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To: Oral Roberts who wrote (7578)	6/5/2006 11:34:30 AM
From: goldworldnet	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14758

Saudi textbooks leave students open to bin Laden's message Mon Jun 5, 7:40 AM ET news.yahoo.com Osama bin Laden sees Western democratic societies as decadent and wants a world dominated by fundamentalist Islamic law. Why would the 9/11 hijackers, and others, follow bin Laden's fanatical preachings? One disturbing answer lies in Saudi Arabia, where the Ministry of Education publishes textbooks for mandatory "Islamic studies." Parts read as if they could have been written by bin Laden, who is from Saudi Arabia, as were 15 of the 19 hijackers. For more than a year, the Saudi government has said that the textbooks have been rewritten to emphasize tolerance over violence toward non-believers. But the non-profit Freedom House has found otherwise. The books are not publicly available, but Freedom House obtained and translated copies. Despite some minor changes, passages still contain disturbing intolerance. An eighth-grade text, for example, teaches that "the Jews are apes ... while the swine are the Christians." A 12th-grader learns the value of jihad (holy war) in language that shows jihad as a violent struggle against Jews, Christians and Muslims who don't follow the conservative Wahhabi version of Islam that Saudi Arabia officially adheres to. The Saudi ambassador to the United States, in the opposing view to this editorial, argues that it will take time to introduce more tolerant textbooks. But a patient approach isn't good enough. Education forms young minds and shapes cultures. OPPOSING VIEW: "We're trying hard to change" The Saudi government needs to get serious and transparent about cleaning up the kingdom's instruction. And the Bush administration must start paying more than its present cursory attention. To be sure, the Saudi royal family has a dilemma. For years, like other Arab regimes, it has repressed democratic opposition parties but allowed mosques to flourish. It has supported and poured money into the Wahhabi belief system and bolstered the idea that Saudi Arabia is the Vatican of Islam. If Saudi Arabia challenges the grip of the clerics and the religious beliefs too vigorously, it risks provoking an overthrow of the royal family. The United States also is in a tough position. Saudi Arabia is a strategic U.S. ally that guarantees plentiful oil. Even though President Bush has challenged the Saudis to be more democratic, that hasn't extended to broad pressure on their education system. The textbooks are used globally in schools funded by the Saudi government. Changing these books might be at least as important, in the long term, as any military campaign. How important? Bin Laden certainly knows. In a recent audiotape, he warned against American interference in the school curriculum. * * *

To: Oral Roberts who wrote (7578)	6/5/2006 11:37:34 AM
From: Geoff Altman	Respond to of 14758

I hear that Oral, I'm getting pretty sick of these fantastic conspiracies that the freaks are dreaming up.....

To: Oral Roberts who wrote (7578)	6/5/2006 12:33:44 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14758

Muslim extremists break up concert b92.net ^ \| June 6th 2006 NOVI PAZAR -- Ten young men donning long beards, short pants and white hats broke up a concert of the Balkanika orchestra. The hooligans were dressed like members of the vehabit movement. They climbed up onto the stage and threw around the instruments that were set up for the musicians to play. One of the young men toko the microphone and told those attending the concert: “Brothers, go home, they are working against Islam here. This is Satan’s work.” He then threw the microphone, which was damaged, as were the speakers, mixing board and some of the lighting. Four police officers were present at the concert in Novi Pazar and used force to get the youths off of the stage and stop them from coming back. The concert was organised by the Novi Pazar municipality and the Serbia Culture and Sport Ministry. About a half hour later, a group of about 50 Novi Pazar football supporters, upset over the team’s loss to Mladosti from Apatin, started throwing stones at the stage where the concert was supposed to be held. Earlier, the game was stopped for an hour after the Novi Pazar fans hit referee Nikola Maljkovic in the head with a rock. The police have yet to comment on the two incidents, though further public concerts in the region will probably all be cancelled. The vehabit is a radical Islamic group founded in Saudi Arabia. It is hard to give an estimate on how many supporters the group has in the Sandžak area, but what is sure is that the numbers have increased greatly in recent years.

To: Oral Roberts who wrote (7578)	6/6/2006 9:47:52 AM
From: Geoff Altman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14758

Hope we've heard the last of this distortion of a church: Marine's Father Sues Funeral Protesters Jun 05 3:30 PM US/Eastern Email this story GREENBELT, Md. The father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters from a fundamentalist Kansas church filed an invasion-of- privacy suit against the demonstrators Monday. It is believed to be the first lawsuit brought by a soldier's family against Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., whose members routinely demonstrate at military funerals around the country. Albert Snyder of York, Pa., the father of Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, is seeking unspecified damages. The younger Snyder, 20, died March 3 after an accident in the Al Anbar province of Iraq. He was buried in Westminster, Md. "We think it's a case we can win because anyone's funeral is private," Snyder lawyer Sean Summers said. "You don't have a right to interrupt someone's private funeral." Members of Westboro say the military deaths in Iraq are God's punishment for America's tolerance of gays. They typically carry signs with slogans such as "God Hates Fags" and "Thank God for IEDs," a reference to the roadside bombs used by insurgents. The church has inspired dozens of state laws banning funeral protests, including a Maryland law that did not go into effect until after Snyder's memorial. Shirley Phelps-Roper, a spokeswoman for the small congregation, said it is the first time Westboro has been sued by a soldier's family. "We were exercising our First Amendment rights," she said. ___ On the Net: Family Web site: matthewsnyder.org breitbart.com