A TIANANMEN SQUARE in Beirut? Jim Geraghty is asking.

JOSE PADILLA must be charged by the Bush administration or freed, a federal judge has ordered.

More here.

SYRIA IS UNDER HEAVY PRESSURE to get out of Lebanon:

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Jubilant opposition supporters in Lebanon have vowed to carry on with their protest in central Beirut in a bid to drive Syrian forces from the country after the collapse of the Damascus-backed government.

The pro-Syrian government of Prime Minister Omar Karami resigned on Monday after two weeks of protests, piling more pressure on Damascus, already under fire from the United States and Israel.

Thousands of demonstrators turned Beirut into a sea of Lebanese flags and exploded into riotous celebration when the government unexpectedly quit after a parliament debate on the killing of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.

"This is just the first step. We are staying here to make sure they don't set up a new government that is just the same. We are staying until we have independence," said Carla Khoury, draped in a Lebanese flag.

Many also demanded the resignation of Lebanon's Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud.

Syria plays a dominant role in Lebanon and maintains 14,000 troops there. Pressure has been growing within Lebanon and from abroad for a complete military withdrawal.

Protesters have gathered in Beirut's central Martyrs' Square, which they dubbed Freedom Square, ever since Hariri's assassination on Feb. 14 to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops and the resignation of all top pro-Syrian political and security officials.

This is hardly what Bashir Assad must have envisioned when he decided that Rafik Hariri had to go. Let us hope that much, much more soon transpires that is of great surprise to Mr. Assad.

AHMED ALI UPDATE: He met with Al Qaeda's no. 2 leader in Saudi Arabia:

Falls Church man accused of conspiring to assassinate President Bush met several times with an al Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia who once was the target of a global manhunt and a key suspect in an attack that killed nine Americans in Riyadh, law-enforcement authorities said.

Ahmed Omar Abul Ali, scheduled for a detention hearing tomorrow in federal court on charges of providing material support to al Qaeda, met with Zubayr al-Rimi in Saudi Arabia between September 2002 and June 2003.

The meeting with al-Rimi, described as the second-ranking al Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia, took place at the time the Bush assassination scheme was being discussed, authorities said.

Al-Rimi, also known as Sultan Jubran Sultan al-Qahtani, was identified in a Sept. 5, 2003, FBI bulletin to law-enforcement officials as one of four suspected al Qaeda terrorists thought to be planning unspecified attacks against U.S. interests.

Less than three weeks after the bulletin was released, al-Rimi was killed in a Sept. 23, 2003, shootout with Saudi security forces during a raid on a hospital housing complex in Jizan, about 600 miles south of the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

(Via Little Green Footballs)

SOME CREDIT TO BUSH, from Matt Yglesias, on this weekend's positive developments in Egypt:

Look, people, get excited! Yes, it's but a tentative step and things could still all work out poorly, but still, this is a pretty unambiguous success for Bush's second term freedom kick. It's also a stunning refutation of those of us who argued that he'd never follow through on his lofty rhetoric. Give the man some props.

BIN LADEN TO ZARQAWI: Just heard on ABC News radio that U.S. intelligence officials have intercepted a message from Osama bin Laden to Abu Zarqawi, directing him to target the United States for "future terrorist attacks."

UPDATE: More here.

ARIEL SHARON has been taking some heat for the delay in the construction of the seperation fence, in the wake of Friday's Tel Aviv bombing. Now, Sharon is blaming Israel's High Court for the delay.

CHINA IS ENACTING new guidelines on religion...

BEIJING - China is implementing new regulations that the government says will protect freedom of faith. Critics contend that the broad guidelines could instead be used to persecute religious groups deemed troublesome by authorities.

The guidelines, to take effect Tuesday, are meant to give a legal framework for China's constitutional promise of freedom of religion, state media have reported.

Under existing laws, communist authorities allow worship only in state-monitored churches, temples or mosques. Millions of believers attend unauthorized services, often in private homes, but are subject to arrest and harassment.

MORE HERE on the resignation today of the Syrian backed Lebanese government.

Anti-Syrian demonstrators marching earlier in central Beirut.

ISLAMIC INDOCTRINATION of youth appears to be occurring at a public school in Scottsdale, Arizona. A reader tells me that Little Green Footballs has a link to this:

My child is in the 7th grade in Scottsdale, Arizona. The school’s officially adopted social studies textbook is titled Across the Centuries and is published by Houghton Mifflin. However, Across the Centuries has been shelved and the school is piloting a brand new book from Teacher’s Curriculum Institute, aka TCI, titled History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond (this book is not permitted to go home). In my opinion, this book is highly biased towards Islam, historically incorrect and also includes fake history along with Islamic religious proselytizing and indoctrination techniques.

The school has spent approximately 5 weeks of the third quarter grading period teaching Islam to 12 and 13 year olds. The children had to write a full biography on the life of Muhammad, using the information from the textbook - an extremely indoctrinating exercise. This biography will be a large portion of their grade for the 8 week period. Michael H. Hart’s top 100 list of the most influential people in the history of the world was presented to teach that Muhammad was #1, Sir Isaac Newton was #2 and Jesus was #3. The school hosted two professional Muslim speakers, from the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Arizona, to speak to all 7th grade social studies classes. This took one whole day. The Muslim speakers brought prayer rugs and taught the children to pray the Muslim way. I also believe that there were recitations from the Koran and possibly an Islamic “fashion show”.

To the best of my knowledge, in this Islamic program, there are none of the negative aspects of Islam touched upon. It is my opinion that in the book, History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond, Christians are trounced and portrayed as murderers of the Muslim and Jewish people. The Jewish people are only mentioned, and very briefly, in order to be victimized, persecuted and murdered by the Christians. All the while, Islam builds great and grand new empires, has many great and wonderful achievements in architecture, education, science, geography, mathematics, medicine, literature, art and music, and ultimately rules benevolently over the Jewish and Christian people.

Islamic indoctrination in American education is a highly successful insidious industry that is extremely well organized, well connected, legally savvy, brazenly influential, and without successful opposition. When individuals complain to the schools, we often find ourselves engaged in a seriously daunting uphill battle. There should be an opposing and equally aggressive and well connected organization of people who are willing to stop the Islamization of our school children and of our public schools. This is a big job. Sharing information, increasing awareness and being connected are half the battle.

SOME FEAR THE CIA is being too cautious in its use of lethal force against terrorists hostile to the United States:

One former intelligence official said even the CIA's new Hellfire missile, which can be launched from the remotely piloted Predator aerial platform, is bogged down by the excessively legalistic attitude of the agency's senior management.

"From personal experience, I can tell you, you have to build a brief of almost court-level evidence before you can even contemplate shooting a Hellfire missile at one of these guys," said Michael Scheuer, a former CIA official who once led the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

The CIA has been intimidated by those using its mistakes for political gain:

Roger Cressey, deputy counterterrorism director at the White House during President Bush's first term, said he, too, is concerned that the CIA has "begun to look over its shoulder."

"There needs to be a compact between Congress, the agencies and the White House," he said. "We are going to make mistakes. We are even going to kill the wrong people sometimes. That's the inherent risk of an aggressive counterterrorism program."

Mr. Cressey added that there was concern among front-line agents that they would be held responsible for such errors.

"What we need is everyone to understand that it is being done with the best of intentions and not go running to the press whenever it becomes politically expedient to do so."

ISRAELI MILITARY INTELLIGENCE believes that Islamic Jihad's leadership in Syria is continuing to provide support for terrorist activities in the occupied terroritories of the West Bank, despite an informal agreement with Mahmoud Abbas to cease violence while he is negotiating with Israel. The Israelis have also defused a car bomb that they believe was constructed by those members of Islamic Jihad responsible for last Friday's Tel Aviv attack.

AT LEAST 106 are dead from the bombing in Hillah, Iraq this morning. The target was national guard and police recruits, which shows how much Islamist terrorists fear the growth of an organized and capable Iraqi police and military force that is capable of hunting them down and dispatching them.

THE LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER has resigned. Syrian backed Omar Karami announced he's leaving two weeks after the murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

The pressure must be getting to Syria.

THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA has little coverage of Howard Dean's Republicans are "evil" speech, as Hugh notes.