Setting The Record Straight:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_______________________________________________________

For Immediate Release August 13, 2008

President Bush Has Taken Action To Ensure Peace, Security And Humanitarian Aid In Georgia

The Wall Street Journal Inaccurately Claims The Administration Was Slow To Respond To The Conflict Between Georgia And Russia

The Wall Street Journal asserts that "U.S. credibility is … on the line as the Bush Administration stumbles to respond to the Russian invasion of Georgia. So far the Administration has been missing in action." (Editorial, "Bush And Georgia," The Wall Street Journal, 8/13/08)

President Bush and his Administration have taken aggressive action, both public and non-public, to manage this crisis.

Friday, August 8, 2008:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks several times with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and makes a statement calling for an immediate ceasefire.

"Senior U.S. officials and I have spoken with the parties and continue to work with them to seek an end to hostilities. The United States is working actively with its European partners to launch international mediation. We urgently seek Russia's support of these efforts." (Secretary Condoleezza Rice, "Russia Move Into Georgia," Press Release, 8/8/08)

· President Bush meets with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Beijing and again that evening.

· National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley speaks twice with Prime Minister Putin's Foreign Policy Advisor Yuriy Ushakov.

· Defense Secretary Robert Gates speaks with Russian Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov as well as Georgian Defense Minister Davit Kezerashvili.

· Deputy Secretary Negroponte meets with Russian Charge.

· U.S. Ambassador in Tbilisi and Charge in Moscow remain in regular contact with Georgian and Russian officials.

· U.S. Embassy Tbilisi releases State Department pre-positioned disaster packages – valued at $1.2 million – to help those in need. The packages include basic medical supplies, tents, blankets, bedding, hygiene items, clothing, beds, and cots.

· Ambassadors Khalilzad and Wolff make statements in New York UNSC sessions from August 8 to 11 stressing the inviolability of Georgia's territorial integrity and calling on Russia to cease its attacks.

Saturday, August 9, 2008:

· Secretary Rice speaks with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

· President Bush speaks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

· President Bush speaks with Georgian President Saakashvili.

· President Bush delivers a statement from Beijing.

"This situation can be resolved peacefully. We've been in contact with leaders in both Georgia and Russia at all levels of government. Georgia is a sovereign nation and its territorial integrity must be respected. We have urged an immediate halt to the violence and a stand-down by all troops. We call for an end to the Russian bombings, and a return by the parties to the status quo of August the 6th." (President George W. Bush, Statement On Escalation Of Violence In Georgia, Beijing, People's Republic of China, 8/9/08)

· National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley speaks with British Foreign Policy Advisor Simon McDonald.

· National Security Advisor Hadley speaks with French Diplomatic Advisor Jean-David Levitte.

· Defense Secretary Gates speaks with Georgian President Saakashvili.

Sunday, August 10, 2008:

· President Bush speaks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

· U.S. Ambassador John F. Tefft declares a disaster due to the effects of armed conflict in Georgia and USAID provides an initial $250,000 for the local procurement and distribution of emergency relief supplies.

· U.S. begins airlift of Georgian troops home from Iraq.

· State Department officials meet with Russian Charge.

Monday, August 11, 2008:

· President Bush discusses the situation in Georgia during an interview with NBC.

"I said this violence is unacceptable – I not only said it to Vladimir Putin, I've said it to the President of the country, Dmitriy Medvedev. And my Administration has been engaged with both sides in this, trying to get a cease-fire, and saying that the status quo ante for all troops should be August 6th. And, look, I expressed my grave concern about the disproportionate response of Russia and that we strongly condemn bombing outside of South Ossetia." (President George W. Bush, Interview By Bob Costas, NBC Sports, Beijing, People's Republic of China, 8/11/08)

· Secretary Rice hosts a conference call with G7 Counterparts.

· Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert M. Kimmitt issues statement on support for Georgia's economy.

"Given its sound macroeconomic and fiscal policies and excellent progress in transition to a market economy, Georgia is well placed to weather the current crisis. Georgia's economy has been one of the strongest in the region owing to its proven record of reforms, and this reform effort deserves continued international support. The United States has strongly supported Georgia's reform and economic development programs and is prepared to join other countries to support the International Financial Institutions' future engagement to promote a vibrant economy that builds on the existing foundations." (Deputy Secretary Robert Kimmitt, Statement on Georgia's Economy, 8/11/08)

· President Bush speaks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

· President Bush delivers statement upon arrival at the White House calling on Russia to end this crisis.

"Russia's actions this week have raised serious questions about its intentions in Georgia and the region. These actions have substantially damaged Russia's standing in the world. And these actions jeopardize Russians' relations – Russia's relations with the United States and Europe. It is time for Russia to be true to its word and to act to end this crisis." (President George W. Bush, Statement On Situation In Georgia, The White House, 8/11/08)

· President Bush speaks with Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus.

· President Bush speaks with Polish President Lech Kaczynski.

· National Security Advisor Hadley speaks with French Diplomatic Advisor Levitte.

· President Bush speaks with Georgian President Saakashvili.

· Secretary Rice speaks with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

· Department of Defense cancels naval exercise with Russia

· U.S. completes airlift of Georgian troops from Iraq to Georgia.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008:

· President Bush speaks with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

· President Bush speaks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

· Secretary Rice makes a statement after meeting with the President at the White House.

"I want to make very clear that the United States stands for the territorial integrity of Georgia, for the sovereignty of Georgia, that we support its democratically elected government and its people. We are reviewing our options for humanitarian and reconstruction assistance to Georgia. But the most important thing right now is that these military operations need to stop. We will continue to work diplomatically on this matter and will continue our discussions with all the parties involved." (Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Remarks On Situation In Georgia, The White House, 8/12/08)

· USAID provides an initial $250,000 for the local procurement and distribution of emergency relief supplies.

· U.S. Department of Defense announces cancellation of annual French-Russian-UK-U.S. (FRUKUS) military exercise.

· Secretary Rice discusses situation in Georgia in an interview with ABC.

"[W]e're concentrating right now on getting this conflict stopped, so that people can stop dying, on getting the Russians to stop their bombardment of Georgian infrastructure and even Georgian ports and towns like Gori. We are concentrating on the humanitarian assistance that Georgia will need. We're concentrating on getting an assessment of what Georgia will need, in terms of reconstruction, and in sending very strong signals of support to democratically elected government of Georgia and its people." (ABC News' "World News With Charles Gibson," 8/12/08)

Wednesday, August 13, 2008:

· President Bush speaks with Georgian President Saakashvili.

· President Bush speaks with French President Sarkozy.

· President Bush makes a statement in the Rose Garden. Announces he has asked Secretary Rice to travel to France for a meeting with President Sarkozy and then on to Georgia to personally convey America's unwavering support for Georgia's democratic government

"We expect Russia to honor its commitment to let in all forms of humanitarian assistance. We expect Russia to ensure that all lines of communication and transport, including seaports, airports, roads, and airspace, remain open for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and for civilian transit. We expect Russia to meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia. And we expect all Russian forces that entered Georgia in recent days to withdraw from that country." (President George W. Bush, Statement On The Situation In Georgia, The White House, 8/13/08)

· Defense Secretary Robert Gates directs the U.S. military to begin humanitarian assistance to the citizens of Georgia.

· A EUCOM C-17 plane arrives in Tbilisi, Georgia carrying $850,000 in medical supplies.

· Tonight a C-130 will arrive carrying an ESAT survey team to prepare the way for further humanitarian assistance.

· State Department is sending 104,000 doses of antibiotics in response to a request from the Georgian Minister of Health.

· State Department is supporting the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as it prepares to send a team of surgeons to Georgia to help treat victims of the conflict in South Ossetia. ICRC plans to deliver 15 tons of water treatment equipment and medical aid, which will provide clean water for 20,000 people and medicine for about 400 wounded.

· State Department is supporting the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is moving stocks from one of its emergency warehouses in Dubai; 21,000 blankets, 1,850 tents, and 8,000 jerry cans should arrive in Tbilisi today. UNHCR also purchased locally emergency supplies ($250,000).

· USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance Washington-based regional team is coordinating U.S. humanitarian response activities, maintaining close contact with U.S. Embassy Tbilisi and partners on the ground.

· USAID is coordinating the U.S. response efforts with the international community, including the European Commission, the UN, NGO partners and the Government of Georgia.

Terrorism threat might not be an empty threat

By Cliff May

If you don't live in Washington, New York or another big city, you may think: "Even if the terrorists do strike again on American soil, my hometown and my family probably aren't in danger." Think again.

In 2001 the U.S. government established a commission to "assess the threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) attack." The commission recently reported to Congress that if a nuclear warhead were to be detonated at high altitude over the American mainland the blast would produce an EMP -- a shockwave so powerful that it would "cripple military and civilian communications, power, transportation, water, food, and other infrastructure."

Lights would go out. Telecommunications would fail. Computers would crash. Bank accounts would disappear. The stock market would cease operation. Refrigerated food warehouse would shut down. Sanitation and emergency services would be crippled.

Before long, millions of Americans would, as the Wall Street Journal flatly phrased it, "die of starvation or want of medical care." Any number of terrorists groups would be proud to carry out such an attack. But, as the EMP commission also reported, only Iran (1) is attempting to develop nuclear weapons, (2) has recently conducted multiple missile tests of its nuclear-capable Shahab-3 missiles, (3) has done so from cargo ships in the Caspian Sea, and (4) also has detonated those missiles at high altitude. What's more, the CIA has translated Iranian military journals in which EMP attacks against the U.S. are explicitly discussed.

The terrorists learned from those experiences -- America's political leaders did not. They failed to imagine or prepare for what the terrorists might do next -- what the terrorists did do on Sept. 11, 2001.

Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism.

ALSO read EMP threat not being addressed by U.S.

Capability is one thing. Intention is another. Or is it?

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said: "The time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started." He has added: "A world without the United States ... can be achieved."

An EMP attack would achieve that goal most rapidly because it would require only one nuclear weapon, and by using a ship as the launch pad, it would obviate the need for very long-range missiles (which Iran has not yet acquired).

You may be thinking: "Ahmadinejad and his mullah masters wouldn't dare! They must know the destruction we'd rain on them in response."

First, those who believe — as, for example, Islamist suicide-bombers do — that death in a war against Infidels leads to martyrdom and heavenly rewards cannot be deterred. For them, as Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis has observed, "mutually assured destruction in not a deterrent — it is an inducement."

Islamic banking is in its golden period of growth

(Compiler's note: Talk about financing our enemy .... Other than just pure greed, why on earth would any of the free world want to support Sharia Law. This is the same Sharia law wants us converted to Islam, enslaved or dead. rca)

Dr Jasim Ali, Special to Gulf New

Last week Moody's Investors Services published an exceptional report about Islamic banking industry. Entitled, "Frequently Asked Questions: Notable Trends in Global Islamic Finance", the report revealed some valuable insights into the potential of Islamic banking. Yet, one could disagree with some of the arguments made by the report's author, Anouar Hassoune, vice-president and senior credit officer at the company.

Amongst others, the report claims that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries do not want the private sector dominating the realm of Islamic banking. Accordingly, the GCC governments are increasingly entering as strategic investors in Islamic financial institutions (IFIs). Cases in point are Dubai government owning a controlling stake at Noor Islamic Bank (NIB). Set up 2007, NIB aims at becoming the largest IFI in the world within the next five years. Also, state pension funds own 30 per cent of Alinma Bank in Saudi Arabia. Set up in 2006, Alinma sold 70 per cent of shares through initial public offers earlier in the year. Likewise, the Qatari government partly owns Masraf Al Rayan.

The report suggests that government ownership should help making IFIs only more acceptable. "If governments have an increasing share of ownership in IFIs, the risk of consumers perceiving an IFI as insufficiently compliant with sharia is somewhat mitigated," it said. However, existing IFIs are not suffering from a reputation of being overtly commercial.

In reality what makes existing IFIs acceptable is endorsement granted by Islamic scholars. Some IFIs publish paid interviews with scholars if deemed necessary to win public acceptance for innovative products. Nevertheless, ensuring the availability of sharia scholars with knowledge of conventional and Islamic finance is a key challenge facing Islamic banking.

Yet, it is probable that authorities want to have a piece of profitability pie of IFIs, which are not known for reporting sustained growth in net income. For instance, Bahrain-based Ithmaar Bank saw its profit for the first half of this year surging 115 per cent to a record $141.9 million, up from $65.9 million for the same period last year.

One such additional evidence that Islamic banking has extraordinary potential relates to rivalry between London and Paris in dominating the industry in Europe. To be sure, the UK is relatively ahead of France in embracing the concept. In fact, the UK has modified its financial regulations to accommodate Islamic sharia. In fact, it is suggested that the UK government is contemplating issuing sukuk (Islamic bonds).

Yet, France is eagerly attempting to entice Islamic banking by virtue of hosting the largest Muslim community in Western Europe. Chances are that France could score some success through President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has developed a reputation of crisscrossing the world ever since assuming power in 2007.

The report put a sizable figure on the monetary value of Islamic banking. The suggested amount of $700 billion is considerably higher than previously assumed. Still, the report asserts that the figure could reach as high as $4 trillion in the too distant future. Other researches have put value of total assets of some 300 IFIs at $500 billion.

I agree with the report in stressing that expansion of the Islamic financial industry should lead to further diversification. In essence, benefits are expected to be extracted from increasing sophistication and further innovation as well as from growing operating and geographic diversification. Undoubtedly, Islamic banking is growing through its golden period.

- The writer is a Member of Parliament in Bahrain.

A military observation ...

Many journalists reporting on the present situation in Georgia use standard phrases expressing Russian "power" and "might" etc. But if the photographs show the present state of the Russian army, then it is not in a good state at all. For first-class Russian frontline units, there is strange mixture of obsolete and semi-obsolete armoured vehicles, with tanks in particular ranging from truly ancient T-54s to mid-life T-70s smothered in reactive armour. The use of this appliqui armour alone shows somewhat primitive tank thinking as compare to up-to-date Western models. Reactive armour is a cheap and cheerful form interim anti-tank protection pending the arrival of new tank models, and never used on Western tanks. Ceramic Cobham armour is used on Challenger 2 and Abrahams tanks, and the Russians appear not to have developed this. Also, it is surprising for a first-class tank unit to have some of its vehicles show appliqui armour whilst others show no such things. Also there appears to have been no attempt by lackadaisical tank crews to camouflage their vehicles and break up profiles.

The Russian transport, mainly, 1960s-design Ural trucks, is equally as ancient, and their thinly-armoured BTR armoured personnel carriers are of a model which hardly compares as with such advanced vehicles as the British Warrior, the US Bradley, or the US state-of-the-art Stryker vehicles, all of which which sprout multi-tasking aerials all over the place. On the Russian BTRs, here is no sign of anti-RPG bar armour, and absolutely no sign of mine-protected vehicles which have proved so necessary in Iraq. The Russians columns appear not to be alert as concerns mines or possible ambushes. The single aerials installed on all vehicles show that the internal VHF communications suites are almost of 1960s standard.

The state of the Russian infantry as observed is even more worrying. Their uniforms are not standard, their vehicle discipline looks casual, and the foot deployment of infantry is sloppy, with rifle and kit not properly adjusted, with Kalshnikovs pointing all over the place. Frankly, it is enough to make a British Sergeant-Major go apeshit. Also, the infantry have no body armour (or even steel helmets), and lacking man pack aerials, appear to have no good communications kit at all.

The age range of some of the Russian infantry must also be worrying to Russian trainers and instructors. I have seen men of well over thirty in infantry sections, and any number of over-plump tummies on display. There is also a racial mix which must present problems to any basic training programme as concerns language difficulties. Infantry appear in particular are drawn from every conceivable area in Russia, which must make for training and co-ordination difficulties.

Frankly, on detailed technical observation, this display the Russian army shows it appearing to have sunk to a third-world standard which only succeeded in this case by confronting a numerically inferior force. If the Russians had any alert propaganda sense at all, on this spotlight occasion, they would have fielded a modern elite force instead of the dog's breakfast as observed. On this evidence, goodness only knows what their second line units are like.

There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.) Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids.) She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises. During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected.

Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.

(Compiler's note: Excuse me, I think I'm going to be sick! rca)

One Man Terror Cell The New Face of al Qaeda

The creation of one-man terror cells seems to be the new strategy of Al Qaeda terrorists.

Intelligence officials have discovered an online Al Qaeda manual that prescribes that group leaders should training new recruits to operate as smaller cells around the globe.

The manual, called Method for Building the Personality of a Terrorist Mujahid and written by an Islamist forum contributor nicknamed “Shamil al-Baghdadi,” encourages militant followers to stop focusing on pulling off attacks on the scale of 9-11 and to start executing numerous smaller attacks.

If for some reason the mission fails, the Jihadi must not abort, but instead carry on alone, as a one-man cell, the paper quotes New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly as saying while quoting from the manual.

It advocates assassinations by shooting, poisoning and booby-trapping cell phones and computers.

Further, targets are to be prioritised by ranking them into categories such as “high profile,” which represent presidents and prime ministers.

Recruits are also told to organize credit card scams and to rob police stations in order to get hold of weapons.

Terror Friendly Group - CAIR - Joins With Leftist Church Groups, Demand Government Censorship

(Compiler's note: I wish this were not true, but I close my eyes and it still does not go away. rca)

By WILLIAM MAYER and BEILA RABINOWITZ

Continuing their campaign of intimidation aimed at censoring official dialogue of the terms most useful in describing the phenomenon of Islamic terrorism, on August 7, CAIR - an unindicted co-conspirator in the ongoing Holy Land Foundation Hamas terror funding prosecution - joined with an assortment of nominally Christian and Jewish groups, selecting California GOP Congressman Ed Royce as their newest target.

A letter addressed to Mr. Royce reads in part:

"As a diverse group of Southern California interfaith leaders, intellectuals and activists, we are deeply concerned by your continued use of inflammatory rhetoric linking Islam to terrorism. For example, in your June and July newsletters you stated , "Given the threat from Islamist terrorism facing our country, we need to be acting urgently to protect the United States everyday…"

The communication then goes on to suggest that Islamic terrorism doesn't exist, "Linking any faith to violence or terrorism is not only inaccurate but also casts a negative shadow on the peaceful followers of that faith," an absurd statement, unsupported by fact.

As these authors noted in Terms "Jihadist" And "Islamo-Fascist" Booted By Feds For Fear Of Antagonizing Jihadists and Islamo-Fascists and Minor Victory In War On Terror, Fed PC Thought Police Defeated the intent of this faux interfaith coalition is to enforce a pro-Islamist intellectual straightjacket keyed toward removing from the counter terror lexicon those concepts and descriptors most appropriate and useful in understanding the forces seeking to Islamize the Western world through force. It should go without saying that the Islamofascists use these very terms themselves when communicating among themselves as well as with the outside world.

"In a brief selection taken from the September 11, 2006 message by the al-Qaeda leader [Ayman Al Zawahiri], he states:

"...The target that the mujahideen should aim at are...our fighting should be jihad for the sake of Allah until religion is all for the sake of Allah...the jihad should strive to liberate Palestine in its entirety, and to liberate any land that was once Islamic from Adalusia [Spain] to Iraq...our Emir the shaykh, the mujahid, the lion of Islam Osama bin-Laden has assigned me to bring the good tidings to all Muslims and to my brothers, the mujahideen, wherever they are..." [source, as translated by MEMRI.org, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvlpY4MHdXg]

Rather that lending unintentional legitimacy - as claimed by these internal memorandums - to an enemy which employs terror and justifies its actions using Islamic theology, the use of jihad, mujahideen and other now apparently proscribed terms should be viewed as communication based upon a frank statement of fact.

The breathtaking mental gymnastics and level of moral equivalency required by whomever put these recommendations together is indicative of the crisis in clarity that confronts the West as it faces down barbarism.

In no previous war has the United States engaged is such absurd breast beating, self-doubt and equivocation, and to do so in the current conflict is suicidal and defeatist.

Why the use of even arguably questionable rhetoric might serve to further enrage those already intent on killing us is preposterous."

What the Islamists are attempting to do, in this case supported by people and organizations whose grasp on reality is tenuous, is to suppress freedom of speech in the most important conflict of our time using as justification a Shari'a centric flawed logic demanding that none speak ill of "the religion of peace," in any context.

Make no mistake, this is a prescription for defeat of the West and the Islamists know it. That the stakes in this struggle and the enemy's methodology is being potentiated by the co-signatories to this document is a sad commentary and indicative of their childish naievete.

http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=royceid=8.13.08%2Ehtm

This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3566

API President and CEO Sends Statement to Senate’s “Group of 10″

(Compiler's note: United States national security is a risk here. This letter does much to explain why and how. One does NOT need to be an economist to understand. rca)

By Cary Wesberry • August 16, 2008

Red Cavaney, President and Chief Executive Officer of API sent this response to the Senate’s “Group of 10″, ....

API must express its opposition to the approach outlined by the Group of 10 because it falls far short of what is needed.

Unfortunately, the proposal appears to be a classic case of one step forward, two steps back — or in this instance “light on new production/heavy on new taxes”. Current world events only reinforce the critical importance of ensuring that our nation develops the full range of its domestic energy resources for economic competitiveness and national security reasons.

The proposal’s approach to access to federal oil and natural gas resources is far too limited in its scope. And, it is unfortunately paired with the imposition of at least $30 billion in new taxes on the oil and natural gas industry that would have the effect of limiting needed oil and gas investment. A lesson learned well in the 1970-80 period. These measures create an environment that will virtually assure a future with less, not more, domestic production.

While this new proposal would expand access in the waters of the Outer Continental Shelf, it unfortunately limits any expansion over current law to the eastern Gulf of Mexico and waters off four Atlantic Coast states in the South. Even in these areas, development in federal waters less than 50 miles offshore would be banned - despite the fact that offshore facilities would need to be 12 or fewer miles from shore to be visible from land. Leasing in the North Atlantic and off the Pacific Coast would be banned and plentiful hydrocarbon resources in Alaska would remain off limits. Significant regulatory burdens on new development would remain in place. The imposition of $30 billion in clearly discriminatory new taxes, to pay for federal investment in alternatives and renewables, ignores the fact that the industry already provides more than 70 percent of all North American investment in research and development in emerging energy technologies.

Americans today are calling for Congress to do much more to supply their needs for additional energy. Our companies are supplying more energy - and more kinds of energy - to meet this growing demand. The U.S. Energy Information Administration continues to point out that oil and natural gas will be an essential part of this nation’s energy future for decades to come. Opening all available domestic resources to safe and environmentally responsible development would significantly boost U.S. supplies of oil and natural gas; increase the nation’s energy security; add more well-paying American jobs; help with our balance of payments and economic growth during a time of recessionary fears and bring billions of dollars into the Treasury instead of sending them abroad.

Huge and discriminatory new taxes on the U.S. oil and gas industry make no sense. The only beneficiaries of such an ill-advised approach would be international competitors in the global oil markets, who would benefit as US companies were made less competitive in the quest to find and develop global energy supplies. ....

North Texas school district will let teachers carry guns

HARROLD, Texas — A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to allow teachers and staff to pack guns for protection when classes begin later this month, a newspaper reported.

Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements.

In order for teachers and staff to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations and have to use ammunition that is designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in school halls.

Superintendent David Thweatt said the small community is a 30-minute drive from the sheriff's office, leaving students and teachers without protection. He said the district's lone campus sits 500 feet from heavily trafficked U.S. 287, which could make it a target.

"When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves? That's like saying 'sic 'em' to a dog," Thweatt said in Friday's online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Thweatt said officials researched the policy and considered other options for about a year before approving the policy change. He said the district also has various other security measures in place to prevent a school shooting.

"The naysayers think (a shooting) won't happen here. If something were to happen here, I'd much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them," Thweatt said.

Texas law outlaws firearms on school campuses "unless pursuant to the written regulations or written authorization of the institution."

It was unclear how many of the 50 or so teachers and staff members will be armed this fall because Thweatt did not disclose that information, to keep it from students or potential attackers. Wilbarger County Sheriff Larry Lee was out of the office Thursday and did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment, the newspaper said.

Barbara Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Association of School Boards, said her organization did not know of another district with such a policy. Ken Trump, a Cleveland-based school security expert who advises districts nationwide, including in Texas, said Harrold is the first district with such a policy.

The 110-student district is 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth on the eastern end of Wilbarger County, near the Oklahoma border.

"Minorities" by Maxine

(Compiler's note: Maxine has my vote. She always gets to the root issue. rca)

We need to show more sympathy for these people.

* They travel miles in the heat.

* They risk their lives crossing a border.

* They don't get paid enough wages.

* They do jobs that others won't do or are afraid to do.

* They live in crowded conditions among a people who
speak a different language.

*They rarely see their families, and they face adversity
all day every day.

I'm not talkin' about illegal Mexicans,

I'M TALKIN' ABOUT OUR TROOPS!!

Doesn't it seem strange that many Democrats and Republicans are willing to lavish all kinds of social benefits on illegals, but don't support our troops and are now threatening to defund them?
It's a darn shame!!

Al Qaeda on the Run?

CBNNews.com - As we approach the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a debate is raging among counterterrorism experts: what is the current state of al Qaeda?

Have the group's serious losses in Iraq left it fatally weakened? Or do one safe haven and several new fronts make it as dangerous as ever?

Let's begin this discussion by examining the state of al Qaeda in what the Bush administration considers the central front in the War on Terror: Iraq. ....

Ignoring ‘The Perfect Storm’ at Our Own Peril

(Compiler's note: This is an absolute "must read" article -- in fact it needs to be read and considered very carefully. rca)

By Frank Salvato, 8/15/2008 12:01:30 AM

The mainstream media and the presumptive nominee from the Democrat Party have done a pretty good job of steering the electorate’s attention to issues of a domestic nature. It wasn’t hard to do. With gasoline prices hovering around four dollars a gallon, combined with the self-induced but limited financial crisis created by proprietary lenders and a healthcare system that’s being raped by grifting lawyers and robber-baron insurance companies, it is easy to understand why voters would fall prey to diversionary tactics of the political power seekers. But we do so at the expense of the well being of our nation. We do so ignoring “the perfect storm.”

French Nobel prize winner and reformed communist Andre Gide once said, “The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.” We in the United States, especially those who are politically aware, can identify with this phrase because our political parties have taken to questing for political power rather than the execution of good government. While there are some elected officials who sincerely strive to serve our nation and its people, the great majority of those who inhabit the halls of government – whether at the local, state or national levels – do so to move their political agendas forward and to institute their party’s special interests. In doing so they abdicate the duty of their positions in that they are not representing the will of their constituents.

Examples of elected officials placing politics before government are abundant. An overwhelming majority of the American public have expressed, in no uncertain terms, that they want their elected officials to, among other things:

? Utilize our nation’s natural resources to break from the chains of foreign energy dependence.

? Secure the borders.

? Simplify and make more equitable the tax codes.

? Balance the budget by maintaining fiscal responsibility (read, don’t spend what you don’t have, keep your checkbook balanced and stop raising taxes to institute new programs of entitlement).

? Institute an effective and practical solution for the looming Social Security crisis.

? Eliminate foreign aid to countries that consistently oppose the United States on the world stage.

The list could go on and on but the point is clear; politicians consistently put politics, power and financial special interests before the issues most important to the American people: A small, elite group of Progressives, beholden to the environmental lobby, uses their governmental powers to usurp the will of the people by refusing to allow drilling in places we know there are oil deposits; politicians on both sides of the aisle pander to an illegitimate voting demographic in the illegal alien population for fear that if they stand up for America’s sovereignty they may be voted out of office by those who shouldn’t be voting in the first place; politicians of both major political parties refuse to banish the earmark and reserve the right to raid the government treasury to provide bribes to their constituencies in an effort to garner re-election; the tax code continues to overburden the middle class and penalize the family while expanding entitlement increases the number of those feeding from the public trough and the mega-rich evolve into an elitist class; etc, etc, etc...

But perhaps the most devious, the most troublesome example of elected officials putting political opportunism before good government comes in the form of “the perfect storm.”

Our nation faces two enormous threats, one externally and one from within, and we do so without a proper understanding of why we should be fighting them both with every fiber of our collective being.

The mainstream media and the progressive, anti-war left feverishly contend that Iraq and Afghanistan are two separate conflicts – one illegitimate and one poorly managed. They continue to deny – adamantly – that Western Civilization is at odds with the aggressive ideology that is fundamentalist Islam. They do so insisting that dialogue is always the answer and believing that the actions of the United States in the Middle East justify the violence of the jihadi movement.

“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.”

Facts are stubborn things and the facts surrounding this third major attempt to establish a global Caliphate are no different.

Wahhabists and Salafists like al Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah and Yusuf al Qaradawi, perhaps the most influential voice within the Muslim Brotherhood, have stated in no uncertain terms that the catalyst for their violent jihadi movement transcends the actions of the United States.

While bin Laden and al Zawahiri used the excuse of US forces in Saudi Arabia as a catalyst to launch their aggression, the rhetoric that surrounds their every action exposes the totalitarian tenets of their religious beliefs. Their Wahhabist beliefs call for the conversion or extermination of the infidel and the institution of Sharia law world wide; the establishment of a global Caliphate.

Hassan Nasrallah – the figurehead of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and mouthpiece for Hezbollah’s creators, the Iranian mullahs – pursues the extinction of Israel and, like his ideological master, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, yearns for the return of the Twelfth Imam, the Mahdi, who can only come when the world is in chaos at the “end of days.”

Al Qaradawi and his Sunni Muslim Brotherhood – perhaps the most dangerous of them all – promotes the proselytization of Wahhabi Islam throughout the world. It should be noted that Wahhabi Islam is the brand of radical, violent Islam practiced by Osama bin Laden and all of the 9/11 hijackers.

Understanding that those who believe in Wahhabism and/or Salafism and those who practice the brand of Shi’ite Islam practiced by Ahmadinejad, hold their beliefs as strict religious dogma, understanding that ingenuous dialogue – but for capitulation – with anyone who embraces the strict tenets of radical Islam is then impossible, why would any elected official, true to good government, deny the enormity of the threat posed to the United States and the West by radical Islamist elements?

The second serious threat is less immediate and less violent, but caustic and lethal to the American philosophy and the continued existence of our country just the same. This threat comes from the American Fifth Column; the threat from within.

Emanating from the failed ideologies of Maxist-Leninst socialism and communism, the American Fifth Column dedicates itself to the transformation of the United States from a representative republic to a system of democratic socialism. This movement is personified by the progressive-left that has effectively hijacked the Democrat party.

Those leading the American Fifth Column have instituted a shadow government by instituting a shadow set of laws known as political correctness. They strive to legislate acceptable thought (no hate speech, the Fairness Doctrine) while Balkanizing the country employing the false notion that diversity makes us a stronger nation. Using the simple science of etymology it is clear that diversity is based on division, not unity. This diversity is anchored in the failed ideology of multiculturalism. Examples of how devastating the institution of multiculturalism is to a society can be witnessed in the incremental disappearance of the national identities of all the nations of Europe. Europe is now abandoning multiculturalism in favor of nationalism.

By promoting moral relativism the American Fifth Column strives to move away from the doctrines of Judeo-Christianity and Natural Law; the ideologies our Founders and Framers understood to be essential for a nation that championed individual rights.

Through unconstitutional entitlement programs and the legislation of inequitable tax burden on those who have successfully employed the capitalist system to their benefit, those leading the American Fifth Column strive to artificially create economic equality through the redistribution of wealth. Ironically, those who lead the American Fifth Column have established an elitist class for themselves, as most of them are millionaires (like Nancy Pelosi) and even billionaires (like Peter Lewis and George Soros). They do so to reduce the “influential footprint” of the United States on the world in a quest for a one-world order administered by the elite.

Interestingly, the progressive-leftists of the American Fifth Column are playing the roll – either unwittingly or recklessly – of the useful idiot to radical Islam’s quest for a global Caliphate.

So, the people of the United States face these two incredibly potent threats – each which could affect the end of the great American experiment – yet we are apathetic to the threat. Why? Because we face these challenges constitutionally illiterate.

We in the United States – but for those who have served to protect our liberty – stand apathetic to the threats because we do not understand the worth of our liberty, the worth of our freedoms and therefore we cannot adequately value them. Because we do not value our liberty, because we do not understand the worth of our freedoms, it is easier to incrementally abdicate them and to abdicate the responsibility to protect them. In doing so we invite the nefarious – those with ulterior motives, totalitarian quests and special interests – to take on the façade of public servant while they institute ideological agendas that literally kill out nation.

Our educational system has been hijacked by progressive-left ideologues. They rewrite our school’s textbooks to place more emphasis on the notion that Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, that Benjamin Franklin had a tendency to philander or any number of human frailties possessed by our Founders and Framers rather than exploring the incredible intellect of these men, rather than examining the philosophies that so affected these men that they would create the genius of the Charters of Freedom – the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In today’s classrooms the American Fifth Column provides a curriculum short on Hobbes, Locke, Aristotle and Cicero and heavy on tolerance, diversity and the proper use of condoms.

It is time that parents from all over the country – all over the world – embrace the idea that we have to take charge of educating our children. In the long run we have to run for school boards and take an interest in our schools’ curriculum development. In the short run we have to engage and support organizations that are sounding the alarm about not only the indoctrination being perpetrated on our children through “special interest education” but the threats we face from dangers internally and externally; the perfect storm.

Edmund Burke is quoted to have said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” It is time, patriots, to ask ourselves, are we supporting those fighting the good fight? Or are we doing nothing.

Frank Salvato is the Executive Director and Director of Terrorism Research for BasicsProject.org a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(c)(3) research and education initiative. His writing has been recognized by the US House International Relations Committee and the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention. His organization, BasicsProject.org, partnered in producing the original national symposium series addressing the root causes of radical Islamist terrorism. He also serves as the managing editor for The New Media Journal. Mr. Salvato has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor on FOX News Channel and is a regular guest on talk radio including on The Right Balance with Greg Allen on the Accent Radio Network and on The Captain's America Radio Show catering to the US Armed Forces around the world. His opinion-editorials have been published by The American Enterprise Institute, The Washington Times & Human Events and are syndicated nationally.

Government as "Competitor": The Latest Prescription for Government Control of Health Care

by Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.

WebMemo #2024

Certain recent proposals to ostensibly expand health care "choice" and "competition" would have exactly the opposite effect. One such recent proposal is to create a national health care "market" through a congressionally designed "national health insurance exchange" where a government health plan would compete directly with private health plans.[1]

The declared purpose of this arrangement is to give those Americans who were not enrolled in employment-based health insurance coverage, or those with insecure coverage, the opportunity to get stable, affordable health insurance that would have a guaranteed set of government standardized benefits (such as Medicare or a version of Medicare) calibrated for a younger population. Usually, this kind of proposal is accompanied by an employer mandate, whereby employers who do not offer private coverage are required to pay a tax that would, in turn, help to finance coverage in the competing public program.

Government as Player and Umpire ....

Congressional Commission Should Recommend "Damage Limitation" Strategy

(Compiler's note: Long, but a "must read" article. rca)

by Baker Spring

Section 1062 of the National Defense Authoriza­tion Act for Fiscal Year 2008 created a congressionally appointed commission to review the strategic posture of the United States.[1] The Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States is charged with assessing the entire strategic posture of the U.S., including offensive and defensive forces and conven­tional and nuclear forces. It is chaired by former Sec­retary of Defense William Perry and co-chaired by former Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Energy James Schlesinger. The commission's initial report is due later this year.

The commission's review comes at a perilous time for U.S. strategic forces. The U.S. nuclear arsenal and stockpile have been atrophying since the end of the Cold War. Strategic defenses, which were all but aban­doned during the Cold War, continue to lag behind the threat resulting from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and their delivery sys­tems. Congress has been reluctant to pursue conven­tional strategic strike programs, which are also referred to as prompt global strike systems.

However, the commission's most pressing problem is adapting the U.S. strategic posture to maintaining national security and stability in the multipolar world that has replaced what commentator Charles Krau­thammer has called the "unipolar moment" that immediately followed the end of the Cold War.[2] This multipolar world has resulted from the post-Cold War proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, particu­larly nuclear weapons and related delivery systems.

In this multipolar environment, the commission should recommend to Congress that the U.S. adopt a damage limitation strategy to replace the retaliatory deterrence strategy that dominated U.S. policy during the Cold War. A damage limitation strategy would seek to protect the peoples, territories, institutions, and infrastructure of the United States and its allies against attacks by defeating such attacks and, bar­ring the outright defeat of such attacks, limiting their attendant damage to the greatest extent possible. ....

Islamic Lender's Ex-Chief Is Held

DUBAI -- The former chief executive of Dubai-based Islamic mortgage lender Tamweel is being held by police here as part of a financial probe, a law-enforcement official said.

The former executive, Adel Al Shirawi, was arrested after a case was filed on Aug. 5, according to the police official, who declined to be identified. Mr. Shirawi hasn't been charged, the official said.

According to Dubai Public Prosecution records seen by Zawya Dow Jones, Mr. Shirawi and Feras Kalthoum, a former head of investments at Tamweel, are being probed as part of an alleged "embezzlement and mistrust" investigation. Dubai Public Prosecution officials declined to comment on the details of the probe. Mr. Kalthoum was arrested earlier this month, but hasn't been charged, a Dubai Public Prosecution official confirmed to Zawya Dow Jones. ....

Up to 1-in-50 Troops Seriously Injured... By Vaccines?

US Department of Defense: 1-2% of individuals may experience severe vaccine effects that "could result in disability or death."

American Academy of Pediatrics: 2+ % of children have "defects" that cause vaccine "risks" ....

U.S. May Ease Police Spy Rules

By Spencer S. Hsu and Carrie Johnson

Washington Post Staff Writers

The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years.

The proposed changes would revise the federal government's rules for police intelligence-gathering for the first time since 1993 and would apply to any of the nation's 18,000 state and local police agencies that receive roughly $1.6 billion each year in federal grants.

Quietly unveiled late last month, the proposal is part of a flurry of domestic intelligence changes issued and planned by the Bush administration in its waning months. They include a recent executive order that guides the reorganization of federal spy agencies and a pending Justice Department overhaul of FBI procedures for gathering intelligence and investigating terrorism cases within U.S. borders.

Think of EMP Before Problem Arises

The Wall Street Journal

....The fact is that you don't need a nuclear warhead. An EMP generator can be constructed that would fit inside a briefcase. If someone had a mind to use such a device, you could merely walk past an unprotected facility such as a server farm or communications center and disrupt the electronics.

Another benefit of EMP hardening, which is considerably more practical, is that it can protect electronic equipment against the effects of lightning and everyday power-line surges.

I strenuously urge Washington to consider re-establishing FEMA's EMP protection program. Electronic devices have permeated our lives so deeply that any disruption of these systems on which we so dearly depend could prove disastrous.

Al-Qaida inmates plot beheading

LONDON -- Specialists for Britain's MI5 intelligence service, responsible for monitoring Britain's eight maximum security prisons where convicted al-Qaida terrorists are held, have unearthed a plan to kidnap a prison officer and behead him, then transmit the images onto the Internet, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

The discovery was described by MI6 director-general, Jonathan Evans, in a report this week to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith as "a real live threat."

The plot is centered on Whitemoor prison in Cambridgeshire and Frankland jail in County Durham. Between them, they house more than a dozen convicted terrorists.

"In all eight prisons, there is mounting racial tension, but the specific threat to execute an officer and film it on mobile phones is new," states the MI5 report. ....

Murtha goes to bat for firm that broke export law

Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat known for delivering federal money to defense contractors in his district, is now going to bat for a constituent's company that was convicted last year of illegally exporting components of military equipment.

Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, wrote State Department officials in late June urging them to meet with the president of Electro-Glass Products, a 50-employee company that was convicted in April 2007 of illegally exporting components of night-vision goggles to a company in India. The Mammoth, Pa., firm has been sanctioned by the State Department, and Murtha argues that the action threatens to put the firm out of business. ....

New Nightmare Census Projections Reveal CHAIN MIGRATION Still Choking Our Future

By Roy Beck,

Well, more bad news from the Census Bureau.

Looking at today's trends in immigration and in immigrant fertility, the Bureau now says that its previous projection of 420 million people in the U.S. in 2050 is too low.

Instead, it now looks like we are headed to 439 million in 2050 -- if Congress doesn't finally start correcting the collossal immigration mistakes set in motion in 1965, accelerated in 1990 and snowballing because of the effects of Chain Migration.

At least four-fifths of the additional 135 million people crammed on top of the 304 million already in our communities will be the result of new immigrants and births to immigrants, according to Census data.

ELIMINATE CHAIN MIGRATION FOR A BETTER FUTURE

The good news is that we don't have to ruin the future quality of life of our children and grandchildren.

If Congress adopts the plan of action advocated by NumbersUSA, U.S. population in 2050 won't have to be anywhere near 400 million.

The key is to eliminate the Chain Migration categories that create endless chains of relatives of immigrants coming to America, without regard to their skills, education or their ability to serve the national interest. (Please continue to use our free faxing system to press your Members of Congress to co-sponsor bills to end Chain Migration and to carry out the other solutions to our immigration problems.) ....

Russia accused of dropping cluster bombs on Georgian civilians

Russian military aircraft have deployed controversial and indiscriminately deadly cluster bombs on civilian areas of Georgia according to an international rights group.

Human Rights Watch, which is based in New York, said today that it has obtained evidence proving that the weapons, which were banned by more than 100 countries in May, have killed at least 11 people so far during the conflict in the Caucasus.

Cluster bomb systems scatter small “bomblets” across a wide area and can prove deadly to civilians - particularly children - who pick up munitions which have failed to detonate on impact. The bombs effectively leave behind a trail of landmines. ....

Taliban wages war on aid groups

By Anand Gopal/CSM

* Not only that they blow up schools along with students and teachers, nothing is what they want:

Nineteen aid workers have been killed this year, ....

Iran training Iraqi hit squads: US military

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Iraqi assassination squads are being trained in Iran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force and Lebanese Hezbollah for attacks in Iraq, a US military official said Friday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Shiite "special groups" were being trained in Qom, Tehran, Mashad and Ahvaz in assassination and bombing techniques to target specific Iraqis as well as US troops and Iraqi security forces.

"We have intelligence reports confirming Iranian-sponsored groups are planning to return back to Iraq and are targeting specific coalition forces, ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) and Iraqi citizens," the official said.

The intelligence, if it proves out, raises the prospect of a deadly new security challenge at a time when the US military is hoping to make further cuts in its forces.

The official, who spoke from Iraq, said the information has been turned over to the Iraqi government "and they are taking the lead in handling the situation."

The groups were being trained in "reconnaissance, small arms, small unit tactics, cellular operations, EFPs and other IEDs, RPGs and assassination techniques," the official said. ....

Click here for additional information on this topic.

Hezbollah ‘Five-Times’ Stronger Than It Was During Israeli War

In terms of weaponry, strategic and political positioning, and its ever-expanding international reach; Hezbollah is “five times more capable today,” than it was at the beginning of the July 2006 war with Israel: A fact, according to experts, that prompted Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to tell his troops during a Tuesday morning tour of positions along the Golan Heights, "It's not for nothing that we're training here." ....

The West's Islamist Infiltrators

By Daniel Pipes

Siddiqui, 36, is a Pakistani mother of three, an alumna of MIT, and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Brandeis University. She is also accused of working for Al-Qaeda and was charged last week in New York City with attempting to kill American soldiers.

Her arrest serves to remind how invisibly most Islamist infiltration proceeds. In particular, an estimated forty Al-Qaeda sympathizers or operatives have sought to penetrate U.S. intelligence agencies.

Such a well-placed infiltrator can wreck great damage explains a former CIA chief of counterintelligence, Michael Sulick: "In the war on terrorism, intelligence has replaced the Cold War's tanks and fighter planes as the primary weapon against an unseen enemy." Islamist moles, he argues, "could inflict far more damage to national security than Soviet spies," for the U.S. and Soviet Union never actually fought each other, whereas now, "our nation is at war."

Aafia Siddiqui is accused of working for Al-Qaeda.

Here are some American cases of attempted infiltration since 2001 that have been made public:

• The Air Force discharged Sadeq Naji Ahmed, a Yemeni immigrant, when his superiors learned of his pro-Al-Qaeda statements. Ahmed subsequently became a baggage screener at Detroit's Metro Airport, which terminated him for hiding his earlier discharge from the Air Force. He was convicted of making false statements and sentenced to eighteen months in jail.

• The Chicago Police Department fired Patricia Eng-Hussain just three days into her training on learning that her husband, Mohammad Azam Hussain, was arrested for being an active member of Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H), a Pakistani terrorist group.

• The Chicago Police Department also fired Arif Sulejmanovski, a supervising janitor at its 25^th District station after it learned his name was on a federal terrorist watch list of international terrorism suspects.

• Mohammad Alavi, an engineer at the Palo Verde nuclear power plant, was arrested as he arrived on a flight from Iran, accused of taking computer access codes and software to Iran that provide details on the plant's control rooms and plant layout. He subsequently pleaded guilty to transporting stolen property.

• Nada Nadim Prouty pleaded guilty to multiple charges.

  Nada Nadim Prouty, a Lebanese immigrant who worked for both the FBI and CIA, pleaded guilty to charges of: fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship; accessing a federal computer system to unlawfully query information about her relatives and the terrorist organization Hizballah; and engaging in conspiracy to defraud the United States.

• Waheeda Tehseen, a Pakistani immigrant who filled a sensitive toxicologist position with the Environmental Protection Agency, pleaded guilty to fraud and was deported. World Net Daily explains that "investigators suspect espionage is probable, as she produced highly sensitive health-hazard documents for toxic compounds and chemical pesticides. Tehseen also was an expert in parasitology as it relates to public water systems."

• Weiss Rasool, 31, a Fairfax County police sergeant and Afghan immigrant, pleaded guilty for checking police databases without authorization, thereby jeopardizing at least one federal terrorism investigation.

• Nadire P. Zenelaj, 32, a 911 emergency operator of Albanian origins, was charged with 232 felony counts of computer trespass for illegally searching New York State databases, including at least one person on the FBI's terrorist watch list.

Three other cases are less clear. The Transportation Security Administration fired Bassam Khalaf, 21, a Texan of Christian Palestinian origins, as an airport baggage screener because lyrics on his music CD, Terror Alert, applaud the 9/11 attacks. FBI Special Agent Gamal Abdel-Hafiz "showed a pattern of pro-Islamist behavior," according to author Paul Sperry, that may have helped acquit Sami Al-Arian of terrorism charges. The Pentagon cleared Hesham Islam, an Egyptian immigrant, former U.S. Navy commander, and special assistant to the deputy secretary of defense, but major questions remain about his biography and his outlook.

Other Western countries too - Australia, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom - have been subject to infiltration efforts. (For details, see my weblog entry, "Islamists Penetrate Western Security.")

This record prompts one to wonder what catastrophe must occur before government agencies, some of which have banished the words "Islam" and "jihad," seriously confront their internal threat?

Westerners are indebted to Muslim agents like Fred Ghussin and "Kamil Pasha" who have been critical to fighting terrorism. That said, I stand by my 2003 statement that "There is no escaping the unfortunate fact that Muslim government employees in law enforcement, the military and the diplomatic corps need to be watched for connections to terrorism."

20 Muslim nations ban U.S. religious workers

A new congressional study has found that more than 20 Muslim nations deny entry to American and other foreign religious workers, WND has learned, even as the U.S. State Department grants entry to hundreds of clerics from their countries each year.

The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and most other Middle Eastern countries still refuse to offer religious visas, and deny entry to U.S. clergy as official policy, according to a report by the Law Library of Congress, the foreign legal research arm of the U.S. Congress. In a shocker, U.S. allies Afghanistan and Iraq also made the list of religious refuseniks.

"Of this group, the vast majority constitute Arab or Muslim states," said Wendy Zeldin, senior legal research analyst for the Library of Congress.

"Since Islam prohibits proselytism by other religions, foreign religious workers will in effect be denied entry to conduct religious work," Zeldin wrote in the three-page report, a copy of which was obtained by WND.

At the same time, Washington routinely issues R-1 religious visas to clerics from the Middle East, including jihadi hotbeds Saudi Arabia and Egypt, even though an alarming number of foreign imams have been suspects in terrorism investigations since 9/11.

The Department of Homeland Security, in fact, considers visiting imams as nonthreatening as Buddhist monks. Screening procedures call for both visitors to be treated as the same level of security risk at the border.

Also, R-2 visas are routinely granted to relatives of foreign imams. ....