"Bush Truths"

Roughly 100 persons marched in NE Minneapolis to protest US policies in the Middle East. The protest highlighted that recent U.S actions hurt children in occupied countries and are also detrimental to our domestic policies. (Click image to enlarge)

Behalf of Brave Palestinian People

Copyright-free artwork by Brazilian cartoonist Latuff, on behalf of brave Palestinian people and their struggle against U.S. backed Israeli terror.

The Land of Islam-FalasTeen

(Wallpaper Image-Click image to enlarge)

The government is losing its reason

July 01, 2006

By Haaretz Editorial

Bombing bridges that can be circumvented both by car and on foot; seizing an airport that has been in ruins for years; destroying a power station, plunging large parts of the Gaza Strip into darkness; distributing flyers suggesting that people be concerned about their fate; a menacing flight over Bashar Assad's palace; and arresting elected Hamas officials: The government wishes to convince us that all these actions are intended only to release the soldier Gilad Shalit.

But the greater the government's creativity in inventing tactics, the more it seems to reflect a loss of direction rather than an overall conception based on reason and common sense. On the face of it, Israel wishes to exert increasing pressure both on Hamas' political leadership and on the Palestinian public, in order to induce it to pressure its leadership to release the soldier. At the same time, the government claims that Syria - or at least Khaled Meshal, who is living in Syria - holds the key. If so, what is the point of pressuring the local Palestinian leadership, which did not know of the planned attack and which, when it found out, demanded that the kidnappers take good care of their victim and return him?

The tactic of pressuring civilians has been tried before, and more than once. The Lebanese, for example, are very familiar with the Israeli tactic of destroying power stations and infrastructure. Entire villages in south Lebanon have been terrorized, with the inhabitants fleeing in their thousands for Beirut. But what also happens under such extreme stress is that local divisions evaporate and a strong, united leadership is forged.

In the end, Israel was forced both to negotiate with Hezbollah and to withdraw from Lebanon. Now, the government appears to be airing out its Lebanon catalogue of tactics and implementing it, as though nothing has been learned since then. One may assume that the results will be similar this time around as well.

Israel also kidnapped people from Lebanon to serve as bargaining chips in dealings with the kidnappers of Israeli soldiers. Now, it is trying out this tactic on Hamas politicians. As the prime minister said in a closed meeting: "They want prisoners released? We'll release these detainees in exchange for Shalit." By "these detainees," he was referring to elected Hamas officials.

The prime minister is a graduate of a movement whose leaders were once exiled, only to return with their heads held high and in a stronger position than when they were deported. But he believes that with the Palestinians, things work differently.

As one who knows that all the Hamas activists deported by Yitzhak Rabin returned to leadership and command positions in the organization, Olmert should know that arresting leaders only strengthens them and their supporters. But this is not merely faulty reasoning; arresting people to use as bargaining chips is the act of a gang, not of a state.

The government was caught up too quickly in a whirlwind of prestige mixed with fatigue. It must return to its senses at once, be satisfied with the threats it has made, free the detained Hamas politicians and open negotiations. The issue is a soldier who must be brought home, not changing the face of the Middle East.

Bush on Fence about Palestine?

Bush imposes, then waives, PLO sanction


Is Bush asleep and he doesn't want anyone to know?

June 30, 2006

MEMPHIS, United States (AFP) -US President George W. Bush temporarily downgraded, then reinstated, the status of the Palestine Liberation Organization's office in the United States, the White House said.

In a memorandum for US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Bush said he was acting under the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 2003, which laid out sanctions for "noncompliance by the PLO and the Palestinian Authority with certain commitments."

Bush said he was imposing a "downgrade in status of the PLO Office in the United States" -- but then immediately used his waiver power under the law.

The sanction, and its waiver, will last 180 days from June 30, the date of Bush's memorandum, or until the a new report on Palestinian activities is submitted by the White House, according to the letter.

Palestinians must comply with the law in four areas: recognition of the state of Israel, acceptance of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, resolving the conflict between Israel and Palestine through negotiation and peaceful means, and a renunciation of terrorism and acts of violence.

Other sanctions Bush could impose under the law are: denial of visas to PLO and Palestinian Authority officials, designation of either group as a terrorist organization and revoking US aid to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Future sanctions and waivers will depend on subsequent reports.

The president has the right to waive any of these sanctions if he deems it "in the national security interest of the United States," the letter said.

Life in Iraq

Pictures of the life in Iraq

Car bombing in Baghdad market kills 66

A local woman breaks down at the scene of a massive car bomb attack, Saturday, July 1, 2006, in the Sadr City area of Baghdad, Iraq. The car bomb exploded in the morning outside of a popular Baghdad market killing 45 and wounding 41, while 14 vehicles and 22 shops and stalls were destroyed, said police. (AP Photo / Mohammed Hato)

July 1, 2006

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq -A parked car bomb exploded at a popular outdoor market Saturday in a Shiite slum in Baghdad, killing at least 66 people and wounding dozens, authorities said. It was the bloodiest attack to hit Iraq since the death of terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The blast, which occurred around 10 a.m. when the Sadr City market was packed with shoppers, destroyed the stalls where food and clothes are peddled and sent up a plume of gray smoke. Flames shot out the windows of several scorched cars.

Ambulances rushed to the scene and carried the victims to hospitals, where men cradled crying babies as doctors bandaged them. Rasoul Zaboun, an official from the Imam Ali Hospital in Sadr City, said 66 people were killed and 87 wounded.

Police Col. Hassan Jaloob also said 22 shops and stalls were destroyed, along with 14 vehicles.

Angry residents swarmed around the wreckage, with several young men chanting as they rocked the burned out hulk of the car that apparently held the explosives.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack. But car bombings and suicide attacks against Shiite civilians have often been blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq, which al-Zarqawi led until he was killed in a U.S. airstrike June 7.

Al-Zarqawi's death has not brought a halt to the attacks. At least 631 Iraqi civilians and security forces were killed between June 8 and June 30, according to Associated Press figures. That includes 25 people killed Monday in a bicycle bombing in Baqouba.

Also Saturday, gunmen kidnapped a Sunni female member of parliament in a Shiite area of the capital, officials said.

Lawmaker Tayseer Mashhadani was traveling from nearby Diyala province in a three-car convoy to attend a parliament session Sunday in Baghdad when her party was stopped by gunmen in the east of the city, officials said.

Hamdi Hassoun, an official with the Iraqi Islamic Party branch in Diyala, said Mashhadani was stopped at a checkpoint manned by about 10 armed men in civilian clothes. After checking her identity card, the gunmen asked her and her bodyguards to step out, then forced them into other cars and drove them away, Hassoun said, adding that one bodyguard managed to escape.

Mashhadani is a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, which is part of the Iraqi Accordance Front, a Sunni bloc that holds 44 seats in the 275-member parliament.

Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker, blamed the kidnapping on sectarian tensions, which threaten to plunge the country into civil war.

Iraqi police also found a grave of several men who were apparently shot to death more than a month ago in Baghdad. Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said police had recovered at least six badly decomposed bodies in the grave, located in a Baghdad area notorious for sectarian killings.

The violence came after a relatively calm day in Baghdad amid a four-hour driving ban aimed at preventing suicide bombs during Friday prayers. It underscored the difficulties faced by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as he tries to curb rampant sectarian and ethnic attacks with strict security measures and a 24-point national reconciliation plan.

Al-Maliki, meanwhile, left for a whirlwind trip to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to seek support for his reconciliation initiative, which includes an amnesty for the mostly Sunni insurgents.

The prime minister also was expected to brief the Sunni leadership of those three countries on his efforts to deal with the divisions between Shiites and Sunnis. Iraq's neighbors in the Persian Gulf fear sectarian tensions will spill over into their countries, which are dominated by Sunnis but have large Shiite minorities.

In other violence Saturday, according to police:

• A former senior police officer under Saddam Hussein's regime was killed in a drive-by shooting as he was leaving his house in Baqouba. Gunmen also opened fire on a barber shop in Baqouba, wounding four people, including two children.

• Iraqi soldiers found the bodies of three soldiers who were abducted Friday, as well as an unidentified man, near the northern city of Kirkuk. Two other soldiers were still missing.

• Gunmen killed a policeman in a drive-by shooting in the center of Kirkuk.

Cpl. Gilad Shalit, in Stable Condition and No Resolution with United States Interference

Israeli soldiers reload a mobile artillery piece after firing towards the Gaza Strip at a position near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, just outside the northern Gaza Strip, Friday June 30, 2006. Israel 's air force has struck more than 30 targets in Gaza in the past 24 hours, hitting roads, bridges and the strip's only power plant. The army has also fired hundreds of artillery shells. The offensive is meant to pressure Hamas-linked militants to release Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, who was captured Sunday when Gaza militants tunneled under the border, attacking an Israeli outpost and killing two other soldiers. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Israel rejects militants' latest demands

Israel Is Here For You

Israel: "I am here for you, a little Genocide, Death Prisons, Apartheid, Mayhem, Theft, Espionage, War, Terrorism, WMD, Biochemical Warfare, Intimidation, Arms Deals, Contract Murder, Counterfeiting, Habitual Liar, Population Majority Religiously Secular, Zionism Regime, hmm…Forget, I am sitting on a tombstone!"

Palestinian Genocide (1948-)?

Israel Looks Familiar?

Holocaust(Germany, 1939-1945)- Throughout the 1930s and '40s, Nazis established thousands of concentration camps in Eastern Europe. In a small Polish town stands one of the most notorious and massive camps—Auschwitz. The complex spans 6,720 acres—almost half the size of Manhattan. Auschwitz consisted of three large subcamps: Auschwitz I, the torture center; Auschwitz II, or Birkenau, the point of arrival and main death factory; and Buna, the work camp.

In the beginning, prisoners were executed, starved or worked to death. Soon a faster method of killing evolved, allowing Nazis to murder thousands of people at a time—gas chambers. Auschwitz was the Holocaust's most productive death camp. Seventy-five percent of those who arrived were immediately sent to the gas chambers, mostly women and children; the remaining were deemed fit to become slave laborers.

Based on declassified war-time intelligence reports, the Allies likely knew about the Nazis' plans to destroy Europe's Jews—as early as the summer of 1942.

Nearly 5 million more Jews would be killed before the camps were finally liberated in 1945.

Israel, how many Palestinians have you murdered?

Who is going to liberate Palestine?

Israel/America: Palestine Will Never Budge

Computers...

Computers are magnificent tools for the realization of our dreams, but no machine can replace the spark of a human spirit, compassion, love and understanding.

Israeli Settlers in Palestine Murder Palestinian Family

Palestine will Survive

Israel Threatens Hamas Cabinet Minister

Photo dated May 2006 shows Hamas MP Mohammed Abu Teir. Israel has revoked the Jerusalem residency rights of Abu Teir, two other MPs and a Hamas cabinet minister -- facing them with expulsion from the occupied eastern sector of the Holy City.(AFP/File/Menahem Kahana)

Israel revokes Jerusalem residency for Hamas minister, MPs

Palestinian's Need Zionist Hunter's?

Simon Wisenthal Center calls for arrest of Hamas leader in Syria

June 30, 2006

The Simon Wiesenthal Center called Thursday for an international arrest warrant to be issued for a Syria-based Hamas leader accused by Israel of being behind suicide bombings and the recent abduction of a soldier.

"The time has come for the United Nations to force Syria to give up Khaled Meshal," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the Los Angeles-based center's founder and dean, referring to the head of Hamas' political bureau.

In a statement echoing charges by Israeli officials, Hier called Meshal "the mastermind behind the suicide bombings in Israel and now the more than 650 rocket attacks" by Palestinian militants in Gaza against an Israeli border town, as well as a "recent spate of kidnapping."

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, named after the late Nazi hunter, describes itself as an international Jewish human rights organization. The center operates the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

Israeli warplanes carried out a low-altitude flight over the palace of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the Mediterranean port city of Latakia in northwestern Syria on Wednesday in a threat reported to be linked to Meshal's presence in Damascus.

Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon said Wednesday that Meshal is a target for assassination because of what he called the Palestinian's direct involvement in anti-Israeli attacks and for ordering the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on Sunday. Two other Israeli soldiers were killed in the operation.

Ramon also called on the international community to force Assad to expel Meshal from Damascus, where he has operated for years.

Link:

Israel Threatens to Hit Damascus

Israel Free 1,000 Prisoners From Your Jails

Militants demand 1,000 prisoners for Israeli

Israeli gunners stand by a mobile artillery piece as it fires into the southern Gaza Strip from Nir Yizhaq on the border with Israel, June 30, 2006. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

June, 30,2006

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) -Palestinian militant factions who captured an Israeli soldier demanded on Saturday that Israel free 1,000 prisoners from its jails and end an assault on Gaza launched to win the soldier's release.

A statement from the groups -- the second since Corporal Gilad Shalit was captured in a raid across Gaza's frontier on Sunday -- appeared to cast doubt on the hopes of mediators that diplomacy could soon get him free and demanded an end to "all Israeli aggression" in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.

Israel has said it will not consider releasing prisoners in exchange for Shalit.

"We are declaring to the public our just and humanitarian demands," said the statement faxed to news agencies by the armed wing of the governing Hamas Islamist group, the Popular Resistance Committees and Army of Islam.

It repeated an earlier demand for the release of women prisoners and minors in exchange for information on Shalit, but made the added request for Israel to free 1,000 "Palestinian, Arab and Muslim prisoners."

It said these would have to include all Palestinian faction leaders as well as humanitarian cases.

The statement did not specify that this would be in exchange for Shalit's release, but Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for the Hamas armed wing, said that was what it meant.

The document cast doubt on mediation efforts.

"In spite of the good efforts of the mediators who tried in silence to speed up the treatment of this humanitarian matter, the enemy and their political leadership are still under the pressure of the security and military command," it said.

"The escalation and arrogance mean the enemy will be responsible for the bad consequences," it said. There was no specific threat to Shalit.

Mediators earlier voiced hope that their efforts could bear fruit.

Israel's tanks moved into southern Gaza on Wednesday and its aircraft fired missiles at training camps for militants early on Saturday, but the Jewish state has kept on hold a threatened ground offensive into northern Gaza.

Israel has said it is playing no part in mediation efforts.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, whose Hamas movement is officially committed to destroying Israel, demanded an end to the Israeli offensive on Friday and said it was complicating efforts to end the standoff.

Link:

Mubarak Shut Up and Zionist Gangster's Speak?

Hamas demands end to raids

Thousands in Egypt Rally for Palestinians

By LAUREN FRAYER

The Associated Press


CAIRO, Egypt-Several thousand protestors at one of Cairo's main mosques called Friday for holy war against Israel to help the Palestinians in their conflict with the Jewish state.

The Middle East on the Muslim day of prayer saw other few protests against Israel's offensive in Gaza, except for small rallies by hundreds in Palestinian refugee camps.

More than 3,000 people packed Al-Azhar Mosque, the most prominent institution in the Sunni Arab world, for prayers and a demonstration organized by the Egyptian government's top rival, the Muslim Brotherhood.

"Rulers of Arab countries, start holy war! God is great!" men shouted, their voices ringing through the rafters of the 1,000-year-old building.

Participants said they had little hope their governments would listen.

"We have a chronic problem in the Arab world; policies don't reflect what the people want. People inside the mosque say they will die to save Palestine, but our governments don't do anything to help," said Mohammed al-Zaeem, 36, a visiting Syrian.

Hundreds of black-clad security forces in riot gear surrounded the mosque in the sweltering noontime sun but there were no arrests.

Police agreed not to arrest protesters if they remained inside the mosque, said Abdel-Galil el-Sharnoubi, a member of the Brotherhood's political bureau.

A top security forces commander said before the march that his officers did not intend to make any arrests but wanted to ensure there were "no disturbances." He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his dealings with the banned Brotherhood.

Authorities frequently arrest Brotherhood members at protests, and more than 600 are behind bars.

Several thousand people held pro-Palestinian protests in the northern Egyptian province of Damietta.

Clerics from Baghdad to Beirut referred to "American-Zionist terrorism" and a "war to annihilate the Palestinian people."

But Arab governments appeared eager not to enflame popular sentiment. Al-Azhar's government-appointed cleric conspicuously avoided the topic of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in his sermon.

"The U.S. supports Egypt with weapons and soldiers, so our government is paralyzed and unable to do anything," said worshipper Mahmoud Abu el-Bashir.

In Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, Ein el-Hilweh, fewer than 200 people took to the streets waving a banner: "One Zionist captive, the world moves ... 10,000 Palestinian detainees, the world remains silent."

Link:

Peacebroker Egypt buys time

More U.S. Troops Accused of Murder and Rape in Iraq

U.S. Troops Accused of Killing Iraq Family


Iraqi soldiers man a checkpoint on a bridge in central Baghdad, Iraq Friday, June 30, 2006 just before the Friday vehicle ban came into effect. The 11am to 3pm vehicle ban on Fridays was introduced by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in an attempt to prevent car bombings on Iraqis gathering to give traditional Friday muslim prayers. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Jun 30, 2006

By RYAN LENZ

BEIJI, Iraq (AP) - Five U.S. Army soldiers are being investigated for allegedly raping a young woman, then killing her and three members of her family in Iraq, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press on Friday.

The soldiers also allegedly burned the body of the woman they are accused of assaulting in the March incident, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of coalition troops in Baghdad, had ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged killing of a family of four in Mahmoudiyah, south of Baghdad, the U.S. command said. It did not elaborate.

The case represents the latest allegations against U.S. soldiers stemming from the deaths of Iraqis. At least 14 U.S. troops have been convicted.

The United States also is investigating allegations that two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. Marines in the western town of Haditha on Nov. 19 in a revenge attack after one of their own died in a roadside bombing.

"The entire investigation will encompass everything that could have happened that evening. We're not releasing any specifics of an ongoing investigation," said military spokesman Maj. Todd Breasseale.

"There is no indication what led soldiers to this home. The investigation just cracked open. We're just beginning to dig into the details."

However, a U.S. official close to the investigation said at least one of the soldiers, all assigned to the 502nd Infantry Regiment, has admitted his role and has been arrested. Two soldiers from the same regiment were slain this month when they were kidnapped at a checkpoint near Youssifiyah.

The official said the accused soldiers were from the same platoon as the two slain soldiers, whose bodies were mutilated. He said the mutilation of the slain soldiers stirred feelings of guilt and led at least one of them to reveal the rape-slaying on June 22.

At least four other soldiers have had their weapons taken away and are confined to Forward Operating Base Mahmoudiyah south of Baghdad.

The official said the killings appear to be unrelated to the kidnappings. He said those involved were all below the rank of sergeant. Senior officers were aware of the family's death but believed it was due to sectarian violence, common in the religiously mixed town, he said.

The killings appeared to have been a "crime of opportunity," the official said. The soldiers had not been attacked by insurgents but had noticed the woman on previous patrols.
---
AP correspondent Ryan Lenz is embedded with the 101st Airborne Division in Beiji, Iraq. He was previously embedded with the 502nd Infantry Regiment in Mahmoudiyah.

Bush Tours Graceland with Japanese Prime Minister

President Bush, far left, and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pose for a photo with Lisa Marie Presley and Priscilla Presley, far right , before taking a tour of Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, Friday June 30, 2006 in Memphis, Tenn. Koizumi is a lifelong fan of the late rock and roll legend. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

Israel Has Right to Self-Defense, White House Says

U.S. working with Israel, Palestinians and Egypt to release captured soldier

Abbas appeals to UN over arrests

By Ferry Biederman in Jerusalem and Roula Khalaf in London
Published: June 30 2006


Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, appealed to the United Nations yesterday to help obtain the release of dozens of lawmakers and cabinet ministers of the ruling Hamas movement seized by the Israeli army.

Mr Abbas's made the plea amid growing regional and international concern about the rapid escalation of the crisis sparked by last Sunday's kidnap of an Israeli soldier.

The Israeli army detained at least 64 Hamas representatives, 38 of them members of parliament, in the West Bank. Last night Israel said it planned to put the detained leaders "deemed sufficiently suspect of criminal activity" on trial under anti-terrorism legislation.

The Israeli army has massed outside the north of the strip, after having invaded the south on Wed­nes­day as Israel's defence minister, Amir Peretz, gave the green light for a broadening of the army's largest incursion into Gaza since the withdrawal last year.

But the expected push into the north was delayed yesterday, according to security officials, amid speculation that Egypt had requested more time for negotiations. Arab diplomats said Omar Suleiman, the head of Egyptian intelligence, was trying to obtain the release of the soldier.

Israel denied that the Hamas officials were being held as bargaining chips to secure the return of Corporal Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by several factions, including Hamas militants. But a spokesman for the military wing of Hamas called the action "blackmail". The European Union said it was "deeply concerned" by the humanitarian consequences of the Israeli action in Gaza. A power station that supplies much of the population with electricity and powers water pumps was knocked out by air strikes on Wednesday.

Foreign ministers of the Group of Eight industrialised nations, meeting in Moscow, said the mass det­ent­ion of Hamas officials raised "particular concerns", and urged Israel to exercise "utmost" restraint. But the lack of active mediation by the world community has made containment of the conflict all the more difficult.

With the US and European Union ostracising Hamas, the scope for diplomatic intervention has been limited. Israel has apparently felt under little pressure to restrain its actions, and has been acting on all fronts - with military strikes and incursions in Gaza, the detention of Hamas officials in the West Bank, and military flights over Damascus, home to some top Hamas leaders.

"There's no way an open international negotiation can take place with Hamas," said a European diplomat. "It's extremely complicated: how to climb down the ladder is the key issue for both of them."

Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, has said it is not his intention to reoccupy Gaza but that the operation is aimed at freeing the kidnapped soldier.

The mass detention of Hamas officials has raised the pressure on Arab governments, which have been reluctant to help Hamas but cannot be seen to be ignoring the Palestinians.

Mohammed Mehdi Akef, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, denounced the Cairo government yesterday for taking "a hesitant stance".

The Israeli army said it had found the body of a missing settler, 18-year-old Eliyahu Asheri, in a field near Ramallah. Security officials said they had arrested a member of the militant Popular Resistance Committees, who admitted participating in the killing. The group had threatened to kill Mr Asheri if Israel did not stop its incursion into Gaza. Yesterday a spokesman maintained that he had been killed as a response to the incursion, but security sources said he had apparently been killed on Sunday.

What Would You Do?

What would you do if this was your Torah or your Bible?


Copies of the Quran, Islam's holy book, are seen at a Fatah office hit in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City Friday, June 30, 2006. Israeli warplanes struck more than a dozen times across the Gaza Strip early Friday, also hitting the Palestinian Interior Ministry, as Arab leaders tried to forge a deal that would halt the Israeli offensive and free a 19-year-old soldier held by gunmen allied with the Hamas. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Middle East Conflict in Photo’s

Israeli artillery fires a 155mm shell into the northern Gaza Strip from a position near Nahal Oz, Friday June 30, 2006. Israel's air force has struck more than 30 targets in Gaza in the past 24 hours, hitting roads, bridges and the strip's only power plant. The army has also fired hundreds of artillery shells. The offensive is meant to pressure Hamas-linked militants to release Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, who was captured Sunday when Gaza militants tunneled under the border, attacking an Israeli outpost and killing two other soldiers. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

More Photo's

Palestinian Authority Interior Ministry Ablaze

Palestinians watch a fire in an office of Palestinian Authority Interior Ministry after an Israeli Missile Strike in Gaza Friday 30 June, 2006.

Israel’s offence in Gaza was part of a premeditated plan to bring down Hamas-led government.

Video

A Little Tea

Tea in the world is a more famous beverage then I would say coffee, which would have to come in a close second.

In most Muslims homes when you visit you may be served coffee or tea and sometimes even both for hospitality is still important even today!

The Hot Donkey

One day the Hodja collected sprigs and twigs in the woods and tied them into a bundle. He was going to use them as fire wood in his home.

After he finished loading his donkey, he started to doubt if these useless branches were going to burn well. He decided to try, just a tiny corner of the bundle on the donkey's back.

But as soon as he lit the match, the sprigs caught fire and with the help of the blowing wind, the entire batch started to burn on the back of the poor donkey.

The unfortunate animal, frightened, started to run away. Nasreddin Hodja, feeling terribly guilty, thought he should give the pitiable creature a little advice.

`If I were you,' he yelled from behind, `I would run towards the lake.'

Wal-mart Jews in Home Town

In Wal-Mart's Home, Synagogue Signals Growth

Members of Etz Chaim established their synagogue in a former Assembly of God church in Arkansas. There are about 100 members.

By MICHAEL BARBARO
Published: June 20, 2006

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Residents of Benton County, in the northwest corner of Arkansas, are proud citizens of the Bible Belt. At last count, they filled 39 Baptist, 27 United Methodist and 20 Assembly of God churches. For decades, a local hospital has begun meetings with a reading from the New Testament and the library has featured an elaborate Christmas display.

Then the Wal-Mart Jews arrived.

Recruited from around the country as workers for Wal-Mart or one of its suppliers, hundreds of which have opened offices near the retailer's headquarters here, a growing number of Jewish families have become increasingly vocal proponents of religious neutrality in the county. They have asked school principals to rename Christmas vacation as winter break (many have) and lobbied the mayor's office to put a menorah on the town square (it did).

Wal-Mart has transformed small towns across America, but perhaps its greatest impact has been on Bentonville, where the migration of executives from cities like New York, Boston and Atlanta has turned this sedate rural community into a teeming mini-metropolis populated by Hindus, Muslims and Jews.

It is the Jews of Benton County, however, who have asserted themselves most. Two years ago, they opened the county's first synagogue and, ever since, its roughly 100 members have become eager spokesmen and women for a religion that remains a mystery to most people here.

When the synagogue celebrated its first bar mitzvah, the boy's father — Scott Winchester, whose company sells propane tanks to Wal-Mart — invited two local radio D.J.'s, who broadcast the event across the county, even though, by their own admission, they had only a vague idea of what a bar mitzvah was.

"Jesus was Jewish," one D.J. noted in a dispatch from the reception at a local hotel. The other remarked, "I love Seinfeld."

Shortly after he moved to the area, Tom Douglass, a member of the synagogue who works in Wal-Mart's logistics department, made a presentation about Hanukkah to his son's kindergarten class. The lesson, complete with an explanation of how to play with a spinning dreidel and compete for chocolate coins, imported from New York, proved so popular that the school's librarian taped it for future classes.

Then there is Ron Haberman, a doctor and synagogue member, who has introduced Jewish cuisine to the county. His new restaurant, Eat This, next door to a new 140,000-square-foot glass-enclosed Baptist church, serves knishes, matzo ball soup and latkes. To guide the uninitiated, the menu explains that it is pronounced "LOT-kuz."

Not everyone is ordering the knishes, but Christians throughout Benton County are slowly learning the complexities of Jewish life. Gary Compton, the superintendent of schools in Bentonville and a member of a Methodist church in town, has learned not to schedule PTA meetings the night before Jewish holidays, which begin at sundown, and has encouraged the high school choir to incorporate Jewish songs into a largely Christian lineup.

"We need to get better at some things," he said. "You just don't go from being noninclusive to being inclusive overnight."

Surrounded by Christian neighbors, Bible study groups, 100-foot-tall crucifixes and free copies of the book "The Truth About Mary Magdalene" left in the seating area of the Bentonville IHOP, the Jews of Benton County say they have become more observant in — and protective of — their faith than ever before.

Marcy Winchester, the mother of the synagogue's first bar mitzvah, said, "You have to try harder to be Jewish down here."

Which may explain why what began as a dozen families, almost all of them tied to Wal-Mart and almost all of them sharing only a passing familiarity with one another, managed to create a free-standing synagogue in just under a year. Tired of being asked which church they attended, they decided to build the answer.

For several years, many of them had attended a small synagogue attached to the University of Arkansas about 30 miles south of Bentonville. But the drive was long and the university temple, a converted fraternity house, never felt like home.

So in 2004, the families — most of them like-minded transplants from big cities largely in their 30's — decided it was time to create a permanent Jewish community in Benton County. They bought a former Hispanic Assembly of God church a few blocks from the first five-and-dime store operated by Sam Walton, Wal-Mart's founder, and renamed it Congregation Etz Chaim, or Tree of Life.

A dozen families quickly turned into 20 families, then 40. Read more...

Israel Hits Ministry; Hamas Offers Soldier

Palestinian boys peer into the sky as an Israel plane flies overhead in Gaza Thursday.

June 30,2006

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli warplanes struck the Palestinian Interior Ministry early Friday, setting it ablaze as Arab leaders tried to forge a deal that would halt the Israeli offensive and free a 19-year-old soldier held by gunmen allied with the ruling Islamic Hamas. Read more...

Israel & Palestine: A Concealed Truth

June 25, 2006

Palestinians Arrested Wednesday

IDF forces arrest suspected Palestinians in Ramallah on Wednesday.

Israel Free Hamas: Wait and See

IDF: Hamas detainees could go free if Shalit is released

By HERB KEINON AND YAAKOV KATZ


Deputy-speaker of the Palestinian Parliament Ahmed Bahr commenting at a news conference in Gaza City on the arrests of the Hamas officials.Photo: AP

June 30, 2006

Video

Israel will consider releasing the 64 Hamas activists it rounded up early Thursday morning if IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit is freed, OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh said Thursday.

"The possibility exists," Naveh said. "The diplomatic echelon can decide to release the Hamas officials if the soldier is returned to us." Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the primary goal of the operation "is to bring about Shalit's release. If he is released, this would dramatically deescalate the situation."

Regev said that Thursday's arrests in the West Bank showed that "Israel rejects the unofficial distinction that has been made within Hamas of a military and political wing."

All told, eight of Hamas's 23 cabinet ministers and 20 of its 72 lawmakers were arrested. The detainees included such senior figures as Finance Minister Omar Abdel Razek, Labor Minister Muhammad Barghouti, parliament member Muhammad Abu Tir and the mayors of Kalkilya and Jenin.

"From a legal point of view there is no problem arresting them, because they are members of a terrorist group," Regev said.

The arrests took place Thursday, Regev said, because "Hamas has escalated their terrorism against us. Hamas is responsible for Sunday's attack, and is responsible for the rocket fire on Sderot; we are being proactive against them."

Naveh stressed that while the arrests were connected to the events in Gaza and efforts to retrieve the kidnapped soldier, they were meant primarily to destroy Hamas terror infrastructure in the West Bank. "They were first and foremost arrested due to their involvement in terror," he explained.

He said that the prosecution had collected sufficient evidence to press charges against the politicians who would be tried in an Israeli court of law and whom he said each had skeletons in their closets.

"Hamas has already weeks ago begun engaging in terror activity and in rocket attacks against Israel," he said at a press conference at Central Command headquarters in Jerusalem. "This has led to a new situation in which the [Hamas] ministers transfer funds [to terror groups], assist terror groups and operate acts of terror."

The arrest operation was carried out simultaneously throughout the night across the West Bank in cities like Hebron, Ramallah and Jenin. No one was hurt during the raids, which were all finished before dawn. The detainees were all transferred into Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) custody and were interrogated throughout the day.

The Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the arrests were taken "within the context of a normal legal criminal procedure with the intention of questioning those who were arrested." The arrested men, according to the ministry, are suspected of criminal offenses such as membership in a terrorist organization.

"Those arrested will be entitled to legal defense," the ministry statement said, "and their detention and questioning will be subject to judicial review. In the event that there is no basis for putting someone among those arrested on trial, that person will be released."

Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that Israel would continue cracking down on Hamas terror suspects without regard to their political status. "This move proves that no one in Hamas is above the law," he said.

Israeli diplomatic officials said that while statements coming from the US and Europe expressed concern about an escalation, they were not especially strong in their condemnation of Israel's move. Foreign Ministry sources said that neither Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni nor Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were phoned by colleagues abroad demanding that Israel cease and desist. Continued

Syria Tells Israel Sending Us Messages Won't Work

Syria backs Hamas despite renewed Israeli threat

Jun 29,2006

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Syria will stick by Hamas although it expects Israel to increase pressure on Damascus to abandon support for the Palestinian group, Syrian officials and a member of the movement's exiled leadership said on Thursday.

"The Israelis know that Hamas' presence in Syria is limited to offices. If they cannot stomach this then let Hamas leaders return to their homeland. We and Hamas will be pleased," said one Syrian official, who asked not to be identified.

Israeli warplanes penetrated Syrian airspace on Wednesday, flying over a presidential palace to warn Syria against hosting and supporting Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas.

"The Israelis are in crisis and they are trying to get out of it by sending us messages. It won't work," the official said.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, was among three factions which took part in a cross-border raid into Israel from Gaza in which a soldier was seized on Sunday.

Hamas said the operation was in response to Israeli attacks on Gaza that killed Palestinian civilians. Its armed wing has not said it is holding the soldier.

Israel's forces entered southern Gaza on Wednesday to put pressure on militants to release an abducted soldier.

Several high-level Hamas members, including the group's most prominent leader Khaled Meshaal, live in Damascus.

Syria's secular government has resisted for years pressure by the United States, Israel's chief ally, to expel them and close the Muslim group's offices.

Israel has threatened to assassinate exiled Hamas officials, including Meshaal, unless the abducted soldier is freed.

INTERNAL ISSUE

Fayez Sayegh, director of Syrian Radio and Television, said any pressure Syria applies on Hamas' exiled leaders to solve the captured soldier episode would be futile.

"Syria cannot interfere because this was an internal Palestinian operation by popular resistance movements who make their own decisions as they go," Sayegh said.

Israel, which is preparing to expand a military offensive on Gaza to try and rescue the soldier, arrested one-third of the Hamas-led Palestinian cabinet on Thursday.

A member of Syria's ruling Baath Party said the scale of the Israeli response showed it wants to escalate regional tension.

"Israel didn't even contemplate a prisoners swap. They leave Syria no option but to support Hamas to the hilt," he said.

Mohammad Nazzal, a Hamas politburo member, said the exiled leadership had nothing to do with Sunday's raid by Palestinian militants in which the soldier was seized. He said the decision on what to do with the captive was up to the groups holding him.

"We follow Palestinian sentiment, which does not want the captive to be handed over without gains for the Palestinian people, such as releasing the largest number of prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails," Nazzal said in Damascus.

"Syria has not exerted pressure on us because it knows Hamas is not militarily present here and that military operations are planned, supervised and conducted from the inside."

The Drawbacks of Fighting Terrorism with Torture

June 29, 2006

Listen

by Steve Inskeep

In a desperate drive to catch suspected terrorists before they can strike, the United States is using torture and other harsh interrogation techniques. But that can often lead to more problems, including wild goose chases due to unreliable information generated under duress, the author of a new book says.

How the United States gathers intelligence, and how the White House directs the war on terrorism are just two of the subjects covered in The One Percent Doctrine, Ron Suskind's new book.

Suskind takes his readers into the interrogations of some of the most highly prized prisoners in the war on terrorism -- Abu Zubaydah, and the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

Suskind says pressure to generate intelligence came from the top. President Bush took a hands-on approach to monitoring interrogations after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"He was interested in a very specific, granular way all the time. He was constantly asking folks inside of CIA, 'What's happening with interrogations? Are these techniques working?' Can we trust what we get? The president ... is involved -- some people say too involved -- in the granular day-to-day grit of this war on terror."

That can often lead the government to conduct nonproductive searches, Suskind says.

In March 2002, amid criticism over the failure to capture Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders, Zubaydah, a suspected member of the terrorist group, was captured in Pakistan.

President Bush touted Zubaydah as a key player, but U.S. intelligence officials considered him a lower-level "recruiter/travel agent," Suskind says.

"What that disparity drives is a ferocious interrogation protocol for Abu Zubaydah," Suskind says. Zubaydah, who had been shot three times during his capture, was helped back to health, then tortured, the author says.

"And this man, mentally unbalanced, clearly so, basically begins to talk about everything under the sun," Suskind says.

Zubaydah's tips that major U.S. landmarks were targeted for terrorist attacks proved to be largely unfounded.

"Virtually none of them were targets," Suskind says.

In an earlier conversation in this series, Harvard law professor and author Alan Dershowitz said torture can be useful in some cases. But Suskind disagrees."What the evidence shows is that there are cases in which some information that was valuable came from very, very harsh techniques," Suskind says.

"On balance, what the evidence shows more clearly is that torture creates many, many more problems than it can ever solve. That in some ways, that information is probably costing too much."

Got Ethyl?

"What a powerful difference this high-octane gasoline makes! "

Ethyl Corporation, 1954
William Adelbert Dolwick (1909-1993)

Those was the Good Old Days!

Concern

Whoever busies himself with that which does not concern him and then he misses out on much of that which does concern him.

Israel puts off further Gaza incursion

Egypt is said to have asked for
diplomacy to run its course

June 29,2006

Aljazeera

Israel has reportedly postponed a planned incursion into the northern Gaza Strip town of Bait Hanun, apparently to allow negotiations to continue over the fate of a kidnapped soldier.


Israeli public radio said on Thursday that further movements into northern Gaza, where troops have rolled across the border in an effort to free the conscript, have been delayed.

An Israeli army spokeswoman refused to confirm operations had been halted but said "our forces have not entered the northern Gaza Strip and will be ready to do so when they receive the order". The Israeli Haaretz newspaper said on its website that the delay was decided after talks between Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, Amir Peretz, the defence minister, and security officials.

The move was prompted by an appeal from Egypt to let diplomacy run its course, Haaretz said.

The paper pointed out that the army has not stopped military operations in Gaza, but has halted "further offensive measures at this stage".

Appeals

The decision to cancel Thursday night's planned operation followed international appeals for restraint, particularly from the G8 group of industrialised nations, including the US and Russia, as well as Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general.

Earlier, Peretz had given the green light for further incursions into Gaza but also ordered the monitoring of the Palestinian humanitarian situation after international appeals to spare civilians from the military conflict.

"We are in one of the most significant moments with respect to deciding the rules of the game between us and terrorist elements in the Palestinian Authority," Peretz was quoted as saying.

The reports gave no details on what sort of operations could be expected.

PA Radio: Israel Declared War

Jun 29,2006

Arutz Sheva

The Palestine News Network (PNN) of the Palestinian Authority (PA) accused Israel of declaring war on the Hamas-led PA government. The PA information ministry was quoted as stating that the IDF operations in Gaza are "not a proper response to the capture of an invading Israeli soldier and this is going to lead to a dangerous escalation on all fronts."

PNN also pointed out that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "has refused to exchange the women and children in his prisons for the captured soldier." Israel has arrested the deputy PA prime minister in Ramallah, cabinet ministers from Jerusalem, Ramallah and the southern Hevron Hills, and deputies from Bethlehem, Kalkilya and Jenin.

Women Today

Many women to day are independent, success-ful, educated, professional, and self-sufficient. These are the standards whereby we measure “success” and people with these characteristics are what we regard as “intelligent” as opposed to “uneducated.” However, careful analysis reveals that the woman of the house fulfills the following roles:




1. She has to be a wife to her husband.
2. She has to be a mother to her children.
3. She is a teacher, teaching her children between right and wrong.
4. She is a tutor, assisting with homework.
5. She is a psychologist, using her intellect in daily struggles with husband and children.
6. She is a counselor, counseling the children when a bully hits them.
7. She is a financier, budgeting the household expenses.
8. She is a chef, preparing the meals.
9. She is a baker, baking on special occasions.
10. She is a tailor, mending clothes.
11. She is a driver, ferrying the kids to and from school.
12. She is a buyer and store clerk, ensuring that all basic necessities are in the house.
13. She is a switchboard operator, answering the constantly ringing phone.
14. She is a receptionist, answering the door and receiving guests and visitors.
15. She is a waitress, feeding everyone at mealtime before she feeds herself.

Considering the above multi-faceted roles of our wives/mothers/sisters in society, it really surprises me when a woman is asked what job she has and her typical reply is “Oh, I don’t work. I just sit at home. I’m a housewife.”

Housewife indeed! This “housewife” is actually the CEO, the general manager of your house. She is the senior executive and fully fledged board member of the fraternity that you call home. She ensures that everything (most of the time) runs smoothly with military precision. (Sadly however, some women fritter their life away by sleeping, shopping, and gossiping.)

On the few occasions when things do not go as expected, men tend to let the wives know in no uncertain terms that they are dissatisfied (by verbal abuse, or sometimes even physical abuse). But how often have we informed these same women about the times when things do go well? How often do we give compliments? Do we counsel gently and encourage wisely, or do we assume that “there is no point talking to her … after all she is just a woman.”

"For to us will be their return; then it will be for us to call them to account." (Holy Quran 88:25-26)

This world is a difficult journey
An obstacle to overcome,
Especially in the place we live in,
Not everyday is bright and fun.

The righteous salaf were as fearful of their good deeds being squandered, or not being accepted, as the present generation is certain that their neglect would be forgiven. [Hasan Al-Basri]

Note:

Not stated in the above article, their are numerous other roles a housewife has to part take into today’s world. The one that comes most to my mind at the moment is nurse for the many cut’s, scrapes and upset stomach’s my family has now and again.

I could almost say Lawyer to Indian Chief, for the roles of a housewife is that diverse; in our modern times.

And no, my family did not get and upset stomach from my cooking.

Summing Up of Israel Hit on Gaza

Israel hits Gaza as Hamas lawmakers held

Palestinian militants blow hole in fence on Gaza-Egypt border


Israeli soldiers deploy Thursday near
Kibbutz Nahal Oz, just outside northern Gaza.

June 29, 2006

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel rounded up members of the Hamas-led Palestinian government Thursday, arresting Cabinet ministers and parliament members as a crisis over the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier deepened.

The Palestine Liberation Organization said 84 people had been arrested, including seven Cabinet officials and 21 members of the Palestinian parliament.

The Israel Defense Forces said 87 people were arrested overnight. Of those, it said, 64 were members of Hamas. Another 23 belong to other factions.

The arrests came amid a military operation launched by Israel in response to the kidnapping by Palestinian militants of Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

"They have to decide if they're a government or if they belong to a terroristic organization," Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said, explaining the Hamas arrests.

"Their arrests were not arbitrary. They will be put to trial, and they will be able to defend themselves in accordance with a legal system which is internationally recognized."

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat denounced the arrest of the Palestinian government officials.

"Kidnapping Palestinian lawmakers and holding the Palestinian government hostage will neither strengthen Israel's hand in bargaining [for the soldier's release] nor bring any good to anyone in the region," Erakat said.

Israeli officials said the Palestinians were under arrest as suspected terrorists. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the arrests were planned weeks ago but received approval from Israel's attorney general Wednesday.

As part of Thursday's operations, the IDF also said it had attacked a car in Gaza City. Islamic Jihad sources said the car was carrying members of the Palestinian militant group. One person in the vehicle was injured, the sources said.

The IDF also said it was attacking areas in southern Gaza "in which terror cells" operate to "impair the ability of the terrorists to transfer the kidnapped IDF soldier."

Meanwhile, Palestinian militants blew a hole in the fence along the Gaza border with Egypt, Palestinian sources said, and Palestinians were rushing to get through Thursday.

Security forces reportedly were trying to reseal the border. Israel sealed all border crossings Monday.

Settler's body found

Early Thursday, a body found near the West Bank city of Ramallah was reported to be that of Eliyahu Yitzhak Asheri, 18, a settler seized by Palestinian militants hours after Shalit's kidnapping Sunday, Israeli security sources said.

The body was sent to the Pathological Institute in Israel for formal identification, sources said. Wednesday, the Popular Resistance Committees displayed the identity card of the Jewish settler and said the captive would be "butchered" unless Israel stopped its incursion into Gaza.

The body's discovery was the latest in a series of events that began early Sunday, when Palestinian militants tunneled into Israel and attacked a military post near Israel's border with Egypt and Gaza, kidnapping Shalit and killing two other soldiers.

Israeli intelligence indicates Shalit is being held in the Khan Yunis refugee camp. An Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis targeted what the Israeli military said was a storehouse for Qassam rockets.

Israeli warplanes have knocked out bridges connecting northern and southern Gaza and destroyed a power station in an effort to prevent militants from moving the captured soldier outside southern Gaza, according to the IDF.

On Monday, three Palestinian militant groups -- the military wing of Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees and the previously unknown Army of Islam -- claimed responsibility for Shalit's kidnapping. They issued a statement saying they would exchange information about the soldier if Israel freed all Palestinian women and youths under 18 who are in Israeli jails.

The Israeli government quickly rejected that offer and other calls to release Shalit as part of a prisoner exchange.

Pressure on Syria

On Wednesday evening, Israeli jets buzzed the home of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Ladekye, outside Damascus. Israeli television reported that the president was at home at the time.

Peres complained that Syria allowed the exiled Hamas political leader Khalid Meshaal -- operating out of Damascus -- to order the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier.

The flyover was seen as an attempt to bring pressure on al-Assad to rein in Meshaal.

Syrian state television called the Israeli move "an unacceptable, hostile and provocative act."

Syria said its anti-aircraft batteries fired on the Israeli warplanes and chased them away.

Update:

Israel seizes Hamas leaders

Hamas legislators heading for hideouts

Israel Seizes Hamas Ministers and Lawmakers

Supreme Court blocks Bush, Gitmo war trials

Salim Ahmed Hamdan is seen in this undated file photo. The former driver for Osama bin Laden may help decide the fate of dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees, and perhaps all of them, as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to rule on his legal challenge to the first American war-crimes trials since World War II. The court, which is expected to rule as early as Monday, June 26, 2006, is considering a range of issues in detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan's case, including whether President George W. Bush had the authority to order military trials for men who were captured in the war on terror and sent to Guantanamo Bay Naval base in Cuba. (AP Photo/photo courtesy of Prof. Neal Katyal)

June 19, 2006

By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON -The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President Bush overstepped his authority in ordering military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees.

The ruling, a rebuke to the administration and its aggressive anti-terror policies, was written by Justice John Paul Stevens, who said the proposed trials were illegal under U.S. law and international Geneva conventions.

The case focused on Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who worked as a bodyguard and driver for Osama bin Laden. Hamdan, 36, has spent four years in the U.S. prison in Cuba. He faces a single count of conspiring against U.S. citizens from 1996 to November 2001.

Two years ago, the court rejected Bush's claim to have the authority to seize and detain terrorism suspects and indefinitely deny them access to courts or lawyers. In this follow-up case, the justices focused solely on the issue of trials for some of the men.

The vote was split 5-3, with moderate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joining the court's liberal members in ruling against the Bush administration. Chief Justice John Roberts, named to the lead the court last September by Bush, was sidelined in the case because as an appeals court judge he had backed the government over Hamdan.

Thursday's ruling overturned that decision.

Bush spokesman Tony Snow said the White House would have no comment until lawyers had had a chance to review the decision. Officials at the Pentagon and Justice Department were planning to issue statements later in the day.

The administration had hinted in recent weeks that it was prepared for the court to set back its plans for trying Guantanamo detainees.

The president also has told reporters, "I'd like to close Guantanamo." But he added, "I also recognize that we're holding some people that are darn dangerous."

The court's ruling says nothing about whether the prison should be shut down, dealing only with plans to put detainees on trial.

"Trial by military commission raises separation-of-powers concerns of the highest order," Kennedy wrote in his opinion.

The prison at Guantanamo Bay, erected in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States, has been a flash point for international criticism. Hundreds of people suspected of ties to al-Qaida and the Taliban — including some teenagers — have been swept up by the U.S. military and secretly shipped there since 2002.

Three detainees committed suicide there this month, using sheets and clothing to hang themselves. The deaths brought new scrutiny and criticism of the prison, along with fresh calls for its closing.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a strongly worded dissent, saying the court's decision would "sorely hamper the president's ability to confront and defeat a new and deadly enemy."

The court's willingness, Thomas said, "to second-guess the determination of the political branches that these conspirators must be brought to justice is both unprecedented and dangerous."

Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito also filed dissents.

In his own opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer said, "Congress has not issued the executive a 'blank check.'"

"Indeed, Congress has denied the president the legislative authority to create military commissions of the kind at issue here. Nothing prevents the president from returning to Congress to seek the authority he believes necessary," Breyer wrote.

Link:

US court rejects Guantanamo tribunals

USA: President Bush must use Supreme Court ruling as springboard for change

Rotten Apple

Israel and the US are worms together eating the World!

America: "To Die For israel..."

Bush's Iraq Update

Is Bush Crazy?

Muhammad Ali gives Bush the crazy sign

Bush, who appeared almost playful, fastened the heavy medal around Muhammad Ali's neck and whispered something in the heavyweight champion's ear.

Then, as if to say "bring it on," the president put up his dukes in a mock challenge.

Ali, 63, who has Parkinson's disease and moves slowly, looked the president in the eye -- and, finger to head, did the "crazy" twirl for a couple of seconds.

Bush For Israel

Israeli soldier’s run to reload a tank near Gaza, June 28, 2006.

Bush administration supports Israel

Allah min faDlak...

Allah min faDlak yusaa'id naHnu!

A World Without Zionism

You Murder my Brother's, Sister's and Children!!!!!!!

Israel Goes Crazy

Israel bombs Islamic University in Gaza: witnesses

Israeli soldiers rush to reload a 155mm mobile artillery unit firing towards Gaza from Nahal Oz at the border of Israel and Gaza strip June 28, 2006. (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

June 28, 2006

GAZA (Reuters) -An Israeli warplane fired a missile on Thursday at the pro-Hamas Islamic University in Gaza City, setting off a huge explosion, witnesses said.

An Israeli army spokesman said the planes had targeted an open area in Gaza City. Witnesses said the missile crashed into a soccer field. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The attack came as Israeli troops were poised to widen a incursion in the coastal Gaza Strip to recover a kidnapped soldier.

Israel bombs targets and moves forces into Gaza

June 28, 2006

Video

Israeli forces launched air strikes Wednesday, targeting three bridges and a power station in the southern Gaza Strip. Following the attacks, Israel sent tanks and troops into Gaza in a bid to rescue Cpl. Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Palestinian militants.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said infantry and armored units moved into southern Gaza at about 2:30 a.m. Israeli time shortly after the air strikes. In an official statement, the IDF said the attack on the three bridges was aimed at preventing the kidnappers from fleeing with their hostage.

Palestinian groups said to be holding Shalit issued a statement Monday saying they would release information on his condition only if Israel frees Palestinian women and those under 18 now held in jail. "The Israeli Army will not find flowers in his path,'' a Palestinian gunman said. "The soldiers will be met with rocket-propelled grenades and suicide bombers.''