Stop the presses. The AP has identified two of the three victims of the Palestinian terrorist attack. Of course, their identities are buried deep within the story, instead of in the lead, as they would be if they were Arab victims of an errant IDF shell, but hey—at least they’re finally named.

Three people were killed and 45 were injured, including two babies.

The mother of one of the babies hurled the child out of the car window to save her as the attacker bore down on their vehicle, and the mother was also injured. The mother of the other baby, Batsheva Unterman, 33, was killed in the assault. Social workers appeared on TV frantically trying to locate the child’s father.

A second dead woman was identified as Elizabeth Goren-Friedman, 54, a dual Austrian-Israeli citizen who had lived in Israel for several years, the Austrian Foreign Ministry said. The third victim was a man.

What next? Putting the names of the killed in the lead?

Naaah. Too much to ask, humanizing Israelis like that.

I rarely read Maureen Dowd anymore. I idolized her columns when I was in college.

Times change.

But she ends a column—ironically titled “The Wrong Stuff—about the current sniping about the candidates’ military experience, with this:

Maybe instead of refighting the Vietnam War while we’re still fighting the Iraq war, the candidates can figure out how to feed the world, find enough fuel for everyone, and, oh, yeah, catch that bin Laden fiend who’s running around free.

Funny, but I thought the primary duty of the president of the United States of America was running the United States, not feeding and fueling the world.

And let me tell you, even in my most liberal leftist college days, I didn’t think it was America’s responsibility to feed the world. I thought it was our responsibility to help the poorer nations figure out how to feed themselves. Or send famine-stricken nations food. But no, it’s not my president’s responsibility to figure out how to feed the world.

The world needs to learn how to pull on its big-boy pants and feed itself.

The original AP headline for the Palestinian terror attack in Jerusalem?

Driver rams vehicle into Jerusalem bus, killing 3

Like it was an accident, instead of a deliberate, murderous attack.

Palestinian terrorists are now resorting to using heavy machinery to kill Israelis. Three dead, and 45 wounded*, when an Arab Israeli drove his bulldozer into cars, buses, and crowds.

Three women were killed and at least 30 more people were injured when a bulldozer driven by a Palestinian resident of east Jerusalem trampled over pedestrians and vehicles and plowed into two buses in downtown Jerusalem at around noon Wednesday.

[...] The driver, who reportedly had a criminal record and was the holder of an Israeli (blue) identification card, was shot dead by a SWAT officer near the old Shaare Zedek Medical Center. The terrorist was identified as 31-year-old Hossam Dawiath, a father of two from the village of Tzur Baher.

The terrorist continued on his killing spree, but a short while later a soldier and a SWAT officer jumped on top of the vehicle. The officer then shot the terrorist in the chest and leg and killed him.

Jerusalem Police Chief Aharon Franco told Channel 2 “a tractor driven by a terrorist began hitting vehicles and flipped over two buses. Apparently there are casualties at the scene; we don’t have an exact number as of yet. We received no prior warning of a possible attack.”

Hamas is praising the attack.

However, a Hamas spokesman said Wednesday that the Jerusalem attack was “a natural reaction to Israel’s aggression,” adding the group did not know who was behind the attack.

Authorities think it was the act of a lone terrorist.

According to an assessment by the Gaza Strip organizations, as well as by sources in the Palestinian Authority, the Jerusalem attack was an independent act carried out by the driver alone.

But they’re beefing up security in crowded areas.

Regarding the headline to this post: The Palestinians found yet another way to define deviancy. If they can’t use nail bombs to murder innocents, apparently, they’ll grab the nearest bulldozer. There is nothing they will not stoop to.

There’s also almost nothing Israel’s “anti-Zionist” enemies won’t stoop to. Counting down to the anti-Israel crowd cheering the use of a bulldozer to kill Israelis. I’m quite sure they won’t object to this use of Caterpillar equipment (if it was Caterpillar), just as I’m sure some disgusting POS on Indymedia will be crowing over it.

*Toll is up to 66 wounded now.

According to a report issued by the White House, the Iraqi government is showing satisfactory progress on most of the political benchmarks it needs to.

Iraq’s political and military success is considered vital to U.S. interests, whether troops stay or go. And while the Iraqi government has made measurable progress in recent months, the pace at which it’s done so has been achingly slow.

The White House sees the progress in a particularly positive light, declaring in a new assessment to Congress that Iraq’s efforts on 15 of 18 benchmarks are “satisfactory”–almost twice of what it determined to be the case a year ago. The May 2008 report card, obtained by the Associated Press, determines that only two of the benchmarks–enacting and implementing laws to disarm militias and distribute oil revenues–are unsatisfactory.

In the past 12 months, since the White House released its first formal assessment of Iraq’s military and political progress, Baghdad politicians have reached several new agreements seen as critical to easing sectarian tensions.

(via memeorandum)

I’m not sure if liquor sales are one of the benchmarks.

Saif, who asked that his last name not be used to protect his safety, represents an unusual resurgence. Iraq is a deeply Muslim nation that allows its citizens the right to consume alcohol. During the era of the late dictator Saddam Hussein, drinking was common. After the U.S.-led invasion, however, violence and Islamic extremists forced most liquor shops to close for a while.

Today, Saif’s family stores are running full tilt after years of off and on business. Self-service, it isn’t. To buy a bottle of Scotch, a customer confronts an iron gate that keeps him 3 feet away from Saif. By vaulting two steps back, Saif can hide behind the wall where he displays bottles of liquor.

(h/t Instapundit)

And at the Socialist International meeting in Greece (is that a sign of Iraqi progress?) Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met with Israeli Defense MInister Ehud Barak.
(h/t Daled Amos)

I’m still waiting for a formal declaration from the Iraqi government that it will establish a diplomatic mission in Israel. That’s a way off still from Caroline Glick’s hopeful diagnosis.

But what is clear enough is that today Iraq shares vital interests with Israel. It has common enemies. It has common challenges as a democracy. And it doesn’t hurt that Palestinians are nearly universally reviled by Iraqis who view them as Saddam Hussein’s most stalwart henchmen.

An Israeli-Iraqi alliance would help secure Jordan. It would frighten Syria and perhaps force Damascus to reconsider its alliance with Teheran. It would provide Israel with a new source of natural gas and so end its dependence on fickle Egypt. It would mitigate Israel’s political isolation in the region. It would provide Iraq with a safe port in the Mediterranean for its oil exports in the event that the Shaat al-Arab is closed by Iran in a future war. Iraqi Shi’ite leaders could help draw Lebanese Shi’ites away from Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hizbullah. Indeed, the potential of an Israeli-Iraqi alliance is seemingly endless.

A basic political fact of life stands at the heart of this theoretical Iraqi-Israeli alliance. Peace is possible for the first time between Israel and Iraq because, for the first time, Iraq perceives its interests as aligned with Israel. That is, peace is possible because at a very basic level, Iraqis today - whether they admit or not - are Israel’s friends. And they know it.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

I’m sure you’ve seen those motivational posters around.

(This parody was created by Despair, Inc.’s Parody Motivator Generator.)

I saw this picture and thought it must be the world’s least appropriate motivational poster.

Israelly Cool! thinks it’s part of a subliminal effort to affect people’s perceptions.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.