Son of Hamas Founder: “Islam is a Religion of War”

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[Publisher’s note: Although this article was published several months ago, the below-interview provides insights into the violence that is currently spreading across the Muslim world]

Mosab Hassan Yousef has a knack for controversy. The son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, he has already broken every taboo in the Palestinian book. He has worked for Israeli intelligence and converted to Christianity. Now he is developing a new film which is sure to be no less sensational: a biography of the life of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.

Yousef, 33, broke ranks with Hamas in 1997 and began working for the Israeli internal intelligence service Shin Bet. Ten years later, after helping Israel thwart dozens of terror attacks and arrest many members of his former movement, Yousef left for the United States where he sought political asylum and later converted to Christianity.

Today, he says, he is back in Israel for the first time on a personal visit “to inspire a new generation of Palestinians.”

“I love Israel because I love democracy,” he told journalists in Jerusalem Tuesday. “I am here to protest religion’s absolute control of people’s lives.”

Standing next to his retired Shin Bet handler, Gonen Ben-Itzhak, Yousef refused to answer questions in Arabic. He said he was on a mission to educate the public about the true nature of his former religion.

“Islam is not a religion of peace. It’s a religion of war,” he said. “Muslims don’t even know the true nature of their own religion.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Iran Cementing Relations With Venezuela & Bolivia While Obama Looks On

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With little notice in the main stream media, Iran has been cementing it’s relationships with regimes in Venezuela & Bolivia, both countries under the control of strongmen friendly to communism. Iran is the main funder of terrorism throughout the world, For them to gain a foothold in Latin America, does not bode well for peace in our hemisphere.

Recently I spoke with Bolivian Senator Ms. Carmen Gonzales. She has had the courage to stand up and speak out about the repression besetting her country and it’s ever closer alliances with Iran. She has been the object of continual harassment by the government for her vocal opposition; including being buried in lawsuits (18) designed to silence her.

Tell us about Iran’s influence in Bolivia?

The influence of the Iranian theocracy in Bolivia is very wide and deep. Iran has inked many agreements with Bolivia, both known and unknown to the Bolivian people. I have demanded to know the extent of these agreements, but as of yet there has been no response from the leadership. Iran is interested in our mining industry, gas and uranium. Iran is interested in expanding its influence in Latin America, to provoke the United States. It is very advantageous to Iran to have the friendship of the Bolivian regime, with all of its natural resources, including uranium and being strategically placed in the center of the continent.

But most people of Bolivia repudiate the Iranian regime: They abuse human rights, they do not respect their women and are dangerous to world peace and stability. Recently Canada withdrew its embassy in Tehran in a clear sign that the civilized world will not tolerate the authoritarian practices of undemocratic and abusive Iran.

I am also worried as a Bolivian Senator ,what may happen to the Jewish community here. Recently, the Iranian defense minister was with our ruler, Evo Morales. That same minister is under orders for international prosecution, accused by an Argentine federal judge to be part of the deaths of hundreds of Jewish-Argentine AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina in 1994).

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Antarctica Sea Ice Sets Record, NPR Lies, Mainstream Media Ignores

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Photo credit: NASA Goddard

Antarctic sea ice set another record this past week, with the most amount of ice ever recorded on day 256 of the calendar year (September 12 of this leap year). Please, nobody tell the mainstream media or they might have to retract some stories and admit they are misrepresenting scientific data.

National Public Radio (NPR) published an article on its website last month claiming, “Ten years ago, a piece of ice the size of Rhode Island disintegrated and melted in the waters off Antarctica. Two other massive ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula had suffered similar fates a few years before. The events became poster children for the effects of global warming. … There’s no question that unusually warm air triggered the final demise of these huge chunks of ice.”

NPR failed to mention anywhere in its article that Antarctic sea ice has been growing since satellites first began measuring the ice 33 years ago and the sea ice has been above the 33-year average throughout 2012.

Read more from this story HERE.

Al Qaeda, Ex-Guantanamo Bay Detainee Freed in 2007, Involved in Killing of Libyan Ambassador (+video)

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By Erik Ortiz. An ex-Guantanamo detainee once considered a “threat” to America is believed to have been involved in the attack against the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya — possibly leading the deadly rampage, intelligence sources told Fox News.

The potential link with the militant, identified as Sufyan bin Qumu, could lead the White House to revise its claim that administration officials saw “no evidence” that last week’s attack on Sept. 11 was preplanned, and was instead a spontaneous reaction to an anti-Islamist film produced in the United States.

A senior U.S. counterterrorism official on Wednesday also called the assault a “terrorist attack” — the first time someone in the Obama administration has used that term. U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American embassy workers died after the consulate compound was overrun by heavily armed militia and became engulfed in flames, according to reports.

A Fox News report didn’t say how Qumu, a Libyan, may have been explicitly involved with the attack, although his fighting group — Ansar al-Shariah — is suspected in taking part.

Analysts at Guantanamo branded him in 2005 as “medium to high risk, as he is likely to pose a threat to the U.S., its interests and allies,” the New York Times reported last year. Bin Qumu was transferred from the detention camp to Libya in 2007, and was freed the next year in an amnesty for militants, according to The Times. Read more from this story HERE.

Intel official says al Qaeda link probed in Libya terrorist attack

By Jordy Yager. A senior counterterrorism official told senators Wednesday that the assault on a U.S. consulate in Libya — which left four Americans dead — was definitely a terrorist attack and that some of those involved might be connected to al Qaeda.

“Yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy,” said Matthew Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

Olsen was responding to a question from Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) during an appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

“A number of different elements appear to have been involved in the attack, including individuals connected to militant groups that are prevalent in eastern Libya, particularly in the Benghazi area,” Olsen said.

“As well, we are looking at indications that individuals involved in the attack may have had connections to al Qaeda or al Qaeda’s affiliates, in particular al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb.” Read more from this story HERE.

Al Qaeda, ex-Gitmo detainee involved in consulate attack, intelligence sources say

By FoxNews.com. Intelligence sources tell Fox News they are convinced the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was directly tied to Al Qaeda — with a former Guantanamo detainee involved.

That revelation comes on the same day a top Obama administration official called last week’s deadly assault a “terrorist attack” — the first time the attack has been described that way by the administration after claims it had been a “spontaneous” act.

“Yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy,” Matt Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said during a Senate hearing Wednesday.

Olsen echoed administration colleagues in saying U.S. officials have no specific intelligence about “significant advanced planning or coordination” for the attack.

However, his statement goes beyond White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, saying the Sept. 11 attack on the consulate was spontaneous. He is the first top administration official to call the strike an act of terrorism. Read more from this story HERE.

Here’s the Fox News Video:

Romney & Netanyahu: “Two Peas in a Pod”

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Photo credit: DonkeyHotey

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s comments expressing doubt about Palestinians’ commitment to peace again highlight the closeness of his position to that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Romney has sometimes echoed hardline Israeli positions similar to those of Netanyahu, although not always intentionally in public.

In a newly disclosed video clip of a private fundraiser in May, Romney tells wealthy supporters that Palestinians “have no interest” in peace with Israel and that the conflict “is going to remain an unsolved problem.”

The video’s disclosure comes at a time when the Israeli leader, a personal friend of Romney since they worked together in Boston financial houses as young men, has been closely involving himself in the U.S. presidential race.

Netanyahu increasingly has criticized allies including President Barack Obama who have failed to agree to declare a “red line” for Iran — one that could trigger a U.S. military response if crossed.

Read more from this story HERE.

Japanese-Chinese Island Dispute Heats Up With Beijing Defense Minister “Reserving the Right to Act”

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China’s national defense minister warned Tuesday that Beijing reserves the right to take further action against Japan in the ongoing dispute over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.

Standing next to U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Gen. Liang Guanglie said Japan should bear full responsibility for the dispute, which has triggered violent protests in China against the Japanese. Panetta has been pressing both Liang and defense leaders in Japan to find ways to resolve the problem peacefully and diplomatically.

Liang, however, made it clear during a press conference that while China still would like to see a negotiated solution, he hopes the Japanese government “will undo its mistakes and come back to the right track of negotiations.” Tensions over the string of islands, called the Senkakus in Japan and Diaoyu in China, spiked last week when the Japanese government said it was purchasing some of the islands from their private owner.

The island dispute has been a hot topic during Panetta’s weeklong tour of the Asia-Pacific region. But his session with Liang also touched on a wide expanse of issues as the U.S. and China try to find a way to improve their military relationship.

U.S. relations with China have been rocky, especially over America’s support of and arms sales to Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own. The U.S. also has been critical of China for its lack of transparency regarding its massive military buildup.

Read more from this story HERE.

Friday’s Taliban Raid Caused an Astonishing $200 Million in Damage

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Photo Credit: New Civil Engineer

An audacious Taliban attack on a heavily fortified base in southern Afghanistan did far more damage than initially reported, destroying or severely damaging eight attack jets in the most destructive single strike on Western matériel in the 11-year war, military officials said Sunday.

While other attacks have caused greater loss of life, the assault late Friday at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, one of the largest and best-defended posts in Afghanistan, was troubling to NATO because the attackers were able to penetrate the base, killing two Marines and causing more than $200 million in damage. “We’re saying it’s a very sophisticated attack,” said a military official here. “We’ve lost aircraft in battle, but nothing like this.”

The complex attack, which NATO officials said was conducted by three tightly choreographed teams of militants wearing American Army uniforms, was a reminder that the Taliban remain capable of serious assaults despite the “surge” offensive against them. Now the offensive is over, and nearly 10,000 American Marines have left Helmand Province, a critical stronghold for the Taliban, over the past several months.

Together with a rash of attacks by Afghan security forces against NATO troops — including two over the weekend that left at least six coalition service members dead — the Taliban have put new pressure on the American withdrawal plan, which calls for accelerated troop pullouts through 2014 while training Afghan forces to take over.

At the same time, tensions with the government flared Sunday as President Hamid Karzai condemned the deaths of Afghan women in airstrikes and criticized the continued American custody of hundreds of Afghan prisoners.

Read more from this story HERE.

Belarus Going Nuclear, China & Russia Helping

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Europe’s last dictatorship may soon go nuclear as it announces major construction of its first nuclear power plant while at the same time it is apparently aiding Communist China with its mobile launchers for intercontinental ballistic missiles.

On Thursday, September 13, the Russian-based engineering company Atomenergoproyekt told the Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BelTA) that it will commence major construction on Belarus’s first and only nuclear power plant on June 15, 2013.

On Wednesday, a day before the announcement, a meeting of the sixth operational group on the nuclear power plant project was held and led by Belarus’s First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko.

Additional representatives of the “Belarusian government, NPP construction directorate (customer), the united company NIAEP-Atomstroyexport (the general designer of the power plant and the general contractor), Belarusian subcontractors, and the Grodno Oblast administration,” were also present at the meeting, according to BelTA.

The construction site of the proposed power plant was examined by officials prior to their meeting. Excavation and work on the foundation is already well under way. Builders are scheduled to have the bed drainage completed by November 20. This drainage will “simultaneously protect the bottom part of the excavation pit from frost penetration,” according to BelTA.

Read more from this story HERE.

Google Refuses Obama’s Request to Take Down Anti-Muslim Video but Restricts Access in Muslim Countries

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Google is refusing a White House request to take down an anti-Muslim clip on YouTube, but is restricting access to it in certain countries.

The White House said Friday that it had asked YouTube to review whether the video violated its terms of use. Google owns YouTube, the online video sharing site.

YouTube said in a statement Friday that the video is widely available on the Web and is “clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube.”

The short film “Innocence of Muslims” denigrates Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. It played a role in igniting mob violence against U.S. embassies across the Middle East. And it has been blamed for playing a role in violence in Libya, where the U.S. ambassador and three others were killed though the exact cause of the attacks is under investigation.

U.S. and Libyan officials are investigating whether the protests in Libya were a cover for militants, possibly al-Qaida sympathizers, to carry out a coordinated attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and kill Americans. Washington has deployed FBI investigators to try and track down militants behind the attack.

Read more from this story HERE.

Armada of International Naval Power Massing in the Gulf as Israel Prepares an Iran Strike

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Cruisers, aircraft carriers and minesweepers from 25 nations are converging on the strategically important Strait of Hormuz in an unprecedented show of force as Israel and Iran move towards the brink of war.

Western leaders are convinced that Iran will retaliate to any attack by attempting to mine or blockade the shipping lane through which passes around 18 million barrels of oil every day, approximately 35 per cent of the world’s oil traded by sea.

A blockade would have a catastrophic effect on the fragile economies of Britain, Europe the United States and Japan, all of which rely heavily on oil and gas supplies from the Gulf.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most congested international waterways. It is only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point and is bordered by the Iranian coast to the north and the Oman to the south.

In preparation for any pre-emptive or retaliatory action by Iran, warships from more than 25 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, will today begin an annual 12-day exercise.

Read more from this story HERE.