Free Republic

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday hailed the "unshakeable bond" between the United States and Israel in an effort to quell the diplomatic spat that has rocked ties between Washington and its closest Middle East ally. "We have an absolute commitment to Israel's security. We have a close, unshakeable bond between the United States and Israel," Clinton told a news briefing. Her comments marked a turn after days of tough U.S. talk following Israel's announcement last week that it would approve construction of a housing project in East Jerusalem, a move which infuriated the Palestinians and put hopes for...

One of the signature achievements of the Bush Administration was pressuring the Syrians to give up their occupation of Lebanon. "Occupation" is a strong word, but how else would one describe a situation where a foreign power (a) assassinates the elected leader of Lebanon, (b) has their proxies take to the streets better armed than the nation's own armed forces, (c) controls the occupied nation’s intelligence and police forces, and (d) has 15,000 troops strategically based around the tiny nation? In 2005, the Syrians left Lebanon after 30 years of occupation and domination. Oh, and Syria still considers Lebanon to...