Ahmahdinejad's Speech

With the General Assembly in session in New York City nobody is really surprised that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech was riveting and controversial.  From Ahmadinejad saying that capitalism is dying to representatives walking out to Iran's nuclear program, the controversial leader didn't leave much unsaid.

One of the biggest jaw-dropping moments came when President Ahmahdinejad proclaimed that the United States government had had something to do with the September 11th attacks that killed 3,000 people.  He said that some sectors of the government had helped with the plan in order to save the declining economy.  He also claimed that U.S. officials let the attack happen so that they could continue their world domination.  Just to put my opinion in, that's crazy.  Last time I checked imperialism ended a long time ago for America.  And there is no way possible that our high-ranking officials are so corrupt that they would let 3,000 people die just to bring the economy up.  But anyways, President Ahmahdinejad announced that Iran would hold a conference this coming year to study terrorism and find a way to combat it.  One of the topics of this conference will be to investigate who actually organized the September 11th attacks.

Not many representatives stayed, however, to listen to all of President Ahmahdinejad's speech.  Many representatives from various countries, including the United States, walked out of Ahmahdinejad's speech while he was spewing his theories about the September 11th attacks.  Ahmahdinejad expected people to stay and listen to his idiotic ramblings, but yet he has not responded to Western power's invitation to discuss Iran's nuclear program.

In part of his speech Ahmahdinejad did address nuclear programs saying that everyone was entitled to nuclear energy but no one was entitled to have nuclear weapons.  He stated that 2011 should be the year that every country disarms their arsenals.  But yet Iran can't submit to the IAEA?  He claimed that the IAEA has "illegally imposed pressures."  Also in his speech Ahmahdinejad railed on the Western world.  He said that the Western world "destroys 'the purity and exquisiteness' of women."

In the end, Ahmahdinejad held up both the Quran and the Bible and said "We pay respect to both books."
What are your thoughts on President Ahmahdinejad's speech?  Do they pay respect to both books?

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2010/0923/Iran-s-Ahmadinejad-US-used-9-11-to-prolong-world-domination

Were they spies?

Many people remember the situation between Iran and the United States with the three hikers, Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, and Josh Fattal.  The three friends were hiking in Iraq and supposedly crossed the Iranian border.  The hikers claim they were hiking but that they had no idea that the Iranian border was so close because it was not clearly marked.  They have been held captive by Iran for the past 13 months.  Iran claims that the three are American spies and say that they will face trial for espionage.  However, Iran decided that at the end of Ramadan this year Sarah would be freed and sent back to America.  She had been having some health issues.  The doctors had found a lump in her breast and precancerous cells in her cervix. 
According to Sarah though, she is only one-third home.  Her fiance, Shane Bauer, and their friend, Josh Fattal, are both still in the Iranian prison, Evin Prison.  Sarah is hoping that by her being released she can spread the word of her friends' innocence and try to convince the Iranian government to free her friends.  The Iranian government has requested that the United States now free eight Iranian prisoners who Iran claims were arrested illegally.
The relationship between Iran and the United States is pretty tense right now with all the other issues going on, so it will be interesting to see how the rest of this story plays out.

What do you think?  Were Sarah, Shane, and Josh just innocent Americans trying to go for a hike or were they American spies who got caught?

Pakistan

A couple days ago I found an article that listed the recent missile attacks in Pakistan that are suspected to be by America.  For the month of September they were listed as:

"— Sept. 14: Missiles fired from an unmanned aircraft target a house in the village of Shawal in North Waziristan, a region dominated by the Haqqani network of Islamist militants. Ten alleged militants are killed.

— Sept. 11: Strike kills five associates of warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur in Datta Khel village in North Waziristan.

— Sept. 9: Missiles pound a house close to a disused match factory near Miran Shah in North Waziristan, killing five alleged militants.

— Sept. 8: Three missile strikes target houses, including one owned by Maulvi Azizullah, a member of the Haqqani network, and vehicles in Dande Darpa Khel in North Waziristan, killing 14 alleged militants.

— Sept. 6: Missiles kill three alleged militants in a vehicle in Datta Khel in North Waziristan.

— Sept. 3: Two strikes kill seven alleged insurgents, four of them foreigners, in a house and a vehicle in Datta Khel in North Waziristan.

— Sept. 2: Two airstrikes kill seven people, two believed to be foreign militants, in a house in Datta Khel in North Waziristan."

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/09/14/recent-suspected-missile-strikes-targeting-militants-inside-pakistan/

So, I know that Pakistan is our ally and we aren't supposed to be shooting drones at them, but if their Tribal Areas and some other areas are harboring terrorists, should we fire missiles at them?  If Pakistan really wanted to they could stop us from firing missiles into their country, but they don't.  Some of the terrorists killed in these attacks were part of the Haqqani network, the man who brought suicide bombings to this war.  Should we really feel that bad that they died?  I understand why the Pakistani government is so mum about their involvement with the U.S. government.  So what are your thoughts on the Pakistan situation?

To burn or not to burn?

How a Florida minister got it in his head that it would be a good idea to burn Qurans on the 9th anniversary of September 11th is beyond me.  But that is exactly what Terry Jones and his congregation has planned to do tomorrow evening.  The problem is that according to General David Petraeus and many other international organizations the burning of the Quran could cause widespread retaliation in the Muslim community. 
In the religion of Islam the Quran is considered the holy word of God and is to be treated with the utmost respect.  There are very few reasons why a Quran can be burned or buried and when a person handles the Quran they must be in the right state of mind.
So what could be the consequences of this scheduled burning?  Well according to high-ranking officials U.S. soldiers' lives could become endangered because of the backlash that this event would cause.  Members of the Muslim community have already begun to cry out their outrage over this issue.  Multiple people have warned that this could insight more extreme violence around the world.  Not only that but terrorist organizations could and probably will use this as a recruiting tool.  Our goal in the Middle East is not to wage a war on Islam but to bring peace to the region.  Pissing the Islamic people off by burning their sacred book is not going to help our cause.  Our soldiers are over there right now fighting for us.  They understand the consequences of what could happen because the retaliation would happen to them.  Mr. Jones would still be in Florida all safe and sound and would not even know what problems his actions caused for our men and women fighting.  He says that maybe we should stand up and fight, well what the hell does he think we are doing over there????  He would be just as outraged at the Muslim community is if they all got together and burned his holy book, so why does he think it would be so different if he burned theirs? 
September 11, 2001 was a day that every American will remember.  We lost many many people that day.  Yes it was a terrorist attack and yes they were Muslim, but that does not mean that all Muslims are like that.  Not all Muslims are extremists and as Americans we need to get that in our heads.  It would be like Muslims thinking that all Americans are extremists like Terry Jones down in Florida wanting to burn the Quran.  What's the point?  All it's going to do is anger people more.  We've been fighting too hard and too long to mess things up now.  Let's just all hope that Mr. Jones changes his mind in the next 24 hours.

Trapped

In early August a Chilean mine collapsed.  After 17 days of searching for the missing persons the drillers finally found some luck.  As they pulled the drill back up to the surface they found a note attached to the end of the drill.  It said that all 33 trapped miners were okay.  Joy overwhelmed everybody.  For over two weeks the friends and families of the miners patiently, yet agonizingly, waited to hear whether their loved ones had survived the cave in.  Now that it has been established that the miners are alive, the trick is to keep them that way.  The Chilean miners are trapped about 2,257 feet below the surface and the drills that have been brought in to get them out only drills at about 65 feet a day.  This means that if everything goes as planned and nothing happens to the drill, it will be over a month before the drill even reaches the miners.

The rescuers above have established communication with the trapped miners and have begun supplying them with food, water, and air.  Also, doctors and psychiatrists have been brought to the mine to check and see what kind of condition the miners are in physically and emotionally.  In the mine their was a safety shelter that had a small food supply.  Thankfully the miners were able to reach this food supply, however, there was only supposed to be enough food to last 48 hours and not enough to feed 33 men.  Some how the trapped miners managed to ration the food long enough for rescuers to find them.  So far the psychiatrists say that the miners are doing pretty well considering the circumstances.  They will continue to monitor the miners' conditions throughout the rescue.

The families of the trapped miners were overcome with emotions when communication was established.  The miners have been able to send up notes to their families reassuring them that they are okay.  So far a camera has been sent down to the miners to check on them, but there was no audio.  Both the miners and the families understand that this rescue will take a long time.  It may take till December to get the miners out.  As one miner said in his letter to his wife, hope and faith will get them all thru.

What would you do?  If you or your loved one was trapped and wasn't going to be able to be rescued till almost December, what would you do?