Free Republic

Lawyers for the residents of Beit HaMachpelah in Hevron met Sunday with representatives of the IDF's Civil Administration and discussed the legality of the purchase of the home, which the residents moved into last Wednesday. The IDF representatives examined the purchase documents and confirmed that the purchase is legal. However, they said that they are awaiting the final approval of the political tier. The answer is in line with the assessment made Friday by Rabbi of Hevron and Kiryat Arba, Rav Dov Lior. "The question now is whether Defense Minister Ehud Barak will allow the residents to stay there, regardless...

The IDF Civil Administration on Thursday took the unprecedented step of rejecting a government plan to normalize the status of the Sansana community in the South Hebron Hills. In Israel, as in other democracies, military officials are beholden to policy decisions made by civilian officials and are expected to implement their directives in good faith. The Civil Administration decision that "there is no justification for a new settlement, as [new homes] can be constructed within an existing settlement" comes 12 years after Sansana was established. In 1997 a Nahal outpost was established at Sansana, but the first homes were not...

The United States should cease promoting a secular civil society as the only alternative to a Taliban-like theocracy in Iraq. We cannot quell the religious yearnings of millions of Iraqis merely by fostering democracy and capitalism. The most effective way to counter a theocracy is to promote moderate, liberal religious institutions. The First Amendment's separation of church and state is not a foreign policy tool; it's a peculiar American conception. Just because the American government is banned from promoting religion within the United States does not mean that it cannot promote it as part of a civil society in Iraq...

The US civil administration paid out the first government wages to Iraqis since the US-led war, giving wages to thousands of Baghdad electricity workers. It hopes the payments - set eventually to reach about 1.4 million civil servants and ranging from $80 to $400 a month - will send a signal that normal life is returning to the country after weeks of chaos and deteriorating security conditions. "Its a start, a good start and the rest will get paid through the rest of the week," said Jay Garner, the outgoing director of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA)....

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 16 - In an abrupt reversal, the United States and Britain have indefinitely put off their plan to allow Iraqi opposition forces to form a national assembly and an interim government by the end of the month. Instead, top American and British diplomats leading reconstruction efforts here told exile leaders in a meeting tonight that allied officials would remain in charge of Iraq for an indefinite period, said Iraqis who attended the meeting. It was conducted by L. Paul Bremer, the new civilian administrator here. Mr. Bremer, who was accompanied by John Sawers, a British diplomat representing...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top American officials in charge of running post-war Iraq are being relieved of their jobs in what U.S. officials said was part of a broad shake-up of U.S. operations in Iraq, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. Retired U.S. Gen. Jay Garner, who has overseen the rebuilding of Iraq for the Bush administration over the last three weeks, will be departing with some of his top aides, possibly within a week or two, the Post reported. Barbara Bodine, the American coordinator for central Iraq and the effective post-war mayor of Baghdad, will leave for Washington on...

The "governmental process" in Iraq will be up and running by the end of next week and all ministries will have Iraqi officials at the helm as soon as possible, the retired American general in charge of rebuilding the country said today. Retired Lt.-Gen. Jay Garner spoke at a news conference after meeting with scores of Iraqi technocrats and academics on efforts to bring democracy and stability to this leaderless country. "You will begin to see the governmental process begin by the end of next week," he said. "It is very important that people start back to work, especially those...

In war's wake: Is the Middle East bound for resurgence of radical Islam?By Peter Grier, Staff writer of The Christian Science MonitorWASHINGTON - The startling explosion of Shiite passion in Iraq is forcing US officials to contemplate the possibility that by toppling Saddam Hussein they have made the region safe for theocracy rather than democracy. There are many reasons to believe that Iraq will not end up as a mullah-controlled state - the next Iran. Shiites, while a majority in Iraq, must still strike some governing arrangement with sizable Sunni Muslim and Kurdish minorities. Iraqi Shiites are themselves split over...

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2003 – Coalition forces are nearing the end of combat operations, but the campaign will continue, the chief of coalition land forces said during an interview from Baghdad. In a videoconferenced briefing with Pentagon reporters, Army Lt. Gen. David McKiernan said the ground campaign against the regime of Saddam Hussein is making a "blurred transition" from combat operations to post-hostilities operations. He listed the three types of resistance coalition forces still face: regime pockets , paramilitary formations – including foreign fighters -- and terrorist attacks. He said the whole coalition military plan was characterized by the speed...

SCENES of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shia Muslims expressing their newfound political power on the streets of Iraq’s cities are causing growing concern in Western and Arab capitals. A fortnight after American and British troops deposed Saddam Hussein’s regime, there is a growing consensus that the only credible force to have emerged in the country is the Shia clergy and its followers, many of whom advocate the creation of an Iranian-style Islamic state. “There is real concern,” a senior British official said. “The Iraqi Shia are the only group to have made any real impact so far. There was...

<p>BAGHDAD, Iraq — A longtime Iraqi exile who has proclaimed himself in charge of Baghdad pledged Sunday that the country's new constitution would be derived from Islamic law and promised to try anyone whose "hands are stained with the blood of the Iraqi people."</p>