Sgt Justin Griffith wants atheists to be given more respect in the armed forces

In a land of faith and flag, Justin Griffith is challenging the US military to abandon its religious ties.

When he was a child growing up in Plano, Texas – a place he describes as the “oversized, goofy buckle on the Bible belt” – he would bring his bible to science class and debate his teachers on the finer points of evolution.

“In my head, I won every time,” says Mr Griffith, now 29.

But somewhere along the way, his penchant for picking ideological fights with the non-religious got him in trouble. He found it harder and harder to argue with the points they were making. At 13, he suffered a crisis of faith.

“It was so painful. I lost my religion before I lost my first girlfriend. Nothing that big had ever happened to me, and I didn’t have any coping skills,” he says.

Mr Griffith found peace with his atheism, but he is not done sparring with the opposite team.

As an active-duty sergeant in the US Army, he’s leading the charge to get atheists more respect in the armed forces. In the process he is earning attention, both positive and negative, from around the world.

Protest rock

Mr Griffith’s most ambitious project is Rock Beyond Belief, a day-long event on the military base Fort Bragg, North Carolina, complete with children’s activities, rock concerts and a lecture by atheism’s most visible proponent, author and scientist Richard Dawkins.

It is an ambitious plan in an organisation still respectful of religious traditions and in a town that holds Christian values dear.

Scheduled for 31 March, Rock Beyond Belief comes two years after another controversial concert at Fort Bragg, “Rock The Fort”.

Sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, Rock the Fort was billed as an “evangelical event” with Christian bands, family activities, and an emphasis on spreading the gospel to the entire community.

Despite attracting criticism for hosting the event, the top brass at Fort Bragg said they would be willing do the same for an event thrown by a different religious group.

“So the next day, I raised my hand and said, ‘Fort Bragg, I’ve got an event’,” says Mr Griffith.

The concert was originally scheduled for 2011, but was postponed until his group could secure the same location as Rock The Fort: an outdoor field capable of hosting thousands of people, in view of the Main Post Chapel.

Though the Rock Beyond Belief concert is the most public of Mr Griffith’ s efforts to make the military more accepting of atheists, it is not his only one.

“We have a lot of work to do,” he says.

Military culture is full of religious ideology and symbolism, says Griffith. For instance, he cites the traditional flag-folding ceremony, which cites faith in God in multiple instances.

“These things have been here for years. It’s tradition,” he says. “How do we go about getting them out?”

Prior to planning the concert, he registered his complaints against the army’s spiritual fitness test, a campaign that he continues.

That test, implemented last year as part of a wider resiliency and suicide-prevention program, rates service members on the strength of their spiritual life.

He’s also working to ensure that servicemembers can have “atheist” listed on their official military records.

“It took me a year and a half to get my records changed to atheist. When I told them I was atheist, they put ‘no religious preference’,” he says. “I told them that’s unacceptable. I do have a preference, and that’s atheism.”

These records are important, he says, because of the end-of-life services provided to soldiers who may have been wounded in war.

“I want them to know that I am an atheist: do not pray; do not do last rites; do not do any goofy ceremonies for me,” he says.

Bigger microphone

Mr Griffith counts about 100 members in Fort Bragg’s atheist community, which meets weekly off-base, since it is not yet recognised as a distinctive faith group by the military.

He also works with other atheist groups on military bases across the country.

Through his efforts, Mr Griffith has become a figurehead within the atheist movement. His bloggets around 100,000 hits a month and he says he puts in about 40 hours a week of activism on top of his military duties. In July, he was appointed the military director of American Atheists.

“I definitely have a bigger microphone now,” he says.

But with that bigger voice comes bigger criticism. Because atheists so often fight to keep religion out of public property or government activities, they are perceived as being anti-Christian.

When Fox News reported on Rock Beyond Belief, it focused on a music video by Aiden, one of the bands performing at the concert. That video featured images burning churches and references to burning synagogues and holy books.

Mr Griffith says the band was referring to sectarian violence in the name of religion, not an appeal for atheists to incite violence.

Still, the article resulted in an influx of hate mail and death threats.

Military microcosm

Though the general public is not always receptive to atheism, the military itself offers a promise of acceptance.

Aside from recognised Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups, Fort Bragg has resources for other faiths, including Buddhists and Wiccans, a Pagan religion.

“The army really is a microcosm of the entirety of our nation,” says Benjamin Abel, a spokesman for Fort Bragg. “We serve the people, and we have an incredibly diverse population of people in the United States.”

He notes that there are steps religious groups can go through to gain more visibility on base.

The fight by atheists, he says, reminds him of the struggle the base’s Wiccan members endured years ago.

“Through history, the military has generally been out in front of a lot of social issues. We integrated the military first, we just had the recent change of ‘don’t ask don’t tell’, [and] women have been integrated in the military for a long time.

“We’re not out there as a force for social change, but we certainly don’t shy from it,” says Mr Abel.

While Mr Griffith does not believe in God, he does believe in the military.

A few months ago he re-enlisted for another five-year tour of duty, and plans to make his career in the service.

“I never would have gotten anywhere without the army. It taught me to be a man,” he says.

“The army is so good, it deserves these little corrections – and I do consider them little, in the scale of how great the army is.”

A team of attorneys from the American Freedom Law Center today asked a court in New York for a preliminary injunction that would uphold the principle of free speech in the advertisements on the transit authority’s facilities.

A lawsuit had been filed last fall over the refusal by the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority to accept advertising that calls for support for civilized man and opposition to the savage acts of terrorism the world has known in recent years.

Officials with the AFLC said today they’d asked for a preliminary injunction to protect freedom of speech as the case works its way through the system.

“The MTA’s ‘demeaning speech’ policy is operating here as a viewpoint-based restriction on our clients’ speech,” said David Yerushalmi, senior counsel for the organization. “Viewpoint discrimination is the most egregious form of content discrimination under the First Amendment.”

The organization is working on behalf of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer. The request for an injunction went to the U.S. District Court for the southern district of New York.

“Here, the MTA would rather violate a law-abiding, private citizen’s right to freedom of speech than offend those who support violent jihad against Israel and others,” said Robert Muise, the AFLC’s senior counsel. “The American Freedom Law Center is committed to fighting this pernicious form of civilization jihad that undermines our fundamental rights.”

The ad that was refused by the transit authority, which has carried a wide range of commercial, political and religious messages on its facilities, was the statement, “In Any War Between the Civilized Man and the Savage, Support the Civilized Man. Support Israel.”

The ad was offered as a response to an earlier ad run by a pro-Palestine group.

But it rejected the pro-Israel ad, “claiming that it violated its policy against displaying ‘images or information that demean an individual or group of individuals on account of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation.’”

According to the papers filed with the federal court, the MTA, by policy and practice, intentionally dedicates its advertising space on vehicles to expressive conduct.

Under that policy, it has allowed the message, “Muslims for Peace, Love for All, Hatred for None … WHY ISLAM.”

It also permitted, “A million New Yorkers are good without God. Are you?”

And it allowed the pro-Palestine, “Be on our side. We are the side of peace and justice. End U.S. military aid to Israel.”

The AFDI submitted its proposed ad to CSB Outdoor, which is an agent for the MTA. It was a political message that responded directly to the pro-Palestine message posted earlier.

“The anti-Israeli advertisement suggests that Israel’s military is the impediment to peace between the Israelis and Palestinians and that U.S. military aid to Israel also acts as an impediment to peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. In other words, the anti-Israel advertisement blames Israel, its military, and U.S. military aid to Israel as the cause of Palestinian terror directed against innocent civilians in Israel and abroad.”

The subsequent ad request from AFDI said there is no comparison or equivalence
between “savage civilian-targeting violence and Israel’s civilized struggle for survival in a part of the world where civilized behavior is overshadowed by terrorism, despotism, and brutality.”

The MTA rejected the ad because of its “demeaning speech” policy.

But the real effect is that a viewpoint that the U.S. foreign policy supporting Israel in the face of savage violence is correct is being censored, officials said.

“The Constitution does not permit the government, in this case the MTA, to take sides on political issues by silencing one side of the debate,” Muise said.

In a commentary about the dispute, Geller wrote that similar issues have come up in Seattle, San Francisco and Washington.

“The ad is actually referring to the Islamic jihadists who are determined to destroy Israel. And they are savage,” she wrote. “Truth is radical. Morality is radical. But a genocidal ideology is not radical or savage.”

Her book, “Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance,” also documents such situations.

“Tell me again why the word ‘savage’ is inaccurate. Everyone is shocked (shocked, I tell ya) by the use of the word savage for savages. As long as the Palestinian Authority continues its savage policy to foment violence and promote hatred, and teaches its children to hate, the number of young Muslims willing to blow themselves up or to slit Israeli throats will continue to increase. That is savage. The Palestinian Authority propaganda of ‘Holocaust denial, racial slurs, anti-Jewish epithets and glorification of terrorists’ is savage,” she wrote.

She cited as savagery: targeting civilians, terrorism against Jews, torture of hostages, the bloody hacking death of a family, Munich, and the “endless demonization of the Jewish people…”

“But we are supposed to tiptoe around the savages, so as not to enflame the savages,” she wrote. .

Israeli facilities in North America — and around the world — are on high alert, according to an internal security document obtained by ABC News that predicted the threat from Iran against Jewish targets will increase.

“We predict that the threat on our sites around the world will increase … on both our guarded sites and ‘soft’ sites,” stated a letter circulated by the head of security for the Consul General for the Mid-Atlantic States. Guarded sites refers to government facilities like embassies and consulates, while ‘soft sites’ means Jewish synagogues, and schools, as well as community centers like the one hit by a terrorist bombing in Buenos Aires in 1994 that killed 85 people.

The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, told an audience at a closed forum in Tel Aviv recently that Iran is trying to hit Israeli targetsbecause of what it believes are Israeli attacks on it nuclear scientists. Yoram Cohen said that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the same militant wing of the government linked to the recent alleged plot against the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., is working tirelessly to attack Israeli and Jewish targets abroad in order to deter Israel.

Local and regional law enforcement and intelligence officials in U.S. and Canadian cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Toronto have been monitoring the situation closely for several weeks, and have stepped up patrols at Israeli government locations and Jewish cultural and religious institutions. They have issued awareness bulletins reminding officers to stay vigilant.

Federal officials in those cities told ABC News that they have also increased their efforts to watch for any threat stream pointing to an imminent attack on either Israeli facilities, Jewish cultural or religious institutions or other “soft targets.”

“When there is posturing like this, we always pay extra attention to any threat streams,” one federal official said.

“The thwarted assassination plot of a Saudi official in Washington, D.C., a couple of months ago was an important data point,” added the official, “in that it showed at least parts of the Iranian establishment were aware of the intended event and were not concerned about inevitable collateral damage to U.S. citizens had they carried out an assassination plot on American soil.”

“That was an eye opener, showing that they did not care about any collateral damage,” the federal official said.

After the disruption of the alleged plot, regional intelligence centers issued bulletins similar to the recent Israeli warning.

“In the past few weeks, there has been an escalation in threats against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world,” one regional document noted. “Open source has reported many demonstrations against Israel are expected to be concentrated on Israeli embassies and consulates. Such demonstrations have occurred internationally as well as domestically. These demonstrations could potentially turn violent at local synagogues, restaurants, the Israeli Embassy and other Israeli sites. … Law enforcement should be vigilant when making periodic checks at all Jewish facilities.

And the Israeli bulletin warned that Israel’s own passports might be used by terrorists intent on carrying out a plot.

“According to our evaluation there is a possibility that the forged passports will be used in order to pass as Israeli citizens at the security checks in Israel and around the world. Israeli security authorities may consider an Israeli citizenship as a [criterion] to proceed with a more lenient security check in secure sites such as airports, etc.,” the letter stated.

Israeli Military Strike Against Iran?

The Israeli security bulletin came in the midst of heated rhetoric on the part of the U.S., Iranian and Israeli political religious and military leadership and follows the recent assassination of a key scientist in Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. If the rhetoric is to be believed, there is a deep concern that Israel might launch a military strike against Iran during the spring of 2012.

The intelligence community assessment of that possibility, based on interviews conducted by ABC News, is considerably more nuanced, taking into account as it does the political will of the United States during an election year, the fragile nature of Great Britain’s coalition government , the willingness of other allies to join in an offensive, the roles of Russia and China and Saudi Arabia in such a confrontation, and whether Israel would really be willing to launch a unilateral strike.

“But in this situation, the political rhetoric is actually quite important,” one official told ABC News. “And that is why the official position — of the U.S, England, France, Canada, Israel and allies — is that nothing is off the table.”

An apparent shift in the Israeli/U.S. relationship has complicated matters, however, said the official. In the past, Israel would probably have given the U.S. a heads up were it to launch a strike. Now that might not be the case. Among the English-speaking allies of the U.S., say multiple intelligence officials, there is currently a very limited expectation of any early warning.

While much of the public attention has focused on Israel and the rifts within its leadership on how to respond to Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the reality for Iran’s leadership is also problematic. After threatening to strangle the world oil supply through the straits of Hormuz, Iran “has boxed itself into a corner,” said one Western intelligence official. “It would be quite humiliating for them to back down.”

The Israeli security letter sums up the resultant risks very clearly.

“In conclusion, we operate according to the information that Iran and Hezbollah are working hard and with great intensity to release a ‘quality’ attack against Israeli/Jewish sites around the world.”

Mexico’s epidemic of violence first erupted in 2006, according to most accounts. But an ex-Muslim from India, who serves as a Christian pastor along the Texas-Mexican border, believes the problem began much earlier, with human sacrifice, witches, and the adoration of death in ancient Aztec days.

Bombay-born Mujahid Hussein, 41, who found Jesus aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean 17 years ago, is now known as David Elijah. He was ordained by Kings Revival Church International of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the largest and fastest growing congregation in the Middle East.

“There are few places in America more evil, or more steeped in witchcraft and demonic influences, along with false prophets, divination and corruption, than the border region of northern Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas,” Elijah told The Christian Post.

He pastors a church, leads an evangelistic healing and deliverance ministry, and hosts a weekly broadcast, “Avivamiento Del Rey,” on Radio Vida, a local Christian station in McAllen, Texas, just across the border from Reynosa, Mexico. The weekly program is heard in Spanish and English in Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, Texas and the western U.S., on a variety of AM frequencies.

“The worship of Santa Muerte (Holy Death, or Saint Death) is widespread, especially among the drug cartels, but it’s also rapidly growing among the general population in Mexico and in Hispanic communities in the U.S.,” he said.

Human blood is sometimes offered to gain the favor of this idol, which is depicted in illustrations and statues as a skeleton wearing a hooded robe, holding a scythe or globe. Some link Santa Muerte to the Aztec goddess of the dead, Mictecacihuatl.

“Beheadings, like the ones we see the cartels doing, were part of ancient Aztec human-sacrifice rituals. The adoration of death and the use of witchcraft have been practiced in Mexico for longer than anyone knows, and are regaining popularity,” he said.

While the violence in Mexico fills headlines, problems in the border area of south Texas seldom make the news but are just as serious, he said, especially in the spiritual realm. The population of the Rio Grande Valley is at least 90 percent Hispanic, and thousands of Mexicans from Mexico are flooding into the region, fleeing the violence in their homeland.

“A large majority of the Valley’s population is Catholic, but the Catholicism here is mixed up with ancient pagan rites, witchcraft, false religions like Santeria, Voodoo, Palo Mayombe, and other demonic cults, and the worship of false saints like ‘Saint’ Death and Jesus Malverde,” Elijah said.

“Basically, it all adds up to Satan worship, which feeds the violence and every other problem, like poverty, drought, hunger, chronic ill health, lack of jobs, and hopelessness,” he said.

While the main focus of his ministry is evangelism, he said there’s so much demonic activity it has to be dealt with in order to reach the lost.

“Intercessory prayer, prayer walks, extended worship, planting churches, setting up a school to train evangelists and pastors, these are just some of the things we’re doing, in addition to deliverance. I grew up in India where I learned at a young age about demons and demonization. I saw what it did to people. It’s real. When evil spirits invade a person’s life, that person needs deliverance. Jesus set the example by casting out demons,” Elijah said.

He shook his head and smiled. “Just about every Baptist who visits India becomes a Pentecostal.”

Then he grew serious.

“From the syncretism here along the border, from the mixture of Catholicism, witchcraft and idolatry, come blasphemies that always arise whenever something is exalted above God. Worshiping anyone, anything, or any idol instead of the Lord God Almighty brings escalating violence, mutilations, bombings, murders and slaughters for the sake of money, power and pride.

“Mexico is now the greatest exporter of cocaine, more than Columbia. In 2004, the mayor of Matamoros (directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas) officially recognized Santa Muerte as a saint. When the local seat of authority is recognizing a demonic cult as legitimate, all hell breaks loose. There are several Satanist churches operating openly in Matamoros that used to have to hide their existence. The local population supports them. Also in 2004, videos of al- Qaida beheadings went viral on the Internet, and now that old Aztec human-sacrifice ritual is being carried out all across Mexico.”

Elijah said the unclean spirits controlling the cartels have slithered into many levels of Mexican society and have also invaded the church on both sides of the border.

“When anyone begins dabbling in the occult and witchcraft, it brings spiritual defilement by attracting unclean spirits. You can’t be messing around with the devil and say you’re a Christian. Here in the Valley, the spirit of divination is taking over pulpits through false prophets and false prophetesses who are prophesying over people, laying on hands, causing all sorts of problems.

“The lack of discernment in the body of Christ is huge. People are impressed by what seem to be spiritual gifts, but they don’t realize there’s a ‘familiar spirit’ that counterfeits the Holy Spirit. They haven’t been taught that all signs and wonders aren’t from God. They don’t understand that even apparent healings can be deceptions in these end times when the Bible says wickedness will abound.”

In addition to the almost 50,000 estimated to have died in Mexico’s drug violence, another 10,000 have disappeared without a trace. Many of these, Elijah is convinced, are the victims of Satanic rituals that require human sacrifice.

“There’s lots of really gruesome stuff going on.”

Many of the murders and mutilations are so horrific and unwarranted, he said, there’s no reasonable explanation other than to conclude they’re inspired by the devil himself.

“There’s even a counterfeit Lord’s Supper where instead of bread and wine, human flesh and blood are used.”

Elijah said such abominations aren’t taking place only in Mexico.

“Come visit McAllen, Texas, sometime and take a look at the witchcraft shops operating on Main Street. They must have plenty of customers and be making good money to be able to afford the rent on such prime locations.

“On both sides of the border, so many people go to church on Sunday, then on Monday they go to a witch to get healed. They call them curanderas, faith healers. They don’t find any power in the church, so they go to someone who does have power. The only problem is, it’s Satanic power, and they get worse – they get demonized.”

That’s where Elijah’s deliverance meetings come in. They’re set up like prayer meetings, beginning with what Elijah calls “extravagant worship,” whereby the gathered believers sing praises to Jesus with great fervor for much longer than during a typical church worship session. He says it takes time to enter the presence of God, and many churches never get there because they seldom spend enough time worshiping.

Following praise and worship, those who feel they need deliverance are instructed to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to them their unconfessed sins, and then repent. They are prayed for, and the unclean spirits troubling them are identified by name and commanded to depart in the name of Jesus Christ.

“And usually, they do,” Elijah said.

An observer for The Christian Post was present at a deliverance session involving a man from Mexico who’d heard Elijah’s program on the radio and had called in, asking for help. The man was invited to Elijah’s house church where, according to the man, a demon was cast out of him.

This is how he explained his experience, speaking in rapid, excited Spanish, while a woman translated.

“When the pastor commanded the evil spirit to come out, I felt like there was a kitten inside my stomach that was being pulled out of me by its tail. It was stabbing its claws deep into my stomach and holding on with all its strength because it didn’t want to leave.

“It hurt me very bad, but finally it went out, and I felt like heavy chains had been lifted off me. I haven’t felt this good in a really long time.”

Elijah said this sort of experience occurs regularly at his deliverance meetings.

He said demons often seem to “nest” in the stomach, and usually when they’re expelled, the person they’re cast out from will spit up a foul, dark liquid that doesn’t look or smell like ordinary vomit.

He said he’d seen much demonic activity in India, and knew it was real. He said most people in America don’t believe in demons because they’ve never encountered them, or aren’t able to recognize demonic influence for what it really is.

The Republican presidential campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney told CNSNews.com today that if elected Romney will rescind in its entirety a regulation finalized last month by the Obama administration that requires all health-care plans in the United States to cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including those that cause abortions.

The Obama administration’s final version of the regulation effectively exempted only an actual church—such as a Catholic parish—from the regulation, while insisting that it would be fully enforced on individuals, private business owners, non-religious private-sector organizations and insurers.

Romney published an op-ed in the Washington Examiner today in which he said he would eliminate the rule that compels “religious institutions” to purchase health-care plans that cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives. Romney did not say in the op-ed, however, whether he would eliminate the rule insofar as it applies to individuals, private-sector businesses, non-religious private-sector organizations and insurers.

“And on day one I will eliminate the Obama administration rule that compels religious institutions to violate the tenets of their own faith,” Romney wrote in the Examiner. “Such rules don’t belong in the America that I believe in.”

Through his campaign press office, CNSNews.com asked Romney today via email about this: “Will Mitt Romney, on day one, rescind this mandate in its entirety—as the Catholic Church has urged the current administration to do—so that individuals, employers and insurers who have a ‘moral or religious objection to contraception or sterilization’ will not be forced to violate the tenets of their own faith or act against their consciences?”

Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams responded: “Yes–Governor Romney would rescind the mandate in its entirety.”

Some media reports have erroneously said that the U.S. Catholic bishops have simply asked the Obama administration to expand the religious exemption in the regulation so that it would cover religiously affiliated organizations such as Catholic hospitals, universities, and charitable organizations as well as Catholic parishes. In fact, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops informed the administration, in writing, in comments submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services, that the bishops believed the regulation in its entirety violated the First Amendment rights of individuals, employers and insurers and must to be rescinded in its entirety.

“First, we comment on the mandate that all health plans cover prescription contraceptives, sterilization, and related patient education and counseling,” the bishops told HHS. “This mandate, we submit, should be rescinded in its entirety.”

“[A]s applied to individuals and organizations with a religious objection to contraceptives, sterilization, and related counseling and education, the HHS mandate violates various protections under the Religion Clauses and Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (‘RFRA’) and the Administrative Procedure Act (‘APA’),” said the bishops.

“Second, we comment on the regulation’s religious exemption (‘HHS exemption’ or ‘the exemption’),” said the bishops. “The exemption provides no protection at all for individuals or insurers with a moral or religious objection to contraceptives or sterilization, who will experience burdens to conscience under this new mandate. Instead, it provides protection only to employers with similar objections, and even then to a very small subset of religious employers.”

“By failing to protect insurers, individuals, most employers, or any other stakeholders with a religious objection to such items and procedures, the HHS exemption, like the mandate itself, violates the First Amendment and the APA,” said the bishops.

“In sum,” they said, we urge HHS to rescind the mandate in its entirety.”

All four of the female MPs who served in the previous parliament lost their seats. Liberals, who had five seats in the previous parliament, now have just two.

Voters punished pro-government MPs during Thursday’s parliamentary election, reducing them to a small minority, the results showed.

Only two of 13 former MPs who the public prosecutor questioned over corruption charges were re-elected, and the rest either lost or did not contest the poll.

Following the announcement of the results, hundreds of opposition supporters gathered at the campaign tents of candidates they backed to celebrate the outcome.

Speaking after his victory, new opposition MP Obaid al-Wasmi warned all “corruption files will be opened,” including claims that hundreds of millions of public funds were stolen.

“I tell the decision-makers that the Kuwait of tomorrow will not be the same as of the Kuwait of yesterday,” said the outspoken independent opposition figure.

The snap election was called after the ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state dissolved parliament following youth-led protests and bitter disputes between the opposition MPs and the government.

The vote followed a fierce campaign amid heightened sectarian and tribal tensions that impacted on the results, with hardliners making gains and moderates losing.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) vowed today that she will join with the Obama administration in standing up against the Catholic Church in defending a new regulation that will require Catholic individuals to buy, and Catholic institutions to provide, health insurance plans that cover sterilizations and artificial contraceptives, including those that induce abortions.

The Catholic church teaches that sterilization, artificial contraception and abortion are morally wrong and the Catholic bishops of the United States have argued that forcing a Catholic individual to purchase a health insurance plan that covers these things–or forcing a Catholic institution to provide such a plan–forces Catholics to act against their consciences and is a violation of the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.

In letters being read from the pulpit in Catholic parishes across the nation, Catholic bishops are saying: “We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law.”

At her Wednesday press briefing, CNSNews.com asked Pelosi: “The administration has issued a regulation that will require all health-care plans to cover sterilization and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including those that induce abortions. This would force Catholic individuals and institutions to act against their consciences. All across the nation, Catholic bishops are saying:–

Pelosi responded: “Is this a speech, or do we have a question in disguise as a speech?”

CNSNews.com continued: “‘We cannot–we will not—comply with this law.’ Catholic bishops are saying they will not comply with this law. Will you stand with your fellow Catholics in resisting this law or will you stick by the administration?”

Pelosi: “First of all, I am going to stick with my fellow Catholics in supporting the administration on this. I think it was a very courageous decision that they made, and I support it.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius first announced the proposed regulation in August as part of the initial implementation of Obamacare. The regulation, as proposed, was set to take effect on Aug. 1 of this year. In September, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent public comments on the regulation to HHS. In these comments, the bishops called the regulation an “unprecedented attack on religious freedom” and urged that it be rescinded.

In November, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, met with President Obama and personally explained to him the Catholic Church’s objections to the regulation.

On Jan. 20, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the regulations would go forward and will take effect for most health care plans as of Aug. 1. However, Sebelius gave religiously affiliated non-profit organizations—such as Catholic hospitals, universities, and charitable organizations—an additional year to “adapt” to the mandate. For them, it now set to take effect on Aug. 1, 2013.

Following Sebelius announcement, the Catholic bishops put out a statement calling the regulation “literally unconscionable.” Meanwhile, Catholic bishops around the country have been calling on Catholics to oppose the regulation.

Many of the bishops have published letters that priests are reading to their congregations. The letters explain the Catholic objections to the regulation and call for Catholics to resist it.  Many of these letter include the following passage from the letter Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington, Va., and Bishop Francis DiLorenzo of Richmond, Va., have asked their priests to read at Mass this coming Sunday:

“In so ruling, the Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled either to violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing do). The Administration’s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.

“We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law.”

The supreme leader of Iran issued a blunt warning Friday that war would be detrimental to the United States — and that Iran is ready to help anyone who confronts “cancerous” Israel.

“You see every now and then in this way they say that all options are on the table. That means even the option of war,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said during Friday prayers in Tehran. “This is how they make these threats against us.

“Well, these kinds of threats are detrimental to the U.S.,” he said. “The war itself will be 10 times as detrimental to the U.S.”

Khamenei’s rhetoric is hardly new. But the timing of his comments could prove critical with nuclear talks around the corner.

Tensions between Iran and world powers have been ratcheted up in the aftermath of an alarming nuclear watchdog agency report in November that said Tehran was likely developing nuclear weapons.

The standoff grew more serious this week with renewed fears of an Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran to take out its suspected nuclear weapons program.

Khamenei said Iran will support any nation or group that stands up against Israel.

“The Zionist regime is really the cancerous tumor of this region and it needs to be removed and will be removed,” Khamenei said to a cheering crowd.

He said Iran doesn’t interfere in other nations but has aided militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah in conflicts with Israel in Gaza and Lebanon.

His comments came after stern comments Friday from Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

“Today, unlike in the past, there is a broad global understanding that it is crucial to stop Iran becoming nuclearized and that no options should be taken off the table,” he said.

Barak said allowing Iran to continue on its path will be far more complex and dangerous in blood and money than cutting it off now.

“Those who say in English, ‘later,’ may find later is too late,” he said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he feared Israel could attack Iran sometime this spring in an effort to destroy its suspected nuclear weapons program, according to a senior administration official.

The official declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the information.

The United States and its allies have warned that Iran is trying to make a nuclear weapon. Iran insists that its nuclear program is for civilian energy purposes.

A new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center said the United States needs to put more teeth into its threat to use military power against Iran.

The Washington think tank recommended in its report that Washington should undertake visible, credible military preparations to go along with more intense sanctions and diplomatic efforts.

The military activities could include naval deployments, military exercises and positioning supplies in the region.

To stop Iran’s nuclear clock, the report said, the United States “needs to make clear that Iran faces a choice: it can either abandon its nuclear program through a negotiated arrangement or have its program destroyed militarily, by the United States.”

The report also said the United States should give credibility to the Israeli military threat against Iran by selling Israel two to three KC-135 aerial refueling tankers and 200 GRU-31 bunker-buster munitions.

Former Sen. Chuck Robb, who co-chaired the task force that wrote the report, said the group advocates neither war nor a military strike at the moment, but believes the United States will only be effective if it takes credible steps to let Iran know it is serious.

Pentagon spokesman Capt. John Kirby said Panetta “has made it clear that he is comfortable with the military capabilities we have and operate in the region.”

However, Kirby said, “the U.S. military must and will be ready to provide the president options should those options be desirable.”

Khamenei blamed Western powers for Iran’s troubles, starting with the brutal eight-year war Iran fought with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in the 1980s and continuing with the latest round of punishing international sanctions.

“So far we have overcome all these challenges and none of them managed to bring (Iran) to its knees,” Khamenei said. “We have stood firm and strongly treaded our course.”

More than 500 suspected Taliban fighters detained by U.S. forces have been released from custody at the urging of Afghan government officials, angering both American troops and some Afghans who oppose the policy on the grounds that many of those released return to the battlefield to kill NATO soldiers and Afghan civilians.

And those numbers understate the problem, military officials say. They do not include suspected Taliban fighters held in small combat outposts or other forward operating bases throughout the region who are released before they ever become part of the official detainee population.

An Afghan official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that President Hamid Karzai’s government has personally sought the release of as many as 700 suspected Taliban fighters since July, including some mid-level leaders. “Corruption is not just based on the amount of money that is wasted but wasted lives when Taliban return only to kill more NATO forces and civilians,” said the official, who opposes what he considers corruption in the Karzai administration.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Karen Davis, a spokeswoman in Kabul, told The Washington Examiner ”nearly 500 detainees held in the [detention facility in Parwan] have been released outright or transferred to the [Afghan government] for disposition under Afghan law” so far this year.

She did not comment on detainees held at other facilities throughout the country, dozens of whom have been released, according to U.S. military officials in Afghanistan. Parwan is the main prison facility located at Bagram Airfield, just north of the capital of Kabul.

Davis added “nearly 200 of those 500 [at Bagram] have been released” since July.

The criteria for detention is not based upon a particular affiliation, such as the Taliban, “but rather is an assessment based upon a preponderance of evidence that an individual participated in the conflict as an enemy combatant and, if so, detention is necessary to mitigate the threat posed to the government and people of Afghanistan, the U.S. and its coalition partners,” Davis said.

The Detainee Review Board, made up of three U.S. commissioned officers with a rank of major or above, determines when a prisoner is eligible for release and whether a detainee is likely to be rehabilitated.

Prisoners held at the Bagram facility are not considered guilty or innocent but rather a determination is made “based upon evidence that detention is necessary to mitigate the threat the detainee poses to the government and people of Afghanistan, the U.S. and its coalition partners,” states a document provided by the International Security Assistance Force.

Earlier this year, The Examiner reported that numerous insurgents captured in Pakistan, including some members of al Qaeda, were returned to Afghanistan upon the request of the Karzai government, and then, according to a senior Pakistani official, “released back to the Taliban as bargaining chips in negotiations.”

A marine stationed in southern Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand province told The Examiner that efforts to detain insurgent fighters are “worthless.”

Earlier this year, his unit held a man known to be working with the Taliban. The Marines had gathered evidence that the man was transporting hundreds of pounds of bomb-making equipment and explosives for the Taliban. But, shortly after they captured him, he was set free.

“Less than two weeks later, we saw the same guy walking through the bazaar,” said the marine, who spoke on condition that he not be named. “He recognized us. I wanted to shoot him right then and there. We got the guy, and yet there he was, walking around planning to kill again, and we couldn’t do a thing about it.”

For American combat troops in Afghanistan, the release of suspect Taliban is seen as a symptom of the corruption of the Karzai government.

“Back-room dealings between Karzai officials and local government connected to the Taliban make NATO’s work almost impossible,” said a military official stationed in Afghanistan. “They call the shots, and we’ve got to release the bad guys.”

The release of more than 250,000 diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks last week provided a rare glimpse into what the State Department considers official corruption in the Karzai government.

That was the opinion of Afghan officials interviewed recently. “Afghanistan is a corrupt mess populated by citizens who are far more comfortable thinking and acting locally and tribally than nationally,” one official said. “Karzai takes advantage of that for his own benefit,” he added. “The U.S. turns a blind eye because they don’t know how to stop it.

The drama over student rights and religious freedom continues to rage at Vanderbilt University, as the higher education facility doubled-down this week on enforcing strict rules that some say discriminate against campus religious groups.

At the center of debate is the university’s nondiscrimination policy, which bans student-led faith groups, among others, from requiring leaders to hold specific beliefs.

The policy, which in many ways contradicts theological requirements, has created angst among members of both the student body and the university’s faculty. These opponents see the ban as a crackdown on their freedom of religion and speech. School leaders, though, maintain that the policy is necessary to ensure that all students feel welcome at campus clubs and events.

The Blaze first reported about the situation back in September. Our original coverage provides the background needed to understand how the situation was started:

Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, is making headlines after a Christian fraternity, Beta Upsilon Chi, asked an openly gay member to resign. Upon leaving the group, the young man filed a discrimination complaint and now college administrators are trying to figure out whether the campus organization violated the school’s nondiscrimination policy.

Of course, this incident has grown into a much larger controversy in which university administrators are reviewing all student-led organizations. As a result, officials are concerned about specific clauses that five Christian campus groups have in their constitutions.

These clauses require members of the groups to share their religious beliefs, something that didn‘t concern campus administrators until the student’s complaint was made. Now, the school wants the constitutions amended and the controversial clauses dropped.

Currently, four campus groups violate this policy, as they require their leaders to maintain Christian messages.

Club heads argue, though, that leaders responsible for planning Bible studies should actually believe in the material they are preaching. The campus groups in question are the Christian Legal Society, Beta Upsilon Chi, Graduate Student Fellowship and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

At an event on Tuesday evening, the college defendedits policies to an audience of over 200 students. Provost Richard McCarthy and Vice Chancellor for University Affairs and Athletics said that the university doesn’t plan to back down. If student groups fail to comply, they will lose their official status with the college. Despite administrators’ insistence, the community forum did provide students with an opportunity to share their opposition and reasoning with policy-makers at the helm.

“The Vanderbilt discrimination policy is directed against the Christian community,” said Leighton Watts, a member of Beta Upsilon Chi, a Christian fraternity (he wasn’t inside the meeting, but he was watching from a computer outside of the venue and commented to media).

“We want to be able to elect our leaders based on our beliefs,” said Joseph Williams, a former student body president at the university. He spoke out against the restrictions during a question and answer period.

McCarthy’s response to this was intriguing: Students can vote for any individual they’d like, but the clubs cannot have written rules banning students who don’t hold specific views from running for leadership roles. He essentially told students not to vote for people with whom they disagree.

Carol Swain, a law professor at Vanderbilt and an adviser to the Christian Legal Society, disagrees with the college’s stance and is working to assist groups who stand opposed to the rule. In an interview with FOX News, she said:

“There are people on campus who are very threatened by the idea of religious freedom and they would like to create an environment where no one hurts anyone else’s feelings – unless it’s Christians.

This political correctness is running amuck on campus and its constraining one group – and that group tends to be conservatives. They will be forced to either accept the university’s policy or leave campus by the end of the academic year. They are in limbo.”

The Blaze also spoke with Joshua Charles, who co-authored Glenn Beck’s “The Original Argument.” Charles, who was a Founding Father and President of the Beta Upsilon Chi chapter at the University of Kansas, had some strong feelings on the matter.

“It seems difficult to imagine a scenario in which any religious group could, without any infringement whatsoever, worship and practice freely if they
cannot even make decisions on their own membership or leadership,” Charles said. “Groups are formed in order to advance causes, ideals, or something of the sort. But if the integrity of that group cannot be maintained, then neither can
the causes or ideals for which it was founded in the first place.”

In the end, Christian student groups are clearly stuck at this point, as administrators are refusing to budge. But it’s not just religious groups that could encounter a problem. What if a gay and lesbian rights group on campus wants to ensure that those in leadership roles hold true to certain values of equality? Or — what if an environmental group wants members to pledge their allegiance to protecting the earth?

“Freedom of association — the ability to mingle with those you wish to mingle
with, to connect with those you wish to connect with, and to join in common
cause with them, is a fundamental liberty,” Charles continued.

In the end, this is a policy that certainly holds the potential to create further angst and inter-student contention.

A pro-life event at the Rhode Island State House was disrupted by Occupy Wall Street protesters who heckled speakers and dumped condoms on Catholic girls in the crowd.

Last Friday, an estimated crowd of 150 pro-life supporters (including a reported two dozen legislators) had assembled in the rotunda of the State House for the 39th annual Pro-Life Rally, but they were prevented from speaking by members of Occupy Providence and other OWS sympathizers who shouted and chanted during speeches, held signs in front of the faces of speakers and prevented the delivery of the closing prayer by local Catholic leader Father Bernard Healey.

Rhode Island’s Right-To-Life Executive Director Barth Bracy was the scheduled keynote speaker, but the chanting and shouted made it impossible for him to deliver his speech. Bracy told Fox News radio that one Occupier climbed to the third floor balcony and dumped a box of condoms on a group of Catholic girls gathered below. Mr. Bracy wondered:

“What kind of individual throws condoms on Catholic school girls?”

This is not the first time OWS members have been involved in disrupting pro-life rallies. Just last week in Washington, Occupiers disrupted a peaceful prayer vigil and march being held by the inter-denominational faith group CEC For Life.

Protesters tried to surround and intimidate those gathered. At one point they stood within inches of the musicians and people praying and began screaming. Lifenews.com reported that some in the crowd attempted to engage the Occupiers in a discussion, but “few would stop yelling long enough to speak with these courageous young people.”

The United States took Kabul by surprise by laying out plans to end its Afghan combat role earlier than expected, just after the leak of a secret report that the Taliban is confident of regaining control of the country.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said late on Wednesday the United States would stop taking the lead role in combat operations before the end of 2013 and step into a supporting role as it winds down its longest war.

He said U.S. forces would remain “combat-ready” but would largely shift to a train-and-assist role as Afghan forces take over responsibility for security ahead of a 2014 deadline for full Afghan control.

The announcement, ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, was greeted with surprise in Kabul, where a senior Afghan security official said the move “throws out the whole transition plan.”

“The transition has been planned against a timetable and this makes us rush all our preparations,” the official said.

“If the Americans withdraw from combat, it will certainly have an effect on our readiness and training, and on equipping the police force,” he said, adding that his government had not been informed of the change in plans.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen insisted there was no change in NATO’s plans and it expected responsibility for security to be handed over to the Afghan security forces by mid-2013 and for them to have full control at the end of 2014.

“It is of course of crucial importance that this change of role takes place in a coordinated manner,” he said, emphasizing that the changes of role would have to take into account “the actual security situation on the ground.”

CLASSIFIED REPORT

Britain said on Thursday NATO’s strategy has not changed and alliance forces will continue to operate in a combat role.

“They (ISAF forces) will be operating in 2014 in a combat role. But it will be a supporting role,” a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said, referring to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Britain has 9,500 troops in Afghanistan as part of the 130,000-strong NATO-led force. Cameron has announced that Britain will pull out 500 soldiers from Afghanistan this year but has not set out troop reduction plans beyond that. He plans to end Britain’s combat role by the end of 2014, leaving some troops behind to train and mentor Afghan forces.

Panetta’s announcement came just after British media published excerpts of a classified U.S. report saying that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, remained confident of regaining control in Afghanistan despite a decade of NATO efforts.

U.S. officials said the timing of the transition to Afghan security lead would be discussed at NATO on Thursday and Friday. They said the process envisioned continued combat operations by coalition forces in support of the Afghans as needed.

“The idea we’re discussing with our allies is to transition lead responsibility for combat operations to the Afghan National Security Forces, but ISAF forces would still be expected to conduct combat operations alongside our Afghan partners,” a U.S. defense official said on condition of anonymity.

Norwegian Defense Minister Espen Barth Eide said he was “not alarmed” by Panetta’s remarks and “we should all now prepare for a decent transition.”

A European NATO diplomat said Panetta’s remarks were the first time he had gone on record with U.S. plans “but it’s not a change in NATO strategy.”

“It is for the U.S. to decide, but he has not said explicitly that the U.S. will end its combat role in 2013. There will be a shift, but he hasn’t said when the shift will end.”

CONCERN AMONG AFGHANS

The United States, which led the Western invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, has previously said it would withdraw most combat troops by the end of 2014. Panetta said on Wednesday the U.S. had not made any decisions on troop levels for 2013 but Washington did aim to withdraw its forces by the end of 2014.

“Our goal is to complete all of that transition in 2013 and then hopefully by mid- to the latter part of 2013 we’ll be able to make a transition from a combat role to a training, advise-and-assist role,” Panetta said.

A decision to end the U.S. lead role in combat operations could give President Barack Obama an election-year lift by enabling him to point to progress in Afghanistan.

But Panetta’s remarks about the transition have already drawn criticism from Obama’s chief rival for the presidency and Republican lawmakers in Congress who worry the administration is moving before the Afghans are ready to take control.

The remarks also prompted concern among Afghans who fear a return to Taliban rule and hope that reconciliation between all parties would deliver a better alternative.

Hotel waiter Yama, 19, expressed alarm at the prospect of an early end to a U.S. combat role. “Everything Afghanistan has built during the past years would be destroyed, robbed and sold to neighboring countries,” he said.

The United States has been trying to draw the Taliban into reconciliation talks with the Afghan government. But a key part of its strategy has been to increase military pressure on the Taliban to persuade it to join peace talks.

Washington believes Afghanistan cannot be pacified without strong cooperation with Pakistan, but ties have been damaged by events, including the unilateral U.S. raid that killed Osama bid Laden on Pakistani soil in May last year, and a NATO cross-border raid that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said after a visit to Kabul this week that “a lot of ill will had faded.”

While cautioning that a nascent peace process is far from producing breakthroughs, she said Islamabad would encourage insurgent groups like the Haqqani network and the Taliban to lay down their arms and pursue peace if asked by Afghanistan.

Pakistan has long been accused of using militant groups as proxies in Afghanistan to counter the influence of its rival India there, allegations it denies.

The Philippine military says it has killed three senior militants from al-Qaeda-linked groups in a raid in the south of the country.

The air raid took place on Thursday in an area known as a militant stronghold.

Officials said two Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leaders and one Abu Sayyaf leader were among a total of 15 people killed.

Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, or Marwan, who was on the US FBI’s most wanted list with a $5m (£3.2m) reward offered for his capture, was reported killed.

According to the military, the militants were killed in the town of Parang on Jolo island, Sulu province, in the Mindanao region.

Regional military commander Maj Gen Noel Coballes told Agence France Presse news agency that troops on the ground had confirmed the deaths.

Marwan, a top JI leader, is said to have been behind a series of bomb attacks in the southern Philippines since 2006.

The military identified the other two senior militants as Jemaah Islamiyah leader Abdullah Ali, aliases Muhamda Ali or Mauwiya, and an Abu Sayyaf leader, Gumbahali Jumdail alias Doc Abu.

According to the FBI, Marwan is “an engineer trained in the US” and has conducted bomb-making activities for militant groups, especially Abu Sayyaf.

Muawiya, also a top JI leader, is said to be a Singaporean national who came to the Philippines after the Bali bombings in 2002. A reward of $50,000 had been offered for his capture.

JI has links to al-Qaeda and has a long track record of attacks in Indonesia. It is believed to have been behind the Bali bombings of 2002.

Doc Abu, a Filipino, is said to be a regional Abu Sayyaf leader wanted for multiple kidnappings. Abu Sayyaf is one of the most radical of the Islamic separatist groups in the southern Philippines.

The islands in the south-west Philippines are known to harbour various militant groups – some of which also operate as kidnap-for-ransom gangs, reports the BBC’s Kate McGeown.

Just this week, Abu Sayyaf is thought to have kidnapped two European tourists from the area.

Recently the BBC saw a secret NATO report which says that the Taliban in Afghanistan are being directly supported by the Pakistani security services – the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). There is nothing particularly new about this revelation, as we have heard much on this alignment before. It is the fact that the co-operation between the Pakistani ISI and Taliban is in black and white in a (formerly secret) NATO document.

What does the NATO document tell us?

-         Information garnered from over 27,000 interrogations of over 4,000 Taliban, Al-Qaeda and other Afghan insurgents.

-         The Taliban generally and more and more so have the backing of the people.

-        Pakistan knows the locations of the Taliban leadership.

-         Report itself states that it should be taken as informational and not necessarily analytical.

-         Widespread collaboration between insurgents and Afghan police and military.

-         Unprecedented interest from Afghan government officials in joining Taliban.

-         Where ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) has withdrawn, Taliban influence increases with no resistance from Afghan forces and police who are supposed to fill the void. In fact they often join the Taliban.

Additional Information:

-         Haqqani family resides immediately west of ISI office at the airfield in Miram Shah inPakistan. (The Haqqani family used to be the CIA-backed anti-Soviet group, which has now become one of the most feared anti-western militant organizations in the area.)

-         Taliban weary of war, but see little hope of negotiated peace.

-         Narcotics trade provides funding, but not indirectly from donations made to the Taliban by farmers or smugglers or others along the production line of the drug.

-         This past year (2011) more funds than in any previous year given to the Taliban.

There is much more contained in the report, but I have highlighted the main points.

So why are we in Afghanistan? There is more reason to wonder why. The Karzai government is corrupt and the last elections were unfair, Osama bin Laden was captured in a compound inPakistan  – most probably set up by the Pakistani ISI for his safety.

Deadly attacks by Afghan army personnel on US, British and most recently French troops amongst others. (Possibly a reason President Sarkozy has moved up the French withdrawal to the end of 2013 in addition to the French soldiers’ deaths is the likelihood that he saw, or got wind of the NATO report.)

Again, Why Are We Still in Afghanistan?

The real reason for going intoAfghanistan, or so we were told, was to capture Osama bin Laden. That has been done, he is dead (according to theUSauthorities as we have seen no proof).

We sent over 100,000 troops between NATO and US forces intoAfghanistanwhen a much smaller specialist force of Marines and Rangers could have done the job of tracking down Al-Quada, and much quicker. Instead we decided to nation-build, putting US and NATO forces in harm’s way by having them build schools, act as public liaison officers with the locals, and playing a politically correct game which has reduced significantly the ability of US and NATO forces to act as soldiers in order to win the war.

Cost of the War

-         Going on 3,000 US and NATO troops lives.

-         Financial burden is half a trillion dollars and rising.

-         Billions of dollars in aid toPakistan.

Where Do We Stand Right Now?

Relations between the US and Pakistan are at one of their lowest points ever, since the US raid that captured Osama bin Laden, the killing of Pakistani soldiers by US aircraft through a misunderstanding on both the Afghan and Pakistani sides of the border, as a result of which Pakistan closed a vital NATO supply route into Afghanistan. Now this no-holds-barred NATO report has ratcheted the whole mess up even further.

This Correspondent says we cannot trust the Pakistanis, if we ever could, and there is no reason to believe that we ever can. They control, one way or another, the whole Afghanistan/Pakistan picture. We cannot win and never could. It is time to leave. Not in 2014, not in one year, but RIGHT NOW.

So Why Are We Still in Afghanistan? Answer: For No Good Reason Whatsoever.

Attacks by Afghan allies against US troops rose sharply over the past two years, Pentagon data has revealed.

Officials told a congressional committee most attackers were acting alone, not carrying out insurgent orders, although some attacker were insurgents disguised as soldiers.

Lawmakers said the screening process for Afghan forces was “tragically weak” and called for more stringent vetting.

Of 42 attacks since 2007, 75% took place in the last two years.

“The screening and vetting has been tragically weak in picking up signs of threats after the Afghans joined either the Afghan National Security Force, or a private security contractor,” Congressman Howard McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said.

Defence officials said some improvements had already been made after an attack in March 2011 killed two US soldiers and wounded four others.

The military has asked commanders on the ground in Afghanistan to carry out random checks on private companies that provide security for US soldiers, as well as cross-checking biometric data against watch lists.

But Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Gary Motsek said that while the attacks were unacceptable he did not think they could be eliminated altogether.

It’s usually well after midnight before Bahrain takes a breather.

The thud of riot police stun grenades trails off, the stinging tear gas mist is carried away and the protest chants against the Gulf kingdom’s rulers go quiet until the next day. Then the cycle of unrest resumes in one of the longest-running — and perhaps most diplomatically complex — chapters of the Middle East uprisings.

“Egypt, Tunisia, Libya,” demonstrators now shout during running battles with security forces. “Bahrain’s leaders are next.”

A year ago this month, Bahrain’s majority Shiites took inspiration from the Arab Spring to sharpen long-standing grievances against the Sunni monarchy, accused by Shiites of relegating them to second-class status in the Western-allied nation. Within days of the first protest march, Bahrain was sliding into a crisis that would bring more than two months of martial law, more than 40 deaths, hundreds of arrests and ongoing clashes so disruptive that the U.S. Embassy last month relocated workers into safe haven neighborhoods.

But the troubles also reach far beyond the tiny flame-shaped island off the Saudi coast. The past year has turned Bahrain into a crossroads for every major showdown in the region.

Drawn into the mix is Saudi Arabia as protector of Bahrain’s Sunni dynasty. Archrival Iran is an angry bystander at the fierce crackdowns on fellow Shiites. And the U.S. is Bahrain’s conflicted partner.

Washington watches the violence with growing unease but is fearful of souring relations either with the Saudis or Bahrain’s leaders who host the Navy’s strategic 5th Fleet — one of the Pentagon’s main counterweights to Tehran’s military.

“The international paralysis over Bahrain has, if anything, become more pronounced with the rising tensions over Iran’s nuclear program,” said Toby Jones, an expert on Bahraini affairs at Rutgers University. “It’s every tough problem in the region funneled into one small place.”

It also highlights the intense difficulties facing the West — and Washington in particular — if pro-reform rebellions someday spread further in the Gulf.

The Gulf Arab states, anchored by Saudi Arabia, are critical front-line allies against Iran. Any threats to the Gulf’s autocrats would be perceived in the West also as an assault on important political interests.

“It was much easier for the U.S. to cut loose (former Egyptian President Hosni) Mubarak than it would be with any of the Gulf states,” said Christopher Davidson, an expert on Gulf affairs at Britain’s Durham University. “The Arab Spring is definitely weighing heavily on the minds of Gulf rulers and their Western partners.”

For the moment, Gulf dissent outside Bahrain is limited to long-running political disputes in Kuwait and recent protests by minority Shiites in Saudi Arabia, where rioters threw firebombs at police last month after the killing of a demonstrator. It’s clear from Bahrain, however, that Gulf rulers will strike back hard at any whiff of opposition.

A Saudi-led military force moved into Bahrain last March to help prop up the overwhelmed Al Khalifa dynasty, which has its ancestral roots among Saudi tribes. The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council later began studying closer defense cooperation — both to bolster against perceived Iranian threats and as a united front against internal opposition.

In the view of Gulf Arab leaders, Bahrain is the ultimate red line.

Safeguarding the 200-year-old Sunni hold on power is seen as an act of self-preservation. If Bahrain’s rulers lose their grip, the thinking goes, then the domino-style risks grow for other rulers from Kuwait to Oman. Adding to the collective hard line: They accuse Bahrain’s Shiites of offering a cozy foothold for Shiite giant Iran — even though an independent report on Bahrain’s unrest found no evidence of links to Tehran.

That hasn’t discouraged Gulf officials from brandishing Iran as the string-pullers of the Bahrain unrest. In an interview in Davos, Switzerland, Saudi Prince Turki Al Faisal, a former intelligence chief, told The Associated Press that Iran is “going behind our backs” to spark revolt in the region.

Days later, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, denounced the “double standard” policies of Western powers to back other Arab uprisings but keeping a distance from Bahrain’s Shiites to protect their strategic interests.

American officials, speaking privately, have cast doubts on the Gulf Arab narrative that Iran is behind the Bahrain protests — a theme also pushed by the army of international public relations consultants hired by Bahrain. Washington, instead, has urged for more talks with both sides and has put a “pause” on a proposed $53 million arms sale.

Earlier this week, however, Washington said it would sell some military equipment, without disclosing any further details.

“Washington is clearly unwilling to move this to the next level by using whatever political and military leverage it has to strong arm Bahrain’s leaders,” said Jones, the professor. “The U.S. doesn’t buy into the idea that Iran is waiting in the wings in Bahrain. But it also cannot appear to be going against its deep alliances with the Gulf Arabs.”

Bahrain’s protesters display no pro-Iranian slogans or banners.

But they indirectly echo Iran’s anger toward Saudi Arabia, which Tehran regards as an unwelcome “occupying” force in Bahrain. At Manama’s airport, the green Saudi and red-and-while Bahraini flags are displayed with crossed staffs. Pro-government Sunnis adorn their cars with bumper sticks mixing the two country’s national colors.

“We feel we are a colony of Saudi Arabia now,” said 30-year-old Ameera Mohammad, who joined other women chanting anti-government slogans last week in the Shiite district Diraz. “The government has lost its legitimacy.”

The overall aims of Bahrain’s protesters are packaged in equally rejectionist terms. They demand the monarchy cede its control of the government and allow Cabinet officials — including the prime minister — to reflect the votes in a nation about 70 percent Shiites, but with Sunnis in firm control of all policies and security. In attempts to offset the lopsided demographics, Bahrain’s rulers for years have granted citizenship to Sunnis from the Arab world and South Asia and jobs that include security posts.

The king, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, has offered a series of reforms, including plans to give more decision-making powers to parliament. But overhauling the heart of government does not appear an option.

This locks Bahrain into its current seesaw battles, which show signs of intensifying toward the anniversary of last year’s opening protest march on Feb. 14.

Protesters recently have tried to push out of Shiite districts and onto highways and business zones in the capital, Manama. Firebombs and steel pipes have joined the barrages of rocks against security forces.

Calls have gone out to reclaim Pearl Square, the hub of the early weeks of the rebellion before it was stormed by security forces. Demolition crews then knocked down the landmark six-pronged monument — one leg for each of the Gulf Arab states — and ringed the area with razor wire and round-the-clock patrols.

Each Friday, the most senior Shiite cleric, Sheik Isa Qassim, delivers rallying cry sermons that have grown in frustration as authorities have stepped up crackdowns and sentenced Shiite activists and others to prison. Last month, he urged followers to “smack” any officials seen harassing women — who have increasingly taken prominent roles in the protests.

“We will continue to struggle,” said Sheik Ali Salman, head of the biggest Shiite opposition bloc, which withdrew its lawmakers from parliament in protest. He listed the flashpoints of the Arab Spring — Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya and Egypt — in a stern rebuttal to the king’s reform outlines in December.

“It reminds us of the presidents who were toppled by the people,” he said. “We waited a year to a have this speech, and it’s as if nothing happened in Bahrain and the Arab Spring.”

The streets tell a different story. Hit-and-run battles are now a near daily event in some areas with tear gas so intense that it’s been blamed for respiratory failure among some of the nearly 40 deaths from the unrest. Some rights groups have placed the total at 45 or higher.

Last month, Amnesty International urged Bahraini authorities to investigate claims of excessive tear gas use “including in people’s homes and other confined spaces.”

Protesters counter by carrying cartons of milk to douse their eyes and neutralize the burn of the tear gas. On Sitra island, a hotbed of Shiite protests, more protesters have starting wearing white shrouds symbolizing their willingness to die.

“It’s a war between dictatorship and democracy,” growled a 29-year-old demonstrator, Mohammad Ali.

In another part of Bahrain, Sadeeqa Mirza says her life changed during the arrest sweeps during 10 weeks of martial law. She claims she was beaten in custody and charged for anti-state actions as part of the occupiers of Pearl Square.

“I was arrested because I am Shiite. I went to Pearl Square to express my views,” she said. “Expressing your views is not a crime, but in Bahrain it is.”

Many Cranston, Rhode Island, citizens likely found themselves frustrated over 16-year-old Jessica Ahlquist’s successful crusade against a prayer banner in her high school. Others, of course, supported her efforts.

But following the educational and theological debate surrounding the mural’s presence, there’s a new point of contention to debate over — the weighty cost of the legal battle she launched.

As we’ve reported, U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Lagueux ruled in Ahlquist’s favor last month. While the district hasn’t yet decided whether it will appeal, the current decision requires the mural to come down and the district to pay for the teenager’s legal feels. According to the final tally, the city of Cranston is being asked to dole out $173,000 in legal fees. This, of course, is on top of the costs the district incurred in both staff and legal fees for its own defense.

Lawyers from the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed the request for funds on Tuesday. In addition to making the monumental financial demand, the ACLU claims that the lump sum doesn’t encompass all of the time that the group spent on the case. Ahlquist will apparently only receive $25 in damages.

Since the ruling, the teenager has faced ridicule from classmates, politicians — even local businesses. However, she’s standing by her original claim that the banner is unconstitutional and she shows no signs of backing down.

“It’s almost like making a child get a shot even though they don’t want to,” she said last week. “It’s for their own good. I feel like they might see it as a very negative thing right now, but I’m defending their Constitution, too.”

The Taliban in Afghanistan are being directly assisted by Pakistani security services, according to a secret Nato report seen by the BBC.

The leaked report, derived from thousands of interrogations, claims the Taliban remain defiant and have wide support among the Afghan people.

It alleges that Pakistan knows the locations of senior Taliban leaders.

A BBC correspondent says the report is painful reading for international forces and the Afghan government.

Pakistan has strenuously denied any links with the Taliban on previous occasions.

The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville in Kabul says the report – on the state of the Taliban – fully exposes for the first time the relationship between the Pakistani intelligence service (ISI) and the Taliban.

The report is based on material from 27,000 interrogations with more than 4,000 captured Taliban, al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters and civilians.

It notes: “Pakistan’s manipulation of the Taliban senior leadership continues unabatedly”. It says that Pakistan is aware of the locations of senior Taliban leaders.

The report states: “As this document is derived directly from insurgents it should be considered informational and not necessarily analytical.”

Despite Nato’s strategy to secure the country with Afghan forces, the secret document details widespread collaboration between the insurgents and Afghan police and military.

Lt Col Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan, said the document was “a classified internal document that is not meant to be released to the public”.

“It is a matter of policy that documents that are classified are not discussed under any circumstances,” he said.

The report also depicts the depth of continuing support among the Afghan population for the Taliban, our correspondent says.

It paints a picture of al-Qaeda’s influence diminishing but the Taliban’s influence increasing, he adds.

Taliban influence

In a damning conclusion, the document says that in the last year there has been unprecedented interest, even from members of the Afghan government, in joining the Taliban cause.

It adds: “Afghan civilians frequently prefer Taliban governance over the Afghan government, usually as a result of government corruption.”

The report has evidence that the Taliban are purposely hastening Nato’s withdrawal by deliberately reducing their attacks in some areas and then initiating a comprehensive hearts-and-minds campaign.

It says that in areas where Isaf has withdrawn, Taliban influence has increased, often with little or no resistance from government security forces. And in many cases, with the active help of the Afghan police and army.

When foreign soldiers leave, Afghan security forces are expected to take control.

However according to the report, rifles, pistols and heavy weapons have been sold by Afghan security forces in bazaars in Pakistan.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is defending four Michigan high-school football players who ignored a referee and allegedly assaulted the opposing team’s quarterback, saying the resulting charges against the four are based solely on their race.

It was during an Oct. 21 football game between Star Academy and Westland Lutheran High School in Dearborn Heights when the quarterback for Westland planned to take a knee to end the game with a 48-6 victory.

Referees reportedly instructed players not to have contact after the snap. While the quarterback, P.J. Kruse, was taking his knee, Star players burst through the unprepared offensive line and threw him to the ground.

He suffered a concussion in the melee.

Following a three-month investigation, the Wayne County prosecutor filed aggravated assault charges against Star Academy seniors Mohamed Ahmed, Fanar Al-Alsady, Hadee Attia and Ali Bajjey.

But the attorney for the players, Nabih Ayad, said the charges were based solely on the players’ race. CAIR-Michigan, the Arab Civil Rights League and the NAACP have sent the prosecutors a letter asking for all of the charges to be dismissed.

In a recent news conference, CAIR said there was new video that showed the incident was “greatly exaggerated: and that no charges would have been filed if the players had been any other religion.” But the video has not been released.

CAIR spokesman Dawud Walid said, “We believe that from the very beginning that, if these young men may have been of a different ethnicity, of a different religion, different skin color, that Dearborn Heights police officer most likely would not have been so aggressive in the means in which he carried out his investigation.”

Ayad said, “Had their names been John or Bill, Randy or Jason, I don’t think these charges would be standing here today. Because of the Arab ethnicity, I think these charges were brought with the racial animus behind it.”

He went on to describe the events that resulted in the opposing quarterback’s concussion simply as a post-play “skirmish” that frequently happens in football games.

But Kym Worthy, the Wayne County prosecutor, said neither race nor ethnicity played any role in the charges.

“Our investigation in this case includes a videotape which captured the incident. After a review of the evidence, we have charged the people involved in this incident with the appropriate charges,” Worthy said.

Robert Spencer with Jihad Watch said Ayad’s statement trivializing what happened was incredible.

“Really? Players commonly give their opponents concussions in non-game situations?”

Spencer pointed out that if non-Muslims had assaulted a Muslim, CAIR would be demanding the players face hate crime charges.

“In this case, they’re trying to portray some thuggish Muslim footballers as victims, both to advance their Muslim victimhood narrative, and to try to intimidate law enforcement officials into being afraid to charge Muslims with anything, for fear of being charged with racial or ethnic or religious bias,” he said.

CAIR’s reaction to the incident follows on the heels of similar incidents where the group has tried to play the victim card.

During a recent series of firebombings in Queens, New York, CAIR quickly claimed that the attacks were caused by Islamophobia.

While a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the door of the Al-Khoei Islamic Foundation, which houses one of the most prominent Shi’ite mosques in New York, the assailant also firebombed a house of a black Christian couple as well as another house which served as a Hindu place of worship.

Following the attacks CAIR called for police to increase patrols around mosques. However, leaders did not call for similar patrols around houses of worship for other faiths.

Spencer said CAIR’s reaction reveals that the group will not hesitate to use any event to their advantage to portray Muslims as victims in this country.

“CAIR did not mention anything about the Hindus or Christians when they issued their release. This just shows how self-serving their claims of victimhood really are,” Spencer said. “They called for increased police patrols against mosques, but they didn’t say anything about calling for protection for Hindu or Christian places of worship.”

The charges against the four players are even more noteworthy when one considers the location. Dearborn Heights is located just outside of Dearborn, which was recently featured in the television series “All-American Muslim.”

The show, which suffered from low ratings, had more than 65 sponsors stop advertising during its run on TLC. During the show’s run, Lowe’s was singled out by CAIR and others for choosing to stop advertising on the show.

CAIR called the move by Lowe’s to pull advertising “anti-Muslim bigotry.”

California state Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, went further by threatening Lowe’s with legal action if the company did not reinstate the ads and apologize to Muslims.

In a letter sent to Lowe’s chief executive officer, Robert Niblock, Lieu said, “Lowe’s action is bigoted, shameful, and un-American. I call on Lowe’s to rescind its action and apologize to Americans who are Muslim. If Lowe’s continues its religious bigotry, I will encourage boycotts of Lowe’s and look into legislative remedies.”

CAIR did not respond to WND requests for comment.

But in 2010, police arrested David Wood, Nabeel Qureshi, Paul Rezkalla and 18-year-old Negeen Mayel for talking to Muslims at the annual Dearborn Arab international Festival in Dearborn.

The four Christians were talking to people who approached and engaged them in conversation. Police arrested the Christians for disturbing the peace but they eventually were acquitted of charges.

The year before, George Saieg, a Sudanese Christian pastor, was threatened with arrest by Dearborn police if he handed out information on Christianity near the festival.

WND recently reported how the city was ordered to pay over $100,000 in legal fees over its handling of the incident.

By Doug Giles

Obama, in his State of the Union address and during his initial five-state, multi-million dollar taxpayer funded re-election jaunt has stated repeatedly that his platform and policies are not about class warfare, which means, of course, that his ticket is all about class warfare—or “fairness,” as he likes to call it … or as the Scripture labels it, envy.

You don’t hear much about envy anymore, do you? We hear a lot about greed being bad, but in Obamaland envy is no longer a rank vice but a right and a virtue. However, historically speaking, envy has always been seen as a high-ranking sin. Envy, matter of fact, is second on the Seven Deadly Sins list as it lags behind pride a wee bit in being the nastiest and most common vice.

Ancient in its poison, envy forms a big chunk of the foul compost heap that stimulates the growth of human stupidity. Envy is an extremely toxic sin that doesn’t get the verbal hailstorm that other sins receive in our current entitlement culture with its totemic view of vice. Someone who has been saddled by the envy monkey will probably not make the evening news like a politician who has been caught in bed with a live man or a dead woman or who keeps his freezer stuffed with cash.

No, envy is not that sexy and doesn’t have the buzz that zings around a greedy Goldman Sachs exec. Because this sin doesn’t get MSNBC’s attention like the more juicy transgressions, we tend to see it as less naughty. But be not deceived, my brethren: This sin is disastrous once it sticks its talons into a person, party, religion, or nation.

Another distinguishing feature of the funk of envy is that it is no fun. All vices sport a momentary spice. All of them, that is, except for envy. Envy is the one sin the sinner will never like or admit. You’ll never see someone who is envious chilling out, laughing his butt off, or relaxing with his friends while this demon rules the roost. The more envy grows, the more it drives its impenitent coddler nuts.

So, what is envy? Well … let’s start with what it is not. It’s not admiring what someone else has and wanting some good stuff also. This desire will make you get off your butt in the morning and get busy. It is good to crave; a man’s appetite will make him work. Where envy differs from admiration/emulation is that envy is “sorrow at another’s good” (said Thomas Aquinas). Someone who is centered can watch another person, party, or nation prosper and not grow hateful because of it.

The whacked, petty, envious dolt, however, sees someone else excel and is slapped in the face with the reality that he just got dogged. So, instead of sucking it up and working harder and smarter, the unwise envious freak allows his pride to fuel his wounded little spirit. This sets the dejected perp down a path of disparagement of the prosperous that eventually morphs into the desire to destroy the person, party or nation that has just trumped this sad little person.

Os Guinness, best-selling author and renowned lecturer, states that the sin of envy has several common characteristics:

1. Envy is the vice of proximity. We are always prone to envy people close to us in temperament, gifts or position.

2. Envy is highly subjective. It is in the eye of the beholder. It is not the objective difference between people that feeds envy, but the subjective perception. As a Russian proverb says, “envy looks at a juniper bush and sees a pine forest.”

3. Envy doesn’t lessen with age. It gets worse as we run into more and more people of happiness and success, offering more fodder for envy.

4. Envy is often petty but always insatiable and all consuming. However small the occasion that gives rise to it, envy becomes central to the envier’s whole being. The envier “stews in his juice.” Envy begins with pride and then plunges the person into hatred.

5. Envy is always self-destructive. What the envier cannot enjoy, no one should enjoy, and thus the envier loses every enjoyment. The envier’s motto is “if not I, then no one.” As an eighth-century Jewish teacher put it, “the one who envies gains nothing for himself and deprives the one he envies of nothing. He only loses thereby.”

Y’know, there are many forces tearing at this land and many nations that would like to level our nation. That said, I believe this envious entitlement funk that’s speedily weaving its way into the fabric of our national life will destroy it faster than al-Qaeda could ever al-Hope to.

Courtesy of cia.gov

Sudan’s Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments has threatened to arrest church leaders if they carry out evangelistic activities and do not comply with an order for churches to provide their names and contact information, Christian sources in Sudan have reported to Compass Direct News.

The warning in a letter to church leaders of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church arrived a few days after Sudan President Omar al-Bashir told cheering crowds on Jan. 3 that, following the secession of largely non-Islamic South Sudan last July, the country’s constitution will be more deeply entrenched in sharia (Islamic) law.

“We will take legal procedures against pastors who are involved in preaching or evangelistic activities,” Hamid Yousif Adam, undersecretary of the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowment, wrote to the church leaders. “We have all legal rights to take them to court.”

Christians are facing growing threats from both Muslim communities and Islamist government officials who have long wanted to rid Sudan of Christianity, Christian leaders told Compass. They said Christianity is now regarded as a foreign religion following the departure of 350,000 people, most of them Christians, to South Sudan following the July 9, 2011, secession.

“This is a critical situation faced by our church in Sudan,” said Yousif Matar, secretary general of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC).

Another church leader said the order is another in a series of measures by the government to control churches.

“They do not want pastors from South Sudan to carry on any church activities or mission work in Sudan,” the leader said.

Sudanese law prohibits missionaries from evangelizing. Converting from Islam to another religion is punishable by imprisonment or death in Sudan, though previously such laws were not strictly enforced. The government has never carried out a death sentence for apostasy, according to the U.S. State Department’s latest International Religious Freedom Report.

Sudan’s Interim National Constitution (INC) holds up Islamic law as a source of legislation, and the laws and policies of the government favor Islam, according to the state department report. Christian leaders said they fear the government is tightening controls on churches in Sudan and planning to force compliance with Islamic law as part of a strategy to eliminate Christianity.

As he has several times in the past year, Al-Bashir on Jan. 3 once again said Sudan’s constitution will be more firmly entrenched in sharia law.

“We are an Islamic nation with sharia as the basis of our constitution,” he told crowds in Kosti, south of Khartoum. “We will base our constitution on Islamic laws.”

His government subsequently issued the decree ordering church leaders to provide names and contact information of church leaders in Sudan, sources said. Christian leaders said the government is retaliating for churches’ perceived pro-West position.

Muslim scholars have urged heavy-handed measures against Christians to Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Christians in Sudan celebrated last Christmas amid several threats from officials in Khartoum and some followers of Christ were arrested for their faith, sources said.

Yasir Musa of the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) was arrested along with two other church members by national security agents in Khartoum on Dec. 23; they were detained because they were Christians and therefore suspected supporters of southern military forces. Released shortly afterward, they said authorities threatened to arrest them again if they did not comply with orders not to carry out Christian activities in the Islamic nation.

SCOC leaders said they have complained to the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments and were told that the three were arrested for security reasons.

In another case, sources said Islamic militias loyal to the government in civilian uniform abducted a church leader and two church members as they were returning from a worship service and demanded $1,000 in ransom. They were released after two days.

Christians in Khartoum increasingly fear arrests by militias loyal to the Islamic government, the sources said.

Security agencies in Khartoum also have ordered local Christians not to organize Bible exhibitions, as some churches have done annually, the sources said.

The pressures on Christians come as war in Sudan’s South Kordofan state reportedly has led leaders there and in North Kordofan to incite hatred against Christians, with officials in both states calling for holy war against the predominantly Christian Nuba people.
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Reported by Compass Direct News (www.compassdirect.org), a news service based in Santa Ana, Calif., focusing on Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Used by permission.