USCIRF chairman Leonard Leo and commissioners Nina Shea, Felice Gaer and Talal Eid

meet with Pakistani Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti. Bhatti,

 the only Christian member of the Pakistan's federal cabinet, was assassinated

 in Islamabad on March 2, 2011 by gunmen who linked the killing to his opposition to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. (Photo: USCIRF)

ATLAS SHRUGS
By Pamela Geller
More Islamic supremacism infecting every decision and policy coming out of the decaying beltway. Imagine: the one independent monitor of the oppression, subjugation and persecution of faith under Muslim, communist and autocratic regimes is about to ...disappear.


The idea that non-Muslims would be expendable but funding mosque building across the world, State department tours to the Middle East by stealth jihadists like Imam Faisal Rauf, funding Hamas, funding Islamic banking, funding Pakistan, the billions going to "outreach" and "interfaith dialogue" all to make Islamic supremacism and our dhimmitude more palatable, is a stunning indictment of how we have failed humanity.


Senate May Force Shutdown of Religious Freedom Watchdog


(CNSNews.com) – For more than a decade, an independent, statutory monitor has been advising the U.S. executive and legislative branches on international religious freedom, drawing attention to the persecution of people of faith under Muslim, communist and autocratic regimes from Riyadh to Rangoon. But by this time next week, it may have to close its doors.


The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) will shut down unless the U.S. Senate approves a reauthorization bill before then, or unless funding is included in a new continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through the end of the year.


Last September the House of Representatives passed by an overwhelming vote a bill extending the USCIRF’s life for another two years. The bill was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where it has been held up – by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), according to published reports.


Durbin’s office has not responded to inquiries and requests for comment.


If the Senate does not pass the bill before the current temporary authorization expires next Friday, and the commission is not covered in a new CR, it will cease to operate.


Since its formation in 1999, the USCIRF has kept the issue of religious persecution on the agenda, while challenging three administrations to take firmer steps against regimes that violate religious freedom.


It has drawn attention to the plight of Christians in predominantly Islamic countries such as Pakistan, Iraq and Nigeria; to ongoing religious restrictions and harassment of believers by Vietnam’s communist authorities; to incitement in Saudi school textbooks and materials used in mosques in the U.S.; to attempts by the Islamic bloc at the U.N. to outlaw religious “defamation” and promote blasphemy laws; and to the persecution of Baha’is in Iran, Buddhists and Protestants in Burma and Uighur Muslims in China.


[...]


‘Vital role, valuable resource’


The possibility of a USCIRF shutdown has alarmed some religious freedom advocacy groups.


“The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom plays a vital role in defending religious freedom around the world,” American Center for Law and Justice executive director Jordan Sekulow said Thursday.


“The USCIRF’s independent nature makes its work unique. It is a valuable resource in a world where religious persecution and violations of religious freedom continue to threaten people of faith – especially Christians.”


Pointing to the still-unresolved case of an Iranian pastor sentenced to death for apostasy, Sekulow said the ACLJ was grateful for the USCIRF’s concern and support for Youcef Nadarkhani.


He urged the Senate to approve the bill, “to continue funding this important entity.”


Lindsay Vessey, advocacy director at Open Doors USA, said in an earlier statement that “[f]ailure to re-authorize the USCIRF would send a message to rest of the world that religious freedom is no longer a national priority.”


In a recent letter to senators, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) also voiced concern about the situation.


“Ongoing attacks against Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East and in other parts of the world point to the need to pay more, not less, attention to religious freedom,” wrote Bishop Howard Hubbard, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace.


Citing recent violence against Christians in Egypt, Nigeria and Iraq, he said the mission of the USCIRF was today “more important than ever.”


“Abolition of this body would send an unintended message to the rest of the world. Oppressive groups may come to believe that the United States is not committed to the protection of religious liberty.”


CitizenLink, an affiliate of Focus on the Family, is urging Americans to contact their senators to urge reauthorization of the USCIRF.


Posted by Pamela Geller on Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 08:34 AM

Failure To Act - By Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, K. D. M. Jensen

Shahab-3 missile launch.

November 12, 2011

FAMILY SECURITY MATTERS

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, K. D. M. Jensen

 

The past few days have seen yet another round in the latest "last straw" dithering about Iran.  This time the huffing seems heavier. The IAEA  suddenly wakes up and finds that Stuxnet wasn't much of a setback to the Iranian nuclear program, and is finally prepared to recognize Ahmadinejad’s weaponization effort.

 

This IAEA report followed on the heels of a highly detailed U.S. account of a Quds Force plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S.  Lo and behold, Obama finds the last bit of his inner Bush and denounces Iran and puts the military option back on the table. Hillary Clinton turns neocon and calls for regime change (not exactly right away, but the next time the Iranian people give us a chance).

 

What do we have?  All wind and no rain.  This Administration seems to plan on doing nothing but threaten. No action, despite the inability to deny Iranian nuclear intentions any longer and the enormity of the assassination provocation. A recent pledge of a coming and forceful U.S.-led effort to take sanctions against the IranianCentral bank, the principal conduit for Iranian oil sales, was soon withdrawn: "Oil prices will go up if we do that.” Duh. So, why threaten at the first place?

 

Meanwhile, the pundits do what they usually do on the Iran issue: "bomb," "bomb a little now to avoid a lot later," "too late to bomb," "too early to bomb," "too dangerous, too costly, too much uncertainty to bomb," "let Israel do it, "don't let Israel do it."  Then, too there's "maybe we can finally get the Russians and Chinese to stop supporting the Iranian regime" (this despite the fact that the Russians said right away that they doubt the accuracy of the IAEA report, and the implausibility of China giving up Iranian oil).  Most scandalously there's "the assassination plot means nothing: it was amateurish and isn't how the Iranians would do things like that.”

 

The inflation of the Administration’s rhetoric at the expense of action has not deterred Iran in the slightest in the past. The U.S. lack of leadership seems to have been welcomed by our ostensible allies, who appear quite happy to be only secondary targets of the Islamic Republic. The failure to respond appropriately to the Quds Force assassination plot bears serious consequences. When a DEA agent foils a plot on American soil and the link to the Quds Force is clear, policymakers can no longer backtrack and wax dubious about the extent of Iranian terrorism on at least three continents. They can no longer ignore it.

 

Iran's Venezuela connections were startlingly revealed in Washington more than two years ago by Manhattan’s legendary District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau. In addition to serving as a conduit for military equipment from Belarus, Syria, and other countries to Iran, Venezuela seems to have built missile emplacements at its main air force base on Margarita Island. Eyewitness accounts and Google Earth images have confirmed the presence of ballistic installations there. If true, the Venezuelan-Iranian friendship- missiles could easily threaten the Panama Canal, the Gulf of Mexico and, with a Shahab-3 missile, Miami!

 

Recent events confirm that we have allowed the Iranian regime to move beyond brazen.  If Ahmadinejad, the mullahs, and the Revolutionary Guards feel free to do as they wish anywhere, anytime, it's not because they're mad or under the spell of the Twelfth Imam. It’s because we allow them.

 

 

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld  is Director of the New York-based American Center for Democracy and its Economic Warfare Institute. She is an expert on terrorism and corruption-related topics such as terrorfinancing and narco-terrorism. Rachel is the author of "Funding Evil; How Terrorism is Financed - and How to Stop It." She has helped to change New York state law, when the Libel Terrorism Protection Act (pdf) was passed. Similar laws have been passed in other U.S. states, and a federal law known as the SPEECH ACT which was signed by the president in August 2010, follows the same principle - that First Amendment guarantees should protect authors and publishers against foreign libel judgments from countries with poor free speech protections.

 

K.D. M. Jensen is Associate Director of ACD'sEconomic Warfare Institute.

 

Huge blast at Teheran military base: accident or sabotage?

ANNE'S OPINION

Posted on 12 November 2011 by anneinpt

Column of smoke after explosion at Teheran missile base

A huge blast at a military base near Teheran today killed 17 people (some reports say 27) and wounded dozens more. Speculation is rife as to what caused the blast; was it an accident or was it sabotage, and if so, who is the culprit?

A massive explosion at a military arms depot near the Iranian capital Tehran on Saturday killed 17 Revolutionary Guards and wounded 15, a spokesman for the elite fighting force told the semi-official Fars news agency.

Officials said the blast was an accident which happened as troops were moving munitions at a base in Bidganeh, near the town of Shahriar, some 45 km west of Tehran.

…

“Today at 13:30, (0900 GMT), an explosion happened in one of the Revolutionary Guards’ bases while a consignment of explosive devices was being moved out from the arsenal, besides that some munitions in the arsenal exploded which created a terrifying sound,” Revolutionary Guards spokesman Ramezan Sharif told state TV.

…

There were no reports linking the blast to any air strike or other attack. Tension has risen in recent weeks between Iran and its enemies Israel and the United States, which have not ruled out attacking facilities whose occupants they believe are working towards making nuclear weapons.

Sharif denied what he said was speculation in the Western media that the military base was linked to Iran’s nuclear program.

“This blast is not related to any nuclear tests that some foreign media have reported,” he told Mehr.

An Iranian exile group reports that the blast took place at a missile base, and was caused by the explosion of missiles.

A former spokesman for the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, in Washington, citing reliable sources inside Iran, said Saturday that the explosion hit the Modarres Garrison of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps west of Tehran. Alireza Jafarzadeh said the garrison belongs to the IGRC’s missile unit and the blasts “resulted from the explosion of IRGC missiles.”…

Iran has been hit by several mysterious explosions in recent years but an Iranian lawmaker ruled out sabotage.

Hmm. That was careless of them.

According to past reports by Iranian opposition groups, the village of Bidganeh is where the Fifth Raad Missile Brigade is stationed. The brigade is responsible for launching Shahab 3 and 4 missiles. Satellite images of the site reveal two large military bases near the village.

This explosion is good news whatever its cause. Iran is not only a burgeoning nuclear menace, but its conventional weaponry too is a very serious threat both to Israel and the West. Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel should the US attack it, and conversely has threatened to attack American and Western assets if Israel attacks it.

Since its Shihab and Zilzal missiles can already reach Israel and Europe, it’s all good news if several of those have been taken out.  And I hope it wasn’t an accident.

Do we wait for a nuclear winter from the east?

Stop Islamization of the World
Published by Leo on 2011/11/12  

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Recently in world politics the topic of the "peaceful" Iranian nuclear program is very relevant. Leaders of many countries are discussing how to get Ahmadinejad to stop enriching uranium.

One gets the impression that everyone understands that enriched uranium in the hands of terrorists poses a threat to all humanity. But nothing is done to prevent this. Real steps are being taken only by Iran. With each passing day the Iranian terrorist regime is getting closer to the cherished dream of the Ayatollah Khomeini: to build a nuclear warhead.

The facts that the U.S. is going to equip some Islamic states in the Persian Gulf against Iranian aggression, and that France is in favor of tightening sanctions against the country, is not the solution. Because neither the blockade nor a well-armed Muslim Persian Gulf will prevent the Iranian regime from continuing to build a nuclear bomb.

To confirm my words, I will give the words of the ruler of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai: he said recently that in a military conflict between the United States and Pakistan, the Afghans will support Pakistan. He said this despite the fact that billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are being spent to maintain the power of Karzai and the imaginary stability in Pakistan. Not to mention the fact that Osama Bin Laden was enjoying a fine standard of living in a villa in Pakistan along with his wives.

Another confirmation of the incorrectness of playing political games with Iran comes from the new "friend" of Ahmadinejad, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In an interview with CNN, he said: Turkey will not consider it right to apply sanctions to countries based on assumptions, as does the international community against Iran (source: the agency Anadolu).

"Why do countries that prohibit the implementation of Iran's nuclear program do not prohibit Israel from having nuclear weapons? They are motivated by the fact that Israel is surrounded by hostile states. Yet who in the region except Israel, has nuclear weapons? We do not believe this is true," said Erdogan.

He also touched on the prime location of the radar system EUROPRO in Turkey, which caused some concern on the part of Iran. "Placing the radar in Turkey is a NATO project. Turkey itself decides on any actions taken within its territory. But I openly declare that we will never allow our territory to be used to commit any attack upon Iran, as long as it poses no threat to Turkey," said Erdogan.

At the same time, we must not forget the fact that the Turkish Energy Minister, Taner Yildiz, said: "Metsamor in Armenia is very dangerous for the whole region, so this nuclear power plant must immediately cease its activities" (source: newspaper Timeturk).

Turkey, which is openly supporting Iran's nuclear program, moved to the offensive.

The political flirtation with Islamic countries is fraught with danger. It is even more dangerous to arm these countries, because no one knows against whom they will turn their weapons.

In such a situation we are only left to wonder whether Iran will have time to make a nuclear bomb while state leaders discuss this issue?

And will Turkey take possession of a bomb?

Or is it Ahmadinjed's delusionary desire, inspired by the teachings of the Qur'an, to destroy "world Zionism" by blowing up a nuclear reactor in Iran, and thereby himself arrange a new "Chernobyl" or "Fukushima" for all mankind?

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