US, France, UK, Turkey, Italy prepare for military intervention in Syria

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

Despite public denials, military preparations for intervention in the horrendous Syrian crisis are quietly afoot in Washington, Paris, Rome, London and Ankara. President Barack Obama is poised for a final decision after the Pentagon submits operational plans for protecting Syrian rebels and beleaguered populations from the brutal assaults of Bashar Assad’s army, debkafile’s Washington sources disclose.

This process is also underway in allied capitals which joined the US in the Libyan operation that ended Muammar Qaddafi’s rule in August, 2011. They are waiting for a White House decision before going forward.

In Libya, foreign intervention began as an operation to protect the Libyan population against its ruler’s outrageous crackdown on dissent. It was mandated by UN Security Council. There is no chance of this in the Syrian case because it will be blocked by a Russian veto. Therefore, Western countries are planning military action of limited scope outside the purview of the world body, possibly on behalf of “Friends of Syria,” a group of 80 world nations which meets for the first time in Tunis Friday, Feb. 24, to hammer out practical steps for terminating the bloodbath pursued by the Assad regime.

The foreign ministers and senior officials – Russia has excluded itself – will certainly be further galvanized into action by the tragic deaths of two notable journalists Wednesday, Feb. 22, on the 19th day of the shelling of Homs.

Preparations for the event are taking place at the Foreign Office in London. Wednesday, Foreign Secretary William Hague said: Governments around the world have the responsibility to act…and to redouble our efforts to stop the Assad regime’s despicable campaign of terror.”

Hague pointedly said nothing about removing the Syrian ruler. Nor did he spell out the efforts need to stop the campaign of terror. debkafile’s military sources note that he left these issues open because a decision by President Obama about if and how the US will act is pending until the Pentagon submits operational plans to Commander-in-Chief Obama.

The US president is also waiting for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s report on the mood at the Tunis conference. He wants to know in particular if Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and the UAR will support US-led Western intervention in Syria, both politically and financially.

The Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin and the French Figaro video-photographer Remi Ochik died Wednesday in the heavy shelling of a fortified building which housed Western journalists making their way into Homs under the protection of Syrian rebels. Three other Western journalists were injured. Western military sources reported Thursday that this undercover Western press center was maintained by the rebels in tight secrecy. The building was practically gutted by a direct hit, suggesting that Syrian forces located it with the help of advanced electronic measures.

Another Western source noted that the journalists covering the atrocities in Homs from this hideout used coded channels of communications protected by anti-jamming and anti-tracking devices. The Syrians must therefore have called on Russian satellites or advanced Iranian electronic systems to locate it.

The authorities in Damascus decided to treat the press hideout as the first step in overt Western intervention in the Syrian conflict. It was accordingly razed totally with its occupants.

Iran court convicts Christian pastor convert to death

By Lisa Daftari

A trial court in Iran has issued its final verdict, ordering a Christian pastor to be put to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, according to sources close to the pastor and his legal team.

Supporters fear Youcef Nadarkhani, a 34-year-old father of two who was arrested over two years ago on charges of apostasy, may now be executed at any time without prior warning, as death sentences in Iran may be carried out immediately or dragged out for years.

It is unclear whether Nadarkhani can appeal the execution order.

“The world needs to stand up and say that a man cannot be put to death because of his faith,” said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).

“This one case is not just about one execution. We have been able to expose the system instead of just letting one man disappear, like so many other Christians have in the past.”

It is also feared that Nadarkhani will be executed in retaliation as Iran endures crippling sanctions and international pressure in response to its nuclear agenda and rogue rhetoric. The number of executions in Iran has increased significantly in the last month.

“This is defiance,” Sekulow said. “They want to say they will carry out what they say they will do.”

The order to execute Nadarkhani came only days after lawmakers in Congress supported a resolution sponsored by Pennsylvania Rep. Joseph Pitts denouncing the apostasy charge and calling for his immediate release.

“Iran has become more isolated because of their drive for nuclear weapons, and the fundamentalist government has stepped up persecution of religious minorities to deflect criticism,” Pitts, a Republican, told FoxNews.com. “The persecuted are their own citizens, whose only crime is practicing their faith.”

The ACLJ has been a major driving force in keeping Nadarkhani’s case in the international spotlight. Many other advocacy groups and human rights organizations also have mounted global campaigns and petitions against the Iranian government, and experts credit Nadarkhani’s international support for keeping him alive.

The ACLJ recently launched a Twitter campaign to publicize Nadarkhani’s case, asking participants to dedicate a daily tweet to “Tweet for Youcef,” stating the number of days he has been imprisoned (currently 863) and ending the tweet with “ViaOfficialACLJ,” sending readers back to the organization’s website where they could learn more about his case.

Tweets have reached 157 countries and over 400,000 people.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and 89 members of Congress, along with the European Union, France, Great Britain, Mexico and Germany, have condemned Iran for arresting Nadarkhani and have called for his quick release.

Nadarkhani was arrested in October 2009 and was tried and found guilty of apostasy by a lower court in Gilan, a province in Rasht. He was then given verbal notification of an impending death-by-hanging sentence.

His lawyers appealed the decision under the premise that Nadarkhani was never a Muslim at the age of majority, and the case was sent to Iran’s Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court’s decision of execution, provided it could be proven that he had been a practicing Muslim from the age of adulthood, 15 in Islamic law, to age 19, which was when he converted.

The lower court then ruled that Nadarkhani had not practiced Islam during his adult life but still upheld the apostasy charge because he was born into a Muslim family.

The court then gave Nadarkhani the opportunity to recant, as the law requires a man to be given three chances to recant his beliefs and return to Islam.

His first option was to convert back to Islam. When he refused, he was asked to declare Muhammad a prophet, and still he declined.

Iran’s judiciary had delayed in issuing a final verdict, fearing the decision would have far-reaching political implications.

Sources say Nadarkhani has been advised by family members, lawyers and members of his church to remain silent throughout his ordeal, out of fear that authorities may use his statements against him, a strategy commonly employed by the regime.

Franklin Graham questions Obama’s Christian beliefs, calls Santorum ‘a man of faith’

By Elizabeth Tenety

Franklin Graham, son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday raised questions about the sincerity of President Obama’s Christian faith.

When asked by “Morning Joe” panelists why he was willing to say that former House speaker Newt Gingrich was a Christian but expressed doubt that President Obama is, Graham said:

“All I know is that under Obama, President Obama, the Muslims of the world he seems to be more concerned about them than the Christians that are being murdered.”

Graham, who works as president and CEO of the Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, also suggested that Obama became a Christian for strategic rather than spiritual reasons during his time working as a community organizer in Chicago.

Graham was asked by the “Morning Joe” hosts about his past controversial comments about the Muslim lineage of Obama’s father. “You’ve said in the past that since President Obama’s father was Muslim, that President Obama has ‘the seed of Islam,’ I believe you put it, in his blood.”

Here’s how Graham responded:

Graham: “Under Islamic law, under Sharia law, Islam sees him as a son of Islam because his father was a Muslim, his grandfather was a Muslim, his great-grandfather was a Muslim. So under Islamic law the Muslim world sees Barack Obama as a Muslim, as a son of Islam. That’s just the way it works. That’s the way they see it. But of course he says he didn’t grow up that way, he doesn’t believe in that, he believes in Jesus Christ so I accept that. But I’m just saying that the Muslim world, Islam, they see him as a son of Islam.

Morning Joe: But you do not think he’s a Muslim.

Graham: No.

Morning Joe: Categorically not a Muslim.

Graham: Well, I can’t say categorically because Islam has gotten a free pass under Obama and we see the Arab Spring and coming out of the Arab Spring the Islamists are taking control of the Middle East. People like Mubarak, who was a dictator, but he kept the peace with Israel. The Christian minorities in Egypt were protected. Now those Christian minorities throughout the entire Arab world are under attack. Newsweek magazine last week, cover story, was the massacre of Christians in the Islamic world from Europe all the way through the Middle East, Africa, into Asia and Oceania. Muslims are killing Christians. And we need to be forcing, demanding, that if these countries do not protect their minorities, no more foreign aid from the United States. They are not protecting the minorities.”

Graham’s remarks came on the heels of comments by GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, accusing Obama of “phony theology.”

The Pew Forum’s polling has found that, despite the president’s candor about his Christian faith, 43 percent of Americans are unsure about his religion, and nearly one-in-five people believe he is Muslim.

At the time, Pew found that “beliefs about Obama’s religion are closely linked to political judgments about him. Those who say he is a Muslim overwhelmingly disapprove of his job performance, while a majority of those who think he is a Christian approve of the job Obama is doing.”

On “Morning Joe” Graham also commented on the spiritual lives of three of the other potential Republican candidates:

— Rick Santorum: “A very sharp guy, as far as a Christian faith we would be more in line. . . .He is no question a man of faith.”

— Newt Gingrich: “I think Newt is a Christian. At least he told me he is.”

— Mitt Romney:“Christians would not recognize Mormonism as part of
the Christian faith.”

Graham’s religious politicking might fit right into our current milieu, but in a 2011 interview with Christianity Today’s Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Franklin’s father Billy Graham expressed regret for getting too mixed up in politics during his heyday:

CT: If you could, would you go back and do anything differently?

Billy Graham: I would have steered clear of politics. I’m grateful for the opportunities God gave me to minister to people in high places; people in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to. But looking back I know I sometimes crossed the line, and I wouldn’t do that now.

'UFO' photo takes internet by storm

Watch Youtube Video

GLIDING slowly against a backdrop of a rain-sodden sky, it looks completely at odds with its surroundings.

Footage of a 'flying saucer' approaching and then landing at an industrial estate - supposedly near to the infamous Roswell alien landing site in New Mexico - has taken the Internet by storm.

It was recorded by a passenger in a car driving along a motorway. The exact location and time of the extra-terrestrial event is unknown.

However, all may not be as it seems, with many online conspiracy theorists claiming the landing is nothing more than an elaborate hoax.

The video was uploaded to YouTube by Stephen Hannard of Alien Disclosure Group UK.
He commented: 'Possible leaked footage of a UFO arriving then landing at an unknown location in New Mexico.

'Could be one of ours, CGI, or could be the real deal. As always you decide.'

The chief complaint from YouTube users unconvinced by the footage is that the terrain the UFO is hovering over looks distinctly like northern Europe, and nothing like the parched deserts of New Mexico.

The vehicles glimpsed in the footage also appear to be small European cars and lorries, as opposed to their larger American equivalents.

One viewer, 3492crusherdestroyer, writes: 'Can tell this is in the UK, British road signs on the road, European models of cars and trucks in the car park.

'So it's fake but it's well done and still cool.'

Enquirer Runs Whitney Coffin Picture

A photograph apparently showing Whitney Houston in her open coffin has been published on the cover of US magazine 'National Enquirer'.

The chilling picture shows the singer lying dead in her golden casket, clad in a regal purple dress and wearing what looks like a diamond brooch and earrings.

The weekly magazine has run the snap alongside a bold headline proclaiming: "Whitney: The last photo!"

It is understood the photograph was taken inside the Whigham Funeral Home in Newark, New Jersey, where her family attended a private wake last Friday (local time) on the eve of her funeral.

The magazine claims the photo was taken at the private viewing - although does not reveal who took the picture.

Carolyn Whigham, the owner of the Whigham Funeral Home, told MailOnline: "I have spoken with the family about this and they have asked me not to comment on the matter."