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Facebook claims it cracks down on fraudulent profiles and approves every name change that users make -- so why are they letting Barack Obama supporters to change their middle name to "Hussein"? Barack Hussein Obama's middle name is constant fodder for Obama opponents who wish to draw attention to the Muslim portions of his background. The Facebook name change is an attempt by Obama supporters to show solidarity with their candidate. Facebook claims it confirms all name changes before they are live and even pops up a list of requirements before name changes can be processed. This is what I...

"Lincoln Chafee has a long history of being one of the least supportive Senators of the American-Israel relationship, and having lost the most recent election, is now teaching students international affairs at Brown University.He also has a history of expressing views that are certainly not warm towards our embattled ally. Rita Hauser is a fierce critic of Israel; an activist who tours the country promoting anti-Israel views."

QOM, Iran -- Iran's president believes Allah has chosen him to prepare the world for the coming of an Islamic 'savior' called the Mahdi. But before the Mahdi's return, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believes there must be global chaos - even if he has to create it himself. Whether it's his belief that Israel should be wiped off the map, denials of the Holocaust, obsession with going nuclear, or support for radical Islamic terrorist groups, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a man on a divine mission. To understand him, and that mission, you have travel to the small dusty village of Jamkaran tucked in...

UPDATED: War clouds continue to build in the epicenter. Last month in Rome, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed that the United States and Israel would soon be "annihilated," language he had not used so explicitly since October 2005 when he promised to wipe Israel "off the map" and urged Muslims to "envision a world without the United States." This week, his regime authorized a new series of Iranian war games. He ordered the digging of 320,000 graves to bury the enemies of Islam. He is calling for the unification of the Islamic world politically and economically, including the creation of...

[...] Adnan Oktar -- the 52-year-old Turk behind the pseudonym Harun Yahya -- caught the attention of scientists and teachers in Europe and North America by mass-mailing them his 768-page "Atlas of Creation". His lavishly illustrated book preaches a Muslim version of creationism [...] Well-illustrated and free of theological jargon, they preach that Islam is the one true faith and Darwinism, by undermining religious belief, has led to the discord, atheism, terrorism and extreme political ideologies plaguing the world. [...] JESUS RETURNS AS A MUSLIM [...] Oktar says the "Atlas of Creation" campaign and Harun Yahya publishing empire are part...

What drives Ahmadinejad? Iranian president wants to set stage for appearance of Shiite messiahBy Jonathan Halevi and Ashley Perry Published: 06.17.08, 00:43 Shiite Iran is striving to attain the position of regional superpower en route to becoming a significant nuclear power on the international stage. Iran openly challenges the West in its attempt to eject the Americans and British from Iraq and attain hegemony in the Persian Gulf region, supported among other, by its military program, massively built up in recent years. The Iranian leadership talks of a “New Middle East” in response to the West, which would be an...

Clerics have told President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stick to more worldly issues after he was quoted as saying the "hidden imam" of Shiite Islam was directing Iran. Ahmadinejad has always been a devotee of the Mahdi, the twelfth imam of Shiite Islam, who Shiites believe disappeared more than a thousand years ago and who will return one day to usher in a new era of peace and harmony. But in a speech to theology students broadcast by state television on Monday, Ahmadinejad went further than ever before in emphasising his belief that the Mahdi is playing a critical role in...

President Bush and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain expressed mounting impatience Thursday with Iran for proceeding with its nuclear enrichment work in defiance of the international community. Earlier, the prime minister met with the three presidential candidates, but he smilingly side-stepped a question about which he might feel more affinity for. While Tehran argues that its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes, Mr. Bush told reporters that it “is, in my judgment, naïve” to think that the know-how that Iranians are developing could not be transferred to military efforts to produce an atomic weapon. Iranian leaders, he said,...

     Black Flags of Islam   Portents of the Imam al-Mahdi, the Moslems' prophesied deliverer of Jerusalem? from Diane Alden… Afghanistan has special significance to the world of militant Islam. It was once called Khurasan, along with parts of Iran and Pakistan. Muhammad said: "If you see the black flags coming from Khurasan, join that army, even if you have to crawl over ice, for that is the army of the Imam al-Mahdi and no one can stop that army until it reaches Jerusalem." That is one reason Osama bin Laden chose it as his base, or al-Qaida. Mohammed's ...

Scholar: MAD doctrine does not apply to Iran Feb. 25, 2008 JERUSALEM — Iran could welcome a nuclear war with Israel or the United States. A leading U.S. scholar on the Middle East has asserted that Iran's leadership does not resemble the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Bernard Lewis, a professor at Princeton University, said the mullah regime in Teheran believes that the Shi'ite messiah would be ushered by a nuclear war, Middle East Newsline reported. "It's not an Arab country, but rather a Muslim country, ruled now by a Muslim theocracy, which calculates its policies not by Iranian...

Clashes kill nearly 50 in southern Iraq By CHRISTOPHER CHESTER, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 10 minutes ago Violence left nearly 50 people dead in two major southern cities Friday when members of a shadowy, messianic cult attacked police and fellow Shiite worshippers — a year after a similar plot was foiled during Shiite Islam's most important holiday. Iraqi authorities said at least 36 people were reported killed in Basra, Iraq's second largest city, and at least 10 in Nasiriyah, where witnesses said U.S.-led coalition jet fighters and helicopter gunships targeted a police station seized by cult gunmen. U.S. military...

Roger L. Simon, last seen cavorting with Pajama clad babes on the floor of the BlogWorld convention like a latter day Hugh Hefner, sat down with Fred Thompson to discuss the Global War on Terror. Bob Owens, proprietor of the excellent Confederate Yankee blog, joined Roger in conducting the interview. I linked to this yesterday in my Republican race Q&A, but the interview itself merits a little post of its own. In no particular order, a few observations: 1) The long form interview allowed Fred to express his knowledge and thoughts on the war on terror. He was impressive. Believe...

The venue was different -- the grand hall of the UN General Assembly -- but Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's message was the same as it has been for months. Fresh from his performance as a human pinata at Columbia University, the Iranian president took the opportunity this week to remind the nations of the world just how much contempt he and his country held for the UN Security Council. In sum, a lot. After two sets of sanctions, and many more deadlines for Iran to suspend its nuclear program, Ahmadinejad dared the nations of the world to stop Iran's nuclear...

Now that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has spoken at Columbia University, it's on to the United Nations, where there's a tight security net. As many as 25,000 people from around the metro area and the country flocked to the U.N. to protest Ahmadinejad's visit. Many are demanding an end to Iran's nuclear threat. The NYPD's eye in the sky took security pictures. On the ground, beefy machine-gun toting cops provided an extra layer of protection for Israel's foreign minister as she demand Iran's president be reigned in by the world community. "There's a need to stop Ahmadinejad," Tzipi Livni said....

During the Iran-Iraq War, the Ayatollah Khomeini imported 500,000 small plastic keys from Taiwan. The trinkets were meant to be inspirational. After Iraq invaded in September 1980, it had quickly become clear that Iran’s forces were no match for Saddam Hussein’s professional, well-armed military. To compensate for their disadvantage, Khomeini sent Iranian children, some as young as twelve years old, to the front lines. There, they marched in formation across minefields toward the enemy, clearing a path with their bodies. Before every mission, one of the Taiwanese keys would be hung around each child’s neck. It was supposed to open...

Ali Larijani is back in Europe to kill sanctions against the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran. We should not give it to him. Economic sanctions can still work. True, in Tehran the extremists scored some points recently. The birth of a bearded “Hamastan” in Gaza threatens the Egyptian regime. Radical Arab Sunni groups are woven into the Iranian terrorist carpet. So are elements from Al-Qaida. Iran continues to penetrate deeper into the Mediterranean. Libya suggested a Shi’ite Caliphate. Indeed, Iran’s networks reach deep into Africa as they do in Europe: Turkish, Arabic and Russian language propaganda reach...

irst it was Conan the Barbarian. Then it was Fidel Castro. And now, according to one foreign report, filmmaker Oliver Stone's next movie subject might well be Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Oscar winning director is seeking permission to start work on a proposed documentary about Ahmadinejad, according to a report from Iran. The Iranian Student News Agency said today Stone's project would be a profile of the president who has called for Israel to be destroyed. Permission is being sought to move forward with the project. "The request was made some three months ago. Stone is a professional filmmaker...

TEHRAN • A top aide to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has set up a special body to oversee the spread of the distinctive and often controversial philosophy of the Iranian president, media reported yesterday. Ahmadinejad's chief of staff Abdol Reza Sheikh-ol Eslami has appointed members of a "council to define and guard over the thought and works of the president," according to Ham Mihan newspaper and the ISNA news agency. Since coming to power in 2005 on a platform of restoring revolutionary values, Ahmadinejad has carved out a reputation as a deeply ideological president whose comments have been criticised abroad and sometimes...

A top security official accused the United States Thursday of seeking to undermine Iran's clerical regime by stoking sectarian and ethnic tensions in the country and using newspapers and non-governmental agencies toward that goal. "A soft threat is the main plan of the US due to its incapability to launch a military operation [against Iran,]" Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. Zolqadr, whose comments came in a speech he made in Iran's Kurdistan province, said, "The threat is being implemented through the creation of instability and tension inside Iran as...

Iran prepares people for 'messiah miracles' Government broadcasts series on imminent appearance of apocalyptic Islamic 'Mahdi' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: January 27, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com Official Iranian radio has completed broadcasting a lengthy series on the imminent appearance of a messianic figure who will defeat Islam's enemies and impose Islamic Shiite rule over the entire world – even speculating on specific dates the so-called "Mahdi" will be revealed. English-language transcripts of "The World Toward Illumination" programs can be found on the website of IRIB, a public broadcast arm of Tehran. "Be joyous my heart, miracles of the Messiah...

The Iranian who wants an apocalypse by Michael Burleigh The Daily Telegraph05/01/2007         One person we will be hearing much about in 2007 will be Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He's the hollow-eyed engineer and town planner (and former Revolutionary Guard) who in 2005 went from being Teheran's answer to Ken Livingstone to President of Iran. He's the fellow stringing along the international community while his scientists try to manufacture a nuclear bomb before America or Israel decides to degrade or destroy key experimental sites. He says appalling things with demented glee in his eyes.According to today's Spectator, Ahmadinejad may actually...

When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeatedly threatened to wipe Israel off the face of the map, the world collectively yawned. When he denied the Holocaust ever happened, few paid attention. When he threatened to destroy the United States, few noticed. When he was accused as an accomplice to murder of an Iranian dissident in Europe, no one cared. (Column continues below) When he openly embraced and supported terrorism, including the recruitment of thousands of suicide bombers, there was little protest. When it was learned that he was actively involved in the holding of 52 American hostages at the U.S. Embassy...

Mahmoud AhmadinejadÂ’s Letter the American People November 29th, 2006 In the name of God, the Compassionate, the MercifulO, Almighty God, bestow upon humanity the perfect human being promised to all by You, and make us among his followers.Noble Americans,Were we not faced with the activities of the US administration in this part of the world and the negative ramifications of those activities on the daily lives of our peoples, coupled with the many wars and calamities caused by the US administration as well as the tragic consequences of US interference in other countries;Were the American people not God-fearing, truth-loving, and...

Ahmadinejad is on record as stating he believes he is to have a personal role in ushering in the age of the Mahdi. In a Nov. 16, 2005, speech in Tehran, he said he sees his main mission in life as to "pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance." According to Shiites, the 12th imam disappeared as a child in the year 941. When he returns, they believe, he will reign on

A striking bit of journalistic malpractice seems to have affected the mainstream media web sites this morning, as news site after news site failed to provide their readers with the transcript of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speech last night to the United Nations. As of noon at ABC News, it is as if Ahmadinejad never spoke, as their was no reference to his address in front of the United Nations on their Web site’s front page, and is notably absent from the headlines of their political section as well. I had to search Google News to find this report on...

As you probably already know, Iranian president Mahmood Ahmadinejad has started a weblog in Farsi, English, Arabic and French. This led me to lookup the whois-record of his domain name, ahmadinejad.ir. There's something strange here. While the first name of the Iranian president is "Mahmoud", the domain registration says "Mahdi". In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam, who will change the world into a perfect Islamic society before the end of times. It is well known that Ahmadinejad is a strong believer in the return of the Mahdi. But isn't this registration a strong indication that...

Well, Aug 22nd is here. Isn't today supposed to be the day the 12th Imam comes from a pit inside the world , greets Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and then destroys Israel and other infidel nations? Beck has been talking about this for weeks. According to this excerpt from World Net Daily: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Bernard Lewis of Princeton has had opinion pieces circulating for two weeks now about how that night, the anniversary of one of Islam's holiest events, could be a time Iran would pick to spark a battle Muslims believe forever will resolve the battle between "good" and "evil." He said...

With the smoke still rising from the ruins of the al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan, intelligence agents and journalists from all over the world were already combing through the rubble in an attempt to uncover information on the nature and quality of the training the camps' roughly 20,000 graduates had received. (snip) After losing its training camps, al-Qaida went on the offensive. By 2003, the entire "Encyclopedia" was suddenly available on the Internet. Thousands of illustrated pages containing bomb-building instructions, in-depth rules on how to encode information and extensive details on organizing terrorist cells were suddenly available -- in Arabic --...

Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected Western demands that he respond to a new proposal regarding the cessation of Iran’s nuclear efforts by the middle of this month. To the consternation of officials in Europe and Washington, Ahmadinejad promised only to respond by the end of the Iranian month of Mordad (August 22). Why that date? Why so long to look over a simple package of incentives and give either a negative or a positive reply? Finding the answers to these troubling questions may require America and Europe to come to terms with a reality Western liberalism has done its...

PUSHING FOR ARMAGEDDON - Inside Iran's New Power Struggle N.Y. Post Amir Taheri June 16, 2006 -excerpt- The theological division among Shi'ites concerns a simple question: What should believers do while the Imam is absent? One doctrine, known as Intizar (waiting) maintains that the best that believers can do is to be patient and wait until the Imam decides to return. Followers of that doctrine are known as Muntazeris (Those Who Wait). That doctrine is opposed by another known as Ta'ajil (To hasten). Its adepts believe that believers should act to hasten the coming of the Mahdi. The Ta'ajilis (Hasteners)...

There’s no doubt about it; Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does not behave according to Western rules. So many Americans naturally assume that he is acting irrationally, that he must be crazy. But according to Amil Imani, an expert on Iranian politics, Ahmadinejad is actually acting rationally based on his fundamentalist belief system, which we ignore or misunderstand at our own peril.

Iran's mullah-run theocracy is on a seemingly unstoppable course to becoming a nuclear power. The country's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a pious zealot with a penchant for visions, is doing his best to provoke the West. Faced with a choice between acceptance and intervention, America and Europe have opted for diplomacy -- for now, that is. It's only a quarter past eight in the morning, just after the early news, and the radio station is already discussing the apocalypse. Radio Jawan's interviewers are out on the streets questioning a handful of Tehranians about their views on their country's nuclear program. It's...

The Role of Hidden Imam in the history and the politics of the Islamic republic of Iran. The notion of the Hidden Imam (Islamic Messiah) has a central role in the Islamic Shiite thoughts. There are countless references to the Hidden Imam in the Shiite books. However, following the victory of the so-called Islamic Revolution in Iran (or as some people say: the hijacking of the Iranian revolution by the Mullahs), in 1979, the references to the Hidden Imam has gained a new importance. The main reason is that the power and wealth of an important oil-exporting contrary, with a...

The notion of the Hidden Imam has gained a new weight. Ahmadinejad’s letter to President Bush was not based on the political considerations, Ahmadinejad thinks he has a divine duty from the Hidden Imam take certain measures. The Hidden Imam was born in 868 AD, named Abu'l-Kasim Muhammad. When the Eleventh Imam died, the seven year old boy declared himself to be the Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi. God hid him from the eyes of men to preserve his life. The Hidden Imam entered the period of Greater Occultation, in which the Imam is the spiritual guide and light of the...

Yesterday, a collection of European nations offered to give Iran a light-water nuclear reactor in an attempt to persuade Tehran to permanently give up uranium enrichment - or face the threat of U.N. Security Council sanctions. Ooooooooh, scarey. The U.N., oh please, not that!

HE'S tiny, wears a perfectly groomed beard and waves to his supporters with both hands clasped high in the air, prize-fighter-style - and now Jakarta's university students have declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "the world's most charismatic leader". While much of the world struggles to come to terms with Iran's plans for developing nuclear technology, its enigmatic President spent yesterday playing to his new fans at two of Indonesia's most prestigious academic institutions. Ahmadinejad is having a hard time finding friends on the international stage after refusing to back down on his declaration that Iran has a right to enrich uranium. He...

Any student of history knows the failure to learn its lessons leaves a nation likely to repeat its mistakes. On Feb. 23, 1998, an event occurred that went ignored by the United States. Not until September 11, 2001 would its importance become clear -- and, thus, from the vantage point of hindsight, a "lesson learned." For it was then that a little-known terrorist named Osama bin Laden declared war against the U.S. For those who heard it, the declaration must have sounded as ludicrous and nonthreatening as Prime Minister Count Mountjoy's declaration of war against the U.S. in the movie...

At the end of his speech at the United Nations in the fall of 2005, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made an invocation to Allah to bring about the speedy reappearance of the Hidden Imam. The media and, sad to say, many academic persons were at a loss to explain this eschatological reference. The situation was complicated by later interviews in which Ahmadinejad reported that many of his co-religionists claimed that while he was making those remarks, they could see about him an aura of light. He recalled that he too was aware of a celestial light at that time. He...

Tehran plans nuclear weapon test by March WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Tehran is planning a nuclear weapons test before the Iranian New Year on March 20, 2006 says a group opposed to the regime in Tehran. The Foundation for Democracy citing sources in the U.S and Iran offered no further information. The FDI quotes sources in Iran that the high command of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force have issued new orders to Shahab-3 missile units, ordering them to move mobile missile launchers every 24 hours in view of a potential pre-emptive strike by the U.S. or Israel. The order...

Rogue mullahs11:17 PM PST on Friday, January 20, 2006 The horrible prospect of Iran gaining a nuclear weapon now appears inevitable. The United States has the power to stop the mullahs, but lacks the political will. The United Nations has neither. So at this point, fostering regime change from within Iran, a long shot, is likely the only hope. After more than two years of ineffectual talks, the so-called EU-3 -- France, Britain and Germany -- admitted this week that its negotiations with the mullahs had collapsed. This inevitable failure was plain for all to see, since the efforts began...

Recently, the leaders of six nations, including the United States and Great Britain, met to discuss Iran’s restarting its nuclear research program. To quote Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Iran’s actions “crossed the threshold.” What threshold? The threshold between actions that are irritating or worrisome and those that keep you up at night. This is especially true of Iran if you understand the religious—and, I would say, scary—vision that shapes Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s decisions. Iran’s president is not only a devout Shiite Muslim; he is also what is known as a Mahdaviat. The term means “one who believes in and...

Iran's Messianic Menace By Daniel Pipes FrontPageMagazine.com | January 10, 2006 Thanks to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, a new word has entered the political vocabulary: mahdaviat. Not surprisingly, it’s a technical religious term. Mahdaviat derives from mahdi, Arabic for “rightly-guided one,” a major figure in Islamic eschatology. He is, explains the Encyclopaedia of Islam, “the restorer of religion and justice who will rule before the end of the world.” The concept originated in the earliest years of Islam and, over time, became particularly identified with the Shi‘ite branch. Whereas “it never became an essential part of Sunni religious...

True believers dial messiah hotline in Iran Energized by president's beliefs, end-of-timers redouble their outreach. By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor QOM, IRAN - Have a quick question about when the Mahdi is coming to save mankind, according to Shiite Muslim adherents? Need to know the signs? Just call the new messiah "hotline." Or log on to Bright Future News Agency to get the latest religious readout - all part of the effort by freshly rejuvenated true believers in Iran to spread their message of the imminent return of the Mahdi, the 12th Imam who...

Is Iran's Ahmadinejad a messianic medium? By Kenneth R. Timmerman Friday, December 30, 2005 With negotiations over Iran's nuclear program looming once again, understanding Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is critically important. Perhaps the best place to start is the moment the world first gained a glimpse of Ahmadinejad's character and hard-line program. When Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nations in New York last September, he suddenly felt himself surrounded by light. It wasn't the stage lighting, he said. It was light from heaven. Ahmadinejad related his otherworldly experience in a videotaped meeting with a prominent ayatollah in Tehran. A transcript...

Waiting for the rapture in Iran Scott Peterson, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Wed Dec 21,2005 For those who believe, the devotion is real. Tears stream down the cheeks of 2,000 men ripe for the return of the Mahdi, the 12th Imam they expect will soon emerge to bring justice and peace to a corrupt world. Eyes stare upward and arms open wide to receive God's promised salvation. The storyteller's lyrical song speaks of tragedy on the path to salvation, prompting cries of anguish and joy. As at a Christian revivalist meeting that promises healing and redemption, many...