US conducts landmark missile defense test

The US military on Tuesday conducted its first operational test of Lockheed Martin Corp’s THAAD missile defense system paired with the ship-based Aegis system, intercepting two medium-range ballistic missiles fired nearly simultaneously.

The test was conducted early Tuesday near the US Army Kwajalein Atoll test site and surrounding areas in the western Pacific, according to a Pentagon statement.

Missile defense experts said the test was important because it demonstrated the ability of the US military to defend against possible regional ballistic missile threats from countries like Iran or North Korea or even accidental releases.

V.-Adm. James Syring, who heads the US Missile Defense Agency, told Reuters that launch crews had been waiting for nearly a month for the tests but were not given any specific details on when the missiles would be fired or from where.

“It was all no-notice, unscripted in terms of what they saw,” he said. “The sailors, soldiers and airmen who operated those systems just performed flawlessly, which gives me great confidence in our capability.”

Rick Lehner, spokesman for the US Missile Defense Agency, said Lockheed’s THAAD system – which stands for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense – had been successfully tested 10 times, but this was the first operational test of that system and its ability to work together with the Aegis system on the USS Decatur, a guided-missile destroyer in the region.

The Aegis system was last year involved in a joint US-Israeli missile defense test, when US naval ships carrying the Aegis positioned themselves off the Israeli coast, and worked with Israeli defense systems to intercept simulated enemy missiles. One US Navy ship carrying the Aegis docked at Haifa Port during the tests.

During that three-week drill, held in November, patriot missiles were fired from the Palmahim Israeli air base, south of Tel Aviv at decoy enemy missiles.

Israeli air defense systems, such as the Iron Dome anti-rocket shield and Arrow 2 anti-ballistic missile batteries, were deployed during the exercise, as well as US and Israeli Patriot batteries.

Israel and the US have spent $30 million each on the drill. More recently, representatives from the US Missile Defense Agency took part in an Israeli missile defense drill last week, which was picked up on Russian Navy radars and announced by Moscow, forcing the Defense Ministry to acknowledge the test.

On Tuesday, the US Defense Department said its flight test in the Pacific was planned more than a year ago and was not connected to events in the Middle East, where the United States is weighing a limited strike on Syria over its use of chemical weapons.

Earlier this year, after North Korea threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the US, the Pentagon moved two Aegis guided-missile destroyers to the western Pacific and a THAAD system to Guam.

Riki Ellison, chairman and founder of the nonprofit group Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, called Tuesday's test a “tremendous achievement” and said it demonstrated the layered capabilities of the US Ballistic Missile Defense System.

“This historic test presents the most realistic operational success of intercepting ballistic missiles with current capabilities,” Ellison said. He urged the Pentagon to move a THAAD system to Turkey, Jordan or Israel to protect any potential chemical ballistic missiles fired by Syria.

Syring declined comment when asked if there were plans to move the THAAD system to the Middle East.

Medical examiners in Los Angeles are investigating the possible poisoning death of one of their own officials who may have worked on the case of Andrew Breitbart, the conservative firebrand who died March 1, the same day Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced probable cause for forgery in President Obama’s birth certificate. Michael Cormier, a respected forensic technician for the Los Angeles County Coroner died under suspicious circumstances at his North Hollywood home April 20, the same day Breitbart’s cause of death was finally made public. “There are mysterious circumstances surrounding his death,” said Elizabeth Espinosa, a news reporter for KTLA-TV. “We’re told detectives are looking into the possibility that he was poisoned by arsenic.”

Part 2 FBI is now teaching moderate Muslims may be a danger

Back then, however, Gawthrop didn’t work for the FBI. He had recently stepped down from a position with the Defense Department’s Counterintelligence Field Activity. That agency came under withering criticism during the Bush administration for keeping a database about threats to military bases that included reports on peaceful antiwar protesters and dovish Church groups. It is unclear how Gawthrop came to work for the FBI.

Through an intermediary, Gawthrop told Danger Room that he was unavailable for comment before our deadline.

‘Instead of looking for indicators of nefarious behavior, you have a sweeping generalization.’
The FBI didn’t always conflate terrorism with Islam. “I never saw that,” says Ali Soufan, one of the FBI’s most distinguished counterterrorism agents and author of the new memoir The Black Banners, who retired from the bureau in 2005. “Sometimes, toward the end of my time, I started noticing it with different entities outside the FBI. You started feeling like they had a problem with Islam-as-Islam, because of the media. But that was a few people, and was usually hidden behind closed doors.”

Soufan, a Muslim, has interrogated members of al-Qaida and contributed to rolling up one of its cells in Yemen after 9/11. But by the logic of the FBI’s training materials, Soufan’s religious practices make him a potential terrorist.

McFadden, the former NCIS counterterrorist, has a lot of respect for his FBI colleagues, who he believes are ill-served by these Islam briefings. “These are earnest special agents and police officers who want to know how do their job better,” McFadden says.

Too often, McFadden says, counterterrorism training becomes simultaneously over-broad and ignorant. “Instead of looking for indicators of nefarious behavior, you have a sweeping generalization of things like, for instance, the Hawala system,” McFadden explains. “It’s a system that most of the developing world and expatriates from it use to move money around, including terrorists. But you can’t say the whole hawala system is about terrorism, just like you can’t say that Islam as a whole has anything to do with bad behavior.”

McFadden, a Catholic, believes that obsessing over obscure Koranic verses is as useful a guide to terrorist behavior as “diving into the rite of exorcism” is to understanding Catholicism.

On April 6, barely two weeks after the “Islamic Motivations for ‘Suicide’ Bombers” briefing at Quantico, FBI Director Robert Mueller defended the bureau’s budget before a congressional committee. Among his major points: the FBI needs cooperation from American Muslims to stop the next terrorist attack.

“Since September 11th, every one of our 56 field offices and the leadership of those offices have had outreach to the Muslim community,” Mueller said. “We need the support of that community … our business is basically relationships.” That is exactly the opposite message sent in the training rooms of Quantico, where the next generation of FBI counterterrorism is shaped.

FBI Teaches Agents: ‘Mainstream’ Muslims Are ‘Violent, Radical’ Welcome too the game it's about time FBI

The FBI is teaching its counterterrorism agents that “main stream” [sic] American Muslims are likely to be terrorist sympathizers; that the Prophet Mohammed was a “cult leader”; and that the Islamic practice of giving charity is no more than a “funding mechanism for combat.”

At the Bureau’s training ground in Quantico, Virginia, agents are shown a chart contending that the more “devout” a Muslim, the more likely he is to be “violent.” Those destructive tendencies cannot be reversed, an FBI instructional presentation adds: “Any war against non-believers is justified” under Muslim law; a “moderating process cannot happen if the Koran continues to be regarded as the unalterable word of Allah.”

These are excerpts from dozens of pages of recent FBI training material on Islam that Danger Room has acquired. In them, the Constitutionally protected religious faith of millions of Americans is portrayed as an indicator of terrorist activity.

“There may not be a ‘radical’ threat as much as it is simply a normal assertion of the orthodox ideology,” one FBI presentation notes. “The strategic themes animating these Islamic values are not fringe; they are main stream.”

The FBI isn’t just treading on thin legal ice by portraying ordinary, observant Americans as terrorists-in-waiting, former counterterrorism agents say. It’s also playing into al-Qaida’s hands.

Focusing on the religious behavior of American citizens instead of proven indicators of criminal activity like stockpiling guns or using shady financing makes it more likely that the FBI will miss the real warning signs of terrorism. And depicting Islam as inseparable from political violence is exactly the narrative al-Qaida spins — as is the related idea that America and Islam are necessarily in conflict. That’s why FBI whistleblowers provided Danger Room with these materials.

Over the past few years, American Muslim civil rights groups have raised alarm about increased FBI and police presence in Islamic community centers and mosques, fearing that their lawful behavior is being targeted under the broad brush of counterterrorism. The documents may help explain the heavy scrutiny.

They certainly aren’t the first time the FBI has portrayed Muslims in a negative light during Bureau training sessions. As Danger Room reported in July, the FBI’s Training Division has included anti-Islam books, and materials that claim Islam “transforms [a] country’s culture into 7th-century Arabian ways.” When Danger Room confronted the FBI with that material, an official statement issued to us claimed, “The presentation in question was a rudimentary version used for a limited time that has since been replaced.”

But these documents aren’t relics from an earlier era. One of these briefings, titled “Strategic Themes and Drivers in Islamic Law,” took place on March 21.

The Islam briefings are elective, not mandatory. “A disclaimer accompanied the presentation stating that the views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. government,” FBI spokesman Christopher Allen tells Danger Room.

“The training materials in question were delivered as Stage Two training to counterterrorism-designated agents,” Allen adds. “This training was largely derived from a variety of open source publications and includes the opinion of the analyst that developed the lesson block.”

Not all counterterrorism veterans consider the briefings so benign. “Teaching counterterrorism operatives about obscure aspects of Islam,” says Robert McFadden, who recently retired as one of the Navy Criminal Investigative Service’s al-Qaida-hunters, “without context, without objectivity, and without covering other non-religious drivers of dangerous behavior is no way to stop actual terrorists.”

Still, at Quantico, the alleged connection between Islam and violence isn’t just stipulated. It’s literally graphed.

An FBI presentation titled “Militancy Considerations” measures the relationship between piety and violence among the texts of the three Abrahamic faiths. As time goes on, the followers of the Torah and the Bible move from “violent” to “non-violent.” Not so for devotees of the Koran, whose “moderating process has not happened.” The line representing violent behavior from devout Muslims flatlines and continues outward, from 610 A.D. to 2010. In other words, religious Muslims have been and always will be agents of aggression.

Training at Quantico isn’t designed for intellectual bull sessions or abstract theory, according to FBI veterans. The FBI conducts its training so that both seasoned agents and new recruits can sharpen their investigative skills.

In this case, the FBI’s Allen says, the counterterrorism agents who received these briefings have “spent two to three years on the job.” The briefings are written accordingly. The stated purpose of one, about allegedly religious-sanctioned lying, is to “identify the elements of verbal deception in Islam and their impacts on Law Enforcement.” Not “terrorism.” Not even “Islamist extremism.” Islam.

According to this FBI training, religious Muslims have been and always will be agents of aggression.
What’s more, the Islamic “insurgency” is all-encompassing and insidious. In addition to outright combat, its “techniques” include “immigration” and “law suits.” So if a Muslim wishes to become an American or sues the FBI for harassment, it’s all just part of the jihad.

On Tuesday, the leaders of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), warned that law enforcement lacks “meaningful standards” to prevent anti-Islam material from seeping into counterterrorism training. Some FBI veterans suspect the increased pressure on American Muslims has a lot to do with the kind of training that Quantico offers.

“Seeing the materials FBI agents are being trained with certainly helps explain why we’ve seen so many inappropriate FBI surveillance operations broadly targeting the Muslim-American community, from infiltrating mosques with agents provocateur to racial- and ethnic-mapping programs,” Mike German, a former FBI agent now with the American Civil Liberties Union, tells Danger Room after being shown the documents. ”Biased police training can only result in biased policing.” (Full disclosure: This reporter’s wife works for the ACLU.)

The chief of the Training Division, Assistant FBI Director Thomas Browne, came into his current job in January. His official biography lists no terrorism expertise beyond serving as a coordinator for a bureau “Domestic Terrorism Program” in Tennessee sometime in the last decade.

It is unclear what vetting process the FBI used to approve these briefings; if any Muslim scholars contributed to them; and what criteria Quantico uses to determine Islamic expertise. “The development of effective training is a constantly evolving process,” says FBI spokesman Allen. “Sometimes the training is adapted for long-term use. This particular training segment was delivered a single time and not used since.”

Several of these briefings were the work of a single author: an FBI intelligence analyst named William Gawthrop. In 2006, before he joined the Bureau, he gave an interview to the website WorldNetDaily, and discussed some of the themes that made it into his briefings, years later. The Prophet “Muhammad’s mindset is a source for terrorism,” Gawthrop told the website, which would later distinguish itself as a leader of the “birther” movement, a conspiracy theory that denies President Obama’s American citizenship.

At the time, Gawthrop’s major suggestion for waging the war on terrorism was to attack what he called “soft spots” in Islamic faith that might “induce a deteriorating cascade effect upon the target.” That is, to discredit Islam itself and cause Muslims to abandon their religion. “Critical vulnerabilities of the Koran, for example, are that it was uttered by a mortal,” he said. Alas, he lamented, he faced the bureaucratic obstacle of official Washington’s “political taboo of linking Islamic violence to the religion of Islam,” according to the website.

What's this? Iran losing terrorists? Surprise: Jihadists may remain neutral during any Israeli strike

By Aaron Klein
2011 WND


TEL AVIV – Iran may be losing one of its key allies and sources of influence in the Middle East – the Hamas terrorist organization.

According to well-placed sources within Hamas speaking to WND, the jihadist group has been asked by the Egyptian military to stay out of any future confrontation between Israel and Iran.

For the first time in recent years, Hamas, feeling confident from major Muslim Brotherhood gains in the region, is considering distancing itself somewhat from Iran, the sources said.

The group may even remain largely neutral if Israel strikes Iran's suspected nuclear sites, the sources said. The sources added, however, that no decision has been made.

Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood belong to the Sunni stream of Islam while Iran's leadership espouses fundamentalist Shiite Islam. While Iran has long supported Sunni groups like Hamas, the major differences in Islamic ideology and practice have always caused some unease.

Indeed, one of the most senior Hamas officials, speaking previously to WND on condition of anonymity, once said he would ultimately be pleased if Israel strikes Iran's nuclear sites even if it means scaled-back Iranian funding to his group. The Hamas official said he fears Iran would use a nuclear umbrella to enforce a Shiite superpower in the Middle East at the expense of Sunni ideology.


According to several Hamas sources, there has been tension between the jihad group and Iran over Hamas' decision to not aid Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in fighting an insurgency targeting Assad's regime.

That uprising has been supported by the Muslim Brotherhood. Syria is a major Iranian partner in the region.

Some Hamas leaders even speculated the group may move their political headquarters from Syria. Hamas chieftain Khaled Meshaal currently resides in Damascus.

According to recent Arabic language news media reports, Hamas has been quietly scaling back its Damascus headquarters.

Speaking last month to WND, Ahmed Yousef, chief political adviser to Hamas' de facto prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, confirmed reports his group is looking to move the headquarters of its top leadership from Syria.

"There are many places in the Arab world [that would welcome the] Hamas politburo," Yousef said.

Asked specifically where Hamas headquarters can move, Yousef replied: "There are many other countries. Jordan is there. Sounds like they are trying to open dialogue with Hamas. They might offer a place. Turkey, Egypt, Qatar; there are many places where [Hamas leaders] can find a safe haven to work and try to help their people in Gaza and the West Bank."

While Hamas might not come to Iran's aid in the event of an Israeli strike, sources in the Islamist group told WND the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad terror organization in the Gaza Strip is still firmly in Tehran's camp.

The Hamas sources said Islamic Jihad has very similar weaponry to Hamas, including a massive rocket arsenal capable of causing much damage to Israel.

WND reported in October on Iran's missile training in Gaza. Egyptian security officials said Iran has been preparing Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon to retaliate in the event of Israeli strikes against Tehran's nuclear sites.

The chatter about Hamas' allegiances come after the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamist Salafi movement's Al-Nour Party saw considerable gains in Egypt's recent parliamentary vote.

Why? WND IMAM, BASEBALL AND APPLE PIE Muslim leaders to boycott NYC mayor's breakfast Concerned by NYPD efforts to infiltrate mosques

NEW YORK – Several Muslim leaders have declined invitations to the mayor's annual year-end interfaith breakfast, saying they're upset at police department efforts to infiltrate mosques and spy on Muslim neighborhoods.

The imams and activists said in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg that they're disturbed at his response to a series of stories by The Associated Press detailing New York Police Department intelligence-gathering programs that monitored Muslim groups, businesses and houses of worship.

Bloomberg has defended the NYPD, saying last week it doesn't take religion into account in its policing.

Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser acknowledged Wednesday that about a dozen people turned down the breakfast invitation. But he said "a couple dozen" more said they plan to attend.

The letter to Bloomberg contained the names of several dozen Muslim leaders and organizations and said they believe such police measures "threaten the rights of all Americans, and deepen mistrust between our communities and law enforcement."

"Mayor Bloomberg, the extent of these civil rights violations is astonishing, yet instead of calling for accountability and the rule of law, you have thus far defended the NYPD's misconduct," the letter said.

The Muslim leaders said they appreciate the mayor's staunch support a year ago during an uproar over a planned Islamic center near the World Trade Center site. But they said they were disappointed by what he said after the AP stories since August about the police department's efforts to infiltrate Muslim neighborhoods and mosques with aggressive programs designed by a CIA officer who worked with the department after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The stories disclosed that a team of 16 police officers speaking at least five languages was assigned to use census information and government databases to map ethnic neighborhoods in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Documents reviewed by the AP revealed that undercover police officers known as rakers visited local businesses such as Islamic bookstores and cafes, chatting up store owners to determine their ethnicities and gauge their views. They played cricket and eavesdropped in ethnic cafes and clubs.

The AP stories also revealed that one of the CIA's most experienced clandestine operatives began working inside the police department in July as the special assistant to the deputy commissioner of intelligence.

The CIA is prohibited from spying domestically. Its unusual partnership with the NYPD has troubled top lawmakers and prompted an internal investigation.

Bloomberg in October defended the arrangement, saying it was necessary in a dangerous world.

"There are people trying to kill us," he said. "And if the CIA can help us I'm all for getting any information they have and then letting the police department use it as -- if it's appropriate to protect you and to protect me."

The letter noted that Muslims comprise at least 10 percent of the city's population. It said the Muslims leaders were seeking a meeting with the mayor to discuss the issues raised by the reports.

"We believe it is unequivocally wrong and fundamentally misguided to invest law enforcement resources in religious or racial profiling, rather than investigating suspicious activity," it said. "We seek your clear, unambiguous, public support for the rights and privacy of all New Yorkers, including Muslims; and a condemnation of all policies that profile and target communities and community groups solely based on their religion or the color of their skin."

It also said: "We are deeply disturbed that to date we have only heard your words of strong support for these troubling policies and violations of our rights. We are equally disturbed by (police Commissioner Raymond) Kelly's denials of what we know to be true as verified by the leaked documents."

Kelly, meanwhile, met Wednesday evening at a Bronx mosque with two imams who weren't listed on the letter and with young fans of an NYPD youth soccer league, whose winners were presented with a trophy.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/29/muslim-leaders-to-boycott-nyc-mayors-breakfast-over-nypd-concerns/#ixzz1hxIgy5Qi

'Drive to kidnap IDF soldiers up since Schalit deal'

Warning Hamas it will be hit hard in a future conflict, a senior IDF commander said on Wednesday that motivation to kidnap Israeli soldiers has significantly increased since the prisoner swap for Gilad Schalit.

According to Col. Tal Hermoni, commander of the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip are working to abduct Israeli soldiers and are digging tunnels that could be used in such an attack.


RELATED:
IDF trains for soldier abduction scenario
'Hamas refuses to abandon policy of IDF kidnappings'

“We believe that since there are additional Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails that these groups are working to kidnap soldiers,” Hermoni said during a briefing to reporters along the border with Egypt.

Hermoni said the abduction of a soldier would have “strategic significance” for Israel, and the IDF was working on several levels to prevent such an attack and to thwart one if it were launched.

He said orders about how commanders and soldiers should operate in an abduction attack were being clarified and explained to all the relevant ranks within the IDF.

The Jerusalem Post recently revealed that the General Staff was working to codify procedures that soldiers will be expected to follow if they have the opportunity to thwart the abduction of a comrade, even at the risk of endangering his life.

Turning to the border with Egypt, Hermoni said the IDF was investing new resources and putting in place intelligence- gathering systems to prevent attacks from Sinai. In August, eight Israelis were killed when terrorists crossed into Israel.


“We are speeding up the closure of the border with the [Sinai border] fence and plan to compete it by the end of 2012,” Hermoni said. “The challenges along the border are great. We are facing an increase in African migrants seeking refuge and work in Israel as well as criminal smuggling of drugs in addition to potential terrorist attacks.”

Senior IDF sources said, though, that with the closure of the Egyptian border, there was a fear that terrorists would try to cross into Israel from Jordan.

Turning to the third anniversary of the Cast Lead offensive, Hermoni said the IDF believed the deterrence that was created following the operation was still in place, and that Hamas was currently not interested in a renewed large-scale conflict with Israel.

“The IDF created a new security reality after Cast Lead; before then dozens of rockets were fired daily. Today that is not the case,” Hermoni said.

The brigade commander stressed that the army was prepared to carry out a large offensive if needed.

“We are ready at all times” he said. “Hamas will be the one to pay the price.”

Satellite image the word " a - Mahdi" carved in the facility. Mahdi is the name of the Shiite's 12th Imam and the last Islamic

Two massive blasts on Nov. 12 that hit near Tehran, the Iranian capital, and rocked the city may have been an attempt to assassinate the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had been scheduled to be there at the time of the explosions, sources suggest.

Now the question is whether the Iranians will retaliate.

At the time of the explosions, Iranians found themselves wondering if Israel had attacked. The International Atomic Energy Agency's recent report on Iran's nuclear weapons program and the warnings of military action by Israeli officials have alarmed Iranians about the possibility of war.

The simultaneous explosions, which hit the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' base 28 miles west of Tehran, not only shook the surrounding area but were heard and felt throughout Tehran, even breaking car and building windows.

Revolutionary Guard officials soon announced that the explosions occurred at one of their ammunition depots while ammunition was being moved and claimed at first that 15 people were killed.

Iran's state-owned media rapidly changed the story multiple times on the number of fatalities and the cause of the incidents, but they all ruled out the possibility of a plot and stated that the explosions had nothing to do with Iran's nuclear program. Then they announced that Brig. Gen. Hassan Tehrani-Moghadam, the "architect of Iran’s missile program," was one of those killed.

The shock was palpable among the Iranian leaders, and soon sources within Iran revealed that the correct number of casualties was well over 100. It also was reported that right after the explosions, tanks and armored vehicles mobilized in and around Tehran and in other provinces.

Photos reveal that at the site where the explosions happened, there was an image created on the ground that referenced the "Madhi," the "12th imam" expected by Shia Muslims who describe him as their "Islamic messiah." They believe he will appear at the end of time to reign. Further, the belief is that Muslims can hasten the appearance of the Madhi by bringing about cataclysmic violence on earth.

The "Madhi" reference, therefore, at the site of the still-unexplained explosions raises an ominous possibility that Iran may believe its best next move is violence, Western observers

Khamenei attended the funeral of those killed and described the severity of the incident: "The bloody incident, which resulted in the martyrdom of some of our best, including the superior commander and scientist Hassan Moghadam, is truly bitter and sad."

Although Iranian officials claimed the explosions were accidental, their statements later indicated that there was more to the incident.

One explosion "set back the manufacture of the (Guards') researched product only for two weeks, which could be a punch in the mouth of the global arrogance (forces of imperialism) and the occupying (Zionists)," said Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, the chairman of Iran's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Referring to Israel, Guards Gen. Masoud Jazayeri said the "Zionist regime" should expect shocking explosions in Tel Aviv and other cities. Iran is blaming the explosions on Israel.

Interestingly, a little more than a week later, a similar explosion occurred at a weapons' depot of the terrorist group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. And there have been subsequent reports of more explosions.

But most revealing was the statement reflected on the Revolutionary Guards' media outlet, Javan Online, by Mehdi Taeb, the head of the Ammar Garrison and one of the most fanatical figures in the Islamic regime. He stated that "a big event will take place after the martyrdom of Hassan Moghadam." He added that the deceased general was working on a project that, despite his absence, will soon come together and result in the "big event."

As reported in May, Khamenei ordered the Guards to arm their missiles with nuclear warheads before the end of the Iranian year – March 2012 – and that the Guards were already in possession of two nuclear-capable warheads. According to the agreement between the Revolutionary Guards and the Ministry of Defense, eight more nuclear warheads will be produced and delivered to the Revolutionary Guards within the next several months.

It is now clear that the missile project the Guards were working on was the one Khamenei ordered that would weaponize their missiles. Even though there is no evidence pointing to a nuclear blast, sources indicate that IRGC missile experts were working on a new warhead that could carry a nuclear payload, and the explosion not only caused major devastation to the Guards' base but much of the surrounding area.

Sources within Iran also indicate that Khamenei may have been the target of the explosion. At the time, he was scheduled to arrive at the site to witness the Guards' advancements. If true, this shows deep infiltration within the Iranian leadership and a direct warning that assassination of the highest ranks in Iran is on the table.

It was not the first successful attack on Iran's nuclear and missile programs. There have been several others – from the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, to Stuxnet and other viruses infecting their nuclear facilities, to mysterious explosions. In 2008, an explosion destroyed a Revolutionary Guards convoy carrying military equipment destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in 2010 Iran's Shahab-3 ballistic missiles depot inside a Revolutionary Guards' base in the western Iranian province of Lurestan was struck.

However, the most recent incident has shaken the Iranian leaders to the core. Out of security concern, Khamenei and Guards' top commanders immediately canceled an important event commemorating Eid-E-Ghadir, which recalls Muhammad's purported appointment of Ali as the first of his hereditary successors. Last year on that occasion, Khamenei delivered his sermon to all top commanders and tens of thousands of Guards and Basiji forces.

I always feel like somebody isn't watching me? Who's watching?

Declassified US Spy Satellites Reveal Rare Look at Secret Cold War Space Program

CHANTILLY, Va. – Twenty-five years after their top-secret, Cold War-era missions ended, two clandestine American satellite programs were declassified Saturday (Sept. 17) with the unveiling of three of the United States' most closely guarded assets: the KH-7 GAMBIT, the KH-8 GAMBIT 3 and the KH-9 HEXAGON spy satellites.

The vintage National Reconnaissance Office satellites were displayed to the public Saturday in a one-day-only exhibit at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, Va. The three spacecraft were the centerpiece of the NRO's invitation-only, 50th Anniversary Gala celebration held at the center last evening.

Saturday's spysat unveiling was attended by a number of jubilant NRO veterans who developed and refined the classified spacecraft and its components for decades in secret, finally able to show their wives and families what they actually did 'at the office' for so many years. Both of the newly declassified satellite systems, GAMBIT and HEXAGON, followed the U.S. military's frontrunner spy satellite system CORONA, which was declassified in 1995. [See photos of the declassified U.S. spy satellites]

Big spy satellites revealed

The KH-9 HEXAGON, often referred to by its popular nickname "Big Bird," lived up to its legendary expectations. As large as a school bus, the KH-9 HEXAGON carried 60 miles of high resolution photographic film for space surveillance missions.

Military space historian Dwayne A. Day was exuberant after his first look at the KH-9 HEXAGON.

"This was some bad-ass technology," Day told SPACE.com. "The Russians didn't have anything like it."

Day, co-editor of "Eye in the Sky: The Story of the CoronaSpy Satellites," noted that "it took the Soviets on average five to 10 years to catch up during the Cold War, and in many cases they never really matched American capabilities."

Phil Pressel, designer of the HEXAGON's panoramic 'optical bar' imaging cameras, agreed with Day's assessment.

"This is still the most complicated system we've ever put into orbit …Period."

The HEXAGON's twin optical bar panoramic mirror cameras rotated as the swept back and forth as the satellite flew over Earth, a process that intelligence officials referred to as "mowing the lawn."

Each 6-inch wide frame of HEXAGON film capturing a wide swath of terrain covering 370 nautical miles — the distance from Cincinnati to Washington — on each pass over the former Soviet Union and China. The satellites had a resolution of about 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to nearly 1 meter), according to the NRO. [10 Ways the Government Watches You]

According to documents released by the NRO, each HEXAGON satellite mission lasted about 124 days, with the satellite launching four film return capsules that could send its photos back to Earth. An aircraft would catch the return capsule in mid-air by snagging its parachute following the canister's re-entry.

In a fascinating footnote, the film bucket from the first KH-9 HEXAGON sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in spring 1972 after Air Force recovery aircraft failed to snag the bucket's parachute.

The film inside the protective bucket reported contained high resolution photographs of the Soviet Union's submarine bases and missile silos. In a daredevil feat of clandestine ingenuity, the U.S. Navy's Deep Submergence Vehicle Trieste II succeeded in grasping the bucket from a depth of 3 miles below the ocean.

Hubble vs. HEXAGON

Former International Space Station flight controller Rob Landis, now technical manager in the advanced projects office at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, drove more than three hours to see the veil lifted from these legendary spacecraft.

Landis, who also worked on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope program, noticed some distinct similarities between Hubble and the huge KH-9 HEXAGON reconnaissance satellite.

"I see a lot of Hubble heritage in this spacecraft, most notably in terms of spacecraft size," Landis said. "Once the space shuttle design was settled upon, the design of Hubble — at the time it was called the Large Space Telescope — was set upon. I can imagine that there may have been a convergence or confluence of the designs. The Hubble’s primary mirror is 2.4 meters [7.9 feet] in diameter and the spacecraft is 14 feet in diameter. Both vehicles (KH-9 and Hubble) would fit into the shuttle's cargo bay lengthwise, the KH-9 being longer than Hubble [60 feet]; both would also fit on a Titan-class launch vehicle."

The 'convergence or confluence' theory was confirmed later in the day by a former spacecraft designer, who declined to be named but is familiar with both programs, who confided unequivocally: "The space shuttle's payload bay was sized to accommodate the KH-9." [Infographic: NASA's Space Shuttle from Top to Bottom]

The NRO launched 20 KH-9 HEXAGON satellites from California's Vandenberg AFB from June 1971 to April 1986.

The HEXAGON's final launch in April 1986 — just months after the space shuttle Challenger explosion — also met with disaster as the spy satellite's Titan 34D booster erupted into a massive fireball just seconds after liftoff, crippling the NRO's orbital reconnaissance capabilities for many months.

The spy satellite GAMBIT

Before the first HEXAGON spy satellite systems ever launched, the NRO's GAMBIT series of reconnaissance craft flew several space missions aimed at providing surveillance over specific targets around the world.

The satellite program's initial system, GAMBIT 1, first launched in 1963 carrying a KH-7 camera system that included a "77-inch focal length camera for providing specific information on scientific and technical capabilities that threatened the nation," according to an NRO description. A second GAMBIT satellite system, which first launched aboard GAMBIT 3 in 1966, included a175-inch focal length camera. [Related: Anatomy of a Spy Satellite]

The GAMBIT 1 series satellite has a resolution similar to the HEXAGON series, about 2 to 3 feet, but the follow-up GAMBIT 3 system had an improved resolution of better than 2 feet, NRO documents reveal.

The GAMBIT satellite program was active from July 1963 to April 1984. Both satellites were huge and launched out of Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The satellite series' initial version was 15 feet (4.5 m) long and 5 feet (1.5 m) wide, and weighed about 1,154 pounds (523 kilograms). The GAMBIT 3 satellite was the same width but longer, stretching nearly 29 feet (9 m) long, not counting its Agena D rocket upper stage. It weighed about 4,130 pounds (1,873 kg).

Unlike the follow-up HEXAGON satellites, the GAMBIT series were designed for extremely short missions.

The GAMBIT 1 craft had an average mission life of about 6 1/2 days. A total of 38 missions were launched, though 10 of them were deemed failures, according to NRO documents.

The GAMBIT 3 series satellites had missions that averaged about 31 days. In all, 54 of the satellites were launched, with four failures recorded.

Like the CORONA and HEXAGON programs, the GAMBIT series of satellites returned their film to Earth in re-entry capsules that were then snatched up by recovery aircraft. GAMBIT 1 carried about 3,000 feet (914 meters) of film, while GAMBIT 3 was packed with 12,241 feet (3,731 meters) of film, NRO records show.

The behemoth HEXAGON was launched with 60 miles (320,000 feet) of film!

HEXAGON and GAMBIT 3 team up

During a media briefing, NRO officials confirmed to SPACE.com that the KH-8 GAMBIT 3 and KH-9 HEXAGON were later operated in tandem, teaming-up to photograph areas of military significance in both the former Soviet Union and China.

The KH-9 would image a wide swath of terrain, later scrutinized by imagery analysts on the ground for so-called ‘targets of opportunity.' Once these potential targets were identified, a KH-8 would then be maneuvered to photograph the location in much higher resolution.

"During the era of these satellites — the GAMBIT and the HEXAGON — there was a Director of Central Intelligence committee known as the 'Committee on Imagery Requirements and Exploitation' that was responsible for that type of planning," confirmed the NRO's Robert McDonald, Director of the Center for the Study of National Reconnaissance.

NASA's Rob Landis was both blunt and philosophical in his emotions over the declassification of the GAMBIT and HEXAGON programs.

"You have to give credit to leaders like President Eisenhower who had the vision to initiate reconnaissance spacecraft, beginning with the CORONA and Discoverer programs," Landis said. "He was of the generation who wanted no more surprises, no more Pearl Harbors."

"Frankly, I think that GAMBIT and HEXAGON helped prevent World War III."

Editor's note: This story was updated on Sept. 19 to correct the name of Phil Pressel, who designed the HEXAGON spy satellite camera system.

Rick Santorum Speaks! Who Mr 2.5% in the polls?

JUPITER ISLAND, Fla. – The Republican presidential candidates appearing in last Monday's tea-party debate in Tampa made plenty of news when it came to issues such as Social Security, job creation and Big Brother mandates, but one subject that was not brought up during the event was the constitutional eligibility of Barack Obama.


Rick Santorum Mr. 2.5% in the polls has ruled the crash in Roswell NM, The Kennedy Assassination, and Obama eligibility questions as now closed cases! WELL THANKS SIR, BUT IS ANYONE REALLY LISTENING TO YOU?


Presidential candidate Rick Santorum gets swarmed by news media following the first-ever tea-party debate in Tampa, Fla., Sept. 12, 2011 (WND photo / Joe Kovacs)

Yet once the debate was over, some were willing to address the matter.




Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum told WND, "My understanding is that issue was solved. If there's evidence to the contrary [showing Obama is not eligible], they should bring it forth."

Autographed copies of Jerome Corsi's "Where’s the Birth Certificate?" are available only from the WND Superstore

The Constitution requires a president to be a "natural-born citizen," which many legal analysts believe means being the child of two U.S. citizen parents at the time of birth.

When that was pointed out to Santorum, he responded, "I don't think that's what the Constitution requires, and he (President Obama) was born in the country, so it doesn't matter."

President Obama's father was never a U.S. citizen, but rather a subject of Britain, which had control over Kenya back in 1961.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona's Maricopa County has appointed a team of retired officers and lawyers to look into allegations that the birth certificate Obama released in April at a White House news conference may be forged.

His constituents asked for the investigation because of the damage that could be done should a 2012 candidate be placed on their election ballot based on a fraudulent document.

Businessman and presidential contender Herman Cain told WND Obama's eligibility "should have been something that the United States Congress took up before he took office or up to this point. Now at this particular point, my focus is, 'What do we do to get this economy going?' If he is not eligible, that is not gonna be something that I am gonna focus my energies on because I want to get elected president to help people get jobs.

"If the United States of America didn't do its homework and its due diligence, shame on us! I hope we don't allow that to happen again just in case there's something there to that."

When asked if he personally thought Obama was constitutionally qualified to hold the office, Cain said, "I have not studied all of the information on his eligibility, so I don't have an opinion on that. I've seen only some of the stories, but I have not studied all of the evidence weighing both sides in terms of his eligibility."

Shortly before the debate commenced, a plane soared over the Florida State Fairgrounds trailing a banner demanding, "Where's the Real Birth Certificate?," a reference to Obama's release of what many experts believe is a fraudulent record of the president's birth.

The Tampa debate was co-hosted by the Tea Party Express, a group which prides itself on championing adherence to the Constitution.

But its chairwoman, Amy Kremer of Atlanta, was not high on addressing the natural-born-citizen matter during this campaign.

"There are so many issues out there, and I know that there are people who are focused on that issue, [but] I think we need to focus on the next 14 months in getting a conservative candidate – a Republican conservative candidate – that can defeat Barack Obama, and that's where I think we need to go."

When WND asked her if the issue were even relevant, Kremer nearly parroted her previous remark, stating, "I know that it's definitely an issue that people are focused on, but that's not something I'm focused on. That's not something our organization is focused on. We want to send a conservative to Washington and we're gonna do that through the election process."

Is revolution hitting U.S. streets tomorrow? Protesters training to incite violence, resist arrest, disrupt the legal system ??

By Aaron Klein
© 2011 WND

Fight "market dictatorship"

"People of the world rise up!"

"We are legion."

"Take to the streets."

These and other battle cries were posted on the recent Twitter feed of a group calling itself Take The Square. The organization is one of the social media planners behind the "Day of Rage" protest slated to target Wall Street on Saturday.

WND previously reported how the U.S. section of the protest, complete with a planned tent city in downtown Manhattan, is closely tied to the founders of ACORN and leaders of major U.S. unions, including the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU.

Here's the rundown on Obama's ties to "communists, socialists and other anti-American extremists" – all in "The Manchurian President."

While protest leaders claim they are non-violent, there are indications the protesters are training to incite violence, resist arrest and disrupt the legal system.

The protest aims to take root nationwide.

Activists are advertising on social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter for a "Day of Rage" on Sept. 17 to begin with the "occupation" of Wall Street and continue with protests across the nation.

Planners have their own website – USDayofRage.org – which tells protesters to "bring your own tent."

The website is not specific about the purpose of the "Day of Rage" other than calling for "integrity" to be "restored to our elections."

The site accuses corporations of using "money to act as the voices of millions, while individual citizens, the legitimate voters, are silenced and demoralized by the farce."

Advertisements claim the protests at Wall Street and nationwide will be "non-violent." However, the official website provides resources, including videos and detailed written instructions, for protesters to engage in "civil disobedience."

The resources provided include instructions on how to resist police arrest and disrupt court hearings.

This week, the 'Day of Rage' twitter feed posted links to what it called "nonviolent civil disobedience training talks."

Similar instructions are provided on the website of an affiliated organization, which calls itself "Occupy Wall Street" and is also involved in planning the Sept. 17 protests.

The use of the term "Day of Rage" recalls the "Days of Rage" organized in the 1960s by the Weather Underground domestic terrorist organization co-founded by Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, close associates for years of President Obama.

Numerous radicals, many with direct ties to Obama, are linked to planned protests and other activism scheduled for the coming months.

In March, ACORN founder Wade Rathke announced what he called "days of rage in 10 cities around JP Morgan Chase." Rathke was president of an SEIU local in New Orleans.

The planned Sept. 17 protest appears to be the culmination of Rathke's efforts.

Those efforts are being organized by Stephen Lerner, an SEIU board member who reportedly visited the Obama White House at least four times.

Lerner is considered one of the most capable organizers of the radical left. He recently organized the SEIU's so-called Justice for Janitors campaign.

As part of his planned protests, Lerner called for "a week of civil disobedience, direct action all over the city."

His stated aim is to "destabilize the folks that are in power and start to rebuild a movement."

In an interview about the planned protests, Lerner outlined his goals: "How do we bring down the stock market? How do we bring down their bonuses? How do we interfere with their ability to, to be rich?"

Forecast for American cities: Confrontation, intimidation?

There are other indications a coalition of radicals and unions are planning chaos using the current economic crisis.

Last month, WND reported that a slew of extremist organizations, some tied to Obama, are preparing protests to coincide with major NATO and G-8 summits in Chicago next May.

Foreshadowing possible violent confrontations, some of the same radical trainers behind the infamous 1999 Seattle riots against the World Trade Organization have been mobilizing new protest efforts geared toward world summits as well as the current economic crisis.

Some of the activists are tied to Obama.

The NATO and G-8 summits are not the only focus of radical groups.

WND reported Heather Booth, director of a Saul Alinsky-style community organizing group, the Midwest Academy, was among the main speakers at the "2011 State Battles Summit" in June at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Booth's husband, Paul, also was a speaker at the union summit. Paul Booth co-founded Midwest Academy in the 1970s.

The four-day summit was organized by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, with participation from the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest union.

An official schedule for the event, obtained by WND, declared: "Our union is under unprecedented attack in every state. Extremist politicians want to weaken us as we head into 2012. Their tactics include budget cuts, layoffs, privatization and the denial of our very collective bargaining rights."

Continued the flyer: "New challenges require new energy and new thinking. We encourage union activists to attend this conference and bring their creative ideas on how to overcome the challenges ahead."

Heather Booth participated in a panel entitled "Our Message, Alliances and Best Practices."

Paul Booth delivered the opening remarks for the union conference.

Another speaker at the union event was John Podesta, who co-chaired President Obama's transition team.

Podesta is president of the Center for American Progress, which is heavily influential in advising the White House. The center is funded by billionaire activist George Soros.

Mideast revolutions coming to U.S.?

Citizen Action of Wisconsin, an arm of Booth's Midwest Academy, is part of the Moving Wisconsin Forward movement, one of the main organizers of the major Wisconsin protests in February, as WND was first to report.

The protests were in opposition to Gov. Scott Walker's proposal for most state workers to pay 12 percent of their health care premiums and 5.8 percent of their salary toward their own pensions.

WND reported at the time that speakers at the rallies likened the Wisconsin protests to the ongoing revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa while calling for similar uprisings in the U.S.

'Redistribution of wealth and power'

Obama himself once funded Midwest Academy. He has been closely tied to Heather Booth.

Booth has stated building a ''progressive majority'' would help for ''a fair distribution of wealth and power and opportunity."

Her husband Paul is a founder and the former national secretary of Students for a Democratic Society, the radical 1960s anti-war movement from which Ayers' Weather Underground splintered.

In 1999, the Booths' Midwest Academy received $75,000 from the Woods Fund with Obama on its board alongside Ayers, In 2002, with Obama still serving on the Woods Fund, Midwest received another $23,500 for its Young Organizers Development Program.

Midwest describes itself as "one of the nation's oldest and best-known schools for community organizations, citizen organizations and individuals committed to progressive social change."

It later morphed into a national organizing institute for an emerging network of organizations known as Citizen Action.

Discover the Networks describes Midwest as "teach[ing] tactics of direct action, confrontation and intimidation."

WND first reported the executive director of an activist organization that taught Alinsky's tactics of direct action, confrontation and intimidation was part of the team that developed volunteers for President Obama's 2008 campaign.

Jackie Kendall, executive director of the Midwest Academy, was on the team that developed and delivered the first Camp Obama training for volunteers aiding Obama's campaign through the 2008 Iowa Caucuses.

Camp Obama was a two-to-four day intensive course run in conjunction with Obama's campaign aimed at training volunteers to become activists to help Obama win the presidential election.

Also, in 1998, Obama participated on a panel discussion praising Alinsky alongside Heather Booth, herself a dedicated disciple of Alinsky.

The panel discussion following the opening performance in Chicago of the play "The Love Song of Saul Alinsky," a work described by the Chicago Sun-Times as "bringing to life one of America's greatest community organizers."

Obama participated in the discussion alongside other Alinskyites, including political analyst Aaron Freeman, Don Turner of the Chicago Federation of Labor and Northwestern University history professor Charles Paine.

"Alinsky had so much fire burning within," stated local actor Gary Houston, who portrayed Alinsky in the play. "There was a lot of complexity to him. Yet he was a really cool character."

With research by Brenda J. Elliott

MSNBC gets cold feet about eligibility questions Cancels interview with driving force behind 'Where's the Real Birth Certificate?'

REALLY AGAIN !

Joseph Farah, founder and CEO of WND.com, was scheduled to appear on MSNBC Wednesday evening to talk about a banner that was flown over the Republican presidential debate forum in Tampa, Fla., Monday night.

It demanded, "Where's the Real Birth Certificate?"

Farah has been behind a campaign that since 2009 had asked "Where's the Birth Certificate?" during the time frame when Barack Obama fans said the short-form "Certification of Live Birth" image was the only documentation available from the state of Hawaii. The focal point of the question remains, even though Obama has released what has been represented as a long-form "Certificate of Live Birth" from Hawaii.

But the network called to cancel abruptly, only hours before the event was set to air.

"This is a strange game that these TV shows play with me all the time," said Farah. "They think it will be good television to have me on, but then their second thought is how scary it is to have someone who has a lot of experience in television and knows how to handle the opportunity."

He said for every opportunity he has had for recent TV appearances, his invitations have been cancelled three or four times.

"You have to ask yourself: Why do they keep inviting me on shows only to cancel, rebook, cancel, rebook and cancel again," he said.

At the time the campaign was launched in 2009, only a very small percentage of Americans were even aware of the eligibility questions surrounding Obama. But after more than 90 billboards were placed nationwide throughout the course of the campaign, those results changed.

Support the "Where's the Real Birth Certificate?" billboard campaign with your financial support.

Within six months of its launch, polls showed most Americans were aware of the controversy. Six months later, most Americans doubted Obama's eligibility. Even a New York Times Poll revealed only 58 percent of Americans were confident of Obama's story about an American birth

Then in April of this year, when Jerome Corsi's book of the same title – "Where's the Birth Certificate?" – hit No. 1 on the Amazon best-seller's list, the White House realized it could no longer stonewall the issue. One week later, the so-called "long-form birth certificate" – which previously has been reported as unavailable – was posted on the White House website. Media outlets quickly accepted the document as genuine without examination, analysis or question.

But WND has since produced a shocking series of reports that point in the direction of fabrication. One analyst points out that the long form appears to have been typed on different typewriters because the type faces are different styles and sizes. Another report confirms that the federal government's E-Verify system for checking validity of identities has unanswered questions about Obama.

"I promised a long time ago that this issue would follow Obama through the 2012 campaign," said Farah. "This is the realization of that promise."

So, WND had a plane flying over the GOP venue Monday night with the question on a banner.

The interview was scheduled to be on Hardball, where host Chris Mathews famously declared himself to be an "enemy" of those who question Barack Obama's eligibility to be president. But he also openly wondered why Obama didn't just put the issue to rest by releasing the proof.

Earlier, when Mathews gave the issue prime-time exposure, he cited a New York Times Poll that said while 58 percent of Americans believe Obama was born in the U.S., another 20 percent are sure it was in another country and 23 percent don't know.

Mathews admitted the job of president "requires being born in this country."

His earlier questions:

"I am not a birther. I am an enemy of the birthers," he said.

But he wondered, "Why doesn't the president just say, 'Send me a copy right now?' Why doesn't Gibbs and Axelrod say, 'Let's just get this crappy story dead?' Why not do it? ... If it exists, why not put it out?"

There are numerous members of Congress who have commented on the dispute that was brought to the attention of MSNBC and others with the flying banner Monday night:

It immediately got the attention of the Miami Herald, which wrote, "Jobs, schmobs.

"The WorldNetDaily website, which hypes the Obama-is-not-a-US-citizen line, is flying a banner around the site of the CNN Republican presidential debate to keep the story alive: Where is the real birth certificate?"

The question is raised because the U.S. Constitution allows only a "natural born Citizen" to be a president, and that was largely understood when it was written to be the offspring of two citizen parents born on the nation's soil. There remain many questions about Obama's purported Hawaiian birth, and some say the constitutional requirement precludes Obama as president even if he proves a Hawaiian birth, as his father never was a citizen.

Support the "Where's the Real Birth Certificate?" billboard campaign with your financial support.

See WND's complete archive of stories on Obama's eligibility

There's also a long list of high-profile personalities and leaders who publicly have raised questions about the issue.


Related Offers:

Autographed copies of Jerome Corsi's "Where’s the Birth Certificate?" are available only from the WND Superstore

A Nation Adrift (DVD)

A Simple Government: Twelve Things We Really Need from Washington (and a Trillion That We Don't!)

Don't Tread on US!: Signs of a 21st Century Political Awakening - (Paperback)

Previous report:

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's the … eligibility question!

Iowa Republicans can't miss this message

Congressional e-mail: Eligibility has 'obvious issues'

How does Obama's document stack up against genuine BC?

THE FULL STORY: See listing of more than 200 exclusive WND reports on the eligibility issue

Congressional e-mail: Eligibility has 'obvious issues'

Obama campaign attacks author probing eligibility 'The White House is in panic mode. The White House knows the truth'

By Bob Unruh
© 2011 WND

The Obama campaign for the 2012 presidential race has launched a new "fight the smears" type website, this time called "AttackWatch.com," with a personal attack on Dr. Jerome Corsi, the author of the best-selling "Where's the Birth Certificate?"

The ominous black and white website has a blood-red color overlay over a photograph of Corsi, whose book is credited with causing so much concern inside the bowels of the Obama White House that an attorney was dispatched on a special trip to Hawaii in April to obtain a purported copy of the state's "Certificate of Live Birth" for Obama, even though administration officials had said for years that was a document that wasn't available.

Corsi, who noted the Obama camp earlier tried to raise funds on supporters' fears of what is being revealed about Obama, said there's a reason for the Obama re-election campaign to be creating such sites.

"The White House is in panic mode," Corsi said. "The White House knows the truth – that Obama is not a natural born citizen, for many reasons, including that he was a dual citizen at birth due to his father being a Kenyan citizen."

The dispute centers around the U.S. Constitution's requirement that a president be only a "natural born Citizen." That was generally thought during the time the Constitution was being written to be the offspring of two citizens of a country on that country's soil.

Jerome Corsi's new book, "Where's the Birth Certificate?", is now available for immediate shipping, autographed by the author, only from the WND Superstore

There have been numerous legal challenges to Obama's eligibility to be president, and of late, WND has reported on an extensive list of experts in imaging, computers and other fields who have stated unequivocally that the "Certificate of Live Birth" that the president presented as a real document is, in fact, a fake.

There also are those who argue that even should Obama have been born in the U.S. as he claims, his father's status as an alien precluded him ever from qualifying as a "natural born Citizen."

The new website ignores that particular issue, by claiming "President Obama was born in the United States and is an American citizen – period."

Critics argue that even if he was "born in the United States and is an American citizen – period," that still doesn't meet the demands of the U.S. Constitution for only a "natural born Citizen" to be president.

"What is at stake is the Constitution of the United States and I do not intend to stop reporting on Barack Obama's ineligibility to be president, regardless how much the White House intends to attack me with Saul Alinsky techniques of ridicule and abuse," Corsi said.

He noted that instead of an elaborate website, the White House easily could put to the issue to rest.

"What the White House should do is answer the questions: Where is the real birth certificate? Why can't qualified forensic examiners have access to Obama's birth records in Hawaii to determine if they are authentic? Why doesn't the Congress hold hearings on Obama's eligibility, the same way the Senate investigated John McCain's eligibility in 2008?

"It is time for the White House to stop the lying and the smears. Obama needs to face the American people not only about where he was born, but with disclosure of all the hidden records in his background," Corsi said.

He said the White House is fully aware of the evidence reported by WND that suggests the document it released April 27 and presented to the world as a birth certificate is, in fact, "a forged document."

Spread the truth?'

"Rather than allow the U.S. public to see the original 1961 paper document still hidden in the Hawaii DOH vault, the White House has decided to attack me, threatening my freedom of speech by smearing my reputation as a journalist," Corsi said.

"Tea party activists are beginning to work with sheriffs like Joe Arpaio who are willing to do their sworn duty to enforce the law when citizens bring forth criminal complaints. The malfeasance and political nature of how Eric Holder runs the DOJ itself demands investigation," he said.

The announcement about the new website came from a Jim Messina with a return e-mail address of info@BarackObama.com. It asks recipients to "spread the truth to your friends and personal networks and let us know about new smears whenever you hear them."

The website specifically demands information regarding conversations, emails, websites, advertisements, radio shows and television shows.

"AttackWatch.com is exactly what it sounds like: a resource that allows us to nip these attacks in the bud before they show up on the airwaves and in emails – and then fight back with the truth," Messina wrote in the email delivered to WND.

The specific attack on Corsi came under the "myth" about questions regarding Obama's eligibility.

"Attackers: Jerome Corsi, Donald Trump, conspiracy theorists," the website explains. "Three years after President Obama's campaign released the president's certification of live birth, conspiracy theorists continue to question the document's authenticity – despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

"'Where's the Birth Certificate' author Jerome Corsi was unmoved by repeated validations of the authenticity of the president's birth certificate, saying, 'I was called by my insiders, several of my informants in Hawaii about three weeks before it was released, and I was told that the document had been forged."

The website references, apparently as its proof, the questioned short-form "Certification of Live Birth" released during the last presidential campaign, two articles from websites with links to Obama support, and the long form document that a multitude of experts have described as not even a good forgery.

No mention

But it doesn't mention that Hawaiian officials refused to confirm when the "Certificate" was released that it was an accurate representation of their official state records, or that Hawaii's former Health Department chief Chiyome Fukino – the one official who claimed to have examined Obama's original birth document under lock and key in Hawaii – was interviewed by NBC News' national investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff, who reported that Fukino told him she had seen the original birth certificate and that it was "half typed and half handwritten."

However, the document released by the White House was entirely typed. Only the signatures and two dates at the very bottom were "handwritten." What Fukino described is apparently a different document from what Obama released to the public


It was not the first time the Obama campaign based its arguments on an attack on Corsi. Weeks ago, the campaign sent out fundraising emails that decried his book as delusional, laughable and a joke, even as it was moving up the charts to reach No. 1 at Amazon.

The "BarackObama.com" organization at that point was selling mugs as well as T-shirts with an image of Obama stamped with the slogan "Made in the USA" as well as an image of the challenged "Certificate of Live Birth."

That particular gimmick immediately prompted a flood of Internet opinions about what would be a better message, including the idea simply to stamp "Retire" in front of the "Obama in 2012" slogan.

Another suggested adding a line, "Adopted in Indonesia" to the "Made in the USA" line.

Yet another commenter pointed to a definition of "MADE" from Merriam Webster online, that says, "Fictitious, invented" … "artificially produced."

The "obama T-shirt is right!" the correspondent noted.

Over and over

If the opening salvo on Corsi gave readers the feeling of déjà vu, it was because the Obama election campaign did exactly the same thing in 2008 when it mobilized a major assault on Corsi's previous book about Obama, the No. 1 New York Times best-seller "The Obama Nation." And that was a response to the impact of his previous No. 1 New York Times best-seller, "Unfit for Command."

It's just the latest action by the White House to try to divert attention from Corsi's work. The president himself confirmed that he ordered the release of the "certificate" right after the best-selling "Where's the Birth Certificate? The Case that Barack Obama is Not Eligible to be President" was profiled on the Drudge Report.

"If what Barack Obama released is really a valid birth certificate that answers all the questions about this controversy, why is the Obama campaign in attack mode on Jerome Corsi's best-selling book?" asked Joseph Farah, CEO of WND.com and WND Books, publisher of "Where's the Birth Certificate?," at the time.

"Because he fears it is his undoing. Do you really think the $1 billion Obama campaign cares about selling a few coffee mugs? Give me a break. This is an effort to derail media attention from a successful book and media tour that is focusing renewed attention on his ineligibility for office."

'Fight the Smears' 2.0

It was in June 2008 Obama launched a website called "Fight the Smears" to stop "ideologues" from "spreading a 'pack of lies' about Barack." As WND reported, the site disappeared in July 2009.

"Whenever challenged with these lies we will aggressively push back with the truth and help our supporters debunk the false rumors floating around the Internet," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor told the New York Times.

Some of the "smears" they intended to smack down included assertions that "Obama's campaign was funded by foreigners," "Obama sought endorsement from the (socialist) New Party," "Obama has connections to Bill Ayers" and "Obama is a Muslim."

The website reserved a special section for its counter-attack on Corsi's 2008 New York Times No. 1 best-seller, "The Obama Nation," featuring a 40-page rebuttal.

However, many of the so-called "smears" of 2008 have turned out to be widely recognized as factual. Moreover, many charges made against Corsi by the Obama campaign were themselves fabricated. For instance, not only did Corsi not state in "The Obama Nation" that the president is a secret Muslim, he said the opposite. In advice to John McCain's campaign, Corsi offered that it would be unwise to make that claim, because one can't "read another person's soul."

Obama's father was a convert to Islam and his stepfather was a Muslim. During the 2008 presidential campaign, the Associated Press published an image of a document that showed Obama's religion as "Islam" and his citizenship "Indonesian" when he lived in the Muslim-majority nation with his mother and stepfather, Lolo Soetoro.


Indonesian school registration for "Barry Soetoro" (AP photo)

Corsi also endured a fierce backlash to his previous No. 1 New York Times best-seller, co-authored with John O'Neill, "Unfit for Command," which charged that Democratic Sen. John Kerry fabricated his image as a Vietnam war hero. The book also recounted his radical anti-war effort that followed his deployment. Many political analysts believe "Unfit for Command" and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign that accompanied it was a decisive factor in Kerry's loss to President George W. Bush in 2004.

Media, including the Associated Press, typically call the book's claims "unsubstantiated" or "debunked," usually without evidence. Those who offered evidence contended the military's records supported Kerry's version of events, without mentioning the group's assertion that it was Kerry himself who wrote the "official record" in many instances, in after-action reports.

When the Kerry campaign did respond to specific claims in "Unfit for Command," it was to backtrack, such as in the case of Kerry's long-held assertion – which he later was forced to recant – that he was in Cambodia illegally Christmas Eve 1968.

Instead of addressing the Swift Boat Veterans' specific claims, the Kerry campaign threatened lawsuits against the television stations that aired the group's ads, demanded publisher Regnery pull "Unfit for Command," accused the group of being run by the Republican Party and attacked the character of co-authors O'Neill and Corsi.

But the lesson the Kerry campaign's ineffectual response to the devastating Swift Boat campaign was this: When Corsi writes a book, counter-attack swiftly and with all barrels. That was the strategy followed by the Obama campaign in 2008 with "The Obama Nation," and again now with "Where's the Birth Certificate?"

Of course, sometimes publicity – even bad publicity – is a good thing.

"Obama's campaign skyrocketed Corsi to immediate and certain fame," wrote commentator Judi McLeod at Canada Free Press.

"Marxists liking to mock their enemies is no guarantee folks will buy Obama's silly coffee mugs," she wrote. "There are too many out there worried they won't be able to come up with the scratch for the coffee to pour into them."

"Meanwhile, the big question 'Where's the Birth Certificate?" just got replaced with 'Why would the president of the USA publicly mock the man who asked?' on a coffee mug?"

Half of Americans still doubt Obama's birth story

It was on April 27, with great fanfare, that Obama finally released his "birth certificate" after years of stonewalling, spending a fortune on attorneys to block its release and defend against dozens of lawsuits brought by citizens wanting to see it, claiming he had already released it and ridiculing everybody who said he had not released it.

Yet a stunning Gallup Poll taken more than a week later (May 5-8) showed more than half of all Americans remain unconvinced Obama was born in the U.S.

Perhaps that's because, while the establishment press continues to ridicule "birthers" as conspiracy nuts, the White House's April 27 document release has generated vexing new questions and outright contradictions regarding the president's "birth certificate."

For instance, there is Fukino's description of the "original" document in state records that simply doesn't align with what Obama released.

Since the document's late-April release, a flood of expert analyses, some by Obama voters, has cast serious doubt on the legitimacy of the president's belatedly produced "birth certificate."

Among topics dealt with in "Where's the Birth Certificate?":

• The mainstream media feverishly investigated the presidential eligibility story – that is, when it focused on Obama's Republican opponent, John McCain.

• Obama was born a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States, a circumstance the Constitution’s framers considered an iron-clad roadblock to the presidency. The book documents the clear, original intent of the Constitution's founders, which was that no one with dual loyalties would ever be president and commander in chief.

• As a boy, Obama was officially registered in school as a Muslim and Indonesian citizen, another barrier to U.S. natural-born citizenship.

• The press and blogosphere widely reported Obama was born at Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu – before deciding he was born across town at Kapiolani Women's and Children’s Hospital. To this day, Kapi'olani is bizarrely secretive about Obama's alleged birth there.

• The Congressional Research Service, a public policy arm of Congress, officially admits no one in the government ever vetted Obama’s constitutional eligibility.

• In preparation for the 2012 election, more than a dozen states are considering legislation to force all presidential candidates to prove they are constitutionally qualified before they can be placed on that state’s ballot

• Going far beyond the issue of birth certificates, Corsi not only documents inconsistencies, blackouts and outright fabrications in Obama's life narrative that have generated widespread doubts, but lays out a compelling body of evidence that Obama is not a natural-born citizen as is required of all presidents by Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution.

One of the biggest disputes that remains unaddressed is why Barack Obama, who lived in Hawaii as a teen, has a Social Security Number that indicates he had a Connecticut address.

The controversy over Obama's Social Security number traces back to a WND story May 11, 2010, when it was reported that two private investigators working independently were asking why Obama was using a number set aside for applicants in Connecticut while there is no record he ever had a mailing address in the state.

The records indicate the number was issued between 1977 and 1979, when Obama was between 16 and 18 years old and living in Hawaii.

The Social Security website confirms that the first three digits in Obama's Social Security number are reserved for applicants with Connecticut addresses, 040-049.

Since 1973, Social Security numbers have been issued by one central office, and the first three digits of a person's Social Security number have been determined by the Zip code of the mailing address on the application.

Read more: Obama campaign attacks author probing eligibility http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=345037#ixzz1Y2Hh0mm1

Feds warn of small airplane terror threats

Watch for small attacks targeting soft targets for maxim effect. Movie theaters,large events, football games, events that are being televised. This next wave will want to strike at our worst fear, the loss of our freedom and civil liberties. These may be done 50 or a 100 at a time for weeks or months.


WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI and Homeland Security have issued a nationwide warning about al-Qaida threats to small airplanes, just days before the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Authorities say there is no specific or credible terrorist threat for the 10-year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. But they have stepped up security nationwide as a precaution.

According to a five-page law enforcement bulletin issued Friday, as recently as early this year, al-Qaida was considering ways to attack airplanes.

The alert, issued ahead of the summer's last busy travel weekend, said terrorists have considered renting private planes and loading them with explosives.

"Al-Qaida and its affiliates have maintained an interest in obtaining aviation training, particularly on small aircraft, and in recruiting Western individuals for training in Europe or the United States, although we do not have current, credible information or intelligence of an imminent attack being planned," according to the bulletin obtained by The Associated Press.

The bulletin also says al-Qaida would like to use sympathetic Westerners to get flight training, then get them to become flight instructors.

Matthew Chandler, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, described the bulletin as routine.

"We shared this information with our partners to highlight the need for continued awareness and vigilance," he said.

Aviation security is much tighter than it was a decade ago, but al-Qaida remains keenly interested in launching attacks on airplanes, believing large attacks with high body counts are more likely to grab headlines.

Threats to small airplanes are nothing new. After the 2001 attacks, the government grounded thousands of crop dusters amid fears the planes could be used in an attack.

In 2002, U.S. officials said they uncovered an al-Qaida plot to fly a small plane into a U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf. And in 2003, U.S. officials uncovered an al-Qaida plot to crash an explosives-laden small aircraft into the American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.

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Associated Press writer Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.

Really?? Is this back-door Shariah? Complaint cites New York Attorney says problems not addressed by airline assurance it won't discriminate

The New York Port Authority has been asked to investigate what state and federal anti-discrimination laws might be violated by imposing anti-Jewish Islamic restrictions on passengers boarding flights to Jeddah from the publicly owned JFK Airport.

The request has been brought by a Washington attorney who first raised questions about Delta Air Lines and its new agreement to include Saudi Arabian Airlines in its Sky Team Alliance of airlines.

Saudi Arabia bars Jews and passengers with Israeli passports and Israeli stamps in their passports from boarding flights to the desert kingdom.

"In this respect, the impact of any discriminatory conduct would take place at JFK airport, and not just inside of Saudi Arabia," wrote attorney Jeffrey A. Lovitky in a recent letter to the agency.

It's time to resist creeping Shariah! Pamela Geller's 'Stop the Islamization of America' tells you how – Autographed

WND has reported on the controversy since the issue first was raised by Lovitky.

Delta, which under the new agreement would facilitate flights from JFK and Dulles airports to Jeddah, has been accused of enabling or at least allowing illegal discrimination on U.S. soil

Also banned would be items such as cross necklaces and Bibles.

Lovitky told WND he started raising the issue after finding out about the discriminatory practices at U.S. airports while making travel arrangements.

Delta recently tried to take itself out of the controversy by meeting with the Simon Wiesenthal Center and issuing a statement that it would not "request that customers declare their religious affiliation" and "would also not seek such information on behalf of any Sky Team partner or any airline."

Lovitky told WND that doesn't solve the violations.

"The letter [to the] Simon Wiesenthal Center was not satisfactory," he said. "I appreciate Delta's assurances that it will not discriminate against Jewish customers. However, the more important issue is whether Delta should even be in an alliance with an airline owned by the government of Saudi Arabia, which practices the most vicious forms of discrimination against women," he said.

"Additionally, I do not believe that it is appropriate for Delta to be in an alliance with Saudi Airlines, given the pervasive discrimination against Christians and Jews in Saudi Arabia," he told WND. "I believe that Delta should simply walk out of the SkyTeam Alliance the minute the Saudi Arabian Airlines walks in."

Read the insiders' plans for America under Shariah, in "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America," autographed, from WND's Superstore.

He said the Saudi intolerance of Jews may be easier to understand if Americans thought of the restrictions as targeting another faith.

"I would ask your readers to put themselves in the position of a Christian passenger on a flight from Washington Dulles to Saudi Arabia to attend a business meeting. Let's assume that this passenger regularly carries with them a Bible when they travel overseas, as many passengers do. That passenger is essentially forced to abandon that Bible at Dulles Airport (or not take it to the airport in the first place), because it may be treated as a contraband item upon arrival in Riyadh or Jeddah. In this manner, the force and effect of these Saudi restrictions are felt by the passenger even while he or she is still on U.S. soil," he told WND.

WND calls to The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey asking about plans to respond to the letter did not generate a return telephone call.

In the letter, Lovitky pointed out that "gender and religious discrimination are prohibited by both state and federal laws, as well as by the rules of the Port Authority itself." He cited the airport's Rule 1(B)(1), which states, "Use of any area or portion of an Air Terminal in a manner contrary to law … may result in a withdrawal of permission to enter or remain in such air terminal by the Port Authority."

He noted that "Saudia flights directly benefit from tax exempt public financing at JFK airport through the servicing of its aircraft, gate areas, baggage operations, etc."

"The issue which must be addressed is whether tax exempt public financing is being used to service flights from which Jews are banned if they admit their religious affiliation, and from which non-Islamic religious materials are effectively excluded," he said.

"If the allegations of discrimination are correct, the Port Authority would be using public financing to facilitate a sectarian activity at the airport which directly supports one set of religious beliefs and purposefully excludes all others, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution," he said in the letter to the authority.

He said the government agency has a responsibility to investigate.

"Accordingly, I am requesting that the Port Authority obtain such assurances as are required from the Saudi government and Saudia to ensure that Saudia flights are being operated on a non-discriminatory basis," he wrote.

He cited as evidence U.S. Department of State warnings about Saudi Arabia that "the government prohibits the public practice of religions other than Islam. … Saudi customs authorities enforce strict regulations concerning importation into Saudi Arabia of [a]ny item that is held to be contrary to the tenets of Islam."

Further, he wrote, the lease agreement allowing Delta to operate at JFK "requires that Delta comply with certain federal and state statutes and regulations, including laws prohibiting discrimination."

Lovitky told WND he also has written the Saudi Arabian embassy about his concerns, as well as the Saudi airline directly. He did not get a response from either location, and the embassy was closed this week and no one was available to comment to WND.

He copied Roy W. Kienitz, U.S. undersecretary of transportation for policy, on the letter, in which he seeks assurances that Saudi Arabia will not treat women differently from men in its operations at JFK and Dulles, and will grant visas without discrimination based on religion.

The letter effectively put the federal government on notice that there is a problem with discrimination by the Saudi government operations inside the U.S.

Kienitz also did not respond to a WND request for comment.

Lovitky also told WND that Delta's promise simply isn't enough.

"I would call on Delta to terminate its affiliation with the SkyTeam alliance upon admission of Saudi Arabian Airlines in 2012, unless the kingdom provides written assurances that it will not discriminate against women, Christians and Jews in connection with their official polices," he wrote to Andrea Newman, a Delta vice president.

The American Center for Law and Justice has called on the Federal Aviation Administration and Congress to investigate the relationship between Delta Air Lines and Saudi Arabian Airlines over the government-owned Saudi operation's discrimination against Jews.

And ACLJ chief Jay Sekulow noted that U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., sent a letter to the FAA requesting a probe into the matter "to determine whether Delta Air Lines violated U.S. law or regulation and to ensure no U.S. citizen is denied their right to fly solely on the basis of their religion."

Delta in January 2011 boasted of working with Saudi Air in a "global airline alliance providing customers from member airlines access to an extensive global network with more destinations, more frequencies and more connectivity."

The ACLJ asked, "So why is this a problem? Simply put, Saudi Arabia (in addition to being a hub of terrorist financing and so radical that its religious police force girls to burn to death rather than escape a school fire without their abayas) is known to blatantly discriminate in its visa policies."

It continued, "Delta can't control Saudi Arabia's immigration policy, but it can control whether it does business with Saudi Arabia."

Lovitky said when he has gotten a response from anyone, it's been a brushoff.

Larry Klayman, the Washington attorney who founded Judicial Watch and now is of Freedom Watch USA, also is encouraging a boycott.

"It's incumbent on all Christians, Jews and people who find discrimination abhorrent to make it clear to Delta that they will not fly on the airline," he told WND, "until Delta withdraws from its alliance with Saudi Arabia.

"You have to wonder where the potential allies on the left such as Jesse Jackson, who have claimed to have experienced similar discrimination … why are they not speaking out. Where is the president, who endorsed the Ground Zero mosque, yet will not stand up for Christians and Jews."

"This is outrageous, repugnant and illegal," he said.

He said Delta has joined President Obama in "kowtowing" to "nefarious Muslims."

His reference was to the famous image of Barack Obama greeting the Saudi king with a bow.

The dispute even pulled the Saudi government into the fray.

"Rumors being circulated via the Internet regarding passenger flight restrictions on Saudi Arabian Airlines are completely false. The government of Saudi Arabia does not deny visas to U.S. citizens based on their religion," the government said on PRNewswire.

"Liars," said Pamela Geller on her Atlas Shrugs blog. She noted that Delta's own website states: "The government of Saudi Arabia refuses admission and transit to nationals of Israel."

Delta's website also states, "Visitors holding passports containing any Israeli visa or stamp could be refused entry."

At Jihad Watch, the dispute was spelled out in a statement attributed to Detroit rabbi Jason Miller: "The issue here is one of principle. Delta isn't being forced to include Saudi Arabian Airlines into its SkyTeam Alliance. In fact, Delta could stand on principle and refuse to include Saudi Arabian."

WND reported earlier the issue first was presented to Congress, the public and others by talk radio host and former U.S. Rep. Fred Grandy, who engaged in his own battle against discrimination when his former radio station demanded he tone down criticism of Islam on his program. He then left the station.

Grandy and "Mrs. Fred," – Catherine – were interviewed by Talk 1200 show host Jeff Katz about the controversy, which was described as "outrageous."

Their conversation has been posted online as well as embedded:

"Creeping Shariah? Now [it is] jetspeed Shariah. Hat's off to Delta. It looks like Delta will be the first Shariah-compliant airline in the United States," Catherine Grandy said.

Katz noted, "As a Jewish man, I might not be able to fly on Delta Air Lines in the future."

Fred Grandy told Katz that he spent time in Washington briefing members of Congress and other policy makers "on this kind of threat."

"This creeping Shariah, economic jihad, gets you everywhere you turn," Catherine Grandy said. "This is just not right. I'm sure this will be tested."

Fred Grandy said there were several questions raised by the controversy, including would passengers continue to fly on Delta, what should the government do and the advance of Shariah in the United States.

"If this isn't one landing strip at a time, I don't know what is," he said.

Lovitky told WND that whatever discrimination the Saudis choose to enforce in their nation, it becomes a problem when Delta applies it to American citizens on American soil.

"Delta Air Lines acted in a purely voluntary manner in agreeing to this alliance with Saudi Airlines," he wrote in a letter asking the Delta board to act on the matter. "Accordingly, Delta has made itself responsible for ensuring that passengers on any flight jointly operated with Saudi Airlines will not be subject to discrimination on the basis of their gender, religion, or any other inappropriate grounds."