Bush: God told me to invade Iraq

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

Bush: God told me to invade Iraq

By Rupert Cornwell in Washington

President ‘revealed reasons for war in private meeting’

Published: 07 October 2005

President George Bush has claimed he was told by God to invade Iraq and attack Osama bin Laden’s stronghold of Afghanistan as part of a divine mission to bring peace to the Middle East, security for Israel, and a state for the Palestinians.

The President made the assertion during his first meeting with Palestinian leaders in June 2003, according to a BBC series which will be broadcast this month.

The revelation comes after Mr Bush launched an impassioned attack yesterday in Washington on Islamic militants, likening their ideology to that of Communism, and accusing them of seeking to “enslave whole nations” and set up a radical Islamic empire “that spans from Spain to Indonesia”. In the programmeElusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, which starts on Monday, the former Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath says Mr Bush told him and Mahmoud Abbas, former prime minister and now Palestinian President: “I’m driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, ‘George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.’ And I did, and then God would tell me, ‘George go and end the tyranny in Iraq,’ and I did.”

And “now again”, Mr Bush is quoted as telling the two, “I feel God’s words coming to me: ‘Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.’ And by God, I’m gonna do it.”

Mr Abbas remembers how the US President told him he had a “moral and religious obligation” to act. The White House has refused to comment on what it terms a private conversation. But the BBC account is anything but implausible, given how throughout his presidency Mr Bush, a born-again Christian, has never hidden the importance of his faith.

>From the outset he has couched the “global war on terror” in quasi-religious terms, as a struggle between good and evil. Al-Qa’ida terrorists are routinely described as evil-doers. For Mr Bush, the invasion of Iraq has always been part of the struggle against terrorism, and he appears to see himself as the executor of the divine will.

He told Bob Woodward – whose 2004 book, Plan of Attack, is the definitive account of the administration’s road to war in Iraq – that after giving the order to invade in March 2003, he walked in the White House garden, praying “that our troops be safe, be protected by the Almighty”. As he went into this critical period, he told Mr Woodward, “I was praying for strength to do the Lord’s will.

“I’m surely not going to justify war based upon God. Understand that. Nevertheless, in my case, I pray that I will be as good a messenger of His will as possible. And then of course, I pray for forgiveness.”

Another telling sign of Mr Bush’s religion was his answer to Mr Woodward’s question on whether he had asked his father – the former president who refused to launch a full-scale invasion of Iraq after driving Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in 1991 – for advice on what to do.

The current President replied that his earthly father was “the wrong father to appeal to for advice … there is a higher father that I appeal to”.

The same sense of mission permeated his speech at the National Endowment of Democracy yesterday. Its main news was Mr Bush’s claim that Western security services had thwarted 10 planned attacks by al-Qa’ida since 11 September 2001, three of them against mainland US.

More striking though was his unrelenting portrayal of radical Islam as a global menace, which only the forces of freedom – led by the US – could repel. It was delivered at a moment when Mr Bush’s domestic approval ratings are at their lowest ebb, in large part because of the war in Iraq, in which 1,950 US troops have died, with no end in sight.

It came amid continuing violence on the ground, nine days before the critical referendum on the new constitution that offers perhaps the last chance of securing a unitary and democratic Iraq. “The militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region” and set up a radical empire stretching from Spain to Indonesia, he said.

The insurgents’ aim was to “enslave whole nations and intimidate the world”. He portrayed Islamic radicals as a single global movement, from the Middle East to Chechnya and Bali and the jungles of the Philippines.

He rejected claims that the US military presence in Iraq was fuelling terrorism: 11 September 2001 occurred long before American troops set foot in Iraq – and Russia’s opposition to the invasion did not stop terrorists carrying out the Beslan atrocity in which 300 children died.

Mr Bush also accused Syria and Iran of supporting radical groups. They “have a long history of collaboration with terrorists and they deserve no patience”. The US, he warned, “makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbour them because they’re equally as guilty of murder”.

“Wars are not won without sacrifice and this war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve,” Mr Bush declared. But progress was being made in Iraq, and, he proclaimed: “We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory.”

source:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article317805.ece

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______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

Ex-Abu Ghraib detainee recounts atrocities committed by US forces

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

Ex-Abu Ghraib detainee recounts atrocities committed by US forces

The Peninsula

December 23, 2006

DOHA • An Iraqi who spent seven months in Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad says he has horrifying experiences to tell of how the US soldiers have committed atrocities on innocent Iraqi civilians who were taken into custody and put behind the bars for no fault of theirs.

And among the prisoners were not only young Iraqi men, but also the elderly, women and children, according to Abdul Jabbar Al Azzawi.

Having vowed to expose the “dirty face of America” before the world, Al Azzawi is here holding an exhibition of photographs showing “chilling” human rights violations committed by the US soldiers in his country.

The exhibition which opened yesterday on the sidelines of the ‘Islamist-Arab nationalists’ conference at the Ritz-Carlton ends today, although the conference concluded last evening.

Al Azzawi was working with a non-government organisation (NGO) doing family welfare work in Baghdad at the time of US invasion in early 2003. He says he was taken captive by the US forces because he was a Sunni Muslim and put in the dreaded Abu Ghuraib prison.

There were an estimated 9,000 to 9,500 Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghuraib at the time and many of them were old men, women and even children, Al Azzawi told The Peninsula in an interview.

An incident which Al Azzawi said changed his life and made him vow to expose the ‘gory deeds of Americans in Iraq’ before the world was the rape of a young Iraqi woman in front of other prisoners.

“All of us were kept in a cell each and there were about 50 cells in our wing. Late one night, I heard the voice of this Iraqi woman coming from her cell. She was being raped by some US soldiers and screaming for help.” ‘Save me, my Iraqi brothers!’ she was screaming hysterically.

“We could do nothing, so we began praying for her and reciting verses from the Holy Quran. Realising that we were in no position to come to her rescue, she also began reciting the verse.”

“However, she did not stop screaming. Her voice began gradually sinking and after a while, there was pin-drop silence. We don’t know what happened to her after that,” said Al Azzawi.

In reply to a question about the ongoing Sunni-Shi’ite conflict in Iraq, he said it is the handiwork of the Americans. “They are playing the Sunnis against their Shi’ite brethren.”

’700,000 Iraqis killed since US invasion’

DOHA • More than 700,000 Iraqis have been killed since the US invaded the country in early 2003 until November this year, according to statistics released by the National Centre for Research and Arab Studies.

The figures were released at an exhibition of photographs showing human rights violations committed by US soldiers in Iraq which opened here yesterday on the sidelines of the ‘Islamists-Arab conference’ at the Ritz-Carlton.

Another 300,000 Iraqis are languishing in jails both inside the country and outside. There are huge camps in Kurba near Baghdad international airport and in Basra where a large number of Iraqi civilians have been kept prisoners. These camps are notorious for human rights violations, the release said.

source:

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=December2006&file=Local_News200612234114.xml

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______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

Evidence of cooperation between Mahdi Army and US forces to attack Sunni neighborhoods

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

Evidence of cooperation between Mahdi Army and US forces to attack Sunni neighborhoods

Roads to Iraq

December 23, 2006

Evidence of US occupation forces helping Mahdi Army to attack Sunni neighborhood and displace the residents.

The clip I managed to obtain is of woman recently displaced from AL-Hurryia neighborhood describes when Mahdai Army failed to capture her two sons because of the fierce resistance, Mahdi Army asked the American forces for help, the two brothers were arrested by the Americans, she said her two sons are now in jail.

At the beginning of the clip the woman says that her both sons are not involved in any political activities before and after the occupation.

The clip is here

Other News

- Iraqi Shiite Parties Iran and US occupation loyalists admit their heavy toll of death among their militia members:

Badr party: 1045

Al-Dawa party 745

Hizballah (Iraq branch): 213

Iraqi resistance training Sunni neighborhoods to defend their own areas against parties and government militias attacks, each district has a full battalion causing several deaths among the attackers.

Source: Islamicnews

http://www.roadstoiraq.com/2006/12/23/evidence-of-cooperation-between-mahdi-army-and-uus-forces-to-attack-sunni-neighborhoods/

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Militiamen abduct, rape and kill students

Nidhal al-Laithi, Azzaman

December 23, 2006
Three female students from the University of Mustansiriya were kidnapped, then raped and then killed and then their mutilated bodies passed to the Baghdad morgue.

The horrendous crime has shocked many in Baghdad and unleashed yet another wave of terror in the violence-torn city home to a quarter of Iraq’s population.

The female students were raped and killed “in a horrific manner at the hands of militias,” said the non-governmental Organization for the Defense of Women in Iraq.

“This is a fresh horrifying indication that the level of crime and violence is taking unprecedented proportions in Iraq,” the group said in a statement.

The crime has terrorized the university community in Baghdad, prompting many parents to stop sending their girls to classes.

Universities and high schools in Baghdad already suffer from high level of absenteeism due to the spiraling violence. Teachers complain that most of their students now stay away.

Militia groups work freely in Baghdad and frequently U.S. and Iraqi troops turn a blind eye to their atrocities.

A female teacher from the Ghazaliya district in Baghdad was also kidnapped, raped and killed and her body later found on a street in the same district.

University officials in Baghdad, refusing to be named, say teaching is under threat and classes may be suspended any time unless the authorities do something to halt the violence.

Scores of Iraqi professors have either been killed or kidnapped, forcing many of them to flee the country.

source:

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news
\\2006-12-23\\kurd.htm

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-muslim voice-
______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

Statistics reveal true extent of Shi‘i civilian deaths in sectarian fighting in Iraq.

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

Statistics reveal true extent of Shi‘i civilian deaths in sectarian fighting in Iraq.

In a dispatch posted at 9pm Makkah time Saturday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that their correspondent had managed to acquire official documents issued by the Iraqi puppet regime detailing real numbers of casualties in the sectarian fighting that has raged in occupied Iraq since the mysterious bombing of the Imam al-Hadi Mosque in Samarra’ on 22 February 2006.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the pro-American Shi‘i sectarian puppet regime regularly claim that attacks on Shi‘i sectarian targets have resulted in primarily civilian casualties, the documents obtained by the correspondent indicate otherwise.

According to the puppet regime’s statistics, a total of 3,207 Shi‘i civilians were killed in sectarian violence in Baghdad from 22 February 2006 until 27 December 2006. In that same period, a total of 12,343 gunmen from the Jaysh al-Mahdi, Badr Brigades, Da‘wah Party, Hizballah in Iraq, and al-Fadilah Party – all Shi‘i sectarian militias supporting the US military – were killed.

Shaykh Abu Ahmad al-Jannabi a leader of the Iraqi Resistance organization al-Jaysh al-Islami told Mafkarat al-Islam that the Resistance had managed to “break the back” of the Shi‘i sectarian militias through their campaigns. He noted that there were about 150,000 Jaysh al-Mahdi militiamen in Iraq, with Baghdad being where most of them are located, particularly in the Madinat Saddam section of the city, dubbed “Madinat as-Sadr” after the American invasion.

Shaykh al-Jannabi told Mafkarat al-Islam that the Resistance is extremely careful to avoid any civilian casualties in so far as this is possible. “If we weren’t afraid of killing infant children and women, we would simply burn Madinat as-Sadr down over their heads,” Shaykh al-Jannabi told the correspondent. “May God bear witness that our hands have not touched any one of their children, women or elderly men. But we do target the sectarian fighters who attack the Sunnis and turn themselves into bulwarks for the occupation.”

source:

http://www.albasrah.net/pages/mod.php?mod=art&lapage=../en_articles_2006/1206/iraqiresistancereport_231206.htm

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______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

US Terrorize The World – 4 Dzulhijah 1427 H (25.12.06)

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem

In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

Number Of Iraqi Civilians Slaughtered In America’s War? More Than 655,000

http://tinyurl.com/usq4x

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2950

http://icasualties.org/oif/

The War in Iraq Costs $351,444,838,962 – See the cost in your community

http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182

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VIDEO: The “War on Terrorism” is a Fabrication

Michel Chossudovsky is the author of the international best America’s “War on Terrorism” Second Edition, Global Research, 2005. He is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Center for Research on Globalization.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20061222&articleId=4245

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A Christmas Curse: Retribution Time or To Hell with All the B

It occurred to me in one of my less cynical moments, deluded no doubt by the merriment of the season, that all of those responsible for the havoc and chaos of these past six years should face the wrath of the American people and, one might hope, the wrath of the God of Justice and Vengeance. Once before I had similar urgings, in July of 2004 to be exact, and I penned an article titled “Legacy of Deceit: If Dante Knew of Bush and the Neo-Cons” that appeared in Counterpunch, wherein I placed our benighted leaders into the Inferno’s circles of Hell. The experience of the last two years heaped on that of the preceding four necessitates a reconsideration of the leniency of Dante’s punishment as it fits the crimes of our current horde that deserve an exclusive damnation prepared for their unique and heinous sins.

http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/504/81/

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War Criminal : Bush: God told me to invade Iraq – President ‘revealed reasons for war in private meeting’

President George Bush has claimed he was told by God to invade Iraq and attack Osama bin Laden’s stronghold of Afghanistan as part of a divine mission to bring peace to the Middle East, security for Israel, and a state for the Palestinians.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article317805.ece

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Ex-Abu Ghraib detainee recounts atrocities committed by US forces

DOHA • An Iraqi who spent seven months in Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad says he has horrifying experiences to tell of how the US soldiers have committed atrocities on innocent Iraqi civilians who were taken into custody and put behind the bars for no fault of theirs.

More than 700,000 Iraqis have been killed since the US invaded the country in early 2003 until November this year, according to statistics released by the National Centre for Research and Arab Studies.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=December2006&file=Local_News200612234114.xml

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U.S. trapped in Arabian sands

The U.S. began its third millennium with its Iraq adventure. It thought it would change the face of the Middle East through its illegal invasion of that country and crown itself as the world’s unrivaled superpower for decades.

But it failed drastically in the test it set for itself. The invasion through which it wanted to teach the Middle East a lesson backfired.

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=opinion%5C2006-12-23%5Ckurd1.htm

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Evidence of cooperation between Mahdi Army and US forces to attack Sunni neighborhoods

Evidence of US occupation forces helping Mahdi Army to attack Sunni neighborhood and displace the residents.

The clip I managed to obtain is of woman recently displaced from AL-Hurryia neighborhood describes when Mahdai Army failed to capture her two sons because of the fierce resistance, Mahdi Army asked the American forces for help, the two brothers were arrested by the Americans, she said her two sons are now in jail.

At the beginning of the clip the woman says that her both sons are not involved in any political activities before and after the occupation.

http://www.roadstoiraq.com/2006/12/23/evidence-of-cooperation-between-mahdi-army-and-uus-forces-to-attack-sunni-neighborhoods/

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Shiite Militiamen abduct, rape and kill students

Three female students from the University of Mustansiriya were kidnapped, then raped and then killed and then their mutilated bodies passed to the Baghdad morgue.

The horrendous crime has shocked many in Baghdad and unleashed yet another wave of terror in the violence-torn city home to a quarter of Iraq’s population.

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news
\\2006-12-23\\kurd.htm

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15 Bodies Identified as those of High Ranking Officers in Iraq’s Former Armed Forces

Iraqi police has identified 15 dead bodies in one of Baghdad’s mortuary as officers in Iraq’s former armed forces. Amongst the dead were major generals and colonels.

Recently, ‘some 20 high ranking officers of the former Iraqi armed forces were kidnapped by AlMhadi militia’, said a general of the former Iraqi armed forces who had lucky escape from the kidnap operation who. The former general told London’s AlQuds newspaper that the militia wore Iraqi police uniforms and had set up fake check points when they abducted the 20 former high ranking officers who had gone to collect their pension from AlMoheet Bank Baghdad’s AlKathimeyah district.

http://www.iraqirabita.org/english/index.php?do=article&id=827

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IRAQ : Wolfowitz owes us an explanation

What is particularly disturbing is that Wolfowitz is visibly delighting in his role as one of the world’s highest-profile (publicly funded) philanthropists – while saying barely a word about the catastrophe in Iraq.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-efron24dec24,0,2105545.story?coll=la-home-commentary

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Iraq : Watada states his case in Moiliili

Watada said the American people were deceived by the Bush administration, which manipulated intelligence to fit policy and regime change in Iraq.

“We have been lied to, deceived and betrayed,” he said. “A crime has been committed against the constitution.”

http://starbulletin.com/2006/12/20/news/story11.html

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Four U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Four U.S. military personnel were killed and two were wounded in two separate incidents in Iraq on Saturday, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-12-24T175252Z_01_L24197044_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-USA-SOLDIERS.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C1-topNews-6

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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Saturday, 23 December 2006.

• Two US troops reported killed when massive Iraqi Resistance bomb destroys Abrams tank in ar-Ramadi.
• Resistance car bomb kills four puppet “al-Anbar Salvation Council” police in ar-Ramadi.
• Resistance blasts US al-Warrar base near ar-Ramadi with Katyusha rockets Saturday morning.
• US troops ransack houses arrest 15 local men in ar-Ramadi on Friday.
• US troops raid houses in al-Fallujah to stop people from watching banned TV station.
• Resistance blasts US food storage facility in al-Karmah with heavy mortars Saturday afternoon.
• Resistance mortars pound US headquarters in as-Saqlawiyah early Saturday.
• US troops arrest five in raids in al-Fallujah late Friday night.
• Resistance sharpshooter reportedly kills US soldier in northern al-Fallujah Saturday.
• US soldier reported killed by Iraqi Resistance sharpshooter in ‘Amiriyat al-Fallujah.
• US Marine reported killed by Iraqi Resistance sharpshooter in Baghdad Saturday.
• Piece of farm equipment explodes by US column in Baghdad.
• Seven Resistance Grad rockets blast US base in at-Taji Saturday.
• Two Resistance bombs target US troops in Baghdad Saturday.
• Statistics reveal true extent of Shi’i civilian deaths in sectarian fighting in Baghdad.
• US troops open fire on car without warning, killing man, two children in western Baghdad’s al-Ghazaliyah district.
• Car bomb targets puppet army column.
• Resistance car bomb explodes near checkpoint jointly manned by US-installed puppet police and pro-Iranian Jaysh al-Mahdi sectarian gunmen, killing 10.
• Resistance mortars pound Jaysh al-Mahdi headquarters in western Baghdad on Saturday morning.
• US troops ravage home of Iraqi Christian charged with aiding Iraqi Resistance in Baghdad, leaving two persons dead.
• Double Resistance bombing in al-Mawsil leaves three US troops reported killed.
• Resistance shoots down small US spy plane over ad-Dulu’iyah Friday.
• Resistance fighters ambush, kill puppet policeman near Samarra’ Friday evening.
• Resistance fighters kill Iraqi puppet army soldier in ad-Dawr Saturday morning.
• More than 30 Iraqis died and about 50 more were wounded when US aircraft struck the Mafraq ‘Uthman area near Ba’qubah.
• US troops, Iraqi puppet police arrest villagers in raid on ar-Rashad Friday night.

http://www.albasrah.net/pages/mod.php?mod=art&lapage=../en_articles_2006/1206/iraqiresistancereport_231206.htm

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Iran: What about Zionists’ nukes?

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini says sanctions imposed by UN on Islamic Republic ‘cannot affect or limit Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities but will discredit the decisions of the Security Council, whose power is deteriorating’; adds: Council doing nothing in response to Olmert’s comments on Zionists’ nuclear capabilities

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3343604,00.html

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Bardawil charges Abbas with planning military coup against the government

Gaza – Salah Bardawil, the spokesman of the Hamas-affiliated change and reform parliamentary bloc, on Sunday charged PA chief Mahmoud Abbas with impeding national dialogue and with planning military coup against the PA government.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/publish/article_20990.shtml

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Washington’s Game in Turkmenistan

Was the Bush administration involved in the death of Turkmenistan’s President, Saparmurat Niyazov?

After all, Niyazov met all the criteria for Bush’s policy of “regime change”. He controlled massive natural gas reserves and he refused to take orders directly from Washington. Typically, these are the only factors that are weighed when considering whether a change of leadership is in order.

http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m29270&hd=&size=1&l=e

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Ethiopia launches airstrikes in Somalia

Ethiopia launched an attack Sunday on Somalia’s powerful Islamic movement, sending fighter jets across the border and bombarding several towns in a sharp escalation in the violence that threatens to engulf the volatile Horn of Africa.

“After too much patience, the Ethiopian government has taken a self-defensive measure and has begun counterattacking the aggressive extremist forces of the (Islamic council) and foreign terrorist groups,” said Ethiopia’s foreign affairs spokesman, Solomon Abebe.

Look for this to get very much more ugly very quickly.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-12-24-ethiopia-somalia_x.htm

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DICTATORSHIP – George Orwell Was Right: Spy Cameras See Britons’ Every Move

“Nowhere else in the free world is this happening,” said Helena Kennedy, a human rights lawyer who also is a member of the House of Lords, the upper house of Parliament. “The American public would find such inroads into civil liberties wholly unacceptable.”

Unfortunately, Lady Kennedy is incorrect in her assessment of Americans not allowing their civil liberties to be thoroughly destroyed.

We too are becoming an increasing surveilled society, and with the passage of the Patriot act and Military Commissions Act, this administration and the last congress have ripped the Constitution and Bill of Rights to shreds.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=avL4PSqZrcj4&refer=home

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-muslim voice-
______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW