Nation of Yahweh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other organizations with a name referring to Yahweh, see Yahweh (disambiguation).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2007)

The Nation of Yahweh is a predominantly African-American religious group that is the most controversial offshoot of the Black Hebrew Israelites line of thought. They were founded in 1979 in Miami by Hulon Mitchell, Jr., who went by the name Yahweh ben Yahweh. Their goal is to return African Americans, whom they see as the original Israelites, to Israel. The group departs from mainstream Christianity and Judaism by accepting Yahweh ben Yahweh as the Son of God. In this way, their beliefs are unique and distinct from that of other known Black Hebrew Israelite groups.^[1][2] The group has engendered controversy due to legal issues of its founder and has also faced accusations of being a black supremacist cult by the Southern Poverty Law Center^[3] and The Miami Herald.^[4]
The SPLC has criticized the beliefs of the Nation of Yahweh as racist, stating that the group believed blacks are “the true Jews” and that whites were “white devils.” They also claim the group believed Yahweh ben Yahweh had a Messianic mission to vanquish whites and that they held views similar to the Christian Identity movement. They quote Tom Metzger of White Aryan Resistance as saying groups like theirs are “the black counterpart of us.”^[5]
The Anti-Defamation League has criticized the Nation of Yahweh and some other Black Hebrew sects, stating, “In 1987, ADL reported on Black sects holding these views [arguing that today’s Jews are not the “chosen people” described in the Bible, … instead that the label applies to people of African descent], such as the Yahwehs and the Original African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem. Today, this form of Black supremacy is promoted on the Web by the 12 Tribes of Israel site, which cites hundreds of Biblical passages to prove that Blacks are the children of Israel and whites the Satanic offspring of Esau.”^[6]
Despite the recent death of their leader (see Yahweh ben Yahweh) the Nation of Yahweh is still active. Its members also claim to have abandoned their past racism and the leader’s daughter has apparently stated that all people are children of God.^{[citation needed]} An attorney and member of the group, Wendelyn Rush, insists their current war with the U.S. government is a non-violent verbal battle. The group is currently spread throughout the US and is no longer concentrated in one location (formerly Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA). They claim that their present literature downplays and has nearly erased all past racism.^{[citation needed] [7]}
The Nation of Yahweh is perhaps best known nationally for its purchase of infomercial time. The Nation airs a weekly half-hour program on stations across the United States, usually on weekends during little-watched early morning hours, that combines Biblical study along with discussion of the Nation itself.

Yahweh ben Yahweh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yahweh ben Yahweh
Born	October 27, 1935 Kingfisher, Oklahoma United States
Died	May 7, 2007 (aged 71) Miami, Florida United States
Occupation	Leader of Nation of Yahweh
Children	Sincere Israel

Yahweh ben Yahweh, was born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma as Hulon Mitchell Jr.(October 27, 1935 – May 7, 2007) to Hulon Mitchell (a Pentecostal Holiness reverend) and his wife Pearl Olive Mitchell. He was the founder and leader of the Nation of Yahweh.

Contents [show]

[edit] Leader of Nation of Yahweh

The Nation of Yahweh set up its headquarters in Liberty City, Florida. Yahweh ben Yahweh emphasized that God and all the prophets of the Bible were black and blacks would gain the knowledge of their true history through him. He also emphasized whites and particularly Jews as infidels and oppressors. Lastly he emphasized loyalty to himself as the son of God YHWH.
The Nation of Yahweh remodeled a series of buildings in Miami. These buildings allowed for the growth and development of the Yahwehs. He became the living Messiah of the Nation of Yahweh.
At the time his business and charity efforts earned him respect in the community. The mayor of Miami, Florida declared on October 7, 1990, “Yahweh ben Yahweh Day.”^[1] This occurred a month before his indictment for alleged crimes.

[edit] Crimes and aftermath

Although his followers remained devoted to him, by the 1990s he was in trouble with the law. From 1990 until his release on September 26, 2001, he served 11 years of an 18-year sentence on a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) conviction after he and several other Nation of Yahweh members were convicted of conspiracy in more than a dozen murders. He was acquitted of first degree murder charges in 1992.
Yahweh Ben Yahweh was released on parole in 2001 and returned to Miami, but his activities were strongly restricted until a few months before his death. He was prohibited from reconnecting with his old congregation. To assure this he was restricted from any form of speech by telephone, computer, radio or television that could place him in contact with any congregational members. In 2006, as he became increasingly ill with prostate cancer, his attorney Jayne Weintraub petitioned the U.S. District Court for his release from parole in order to permit him to “die with dignity”.
^[2]
A ruling on a failed appeal, U.S. v. Yahweh Ben Yahweh (792 F. Supp. 104) starts:

Violent crime cases are the exception in federal courts. The instant case is arguably the most violent case ever tried in a federal court: the indictment charges the sixteen defendants on trial with 14 murders by means such as beheading, stabbing, occasionally by pistol shots, plus severing of body parts such as ears to prove the worthiness of the killer. They were also charged with arson of a slumbering neighborhood using molotov cocktails. The perpetrators were ordered to wait outside the innocent victims’ homes wearing ski masks and brandishing machetes to deter the victims from fleeing the flames.

However, his lawyers’ attempt to end the conditions for his parole eventually succeeded.
Yahweh ben Yahweh only faced conviction for conspiracy. A primary component of the prosecution’s case was the testimony of Robert Rozier. Rozier, a former NFL player and Yahweh ben Yahweh follower, admitted to several of the murders and testified against Hulon Mitchell Jr., in return for a lighter sentence. Rozier would later enter the Witness Protection Program, but would return to prison after being given a 25 years to life sentence under California’s three strikes law, following a check kiting conviction.
He had the Federal Bureau of Prisons ID# 22031-034.^[3]
Yahweh ben Yahweh died May 7, 2007 from prostate cancer.^[4] Among other relatives he was survived by his younger sister Leona, who is a noted soprano who sang at the Metropolitan Opera.^[5][6]

Leo Joseph Ryan, Jr.

Leo Ryan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leo Joseph Ryan, Jr.
Ryan in 1977–1978
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives for California‘s 11th congressional district
In office January 3, 1973 – November 18, 1978
Preceded by	Paul N. McCloskey, Jr.
Succeeded by	William H. Royer
Constituency	11th District
Member of the California State Assembly for the 27th District
In office 1962–1972
Preceded by	Glenn E. Coolidge
Succeeded by	Lou Papan
Constituency	27th District
Mayor of South San Francisco, California
In office 1962–1962
Constituency	South San Francisco, California
Born	May 5, 1925 Lincoln, Nebraska
Died	November 18, 1978 (aged 53) Port Kaituma, Guyana
Political party	Democratic
Children	Five
Occupation	Politician

Leo Joseph Ryan, Jr. (May 5, 1925 – November 18, 1978) was an American politician of the Democratic Party. He served as a U.S. Representative from the 11th Congressional District of California from 1973 until he was murdered in Guyana by members of the Peoples Temple shortly before the Jonestown Massacre in 1978. After the Watts Riots of 1965, then-Assemblyman Ryan took a job as a substitute school teacher to investigate and document conditions in the area. In 1970, he investigated the conditions of Californian prisons by being held, under a pseudonym, as an inmate in Folsom Prison, while presiding as chairman on the Assembly committee that oversaw prison reform. During his time in Congress, Ryan traveled to Newfoundland to investigate the killing of seals.
Ryan was also famous for vocal criticism of the lack of Congressional oversight of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and authored the Hughes-Ryan Amendment, passed in 1974. He was also an early critic of L. Ron Hubbard and his Scientology movement and of the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon.^[1] On November 3, 1977, Ryan read into the United States Congressional Record a testimony by John Gordon Clark about the health hazards connected with destructive cults.^[1] Ryan is the only U.S. congressman ever to be killed in the line of duty.^[2][3][4][5] He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1983.

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[edit] Early life and career

Leo Ryan was born in Lincoln, Nebraska.^[6] Throughout his early life, his family moved frequently through Illinois, Florida, New York, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. He graduated from Campion Jesuit High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in 1943.^[7][8] He then received V-12 officer training at Bates College and served with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 as a submariner.^[9]
Ryan graduated from Nebraska’s Creighton University with an B.A. in 1949 and an M.S. in 1951.^[6] He taught History at Capuchino High School, and chaperoned the marching band in 1961 to Washington, D.C. to participate in President John F. Kennedy‘s inaugural parade. Ryan was inspired by Kennedy’s call to service in his inaugural address, and decided to run for higher office.^[10] He served as a teacher, school administrator and South San Francisco city councilman from 1956 to 1962.^[6]

[edit] Political career

Official Congressional photo from Ryan’s first term as Congressman, 1973.

[edit] State of California

In 1962, Ryan was elected mayor of South San Francisco. He served less than a year as mayor, before taking a seat in the California State Assembly‘s 27th district, winning his assembly race by a margin of 20,000 votes.^[10][11] He had previously run for the State Assembly’s 25th district in 1958, but lost to Republican Louis Francis.^[11] Ryan served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1964 and 1968,^[6] and he held his Assembly seat through 1972, when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He was successively elected three more times to the United States Congress.^[6]
U.S. Congresswoman and former California State Senator Jackie Speier described Ryan’s style of investigation as “experiential legislating”.^[10] After the Watts Riots of 1965, Assemblyman Ryan went to the area and took a job as a substitute school teacher to investigate and document conditions in the area. In 1970, using a pseudonym, Ryan had himself arrested, detained, and strip searched to investigate conditions in the California prison system. He stayed as an inmate for ten days in the Folsom Prison, while presiding as chairman on the Assembly committee that oversaw prison reform.^[12][13]
As a California Assemblyman, Ryan also served as the Chairman of legislative subcommittee hearings and presided over hearings involving his later successor as Congressman, Tom Lantos.^[14] Ryan pushed through important educational policies in California and authored what came to be known as the Ryan Act, which established an independent regulatory commission to monitor educational credentialing in the state.^[15]

[edit] United States Congress

During his time in Congress, Ryan went to Newfoundland with James Jeffords to investigate the inhumane killing of seals,^[16][17] and he was famous for vocal criticism of the lack of Congressional oversight of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), authoring the Hughes-Ryan Amendment,^[18][19] which would have required extensive CIA notification of Congress about planned covert operations.^[20][21] Congressman Ryan once told Dick Cheney that leaking a state secret was an appropriate way for a member of Congress to block an “ill-conceived operation”.^[22]
Ryan criticized L. Ron Hubbard‘s Scientology movement and the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon. On November 3, 1977, Ryan read into the United States Congressional Record a testimony by John Gordon Clark about the health hazards connected with destructive cults.^[1] In this speech before Congress, Congressman Ryan noted that his greatest concern was: “for those young people who have been converted by these religious cults and for their parents, who have suffered the loss of their children.”^[1] Congressman Ryan went on to note that a parent of one of these young people had first brought Dr. Clark’s testimony to his attention.^[1] In previous correspondence with this parent, Congressman Ryan thanked the parent for her “detailed letter regarding Scientology”, and yet noted that “We haven’t yet found a way to attack these jackals who feed on children and young adults who are too emotionally weak to stand by themselves when they reach the age of consent.”^[23] Congressman Ryan supported Patricia Hearst, and along with Senator S. I. Hayakawa, delivered Hearst’s application for a presidential commutation to the Pardon Attorney.^[24]

[edit] Peoples Temple

Further information: Peoples Temple, Timothy Stoen, and Peoples Temple in San Francisco

In 1978, reports regarding widespread abuse and human rights violations in Jonestown among the Peoples Temple, led by cult leader Jim Jones, began to filter out of the organization’s Guyana enclaves. Ryan was friends with the father of former Temple Member Bob Houston, whose mutilated body was found near train tracks on October 5, 1976, three days after a taped telephone conversation with Houston’s ex-wife in which leaving the Temple was discussed.^[25] Ryan’s interest was further aroused by the custody battle between the leader of a “Concerned Relatives” group, Timothy Stoen, and Jones following a Congressional “white paper” written by Stoen detailing the events.^[26][27] Ryan was one of 91 Congressmen to write Guyanese Prime Minister Forbes Burnham on Stoen’s behalf.^[25][26]
After later reading an article in the San Francisco Examiner, Ryan declared his intention to go to Jonestown, an agricultural commune in Guyana where Jim Jones and roughly 1,000 Temple members resided. Ryan’s choice was also influenced both by the Concerned Relatives group, which consisted primarily of Californians, as were most Temple members, and by his own characteristic distaste for social injustice.^[28] According to the San Francisco Chronicle, while investigating the events, the United States Department of State “repeatedly stonewalled Ryan’s attempts to find out what was going on in Jonestown”, and told him that “everything was fine”.^[10] The State Department characterized possible action by the United States government in Guyana against Jonestown as creating a potential “legal controversy”, but Ryan at least partially rejected this viewpoint.^[29] In a later article in The Chronicle, Ryan was described as having “bucked the local Democratic establishment and the Jimmy Carter administration’s State Department” in order to prepare for his own investigation.^[13]

[edit] Travels to Jonestown

On November 1, 1978, Ryan announced that he would visit Jonestown.^[30] He did so as part of a government investigation and received permission and government funds to do so.^[31] He made the journey in his role as chairman of a congressional subcommittee with jurisdiction over U.S. citizens living in foreign countries. He asked the other members of his Bay Area congressional delegation to join him on the investigation to Jonestown, but they all declined his invitation.^[10] Ryan had also asked his friend Indiana Congressman Dan Quayle to accompany him – Quayle had served with Ryan on the Government Operations Committee – but Quayle was unable to go on the trip.^[32]
While the party was initially planned to consist of only a few members of the Congressman’s staff and press as part of the congressional delegation, once the media learned of the trip the entourage ballooned to include, among others, Concerned Relatives members. Congressman Ryan traveled to Jonestown with 17 Bay Area relatives of Peoples Temple members, several newspaper reporters and an NBC TV team.^[33] When the legal counsel for Jones attempted to impose several restrictive conditions on the visit, Ryan responded that he would be traveling to Jonestown whether Jones permitted it or not. Ryan’s stated position was that a “settlement deep in the bush might be reasonably run on authoritarian lines”.^[33] However, residents of the settlement must be allowed to come and go as they pleased. He further asserted that if the situation had become “a gulag”, he would do everything he could to “free the captives”.^[33]

[edit] Jungle ambush

Main article: Jonestown

On November 14, according to the Foreign Affairs Committee report,^[34] Ryan left Washington and arrived in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana located 150 miles (240 km) away from Jonestown, with his congressional delegation of government officials, media representatives and some members of the “Concerned Relatives”.^[35]

Jonestown

Georgetown

Kaituma

Jonestown, Guyana.

That night the delegation stayed at a local hotel where, despite confirmed reservations, most of the rooms had been cancelled and reassigned, leaving the delegation sleeping in the lobby.^[36] For three days, Ryan continued negotiation with Jones’s legal counsel and held perfunctory meetings with embassy personnel and Guyanese officials.^[37]

The Temple’s house in Georgetown.

While in Georgetown, Ryan visited the Temple’s Georgetown headquarters in the suburb of Lamaha Gardens.^[38] Ryan asked to speak to Jones by radio, but Sharon Amos, the highest-ranking Temple member present, told Ryan that he could not because his present visit was unscheduled.^[35] On November 17, Ryan’s aide Jackie Speier (who became a Congresswoman in April 2008), the United States embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Richard Dwyer, a Guyanese Ministry of Information officer, nine journalists, and four Concerned Relatives representatives of the delegation boarded a small plane for the flight to an airfield at Port Kaituma a few miles outside of Jonestown.^[34] At first, only the Temple legal counsel was allowed off the plane, but eventually the entire entourage (including Gordon Lindsay, reporting for NBC) was allowed in. Initially, the welcome at Jonestown was warm,^[31] but Temple member Vernon Gosney handed a note to NBC correspondent Don Harris which stated, “Please help me get out of Jonestown,” listing himself and Temple member Monica Bagby.^[33] That night, the media and the delegation were returned to the airfield for accommodations following Jones’s refusal to allow them to stay the night; the rest of the group remained.^[34]

Aerial view of Jonestown

The next morning, Ryan, Speier, and Dwyer all continued their interviews, and in the morning met a woman who secretly expressed her wish to leave Jonestown with her family and another family. Around 11:00 A.M. local time, the media and the delegation returned and took part in interviewing Peoples Temple members. Around 3:00 p.m., 14 Temple defectors, and Larry Layton posing as a defector, boarded a truck and were taken to the airstrip, with Ryan wishing to stay another night to assist any others that wished to leave. Shortly thereafter, a failed knife attack on Congressman Ryan occurred while he was arbitrating a family dispute on leaving.^[39] Against Ryan’s protests, Deputy Chief of Mission Dwyer ordered Ryan to leave, but he promised to return later to address the dispute.^[34]

Camera-shot by Bob Brown (NBC) of shooters.

The entire group left Jonestown and arrived at the Kaituma airstrip by 4:45 p.m. local time.^[34] Their exit transport planes, a twin-engine Otter and a Cessna, did not arrive until 5:10 p.m.^[34] The smaller six-seat Cessna was just taxiing to the end of the runway when one of its occupants, Larry Layton, opened fire on those inside, wounding several.^[34] Concurrently, several other Peoples Temples members who had escorted the group out began to open fire on the transport plane, killing Congressman Ryan, three journalists and a defecting Temple member, while wounding nine others, including Speier.^[25][40] The gunmen riddled Congressman Ryan’s body with bullets before shooting him in the face.^[41] The passengers on the Cessna subdued Larry Layton and the surviving people on both planes fled into nearby fields during and after the attack.^[34]
That afternoon, before the news became public, the wife of Ryan aide William Holsinger received three threatening phone calls.^[42] The caller allegedly stated, “Tell your husband that his meal ticket just had his brains blown out, and he better be careful.”^[42] The Holsingers then fled to Lake Tahoe and later to a ranch in Houston.^[42] They never returned to San Francisco.^[42] Following its takeoff, the Cessna radioed in a report of the attack, and the U.S. Ambassador, John R. Burke, went to the residence of Prime Minister Forbes Burnham.^[34] It was not until the next morning that the Guyanese army could cut through the jungle and reach the settlement.^[34] They discovered 909 of its inhabitants dead; the individuals died in what the United States House of Representatives described as a “mass suicide/murder ritual”.^[34]

[edit] Conviction of Larry Layton

Larry Layton, brother of author and former Peoples Temple member Deborah Layton, was convicted in 1986 of conspiracy in the murder of Leo Ryan.^[43] Temple defectors boarding the truck to Port Kaituma warned about Larry Layton that “there’s no way he’s a defector. He’s too close to Jones.” ^[44] Layton was the only former Peoples Temple member to be tried in the United States for criminal acts relating to the murders at Jonestown.^[45][46] He was convicted on four different murder-related counts.^[47]
On March 3, 1987, Layton was sentenced to concurrent sentences of life in prison for “aiding and abetting the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan”, “conspiracy to murder an internationally protected person, Richard Dwyer, Deputy Chief of Mission for the United States in the Republic of Guyana”, as well as fifteen years in prison on other related counts.^[48] At that time, he would become eligible for parole in five years.^[49] On June 3, 1987, Layton’s motion to set aside the conviction “on the ground that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel during his second trial” was denied by the United States District Court, of the Northern District of California.^[49] After spending eighteen years in prison, Layton was released from custody in April 2002.^[50]

[edit] Memorial

[edit] Burial

Ryan’s headstone

Leo Ryan’s body was returned to the United States and interred at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California. The official Congressional Memorial Services for Ryan were compiled into a book: Leo J. Ryan – Memorial Services – Held In The House Of Representatives & Senate Of The U. S., Together With Remarks.^[51] Remembering the funeral of her brother held in the San Francisco area, Ryan’s younger sister Shannon stated she was surprised both by the number of supporters that attended the funeral, and by the “outgrowth of real, honest sorrow”.^[3]
For his efforts, Ryan was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress and signed by President Ronald Reagan.^[52][53][54] He is the first and only member of Congress to have been killed in the line of duty.^[2][3][4][5] In President Reagan’s remarks upon signing the bill awarding Congressman Ryan the Congressional Gold Medal, he stated: “It was typical of Leo Ryan’s concern for his constituents that he would investigate personally the rumors of mistreatment in Jonestown that reportedly affected so many from his district.”^[52] Ryan’s daughters Erin and Patricia had helped to garner support for the Congressional Gold Medal, in time for the fifth anniversary of Ryan’s death.^[55]
After his death, Ryan’s daughter Shannon Jo changed her name to Jasmine and joined Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a cult,^{[31][56][57][58]} while her sister Patricia became president of the old Cult Awareness Network.^[59][60] Ryan’s daughter Erin worked for the C.I.A. before eventually becoming an aide to her father’s former aide Jackie Speier, who had in 1998 been elected to the California State Senate.^[60]

[edit] Anniversary

Sign at the Leo J. Ryan Memorial Park

Leo J. Ryan Post Office Building

On the 25th anniversary of his death, a special memorial tribute was held in his honor in Foster City, California. Ryan’s family and friends, including Jackie Speier and Ryan’s daughters, were in attendance. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that “Over and over today, people described a great man who continually exceeded his constituents’ expectations.”^[61] Near the end of the memorial service, parents of those who had died in Jonestown stood to honor and thank Congressman Ryan for giving his own life while trying to save those of their children. After the service ended, mounted police escorted the family and friends into Foster City’s Leo J. Ryan Memorial Park. A wreath was laid next to a commemorative rock that honored Ryan.^[61] The same year, Ryan’s daughter Erin attended a memorial for those who died at Jonestown, at the Oakland, California Evergreen Cemetery.^[62] On the anniversary of Congressman Ryan’s death, Jackie Speier traditionally visits his grave at the Golden Gate National Cemetery with his daughter and her friend, Patricia Ryan.^[33]
For the 30th anniversary, Congresswoman Jackie Speier sponsored a bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 210 South Ellsworth Avenue in San Mateo, California, as the “Leo J. Ryan Post Office Building”.^[63] President George W. Bush signed it into law on October 21, 2008.^[64] On November 17, 2008, Jackie Speier spoke at the dedication ceremony at the post office. In part of her speech, she said, “There are those – still, thirty years after his passing – who question his motives, or the wisdom of his actions. But criticism was just fine with Leo. Leo Ryan never did anything because he thought it would make him popular. He was more interested in doing what he knew was right.”^[65]

George H W Bush Announces War Against Iraq (January 16 1991)

George H W Bush Announces War Against Iraq (January 16 1991)

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/IFrnQHaQWoA?fs=1&hl=en_US

George H.W. Bush – Address on Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait (August 8, 1990)

George H.W. Bush – Address on Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait (August 8, 1990)

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/wRP0GIp65bg?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1

National Emergencies Act

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601-1651) is a United States federal law passed in 1976 to stop open-ended states of national emergency and formalize the power of Congress to provide certain checks and balances on the emergency powers of the President. The act sets a limit of two years on states of national emergency. It also imposes certain “procedural formalities” on the President when invoking such powers.

The perceived need for the law arose from the scope and number of laws granting special powers to the executive in times of national emergency (or public danger).

At least two constitutional rights are subject to revocation during a state of emergency:

• The right of habeas corpus, under Article 1, Section 9;
• The right to a grand jury for members of the National Guard when in actual service, under Fifth Amendment.

In addition, many provisions of statutory law are contingent on a state of national emergency, as many as 500 by one count.[1]

It was due in part to concern that a declaration of “emergency” for one purpose should not invoke every possible executive emergency power that Congress in 1976 passed the National Emergencies Act. Among other provisions, this act requires the President to declare formally a national emergency and to specify the statutory authorities to be used under such a declaration.

There were 32 declared national emergencies between 1976 and 2001. [2] Most of these were for the purpose of restricting trade with certain foreign entities under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 U.S.C. 1701-1707).

Contents [show]

[edit] State of National Emergency in effect since September 2001

The United States has been in a state of national emergency continuously since 2001 September 14, when the Bush administration invoked it premised on the September 11 attacks. In September 2010, President Barack Obama informed Congress that the State of National Emergency in effect since September 14, 2001, will be extended another year.^{[1] [2]} The National Emergencies Act grants various powers to the president during times of emergency,^[3] and was intended to prevent a president from declaring a state of emergency of indefinite duration.^[4]

[edit] See also

• Continuity of Government Plan
• National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive
• Rex 84

[edit] References

1. ^ Anti-War, 2010 Sept. 11, “Obama Extends Bush’s 9/11 State of Emergency: America to Enter Tenth Year of ‘Emergency’ Next Week,” http://news.antiwar.com/2010/09/10/obama-announces-state-of-emergency-extension/
2. ^ White House, 2010 Sept. 10, “Letter from the President on the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Certain Terrorist Attacks, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/10/letter-president-continuation-national-emergency-with-respect-certain-te
3. ^ Title 50 United States Code, Chapter 34
4. ^ Anti-War, 2010 Sept. 11, “Obama Extends Bush’s 9/11 State of Emergency: America to Enter Tenth Year of ‘Emergency’ Next Week,” http://news.antiwar.com/2010/09/10/obama-announces-state-of-emergency-extension/

[edit] Bibliography

• F.J. Murray, “Wartime Presidential Powers Supersede Liberties,” Washington Times, Sept. 18, 2001, pp. A1, A12, as quoted in Ref. 2.
• H.C. Relyea, “Martial Law and National Emergency”, Congressional Research Service Report for Congress RS21024, updated January 7, 2005: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RS21024.pdf.
• H.C. Relyea, “National Emergency Powers”, Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, order code 98-505 GOV, updated September 18, 2001: http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/6216.pdf.
• H.C. Relyea, “National Emergency Powers”, Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, order code 98-505 GOV, updated November 13, 2006: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/98-505.pdf.

Categories: United States federal defense and national security legislation | 1976 in law | Emergency laws | Civil detention in the United States

Hezbollah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Hezbollah (disambiguation).

This article may be too long to read and navigate comfortably. Please consider splitting content into sub-articles and using this article for a summary of the key points of the subject. (July 2010)

Hezbollah
Hezbollah flag
Leader	Hassan Nasrallah
Founded	1982 – 1985 (officially)
Ideology	Islamism Islamic Socialism
Religion	Shi’a Islam
Nationality	Lebanese
Website
Varies. See List of official sites.

Hezbollah^[1] (Arabic: حزب الله‎ ḥizbu-illāh(i),^[2] literally “Party of God“) is a Shi’a Islamist political and paramilitary organisation based in Lebanon.^[3] Hezbollah is also a major provider of social services,^[4] operating schools, hospitals, and agricultural services for thousands of Lebanese Shi’a, and plays a significant role in Lebanese politics.^[5] It is regarded as a resistance movement throughout much of the Arab and Muslim world.^[3] Multiple countries, including Sunni Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan,^[6] have condemned actions by Hezbollah, while Syria and Iran have generally been supportive of the organisation.^[7] Most Europeans countries have refused to classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization,^[8] but the United States, Egypt,^[9] Israel, Australia, and Canada regard it in whole or in part as such.^[10]
Hezbollah first emerged in 1982 as a militia in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, also known as Operation Peace for Galilee, set on resisting the Israeli occupation of Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war.^[3][11] Its leaders were inspired by Ayatollah Khomeini, and its forces were trained and organized by a contingent of Iranian Revolutionary Guards.^[12] Hezbollah’s 1985 manifesto listed its four main goals as “Israel’s final departure from Lebanon as a prelude to its final obliteration,” ending “any imperialist power in Lebanon,” submission of the Phalangists to “just rule” and bringing them to trial for their crimes, and giving the people the chance to choose “with full freedom the system of government they want,” while we not hide our commitment to the rule of Islam.” ^[13][14][15] Hezbollah leaders have also made numerous statements calling for the destruction of Israel, which they refer to as a “Zionist entity… built on lands wrested from their owners.”^[14][15]
Hezbollah, which started with only a small militia, has grown to an organization with seats in the Lebanese government, a radio and a satellite television-station, and programs for social development.^[16] Hezbollah maintains strong support among Lebanon’s Shi’a population, and gained a surge of support from Lebanon’s broader population (Sunni, Christian, Druze) immediately following the 2006 Lebanon War,^[17] and is able to mobilize demonstrations of hundreds of thousands.^[18] Hezbollah alongside with some other groups began the 2006–2008 Lebanese political protests in opposition to the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.^[19] A later dispute over Hezbollah preservation of its telecoms network led to clashes and Hezbollah-led opposition fighters seized control of several West Beirut neighborhoods from Future Movement militiamen loyal to Fouad Siniora. These areas were then handed over to the Lebanese Army.^[20] A national unity government was formed in 2008, giving Hezbollah and its opposition allies control of eleven of thirty cabinets seats; effectively veto power.^[5]
Hezbollah receives its financial support from the governments of Iran and Syria, as well as donations from Lebanese people and foreign Shi’as.^[21][22] It has also gained significantly in military strength in the 2000s.^[23] Despite a June 2008 certification by the United Nations that Israel had withdrawn from all Lebanese territory,^[24] in August, Lebanon’s new Cabinet unanimously approved a draft policy statement which secures Hezbollah’s existence as an armed organization and guarantees its right to “liberate or recover occupied lands.” Since 1992, the organization has been headed by Hassan Nasrallah, its Secretary-General.

Hezbollah

Articles Flag of Hezbollah Ideology History Political activities 2008 conflict in Lebanon 2006–2008 Lebanese political protests Doha Agreement Military activities South Lebanon conflict (1982–2000) Operation Accountability Operation Grapes of Wrath 2000–2006 Shebaa Farms conflict 2006 Lebanon War Military capabilities Imam al-Mahdi Scouts Armed strength Foreign relations Funding of Hezbollah Hezbollah’s organizations: Bayt al-Mal Jihad Al Binna IRSO Media: Al-Manar Al-Nour Secretary General: Subhi al-Tufayli Abbas al-Musawi Hassan Nasrallah

Contents [show]

History

Main article: History of Hezbollah

1980s

Main article: South Lebanon conflict (1982–2000)

Ending Israel‘s occupation of Southern Lebanon was the primary focus of Hezbollah’s early activities.^[11] Israel had become militarily involved in Lebanon in combat with the Palestine Liberation Organization, which had been invited into Lebanon after Black September in Jordan. Israel had been attacking the PLO in Southern Lebanon in the lead-up to the 1982 Lebanon War, and Israel had invaded and occupied Southern Lebanon and besieged Beirut.^[25]
Hezbollah waged an asymmetrical guerrilla war against Israel using suicide attacks against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and against Israeli targets outside of Lebanon.^[26] Hezbollah is reputed to have been among the first Islamic resistance groups to use tactical suicide bombing, assassination, and capturing against foreign soldiers in the Middle East.^[12] Hezbollah turned into a paramilitary organization and used missiles, Katyusha, and other type of rocket launchers and detonations of explosive charges^[27][28] instead of capturing,^[29][30] murders,^[29] and hijackings.^[31] At the end of the Lebanese Civil War in 1990, despite the Taif Agreement asking for the “disbanding of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias,” Syria, in control of Lebanon at that time, allowed Hezbollah to maintain their arsenal, and control the Shiite areas in Southern Lebanon along the border with Israel.^[32]

After 1990

In the 1990s, Hezbollah transformed from a revolutionary group into a political one, in a process which is described as the Lebanonisation of Hezbollah. Unlike its uncompromising revolutionary stance in the 1980s, Hezbollah conveyed a lenient stance towards the Lebanese state.^[33]
In 1992, Hezbollah decided to participate in elections, and Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran, endorsed it. Former Hezbollah secretary general, Subhi al-Tufayli, contested this decision, which led to a schism in Hezbollah. Hezbollah won all twelve seats which were on its electoral list. At the end of that year, Hezbollah began to engage in dialog with Lebanese Christians. Hezbollah regards cultural, political, and religious freedoms in Lebanon as sanctified, although it does not extend these values to groups who have relations with Israel.^[34]
In 1997, Hezbollah formed multi-confessional Lebanese Brigades to Fighting the Israeli Occupation, which was an attempt to revive national and secular resistance against Israel, which marks the Lebanonisation of resistance.^[35]

Islamic Jihad Organization

Whether the Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO) was a nom de guerre used by Hezbollah or a separate organization, is disputed.
Hezbollah leaders reportedly admitted their involvement in IJO’s attacks and the nominal nature of “Islamic Jihad” – that it was merely a “telephone organization,”^[36][37] and^[38] whose name was “used by those involved to disguise their true identity.”^{[39][40][41][42][43]}
A 2003 decision by an American court found IJO was the name used by Hezbollah for its attacks in Lebanon, and parts of the Middle East, and Europe.^[44] Hezbollah also used another name, Islamic Resistance, or al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya, for its attacks against Israel.^[45]
The names Islamic Jihad, Organization of the Oppressed on Earth and the Revolutionary Justice Organization are considered to be synonymous with Hezbollah by the United States,^[46] Israel,^[47] and Canada.^[48]

The sixth angel sounding, the fear of Sharia and Islam

The sixth angel sounding, the fear of Sharia and Islam

Although the transgressions mentioned are Judaic, Christian and Muslim, and God is above all, the fear has pervaded for years.

Revelation 9 ¹³And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, ¹⁴Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
¹⁵And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. ¹⁶And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. ¹⁷And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. ¹⁸By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. ¹⁹For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. ²⁰And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: ²¹Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

 

The sixth seal and the great earthquake

The Sixth seal

Revelation 6 ¹²And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; ¹³And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. ¹⁴And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. ¹⁵And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; ¹⁶And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: ¹⁷For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

 

Truth LORD GOD OF TRUTH

 LORD GOD OF TRUTH

Psalm 31:5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth

John 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? 35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; 36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? 37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. 38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Matthew 26:51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear. 52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? 55 In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. 56 But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.

Psalm 119:73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.

74    They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word.

75    I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

Romans 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose….29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Genesis 45:4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. 9 Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:

.

That the scripture be fulfilled according to the word given

Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. 34And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. 35 And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. 36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
37 For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end. 38 And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.

39 And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.

Luke 22:60 And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. 61 And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. 62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

John 12:37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: 38 That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? 39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, 40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. 41 These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.

John 13:18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. 19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he. 20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

John 15:24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

John 18:7 Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. 8 Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way: 9 That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none. 10 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

John 19:23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.

John 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: 34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. 35 And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. 36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. 37 And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.