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As US Secretary of State John Kerry was making his way to Jerusalem, Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon (Likud / Yisrael Beytenu) said Thursday that Israel will not sign an interim agreement that will put Israeli lives in danger. "Secretary Kerry is coming to Israel again. We cannot count how many times he came already. We welcome him to Israel but we should tell him very clearly – we will not sign an interim agreement that will put the lives of Israelis in danger. "We saw what happened in Geneva. A bad accord was signed in Geneva. We will not...

MIAMI — Speaking via telephone from his home in Tegucigalpa on Monday, interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti again defended the actions of Honduran military officials in booting President Manuel Zelaya from power. ''We can't allow that this government take us to communism or socialism,'' Micheletti told a group of reporters at a telephone press conference organized by Honduran Unity, a Miami-based group of Honduran activists who support Micheletti.

If the Oklahoma City bombers refused to participate in a U.S. election, would the final results be considered “illegitimate?” What if the Nation of Islam, the Black Panthers, the Communist Party USA, or the Southern Indiana Regional Militia refused to vote in American elections? Would it matter and, really, who gives a damn? The Left-Wing, e.g. the New York Times, has been trying to hold the Iraqi elections to this type of ridiculous standard regarding Sunni participation. Granted: Sunnis make up 32-37% of Iraq’s population. While their representation is important, the majority of terrorist attacks aimed at destabilizing Iraq have...

So where is Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army now? After taking serious losses against American and Iraqi forces and cynically hiding behind Shiite Islam’s most holy shrine in Najaf, these cowards have melted back into Iraqi society. Or have they? There are many questions to be answered regarding al-Sadr’s future, as he most certainly will oppose the growth of democracy in Iraq. Will al-Sadr and his thugs be held accountable for the violent crimes they committed in Najaf? During their reign of terror, they apparently held a kangaroo court. After Iraq’s top Shiite, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, pressured al-Sadr to...

Just more of an opinion or observation. It seems that during the US occupation, and even after the handover in Iraq, that many of their policies are more like modern liberalism than our Constitution. Example--before the handover, the death penalty was abolished (now re-instated) and now the interim Iraqi officials have declared militias illegal. Do you think that we are using today's liberalism to model Iraq, or is it more a matter of ultimately letting the modern, elected new government and its citizens decide what to do?Also, why does it seem that their new government is modeled more after the...

WASHINGTON - Iraq's interim prime minister has formally asked NATO to do more to help stabilize his violence-wracked country by training its nascent security forces. Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's request comes in advance of the NATO summit Monday and Tuesday in Istanbul, Turkey, and could help President Bush in his efforts to win a greater NATO commitment in Iraq. The 26-member NATO alliance provides only logistical support to a Polish-commanded multinational division in south-central Iraq. Bush has sought a larger alliance role to help relieve the overstretched U.S. military. The administration has warned that it's in the world's interest...

WASHINGTON, April 24. — The USA and the top UN envoy to Iraq have decided to exclude the majority of politicians the US-led coalition relied on over the past year when they select an Iraqi government to assume power on 30 June, officials said. The latest shift in policy comes as the US-led coalition faces some contentious and long-standing issues ahead of the power transfer, the Washington Post reported quoting US and UN officials. At the top of the list of those likely to be jettisoned was Mr Ahmed Chalabi, a Shiite politician who for years was a favourite of...

No Injuries Reported BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Militants fired mortar rounds at the airport and two roadside bombs exploded Friday, hours ahead of a signing ceremony for the country's interim constitution, a key landmark in U.S. plans to hand over power to Iraqis by June 30. No injuries were reported. The signing of the document, scheduled for Friday afternoon amid tight security, was delayed for nearly a week - first by tough negotiations among members of the Iraqi Governing Council that went beyond a Feb. 28 deadline, then by a three-day mourning period following two suicide attacks Tuesday that killed...

REBUILDING PLAN AGREED Free Iraqis have drawn up a 13-point plan to rebuild their country following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime. The plan was agreed at US-hosted talks at Ur, the birthplace of the biblical prophet Abraham. The delegates also voted to meet again in 10 days' time. In a statement they said a future Iraqi government must be democratic, no leader must be imposed from outside, and the Baath party must be dissolved. As the meeting began, hundreds marched through the streets of nearby Nasiriyah protesting about US involvement in their country's future. They were concerned that the...

Informed sources from the Iraqi opposition told Albawaba that 30 portfolios in the planned interim government have already been endorsed. The government, to be led by the retired US general, Jay Garner, will include technocrats and will assume responsibility after the upcoming conference, scheduled next week in the Iraqi city of al Nasiriyah, is held. Additionally, the sources told Albawaba the names of some of the new ministers. According to the opposition, Brigadier General Tawfiq al Yaseri, who led the 1991 uprising against the toppled Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, secretary general of the Iraqi National Coalition and spokesman for the...

Even amid crucial battles in Iraq, US President George W. Bush has made the gesture of leaving his capital again this week for a second attempt to shore up his foremost war ally, British prime minister Tony Blair, in the fight for his political life at home. Although, according to the latest opinion polls, around 70 percent of Britons support their army’s participation in the Iraq war, Blair’s personal prestige is on the wane. Some diplomatic circles dubbed the Bush-Blair conference in Belfast this Tuesday, April 8, “the rescue Blair summit”, after last month’s Camp David encounter failed to turn...

United States Marines Antiterrorism ForceSpecial weapons and tactics of this new elite brigade BY SCOTT R. GOURLEY Carefully adjusting the variable scope on top of the new sniper rifle, a unit marksman squinted toward the far end of the training site where a fellow Marine was removing his chemical protection mask. "This is sweet," he chuckled. "I can look down his ear canal with this thing." The next person whose ear comes in the crosshairs of the enhanced Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR) will get more than an impromptu earwax inspection. Already field-tested in Afghanistan, the DMR version of the 7.62mm...

"From a strategic standpoint, the Palestinian suicide bombings may seem incompatible with the goal of attaining statehood. But when this tactic is viewed as a means toward achieving a transformation of the entire Islamic world, then the rationale behind it comes into sharp relief. And if this is the goal, then the Palestinians and al Qaeda are now serving each other's interests...." (STRATFOR) The full STRATFOR document and an analysis of Arafat's likely next steps are available on Winds of Change.

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) --  Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday began to sketch out the Bush administration's plans for a Palestinian state, saying in an interview with an Arabic newspaper that the process may begin with a transitional or temporary state.</p>