Watchman Report 5/25/08

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Hagee Defends Comments after Rejection
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/380576.aspx

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CBNNews.com - Pastor John Hage defended himself Friday, in the face of a controversy that prompted Republican John McCain to reject his endorsement.

McCain rejected the months-old endorsement from Hagee, as well as the support of Rod Parsley, an Ohio preacher who has criticized Islam.

McCain said he has not been influenced by either minister, using the moment to distinguish himself from Democratic candidate Barack Obama's trouble with his former pastor Jeremiah Wright.

"I've never been to Pastor Hagee's church or Pastor Parsley's church. I didn't attend their church for 20 years. I am not a member of their church. I received their endorsement which did not mean that I endorsed their views," McCain said.

But Hagee quickly defended his statements that have been called controversial and unacceptable. He publicly addressed his critics after McCain called some of his remarks in past sermons "crazy."

"People seeking to attack Senator McCain have combed my records for statements they can use for political gain," Hagee said. "They have had no qualms about grossly misrepresenting my position on issues most near and dear to my heart if it serves their political ambitions."

"I am tired of these baseless attacks and fear that they have become a distraction in what should be a national debate about important issues," he said. "I have therefore decided to withdraw my endorsement of Senator McCain for president."

Pastor parsley has not responded to CBN News requests for a comment.

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U.S. Residents in Military Brigs? Govt Says It's War
http://www.newsmax.com/us/US_Residents_in_brigs/2008/05/24/98659.html

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WASHINGTON -- If his cell were at Guantanamo Bay, the prisoner would be just one of hundreds of suspected terrorists detained offshore, where the U.S. says the Constitution does not apply.

But Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri is a U.S. resident being held in a South Carolina military brig; he is the only enemy combatant held on U.S. soil. That makes his case very different.

Al-Marri's capture six years ago might be the Bush administration's biggest domestic counterterrorism success story. Authorities say he was an al-Qaida sleeper agent living in middle America, researching poisonous gasses and plotting a cyberattack.

To justify holding him, the government claimed a broad interpretation of the president's wartime powers, one that goes beyond warrantless wiretapping or monitoring banking transactions. Government lawyers told federal judges that the president can send the military into any U.S. neighborhood, capture a citizen and hold him in prison without charge, indefinitely.

There is little middle ground between the two sides in al-Marri's case, which is before a federal appeals court in Virginia. The government says the president needs this power to keep the nation safe. Al-Marri's lawyers say that as long as the president can detain anyone he wants, nobody is safe.

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A Qatari national, al-Marri came to the U.S. with his wife and five children on Sept. 10, 2001 - one day before the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. He arrived on a student visa seeking a master's degree in computer science from Bradley University, a small private school in Peoria, Ill.

The government says he had other plans.

According to court documents citing multiple intelligence sources, al-Marri spent months in al-Qaida training camps during the late 1990s and was schooled in the science of poisons. The summer before al-Marri left for the United States, he allegedly met with Osama bin Laden and Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The two al-Qaida leaders decided al-Marri would make a perfect sleeper agent and rushed him into the U.S. before Sept. 11, the government says.

A computer specialist, al-Marri was ordered to wreak havoc on the U.S. banking system and serve as a liaison for other al-Qaida operatives entering this country, according to a court document filed by Jeffrey Rapp, a senior member of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

According to Rapp, al-Marri received up to $13,000 for his trip, plus money to buy a laptop, courtesy of Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, who is suspected of helping finance the Sept. 11 attacks.

A week after the attacks, Congress unanimously passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force. It gave President Bush the power to "use all necessary and appropriate force" against anyone involved in planning, aiding or carrying out the attacks.

The FBI interviewed al-Marri that October and arrested him in December as part of the Sept. 11 investigation. He rarely had been attending classes and was failing in school, the government said.

When investigators looked through his computer files, they found information on industrial chemical suppliers, sermons by bin Laden, how-to guides for making hydrogen cyanide and information about chemicals labeled "immediately dangerous to life or health," according to Rapp's court filing. Phone calls and e-mails linked al-Marri to senior al-Qaida leaders.

In early 2003, he was indicted on charges of credit card fraud and lying to the FBI. Like anyone else in the country, he had constitutional rights. He could question government witnesses, refuse to testify and retain a lawyer.

On June 23, 2003, Bush declared al-Marri an enemy combatant, which stripped him of those rights. Bush wrote that al-Marri possessed intelligence vital to protect national security. In his jail cell in Peoria, however, he could refuse to speak with investigators.

A military brig allowed more options. Free from the constraints of civilian law, the military could interrogate al-Marri without a lawyer, detain him without charge and hold him indefinitely. Courts have agreed the president has wide latitude to imprison people captured overseas or caught fighting against the U.S. That is what the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba is for.

But al-Marri was not in Guantanamo Bay.

"The president is not a king and cannot lock people up forever in the United States based on his say-so," said Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer who represents al-Marri and other detainees. "Today it's Mr. al-Marri. Tomorrow it could be you, a member of your family, someone you know. Once you allow the president to lock people up for years or even life without trial, there's no going back."

Glenn Sulmasy, a national security fellow at Harvard, said the issue comes down to whether the nation is at war. Soldiers would not need warrants to launch a strike against invading troops. So would they need a warrant to raid an al-Qaida safe house in a U.S. suburb?

Sulmasy says no. That's how Congress wrote the bill and "if they feel concerned about civil liberties, they can tighten up the language," he said.

That would require the politically risky move of pushing legislation to make it harder for the president to detain suspected terrorists inside the U.S.

Al-Marri is not the first prisoner who did not fit neatly into the definition of enemy combatant.

Two U.S. citizens, Yaser Esam Hamdi and Jose Padilla, were held at the same brig as al-Marri. But there are differences. Hamdi was captured on an Afghanistan battlefield. Padilla, too, fought alongside the Taliban before his capture in the United States.

By comparison, al-Marri had not been on the battlefield. He was lawfully living in the United States. That raises new questions.

Did Congress really intend to give the president the authority to lock up suspected terrorists overseas but not those living here?

If another Sept. 11-like plot was discovered, could the military imprison the would-be hijackers before they stepped onto the planes?

Is a foreign battlefield really necessary in a conflict that turned downtown Manhattan into ground zero?

Also, if enemy combatants can be detained in the U.S., how long can they be held without charge? Without lawyers? Without access to the outside world? Forever?

These questions play to two of the biggest fears that have dominated public policy debate since Sept. 11: the fear of another terrorist attack and the fear the government will use that threat to crack down on civil liberties.

"If he is taken to a civilian court in the United States and it's been proved he is guilty and it's been proved there's evidence to show that he's guilty, you know, he deserves what he gets," his brother, Mohammed al-Marri, said in a telephone interview Friday from his home in Saudi Arabia. "But he's just been taken there with no court, no nothing. That's shame on the United States."

Courts have gone back and forth on al-Marri's case as it worked its way through the system. The last decision, a 2-1 ruling by a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel, found that the president had crossed the line and al-Marri must be returned to the civilian court system. Anything else would "alter the constitutional foundations of our Republic," the judges said.

The full appeals court is reviewing that decision and a ruling is expected soon. During arguments last year, government lawyers said the courts should give great deference to the president when the nation is at war.

"What you assert is the power of the military to seize a person in the United States, including an American citizen, on suspicion of being an enemy combatant?" Judge William B. Traxler asked.

"Yes, your honor," Justice Department lawyer Gregory Garre replied.

The court seemed torn.

One judge questioned why there was such anxiety over the policy. After all, there have been no mass roundups of citizens and no indications the White House is coming for innocent Americans next.

Another judge said the question is not whether the president was generous in his use of power; it is whether the power is constitutional.

Whatever the decision, the case seems destined for the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the first military trials are set to begin soon against detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Al-Marri may get one, too. Or he may get put back into the civilian court system. For now, he waits.

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Adam’s Angle: Looking for the Razzle Dazzle
http://www.fulfilledprophecy.com/commentary/adams-angle-looking-for-the-razzle-dazzle/

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Elijah knew about spiritual bling. That is to say, he was used to God showing up in big ways during his life.

By his word he held back rain from falling for years on end. He multiplied flour and oil. He was greeted by whirlwinds and flaming chariots. He raised the dead. It seemed like every time he turned the corner God was working another miracle in his life.

We wish we were just like him. We’d like to see the power of God unleashed every time we get in a jam. Neighbor playing his radio too loud? Zap! A quick lightning bolt would shut off his power. Short on cash? Squawk! A sea gull would drop a roll of 20 dollar bills at your feet, then fly away. But is that how God works?

Sometimes, maybe — God can work however He chooses. But as even Elijah had to learn, God sometimes gives solutions in less-than-flashy packages.

Showdown at the O.K. Corral

It had been a busy week for Elijah. He had just finished up a spiritual shoot out with the prophets of Baal and Ashherah on Mount Carmel. You remember the story, it was 850 false prophets vs. one true prophet. Fire fell. People repented. The false prophets were slain. God won quite a victory.

But in the aftermath, there was no rest for the prophet. The wicked queen, Jezebel, was incensed that the prophets of her religion were slaughtered. She sent a message to Elijah, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them” (1 Kings 19:2). Elijah was spooked, and he ran for his life.

He fled first into the desert where he reached his wit’s end. He prayed that he would die: “I have had enough, LORD. . .take my life” (1 Kings 19:4). Elijah was exhausted and needed some strength. How would God provide for him?

Just one chapter earlier, the Spirit of the LORD came upon him to energize him when he needed to run. In fact, he ran so fast he zipped past Ahab’s chariot, even though the prophet was on foot (see 18:44-46). But that wasn’t the case this time. God didn’t send power from on high to charge him up. Instead, He gave him two square meals and plenty of time to sleep (1 Kings 19:5-8). Seems like a rather un-spiritual solution, doesn’t it?

But apparently Elijah didn’t get it yet. He was still looking for the razzle-dazzle solution to his current problem with Jezebel chasing after him. His solution? Flee to Mount Horeb, where he expected big things to happen.

What’s So Special About Mount Horeb?

But why, of all places, would Elijah run to Mount Horeb? Well, one reason is that it was the same place where God appeared to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-2). If Jezebel was going to send her armies after him, Elijah might as well make his last stand where God was known to show up in a mighty way. Surely the showdown on Mount Carmel was nothing compared to what was about to take place.

To me, Elijah’s own words suggest that (in his exhausted state of mind) he thought he was about to face his own Alamo. When God asks him what he’s doing there, he says, “I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too” (1 Kings 19:10). But was another fiery blowout on a mountaintop God’s solution for Elijah? Not this time.

God had a solution for Elijah, but He wanted to give him a little lesson first. He told him to exit the cave he was in to stand in the presence of the LORD as He passed by. We know this story well. God sent a mighty wind, but God was not in the wind. God then sent an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake. God then sent a fire (at last, this must be it, right, Elijah? After all, this is where God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and now you’ve got a fire outside). Nope. God wasn’t in the fire either.

Then Elijah heard a whisper, and he realized it was time to step out of the cave and into the presence of God.

God wasn’t in the big stuff — this time. He was in a soft whisper. And, God’s solution for the Jezebel problem was not quite the fanfare Elijah expected. God told him to anoint some new rulers and the prophet Elisha. Those rulers and Elisha would take care of the situation.

Your Un-spiritual Solution

Well, what does all this mean to you and me? It means we shouldn’t knock a solution just because it doesn’t seem super-spiritual. God uses ordinary stuff, too.

Are you in debt? Maybe your solution is getting a job. Do you want to marry a godly spouse? Maybe your solution is trying a Christian dating Web site. Are you spending hours on end wondering if you’re actually saved or not? Maybe you need to get 10 hours sleep and a good square meal (like Elijah) to make sure you’re thinking clearly.

Want to call me un-spiritual? Go ahead, I’ve been called worse. I’m not saying we should jettison prayer or trusting in God or belief in miracles. What I am saying is that God can use the little stuff just as easily as He can use the big stuff because all things are His.

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Colombia Government Source Says Top Rebel Leader Is Dead
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,357970,00.html

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BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia's Defense Ministry said Saturday that it has information from various intelligence sources that the legendary leader of Latin America's largest guerrilla army is dead.

In a statement, the ministry said "we have learned through different military intelligence sources" that the commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, died on March 26.

"We know that inside the FARC, the version is that he died of natural causes, specifically from a heart attack," the ministry said.

Marulanda is believed to be about 80.

First word of Marulanda's possible death came earlier Saturday when the newsmagazine Semana quoted Defense Minister Juan Manual Santos as saying he had information that Marulanda died in the guerrillas' southern Colombian stronghold at the time of three bombing raids.

"Whether the death of Marulanda came in a bombardment or from natural causes, this would be the most serious blow this terrorist group has suffered," the Defense Ministry statement said.

In the Semana interview, Santos said that the government had been told of the rebel leader's death from a "source who has never failed us".

Marulanda, whose real name is Pedro Antonio Marin, has led the peasant-based FARC since its founding in 1964.

Colombia's government has announced his death various times over the past 15 years, but each time proof that he was alive cropped up months later.

"If (the FARC) are going to say that the information we have is not true, they should show him," said the statement, which was read by the military's chief of staff, Adm. David Moreno. It said Marulanda has been replaced as FARC leader by a rebel ideologue known as Alfonso Cano.

The army has for months said it has Cano cornered in the southwest Colombian jungle and that his death or capture is imminent. FARC statements have denied Cano is in the area.

The FARC has suffered the worst setbacks in its history this year, including the killing of its chief spokesman and a senior commander, and the defection of a female leader well regarded inside the rebel group.

Born to a poor peasant family, Marulanda was radicalized by the vicious civil wars that ravaged Colombia in the middle of the last century, pitting Liberals against Conservatives. He and other survivors of a 1964 army attack on a peasant community escaped to the mountains and formed the FARC, which grew over the decades to include some 15,000 fighters. The defense minister now estimates the FARC's strength at around 9,000.

Marulanda's deadly aim in combat against the army earned him the name "Sureshot."

Notoriously reclusive, he is said to have never set foot in Colombia's capital, giving just a handful of interviews over the course of his life.

Even senior commanders within the FARC speak of Marulanda with awe, and he is known to have the final word over any major decision taken by the FARC.

The guerrillas remain strong in many parts of Colombia's countryside, but many accuse them of having lost their Marxist ideology.

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Israel Blocks U.S. Professor From Entering Country
http://www.newsmax.com/international/israel_professor_banned/2008/05/24/98685.html

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JERUSALEM -- Israeli authorities have blocked an American professor known for his harsh criticism of Israel from entering the country, officials said Saturday.

Israeli security officials said Norman Finkelstein was denied entry on Friday because of suspicions that he had contact with elements "hostile" to Israel. Earlier this year, Finkelstein met a top Hezbollah commander in Lebanon.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under Israeli security guidelines.

The Haaretz daily said Finkelstein was questioned after his arrival at Ben-Gurion airport near Tel Aviv and placed on a flight back to Amsterdam, his point of origin.

Finkelstein has angered Jewish groups by accusing Jews in Israel and the U.S. of exploiting the legacy of the Holocaust for political and financial gain. He also has argued that Israel uses the outcry over perceived anti-Semitism to stifle criticism.

Finkelstein resigned from DePaul University in Chicago last year after he was denied tenure.

He could not immediately be reached for comment. But before leaving Israel, he told Haaretz that he is "not an enemy" of the country, and he supports a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

Finkelstein told the newspaper he was held at the airport for nearly 24 hours and was asked whether he had met with al-Qaida operatives, whether he had been sent to Israel by Hezbollah and how he intended to pay for his stay in Israel.

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Exclusive: Serious falling-out with Washington over Olmert’s Syria talks
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5293

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DEBKAfile’s Washington sources report that the Bush administration is “reassessing” its relations with Jerusalem over Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert’s decision to embark on peace talks with Syria through Turkish mediators. One US official called the move a “slap in the face” two weeks after President George Bush declared that America stood by Israel in opposing negotiations with “terrorists and radicals.”

Our sources report fears that Israel may find some of the benefits of America’s closest regional ally withheld for the remainder of Bush’s term in office – direct dialogue between the White House and prime minister’s office, intelligence-sharing, diplomatic coordination on Middle East strategy and other urgent business. Israel’s defense establishment and military high command are concerned about possible delays in the flow of essential supplies of equipment. Olmert’s close aides, especially those involved in the peace talks with Syria, may no longer enjoy a warm top-level welcome in Washington.

According to a US official, who asked to remain unnamed, the decision to cool ties with Jerusalem followed the discovery by American agents in Turkey that Olmert’s senior advisers, Yoram Turbovich and Shalom Turjeman, and a Syrian delegation arrived in Istanbul for indirect peace talks. The two delegations stayed at the same hotel for three days and a Turkish go-between shuttled between their rooms.

Since 2003, it has been administration policy to isolate Syria and boycott its top officials for facilitating the flow of terrorists into Iraq, its efforts to destabilize the pro-Western Lebanese government and its close ties with Iran.

The Americans were particularly displeased when they discovered the identity of the Syrian negotiators: Riyad Dadawi, legal adviser to the foreign ministry and president Bashar Assad’s strategist for the UN-sponsored probe and future trial in the 2005 murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri; and the colonel who liaises for the Syrian army with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the Lebanese Hizballah terrorists.

Three days after Jerusalem, Damascus and Ankara announced that peace talks had begun, the Syrian defense minister Hassan Turkmani landed in Tehran to boost military ties with Iran.

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Background: Why Israeli and Syrian positions are deemed unbridgeable
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5294

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Whereas Israeli prime minister claims his goal in initiating indirect peace talks with Syria is to disengage the Assad regime from Tehran and its sponsorship of terror, Damascus declares the return of the Golan, a rocky plateau 1,250 square kilometers in area, overlooking the Sea of Galilee, is non-negotiable.

Saturday, May 24, three days after Israel and Syria announced that peace talks had begun through Turkey’s good offices, Syria’s defense minister Hassan Turkmani went to Tehran to strengthen his government’s military and defense ties with Iran. The Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki’s marked the occasion with the comment that Israel is in no position to bargain over the Golan.

Opposite the hard line from Damascus, two-thirds of an Israeli crosscut segment polled this week, were against ceding Golan to Syria, for which a national referendum would be required. Its value to Israel as a strategic asset is beyond price.

In 1967, Israel captured the territory after years in which Syrian soldiers had shelled Galilee and the Huleh Valley with rockets. It was annexed it in 1981, a step which no country recognized. The divided town of Kuneitra was handed back to Syria.

About 18,000 Jews live in 32 villages and a town and roughly the same number of Syrians, mostly Druzes. The last round of peace talks took place in 2000 when Damascus rejected Israel’s offer to withdraw from Golan to the pre-1967 international border for full peace, and demanded the addition of a strip of land on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

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Palestinian President: No Progress in Peace Talks With Israel
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,358025,00.html

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RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says nothing has been achieved in six months of peace talks with Israel and he fears a corruption probe of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will bog things down.

While Abbas' pessimism regarding the U.S.-backed talks was not new, these statements to leaders of his Fatah movement Saturday night underlined the sense among both peoples that an agreement will not obtainable by an end-2008 target.

"Nothing has been achieved in the negotiations with Israel yet," Abbas said. His comments at a meeting of the Fatah Revolutionary Council were published Sunday in the Fatah-associated al-Ayyam daily and confirmed by meeting participants.

The United States has been pushing for a final agreement before the end of President George W. Bush's term in January. Both sides have kept largely quiet about the talks, but neither has hinted at any serious progress and the situation remains unchanged on the ground: Israel continues to build in areas the Palestinians claim for a future state, and hasn't scaled back a network of roadblocks that it says are essential to its security but have hurt Palestinian economic recovery.

Israel, meanwhile, accuses Abbas' West Bank government of not doing enough to clamp down on militants and has made it clear it won't carry out any accord as long as Islamic Hamas militants rule the Gaza Strip.

Allegations of criminal wrongdoing on Olmert's part and November elections in the U.S. are only diverting attention from peacemaking, Abbas told Fatah leaders.

"I fear the probe against Olmert and the American preoccupation with the elections will negatively affect the negotiations," Abbas said, according to a member of the council, Salah Tamari.

Olmert has said he would resign if indicted in the case. He is suspected of illicitly accepting up to $500,000 in cash from an American Jewish businessman, but the investigation is at an early stage and could take months to complete before the Justice Ministry decides whether to file charges.

Talks resumed in November at a U.S.-hosted conference after a seven-year breakdown. They are meant to bring an end to the decades-old conflict between the peoples and clear the way for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia said the Palestinians will not accept a partial deal. Speaking at the same Fatah gathering Saturday, Qureia rejected Olmert's suggestion that the sides only outline an accord, without fleshing out the details that have tormented peacemaking for years.

While negotiating with the moderate Abbas, Israel has been fighting militants in Hamas-run Gaza who attack Israeli border communities with rockets and mortars.

Egypt has been trying for months to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. On Sunday, senior Israeli defense official Amos Gilad traveled to Cairo to hear from the Egyptians the latest Hamas response to Israel's truce conditions, Israeli defense officials said on condition of anonymity.

Israel has demanded that any truce deal involve progress in negotiations for the release of a captured Israeli soldier held in Gaza nearly two years. But the defense officials said they were skeptical Hamas would agree to such a condition.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.

Israel, meanwhile, is unlikely to end its blockade of Gaza, a chief condition Hamas has set for a truce.

Fighting persisted Sunday, with at least two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip but no injuries reported, the army said. Israeli forces backed by tanks briefly raided southern Gaza, razing land and making arrests in the city of Rafah, Hamas and witnesses said.

Olmert told ministers at a Cabinet meeting Sunday that the situation in Israel's south has become "unbearable." He said last week that Israel would soon reach a "decisive crossroads" regarding Gaza, suggesting an escalated Israeli response to militants' rocket attacks. Israeli retaliation has included airstrikes and land raids targeting rocket-launching squads.

Any large Israeli operation in Gaza would put pressure on Abbas to call off peace talks.

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U.S. Ambassador: al-Qaeda Close to Defeat
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/381172.aspx

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CBNNews.com - BAGHDAD - The U.S. ambassador to Iraq said Saturday that al-Qaeda's network in the country has never been closer to defeat, and he praised Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for his moves to rein in Shiite and Sunni militant groups.

Ryan Crocker's comments came as Iraqi forces have been conducting crackdowns on al-Qaeda militants in the northern city of Mosul and on Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Basra. Thousands of Iraqi forces also moved into the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad last week imposing control for the first time in years.

But truces with the powerful Mahdi Army militia that have calmed violence in Basra and paved the way for the Sadr City deployment have been strained in the past two days.

Supporters of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who heads the Mahdi Army, accused al-Maliki on Saturday of seeking to eliminate their movement and warned that "dark clouds" hang over the truce.

Al-Qaeda fighters or other Sunni insurgents struck back in Mosul on Saturday. A roadside bomb in the city's Sumer neighborhood hit an Iraqi army patrol, destroying a vehicle and killing four soldiers, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Near Baqouba - where a U.S. offensive last year targeted al-Qaeda in Iraq - gunmen assassinated a member of the local Awakening Council, a U.S.-backed group of Sunni tribesmen who are fighting al-Qaida. The attack occurred in the village of Had, north of Baghdad, police said.

U.S Ambassador Crocker spoke as he visited reconstruction projects in the southern city of Najaf.

"There is important progress for the Iraqi forces in confronting the Sunni and Shiite militias," he said, speaking Arabic to reporters. "The government, the prime minister are showing a clear determination to take on extremist armed elements that challenge the government's authority. no matter who these elements are."

"You are not going to hear me say that al-Qaeda is defeated, but they've never been closer to defeat than they are now," Crocker said.

The U.S. military says attacks have dropped dramatically - down to an average of 41 a day across the country, the lowest rate since 2004 - amid the crackdowns and truces. The U.S. military, backed by Sunni Arab tribal fighters, have scored successes in battling al-Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni insurgents in western parts of the country.

The Mosul sweep aims to dislodge the terror network from its most prominent remaining urban stronghold. The operation has met little opposition, suggesting that many al-Qaeda militants fled, intending to regroup elsewhere as they have in past crackdowns.

In Baghdad, three men attending a conference at the offices of the National Dialogue Front, a leading Sunni Arab political party, were killed when a bomb exploded under their car as they left the gathering, police said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

Meanwhile, new tensions over the truces in Sadr City and Basra were sparked when Iraqi troops in Basra fired over the heads of al-Sadr followers congregating in a northern square for Friday prayers. Iraqi police recently banned al-Sadr gatherings there after a large cache of weapons was found nearby.

Iraqi troops were deployed and when those gathering refused to disperse, the police fired rounds over their heads, witnesses said.

Iraqi police in Basra said one person was wounded, but al-Sadr officials contended that one person was killed.

Also Friday, Iraqi and U.S. troops carried out a sweep in two Mahdi Army strongholds of western Baghdad, the Amil and Bayaa districts, arresting around 100 people, police officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

Iraqi forces in the operation cordoned off a cultural center in Amil where Sadrists were gathering to hold prayers and arrested some worshippers, the officials said.

Sadrist lawmakers denounced the moves saying there was a "nationwide conspiracy against Friday prayers" and a government move to "eliminate" their movement.

Sadrist lawmaker, Aqeel Abdul-Rahman, said the group was still committed to Sadr City truce. "But we see black clouds on the horizon, being brought by the government to rain on the sons of the Sadr Movement," he said.

The Sadrists' angry rhetoric may in part be aimed at warning al-Maliki not to take more aggressive steps against the Mahdi Army in Sadr City, such as confiscating heavy weapons or arresting key figures. The government has said it plans to do so, but has not begun any raids in the district, wary of sparking retaliation.

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In Dubai, Christians pray side by side but not always together
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/in.dubai.christians.pray.side.by.side.but.not.always.together/19028.htm

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On Fridays, the Holy Trinity church compound in Dubai is abuzz with worshippers from early morning till after nightfall. Some 10,000 - 11,000 members of more than 120 different Christian groups and congregations come here on the Emirates' weekly day of rest.

Services in more than a dozen tongues - including English and Arabic, but most of them South Asian such as Urdu, Tagalog, Tamil or Malayam - fill not only the main church from 6am to 11pm but the 25 other halls built around a central courtyard adorned with a Canterbury cross.

A vibrant church life may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the Gulf region, which is primarily Muslim. But in a way, the 3-4 million Christians in the region, almost all of whom came in search of work from around the globe, present a microcosm of Christianity and the challenges of church unity.

At the Holy Trinity compound the Christian testimony is one of diversity in worship, from the solemnity of song to happy clapping. As one service ends, worshippers quickly rearrange what was a sober Protestant worship facility into an Orthodox sanctuary with icons and incense. Glory to God is proclaimed throughout the day in a variety of liturgies.

In Dubai, as throughout the United Arab Emirates, Christians are free to practise their faith, but only within the limits of their church compounds or in the privacy of their homes. The foundation stone of Holy Trinity Church was laid in 1969 by Sheikh Rashid bin Said Al Maktoum, then ruler of Dubai, who had graciously granted the land to the Christians living in his sheikdom.

A chaplain was appointed to care for the spiritual welfare of the expatriate Christians living in Dubai, Sharjah and the northern Trucial States, as the state entity which preceded the UAE was called. The following year, Holy Trinity was dedicated as an inter-denominational church building.

The Chaplaincy of Dubai and Sharjah has strong ties to the Anglican tradition. But it also lives up to its inter-denominational vocation and "the Anglican emphasis on hospitality", as the current chaplain Rev John Weir underlines, by accommodating more than a hundred congregations of other traditions in the Holy Trinity compound - be they Evangelical, Pentecostal or Orthodox.

The challenge of Christian unity

The intimate coexistence in which churches of all stripes and colours find themselves in the Emirates is both a challenge and a chance to develop a deeper sense of belonging to one ecumenical community.

"So far, the first thing churches build when they are allotted territory in a new church compound often is a wall separating their plot from the neighbour congregations," said Rev Rolf Pearson, who used to work in the UAE as Gulf liaison officer for the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC).

"It is sad that churches [in compounds jointly granted to several denominations] are often built facing away from one another," acknowledged Weir, the Anglican chaplain, "when in fact, each church could encourage the other."

He added that, in the planning meetings for the next compound to be built, he would like to work with the other church leaders involved to find a more ecumenically oriented approach.

Since Christians are such a small minority in the country, the Emirate society sees them as one community. "We need a dialogue among Christians in the Gulf on what it means to be the church here," Catherine Graham, a committed volunteer with both the Anglican congregation and the Mission to Seafarers in Dubai, said at a meeting in April between a delegation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Christians from several Gulf countries.

One area in which churches can do good work together is their care for the needs of migrant workers. That this can earn them appreciation and support from the mainstream society has been proven by the case of the Mission to Seafarers.

The charity, which is part of an international Christian organisation caring for seafarers of any race or religion in over 300 ports around the world, was able to raise the necessary 3,650,000 dirhams (around £50,000) to build a boat for outreach to the crews of vessels lying off Dubai's busy port.

During its first year of service, the "Flying Angel" has provided 3,000 seafarers with the services and counsel of a paramedic and a chaplain. An onboard internet café allows the sailors, who often have no other contact with their families for weeks or months, to get in touch with their loved ones. Much funding came from Muslim Emirates who saw the need for such a service and the capacity of the Christian charity with its long experience in the Gulf to deliver it.

The service of the Mission to Seafarers is a perfect example of the biblical mandate for Christians to seek the welfare of the city where God has sent them which the WCC general secretary Rev Dr Samuel Kobia evoked in a sermon at Holy Trinity church during the visit in Dubai: " We must learn to welcome the stranger, every stranger, in a spirit of love and solidarity; to open up our relationships so that we may move from being strangers to being neighbours."

The churches in the Gulf may still have some way to go in order to fully live up to the particular challenges of their situation. But the ecumenical encounters witnessed by the WCC delegation bore evidence of a heartening enthusiasm and the readiness to pull their forces together. The very morning the WCC delegation left Dubai, the local ecumenical group who had prepared the visit met to set up task groups for a better coordination of their activities. A first fruit of their efforts will be a training programme for volunteers in a Christian charity in Oman in autumn.