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Pardon me if I don't cheer for the three survivors of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) freed in Iraq, whom I consider misguided, arrogant and foolish and who cause more problems than they solve. Of course, I never wished them dead and, like everyone else, am relieved they were rescued from a situation they brought on themselves. Four of them were kidnapped in Baghdad Nov. 26. Their American colleague was murdered because of his nationality. Nice guys. Not all of the 400 or so who've been kidnapped in Iraq escaped so lightly. In Sault Ste. Marie, Jim Loney's mother calls...

By The Associated Press Most people in the United States think illegal immigration is a serious problem. A solid majority oppose making it easier for illegal immigrants to become legal workers or citizens. Some findings in recent polling: _ Some 59 percent say they oppose allowing illegal immigrants to apply for legal, temporary-worker status, an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll found. _ More than six in 10, 62 percent, say they oppose making it easier for illegal immigrants to become citizens, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. Nine in 10 in that poll say they consider immigration to be a...

Freed hostage will arrive home today amid growing concern, report our correspondents  Norman Kember, the freed peace activist, will arrive back in Britain today amid growing controversy over his failure publicly to thank the military forces who rescued him.   Neither Professor Kember nor the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) organisation for whom he worked have acknowledged the work of the soldiers who rescued him and two Canadian hostages on Thursday, or of the teams of military and intelligence officials who spent months trying to track them down.   General Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the British Army, expressed the...

Released hostages 'refuse to help their rescuers' By Oliver Poole in Baghdad (Filed: 25/03/2006) The three peace activists freed by an SAS-led coalition force after being held hostage in Iraq for four months refused to co-operate fully with an intelligence unit sent to debrief them, a security source claimed yesterday. The claim has infuriated those searching for other hostages. The Canadians: Harmeet Sooden and Jim Loney Neither the men nor the Canadian group that sent them to Iraq have thanked the people who saved them in any of their public statements. One of them, Norman Kember, 74, a retired physics...

CPT Statement:  CPTers Released23 March 2006Our hearts are filled with joy today as we heard that Harmeet Singh Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember have been safely released in Baghdad. Christian Peacemaker Teams rejoices with their families and friends at the expectation of their return to their loved ones and community. Together we have endured uncertainty, hope, fear, grief and now joy during the four months since they were abducted in Baghdad. We rejoice in the return of Harmeet Sooden. He has been willing to put his life on the line to promote justice in Iraq and Palestine as a...

Statement By Christian Peacemaker Teams “Our hearts are filled with joy today as we heard that Harmeet Singh Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember have been safely released in Baghdad. Christian Peacemaker Teams rejoices with their families and friends at the expectation of their return to their loved ones and community. "Together we have endured uncertainty, hope, fear, grief and now joy during the four months since they were abducted in Baghdad. “We rejoice in the return of Harmeet Sooden. He has been willing to put his life on the line to promote justice in Iraq and Palestine as a...

[From the Office of Congressman William J. Jefferson] WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Representative William Jefferson expressed his concern about the proposed language for the fourth hurricane relief supplemental proposal submitted last week by the White House. The proposal requests $4.2 billion "subject to the requirements of section 404" of the Stafford Act - which provides money for homeowners to take action to reduce losses from flooding. "I am especially concerned about the language because it limits Louisiana's use of the $4.2 billion strictly to hazard mitigation, raising or removing property," Jefferson said. "Our delegation was not consulted on this...

Some members of Congress, exhibiting post-9/11 jingoism and paranoia, are pressuring the Bush administration to reconsider its decision to allow Dubai Ports World, an Arab company, to take over operations at six U.S. ports. The approval should stand. Congressman Peter T. King (R-NY), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and, more importantly, a Congressman from an area near two of the ports that will be operated by Dubai Ports World, expressed this xenophobic view about Dubai’s acquisition of the British company that is currently operating the ports: “In the post-9/11 world, there should have been a presumption against this...

"In the survey of 1,000 youngsters aged between 18 and 23, conducted by The Korea Times and its sister paper the Hankook Ilbo on Feb. 16-19, nearly 48 percent of respondents said that if the U.S. attacked nuclear facilities in North Korea, Seoul should act on Pyongyang's behalf and demand Washington stop the attack." 48% of Youth Would Support N. Korea in Case of US Attack Survey Shows Half of Young Generation Are Progressive By Park Song-wu, Staff Reporter Almost half of juniors surveyed, who will get their first voting rights in the 2007 presidential election, said in a recent...

BERLIN (Hollywood Reporter) - Turkey's "Valley of the Wolves: Iraq," an action drama that depicts U.S. troops in Iraq committing multiple atrocities, is setting new box-office records in its homeland. The movie has sold more than 3 million tickets since its February 3 release, according to Turkish tracking agency Kenda. The current record-holder for ticket sales in Turkey is "G.O.R.A.," which drew 4 million admissions in 2004. "'Valley of the Wolves' will maybe reach 5 million," a Kenda representative said... Billy Zane stars as the evangelistic local U.S. commander, a Col. Kurtz-like figure intent on retaining control of the various...

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco warned state lawmakers on Monday that corruption could no longer be tolerated as the area rebuilds from the Hurricane Katrina disaster and vowed to "play hardball" with Washington over oil and gas revenues. Opening a special legislative session in the New Orleans Convention Center, where thousands of residents took refuge in the days after Katrina flooded the city, Blanco said the disaster that killed 1,300 people had become "yesterday's problem" for many in Washington. "We had all better put Louisiana politics aside and worry about Washington politics or our people and our...

Louisiana's leaders have made a strong case for getting a larger, fairer share of offshore oil royalties for the state; so far, though, reason and persuasion haven't worked with Congress or the Bush administration. But Louisiana also has a stick -- the power to oppose the sale of new offshore oil leases -- and Gov. Blanco made the right move by showing that she might use it. She threatened, in a letter to the Minerals Management Service, to withhold support for an August sale unless Louisiana gets a more substantial piece of the revenue. And she makes the crucial link:...

Rob Allyn, the public relations expert hired by the Republic of Mexico to improve its image in the states, believes that American animosity toward immigrants is rooted partly in racism. "You can smell it. It's like bad art. You know it when you see it," Mr. Allyn told The San Diego Union-Tribune. One mission is to "correct some of the myths and misperceptions that are out there." Allyn should start by correcting his misperception about supposedly racist Americans. Apparently his $72,000 fee (in published reports) does not buy much public relations acumen these days. Allyn's office said he was traveling...

In an especially contentious exchange on this evening's Hannity and Colmes (Friday February 3, 2006), cantankerous cartoonist Ted Rall, a guest on the program, unbelievably declared, "We do not owe our liberties to the military." The topic was the recent Washington Post cartoon by Tom Toles that has outraged many. The cartoon prompted a letter to the editor (linked at Michelle Malkin) from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who tagged the the work as "beyond tasteless." Needless to say, Rall (who himself has created bigoted trash in the past) defended Toles' cruel piece. Here's the relevant exchange (audiotape on file,...

Queen Mary 2 Passengers Threaten Sit-In Sun Jan 22, 6:43 PM ET LONDON - Some passengers on the Queen Mary 2 are threatening a sit-in when the cruise ship reaches port in Brazil to protest a last-minute change in itinerary, the vessel's operator said Sunday. ADVERTISEMENT The world's largest and most expensive ocean liner left New York on Jan. 15 and was scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles on Feb. 22. Carrying more than 2,500 passengers, it hit the side of a Florida shipping channel Jan. 18, damaging a motor and reducing its speed. The cruise cut stops in Barbados,...

Diplomats from Mexico and Central America on Monday demanded guest worker programs and the legalization of undocumented migrants in the United States, while criticizing a U.S. proposal for tougher border enforcement.

Anti-American sentiments are so robust in Canada that you apparently don't even have to be American to feel their sting — American-by-association will do. Take the case of Michael Ignatieff, the Toronto-born political scientist and human rights expert who spent the last couple of decades teaching at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. When he returned to Canada late last year to run for Parliament, did he get a warm welcome home from the locals? Hardly. Ignatieff had to stand down hecklers shouting "American, American!" — and this was at the candidate nomination meeting for his electoral district,...

Now that brush fires have destroyed parts of Texas and Oklahoma and mud slides have wreaked havoc in California, where are the people questioning whether those areas should have ever been settled? Where is the "60 Minutes" expert reaching for his 15 minutes of fame by saying that California is going to fall into the Pacific?

NEW ORLEANS -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco complained on Thursday that Louisiana is not getting its fair share of hurricane aid from the federal government. Blanco said that Louisiana suffered 70 percent of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina but that it is not getting an equivalent amount in aid. "We are all American citizens, we cannot allow ourselves to be treated like second-class citizens," the governor said during an update on rebuilding to the New Orleans city council. Sam Jones, Blanco's deputy director of community programs, pointed out that Louisiana got only $6.2 billion out of $11.5 billion in Community...

The White House yesterday agreed to spend $1.5 billion to strengthen levees in New Orleans, although it stopped short of saying the levees will be able to withstand a Cat egory 5 hurricane. "The levee system will be better and safer than it's ever been before," said Donald Powell, the administration's reconstruction czar. "The federal government is committed to building the best levee system known in the world." Mr. Powell made the announcement at the White House after meeting with President Bush, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin and Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, head of...