Family Security Matters Briefings

Exclusive: Tehran Wins; the State Department Spins
By Joel Himelfarb

What kind of fantasy world does the State Department live in? And do these people ever talk with the White House in order to forge some kind of coherent common position on Middle East policy? During his just-concluded visit to the region, President Bush and members of his senior staff did a commendable job of explaining the threat posed by Iran and Syria and the need to stand firm against Jihadist terror. Mr. Bush told the Israeli Knesset May 15th that a strategy of trying to negotiate with "terrorists and radicals" was a "foolish delusion." The president added: "We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history." But just six days later, David Welch, the State Department's senior Middle East diplomat, signaled U.S. acceptance of the Lebanese government's surrender to Tehran's terrorist proxy Hezbollah - allowing it to retain its military communications network in Lebanon and giving the group enough cabinet seats to exercise veto power over government policy. [more...]

Exclusive: Good Jihad, Bad Jihad, and the IC
By Clare M. Lopez

When the Director of National Intelligence declares publicly that "We try not to refer to 'jihad' as something that's bad," even though he knows that the United States and all of civilized society is engaged in an existential struggle with the forces of Islamic Jihad, it is hard to fathom what he could possibly be thinking. Only a few short weeks ago, we were told that referring to jihad might somehow legitimize our enemies. Of all of our leaders charged with the defense and protection of our Constitution, DNI Michael McConnell bears a special responsibility to understand clearly the identity of the enemy and the nature of the threat he poses. He also has a professional responsibility to communicate that honestly to the American people. [more...]

Obama Needs a Quick Refresher Course in Cold War History
By KT McFarland

Recently, Sen. Barack Obama reiterated his pledge to meet with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, among other rogue leaders, without preconditions, suggesting his approach would be consistent with the best, and strongest, American foreign policy of the past century. "Strong countries and strong Presidents talk to their adversaries," said Obama. "That's what Kennedy did with Khrushchev. That's what Reagan did with Gorbachev. That's what Nixon did with Mao." Not so fast. I was in both the Nixon and Reagan administrations, and I can attest that those Presidents understood the danger of prematurely forcing top-level meetings without sufficient preconditions. Neither Richard Nixon nor Ronald Reagan would sit down for face-to-face meetings with their counterparts in enemy nations until America had some realistic - and playable - bargaining chips. They recognized that negotiating without leverage isn't negotiating, it's begging. [more...]

Exclusive: Blasphemy: Islam, Christianity and the Law: Part Two of Two
By Adrian Morgan

In Part One I described some of the history of Islamic and Christian blasphemy. At present, individuals in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan are facing the threat of execution for offending Islamic mores. In Pakistan, the laws were implemented in stages, under the leadership of the military dictator General Zia ul-Haq. The Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), like the secular code of India, had laws which prevented general insult against religion. These laws, which showed no bias toward any particular faith, were a legacy of Britain's colonial rule. It is hard to imagine now that when Pakistan was founded in 1947, under Mohammed Ali Jinnah (who ruled for 13 months before his untimely death) Pakistan was officially a secular democracy. [more...]

Beyond the Dropzone By W. Thomas Smith, Jr.

Pro-Syrian, Hezbollah-friendly General to become Lebanese President

Barring some catastrophic series of events in Lebanon (in that country, one never knows), in a few hours, the commander-in-chief of the Lebanese armed forces, Gen. Michel Sleiman - also spelled, "Suleiman" - will become president of Lebanon. There's so much here regarding his ascendancy from the highest post in the Lebanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) to the Presidential Palace that it would take a book to detail. And I won't go into his military career, because there are multiple English-language versions of his bio presently being published worldwide. [more... ]

Lights Out Temporarily in Lebanon By W. Thomas Smith, Jr.

The proverbial lights have gone out in Lebanon. But for those of us having faith in that country's swelling pro-democracy majority, the lights will only be out temporarily. For now, however, it's dark. In the wake of last week's shameful concessions to the terrorist group, Hezbollah, on the part of the Lebanese government and the legitimate army - which barely fired a shot in defense of the Lebanese people - Hezbollah has achieved a never-before-realized strengthening of its position in that country. This upper hand was achieved by force and against the will of most of the Lebanese people - Christians, Druze, and yes, Muslims, both Sunni and many Shiia. What makes it worse is that the international community - which has been warned time and again, heard appeals for assistance from various pro-democracy groups, and vowed to support the government, the army, and the will of the majority - did nothing to prevent Hezbollah's thugs from attacking the state and winning. [more...]

National Petition Campaign Launched
Please Sign the Petition Today and Forward It To Everyone You Know!!

May 14, 2008 -- Last night we announced the launch of our national petition drive during our Telephone Town Hall. What an exciting event this was! I was thrilled and honored to be with so many of our outstanding, dedicated members who share my passion and determination to make a difference.

The petition we launched is entitled "Petition Calling for Congressional Hearings to Review Radical Islamist Materials Distributed in American Mosques."

The petition, which you can read in its entirety by clicking here, begins with these words:

We the American people call on our U.S. Congress to conduct hearings for the purpose of examining extremist materials that have been found in American mosques that:

• exhort Muslims to engage in holy war (jihad) against us;
• incite terror and violence against us;
• call for abolishing our constitutional form of government and replacing it with the theological totalitarianism of strict Islamic law, known as "sharia."

The petition includes some examples of such materials, and then closes with these words:

Since there is sufficient evidence to indicate that the information in some materials sold or distributed in mosques in America rises to the level of a genuine threat to our nation’s security and liberty;

Since it is the first responsibility of our federal government to safeguard the national security of our country and its citizens and guests;

And because the oath of office of a Member of Congress is an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution;

We, the undersigned, call upon Congress to conduct hearings to examine materials that have been uncovered that have been sold or distributed in mosques in the United States, to determine if these materials violate federal statutes governing tax-exempt organizations; to determine if these materials violate federal anti-terrorism statutes; and to determine if these materials violate federal statutes prohibiting sedition, the advocacy and/or effort of abolishing or overthrowing our constitutional form of government.

To read the full petition, sign it and forward it to others, please click here.

As we announced on the Town Hall last night, this petition drive is going to be unprecedented in scope on an issue such as this. Not only are we emailing you the petition and asking you to forward it to others, we are going to be sending millions of emails over the next few months to people who likely share our concerns about the nature of these materials, and asking them to sign the petition.

What's more, we are launching a full-scale national media campaign informing people of this national petition drive on radio and television across the country, with the hope of driving hundreds of thousands of listeners to our website to sign the petition.

Our objective is to take this petition, with hundreds of thousands of signatures, to Congress in September, and demand that congressional leaders heed the voice of Americans exercising their constitutional right to petition their government.

We will provide you numerous updates over the next few months as to the progress of our campaign. In the meantime, please click here to read and sign the petition. Then follow the easy directions to forward the petition to everyone you know.

The petition is also available for viewing by going to our Web site: www.actforamerica.org.

Thank you so much for your support and your commitment to helping us roll back the tide of Islamofascism. Together we rise in defense of our security, our liberty and our values.

Brigitte Gabriel

ACT for America
P.O. Box 6884
Virginia Beach, VA 23456

[more...]

Brigitte Gabriel on Terrorist Takeover of Lebanon

Brigitte Gabriel, renowned Middle East expert, author of the New York Times Bestseller "Because they Hate" and founder of ACT for America.org knows firsthand what Lebanon is going through: "What is happening in Lebanon is an Iranian takeover and submission of Lebanese democracy using its proxy terrorist army Hezbollah (party of Allah). Iran is preparing a base from which to attack Israel aided and abetted by Syria in a common goal of confronting Israel.

300 Iranian top military trained fighters landed in Lebanon the day the airport was shot down to aid in the fighting as Syrian wings joined with them and Hezbollah in West Beirut. [The violence was triggered by the government's attempts to ban a telecommunications system used by Hezbollah.] Both Iran and Syria, as well as the terrorists are laying the groundwork for a major offensive against Israel in the near future, that are the beginning stages of a confrontation that will engulf the Middle East."

At least 58 people have been killed and 189 have been wounded since the clashes broke out on Thursday. The violence is the worst to hit Lebanon since the end of its civil war in 1991. For the past 17 months, Lebanon's elected, pro-Western government has been locked in a power struggle with Hezbollah. Lebanon's presidency has been vacant since pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's term ended in November. Despite general agreement on army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman to fill the post, political wrangling among Lebanon's political factions has kept the issue from coming up for a vote. Parliament is scheduled to convene Tuesday to try to elect a new president for the 19th time. It is unclear if the latest fighting will force the government to postpone the session. [more...]