Christian Warriors from U.S. Fight in Iraq

A former U.S. soldier, who calls himself the "King of Nineveh," is interviewed in Iraq, "in a makeshift military headquarters." He says he wants to "keep the church bells of Iraq ringing:"

"Jesus tells us what you do unto the least of them, you do unto me," said the 28-year-old from Detroit, who served an extended tour in Iraq in 2006 and 2007 and asked for his surname not to be published to protect his family at home. "I couldn't sit back and watch what was happening, women being raped and sold wholesale." 

So in December he travelled to northern Iraq, where he joined a growing band of foreigners leaving their lives in the West behind to fight with newly formed Christian militias. The leaders of those militias say they've been swamped with hundreds of requests from veterans and volunteers from around the world who want to join them.... 

Brett's group, Dwekh Nawsha, which means "self-sacrifice" in Aramaic, the ancient language spoken by Jesus, has only six Westerners among its 200 Iraqi Assyrian Christian fighters. But Emanuel Khoshaba Youkhana, the secretary general of the Assyrian Patriotic Party, which funds the group, says more than 900 other foreigners have been in touch to find out how to join. Read more  at Stars & Stripes.

Note the word "Assyrian Patriotic Party" in the paragraph above.

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Israel And The Kurds

And now, according to Bloomberg: 

Iraq Government Condemns Kurds for ‘Illegal’ Oil Sale to Israel

Iraq’s government condemned the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdish authorities for “illegally” selling crude oil to Israel for the fourth time.
The SCF Altai tanker carrying crude oil from the Kurdish region docked in Ashkelon, Israel, June 20, according to an e-mailed statement from the Iraqi Oil Ministry.

Muslim Persecution of Christians: August, 2012

While many people are regularly persecuted by Islam's blasphemy law, one particular case made August headlines: a 14-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan, Rimsha Masih, was arrested, accused of burning pages of a Quran. Rioting Muslims destroyed Christian homes and churches, tore Bibles to pieces and broke crosses, while calling for the death penalty against her. Because this story made it to the mainstream media, widespread international condemnation caused Pakistani authorities to release her recently, not by annulling Pakistan's blasphemy law, but by finding loopholes, from characterizing the girl as retarded—Islamic law does not mandate punishment for blasphemers if they are retarded—to the unprecedented exposure of a Muslim cleric who framed her.

Because this incident prompted a widespread rampage against Pakistan's Christians, thousands have deserted their homes and are dispossessed. The Christians from Rimsha's neighborhood, including women and children, fled into the woods in fear of Muslim retribution, while others were evicted by their Muslim landlords. A few Christians sleeping overnight on the ground just miles away from Pakistani government buildings decided to build a church there and make it their permanent dwelling place. "Here it is not anybody's home, nobody's land. Let us live here in safety," said one. Another said: "We have cleared this place with our hands, and we have laid the first foundation of a small church here. Although this is a mere skeleton made of tree branches, this is the holy home of God. This should be respected."

Categorized by theme, August's batch of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and in country alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.

Jihad Killings and Christian Displacement

Iraq: What Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors, characterized as "religicide," continues unabated in the nation that was liberated by U.S. forces a decade ago: "Christians in cities like Baghdad and Mosul are gripped by terrorism. They are fleeing in droves. Today [August 16] it was reported that at least 20 people died in blasts and shootings across the country." Before the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Mosul was home to some 75,000 Christians, but now the number has dropped to around 25,000. Christian homes are set on fire, bombs placed in their cars; other Christian families are receiving letters threatening them to leave Iraq or be kidnapped or killed.
Ivory Coast: As part of the civil war, Muslim rebels "massacred hundreds and displaced tens of thousands" of predominantly Christian supporters of Laurent Gbagbo. Since the attack, when their homes were taken by rebels, some 5,000 predominantly Christian ethnic Guere have been forced to flee into the ungoverned, inhospitable bush, or to the Catholic mission in Duekoue. The priest there reported that the mission has also been threatened by "crowds of angry youths."
Mali: As many as 200,000 Christians are fleeing to Algeria and Mauritania, where they are seeking a safe haven from Islamic terrorists linked to al-Qaeda, who have become increasingly active in the northern regions of the nation.
Nigeria: The Islamic terrorist organization Boko Haram [Western Education is a Sin] continued its jihad [holy war] to purge north Nigeria of all Christians. In one instance, gunmen murdered a 57-year-old evangelist of a Pentecostal church. When threatened earlier, he had said "I leave everything in the hands of God."
Syria: Some 12,000 people were blockaded in the predominantly Christian town of Rableh by anti-government forces; they killed several people trying to leave and refused the entry of food and medical supplies. Government forces had reportedly driven out the opposition by August 24. Christians were also given an ultimatum to leave the nearby cities of Qusayr and Homs, which has been almost entirely cleansed of its 50,000-60,000 Christian population. The predominantly Christian part of Aleppo was also hit by heavy fighting earlier this month; and a car bomb was detonated in the predominantly Christian area of Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus, as "a crowd of faithful, families, elderly people, women and children, were heading to the cemetery to bury two young people who had died a day earlier, on August 27, also victims of an IED. Twelve died (other sources say as many as 27), including five children, and injuring more than 50 people." Further, "a family of Armenian Christians was found murdered, and all members of the family horribly decapitated."

Church Attacks

Azerbaijan: The highest appeals court upheld the decision to close Greater Grace Church, "the first religious community to be liquidated by a court since the country's harsh new religion law came into force in 2009." The church, registered since 1993, had provided a place for Christian worship and teaching for almost 20 years; and with a congregation of nearly 500, was one of the larger Protestant churches in the country.
Indonesia: Two churches were the latest to be forcibly closed in West Java: First, a "large tent" used for services by St. Johannes Baptista Church in Bogor was sealed off by authorities on August 7. The congregation had been using the tent since 2006 as a temporary location while they awaited a permit for a proper building, for which it had applied in 2000. Police threatened to "tear down" the tent if the Christians continued to use it; the church leader suspects the hostility is linked to the growth of the congregation, which now numbers around 500. Second, Batak Karo Protestant Church in Bandung was sealed off by protesters who claimed that the congregation had earlier agreed not to use the building, even though it now has all necessary permits to hold service.
Kenya: After a fight ensued between the supporters of a Muslim cleric who had died and the police, a church near the mosque where the funeral was being held was set on fire, and another church was attacked. Separately, another church was attacked and looted "by an armed mob," believed to be sympathizers of the al-Shabaab terrorist organization. In the words of the pastor who witnessed the pillage, "attackers armed with guns stormed the compound and immediately began pulling down one iron sheet after another, and soon 60 iron sheets were gone. It was a terrible sight to watch the walls of the church come down, [but] I could not shout for help because the attackers could gun me down. Shocked and dismayed, the church's 60 congregants arrived for worship the next day to find their church building in ruins." Police were told that there were threats of an attack and that local Muslims were saying things such as "we do not want infidels in this area," but did nothing. These latest attacks "came only one week after al-Shabab militants hurled grenades into the African Inland Church of Garissa, in eastern Kenya, and opened fire on congregants, killing 17 people, including 15 worshipers. Grenades were also thrown at the local Catholic church." More than 14 churches have been attacked in Kenya since April.
Nigeria: Gunmen, probably connected with the jihadi organization Boko Haram, "stormed the Deeper Life Church, where Christian worshippers were gathered in prayer, and surrounded the church in the middle of a worship service and opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles on the worshippers." At least 19 of them were killed, including the pastor. The following day, an unexploded bomb was discovered at Revival Church.
Syria: Gunmen attacked the Catholic monastery of Mar Musa, which dates from the 4^th century, and is located north of Damascus. None of the monks was hurt, although the monastery was, in the words of Father Dall'Oglio, "sacked," and "gunmen stole everything they could steal," including tractors and other agricultural tools.

Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytism

Egypt: A Christian man accused of defaming Islam was arrested after a complaint in which he was accused of posting opinions in Facebook which insulted Muhammad. Insults to Islam and the prophet are considered crimes in Egypt under Article 98(f) of the Penal Code, which states: "Confinement for a period of not less than six months and not exceeding five years… shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever makes use of religion in propagating, either by words, in writing, or in any other means, extreme ideas for the purpose of inciting strife, ridiculing or insulting a heavenly religion or a sect following it, or damaging national unity."
Pakistan: After a Pakistani flag with the name of "Allah" on it accidentally blew from a Christian's property to a Muslim's, the Muslim accused the Christian of deliberately trying to blaspheme the name of Allah. This accusation was advertised in the local mosques, and prompted enraged Muslims to threaten to burn down the homes of the 15 Christian families in the area. Also, a Christian pastor, who had preached among Muslims, some of whom showed interest in converting, was threatened and subsequently kidnapped.
Tanzania: A 17-year-old girl, Eva Abdullah, who had abandoned Islam three years ago to convert to Christianity, was sentenced to two years in prison after being accused of desecrating the Quran. Her parents had disowned her and "a group of radicals" tried to "persuade" her to renounce her Christian faith. When she refused, they falsely accused her of desecrating a Quran.
Tunisia: The nation's ruling Islamist party filed a bill to criminalize offenses against "sacred values." "Crimes" would mandate prison terms and fines for broadly worded offenses, such as insulting or mocking the "sanctity of religion." Among other things, the bill also codifies the levels of offense to religious feelings, including "insults, profanity, derision and representation of Allah and Mohammed."

Dhimmitude

[General Abuse, Debasement, and Suppression of Non-Muslims as "Tolerated" Citizens]

Egypt: The nation's jihad organizations dropped leaflets calling on Muslims to kill Christians wherever they found them. Coptic shop owners who sell Christian icons and statues received threatening letters. Muslim "gangs" plundered and kidnapped for ransom Christians. Islamists in the Constituent Assembly demanded that the Coptic Church's funds be placed under state financial control, a measure categorically rejected by Copts: the state in no way funds the Church, even though mosques are funded by taxpayers, including Christians. Condemning the proposal, the acting Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church said the demand has only one meaning: "that Copts are clearly persecuted." Despite promising greater representation for Egypt's Copts, President Morsi broke his word and allowed only one Copt, a female, to represent the nation's 10-14% Christians in the newly formed Cabinet: "We had expected an increase in the representation of Copts especially after the number of ministries increased to 35. But the formation ignored all the known rights and concepts of citizenship," said the acting Patriarch: "It is not right that Copts get treated in this way." When Egypt's Constituent Assembly proposed a law to criminalize "forced labor, slavery, the trafficking of women and children, human organs, and the sex trade," from which Christians, especially females, would benefit, the Islamist party complained.
Iran: According to Mohabat News, authorities "raise[d] unsubstantiated charges" against five arrested converts to Christianity to "pressure" and "intimidate" them, including by falsely accusing them of desecrating the Quran, and holding them for indefinite periods. "Although their situation is still unclear six months after their arrest, there is no doubt that the Christians' only crime is related to their faith in Jesus Christ."
Pakistan: Eleven Christian student nurses were poisoned with mercury in their tea. It is believed that the Christian women were targeted as punishment for drinking tea while their Muslim colleagues were fasting during the month of Ramadan. And a 56-year-old Christian woman at the Karachi Press Club recounted how she and her family were enslaved and forced to work without pay, and tortured and beaten. Muslim "feudal lords" are threatening her and her extended family, with, among other charges, accusations of blasphemy: "Please protect us," they said. "We don't want to go back."
Saudi Arabia: The last of the 35 Ethiopian Christians held in detention since December after being arrested for holding a prayer meeting in a private home was deported home: "We have arrived home safe," one of the released said: "We believe that we are released as the result of the pressure exerted by ICC and others. The Saudi officials do not tolerate any religions other than Islam. They consider non-Muslims unbelievers. They are full of hatred towards non-Muslims."
Syria: A number of Melchite Greek Catholic priests, including the archbishop, fled to Lebanon after their offices were ransacked. According to Fides, "unidentified groups who want to feed a religious war and drag the Syrian population into sectarian conflicts" attacked the Christian area in the old quarter of Aleppo. A Byzantine Christian museum and an office of the Maronite Christian faith were also damaged.
Turkey: The chairman of Parliament's education committee is accusing the French government of "planting seeds of hate" with its move to include the Armenian genocide in history and geography books used in French secondary schools. Armenia, backed by many historians, says that about 1.5 million Armenians were killed in what is now eastern Turkey during World War I in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the Ottoman government.
Uzbekistan: A 26-year-old Christian woman, paralyzed from youth, and her mother were violently attacked by six men with sticks who broke into their home at 4 a.m. The men ransacked the home, confiscating icons, bibles, religious calendars and prayer books. When the paralyzed woman furtively tried to phone for help, she was beaten again. They were all taken to the police department, where the woman was "offered to convert to Islam." She refused, and the judge eventually "decided that the women had resisted police and had stored the banned religious literature at home and conducted missionary activities. He fined them 20 minimum monthly wages each."

About this Series

Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:

1. To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
2. To show that such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.

Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; apostasy and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death those who "offend" Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like dhimmis, or second-class, "tolerated" citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination.
Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the East, and throughout the West wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.

Arab Nuremberg Laws

Hat tip to Israel Matzav

In 1947, the Political Committee of the Arab League (League of Arab States) drafted a law which was to govern the legal status of Jewish residents in all Arab League countries. This law had already been approved by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, provided that, “beginning with a specified date, all Jews – with the exception of citizens of non-Arab countries – were to be considered members of the Jewish ‘minority state of Palestine,’ and that their bank account be frozen and used to finance resistance to ‘Zionist ambitions in Palestine.’ Jews believed to be active Zionists would be interned as political prisoners and their assets confiscated. Only Jews who accept active service in Arab armies or place themselves at the disposal of these armies would be considered ‘Arabs.’” 1

Excerpts of Direct Quotes of the Law drafted by the Political Committee of the Arab League

• “All Jewish citizens…will be considered as members of the Jewish minority of the State of Palestine and will have to register [“within 7 days”] with the authorities of the region wherein they reside, giving their names, the exact number of members in their families, their addresses, the names of their banks and the amounts of their deposits in these banks…”2

• “Bank accounts of Jews will be frozen. These funds will be utilized in part or in full to finance the movement of resistance to Zionist ambitions in Palestine.”3

• “Only Jews who are subjects of foreign countries will be considered ‘neutrals.’ These will be compelled either to return to their countries, with a minimum of delay, or be considered Arabs and obliged to accept active service in the Arab army.”4

• “Every Jew whose activities reveal that he is an active Zionist will be considered as a political prisoner and will be interned in places specifically designated for that purpose by police authorities or by the Government. His financial resources, instead of being frozen, will be confiscated.”5

• “Any Jew who will be able to prove that his activities are anti-Zionist will be free to act as he likes, provided that he declares his readiness to join the Arab armies.”6

• “The foregoing…does not mean that those Jews will not be submitted to paragraphs 1 and 2 of this law.”7

1 Memorandum Submitted to the U.N. Economic and Social Council by the World Jewish Congress. (Jan. 19, 1948) Section I. (2) a. June 2, 1948. [ZIIC - This reference is in the document prepared by JJAC and is probably incorrect]

2 Text of the Law drafted by the Political Committee of the Arab League. Paragraph 1.

3 ibid. Paragraph 2.

4 ibid. Paragraph 3.

5 ibid. Paragraph 5.

6 ibid. Paragraph 6.

7 ibid. Paragraph 7. (Paragraph 1 & 2 indicate all Jews must register and disclose personal and banking information and

that bank accounts will be frozen and utilized for anti-Zionist resistance.)


Between 1948 and 1955 a million Jews left (mostly forced out) every Muslim nation.  Where is their Law of Return?  Where is Justice for these men and women?


In this world only Muslims can be refugees.  In this world there is no justice for Jews.  These above laws show the true nature of Islam.  The true nature of the Arab barbarian.

Why Are US Troops Being Deployed To Jordan?

While most of the American troops now stationed in Iraq are being sent home for the Holidays to spend this joyous time with their families and friends, but not all of the troops.  Between 6 to 8,000 troops will be deployed to Jordan to defend that nation from an attack from Syria.

As the US completes its final withdrawal from Iraq, American special forces troops have been diverted to positions in Jordan opposite a Syrian tank concentration building up across the kingdom's northern border, debkafile's military and intelligence sources report.

As of last Thursday, military convoys, air transports and helicopters have been lifting US troops across the border from Iraq. They have been deployed in position to ward off a possible Syrian invasion in the light of President Bashar Assad's warning that he would set the entire Middle East on fire if the pressure on his regime to step down persisted.

Syria's other neighbors have taken precautions against this contingency but this is the first time US boots have hit the ground directly opposite Assad's army.

The incoming US contingents are disclosed by our sources as having been housed at the King Hussein Air Base of al-Mafraq, 10 kilometers from the Syrian border. US troops were sighted Monday, Dec. 12, building surveillance towers and army posts in the Jordanian villages of Albaej, Zubaydiah and al-Nahdah al-Houshah as well as near the Sarham dam of the Yarmoukh River which runs down the international border between Syria and Jordan.

Three months ago, the Syrian ruler cautioned Jordan's King Abdullah II to stop granting asylum to Syrian military deserters and allowing his country to serve as a conduit for pumping arms to the opposition.

The king was not deterred by this threat. Seen from Damascus, Jordan would be easier to take on militarily that either Turkey or Israel. Saturday, Dec. 10, Jordanian surveillance units confirmed that Syrian armored units were gathering opposite the Jordanian town of Bura Al Hariri.

Iraqi sources report that the American units came from the big Iraqi Ain al-Assad air base in the western province of Al Anbar opposite the Jordanian border. This base is in the process of evacuation as the US military drawdown in Iraq approaches completion. Most of the troops are flown to US bases in the Persian Gulf and Europe.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, when he met US President Barack Obama at the White House Monday, approved the transfer of American contingents from Iraq to Jordan across their common border. Obama was therefore able to state after their talks: "We share the view that when the Syrian people are being killed or are unable to express themselves that's a problem. There's no disagreement there."

By this comment, the White House sought to stress that the Baghdad government is not letting Tehran twist its arms on the Syrian question.

Source

The risk of Syria attacking Jordan is high, but that is not the only problem there is with Syria.  Syria has stockpiled Chemical weapons and will use them.

The Syrian regime, which has endured nine months of civil unrest spurred by the Arab Spring as it swept across the Middle East, has armed its medium-range missile arsenal with chemical warheads.

According to a report published by the Sabah daily Sunday, Damascus armed 600 one-ton chemical warheads to use in the event of a foreign military intervention. Furthermore, President Bashar al-Assad ordered the deployment of 21 missile launchers along its border with Turkey. Syria’s medium-range missiles that can be equipped with chemical warheads have a range of up to 1,300 kilometers and would include the southern and central provinces of Turkey.

According to the daily, the Syrian military keeps its stockpile of chemical warheads in secret facilities in and around the capital city of Damascus. In mid-November, President Assad held a special meeting with top commanders of the Syrian army and argued over how to respond to a possible military intervention by the international community. Additionally, Russia, which stood by the Assad regime’s defiance of international pressure on Damascus, sent 3 million gas masks to the troubled country. Most of those masks will be distributed to the regime’s loyalists, the families of soldiers and Baath supporters. The distribution of the masks is set to be completed by the end of December, according to the daily.

Syria is believed to have had a chemical weapons arsenal for more than three decades. Following heavy defeats against Israel in conventional warfare, international defense sources believe that following the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Hafez al-Assad, the former general of the Syrian Air Force, decided to bolster Syria’s strategic position through the development of ballistic missiles to counter Israel’s superiority in conventional warfare. The unchallenged superiority Israeli air forces led Syrian generals to push for other means to protect the regime. From then on, Syria has launched clandestine efforts to develop chemical warheads with ballistic missile delivery systems.

Source

First of all an Chemical Attack on Jordan, Turkey or Israel will awaken the whole world to anger.  Using WMDs is not to be accepted by the world.  NATO will attack (Without UN approval).  No Assad will use those weapons on his own people.  He will use them to silence dissent in his own nation.

Will the world stop Assad or criticize him if he does use WMDs on his own people?  Probably not.  Saddam Hussein used gas on the Kurds and the world said nothing, did nothing.  So it will be with Assad.

Ben Ish Hai Torah Coming to Israel

The what is coming to Israel?  Who the heck is Ben Ish Hai?

Rabbi Yosef Chaim

The Ben Ish Hai is a standard reference in Sephardi homes (functioning as "a Sephardi Kitzur Shulchan Arukh") and is widely studied in Sephardi yeshivot. Due to the popularity of this book, Hakham Yosef Chaim came to be known as "Ben Ish Chai", by which he is referred to by many today. The book is a collection of homilies he gave over two years discussing the weekly Torah portion. Each chapter begins with a mystical discussion, usually explaining how a Kabbalistic interpretation of a certain verse relates to a particular halakha, and then continuing to expound on that halakha with definitive rulings.

OK.  So what is special about this Torah?  It is a 400 year old Torah that was used by Hakham Yosef Chaim and other  prominent Iraqi rabbis.

An ancient Sefer Torah once possessed by the Iraqi rabbinic luminary Ben Ish Hai (1832-1909) will soon leave Bagdad and come to Israel.

The Torah Scroll, estimated to be 400 years old, is one of the oldest in the world. It was written in large, clear letters on thick parchment known as gawil – meaning it was not split while being processed.

The ancient Torah narrowly escaped fire in 1937. It was once used in the synagogue of the acclaimed Rabbi Abdullah and his famous disciple Rabbi Yosef Chaim, the "Ben Ish Hai." It is very likely both sages read from the scroll for their congregations.

The poor security situation in Iraq - and fears of murder and kidnapping by Islamists among Iraq's few remaining Jews - has generated concerns rioters may target the remaining synagogue and its treasures, including the Torah scroll.

Kept in the Beit-Zilkain Baghdad, the Torah was removed to safety with covert US military aid - and will leave Iraq for Israel in the coming days.

On Tuesday the Torah will be inducted to the Beer Hana synagogue in Netanya under the auspices of Tzfat Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, whose family came from Bagdad.

Ben Ish Hai Torah

The Jewish community in Bagdad peaked at some 300,000 people in the early 20th century, most of whom began migrating to Israel as increasing anti-Jewish legislation by Iraqi authorities took hold in the 1930's and 1940's.

Following the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 a mass exodus of Iraqi Jews prompted by a wave of anti-Jewish riots and bombings took place. Aided by Operations Ezra and Nehemiah, Iraq was virtually emptied of Jews by 1960.

Estimates place the elderly Jewish population of Bagdad at 8. Three US military rabbinic chaplains are also stationed in Iraq.

Source

What was once a thriving Jewish community of 300,000 people is now a destroyed community of 8.  No wonder the Iraqis are now attacking their Christian neighbors.  They have gotten rid of their Jews (Saturday People) and are now doing the same to their Christians (Sunday People).

It took a conspiracy of Americans and Israelis to bring this Torah to safety.  Let us pray for the last 8 Jews living in Iraq and that they can come home to Israel too.

Obama's Stimulus Costs More than Iraq War - Much More than Iraq War!

Mark Tapscott at the Washington Examiner quotes an American Thinker article by Randall Hoven. Obama's failed Stimulus spending cost more than the Iraq war. I was amazed at this for a couple of reasons - one being that I thought the Iraq war was the biggest expenditure known in the history of the modern world, but apparently not.

Stimulus Costs More than Iraq War

Hoven quotes elitists saying the Iraq War cost $3 trillion. The CBO tells Hoven the entire cost is $709 billion. I don't about you, but I feel much better now. I can think of several who are near and dear to me whom I will assault with these figures - gleefully, and often.

Here's a handy stat: the stimulus bill passed in Obama's first month in office costs 15% more than the entire Iraq War. Repeating, 15% MORE THAN THE ENTIRE IRAQ WAR.

* Obama's stimulus, passed in his first month in office, will cost more than the entire Iraq War -- more than $100 billion (15%) more.

* Just the first two years of Obama's stimulus cost more than the entire cost of the Iraq War under President Bush, or six years of that war.

* Iraq War spending accounted for just 3.2% of all federal spending while it lasted.

* Iraq War spending was not even one quarter of what we spent on Medicare in the same time frame.

* Iraq War spending was not even 15% of the total deficit spending in that time frame. The cumulative deficit, 2003-2010, would have been four-point-something trillion dollars with or without the Iraq War.

* The Iraq War accounts for less than 8% of the federal debt held by the public at the end of 2010 ($9.031 trillion).

* During Bush's Iraq years, 2003-2008, the federal government spent more on education that it did on the Iraq War. (State and local governments spent about ten times more.)

How many times can we repeat this between now and midnight November 1st? Read Randall Hoven's Iraq: The War That Bros Us -- Not, it's a handy piece to bookmark.


posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Happy Ramadan!

Yes it is that time of year again.  The time of fasting from sun up to sun down,.  The time of restraining from eating and drinking during that time.  And the time of blowing up not only yourself, but  the infidels (if available) or your neighbor.

BAGHDAD -- A homicide bomber blew himself up Tuesday among hundreds of army recruits who had gathered near a military headquarters in an attack officials said killed 60 and wounded 125, one of the bloodiest bombings in weeks in the Iraqi capital.

The massive blast took place around 7:30 a.m. just outside the former Iraqi Ministry of Defense building that now houses the army's 11th division headquarters. The site receives about 250 new recruits each week as Iraqi security forces try to bolster their ranks to prepare for the U.S. military's looming withdrawal after seven years of war.

Blown-off hands and legs could be seen among pools of blood at the scene, which Iraqi soldiers closed off. U.S. helicopters hovered overhead as frantic Iraqis showed up to search for relatives.

At least two recruits who witnessed that attack raised the possibility that a car had also exploded at the scene, which could account for the high death toll. But a military spokesman blamed the deaths on a single homicide bomber.

"We were sitting there, and somebody began shouting about a parked car," said one of the recruits, Ali Ibrahim, 21, who suffered minor shrapnel wounds in the blast. Ibrahim said he had been waiting to get into the headquarters to secure a job since around 3 a.m.

"Then the explosion happened and I was thrown on my back," he said after his release from the hospital. "It was a tragic scene."

The recruits were gathered in an open area next to Maidan Square in central Baghdad as they waited to be let through the main gates in small groups, according to two Iraqi police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. At least three soldiers were among the dead and eight among the wounded, the police officials said.

Officials at four Baghdad hospitals confirmed the casualties. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Iraqi Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, a military spokesman, told The Associated Press that the blast was caused by a single homicide bomber who detonated his vest among the packed crowd. He put the casualty count at 39 killed and 57 wounded. Varying casualty counts are common in the chaotic aftermath of massive attacks.

Al-Moussawi blamed al-Qaida for enlisting the bomber, whose upper body was found at the scene, he said.

As many as 1,000 army recruits were gathered at the division headquarters, he added, because Tuesday was to be the last day for soldiers to sign up at the unit.

"We couldn't get another place for the recruits," al-Moussawi said. "It was difficult to control the area because it's an open area and because of the large number of recruits."

Iraqi security forces have been trying to boost their numbers as the U.S. military begins to leave the country. All but 50,000 U.S. troops will go home by the end of August, with the rest to follow by the end of 2011 under a security agreement between Baghdad and Washington.

But insurgents determined to highlight the Iraqi government's struggle to protect the nation have been stepping up attacks in recent weeks.

Iraqi army, police and other security forces have been targeted, but civilians also have been killed by the hundreds.

This summer has seen a spike in violence in Iraq. Data from the Iraqi defense, interior and ministry officials show that July marked the bloodiest month since May 2008, with more than 500 killed, although tallies compiled by The Associated Press and the U.S. military were lower.

August, which saw the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, has also been deadly. Two bombs that set off a power generator and ignited a fuel tank on Aug. 7. killed 43 people in a downtown market in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.

Just the way to celebrate such a holy month!

Happy Ramadan to All!!!

What Kind Of Religion Would Condone This Type Of Torture?

Warning!!! Graphic Content!!!!
Not suitable for Underage Children!!!

In the West, especially the United States, passions run high when Same Sex Marriage,equal rights for Gays and Lesbians are mentioned, even if a Church allows Gays and Lesbians to become clergy. And except for a few fringe groups, nobody is suggesting to kill these men and women because they are Gay.

This isn't true in the Muslim World where the penalty for Homosexuality is death:

Iraqi Moslems have peculiarly inventive minds. They possess fertile imaginations. By combining these unique talents, they have devised a method for cleansing Iraq of homosexuals.

Not by exiling them. Not by corralling them in concentration camps. Nor by shooting them. Their solution is cheaper and effective. It provides job satisfaction and enjoyment to the enthusiastic soldiers of Allah.

They have hit the Muslem jackpot with this innovation!

The brave enforcers of law and order, Iraqi style, hunt their prey in the streets. And in cafes, barbers shops, and houses. They search for unmarried 30 to 35 year old men and for effeminate men. Pharmacists advise police about male customers who regularly buy female hormones and cosmetic creams. They entrap gay men via internet chatrooms by dating them - then...pounce!

Then the hunters macabre fun begins.

"As the murder campaign targeting Iraqi gays intensifies, a leading Arabic television network last week (as at 6 May 2009) revealed the use of a horrifying new form of lethal torture against Iraqi gay men: anti-gay Shiite death squads are SEALING THEIR ANUSES WITH A POWERFUL GLUE, THEN INDUCING DIARRHEA, WHICH LEADS TO A PAINFUL AND AGONIZING DEATH. The use of this stomach-turning new torture was first reported Iraqi boy wearing female underware by the Al Arabiya network, which is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates and was alerted to the story by a leading Iraqi feminist and human rights activist." (My emphasis)

The use of this fiendish anal torture is taking place not just in Baghdad but in smaller towns and cities in Iraq. Surgery is needed to remove the glue. The victims of this lethal barbarism are being refused treatment in hospitals because of homophobia. The terror experienced by the men must be unimaginable. They know they will die in agony. It is inhumane. (My emphasis)

Most of us experience an attack of diarrhea at least once in our lifetime. Remember the warning sign of stomach-ache or pains? Then the dash to the toilet to evacuate your bowels? More than one trip sometimes. Now imagine, if you can, those stomach pains, the rush to the toilet - but your anus is tightly sealed! Excruciating is too mild a word to describe the suffering of those helpless men.

Not content with applying Super Glue to the anuses of gay men then force-feeding them laxatives, the fearless death squads are filming their victims torture and death agonies. The videos are being distributed on mobile cellphones in Iraq. The killer/hunters are molesting gay men before torturing them. As quoted by a Baghdad homosexual man, "Life has become like hell, believe me, like hell. Whenever I go anywhere, there are checkpoints...and they want to touch me, yes, to molest me." His days must be numbered.

Read the full story here.

Before the US invasion in 2002, the world was told "horror stories" of the sadistic behavior of Saddam Hussein and his sons. We were told that this was contrary to what the Iraqi people were really like, and that they were dangerous animals that needed to be destroyed.

I am not sure that Saddam and sons were the exception to the rule. I am beginning to believe that they ARE the rule. That the whole nation is filled with the most barbaric race of people that have ever lived.

It is being reported that Iraq is decending into chaos. That the security forces the US trained to be a force for justice and democracy, are turning out to be the opposite.

The Iraqi government is investigating whether Iraqi security forces were collaborators in this week's deadly bombings in Baghdad, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Saturday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs lost 32 employees, and dozens more were wounded in Wednesday's massive suicide truck bomb attack, he said at a news conference. Another truck bomb targeted the Ministry of Finance, and four other explosions went off in the capital.

At least 100 people were killed and more than 500 wounded in the six blasts. The Foreign Ministry was hardest hit by an explosion about a quarter- mile from a checkpoint outside Baghdad's restricted International Zone, or Green Zone.

The attacks, which Zebari described as a "national disaster... a national tragedy," were the deadliest since the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities and towns on June 30.

These and other attacks in recent weeks have raised questions about the ability of these forces to maintain security in Iraq as the clock ticks for the deadline for the complete U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq by December 31, 2011.

Zebari said video from the ministry's closed circuit television showed that the suicide bomber drove his truck, loaded with four tons of explosives, nonstop toward the ministry until he reached his target. The attack must have taken months to plan, he said.

The attackers "did not fall from the sky or another planet. They had technical and logistical support," Zebari said. Anyone who helped facilitate the bombing must be "held responsible."

Read the full story here.

I can practically predict what will happen next.

The Iraqi government will ask the US to return their troops back to Baghdad, to restore the peace. And being civilied people we will return.

But just maybe we shouldn't return. Just maybe we should point to the violence and remind them that they are adults, not children. They have to deal with the violence by themselves. Stand on their own two feet. And if they ask why are we doing this? We should point out what they are doing to a minority population in the name of Allah and then demand:

What Kind Of Religion Would Condone This Type Of Torture?

Finally Uncensored!

It has only taken 27 years for this piece of IAF history to finally come to light:

(INN) An Israeli surveillance airplane on duty over Baghdad 27 years ago led to the downing of an Iraqi MiG that pursued it.

The story was published in a recent issue of Air Forces Monthly, and its translation into Hebrew was permitted by the Israeli military censor. The translator was Avinoam Misnikov, editor of the Hebrew-language Merhav Aviri (Air Space) website.

The star of the story is a U.S.-made Phantom F-4E, nicknamed "Kurnass Shablul" (Sledgehammer Snail). The plane was fitted with what was then state-of-the-art photography equipment. Shortly after they arrived in Israel, the planes were deployed intensively, regularly flying at extremely high altitudes over 60,000 feet (11.3 miles, 18 kilometers). The missions were highly classified. The pilots wore high-pressure suits in case of high-altitude emergency, similar to that which astronauts wear: six layers of material, including fire-resistant Nomex, weighing a total of 12 kilograms (over 25 lbs.).

On Jan. 3, 1982, a half-year after Israel destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor Osirak, two of the planes set off on a reconnaissance sortie high over Iraq. The lead plane was flown by future IDF General Gideon Sheffer, with navigator Yuval Naveh, and the other was piloted by Ran Granot, with navigator Danny Grossman.

On their return home, while flying relatively low, they were intercepted by a single Iraqi MiG-21. Sheffer quickly calculated, based on its smooth flying formation and a full afterburner, that the Iraqi plane had used up much fuel during takeoff. The two Israeli planes then toyed with the MiG for several minutes, without giving it a chance to fire at them. Finally, the two sped off towards home at full speed, and landed safely after refueling in mid-air.

Intelligence information received afterwards showed that the MiG later crashed for lack of fuel – and the two reconnaissance planes were credited with the downing.

Rumors circulated after the Peace for Galilee War in June 1982 that one of the planes had been downed by a shoulder-fired missile, but this was found to be untrue. Years earlier, a Sledgehammer reconnaissance plane was downed over Egypt; pilot Sheffer ejected safely, but navigator Ofer Tzidon was killed.

The IAF had kept the lid on this, and other actions due to security concerns. It is not always in the best interests of the IAF to broadcast to the world all of its operations, all of its victories and losses. This fact is known and understood by the men and women who serve in the IAF.

IAF - Israeli Air Force



View at YouTube

It is no surprise or wonder to aviation experts around the world that the IAF is considered one of the best, if not the best Air Force in the World.

More Than Elections

From Dry Bones

There are two fundamental mechanisms which any democratic system must have.

The first is a method that ensures "Majority Rule". Usually through the holding of fair elections.

The second is a mechanism which prevents the majority from using its power to violate the rights of the individual or of minorities.

Discussions of the current democratization process in Afghanistan and Iraq simply report on the number of votes cast. They tend to ignore the question of protection of the rights of individuals, minorities, or unpopular viewpoints. Missing the whole point of real democracy.

Afghanistan is preparing to hold their elections this week, Iraq is gearing up for their elections. This is suppose to be called Democracy because they hold multi-party elections. But in reality it isn't. While some things have gotten better, the reality is that women and minorities are still being treated as second-class citizens in both countries.

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan signed into law a bill that allows spousal rape. Women still have to wear the burka, and a new law is being proposed to implement full Shar'ia Law on the land, in the manner of Saudi Arabia. Now somone tell me why we are there defending this?

In Iraq, Christians, Baha'i, Homosexuals, and Jews (there is only 1 left) are persecuted, imprisoned, raped beaten and murdered. And I am asking myself why did we go, was it worth all of the American deaths, and should we just leave the land since they are proving themselves to be barbarians.

Do not call either nation a Democracy. They haven't earned the name yet. Until they start treating women and minorities with equal rights and respect, then they have no right to ever be considered worthy of that title.

Video: ' Remember the fallen...Remember my friends...Remember my heroes '

Cross posted by Holger Awakens

This video was put together by SGT Dillon Jennings.

'Mother' of Female Suicide Bombing Network In Iraq Is Arrested - Her Confession Is Beyond Belief

Cross posted by Holger Awakens

You know, I've never been an advocate of capital punishment for women - no matter what they may have done, but in this case, this pig of a human being needs to be drawn slooowwwly until quartered and then hanged for good measure. Read the story and tell me if I'm out of line. The woman in charge of the recruiting network of female suicide bombers in Iraq has been captured and is sitting in a cell in Baghdad and she's also flapping her gums about how she pulled it off. And you will not believe what she and her al Qaeda in Iraq "brothers" did to recruit the female bombers. Here's some of the story from the article at Breitbart:

A woman accused of helping recruit dozens of female suicide bombers looked into the camera and described the process: trolling society for likely candidates and then patiently converting the women from troubled souls into deadly attackers.The accounts, in a video released Tuesday by Iraq police, offer a rare glimpse into the networks used to find and train the women bombers who have become one of the insurgents' most effective weapons as they struggle under increasing crackdowns.In a separate prison interview with The Associated Press, with interrogators nearby, the woman said she was part of a plot in which young women were raped and then sent to her for matronly advice. She said she would try to persuade the victims to become suicide bombers as their only escape from the shame and to reclaim their honor.

In the video played for reporters, Jassim described how she was approached by insurgents to urge women to carry out suicide attacks. She said her first assignment was Um Hoda, a nickname meaning mother of Hoda."I talked to her a number of times," said Jassim, who has four daughters and two sons. "I went back to them and gave them the details on her. And they told me, bring her to us. ... And I took her to the police station, and that's where she blew herself up."

I'm telling you...this is one of the most disgusting things I have ever come across - these women in Iraq were targeted, raped and then introduced to this monster of a woman for consoling and her job was to convince them to blow themselves up so they could be rid of the shame and guilt of the rape. We saw time and time again the lengths to which al Qaeda in Iraq would stoop in the Iraq War but nothing, nothing in my mind equals this deprivity. This is evil, folks. Pure. Unadultered. Straight from Hell. Evil.

`Mother' of Iraqi women bomber network arrested

BAGHDAD (AP) - A woman accused of helping recruit dozens of female suicide bombers looked into the camera and described the process: trolling society for likely candidates and then patiently converting the women from troubled souls into deadly attackers.
The accounts, in a video released Tuesday by Iraq police, offer a rare glimpse into the networks used to find and train the women bombers who have become one of the insurgents' most effective weapons as they struggle under increasing crackdowns.In a separate prison interview with The Associated Press, with interrogators nearby, the woman said she was part of a plot in which young women were raped and then sent to her for matronly advice. She said she would try to persuade the victims to become suicide bombers as their only escape from the shame and to reclaim their honor.The AP was allowed access on condition the information would not be released until the formal announcement of the arrest.
The U.S. and Iraqi militaries have made past claims without providing much evidence about efforts by insurgents to recruit vulnerable women as well as children as attackers. Those included statements by the Iraqis that two women who blew themselves up last year in Baghdad had Down's Syndrome, accounts that were not supported by subsequent investigations.It also was not possible independently to verify the claim that insurgents sent out people to rape women who could then be recruited as bombers in the volatile Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.But the suspect, 50-year-old Samira Ahmed Jassim—who said her code name was "The Mother of Believers"—has given unusual firsthand descriptions of the possible workings behind last year's spike in attacks by women bombers.
The Iraqi military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, said the suspect had recruited more than 80 women willing to carry out attacks and admitted masterminding 28 bombings in different areas.Female suicide bombers attempted or successfully carried out 32 attacks last year, compared with eight in 2007, according to U.S. military figures. Most recently, a woman detonated an explosive under her robes that killed at least 36 people during a Shiite religious gathering last month.The attacks reflected a shift in insurgent tactics: trying to exploit cultural standards that restrict male security forces from searching women and use the traditional flowing robes of women to hide bomb-rigged belts or vests.In response, Iraqi security forces have tried to recruit more women.
In last week's provincial elections, women teachers and civic workers helped search voters.Al-Moussawi, the military spokesman, alleged Jassim was in contact with top leaders of Ansar al-Sunnah in Diyala, the last foothold of major Sunni insurgent strength near Baghdad. The group is one of the factions with suspected ties to al-Qaida in Iraq.Al-Moussawi said Jassim "confessed to recruiting 28 female suicide bombers who carried out terrorist operations in different areas." He gave no other details on the locations or dates of the attacks.In the video played for reporters, Jassim described how she was approached by insurgents to urge women to carry out suicide attacks. She said her first assignment was Um Hoda, a nickname meaning mother of Hoda."I talked to her a number of times," said Jassim, who has four daughters and two sons. "I went back to them and gave them the details on her. And they told me, bring her to us. ... And I took her to the police station, and that's where she blew herself up."Another woman, whom she called Amal, was involved in long conversations, Jassim said."I talked to her many times, sat with her, and she was very depressed," she said on the video. "I took her to them, and then went back for her and she blew herself up."Jassim gave no further information on the attacks or her role in the video.In speaking with the AP—a week after her Jan. 21 arrest—Jassim repeated statements she had allegedly made to interrogators that insurgents organized rapes of women and that she would then try to coax the victims to become suicide bombers.
She said she was "able to persuade women to become suicide bombers ... broken women, especially those who were raped."In many parts of Iraq, including conservative Diyala, a rape victim may be shunned by her family and become an outcast in society.Police interrogators were not in the room during Jassim's interview with the AP, but they were in an adjoining chamber.Jassim did not offer additional details on her alleged role in the attacks, but suggested she was pressured into working with the insurgency.She claimed that Ansar al-Sunnah provided her a house in Diyala, where she operated a shop selling the traditional robes for women called abaya. She added, however, that Ansar al-Sunnah once threatened to bomb her house if she did not cooperate."I worked with (Ansar al-Sunnah) for a year and a half," she told the AP.Women suicide bombers are uncommon, but not unknown, outside Iraq.Among Palestinians, several woman have carried out suicide bombings for militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.There also have been cases of women in the West Bank attacking Israeli soldiers so they can be imprisoned after being accused of breaking traditional rules on sexual conduct. In the Palestinian territories, relatives can seek harsh punishments, including death, on women seen as dishonoring the family.

A Chaplain Says Good-bye

by Chaplin (CPT) Shlomo Schulman

My 15-month deployment to Iraq as a chaplain in the U.S. Army is coming to an end, and in a strange way, I'm a bit sad to go.

I'll miss the people I've met, the friends I've made, my job here, and of course, the action and adventure.

I signed up at the beginning of 2007 and reported to the U.S. Army Chaplain School at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. Upon graduation, I was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division in Savannah, Georgia, just as President Bush's "surge" of troops was getting under way. By May 2007, I was on a plane to Iraq, where I've been serving ever since as battalion chaplain with a Blackhawk helicopter unit at Camp Striker, a small base next to Baghdad International Airport.

What a long, strange trip it's been.

I wore a yarmulke everywhere I went, a bit of a strange sight in a place like Iraq. I've eaten strictly kosher food the entire time I was here: lots of salad, cup 'o soups, dried salami, dehydrated camping meals, and more tuna than most people eat in a lifetime. I put on tefillin and prayed three times a day. I fasted on all the fast days and celebrated every holiday in the Jewish calendar -- some of them twice.

I was featured on CNN News, in the Boston Globe, the Jerusalem Post, various websites and other media. I lit the menorah on Chanukah with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in California on a live TV simulcast. I met Condoleezza Rice and shook hands with General Petreaus, ran frantically for cover during rocket attacks, inserted an IV needle into someone's vein, and sat on Saddam Hussein's throne.

I heard the Megillah -- the biblical scroll of Esther -- read on Purim on the porch of one of Saddam's vacation cottages; and on Passover, I hosted Seders for 65 people, using a Haggadah signed and inscribed with holiday wishes from President George W. Bush himself.

I looked after the spiritual and religious needs of 400 soldiers in my battalion, safeguarding their Constitutional right to freedom of religion. I performed Jewish services at Camp Striker. And once a month, I'd take a ride in a Blackhawk to visit Jewish soldiers at other bases around the country, giving them a taste of Yiddishkeit, if only for a day or two. For the first six months that I was here, I was the only Jewish chaplain in all of Iraq.

I managed to get a mezuzah hung on one of the last Jewish homes in Baghdad. And when Rosh Hashana came along, I taught myself how to blow a shofar.

I talked a platoon of Arkansas National Guard engineers into building a sukkah, and for roofing material, I hacked off palm fronds from the date trees that grow on the base.

I answered hundreds of emails from schoolchildren, reporters, long-retired veterans, American diplomats concerned about the status of the synagogues left in Baghdad, and countless Jewish mothers asking me to look after their sons, "who seemed a little sad the last time we spoke on the phone." One sent a photo of her daughter who was on the way to Iraq, and asked if I knew any nice Jewish boys... in Fallujah.

One woman wrote to say she found a Jewish sailor's profile on JDate. It mentioned he was headed to Iraq, and now that she had some time to think about it, she wondered if I could track him down for her.

I answered the call when one of our Blackhawks was sprayed with AK-47 rounds from a lone gunman behind a house as it approached to land. The young sergeant behind the machine gun that hangs out the side of the helicopter had the attacker in his sights, but the weapon jammed before the enemy managed to kill one of the infantry soldiers in the back of the aircraft. The battalion commander thought it would be a good idea if I rehashed the event with the crew later that day, and afterward they told me how much better they felt just talking about it.

And I coached more than a few broken-hearted guys through tears when they found out their wives had betrayed them.


I even wrote love letters to unhappy women whose husbands wanted to win back their hearts... but didn't know how to say it.

I served close to 650 kosher meals for Shabbat and holidays -- with Army-supplied wine for Kiddush; challah loaves that Mrs. Debbie Lowsky sent each week from Columbia, South Carolina; canned gefilte fish, matzah ball soup, olives, pickles, hummus, dried salami and usually a main course of chicken or beef MREs (dry rations called "Meals, Ready to Eat") all using an electric burner I bought at Walmart before I left -- without a kitchen, sink, or even running water.

I spent Shabbat at a U.S. airbase next to the towering ziggurat of ancient Ur, a giant pyramid-like platform that is the oldest man-made structure in the world, built 4,100 years ago as part of a huge pagan temple complex. According to Jewish tradition, this is where Abraham came to the realization that there was only one God.

I gazed for long hours at that structure, thinking how Abraham and Sarah must have seen it each time they left their house... until the Almighty sent them on a journey that would change the face of civilization.

Read the rest at aish.com


From Monkey in the Middle:

When I read this article at Aish.com I knew I had to share it with you my readers. Regardless of the faith you follow, this story will lift you up.

A chaplain provides spiritual and pastoral support for service personnel, including the conduct of religious services at sea or in the field. U.S. Army Chaplains serve both God and country by bringing their unique gifts with which they are endowed by God, to the Soldiers of our nation in the broad, challenging, diverse, and ever changing environment of the Army.

The Chaplain is the one person in the military a serviceman or woman can turn to for advice, help, understanding, or even a shoulder to cry on. It is an awesome responsibility for a person to endure, but through their faith they find the strength to not only face the adversary that they are fighting and the men who need their spiritual aid and comfort.

When you say your prayers today and everyday, remembering our men and women in uniform, say an extra prayer for the chaplains. They are there celebrating G-d and bringing hope and comfort to all around them.

Why Americans Think the War in Iraq is Failing.

Today we have 24/7 news. It should be a good thing, but the majority of the newscasters and analysts have a liberal bend to their thinking. So when they report they skewer the story to an anti-war, anti-American slant.

The surge is working very well. But we don't hear about the successes, only the failures. In every war, there are failures as well as successes. That is the nature of war. You cannot win every battle.

A parallel is being drawn between Iraq and Vietnam. Both were long wars, both were unpopular with the liberal left, and both were long. People forget that if the media didn't report the way they did, the North was going to surrender to the South. We won the Tet offensive. But the way the media reported the event, it seemed to the American people that we were losing. Thus we lost the war due to inept media coverage.

This could have been true with World War 2. If the media had covered that war the same way they cover it today, we would still have the Nazis ruling much of Europe.



What this proves, is that you have to take the media's reports with a large grain of salt. Don't believe everything they tell you. The media has an agenda to push upon the American people a liberal, anti-American viewpoint.