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TRIPOLI, Libya - U.S. congressmen flew into Tripoli on Sunday aboard a U.S. Navy plane they said was the first plane flying an American flag to land in Tripoli since Col. Moammar Gadhafi took power in 1969. "I'm here to reinforce the positive steps that have been taken by the leader of Libya," Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., said. Led by Weldon, the bipartisan delegation arrived as U.S. and British experts were preparing to start dismantling Libya's weapons programs with Gadhafi's blessing. Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., arrived in Tripoli earlier Saturday, but he wasn't on a U.S. military plane. The...

History's most virulent antisemitic propaganda essay, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," was first published 100 years ago this week. Though the Protocols turned out to be both a notorious plagiarism and a shocking forgery, the essay would exercise a powerful impact upon the modern era, principally as a critical factor in generating the Holocaust. Despite its gross falsehood and the horrors it sparked, the Protocols strikingly continues to be promoted today, most alarmingly in such important institutional settings as the United Nations and Middle Eastern governmental media. The first publication to print the Protocols was the St. Petersburg...

Washington is looking for actions and not words from Damascus, Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos (Calif.) said on Monday after holding talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad. The ranking Democratic member of the House International Relations Committee, Lantos over the weekend laid out a list of U.S. expectations from Syria prior to a visit to the region by Secretary of State Colin Powell. Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem on Monday, Lantos said Congress was "livid" about Syria's behavior during the Iraqi war. "There is enormous dissatisfaction - I would say, outrage - at Syria's position during the Iraq war," Lantos said....

April 29, 2003 -- JERUSALEM - Israeli intelligence tipped off U.S. forces to the location of American POWs at an Iraqi hospital, leading to the surprise Marine rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, it was revealed yesterday. The Israeli role in Lynch's escape from Nasiriyah last month surfaced yesterday when Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), on a Mideast tour, told reporters he had been briefed about it by Israeli officials. Sources said he was told that Israeli intelligence provided the first information that Lynch and her comrades were in the hospital. The information was specific enough so that Marines knew where in...

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Lynn C. Woolsey (D-Petaluma) is a strong "no" vote on going to war with Iraq. Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Mission Hills) is a solid "yes." Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher of Alamo, like many other Democrats on Capitol Hill, wishes the whole issue could be decided after November's elections. The state's Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, have raised no qualms about President Bush's Iraq policy. California's congressional delegation is, in short, a microcosm of Congress as a whole as it grapples with Bush's request for a resolution authorizing use of force against Iraq. "The snapshot is: Republicans are supportive of...

<p>Maad Abu-Ghazalah, the Libertarian running a quixotic campaign to knock Democratic veteran Tom Lantos out of the U.S. House, has hired the man who guided pro wrestler Jesse ``The Body'' Ventura to a smack-down victory in the race for the Minnesota statehouse four years ago.</p>

Speaking to a crowd of approximately 500 pro-Israel supporters who gathered in front of Palo Alto city hall, Tom Lantos (D) San Mateo gave credit and praise to Texas republican Tom Delay for cosponsoring a recently passed House resolution to express solidarity with Israel in its fight against terrorism. Lantos opened his remarks by asking for a moment of silence to honor both the dead Israeli civilians in latest terrorist suicide bombing, as well as the American special forces soldier who was killed in eastern Afghanistan. Other speakers at the informative two hour rally included Gil Lanier from the Israeli...