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With Hamas telling tales of deprivation and suffering in Gaza, Egyptian journalist Ashraf Abu al-Houl has added his report to others who were surprised to discover a “prosperous” Gaza in which prices are low and luxury businesses are booming. Al-Houl's story of his trip to Gaza and his realization that “in actual terms, Gaza is not under siege” was written up in the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). "A sense of absolute prosperity prevails, as manifested by the grand resorts along and near Gaza's coast. Further, the site of the merchandise and...

MIAMI - An FBI agent testified Thursday in the trial of suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla that members of an alleged Islamic extremist support network talked in code, substituting words like "tourism" and "football" for "jihad." The agent, John T. Kavanaugh, said participants suspected they were being overheard by government officials and urged one another not to openly discuss sensitive matters over the phone. "They believed they were not the only people listening to the telephone calls. It was said explicitly," Kavanaugh said. Among the most common code words, he said, was "tourism" in place of "jihad" — an Arabic...

When he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1994 and for Massachusetts governor in 2002, Mitt Romney made it clear he believed abortion should be "safe and legal" and that he supported "the right of a woman to choose" to terminate a pregnancy. But in an interview with The Bee on Wednesday, Romney, a Republican presidential candidate trying to appeal to social conservatives, described a change of heart on abortion more than two years ago. He said he now believes states should be allowed "to pursue pro-life legislation." "I've changed my view with regards to the role of government in...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A Kurdish witness at Saddam Hussein's genocide trial testified Wednesday that he survived a massacre by running and falling into a ditch full of bodies as troops fired on his group of detainees. A second Kurd told of a separate massacre in which 35 detainees, knowing they were about to die, decided to attack their guards in the hope that if they struck first, at least one would live to tell the tale. Speaking from behind a curtain to conceal his identity for fear of reprisal, the first witness said he was in a group of detainees...

SIMI VALLEY How does Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito describe the last year, when he endured a bruising confirmation fight in the Senate to land a seat on the nation's highest court? "I sometimes feel as if I had an out of body experience," he said. Speaking Tuesday to a capacity crowd at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Alito described the highs and lows that came with being plucked from the relative quiet of a seat on the federal bench in New Jersey and landing in the spotlight of Washington politics. It was, he said, "certainly quite a change." Hounded...

BAGHDAD, Aug. 12, 2006 – The coalition commander responsible for operations in the Iraqi capital is optimistic about what he has seen since operations to quell sectarian violence here started. Army Maj. Gen. James Thurman, commander of Multinational Division Baghdad, said forces have been concentrating on four major hot spots. He spoke to reporters traveling with Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is visiting troops in Iraq. Essentially, the concept calls on coalition and Iraqi forces to cordon off an area and search each street, house by house, Thurman said. Doura – a mixed...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Nov. 18, 2005) -- Just because a Marine is not in an infantry unit, does not mean he will not be attached to a combat patrol and be forced to depend on his training and instincts to survive. This was the case for Lance Cpl. Chris L. Wliszczak. Wliszczak was augmented from Headquarters and Service Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, and attached to Small Craft Company, Headquarters Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, when he deployed to Iraq in March 2005. This Allentown, Pa., native did not think he would see much combat in Iraq being...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2005 – The commander of coalition troops in Iraq today described "an extremely successful tactical operation" in which U.S. and Iraqi troops all but cleared Tal Afar, Iraq, of foreign fighters. Tal Afar is one of two major transit zones for foreign fighters coming into Iraq, Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., commander of Multinational Force Iraq, said from Baghdad today. The other route is through the Euphrates River Valley, farther south. U.S. troops from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and Iraqi forces from the 3rd Iraqi Army Division have been working for two months to plan...

Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in Holland: Portent of Things to Come? and Dutch Center-Right Coalition Stands up to Islamism."Education by murder" describes the slow and painful way people wake up to the problem of radical Islam. It took 3,000 deaths to wake up Americans, or at least to wake up the half of them who are conservative. Likewise, it took hundreds of deaths in the Bali explosion to semi-wake up Australians; it took the Madrid assault for Spaniards, and the Beslan atrocity for Russians. Twelve workers beheaded in Iraq awoke the Nepalese.But it took just one death...

Giuliani describes 9/11 rescue efforts Giuliani: 'Could not conceive of the entire tower coming down' Wednesday, May 19, 2004 Posted: 1541 GMT (2341 HKT) NEW YORK (CNN) -- One day after former New York fire and police department officials drew criticism over communication problems that plagued rescue efforts during the World Trade Center attacks, the boss of both agencies has told the 9/11 commission Wednesday that the rescuers' performance demonstrated a "superb command structure." Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is speaking on the second of two days of public hearings at Manhattan's New School University looking at how the...