It boggles the mind and is more than frustrating to know that the people who make policy for this country and have the legal ability to carry it out, have taken leave of their minds. Worse, the report recommends inviting Iran and Syria to help mediate the Iraq problem. Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi said she thought it was a good idea and suggested regular committee meetings to handle the Mideast disputes.

Yes, the same Iran which daily declares its intention to wipe Israel and the United States off the face of the globe and is developing nuclear weapons to accomplish that. Yes, the same Iran which supplies arms to the insurgents in Iraq. Yes, the same Syria which funnels terrorists, arms and support to the anti-American forces in the region.

The perpetrators of terror attacks across the world are Muslims. They see Saudi Arabia is the source of millions of dollars to spread fundamentalist Islam across the world.
Western countries have growing Muslim populations, growing divisions between Muslims and native populations, growing militancy of Muslims in those countries, increasing demands for Sharia law (justice according to the Quran) to replace Western judicial procedures, increasing demands that the native culture change to accommodate Islam, and increasing discoveries of terrorist cells within those countries with the stated goals of bringing down those governments.

When we have "leaders" who refuse to clearly identify our enemies, who continue to mollify Muslims who claim to be "moderate" but don't condemn the violent Islamists, who allow and encourage Islam to encroach and change western culture and laws when we have leaders who actually consider the possibility of sitting as equals at the table with such countries as Syria and Iran knowing full well they've vowed our destruction when we have that, we have traitors at the helm.

People compare Iraq with World War II in terms of duration. Wrong! We should look at how we fought. In the 1940s, we fought to win. Not to compromise. Not to appease. We fought to destroy the enemy knowing full well that if they weren't brought to their knees, the war would never end. We fought to win and did, and demanded unconditional surrender.

But we don't have the guts for that today. We're too busy worrying about world opinion. We falsely believe that everyone in the world is the same and if they just have a taste of freedom, they'll turn into a democratic country.
It doesn't work that way. Just look at the African countries after the British left. They devolved into cesspools of starvation and privation for everyone but their top politicos who now show up at the U.N. in their custom suits and who, because of protocol, we treat with respect as though they're our equals.

They're not. Nor are Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syria's leader Bashar Assad.

They want us dead.

The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory captured by the Jewish state after Syria used the terrain to attack Israel in 1967 and again in 1973. The Heights looks down on major Syrian and Israeli population centers, but there are a few areas where the Israeli and Syrian sides are level.

Military officials here long have maintained returning the Golan Heights to Syria would grant Damascus the ability to mount an effective ground invasion of the Jewish state.

The Heights has a population of about 35,000 ? approximately 18,000 Jewish residents and 17,000 Arabs, mostly Druze. The Arab residents retain their Syrian citizenship, but under Israeli law they can also sue for Israeli citizenship. About a dozen officials from Assad's Baath party live and operate in the Golan.

The Baath official's claim of possible attacks against Israel follows a warning yesterday by the intelligence branch of the Israeli Defense Forces that Syria is preparing its army for war against the Jewish state.

Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, head of the IDF's intelligence research division, said the Syrian army has been placed on high alert for attacks. He said Assad ordered increased production of long-range missiles and instructed the Syrian military to position antitank missiles closer to the Syrian border with Israel.

But Baidatz said while Assad is preparing for war, "on the other hand, he is not ruling out the possibility of reaching a political settlement with Israel."

Reuven Erlich, a Syrian expert and director of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel's Center for Special Studies, told WND Assad's threats "are to be taken seriously."

"Assad's support for terrorism, for the insurgency in Iraq, for Hezbollah and his alliance with Iran are all indication of the direction in which Syria is headed. Assad needs to demonstrate he is willing to sue for peace, but everything seems to indicate the opposite. Especially following the war in Lebanon," Erlich said.

In a disturbing but thoroughly researched new book, "Religion of Peace? Islam's War Against the World," author and filmmaker Gregory M. Davis rebuts the notion that Islam is a great faith in desperate need of a Reformation. Instead, he exposes it as a form of totalitarianism, a belief system that orders its adherents not to baptize all nations, but to conquer and subdue them. Islamic law's governance of every aspect of religious, political and personal action has far more in common with Nazism than with the tenets of Christianity or Judaism.

Davis details how Islamic thought divides the world into two spheres locked in perpetual combat: There's dar al-Islam ("House of Islam," where Islamic law predominates), and dar al-harb ("House of War," the rest of the world). This concise yet thorough book leaves no doubt as to why most of the world's modern conflicts are connected to Islam and calls into question why Western elites refuse to acknowledge Islam's violent nature.

Virtually every contemporary Western leader has expressed the view that Islam is a peaceful religion and that those who commit violence in its name are fanatics who misinterpret its tenets. This widely circulated claim is false, says Davis.

Relying primarily on Islam's own sources, "Religion of Peace? Islam's War Against the World" demonstrates that Islam is a violent, expansionary ideology that seeks the subjugation and destruction of other faiths, cultures and systems of government. Further, it shows that the jihadis that Westerners have been indoctrinated to believe are extremists, are actually in the mainstream.

"Religion of Peace? Islam's War Against the World" is a powerful and jarring wake-up call to all civilized nations and one they ignore at their peril.

By buying a nuclear arsenal off the shelf from Pakistan, the Saudis would instantly acquire a deterrent without the hindrances that accompany developing one from scratch. It would wrongfoot any countermove: the country would be in the nuclear club before any effort to prevent it could be mounted. The Saudis would then likely embark on fully developing their own nuclear weapons facilities. They have already announced plans to develop a civilian nuclear energy programme, despite being the world's largest oil producer sitting on the globe's biggest reserves.

Animosity between the Sunnis and Shi'ites dates back to the schism of 655 AD. The one country where the Shi'ites gained power was Iran; in the rest of the Middle East, Sunnis ruled Shi'ites. The British Empire, which favoured politically powerful minorities as part of its divide and rule strategy, sanctioned this state of affairs. Until the invasion of Iraq, the Sunni minority roughly 20% of Iraq's population had all the political power. With the rise of Shia Iran and Iranian-backed Shia power in Iraq, Sunni rulers across the Middle East are deeply fearful about Iran's ability to stir up their Shi'ite minorities.

Recent elections in Bahrain, where a majority Shi'ite population is ruled by Sunni royals and government, have underlined the stirrings of anger and resentment against the Sunni ascendancy.
So far the Saudis have taken a low-key approach to Iraq: they are keen not to anger their American patrons and aware of how instability could so easily flow back over their border. Efforts have been made to stem the flow of young Saudis heading to fight in Iraq. But, with the Saudis uncertain about America's willingness to stay the course, they are beginning to reconsider.

In an article in the Washington Post last week, Nawaf Obaid a Saudi government adviser floated a new, more proactive Saudi policy. He stated that if America left Iraq, there would be a massive Saudi intervention to stop Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias from butchering Iraqi Sunnis.

The Prime Minister, who flies to Washington tomorrow to discuss an exit strategy from Iraq with George Bush, surprised MPs by suggesting Britain could not take America's support for granted as he announced the Government was backing a submarine-based "son of Trident" system.

"Our co-operation with America is very close. But close as it is, the independent nature of the British deterrent is an additional insurance against circumstances where we are threatened but America is not," said Mr Blair. "These circumstances are also highly unlikely but I am unwilling to say they are non-existent."

With the Dow setting records every week and America creating more jobs than it can fill, why is the dollar falling? There are several reasons. Approximately 70 percent of all foreign-exchange currency is currently held in U.S. dollars. The U.S. then sells Treasury debt into that foreign exchange market. This is a bit complicated, but here's what that means. Each U.S. bill is a receipt for Treasury debt. Once accepted as "money" it has value to its bearer. But, it is debt to its issuer. The system relies on the global flow of U.S. dollars in and out of foreign currency reserves. A smaller foreign exchange holding in U.S. dollars means a smaller pool out of which to sell U.S. debt.

This sets up a financial peril that is little understood by most Americans. It sets up a double threat to the dollar. It not only shrinks the dollar's value, but also raises both the trade deficit and the budget deficit. Now stay with me, here. This may be some of the most important information you will need to try and force Congress to do something and also to take action to defend your own personal financial future.

It has become apparent that there is a new strategy to destroy America. It is a new kind of warfare designed to destroy the value of American currency via a carefully coordinated attack against our dollar by a coalition of our enemies. And, based on the rapid shrinking of the dollar's worth, despite an economic boom, it appears to be working.

Certain countries have begun quietly divesting themselves of U.S. foreign exchange holdings, converting them to euros. In 2004, the Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlement reported that the U.S. dollar-denominated deposits of OPEC countries fell from 75 percent of their total deposits in the third quarter of 2001 to 61.5 percent by the end of 2003.

In the same period, the share of euro-denominated deposits of OPEC countries rose from 12 percent to 20 percent. OPEC member euro-denominated deposits reached 44 billion in June 2004, nearly double the 23.4 billion euros these countries held in the third quarter of 2001.

In the same period of time, the dollar holdings of the OPEC member countries decreased from $145.3 billion to $132.1 billion. In 2005, China negotiated major oil and natural gas rights from Iran.
For years, North Korea's Kim Jong-il has been flooding the global economy with so-called "super-notes" counterfeit U.S. $100 bills so good even Secret Service agents can't tell the difference without conducted sophisticated tests.

The 2005 arrests of major Asian crime figures in several U.S. cities led investigators straight to Pyongyang and from there to Beijing. Experts now believe that a significant percentage of U.S. $100 bills now in circulation are counterfeit.

The strategy is to flood the market with counterfeit dollars to deflate its value. Then to convert U.S. holdings to euros, thus pushing the dollar into a deflationary freefall.
In January 2006, China announced an intention to reduce 75 percent of its foreign exchange reserves currently held in U.S. dollars.

Since China is the world's second-largest holder of U.S. dollar-denominated foreign-exchange reserves, it has the power to create a catastrophe. At the same time, Venezuela and Iran are now demanding that all payments for oil shipments be paid for in euros not dollars.
In addition, both nations are planning regional central banking schemes designed to hold all foreign exchange holdings of participating countries in euros instead of dollars. This explains why enemy operators, spearheaded by members of the Saudi royal family, have flooded hundreds of millions of dollars into Venezuelan held bearer-bonds that are used to buy as many banks as possible throughout the Caribbean and South American areas.

All these factors cannot be coincidence. They reveal a concerted, well-coordinated strategy to destroy America through economics.
I believe oil is being used in this same overall strategy against America. Last October, OPEC agreed to reduce production to keep oil prices up near $60 per barrel. The price was suggested by Hugo Chavez after consultation with his friends in Tehran and Moscow and accepted by OPEC.

With that one brilliant maneuver, Chavez cornered the global oil market. Venezuela has vast deposits of heavy oil in the Orinoco, but heavy oil is expensive to extract and refine at free-market prices. However, at $60 per barrel, the Orinoco reserves give Venezuela the largest proven oil reserves in the world.
Not just larger than the vast reserves of Iran or Saudi Arabia, it is larger than both of them put together. In fact, it is bigger than all the proven oil reserves in the Middle East combined. Venezuela's deposits alone could extend the oil age for another 100 years.

Hugo Chavez is raking in some $200 million a day in oil sales, most of it from the United States. If Chavez demands payment in euros, it will throw the whole U.S. economy into a crisis.
Amazingly, Hugo Chavez has now become the go-to guy for all of OPEC. He's held audience with every oil sheik and dictator in the Middle East, including our "friends" the Saudis and Kuwaitis. With the recent re-election of Chavez, the U.S. is ringed by five of the most virulently anti-American leftist regimes in Latin America.

"Happy Holidays? Have you ever wondered what 'Holidays' refers to? Everyone knows about Christmas but what else are people celebrating in December? Why do we celebrate the way we do? "Find out!" the brochure continues. "Come to Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church ... We'll have an educational program for children (sic) of all ages (and their adults), where we'll explore the traditions of December and their origins, followed by a Pagan ritual to celebrate Yule."

The banner also displays three symbols: a cross, a Star of David and a pentagram a star enclosed in a circle often associated with paganism, witches groups such as Wicca, and even Satanism. As WND has previously reported, the celebration of Christmas is a major cultural battleground in the U.S., dating back to colonial America when Christians in New England outlawed Christmas, saying it was based more on ancient pagan traditions than instruction from the Bible.

Today, followers of ancient paganism strive to remind the public about the heathen origins of traditions that many may never have questioned. CircleSanctuary.org is among the Internet addresses run by nature-worshipping pagans. Wiccan high priestess Selena Fox discusses the state of being pagan and celebrating the lengthening of days during the Northern Hemisphere's darkest time of year.

"Yule, the winter solstice, is a festival of peace and a celebration of waxing solar light. I honor the new sun child by burning a[n] oaken yule log in a sacred fire. I honor the great goddess in her many great mother aspects, and the father god as Santa in his old sky god, father time, and holly king forms. I decorate my home with lights and with holly, ivy, mistletoe, evergreens and other herbs sacred to this season. I ring in the new solar year with bells."

The recommendations came on a day that 10 US troops and at least 75 Iraqis were killed. A bipartisan report has advised the withdrawal of most US combat troops from Iraq by early 2008 in order to stop a "grave and deteriorating" crisis there. The Iraq Study Group also said the US should engage with Iran and Syria over the conflict.

The recommendations came on a day that 10 US troops and at least 75 Iraqis were killed. Bipartisan report has advised the withdrawal of most US combat troops from Iraq by early 2008 in order to stop a "grave and deteriorating" crisis there.

The Iraq Study Group also said the US should engage with Iran and Syria over the conflict. The recommendations came on a day that 10 US troops and at least 75 Iraqis were killed. The report calls for talks between Israel and Syria as part of a US commitment to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace "on all fronts".

George Bush, the US president, is under pressure to end an unpopular war that has killed more than 150,000 Iraqis and more than 2,900 Americans. Bush said he would take the recommendations "very seriously".

The panel, co-chaired by James Baker, a former US secretary of state, said the main mission of US troops in Iraq "should evolve to one of supporting the Iraqi army, which would take over primary responsibility for combat operations".

"There is no magic formula to solve the problems of Iraq," the five Republicans and five Democrats in the group said in the report.
"The US is seeing that they can not get support from key Arab allies unless they fulfill key critical issues that are important to these allies. If Syria agrees to co-operate in Iraq and in Lebanon, the report suggests that Syria will get the occupied Golan Heights back. This is a significant suggestion."

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Nir Rosen of the New American Foundation, said that there was one thing all parties could agree on and that was that the US military cannot win the war in Iraq.

He said: "It has to be won by the Iraqi government and Iraqi politicians, not the US military."

"The report proves that this is the era of Islam and of jihad," said Abu Ayman, a senior leader of Islamic Jihad in the northern West Bank town of Jenin.

The Islamic Jihad terror group is responsible for every suicide bombing in Israel during the past two years.

"[With the Iraq Study Group report], the Americans came to the conclusion that Islam is the new giant of the world and it would be clever to reduce hostilities with this giant. In the Quran the principle of the rotation is clear and according to this principle the end of the Americans and of all non-believers is getting closer," Abu Ayman said.
According to Abu Abdullah, a senior leader of Hamas' so-called military wing, Baker's report is a victory for Islam brought about by "Allah and his angels."
"It is not just a simple victory. It is a great one. The big superpower of the world is defeated by a small group of mujahedeen (fighters). Did you see the mujahedeens' clothes and weapons in comparison with the huge individual military arsenal and supply that was carrying every American soldier?" exclaimed Abu Abdullah, who is considered one of the most important operational members of Hamas' Izzedine al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades, Hamas' declared "resistance" department.

"It is no doubt that Allah and his angels were fighting with them (insurgents) against the Americans. It is a sign to all those who keep saying that America, Israel and the West in general cannot be defeated on the ground so let us negotiate with them," Abu Abdullah said.

Abu Abdullah said following a withdrawal from Iraq, the U.S. will be defeated on its own soil.

We will want all our partners, including the United Kingdom, to tell us what is possible and desirable. And we will figure out if and how it's possible to draw it all together and hopefully at the end of our presidency make a proposal how to take the issue forward. A German Foreign Ministry spokesperson confidently told the Times, We can bring this forward faster than anyone realises. The Times also reports that Berlin has already rejected Nicolas Sarkozy's idea of a mini-treaty. A German diplomat said, It is in our interest to try to preserve the maximum substance of the text. We are happy with it. We are not going to pick out the cherries. The 18 countries who ratified it do not want to look ridiculous. It is also reported that diplomats close to Romano Prodi, the Italian Prime Minister, will work with the Germans on a way to bring back the EU Constitution.

Meanwhile AFP reports that European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso sent a letter last month to his 24 colleagues saying he wants to bring forward a proposal to give the EU Constitution another chance, revealing a change to his previous stance towards the document. He reportedly wrote, "We can find a way out and give Europe a second chance.

"We can have an intifada even when running the Palestinian Authority," Meshaal said, explaining that the ceasefire was not designed to bring peace, but is rather another stage in the war with Israel. "The current calm [cease-fire in Gaza - ed.], just like the escalation [before that], is part of the way we manage the conflict with Israel."

Many Israeli military men and analysts have said that Hamas is using the current truce in Gaza to rearm and regroup towards the next round of fighting.

Hamas Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniye, visiting in Syria, echoed Meshaal's position in a speech at a refugee camp. He said the Palestinians will not give up on "even one grain of sand of Palestine," and that Syrian President Assad promised him that all the Palestinian [terrorist] prisoners incarcerated in Israel would be freed.

Meshaal admitted that the Hamas-Fatah talks for a unity PA government have "encountered difficulties," but said they have not yet hit a dead end. This clashes with announcements by Hamas leaders Haniye and Mahmoud A-Zahar, who said on Monday that the negotiations had failed and were beyond recovery.

Hamas and Fatah elements traded blame and accusations for the failed talks. Fatah leader Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) is expected to announce - possibly today - whether he plans to dissolve the Parliament, thus leading to a clash with Hamas.

Ministers will take up the issue when they meet next week to discuss new output curbs. Most OPEC ministers are leaning towards cutting production beyond the 1.2 million barrels per day they agreed on in October to reduce high inventories. A weak dollar provides another argument for trimming supply and supporting prices.

It's often been said that if Washington, D.C., is America's seat of power, Hollywood is its seat of influence. Indeed, the southern California venue is the epicenter of an ultra-powerful values-broadcasting machine that fascinates, influences and in many ways, shapes Americans' lives, values and direction.

And yet, Hollywood's "beautiful people" the celebrities as well as the movers and shakers behind the scenes share (with few exceptions) a worldview both alien and poisonous to traditional America.

"Did you know that nine out of 10 Hollywood films lose money?" asks Emmy-Award-winning producer-director-cameraman Jody Eldred in this issue of Whistleblower. "Did you know that the vast majority of new television shows are cancelled because no one is watching them? Do you wonder why?"

The obvious answer, says Eldred, is "because they're mostly awful." But why are they awful? "Because," notes Eldred, "the people creating them are completely out of touch with the people they are creating them for! Their worldview is vastly different from the worldview of most Americans.

We have a largely Christian nation, but Hollywood is largely un-Christian, and in many if not most cases, anti-Christian.
They're not just out of touch.
They're against you!"