U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Israel on Jan. 9, for his first trip during his presidency. The reason for the trip is to promote peace talks he initiated for the region late last year. During their discussion, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert mentioned that Israel does will tolerate attacks on it’s civilians. “And we made it clear to everyone that we’ll take all the necessary measures in order to reach out for those who are responsible for these attacks, and we will not hesitate to take all the necessary measures in order to stop them.” Olmert stated that if the attacks continue, Israel will not be able to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians. “As long as there will be terror from Gaza it will be very, very hard to reach any peaceful understanding between us and the Palestinians.” President Bush said that the new talks presented an “opportunity to spread freedom as a great alternative to their ideology,” referring to terrorism by extremists and radicals, and to build “a society based upon human rights and human dignity, a society in which every man, woman and child is free.”

Bush stated:
I believe that two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace is in the best interests of America and the world. I believe it’s in the long-term security interests of Israel, and I know, to provide a more hopeful society for the Palestinians. And that’s why I articulated this vision early in my presidency. And that’s why I’m so pleased to have — to watch two leaders, you and President Abbas, work hard to achieve that vision.

The leaders also discussed the Iranian threat, with Bush saying that “Iran is a threat to world peace…and Iran will be a threat if the international community does not come together and prevent that nation from the development of the know-how to build a nuclear weapon. A country which once had a secret program can easily restart a secret program.

An ongoing investigation by the Federal Bureau stated that of the 17 reported deaths of Iraqi civilians that occurred on Sept. 16, only 3 might have been justified. Blackwater violated “deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq.” The investigation is still underway, but Blackwater is being held at fault. The case is currently under review by the Justice Department. As many as five guards opened fire, and the initial claims of self-defense by Blackwater were dismissed due to lack of evidence.

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The Associated Press is reporting that a test of a new technology meant to knock down ballistic missiles was a success. The Missile Defense Agency reported Saturday that the test of the new technology, which was conducted with a Scud-type missile, proved that the new system was efficient in intercepting missiles during their last minute of flight. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system is more efficient than the current system because it can intercept it’s targets at a higher flight altitude. This is the systems 3rd test this year.

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