The Great Pakistan And American Divide

 

Anti-Muslim rhetoric adds to Pakistan’s anxiety over Trump’s Afghanistan policy

TOM HUSSAIN

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 09 November, 2016, 9:39pm

UPDATED : Wednesday, 09 November, 2016, 9:39pm

A Pakistani vendor arranges morning newspapers featuring front-page news of the US presidential election at a roadside news stand in Islamabad. Photo: AFP

Donald Trump’s win has been received with shock and wariness in Afghanistan and Pakistan as politicians fretted about how he may change long-standing US foreign policy, while the public worried what his anti-Muslim campaign rhetoric would mean for them.

Social media platforms reverberated with people mocking American voters for electing a racist president and interpreted it as the beginning of the US’ decline as the world’s dominant power. Others were concerned that a Christian-versus-Muslim clash of civilisations would result from Trump’s victory, with many Pakistanis asking relatives living in the US whether they planned to return home to avoid a social backlash.

Mosharraf Zaidi, an education activist who moved to Pakistan from the US a decade ago, tweeted: “At what time should I start calling friends and family in the US to ask them how my moving to Pakistan is looking now?”

Political concerns revolved around the possibility of Trump ordering a pullout of US troops from Afghanistan or taking punitive measures against Pakistan for its failure to act against Afghan Taliban factions and India-focused militants based on its soil.

But US ambassador Michael McKinley assured journalists in Kabul that “Afghanistan will remain at the highest levels of our foreign policy agenda”. A similar statement was issued by the US ambassador to Pakistan, David Hale.

A Trump presidency may not be as isolationist or unpredictable in its approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan as many expect. He inherits a war in Afghanistan made unwinnable by “structural deficiencies in the Afghan army and police, which are declining in size due to attrition”, said Arif Rafiq, a fellow at the Centre for Global Policy, a Washington think-tank.

But that does not mean he will order the withdrawal of 8,400 US troops from Afghanistan, prolonged by President Barack Obama after Taliban insurgents made significant gains in 2015, when Afghan forces took over the lead security role from Nato. In its reaction to the election results, the Afghan Taliban called on Trump to pull out all US troops.

“I imagine he would be inclined to accelerate the US troop drawdown, though at the same time I could envision him using a counter-terrorism argument to slow down the drawdown – particularly if the Islamic State continues to claim attacks there,” said Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Centre.

Similarly, the wild-card rhetoric of the Trump campaign may not translate into a hard line towards Pakistan. Trump’s only pointed reference to Pakistan was made in April, amid moves in Congress to block three quarters of annual US military assistance for Pakistan’s counter-terrorism operations. Speaking at a town-hall meeting in Indianapolis, Trump cited the need for stability in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where a militant insurgency has raged for a decade, as his rationale for continuing financial assistance to Pakistan.

What South Asian millennials are telling their families about Trump

“It is very much against my grain to say that, but a country – and that’s always the country, I think, you know, we give them money and we help them out, but if we don’t, I think that would go on the other side of the ledger and that could really be a disaster,” Trump had said, without elaborating.

For the time being, Pakistani politicians are hoping Trump’s more common election campaign rhetoric won’t be reflected in his presidential decisions. “I hope when he speaks through his actions it’ll be for global good,” tweeted the Pakistani prime minister’s brother, Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of the populous Punjab province.

Antichrist's Men Trained By The First Horn (Daniel 8:3)

Hezbollah fighters train Iraqi Shiite militants near Mosul

Hezbollah A video surfaced this week which purports to show Lebanese Hezbollah fighters present on the outskirts of the Iraqi city of Mosul. The footage, published by Pan-Arab news site Al-Araby Al-Jaeed, was reportedly filmed in al-Zarka, approximately 30 miles southwest of Mosul, where thousands of Shiite militia fighters have assembled. Though the fighters, seen in the video training Iraqi Shiite militiamen to fire mortar shells, are not wearing their militia’s insignia, their distinct southern Lebanese accents betray their membership in the Lebanon-based Iranian proxy group.

According to the video’s accompanying report, an unnamed Iraqi Shiite militant said that the Hezbollah fighters arrived in the area days earlier to reinforce local Shiite fighters.

“[Hezbollah chief] Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah sent them to support us, for Syria and Iraq are all on one side,” he said.

Hezbollah’s intervention in Iraq is not new, its fighters and advisors have been on the ground since the outset of the Iranian-led fight against the Islamic State. Hezbollah has been sending highly trained military experts to help in managing the battles against the extremist Sunni organization. Their presence was made known in late 2014, when Hezbollah commander Ibrahim al Hajj was killed fighting against the Islamic State in northern Iraq’s Tel Afar. Nasrallah himself finally acknowledged sending Hezbollah’s fighters to Iraq in a 2015 speech, describing the organization’s presence at the time as small and “in its earliest stages.” He also issued an invitation for volunteers to join them there to fight ISIS.

Since then, Hezbollah appears to have stepped up its involvement in Iraq. In late April, Hussein Yazadan, a Kurdish military official, alleged that the Shiite organization had deployed 1,000 fighters to the city of Kirkukon – approximately 100 miles southeast of Mosul – on Iranian orders and were concentrating in the nearby town of Taza Khurmatu. Led by an Islamic Revolution Guard Corps–Quds Force (IRGC-QF) commander, the Hezbollah guerillas arrived in the area to provide support for the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) fighters as part of Iran’s attempt to solidify its control over both oil-rich cities of Kirkuk and Mosul, and establish a land-bridge to the Syrian border. Yazadan said that the Hezbollah fighters were wearing PMF uniforms in an effort to conceal their identity. At the time, Hezbollah denied having sent such a large contingent of fighters to Iraq, instead claiming it had sent the PMF dozens of military experts and trainers months prior to Yazadan’s warning.

Hezbollah’s Iraqi presence actually predates the rise of ISIS by a decade, going back to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Hezbollah developed its own insurgent capability in Iraq, engaging in assassinations, kidnappings and bombings. At Iran’s behest, Hezbollah also created Unit 3800, an external operations unit to train and assist Iraqi Shiite militias – known as the “Special Groups” – fighting against US and multinational forces. In fact, the group is even rumored to have sent its late legendary military commander Imad Mughniyeh to Iraq in early 2006 to help train members of the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia led by Muqtada al-Sadr.

However, the key figure in this effort by Hezbollah was Ali Musa Daqdouq.

Daqdouq joined the Shiite organization in its early days in 1983 and quickly rose to commend its Special Operations Unit 2800, Unit 3800’s predecessor. In May 2006, Daqdouq was sent to Iran to coordinate the Special Groups’ training program with the IRGC-QF, and make periodic visits to Iraq. Daqdouq trained Iraqi militants in carrying out terrorist operations, including the IED attacks, especially using Explosively Formed Penetrators, which Hezbollah excelled at using against Israel during the IDF’s 15-year occupation of south Lebanon. He also trained them to use mortars, rockets and sniper rifles, as well as carrying out intelligence and kidnapping operations.

US forces finally captured Daqdouq in March 2007, along with the leader of the Asa’ib Ahl Al-Haq Shiite militia, which carried out the Jan. 2007 attack on the Karbala Joint Provincial Coordination Center. Five US soldiers were captured during the attack and later executed.

Currently, Hezbollah’s activities in Iraq are being led by Muhammad Kawarithmi, who works on behalf of the group’s leadership to promote its interests in Iraq. Through Kawarithmi, the organization continues to provide training, funding, political and logistical support to Iraqi Shiite militant groups.

David Daoud is an Arabic-Language Analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Dailytimes | 500 most influential Muslims of world

ISLAMABAD: Renowned educationist, student counselor, teaching and learning innovator and classrooms entrepreneur of PakistanChaudhry Faisal Mushtaq has been included in the list of the 500 most influential Muslim personalities for the third consecutive year.

Acknowledging his immense popularity and growing influence among Pakistani youth, the world's leading research organization Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Jordon has included him in its list for the third year.

Chief Executive Roots Millennium Schools Faisal Mushtaq's name has been included in the list in view of his growing popularity among classrooms and communities, the citation reads. "Mr Mushtaq has excelled at providing a quality education for millions of people, an initiative that has occupied sixteen years of his life. He encourages academic excellence, student achievement, social entrepreneurship, and opportunity for all. He currently works in the capacity of Chief Executive of Roots Millennium Schools in Pakistan and a member of many of the government's committees on education. He has helped students from various backgrounds fulfill their dreams of getting into top universities worldwide. An attendee of the World Economic Forum, he is one of Pakistan's youngest Presidential national award winners of the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz and was voted as the best young entrepreneur of 2011 by the Prime Minister of Pakistan," it adds.

The other personalities from Muslim world include Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Sheikh Abdul Rehman al Sudais, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Sheikh Muhammad Bin Nayef, Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Dr Shirin Ebadi, Muqtada al-Sadr, Sheikh Yusuf al Qaradawi, Sultan Qaboos, Mahmoud Abbas, Ashraf Ghani, Sirajuddin Haqqani, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Sheikh Hasina Wajid, Hassan Nasrallah, Khaled Mashal, Dr Muhmmad Yunus, Muhammed Fethullah Gülen, Sayeeda Warsi and Sami Yusuf. This recognition comes from the King of Jordan's council which recognizes the most influential Muslims of the World. Recently Faisal Mushtaq has also been awarded as the "Best Educationist of the Year" by the President of Pakistan and "Best Young Entrepreneur" for the year 2011 by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

There Still Is Hope For Mankind (John 15:13)

Muslims protect Christians from extremists in Kenya bus attack

By Elahe Izadi and Sarah Kaplan December 22 at 9:20 AM
There was a sound of gunfire, and the impact of bullets striking steel, and the bus suddenly lurched to a stop just outside the northeastern Kenyan city of El Wak.

More than 10 Somali militants clambered on board, heavily armed, witnesses of the Monday attack told the Daily Nation, a Kenyan newspaper. The gunmen began shouting demands at the passengers, ordering them to get off the bus and separate into groups — Muslims on one side, everyone else on the other.

But Muslims aboard the bus traveling through northeastern Kenya helped protect the Christian passengers, witnesses and officials told numerous media outlets.

Two people died and at least three were injured during the attack on the bus and a truck, confirmed Mandera County Gov. Ali Roba, who described it as an act of terrorism.

A Kenyan security official, Mohamud Saleh, said al-Shabab rebels are thought to be responsible, the Associated Press reported. A spokesman for the Somalia-based Islamist militant group told Reuters that fighters shot at the bus and “some of the Christian enemies died and others were injured.”
Officials and witnesses said militants stopped the bus, asked passengers to identify their religion, and then attempted to separate them.

It has happened before. In November 2014, al-Shabab gunmen attacked a bus full of teachers in the same region, pulling 28 non-Muslim passengers from the vehicle and shooting them point blank, according to the Guardian. The following month, the BBC reported, the militant group did the same to non-Muslim workers at a quarry near the Somali border. The group has also indiscriminately killed both Muslims and non-Muslims during deadly attacks in Kenya, as it did in the April siege of Garissa University, in the country’s east, that left 147 people dead.

But not this time. Militants told passengers to get off the bus, “demanding that Muslims separate from Christians, but they refused,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse.

“These Muslims sent a very important message of the unity of purpose, that we are all Kenyans and that we are not separated by religion,” Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery told local media at a briefing. “Everybody can profess their own religion, but we are still one country and one people.”

Antichrist Asks For Muslim Unity Against Jews

Shiite Cleric Asks Top Sunni Institution to Unite with Him Against the Jews
by JORDAN SCHACHTEL
11 Nov 2015
Muqtada Al-Sadr, one of the most influential clerics in the Shiite world, has sent out an olive branch to Egypt’s Al-Azhar, a known hotbed for jihadi indoctrination and the most prominent Sunni institution in the world, seeking to unite the sects of Islam against the Jews.
Al-Sadr, who hails from Iraq, said: “Let’s have a common enemy: jews and their extremist subordinates. Let’s put our hands together,” according to a message published on his website over the weekend.
The Iraqi Shiite leader has been encouraged by Al-Azhar’s recent rejection of describing Shiites as infidels, the Egypt Independent newspaper reported on Monday.
“Here, I do not want to engage in a doctrinal argument,” Al-Sadr continued, “I neither want a Shiite to be a Sunni nor a Sunni to become a Shiite.”
Al-Sadr controls an Iranian-backed militia that has battled against United States and coalition forces in Iraq. In May, he threatened to launch attacks on American forces in the region, should the U.S. pass the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, which provides funding for U.S. efforts in Iraq.
“If the time comes and the proposed bill is passed, we will have no choice but to unfreeze the military wing that deals with the American entity so that it may start targeting American interests in Iraq and outside of Iraq when possible,” he threatened, in remarks translated by the Long War Journal.
“If America persists then it will cease to exist,” the radical cleric concluded.
The Iraqi Shiite leader holds to the same religious beliefs expressed by the Mullahs in Iran, who hope for the end-times to soon come as a means to annihilate the non-Muslim world.
Following the topping of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Al-Sadr spoke to 60 Minutes, famously proclaiming: “Saddam was the little serpent, but America is the big serpent.”
In 2004, coalition forces shut down his newspaper, claiming that it incited violence against U.S. forces, leading Al-Sadr to temporarily flee to Iran, where he was greeted as a hero by the regime in Tehran.

Antichrist Calls For Muslim Unity Against Jews

SHIITE CLERIC ASKS TOP SUNNI INSTITUTION TO UNITE WITH HIM AGAINST THE JEWS

by JORDAN SCHACHTEL
11 Nov 2015

Muqtada Al-Sadr, one of the most influential clerics in the Shiite world, has sent out an olive branch to Egypt’s Al-Azhar, a known hotbed for jihadi indoctrination and the most prominent Sunni institution in the world, seeking to unite the sects of Islam against the Jews.

Al-Sadr, who hails from Iraq, said: “Let’s have a common enemy: jews and their extremist subordinates. Let’s put our hands together,” according to a message published on his website over the weekend.

The Iraqi Shiite leader has been encouraged by Al-Azhar’s recent rejection of describing Shiites as infidels, the Egypt Independent newspaper reported on Monday.
“Here, I do not want to engage in a doctrinal argument,” Al-Sadr continued, “I neither want a Shiite to be a Sunni nor a Sunni to become a Shiite.”

Al-Sadr controls an Iranian-backed militia that has battled against United States and coalition forces in Iraq. In May, he threatened to launch attacks on American forces in the region, should the U.S. pass the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, which provides funding for U.S. efforts in Iraq.
“If the time comes and the proposed bill is passed, we will have no choice but to unfreeze the military wing that deals with the American entity so that it may start targeting American interests in Iraq and outside of Iraq when possible,” he threatened, in remarks translated by the Long War Journal.
“If America persists then it will cease to exist,” the radical cleric concluded.

The Iraqi Shiite leader holds to the same religious beliefs expressed by the Mullahs in Iran, who hope for the end-times to soon come as a means to annihilate the non-Muslim world.

Following the topping of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Al-Sadr spoke to 60 Minutes, famously proclaiming: “Saddam was the little serpent, but America is the big serpent.”

In 2004, coalition forces shut down his newspaper, claiming that it incited violence against U.S. forces, leading Al-Sadr to temporarily flee to Iran, where he was greeted as a hero by the regime in Tehran.

Antichrist Calls For Muslim Unity Against Jews (Revelation 13)

Iraq’s Shi’ite leader Al-Sadr invites Al-Azhar for unity against Jews

 

Mon, 09/11/2015 – 16:49

AFP

Al-Masry Al-Youm

 

Muqtada Al-Sadr, one of Iraq’s influential Shi’ite leaders, has invited Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the top religious academy in the Sunni Islamic World, to make Jews their common enemy and to set doctrinal differences aside.

 

“Let’s have a common enemy: jews and their extremist subordinates. Let’s put our hands together,” he said in a message published in Arabic by his official website Sunday.

 

Al-Sadr’s message hailed remarks by Al-Azhar’s leadership over the past months in which they rejected describing Shi’ite as infidels, though his two latest messages lambasted Egyptian authorities for preventing Egyptian Shi’ite from celebrating their holy feast of Ashoura in late October.

“Here, I do not want to engage in a doctrinal argument…I neither want a Shi’ite to be a Sunni nor a Sunni to become a Shi’ite,” he wrote.

 

Egypt’s religious leadership has long viewed Shi’ite Islam as a threat, backing the crackdown on Shi’ite rituals inside the country. But last July, the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar voiced opposition to the use of terms categorizing Shi’ite muslims as heretics.

 

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Khamenei Vows To Destroy Babylon (Daniel 8:4)

 
AYATOLLAH SAYS MUSLIM RESPONSIBILITY IS TO SHATTER U.S., THE ‘IDOL OF TYRANNY’

by Gregory Tomlin | 24 September, 2015
Middle East Media Research Institute/MEMRI

The graphic displayed in a letter to Muslims from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The letter instructs Muslims to take up their duty of smashing the “idol of tyranny,” the United States, and its “Zionist” ally, Israel.

TEHRAN (Christian Examiner) – Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with the ink barely dry on the nuclear deal between his country, the United States and its allies, has issued a “call” for Muslims to help destroy the “idol of tyranny” – America.

In a letter celebrating the annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca, known as the Hajj, Khamenei said the Hajj was a source of renewal for Muslims and it will help them shatter the idols in their lives – “the idol of the soul, the idol of pride, the idol of sexual lust; the idol of tyranny and subservience; the idol of global tyranny [i.e., the U.S.]’ the idol of sloth and irresponsibility; and the other idols that shame the precious human soul – a plan that will spring forth from the depths of the heart will shatter them. Then, liberty, honor, and health will replace dependence, hardship, and humiliation.”
Khamenei wrote in the letter, translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), that American foreign policy, always “evil,” was causing war and bloodshed in the region. He also held the U.S. responsible for “displacement, poverty, backwardness, and religious and sectarian division.”
The letter contains a graphic of a smashed Statue of Liberty.

“Instead of dealing with sparking religious schism, instead of remaining passive in the face of the enemy, and instead of engaging in trivial matters, the clerics, politicians, and cultural figures [respectively] must all identify the great pain of the Islamic world, and must accept and implement the mission with which God has charged them. ”

– Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Lest the U.S. alone receive the blame, however, he also pointed a finger and Israel, charging the “Zionist regime in Palestine” with crimes against humanity.

“[The Zionist regime] continually disrespects the Al-Aqsa Mosque and tramples the blood and money of the oppressed Palestinian people,” Khamenei wrote.

“You Muslim [pilgrims] – this issue is your top priority. You must ponder it, and know that with which you are charged under [the law of] Islam. The senior clerics, politicians, and cultural figures have a weightier mission, in the fulfillment of which, unfortunately, they are remiss. Instead of dealing with sparking religious schism, instead of remaining passive in the face of the enemy, and instead of engaging in trivial matters, the clerics, politicians, and cultural figures [respectively] must all identify the great pain of the Islamic world, and must accept and implement the mission with which God has charged them.”

Khamenei said conflicts in Iraq, the West Bank, Gaza and other places are the “greatest woes of the Islamic ummah.” Ummah is the Arabic word “community” or “nation.”

“The plots of the global tyranny [i.e. the U.S.] in this matter must be identified, and ways to resolve [this matter] must be considered. The nations must demand this of their governments, and the governments must be true to their responsibilities,” Khamenei wrote.

On Sept. 23, Khamenei also said via Twitter the U.S. was a purveyor of “vicious policies” in the region. Those polices, and Israel’s “sacrilege of the al-Aqsa mosque,” he said, are the “primary issue of all Muslims.”

said Muslims should “deliberate on it and know your Islamic responsibilities towards it.”
The ayatollah is the leader of Shi’ite Muslims, but not Sunnis. He has also lashed out at “Takfiri” Muslims, or Sunnis who accuse Shi’ite Muslims and other Sunnis of apostasy.

Esau Will Destroy Jacob (Genesis 28)

 

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards: Destroying Israel is “Muslims’ First Priority”

by TheTower.org Staff | 07.08.15 6:17 pm

Ahead of Friday’s commemoration of Qods Day, an Iranian holiday calling for the destruction of Israel, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a release stating that the annihilation of the Jewish state “is Muslims’ first priority,” Iran’s Tasnim New Agency reported today.

The statement, issued on Wednesday, has called on the people of Iran and other Muslim countries to attend the mass rallies on coming Friday in support of Palestine.

It also slammed the Zionist regime of Israel as the common enemy of the Islamic nations, saying the strategy to destroy that regime is Muslims’ first priority.

The Quds Day signifies the “strategic depth of the logic of resistance” and the fight against tyranny in the world, the statement added.

Another Iranian news agency, Alalam, reported on the official statement made by the Iranian army in commemoration of Qods Day.

In the statement, released on Tuesday, the Iranian Army hailed the International Quds Day as an occasion to reaffirm solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine and express disgust at the Zionist regime of Israel as the “common enemy of the Islamic society.”

The Quds Day also marks “unity and convergence” in the Islamic community in the fight against attempts made by the world arrogance and Israel to create “evil coalitions” for creating rifts among the Islamic denominations, the statement added. …

It is seen as an opportunity for freedom-seeking people across the world, regardless of faith, to voice their support for the cause of Palestine and vent their anger against the Apartheid regime of Israel, which has occupied Palestinian territories since 1967.

The last Friday of Ramadan was designated as Qods Day in 1979 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei to call for the destruction of Israel, and has subsequently been marked by “a ritualized outpouring of hatred directed at Israel.”

On Qods Day shortly after his election two years ago, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is often referred to as a “moderate,” called Israel an “old wound” on the Muslim world. Iranian news agencies added that Rouhani called for Israel to “be removed,” but retracted after the language cause an uproar.

Earlier this week, former Iranian president Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, an ally of Rouhani who is also often characterized as a moderate, proclaimed that “the forged and temporary Israeli entity, which is an alien existence forged into the body of a nation and a region be wiped off the map.”
Earlier this year, Iranians celebrated the thirty-sixth anniversary of the Islamic revolution with cries of “Death to America.” It was a sentiment echoed a month later by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Welcome to The Quran Obama: Taqiyya Means You Just Got Had (Rev 13:16)

The Success of Iran’s Taqiyya Tactics

 

Taqqiya: It is okay to lie for Islam

February 10, 2015 by Joseph Puder

 

In his eagerness to conclude a deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran over its nuclear program, U.S. President Barack Obama has knowingly or not, overlooked what is known to Muslims as “taqiyya.”

According to the Middle East Forum “The Quran allows Muslims to have a declared agenda, and a secret agenda (Jihad, slaughter, and mayhem) during time of weakness, this is called Taqiyya.” To put it in simpler words, it is the “art” of deception, or more correctly, of deceiving non-Muslim infidels.

While negotiations with the P5+1 are ongoing, last Monday (February 2, 2015) Iran’s military launched a satellite into space called Safir-e Fajr. According to the Iranian Arabic-language Al-Alam TV, the Fajr satellite was successfully placed 450 kilometers above earth. Iran’s “moderate” President Rouhani proudly noted “Our scientists have entered a new phase for conquering space. We will continue on this path.” The Iranian Defense Minister General Hossein Dehgan added that the 21-meter, 26 ton launcher named Safir–Fajr shows “the ability of Iran to build satellite launchers.”
This new development should elevate the Obama administration’s concerns, if not cause full-fledged alarm over the Islamic Republic development of satellite technology that could have military purposes, including the continued development of long-range ballistic missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads that could reach American soil. But in typical taqiyya form, Iran has denied having a military role for its space program and its nuclear program.

The Obama administration, instead, is concerned about the upcoming address of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the U.S. Congress and the American people. Netanyahu, the White House fears, might reveal Iran’s deception, which might compel the administration to re-think the current P5+1 negotiation with Iran, and perhaps justify the Mark Kirk (R-IL)-Robert Menendez (D-NJ) bill to impose sanctions on Iran. President Obama maintains now that he refuses to “set artificial deadlines” to the negotiations with Iran, but he also conceded in a press conference that “we are not going to have talks forever.” The New York Times reported (May 19, 2009) that Obama told Netanyahu during his White House visit, “We’re not going to create a situation in which talks become an excuse for inaction while Iran proceeds with developing a nuclear –and deploying – a nuclear weapon.”

After two deadlines following the interim agreement have expired, and a third will expire this summer, President Obama’s words sound rather hollow. In his threat to veto the Kirk-Menendez bill, he sounds more like Iran’s defense attorney than being committed to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb. All the while, Iran is proceeding with spinning centrifuges.

According to the Times of Israel (January 31, 2015) which quoted Israel TV Channel 10, the deal taking shape between Washington and Tehran “would allow Iran to continue enriching uranium in over 7000 centrifuges. It quoted an unnamed Jerusalem source saying “The terms of the deal would leave Iran closer than was thought to nuclear weapons, mere months from producing enough material for a bomb.” The same article suggested that the U.S. has agreed to 80% of Iran’s demands.

The existential threat to Israel from a nuclear Iran has prompted PM Netanyahu to accept Speaker John Boehner’s invitation to address U.S. Congress in early March. Netanyahu feels that he has no choice but to speak out against the imminent deal with Iran. Sources close to Netanyahu suggest that Netanyahu’s address will praise Obama’s efforts rather than criticize him, and it will not be a partisan speech, or focus too much on the proposed sanctions by the U.S. Congress. It would simply address the dangers of the deal currently concocted between the P5+1 and Iran. In his address to the U.S. Congress, Netanyahu should chronicle Iran’s deception and taqiyya tactics in its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons.

The Canadian Centre for Treaty Compliance has chronicled Iran’s deception on its nuclear program. In 2002, the dissident group, National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI) announced the location of two nuclear sites in Iran; a nuclear fuel production facility in Natanz, and heavy water facility in Arak. On September 12, 2003, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Board of Governors Resolution called on Iran to ensure no further failures to report, and demanded not to introduce nuclear material into its pilot enrichment cascade in Natanz.

September 24, 2005, Resolution: GOV/2005/87 finds that Iran’s many failures and breaches of its obligation to comply with NPT Safeguards Agreement , as detailed in GOV/2003/75, constitute non-compliance in the context of Article XII.C  of the Agency’s (IAEA) Stature; finds also that the history of concealment of Iran’s nuclear activities has given rise to…

On January 10, 2006, Iran broke the IAEA seal at Natanz. John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the UN reported that the “Iranians reverted to form by breaking IAEA seal at the Natanz enrichment facility and resuming ‘research work.’” In its September, 2008 report, the IAEA said that the document describes experimentation in connection with symmetrical initiation of a hemispherical high explosive charge suitable for an implosion type nuclear device.

The New York Times reported (November 16, 2009) that the “International inspectors who gained access to Iran’s newly revealed underground nuclear enrichment plant voiced strong suspicions in a report that Iran was concealing other atomic facilities.” Iran however, will not allow inspectors access to military sites, nor will it allow inspectors to interview key nuclear scientists.

On February 19, 2010, the Washington Post revealed that U.N. nuclear inspectors, citing evidence of an apparent ongoing effort by Iran to obtain new technologies, publicly suggested for the first time that Iran is actively seeking to develop a weapons capability. On August 30, 2012, the IAEA released a report showing a major expansion of Iranian enrichment activities. The report said that Iran has more than doubled the number of centrifuges at the underground facility at Fordow, from 1,064 centrifuges in May to 2,140 centrifuges in August.

The Chicago Tribune (November 7, 2014) quoted nuclear expert David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security as saying “…it will be difficult if not impossible for Western inspectors to accomplish these goals without knowing exactly how far Iran’s scientists have advanced in nuclear weapons research.” Albright added, “If Iran gets a deal without disclosing the past military dimensions of its program, it would continue to be able to say that there was never any military nuclear program, and it was justified in denying inspectors to military sites. That creates a dangerous precedent: The Iranians could leverage that agreement to bar inspectors from suspected nuclear sites in Iran, simply calling them military sites.”

On November 25, 2009, President Obama seemed to have had much less trust in Iran’s aims regarding its nuclear program. At a news conference at the conclusion of a G-20 Pittsburgh, PA summit he stated, “Iran’s action raised doubts about its promise to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes only.” This was said in the context of Iran’s clandestinely building an underground plant (near Qom) to make nuclear fuel that could be used to build a nuclear bomb. Asked about the use of military force against Iran, Obama said, “I have always said that we do not rule out any option when it comes to U.S. security interests.”

The Iranians have now figured out that the Obama administration’s eagerness to strike a deal with them overrides most other considerations. Their taqiyya tactics of deceiving the IAEA and the P5+1, including the U.S. notwithstanding, Tehran’s arrogant defiance in insisting that it will continue to build up its nuclear program, as well as its space launchers, makes it clear that the Obama administration might ultimately accept a nuclear Iran.

Antichrist Defends The Prophet Mohammed (Rev 13:16)

His Eminence Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr meets with commission tasked to apply items to defend the Prophet Mohammed

19/01/2015 02:01
The Private Office Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr



His Eminence Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr met, on Monday, with the commission tasked to apply the items written by His Eminence to defend the Great Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) who was sent by Allah Almighty to the justice and the rejection of injustice for everybody.

Mohammad’s Greatest Fear: Apolitical Islam

Iran’s Greatest Fear: “American Islam”

Behnam Ben Taleblu
January 1, 2015

The Islamic State rages next door and the U.S. Congress is threatening new sanctions, but Iranian officials remain preoccupied by a different challenge, one that has haunted them for decades: “American Islam.”

“American Islam” isn’t the Islam practiced by Muslims across the United States. Rather, it is what the Islamic Republic perceives to be a depoliticized perversion of the true faith, devoid of the revolutionary sentiment that guides the Islamic Republic. As Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei lamented in 2010, “American Islam means ceremonial Islam, an Islam that is indifferent in the face of oppression.”

Over the three decades since the Islamic Revolution, Iranian officials have applied the term to Muslim nations deemed pliant before the will of superpowers like the United States. To combat this alleged deviation, the regime has revived a term favored by fundamentalists across the Muslim world: “the pure Islam of Mohammad.”

A newly published book, The Struggle of Two Islams, brings this political and religious dichotomy to the fore. The book is derived from Volume 21 of Sahifeh-ye Imam, a collection of sayings from the founding father of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The Struggle of Two Islams aims to vindicate the regime’s worldview, thus reaffirming its place as a champion of “pure Islam.”
As early as 1979, a young Khamenei served as interim Friday prayer leader for the city of Tehran. In an address mourning the assassination of the cleric Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari, Khamenei praised “his procession along the original and accurate path of Islam,” adding, “Our enemies have proven to us that they are against Islam.”

Soon, the Islamic Republic conflated its own enemies with those of God. During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, Khomeini would proclaim that “this war is a war against Islam…and God almighty will not forgive those who arise against Islam.” Khomeini reserved even greater disdain for Saudi Arabia (which had backed Iraq in the war), which he derided as “bloodthirsty,” and its Wahhabi religious institutions as promoting the same dreaded “American Islam.”

The rhetoric continued after Khomeini’s death in 1989. In 1990, a noted Azeri-Iranian Ayatollah sought to promulgate Iran’s brand of Islam in Azerbaijan, saying “if those people who seek Islam are not given it by healthy hands, then they will be given American Islam. That is to say, they will be fed a distorted Islam.” The next year, Khomeini’s successor Khamenei set the tone of Iran’s foreign and security policy for decades to come, warning, “The danger of American Islam … is not less than the danger of America’s military and political tools.”

It’s hard to find any Muslim polity or group that is spared Tehran’s barbs. Publications have scorned Turkey’s Islamist-leaning government as “the other side of American Islam’s coin,” while the Taliban and Al Qaeda are rightly deemed expressions of Islam’s modern “mutilation.” To counter these perceived perversions, Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Saeedi, Khamenei’s representative to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has extolled Iran’s destiny as “the introduction of Mohammad’s pure Islam to the world.”

Today, the tug of war continues. In a 2012 debate with Ebrahim Asgharzadeh (a hostage-taker in the 1979 U.S. Embassy siege who later embraced reformism), Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of the hardline Kayhan newspaper and a confidant of Khamenei, insisted: “We are in conflict because of our identities. This conflict will only be ended on two accounts. Either we abandon pure Islam in governance, meaning an Islam that contests oppression…or America abandons its arrogant temper.”
As Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister and lead nuclear negotiator, wrote in his memoirs, “I believe that we do not exist without our revolutionary goals.” Zarif, who speaks fluent English and has a PhD from an American university, may not appear to embody the civilizational discourse we hear from Iran’s most hardline clerical and military leaders. Nevertheless, his thesis remains the same: “We have a fundamental problem with the West and especially with America…This is because we are claimants of a mission, which has a global dimension.”

The Islamic Republic’s vision of a worldwide civilizational conflict—and equally important, within Islam itself—helps explain the diplomatic failures of the past and pitfalls of the future. Looking ahead, Western negotiators must recognize that even in the unlikely event of a comprehensive nuclear accord, Iran continues to pursue its theological objective to combat “American Islam,” and further promulgate its existential, zero-sum worldview.

Behnam Ben Taleblu is an Iran Research Analyst at Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

This From The Leader Of Islam That Says “GOD BEGETS NO SON” (Quran 23)

By Salma Abdelaziz, CNN

December 30, 2014 — Updated 1514 GMT (2314 HKT)

Khamenei’s Iron Fist

• Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei compares U.S. protests to Middle East conflicts
• One tweet included #BlackLivesMatter, a hashtag popularized by supporters of Eric Garner

Abu Dhabi (CNN) — In a series of blunt tweets over the holiday weekend, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei entered America’s debate on race and police violence — comparing unrest in states like New York and Missouri to conflicts in the Middle East.

On Sunday he tweeted: “#Jesus endured sufferings to oppose tyrants who had put humans in hell in this world& the hereafter while he backed the oppressed. #Ferguson”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s chief political and religious authority, acknowledged the role of Jesus in Islamic theology and compared the biblical prophet’s struggle to that of black people in the United States.

The tweet included #BlackLivesMatter, a hashtag popularized in recent weeks by supporters of Eric Garner, a 43-year old African-American man that died after being put in a chokehold by a NYPD officer.

It read: “It’s expected that followers of #Jesus follow him in his fight against arrogants and in his support for the oppressed. #BlackLivesMatter”

On Christmas Eve, the Ayatollah lumped the struggle of Palestinians in the Gaza strip with protests in Ferguson, Missouri, where black teenager Michael Brown was shot dead by police, and called on members of all three monotheistic faiths to stand-up against oppression.

The tweet said: “#Jesus like all prophets was herald of monotheism& human dignity; nowadays humanity needs this message more than ever.#Ferguson #Gaza 1/1/93″

The unverified Twitter account, widely accepted as the mouthpiece of the Ayatollah’s social media campaign, often posts diatribes against the West and Israel to its more than 91,000 followers.

In August of this year, the leader published a poignant image that criticized President Barack Obama’s support for Israel during the country’s military operation to debilitate Hamas, a group many Western nations including the U.S. designate as a terrorist organization.

“US govt has subjugated a great nation w/ massive resources to a criminal regime like #Israel.10/31/12 #Ferguson #Gaza,” it said.

In response, some Twitter users accused the Ayatollah of hypocrisy, and tweeted him with hashtags such as #AllLivesMatter, #GayLivesMatter and #KurdishLivesMatter.

Human rights groups and observers regularly criticize the country for its poor record on executions, the treatment of political prisoners, and women.

In its 2013 report on Iran, Human Rights Watch said: “Many civil society activists remained in prison on political charges. Authorities regularly subjected prisoners, especially those convicted on politically motivated charges, to abuse and deprive them of necessary medical treatment.

“Iranian women continued to face discrimination in many areas including personal status matters. Authorities restricted political participation and employment of minority groups, who account for about 10% of the population.”

Khamenei: Muslims Need To Be Fighting Israel

Iran’s Khamenei: ISIS Diverts Muslims from Palestine

‘The forefront of Muslims’ struggle was focused on the occupied Palestine,’ Khamenei said, ‘but the Takfiri stream changed this front line.’

By Mark Langfan

First Publish: 11/26/2014, 3:22 PM

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement

Reuters

As reported by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s own website and Fars news, at a conference in Tehran on Monday, Khamenei accused ISIS, all other Sunnis, and Sunni governments which battle any pro-Iranian Arab regimes and Shia militias of diverting Muslims away from fighting Israel.

“The forefront of Muslims’ struggle in the region was focused on the occupied Palestine [sic],” Khamenei wrote, “but the Takfiri stream changed this front line, and moved it into the streets and cities of Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Libya.” This, he stated, “is one of the Takfiri stream’s crimes which cannot be forgotten.”

Khamenei summed up his position in a simultaneously released info-graphic that reads, “Takfirism diverted the struggle from the liberation of Palestine to the war among Muslims in Iraq and Syria.”

“Takfiri” is a word used to describe a radical stream of Sunni Islamic jihadis who view anyone who disagrees with their views – including other Sunni Muslims – as non-Muslims or heretics deserving of death. Shia leaders such as Khamenei and others often use the term as a pejorative against their Sunni Muslim enemies in general.

Khamenei further explained that, the “Takfiri” stream – that is, the Sunnis – and the governments that support it (principally Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf States) takes its cues from the goals of the “arrogant powers,” meaning the US, the European governments and Israel, and “are practically at their service under an Islamic disguise.”

Khamenei explained that even ISIS is not the root problem. “It is noted that the primary matter is total confrontation with takfiri movements that encompasses more than the group called ISIS. ISIS in reality is a manifestation of this treacherous movement.”

Then, of course, Khamenei turned his attention to Israel. Despite Israel’s liberation of and total military control over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in 1967, over 45 years ago, he exhorted that, “The Zionist regime [Israel] is seeking to capture Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock and weaken Palestinians. All Islamic nations and the ulama [the educated classes] must request their governments to pursue the Palestinian matter.”

To show how non-sectarian Iran is when it comes to arming terrorist groups, Khamenei added, “The Islamic Republic of Iran, with divine grace, has not become prisoner of sectarian limitations and divisions. Just as it aids Shia Hezbollah in Lebanon it aids [the Sunni] Hamas and [the Sunni] Islamic Jihad and other Sunni groups in Palestine and will continue this aid.”

Khamenei closed with what has been a constant theme of late: “Just as it was said earlier, the West Bank must be armed [like Gaza], and ready to defend. This will be certainly done [by the Iran].”

It should be noted that, since 1984, Iran has been designated by the U.S. State Department as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism.” Under such a designation, in addition to all of the U.S. sanctions under U.S. Iran-specific sanctions laws, Iran is enmeshed in four other independent categories of extensive U.S. sanctions that would be extremely difficult for President Barack Obama to waive, including controls over dual use items and a myriad of financial and other restrictions.

Given Khamenei’s statements published in English and in Farsi on his own official governmental website, the U.S. State Department will likely re-designate Iran as a “State Sponsor of Terror.”

Khamenei Ties To Unify Islamic Horns (Genesis 28)

Iran favors unity among world Muslims, Khamenei says

28 October 2014,

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said that the Islamic Republic favors unity among world Muslims.

Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with officials in charge of Hajj pilgrimage in Tehran Oct. 28, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported.

He advised officials in charge of Hajj rituals to help augment people’s knowledge, address their spiritual needs and strongly deal with the smear propaganda campaign of enemies of Islam.

The enemies of the Muslim world try to build a wall between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the rest of the Islamic world, said the Supreme Leader.

Hajj ceremony is a suitable opportunity to destroy the wrong concepts and beliefs propagated by the enemies, Khameni added.

The officials in charge of Hajj rituals should address the needs of people by offering better services and meeting the spiritual needs of pilgrims, he said.

As for the spiritual aspects of the Hajj rituals, special programs should be arranged to address the requirements of pilgrims, said Khamenei.

Unity among world Muslims is of prime importance, underlined the Supreme Leader.

Islamic unity is among the principled mottos of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei said, adding that it means the Muslim people should avoid enmity and back each other in dealing with global developments.

All should help remove the wall created by the enemies with an aim of separating Iran from other parts of the Muslim world, Ayatollah Khamenei said, advising that all should do their best to remove such a hurdle. To attain this goal, Hajj rituals is the best opportunity, he said.

The enemies try to shatter the image of Shiism by disseminating wrong information, underlined the Supreme Leader.

The root cause of such false propaganda should be detected and uprooted, he said.

Follow us on Twitter @TRENDNewsAgency