Well, spying on American residents has gone on for a very long time; maybe decades. Ever since the world trade center attacks, it became publicly revealed that our government could
tap any one of our communications’ systems, claiming to gather intelligence. Today our news outlets have revealed that there will be a moratorium on the programs of such spying.

Regarding Guantanamo Bay Cuba, it is a prison camp which detained and still does detain
“suspects”- some of whom had seemingly been round-up to be made an example of, and who have no ties to the extremist group themselves. Rendition is wrong and torture is wrong, which is why I find their detention shameful. If they are guilty of no crime, then we as a nation are. I hope that Amnesty International and Cindy Sheehan’s efforts are successful and based on accurate assertions of the prison camp.

Quoting Amnesty International USA:
“Many like Murat Kurnaz, only 20 when detained, were released
without charge after years of harsh and cruel detention. Some were
as young as 13 when detained. The overwhelming majority have been
held only on suspicion, guilty until proven innocent.”

Today Condoleeza Rice will be meeting with the German Chancellor. Germany now holds the
rotating EU presidency post. Ms. Rice wishes to discuss her perception of the Palestinian Israeli
conflict.
Since the US led Iraq War and the Lebanese Israeli wars have emerged, it has become clear to me, that longtime dormant tensions among all countries in the region now overshadow the years’ old popular topic of debate in America – the Palestinian Israeli conflict.
So many of our US elders have hung on to the Israeli & Palestinian conflict which now finally needs to be ignored as though it were dead – for it has become clear that the areas of contention hold different modern geographies within all of the Arab nations.
It has been clear that the differences once discussed in such volume, had their roots in the
leaders’ hatred for one another; namely Arafat and Israel. That era is over. Those leaders are now dead.
And, Mr. Hussein, a dictator who ruled by force, is also now dead. Change for the better is in place. We need to focus mentally with the Iraqi conflict – bargain with the emerging rule of law there, and allow our US forces to be removed in phases, lest they be left to die.
The differences among many of the middle-east countries which have surfaced (since the Iraqi invasion) will become reason to negotiate new frontiers. Discussing a practically non-existent Palestinian conflict seems counter to intuition. But, contention resides within boundaries of other Middle Eastern. Not the opposing sides as depicted in stale US news programs.