UNBELIEVABLE. WHEN WILL THE PRESBYTERIAN'S MEET WITH THE FAMILES OF THE BRAVE MEN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN LEBANON? BEING A PROTESTANT, I AM ASHAMED AND SHOCKED.
WIESENTHAL CENTER: PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH’S APPROVAL OF HEZBOLLAH CONTACTS EMBOLDENS INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM
The Simon Wiesenthal Center expressed its alarm that the decision by a leading mainline Protestant Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, to permit ongoing contacts with Hezbollah will further embolden international terrorism.
“Americans should be deeply troubled by PCUSA’s decision to permit ongoing contacts with Hezbollah, a terrorist organization in word and deed,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “It was disturbing enough that PCUSA officials met recently with Hezbollah’s Commander in Southern Lebanon. But to learn that future meetings would be sanctioned, even after Hezbollah launched unprovoked bloody attacks designed to kidnap Israelis, will only further embolden the forces of terrorism in the Holy Land, in Lebanon and around the world.”
Officials of the Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish human Rights NGO had launched a protest after the Middle East Research Institute, published Lebanese media reports that a PCUSA delegation headed by Robert Morley, a retired professor from McCormick Theological Seminary and Father Nihad Tomeh, the Church’s Mideast liaison met with Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, Hezbollah’s commander in Southern Lebanon. The Church delegation reportedly wanted to learn more about Hezbollah’s charitable works and its "concern" for people.
"The people of Lebanon struggle mightily to reassert their independent democracy, Israel evacuates Gaza and continues negotiations with the Palestinian Authority towards a two-state solution, hundreds of thousands of Jordanians throng to the streets to denounce suicide bombers in Amman, but leaders of the PCUSA rush again to coddle up to Syria and Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists," charged Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center. "Their moral blindness is both arrogant and dangerous, seeking this meeting with Hezbollah even as the group plotted kidnapping and mayhem to blow up the quiet Lebanese-Israel border," Cooper continued.
At the meeting, Qaouk complained to the Presbyterian officials that U.S. policy towards Lebanon was dictated by Israel. Worley assured him that his delegation was blameless, because they had voted for Democratic Party. Worley also voiced his own complaint about how much PCUSA had suffered from Jewish organizations because its stand supporting divestment from companies doing business in the Jewish state.
"The latest photo op with a frontline terrorist leader confirms these Presbyterian leaders are pursuing a functionally antisemitic, punitive campaign against Israel, motivated not by hopes for peace but as a desire to weaken the Jewish state," said Rabbi Cooper.
"The Jewish community can only hope that fair-minded members of PCUSA will take back control of the moral compass of their movement before any further damage is done to the cause of Middle East peace, interfaith relations and the Presbyterian Church’s historic reputation," Cooper concluded.
PCUSA was the first mainline Protestant movement to call for divesting funds from Israel. A year ago, a PCUSA delegation also visited with Sheikh Qaouk in Lebanon. This led to the dismissal of two members of that delegation as well as condemnation by U.S. Congressional leaders, among others.
Now comes word from PCUSA’s interfaith coordinator Rev. Jay Rock that there would be new guidelines for its members. He explained, however, that “there will not be policies for or against meeting with any group, but we do have policies against the use of terrorism in any form.”
“But in fact, PCUSA’s dance with Hezbollah, a group funded and backed by the Iranian and Syrian regimes, only validates and rewards terrorists. In effect PCUSA is saying that it is fine to bring terrorists into civil discourse, so long as you don’t help them strap on the explosives belt,” Cooper concluded.
Hezbollah is designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. In addition, the distinction between the group’s political and terrorist wings was removed by General Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands following an investigation into the groups social services apparatus.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe.
For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036, or visit www.wiesenthal.com
Friday, December 02, 2005
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Once again into the Breach!
Once again the Eighth Marines take up their deployment to the Middle East, We say God Bless each and every one of them on their deployment. Semper Fi Marines!!!
CAMP LEJEUNE, NC(Nov. 30, 2005) -- For the fourth time since the seismic events of 9/11, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is preparing to deploy abroad in support of the War on Terror.
In a ceremony Wednesday at Camp Lejeune’s W.P.T. Hill Field, the unit grew from its standing headquarters of some 100 Marines and sailors to a highly potent air-ground task force of 2,200, as the MEU took charge of its three major subordinate elements.
The re-activation formally launched an intensive six-month pre-deployment training cycle designed to prepare the MEU – arguably the nation’s premier crisis-response force – for a host of possible missions ranging from humanitarian assistance to full-scale combat.
Joining the MEU command element for roughly the next year were its designated air, ground and logistics components: Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 365, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, and MEU Service Support Group 24.
The MEU will conduct much of its training in and around Camp Lejeune, but the schedule also includes exercises at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia and in Norfolk, Va., where the MEU will hone its skills at operating in an urban environment. Additionally, the MEU will execute several sea drills aboard the amphibious assault ships Iwo Jima, Nashville and Whidbey Island, the naval vessels that will transport the MEU during its deployment.
While the MEU has been home since it completed a seven-month deployment to Iraq in February, it has not been idle. In early September, while busy assembling the pre-deployment training program, the MEU headquarters, BLT 1/8 and MSSG-24 were ordered to the U.S. Gulf Coast to aid recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The Marines spent nearly a month in the stricken region before returning to North Carolina to resume preparations for its scheduled deployment next spring.
The MEU heads into its latest round of workups with considerable combat experience. The MEU headquarters and MSSG-24 spent their last tour in Iraq south of Baghdad, taming the highly volatile “Triangle of Death,” while 1/8 played a leading role in the recapture of Fallujah in November. At the same time, HMM-365 logged its own seven-month stint in western Iraq.
Still, Col. Ronald Johnson, the MEU commander and himself a veteran of five tours in the Middle East, implored his Marines to guard against complacency and to make the most of every training opportunity.
“Time is our enemy,” he told them, repeating what has become a mantra. “No two deployments are the same. The battlefield is constantly evolving, and our adversaries are constantly thinking and adjusting. As we get ready to re-enter the arena, we must never forget how high the stakes are for our Marines, our families and our country.”
While the 24th MEU’s rich lineage traces back to the 1960s, it wasn’t until October 1983 that the unit, during a watershed deployment to Beirut, Lebanon, entered America’s consciousness.
In what remains the deadliest terrorist strike against Americans overseas, an explosives-laden truck barreled into the barracks housing the headquarters of BLT 1/8, the ground combat element of what was then called the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit. The attack killed 241 U.S. troops, including 220 Marines.
Throughout the 1990s, the 24th MEU distinguished itself in a number of high-profile but relatively low-intensity operations. These included Provide Comfort, the 1991 mission of mercy in support of Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq and Turkey; Restore Hope in Somalia in 1993; Support Democracy in Haiti in 1994; and Allied Force, NATO’s air campaign against Kosovo in 1999.
Its most heralded triumph came in June 1995 with the daring rescue of Air Force Capt. Scott O’Grady, an F-16 pilot shot down over wartorn Bosnia who eluded capture for six days before Marines landed behind enemy lines to pluck him to safety.
The 24th MEU was in Kosovo on Sept. 11, 2001, wrapping up a six-month deployment dominated by training exercises with allied forces. Before it returned home, the MEU briefly supported Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Johnson, then serving as the operations officer for Task Force Tarawa and slated to take command of the 24th MEU later that year, tapped the MEU to help secure key terrain during the drive to Baghdad.
In June 2004, halfway through its last training cycle, the MEU was ordered to straight to Iraq as the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority prepared to hand political control of the country over to the interim Iraqi government.
While it’s too soon to know where the MEU will be sent next year, all eyes are clearly on Iraq.
“We have unfinished business over there, and we expect that’s where we’ll be needed most,” said Johnson. “But we’ll be ready for anything.”
CAMP LEJEUNE, NC(Nov. 30, 2005) -- For the fourth time since the seismic events of 9/11, the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is preparing to deploy abroad in support of the War on Terror.
In a ceremony Wednesday at Camp Lejeune’s W.P.T. Hill Field, the unit grew from its standing headquarters of some 100 Marines and sailors to a highly potent air-ground task force of 2,200, as the MEU took charge of its three major subordinate elements.
The re-activation formally launched an intensive six-month pre-deployment training cycle designed to prepare the MEU – arguably the nation’s premier crisis-response force – for a host of possible missions ranging from humanitarian assistance to full-scale combat.
Joining the MEU command element for roughly the next year were its designated air, ground and logistics components: Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 365, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, and MEU Service Support Group 24.
The MEU will conduct much of its training in and around Camp Lejeune, but the schedule also includes exercises at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia and in Norfolk, Va., where the MEU will hone its skills at operating in an urban environment. Additionally, the MEU will execute several sea drills aboard the amphibious assault ships Iwo Jima, Nashville and Whidbey Island, the naval vessels that will transport the MEU during its deployment.
While the MEU has been home since it completed a seven-month deployment to Iraq in February, it has not been idle. In early September, while busy assembling the pre-deployment training program, the MEU headquarters, BLT 1/8 and MSSG-24 were ordered to the U.S. Gulf Coast to aid recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The Marines spent nearly a month in the stricken region before returning to North Carolina to resume preparations for its scheduled deployment next spring.
The MEU heads into its latest round of workups with considerable combat experience. The MEU headquarters and MSSG-24 spent their last tour in Iraq south of Baghdad, taming the highly volatile “Triangle of Death,” while 1/8 played a leading role in the recapture of Fallujah in November. At the same time, HMM-365 logged its own seven-month stint in western Iraq.
Still, Col. Ronald Johnson, the MEU commander and himself a veteran of five tours in the Middle East, implored his Marines to guard against complacency and to make the most of every training opportunity.
“Time is our enemy,” he told them, repeating what has become a mantra. “No two deployments are the same. The battlefield is constantly evolving, and our adversaries are constantly thinking and adjusting. As we get ready to re-enter the arena, we must never forget how high the stakes are for our Marines, our families and our country.”
While the 24th MEU’s rich lineage traces back to the 1960s, it wasn’t until October 1983 that the unit, during a watershed deployment to Beirut, Lebanon, entered America’s consciousness.
In what remains the deadliest terrorist strike against Americans overseas, an explosives-laden truck barreled into the barracks housing the headquarters of BLT 1/8, the ground combat element of what was then called the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit. The attack killed 241 U.S. troops, including 220 Marines.
Throughout the 1990s, the 24th MEU distinguished itself in a number of high-profile but relatively low-intensity operations. These included Provide Comfort, the 1991 mission of mercy in support of Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq and Turkey; Restore Hope in Somalia in 1993; Support Democracy in Haiti in 1994; and Allied Force, NATO’s air campaign against Kosovo in 1999.
Its most heralded triumph came in June 1995 with the daring rescue of Air Force Capt. Scott O’Grady, an F-16 pilot shot down over wartorn Bosnia who eluded capture for six days before Marines landed behind enemy lines to pluck him to safety.
The 24th MEU was in Kosovo on Sept. 11, 2001, wrapping up a six-month deployment dominated by training exercises with allied forces. Before it returned home, the MEU briefly supported Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Johnson, then serving as the operations officer for Task Force Tarawa and slated to take command of the 24th MEU later that year, tapped the MEU to help secure key terrain during the drive to Baghdad.
In June 2004, halfway through its last training cycle, the MEU was ordered to straight to Iraq as the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority prepared to hand political control of the country over to the interim Iraqi government.
While it’s too soon to know where the MEU will be sent next year, all eyes are clearly on Iraq.
“We have unfinished business over there, and we expect that’s where we’ll be needed most,” said Johnson. “But we’ll be ready for anything.”
Sunday, November 27, 2005
The Teacher of the Homicide Bomber
Hezbollah learnt suicide bomb tactics from Iran - commander Sat. 26 Nov 2005
Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Nov. 26 – Lebanon’s Hezbollah group learnt suicide operation tactics from Iran, a senior officer of the Revolutionary Guards boasted.
Mohammad-Ali Samadi, the spokesman for a government-orchestrated campaign to recruit suicide bombers said that Iran first developed the tactic during its eight-year war with Iraq, which left over a million people dead.
Samadi’s organisation, the Headquarters to Commemorate the Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement, is run by the IRGC in an effort to recruit potential suicide bombers. At a recent rally in the city of Shahroud, north-eastern Iran, it claimed to have signed up 1,000 volunteers for suicide attacks against the West and Israel.
The former regime of Saddam Hussein, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia disseminated negative propaganda against suicide operations to keep them apart from Palestinian culture, Samadi said.
“Lebanese Hezbollah used its ties with Iran to adopt the Iranian model and utilised it successfully with light guns and light-weight short-range rockets”, the senior IRGC officer said.
In October, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and threatened the leaders of Muslim countries that developed ties with the Jewish state.
Earlier this month, Samadi told a state-run news agency that 50,000 people had enlisted for martyrdom-seeking operations throughout the country and were willing to attack targets on the orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The group’s organisers previously said that their targets were three-fold; U.S.-led forces in Iraq, Jews in Israel, and Salman Rushdie, who still has a fatwa against him issue by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Nov. 26 – Lebanon’s Hezbollah group learnt suicide operation tactics from Iran, a senior officer of the Revolutionary Guards boasted.
Mohammad-Ali Samadi, the spokesman for a government-orchestrated campaign to recruit suicide bombers said that Iran first developed the tactic during its eight-year war with Iraq, which left over a million people dead.
Samadi’s organisation, the Headquarters to Commemorate the Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement, is run by the IRGC in an effort to recruit potential suicide bombers. At a recent rally in the city of Shahroud, north-eastern Iran, it claimed to have signed up 1,000 volunteers for suicide attacks against the West and Israel.
The former regime of Saddam Hussein, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia disseminated negative propaganda against suicide operations to keep them apart from Palestinian culture, Samadi said.
“Lebanese Hezbollah used its ties with Iran to adopt the Iranian model and utilised it successfully with light guns and light-weight short-range rockets”, the senior IRGC officer said.
In October, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and threatened the leaders of Muslim countries that developed ties with the Jewish state.
Earlier this month, Samadi told a state-run news agency that 50,000 people had enlisted for martyrdom-seeking operations throughout the country and were willing to attack targets on the orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The group’s organisers previously said that their targets were three-fold; U.S.-led forces in Iraq, Jews in Israel, and Salman Rushdie, who still has a fatwa against him issue by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
The American Thinker has a good article about our withdrawal from Iraq and Congressman Murtha (D) Pennsylvania. It seems there is a history here.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Former Commandant General PX Kelley Speaks out
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Don't Give Terrorists A Timetable
Letter to the Editor, Washington Post
Nov. 22, 2005, pg. 28
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/21/AR2005112101303.html
One of the most critical issues that members of Congress must address is
the wisdom of setting a schedule for our continued presence in Iraq. In
this regard, I would hope that they would look back to September 1983, when
both houses of Congress held War Powers Act hearings on our presence in
Beirut as part of a multinational force. I asked Congress then not to set a
schedule for our withdrawal from war-torn Lebanon. I said, "If the time is
too short, our enemies will wait us out; if it is too long, they will drive
us out."
My warning was ignored, and Congress passed a law that said that Marines
would stay for 18 more months. That in essence told the Iranians, the
Syrians, the Druze and the newly organized Hezbollah: "Put your plans on
hold for a year and a half."
On Oct. 23, 1983, they gave us their answer -- an 18-ton truck carrying the
equivalent of 18,000 pounds of TNT smashed into the headquarters of
Battalion Landing Team 2/8, and 241 of our most precious sons, who had done
nothing more than try to restore peace to a troubled country, were
murdered.
My message to Congress is simple: Never tell your enemies your plans.
Ambiguity in war is essential.
My personal message to our enemies is equally simple: If you continue your
barbaric acts of terrorism, you eventually will be punished -- count on it.
Let me close by reminding all Americans of the mission given to Muslim
terrorists by Osama bin Laden in 2001: "By God's leave, we call on every
Muslim who believes in God and hopes for reward to obey God's command to
kill the Americans and plunder their possessions wherever he finds them and
whenever he can."
Lest we forget!
P.X. Kelley, Arlington
The writer, a retired Marine Corps general, was commandant of the Corps
from 1983 to 1987.
Don't Give Terrorists A Timetable
Letter to the Editor, Washington Post
Nov. 22, 2005, pg. 28
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/21/AR2005112101303.html
One of the most critical issues that members of Congress must address is
the wisdom of setting a schedule for our continued presence in Iraq. In
this regard, I would hope that they would look back to September 1983, when
both houses of Congress held War Powers Act hearings on our presence in
Beirut as part of a multinational force. I asked Congress then not to set a
schedule for our withdrawal from war-torn Lebanon. I said, "If the time is
too short, our enemies will wait us out; if it is too long, they will drive
us out."
My warning was ignored, and Congress passed a law that said that Marines
would stay for 18 more months. That in essence told the Iranians, the
Syrians, the Druze and the newly organized Hezbollah: "Put your plans on
hold for a year and a half."
On Oct. 23, 1983, they gave us their answer -- an 18-ton truck carrying the
equivalent of 18,000 pounds of TNT smashed into the headquarters of
Battalion Landing Team 2/8, and 241 of our most precious sons, who had done
nothing more than try to restore peace to a troubled country, were
murdered.
My message to Congress is simple: Never tell your enemies your plans.
Ambiguity in war is essential.
My personal message to our enemies is equally simple: If you continue your
barbaric acts of terrorism, you eventually will be punished -- count on it.
Let me close by reminding all Americans of the mission given to Muslim
terrorists by Osama bin Laden in 2001: "By God's leave, we call on every
Muslim who believes in God and hopes for reward to obey God's command to
kill the Americans and plunder their possessions wherever he finds them and
whenever he can."
Lest we forget!
P.X. Kelley, Arlington
The writer, a retired Marine Corps general, was commandant of the Corps
from 1983 to 1987.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Four Hezbollah terriorists killed
Israel Pundit has a great story on the recent incursion into Israel by Hezbollah.
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Finally Confirmation of Treason
Recently I spoke with a sailor who was aboard one of the ships that comprised the battle group supporting the Marines in Beirut in 1983. His story is haunting and damning at the same time. The sailor worked in the Comm section of the ship and handled message traffic on a daily basis. The one message that haunts him to this day is the flash traffic from a "CIA mobile" source located in Beirut on 10/22/83. The complete message will not be repeated here, but the main goal of the message was "Iranian agents planning Marine BLT Compound Attack". The message was passed up the chain, with no response from Washington. I had confirmed the sailors identity and know that his statements of the message are true and factual. His main goal in this release is to make the Marines and Sailors know that they are not at fault and never were. Although Colonel Geraghty had pleaded for more troops and more secure positions, Washington had turned him down. Now as the 23rd of October approached it seemed as if everyone except the Marines knew what was going to happen.
Can we draw the conclusion from these reports that there was sloppy communications? I cannot. I know being a Former Marine that every communication was taken as seriously as possible. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that our Brother Marines and Sailors were left purposely in harms way while the political forces that control the United States wondered if Iran and Syria would really do this to us. After all, we had let the terrorist Arafat go. Spoiled the Hated Israelis chance to capture him. We had gotten in between Israel and the various factions in Lebanon.
Would they (Iran, Syria) really treat us this way?
Yes, they would, they did and they continue to do it to this day. A treasonous act was committed on 10/22/83 by someone in Washington by not protecting our Brother Marines and Sailors. Who was it? We may never know. But know this, we will never stop our search for Justice against Hezbollah and all countries who harbor them.
Can we draw the conclusion from these reports that there was sloppy communications? I cannot. I know being a Former Marine that every communication was taken as seriously as possible. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that our Brother Marines and Sailors were left purposely in harms way while the political forces that control the United States wondered if Iran and Syria would really do this to us. After all, we had let the terrorist Arafat go. Spoiled the Hated Israelis chance to capture him. We had gotten in between Israel and the various factions in Lebanon.
Would they (Iran, Syria) really treat us this way?
Yes, they would, they did and they continue to do it to this day. A treasonous act was committed on 10/22/83 by someone in Washington by not protecting our Brother Marines and Sailors. Who was it? We may never know. But know this, we will never stop our search for Justice against Hezbollah and all countries who harbor them.
Friday, November 18, 2005
Able Danger and the 9/11 Commission
Congressman Curt Weldon is showing an unusual amount of determination and dedication for the victims of the 9/11 terrorist Attack. He has been actively pursuing the Pentagon and the 9/11 commission demanding an answer to the question that has dogged the pentagon and the victim's families of 9/11. Who and what was "Able Danger?" The pencil pushers at the Pentagon claim it never existed. The 9/11 commission deny its existence. The reason for the denials? It is clear as the destruction of the World Trade Towers, somebody screwed up, and screwed up royally.
Weldon said he believes that the DIA stifled crucial information about Mohammed Atta, who became the lead Sept. 11 terrorist, and then destroyed related documents. He also said that the Sept. 11 commission, which was appointed to investigate the attacks and the intelligence failure involved in them, disregarded information it received from Able Danger members.
Weldon has said he learned that a secret program known as Able Danger was put into place in 1999 and 2000 by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and by the general in charge of the Special Forces Command. It was devoted to uncovering key cells of al Qaeda globally, giving the military the capability to destroy those cells.
This type of stonewalling against investigations into terrorist activities are nothing new to the men who went to Beirut Lebanon. During the investigation into the bombing of the BLT Headquarters. The officers and General Staff took the lion share of the blame while the real investigation into WHO COMMITTED THE ACT was put on hold until the politics of the terrorist act could be known. After twenty years the culprit was finally identified as Hezbollah and its handlers Syria and Iran.
Thank You Congressman Weldon for your support of the Truth and following it to where ever it may lead.
Weldon said he believes that the DIA stifled crucial information about Mohammed Atta, who became the lead Sept. 11 terrorist, and then destroyed related documents. He also said that the Sept. 11 commission, which was appointed to investigate the attacks and the intelligence failure involved in them, disregarded information it received from Able Danger members.
Weldon has said he learned that a secret program known as Able Danger was put into place in 1999 and 2000 by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and by the general in charge of the Special Forces Command. It was devoted to uncovering key cells of al Qaeda globally, giving the military the capability to destroy those cells.
This type of stonewalling against investigations into terrorist activities are nothing new to the men who went to Beirut Lebanon. During the investigation into the bombing of the BLT Headquarters. The officers and General Staff took the lion share of the blame while the real investigation into WHO COMMITTED THE ACT was put on hold until the politics of the terrorist act could be known. After twenty years the culprit was finally identified as Hezbollah and its handlers Syria and Iran.
Thank You Congressman Weldon for your support of the Truth and following it to where ever it may lead.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
One more stamp would fit right in
November 15,2005
BY OUR OPINION Jacksonville,NC Daily News
The members of the crowd that gathered at the Marine Corps Exchange at Camp Lejeune last Thursday weren't hard to please. They knew what they wanted, and they came to get it - and that's exactly what they did.They were the first in line when the U.S Postal Service began selling the new Marine Corps stamps honoring four of the Corps' most legendary Leathernecks.
The stamps, finally issued following some intense, years-long lobbying by private, Marine and congressional groups, debuted to a highly appreciative audience. The Marines, both active-duty and retired, and dependents who showed up to get their hands on the first issues of these stamps had long anticipated the event. It's doubtful any will grace the outside of an envelope - instead they were purchased as keepsakes honoring four legendary Marines.
The four: former Commandant John Lejeune; Lewis "Chesty" Puller, recipient of five Navy Crosses; and two Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, John Basilone and Daniel Daly, were honored for their contributions to Corps and country.
All were combat heroes. Lejeune, for whom Camp Lejeune is named, was the first Marine officer to command a U.S. Army division. The two-time commandant earned a chest-full of medals and decorations for service in Panama, Cuba, Mexico, the Philippines, France and Germany.
Puller - probably the best-known Marine of all time - was also one of the most highly decorated. Like Lejeune, Puller rose to the rank of lieutenant general. He was what's known as a mustang - an officer who entered service in the enlisted ranks. After seeing combat in several places, including Haiti, Puller distinguished himself during World War II and Korea. Even after retirement, Puller tried to volunteer for duty in Vietnam - a request denied as a result of his advanced years.
John Basilone, an Italian-American who was one of 10 children, never reached "old age." The 27-year-old died on Iwo Jima after receiving the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor for actions aboard Guadalcanal. Basilone, a machine gunner, was brought back to the U.S. mainland following his highly publicized exploits in the Pacific and offered a commission, but he spurned the offer and chose instead to return to combat. He later died on Iwo Jima.
Daniel Daly was a New York state native who achieved fame during World War I. Once described as the greatest fighting man in U.S. history, Daly had the distinction of having earned the Medal of Honor twice for two separate acts of heroism. His first award stemmed from actions during the Boxer Rebellion, while his second was earned at Belleau Woods in France. He retired as a sergeant major.
To be sure, the four men honored by last week's stamp issue represent some of the best who ever claimed the title of Marine.
But still, many believe there is a stamp missing from the U.S. Postal Service line-up of such commemorative stamps - one that commemorates and honors the men who died during the Beirut bomb blast on Oct. 23, 1983.
That tragedy, which struck Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville and Onslow County extremely hard one of the first attacks in the war on terror. Until the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the Beirut bombing was the most significant terrorist attack on U.S. citizens in the country's history.
Efforts to prod the USPS into issuing a commemorative stamp on behalf of the Beirut fallen have thus far proved fruitless, but it's hoped this attack will one day receive the attention it deserves.
The men who died in Beirut deserve to be remembered, honored and most of all, recognized for their sacrifice by the issuance of one more stamp.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Terror Worldwide!!!
Hezbollah ID'd in 1994 Argentina attack
Dozens of people killed at Jewish center
Wednesday, November 9, 2005; Posted: 8:12 p.m. EST (01:12 GMT)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- The Argentine government on Wednesday identified a Hezbollah militant as the suicide bomber who destroyed a Jewish community center and killed 85 people in 1994, embracing accusations made earlier by Jewish groups and the U.S. Congress.
The announcement by prosecutor Alberto Nisman added to earlier accusations that the Iranian-backed group was responsible for Argentina's worst terrorist attack, though he did not specifically allege Iranian involvement.
Nisman said at a news conference that Ibrahim Hussein Berro, a Lebanese citizen, detonated a van packed with explosives at the community center in downtown Buenos Aires, which served the country's more than 200,000 Jews.
Berro had been identified as the suspected bomber in a resolution passed on July 22, 2004, by the U.S. House of Representatives that urged a solution to the case. The resolution said that Berro reportedly been in contact with the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires.
Iran had no immediate comment on the latest developments, but it has vehemently denied earlier allegations of involvement. Nisman said there are several lines of investigation, "including the hypothesis of help from Iran."
Nisman said Hussein "belonged to Hezbollah," an international Iranian-backed Islamic militant group. He said friends and relatives of the man identified him through a photograph, which he called a major breakthrough in the decade-old probe.
Nisman said investigators believe the 21-year-old attacker entered Argentina in the tri-border region at the joint borders of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, a center of smuggling and alleged terrorist fundraising.
For years, the Jewish community pressured Argentine law enforcement to solve the attack, which also wounded more than 200 people.
A leading Argentine political analyst, Rosendo Fraga, said the announcement seemed to be a response to that pressure.
"It doesn't seem to me that there's anything here that's new and relevant," Fraga said.
In March 2003, a judge asked Interpol for help in arresting four Iranian diplomats allegedly involved in the bombing. Iran recalled its ambassador from Buenos Aires and denied involvement.
In August 2003, English authorities detained Hade Soleimanpour, the Iranian ambassador to Argentina when the attack occurred, but he was later freed on bail when a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence against him.
The judge in charge of the case was removed in December 2003 after complaints of slow progress.
Survivors have bitterly decried the lack of leads, noting that swift progress was made by investigators in other countries after terrorist attacks in New York, Madrid and London.
The Jewish center bombing was the second of two such attacks targeting Jews in Argentina during the 1990s. A March 1992 blast destroyed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people. That bombing also remains unsolved.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Dozens of people killed at Jewish center
Wednesday, November 9, 2005; Posted: 8:12 p.m. EST (01:12 GMT)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- The Argentine government on Wednesday identified a Hezbollah militant as the suicide bomber who destroyed a Jewish community center and killed 85 people in 1994, embracing accusations made earlier by Jewish groups and the U.S. Congress.
The announcement by prosecutor Alberto Nisman added to earlier accusations that the Iranian-backed group was responsible for Argentina's worst terrorist attack, though he did not specifically allege Iranian involvement.
Nisman said at a news conference that Ibrahim Hussein Berro, a Lebanese citizen, detonated a van packed with explosives at the community center in downtown Buenos Aires, which served the country's more than 200,000 Jews.
Berro had been identified as the suspected bomber in a resolution passed on July 22, 2004, by the U.S. House of Representatives that urged a solution to the case. The resolution said that Berro reportedly been in contact with the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires.
Iran had no immediate comment on the latest developments, but it has vehemently denied earlier allegations of involvement. Nisman said there are several lines of investigation, "including the hypothesis of help from Iran."
Nisman said Hussein "belonged to Hezbollah," an international Iranian-backed Islamic militant group. He said friends and relatives of the man identified him through a photograph, which he called a major breakthrough in the decade-old probe.
Nisman said investigators believe the 21-year-old attacker entered Argentina in the tri-border region at the joint borders of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, a center of smuggling and alleged terrorist fundraising.
For years, the Jewish community pressured Argentine law enforcement to solve the attack, which also wounded more than 200 people.
A leading Argentine political analyst, Rosendo Fraga, said the announcement seemed to be a response to that pressure.
"It doesn't seem to me that there's anything here that's new and relevant," Fraga said.
In March 2003, a judge asked Interpol for help in arresting four Iranian diplomats allegedly involved in the bombing. Iran recalled its ambassador from Buenos Aires and denied involvement.
In August 2003, English authorities detained Hade Soleimanpour, the Iranian ambassador to Argentina when the attack occurred, but he was later freed on bail when a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence against him.
The judge in charge of the case was removed in December 2003 after complaints of slow progress.
Survivors have bitterly decried the lack of leads, noting that swift progress was made by investigators in other countries after terrorist attacks in New York, Madrid and London.
The Jewish center bombing was the second of two such attacks targeting Jews in Argentina during the 1990s. A March 1992 blast destroyed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people. That bombing also remains unsolved.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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