Sometimes, Baghdad's Green Zone, the walled-off axis of American and Iraqi power, is akin to a spy novel. Concertina wire, endless soot-stained gray concrete walls, the speeding convoys of armored vehicles give the enclave a conspiratorial atmosphere. According to legend, key words like Al Qaeda or the Mahdi Army in a phone conversation ensure that your call will be monitored by some intelligence agency somewhere. On one occasion, a western official cautioned that a U.S. advisor to an Iraqi minister wasn’t advising his client, but spying on him.

The latest episode in Baghdad’s annals of cloak-and-dagger escapades came Friday with a Washington Post report that the U.S. government had been spying on Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. The information comes from a new book, "The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008," by famed journalist and Washington insider Bob Woodward. “We know everything he [Maliki] says,” one source bragged to Woodward, according to the Post.

Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, finally made his mea culpa.

“It was an accident and a sad and painful mistake that happens ... everywhere, around the world and even within one army.”

The head of the militant group was explaining for the first time why Hezbollah fighters fired last week at a Lebanese army helicopter, killing a military officer, in an incident that came as a shock to the Lebanese.

According to Nasrallah, there isn’t any underlying agenda behind what happened, no messages to the Israelis, no messages to the Lebanese army. Simply, a young fighter, who is barely 20, was unable to identify the army helicopter and so shot at it, Nasrallah said in a televised speech aired Thursday at a social event in southern Lebanon.   

The leader of the militant group described the shooter as an “honorable” resistance fighter who asked that he be turned in to the military police:

That was his own wish. He told us that there is nothing he would do to embarrass the resistance; after all, he added, I joined the resistance to defend the country and be martyred.

Lost amid news coverage of other speeches at Thursday night's finale of the Republican National Convention was a tribute to Marine Maj. Megan McClung, who was killed in December 2006 by a roadside bomb in Ramadi.

McClung, who grew up in Mission Viejo and graduated from the Naval Academy, was a public affairs officer assigned to escort reporters around Anbar province. She was the first female Marine officer killed in combat.

"I tell you about Megan because it is important that we remember the sacrifices that our brave men and women are making every day,"  retired Marine Lt. Gen. Carol Mutter told the GOP gathering.

McClung was proud to serve her country and "accepted the risk," Mutter said.

The Women Marines Assn. and the McClung family will soon award the first annual Maj. Megan McClung memorial scholarship.

Here's a link to The Times' obituary on Megan McClung.

-- Tony Perry, in San Diego

Photo: Maj. Megan McClung. Credit: Associated Press

It was designed to be a diplomatic success for both countries. Syria received a pat on the back for what was described as its peace efforts in the Middle East, and France tried to shine as a major Western force playing a key mediating role between Arabs and Israelis. 

The celebrated event was a summit that brought together French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, as well as Qatar’s emir and Turkey’s prime minister.

The goal behind the summit was to reach a breakthrough between Israel and Syria, according to the website of Arab satellite-TV channel Al Jazeera. But beneath the high-minded talk, crass business interests were also involved. More on that below.

Regarding peace, Assad revealed that his country had presented, through Turkey, a six-point proposal to Israel:

We are awaiting for Israel's response to six points that we have submitted through Turkey. ... Our response would be positive, paving the way for direct talks after a new U.S. administration -- that believes in the peace process -- takes office. ... We are also waiting for the Israeli election to be assured that a new prime minister would be on the same track as [Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and be ready to completely withdraw from the occupied land in order to achieve peace.

The stale-smelling room where U.S. and Iraqi officials hold most press conferences is not normally stuffed with giddy reporters, but the ones who gathered there Wednesday to hear that Brazilian Jorvan Vieira was coming back to coach Iraq's national soccer team made no attempt to hide their excitement.

Iraq is mad for soccer, especially in light of the country's unexpected victory in July 2007 at the Asian Cup under Vieira's guidance. In the midst of some of their country's most violent days, and as Iraq's political leaders showed no signs of working through the sectarian distrust crippling the country, the ethnically and religiously mixed team beat Saudi Arabia, 1-0, to claim the cup.

Tens of thousands of fans poured into the streets of Baghdad in celebrations that lasted well after dark -- a novelty in the violent capital. 

Vieira became a hero to Iraqis, but he stepped down after the event. Two subsequent coaches, a Norwegian and an Iraqi, failed to lead the team to success in World Cup qualifying matches. The Iraqi, Adnan Hamad, stepped down in June after a loss to Qatar ended Iraq's hopes of making the World Cup finals in 2010. It would have been the country's first time playing in the World Cup since 1986.

A Muslim emirate is not the best place to mix champagne and beach romance. A British couple is facing up to six years in prison for allegedly having public sex near the surf in Dubai, a split-personality emirate that toys with Western permissiveness but is ruled by Islamic tenets.

The couple -– Vince Acors and Michelle Palmer -– face up to six years in jail for indecency and having unmarried sex. A trial on the charges is expected to begin next week. The British Broadcasting Company quoted Palmer, who was reportedly fired from her job at a publishing house after the incident, as saying:

“We were just kissing and hugging. We didn’t have sex together. I was lying on top of him. I have been to Dubai for 2 1/2 years without committing any kind of offense. I’m sorry.”

Authorities in Dubai -- the flashy, financial hub of the United Arab Emirates -- said the couple met at a champagne brunch, got in a taxi and were arrested on the beach by a policeman who spotted Palmer sitting on Acors with her shirt off.

“The lady is innocent,” Palmer’s lawyer, Hassan Mattar, told the media after the couple appeared in court this week. “The medical reports from the police show she didn’t have sex.”

Foreigners make up about 85% of the UAE's population of 5.6 million, and cultures often collide.

— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Vince Acors, accused of having sex on a Dubai beach. Credit: Reuters

P.S. The Los Angeles Times issues a free daily newsletter with the latest headlines from the Middle East, as well as the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. You can subscribe by logging in at the website here, clicking on the box for "L.A. Times updates," and then clicking on the "World: Mideast" box.

More than two years after the end of the war with Israel, land mines and cluster munitions left over from the conflict are still leading to casualties in the south of Lebanon.

On Tuesday, a U.N. de-mining expert was killed in an explosion during an official mission in a field near Lebanon’s border with Israel, according to a U.N. spokesperson. 

"He [the U.N. peacekeeper] died of an explosion during an unexploded ordnance disposal mission in the vicinity of the village of Aitaroun," U.N. spokeswoman Yasmina Bouzianne said. "A medical team was immediately dispatched to the location and an investigation is underway."

The victim, who was identified by Belgian authorities as one of their nationals, was part the approximately 13,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping contingent in southern Lebanon since the 34-day conflict between Israel and Hezbollah ended in 2006.

The Belgian defense ministry said the dead soldier was Stefaan Vanpeteghem, 35, a married father of two who had been in Lebanon since June.

Last year, a French soldier with the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) died while clearing unexploded ordnance.

Southern Lebanon remains covered with cluster munitions that occasionally explode with deadly effect, mainly among villagers. According to the latest U.N. figures, 258 civilians have been injured or killed by the leftover ordnance from the end of the 2006 war. 

The Los Angeles Times issues a free daily e-mail newsletter with the latest headlines from the Middle East and the Muslim world.

It includes stories from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as links to articles about the frictions and encounters between Islam and the West in the United States and Europe.

The newsletter also includes links to the latest Times editorials and opinion pieces about the Middle East, Islam and national security.

You can subscribe by logging in or registering at the website here, clicking on the box for "L.A. Times updates," and then clicking on the "World: Mideast" box.

— Los Angeles Times staff

U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, whose North Carolina district includes three Marine bases, is fighting the House leadership over his determination to post pictures of fallen Marines outside his Capitol Hill office, the Marine Corps Times reports.

Jones, a seven-term Republican, has posted pictures of 42 Marines killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. But janitors have twice taken down the photos, citing a "hallway policy" adopted by the Republican and Democratic leadership.

Who would have known it, but hunting season opened in Israel this week.

Many species of animals are protected by law in Israel, which passed a rather detailed wildlife-protection law as a 7-year-old state in 1955. As reality changes, so does the list, which today protects deer, hares, partridges and the country's largest rodent: the hystrix, a crested porcupine. The last two joined the fortunate list only recently.

Some traditions die hard. The porcupines' meat is believed by some Arabs and Druze to have healing properties, and the animals remain in high demand; one will fetch as much as $165. They continue to be hunted illegally, mostly in northern Israel, where conservationists fear the once-common prickly residents may disappear altogether.

A small victory was noted last year when legislation doubled the fine for illegal hunting to the equivalent of $38,000.

He was an all-star football player in high school, received a degree in studio art from Davidson College, and studied architecture at the University of North Carolina. He studied art history in France, was a devotee of Camus, and his artwork was displayed in numerous galleries, including Lincoln Center.

In 2000, he enlisted in the Navy and soon graduated from SEAL training in Coronado, considered the most grueling of military specialties.

And this weekend Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua Harris, now 36, drowned in Afghanistan during a combat mission. He was the 513th American to die in Afghanistan in combat. The Lexington, N.C., resident had served combat tours in Iraq and received a Bronze Star, Combat Action Ribbon and other commendations.

"He felt really compelled to do something purposeful in his life," his high school choral teacher told the Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

Here's a full profile in today's Washington Post.

-- Tony Perry, in San Diego

Photo: Joshua Harris and his twin sister, Kiki. Credit: Naval Special Warfare Command

P.S. The Los Angeles Times issues a free daily newsletter with the latest headlines from the Middle East, as well as the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. You can subscribe by logging in at the website here, clicking on the box for "L.A. Times updates," and then clicking on the "World: Mideast" box.

This time the media-bashing did not target the Western press. The object of Tehran's ire was a major satellite news channel from the neighboring Arab world that had infuriated Iranian authorities.

The reason, apparently, was a documentary the channel aired about the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.

Without any warning, officials in Tehran ordered the bureau chief of Al Arabiya TV channel, Hassan Fahs, to leave the country on Tuesday. It was not clear what the fate of the Tehran bureau of the Dubai-based channel will be.

The semi-official Iranian news agency, Fars, quoted Fahs as saying that he was told the reasons behind the decision were “the policies of the network and the work record of our Tehran bureau.”

There's a case that haunts Judge Jaffar Mohsin. It was in 2005, and Mohsin was presiding over the case of a man convicted of terrorism charges for killing an Iraqi police officer. Police are frequent targets of attack here, but the convict's description of the way he tortured his victim before death made this case different: he used his fingers to gouge one of the policeman's eyes out.

Then he went for the other eye, but he couldn't dig it out, Mohsin said, twisting his own fingers around to duplicate what might have been the killer's motions. So he got a rusty razor and used it on the other eye. Then, he killed the policeman.

"Didn't he deserve death?" Mohsin said of the murderer as he walked down a marble-floored spiral  staircase in eastern Baghdad's brand-new courthouse, where finishing touches still are being applied to the gardens, offices, hallways and foyers. Mohsin sentenced the man to hang, one of at least 71 death sentences he says he has imposed since 2003. He notes that after the fall of Saddam Hussein, he became the first judge to impose the death penalty on people convicted of terrorism.

That is one reason Mohsin never goes anywhere without an armed posse, not even out of his office to walk down the courthouse halls. Since 2003, Mohsin said, at least 37 Iraqi judges have been killed, including two in Baghdad since May 29. "We stand up against terrorism and criminality. Do you think people we sentence are happy? Do you think their families are happy? Of course not," Mohsin said. "But this is the nature of our work," he said of the threat level. "We cope with it."

By telling her mother’s unorthodox story on film, Egyptian director Nadia Kamel has recently embarked on an exceptionally controversial endeavor that brought into question the taboos shaping the Arab perception of Israelis and dug deeper into the animosity between the Arab world and the Jewish state. 

Delving into sensitive political and emotional terrain, Kamel documented the story of Mary Rosenthal, an Italian of a Jewish decent who converted to Islam and married an Egyptian Muslim more than five decades ago. Like her husband, Rosenthal joined the ranks of the Egyptian communist opposition. This conviction forced her to sever ties with her Jewish relations who had settled in Israel, a state the Arab left condemned as a seat of imperialism. But the familial split never felt right, and 60 years later Rosenthal decided to end the estrangement and visited her Israeli cousins.

In “Salata Baladi” or “Home Salad,” Kamel follows the footsteps of her 77-year-old mother across Egypt, Italy and Israel over the course of six years. But, like so many things between Arabs and Jews, the film became more controversial than one woman’s journey to back to her roots. The Egyptian press was inflamed, and many critics dismissed the movie as a call to normalize relations with the Jewish state, an apologist narrative to downplay Israeli aggression. Kamel’s membership in the filmmaker’s union was suspended.

"What I did is not normalizing with the state of Israel; I visited my family and made a film about the Egyptian identity…. This does not mean I condone the Israeli policies,” said Kamel.

"My support to the Palestinian cause has not changed," contended Kamel. "I do not believe in boycotting human beings. As a rule, I don't boycott Israeli individuals, but I do boycott business with Israeli institutions.”

That an Egyptian mogul was arrested and charged in the killing of a sultry Lebanese diva yesterday came as a huge surprise in the Arab world. 

The story, reported in today's Los Angeles Times, drew a lot of attention in part because powerful men with strong political connections are rarely held accountable in the Middle East. But beyond that, the tragic fate of Suzanne Tamim, 30, shed light on the sordid reality of female pop stars in the Middle East.

These young and attractive women often get entangled in love stories with big-shot businessmen, who end up in many cases abusing them or controlling their lives and careers.

Tamim's tangled tale was the epitome of such scenarios.

It had to happen eventually.
After a summer that saw two different construction machine rampages in downtown Jerusalem, on Tuesday we had our first construction rampage false alarm.

Police in the central Israeli city of Modi'in opened fire on a young Palestinian man who apparently attempted to steal a front-end loader similar to the one used in the previous incidents.

The man was arrested without injury, and Army Radio later reported that police had concluded the incident was criminal and not terror-related.

It remains a matter of speculation just what sort of suicidal fool attempts to joyride in a construction vehicle right in front of a police car given the previous attacks.

Stay tuned...

-- Ashraf Khalil in Jerusalem

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Iranian women’s rights activists are celebrating a rare but significant victory today after parliament’s decision to shelve a piece of legislation that would turn back the clock on marriage rights.

In July, conservative lawmakers proposed several changes to the country’s family law that would allow husbands to get “temporary” marriages or marry additional wives without the consent of their first spouse. The changes would have also imposed a tax on the alimony the husband is obliged to pay his wife in case he divorces her.

In a move that would warm the heart of any Washington political consultant, the proposed changes were called "The Family Protection Bill."

But under enormous pressure from Iranian women's rights activists and celebrities, lawmakers opted to indefinitely postpone discussion of the bill on the floor of the legislature.

There's nothing like a gathering in a simmering war zone to bring out the meow factor in some people,  especially if the war zone happens to be as rife with distrust and resentment as Iraq's Anbar province.

Monday's handover ceremony of Anbar's security responsibilities, from U.S. to Iraqi forces, was a milestone. It showed how far the province has come since its days as the deadliest region for American troops in Iraq and the heart of the country's Sunni Muslim insurgency. But the gaily colored, rainbow-striped tarp sheltering speakers from the searing desert sun couldn't hide the darkness of some of their words.

The head of the Anbar provincial council, which is dominated by Islamic Party politicians, took aim at Anbar's tribal leaders. He accused them of trying to stir up sedition with their claims that the Islamic Party leaders are corrupt and trying to deny the tribes political power. "We won't let them," the council leader, Abdul-Salam Ani said, adding that the provincial council had the support of the central government in Baghdad and the parliament.

But he was followed to the microphone by the chief tribal leader in Anbar, Sheik Ahmed B. Abu Risha. Abu Risha insinuated that politicians like Ani were reaping the benefits of peace ushered in by the tribal-led Awakening movement. The Awakening was founded in Anbar in 2006 and is credited with turning the province around by allying Anbar's Sunnis, who had once harbored insurgents, with U.S. forces fighting the insurgents.

The provincial council may have beaten the Awakening to the podium, Abu Risha cracked, but "they haven't beaten us in taking action, thank God."

The commander of American forces in Anbar, Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly, stayed away from finger-pointing but made clear that everyone had better get over their differences if Anbar's relative calm is to remain.  "If you do not, then the agony we will have endured together will have been for nothing," said Kelly, alluding to the thousands of Iraqi and American lives lost in the province during the battle to drive out Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Here is a look at the dramatic turnaround in U.S. fortunes in Anbar, whose border with Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan and whose overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim population made it a magnet for Al Qaeda in Iraq, which used locals and foreign fighters imported across the porous frontiers to bolster its ranks.

Kelly also said the central government in Baghdad, which is Shiite-led, must make good on promises for reconstruction of Anbar, which was shattered during the war. "What Anbar needs now, and what will end this conflict forever and prevent Al Qaeda from ever coming back, is economic development, reconstruction and funds for compensation. This can only come from the central government in Baghdad," he said.

The sharp words at the podium highlight the reason that the original handover date, in late June, was delayed. There are concerns among locals and officials that the political animosity could lead to an unraveling of the security here.  Despite the tribes' actions since 2006, they remain politically disadvantaged in Anbar because they did not take part in provincial elections in 2005. Hence, the Islamic Party holds 36 of the provincial council's 41 seats.

With new provincial elections anticipated sometime this year, and with the Awakening leaders agitating for big change in Anbar politics, things could come to a head. The two sides already are fighting over who should get use of one of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's old palaces after U.S. forces withdraw from it. Sources in Anbar say Abu Risha wants to make it the Awakening's headquarters, but Anbar's governor wants it for the provincial council. 

Another example of the tribal-political battle underway , which could have security ramifications, is the provincial council's attempt to oust the Anbar police commander, Maj. Gen. Tariq Yusif Muhammed Assal. In June, the provincial council voted to fire Assal, a fierce Islamic Party critic. Last week, it said Iraq's Ministry of Interior had approved the decision.

But Assal, reached by phone Tuesday, insisted he is still on the job and railed against the Islamic Party and the council. Security may be better, Assal said, but politicians are so busy stuffing their pockets with money that Anbar's people don't have electricity, clean water, hospitals, schools and the other basics of life, even in the capital, Ramadi.

"They're like the Mafia. They are stealing the province," said Assal, adding that he fears corrupt politicians will also try to steal provincial elections.

It's no wonder that not all Anbaris are confident about the future.

Kareem Mahmood, a 35-year-old teacher, said the handover of Anbar's security to Iraqis was "a joy" to most people, who hoped it would lead to the departure of the roughly 26,000 American forces in the province. But Abul-Qadir Fadhil, 40, said he feared insurgents could take advantage of the political squabbling "and make horrible retaliatory bombings, and this might require the Americans to come back and rule us."

Thamir Hussein, a 27-year-old teacher, put it more simply, saying: "I'm happy, however I'm also afraid."

--Times staff writers in Ramadi and Baghdad

Photo: The now-thriving market in Anbar's capital, Ramadi.

Photo credit: Tina Susman.

Last week began with a cryptic report of concern for the wellbeing of a 4-year-old girl missing from Netanya. Within 24 hours this became a black drama involving several generations of two families from different countries and religions.

At first, a gag order had been in place blocking publication of all details but the basics: Rose hadn't been seen since May but was reported missing by a relative two weeks ago, and the police were deeply concerned for the child's life. At the same time, reports of unusual mass-scale searches along the Tel-Aviv Yarkon river began piling up. 

Few things get Israelis going like a gag order. The combination of the Internet, an avid news addiction and a small country produced an instant civilian army of independent investigative reporters. The French media started reporting too, and the gag order rapidly unraveled before being lifted by the police entirely, revealing the full extent of the suspicions: Rose's grandfather had killed her and thrown her body into the river.

Horror enough on its own. But the nation continued to be shocked by further details that exposed a family with every skeleton in the book.

Is Italy really trying to clear its conscience for its colonial past? Last weekend, the Italian government made a generous offer to Libya to redeem itself for decades of military occupation.

According to the terms of a "friendship and cooperation" deal sealed Saturday between the European country and the oil-rich North African nation, Italy will invest $200 million a year during the next 25 years in infrastructure projects in Libya. The deal also calls for student grants and pensions for Libyan soldiers who served alongside Italians during World War II.

Other European nations with colonial pasts, including France, Britain and the Netherlands, carry out developmental projects in African and Asian countries they once colonized.

But Italy made a point of framing its assistance to Libya as an apology for colonizing the country in the 1930s before it won its independence in 1951.

As he signed the accord, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told reporters during a visit Saturday to the second-largest Libyan city, Benghazi:

This agreement should put an end to 40 years of discord. It is a concrete and moral acknowledgment of the damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era.

Egyptian teachers don't want to be tested.

Thousands of them have protested a government requirement that they pass an assessment exam to receive higher salaries. The average pay for teachers is $70 a month. Some see the new test as an attempt by the debt-ridden Egyptian Ministry of Education to avoid giving all the nation's teachers a raise.

It has been a bad few months for the country's education system. A spate of student suicides led to accusations that rich pupils were cheating by buying leaked copies of college entrance tests. The news came amid repeated complaints that Egypt is not producing enough qualified students to supply a growing economy and increased foreign investment.

The state is also considering forbidding teachers to earn extra money by tutoring outside class hours. The practice is widespread, but it has turned teachers into mercenaries. The government says moonlighting teachers put less effort into their public school lesson plans, forcing parents with limited incomes to pay tutoring fees if they want their children to succeed.

"Decades of neglect have led to a dead end and even when the education ministry decided to restructure teachers' salary schemes in hopes of curing the private lessons epidemic, it found itself caught in another pickle," wrote Rania Al Malky, editor of the Daily News Egypt. "Realizing that it can't fund the 50 percent raise, the minister decided to impose a teachers' assessment exam to 'separate the wheat from the chaf.' "

— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Egyptian classroom. Credit: www.unv.org

In February 2007, Times staff writer Said Rifai wrote about what it was like to have his family's home "housejacked." At the time, Baghdad's neighborhoods were awash in sectarian bloodshed, and his west Baghdad district of Adel was in the hands of Sunni Muslim insurgents and gunmen.

Since then, security has improved in most of the country, and Iraq's government is urging people to return to homes they fled to escape the war. But that's not as easy as it sounds. Some people have found their houses still occupied by strangers, who say they have been driven out of their own homes and have nowhere to go. Others are returning to discover their homes in shambles after being occupied by insurgents, militiamen and squatters and caught in gun battles.

The Iraqi government has vowed to impose an orderly system of returns and in some areas at least has warned that if people don't leave homes they have occupied illegally by Sept. 2, they will be evicted. In Rifai's neighborhood, the Iraqi military has begun overseeing the handover process, and Rifai was one Adel resident who decided it was time to get his house back.  Read about his experience here.

There are wildly varying accounts of how many people have gone home to places they had fled. The government says the number is in the tens of thousands and includes Iraqis returning from abroad. Recently, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki began making his jet available for weekly flights of Iraqis coming back from Egypt.

Whatever the real number, the big question is how people will manage if they return to areas that have been badly damaged in the war and are not equipped to handle population influxes, and whether enough Iraqis are trusting enough in the future to give up their displaced status and go home.

— Tina Susman in Baghdad

Photo: A U.S. soldier walks through a looted and burned-out home outside Baghdad. The home's owner had tried to return but found the dwelling uninhabitable. Credit: Tina Susman / Los Angeles Times

Of all the questions surrounding Israel’s decision to lock down the Gaza Strip, the recent case of seven Gaza-based Fulbright Scholars presents a particular curiosity.

The issue became an international controversy in June when it was revealed that the State Department had canceled their scholarships because of the Israeli government’s refusal to let the students leave Gaza for their scheduled visa interviews at the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem.

After the cancellations were made public, the State Department quickly reversed course and started publicly pressuring Israel to let the students out. Israel eventually agreed to let four of the students leave Gaza for their interviews but refused three others on unnamed security grounds.

Undaunted, Washington flew in specialized fingerprinting equipment and conducted the visa interviews for the remaining three at the Erez border crossing.

All three students received U.S. visas; one of them, Fidaa Abed, a 23-year-old accepted to study computer science at U.C. San Diego, even made it out of Gaza and boarded a U.S.-bound plane from Jordan.

Then something changed.

On Aug. 5, the State Department abruptly canceled the visas for the remaining three Fulbright students. Abed found out when he touched down in Dulles airport in Washington.

A security officer pulled him aside. “He told me, ‘I’m sorry, I just received a fax telling me your visa was revoked,’ ” Abed said.

Abed pleaded in vain for more information, but was put on the next plane back to Amman. State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said the visas were revoked after the U.S. “received additional information” about the students from Israel.

Michael Phelps may be a star in much of the world, with 8 gold medals from the Beijing Olympics hanging around his neck, but he's got a long ways to go before the swimmers of Baghdad's Sadr City district get familiar with his name.

"The Chinese guy!" one youngster said as he waited with scores of other boys and young men to plunge into the turquoise water of a public pool that opened amid much fanfare Saturday. "Iraqis are into soccer," one man said, explaining the crowd's unfamiliarity with the world's most famous swimmer.

Swimming pools aren't a luxury most Iraqis can enjoy, especially those living in poor and working-class districts like Sadr City, which until three months ago was a no-go area for just about anyone except U.S. and Iraqi military forces and the Shiite militiamen battling them for turf. Things have been quiet since May.

The Shiite militant group Hezbollah handed over the suspect who allegedly shot at a Lebanese army helicopter Thursday, killing a pilot and forcing the chopper to make a crash landing, news agencies reported.

The incident brings several issues to light in Lebanon. First, it points to Hezbollah's trigger-readiness. The group's fighters are geared up for some kind of Israeli attack. Rumors have swirled in Lebanon and Israel about Hezbollah taking control of key hilltops and mountain positions in preparation for any Israeli incursion.

It also shows how much Hezbollah values its mostly positive relations with the army. Hezbollah didn't beat around the bush or stonewall. it promptly handed over the suspect, as yet unnamed, in a speedy attempt at damage control.

But it also has rekindled worries among Lebanon's Christians, Sunnis and Druze about Hezbollah's formidable arsenal of weapons. Hezbollah claims they are meant to deter or combat any Israeli attack on Lebanon. But the only targets of Hezbollah's weapons in recent months have been fellow Lebanese.

— Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

Photo: Relatives of dead Lebanese officer Samer Hanna mourn next to his coffin during his funeral. Hanna was killed Thursday by gunfire that hit his military helicopter in the area that is controlled by Hezbollah militia.

Credit: Nabil Mounzer / European Pressphoto Agency