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Politics : Israel to U.S. : Now Deal with Syria and Iran -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (4166)	1/2/2004 2:50:41 PM
From: Crimson Ghost	Respond to of 22250

Iraqi Christians coming under fire. I wonder if the Christian Zionists who supported this war were aware of the fact that there are quite a few Christians in Iraq and many of them now live in danger of their lives. In the unholy alliance between neo-con Jews and Christian Zionists, who do you think is smarter and will come out on top? The neo-con Jews are playing their Christian supporters for the pathetic fools they are. In this case jewish contempt for the goyim is absolutely justified IMHO. PRINT EDITION \| Subscribe to NEWS \| OPINION \| SPORTS \| ARTS & LIVING \| ENTERTAINMENT Discussions \| Photos & Video JOBS \| CARS \| REAL ESTATE SEARCH: washingtonpost.com > World > Middle East > Iraq > Wires Killings Sow Fear Among Christians in Southern Iraq Reuters Wednesday, December 31, 2003; 10:12 AM By Suleiman al-Khalidi BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Bashir Toma Elias was killed by a single shot to the head in the middle of Basra's bazaar on Christmas Eve as he prepared to head home to celebrate with his wife and five children. The killing of the Iraqi Christian alcohol merchant sowed fresh fear in a community afraid of increasing religious intolerance in mainly Shi'ite Muslim southern Iraq. His widow Jihan cried hysterically outside the Chaldean Church in the affluent Manawi Pasha neighborhood after Christmas Mass, held in the morning because the lack of security prevented holding a midnight service. "We buried Bashir and our priests are celebrating while we are being slaughtered," said 40-year-old Jihan. "Where is the peace they preach?" Bashir, 48, was the latest liquor store trader fatally shot in the country's second-largest city since the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April. Residents say the killer escaped as passers-by looked on, in a city still plagued by crime and mob rule despite the British military presence. Since the war that toppled Saddam, armed groups have looted and set ablaze several liquor stores in the once freewheeling city, where Shi'ite religious parties now wield power and seek to impose strict moral regulations, similar to Iran's. More than 400 liquor stores run by Christians, the only community allowed to sell alcohol under the former Baathist government, were forced to close in the immediate aftermath of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. Basra was once a cosmopolitan trading center and playground for rich Kuwaitis and Saudis who flocked to its casinos and nightclubs in the midst of an austere region where alcohol was banned. CHRISTIANS AFRAID "Alcohol selling has changed from Christians to Muslims. Now it's Muslims who sell after taking the trade from us," said an embittered Joseph Hanna, a Christian property developer and hotel owner who blames militant Shi'ite groups for the killings. "We fear for our lives and our interests from the extremist Shi'ites who are targeting us as Christians," said Misak Victor, another liquor merchant. Iraqi Christians are terrified of armed Shi'ite groups, which have names like God's Vengeance, God's Party and the Islamic Bases Organization. Their members roam the streets to chase mobsters, drug addicts and prostitutes, exacting their brand of what they call God's law. The number of parties carrying Islam's banner is a force to reckon with in the post-Saddam political order, holding sway on local councils and competing with a beleaguered police force in imposing order in the unruly streets. Abdullah Faisal, head of the Islamic Bases Organization, says Islam venerates his young "martyrdom seekers," who have a mandate from God to stamp out vice. But Faisal says the killings of liquor traders were carried out by undisciplined militant Islamic groups and that Islam opposed the summary executions witnessed in Basra. "Some Islamic movements have challenged liquor merchants. There was burning and killings," he said. "Religion doesn't allow this even though we confront vice and crime." CHRISTIANS LEAVE THE SOUTH Unlike the majority Shi'ites long persecuted by Saddam Hussein, many Christians found that Saddam's Baath party and its secular pan-Arabist nationalist ideology tolerated them. "We never saw harm under Saddam Hussein," said Tareq Boutros, a former liquor store owner who now runs a garment business. Christian Iraqis fear that militant Shi'ite militias want to impose an intolerant brand of Islam on minorities and rival Muslim sects. They say Shi'ite power in postwar Iraq has allowed them to dominate a new police force which they say is corrupted by a mix of local mobsters and militant Islamic parties. "You now find police in the streets but I am certain if a murder takes place in front of them they would not deal with it. If you talk to a policeman he will tell you, 'I cannot do anything,"' said Sami Shamas, a mathematics teacher. "Those who sell drinks are killed but thieves who steal homes or kidnap girls are left free," said an angry Christian who refused to give his name. Families cite growing intolerance in Basra's society at large, with schoolgirls and female university students under intimidation from teachers to wear the veil. "Our daughters are being fought. They are telling them you have to wear a veil and become a Muslim," said Abdulahad Wissam, a Christian who runs a chain of household goods stores. Fears of worse to come have prompted more than 2,000 families from the community of at least 100,000 Christians in the city to pack up and leave. Most headed to northern Iraqi cities such as Mosul where their ancient communities trace their ancestry, their leaders say. "A lot of Christian families have left for Mosul and Baghdad," said goldsmith Naji Ahanyous. "If this situation continues there will not be one Christian in Basra."

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (4166)	1/3/2004 4:14:54 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22250

The American Pyromaniac Firefighter: FBI says name errors led to Air France flight cancellations Fri Jan 2,11:37 AM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - Confusion over the identities of passengers that were considered potential terrorists led to the cancellation of six Air France Paris-Los Angeles flights last week, an FBI official said on condition of anonymity. The agency supported statements by French government officials that mistaken identity over some of the passengers booked on the flights had led to flights being grounded on security concerns. But FBI does not consider the moves taken were wrong. "During intelligence collection you may come up with a particular name and you really don't have much more than that," the official told AFP on Friday. "Once you get a piece of intelligence that gives you a name of a person who may be involved in a terrorist threat you have to act upon that. "Sometimes its not until you physically ID the person you find out it is not the person." But the official added that US intelligence thought it was right to urge the French government to cancel the three Air France flights from Paris to Los Angeles as well as the three return legs on December 24 and December 25. "I don't think the public would like to take any chance." The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that one of the Air France passengers singled out by the FBI was a child whose name happened to be the same as a wanted Islamic extremist from Tunisia. The others on the list were an elderly Chinese woman who had at one time run a restaurant in Paris, an insurance salesman from Wales and three French nationals, the paper said. The FBI official said the newspaper's account was accurate. The Air France flight cancellations came amid heightened fears of a terror attack against the United States over the Christmas and New Year period. Several British Airways flights originating out of London bound for the United States have been grounded, due to security fears, in the past two days, including BA flight 223 which was to leave London-Heathrow for Washington Friday. story.news.yahoo.com Over here in Europe --especially in Spain, France and Italy-- there's a psychopathic figure that keeps popping up every summer in the bushy landscapes of Provence, Corsica,... namely, the "pompier pyromane" --the pyromaniac firefighter. It's usually a man in his 20s or 30s who is a compulsive arsonist, yet smart enough to repress/conceal his pathological impulses to set fires --most often in his own environs... Hence his pervert cast of mind prompts him to enroll as a firefighter in the local fire brigade. That way, when summer sets in and mistral squalls blow across Southern France, our pyromaniac firefighter gets his thrill both ways: first when he sets the bush aflame and next when he gets a piece of the action fighting the blaze... together with Canadair flying boats buzzing over on their way to refill or drop their waterload. Likewise, 911 and its aftermath provided us with the "policier terroriste" character, that is, an intelligence outfit or a cluster of intelligence rogues that are, one way or the other, involved in the current terror wave AND, at the same time, cry wolf and posture as our trustworthy law enforcers.... However, just as with the pyromaniac firefighter, it's a matter of time before they're nailed. Gus