"Thousands of Palestinians streamed over the Rafah border crossing from the Gaza Strip into Egypt on Wednesday, after a border fence was toppled, and went on a spree of buying fuel and other supplies that have been cut off from their territory by Israel...Initial reports suggested that Hamas militants had used explosives to blow a hole in the corrugated-iron border fence at Rafah. The Rafah crossing into Egypt has been shut since Hamas took over Gaza in a short war with Fatah last summer."
NPR: rebuilding Fallujah
"Fallujah is still an armed fortress — anyone coming in has to show a U.S-issued residency card at checkpoints on the perimeter. While this may be a pain, there hasn't been a car bomb here since last March — and local police are now able to secure the city instead of relying on the unpopular Iraqi army brigade, which had been brought in from the Shiite south...
Sheikhs like Alwani, who have spearheaded the fight against al-Qaida, remain vulnerable, especially outside the city. This week, a 12-year-old managed to get through guards. The boy was supposed to be coming to pay respects — instead he blew himself up. He missed his target, but killed five others.
The youngster was a relative of the sheikh. Successful attacks like this are often inside jobs, which poses a problem for tribal leaders who want to reintegrate former al-Qaida members. Marine Gen. John Allen says tribes demand the former fighters make amends for killings in the past in a very specific way.
'You must commit yourself in public, and in the light of day, to opposing al-Qaida — and you must go fight al-Qaida,' Allen says. 'You must equalize this blood feud. You've got to get al-Qaida blood on your own hands.'"
WP: making sense out of the new "reconciliation" law in Iraq"Some say the law's primary aim is not to return ex-Baathists to work, but to recognize and compensate those harmed by the party. Of the law's eight stated justifications, none mentions reinstating ex-Baathists to their jobs.
'The law is about as clear as mud,' said one U.S. senior diplomat."
Newsweek: it's as much al-Sadr as the surge"Gen. David Petraeus has been deservedly praised for tamping down violence in Iraq, but an unlikely character deserves some credit—Sadr. Five months ago the firebrand cleric ordered his followers to lay down their arms, and they've largely obeyed. Mahdi cadres have gone after bad seeds like the Assassin, whose thuggish tactics have disgusted ordinary Iraqis...
By the summer, the aggressive raids [in Baghdad neighborhoods] had forced moderate Sadrists to the negotiating table; the ceasefire then gave them more latitude to work with the Americans. Ducote, an Atlanta native who once studied for the seminary, pointed out to them that if attacks on civilians ceased, he could cut back on the raids. As a good-faith measure, he released a well-known Shiite extremist shortly after his arrest. "We thought about it a lot and decided, 'We're going to do it because we really want this to work'," says Ducote. The gamble paid off. 'That really, really earned us a lot of credibility.' Tip-offs from locals soared. Attacks against civilians and the Coalition in Jihad have dropped to roughly one tenth of what they were when the Black Lions arrived. In October, Sunni and Shiite leaders in the neighborhood signed a peace deal...
[The Lt Col in charge of southwest Baghdad] likens the Mahdi Army to the once omnipotent Baath Party: Shiites who want to have influence in their communities have to become members at least nominally...
...things could just as well turn out badly. If Sadr achieves the rank of ayatollah, he will be a heavyweight political, as well as religious, authority—and he'll have a leaner, more loyal militia at his disposal."
USAT: Padilla sentenced to 17 years; judge lightened sentence because of 'harsh treatment'
non-sequitur
USAT: what does the interest rate slash mean for normal folks?
New Yorker: or ignore that and read Ben Franklin's Way to Wealth instead (with a grain of salt, naturally)
"'Friends, says he, and Neighbours, the Taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the Government were the only Ones we had to pay, we might more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our Idleness, three times as much by our Pride, and four times as much by our Folly, and from these Taxes the Commissioners cannot ease or deliver us by allowing an Abatement'...After the hoary old man finished, the people 'approved the Doctrine and immediately practised the contrary, just as if it had been a common Sermon.'...In London, in 1766, Franklin was questioned before the House of Commons during its deliberations on the repeal of the Stamp Act. Asked how soldiers sent to enforce the new taxes would be received, Franklin answered, 'They will not find a rebellion; they may indeed make one.' The king and Parliament heeded Franklin’s advice just about as much 'as if it had been a common Sermon.' They sent the soldiers. They made a rebellion."
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