Free Republic

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Wednesday, April 21 Three car bombs exploded in front of Iraqi police stations in the southern city of Basra on Wednesday morning, killing more than three dozen people and wounding more than 70, according to initial reports from the police and witnesses. A fourth explosion hit a police station in the nearby town of Zubeir, according to a witness in one of Basras main hospitals, who was speaking to medics as they brought in people wounded in the blast. One of the blasts in Basra hit a school bus during the morning rush hour, when school buses are...

CAIRO - An Israeli attempt to assassinate Yasser Arafat is "only a matter of time", the Palestinian leader's national security adviser Jibril Rajoub said in an interview published here yesterday. "An attack on Arafat's life is only a matter of time because Arafat symbolises the freedom" of the Palestinian people, General Rajoub told the Egyptian weekly magazine Nahdat Mir. On March 22, the leader of the Palestinian radical Islamic movement Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was killed in an Israeli helicopter raid in Gaza City. And Israel assassinated his successor, Abdelaziz Rantissi, less than a month later. Israeli Prime Minister...

The Palestinian Authority's overtures to Hamas reveal the “plight of the Palestinians” to be just part of the global jihad All the hard work, all the bribes to diplomats and members of the media, all the subventions to public relations firms, all the enrolling in the Jihad against Israel even of “Christian” Muslims among the “Palestinian” Arabs such as Hanan Ashrawi, Naim Ateek, and Archbishop Sabbah, may now come to naught. With the Palestinian Authority (PA) inviting Hamas into its government, and with the Christian population among the “Palestinian” Arabs now so small (it was once over 20%, and now...

The following article is the text of President Bush's comments at a press conference following his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. I'm pleased to welcome Prime Minister Sharon back to the White House. For more than 50 years, Israel has been a vital ally and a true friend of America. I've been proud to call the Prime Minister my friend. I really appreciate our discussions today. The policy of the United States is to help bring peace to the Middle East and to hope -- bring hope to the people of that region. On June 24, 2002, I...