THE PRESIDENCY AND THE WAR

The war on Iraq has begun. A somber President George W. Bush gave the mad dictator Saddam Hussein forty-eight hours to leave town on Monday, April 18, 2003. Two days later on the evening of Wednesday, April 19th the President informed the nation of our first strike to oust Saddam.

Make no mistake: this is a righteous and just war. For this reason the Religious Freedom Coalition has been running quarter page newspaper ads giving theological justification to the war on Iraq's dictator. So far, our "just war" ad has run twice in the daily edition of the Washington Times and this next week will appear in the national edition of that newspaper as well. We had hoped to place the "just war" ad in USA Today as well, but the funding is just not there.

I wrote and placed the "just war" ad in the Washington Times to counter the full page advertisements being purchased by anti-Bush, anti-American left wing organizations. One full page ad depicted our armed forces as baby-killers and said that all of the evidence against Saddam was forged. There was another full page advertisement featuring an antiwar letter from former President Jimmy Carter.

The last quarter page ad in the Washington Times daily edition by the Religious Freedom Coalition ran the same day that President Bush served 48 hours' notice on Saddam. That was all we could afford. The anti-Bush full page advertisements continue. It appears that those who hate the nation that gives them the freedom to speak are far more willing to pay to get their message out than are conservatives. The RFC cannot spend funds we don't have to run the ads.

There is another anti-American onslaught we can't do anything to stop. Our troops in Kuwait are receiving pop-up e-mail's calling them "baby-killers" and worse. These e-mail's are not being sent by anyone in Iraq; they are being sent from the college campuses of America.

A TRULY DISGUSTING PUBLIC PRAYER

The National Council of Churches has placed on its Internet home page a prayer for BOTH American and Iraqi soldiers. In part the prayer reads, "We pray for the men and women of the armed forces of both sides, facing grave dangers in a mission not of their making." The remainder of the prayer is political in nature. Indeed it is much more an insult to the President of the United States and those attempting to liberate Iraq, rather than being a real prayer to God. The prayer is much like those of the hypocrites Christ exposed in the sixth chapter of Matthew.

The National Council of Churches is a despicable organization. Their offices in Washington, DC support anything and everything anti-American. Under their current antiwar philosophy they would have opposed our fighting Germany in World War II. To them, the extermination of Jews was an "internal" matter for Germany to deal with just as they believe the murder and torture of people in Iraq is an internal affair today. Make no mistake. The NCC is an anti-Israeli organization that borders on the anti-Semitic.

The same National Council of Churches that deems our liberation of Iraq improper does believe that the United States should be subservient to the laws of the United Nations, an organization whose membership consists mostly of dictatorships and monarchies. It seems they believe that only the United States needs to have its affairs run by outsiders. Oddly, they didn't feel that way when Bill Clinton was President.

Good and godly people, many of whom have sons and daughters in harm's way in Iraq, pay for the madness of the National Council of Churches to be spread. Most of the current funds of the NCC comes from the United Methodist Church. This money is coming from tithes that could better be spent telling Muslims about the love of Christ. Instead it is being spent in support of Muslim extremism. Read the prayer at the NCC Internet site and then send them an e-mail with your opinion of it.

WHY THE FRENCH ARE AGAINST US

France has surrendered its national sovereignty. In the United States we as a people do not understand the consequences of the loss of national sovereignty, but it can be seen in French anger toward us.

Membership in the new European Union requires every nation to be submissive to its laws. Thus the French legislature can pass no law in conflict with those of the European Union. In addition the nation of France no longer has a national currency. A German or a Pole can cross at will into France and compete for jobs with Frenchmen who have lived there all their lives. For all intents and purposes, the nation of France no longer exists outside the mind of President Jacques Chirac.

The United States of America, on the other hand, is a truly sovereign republic. Our courts do not recognize the dictates of the European Union; indeed our individual states thumb their collective noses at the orders of European Union courts. The states of Texas and Virginia have been "ordered" not to execute convicted murderers. The men were executed on schedule. This raises the hair on the back of every European, particularly the French who believe that a new world order should be centered around the philosophy that drives gay old "Paree."

President George W. Bush is a true commander-in chief of the armies of an independent democratic nation. President Chirac is just a salesman of European manufactured weapons to Third World nations, and the people of France understand and hate the difference. The hate e-mail on the Internet bears out this truth.

Whether sent to bulletin boards at CNN or to this organization, the e-mail's from France have the same theme of globalization and how American action is a "threat" to a "unified" world. But what kind of "unified" world? The majority of member states in the United Nations are dictatorships and monarchies. The majority of states in the United Nations abuse the rights of women and permit prostitution. How can the French people demand that we join them in being dictated to by the third rate dictators, kings and princes of the Third World?

It is, in my opinion, simple jealousy. The French collectively realize that France is gone. France is now merely a region of Europe where an antiquated language is spoken. The French want their identity back and in their frustration they attack any people who still have an identity.

The Iraq war will make the obvious even more obvious. A common market for Europe was a good idea. That good idea was taken one step too far. Now that union is being pulled apart as the majority of its members side with the United States against France. The last stand of France in the United Nations to force the United States to abandon its sovereignty will lead to the demise of that body.

The French can kiss France good-bye. In a few decades their language and their heritage will be found only in museums, or they will revert to a small independent state with no influence upon Europe or the world. C'est la vie.

THE HOUSE AND SENATE

Despite the war, business has gone on in the House and Senate this past week. . A joint resolution supporting our men and women in uniform has been passed by both the House and the Senate. The Senate continued to debate the Estrada nomination, with the GOP once again calling for a closure vote on the Democrat filibuster. The continuing filibuster is causing serious problems for Democrat Senator Bob Graham of Florida. The Hispanic community in Florida is very conservative, and the Senator's continued refusal to allow a vote on this Hispanic nominee is hurting him politically. How much longer he can hold out is debatable.

During the week, hearings were held on both the House and Senate versions of the Global AIDS Bill. The fight against AIDS in Africa was announced by the President during his State of the Union Address. Since then the bill has been turned into a pot of gold for liberal groups. The bill would give huge amounts of money to liberal, pro-abortion organizations. Much of the money would go to fund condom distribution rather than abstinence training. When the family oriented groups including the Religious Freedom Coalition learned of the language in the bills they responded swiftly and with force. Congressman Hyde who chairs the International Relations Committee was reminded of the fate of the Bankruptcy bill last year when language was added to punish pro-life demonstrators. By the end of the week both the House and Senate had postponed "mark-up" of Global AIDS for an indefinite period. Hopefully the language can be worked on and social conservative groups will be able to bid for funds to teach abstinence and funding for abortion groups will be removed.

KEEP INFORMED

For every new session of Congress the Religious Freedom Coalition publishes a Congressional Watch Book. The book contains complete information on every Congressman and Senator including their photos, phone numbers, fax numbers and e-mail addresses. Committee Assignments and information on how to contact lawmakers are included. For more information and pricing on the Congressional Watch Book please visit our online store.

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William J. Murray, Chairman

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