For the rabid anti-Israel mob, the death of a 13 year-old schoolgirl, shot while walking to school, is only more evidence of the intentional and willful violence committed by the IDF against Palestinian children. But is it? What are the facts? What do the various witnesses say? Was Iman al-Hams en route to school or was she engaged in a very different and deadly mission?

GORE VIDAL: I don't see much future for the United States, and I put it on economic grounds. Forget moral grounds. We're far beyond any known morality, and we are embarked upon a kind of war against the rest of the world. I think that the thing that will save us, and it will probably come pretty fast, when they start monkeying around with Social Security, that will cause unrest. Meanwhile, the costs of the wars the cost of rebuilding the cities immediately after we knock them down

The price of oil rose abruptly after Cheney's suggestion that Israel might act as our proxy in a war against Iran. And who will benefit?

George Cadman of Free Radio Santa Cruz (www.freakradio.org; 101.1 fm.) interviews Professor Stephen Zunes about the Bush inauguration speech.
Stephen Zunes received his B.A. from Oberlin College, his M.A. from Temple University, and his Ph.D. from Cornell University. Dr. Zunes serves as Middle East editor for the Foreign Policy in Focus Project and was their senior policy analyst during his 2001-2002 sabbatical year. He also serves an associate editor of Peace Review and as a research associate at the Center for Global, International and Regional Studies at the University of California--Santa Cruz.
Zunes has presented numerous lectures and conference papers in the United States and over a dozen foreign countries. He is active in several professional organizations, including the governing council of the International Peace Research Association. He has traveled frequently to the Middle East and other conflict regions and has served as a political analyst for National Public Radio and Pacifica Radio, the British Broadcasting Corporation and MSNBC, and has appeared as well on numerous television and radio talk shows. He has published scores of articles in academic journals, anthologies, magazines, and newspaper op-ed pages on topics such as U.S. foreign policy, Middle Eastern politics, Latin American politics, social movements and nonviolent action.
Stephen Zunes is also the author of two books. His most recent book is "Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism".