Israel says time is running out and Leon Panetta says Israel could attack Iran as early as April. As all this unfolds the Obama administration cautions our greatest ally Israel rather than Iran.

Just days after 9/11 on September 13, 2001, then-Senator Hillary Clinton stated during an interview on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather,

“Every nation has to either be with us, or against us.  Those who harbor terrorists, or who finance them, are going to pay a price.”

President George W. Bush elaborated those words on September 20, 2001; during an address to a joint session of Congress,

“Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”

Bush went a little further and in simple terms explained what he meant,

“They want to overthrow existing governments in many Muslim countries, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. They want to drive Israel out of the Middle East. They want to drive Christians and Jews out of vast regions of Asia and Africa.”

During his State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, Bush named terrorist groups,

“Our military has put the terror training camps of Afghanistan out of business, yet camps still exist in at least a dozen countries. A terrorist underworld — including groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Jaish-i-Mohammed — operates in remote jungles and deserts, and hides in the centers of large cities.”

Three out of four of the groups he named, Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad all have one thing in common. They are all funded, supplied and trained by Iran.

Read the rest here.

Failure to recognize the danger that Iran poses to both Israel and the United States is one of those things that Obama and his administration are quite good at, either by design, or total ignorance.  I don’t think it’s ignorance.  He professes to be a ‘Christian’, but all of his actions are anti-Christian.  True Christians will stand WITH Israel against her enemies, and what greater enemy than one who has declared the intent to totally destroy her.

From the NKJV:

Exodus 23:30-33
30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.
31 And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
32 You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

From The Torah:

Exodus 23:30-33
30 I will drive them out before you little by little, until you have increased and possess the land
31 I will set your borders from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of Philistia and from the wilderness to the Euphrates; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and you will drive them out before you.
32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.
33 They shall not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me; for you serve their gods – and it will prove a snare to you.

Now, I won’t swear to it, but I’m fairly sure this is an accurate description of the land given to the Hebrews. I’m pretty sure the Arabs know this, but don’t much like the idea. There are a lot of squatters in land that was given to them, way back when. The Sea of Philistia, if I’m not mistaken, is what we call the Mediterranean. The Sea of Reeds, well, that would be the Red Sea as stated in the Old Testament.

Even back then, it really wasn’t a huge plot of land, but compared to what they have today, well, it was HUGE.

All Israel wants is to live in peace, to protect her people, and defend herself against her enemies. I don’t think that is asking too much.  She is surrounded by enemies.  Little Big Horn comes to mind.

As a Christian nation, we are obliged to stand with her, not with her enemies. Thanks to Obama and his cronies, liberals who have done their best to remove God from all aspects of our lives, we are no longer a blessed nation. The current government has turned its back on our closet ally in the area. Unless we turn our faces back to God, we will be a nation ‘gone under’.  Israel doesn’t need our permission to do a darn thing.  She doesn’t need the backing of the United Nations.  She has the backing of a MUCH greater Power!

Thousands are dead in Syria, with more blood spilled each day. Iran is within arm’s reach of a nuclear weapon, threatening Israel’s very existence. And in Egypt, 19 Americans are banned from leaving the country, making them veritable hostages in an unfriendly land. All indications are that the Middle East is crumbling, and President Barack Obama’s foreign policy is collapsing right along with it.

First look toward Homs, Syria — ground zero in the 11-month-old uprising against the brutal government of Bashar al-Assad, which is unleashing death upon its people minute by minute and hour by hour. The United Nations estimates that Assad’s regime has killed more than 5,000 anti-government protesters in the last 11 months, with 200 killed on Friday night alone. The Arab League has stationed observers in country, whose mission was to oversee compliance with a peace plan. That failed.

The Obama Administration rushed to the United Nations Security Council and attempted to pass a resolution calling for Assad to step aside. Predictably, China and Russia laid down a veto. On Monday, the United States finally closed the doors to its embassy in Damascus and withdrew the diplomatic staff over continuing security concerns. Meanwhile, intelligence experts are examining the risk of terrorists gaining control of Syria’s weapons stockpiles should the Assad regime fall.

To the east in Iran, the regime’s full-steam-ahead pursuit of nuclear weapons is reaching a crescendo, with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently remarking that the country could build a bomb within one year and have the means for delivering it one or two years later.

Finally, in Egypt, officials there published a list of 43 people, including 19 Americans, accused of interfering in Egypt’s internal politics. They are not allowed to leave the country and could soon be brought to trial on claims that they illegally funded political groups in Egypt’s parliamentary elections. Heritage’s James Phillips explains that “they have become hostages in a much larger struggle: the struggle for freedom in Egypt against an unholy alliance between Egypt’s transitional military government and the Islamist political parties who will soon assume power.”

President Obama and members of his Cabinet tried to reach Egyptian leaders on the matter, but in the words of Lorne Craner, head of the pro-democracy organization IRI, “things are getting worse . . . We are all scratching our heads over here. I did two tours at State and one at the [National Security Council]. If the president called someone, something gets worked out.” But as was the case under President Jimmy Carter, the White House appears helpless while Americans are held captive.

None of these crises occurs in a vacuum — except for the vacuum of a cogent U.S. strategy for dealing with these ever-worsening conditions. Since President Obama took office, he has pursued a diplomatic strategy of charm and restraint: attempting to broker peace between Israel and Palestine, engaging with Syria and Iran, and withdrawing from Iraq. Now we are seeing the results.

The international rogue that is Iran continues to rise, along with its threat to the world. Thousands are dead in Syria under a brutal dictator while the international community is serving up effete condemnations. America’s ally Israel appears ready to take matters into its own hands in order to ensure its survival, while prospects for peace with Palestine remain dim. U.S. citizens are trapped in Egypt as anti-Western Islamists seek to consolidate their power. And Iraq’s once-peaceful prospects have been marred by one terrorist attack after another after America’s military forces departed.  Obama has failed at every turn to safeguard U.S. interests in the region or take effective proactive initiatives to deal with threat of rising extremism and spiraling violence that could lead to regional conflict.

There are actions the United States can and should take. Phillips explains that in Syria,  “the best assistance that the United States can give to ease the suffering of Syrians is to help speed the fall of the Assad regime.” And it can do it by working with European allies, Turkey, and Arab states to escalate sanctions, provide humanitarian relief to refugees, and provide diplomatic and economic support for the Syrian opposition — while holding back from military intervention.

To address Israel and Iran, Phillips and James Carafano advise that the United States must have a clear and unambiguous policy that it will protect itself and its interests.

As for Egypt, Phillips writes that America should “freeze U.S. foreign aid to Cairo and give Egypt’s new leaders an ultimatum: free the American hostages or permanently lose U.S. foreign aid and any American help in refinancing Egypt’s burdensome national debt.”

More broadly, President Obama must fundamentally change course toward the Middle East. His policy of engagement has not worked, and the world is seeing the results. The Middle East is crumbling, and an ineffectual and inert Obama Administration is leading from behind with a foreign policy that has entirely failed to cope with the rapidly devolving conditions along the Mediterranean’s southeastern shores and beyond, with consequences reaching around the world.

Ezekiel 33:1-6

Thirty-five Christians have been jailed in Saudi Arabia for worshiping in their own homes according to a recent report. The news only surfaced this week that the Christians have been imprisoned for over a month.

Jonathan Racho of International Christian Concern says it is no wonder that Christians there worship in their homes because of the danger they face.

“In Saudi Arabia there is no church,” says the ICC spokesman. “There is no other place of worship other than mosques — so the Christians in Saudi Arabia only gather at their private homes to worship. And when they worship, as you can see in this particular example, they could also be arrested.”

Using Bing search engine, there are 29,400,000 hits for “Christian persecution in Saudi Arabia“.  That’s TWENTY NINE MILLION FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND.  This from a country that is supposedly an ‘ally’.  I’m afraid I cannot consider any country run by Muslims an ally of the United States of America.  I also am more than disturbed by the continuous importing of Muslims by our government to our country.  Search for “Christian persecution in the United States“, and the number is even more disturbing… 150,000,000….ONE HUNDRED FIFTY MILLION!  That is more than 5 times the number in the supposed Land of the Free.

Visitors to Saudi Arabia are not allowed to bring in Bibles, wear Crucifixes, and I’m fairly sure, the Star of David is a no no as well.  I guess I won’t ever be going there, will I, considering I carry a Bible with me everywhere I go, and this doesn’t leave my neck!  I wonder how long it will be before I am banned from wearing it in the U.S.?  When will Bibles and Tanuchs be banned?  Organizations such a CAIR have our officials on the run for doing nothing more than telling the truth.

The saddest thing, and most dangerous, is the idea that Islam is a religion of peace.  No.  It.  Is.  NOT!  There is nothing peaceful about forced conversions, or brutalizing women and children.  The contradictions of what is said, and what is taught, are mind boggling.  I have posted many times on this issue.  I don’t think I need to post anymore of the pictures of the results of their ‘peace’.  You can find them yourself, or look here, or here, or here, or here for information.

Many people say ‘I learned everything I need to know about Islam on 9/11.”  I learned long before then, at my mother’s knee, and how she came to be a first generation American.

“I have sat back and assessed the incident with the video of our Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. I do not recall any self-righteous indignation when our Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon had their bodies dragged through Mogadishu. Neither do I recall media outrage and condemnation of our Blackwater security contractors being killed, their bodies burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.

“All these over-emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks need to chill. Does anyone remember the two Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who were beheaded and gutted in Iraq?

“The Marines were wrong. Give them a maximum punishment under field grade level Article 15 (non-judicial punishment), place a General Officer level letter of reprimand in their personnel file, and have them in full dress uniform stand before their Battalion, each personally apologize to God, Country, and Corps videotaped and conclude by singing the full US Marine Corps Hymn without a teleprompter.

“As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.”

EXACTLY!

I’d really appreciate it if our government officials would stop whining, quit kowtowing, and knock off the ‘we’re so sorry’ for any and every little thing.  This is a freakin’ war.  WAR!  This trash are killing our young men and women, and honestly, I wouldn’t walk across the street to whiz on a one of ‘em if they were on fire.  They do not deserve any respect, dead or alive!

The Strait of Hormuz lies between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, providing passage for some 15.5 million barrels of crude oil per day, amounting to one third of the world’s seaborne oil shipments. In a word, it is a 34-mile-wide chokepoint, making Iran’s threat this week to shut down the strait all the more serious for the global community.

The Iranian regime’s provocative warnings came on Tuesday from Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi who threatened to close the strait if Iran faces sanctions for its nuclear ambitions. And Wednesday, Iran’s top naval commander Habibollah Sayyari said, ”Closing the Strait of Hormuz for Iran’s armed forces is really easy … or, as Iranians say, it will be easier than drinking a glass of water.”

Iran’s closing of the strait — and its economic ramifications — is a scenario that has been contemplated before. From December 2006 to March 2007, Heritage Foundation scholars conducted a computer simula­tion and gaming exercise that examined the likely economic and policy consequences of a major oil disruption in the Persian Gulf. Specifically, the war game was based on a scenario in which Iran began blockading the Strait of Hormuz in January 2007.

What did they find? Based on their modeling, if Iran succeeded in fully blockading the strait for up to one week, Americans would see a massive spike in oil prices, a one-quarter drop in GDP of $161 billion, the loss of one million jobs, and a drop of real disposable personal income costing more than $260 billion.

With those threats at hand, the scholars recommended a series of steps to manage the theoretical blockade and its worldwide economic consequences:

A focused but restrained use of military power oriented toward objectives that address vital national interests would demonstrate U.S. determination to uphold freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, help to calm global markets, and reassure American consumers, and measures liberalizing energy policies and rolling back regulatory restrictions would allow the marketplace to work to meet global energy needs.

At the time this war game analysis was conducted, the scholars described why a potential blockage of the Strait of Hormuz would be such a significant threat. Their words ring true today. They looked back to the energy crises during the Arab oil embargo in 1973-1974 and the Iranian revolution in 1978-1979 — both of which led to fuel shortages, long gas lines, gasoline rationing, high inflation, and energy-related dam­age to the overall economy.

In those instances, they wrote, America suffered not only as a result of the changes in global oil supply, but also because of policies emanating from Washington:

At almost every turn, Washington policymakers exacerbated the already challenging energy situation with their own policy blunders. The federal government’s newly created maze of economic and environmental regulations and implementing agencies greatly hampered domestic energy supplies and limited the private sector’s ability to respond to events.

In retrospect, the U.S. government probably caused at least as much harm as any foreign entity did. Much of the energy crisis was self-inflicted by bad decisions made in Washington. The errors of the 1970s should serve as a cautionary tale as Amer­ica again faces similar energy challenges.

Today, Washington is throwing up similar roadblocks to energy independence. President Barack Obama has postponed a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport 700,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada to refineries in Texas, and give a major boost to the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, his Administration has blocked access to shale resources and slowed down and even halted offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which supplies 30 percent of domestic oil production. And the Environmental Protection Agency is imposing new, costly regulations on energy production. And all of this comes as Iran is threatening to cut off a quarter of the world’s energy supply.

As Heritage’s war game analysis showed, there are things America can do to respond to such provocations from Tehran, but no actions can totally eliminate the economic consequences. However, there are things Washington can and should do today to help America become less dependent on the Middle East for its energy and soften the blow should Iran choose to lash out at the West. America’s security depends on it.

According to a Muslim Brotherhood official, the political party wants to boost tourism numbers to Egypt and will not take steps that would harm the industry.

The strong showing by Islamists in Egypt’s staggered parliamentary poll has aroused fears among liberals and others in Egypt that it could lead to rules that would ban alcohol sales and outlaw mixed bathing in popular resorts.

Tourism is Egypt’s top foreign currency earner, accounting for more than a tenth of gross domestic product and employing an estimated one in eight of the workforce.

Essam el-Erian, deputy head of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said accusations that the Islamists rise to power would harm tourism were “rumours” circulated by remnants of the party of deposed President Hosni Mubarak to influence voters.

Perhaps the folks of Egypt should have considered the tourist industry before they went nuts for the Islamists?  I don’t know about you, but Egypt is the one of the LAST places on earth I would go right now.   I guess we should have gone when we were in the area back in 2008.  I just don’t trust those people!  For very obvious reasons.  Obvious, that is, if you’ve been paying close attention to the happenings in the region.

“No citizen who makes a living from this field should be concerned,” Erian said in statements carried by the party’s website while addressing voters in Sinai ahead of the third stage of the election in January.

He said the party wanted to draw in 20 million tourists a year to Egypt, compared to the more than 12 million that visited before the uprising against Mubarak and subsequent political upheaval that sent tourists packing.

Yeah, I’ve no doubt Mubarak needed to be sent packing, but the direction they are heading may end up being 10 times worse than that dictator handed them. Not to mention the danger these thugs have put the Copts in on a daily basis. Apparently, these people think that 8 million more tourist will be glad to come to their country? Seems to be, all they have done is swap one dictator for another, even more oppressive one. Conrats D’Bama for encouraging the insanity.

Erian said laws regarding alcohol would not be changed and the party would not support legislation that might harm the industry. Alcohol is sold at hotels across Egypt and can also be bought at specialised shops and some licensed restaurants.

But he hinted the Brotherhood would seek to curb some aspects of public consumption, but only based on existing laws.

“The current law has punishments in this regard (to alcohol). We won’t add to it nor modify it but drinking alcohol won’t be in the streets,” he said, without giving details.

Under Egyptian law, anyone caught drunk in a public place can be imprisoned for up to six months, but the law is only sporadically enforced.

I kind of get the feeling they don’t want Americans in the country, spending their dollars on tourism. And they especially don’t want folks from Wisconsin. (heh) Seriously, I’m not a drinker, so such rules wouldn’t apply to me anyway, but who is to say they won’t make crap up, accusing people of doing something that is against their laws just because that person if from a certain country, or is not a Muslim? The idea of charging and sentencing tourists, and then demanding money for said tourist’s release wouldn’t be completely out of the norm for Islamist. Nope….don’t trust them at all!  I’d much rather go back to Israel, where I felt completely safe.  Well, except for in the Muslim territories. 

Erian suggested there was broad agreement among Egypt’s political forces to keep, without modification, the first four articles of the constitution, including the one saying “the principles of Islamic (Shariah) law are the principle source of legislation”.

And, there ya go! “The principles of Islamic (Shariah) law” is about as oppressive as they come. American tourists and Shariah don’t mix.  Respecting the laws of the country you are visiting is a really good idea, however, when said country’s law is contrary to everything a person believes in, such as FREEDOM, then there is definitely a conflict.  Just sayin’.

It’s not a phobia if they really want to kill you!

An attack on the British embassy in Tehran. A desperate pursuit of nuclear weapons. A plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington. Alone, any one of these actions by Iran’s regime would be cause for alarm, but taken together they make it undeniably clear that the Iranian threat cannot be ignored. Now, there is news of another effort by Iran to take aim at the United States, this time coming from Latin America.

Heritage’s Israel Ortega and James Phillips explain:

Iran is conducting anti-U.S. operations from Latin America, including military training camps in Venezuela, and expanding its reach across the border from the U.S. in Mexico, according to footage unveiled late Thursday by the largest Spanish-language network in the United States, Univision.

The documentary showed a former Iran senior official accepting a plan to launch from Mexico a cyber war on the United States, one that would cripple U.S. computer systems, including the White House, the FBI, the CIA and several nuclear plants. The official, former Iranian Ambassador to Mexico Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri, was shown accepting the offer from undercover Mexican university students. A trailer to the documentary can be seen on Foundry.org.

Other revelations in the documentary include undercover Mexican students presenting plans for the cyber attack to Venezuelan officials in Mexico. Ortega and Phillips write that the Venezuelan official appeared very receptive to the plot, saying that she was close to Venezuela’s hard-leftist President Hugo Chavez and that she would love to share the information with him as soon as possible. The same happened with Cuban officials in Mexico, who were equally interested in a plot against the United States.

The documentary, called “The Iranian Threat,” claims that undercover journalists were also able to infiltrate Iranian military training camps working from mosques in Venezuela, though it showed no actual footage of the camps. Univision alleged there were links between the alleged camps and a radical Muslim implicated in the 1994 Buenos Aires bombing of a synagogue that killed 85 and wounded hundreds. The Iranian lives in Argentina, a country that also has strong ties to Chavez.

Ortega and Phillips write that the “ties between the hard line Islamist government in Tehran and the anti-American government of President Hugo Chavez have been growing for years, including a weekly secretive Cairo-Tehran flight that is of grave concerns to U.S. officials.”  They also point out other disturbing findings in the report:

Undercover journalists also confirmed Iranian-backed money-laundry and drug-trafficking cartels that are used to back Islamist networks and training camps in Venezuela and elsewhere, which exist to attack U.S. interests and undermine the U.S. in Latin America.

Univision said in press release that it had “dozens of hours of secret recordings, conducted extensive interviews with people who participated in the meetings, including a former Iranian ambassador, and examined documents ranging from hand-written notes to internal federal reports and obtained unpublished video of a failed bomb attack against New York’s JFK airport. In Mexico, Univision, uncovered covert recordings of the alleged Iranian plan to cripple the computer systems of the White House, the FBI, the CIA and several nuclear power plants.

Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has failed to confront threats like those that Iran poses to the United States. In August, The Heritage Foundation Counterterrorism Task Force wrote, “The President’s strategy pays insufficient attention to state-sponsored terrorism, which will increasingly be a major force to be reckoned with. Iran is one of the most prominent and aggressive state sponsors of terror and its proteges–both Hamas and Hezbollah–represent potentially grave threats. In addition, transnational criminal cartels in Mexico are increasingly taking on the character of terrorist networks.”

With this latest report from Univision, we are reminded that those threats need to be identified and investigated, even in our own hemisphere. And the Obama Administration can no longer stand on the sidelines as civil liberties and democratic institutions deteriorate in Latin America, allowing for Iran and other rabid anti-American to enter, grow, and threaten the United States.

Lebanon filed a complaint in the United Nations against Israel Monday for its retaliation to Katyusha rockets fired into Israel late last month, Lebanese newspaper the Daily Star reported.

In response to the four rockets fired from Lebanon, the IDF pounded the launch sites with artillery shells. The Lebanese report claimed that only one rocket was fired from Lebanon into Israel and that the IDF fired six artillery shells.

So, let me get this straight.  Rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon.  Israel retaliates.  Lebanon files a complaint because after they fired rocket into Israel, Israel fired rockets right back.  Have I got this right?

May I say…… what a load of caca de toro!  You punch someone in the face, they punch you back, and then you have the gall and audacity to go whining to the teacher?

This is a serious incident in violation of UN Council Security Resolution 1701 and is clearly directed at undermining stability in the area,” a UNIFIL statement said.

An organization associated with al-Qaida claimed responsibility for firing the rockets.

A group that can definitely be called “terrorists”, claims responsibility.  Lebanon is giving them a ‘safe haven’, then has the balls to complain when they get slapped back?  Seriously?  Who is it that is ‘undermining stability”?  It sure isn’t Israel.

Reality snap here.  Muslims want to destroy Israel.  Muslims want to destroy the United States.  The Useless Numnuts is nothing more than the mouthpiece for ‘Muslim extremists’.  It’s not surprising the guilty go whining to them on a regular basis.

The U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Howard Gutman, recently told a conference hosted by the European Jewish Union that Israel is to blame for growing anti-Semitism harbored by people of Muslim faith.

“A distinction should be made between traditional anti-Semitism, which should be condemned and Muslim hatred for Jews, which stems from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians,” Gutman reportedly said, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. “He also argued that an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty will significantly diminish Muslim anti-Semitism.”

Yet, once again, an Obama peon has proven the ignorance of this whole administration.  Blaming Israel for the hatred of Muslims isn’t just ignorant, it’s down right dangerous!  There is NO such thing as a Palestinian.  Never has been, never will be.

There has never been any Palestinian state, neither any Palestinian archaeological find nor coinage. The present-day “Palestinians” are an Arab people, with Arab culture, Arabic language and Arab history. They have their own Arab states from where they came into the Land of Israel about one century ago to contrast the Jewish immigration. (source)

For more history of the area, read this.  Today’s so called Palestinians were kicked out of Jordon in 1970.

According to the account in the Israeli paper, “The legal experts at the event were visibly stunned by Gutman’s words, and the next speaker offered a scathing rebuttal to the envoy’s remarks.”

Once again, egg on an Obamaite’s face.  And more embarrassment for the American people.  Perhaps the Ambassador should read the Bible, and see exactly what land was given to His people.   Here’s a little visual help.

Gutman was a major fundraiser for President Obama’s 2008 election campaign. He bundled $500,000 for Obama, according to OpenSecrets.org, personally giving at least $2,300 to the campaign.

In 2009, Obama nominated Gutman, a Washington, D.C. attorney, to be ambassador to Belgium.

Gee, wonder how he got his job?  It’s quite obvious he isn’t qualified.  If he was, he’s be better informed, and he obviously is NOT.  After he reads the Bible, perhaps he should do a little study of that ‘religion of peace‘, and figure out just where all that hatred comes from, eh?  If Obama had any sense, which apparently he doesn’t since he appointed this idiot, this clown would be recalled, and make a very public apology to Israel, and to the American people, for being such an ass!

Three American students arrested during a protest in Cairo caught flights out of Egypt early Saturday, according to an airport official and an attorney for one of the trio.

The three Americans were arrested on the roof of a university building near Cairo’s Tahrir Square last Sunday. Officials accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters.

Luke Gates, 21, and Derrik Sweeney, 19, left the Egyptian capital Saturday on separate flights to Frankfurt, Germany, an airport official in Cairo said. Gregory Porter, 19, also left the country, his attorney said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.
An Egyptian court ordered the release of Gates, Porter Sweeney on Thursday. All were studying at the American University in Cairo.

Whether or not these kids did what they are accused of, I have to ask…considering the volatility of the entire region right now, why the blazes did their parents send their children over there? And that’s what they are….children! We have heard numerous times, they do not like Americans!  What kind of parent would allow their child to jump off a bridge?

Syria is planting landmines along parts of the country’s border with Lebanon as refugees stream out of the country to escape the crackdown on anti-government protests, officials and witnesses said Tuesday.

A Syrian man whose foot had to be amputated after he stepped on a mine just across from the Lebanese village of Irsal on Sunday was the first known victim of the mines, according to a doctor at a hospital in Lebanon where the man was brought for treatment. He asked that his name not be published out of fear of repercussions by authorities because of the sensitivity of the case.

I was under the impression that Syria was one of the original members (October 1945) of the United Nations, and the UN has pretty much condemned the use of landmines.   So, I’m really wondering why they are laying out landmines?  And not to protect their borders from invaders, but to keep it’s own citizens from escaping the violence perpetrated by the government against civilians.

The Syrian exodus to neighboring Lebanon and Turkey has proven a deep embarrassment for increasingly besieged President Bashar Assad, who warned over the weekend that the Middle East will burn if foreign powers try to intervene in his country’s conflict.

Perhaps Assad should stop shooting his countrymen? Just a thought.

A Syrian official familiar with government strategy claimed the anti-personnel mines are meant to prevent arms smuggling into Syria. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Witnesses on the Lebanese side of the border also told the AP they have seen Syrian soldiers planting the mines in recent days in two parts of Syrian territory: in the restive province of Homs and across from Lebanon’s eastern Baalbek region.

Considering the outcomes of the so called “Arab Spring”, I can see where the Syrian government wouldn’t want arms to be smuggled in, however, it appears that those wanting out might actually be the real targets? Perhaps. Now that Tunisia, Egypt, and Lybia have fallen to the Islamists (read that terrorists), do we really want another one?