PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press
July 12, 2006
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/15022696.htm
WASHINGTON - The Army will rebid the multibillion-dollar contract under which a Halliburton Co. subsidiary has been providing services to troops around the world after years of complaints over how the deal has worked in Iraq.
Critics of the contract said the move was overdue and that hundreds of millions of dollars had probably been wasted.
Halliburton subsidiary KBR, also known as Kellogg Brown & Root, provides food, water, shelter, laundry service and other logistical support for troops under a 2001 contract that has been extended several times.
Halliburton is a Texas-based oil services conglomerate once led by Vice President Dick Cheney. Bush administration officials have come under fire since the beginning of the war in Iraq for awarding more than $10 billion to the company and its subsidiaries in 2003 and 2004, some of it in no-bid contracts. There have been allegations of fraud, poor work, overpricing and other abuse, which the company has denied.
Army spokesman Dave Foster said Wednesday that although the service will rebid the contract, it has not decided yet how that will be done. KBR would be allowed to bid in the new competition, but one option Army officials are considering is to divide the work among three companies.
Asked why the contract was being discontinued, Foster said it was part of the Army's "lessons learned" process.
"The Army lives on 'lessons-learned.' We get better each and every time we do it," Foster said. "There's discussion under way that there may be - may be - a better way of doing this. If you open it up to as many as three bids, that offers more open competition."
Halliburton spokeswoman Melissa Norcross said it was "neither unusual nor unexpected that the ... contract may be replaced with another competitively bid approach."
KBR's achievements in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan have been "nothing short of amazing," she said, noting that KBR has prepared nearly 375 million meals, washed more than 18.5 million bundles of laundry and transported hundreds of millions of gallons of military fuel for troops in America's two ongoing wars.
Shares of Halliburton Co. stock declined on the New York Stock Exchange on the news, dropping 70 cents to close at $74.88.
"It has taken them far too long," Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said of the Army. "I believe literally hundreds of millions, and probably billions, of dollars have been wasted - it's almost an unbelievable amount of waste and abuse and likely fraud."
Earlier in the day in a speech on the Senate floor, he held up a hand towel that he said cost double what it should have because the company "wanted its name embroidered on the towels given to the troops."
"Taxpayers can breathe easier knowing that the days of $45 cases of soda and $100 bags of laundry are coming to a close," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
The Washington Post reported the decision to end Halliburton's contract Wednesday, saying the Army had paid KBR $7 billion under the contract last year and is expected to pay between $4 billion and $5 billion this year.
Halliburton's Norcross said KBR - with some 50,000 employees and subcontractors in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Djibouti - has won outstanding performance ratings from the government for its work under the contract.
ON THE NET
Army: http://www.army.mil
Halliburton Co.: http://www.halliburton.com
Leftist's backers head to Mexico City
OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press
July 12, 2006
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/world/15020678.htm
MONTERREY, Mexico - Supporters of leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador headed to Mexico City on Wednesday, leaving mountain towns and sprawling industrial cities to demand a ballot-by-ballot recount.
Protesters gathered outside the country's 300 electoral districts before heading to the capital, where a mass rally is planned for Sunday to denounce official results showing conservative Felipe Calderon as the apparent winner of the July 2 election.
Carrying signs that read "Vote by vote! No to electoral fraud!" and wearing yellow, the color of Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party, dozens of the candidate's most fervent supporters began a 60-mile walk from his home state of Tabasco.
The protesters, many of whom joined Lopez Obrador in 1995 during months of protests over his loss of the governor's race in Tabasco state, will travel the last 370 miles of their journey to Mexico City by bus, organizers said.
Lopez Obrador has filed legal appeals challenging the nearly 244,000-vote advantage Calderon had after an official tally of the more than 41 million votes cast. His party has submitted dozens of boxes stuffed with videos, campaign propaganda and other alleged proof of election misconduct.
Throughout his political career, Lopez Obrador has used street protests to pressure the government and the courts.
Last year, as Mexico City mayor, he led huge street protests that eventually forced President Vicente Fox's administration to drop a legal case that would have kept Lopez Obrador out of the presidential race. Fox and Calderon are from the same party, the National Action Party.
On Saturday, more than 100,000 of his supporters gathered in Mexico City's central plaza to hear his allegations of fraud.
Lopez Obrador has asked his supporters to be peaceful and not block roads, and they have heeded his request.
In northern Nuevo Leon, a state Lopez Obrador lost to Calderon, about 500 protesters were to gather Wednesday in Monterrey, the state's capital. They will leave by buses and cars, picking up supporters along the trip, said Alejandro Silva, a Democratic Revolution spokesman.
"We can't ask people to walk because it would take forever, but we are going to make stops and hold demonstrations in several cities," Silva said.
Lopez Obrador promised to govern for the poor and forgotten, with plans for government handout programs and public works projects. Many supporters were devastated by his apparent loss, and have said they won't accept it.
The law allows a recount only for specific polling places where credible evidence of irregularities exist. The leftist's supporters say that applies to at least 50,000 of the approximately 130,000 polling places.
Lopez Obrador has also argued that there were campaign violations even before the vote, including overspending by Calderon's National Action Party, government support for Calderon and unfair intervention on his rival's behalf by business and church groups.
Fox has denied interfering in the elections, and election monitors from the European Union said they found no irregularities in the vote count.
Under Mexican law, no president-elect will be declared until the appeals process is completed. The widely respected tribunal has overturned two gubernatorial races in recent years, both for meddling by the ruling party.
A winner must be declared before Sept. 6.
Associated Press
July 12, 2006
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/world/15020678.htm
MONTERREY, Mexico - Supporters of leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador headed to Mexico City on Wednesday, leaving mountain towns and sprawling industrial cities to demand a ballot-by-ballot recount.
Protesters gathered outside the country's 300 electoral districts before heading to the capital, where a mass rally is planned for Sunday to denounce official results showing conservative Felipe Calderon as the apparent winner of the July 2 election.
Carrying signs that read "Vote by vote! No to electoral fraud!" and wearing yellow, the color of Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party, dozens of the candidate's most fervent supporters began a 60-mile walk from his home state of Tabasco.
The protesters, many of whom joined Lopez Obrador in 1995 during months of protests over his loss of the governor's race in Tabasco state, will travel the last 370 miles of their journey to Mexico City by bus, organizers said.
Lopez Obrador has filed legal appeals challenging the nearly 244,000-vote advantage Calderon had after an official tally of the more than 41 million votes cast. His party has submitted dozens of boxes stuffed with videos, campaign propaganda and other alleged proof of election misconduct.
Throughout his political career, Lopez Obrador has used street protests to pressure the government and the courts.
Last year, as Mexico City mayor, he led huge street protests that eventually forced President Vicente Fox's administration to drop a legal case that would have kept Lopez Obrador out of the presidential race. Fox and Calderon are from the same party, the National Action Party.
On Saturday, more than 100,000 of his supporters gathered in Mexico City's central plaza to hear his allegations of fraud.
Lopez Obrador has asked his supporters to be peaceful and not block roads, and they have heeded his request.
In northern Nuevo Leon, a state Lopez Obrador lost to Calderon, about 500 protesters were to gather Wednesday in Monterrey, the state's capital. They will leave by buses and cars, picking up supporters along the trip, said Alejandro Silva, a Democratic Revolution spokesman.
"We can't ask people to walk because it would take forever, but we are going to make stops and hold demonstrations in several cities," Silva said.
Lopez Obrador promised to govern for the poor and forgotten, with plans for government handout programs and public works projects. Many supporters were devastated by his apparent loss, and have said they won't accept it.
The law allows a recount only for specific polling places where credible evidence of irregularities exist. The leftist's supporters say that applies to at least 50,000 of the approximately 130,000 polling places.
Lopez Obrador has also argued that there were campaign violations even before the vote, including overspending by Calderon's National Action Party, government support for Calderon and unfair intervention on his rival's behalf by business and church groups.
Fox has denied interfering in the elections, and election monitors from the European Union said they found no irregularities in the vote count.
Under Mexican law, no president-elect will be declared until the appeals process is completed. The widely respected tribunal has overturned two gubernatorial races in recent years, both for meddling by the ruling party.
A winner must be declared before Sept. 6.
Israel attacks Lebanon after troops seized
By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer
July 13, 2006
Israel widened its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas on Thursday, targeting Beirut's international airport and blasting southern Lebanon for a second day, police and airport officials said. Twenty-two civilians were reported killed in the south, local media said.
Warplanes struck the runways of the country's only international airport early Thursday during Israel's ongoing air and sea assault against Lebanon, which began a day earlier after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. The airport was later closed, forcing flights to be diverted to nearby Cyprus, officials said.
Israel's Army Radio said the object of Thursday's attack was to shut down air traffic in and out of Beirut. The airport is located in the capital's southern suburbs, which are controlled by Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, Israeli aircraft and artillery continued attacking targets in southern Lebanon overnight, police reported. Leading TV station LBC said at least 22 civilians were killed in the attacks, including a family of 12 in the village of Dweir.
Israeli medics also reported Thursday that an Israeli woman was killed when a Hezbollah rocket hit her home in a northern border town. The Israeli military said it was checking the report.
Israel bombed and shelled southern Lebanon and sent ground troops over the border for the first time in six years Wednesday after the two soldiers were captured. The fighting killed eight Israeli soldiers and three Lebanese.
Hezbollah's brazen cross-border raid opened a second front for the Israeli army. The army is now fighting Islamic militants in both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, where it is looking for another soldier who was captured more than two weeks ago by Hamas-linked militants.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the Hezbollah raid an "act of war" by Lebanon and threatened "very, very, very painful" retaliation. The Cabinet, meeting in the wake of the military's highest daily death toll in four years, decided to continue the army operation and call on the international community to disarm Hezbollah, according to participants.
Residents of northern Israeli towns were ordered to seek cover in underground bomb shelters as Hezbollah, an anti-Israel guerrilla group that essentially runs southern Lebanon, launched rockets across the border throughout the day.
Overnight, Hezbollah fired rockets and shells at Israeli military bases along the border, the military said. Also, an Israeli civilian was wounded by a rocket explosion in the border village of Zarit. His condition was not known.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said he would free the Israeli soldiers only in a prisoner swap, adding that he was open to a package deal that would include the release of the soldier held in Gaza.
"The capture of the two soldiers could provide a solution to the Gaza crisis," he told reporters in Beirut.
At least 23 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on Wednesday. And an Israeli airstrike early Thursday destroyed the building housing the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Foreign Ministry. Palestinian medics said 13 people in the neighborhood, including six children, were injured, mainly from flying glass and debris.
The Gaza crisis began June 25 when Palestinian militants dug a tunnel out of the coastal strip and attacked an army position inside Israel, seizing Cpl. Gilad Shalit and demanding the release of 1,500 prisoners held by Israel. Although Israel has made prisoner exchanges in the past, Olmert ruled out any negotiations for Shalit's return, saying that would only encourage more kidnappings.
Instead, Israel unleashed an offensive against Gaza, sending in troops, firing artillery and carrying out airstrikes on militant targets in an effort to force the Palestinians to free Shalit.
In an attempt to assassinate top Hamas fugitives Wednesday, Israel dropped a quarter-ton bomb on a home in Gaza City, killing a couple and seven of their children, ages 4-18. Hamas said its leaders escaped harm, but militants took over the intensive care unit of a hospital, barring reporters.
Palestinian security officials said Mohammed Deif, leader of Hamas' military wing and No. 1 on Israel's wanted list for more than a decade, was among the wounded — suffering severe back injuries that could paralyze him.
Palestinians in Gaza welcomed the attack in Lebanon, hoping it would force Israel to shift its focus away from them.
"People are cheering this attack ... because they view it as a kind of revenge and reprisal against what Israel has been doing in Gaza," said Salah Bardawil, a spokesman for Hamas in the Palestinian parliament. "Militarily, by opening a new front against Israel, it would ease the pressure on us. Israel is using a huge force in Gaza now. It will have to use part of its military capacity in Lebanon."
However, an Israeli military official said the army had no intention of moving any forces from the Gaza theater. The troops already on the northern border would deal with the conflict with Lebanon, backed by reinforcements if needed, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss troop movements.
Israel and Lebanon have a history of conflict, punctuated by a full-scale Israeli invasion in 1982, and its 18-year occupation of a buffer zone in southern Lebanon that was intended to prevent attacks on Israel. The United Nations certified that Israel's 2000 withdrawal from Lebanon was complete, but Lebanon laid claim to a sliver of border territory, still held by Israel, that the U.N. said was actually part of Syria.
Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria and branded a terror group by the U.S. and Israel, used the dispute to justify cross-border attacks. But the fighting Wednesday was by far the worst since Israel withdrew six years ago, and it threatened to escalate.
"This is a terrorist attack and it is clearly timed to exacerbate already high tensions in the region and sow further violence," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said. "We also hold Syria and Iran — which directly support Hezbollah — responsible for this attack and for the ensuing violence."
Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa denied his country had a role in either of the abductions and instead blamed Israel. "For sure, the occupation (of the Palestinian territories) is the cause provoking both the Lebanese and Palestinian people, and that's why there is Lebanese and Palestinian resistance," he said.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for restraint. "We would not want to see an expansion, an escalation, of conflict in the region," he said. He also condemned "without reservations the attack" by Hezbollah fighters.
Hezbollah fighters began their attack Wednesday by firing a barrage of rockets at communities in northwestern Israel. The guerrillas then crossed the border and launched a surprise attack on two Israeli Humvees, killing three soldiers, wounding two and capturing the two others, the Israeli army said.
Israel quickly sent armored vehicles over the border on a rescue mission, but one of the tanks rolled over a large mine, killing the four soldiers inside and sparking a battle that killed another soldier, the army said.
Israel also sent warplanes deep into southern Lebanon — targeting bridges, roads and Hezbollah positions. One blast hit a major junction along the main north-south coastal highway, wrecking the road and wounding two people. Two civilians were killed in the attacks, Lebanese officials said.
Another airstrike targeted a Palestinian guerrilla base south of Beirut, Lebanese security officials said.
Israeli artillery and gunboats fired into the area, as well. The military said it attacked 40 targets to stop Hezbollah from moving the soldiers. It did not say how many ground troops were involved, but witnesses said dozens entered southwestern Lebanon.
July 13, 2006
Israel widened its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas on Thursday, targeting Beirut's international airport and blasting southern Lebanon for a second day, police and airport officials said. Twenty-two civilians were reported killed in the south, local media said.
Warplanes struck the runways of the country's only international airport early Thursday during Israel's ongoing air and sea assault against Lebanon, which began a day earlier after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. The airport was later closed, forcing flights to be diverted to nearby Cyprus, officials said.
Israel's Army Radio said the object of Thursday's attack was to shut down air traffic in and out of Beirut. The airport is located in the capital's southern suburbs, which are controlled by Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, Israeli aircraft and artillery continued attacking targets in southern Lebanon overnight, police reported. Leading TV station LBC said at least 22 civilians were killed in the attacks, including a family of 12 in the village of Dweir.
Israeli medics also reported Thursday that an Israeli woman was killed when a Hezbollah rocket hit her home in a northern border town. The Israeli military said it was checking the report.
Israel bombed and shelled southern Lebanon and sent ground troops over the border for the first time in six years Wednesday after the two soldiers were captured. The fighting killed eight Israeli soldiers and three Lebanese.
Hezbollah's brazen cross-border raid opened a second front for the Israeli army. The army is now fighting Islamic militants in both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, where it is looking for another soldier who was captured more than two weeks ago by Hamas-linked militants.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the Hezbollah raid an "act of war" by Lebanon and threatened "very, very, very painful" retaliation. The Cabinet, meeting in the wake of the military's highest daily death toll in four years, decided to continue the army operation and call on the international community to disarm Hezbollah, according to participants.
Residents of northern Israeli towns were ordered to seek cover in underground bomb shelters as Hezbollah, an anti-Israel guerrilla group that essentially runs southern Lebanon, launched rockets across the border throughout the day.
Overnight, Hezbollah fired rockets and shells at Israeli military bases along the border, the military said. Also, an Israeli civilian was wounded by a rocket explosion in the border village of Zarit. His condition was not known.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said he would free the Israeli soldiers only in a prisoner swap, adding that he was open to a package deal that would include the release of the soldier held in Gaza.
"The capture of the two soldiers could provide a solution to the Gaza crisis," he told reporters in Beirut.
At least 23 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on Wednesday. And an Israeli airstrike early Thursday destroyed the building housing the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Foreign Ministry. Palestinian medics said 13 people in the neighborhood, including six children, were injured, mainly from flying glass and debris.
The Gaza crisis began June 25 when Palestinian militants dug a tunnel out of the coastal strip and attacked an army position inside Israel, seizing Cpl. Gilad Shalit and demanding the release of 1,500 prisoners held by Israel. Although Israel has made prisoner exchanges in the past, Olmert ruled out any negotiations for Shalit's return, saying that would only encourage more kidnappings.
Instead, Israel unleashed an offensive against Gaza, sending in troops, firing artillery and carrying out airstrikes on militant targets in an effort to force the Palestinians to free Shalit.
In an attempt to assassinate top Hamas fugitives Wednesday, Israel dropped a quarter-ton bomb on a home in Gaza City, killing a couple and seven of their children, ages 4-18. Hamas said its leaders escaped harm, but militants took over the intensive care unit of a hospital, barring reporters.
Palestinian security officials said Mohammed Deif, leader of Hamas' military wing and No. 1 on Israel's wanted list for more than a decade, was among the wounded — suffering severe back injuries that could paralyze him.
Palestinians in Gaza welcomed the attack in Lebanon, hoping it would force Israel to shift its focus away from them.
"People are cheering this attack ... because they view it as a kind of revenge and reprisal against what Israel has been doing in Gaza," said Salah Bardawil, a spokesman for Hamas in the Palestinian parliament. "Militarily, by opening a new front against Israel, it would ease the pressure on us. Israel is using a huge force in Gaza now. It will have to use part of its military capacity in Lebanon."
However, an Israeli military official said the army had no intention of moving any forces from the Gaza theater. The troops already on the northern border would deal with the conflict with Lebanon, backed by reinforcements if needed, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss troop movements.
Israel and Lebanon have a history of conflict, punctuated by a full-scale Israeli invasion in 1982, and its 18-year occupation of a buffer zone in southern Lebanon that was intended to prevent attacks on Israel. The United Nations certified that Israel's 2000 withdrawal from Lebanon was complete, but Lebanon laid claim to a sliver of border territory, still held by Israel, that the U.N. said was actually part of Syria.
Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria and branded a terror group by the U.S. and Israel, used the dispute to justify cross-border attacks. But the fighting Wednesday was by far the worst since Israel withdrew six years ago, and it threatened to escalate.
"This is a terrorist attack and it is clearly timed to exacerbate already high tensions in the region and sow further violence," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said. "We also hold Syria and Iran — which directly support Hezbollah — responsible for this attack and for the ensuing violence."
Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa denied his country had a role in either of the abductions and instead blamed Israel. "For sure, the occupation (of the Palestinian territories) is the cause provoking both the Lebanese and Palestinian people, and that's why there is Lebanese and Palestinian resistance," he said.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for restraint. "We would not want to see an expansion, an escalation, of conflict in the region," he said. He also condemned "without reservations the attack" by Hezbollah fighters.
Hezbollah fighters began their attack Wednesday by firing a barrage of rockets at communities in northwestern Israel. The guerrillas then crossed the border and launched a surprise attack on two Israeli Humvees, killing three soldiers, wounding two and capturing the two others, the Israeli army said.
Israel quickly sent armored vehicles over the border on a rescue mission, but one of the tanks rolled over a large mine, killing the four soldiers inside and sparking a battle that killed another soldier, the army said.
Israel also sent warplanes deep into southern Lebanon — targeting bridges, roads and Hezbollah positions. One blast hit a major junction along the main north-south coastal highway, wrecking the road and wounding two people. Two civilians were killed in the attacks, Lebanese officials said.
Another airstrike targeted a Palestinian guerrilla base south of Beirut, Lebanese security officials said.
Israeli artillery and gunboats fired into the area, as well. The military said it attacked 40 targets to stop Hezbollah from moving the soldiers. It did not say how many ground troops were involved, but witnesses said dozens entered southwestern Lebanon.
Israeli air strike kills 6 in Hamas house
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer
July 11, 2006
Israeli warplanes killed six people in an attack early Wednesday on a Gaza City meeting of Hamas commanders, Israelis and Palestinians said, while Israel's military expanded an offensive in the region with an incursion in the southern Gaza Strip.
The military said it attacked the Gaza City residence because it was a "meeting place for terrorists." It also confirmed Israeli forces were operating in southern Gaza as part of an effort to win the release of a captured soldier.
With tanks and troops on the move in the south, a huge explosion destroyed the house of Hamas activist Dr. Nabil al-Salmiah. Health Minister Bassem Naim said at least six people were killed including two children, and 27 wounded. He said the number of body parts had led to earlier statements that seven were killed.
Nervous Hamas officials carefully inspected the bodies, saying a senior Hamas commander was among the wounded but they did not know who was killed.
The Israeli military said the house was targeted because it was being used to plan attacks and rocket launching. Palestinians said a high-level meeting of Hamas commanders was going on inside the building just before the airstrike.
Palestinian rescue teams dodged broken water pipes and electricity wires to get to injured people screaming for help. The scene resembled the aftermath of a 2002 attack, when an Israeli warplane dropped on one-ton bomb on the house of a Hamas leader in Gaza, killing him and 14 other people, including nine children.
A neighbor, Safwan Amamour, 39, said he and his wife were cleaning their house next door when they heard a huge explosion, and he was hit by flying rubble.
As doctors stitched a cut next to his eye, he recounted grisly scenes of dismembered bodies. "No words can describe this destruction, this hellish damage, which I will remember of the rest of my life," he said.
Hamas official Ismail Radwan pledged to hit back at Israel. "It was a terrible, bloody massacre, and the Zionists will pay a heavy price for it," he said.
The expansion of the Gaza offensive came hours after Israeli leaders authorized incursions into areas of the territory they have not yet entered.
Palestinians said they saw Israeli bulldozers leveling farmland and tanks moving across the border near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The military ordered Palestinian security to leave their forward positions in the area.
The Israelis have not entered Khan Younis during the current offensive. Before Tuesday, Israeli forces had entered southern and northern Gaza and have approached Gaza City.
Israel launched its offensive on June 28, three days after Palestinian militants linked to the Hamas-led government captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid. The operation was expanded last week to halt Palestinian militants from firing homemade rockets into Israel.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his defense minister, Amir Peretz, ordered the new incursions into Gaza after Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said Monday he would not free the captive soldier, 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit, security officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operation.
Mashaal called Shalit a prisoner of war and demanded a prisoner swap — which Olmert has ruled out.
Responding to Mashaal's statement, Shalit's father, Noam, called on Hamas to allow the Red Cross to visit his son. Under Geneva Conventions, the Red Cross is supposed to have access to prisoners of war.
Israel has demanded the unconditional release of its soldier to end the offensive.
The invasion — Israel's largest ground operation in Gaza since withdrawing from the area last year — has caused widespread destruction, knocked out much of Gaza's power supply and left more than 50 Palestinians dead, most of them gunmen. One Israeli soldier has died.
The European Union began delivering aid to Gaza in a bid to repair some of the damage. Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he had received $50 million from the Arab League.
It was the first aid delivered under internationally backed funding restrictions that bypass the Palestinian government led by the militant group Hamas since March.
Officials said the money had bypassed Hamas because of the international boycott. The European Union, along with Israel and the U.S., considers Hamas a terrorist group.
Mohammed Awad, the Palestinian Cabinet secretary, said Hamas agreed to allow Abbas to handle the money. He said the funds would be used to pay civil servants, who have not received salaries in four months.
The European Commission said it has started delivering $765,000 in monthly aid to hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
EU spokeswoman Emma Udwin said the funds — to purchase fuel for emergency generators at Gaza hospitals — was requested by Abbas after Israel destroyed six transformers at a power plant during its Gaza offensive. Gaza now has only sporadic electricity, almost all of it provided by Israel.
In Gaza, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said the area is "on the verge of a genuine humanitarian crisis."
"There are shortages of food, fuel and essential needs of Palestinian citizens," he told his Cabinet, calling on the United Nations, Arab League, Muslim countries and the rest of the international community to help.
Also on Tuesday, a 15-month-old Palestinian boy injured in an Israeli missile strike last month died of his wounds at an Israeli hospital.
July 11, 2006
Israeli warplanes killed six people in an attack early Wednesday on a Gaza City meeting of Hamas commanders, Israelis and Palestinians said, while Israel's military expanded an offensive in the region with an incursion in the southern Gaza Strip.
The military said it attacked the Gaza City residence because it was a "meeting place for terrorists." It also confirmed Israeli forces were operating in southern Gaza as part of an effort to win the release of a captured soldier.
With tanks and troops on the move in the south, a huge explosion destroyed the house of Hamas activist Dr. Nabil al-Salmiah. Health Minister Bassem Naim said at least six people were killed including two children, and 27 wounded. He said the number of body parts had led to earlier statements that seven were killed.
Nervous Hamas officials carefully inspected the bodies, saying a senior Hamas commander was among the wounded but they did not know who was killed.
The Israeli military said the house was targeted because it was being used to plan attacks and rocket launching. Palestinians said a high-level meeting of Hamas commanders was going on inside the building just before the airstrike.
Palestinian rescue teams dodged broken water pipes and electricity wires to get to injured people screaming for help. The scene resembled the aftermath of a 2002 attack, when an Israeli warplane dropped on one-ton bomb on the house of a Hamas leader in Gaza, killing him and 14 other people, including nine children.
A neighbor, Safwan Amamour, 39, said he and his wife were cleaning their house next door when they heard a huge explosion, and he was hit by flying rubble.
As doctors stitched a cut next to his eye, he recounted grisly scenes of dismembered bodies. "No words can describe this destruction, this hellish damage, which I will remember of the rest of my life," he said.
Hamas official Ismail Radwan pledged to hit back at Israel. "It was a terrible, bloody massacre, and the Zionists will pay a heavy price for it," he said.
The expansion of the Gaza offensive came hours after Israeli leaders authorized incursions into areas of the territory they have not yet entered.
Palestinians said they saw Israeli bulldozers leveling farmland and tanks moving across the border near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The military ordered Palestinian security to leave their forward positions in the area.
The Israelis have not entered Khan Younis during the current offensive. Before Tuesday, Israeli forces had entered southern and northern Gaza and have approached Gaza City.
Israel launched its offensive on June 28, three days after Palestinian militants linked to the Hamas-led government captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid. The operation was expanded last week to halt Palestinian militants from firing homemade rockets into Israel.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his defense minister, Amir Peretz, ordered the new incursions into Gaza after Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said Monday he would not free the captive soldier, 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit, security officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operation.
Mashaal called Shalit a prisoner of war and demanded a prisoner swap — which Olmert has ruled out.
Responding to Mashaal's statement, Shalit's father, Noam, called on Hamas to allow the Red Cross to visit his son. Under Geneva Conventions, the Red Cross is supposed to have access to prisoners of war.
Israel has demanded the unconditional release of its soldier to end the offensive.
The invasion — Israel's largest ground operation in Gaza since withdrawing from the area last year — has caused widespread destruction, knocked out much of Gaza's power supply and left more than 50 Palestinians dead, most of them gunmen. One Israeli soldier has died.
The European Union began delivering aid to Gaza in a bid to repair some of the damage. Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he had received $50 million from the Arab League.
It was the first aid delivered under internationally backed funding restrictions that bypass the Palestinian government led by the militant group Hamas since March.
Officials said the money had bypassed Hamas because of the international boycott. The European Union, along with Israel and the U.S., considers Hamas a terrorist group.
Mohammed Awad, the Palestinian Cabinet secretary, said Hamas agreed to allow Abbas to handle the money. He said the funds would be used to pay civil servants, who have not received salaries in four months.
The European Commission said it has started delivering $765,000 in monthly aid to hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
EU spokeswoman Emma Udwin said the funds — to purchase fuel for emergency generators at Gaza hospitals — was requested by Abbas after Israel destroyed six transformers at a power plant during its Gaza offensive. Gaza now has only sporadic electricity, almost all of it provided by Israel.
In Gaza, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said the area is "on the verge of a genuine humanitarian crisis."
"There are shortages of food, fuel and essential needs of Palestinian citizens," he told his Cabinet, calling on the United Nations, Arab League, Muslim countries and the rest of the international community to help.
Also on Tuesday, a 15-month-old Palestinian boy injured in an Israeli missile strike last month died of his wounds at an Israeli hospital.
Protest Bush July 4 in Fayetteville, NC
Protest Bush on July 4
12 Noon
(Permit is from 12-5, however actual length of the demo will be decided by those who show up.)
Gather at the Markethouse
Green St & Person St
(note Green St, Person St, Hay St, & Gillespie St all come together at The Market House, historic site, easy to find, directions click here & enter one of the streets)
Fayetteville, NC
http://www.fayettevilleobserver.com/article?id=236319
Bush is coming to Ft Bragg July 4 for a photo-op with the troops -
Don't let Bush hijack Independence Day!
Take part in the Troops Home Fast & Declaration Of Impeachment this July 4. Join us!
Contacts & carpooling:
Fayetteville: Lou (910) 728-8695
Raleigh/Cary: Andy (919) 434-1910
Charlotte: David (704) 492-8527
Persons wishing to coordinate transportation from other regions please call (704) 492-8527 or operationimpeachment@yahoo.com
Your info will be posted on our websites and shared with the other organizers.
Watch for updates at www.OperationImpeachment.org and www.impeachbushcheney.net
The July 4 Protest Against Bush in Fayetteville is endorsed by:
list in formation (*id purposes only)
Military Families Speak Out
AfterDowningStreet.org
Fayetteville Peace With Justice
Grassroots Impeachment Movement (GRIM)
David Dixon, Steering Com., *NC Peace & Justice Coalition
Jibril Hough, Chairman, *Islamic Political Party of America
Action Center For Justice
Brian Staton, *Charlotte Area Green Party
Maggie Davis, *Char-Meck CODEPINK
Operation Impeachment
If you or your organization would like to be listed as an endorser, email name, city, state and organization & title (if applicable) to operationimpeachment@yahoo.com.
www.OperationImpeachment.org
12 Noon
(Permit is from 12-5, however actual length of the demo will be decided by those who show up.)
Gather at the Markethouse
Green St & Person St
(note Green St, Person St, Hay St, & Gillespie St all come together at The Market House, historic site, easy to find, directions click here & enter one of the streets)
Fayetteville, NC
http://www.fayettevilleobserver.com/article?id=236319
Bush is coming to Ft Bragg July 4 for a photo-op with the troops -
Don't let Bush hijack Independence Day!
Take part in the Troops Home Fast & Declaration Of Impeachment this July 4. Join us!
Contacts & carpooling:
Fayetteville: Lou (910) 728-8695
Raleigh/Cary: Andy (919) 434-1910
Charlotte: David (704) 492-8527
Persons wishing to coordinate transportation from other regions please call (704) 492-8527 or operationimpeachment@yahoo.com
Your info will be posted on our websites and shared with the other organizers.
Watch for updates at www.OperationImpeachment.org and www.impeachbushcheney.net
The July 4 Protest Against Bush in Fayetteville is endorsed by:
list in formation (*id purposes only)
Military Families Speak Out
AfterDowningStreet.org
Fayetteville Peace With Justice
Grassroots Impeachment Movement (GRIM)
David Dixon, Steering Com., *NC Peace & Justice Coalition
Jibril Hough, Chairman, *Islamic Political Party of America
Action Center For Justice
Brian Staton, *Charlotte Area Green Party
Maggie Davis, *Char-Meck CODEPINK
Operation Impeachment
If you or your organization would like to be listed as an endorser, email name, city, state and organization & title (if applicable) to operationimpeachment@yahoo.com.
www.OperationImpeachment.org
Israel warns: free soldier or PM dies
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0%2C20867%2C19645805-601%2C00.html
Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov
July 01, 2006
ISRAEL last night threatened to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh if Hamas militants did not release a captured Israeli soldier unharmed.
The unprecedented warning was delivered to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a letter as Israel debated a deal offered by Hamas to free Corporal Gilad Shalit.
It came as Israeli military officials readied a second invasion force for a huge offensive into Gaza.
Hamas's Gaza-based political leaders, including Mr Haniyeh, had already gone into hiding.
But last night's direct threat to kill Mr Haniyeh, a democratically elected head of state, sharply raised the stakes.
The bid to free Corporal Shalit was brokered by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who last night warned Hamas it faced severe consequences if it did not curb its "extreme stance" and described the growing conflict as a lightning rod for Palestinian vengeance.
Jerusalem has made no official comment, but Egyptian state media said Israel had found the offer unacceptable. Israel has not spelt out the terms demanded by Hamas, but earlier this week it refused to buy into talk of a prisoner swap.
Thousands of Hamas supporters protested in Gaza City late on Thursday over the arrest by Israeli forces of up to 32 Hamas MPs on the West Bank that day.
A Hamas spokesman said the group would never recognise Israel, in spite of a deal its leaders signed this week offering implicit recognition of the Jewish state in return for easing an economic blockade.
Israeli fighter jets bombed 20 targets in Gaza, including the Interior Ministry, which it said had been used by militants to stage meetings, while artillery hit the northern strip with 500 shells in the 24 hours until yesterday morning.
Jewish settler Eliyahu Asheri, who was murdered by militants this week, was buried on Thursday as leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees pledged to seize more hostages in the West Bank. No further word has emerged about another suspected Jewish hostage, Noach Moskowitz, who Israeli police said was found dead hours after Mr Asheri's remains were found.
Much of Gaza, including two main hospitals, was without power and running water as a UN aid chief warned that the 1.4 million residents of the strip were three days away from a humanitarian crisis.
"They are heading for the abyss unless they get electricity and fuel restored," said emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland, who urged militants to free Corporal Shalit and stop firing rockets into Israel.
Residents complain that sonic booms caused by Israeli jets traumatise children and that shelling confines families to their homes.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed the military will do all it can to avoid civilian deaths if a full-scale assault is launched.
Mr Olmert said the decision to invade northern Gaza had already been delayed to allow Mr Mubarak's negotiations to continue.
The arrested Hamas legislators have been sent to security prisons and many will stand trial on terrorism offences. The detentions have hurt Hamas's already limited ability to govern and are likely to force a regime change.
Israel claims it has intelligence about the area where Corporal Shalit is held, but has been unable to pinpoint the exact location. Mr Olmert said the military would leave the strip if he was unconditionally and safely returned.
Egypt and the neighbouring Arab states of Jordan and Lebanon fear a war between Israel and the Palestinians could lead to uprisings within their own borders, which house many Palestinian refugees.
Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov
July 01, 2006
ISRAEL last night threatened to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh if Hamas militants did not release a captured Israeli soldier unharmed.
The unprecedented warning was delivered to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a letter as Israel debated a deal offered by Hamas to free Corporal Gilad Shalit.
It came as Israeli military officials readied a second invasion force for a huge offensive into Gaza.
Hamas's Gaza-based political leaders, including Mr Haniyeh, had already gone into hiding.
But last night's direct threat to kill Mr Haniyeh, a democratically elected head of state, sharply raised the stakes.
The bid to free Corporal Shalit was brokered by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who last night warned Hamas it faced severe consequences if it did not curb its "extreme stance" and described the growing conflict as a lightning rod for Palestinian vengeance.
Jerusalem has made no official comment, but Egyptian state media said Israel had found the offer unacceptable. Israel has not spelt out the terms demanded by Hamas, but earlier this week it refused to buy into talk of a prisoner swap.
Thousands of Hamas supporters protested in Gaza City late on Thursday over the arrest by Israeli forces of up to 32 Hamas MPs on the West Bank that day.
A Hamas spokesman said the group would never recognise Israel, in spite of a deal its leaders signed this week offering implicit recognition of the Jewish state in return for easing an economic blockade.
Israeli fighter jets bombed 20 targets in Gaza, including the Interior Ministry, which it said had been used by militants to stage meetings, while artillery hit the northern strip with 500 shells in the 24 hours until yesterday morning.
Jewish settler Eliyahu Asheri, who was murdered by militants this week, was buried on Thursday as leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees pledged to seize more hostages in the West Bank. No further word has emerged about another suspected Jewish hostage, Noach Moskowitz, who Israeli police said was found dead hours after Mr Asheri's remains were found.
Much of Gaza, including two main hospitals, was without power and running water as a UN aid chief warned that the 1.4 million residents of the strip were three days away from a humanitarian crisis.
"They are heading for the abyss unless they get electricity and fuel restored," said emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland, who urged militants to free Corporal Shalit and stop firing rockets into Israel.
Residents complain that sonic booms caused by Israeli jets traumatise children and that shelling confines families to their homes.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed the military will do all it can to avoid civilian deaths if a full-scale assault is launched.
Mr Olmert said the decision to invade northern Gaza had already been delayed to allow Mr Mubarak's negotiations to continue.
The arrested Hamas legislators have been sent to security prisons and many will stand trial on terrorism offences. The detentions have hurt Hamas's already limited ability to govern and are likely to force a regime change.
Israel claims it has intelligence about the area where Corporal Shalit is held, but has been unable to pinpoint the exact location. Mr Olmert said the military would leave the strip if he was unconditionally and safely returned.
Egypt and the neighbouring Arab states of Jordan and Lebanon fear a war between Israel and the Palestinians could lead to uprisings within their own borders, which house many Palestinian refugees.
Calif. anti-terror agency denies tracking
Posted on charlotte.com on Sat, Jul. 01, 2006
LAURA KURTZMAN
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's anti-terror office said Saturday that it has never monitored the activities of political groups in California, denying a newspaper report that it had tracked rallies and protests.
Matthew Bettenhausen, director of the state Office of Homeland Security, said consultants had twice included upcoming political events in a daily security briefing they were developing, but they were told to stop the practice.
"It's not our policy," Bettenhausen said in an interview Saturday. "It's not part of our values to engage in the violation of civil rights and civil liberties."
The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that intelligence reports prepared for the Office of Homeland Security had included details of the rallies. The reports were prepared by SRA International, a company hired to provide counterterrorism analysis.
Bettenhausen said two reports, on March 7 and April 10, included listings of rallies. He said the rallies in the April 10 report were taken from the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, an investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was listed as one of the sources of information, according to the newspaper.
Among the political activities cited in the reports were a rally outside a Canadian consulate office in San Francisco to protest the hunting of seals; an anti-war demonstration in Walnut Creek attended by Rep. George Miller and other officials; and a gathering at a Santa Barbara courthouse to support an anti-war protester facing federal trespassing charges.
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office on Friday condemned the anti-terror office's actions.
"That kind of conduct by anti-terrorism intelligence agencies threatens civil liberties, runs counter to our values and violates this office's policy regarding criminal intelligence gathering," Lockyer spokesman Tom Dresslar told the Times.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Adam Mendelsohn told the newspaper that the governor had "no information and no knowledge that this was happening."
The reports were on the letterhead of a California anti-terrorism partnership that includes the Office of Homeland Security, the Attorney General and the California Highway Patrol.
Copies of the reports were shared with both agencies, but nothing else was done with the information about the demonstrations, said Chris Bertelli, a spokesman for the Office of Homeland Security.
LAURA KURTZMAN
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's anti-terror office said Saturday that it has never monitored the activities of political groups in California, denying a newspaper report that it had tracked rallies and protests.
Matthew Bettenhausen, director of the state Office of Homeland Security, said consultants had twice included upcoming political events in a daily security briefing they were developing, but they were told to stop the practice.
"It's not our policy," Bettenhausen said in an interview Saturday. "It's not part of our values to engage in the violation of civil rights and civil liberties."
The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that intelligence reports prepared for the Office of Homeland Security had included details of the rallies. The reports were prepared by SRA International, a company hired to provide counterterrorism analysis.
Bettenhausen said two reports, on March 7 and April 10, included listings of rallies. He said the rallies in the April 10 report were taken from the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, an investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was listed as one of the sources of information, according to the newspaper.
Among the political activities cited in the reports were a rally outside a Canadian consulate office in San Francisco to protest the hunting of seals; an anti-war demonstration in Walnut Creek attended by Rep. George Miller and other officials; and a gathering at a Santa Barbara courthouse to support an anti-war protester facing federal trespassing charges.
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office on Friday condemned the anti-terror office's actions.
"That kind of conduct by anti-terrorism intelligence agencies threatens civil liberties, runs counter to our values and violates this office's policy regarding criminal intelligence gathering," Lockyer spokesman Tom Dresslar told the Times.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Adam Mendelsohn told the newspaper that the governor had "no information and no knowledge that this was happening."
The reports were on the letterhead of a California anti-terrorism partnership that includes the Office of Homeland Security, the Attorney General and the California Highway Patrol.
Copies of the reports were shared with both agencies, but nothing else was done with the information about the demonstrations, said Chris Bertelli, a spokesman for the Office of Homeland Security.
Truth commissions to gather in Greensboro
Posted on charlotte.com July 1, 2006
Associated Press
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Members of truth commissions from other countries will gather later this week in Greensboro to help people from U.S. communities that have begun similar projects or hope to do so.
Among those attending the meetings Thursday and Friday at Bennett College are truth commission members from Northern Ireland, Peru, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
Participants in the discussions will compare the work of the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project, particularly the commission's recent report on the fatal Klan-Nazi shootings of 1979, with the work of similar bodies in those countries.
The sessions are not public, although news conferences will be held each day. When the discussions conclude Saturday, free, public events will be held at North Carolina A&T University to celebrate the work of the Greensboro panel.
Among those scheduled to attend is Irving Joyner, vice chairman of the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission, which the Legislature created to study and report on the 1898 seizure of power in Wilmington from a democratically elected, majority-black city government. That group's report was released May 31.
Others attending include representatives from:
_ New Orleans, where government inaction during and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 has raised questions of race, class and politics.
_ Moore's Ford, Ga., where the killings of four young black men on July 25, 1946, remain unsolved.
_ The Anthony P. Crawford Remembered Memorial Committee, which seeks justice on behalf of more than 5,000 people lynched in the American South during and after Reconstruction.
The Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project is the local group whose work led to the creation of the separate Greensboro truth commission. After two years of study, that commission issued a report May 25 on the Klan-Nazi shootings of Nov. 3, 1979, that killed five Communist Workers Party members and injured 10 other people.
The gunmen were acquitted of all charges at two trials. A civil jury later found two Greensboro police officers jointly liable, with white supremacists, for one of the deaths; the city paid $400,000 to settle all claims.
The report concluded that the single greatest contributor to the violence was the lack of visible police officers at the Communist Workers Party protest site even though a police informant warned that violence was likely.
The report called for apologies by the city and the Greensboro Police Department to various groups, including the shooting victims and residents of the Morningside Homes community in which the shootings took place.
It also called for a memorial to the event, anti-racism training for city and county employees, and other measures.
Information from: News & Record, http://www.news-record.com
Associated Press
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Members of truth commissions from other countries will gather later this week in Greensboro to help people from U.S. communities that have begun similar projects or hope to do so.
Among those attending the meetings Thursday and Friday at Bennett College are truth commission members from Northern Ireland, Peru, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
Participants in the discussions will compare the work of the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project, particularly the commission's recent report on the fatal Klan-Nazi shootings of 1979, with the work of similar bodies in those countries.
The sessions are not public, although news conferences will be held each day. When the discussions conclude Saturday, free, public events will be held at North Carolina A&T University to celebrate the work of the Greensboro panel.
Among those scheduled to attend is Irving Joyner, vice chairman of the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission, which the Legislature created to study and report on the 1898 seizure of power in Wilmington from a democratically elected, majority-black city government. That group's report was released May 31.
Others attending include representatives from:
_ New Orleans, where government inaction during and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 has raised questions of race, class and politics.
_ Moore's Ford, Ga., where the killings of four young black men on July 25, 1946, remain unsolved.
_ The Anthony P. Crawford Remembered Memorial Committee, which seeks justice on behalf of more than 5,000 people lynched in the American South during and after Reconstruction.
The Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project is the local group whose work led to the creation of the separate Greensboro truth commission. After two years of study, that commission issued a report May 25 on the Klan-Nazi shootings of Nov. 3, 1979, that killed five Communist Workers Party members and injured 10 other people.
The gunmen were acquitted of all charges at two trials. A civil jury later found two Greensboro police officers jointly liable, with white supremacists, for one of the deaths; the city paid $400,000 to settle all claims.
The report concluded that the single greatest contributor to the violence was the lack of visible police officers at the Communist Workers Party protest site even though a police informant warned that violence was likely.
The report called for apologies by the city and the Greensboro Police Department to various groups, including the shooting victims and residents of the Morningside Homes community in which the shootings took place.
It also called for a memorial to the event, anti-racism training for city and county employees, and other measures.
Information from: News & Record, http://www.news-record.com
Israel hits Palestinian PM's Gaza office
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer
July 1, 2006
Israeli aircraft attacked the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in Gaza City early Sunday, witnesses said, setting the building on fire.
The Israeli army confirmed it attacked Haniyeh's office. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Witnesses said two missiles hit the south side of the building at about 1:45 a.m. local time, setting it ablaze. Because of the late hour, the building was empty, they said.
On Thursday, Israeli planes attacked the Interior Ministry, part of Israel's campaign to force release of a soldier abducted by Palestinian militants last Sunday.
July 1, 2006
Israeli aircraft attacked the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in Gaza City early Sunday, witnesses said, setting the building on fire.
The Israeli army confirmed it attacked Haniyeh's office. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Witnesses said two missiles hit the south side of the building at about 1:45 a.m. local time, setting it ablaze. Because of the late hour, the building was empty, they said.
On Thursday, Israeli planes attacked the Interior Ministry, part of Israel's campaign to force release of a soldier abducted by Palestinian militants last Sunday.
Will Mexico go left or stay conservative?
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer
July 1, 2006
Mexicans buffeted by a mudslinging, polarized presidential campaign are choosing Sunday between plunging into Latin America's left-wing tide or electing a conservative who favors free trade and globalization.
With leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon running neck-and-neck, the election — which will also pick both houses of congress and five governors — hinges on class divisions that have seldom been talked about so openly in Mexican politics.
For 71 years, until President Vicente Fox's victory in 2000, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, ruled Mexico by claiming to represent all economic classes. Fox's victory ushered in full democracy and bettered life for the middle class but failed to create millions of jobs, tame Mexico's drug barons or settle its migrant-labor problems with the U.S.
Today, half of Mexico's 103 million people live on $4.50 a day and the poorest 20 million earn half that — a social and cultural gulf that has been the cornerstone of Lopez Obrador's campaign to succeed Fox, who is constitutionally barred from seeking-re-election.
The divide was on vivid display recently as his supporters cut through a swanky Mexico City shopping mall on their way to a campaign rally. Farming families who had never encountered escalators were hesitant to get on them, drawing disdainful looks from well-dressed onlookers.
This election boils down to a race between those strangers in the shopping mall and Mexicans who fear losing the low-interest loans and economic stability that emerged under Fox's disciplined budgets and high international reserves.
Santino Sanchez Juarez, 87, is one of the former. He barely survived doing odd jobs until Lopez Obrador, as Mexico City mayor, gave the elderly $65 monthly pensions.
"He is the only one with a heart, who cares for the people," said Sanchez Juarez.
He expressed a certain nostalgia for Adolfo Lopez Mateos who, as president from 1958 to 1964, used charisma, nationalism and populist handouts to the poor, but also crushed dissent and antagonized the United States.
Lopez Obrador shares that nostalgia, and his conservative opponent's campaign has been largely based on stoking fears that the left-winger is a clone of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's Cuba-friendly president, and will foment class divisions while returning Mexico to the last debt-ridden years of PRI rule.
The PRI now looks like a spent force, with its candidate, Roberto Madrazo, trailing third in the polls, and Calderon's line of attack seems to have won some supporters.
Listening to Lopez Obrador, "It's almost as though, if you're not poor, he doesn't want to know about you," said Marisol Castro, 55, a middle-class nutritionist from the western city of Zamora.
Victory for Lopez Obrador would be a crowning moment for Latin America's left-wing renaissance, which has captured or held onto the presidency in Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
Lopez Obrador has sought to distance himself from the leftist surge, painting himself as a moderate with such benign slogans as "Happiness is on the way." But he also rails against "those on top," pledges to make the rich pay more taxes and wants to restore a sense of national pride, in part by standing up to the United States on issue such as farm trade.
His supporters sometimes heckle opponents' campaign events, cry conspiracy if polls show him faltering and pass out leaflets saying "only Lopez Obrador can win" — fraught language in a country that fears violence if he is defeated.
The last polls all showed a statistically insignificant gap between the front-runners. First results will come in by about 9 p.m. EDT Sunday.
For all the divisions exposed in the campaign, there is much that all three candidates agree on. They advocate close U.S. ties and U.S. immigration reform that would allow more Mexicans to work legally north of the border. They all promise to crack down on crime, and Lopez Obrador has called for the army to play a greater role in fighting drug trafficking — a departure from the left's anti-military tradition.
"There are areas of the country that the government doesn't even control. The drug cartels control them, so we should give thanks if the Mexican government can recover its sovereignty," said Porfirio Munoz Ledo, a Lopez Obrador adviser. "If we can't do that, we won't have good relations with anybody abroad."
Some ghosts of the PRI years have been laid to rest. A stable economy has ended a history of boom-and-bust cycles, and a strong, respected election authority has made vote fraud and dirty tricks much harder to pull off.
But even if a candidate wins handsomely, he is unlikely to command a majority in the new Congress, and may face the same frustrations as Fox did in trying to get his more ambitious programs approved.
Calderon has offered almost as many giveaways as his allegedly free-spending opponent, but has also endorsed some of Fox's most exclusionary policies, such as a law that all but guarantees the stranglehold of a few large companies over the media sector.
Lopez Obrador's campaign has already absorbed some of the old-guard elements of the PRI by building a base of Mexico City government employees as well as beneficiaries of government programs, the kind of patronage machine that kept the PRI in power for decades.
"This is a choice between two clearly distinct proposals that differ over the central theme, which is inequality," said writer Carlos Monsivais. "That's the structural problem of this country."
___
On the Net:
Federal Electoral Institute (with English link): http://www-site.ife.org.mx/portal/site/ife
July 1, 2006
Mexicans buffeted by a mudslinging, polarized presidential campaign are choosing Sunday between plunging into Latin America's left-wing tide or electing a conservative who favors free trade and globalization.
With leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon running neck-and-neck, the election — which will also pick both houses of congress and five governors — hinges on class divisions that have seldom been talked about so openly in Mexican politics.
For 71 years, until President Vicente Fox's victory in 2000, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, ruled Mexico by claiming to represent all economic classes. Fox's victory ushered in full democracy and bettered life for the middle class but failed to create millions of jobs, tame Mexico's drug barons or settle its migrant-labor problems with the U.S.
Today, half of Mexico's 103 million people live on $4.50 a day and the poorest 20 million earn half that — a social and cultural gulf that has been the cornerstone of Lopez Obrador's campaign to succeed Fox, who is constitutionally barred from seeking-re-election.
The divide was on vivid display recently as his supporters cut through a swanky Mexico City shopping mall on their way to a campaign rally. Farming families who had never encountered escalators were hesitant to get on them, drawing disdainful looks from well-dressed onlookers.
This election boils down to a race between those strangers in the shopping mall and Mexicans who fear losing the low-interest loans and economic stability that emerged under Fox's disciplined budgets and high international reserves.
Santino Sanchez Juarez, 87, is one of the former. He barely survived doing odd jobs until Lopez Obrador, as Mexico City mayor, gave the elderly $65 monthly pensions.
"He is the only one with a heart, who cares for the people," said Sanchez Juarez.
He expressed a certain nostalgia for Adolfo Lopez Mateos who, as president from 1958 to 1964, used charisma, nationalism and populist handouts to the poor, but also crushed dissent and antagonized the United States.
Lopez Obrador shares that nostalgia, and his conservative opponent's campaign has been largely based on stoking fears that the left-winger is a clone of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's Cuba-friendly president, and will foment class divisions while returning Mexico to the last debt-ridden years of PRI rule.
The PRI now looks like a spent force, with its candidate, Roberto Madrazo, trailing third in the polls, and Calderon's line of attack seems to have won some supporters.
Listening to Lopez Obrador, "It's almost as though, if you're not poor, he doesn't want to know about you," said Marisol Castro, 55, a middle-class nutritionist from the western city of Zamora.
Victory for Lopez Obrador would be a crowning moment for Latin America's left-wing renaissance, which has captured or held onto the presidency in Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
Lopez Obrador has sought to distance himself from the leftist surge, painting himself as a moderate with such benign slogans as "Happiness is on the way." But he also rails against "those on top," pledges to make the rich pay more taxes and wants to restore a sense of national pride, in part by standing up to the United States on issue such as farm trade.
His supporters sometimes heckle opponents' campaign events, cry conspiracy if polls show him faltering and pass out leaflets saying "only Lopez Obrador can win" — fraught language in a country that fears violence if he is defeated.
The last polls all showed a statistically insignificant gap between the front-runners. First results will come in by about 9 p.m. EDT Sunday.
For all the divisions exposed in the campaign, there is much that all three candidates agree on. They advocate close U.S. ties and U.S. immigration reform that would allow more Mexicans to work legally north of the border. They all promise to crack down on crime, and Lopez Obrador has called for the army to play a greater role in fighting drug trafficking — a departure from the left's anti-military tradition.
"There are areas of the country that the government doesn't even control. The drug cartels control them, so we should give thanks if the Mexican government can recover its sovereignty," said Porfirio Munoz Ledo, a Lopez Obrador adviser. "If we can't do that, we won't have good relations with anybody abroad."
Some ghosts of the PRI years have been laid to rest. A stable economy has ended a history of boom-and-bust cycles, and a strong, respected election authority has made vote fraud and dirty tricks much harder to pull off.
But even if a candidate wins handsomely, he is unlikely to command a majority in the new Congress, and may face the same frustrations as Fox did in trying to get his more ambitious programs approved.
Calderon has offered almost as many giveaways as his allegedly free-spending opponent, but has also endorsed some of Fox's most exclusionary policies, such as a law that all but guarantees the stranglehold of a few large companies over the media sector.
Lopez Obrador's campaign has already absorbed some of the old-guard elements of the PRI by building a base of Mexico City government employees as well as beneficiaries of government programs, the kind of patronage machine that kept the PRI in power for decades.
"This is a choice between two clearly distinct proposals that differ over the central theme, which is inequality," said writer Carlos Monsivais. "That's the structural problem of this country."
___
On the Net:
Federal Electoral Institute (with English link): http://www-site.ife.org.mx/portal/site/ife
Fuel supplies in Gaza drying up
By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer
July 1, 2006
Ramadan Abu Hujeir's gas station was one of the few businesses bustling in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. Lines of cars, tractors and people waving jerry cans spilled out into the road waiting to get some of the last drops of gasoline in Gaza.
Local officials and aid workers worry that the fuel shortage will stop more than Gaza's cars. They fear that its hospitals will lose power and its water pumping stations will grind to a halt.
The water company and hospitals have had to rely on generators for an uninterrupted power supply since an Israeli airstrike destroyed Gaza's only power plant Tuesday night as part of an offensive to pressure militants to release an abducted soldier.
Israel also sealed Gaza's cargo terminal and turned off the gasoline pipeline feeding Gaza, and the supply of fuel for the generators has rapidly dwindled.
Eissa Daher, the acting mayor of Jebaliya in northern Gaza, said there was enough gas to pump and treat water for between three and seven days.
"If we don't get a new supply, it will be an environmental disaster," he said.
Hospitals, which stocked up on fuel before the offensive, said they did not count on having to run on generator power for 18 hours a day.
Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the main hospital in the territory, has seven to 10 days of fuel left, said Dr. Jumaa al-Sakka, a hospital administrator.
"If the fuel runs out, people in intensive care units and babies in incubators will immediately die," he said.
The Israeli army said Saturday that Israel had increased the supply of electricity it provides to Gaza to make up for the power plant it hit and would work to allow food and fuel to enter in the coming days.
At a news conference Saturday night, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said his government is consulting with experts about the electricity shortages. He also said, "I hope to be able to bring fuel and food in because there is a famine happening right now, and what is to come maybe more dangerous, bigger and vicious."
The fuel crisis has created tense scenes at several gas stations.
Hundreds of people jammed one station in Gaza City on Saturday, crowding the gas pumps to try to fill their containers.
Policemen intervened to guard the pumps and to limit purchases to 2 1/2 gallons per customer.
The crowd at Abu Hujeir's station in the small town of Bureij pushed and shoved to get near the gas pump.
"I can't close down until it is all finished," Abu Hujeir said, watching the rowdy crowd over his shoulder.
His 390 gallons ran out in an hour, but the people lingered hoping more fuel would appear.
"God knows what we will do next," said Emad al-Nabahein, a Bureij farmer, who turned up with a one-gallon container to feed a water pump he shares with his cousin. He lashed out at the Palestinian government for not storing fuel in anticipation of Israel's offensive.
No food or water crisis is yet apparent in Gaza, though many residents complain of having to walk up long flights of stairs and live without refrigerators during the sizzling summer days.
Towns are providing electricity to different neighborhoods for about six hours a day, but some Jebaliya residents said they spent the whole day without power or water.
Khairiya Nasr, a 45-year-old mother of five, said she and her children "slept" through Friday. By Saturday morning, power and water had come back on.
"We were very happy," she said, adding that now she can shower.
Samir Muhanna, 17, said the rolling blackouts made it a challenge for him and his friends to watch the World Cup quarter finals.
"We went to four different houses to look for somewhere with electricity," he said. "Finally, we found a store with power and we turned his set to the match. More than 70 people turned up after us."
July 1, 2006
Ramadan Abu Hujeir's gas station was one of the few businesses bustling in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. Lines of cars, tractors and people waving jerry cans spilled out into the road waiting to get some of the last drops of gasoline in Gaza.
Local officials and aid workers worry that the fuel shortage will stop more than Gaza's cars. They fear that its hospitals will lose power and its water pumping stations will grind to a halt.
The water company and hospitals have had to rely on generators for an uninterrupted power supply since an Israeli airstrike destroyed Gaza's only power plant Tuesday night as part of an offensive to pressure militants to release an abducted soldier.
Israel also sealed Gaza's cargo terminal and turned off the gasoline pipeline feeding Gaza, and the supply of fuel for the generators has rapidly dwindled.
Eissa Daher, the acting mayor of Jebaliya in northern Gaza, said there was enough gas to pump and treat water for between three and seven days.
"If we don't get a new supply, it will be an environmental disaster," he said.
Hospitals, which stocked up on fuel before the offensive, said they did not count on having to run on generator power for 18 hours a day.
Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the main hospital in the territory, has seven to 10 days of fuel left, said Dr. Jumaa al-Sakka, a hospital administrator.
"If the fuel runs out, people in intensive care units and babies in incubators will immediately die," he said.
The Israeli army said Saturday that Israel had increased the supply of electricity it provides to Gaza to make up for the power plant it hit and would work to allow food and fuel to enter in the coming days.
At a news conference Saturday night, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said his government is consulting with experts about the electricity shortages. He also said, "I hope to be able to bring fuel and food in because there is a famine happening right now, and what is to come maybe more dangerous, bigger and vicious."
The fuel crisis has created tense scenes at several gas stations.
Hundreds of people jammed one station in Gaza City on Saturday, crowding the gas pumps to try to fill their containers.
Policemen intervened to guard the pumps and to limit purchases to 2 1/2 gallons per customer.
The crowd at Abu Hujeir's station in the small town of Bureij pushed and shoved to get near the gas pump.
"I can't close down until it is all finished," Abu Hujeir said, watching the rowdy crowd over his shoulder.
His 390 gallons ran out in an hour, but the people lingered hoping more fuel would appear.
"God knows what we will do next," said Emad al-Nabahein, a Bureij farmer, who turned up with a one-gallon container to feed a water pump he shares with his cousin. He lashed out at the Palestinian government for not storing fuel in anticipation of Israel's offensive.
No food or water crisis is yet apparent in Gaza, though many residents complain of having to walk up long flights of stairs and live without refrigerators during the sizzling summer days.
Towns are providing electricity to different neighborhoods for about six hours a day, but some Jebaliya residents said they spent the whole day without power or water.
Khairiya Nasr, a 45-year-old mother of five, said she and her children "slept" through Friday. By Saturday morning, power and water had come back on.
"We were very happy," she said, adding that now she can shower.
Samir Muhanna, 17, said the rolling blackouts made it a challenge for him and his friends to watch the World Cup quarter finals.
"We went to four different houses to look for somewhere with electricity," he said. "Finally, we found a store with power and we turned his set to the match. More than 70 people turned up after us."
New details on U.S. soldiers accused of rape & killing family
Excerpt, full article below)
New details emerged into allegations that U.S. soldiers raped an Iraqi woman south of Baghdad in March, then killed her and three family members.
A U.S. official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that the soldiers allegedly plotted the attack for about a week. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is under investigation, said the soldiers doused the woman's body with flammable liquid and burned it to cover up the assault.
U.S. officials said they knew of the deaths but thought the victims died due to sectarian violence. Police Capt. Ihsan Abdul-Rahman said Iraqi officials received a report March 13 alleging that U.S. soldiers had killed the family, but did not pass that report to the U.S.
Blast kills 66 in Baghdad Shiite district
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer July 1, 2006
A huge car bomb exploded Saturday at a bustling outdoor market in a Shiite district of Baghdad, killing at least 66 people and injuring about 100 in the deadliest attack since the new national unity government took office six weeks ago.
Shortly before the midmorning blast, gunmen seized a female Sunni legislator at a checkpoint in a Shiite area of the capital. Both attacks represented a major challenge to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's vow to curb sectarian violence that threatens to plunge Iraq into civil war.
In an audio recording posted on the Internet, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden endorsed the successor to the slain leader of his network in Iraq and warned the country's Shiites against collaborating with the Americans in the fight against Sunni insurgents.
The comments threatened to sharpen the conflict between Shiites and Sunnis even as al-Maliki and his American allies struggled to heal the breach between the country's major religious communities.
The market bombing appeared timed to cause a maximum number of casualties among civilians doing their weekend shopping. It blew some victims onto the roofs of nearby two-story buildings and sent a plume of gray smoke billowing into the sky above Sadr City, stronghold of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Rescuers sprinted through streets littered with debris of shattered market stalls. Emergency crews bundled the wounded into ambulances and private cars and rushed them to hospitals. Late Saturday, Iraqi state television reported that 66 people died and about 100 were wounded.
The bombing was the deadliest since an April 7 suicide attack that killed 87 people at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad.
A statement posted Saturday on the Internet claimed responsibility for the Sadr City blast in the name of the "Sunna Supporters Group" in retaliation for Shiite attacks on Sunnis. The statement, whose authenticity could not be verified, accused Shiites of killing Sunnis and raping Sunni women in detention.
"Your mujahedeen brothers decided to teach the Shiites a lesson that they will not forget as long as they live," the statement said.
Even before the statement appeared, bystanders in Sadr City blamed Sunni extremists, such as al-Qaida in Iraq, whose leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike June 7.
"Give us the green light to attack and finish them for once and for all," a group of young men shouted, referring to Sunni militants.
A few miles from the blast, gunmen seized lawmaker Tayseer al-Mashhadani and seven of her bodyguards at a checkpoint in a Shiite area of eastern Baghdad. Officials said she was traveling to Baghdad from her home in nearly Diyala province, a hotbed of sectarian violence, to attend a parliament session Sunday. One of her bodyguards escaped, officials said.
Al-Mashhadani's colleagues in the Iraqi Islamic Party, the largest Sunni political organization, blamed the ministers of interior and defense for failing to restore security in the capital. A party statement alleged that some of the kidnappers carried government-issue weapons.
A top party official, Ayad al-Sammaraie, said such kidnappings were aimed at undermining steps toward national reconciliation by fueling animosity among Iraqis so "they cannot sit together and talk."
The U.S. Embassy condemned the kidnapping as an attempt to stoke sectarian tension and demanded her immediate release.
"We note that Ms. al-Mashhadani is an elected representative of the people of Iraq and that this act is repugnant to all who believe in the right of Iraqis to participate in their country's democracy," the embassy said.
The latest violence occurred as al-Maliki, a Shiite, left for a tour of Persian Gulf countries to brief leaders on his plans for national reconciliation, including amnesty for Sunni Arab insurgents and efforts to heal the Shiite-Sunni rift.
Al-Maliki's first stop was Saudi Arabia, whose government fears that sectarian violence in Iraq could spill over into neighboring countries that are dominated by Sunnis but with large Shiite communities. He is also to visit Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
As part of the reconciliation plan, Iraqi and U.S. authorities Saturday freed 495 prisoners from U.S. jails across Iraq, completing a mass release announced by al-Maliki last month. Most of the prisoners were believed to be Sunnis.
"We are prepared in consultation with the Iraqi leaders to make future prisoner releases and to take other concrete steps to facilitate reconciliation," U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said in a statement. "As the government moves forward with these steps, it can count on support from the U.S. government."
U.S. and Iraqi officials had hoped that installation of a new unity government of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds would stem the violence and encourage armed groups to join the political process. Those hopes were buoyed by the death of al-Zarqawi in an airstrike June 7.
However, more than 700 Iraqi civilians and security forces have died violently since al-Zarqawi's death, according to Associated Press figures.
In his Internet statement, bin Laden endorsed Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, named by the terror network as al-Zarqawi's successor, and urged him to step up "the struggle" in Iraq. Bin Laden also warned Iraqi Shiites they "cannot just take part with America and its allies" in the war against Sunni militants "and expect that their areas will be safe from a reaction and harm."
Two American service members died of non-combat related injuries in two separate incidents, the U.S. military announced.
One was assigned to the Army's 43rd Military Police Brigade. The other was an Air Force member assigned to the 886th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq, the Air Force said in a separate statement.
No further details were released and names of the victims were withheld pending notification of kin.
Elsewhere, police found a grave in Baghdad containing bodies of at least six men who appeared to have been shot more than a month ago, Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said. The identities of the men were unknown, but their bodies were discovered in a Baghdad area notorious for sectarian killings.
New details emerged into allegations that U.S. soldiers raped an Iraqi woman south of Baghdad in March, then killed her and three family members.
A U.S. official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that the soldiers allegedly plotted the attack for about a week. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is under investigation, said the soldiers doused the woman's body with flammable liquid and burned it to cover up the assault.
U.S. officials said they knew of the deaths but thought the victims died due to sectarian violence. Police Capt. Ihsan Abdul-Rahman said Iraqi officials received a report March 13 alleging that U.S. soldiers had killed the family, but did not pass that report to the U.S.
___
Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue, Sameer N. Yacoub and Bushra Juhi in Baghdad and Ryan Lenz in Beiji contributed to this report.
New details emerged into allegations that U.S. soldiers raped an Iraqi woman south of Baghdad in March, then killed her and three family members.
A U.S. official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that the soldiers allegedly plotted the attack for about a week. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is under investigation, said the soldiers doused the woman's body with flammable liquid and burned it to cover up the assault.
U.S. officials said they knew of the deaths but thought the victims died due to sectarian violence. Police Capt. Ihsan Abdul-Rahman said Iraqi officials received a report March 13 alleging that U.S. soldiers had killed the family, but did not pass that report to the U.S.
Blast kills 66 in Baghdad Shiite district
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer July 1, 2006
A huge car bomb exploded Saturday at a bustling outdoor market in a Shiite district of Baghdad, killing at least 66 people and injuring about 100 in the deadliest attack since the new national unity government took office six weeks ago.
Shortly before the midmorning blast, gunmen seized a female Sunni legislator at a checkpoint in a Shiite area of the capital. Both attacks represented a major challenge to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's vow to curb sectarian violence that threatens to plunge Iraq into civil war.
In an audio recording posted on the Internet, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden endorsed the successor to the slain leader of his network in Iraq and warned the country's Shiites against collaborating with the Americans in the fight against Sunni insurgents.
The comments threatened to sharpen the conflict between Shiites and Sunnis even as al-Maliki and his American allies struggled to heal the breach between the country's major religious communities.
The market bombing appeared timed to cause a maximum number of casualties among civilians doing their weekend shopping. It blew some victims onto the roofs of nearby two-story buildings and sent a plume of gray smoke billowing into the sky above Sadr City, stronghold of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Rescuers sprinted through streets littered with debris of shattered market stalls. Emergency crews bundled the wounded into ambulances and private cars and rushed them to hospitals. Late Saturday, Iraqi state television reported that 66 people died and about 100 were wounded.
The bombing was the deadliest since an April 7 suicide attack that killed 87 people at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad.
A statement posted Saturday on the Internet claimed responsibility for the Sadr City blast in the name of the "Sunna Supporters Group" in retaliation for Shiite attacks on Sunnis. The statement, whose authenticity could not be verified, accused Shiites of killing Sunnis and raping Sunni women in detention.
"Your mujahedeen brothers decided to teach the Shiites a lesson that they will not forget as long as they live," the statement said.
Even before the statement appeared, bystanders in Sadr City blamed Sunni extremists, such as al-Qaida in Iraq, whose leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike June 7.
"Give us the green light to attack and finish them for once and for all," a group of young men shouted, referring to Sunni militants.
A few miles from the blast, gunmen seized lawmaker Tayseer al-Mashhadani and seven of her bodyguards at a checkpoint in a Shiite area of eastern Baghdad. Officials said she was traveling to Baghdad from her home in nearly Diyala province, a hotbed of sectarian violence, to attend a parliament session Sunday. One of her bodyguards escaped, officials said.
Al-Mashhadani's colleagues in the Iraqi Islamic Party, the largest Sunni political organization, blamed the ministers of interior and defense for failing to restore security in the capital. A party statement alleged that some of the kidnappers carried government-issue weapons.
A top party official, Ayad al-Sammaraie, said such kidnappings were aimed at undermining steps toward national reconciliation by fueling animosity among Iraqis so "they cannot sit together and talk."
The U.S. Embassy condemned the kidnapping as an attempt to stoke sectarian tension and demanded her immediate release.
"We note that Ms. al-Mashhadani is an elected representative of the people of Iraq and that this act is repugnant to all who believe in the right of Iraqis to participate in their country's democracy," the embassy said.
The latest violence occurred as al-Maliki, a Shiite, left for a tour of Persian Gulf countries to brief leaders on his plans for national reconciliation, including amnesty for Sunni Arab insurgents and efforts to heal the Shiite-Sunni rift.
Al-Maliki's first stop was Saudi Arabia, whose government fears that sectarian violence in Iraq could spill over into neighboring countries that are dominated by Sunnis but with large Shiite communities. He is also to visit Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
As part of the reconciliation plan, Iraqi and U.S. authorities Saturday freed 495 prisoners from U.S. jails across Iraq, completing a mass release announced by al-Maliki last month. Most of the prisoners were believed to be Sunnis.
"We are prepared in consultation with the Iraqi leaders to make future prisoner releases and to take other concrete steps to facilitate reconciliation," U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said in a statement. "As the government moves forward with these steps, it can count on support from the U.S. government."
U.S. and Iraqi officials had hoped that installation of a new unity government of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds would stem the violence and encourage armed groups to join the political process. Those hopes were buoyed by the death of al-Zarqawi in an airstrike June 7.
However, more than 700 Iraqi civilians and security forces have died violently since al-Zarqawi's death, according to Associated Press figures.
In his Internet statement, bin Laden endorsed Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, named by the terror network as al-Zarqawi's successor, and urged him to step up "the struggle" in Iraq. Bin Laden also warned Iraqi Shiites they "cannot just take part with America and its allies" in the war against Sunni militants "and expect that their areas will be safe from a reaction and harm."
Two American service members died of non-combat related injuries in two separate incidents, the U.S. military announced.
One was assigned to the Army's 43rd Military Police Brigade. The other was an Air Force member assigned to the 886th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq, the Air Force said in a separate statement.
No further details were released and names of the victims were withheld pending notification of kin.
Elsewhere, police found a grave in Baghdad containing bodies of at least six men who appeared to have been shot more than a month ago, Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said. The identities of the men were unknown, but their bodies were discovered in a Baghdad area notorious for sectarian killings.
New details emerged into allegations that U.S. soldiers raped an Iraqi woman south of Baghdad in March, then killed her and three family members.
A U.S. official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that the soldiers allegedly plotted the attack for about a week. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is under investigation, said the soldiers doused the woman's body with flammable liquid and burned it to cover up the assault.
U.S. officials said they knew of the deaths but thought the victims died due to sectarian violence. Police Capt. Ihsan Abdul-Rahman said Iraqi officials received a report March 13 alleging that U.S. soldiers had killed the family, but did not pass that report to the U.S.
___
Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue, Sameer N. Yacoub and Bushra Juhi in Baghdad and Ryan Lenz in Beiji contributed to this report.
Bolivia's Morales pushes radical overhaul
By FIONA SMITH, Associated Press Writer
July 1, 2006
Evo Morales, Bolivia's first Indian president, is hoping for a big win by his socialist backers in elections Sunday to chose an assembly to rewrite the constitution.
Morales is pushing for a radical overhaul of government and the economy. He has promised to "recreate Bolivia" with the document that would empower the majority Indian population, long a poor and politically marginalized underclass in this Andean nation.
The main opposition party is making Morales' close relationship with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez the central issue, saying he is directing the constitution process from behind the scenes.
Bolivians will elect 255 delegates to the assembly, which will begin its work Aug. 6. They have up to a year to retool the constitution. Two-thirds of the body must approve the changes, which then must be endorsed in a nationwide referendum.
No polls have been conducted, but the president's Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, is favored to win a majority.
While the government has used decrees to advance some of its goals, such as nationalizing natural gas on May 1, it wants the constitution to enshrine its accelerated transfer of state-owned land to peasants and the seizing of unproductive lands.
The Movement, which includes landless peasants, coca growers and middle-class intellectuals, wants to give civic movements the power to vet government spending and to guarantee access to free health care.
Morales asked his supporters to identify political enemies at his final campaign rally on Thursday night.
"I need the support of the people to confront provocation, aggression. The foreign companies are not sleeping; the bourgeoisie that democracy pushed out is still organizing to turn us back," Morales told thousands of supporters as fireworks exploded overhead.
The main opposition party, Podemos, favors switching to a parliamentary system which would weaken the presidency in a country that has seen 189 coups d'etat since its 1825 independence. Podemos would also introduce direct elections for more political offices and increase prison terms for violent criminals.
Critics claim that Morales will use the assembly to increase his power like Chavez, who held a constituent assembly in 1999 which concentrated executive power and hastened his re-election.
Podemos leader Jorge Quiroga attacked Morales' ties to Chavez again at his closing campaign rally.
"Chavez can buy the MAS, but never Bolivia," Quiroga said to a large gathering in the city of Santa Cruz. He asked supporters to make a sign of the cross to defend Catholicism, which the MAS has said it wants to remove as the country's official religion.
Perhaps the most divisive issue Sunday is a separate ballot question asking whether voters favor shifting many executive and financial powers to the states from the central government.
Santa Cruz, Bolivia's wealthiest and largest state in the country's eastern lowlands, is spearheading the "yes" campaign.
On Wednesday, some 150,000 people gathered in the state capital of Santa Cruz, 355 miles from the federal capital La Paz, waving the Santa Cruz state flag and chanting "autonomy" in one of the country's largest demonstrations ever.
Santa Cruz generates a third of Bolivia's wealth and its elite complain its revenues are being siphoned away to subsidize the poorer and more-Indian highland regions.
It's also the center of opposition to Morales, who has said he'll vote "no," claiming autonomy will only benefit "oligarchs" and not the majority poor population.
___
Associated Press writer Alvaro Zuazo contributed to this report.
July 1, 2006
Evo Morales, Bolivia's first Indian president, is hoping for a big win by his socialist backers in elections Sunday to chose an assembly to rewrite the constitution.
Morales is pushing for a radical overhaul of government and the economy. He has promised to "recreate Bolivia" with the document that would empower the majority Indian population, long a poor and politically marginalized underclass in this Andean nation.
The main opposition party is making Morales' close relationship with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez the central issue, saying he is directing the constitution process from behind the scenes.
Bolivians will elect 255 delegates to the assembly, which will begin its work Aug. 6. They have up to a year to retool the constitution. Two-thirds of the body must approve the changes, which then must be endorsed in a nationwide referendum.
No polls have been conducted, but the president's Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, is favored to win a majority.
While the government has used decrees to advance some of its goals, such as nationalizing natural gas on May 1, it wants the constitution to enshrine its accelerated transfer of state-owned land to peasants and the seizing of unproductive lands.
The Movement, which includes landless peasants, coca growers and middle-class intellectuals, wants to give civic movements the power to vet government spending and to guarantee access to free health care.
Morales asked his supporters to identify political enemies at his final campaign rally on Thursday night.
"I need the support of the people to confront provocation, aggression. The foreign companies are not sleeping; the bourgeoisie that democracy pushed out is still organizing to turn us back," Morales told thousands of supporters as fireworks exploded overhead.
The main opposition party, Podemos, favors switching to a parliamentary system which would weaken the presidency in a country that has seen 189 coups d'etat since its 1825 independence. Podemos would also introduce direct elections for more political offices and increase prison terms for violent criminals.
Critics claim that Morales will use the assembly to increase his power like Chavez, who held a constituent assembly in 1999 which concentrated executive power and hastened his re-election.
Podemos leader Jorge Quiroga attacked Morales' ties to Chavez again at his closing campaign rally.
"Chavez can buy the MAS, but never Bolivia," Quiroga said to a large gathering in the city of Santa Cruz. He asked supporters to make a sign of the cross to defend Catholicism, which the MAS has said it wants to remove as the country's official religion.
Perhaps the most divisive issue Sunday is a separate ballot question asking whether voters favor shifting many executive and financial powers to the states from the central government.
Santa Cruz, Bolivia's wealthiest and largest state in the country's eastern lowlands, is spearheading the "yes" campaign.
On Wednesday, some 150,000 people gathered in the state capital of Santa Cruz, 355 miles from the federal capital La Paz, waving the Santa Cruz state flag and chanting "autonomy" in one of the country's largest demonstrations ever.
Santa Cruz generates a third of Bolivia's wealth and its elite complain its revenues are being siphoned away to subsidize the poorer and more-Indian highland regions.
It's also the center of opposition to Morales, who has said he'll vote "no," claiming autonomy will only benefit "oligarchs" and not the majority poor population.
___
Associated Press writer Alvaro Zuazo contributed to this report.
Chavez urges Africa to unite against US
By Daniel Flynn
Reuters July 1, 2006
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called on Africa on Saturday to forge closer ties with Latin America to combat what he called a threat of U.S. hegemony.
Chavez, whose repeated criticism of America has raised hackles in Washington, called on an African Union summit to cooperate with Latin America in everything from oil production to university education to counter "colonial" meddling in developing nations.
Citing the example of Venezuela and Bolivia, he urged Africa to seize greater control of its energy resources. He described the low royalty payments made by some foreign oil companies as "robbery."
"We should march together, Africa and Latin America, brother continents with the same roots ... Only together can we change the direction of the world," he told the opening day of the AU summit, to applause.
"The world is threatened by the hegemony of the North American empire," said the former paratrooper, following speeches from African leaders which had criticized colonialism.
Africa's abundant natural resources -- ranging from precious metals to iron ore and oil -- should make it a wealthy continent if it were freed from outside exploitation, Chavez said.
"Africa has everything to become a pole of world power in the 21st century. Latin America and the Caribbean are equipped to become another pole," he said.
In a nod to another outspoken opponent of U.S. foreign policy, Chavez hailed Iran's right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also attending the summit in the Gambian capital Banjul.
The Venezuelan leader called for a commission to evaluate joint energy projects between Africa and Latin America, as well as a media venture dubbed Telesur (TeleSouth) and a joint bank Banco del Sur (Bank of the South).
"In Venezuela, we were tired of all our oil going to Count Dracula," said Chavez, referring his government's decision to raise taxes on U.S. oil companies. "Now Venezuela is free and we have recovered control over our oil."
Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter.
Reuters July 1, 2006
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called on Africa on Saturday to forge closer ties with Latin America to combat what he called a threat of U.S. hegemony.
Chavez, whose repeated criticism of America has raised hackles in Washington, called on an African Union summit to cooperate with Latin America in everything from oil production to university education to counter "colonial" meddling in developing nations.
Citing the example of Venezuela and Bolivia, he urged Africa to seize greater control of its energy resources. He described the low royalty payments made by some foreign oil companies as "robbery."
"We should march together, Africa and Latin America, brother continents with the same roots ... Only together can we change the direction of the world," he told the opening day of the AU summit, to applause.
"The world is threatened by the hegemony of the North American empire," said the former paratrooper, following speeches from African leaders which had criticized colonialism.
Africa's abundant natural resources -- ranging from precious metals to iron ore and oil -- should make it a wealthy continent if it were freed from outside exploitation, Chavez said.
"Africa has everything to become a pole of world power in the 21st century. Latin America and the Caribbean are equipped to become another pole," he said.
In a nod to another outspoken opponent of U.S. foreign policy, Chavez hailed Iran's right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also attending the summit in the Gambian capital Banjul.
The Venezuelan leader called for a commission to evaluate joint energy projects between Africa and Latin America, as well as a media venture dubbed Telesur (TeleSouth) and a joint bank Banco del Sur (Bank of the South).
"In Venezuela, we were tired of all our oil going to Count Dracula," said Chavez, referring his government's decision to raise taxes on U.S. oil companies. "Now Venezuela is free and we have recovered control over our oil."
Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter.
Protest Bush on July 4 in Fayetteville, NC
Declare Independence from Dictators
July 4, 2006
12 Noon
Gather at the Markethouse
Green St & Person St
Fayetteville, NC
Bush is coming to Ft Bragg July 4 for a photo-op with the troops -
Don't let Bush hijack Independence Day!
Take part in the Troops Home Fast & Declaration Of Impeachment
this July 4. Join us!
Contacts & carpooling:
Fayetteville: Lou (910) 728-8695
Triangle/Triad: Andy (919) 434-1910
Charlotte: David (704) 492-8527
or operationimpeachment@yahoo.com
www.OperationImpeachment.org
July 4, 2006
12 Noon
Gather at the Markethouse
Green St & Person St
Fayetteville, NC
Bush is coming to Ft Bragg July 4 for a photo-op with the troops -
Don't let Bush hijack Independence Day!
Take part in the Troops Home Fast & Declaration Of Impeachment
this July 4. Join us!
Contacts & carpooling:
Fayetteville: Lou (910) 728-8695
Triangle/Triad: Andy (919) 434-1910
Charlotte: David (704) 492-8527
or operationimpeachment@yahoo.com
www.OperationImpeachment.org
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