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Severe impacts loom as Yemen unrest deepens - Xinhua

2011-04-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

by Fuad Rajeh, Wang Qiuyun

SANAA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The deepening unrest in Yemen are imposing negative impacts on people's lives and hard hitting key economic sectors and small businesses.

While major economic sectors were affected by the fall in foreign trade and the growing fears of investors, small businesses were directly hit by the escalating pro and anti-government protests, especially the sit-ins.

Hundreds of thousands of pro and anti-government protesters have been staying in tents pitched along key shopping streets in downtown cities including the capital Sanaa for more than a month, forcing some retail markets to close down and others to relocate. The businesses which remain open have complained of a remarkable decrease in their sales among fears that the escalating unrest would have further impacts.

"Now Yemen is experiencing an acute gas shortage and if this continues many shops will inevitably be closed down," said Abdul Karim Kasim, a cafeteria owner in the Zubairy Street.

"The shortage made the price of gas three times higher than that before the crisis, and the soaring prices will directly affect the poorest groups," he added.

Clothes shopkeeper Abdullah al Duba'e in the Jamal Street said the pro-government sit-ins in Tahrir Square and the anti- government sit-in outside Sanaa University blocked the key shopping streets and affected the business badly.

"As you see, there are no people here. We used to see this street very crowded and the customers came every hour, but now the situation has changed," Abdullah said.

"And if you look around, you would see some stores closed down and others relocated. Regrettably Jamal Street resembled a ghost town," he said.

Some vendors are also facing extra taxes imposed on them and " bullies" who are exploiting the unrest.

"Besides shrinking trade due to the unrest, we see taxes increasing," said Wazeer al Selwi, a qat seller, "Furthermore, bullies of those who attack the anti-government protesters come to us many times a day to get money and we have to give them that."

The unrest has already paralyzed the financial sector in Yemen, particularly the Islamic banks, which said all their activities were almost ceased.

"The situation is too bad because we do nothing these days," said Tariq Hamoud, head of the studies section at the Tadhamon International Islamic Bank.

"Due to the unrest here, Yemen's banks were seen as high-risk institutions by external institutions and if a bank wants to open a credit, it should pay 100 percent insurance," he said.

"Locally, the people are now in favor of cash and drawing their money in large amounts in U.S. dollars, and this is affecting the operations of banks in Yemen," he said.

When it comes to individuals, the impacts were mainly manifested in traffic jams because of the sit-inners' tents on main roads.

"The sit-inners closed roads, forcing people to redirect and spend more time to reach workplaces and other destinations," said citizen Abdullah al Sawadi.

A student also complained that the bus and taxi fares increased because the drivers were forced to redirect routes.

"Now the sit-in outside Sanaa University even forced the suspension of the second semester," said Asad Abdul Karim, a first- year student at the commerce college.

Tens of thousands of people have been holding a sit-in outside Sanaa University, calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who rejected on Friday a GCC proposal for tackling the political crisis.

The proposal called for the resignation of Saleh and transfer of power to his deputy in return for immunity and guarantees that he and his regime will not be prosecuted. It also proposed to form a national unity government led by the opposition and draw up a new constitution ahead of holding elections.

"We appreciate the interest of regional and international countries in Yemen's stability amid the current crisis, but we will not accept any offer except the one clearly calling for an immediate exit of president Saleh," they said in a statement.

"The problem is not with how to transfer power. However, it is all about to whom power would be handed," said Tariq al Shami, chairman of Saba and information director of the ruling party General People's Congress.

The Yemeni Ministry of Trade and Industry and the General Investment Authority declined to comment on the situation and strongly refused to give specific information, including numbers or percentages about the losses the country's economy amid the escalation of unrest.

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Barak: If Hamas stops firing from Gaza, we'll stop firing - Jerusalem Post

2011-04-16T03:42:00.000-07:00

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday that Jerusalem was willing to accept a mutual ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza after several days of projectile fire and IDF strikes that began after Hamas' armed wing fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus on Thursday.

"If they stop firing on our communities, we will stop firing. If they stop firing in general, it will be quiet, it will be good," Barak told Israel Radio.

Barak added that there is no "quick fix" for the problem of rocket and mortar fire from the Strip. Speaking about a possible IDF operation in Gaza, he said, "If necessary, we will act, but," he said, "restraint is also a form of strength."

The defense minister told Israel Radio that the success of the Iron Dome system brings an end to the debate over multi-layered rocket interception systems and that the only remaining issue is that of its cost.

Also on Sunday morning, Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon expressed hope that Israel is not drawn into another war in the Gaza Strip but warned Hamas against testing Jerusalem's willingness to defend itself, in an interview on Army Radio.

Ya'alon, a former IDF chief of general-staff, said that military action is always the last option.

"I don't recommend that Hamas test us in the coming days," he warned. "They have taken some hard hits and they will sustain even harsher ones" if they continue firing rockets and mortars at Israel, he said.

"We have a lot of options," he added, "and the IDF is prepared for them."

The deputy prime minister, who also serves as minister of strategic affairs, addressed internal arguments and power struggles taking place between Hamas' military and political echelons, saying that it "doesn't interest us." If Hamas is in charge of the Gaza Strip, he said, "they they are responsible" for what happens there.

He added that since the days of former PLO chairman Yassir Arafat, Jerusalem's policy has been that in any territory it doesn't control, it demands responsibility from whoever is in power.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took a slightly harder line on Saturday, saying that Israel will not allow Hamas to set the rules of the game, during late night consultations regarding the escalating violence in the South.

Netanyahu said that raising the level of violence such that a tank missile is fired on a school bus, and thinking that this is just part of the ongoing status quo, was not acceptable and would not be tolerated.

“Even if we are not interested in an escalation,” he was quoted as saying, “the response will be determined, harsh and ongoing.”

In addition to holding security consultations, Netanyahu’s bureau held discussions with various international officials examining ways to dampen down the violence.

Netanyahu arrived in the country before Shabbat from a two-day trip to Germany and the Czech Republic. Earlier on Friday, following his meeting with Czech President Vaclav Klaus in Prague, the prime minister said: “The attack on a school bus crossed the line. Whoever tries to hurt and murder children will be held accountable.”

He is expected to address the issue further at Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting.

Reuters contributed to this report Subscribe to our Newsletter to receive news updates directly to your email

12. the trouble with israel isAuthor: m. d'agostinoCountry: italy04/10/2011 13:45
that they want to be free to kill palestinians whenever they want and no one must raise their brows. no one must question israel's criminal acts. what kind of law is that?

Author: StephenCountry: Switzerland04/10/2011 10:43
I would not call DM Barak a wimp.Rather he is careful, for any words could be misconstrued by the world press. Those that underestimate his resolve, may well be in for a surprise. One thing is to placate Israels Western Allies, by doing so, Hamas and the Extremists on all sides construe these words as a sign of weakness.How far from reality, for when ZAHAL is given the order, Cast Lead 1, will be forgotten as no diplomatic pressure will place constraints on the actions to come. The shock of a school bus blasted off its route is on the mind of every IDF soldier. Hamas may run,but cannot hide.

10. Even if Hamas stops, it's no good.Author: Arthur RosenCountry: Canada04/10/2011 10:37
Even if Hamas stops firing rockets, it's no good anymore because they continue to stockpile weapons. Where that will stop, with a new regime in Egypt, is anyone's guess. This all makes it impossible to have peace talks, but Abbas and PA want it like this. The West Bank grows and prospers, but Gaza is kept as a wedge for more aid from west, and concessions from Israel.

Author: Arthur RosenCountry: Canada04/10/2011 10:15
Israel has more to fear from politicians like Barak than these few missiles. This taunting of Israel by terrorists in Gaza has been going on a long time and is likely to continue, all the while Hamas stockpiles much more effective weapons that will all be unleashed at once; They need to keep tensions high. ME has much sand to put your heads into. He must be following US orders. US is sinking and doesn't know what to do for themselves, let alone Israel.

8. Israel needs a leader who will defend itAuthor: NechamaCountry: Australia04/10/2011 10:04
Israel needs a strong leader to defend it. Anything else is just plain dumb. Israeli leaders keep kissing the asses of god-knows-who in the hope of gaining support and gets kicked in the teeth every single time. Didn't they see the recent video of the bullied kid who finally snapped and fought back hard? Grow some balls. Please. Even those of us who support and love Israel are growing frustrated with your continuing will to be seen as weak. Tikkun ha olam does not mean lay down like a rug and let your enemies walk all over you.

7. "When the Arabs put down...Author: Jehudah Ben-IsraelCountry: Qatzrin, Israel04/10/2011 09:21
...their weapons, peace will reign. But, when Israel puts down her weapons, there will not be an Israel". This observation of a very astute man is yet to be proven incorrect. The only people who still seem to lacking appreciation of it are the leaders of the EU and the present President of the U.S. It is time for a change...!!

6. Why stop firing? Dismantle the whole freaking PA tAuthor: EliCountry: Israel04/10/2011 09:19
5. So what will Hamas do? hand out flyers?Author: Big LeviCountry: Israel04/10/2011 09:10
hamas equals al-kaida equals nasrallah its all the same mentality and agenda

Author: ZevCountry: Israel04/10/2011 08:55
You would think 5+ years would be long enough. No other country would allow more than 150 rockets to fall on its citizens and respond by bombing empty buildings. How long does Barak need??

3. Get Barak retired or fired already!!Author: YehudaCountry: 04/10/2011 08:47

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Egyptian protesters defy military, return to Tahrir Square - Washington Post

2011-04-15T23:09:00.000-07:00

CAIRO — Angry anti-government demonstrators returned to Tahrir Square late Saturday, some declaring that they were ready to face martyrdom, less than a day after Egypt’s military rulers used force to break up a protesters’ camp in the place where their revolution began.

Gallery

Egypt- and Tunisia-inspired uprisings spread through Middle East, North Africa:?Motivated by recent shows of political strength by neighbors in Egypt, demonstrators in the Middle East and North Africa are taking to the streets of many cities to rally for change.
" src="/midzz005--296x197.jpg"> Gallery: Egypt- and Tunisia-inspired uprisings spread through Middle East, North Africa:?Motivated by recent shows of political strength by neighbors in Egypt, demonstrators in the Middle East and North Africa are taking to the streets of many cities to rally for change.

Protesters again chanted slogans calling for the removal of the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, likening him to ousted president Hosni Mubarak. Others prayed or read from the Koran. Many appeared mindful of the council’s warning earlier in the day that troops would use force again, if necessary, to clear the square.

The bloody pre-dawn crackdown Saturday followed weeks of rising tensions between the pro-democracy movement and the military leadership that has run the country since Mubarak’s ouster in February.

At first, protesters welcomed the military’s intervention, seeing it as protection from the security apparatus and paid government thugs. But the euphoria quickly faded, and accusations mounted that the military was shielding Mubarak and doing his bidding.

The death toll from the raid on the protesters’ encampment remained in dispute late Saturday. Witnesses said that at least two people had been killed, while the Health Ministry said one person had died.

Hundreds of troops, firing into the air and attacking protesters with electric batons, swarmed the center of the square to expel several hundred people who had defied a 2 a.m. curfew after a large but peaceful protest Friday.

Among those who had joined the overnight protesters in the camp were about 20 uniformed soldiers who had broken ranks to demand that the military council move faster to try Mubarak and former members of his regime on corruption charges.

“They were participating to show their solidarity with the people,” said Hassad Mahmoud, 20, a student at Cairo University who took part in the sit-in.

Toward midnight, jubilant protesters in the camp lifted rebellious soldiers on their shoulders, shouting, “The army and the people form a single hand!” One of the soldiers raised a rolled-up body bag into the air, proclaiming that he was ready to die.

About 2:30 a.m., troops and security forces blocked entrances to the square. Protesters formed a human chain to protect the soldiers in their camp. Armored cars, troops and security officers swept in shortly after 3 a.m., and government forces fired their weapons into the air for about 20 minutes. Some protesters fled to a landmark mosque on the square for refuge. Others threw rocks at the troops.

Mahmoud and other witnesses said the troops appeared to be targeting the rebellious soldiers, injuring at least three and detaining others. Mahmoud said protesters hid some others.

As daylight returned to Tahrir Square, smoke drifted from three burning military vehicles. People started to return, climbing atop the charred hulks and demanding Tantawi’s removal.

The Friday rally was the largest since Mubarak’s government fell Feb. 11. Tens of thousands of people filled Tahrir Square in a peaceful demonstration to demand that Mubarak be held accountable on corruption allegations.

Others accused the military rulers of engaging in some of the same repressive behavior as Mubarak, such as detaining critics of the regime and trying them before military tribunals.

“I think the military council is in favor of Mubarak,” said Loftaya Mohamed, 58, a former teacher who attended the demonstrations with her adult daughter. “They’re being too kind and too patient.”

kunklef@washpost.com

Mansour is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Haitham Tabei contributed to this report.

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After Historic Deal, Battles Loom Over Debt Ceiling, 2012 Budget - Fox News

2011-04-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

A series of spending battles await Congress following the expected passage of the 2011 budget bill next week, as Democrats and Republicans will continue clashing over the nation's fiscal responsibilities moving forward.

With a last-minute budget deal, Congress averted a federal government shutdown Friday night.

On Saturday, President Obama signed a short term spending deal that will allow the government to pay for federal operations through Friday.

The measure was needed to keep the government open long enough for Congress to sign off on the budget deal reached just before the midnight deadline Friday by Obama, Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Obama made an unannounced trip from the White House to the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday to make clear that the country's national parks and monuments are open for business. The sites would have been closed in a government shutdown.

"Because Congress was able to settle its differences, that's why this place is open today and everybody's able to enjoy their visit," Obama told tourists on the steps of the memorial.

The Friday deal included $38.5 billion in spending cuts while leaving the more contentious policy matters, such as blocking funding for Planned Parenthood, for a later debate.

But the epic clash between Democrats and Republicans was just the first of a series of fiscal fights as two more battles loom on the horizon -- the national debt ceiling and then the 2012 budget.

"We're gonna have a fight in a couple of months over the debt ceiling. We're gonna have a fight over the 2012 budget," Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill, told Fox News Saturday. "This is not basically the last fight here. This is the first opening salvo in a real attempt to bring back the size of government and start living within our means."

The Treasury Department has told Congress it will hit its $14.3 trillion borrowing limit no later than mid-May and Republicans hope to use the issue to force President Obama to accept long-term deficit-reduction measures.

"The president's asked us to raise the debt ceiling and Senate Republicans and House Republicans, and I hope many Democrats as well, are going to say, Mr. President, in order to raise the debt ceiling, we need to do something significant about the debt," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Friday night.

The White House has warned that not lifting the debt ceiling could lead to a default on the national debt and harm the economy, which appears to be picking up steam. If there is a stalemate, the Treasury could avoid defaulting for several weeks by using a number of tricks but it would eventually run out of options.

Lifting the debt ceiling is never easy and in this political environment, where Tea Party activists are pressuring Republican leaders to slash federal spending, a rough fight is all but guaranteed.

The fight over the 2012 budget won't be a picnic either. The budget deal that Republicans and Democrats negotiated Friday night is for 2011 and funds the government through the end of September with $38.5 billion in spending cuts.

But House Republicans intend to pass a 2012 budget next week that would cut $6.2 trillion in spending over the next decade calls for sweeping changes in the Medicare and Medicaid health programs.

Democrats have already called House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's plan an attack on the elderly and the poor.

But in the Republican radio address, Ryan warned of a coming crisis.

"Unless we act soon, government spending on health and retirement programs will crowd out spending on everything else, including national security. It will literally take every cent of every federal tax dollar just to pay for these programs," Ryan said Saturday.

House Speaker John Boehner has said that the fight over the 2011 budget is likely to repeat itself in the next coming months.

"It's taken us some time to get acquainted with each other and to work our way through this, because understand that this process that we're in is likely to be repeated a number of times this year," Boehner said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Nigerians vote as blasts hit in the north - CNN International

2011-04-15T15:58:00.000-07:00

Africa's most populous country votesNEW: Separate blasts rock a voting and collation centerNEW: The second blast caused "serious casualties," an official says There have been riots, bombings and assassinations ahead of the electionsNigerians are voting Saturday for House and Senate seats

Ibadan, Nigeria (CNN) -- Separate bomb blasts ripped through a polling station and a collation center in northeastern Nigeria Saturday as Africa's most populous nation began voting in elections marred by violence and delays.

The first explosion occurred at a voting station in the city of Maiduguri, National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Yushau Shuaib said. No deaths were reported; the number of injuries was still unknown.

The second blast was also reported in Maiduguri, at the Abba Ganaram collation center, Shuaib said, adding that the explosion caused "serious casualties." It was not immediately clear how many people died.

Also in Maiduguri, armed youths set a government building afire, Shuaib said.

A new election chief promised "free and fair" elections this year, but the election has already been plagued by related bombings, assassinations and logistical problems that delayed the vote. Concerns are that continued violence could derail the vote altogether.

Nigerians began voting Saturday for 360 House of Representatives seats and 109 Senate seats. The staggered voting structure will take them back to the polls next Saturday to vote for a president and on April 26 for a gubernatorial vote.

Despite domestic and international pressure, Nigeria's Electoral Commission was forced to put off elections by a week after a nationwide logistical disaster -- many voting materials were not even in the country until voting day and party logos were missing from ballot papers.

It was a huge setback, reminiscent of the problems of Nigeria's 2007 elections, described by the European Union as the worst it had seen anywhere in the world with rampant vote rigging, violence, theft of ballot boxes and intimidation.

The legitimacy of the country now rides on the three rounds of polling.

On the eve of the vote, a bomb exploded at the Independent National Electoral Commission office in Suleja in central Nigeria, officials said.

A government official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, told CNN that eight people died in the attack.

Shuaib said more than seven people were seriously injured.

"We condemn this cowardly and dastardly action, which seems designed to instill fear in Nigerians and paralyze their aspirations for peaceful and credible elections," the chairman of the electoral commission, Attahiru Jega, said in a statement. "Our deep sympathies go to the families of all these young Nigerians who lost their lives or were injured."

Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 85 people have been killed in political violence so far.

As Africa's most populous country and its largest oil producer, Nigeria is important. Yet, despite its enormous oil wealth, 80% of the population lives on less than $2 a day, according to the United Nations.

"Make no mistake about it: This test of honour is inescapably a collective one for all Nigerians," the Independent National Electoral Commission said in a recent statement. "It is our national honour at stake, and our relevance in the affairs of the modern world being redefined."

Separately on Friday, one man was killed and another seriously injured in a blast in the northern city of Kaduna, state news reported.

Police rushed to the scene and found unexploded dynamite there, according to the Kaduna State Police Commissioner Haruna John, Voice of Nigeria reported. They found more dynamite at a house belonging to he injured man, the outlet said.

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Japanese voters may further weaken PM over nuclear crisis - Reuters

2011-04-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

TOKYO | Sat Apr 9, 2011 11:10pm EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese voting in local elections on Sunday are expected to vent their anger over Prime Minister Naoto Kan's handling of the ongoing nuclear crisis, further weakening him and bolstering opponents to seek his resignation once the crisis ends.

The unpopular Kan was already under pressure to step down before the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeast Japan on March 11, leaving his government to cope with the worst crisis to hit Japan since World War Two.

Many Japanese believe Kan's Democratic Party government should form a "grand coalition" with the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party to deal with the thousands left homeless, a reeling economy and the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

The Democratic Party is expected lose seats on Sunday, with a heavy loss likely to be blamed on Kan.

"Depending on how badly the Democrats are defeated, the issue of Kan's responsibility could emerge," said Tomoaki Iwai, political science professor at Nihon University.

"Since Kan's departure is said to be a precondition for a grand coalition, such talk (about Kan's resignation and a grand coalition) could gradually surface."

Kan saw his voter support slump to around 20 percent and his grip on power weaken even before the March 11 earthquake, due to policy flip flops and perceived missteps in diplomatic rows with China and Russia.

But he is unlikely to be forced out during the nuclear crisis, say analysts. The crisis could last months as engineers struggle to regain control of the crippled nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant north of Tokyo.

Kan's Democrats have a big majority in parliament's lower house but need opposition help in the upper chamber. Before the crisis, opposition parties in the upper house were blocking budget bills to try and force a snap election.

Kan's eventual resignation could conceivably clear the way for a rejigged ruling coalition, and that would break a parliamentary deadlock that has kept Japan from crafting policies to address the country's most profound problems, a fast-aging society and huge public debt.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Linda Sieg; Editing by Michael Perry)

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Old times not forgotten: Civil War at 150 - Sioux City Journal

2011-04-15T07:44:00.000-07:00

A hush fell over the crowd filling the elegant hall in downtown Richmond, Va. The vote was about to be announced, and a young staffer of the Museum of the Confederacy balanced his laptop across his knees, poised to get out the news as soon as it was official.

Who would be chosen "Person of the Year, 1861"?

Five historians had made impassioned nominations, and the audience would now decide.

Most anywhere else, the choice would be obvious. Who but Abraham Lincoln? But this was a vote in the capital of the rebellion that Lincoln put down, sponsored by a museum dedicated to his adversary. How would Lincoln and his war be remembered in this place, in our time?

A century and a half have passed since Lincoln's crusade to reunify the United States. The North and the South still split deeply on many issues, not least the conflict they still call by different names. All across the bloodstained arc where the Civil War raged, and beyond, Americans are deciding how to remember.

For the next four years, we will mark the sesquicentennial at scores of crossroads whose names have become a bitter historical shorthand: Fort Sumter, which launched the war on April 12, 1861, and later Antietam, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and so many others, all the way to Appomattox.

There will be many commemorative events, some light (like the recent vote at the Museum of the Confederacy) and some somber.

We'll reflect on more than 600,000 soldiers and sailors who died, leaving mourners from Maine to Texas, Michigan to Florida - and on what inspired their self-sacrifice. We'll judge again the leaders good and bad who played their parts. We'll argue over the causes. We'll talk about slavery and emancipation, what change the war brought and what it didn't.

Through the years, each Civil War anniversary has mirrored our nation at that point in time. At first, remembering was forgetting, an occasion to bring former foes together to shake hands, to show we'd moved on. Nostalgia for the so-called Lost Cause of the antebellum South defined many observances - even at the Civil War centennial in the early 1960s, ironically coinciding with the civil rights movement.

And what does today's anniversary tell us?

In search of answers, an Associated Press reporter embarked on a 600-mile tour through one scarred swath of the fighting grounds - from Manassas, Va., where the war's harsh terms first became clear, to ruins still standing along Union Gen. William T. Sherman's fiery march through Georgia, which put the outcome beyond doubt.

Conversations along the way about the conflict and its legacy - with scholars, regular folks, Southerners, Northerners, blacks, whites - left several impressions.

There's a sense that we've matured. In our own time of two wars, military valor resonates deeply as we look back. Even amid the country's cultural divisions, one finds attempts to see through others' eyes.

It's a commemoration, not a celebration, this time: What we're recollecting now is the Civil War AND emancipation, many people say. Yes, there have been secession balls right out of "Gone with the Wind," but the viewpoint of the 4 million enslaved Americans is part of every serious observance.

And one more conclusion: This fight, uniquely destructive and constructive, isn't really past. Even after 150 years, it holds us still.

___

Clotted interstates carry you to Manassas, but it's a surprisingly quick run from the heart of Washington, D.C.

In July 1861 - just weeks after the Confederates took Fort Sumter in South Carolina, and Lincoln, the new president, responded with a call for 75,000 volunteers - Manassas, near a stream called Bull Run, would be the first real test of the opposing armies.

Some spectators ventured out from the capital for a look and a picnic on what began as a fine day, expecting the rebels to be quickly dispatched. Instead, after fighting that littered fields with more than 4,500 casualties, terrified civilians found themselves scrambling away from a Confederate rout. "Turn back!" cried Union soldiers in full flight. "We are whipped!"

This war, it suddenly became clear, would be deadly earnest.

And at Manassas today, it becomes clear that people still care. Tens of thousands are expected in July for commemorative events, including a battle re-enactment with 15,000 participants on adjacent property. The battlefield park is already seeing a 10 to 15 percent uptick in visitors this year, the superintendent said.

On a chilly day, a family pulled jackets tighter as they crossed the field where Confederate Gen. Thomas Jackson got his nickname in the midst of the furious fighting, when someone said, "There is Jackson, standing like a stone wall."

All the way from Denmark, Per Moller came with his wife and young son for a vacation touring America's Civil War. They'd stopped in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and now here, to see where Americans from North and South struggled.

Sheltering from the wind in the lee of a frame house that was struck by cannon fire back then, Moller shook his head, conjuring the fratricide.

"They spoke the same language, maybe went to the same schools," he said, quietly.

___

From Lincoln's White House to the official residence of Confederate President Jefferson Davis is only about 110 miles.

The dove-gray mansion in downtown Richmond was one stop for Adam Ardire and Holly Coacsolonia on a trip "just to get a Southern perspective on the Civil War" and the country it left behind.

She's from Indiana, he from Pennsylvania. Now living in Norfolk, Va., they've concluded we're still two nations in many ways: culture, attitudes, even style.

"I like the laid-backness" of the South, he allowed, and both acknowledged Southern hospitality. At the same time, there are things about the region they don't get. Some Southerners flying the Confederate battle flag on their homes, for example, he said. What's that about?

Around the corner from where they stood, a few hundred people filled an auditorium at the Library of Virginia. This was the place where the Museum of the Confederacy brought together five noted Civil War historians to make their nominations for 1861's "Person of the Year."

One author proposed P.G.T. Beauregard, the egotistical Louisiana-born general who was in charge at both Fort Sumter and Manassas, giving the South two early victories. Another scholar named the largely unknown governor of Kentucky, saying his decision to keep that vital border state out of the Confederacy may have tipped the historical scales.

Of course, Lincoln was nominated.

And there were two other eloquent pleas for support.

Dr. Lauranett Lee, curator of African-American history at the Virginia Historical Society, nominated the enslaved blacks who made their way to Union lines to seek protection and a chance to help the Northern cause. Union officers reasoned that, since they were considered property, they could be taken like anything else being used to support the enemy. They became seized "contraband," and when word traveled back home by the grapevine, a trickle of men became a flood of families; many would eventually serve in military ranks, otherwise aid the Union's ultimate victory, and reshape the future for black Americans.

Glancing at the other panelists, Lee noted, "Had it not been for the actions of the 'contraband,' I would not be where I am today."

The last nomination came from James I. Robertson Jr., the eminent Virginia Tech historian and author, who said the person of that pivotal year was the Virginia volunteer.

This rank-and-file soldier was typically not a "fire-eating" secessionist in the mold of the South Carolinians who started the war, but a small farmer grimly determined to resist what he considered invaders. Robertson told the story of one such, and quoted his tender letters home before he succumbed to wounds suffered at Manassas.

"He died to protect that little parcel of farmland in the mountains," said Robertson, his mellifluous Old Dominion accent bringing nods in the crowd.

And now the vote: Audience ballots were marked and carefully tallied. And S. Waite Rawls III, president of the Museum of the Confederacy, rose to announce the results.

The vote was close and there were, he noted, a few write-ins: Jefferson Davis and, on the other side, abolitionist firebrand John Brown (with a note acknowledging that he'd been hanged by then).

But the winner in the rebellion's capital, 150 years later?

"The audience has chosen Abraham Lincoln ..."

This was news. Leo Rohr of the museum marketing staff instantly announced it in a tweet.

___

Not everyone feels caught up in the war, even where it was fought. Life goes on, after all.

On the haunting battlefield at Cold Harbor, just outside Richmond, Wayne Herring was completing his usual three-mile jog at a recent twilight. Trails he circled were the scene of brutal trench fighting and sniper exchanges in 1864 that left as many as 18,000 casualties. The gunfire was so unforgiving, that one Virginian recalled, "A man's life is often exacted as the price of a cup of water from the spring."

Herring's son attends a school named for Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, where the teams are the Confederates; his boss at work is a Civil War buff, but that's not what has drawn Herring here for years.

"It's just peace and quiet," he said, "and a lot of nature." And it's true. As he spoke, the loudest sound on the battlefield that once ached with moaning wounded was the chattering of a squirrel.

Nor does Shirley Ragland spend much time thinking about the war. She lives about an hour's drive from Cold Harbor in the town of Farmville. It had its war history, memorialized by one of the Confederate soldier statues that you see across the South, this one with an inscription never to let the battle flag falter, even in defeat.

But Ragland's story picks up a century later.

"I was in the eighth grade," she explained, "and the schools closed."

After public schools were ordered desegregated in the Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education decision, localities across the South tried many ways to delay or prevent implementation. But only one county, Prince Edward, where Farmville is the seat, closed all of its public schools rather than integrate. Starting in 1959, they were shut for five years, even as the centennial of emancipation was celebrated. (White students attended new, racially exclusive private academies.)

Hundreds of black children, including Ragland, left their homes and boarded buses to distant cities where placement programs run by Quakers and others set them up with families and schools. First, Ragland went to Washington, D.C., for schooling, then in the second year to Philadelphia, later to New York, but the separations were too hard for some students she knew. "Like so many here, they just stopped," she said.

Today, at 64, she remains alert for lingering prejudice, but also hopeful. The county board, she noted, passed a resolution of reconciliation a few years ago - looking back with admiration for the black students' fortitude "and with sorrow for closing schools."

Farmville is near Appomattox, and many tourists stop en route in search of history. With a half-smile, Ragland said, "And here I am standing right in front of them - living history."

___

We move southward into North Carolina, where many sea and land battle sites attest to the Civil War's harsh legacy.

Another kind of memorial is found off Exit 177 from Interstate 85: Stagville, a restored plantation, where 900 slaves once worked on thousands of acres. Some of that land today holds corporate parks housing high-tech Research Triangle industries. Merck, the pharmaceutical company, has a state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing plant whose entrance is visible from Stagville's. The plantation of 150 years ago serves as a conference center today.

"When we met, our very first meeting, we met at Stagville," said professor Freddie Parker, referring to the state's Civil War sesquicentennial commission, of which he is a member. He was speaking in his office in the history department at North Carolina Central University, a historically black school in Durham, a few interstate exits from the plantation.

Besides his Ph.D., Parker brought to the commission his personal history. He spoke of a great-grandfather born into slavery in 1851. "So when the Civil War came to an end in 1865, he was 14 years of age. ... I just wish I could have been around to hear some of the stories about how he survived."

Parker told of how the sesquicentennial commission determined to offer "a balanced commemoration," recognizing all viewpoints. When young staff members created a website, groups of Confederate descendants objected that their side was underrepresented, which led to more discussion, some of it heated, among commission members.

"I remember ... an older individual, every time something came up about the South, the North, he put it out there: 'The War of Aggression.' And everybody knew his position."

But as the meetings continued, and members listened to each other's side of things, the man began to join with those pushing, for instance, for an official state memorial to black struggles, too. "He was one of the primary ones ... And tears in his eyes. He made a complete flip."

And how does Parker process this?

"That people are continuing to evolve. People are not static, stagnant beings," he said, including blacks, whose view of Confederate fighters' motives can sometimes be too narrow. "It's a serious change; they're not playing."

Still, it will take the nation time, he said, "before we get to the point where we are less emotional, where we're less polarized" about the war.

How much more time?

"A hundred and 50 years?" he ventured.

___

Personal, human stories are never far from the sweeping historical narrative of the Civil War.

Individuals come into focus again and again: in an act of rash courage that helps turn a major battle, in wives' journals detailing homefront hardships, in the explanations soldiers give loved ones for fighting.

"I am sick of war," a Confederate wrote home, but he added he'd sign on again, thinking of his children and "our country's independence." A Union soldier wrote that "sick as I am of this war," he'd fight on, unable to bear the notion of his children's future "if we were to permit this hell-begotten conspiracy to destroy this country."

East Tennessee saw individualism play out in deep divisions over the war. The region rejected secession when it came to a vote and raised Union units who fought Tennessee Confederates. Local guerrillas destroyed railroad bridges and were hanged.

The war's untidy complexities delight Steve Gipson.

He's a history buff, entertainer and dreamer, and awhile back he wrote a play to try to capture what happened in this corner of the Civil War. In it, a Union officer, camped not far from where he grew up, encounters his sister, who's on a mission to deliver medicine - to rebel troops. Gipson and his wife Allison perform the two-actor play, "Granddaddy's Watch," at the dinner theater they've created in Whitwell, Tenn., near Chattanooga.

Their show - a cross between a he said/she said comedy routine in 19th-century costumes and a lecture with granular discussions of such issues as confusion over the many Confederate flags - somehow works as both entertainment and education, drawing busloads of spectators. Spirited discussions follow the shows: about divided family loyalties, about slavery, about the Constitution.

"People have been dumbed down on history," said Gipson, who sees the war's 150th anniversary as a teachable moment.

In the show, he said, "We're not trying to restart the war or relive it. We're trying to understand."

___

From near Chattanooga, the Union army took aim at the rail and commercial hub of Atlanta.

I-75 carries you south past bloody Chickamauga, where in 1863 a Confederate victory came with 34,000 total casualties, and then past the flashpoints of the 1864 Union offensive - Resaca, Peachtree Creek and others - before Sherman set Atlanta alight.

An enormous oil painting, 42 feet by 358 feet, depicting the battle of Atlanta and its resulting desolation covers the circular walls of the Cyclorama, a century-old exhibit drawing new throngs for the war's anniversary. It's just one of many ways Georgia is remembering.

Firsthand signs of actual destruction are rare now - but if you leave downtown, passing through western neighborhoods where streets are named for civil rights leaders, then past the looping roller coasters of Six Flags, you come to Sweetwater Creek and what remains of a five-story textile mill, which supplied cloth for Confederate forces. In July 1864, Sherman's troops seized and burned the mill. Today, wind whispers through the forlorn brick ruins, ringed in chain-link fence, at the edge of wild rapids.

On a recent visit, a family rested at an overlook: Betty Fugate, a native Georgian, and her son, Clayton, and two grandsons, Caleb and Barrett Clark, ages 9 and 15, on spring break from New Hampshire.

In the hulking ruins, Caleb "saw a castle," Barrett said. His younger brother likes to read about the Middle Ages.

Their grandmother said she'd brought them out for the learning experience - "Why it was destroyed - that it produced things that helped the Southern soldiers" - but also for exercise on a pretty day with spring trees budding.

Ruin and renewal: If that's a theme of any reflection on the Civil War, then Atlanta - whose postwar newspaper editor Henry Grady famously promised the nation a vibrant New South - manifests it as well as anywhere.

After Sherman's "march to the sea" that would assure war's end, after Reconstruction, after Jim Crow and the tragedies and triumphs of the civil rights movement, the burned city grew into an economic powerhouse and, among other things, a prime job destination nowadays for black college graduates.

When the Olympics came to the glass-and-steel towers of the rebuilt city in 1996, Atlantans could laugh at a popular T-shirt caricaturing Sherman with the caption "The original torchbearer."

___

Our trip through the war must end by looping back - to the rural settlement of Appomattox, Va., which we passed en route south and which was where, for practical purposes, the Civil War ended.

Early on an April morning in 1865, 6,000 Union soldiers lined the road respectfully as Lee's surrendering Army of Northern Virginia trooped by. Then came the order to "stack arms," recalled one Confederate.

"We obeyed the command, and that's the last command we received."

The surrender documents were signed in a handsome porticoed house, which was disassembled after the war. Rebuilding was delayed for years, and much of the original material rotted away. The foundation and some bricks were reused, but the painstakingly restored structure is something new, perhaps a bit like the nation that was restored here.

"Appomattox to me is not the end of something," said historian James Robertson, who spoke at the "person of the year" conclave. "It's the beginning of modern America."

Now 80, Robertson was executive director of the national Civil War centennial commission 50 years ago and he's a member of Virginia's state sesquicentennial commission now.

"We're talking about two different ages," he said. The centennial came at a time of peace and economic prosperity, unlike the "negative age we're living in," with its wars, economic crises and partisan bickering. "As a historian, I don't think this nation has been as fractured since the 1850s."

We ought to learn from the war born of that earlier fracture, he said.

"Almost three-quarters of a million men died to give us the nation we have today. The sesquicentennial offers us a moment to remember that American democracy rests on one thing and one thing only - a spirit of compromise."

On the front steps of the rebuilt McLean House, visitors paused to reflect.

Megan Griffin, a history graduate student from North Carolina who will teach after graduation, wondered how the war's survivors found "the strength to move forward after this day." But she added: "It's pretty cool standing here saying, this is where things changed."

David Cummings stood with his friend and fellow Civil War buff, Michael Overcash, at the end of a trip following the stages of Lee's last retreat, 26 stops in all. Both had ancestors in fierce battles a century and a half ago - Cummings' forebear killed at Shiloh, Tenn., Overcash's captured at Fredericksburg, Va.

"This is where the healing had to begin, right here," Cummings said.

The Kentuckian mused about the outcome: "Homes destroyed, lives destroyed ... I don't think you're going to get rid of bigotry. I think we have a long way to go. And I think our country is still healing.

"But right here they said, 'It's over.'"

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Police seek suspect in blast near Santa Monica synagogue - Reuters

2011-04-15T03:19:00.001-07:00

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A blast outside a Los Angeles-area synagogue this week was caused by an explosive device and police on Saturday were looking for a suspect, authorities said.

The explosion on Thursday near the Chabad House in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica injured no one and was blamed by police that day on a mechanical failure.

The blast sent a pipe hurtling through the air and crashing onto an apartment building next to the synagogue.

Santa Monica police said in a statement late on Friday that they were looking for a transient suspect named Ron Hirsch in connection with the blast.

In the course of examining the scene, investigators determined the blast was actually caused by an explosive device, police said.

Police gave no details on how the device was constructed, but they said items found in and around the mechanism were linked to Hirsch, who also goes by the name Israel Fisher.

Hirsch is known to frequent synagogues and Jewish community centers seeking charity, police said.

Police also released a photo of Hirsch, showing him to be heavy-set and bearded with green eyes.

Hirsch is considered "extremely dangerous," police said.

The FBI, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Los Angeles Police Department are also involved in the investigation.

In the first hours after the blast, police said it appeared to have been caused by a pipe bomb. But they reversed themselves that day and said it was due to a mechanical failure, before investigators came to their latest conclusion and started a manhunt for Hirsch.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst)

Credit: Reuters/Santa Monica Police Department

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After Historic Deal, Battles Loom Over Debt Ceiling, 2012 Budget - Fox News

2011-04-11T18:17:00.000-07:00