Treating Christmas With Respect

This is my last article before I take a break. I hope to start posting newsworthy articles from January 15th onwards. In the meantime I’d like to wish everyone, Eid Mubarak, Happy Hanukkah & Merry Christmas. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone and those who get offended – accept my season greetings!

The article is from www.islamicity.com
By Abdul Malik Mujahid, 12/10/2006

Christmas is an annual Christian religious holiday commemorating the birth of Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him. For many Muslims who do not even celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, it becomes an issue of what stand they should take.

There have been a number of legitimate criticisms of the holiday from Muslims and non-Muslims based on theological and cultural considerations. However, this cannot be used to disregard the holiday as merely an exercise in ancient pagan practices, for instance, or excessive consumerism. Muslims have to remember that for practicing Christians, Christmas really is about Jesus.


The church is built above a cave where it is believed Jesus was born.

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was so accommodating of Christians that according to the two earliest Islamic historians, Ibn e Saad and Ibn Hisham, the Prophet even allowed a delegation of 60 Byzantine Christians from Najran in Yemen to worship in his own mosque in Madinah. Lead by their bishop (Usquf), they had come to discuss a number of issues with him.

When time of their prayer came, they asked the Prophet's permission to perform this in the mosque. He answered, "conduct your service here in the mosque. It is a place consecrated to God."

God expects us to stay away from mocking the religious beliefs of others, no matter how much we disagree with them. He says in the Quran: "And insult not those whom they (disbelievers) worship besides God, lest they insult God wrongfully without knowledge. Thus We have made fair-seeming to each people its own doings; then to their Lord is their return and He shall then inform them of all that they used to do" (Quran, 6:108).


Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is located five and half miles from Jerusalem.

We also have to remember that even if for many nominal Christians, the celebration is not really about participating in religious traditions, Christmas is a time for families to get together. In a number of cases it is the only time of year families get together, either because family members are scattered in different parts of the country or the world, because of communication and relationship problems, or because in America today, the family unit is becoming weaker and weaker.

Christmas is a great time to relate to our neighbors. We should not forget though, that "relating" does not mean "preaching". Dawa cannot be made in a rude manner. Allah says in the Quran: "Invite (all) to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful advice, and reason with them by ways that are the best and most gracious: because your Lord knows best, (those) who have strayed from His Path, and those who receive guidance " (Quran, 16:125).

In particular, when dealing with Jews and Christians, Allah says: "Do not argue with the People of the Book unless it is in the politest manner, except for those of them who do wrong. Say: 'We believe in what has been sent down to us and what has been sent down to you. Our God and your God is [the same] One, and we are Muslims before Him'" (Quran, 29:46).

This may not be an occasion to emphasis the differences as much as the commonality of our beliefs, unless someone is really asking you about them.

A starting point for a discussion about Christmas could be the Islamic belief in all Books revealed by Allah and all Prophets sent by Him. In this discussion, special emphasis could be made on Prophet Jesus. Non-Muslims are often surprised to discover that Muslims also believe in this noble Prophet and his great mother Mary (peace be upon her).

Remember that respect does not mean compromise. This article is not asking you to compromise anything. You have freedom of religion given by God to believe in what you believe in. But in a world where conflict is increasing, a Muslim should be a bridge- builder and a peacemaker. It was due to the Muslim practice of Islamic ideals of respect and tolerance that the key of the holiest Christian Shrine in Jerusalem, the church of the Holy Sepulcher, remains entrusted with a Muslim family, as it has been for over 1400 years.

These are the lessons which need to be learned by those extremists who attack Christians during their worship in Nigeria and those extremists who burn Masjids in the USA.

Abdul Malik Mujahid, is the President and Director of Sound Vision Foundation Inc. He is an Imam in the Chicago area and the Chairperson of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC).

Weekly Round Up: Officers Smuggling Weapons, Intelligence Chief Dumb As A Dodo, Police Seek 'Satan Squad' And Nun Fined For 'Terrorist' Ranting!

It’s been another crazy week in the world of politics. The week started off with the departure of Kofi Annan. Poor Annan, according to John Bolton - no one sang Kumbaya at the private dinner at the White House. I wonder if he’s bothered, I wonder if anyone will be signing anything for John Bolton. South Korea's Ban Ki-moon has been sworn in as the next UN secretary general at a General Assembly ceremony during which he vowed to be "a harmonizer and bridge-builder" and build on the legacy of Kofi Annan. Sticking to the White House, George Bush has been pretty quiet (mainly ignoring the recommendations of the Baker report) but ex-president Jimmy Carter has been in the headlines due to the release of his book claiming apartheid in Israel and how the reluctance to criticise policies of the Israeli government is due to the extraordinary lobbying efforts of the American-Israel Political Action Committee and the absence of any significant contrary voices! Wow this is good; this is different (if only he spoke more when he was in power!). Sticking with the US Silvestre Reyes, the incoming chairman of a congressional intelligence committee has been found out over his lack of knowledge over the stakeholders in the Middle-East (Sunni’s, Shia’s, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah etc) - so much so it is going to be difficult to find out who is dumb and who is dumber between Bush and Reyes -I wonder if he is aware of the situation in Iraq? One person who knows a ting or two is Carne Ross who made it clear that British officials warned US diplomats that bringing down the Iraqi Saddam Hussein would lead to the chaos the world has since witnessed. He also said Prime Minister Tony Blair must have known Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction. He said that during his posting to the UN, "at no time did Her Majesty's Government assess that Iraq's WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests." Mr Blair is currently in Israel on the third day of his tour of the Middle East. Mr Blair is expected to hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders amid heightened tensions in the Gaza Strip. Whilst in undemocratically elected dictatorship Egypt, he told the world that he welcomed the call for an early election in Palestine (simply because he doesn’t like the democratically elected Hamas party and doesn’t want to talk to them). I just hope Blair doesn’t become a puppet of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert like Italian counterpart, Romano Prodi was seen to be! Sticking to the UK, We had the expected results of the death of Princess Diana enquiry. Nothing but the drunken driver blame (as expected) was revealed but on this same day coincidentally the British government announced that it had dropped a corruption probe into a defence deal with Saudi Arabia, after warnings it could damage national security (or the national accounts). A good time to bury bad news! The money from the sales could be used to spend on military equipment as it seems that some officers have been caught smuggling weapons from Iraq and selling them off in British bases. Not getting away from the press, Tony Blair was the first Prime Minister was question by the police to assist in the enquiry for cash for honours. This is having a damaging effect on his party. A secret memo reveals that Labour has no chance of winning the next Election because voters think the Government is a shambles - and there is little Gordon Brown can do to stop David Cameron becoming Prime Minister. Enough of him, going back to Ehud Olmert, he made a gaff and is trying to fend off accusations of ineptitude and calls for his resignation after he accidentally acknowledged for the first time that Israel had nuclear weapons. The whole world knows about it but Israel has long declined to confirm or deny having the bomb as part of a "strategic ambiguity" policy that it says fends off numerically superior Arab enemies. But Arabs and Iran see a double standard in US policy in the region. By not declaring itself to be nuclear-armed, Israel gets round a US ban on funding countries that proliferate weapons of mass destruction. It can thus enjoy more than $2bn a year in military and other aid from Washington! Lastly we have to talk about the conference in Iran debating the holocaust. Many news media have called it the holocaust denier conference (especially those from countries that contributed or did nothing to prevent the holocaust). The conference is harmless and too much is made of it, can anyone deny freedom of speech? Let’s hope the President of Iran gives similar freedom to Iranian citizens who usually end up in jail if they protest against any government rulings.

Anyway, here’s all the other news from around the world…


North America
US Democrat majority under threat
A senator, with immense influence over the delicate balance of power in the forthcoming upper house of the US congress, has undergone surgery after suffering "symptoms of a stroke".

If Tim Johnson, the senator from South Dakota, is to be replaced, Republicans could take control of the senate from the Democrats. With Johnson, Democrats, who took control of the congress from Republicans in last month's elections, would control the senate 51-49 when the 110th congress convenes on January 4.

But in the event of him being replaced, South Dakota law says the state governor, Michael Rounds, who is a Republican, would name someone to finish the final two years of his six-year term. An election for a successor would be held in November 2008.

If Rounds named a Republican, that would put the Senate at 50-50, with Dick Cheney, the vice-president, breaking any tie and putting Republicans in charge. The only way there would be a vacancy to fill is if Johnson died or resigned. Even if incapacitated, he could remain in office, according to the senate historian's office.

Florida governor halts executions
Florida Governor Jeb Bush has halted executions in the US state after a flawed death by lethal injection. Mr Bush said he needed to be sure that the method of death did not constitute "cruel and unusual punishment".

The move came after a man convicted of murder, Angel Diaz, took 34 minutes to die - twice as long as normal - and had to be given a second lethal dose.

In California, a judge has ruled death by lethal injection violates a state ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The judge ruled California's "implementation of lethal injection is broken", but said "it can be fixed".

Lethal injection is the preferred method of execution in 37 US states.

Anti-death penalty activists say lethal injections - introduced in Florida and other states as a replacement for the electric chair and other methods of execution - are just as cruel and should not be considered a more humane substitute.

FBI: Recruiters caught in drug probe
A dozen Army and Marine recruiters who visited high schools were among the personnel caught in a major FBI cocaine investigation, and some were allowed to keep working while under suspicion, a newspaper reported Sunday. None of the recruiters was accused of providing drugs to students.

The recruiters, who worked in the Tucson area, were targets of a federal sting called Operation Lively Green, which ran from 2001 to 2004 and was revealed last year. So far, 69 members of the military, prison guards, law enforcement employees and other public employees have been convicted of accepting bribes to help smuggle cocaine.

The Arizona Daily Star reviewed the investigation and court documents and found that the FBI allowed many recruiters to stay on the job even though they were targeted by the investigation. Some were still recruiting three years after they were photographed running drugs in uniform, the newspaper said.

Most of the recruiters pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in March. Some honorably retired from the military. The sting began after the FBI received tips that a former Army National Guardsman was taking bribes to fix military aptitude tests for recruits, FBI Special Agent Adam Radtke said.

US issues first-ever space tourism rules
Thrill-seekers looking to blast into space from the US would need to be informed in writing of serious risks - including death - and promise not to sue the government under the first rules for commercial space travel by US companies.

The rules issued today by the Federal Aviation Administration mandate training and medical fitness evaluations for crew members, preflight testing and other steps US companies must take before getting licences to carry paying passengers on suborbital flights.

Virgin Galactic, run by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, is aiming to offer out-of-this-world vacations in 2008 for travellers willing to pay $US200,000 ($256,000). Other companies are making similar plans.

Circumcision May Cut Risk of H.I.V.
Circumcising adult men may reduce by half their risk of getting the AIDS virus through heterosexual intercourse, the U.S. government announced Wednesday, as it shut down two studies in Africa testing the link.

The National Institutes of Health closed the studies in Kenya and Uganda early, when safety monitors took a look at initial results this week and spotted the protection. The studies' uncircumcised men are being offered the chance to undergo the procedure.
The link between male circumcision and HIV prevention was noted as long ago as the late 1980s. The first major clinical trial, of 3,000 men in South Africa, found last year that circumcision cut the HIV risk by 60 percent.

Still, many AIDS specialists had been awaiting the NIH's results as a final confirmation.

''Male circumcision can lower both an individual's risk of infection, and hopefully the rate of HIV spread through the community,'' said AIDS expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

But it's not perfect protection, Fauci stressed. Men who become circumcised must not quit using condoms nor take other risks -- and circumcision offers no protection from HIV acquired through anal sex or injection drug use, he noted.

"Macaca" named most politically incorrect
The word "macaca," used by outgoing Republican Sen. George Allen of Virginia to describe a Democratic activist of Indian descent who was trailing his campaign, was named the most politically incorrect word of the year on Friday by Global Language Monitor, a nonprofit group that studies word usage.

"The word might have changed the political balance of the U.S. Senate, since Allen's utterance (an offensive slang term for Indians from the Sub-continent) surely impacted his election bid," said the group's head, Paul JJ Payack.

In second place on this year's list was "Global Warming Denier," for someone who believes that climate change has moved from scientific theory to dogma.

In third was "Herstory" substituting for "History." Payack said there are nearly 900,000 Google citations for "Herstory," all based on a mistaken assumption that "history" is a sexist word.

Last year, it dubbed "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," as U.S. President George W. Bush's most memorable phrase of 2005. Bush made the comment to Michael Brown, the former head of Federal Emergency Management Agency, before Brown resigned over the administration's handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

Latin America
Hundreds pay respects to Pinochet
Hundreds of supporters of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, many in tears, filed Monday past the brown wooden coffin for the ex-dictator, who was denied a state funeral normally granted to former presidents.

While Pinochet's relatives mourned his death Sunday from heart failure at age 91, his many opponents celebrated with champagne and lamented that he escaped justice for the torture and killings that marked his 17 years in power after a bloody 1973 coup.

U.S. delegation seeks ties with Cuba
A delegation of American lawmakers sought improved diplomatic and economic ties with Cuba on Friday, anticipating leadership changes in Havana and on Capitol Hill.

Ten U.S. congressmen were expected to discuss the possibility of easing U.S. trade and travel sanctions in meetings with Communist officials. They also scheduled talks with Cuba's Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega, as well as foreign diplomats, during their trip, which ends Sunday.

Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, and William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat, led the group — said to be the largest congressional delegation to visit the island since the 1959 Cuban revolution. Both legislators advocate ending decades-old trade and travel sanctions against Cuba.

The delegation reportedly asked to see Defense Minister Raul Castro, who leads Cuba as his brother Fidel recovers from intestinal surgery.

The trip comes amid growing uncertainty about the health of Fidel, the island's 80-year-old leader, who has not been seen in public since he underwent surgery in July. He temporarily ceded his powers to his 75-year-old brother Raul.

Raul Castro has offered to talk with Washington about its differences with Cuba. The Bush administration says there will be no dialogue until Cuba holds free and competitive elections and releases its roughly 300 political prisoners.

Europe
Danish journalists acquitted
Three Danish journalists, who published classified intelligence reports on Iraq's former weapons programme, have been acquitted of charges of endangering national security.

The Copenhagen City Court ruled on Monday that Niels Lunde, the chief editor of the Berlingske Tidende newspaper, and Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen, both reporters, acted in the public interest when they published a series of articles in 2004 citing leaked Danish intelligence reports.

The articles said there was no evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction at the time of the US-led invasion in 2003, one of the key reasons cited by the US and Britain for going to war.

Frank Grevil, a former intelligence officer, was previously imprisoned for leaking the documents in the case, which was viewed in Denmark as a landmark test of media freedom.

Lunde called the verdict "a great victory for the open society". Prosecutor Michael Joergensen said he had not yet decided whether to appeal.

During the trial, which began on November 13, the prosecutor claimed that the newspaper, one of Denmark's largest circulated dailies, violated a law that prohibits media from publishing classified information that could harm national security.

In Monday's ruling, Judge Peter Lind Larsen said the "considerable public interest" in the information outweighed the government's concerns that its intelligence-gathering operations were jeopardised.

Press freedom advocates welcomed the decision, which was met with applause in the packed court room.

War crimes tribunal orders force-feeding of Serbian warlord
The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague last week ordered the force-feeding of a Serbian warlord and senior politician who has been on hunger strike in custody for almost a month.

The decision, the first such order since the court was set up more than a decade ago to deal with war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, came after a medical examination of Vojislav Seselj concluded that he might be a fortnight away from dying.

Mr Seselj, a former close associate of the late president Slobodan Milosevic and an ultra-nationalist leader who heads the strongest political party in Serbia, is an advocate of aggressive strategies aimed at creating a "Greater Serbia" by appropriating parts of Croatia and Bosnia and incorporating Albanian-populated Kosovo.

He is on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, when he allegedly led paramilitaries in "ethnic cleansing" operations against non-Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia.

The tribunal last week told Dutch authorities to force-feed Mr Seselj if there was a risk of him dying. "There is a prevailing interest in continuing with the trial of the accused in order to serve the ends of justice," it said in a statement. "The trial ... should not be undermined by the accused's manipulative behaviour."

Mr Seselj, who surrendered to The Hague tribunal more than three years ago, has consistently sought to use the court as a stage to belittle and mock the institution. He went on hunger strike last month to demand unlimited conjugal visits and the opening of frozen bank accounts in the US, he insisted on defending himself at the trial and has hurled abuse at anyone who contradicts him. The warlord gained notoriety when in the early 90s he said the eyes of enemy Croats should be gouged out with rusty spoons.

Sarajevo's war damage totaled $18.5 billion: study
The 1992-95 siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo by Serb forces caused 14 billion euros ($18.5 billion) of damage, the author of a study said on Tuesday.

Since 1996, a multi-disciplinary team of Bosnian experts has been collecting data from companies, institutions and individuals for the first comprehensive survey of the destruction in Sarajevo during its 1,417 days of isolation.

"The focus of the study was visible wartime damage, what had been destroyed or taken away, and we have got a figure of 14 billion euros in direct war damages in Sarajevo in the period of 1992-95," Duljko Hasic told Reuters in an interview.

During the siege, Sarajevo and its 340,000 citizens were hit constantly by artillery, mortar and heavy machinegun fire that destroyed apartment houses, hotels, factories, office blocks, waterworks, communications and utilities in general.

Nearly 19,000 people died, 10 percent of them children.

Hasic said the main goal of the study was to establish the facts but also to form a basis for possible reparations.

He cautioned this was an incomplete account of the total losses, since the study did not include indirect wartime damage, for example the loss of foreign markets, business contracts and breaks in production by Sarajevo-based firms.

The loss of rich and rare books in the National Library and the Institute for Oriental Studies, both burned down, is also not included in the survey, he said.

"That kind of damage is unlikely to be properly evaluated but the consequences for the economy will be felt over the next 30 to 50 years," said Hasic, who works as an economic expert in Bosnia's Foreign Trade Chamber.

Spain debates Civil War reparations
Parliament on Thursday began debating a law that seeks reparations for victims of Spain's 1936-39 Civil War and the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco.

The bill, proposed by the Socialist government in July, would also ban symbols and references to the Franco regime in public buildings and asks local and regional governments to rename streets or plazas that are named after Franco or refer to his regime.

It also prohibits any political event at the Valley of the Fallen, a large monument near Madrid that includes Franco's tomb and is the most potent symbol of his regime.

The law says all victims of the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship will have a year to request reparations from an ad hoc commission that was created to draw up the bill. A total of $26.4 million will be made available for payments.

Several political parties have proposed major amendments to the bill, saying it does not go far enough to restore the rights of victims and in condemning Franco and his regime. One amendment proposed by three parties calls for the annulment of verdicts reached at trials carried out during Franco's 1939-75 dictatorship.

Meanwhile, the leading conservative opposition Popular Party has called for the bill to be thrown out altogether, arguing that it reopens old wounds.The bill, known as the Historic Memory Law, is expected to get past an initial vote allowing it to be processed by Parliament but it is likely to take several months before it is finally approved.

Italy police seek 'Satan squad'
Italian police want to set up a special unit to tackle the growth of new religious sects, particularly a violent new breed of home-grown Satanists.

The new police squad would include psychologists, as well as a priest who is an expert on the occult. It would co-ordinate - nationwide - investigations into potentially dangerous religious movements.

The move follows a spate of high profile, gruesome murders blamed on a new generation of Satanists. They indulge in a lethal blend of black magic, hard drugs, sex and heavy metal.

In the most recent case a gang known as the "Beasts of Satan" bludgeoned, then buried alive, two of their own members - a young woman and her boyfriend - in woods outside Milan.

Experts say the number of Satanists in Italy is tiny - and the product as much of youthful alienation as of any more traditional religious conviction.

But more than a million Italians belong to other minority religions, and some experts are worried that the new police squad could target members of them as well - even though, despite their perhaps strange beliefs, they are entirely harmless.

Sentamu attacks 'move to throw away crib'
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, attacked "aggressive" secularists and "illiberal" atheists yesterday for "throwing out the crib at Christmas".

In his strongest assault yet on attempts to purge Christianity from public life, Dr Sentamu said such people were undermining the country's cultural traditions. The Archbishop's comments reflect the growing fury of Church leaders at reports of companies banning Christmas decorations and schools leaving Jesus out of nativity plays.

They also signalled his intention to declare all-out war on secularists, who he claimed were unfairly blaming other faiths to advance their own anti-religious agenda.

"Aggressive secularists are trying to pretend that it is possible to enter into the true meaning of Christmas by leaving out Jesus Christ," he said.

"The person who is at the heart of the celebration is totally excluded. This really is a case of throwing out the baby with the bath water, or in this case throwing out the crib at Christmas."

The Archbishop continued: "This aggressive brand of secularism is trying to undermine the cultural traditions of this country by using flawed arguments about 'multi-faith, multi-culturalism' whilst at the same time trying to negate faith groups all together."

British vicar bars Father Christmas from carol service
A British vicar banned a man dressed as Father Christmas from a carol service at his church, he said.

Reverend Tim Storey said he told Henry Cuff, a member of volunteer group the Lions Club, to disrobe because he wanted to "reclaim the Christian story of the birth of Jesus Christ as being the heart of the celebration".

"I do not believe that Father Christmas should be part of church services any more than Santa's grotto should have a manger and a baby Jesus present," Storey said in a statement.

But Cuff labelled the move "political correctness gone mad." "If he can have big screen football in church, why can't he have Santa Claus in church?" he demanded. He said he had been handing out sweets to local children before the church service.

Nun fined for 'terrorist' ranting
Sister Ruth AugustusA nun has been convicted of religious harassment after calling Muslims 'terrorists'.

Sister Ruth Augustus, 66, was fined £200 for shouting at women in burkhas: 'You are probably terrorists.'

She also told police officers they should 'go back to Iraq and have their heads chopped off'.

Augustus was handing out leaflets in London's Oxford Street on Easter Tuesday when the trouble flared, City of Westminster magistrates were told.

As a group of Muslims passed, she called out: 'Jesus loves Muslims.'

But, despite two women taking offence, the nun continued: 'You're probably terrorists – get back to your own country.' Augustus has vowed to appeal against her conviction.

Middle East
Islamic Movement sheikhs slam theories of Holocaust denial
The Holocaust-denial theories aired last week in Iran were denounced Friday from an unexpected source - in a statement released by sheikhs of the Islamic Movement in Israel. Simultaneously, Religious Zionist rabbis issued a statement denouncing damage done to the Muslim cemetery in the center of Jerusalem in the construction of the Museum of Tolerance.

Both statements came out of a conference of Kedem, an organization of Jewish, Christian and Muslim clergy. The leaders of Kedem, which operates in the framework of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel (ICCI), say cooperation in the organization cam be a model to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

During the two-day conference sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the World Conference of Religions for Peace, a roundable discussion was held among MKs from the National Union-National Religious Party, Kadima and the United Arab List-Ta'al. Participants sometimes expressed themselves harshly: MK Rabbi Yitzhak Levy (National Union-NRP compared Hamas to the devil and MK Abas Zkoor (UAL-Ta'al) spoke of religious
imperatives to fight infidels. Nevertheless, all agreed that Muslims and Jews in Israel had to cooperate, even without a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Levy proposed cooperation on issues like family values, combating violence and corruption. Zkoor said a common enemy of the Islamic Movement and the Jewish religious right was secularism.

IDF: Syria not planning for war with Israel in summer
The Israel Defense Forces has no intelligence regarding Syrian plans to initiate a war against Israel next summer, the army announced last last Sunday in an official statement.

This followed a day of contradictory statements regarding reports originating from Military Intelligence and the Northern Command.

IDF sources made it clear that assessments of the situation in the north are continuing, and preparations for a possible scenario involving the outbreak of war there next summer are part of a "working assumption" on the basis of which the forces' readiness can be improved.

The head of research at Military Intelligence, Brigadier General Yossi Beiditch, presented the government with a report on the situation along the northern border during the cabinet's weekly meeting.

Beiditch told the ministers that Syria's President Bashar Assad "is preparing the Syrian army for the possibility of a military confrontation with Israel, but on the other hand does not discount the possibility of a diplomatic settlement."

Mashaal offers 10-year cease-fire deal
Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal has said he would be willing to set up a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders side-by-side with Israel.

In an interview published Monday in the Italian newspaper Republica, Mashaal also offered Israel a 10-year cease-fire deal.

The exiled Hamas leader added that he was not prepared to recognize Israel, since to do so would grant legitimacy to the "occupation."

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, however, declared on Monday that "Palestine" was Islamic land and that no one had the right to give it up, according to Israel Radio.

In a meeting with Iran's spiritual leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Haniyeh said that an armed struggle was the only way to free Palestine from the "occupation."

Haniyeh made his statements at the end of a four-day visit to Iran, after which he was scheduled to visit Sudan.

Palestinian victims may claim damages, Israeli court rules
In an important and controversial ruling, the Israeli Supreme Court threw out part of a law today that prevented Palestinians from seeking compensation from Israel for damages from Israeli Army activities in the occupied territories.

The ruling, which was unanimous, opens the way for Palestinians harmed in “nonbelligerent” army operations in the West Bank or Gaza to seek redress for damages. But the court left standing a provision that bars compensation to Palestinians harmed in combat operations.

The law also bars compensation to citizens of “enemy states” or to “activists or members of a terrorist organization,” which would include Hamas, elected last January to run the Palestinian Authority.

According to the law, in the form of an amendment passed by the Israeli Parliament in July 2005, the army, security services and the state were considered immune retroactively from being sued for damages caused since Sept. 29, 2000, which is when the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, is considered to have broken out.

Petitioners in the case contended that the “intifada law,” as it is known, prevented the filing of lawsuits that may have resulted in judgments of many thousands of dollars; those suits may now be filed.

The state argued that “the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians since the year 2000 is a war in every respect.”

But Chief Justice Aharon Barak wrote that Israel’s continuous military presence in the territories “left many harmed who were not involved in any hostile activity.”

UN to register Palestinians' complaints over West Bank fence
The United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly approved plans for a UN registry to record and process claims of damages caused by Israel's construction of its West Bank barrier.

Israel rejected the move, saying it had set up a mechanism to help those harmed by the structure, which it says is to keep out suicide bombers but which Palestinians see as a land grab to preempt talks on the borders of an eventual Palestinian state.

The barrier, a mix of electronic fences and walls, has been under construction since 2002 and eventually will stretch more than 400 miles, curling around Israeli settlements as it cuts deep into Palestinian lands.

A resolution adopted by a vote of 162 to 7 with 7 abstentions called for the establishment within six months of a three-member board and a secretariat to record and process damage claims.

While the UN initially said it would set up the registry in the West Bank so its offices would be close to those filing damage claims, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan later recommended that it be based in Vienna, and the assembly went along with that recommendation.

The United States voted against the resolution."We believe that the registry process set forth in this resolution remains too ill-defined and too open-ended in duration to allow us to support it," U.S. envoy Christopher Ross said. "The United States prefers to support the Palestinian people in other ways."

Asia
India has killed 10 mln girls in 20 years
Ten million girls have been killed by their parents in India in the past 20 years, either before they were born or immediately after, a government minister said on Thursday, describing it as a "national crisis".

A UNICEF report released this week said 7,000 fewer girls are born in the country every day than the global average would suggest, largely because female foetuses are aborted after sex determination tests but also through murder of new borns.

"It's shocking figures and we are in a national crisis if you ask me," Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury told Reuters.

Girls are seen as liabilities by many Indians, especially because of the banned but rampant practice of dowry, where the bride's parents pay cash and goods to the groom's family.

Men are also seen as bread-winners while social prejudices deny women opportunities for education and jobs.

The practice of killing the girl child is more prevalent among the educated, including in upmarket districts of New Delhi, making it more challenging for the government, the minister said.

Taiwan president's wife collapses at corruption trial
The wife of Taiwan's embattled President Chen Shui-bian collapsed shortly after she pleaded not guilty at the start of her high-profile trial on corruption and forgery charges.

Wu Shu-chen, accused of illegally claiming 14.8 million Taiwan dollars (450,000 US dollars) in personal expenses from state funds, was rushed to nearby National Taiwan University Hospital after she fainted during a recess.

"Not guilty," Wu replied earlier in the day when questioned by the chief judge.

The morning session, which was broadcast live to reporters at an auditorium, was briefly interrupted by her absence. "She was very tired ... her condition was urgent but her blood pressure and body temperature were returning to normal. We have to closely monitor her condition," said a hospital spokesman.

The court session resumed around 14:30 pm (0630 GMT) and ended two hours later without the wheelchair-bound Wu, as the 54-year-old remained in hospital for observation. The next hearing was scheduled for Friday next week.

The landmark corruption case could end Chen's presidency as the leader has promised to resign if his wife is found guilty. Prosecutors last month indicted Wu and three presidential aides and named Chen a suspect in the scandal. The corruption charge carries a minimum seven-year prison term and forgery at least one year.

Bhutan king steps down
The people of the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan have greeted the announcement of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck's earlier-than-expected abdication with sadness and gratitude.

Wangchuck, 50, on Saturday announced that he was handing over the sceptre to his son, Crown Prince Jigme Kesar Namgyel.

Wangchuck, who took over the throne in 1972 at the age of 16, sought to lift the "Gross National Happiness" of the isolated country of 700,000 people, with policies aimed at preserving the traditional culture and environment of the nation.

He had earlier said he would step down in 2008.

Bhutan, sandwiched between India and China, has remained largely untouched by modern influences, with a limited number of foreign visitors allowed each year. Television arrived in 1999 and the internet a year later.

The kingdom will also formally adopt a constitution later this month and plans to hold parliamentary elections in 2008.

Africa
Priest convicted in Rwandan genocide
Rwanda - The United Nation war crimes court for Rwanda on Wednesday convicted a Roman Catholic priest, the first it has tried, of genocide and sentenced him to 15 years for his role in the 1994 mass killings.The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) found Father Athanase Seromba guilty on two of four counts he faced in connection with the genocide in which some 800 000 people, mainlyminority Tutsis and moderate Hutus, died."The chamber finds you guilty of genocide and extermination and sentences you to a single term of 15 years in prison," chief judge Andrefia Vaz said, reading the verdict of the three-member panel.

Mengistu found guilty of genocide
Ethiopia's Marxist ex-ruler, Mengistu Haile Mariam, has been found guilty of genocide after a 12-year trial. The former leader was tried in his absence. He has been in exile in Zimbabwe since being ousted in 1991 and many fear he will never face justice.
In a notorious campaign - known as the Red Terror - thousands of suspected opponents were rounded up and executed and their bodies tossed on the streets. Mengistu and dozens of his officials could face the death penalty.

All bar one of the other 72 officials also on trial were found guilty of genocide. Thirty-four people were in court, 14 others have died during the lengthy process and 25, including Mengistu, were tried in absentia. Sentencing is expected on 28 December.
They were accused of killing thousands of people including the last emperor, members of the royal family, 60 ministers and top officials. The court also found them guilty of imprisonment, illegal homicide and illegal confiscation of property.

Mengistu's Marxist rule began in 1974, when he and a group of officials known as the Dergue, overthrew Ethiopia's emperor, Haile Selassie. The emperor had failed to come to grips with a poor harvest, and the situation escalated into a devastating famine. Mr Mugabe has so far refused requests to extradite Mengistu to Ethiopia.

Zimbabwe's ruling party proposes extending Mugabe's leadership
Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party proposed extending veteran President Robert Mugabe's term by another two years, giving him a full three decades in power.

"The committee reaffirms the leadership of President Robert Mugabe as the leader of the party," Elliot Manyika, chairman of a committee on the state of the party, told the party's annual conference.

"There should be no debate on succession because there is no vacancy. The committee agreed to have harmonised polls which should be held in 2010," Manyika said at the conference at Goromonzi high school, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of the capital.
On Thursday, Mugabe had said it would make sense for presidential and parliamentary elections -- scheduled for 2008 and 2010 respectively -- to be held simultaneously.

The party's youth wing also backed the extension of Mugabe's term of office. The women's league also supported Mugabe's continued reign, saying it was the only way they would be safe.

The 82-year-old, who has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence from British colonial rule in 1980, had previously indicated he would retire when his term expired in 2008.

Gambia gives ex-presidents free holidays for life
The parliament of Gambia, one of the world's poorest countries, passed a law on Wednesday to give former presidents free foreign holidays, cars and personal staff for life after they leave office.

The bill entitles ex-leaders of the West African nation to have three cars with drivers and fuel, holidays abroad each year, personal secretaries and 1 million CFA francs (1,000 pounds) a month, courtesy of the state.

Gambia's current president Yahya Jammeh, an authoritarian former coup leader, won a third term of office in September.

A bird lover who often carries a ceremonial sword, Jammeh has said he wants to rule the former British protectorate - where 60 percent of people live on less than $1 (50 pence) a day - for another three decades.

It was not immediately clear whether presidents overthrown in a coup would enjoy the benefits of the new law.

Algeria asks Spain to help find Western Sahara solution
Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika asked Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to help settle the dispute in Western Sahara, as the latter paid a flying visit to Algiers.

Morocco claims Western Sahara, a desolate but phosphate-rich northwest African territory, which it annexed after the withdrawal of Spain and Mauritania in the 1970s and settled with around 300,000 Moroccans in the 1975 "Green March."

A bitter guerrilla war with the Polisario Front - who contested Rabat's sovereignty - ended only in 1991 with a UN-brokered ceasefire.

The United Nations had sought since 1992 to organize a referendum on self-determination for the territory, but several attempts, including one in 2003 by former US Secretary of State James Baker, broke down over arguments over who was eligible to vote.

US actor Clooney suggests Annan serve as Darfur peace envoy
Oscar-winning US actor George Clooney suggested that UN chief Kofi Annan should serve as peace envoy to Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region after he leaves office at the end of the month.

Clooney told reporters that the proposal was made by Egypt and China, two countries which the US actor recently visited as part of his campaign to raise awareness of the humanitarian tragedy in Darfur.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Annan, who is to relinquish his post at the end of the month after 10 years in office, urged the Clooney delegation to continue their efforts to raise awareness of the Darfur tragedy.

But asked about the idea of Annan serving as Darfur envoy, the spokesman said the Ghanaian secretary general, after he steps down, "plans to go underground for a few months." "When he re-emerges, he will decide what to do," Dujarric added.

Australasia
Boozy nights cost Aussies 2.6 million mornings after
Australians have a reputation as big drinkers but a new report has found many can not handle their hangovers, with Australians claiming more than 2.6 million sick days a year as a result of a night on the booze.

The study of 13,500 Australian drinkers, published in the December issue of the Medical Journal of Australia, found days lost due to alcohol sickness and injuries was costing A$437 million (U.S.$344 million) a year.

The study by Flinders University in South Australia found Australia's heavy drinkers managed their hangovers better than light drinkers who claimed a higher number of sick days.

Australia has a reputation for being a nation of heavy drinkers coming in at number 14 for beer consumption per capita behind Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium, says the World Health Organization.

A US President Named Hussein?

Oh, what's in a name? Media and leftist darling Barack Obama may learn answer soon as public debate shifts from his talent to his politically-unfortunate middle name.

Taken from Ynetnews, Israel, 12.12.06
By Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON - The youthful African-American senator from Illinois has not yet officially announced his intention to contend for the top spot on the Democrat's presidential ticket, but you couldn't tell that fact from the hoards of supporters screaming Barack Obama's name this weekend in New Hampshire – a key election state.

The energetic senator, aptly labeled a true media-darling, continues however to stick to his 'testing the waters' routine no matter how convinced everyone else is that he's already kicked off his election campaign.

Touring New Hampshire under the official guise of touting his new book 'The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream', it was clear that Obama was also using the opportunity to seriously examine his chances at running against strong Democratic candidates such as widely expected front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Should he choose to announce a presidential bid on his part, Obama is likely to face a wall of questions doubting his eligibility for the job. The 45-year-old son of a Kenyan father and American mother, has only two years of senate service under his belt and no additional experience on the national level.

Obama also faces a difficult battle against various stereotypes, namely the color of his skin and his middle name – Hussein – which reminds many Americans of certain figures they would rather forget, much less elect as president.

Obama's 'problematic' middle name does not appear on his official Senate biography webpage, nor is there any mention of it on other official sites. But apparently someone viewed this rising-star as a threat in the political sky and pushed the name forward into the public arena, perhaps in the hope of tarnishing Obama's image.

While it remains unclear who stands behind the revelation, it left the considerably low-key internet political blogs and forums and made its way to American households when New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd dedicated last weekend's column to the subject.

Liberal bloggers were seething. Obama is their sweetheart, the alternative to Hillary Clinton and the only potential candidate who objected to the war in Iraq besides Al Gore; who for now is maintaining a low profile and even lower polling figures.

And so now instead of questioning Obama's capabilities - will Americans be more busy wondering if they can live with a president named Hussein?

Talk Of Satellite Defense Raises Fears Of Space War

U.S. Says Attacks on Crucial Systems Are Possible, Warns It Would Respond Forcefully

Taken from Washington Post, December 17, 2006; Page A12
By Marc Kaufman

For a U.S. military increasingly dependent on sophisticated satellites for communicating, gathering intelligence and guiding missiles, the possibility that those space-based systems could come under attack has become a growing worry - and the perceived need to defend them ever more urgent. And that, in turn, is reviving fears in some quarters that humanity's conflicts could soon spread beyond Earth's boundaries.

In a speech last week, a senior Bush administration official warned that other nations, and possibly terrorist groups, are "acquiring capabilities to counter, attack and defeat U.S. space systems." As a result, he said, the United States must increase its ability to protect vital space equipment with new technologies and policies.

Elaborating publicly for the first time since the October release of a new national space policy, Undersecretary of State Robert G. Joseph made clear that the administration would react forcefully to any attempt to interfere with U.S. space technology - whether used by the military or by businesses ranging from paging services and automated teller machines to radio and television providers.

"No nation, no non-state actor, should be under the illusion that the United States will tolerate a denial of our right to the use of space for peaceful purposes," said Joseph, undersecretary for arms control and international security.

"We reserve the right to defend ourselves against hostile attacks and interference with our space assets. We will, therefore, oppose others who wish to use their military capabilities to impede or deny our access to and use of space. We will seek the best capabilities to protect our space assets by active or passive means."

The administration insists that there is no arms race in space, although the United States is the only nation that opposed a recent United Nations call for talks on keeping weapons out of space.

The statement of American resolve in space came against the backdrop of an intensifying debate between those who criticize any push to put weapons in space and others who say the nation cannot afford to let potential adversaries get the upper hand.

Some Democrats and representatives of other nations are becoming more vocal in their concern about the administration's rhetoric and possible plans regarding space defense. Although the 1967 U.N. Outer Space Treaty, signed by the United States, allows only peaceful uses of space, some believe that the United States is moving toward some level of weaponization, especially related to a missile defense system.

Both the new space policy and Joseph's speech "left a lot of room for weaponization of space, which is something that our members have been very concerned about for a while," said Loren Dealy, spokeswoman for the Democratic majority on the House Armed Services Committee. "It also took a very unilateral approach and did not address the issue of multinational agreements to protect satellites that are there."

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) earlier criticized the president's new national space policy, saying, "As we deal with the threats to peace and security from the proliferation of land-based weapons, surely we need to think long and hard before creating potential space-based proliferation threats."

Theresa Hitchens, director of the nonpartisan Center for Defense Information, said she found the tone and substance of Joseph's comments last week puzzling.

"It is somewhat ironic that while he kept saying 'There is no arms race in space' - which says to me no real threat in space - his whole pitch was how we have to protect our satellites, including using weapons," she said, citing Joseph's mention of "active means" of defending assets. "The truth of the matter is that the most likely threats are from the ground - jamming, hacking, blowing up a tracking station -- and anti-satellite weapons and/or space-based weapons do nothing to resolve those threats."

The deputy head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Vitaliy Davydov, was the most blunt. He called the Bush space policy "the first step towards a serious escalation of the military confrontation space," according to the Russian news agency Interfax. He also said that, unlike air and sea weapons, space weapons would be "global and would hang over the entire world." He said, moreover, that Russia has the capability to "also roll out certain military elements into outer space."

Some Capitol Hill staffers on military affairs committees said they think the administration's tough talk on space defense may be setting the stage for a future budget request, especially for funds to start a controversial space-based "test bed" of missile interceptors that could be used in a future missile defense system. One staffer, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of committee rules, said the Pentagon has been hinting that it wants to make such a request for 2008, but it is unclear whether it would be in the budget due out in early February. A Pentagon spokesman said it would be inappropriate to discuss possible budget requests because they are in a "pre-decisional position."

The recent emphasis on space defense coincides with the release of several Government Accountability Office reports criticizing the Pentagon's management of space programs designed to enhance "situational awareness" -- the essential ability to know what is happening to satellites in space and why. In its most recent report, the GAO said last month that "on a broad scale," Defense Department space programs are behind schedule and over budget.

The department "starts more weapon programs than it can afford, creating a competition for funding that encourages low cost estimating, optimistic scheduling, over-promising, suppressing of bad news," the GAO wrote.

Nonetheless, Capitol Hill staffers said there is bipartisan agreement that U.S. space assets are vulnerable and need to be better protected, although there is disagreement about how to do that.

Joseph's comments were especially well received by the group that sponsored his talk, the George C. Marshall Institute, a nonprofit group that specializes in technical aspects of defense and environmental debates. Institute President Jeff Kueter said Joseph highlighted a major and growing U.S. vulnerability that needs to be addressed.

He said China, in particular, is a potential adversary in space and one that appears to be developing its capacities quickly. The publication Defense News reported this fall that the Chinese had succeeded in focusing a ground-based laser on an American satellite in a test of anti-satellite capabilities.

Given the nation's reliance on satellites and space technology as well as the vulnerability of the equipment, Kueter said, "the administration and Congress need to think quite seriously about what we do about countering space threats and protecting space assets. Not enough thought is being given to implementing the space policy, to taking those next steps."

Kueter said his institute hopes the Pentagon will ask Congress to fund the space-based "test bed" for national security purposes, though not necessarily as part of an immediate space-based missile defense system. His views were captured in the title of a Marshall Institute policy statement he wrote in October: "The War in Space Has Already Begun."

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Essential Reading:

(1) SpeakeroftheTruth 19.10.06: Space: America's New War Zone
The Bush administration rejecting any new treaties that seek to limit the United States' extraterrestrial activities and warning that it will oppose any nations that try to get in its way...

(2) SpeakeroftheTruth 26.09.06: Beijing Secretly Fires Lasers To Disable US Satellites
China has secretly fired powerful laser weapons designed to disable American spy satellites by "blinding" their sensitive surveillance devices, it was reported...

Bare All: Full Body X-Ray To Be Tested At U.S. Airport

Taken from The Daily Mail, UK, 1st December 2006

A disturbing new screening system with the amazing and unsettling ability to strip the human body and reveal its most intimate curves in x-ray photographs is to be tested at an U.S. airport.

The federal screening system, which takes photographs like the one shown below, can detect concealed explosives and other weapons.



The technology, called backscatter, has been around for several years but has not been widely used in the U.S. as an anti-terrorism tool because of privacy concerns.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said it has found a way to refine the machine's images so that the normally graphic pictures can be blurred in certain areas while still being effective in detecting bombs and other threats.

The agency is expected to provide more information about the technology later this month but said one machine will be up and running at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport by the end of December.

A handful of other U.S. airports will have the X-rays machines in place by early 2007 as part of a nationwide pilot program, TSA officials said. The technology already is being used in prisons and by drug enforcement agents, and has been tested at London's Heathrow Airport.

The security agency says the machines will be effective in helping detect plastic or liquid explosives and other non-metallic weapons that can be missed by standard metal detectors.

Some say the high-resolution images - which clearly depict the outline of the passenger's body, plus anything attached to it, such as jewelry - are too invasive.

But the TSA said the X-rays will be set up so that the image can be viewed only by a security officer in a remote location. Other passengers, and even the agent at the checkpoint, will not have access to the picture.

In addition, the system will be configured so that the X-ray will be deleted as soon as the individual steps away from the machine. It will not be stored or available for printing or transmitting, agency spokesman Nico Melendez said.

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This is a good step into securing the airports and hope this machine will be available all round the world to help every country fight the threat from terrorism (although will be capable of showing body parts that you wouldn’t a stranger to see).

The main issue will be if diplomats arriving into a country will be going through these machines. These are the people capable of carrying material that will be unchecked and undetected by security staff. This applies to every country around the world.

Most importantly, I wonder how much radiation will be exposed to passengers and what the effects will be on those who are frequent fliers on business trips. This should be researched before putting this machine into use.

UK: MI5 Chief Quits As Full Story Of July 7 Is About To Emerge

Taken from Daily Mail, UK, 15.12.06

The head of MI5 has resigned weeks before full details of the role of her agents in a surveillance operation involving two of the July 7 bombers are due to be revealed.

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, whose organisation has been at the forefront of the war on terror, is leaving after more than four years as director general.

Dame Eliza, 58, said the date of her departure after 33 years with the security service had been agreed with the former Home Secretary Charles Clarke, who was sacked in May.

She has maintained an unprecedentedly high profile in the fight against terrorism, revealing last month that the security services knew of 30 plots by Islamic extremists. But it is for the failure to prevent last year's attacks in London that, some believe, her tenure as MI5 chief will be remembered. Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, the leaders of the July 7 suicide bombers, were picked up by MI5 surveillance on five occasions but were not investigated further.

The two British-born bombers did not merely pass through the 'periphery' of an intelligence operation monitoring other suspects but were photographed and recorded on several occasions.

More details of the operation are likely to emerge in the New Year.

Intelligence sources say the men were first seen in early 2004, nearly 18 months before the suicide attacks in London, which left 52 people dead on three Underground lines and a bus.

On one occasion, Khan was monitored driving his car with suspects in it and on another was recorded talking to them about training for jihad.

They also talked about carrying out financial frauds, which helped persuade MI5 that they were not interested in attacks in the UK.

Last night security sources rejected suggestions that Dame Eliza jumped before she was pushed.
They stressed that she agreed her departure date - April 2007 - with Mr Clarke in 2005, before the July bombings.

They claim there will be 'no surprises' that might have called her position into question when further details of the surveillance operations enter the public domain.

'Everything there is to know about how MI5 handled the 7/7 bombings, and what happened before, has been presented to the Commons Intelligence and Security Committee,' a source said.

'There are no surprises in store that will alter the view of how the Security Service worked. Her departure is a routine event, longarranged. The Home Secretary has full confidence in her.'

Dame Eliza, who is paid £150,000 a year, took over counterterrorism operations a year after the attacks of September 11, 2001, and has overseen a transformation in MI5 as its budget and staff have increased to focus on the threat of Islamic extremists.

She has made the agency far more open, recruiting agents through newspaper advertisements and by setting-up a website. Terror risk assessments have been published for the first time.

Dame Eliza said recently that the security services had identified 1,600 people plotting actively, or facilitating, terrorist acts in Britain and abroad.

The daughter of a former Tory Lord Chancellor, she is described as a 'feisty lady, full of character and intellectual drive'.

She was chosen to run a unit set up to tackle Irish terrorism after MI5 was granted lead responsibility in the area ten years ago.

Tony Blair led tributes to Dame Eliza, highlighting her ' outstanding leadership' following July 7 and saying the country owed her a debt of honour.

In a statement, the Prime Minister said: 'Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller has dedicated herself to the protection of this country, our people, and our way of life.

'She has led the Security Service through a time of significant change and growth, as it responded to the challenge of international terrorism.'

Home Secretary John Reid, who will announce her replacement in the New Year, said: 'Her contribution to the security of our nation has been invaluable.'

In a statement, Dame Eliza, the second woman to head MI5 after Stella Rimington, said: 'By April 2007, I shall have been an officer of the Security Service for 33 years, the last ten as either deputy director general or director general.

'I decided in early 2005 that it would be time by then to stand down.

'I have been privileged to lead the service when it is facing the two challenges of a very serious threat and the consequent need to grow and change at a dramatic rate to tackle that threat.'

'I'm confident that the service will continue to serve the UK to the best of its ability.'

No Release For Guantanamo Detainees

Taken from Daily Telegraph, UK, 15/12/2006
By Con Coughlin

The hard core of detainees held at America's Guantanamo Bay detention camp will continue to be held indefinitely even if there is insufficient evidence to bring them to trial, a senior Bush administration official has warned.

Of the 435 detainees currently being held at Guantanamo, only 10 have so far been charged with terrorism-related offences. A further 14 detainees – the so-called high value detainees such as Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks – are also expected to face trial now that the US Congress has passed the Military Commission Act, which will finally enable America to commence trials of Guantanamo detainees next year.

But of the remainder an estimated 200 detainees face being held indefinitely at Guantanamo because they are deemed a threat to international security even though there is insufficient evidence to bring them before a military commission.

John Bellinger, the legal advisor at the US state department who is responsible for defending Guantanamo's legal status, said the hard core of the detainees will continue to be held indefinitely either because they are considered a security threat, or because there is nowhere to send them if the military authorities at Guantanamo decide to release them.

"The remaining people – other than the ones who have been approved for release – really do pose a threat," Mr Bellinger said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph. "Ten per cent of the people we have released have gone right back to fighting generally in Afghanistan.

It's hard to tell exactly how many people would go back to actual acts of terrorism, or whether they would just go back to fighting in Afghanistan."

And despite repeated calls for the Bush administration to close Guantanamo, Mr Bellinger was insistent that the controversial American detention camp in Cuba would continue to hold detainees that were deemed a security risk.

"There are at this point no plans to transfer those people from Guantanamo out of Guantanamo," he said. "At this point the trials will be held on Guantanamo."

More than 700 people have been held at Guantanamo during the past five years. Most of them were detained during the war in Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban in late 2001, while others have been transferred to the camp after being detained as part of America's global war against international terrorism.

All the detainees receive a yearly combatant status review tribunal at which US military officials determine whether or not individuals continue to pose a security threat. Nearly 300 detainees have so far been released, and Mr Bellinger said a further 100 had been cleared for release.

But Mr Bellinger said Washington had been frustrated in its attempts to reduce the number of people being held at Guantanamo by the refusal of countries to accept released detainees.

"Many countries will just not take their nationals back," said Mr Bellinger. "We think it is somewhat hypocritical of international critics to keep calling for the closure of Guantanamo without offering a place for any of these individuals."

But, Mr Bellinger insisted, those detainees who are still classified a security risk will continue to be held at Guantanamo indefinitely. "When people say Guantanamo should be closed, do they really want them [the detainees] to be released outright into their countries where they might go out and continue to pose a threat to the international community?"

In the case of high value detainees such as Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, they might never be released, even if it was not possible to bring a successful prosecution against them. "Khaled Sheikh Mohammed is unlikely to be sent anywhere" other than Guantanamo, he said.

Iraq Aid Agency 'Attacked' By US

Taken from BBC, 15.12.06

The Iraqi Red Crescent, the country's biggest humanitarian organisation, has accused United States troops of attacking its offices and vehicles.

The organisation's vice-president said attacks by US-led forces were the biggest problem it faced.

The Red Crescent, which has a staff of 1,000 and 200,000 volunteers, is the only Iraqi aid group working across the country's 18 provinces.



The US military said it was checking the allegations.

Jamal al-Karbouli, Vice-President of the Iraqi Red Crescent, said the latest incident occurred last week in the central city of Falluja.

"We had our offices attacked by American forces. They detained the volunteers and staff for more than two hours," Mr Karbouli said.

He added that two Red Crescent cars had been burned.

Mr Karbouli was speaking at a meeting of international Red Cross organisations in Geneva.

He went on to give other examples of alleged US harassment, including attacks on the organisation's headquarters in Baghdad over the past three years.

"Four to five times they have attacked the headquarters, they break doors and windows, just to see. And they didn't find anything and they left," he said.

A US military spokesman told Reuters news agency that American troops did not damage sites when searching for insurgents.

"Coalition forces strive to ensure they are respectful when they conduct interaction with the local population," Lt Col Christopher Garver said.

Australia: Army Link To Stolen Weaponry

Taken from The Sydney Morning Herald, December 15, 2006
Les Kennedy

ROGUE elements in the Australian military are feared to be behind the blackmarket sale of a cache of rocket launchers and guns to terrorist and criminal groups.

NSW counter-terrorism police are overseeing an investigation by the Middle Eastern Crime Squad, which is trying to locate eight of nine anti-tankweapons it suspects may have been stolen from the army for use within Australia.

The Herald can reveal that the police measures have extended to cutting a controversial deal with one of Sydney’s main underworld figures, who is in a high security prison.

The $50,000 paid to a member of the family of the Lakemba murderer Adnan ‘‘Eddie’’ Darwiche, who acted as a go-between, has so far yielded only one of the Light Anti-Tank Weapons and about 20 kilograms of explosives.

While police suspect the launcher is from the army, the serial numbers on the weapon have been filed off, complicating their investigation.

Variations of the rocket launchers – essentially light fibreglass tubes capable of firing one armour-piercing explosive – are widely used by terrorism groups overseas.

It is the suspected army link that has unnerved NSW police and federal intelligence agencies, suggesting that the underworld has found a way of bypassing elaborate border checks aimed at preventing terrorist weapons making their way into the country.

Senior police have dismissed earlier media reports about the existence of smuggled launchers of Chinese or Russian origin as being ‘‘wide of the mark’’.

Suspicion of a blackmarket military ring comes amid concern that police and security forces are ill prepared for a terrorist attack at next year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Sydney.

This week, the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Paul O’Sullivan, warned there was ‘‘an over-arching and persistent threat of terrorism’’ surrounding events like the September APEC meeting, which will involve 20 of the world’s most powerful politicians.

NSW police staged a counterterrorism exercise on Sydney Harbour on Wednesday, stressing they would use unprecedented measures, including locking down parts of the city and deploying helicopters, bomb and dog squad units, to prevent trouble.

The $50,000 was paid to a relative of Darwiche, who was sentenced to life imprisonment last month for a double murder committed with three others during a bloody inter-family drug feud in Sydney’s south-west.

It is believed police explored a possible indemnity certificate for the go-between that would prevent him or Darwiche being prosecuted over possession of the rocket launcher and explosives.

The indemnity proposal, which foundered, would also have protected the two men from prosecution over Darwiche’s alleged knowledge of the whereabouts of another four launchers.

It was through Taskforce Gain, set up three years ago to end a bloody series of drive-by shootings involving two families, the Darwiches and Razzaks, that police first heard talk that one of the weapons had fallen into criminal hands.

It was dismissed as an urban myth until a suspect ‘‘rolled over’’, informing them of a plot by Darwiche to fire two rockets into a Razzak family gathering.

The launcher was recovered in negotiations between police and Darwiche – the latter hoping for a reduction in his double life sentence for the murders of Ziad Razzak and Mervat Nemra at a Greenacre home in 2003.

Ms Nemra was an innocent bystander. Ziad Razzak was using her home as a safe house while on the run from Darwiche and three cohorts who were also found guilty of roles in the killings.

More than 100 bullets were fired into the house where the two were sleeping – two from Russian military AK-47 assault rifles and the other matched to a M-1 machine-gun, capable of firing 30 rounds a second.

Police have not been able to find the source of the M-1, but suspect it too may have been stolen from the military. Darwiche got his relative to also give police between 18 and 20 kilograms of Power-Gel explosive that he had stockpiled for use in his war against the Razzak family.

He has never revealed how he came by it, but Power-Gel can be commercially obtained with a licence and is used in mining and by farmers to remove tree stumps when clearing paddocks.

It is also believed that before the police deal with the Darwiches was aborted, authorities at one stage offered to allow him the unprecedented use of a mobile phone while in prison. The use of such devices by inmates is banned in all jails.

The Supreme Court trial this year was told that that the dispute between Eddie Darwiche and Bilal Razzak erupted in 2001 over drug-dealing boundaries and a broken marriage between Darwiche’s sister, Khadige, and Ali Abdul-Razzak.

In August, 2003 Ali Abdul-Razzak was shot dead by three gunmen as he walked from prayers at the Lakemba mosque. His killers have not been found.

Eddie Darwiche has also been found guilty of the attempted murder of Farouk ‘‘Frank’’ Razzak and the shooting of Bilal Razzak. He is now in the Super-Max high-security prison at Goulburn and is believed to be refusing to co-operate further.

Although authorities have not been able to say which armoury the rocket came from, they have not discounted the possibility that it and the M-1 machine-gun were smuggled into Australia.

Police had hoped the $50,000 payment would lead them to the arms dealer, and, in turn, to the outstanding rockets and possible terrorist cells in possession of them.

US Repeatedly Warned That Iraq Posed No Threat, Says Diplomat

Taken from The Daily Mail, UK, 15th December 2006
By BENEDICT BROGAN

British diplomats repeatedly warned the Americans that Iraq did not pose a threat and that removing Saddam Hussein would plunge the country into chaos, a former diplomat has claimed.

Carne Ross, who resigned from the Foreign Office in protest over the war, made the allegations in secret evidence to the 2004 Hutton inquiry.

His scathing assessment of the negotiations in the run-up to the 2003 invasion was released by the Commons for the first time yesterday.

It appears to blow another hole in Tony Blair's justification for the war, and will reinforce calls - led yesterday by former Premier John Major - for a public inquiry.

Particularly damaging is his assessment that the war was illegal because the UK failed to secure a proper resolution from the UN Security Council.

Mr Ross, who has sharply criticised the Government over its Iraq policy, concludes: "It is clear that in terms of the resolutions presented by the UK itself, the subsequent invasion was not authorised by the Security Council and was thus illegal."

Mr Ross was a senior diplomat in New York until the summer of 2002 and had first-hand experience of the growing confrontation with Saddam Hussein. He set out his concerns in written evidence to the Hutton inquiry that investigated the death of Government weapons scientist David Kelly.

He was barred from publishing it amid claims that it would breach the Official Secrets Act, but MPs on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee agreed to place it on their website.

In his note he declares: "During my posting, at no time did the Government assess that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (or any other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests.

"On the contrary, it was the commonly-held view among the officials dealing with Iraq that any threat had been effectively contained. "I remember on several occasions the UK team stating this view in terms during our discussions with the US (who agreed).

"(At the same time, we would frequently argue, when the US raised the subject, that "régime change" was inadvisable, primarily on the grounds that Iraq would collapse into chaos.)"

Despite Mr Blair's repeated claims in 2003 that Iraq's stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction posed an imminent threat to national security, Mr Ross told Lord Hutton there was "no intelligence evidence of significant holdings" of biological, chemical or nuclear materials.

And he pointed out that "Iraq's ability to launch a WMD or any form of attack was very limited" because it had only a handful of missiles and its airforce "was depleted to the point of total ineffectiveness".

He told the inquiry that despite American claims that Saddam Hussein was linked to al-Qa'eda, "there was no evidence of any connection between Iraq and any terrorist organisation".

Mr Ross' evidence is also scathing about the failure of the Government and in particular the Foreign Office to enforce international sanctions against Iraq in the face of flagrant breaches by Saddam Hussein.

"These proposals went nowhere. Inertia in the FCO and the inattention of key ministers combined to the effect that the UK never made any coordinated and sustained attempt to address sanctions busting," he said.

He added: "Coordinated, determined and sustained action to prevent illegal exports and target Saddam's illegal monies would have consumed a tiny proportion of the effort and resources of the war (and fewer lives), but could have provided a real alternative. It was never attempted."

The publication of his evidence will revive the controversy over whether the Prime Minister put pressure on the Attorney General, the Government's top legal official, to give the green light to British involvement in the invasion force.

Lord Goldsmith's advice on the legality of the war appeared to indicate that the Attorney General's view changed after pressure from Mr Blair.

Appearing before the committee last month, Mr Ross described the Iraq invasion and its aftermath as a "rank disaster".

The former diplomat was Britain's representative on Iraqi issues at the United Nations between 1998 and 2002.

He left the Foreign Office after giving evidenceto Lord Butler's inquiry into the build-up to war.

He told the MPs that he has been threatened with prosecution under the Official Secrets Act if he published his evidence, but was willing to pass the document to the Committee, whose deliberations and activites are covered by Parliamentary privilege.

In written evidence submitted previously to the committee, Mr Ross said: "International law was undermined by the invasion of Iraq." He also accused Tony Blair of politicising the Foreign Office. "Promotion to senior positions has been in part based on the political sympathies of officials. "Those closely associated with Number Ten, and who are seen to be sympathetic to the Prime Minister's prejudices, are swept into senior positions."

Dumb Answers Of Intelligence Chief

Taken from The Times, UK, 13.12.06
Tom Baldwin in Washington

He is expected to have an acute understanding of terrorist groups and their threats to American interests. But the incoming chairman of a congressional intelligence committee was yesterday struggling to explain his ignorance of al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. Silvestre Reyes, the Democrat chosen to head the House of Representatives committee, was asked whether members of al-Qaeda came from the Sunni or the Shia branch of Islam.

“Al-Qaeda, they have both,” he answered, adding: “Predominantly probably Shi’ite.”

In fact, al-Qaeda was founded by Osama bin Laden as a Sunni organisation and views Shia Muslims as heretics. The centuries-old now fuels the militias and death squads in Iraq.

Jeff Stein, a reporter for Congressional Quarterly, then put a similar question about Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia group. “Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah . . .” replied Mr Reyes. “Why do you ask me these questions at five o’clock? Can I answer in Spanish? Do you speak Spanish?” Go ahead, said Stein. “Well, I, uh . . .” said the congressman.

His apparent ignorance of basic facts have raised fresh questions over his suitability for the key intelligence post — as well as the judgment of Nancy Pelosi, the new Speaker of the House, who picked him for the job. She has already been criticised for trying to oust her deputy Steny Hoyer, in a poll among Democrat congressmen after the mid-term elections.

There was further controversy over her choice of Mr Reyes over the head of Jane Harman, who had been the committee’s most senior Democrat but was said to have upset Ms Pelosi. At the time Mr Reyes said he had “very strong credentials” for the job — “credentials which could stand up to anybody”.

Yesterday he said in a statement: “The CQ interview covered a wide range of topics other than the selected points published in the story. As a member of the intelligence committee since before 9/11, I’m acutely aware of al-Qaeda’s desire to harm Americans. The committee will keep its eye on the ball, and focus on the pressing security and intelligence issues.”

Earlier this year Stein flummoxed two Republicans on the committee, Jo Ann Davis and Terry Everett, with similar questions about the differences between Sunni and Shia. “One’s in one location, another’s in another location. No, to be honest with you, I don’t know,” replied Mr Everett.

Stein has also caught out Willie Hulon, chief of the FBI’s new national security branch when he was asked to which branch of Islam were Iran and Hezbollah belonged. “Sunni” he replied. “Wrong,” said Stein.

Stein has defended his use of such questions: “To me, its like asking about Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland — who’s on what side? Its been five years since these Muslim extremists flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Centre. Is it too much to ask that our intelligence overseers know who they are?” Indeed, Trent Lott, No 2 in the Republican Senate leadership, said recently: “It’s hard for Americans, all of us, to understand what’s wrong with these people . . . They all look the same to me.”

The report from the Iraq Study Group expressed amazement that more was not being done to “understand the people who explode roadside bombs”. Only six people in the US Embassy in Baghdad are fluent in Arabic, about two dozen of its 1,000 employees having some familiarity with the language.

Jimmy Carter: Memoir of a great friend

Following all the shenanigans regarding Jimmy Carters book by the Jewish community in the states, I have stumbled upon a good article published in Israeli news media…

Memoir of a great friend
Taken from Haaretz, 16.12.06
By Tom Segev

One morning in the spring of 1983, Jimmy Carter left the King David Hotel and went for a morning jog, as he did wherever he was in the world. One U.S. Secret Service agent ran with him, as did two young Israeli soldiers who insisted on showing them the way.

They reached Jaffa Gate and turned north, circling the walls of the Old City. Carter was enthralled by the view. Their run led them to the Jericho road. Several elderly Arab men were sitting there reading the morning papers.

"The sidewalk was almost empty and wide enough for us to pass easily, but one of the soldiers cut to the right and knocked all of the newspapers back into the faces of the startled readers," Carter writes in his new book. Some of the papers fell to the ground.

Carter stopped and apologized but the old men didn't understand him. He told the soldiers to either let him continue alone or not harass anyone else. The soldiers reluctantly consented, and explained that "one could never tell what was being hidden behind newspapers."

Carter is apparently aware of the symbolic cliches in the story: There is enough room for everyone here; soldiers abuse people with no reason; misunderstandings; "the press is to blame."

He'd been in Israel several times, usually with his wife Rosalynn. Once, Rosalynn visited a hospital in Gaza. Her hosts showed her ambulances that the Palestinians had received from Europe. They couldn't operate them because the Israeli authorities refused to issue license plates, claiming the chassis were too long. Carter demanded an explanation and was told that, because of security concerns, the dimensions of all vehicles had to conform to a certain standard. "The Palestinians couldn't be given special permits to operate even ambulances that deviated from standards set by the local military officers," Carter writes.

The book is causing an uproar among those in America who consider themselves as "friends of Israel," for one thing because of its title: "Palestine - Peace Not Apartheid."

Predictably, some are accusing Carter of anti-Semitism. Carter is closely following the responses, including on the Internet, and responding to his critics. He is prepared to lecture for free about his views - but Jews don't want to hear, he complains. An Israeli reader won't find anything more in the book than is written in the newspapers here every day.

Carter has much praise for the public discourse in Israel, saying that it is more open to debate over a withdrawal to the Green Line than is the public discourse in America. It's become something of a fashion there lately to claim that the Jewish lobby stifles all criticism of Israel; in fact, it isn't difficult to find criticism there, too. Surveys show that a majority of Jews in America support a withdrawal in return for peace, as do at least half of the inhabitants of Israel. Carter isn't calling for anything more than that.

He has written a very personal and very Christian book, in the first person - I and the Middle East - that starts with his first visit to Israel in 1973. Prime Minister Golda Meir instructed that he be given the use of an old Mercedes and also provided a guide, by the name of Giora Avidar. Carter, who was then the governor of Georgia, describes his trip as if he were a 19th-century pilgrim visiting the Holy Land.

Visiting a kibbutz synagogue on the Sabbath, he remarked on the very small number of kibbutz members who came there to pray, and Giora the guide just shrugged his shoulders. He asked Golda Meir if she wasn't concerned by the secular character of her government and she, too, responded with a shrug, then lit cigarette after cigarette and said that there were enough religious people. Carter was disappointed, evidently; he'd imagined that Israel would be closer to God. But he returned from the trip "a great friend of Israel," as Golda Meir used to refer to people who supported her views.

He subsequently returned to Israel numerous times - and each time moved further away from what his official guide had pumped into his head on that first visit; from one visit to the next, he grew more critical. He has a good reason to be mad at Israel: Thanks to him, it achieved the first peace agreement in its history; and relations with Egypt are holding steady. This was "his" agreement, the one that brought him the Nobel Peace Prize.

It's no wonder that Carter sees it as key: Had Israel adhered to the Camp David Accords and not built settlements in the West Bank, it could have realized a comprehensive and lasting peace with Arabs who would recognize its legal borders, he contends. The expulsion of the Arabs reminds him of the expulsion of the Native Americans who once lived in Georgia and were forced to go west to Oklahoma via the Trail of Tears; his family farm was built on the land of those who were expelled.

In addition to offering personal memories, chapters of history and legal arguments, Carter frequently quotes UN resolutions and all kinds of other international decisions. He once went to meet with Prime Minister Begin to explain to him why the construction of settlements was a violation of UN Resolution 242.

To his surprise, Begin did not look him in the face; he was withdrawn and passive. He mumbled a few words and Carter understood that the conversation was over. He has several possible theories to explain Begin's behavior, most likely he was preoccupied with something. Tactfully, he does not mention Begin's shaky mental state. They sat in a small, dim room; Carter noticed that the room next door was empty and that it was also larger and better lit, and its number happened to be 242.

One evening, Carter invited Supreme Court president Aharon Barak to meet with him. They sat in the bar of a Jerusalem hotel; Carter urged him to act on behalf of the Palestinians' human rights, and told him of a number of abuses he'd heard of, including the story about the ambulances in Gaza. Barak said cautiously that he could not comment on specific cases.

Carter asked if Barak thought that the Palestinians deserved fair treatment. Barak replied that they do receive fair treatment before the high court, but that he was not in a position to undertake any legal action on their behalf. Carter asked if Barak felt a responsibility to really examine the overall situation. Barak said that he could only adjudicate matters brought before the court.

"When I requested his personal assessment of the situation in the West Bank and Gaza, he said that he had not been in the area for many years and had no plans to visit there," Carter writes. "I remarked that if he was to make decisions that affected the lives of people in the occupied areas, he should know more about how they lived.

He answered with a smile, 'I am a judge, not an investigator.'" It's not certain whether Carter also expects the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court to pay a visit, say, to Jamaica Plains, New York, to get a closer look at the place where an innocent black citizen was recently gunned down by police. Maybe he does.

The book appears to include a few errors: It's doubtful whether "cardinals" were included among the heads of the Christian communities who came to see him in Jerusalem; the capital of Yemen is not Tirana and UN Resolution 242 does not call for Israel to return to the 1967 borders.

Had Carter asked me, I would not have suggested that he sum up his theory of peace by means of citations from Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab and former MK Naomi Chazan. I would also have suggested that he not mention the Web site where a film on the security wall can be purchased for $10. Let people search for it on Amazon.

These are small things; the uproar is over the word "apartheid." That's another thing I would have recommended that Carter forgo, if he'd asked me. It's not necessary; the situation is terrible as it is. Now everyone's busy arguing about the use of the term "apartheid" instead of focusing on the horrors of the occupation in the territories. Similarly, I had a hard time getting worked up over the fact that the security wall in Jerusalem passes through territory that was a favorite of Jesus and his disciples.

But the principal argument is well-founded, and backed up by the reports from B'Tselem, Peace Now, Israeli newspapers and even many articles that appear in The New York Times (as opposed to the theory, which Carter cites, that says Israel's critics are being silenced). Like many others, Carter points out the ongoing and systematic violation of the Palestinians' human rights; the injustices of the oppression perpetuate the conflict. It's bad for everyone, the United States included.

The security wall is adding to the hardships for the Palestinians; its route is not meant solely to increase Israel's security, but to take a bite out of territories in the West Bank and annex them to Israel. Carter demands that Israel's right to exist in security and peace be ensured; he calls on Palestinians and the Arab states to accept this; he denounces terror. Time is pressing: Radical Islam is growing stronger, Israel has nuclear arms: This detail is mentioned in the book quite casually, as if it's something that everybody knows.

One reason the book is outraging "friends of Israel" in America is that it requires them to reformulate their friendship: If they truly want what's good for Israel, they must call on it to rid itself of the territories. People don't like to admit that they've erred; therefore, they're angry at Carter. But the belief that a withdrawal to the Green Line will bring peace has been around ever since the Six-Day War. What else is new?

Israel has remained in the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights mainly because the United States has not compelled it to withdraw. As optimistic as only a God-fearing person can be, the former U.S. president also essentially only propose that we all try to be nice to one another, in the spirit of the upcoming Christmas holiday. He has no new ideas to offer and thus his book is something of a let-down, though this does not justify a rebuke. Not to Carter. We owe him for the peace with Egypt.