Obama: Gitmo Likely Won't Close in His First 100 Days  —  Closing Guantanamo Bay More Difficult Than People Realize, President-Elect Says  —  President-elect Barack Obama said this weekend that he does not expect to close Guantanamo Bay in his first 100 days in office.

IAF targets 20 smuggling tunnels along Philadelphi Corridor  —  IAF planes on Sunday afternoon attacked at least twenty smuggling tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor, on Gaza's southern border with Egypt.  The tunnels were being used to smuggle weaponry into Gaza, according to the IDF.

Peace Is No Longer in Sight  —  At the end of the 10th day of Israel's operation in the Gaza Strip, I was zapping between Israeli, Arab and international TV channels.  The pictures grew more gruesome from moment to moment.  Then a friend called to tell me that Mezzo, a French concert channel …

Bush Says He Refused to Bail Out Republicans With Iraq Withdrawal  —  President Bush exudes serenity as he prepares to leave office, content that the war in Iraq is nearly won and he had the fortitude to buck his party despite incredible pressure to withdraw.  —  FOXNews.com

An Early Drubbing For Obama  —  It was not lost on anyone that the president-elect of the United States, riding the crest of his popularity, and the Democratic leadership of the U.S. Senate were outsmarted last week by a state politician who won his last election almost 20 years ago.

Notes From the Chairman  —  Once upon a couple of weeks ago ...  I'm in a crush in a Dublin pub around New Year's.  Glasses clinking clicking, clashing crashing in Gaelic revelry: swinging doors, sweethearts falling in and out of the season's blessings, family feuds subsumed or resumed.

DATE OF PUBLICATION: … SYNOPSIS:  —  The Israeli-Hamas War, and there is little else that it can be called, has now lasted two weeks.  Israeli jets have flown some 800 strike sorties, and the IDF has pushed deep into Gaza.  Israel also continues to report tactical gains.

Vandals deface three local synagogues  —  Vandals spray-painted the words “Death to Israel” on two synagogues and a Jewish school early Saturday in three separate incidents police say could be linked and are being investigated as hate crimes.  —  In each case, the vandals — at times donning masks …

Burris: What Blago Did Was Good For U.S.  —  Senate appointee Roland Burris argued that he is the “junior Senator from Illinois, there is no question about that” on CBS News' Face the Nation today.  —  He told host Bob Schieffer that his appointment has now been made legal by the Illinois Supreme Court …

Eight Years of Madoffs  —  THREE days after the world learned that $50 billion may have disappeared in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, The Times led its front page of Dec. 14 with the revelation of another $50 billion rip-off.  This time the vanished loot belonged to American taxpayers.

Manufacturing Disaster  —  It is commonly said that by storing weapons in mosques and firing rockets and mortars from residential areas and school yards, Hamas is using human shields in Gaza, a war crime.  But the truth is really worse than that.  Hamas doesn't endanger civilians in hopes …