways of thinking and behaving. The doctrine of Islam may have been appropriate for the dessert dwellers of some 1400 years ago, the people you yourselves stigmatize as “The Ignorant.” It is dysfunctional today to say the least. As a matter of fact, Islam went astray from the very beginning and inflicted a great deal of suffering on both its followers as well as those who resisted its advance.

Early on, Prophet Muhammad explicitly said, “There is no compulsion in religion.” He further confirmed that admonition, “For you, your religion; and for me, my religion.” Why is it that as soon as you gathered enough power, you violated those exhortations and set out to force your belief and way of life on others at the point of the sword? You further conveniently ignored your own teaching by unsheathing your sword at “the people of the book”—Jews and Christians. You spared them death only if they converted or consented to pay you backbreaking religious taxes of jizya.

Your cruel successful subjugation of the people of the Arabian Peninsula whetted your appetite for further conquests. You ventured into the civilized world—to Persia, the Levant, Spain, and eventually to the gates of Vienna. Cruelty and terror were your instruments of policy—weapons you liberally use today whenever and wherever you are able.

Contempt and hostility toward non-Muslims living under your rule as well as those outside of your domain have characterized your attitude and behavior throughout the history. Isn’t it enough? Is it not now the time to stand back and take a good look at what is the root cause of this pathological state of affairs?

Life is precious. It is to be protected, nurtured and celebrated. Mankind is moving, perhaps at a glacier pace, toward reconciliation, ever-expanding inclusiveness without any group or ideology imposing itself on others. Any attempt against this trend of unity in diversity is doomed to failure, as exemplified by the demise of fascism and communism.

Your charter, the Quran, in some parts, preaches discrimination, death and imposition of its dogma on everyone. The political system of Islam, just like fascism and communism, is a dysfunctional ideology that needs to be abandoned. Humanity has matured considerably since the time of Muhammad. In order to continue its forward march, mankind must follow a roadmap appropriate for its age and state of development. It is foolish to insist that a book written over 1400 years ago must serve as the one and only guide for humanity.

Progress thrives in a marketplace of free ideas, where beliefs and viewpoints, not people, clash. It is through the unimpeded clash of ideas that the best decisions and actions are reached. Political Islam is anathema to this invaluable principle. By forcing itself on any and all people it could, Islam violated this vital principle and it aims to continue to do so to this day. Islam’s inflexible and intolerant dogmatism is at the heart of Islamic world’s stagnation and backwardness. It is evident that staying put, so to speak, does not allow going forward. It is not the non-Muslim world, the convenient scapegoat, but Islam itself which is the culprit for your chronic ills.

The non-Muslims of the twenty first century treasure freedom in all its forms and are not going to lend their necks passively to the yoke of blind obedience and imitation.

Is the present argument too difficult to understand? Is it too threatening to the security of your mindset to concede its validity? Please have the courage and take that fateful step. Inhale the life-nurturing fragrance of freedom. Islam is a slaveholder. It feels that it owns you; it condemns you as apostate to be beheaded if you dare to leave its chains. The non-Muslims, by contrast, respect you as a free human and support your inalienable right to believe whatever you want to believe—even if it is a non-belief. If you still wish to wrap yourself in your suffocating security blanket—Islam—please keep it to yourself and refrain from forcing it on others.

Written for the American Thinker by Amil Imani, an Iranian-born American citizen who resides in the United States.

Many in the US think that the terrorist group Hezbollah is only Israel's problem and contained to the middle east. Well people, think again. They are here in large numbers and are ready, willing and able to strike.

Michelle Malkin is on the mark in her syndicated column over at Jewish World View.

Hezbollah is already here

Sheeple thought of the day: "Hezbollah is not my problem."

You think Hezbollah is only Israel's headache? Wake up. Iranian Hezbollah's spokesman Mojtaba Bigdeli's threat on Tuesday to dispatch 2,000 operatives "to every corner of the world to jeopardize Israel and America's interests" is more than just idle Islamic heavy-breathing.

The Jew-hating terrorists of Hezbollah who call themselves the "party of God" are already here. In America. Plotting attacks. Raising money. Slipping through the cracks.

In May, the New York Post reported on Hezbollah's plans to activate sleeper cells in New York, Los Angeles , Boston and Detroit as the nuclear showdown with Iran heats up. One focal point: "the Iranian Mission to the United Nations, where there have already been three episodes in the last four years in which diplomats and security guards have been expelled for casing and photographing New York City subways and other potential targets." Heightened alert comes in the wake of reports that Iranian crackpot president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with Hezbollah leaders in Syria earlier this year.

Four years ago, I reported on how information-sharing walls between federal immigration and law enforcement agencies created a path to citizenship for at least one known Hezbollah member. He walked through our figurative front door. The then-assistant district director for INS investigations in New York City and two FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) officials were placed on administrative leave when the bungle was discovered.

Sources informed me the unidentified Middle Eastern male — now a fellow American — appeared on terrorist watch lists and is a member of the Hezbollah terrorist organization. Despite numerous calls from adjudicators in Newark, N.J., handling the alleged terrorist's naturalization case, the FBI and INS reportedly did not respond to requests to turn over the individual's "alien file." The A-file includes biographical and status information and investigative data. It is unclear why INS and the JTTF did not turn over the file, or why the New York office neglected to order the adjudications branch in Newark to put the naturalization process on hold.

Why did INS adjudicators in Newark proceed without viewing the alleged terrorist's file? Adjudicators to this day remain under intense pressure to meet naturalization "quotas." Job-performance ratings and cash bonuses are based on the number of naturalization approvals processed. It's standard operating procedure.

Hezbollah has also enlisted the aid of gullible American women to ease their way into the country.

Jessica Yolanda Fortune hooked up with Lebanon-born Chawki Youssef Hammoud in 1994. The marriage enabled him to obtain a green card-and the cover to operate a Charlotte, North Carolina-based cell that smuggled cigarettes to raise cash for Hezbollah. The terror cell reportedly answered to a senior Hezbollah leadership in Lebanon and was part of a broader North American network responsible for also obtaining dual-use technologies for Hezbollah — including goggles, global positioning systems, stun guns, naval equipment, nitrogen cutters and laser range finders.

Fortune was convicted of marriage fraud in October 2001. Hammoud was convicted of smuggling, credit card fraud, money laundering, and racketeering in June 2002. Fortune's brother-in-law, Mohammed Hammoud, married three different American women. After arriving in the United Stateson a counterfeit visa, being ordered deported, and filing an appeal, he wed Sabina Edwards to gain a green card. INS officials refused to award him legal status after this first marriage was deemed bogus in 1994.

He then married Jessica Wedel in May 1997, and while still wed to her, paid Angela Tsioumas to marry him in Detroit. Tsioumas entered a plea agreement in March 2002 on charges of conspiracy. Her "husband" was convicted on 16 counts that included providing material support to Hezbollah. A total of 25 people connected to the ring were nabbed.

Does the name "Hammoud" sound familiar? Earlier this month, the FBI announced the capture of Assem Hammoud — also a Lebanese-born Muslim like the members of the cigarette-smuggling Hammoud gang. He is suspected of working for al Qaeda on a plot to blow up PATH train tunnels between New Jersey and lower Manhattan with a team of suicide bombers. The 1998 terrorism indictment of Osama bin Laden notes al Qaeda's forged alliances "with the government of Iran and its associated terrorist group Hezbollah."

Together, they've killed American servicemen and civilians around the world.

Not in your backyard? Think again.

Michelle has more here
Zombie has more pics.

Is it true that Muslims have to live under a dictatorship to exist peacefully with other human beings?

Are they truly showing they can't govern themselves and respect the lives of others in Iraq and the middle east in general?

Is the death and destruction, all in the name of God Allah, really justified in the Islamic world.

Daily news headlines like this:
"Violence in Iraq spinning out of control" are becoming more frequent in this Islamic "Democracy" called Iraq.

A Sunni driver lures Shiites into a van by promising jobs — then blows it up, killing 53 people. Sunni gunmen spray bullets and grenades at shoppers, not caring that they include women and children. Shiite death squads roam Baghdad streets, singling out and slaughtering Sunnis.

The new unity government of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds was supposed to bring Iraqis together. Instead, sectarian bloodletting is spiraling out of control.

In the last two days alone, more than 120 people were killed in two spectacular examples of Sunni-Shiite violence — 53 in the suicide van bombing Tuesday in Kufa and 50 in the massacre Monday in the market in Mahmoudiya.

Since then, at least 19 more have been slain in Mahmoudiya in what police say were reprisals for the market massacre. Their bodies were found by police, scattered in different parts of town.

Each faction blames the occupation, while Iraqis continue killing Iraqis, just because they can.

It has been said that due to Iraq's diverse population, a true democracy would be the best system for the Iraqi people and Iraqi Muslims in general. In Iraq there are Arab, Kurd, Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims, along with minorities of many other religions and ethnic groups. This, by definition, should be the "ideal environment" for a true democracy to thrive.

However, it appears that this is not as feasible in practice as in theory. Islamic Muslims have a problem with the word "Equality."

The concept of democracy in the Middle East by some Muslims is defined as the dictatorial rule of the majority over a minority rather than equal rights for all. Even when there is a minority representation in the government as in Iraq today, it is simply dismissed and treated as nothing more than window dressing. The problem exist as a fact that for thousands of years Muslim societies have always been controlled by dictators. Some good... most not so good.

In a telling piece, Amir Taheri writes about Islam and Democracy:
THE IMPOSSIBLE UNION

Democracy is based on one fundamental principle: equality.

The idea of equality is unacceptable to Islam. For the non-believer cannot be the equal of the believer. Even among the believers only those who subscribe to the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, known as the "people of the book" (Ahl el-Kitab), are regarded as fully human. Here, too, there is a hierarchy, with Muslims at the top.

Non-Muslims can, and have often been, treated with decency, but never as equals. There is a hierarchy even for animals and plants. Seven animals and seven plants will assuredly go to heaven while seven others of each will end up in hell.

Democracy means the rule of the demos, the common people, or what is now known as popular or national sovereignty. In Islam, however, power belongs only to God: al-hukm l'illah. The man who exercises that power on Earth is known as Khalifat al-Allah, the regent of God. Even then the Khalifah, or Caliph, cannot act as legislator. The law has already been spelt out and fixed forever by God.

But the bottom line is that no Islamic government can be democratic in the sense of allowing the common people equal shares in legislation. Islam divides human activities into five categories from the permitted to the sinful, leaving little room for human interpretation, let alone ethical innovations.

To say that Islam is incompatible with democracy should not be seen as a disparagement of Islam. On the contrary, many Muslims would see it as a compliment because they believe that their idea of rule by God is superior to that of rule by men, which is democracy.

The great Persian poet Rumi pleads thus:
Oh, God, do not leave our affairs to us
For, if You do, woe is us.

Muslims can build successful societies provided they treat Islam as a matter of personal, private belief and not as a political ideology that seeks to monopolise the public space shared by the whole of humanity and dictate every aspect of individual and community life. Islam is incompatible with democracy.

The latter part of the this article pretty much says it all!

If Iraq were to succeed as a true democracy, it would be a true milestone in Muslim history.

As the Israeli air force continues tightening the noose around Lebanon by striking at strongholds in southern Beirut, where Hezbollah is headquartered, the Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora went on television to plead with the UN for help and to ask for foreign aid.

Saniora publicly criticized both Israel and Hezbollah and threatened to send the Lebanese army to the southern border to stabilize all of Lebanon. Hezbollah has effectively had control over the south border for many years.

Whether the Lebanese people knew it or not, Hezbollah had been training and planning an attack on Israel for a long time, and that time had arrived last Wednesday. The fact that they were about to subject their own people to another bloody war apparently was not a major concern.

Lebanon plunged back to bloody past

It was with the first sip of her morning coffee that Kokhi Hatan saw the Israeli tank explode before her eyes.

"The tank had moved only few metres into a firing position when it was blown to bits by a huge mine," she said.

The drama she watched from her back garden in the Galilee border village of Shtulah last Wednesday, as Hezbollah gunmen ambushed an Israeli patrol on the road running along the frontier with Lebanon, was the trigger for the worst crisis in the region for two decades.

Sources in Hezbollah, the radical Islamic organisation that runs a state within a state in Lebanon, say the attack was five months in the planning. The purpose was to seize hostages and hold them to ransom for prisoners in Israel.

The Hezbollah assault unit had clearly done their reconnaissance. After infiltrating overnight, they smashed Israeli security cameras that monitor the border and hid in a peach orchard to wait for two Israeli armoured Hummers to begin a daily 9am patrol.

The border area had been mostly quiet since May 2000, when Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon. Now the Hatans, an Israeli Kurdish family, watched in horror.

"They waited in the best location," said Assaf, Hatan's husband, pointing to a curve in the patrol road through his fields.

The two Hummers were hit by rocket-propelled grenades and went up in flames. Three soldiers were killed outright and two taken prisoner by the Hezbollah unit, which crossed back into Lebanon before a nearby Israeli base even knew what was happening.

The attack made clear how well-trained and equipped Hezbollah has become with the help of Iran, its main backer, since the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon. It has built outposts along the border, in some places less than 100m from the Israelis.

Leader: Hezbollah Has 'Complete Strength'

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah urged Arabs and Muslims worldwide to support his guerrillas, saying Sunday that his group is fighting Israel on their behalf and that the battle has just begun.

A confident-looking Nasrallah said in a speech aired on his Al-Manar TV that Hezbollah guerrillas were at their "full strength" and that the group had "no choice" but to hit the northern Israeli city of Haifi with rockets Sundayh after Israel struck civilians in Lebanon.

Facing criticism by some in Lebanon that Hezbollah dragged the country into a fight with Israel by snatching two soldiers last week, Nasrallah sought to rally Lebanese and the Arab annd Islamic world behind his fighters., painted the battle as a chance for the Arab and Islamic world to deal a defeat to Israel.

"You Arab and Muslim people must take a position toward your future, the future of your children," he said. "The peoples of the Arab and Islamic world have a historic opportunity to score a defeat against the Zionist enemy ... We are providing the example."

"Hezbollah is not fighting a battle for Hezbollah or even for Lebanon but for the Islamic nation," he said.

"We will use all means," Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in an address on Lebanese television. "As long as the enemy has no limits, we will have no limits."

In the meantime the Lebanese Prime Minister sits on his hands waiting for others to do something, while his country gets destroyed little by little.

It may be time to SEND IN THE TROOPS Saniora.

Update: Hezbollah appears in control of Lebanon

Hezbollah and its backers, not the government, now appear in control of Lebanon's fate.

After moderating their stance in recent years, the guerrillas surged back to the war front with a surprise attack on Israel and a sophisticated arsenal, leaving Lebanon's politicians and army looking nearly powerless. The government seems paralyzed over how to deal with Hezbollah, whose Shiite Muslim fighters have had near autonomy in the south for more than a decade.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah acted Sunday like the man holding Lebanon's reins, though he looked tired and stressed as he vowed that his group had only begun to fight.

Update: Russia, France and Spain to mention only a few world leaders claim Israel is mounting a Disproportionate Response, I say, Bull Sh...

Captain Ed has more: Israel Prepares Ground Offensive Into Lebanon
MM has this: G8 LEADERS: RETURN ISRAELI SOLDIERS

The Israeli air force today continued bombing sites inside Lebanon, targeting infrastructure like bridges, power stations, and the Beirut airport, in a punitive action toward Hezbollah for the capture of two Israeli soldiers. Reports of at least 61 people in Lebanon have been killed so far while at least 10 Israeli's have been killed by rockets fired into Israel by Hezbollah militants.

In a phone call from Lebanon's prime minister, Fuad Saniora, President Bush rejected Lebanon's call for a cease fire with Israel, saying that Israelis have the right to protect themselves.

Israel Destroys Hezbollah HQ

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Israeli warplanes Friday destroyed the building housing the headquarters of Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Beirut, the group's TV station reported.

It did not report any casualties.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and the top leadership of the group have offices and residences in the high-security area, but they were likely to have been on the move during the Israeli offensive.

Earlier Friday, Israeli warplanes renewed attacks on the southern suburbs, targeting a Hezbollah radio station and starting a fire in a building, but its broadcasts continued.

Israeli aircraft pounded the neighborhood overnight, destroying overpasses and punching large holes in an intersection.

Hezbollah's chief pledged open war on Israel after it bombed and destroyed his home on Friday.

Hezbollah leader says ready for ‘open war’ with Israel

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that his group is ready for “open war” with Israel and warned that an Israeli warship that has been firing missiles into southern Beirut will be destroyed.

Speaking defiantly in an audiotape aired on Hezbollah’s Al Manar television, Nasrallah addressed himself to Israelis, saying: “You wanted an open war and we are ready for an open war.”

“Look at the warship that has attacked Beirut, while it burns and sinks before your very eyes,” Nasrallah said. It was not clear whether he meant that the warship has already been attacked.

Israeli television reported that an Israeli naval ship off Lebanon’s coast suffered slight damage, but that there were no casualties.

Nasrallah spoke after Israeli missiles struck Hezbollah headquarters and his house in southern Beirut. His address, however, appeared to be pre-recorded, and Nasrallah did not refer to the missile attack on his offices and residence.

Nasrallah’s announcement was greeted with heavy celebratory fire that rang out across the Lebanese capital.

The Hezbollah leader repeated a threat to hit the Israeli coastal city of Haifa and other towns farther south. “We will reach Haifa, and believe me, even beyond Haifa.”

“Our homes will not be the only ones to be destroyed, our children will not be the only ones to die,” Nasrallah added.

Update: Al-Jazeera is reporting that the Israeli military was searching for four of its troops missing after their warship off Lebanon's coast was hit by a Hezbollah rocket.

Update: Israeli warship hit by Iranian built missile

While Hezbollah continues firing missiles into Israel from Lebanon, now numbering over one hundred, Israeli force have intensified their attacks against them on Thursday. Israel has imposed a naval blockade, bombed Beirut's airport twice and sent rockets into two Lebanese army air bases near the Syrian border.

Israel claims a missile was fired into the port city of Haifa, but the Shiite militant group, Hezbollah denied it had targeted the city, in a day in which two people were killed and another 120 were wounded while Katyusha rockets were falling all over northern Israel.

Some intelligents agencies think the Iranian Revolutionary guards fired this missile into Haifa.

As the tension escalate in the middle east the international community weighs in.

Arab leaders scramble to contain Mideast crisis

Arab leaders condemned Israel's deadly offensives against Lebanon and the Gaza Strip as they scrambled to contain the worst crisis in the Middle East for years.

The massive Israeli onslaught against Lebanon that has killed around four dozen civilians since Wednesday followed the capture of two of its soldiers in attacks by Hezbollah guerrillas

As Arab foreign ministers prepared for an emergency meeting on the crisis on Saturday, Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa blamed Israel for the escalation and warned of "chaos" sweeping the region.

"Israel is behind all that is happening," Mussa told reporters. "Leaving matters as they are will lead to big chaos in the region."

Bush defends Israel's attacks in Lebanon

President Bush strongly defended Israel's attacks in Lebanon on Thursday but worried they could weaken or topple the fragile government in Beirut. The Mideast violence exposed divisions between the United States and allies and raised fears of a widening war.

"Israel has a right to defend herself," Bush said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "Every nation must defend herself against terrorist attacks and the killing of innocent life."

Merkel appealed for restraint by all sides and said it was up to the militant group Hezbollah to defuse the situation, triggered by its cross-border raid from Lebanon into Israel and the capture of two Israeli soldiers. She called the violence a "very disturbing situation" that "fills us with concern."

U.S. vetoes U.N. condemnation of Israel

The United States cast the first U.N. Security Council veto in nearly two years Thursday, blocking an Arab-backed resolution that would have demanded Israel halt its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The draft, sponsored by Qatar, accused Israel of a "disproportionate use of force" that endangered Palestinian civilians, and it demanded Israel withdraw its troops from Gaza.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev, claims to have information that the Hezbollah guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers are trying to move them to Iran.

If this surprises you, then you are just not getting it. Think about it! From Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria there is one common denominator, IRAN.

IT'S ALL THE SAME WAR...

The only way we are going to win this war is to bring down those regimes in Tehran and Damascus, and they are not going to fall as a result of fighting between their terrorist proxies in Gaza and Lebanon on the one hand, and Israel on the other. Only the United States can accomplish it.

Iran: Is Bush Prepared for the Military Option?

Three IDF soldiers were killed Wednesday during a Hezbollah raid on Israel's northern border while Hezbollah guerrillas captured and kidnapped two other Israeli soldiers and made their way back to Lebanon with them.

Four other Israeli soldiers were also killed when their tank drove over a roadside bomb as Israeli ground forces crossed into Lebanon to search for the captured soldiers.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the Hezbollah raid an "act of war" by Lebanon and threatened with a "very, very, very painful" response.

Israel hits Lebanon after soldiers grabbed

Hezbollah militants crossed into Israel on Wednesday and captured two Israeli soldiers. Israel responded in southern Lebanon with warplanes, tanks and gunboats, and said eight of its soldiers had been killed in the violence.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the soldiers' capture "an act of war," and his Cabinet prepared to approve more military action in Lebanon — a second front in the fight against Islamic militants by Israel, which already is waging an operation to free a captured soldier in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army said three soldiers were killed in the initial raid, and four others were killed when their tank hit a land mine in southern Lebanon. An eighth soldier was killed as an Israeli force tried to get to the tank, which was part of a ground invasion aimed at rescuing the captured soldiers.

Olmert said he held the Lebanese government responsible for the two soldiers' safety, vowing that the Israeli response "will be restrained, but very, very, very painful."

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said he will not release the captives except as part of a prisoner swap. He said the two soldiers were "in a safe and very far place."

"No military operation will return them," he told a news conference in Beirut. "The prisoners will not be returned except through one way: indirect negotiations and a trade."

The US backed Israel today and made the claim that Syria and Iran were behind the attacks and kidnappings inside Israel.

US: Syria, Iran behind kidnapping in north

The United States stood by Israel and pointed an accusing finger at Syria and Iran Wednesday night following the difficult Hizbullah attack in the north. Meanwhile, following an emergency meeting in Beirut, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the government was unaware of the attack, and therefore rejected any responsibility.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council, Frederick Jones, said, “The United States condemns in the strongest terms this unprovoked act of terrorism, which was timed to exacerbate already-high tensions in the region and sow further violence."

"We also hold Syria and Iran, which directly support Hizbullah, responsible for this attack and the ensuing violence," Jones added. He noted that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in touch with both sides, and she was bearing the message that Hizbullah is responsible for the offensive, and Syria and Iran, who directly support Hizbullah, are also responsible.

According to Jones, Hizbullah terrorism hurts Lebanese interests and only proves the organization refuses to disarm and intends to continue its aggressions. “This is a direct threat on Lebanon’s security and the sovereignty of the Lebanese government.”

Rice, meanwhile, spoke with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni regarding the grave developments in the north. Rice expressed support for Israel, condemned the Hezbollah attack, and said the US would support the demand to release the kidnapped Israeli soldiers.

Condoleezza Rice said Israel has the right to defend itself.

Israel filed a severe complaint to the United Nation Wednesday, which declared Hizbullah's attack on Israel and kidnapping of two IDF soldiers was “an act of war.” Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Danny Gillerman, charged during a press conference that Lebanon has no less than declared war on Israel. With that, Israel has not requested the UN Security Council convene on the issue. Gillerman made the comments shortly after UN Secretary General Kofi Annancriticized Israel’s reprisal activities and demanded the kidnapped soldiers be released.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora from Paris and pressed him to act for the release of the kidnapped Israeli prisoners. The US supported Israel’s stance, and the White House was preparing to release a statement which will fully lay responsibility on the Lebanese government and Hizbullah. According to the statement, the US supports Israel’s right to defend itself.

As the Palestinian people suffer gravely while watching their cities being pummeled into dust and ashes by the Israeli army, food and water a rare commodity, their ruling party Hamas is congratulated the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on its capture of two Israeli soldiers.

Our friend and ally, Russia, continues to assist every rogue country in the world with Nuclear technology. This time it's their old friend and Soviet-era ally, North Korea they wish to support. While the rest of the world expresses deep concerns after North Korea test-fired seven missiles last week, Russia secretly offers them the technology to help hide and protect their Nuclear program from the rest of the world, like they did in Iran.

Russia secretly offered North Korea nuclear technology

Filed: 09/07/2006 - Russia is facing criticism after secretly offering to sell North Korea technology that could help the rogue state to protect its nuclear stockpiles and safeguard weapons secrets from international scrutiny.

Russian officials touted the equipment at an IT exhibition in Pyongyang a fortnight ago - just days before the Communist state caused international alarm by launching a salvo of short and long-range missiles into the Sea of Japan.

In what appear to have been unguarded comments, Aleksei Grigoriev, the deputy director of Russia's Federal Information Technologies Agency, told a reporter that North Korea planned to buy equipment for the safe storage and transportation of nuclear materials, developed by a Russian government-controlled defence company.

The company, Atlas, also received interest from the North Koreans in their security systems and encryption technology - which were kept from display at the exhibition for security reasons.

In remarks made to the Russian Itar-Tass news agency - hastily retracted after publication - Mr Grigoriev said that the main aim of the June 28 exhibition was "establishing contacts with the Korean side and discussing future co-operation". Last week Russia, along with China, opposed a draft UN Security Council resolution, proposed by Japan and backed by America, that would bar missile-related financial and technology transactions with North Korea because of the missile tests.

As tensions over the missile tests mounted, the US government yesterday deployed its USS Mustin, equipped with so-called Aegis missile-tracking technology that is geared towards tracking and shooting down enemy missiles, to Yokosuka, home port to the US Navy's 7th Fleet.

On Friday, George W Bush called for the issue of the missile tests to be put before the Security Council. He said he wanted to make clear to Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader, "with more than one voice" that the rest of the world condemned Wednesday's launches.

Sources close to the proposed sale of the equipment - which would have civil and military uses - said that it was evidence of Russia's secret support for its Soviet-era ally, which was once a bulwark against Chinese influence in the Far East. It was reported that the North Korean military interest in the exhibition stemmed from the dual purpose of many of the products and technologies on display.

After the show, which led to plans for further meetings between the Russian and North Korean delegations, Mr Grigoriev said Pyongyang's primary interest in buying the equipment was to combat the "threat posed by international terrorism". However, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang immediately denied the report, claiming that it was "disinformation". Mr Grigoriev subsequently denied ever having spoken to the journalist concerned.

Disclosures of a possible deal are at odds with official Russian policy towards North Korea's nuclear programme. On June 22, North Korea's ambassador to Russia, Park Yi Joon, was summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow and informed that -Russia "strongly objects to any actions that can negatively influence regional stability and worsen nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula".

There was also some anger domestically at Russia's opposition to the UN sanctions resolution. Although the Russian foreign ministry expressed anger that Moscow had not been notified of the launches, it went no further than issuing an anodyne statement expressing concern that the tests endangered Pacific Ocean shipping and "violated the commonly accepted world practice of giving a warning".

Western experts were not surprised that the two countries might be discussing sensitive military deals.

Nicholas Eberstadt, a North Korea expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington, said that Russian policy towards North Korea had long been influenced by the desire to restore its Cold War-era influence.

"Russia often seems more ambitious to restore that influence than to play a positive role in international affairs," he said. "We've got no reason to doubt that Moscow is playing a double game with North Korea. It's not entirely surprising considering Vladimir Putin himself came up with the harebrained suggestion some years ago that Moscow, as a protector and provider for the North Korean regime, launch a North Korean satellite."

It appears the U.S. is the only country that Russia has no interest in helping.

While giving protection and shelter to Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and other senior Hamas members who fear for their lives and are trying to call the shots in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, Syrian President Bashar Assad may be planning an invasion of his own into the Golan Heights territory.

"Enraged by Israeli aerial flight over presidential palace last week, Syrian officials threaten future provocations will not go unanswered; warn of cells willing to carry out 'liberation war' against Israel." - Roee Nahmias

Syrian officials: Golan Heights offensive possible

Syrian border heating up? Days after Israeli aircraft carried out an aerial flight over the palace of President Bashar Assad, Syrian officials began hinting that the country may open a new front in the Golan Heights if it is attacked by Israel.

According to reports, the Israeli flyover deeply embarrassed the Syrians, and officials are now seriously contemplating military action against Israel.

"If Israel carries out further stupidities inside Syria, the Golan front will not remain as it is. Many Israelis will suffer as they suffered attacks from Southern Lebanon when they conducted acts of foolishness there," Parliament Member Muhammad Habash said in a television interview this week.

"Syria's devotion to peace as a strategic option since the Madrid Conference does not mean that this will remain the only option forever. The Syrians have other options as well," he stated.

The MP did not rule out the possibility that Syrian cells will launch a "liberation war" and "resistance" in the Golan Heights territory keeping with the tradition of the Fedayeen (armed militias).

Is President Assad trying to make it known to all that he is the real power to be dealt with in the middle east?

In the mean time Israel continues Gaza assault

Israel said on Sunday it would continue air and ground assaults in the Gaza Strip indefinitely, rebuffing a proposed truce and keeping pressure on militants to free an abducted soldier and halt cross-border rocket attacks.

"This is a war that cannot be on a timetable," a senior government official quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as telling his cabinet, a day after Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas raised the prospect of a cease-fire.

While Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas orders envoys to Syria over Gaza crisis

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has sent two envoys to Hamas's exiled political leader and Syrian authorities to discuss the capture of an Israeli soldier and the crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Abbas instructed members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation executive committee, Taysir Khalid and Abdullah Horani, to meet Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, the Syrian leadership and Palestinian factions in Damascus, the source said.

Talks will focus on the seizure of an Israeli soldier by three Palestinian militant groups, including the armed wing of Hamas, the Palestinian governing movement, in an