“Why don't you tell them how many million citizens of America and it's allies you intend to kill in search of the imaginary victory and in breathless pursuit of the mirage towards which you are driving your people’s sons in order to increase your profits,” says Al-Qaida's, Ayman al-Zawahri in a newly released video tape today.

Zawahri calls Bush a failure over war on terror

Al Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri called President Bush a "lying failure" for saying progress had been made in the war on terror, according to a video posted on the Internet on Friday.

"Bush you are a lying failure and a charlatan. It has been three and-a-half years (since the arrests) ... What happened to us? We have gained more strength and we are more insistent on martyrdom," the Egyptian militant leader said.

Zawahri was referring to the arrest of al Qaeda figures such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

"Bush, oh failure and liar, why don't you be courageous for once and confront your people and tell them the truth about your losses in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.

He also called Pope Benedict a "charlatan" because of his remarks on Islam.

"This charlatan accused Islam of being incompatible with rationality while forgetting that his own Christianity is unacceptable to a sensible mind," Zawahri said.

In a speech to a university in his native Germany on Sept 12, Pope Benedict quoted criticism of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who wrote that everything Mohammad brought was evil and inhuman.

He said there was no room for violence in a religion based on reason.

Jihad Watch has more with - A prescription from the Good Doctor Al-Zawahiri

See ya' soon!

Right on cue, as we all expected from the "Religion of Peace®" the murdering of innocent Christians has begun.

On Friday, a prominent hardline Mogadishu cleric called for all Muslims to "hunt down" and kill the Pope for his recent remarks.

Sheikh Abubukar Hassan Malin told his flock of this "Religion of Peace®" during Friday prayers, that "Whoever offends our Prophet Mohammed should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim."

Gunmen shoot dead a foreign nun in Mogadishu’s SOS hospital.

Breaking News
Aweys Osman Yusuf
Mogadishu 17, Sep. 06 ( Sh.M.Network) - Unidentified gunmen are reported to have raided Mogadishu’s SOS hospital and gunned down one of the foreign nuns in the hospital.

Reliable sources say the nun, thought to be an Italian, is confirmed dead. A bodyguard of the nun instantly died after he was fatally shot by two men reportedly armed with handguns.

Reports also indicate that the two assailants have been nabbed by armed guards within SOS hospital.

Six other suspects have also arrested as one of the Islamic Courts leaders Sheik Yusuf Indho-adde told reporters.

Second Assyrian Christian Killed in Retaliation for Pope's Remarks

Sources at Baghdad's Yarmouk Hospital announced on Saturday the death of a second Assyrian Christian who fell victim to multiple stab wounds at the Assyrian market in the Doura District. His murder comes a day after the attack on Syriac Catholic Church in the Ashar district of central Basra where another man was murdered.

Christian Leaders in Iraq have asked their parishioners to be extremely cautious and not to leave their homes as a new group called the young Brigades of Fundamental Islam ' has distributed papers announcing the slaying of all Iraqi Christians in three days if the Pope does not Apologize.

According to the insurgency-loyal news website, islammemo.cc, the bishop of the Syriac Catholic Church has also taken his plea to the central government of Iraq and the coalition forces in hopes that they intervene and offer protection to the native Christians.

While Muslims around the world demonstrate against Pope Benedict's recent comments on Islam, the threats of war against the west are also abounding throughout the Arab world.

The most extreme opinion was voiced by Hani Pahas in the London-based Arabic-language daily newspaper Al-Hayat, who wrote “the pope’s comments may lead to war; we fear that the pope’s statements may lead to a war that we, Muslims and Christians alike, are trying to prevent through dialogue between East and West.

What the hell has the last 5 years been? A walk in the park?

I don't see where the leaders of Islam anywhere in the world, including here in the U.S., are doing a damn thing to try and prevent further escalation of tensions between the two sides.

Hussein Shabakshy wrote in an article published by the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat “It is clear that such remarks only contribute to the fueling of the fire raging between Islam and the West. There is no difference between Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri speaking from their caves in Tora Bora and the stage of an important Christian saint. Both parties contribute to the world verbal weapons for mass destruction.”

And where is the Islamic outrage when Osama bin Laden speaks of death to America and Christians? This is not contributing to the "fueling of the fire raging between Islam and the West?"

“The pope’s latest statement cannot be considered a slip of the tongue or a comic bit from a TV show; the situatio0n here is different, and his remarks are indicative of an important and highly symbolic stance toward the religion (Islam) and the prophet of about a billion and-a-half Muslims,” he said.

“These are ignorant comments previously made by Adolf Hitler, who spoke of a supreme white race against all the other races, especially the African race.

Where is the Muslim outrage over the thousands of sectarian deaths in Iraq? Muslims murdering Muslims. 1536 people murdered this month in Baghdad alone. Another 1500 last month.

Where is the Muslim outrage over these religous murders?

There is none. Why? Because Islam is the "Religion of Peace®." It's obviously all right to murder Muslims, you just can't insult them.

Was the Holy Father's utterance of the Unholy Truth of Islam a revelation? Me thinkth not.

Update: Orthodox Priest Beheaded In Iraq.

Relatives of a beheaded Iraqi priest said his captors had demanded a church apology for recent papal comments about Islam.

Proving the point once again!

More @
MM with: The Religion of Peace Firebombs & Fatwas
LGF with: RoP's Iraq Branch Threatens Pope with Suicide Attack

Of course they do. They are very sensitive people.

How else would you expect the "Religion of Peace" to respond?

Michelle Malkin has this:

Pope Rage on the Internet; church bombings in Gaza

Using the terms "jihad" and "holy war", the Pope said violence was "incompatible with the nature of God".

Muslims are offended because they promote hatred and violence in the "Name of God." Just take a look at the death rate of Iraqi Muslims due to the sectarian violence spreading like wildfire across their country today, all in the "Name of God."

1500 people dead, this week alone.

Update: - 9/17/06
Ace has this:
Pope's Remarks may lead to War

Also: Flying planes into buildings with innocents was a "peaceful dialogue." And kidnapping soldiers was simply "an invitation to party."

Why do these jack asses think that they're the only ones who can declare war? And that they're the only ones who can be filled with indignation, shock (shock!), and outrage (outrage!)?

The most extreme opinion was voiced by Hani Pahas in the London-based Arabic-language daily newspaper Al-Hayat, who wrote “the pope’s comments may lead to war; we fear that the pope’s statements may lead to a war that we, Muslims and Christians alike, are trying to prevent through dialogue between East and West.

Why, yes, thanks for asking. The last 5 years have been simply wonderful. It's been delightful, like Sunday Brunch in the Summer. But nope, no war here.

I suspect today the murders of Christens around the world will begin. Let's face it, the "ROP®" knows no other way.

Just in: 9/17/06 - 07:45
An Italian Nun killed in Somalia. Shot to death by... well you guess who.

A recent U.S. report on Iran's nuclear capability is called "outrageous and dishonest," by a senior official of the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

The U.S. House of Representatives committee report is trying to make a case that Tehran's nuclear program is geared toward making nuclear weapons.



U.N. Inspectors Dispute Iran Report By House Panel

U.N. inspectors investigating Iran's nuclear program angrily complained to the Bush administration and to a Republican congressman yesterday about a recent House committee report on Iran's capabilities, calling parts of the document "outrageous and dishonest" and offering evidence to refute its central claims.

Officials of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency said in a letter that the report contained some "erroneous, misleading and unsubstantiated statements." The letter, signed by a senior director at the agency, was addressed to Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), chairman of the House intelligence committee, which issued the report. A copy was hand-delivered to Gregory L. Schulte, the U.S. ambassador to the IAEA in Vienna.

The IAEA openly clashed with the Bush administration on pre-war assessments of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Relations all but collapsed when the agency revealed that the White House had based some allegations about an Iraqi nuclear program on forged documents.

After no such weapons were found in Iraq, the IAEA came under additional criticism for taking a cautious approach on Iran, which the White House says is trying to build nuclear weapons in secret. At one point, the administration orchestrated a campaign to remove the IAEA's director general, Mohamed ElBaradei. It failed, and he won the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

Yesterday's letter, a copy of which was provided to The Washington Post, was the first time the IAEA has publicly disputed U.S. allegations about its Iran investigation. The agency noted five major errors in the committee's 29-page report, which said Iran's nuclear capabilities are more advanced than either the IAEA or U.S. intelligence has shown.

Charles Austin McCrann was 55 years old and lived in New York City with his wife Michelle and two children Derek and Maxine. His life tragically ended on September 11, 2001, in the World Trade Center building.

Charles McCrann died living his life with the freedom we all so cherish.

Charles was a Princeton University and Yale Law School grad, was senior vice-president of the Marsh & McLennan Companies financial-services conglomerate, who worked at the firm's World Trade Center offices. Despite his executive exterior, he was a film buff who made his own horror movie which was released theatrically as Bloodeaters (1980) and which, as 'Toxic Zombies', was televised twice according to a New York Times capsule bio following his tragic disappearance in the WTC collapse.

Jay Dooling, remembers this about his friend, Charlie.

A Past in the Movies.

Charles Austin McCrann was a levelheaded, respected executive, devoted to his wife, Michelle, and children, Derek and Maxine. But beneath his responsible exterior beat an auteur's heart. He loved film, whether the comedies of W. C. Fields or horror movies.

And so it was that Charlie, a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, was also the writer, producer, director and star of "Toxic Zombies," a comic horror film that was shown twice on the USA cable network. The movie was made while Mr. McCrann was on hiatus in the late 1970's; its plot turned on a group of hippies who turn into those toxic zombies after a drunken crop-duster oversprays their marijuana field.

"Toxic Zombies" epitomized a sense of humor that even now makes Mrs. McCrann laugh out loud. Charlie McCrann would surprise someone taken in by his straight appearance with a funny duck walk as he left the room. He would tease her relentlessly, so that after an angry derelict spit on her once, he said, "You mean your Uncle Spitty did that to you

And this from his Princeton University class of 1968:

Charlie prepped at Lawrenceville School.

At Princeton, he majored in history, was an active member of Tower Club, Orange Key, Whig-Clio, and the Young Republicans, and roomed with Rick Ferris, Rich Huberman, and Steve Whelan.

After Yale Law School, Charlie joined the NYC law firm of LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & McCrae, specializing in insurance, corporate, and regulatory matters. He then became special counsel to the New York State Assembly Insurance Committee. In 1980, Charlie joined insurance conglomerate Marsh & McLennan, rising to senior vice president.

Colleagues noted how Charlie not only provided instant, documented answers to complex issues involving taxes or solvency regulations, but also was gifted in dealing with government officials.

Always possessed of a whimsical streak, Charlie would have said that the high point of his career was producing, directing, and (as Charles Austin) starring in the 1980 horror film Toxic Zombies. In truth, he was devoted to his wife of 22 years, Michelle, and their children, Derek and Maxine. To them and his many friends, the class extends its deepest sympathy.

The Class of 1968

Here are some of the many comments from friends and family members in memory of Charles.

September 4, 2002
Charlie,
Your devotion to Michelle, Derek and Maxine epitomizes all that is Eagles Mere. May your memory never fade but be a reminder to the rest of us that work is "merely" a means to an end, that end being to love, provide for, and instill hope in our children for them to carry on to generations after. See you on the mountain!
Leslie D. (Eagles Mere, PA )

June 24, 2002
I had the good fortune of being Charlie's niece. He was considerate, kind and valued his family above all else. Never one to forget a birthday, or a lunch date, I only wish I'd had more time. I love you Uncle Charlie, and I miss you everyday.
Mari McCrann (Hoboken, NJ )

May 7, 2002
May God Bless you and watch over the family and friends that you left behind on 9/11/01. Rest in his loving peace forever more.
Angie Campbell (Denton, TX )

April 24, 2006
I sit here on a rainy April night reading these kind words about my father, and it brings a smile to my face. I know Dad would have been truly touched by the fact that so many people cared enough to take some time out and post their feelings here. Thank you all very much.
Derek McCrann

December 2, 2002
Charlie was my uncle, lunch buddy, and one of the kinder people I've known. Over two years ago, he called me on my first day at work to see how I was faring. I fear nothing could have prepared him for what he received on the other end of the phone, but I certainly appreciated his listening to all my new job jitters; silly as they were, he was such a needed comfort. Never one to overlook anything, I only wish I'd had more time. Uncle Charlie, I miss you very much and I think of you everyday. Love always
Mari McCrann

Let us never forget him!

Rest in Peace Charles McCrann


Click here to view a list of all 2,996 9/11 tributes.
Many thanks to D.Challener Roe, the administrator of 2,996, a tribute to the victims of 9/11.

Links for Information on all victims of the September 11, 2001 tragedy:
List of victims
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Victims by Country and Citizenship

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan helps Iran deliver weapons and re-supplies to Hezbollah via Beirut airport.

By insisting that the UN will monitor all deliveries into the Beirut airport, Israel agreed to end the air embargo on Lebanon to allow shipments of needed goods to enter the country.

As soon as the embargo was lifted the Lebanese prime minister, Siniora barred all UN personnel from the airport.

DEBKAfile has this report.
Iran resumed weapons airlift to Hizballah via Beirut Friday as soon as Israel ended its air blockade.

Iran’s first post-blockade arms flight departed Dubai Friday, Sept. 8, to test the ground at Beirut international airport for Israeli air force or UN reactions. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the forbidden goods were unloaded and sailed through the airport unhindered. Tehran therefore determined to send two further bulk consignments in the next 48 hours aboard commercial flights from the Persian Gulf.

Our sources report the arms crates listed were on the documents as “computer equipment. Handle with care.” They were off loaded onto trucks which drove in convoy to Hizballah headquarters in Baalbek.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, determined to end Israel’s air blockade on Lebanon, promised solemnly that UN monitors would control incoming passengers and goods at Beirut airport. But he failed to make the Siniora government follow through on this pledge. The Lebanese prime minister immediately barred the airport to UN inspections. The five German air monitors agreed on were only allowed to establish a checkpoint for controlling arms smuggling at a distance of one kilometer from the international airport. DEBKAfile reports they are standing idle because the trucks carrying forbidden cargoes are able leave the airfield and bypass their checkpoint by alternative routes.

At the same time, DEBKAfile’s diplomatic sources report the Israeli government and the UN are colluding to present the expanded UNIFIL project as a big success and a satisfactory formula for enabling Israeli troops to quit Lebanon and fully implementing UN resolution 1701.

In actual fact, the UN deployment by land and sea does nothing to curtail Hizballah’s recovery and rearming. Its only achievement thus far is the acceleration of Israel’s disengagement from the Lebanon scene empty-handed.

Our military sources disclose that Iran is sending Hizballah fresh supplies of anti-tank weapons and for the first time a large quantity of anti-air missiles. The war materiel is coming in by land, sea and air.

The promised Italian, French and Greek rival presence, on the strength of which Israel lifted its air blockade, has been pushed by the Lebanese government out to sea and restricted to a 12-km radius from the coast. The European warships can keep an eye on big freighters approaching Lebanese ports, but cannot keep track of the small vessels reaching Lebanon ports from the northern Syrian ports of Tartus and Latakia. That is where Iranian cargo vessels have been unloading large quantities of arms for Hizballah outside the European fleets’ limits in the last two weeks. Furthermore, Friday, as soon as Israel was persuaded to lift its sea blockade, three Lebanese and Syrian ships crammed with arms for Hizballah departed the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli and after a short voyage hugging the Lebanese coast put into the southern Lebanese port of Sidon, where willing Hizballah hands unloaded their cargo.

On land, the Lebanese-Syrian border is wide open. Three or four arms truck convoys cross into Lebanon every day.

How much longer are we going to take this man serious?

Israel should now finish what it started and be done with it once and for all.

The U.S. government transferred 14 key terrorist leaders from secret CIA prisons to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Speaking from the White House, the president said that the country was still under threat from terrorists.

"They're still trying to strike America and still trying to kill our people," said the President. The U.S. must be able to "detain, question and, when appropriate, prosecute terrorists captured here in America and on the battlefields around the world."

Bush: Secret prisons held Cole suspects

President Bush on Wednesday acknowledged the existence of previously secret CIA prisons around the world and said 14 high-value terrorism suspects — including the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks — have been transferred from the system to Guantanamo Bay for trials.

He said the “small number” of detainees that have been kept in CIA custody include people responsible for the bombing of the destroyer Cole in 2000 in Yemen and the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in addition to the 2001 attacks.

“The most important source of information on where the terrorists are hiding and what they are planning is the terrorists themselves,” Bush said in a White House speech with families of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks making up part of the audience. “It has been necessary to move these individuals to an environment where they can be held in secret, questioned by experts and, when appropriate, prosecuted for terrorist acts.”

The announcement from Bush is the first time the administration has acknowledged the existence of CIA prisons, which have been a source of friction between Washington and some allies in Europe. The administration has come under criticism for its treatment of terrorism detainees. European Union lawmakers said the CIA was conducting clandestine flights in Europe to take terror suspects to countries where they could face torture.

Bush said the CIA program has involved such suspected terrorists as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, believed to be the No. 3 al-Qaida leader before he was captured in Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be Sept. 11, 2001, hijacker; Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaida cells before he was also captured in Pakistan, in March 2002.

The list also includes Riduan Isamuddin, known additionally as Hambali, who was suspected of being Jemaah Islamiyah’s main link to al-Qaida and the mastermind of a string of deadly bomb attacks in Indonesia until his 2003 arrest in Thailand.

Defending the program, the president said the questioning of these detainees has provided critical intelligence information about terrorist activities that have enabled officials to prevent attacks not only in the United States, but Europe and other countries. He said the program has been reviewed by administration lawyers and been the subject of strict oversight from within the CIA.

Bush would not detail the type of interrogation techniques that are used through the program, saying they are tough but do not constitute torture.

“This program has helped us to take potential mass murderers off the streets before they have a chance to kill,” the president said. “It is invaluable to America and our allies.”

More @
Michelle Malkin

On Tuesday the Pakistan Army entered into another peace agreement with pro-Taliban militants in the Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan, on the border with Afghanistan, to try and secure a permanent peace in the area.

In this agreement the Pakistani military accepted all of the militants' requirements for a cease fire. These included the release of all of their fighters captured during the fighting, the full return of all of their weapons and vehicles seized during recent army operations in the area. The Pakistan army must also dismantle all army check points, restore all privileges of the tribal people and pay monetary compensation for all those residents who were either killed and/or whose property was damaged during military operations.

Pakistan Throws in the Towel

The Pakistani military will no longer operate in the area where Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda operatives are believed to be hiding, according to terms of what the Pakistan government calls a "peace deal," signed today with militant tribal groups allied to the Taliban and al Qaeda.

It is a stunning setback for U.S. efforts to root out al Qaeda and Taliban strongholds.

The agreement, signed in the North Waziristan district of Pakistan's volatile tribal belt, calls for the military to return to its barracks and for the insurgents to stop launching attacks on Pakistani troops.

"The army will pull back to its camps," spokesman Major General Shaukut Sultan told ABC News. "They will not undertake any terrorist activity. There will be no parallel government, and foreigners will leave the area."

Extremist tribal leaders in North and South Waziristan had virtually taken over in recent months. They imposed Taliban-style law in their districts, held public executions and were openly recruiting fighters for 'jihad' against U.S. troops across the border in Afghanistan.

Though the military will not release exact figures, they also killed and injured hundreds of Pakistani soldiers in roadside bombs and suicide attacks. The ongoing military operations in the tribal belt were so unpopular here -- many accuse President Pervez Musharraf of fighting America's War on Terror with Pakistani blood -- analysts say the general had to stop the bloodshed, even if just for the meantime.

An earlier deal in 2003 dissolved after tribal militants failed to hold up their end of the bargain. Few expect this deal to hold either.

Sounds like a "Win - Win" deal for the terrorist.

A U.S. interceptor missile was launched today from Vandenberg Air Force Base and successfully destroyed a mock warhead launched from Alaska in a key test of the U.S. missile defense system.



U.S. missile defense interceptor hits target in test over Pacific

The 54-foot interceptor shot out of an underground silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast at 10:39 a.m., 17 minutes after a target missile was launched from Kodiak Island, Alaska, said agency spokesman Rick Lehner.

A refrigerator-sized "kill vehicle" separated from the interceptor. Moving at 18,000 mph, it struck a 4-foot-long mock warhead released by the other missile. Lehner said both disintegrated more than 100 miles above the Earth and a few hundred miles west of Vandenberg. The interceptor's flight lasted 13 minutes.

It was the most realistic test of the systems that would be used against a real attack, according to Lehner.

More than $100 billion has been spent on America's missile-defense system since 1983 and it has been the subject of criticism by those who call it a costly boondoggle. There also have been allegations that very early tests were rigged or their success exaggerated. The Pentagon says the technology used in those tests is not part of the current research program.

Critics also argued early on that the demise of the Soviet Union made a full-scale missile attack on the U.S. unlikely. Supporters say the U.S. still is vulnerable to missiles from rogue states.

In July, North Korea unsuccessfully test-fired a missile that was believed capable of reaching the northwestern U.S. coast.

Update - 9/2/06: North Korea has accused the U.S. of threatening war by conducting a anti-missile defense test and vowed to strengthen its self-defense in response.

More @
Ace of Spades with Missile Test Successful [AnalogKid]