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Full Story: November 6, 2005.

MEGIDDO PRISON, Israel - Israeli prisoner Ramil Razilo was removing rubble from the planned site of a new prison ward when his shovel uncovered the edge of an elaborate mosaic, unveiling what Israeli archaeologists said Sunday may be the Holy Land?s oldest church.

The discovery of the church in the northern Israeli town of Megiddo, near the biblical Armageddon, was hailed by experts as an important discovery that could reveal details about the development of the early church in the region. Archaeologists said the church dated from the third century, decades before Constantine legalized Christianity across the Byzantine Empire.

?What?s clear today is that it?s the oldest archaeological remains of a church in Israel, maybe even in the entire region. Whether in the entire world, it?s still too early to say,? said Yotam Tepper, the excavation?s head archaeologist.

Israeli officials were giddy about the discovery, with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon calling the church ?an amazing story.?

Vatican officials also hailed the find.

?A discovery of this kind will make Israel more interesting to all Christians, for the church all over the world,? said Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican envoy to Jerusalem. ?If it?s true that the church and the beautiful mosaics are from the third century, it would be one of the most ancient churches in the Middle East.?

Razilo, who is serving a two-year sentence for traffic violations, was one of about 50 prisoners brought into the high-security Megiddo Prison to help excavate the area before the construction of new wards for 1,200 Palestinian prisoners.

Razilo was shocked to uncover the edge of the mosaic. The inmates worked for months to uncover all the parts of the mosaic ? the floor of the church, he said.

?We continued to look and slowly we found this whole beautiful thing,? said Razilo, who used a sponge and a bucket of water to clean dirt off the uncovered mosaics Sunday.

Two mosaics inside the church ? one covered with fish, an ancient Christian symbol that predates the cross ? tell the story of a Roman officer and a woman named Aketous who donated money to build the church in the memory ?of the god, Jesus Christ.?

Pottery remnants from the third century, the style of Greek writing used in the inscriptions, ancient geometric patterns in the mosaics and the depiction of fish rather than the cross indicate that the church was no longer used by the fourth century, Tepper said.

The church?s location, not far from the spot where the New Testament says the final battle between good and evil will take place, also made sense because a bishop was active in the area at the time, said Tepper, who works with the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The inscription, which specifies that Aketous donated a table to the church, indicates the house of worship predated the Byzantine era, when Christians began using altars in place of tables in their rituals, Tepper said. Remnants of a table were uncovered between the two mosaics.

The building ? most of which was destroyed ? also was not built in the Basilica style that was standard under the Byzantines, he added.

Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar and professor at the Holy Land University, said the second and third centuries were transitional periods where people sought to define their religious beliefs and modes of worship. Iconography and inscriptions found in Nazareth and Caperneum ? places where Jesus lived ? show that people went there to worship, although most did so secretly.

?This was a time of persecution and in this way it is quite surprising that there would be such a blatant expression of Christ in a mosaic, but it may be the very reason why the church was destroyed,? Pfann said.

The dig will continue as archaeologists try to uncover the rest of the building and its surroundings, including what they believe could be a baptismal site, Tepper said.

Joe Zias, an anthropologist and former curator with the antiquities authority, questioned the dating of the find, saying there is no evidence of churches before the fourth century. The building may have been in use earlier, but most likely not for Christian religious purposes, he said.

?They?re going to be hard, hard-pressed to prove it ... because the evidence argues otherwise,? Zias said.

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Complete Transcript:

Saddam Hussein's Defense Speech:
"Bush Lied and I Want My Country Back."

~~Rush Limbaugh

November 7, 2005

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I've been thinking about something. Ever since Friday night, Saturday, I've been thinking about this, and I don't know where the germination of the idea came from, but wherever it came from, it's a good one. If I were Saddam Hussein, I would demand that my trial be postponed on this basis:

The honorable Senate Democrats in the United States are doing an honorable investigation to find out exactly what happened to cause me to lose my country, and until these honorable Senate Democrats in the United States get every one of their questions answered about the manipulation and the distortion of the intelligence -- and of course all of the lies about my having weapons of mass destruction; all this before my country was invaded -- I can't get a fair trial, until all these questions are answered by the Senate Democrats. And after these Senate Democrats get the answers that we all know are out there, I, Saddam Hussein, would argue that I never had any weapons of mass destruction, and whatever bad intelligence was generated by a cowboy, fratboy president and his indicted staff, who have poisoned world opinion about me and my government, and as such, I can't get a fair trial anywhere -- and I want my country back. I'm going to make this trial about George W. Bush, and I'm going to be calling as witnesses people like Dick Durbin and Ted Kennedy. I'm going to call Chuck Schumer.

I would call Senator Jay Rockefeller as a witness, if I were Saddam Hussein. I'm serious, folks -- and I wouldn't be surprised if his defense lawyers pick up on this at some point. If I were Saddam Hussein I would never, ever get off the line of attack of Senate Democrats. I would "want answers." I would accuse the lying President Bush of manufacturing evidence and spreading propaganda to a bunch of gullible reporters like Judith Miller of the New York Times and who knows who all at NBC, and say that there exists a massive conspiracy just like Hillary Clinton said; a massive right-wing conspiracy to prop up a failed presidency, and to distract the world from the damage the Bush White House has done to the world's environment, the world's workers, the world's unions, the world's teachers -- and most of all the world's children. If I were Saddam Hussein, I would be making this case, and I would say, "I'm following the lead of these great honorable Senate Democrats of the United States Senate who have the guts and the courage to have the temerity to get to the bottom of all of this." I would follow them down the path they're on.

I, Saddam Hussein, would say that the Senate Democrats are on the way to proving that President Bush has led a false war, permanently screwed up children all over the world as to how you solve problems. My country is Muslim. We are very different from western countries, and that scares stupid, evangelical cowboys like George Bush. Why, Prince Charles even had to go tell Bush, "You misunderstood Islam," the other day. I'd call Prince Charles as a witness! So what does this cowboy Bush do when his oil baron buddies can't have my oil for themselves? Well, they start a war on false pretenses because everybody knows that this war was about nothing but oil and that's why all the intelligence was trumped up, and that's why all of the lies were told and that's why everybody was told and agreed that I had weapons of mass destruction, is because the world wants my oil led by the cowboy Bush, and I thank God -- I thank Allah daily -- for the Senate Democrats, the Democrats of the United States Senate who are leading this courageous effort to prove what a liar and a disaster on the world stage George W. Bush has been. I can't get a fair trial, and until I get a fair trial -- which is not possible -- I demand my country back. All of this that has happened has been based on lies. The world can't sleep at night. If the world can do this to me, a man with nothing but benevolence and love in his heart for his people, what will they do next? Who will they do it to next? The cowboy Bush -- Cheney, Libby, Rove -- they must be stopped, and it's the Senate Democrats in that great institution, the United States Senate, who are leading the way.

If I were Saddam Hussein, I would say, "I have no hope for a fair trial."

What I'm saying is being said by elected members of the United States Senate. As I listen to the elected senators, Democrats of the United States Senate, as they pursue this honorable investigation of George W. Bush, I say to myself, "This is what I said to the UN. This is what I said to the weapons inspectors." This is what I said to the world when I was confronted with what everybody now knows (thanks to the Senate Democrats) are bogus, fake and trumped-up charges.

Bush is a liar! He lied about the reasons for and the need to invade my country, and I want it back. He hires liars. It is George Bush who should be impeached and convicted in his own country and then tried at The Hague in my place. Not me. I had nothing to do with 9/11. Yet I'm the one paying the price. You may not like me; I am Saddam Hussein. You may not agree with the ways of Muslim leaders in the Middle East, but does that give you the right to invade my country? No! The United States Senate Democrats obviously agree with me. They are honorable people. The world should align behind the Democrats of the United States Senate who are trying to wrong one of the most terrible injustices in the history of the world. It is George W. Bush who must be brought to justice by the brave and honorable members of the Democratic Party in the United States Senate. Because leaders of the world and people of the world, I, Saddam Hussein, say to you that it is the senators, the Democrat senators in the United States Senate are all that stand between peace and bloodthirsty imperialism by the United States. May Allah bless the good and decent truth-tellers in the Senate who will not let George Bush continue his lies to his country and to the world! George Bush hides behind his faith, but he's a liar just like these Senate Democrats are saying.

I, Saddam Hussein, from the bottom of my sizable heart, thank the Democrat senators in the United States and all of the websites that support them, and all of the Hollywood Democrats who are asking the Senate Democrats to continue this investigation. I thank all of the American media, because I think the American media is one of the last bastions of honesty and trustworthiness second only to the Democrats of the United States Senate. So I want to thank the mainstream media of the United States. I want to further point out that if my trial is not postponed -- if I can't get a postponement and if I can't get a dismissal of the charges, and if I don't get my country back -- if there is a trial, I demand that I be brought to the US for trial, in a United States civilian court. I can't get a fair trial in Iraq because it's Bush cronies. I can only get a fair trial in the United States where liberal Democrats run the court system. They're the ones doing the great work, the work of Allah, in order to maintain the lies of Bush and the distortions of the war. I want my country back. The United States does not recognize, the US court system doesn't recognize the Geneva Conventions; they don't recognize the due-process rights of illegal combatants like me or those held at Guantanamo Bay. John McCain and the Democrats wanted them tried under our justice system, and if illegal combatants are to be afforded with such treatment -- if you're going to give real terrorists the opportunity to be tried in your court system -- I, Saddam Hussein, demand to be tried in your court system because I am covered under the Geneva Conventions, and I should receive better treatment. And, by the way, I wish to point out -- and I know many people in the American ACLU will agree with me on this -- I, Saddam Hussein, was not Mirandized by the soldiers who captured me. I was denied a speedy trial as compelled by the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution. The charges ought to be dismissed. They did nothing but point weapons to me in that foxhole. They didn't tell me my rights! They didn't tell me I had to shut up; they didn't tell me anything I said could be used against me. I was lied to not only by Bush but the by the whole US military, by Rumsfeld. I was lied to by Condoleezza Rice. I can't even count on Colin Powell anymore because he was part of the original cowboy cabal that kicked me out of my country.

If I get my trial in the United States of America as I so rightly deserve, I, Saddam Hussein, would like to call Dick Durbin as a witness because he would be able to testify that US troops are like Nazi storm troopers. He would be able to testify that US troops are no different than the murdering thugs of Pol Pot and the gulags of Stalin. I would next call Senator Kennedy who would be able to testify that US troops are no better than Hussein's thugs -- my thugs. I would call Michael Isikoff of Newsweek magazine. He would be able to testify how US troops mistreat prisoners by flushing their Korans down the toilet at G'itmo. I would do my best to get rid of Rush Limbaugh for turning Club G'itmo into Club G'itmo. It's not a joke what's happening there, and it's not a joke what's happening to me. I would also call Ambassador Joe Wilson, of course. He would be my star witness, because Joe Wilson would testify that I was not a bad guy; I was not somebody that posed a danger. I never once sought uranium from anywhere, because I didn't have any weapons of mass destruction, and Joe Wilson knows it and his wife, Valerie Plame, knows it. And so, my friends, I, Saddam Hussein, throw in with the Democrats in the United States Senate. They are my allies, and until they finish their great and glorious work for Allah in uncovering the truth about the lies and the distortions of the cowboy Bush, I demand these trials of me be postponed and the charges dismissed -- and I get my country back.

Image above: Top left to bottom right: Byrd, Albright, Rockefeller, Breaux, Dodd, Landrieu, Kennedy, Lautenberg, Kerry, Berger, Feinstein, Daschle, Inouye, Lieberman, Clinton, Johnson, Kerrey, Levin,Ford, Graham, Hillary, Mikulski, Algore, Pelosi.

October 9th, 1999 Letter to President Clinton Signed by Senators Levin, Lieberman, Lautenberg, Dodd, Kerrey, Feinstein, Mikulski, Daschle, Breaux, Johnson, Inouye, Landrieu, Ford and Kerry -- all Democrats

"We urge you, after consulting with Congress and consistent with the US Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions, including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."

John Kerry, January 23rd, 2003

"Without question we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator leading an impressive regime. He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation. And now he's miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction. His consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction."

Sandy Berger February 18th, 1998

"He''ll use those weapons of mass destruction again as he has 10 times since 1983."

Senator Carl Levin September 19th, 2002

"We begin with a common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations, is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them."

Senator Hillary Clinton, October 10th of 2002

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock. His missile delivery capability, his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists including Al-Qaeda members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."

Madeleine Albright November 10th, 1999

"Hussein has chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies."

Robert Byrd October 3rd, 2002

"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of '98. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons."

Al Gore, September 23rd, 2002

"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter, and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power."

Bill Clinton, February 17th, 1998

"If Saddam rejects peace, and we have to use force, our purpose is clear: We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."

Madeleine Albright, February 1st, 1998

"We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and the security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction."

Nancy Pelosi December 16th, 1998

"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology, which is a threat to countries in the region, and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."

Al Gore September 23rd, 2002

"We know that he has stored nuclear supplies, secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."

John Kerry October 9th, 2002

"I will be voting to give the president of the US the authority to use force if necessary to disarm Saddam because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."

Ted Kennedy September 27th, 2002

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."

Jay Rockefeller October 10th, 2002

"There was unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years. We also should remember that we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction."

Senator Bob Graham December 2002

"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has and has had for a number of years a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction."