IMF MD wraps up West Africa trip

REUTERS

International Monetary Fund's Managing Director Christine Lagarde addresses a roundtable discussion in Lagos, December 20, 2011. Lagarde is on her first trip to Africa as the Managing Director of the IMF.

Chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde was to leave West Africa Thursday after visiting the continent's most populous country, Nigeria, and one of its poorest, neighbouring Niger.

During a visit to Niger Wednesday and Thursday, Lagarde told local journalists that the country's gross domestic product could grow dramatically in 2012, up to 14 percent, if natural resource wealth was invested wisely.

Despite vast natural resources, notably uranium, Niger is ranked second from bottom on the UN's 187-country strong Human Development Index, just above the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to a 2011 report from the UN's Human Rights division, ?high levels of corruption prevent the general population from sharing in the country's wealth.?

?Uranium mining contracts in particular have been highlighted by observers as being allocated in a covert manner. A lack of transparency perpetuates the corruption,? the report adds.

But Lagarde, who is on her first trip to Africa since succeeding Dominique Strauss-Kahn in May, admitted that ?few countries have managed natural resource wealth well.?

Niger is also plagued by seasonal food shortages, usually peaking between June and September when crop availability is generally low. About 70 per cent of the country's population depend on farming and access to locally-harvested crops.

The UN's Children's Agency (UNICEF) launched an appeal this month for 65 million dollars, to prevent what it calls a potential ?tragedy? in 2012 in Niger. The agency said that more than one million children are at risk from serious malnutrition in Niger and the surrounding Sahel belt.

On Monday and Tuesday, Lagarde visited Nigeria, where she met with President Goodluck Jonathan and praised the country's economic progress.

But, she told Nigeria's This Day newspaper that African nations should expect economic shocks as a result of the eurozone crisis.

?Growing economic uncertainty in the world is raising concerns across the continent, where vulnerability to global shocks remains high,? she said. - Sapa-dpa

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/imf-md-wraps-up-west-africa-trip-1.1203383

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Experts: Tough to prove GI was hazed to death

Brendan McDermid / Reuters file

Soldiers carry the casket of U.S. Army Pvt. Danny Chen for his funeral procession in New York in this Oct. 13 file photo.

By Miranda Leitsinger, msnbc.com

Army prosecutors will be in a tough spot pursuing charges of negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter against five soldiers in connection with the death of an Asian-American GI whose family and advocates say was the victim of racial taunting, bullying and hazing, according to military law experts.

Pvt. Danny Chen, 19, of New York, was found dead in a guard tower in southern Afghanistan from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot on Oct. 3, according to?Army investigators.

Eight soldiers, including an officer, were charged Wednesday in connection with Chen's death, and five were accused of the most serious charges -- involuntary manslaughter to negligent homicide. They ?relate to conduct that occurred in the time leading up to his death,??Dave Connolly, chief public affairs officer for Regional Command South in Afghanistan, wrote in an email, declining to provide further detail.

---

Chen, the son of immigrants from southern China, was not depressed but had suffered emotional and physical abuse?in the military:?He was dragged from his bed and made to crawl while rocks were thrown at his back?and was forced to hold liquid in his mouth while doing chin-ups during his?two months?in Afghanistan, according to accounts from his family, who said they got the information from Army investigators.?He also endured?racial taunting, including?having?his last name?said in a goat-like voice and other soldiers calling him Jackie Chan, while undergoing?training?in Georgia, according to letters he wrote to his family and diary entries, said Elizabeth OuYang, New York branch president of OCA, a national civil rights organization serving Asian Pacific Americans.

At the time of his death, Chen had been in the military for seven months; he had?deployed to Afghanistan in August.

The negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter charges in ?cases of hazing leading to suicide in the U.S. military appear?to be a first, said Grover Baxley, a former member of the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, and Hank Nuwer, who has done decades of research on hazing in schools and the military.

?It?s interesting that they?re making -- as I see it -- a leap from hazing to being criminally responsible for a self-inflicted gunshot death,? said Baxley.

He said that?in similar cases where the government had gotten hazing convictions, prosecutors could argue in the sentencing phase that hazing was an aggravating factor contributing to?death.

?In the Army case, they've taken it a step further and they're actually charging them with criminal responsibility for ? Private Chen?s death, and that?s a big distinction,? he said.

Prosecutors still must present their evidence?at?an ?Article 32? hearing ? the equivalent of a grand jury in civilian law ? after which?an investigating officer will?determine whether?to sustain?the charges.

Negligent homicide is?defined in military law as "the killing of another person through simple?negligence," Baxley said.?The US Legal website defines?involuntary manslaughter as?"manslaughter without any malice or intention," it said.

Under the negligent homicide charge, the government must show that Chen?s death not only resulted from a negligent act by the soldiers but was the ?proximate cause? of it, said Baxley, who now has a private practice, JAG Defense.

?That is, that Pvt. Chen?s death was the natural and probable result of the soldiers? negligent acts,? he wrote?in an email. ?While I have not seen the evidence in this case ? if repeated acts of hazing by numerous individuals are the ?negligent acts? that form the basis for the charge, it?s going to be difficult to demonstrate that any one particular soldier?s behavior was the proximate cause of Pvt. Chen?s self-inflicted gunshot wound.?

Greg Rinckey, a former attorney with the U.S. Army JAG Corps, said he agreed with that assessment and noted that the defense would likely try to?find evidence, for example, that Chen was fragile,?had previously?been suicidal or?didn?t want to deploy. ?They?re going to look at all these things to try and shift the blame from these soldiers are the proximate cause as to, ?No, the proximate cause was he was predisposed really to suicide,?? he said.

The?most serious charges also could be a way of trying to?pressure one or more of the defendants?into?cooperating with?prosecutors?in exchange for lesser charges or immunity, Rinckey said.

Little is known about the Army's case at this point, but prosecutors "might have a hard time proving this. What could very well happen in a case like this is there could be a plea,? said Rinckey, managing partner of Tully Rinckey PLLC.

?It?s the first person that comes forward is usually the one that gets the sweetest deal,? he added.

A combination of factors ? racial, political, a military superior focused on ending hazing ? could have also led the Army to impose the rare charges, said Nuwer, an author of several books on the issue.

?Look at the climate in the country. There is a lot of public outcry over the death of?Robert Champion at Florida A&M ? and it?s kind of outraged the country,? he said, referring to the hazing death of a university band member on Nov. 19. ?The other is the hazing has gotten to a point where we?ve now had a death in a fraternity or athletic team or band in a college every year from 1970 to 2011, and sometimes more than that.?

Nuwer, who noted that he was unaware of any similar charges being filed in?a civilian court,?said that hazing and harassment are rarely aimed at causing death

The soldiers at Combat Outpost Palace in the Panjwa'i district of Kandahar province, where Chen was stationed, may have been trying to push him out of the service?or giving him the chance to change his behavior, he said.

?It?s going to be very rare that somebody tries to drive somebody to suicide,? Nuwer said of the hazing. ?There?s a theatrical aspect to it. The verbal abuse is often manufactured and escalated to put a lesson into the person, and in effect, the men are often acting for each other. ...

?Then you have a kind of group think that takes over, and a kind of group energy where the whole group together does things to the individual that all of them alone would not have done.?

The military has a "zero-tolerance" policy of hazing, but it still happens,?experts say.

?It's a delicate balancing act, because it?s always been in the military and it?s always going to be,? Rinckey said. ?It?s very hard for soldiers and sailors that are going to be going into combat together to not have initiation rituals.?

But, he noted: ?I think the military is beginning to take hazing very seriously and I think this case is a highlight of that ? to how serious they?ll take it, where they?ll charge soldiers with manslaughter and negligent homicide.?

One recent case?was that of?Lance Cpl. Harry Lew, who was hazed by fellow Marines, according to a U.S. military report on his April 3 death. The military accused three Marines?of beating Lew hours before he killed himself and charged them with hazing. They face court martial, The San Jose Mercury News reported.

After a Wednesday morning press conference held in New York by Chen?s family and Asian-American advocates, a senior Pentagon official offered condolences to the soldier?s relatives.

?We treat each other with respect and dignity or we go home -- that?s it,? Navy Capt. John Kirby said, according to a?Pentagon news service report. ?The tolerance is absolutely zero and the system itself, because it works and works well, is in fact, a deterrent to future behavior.?

?Unfortunately, you?re never going to be 100 percent perfect in this.?And there?s going to be those few who want to (flout) what the uniform stands for and what the regulations require ? when that happens they?re going to be dealt with.?

Chen's?family and advocates are not convinced that his?death was a suicide, despite the initial finding that he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound,?and have asked forensic expert Henry Lee to conduct an independent autopsy. Chen's?mother, Su Zhen, 49, said she had not wanted her only child to join the Army and at the? press conference said she ?could not figure out why they (the soldiers) would do this to him."

OuYang, of the OCA, said her organization does not?want the defendants?to be allowed to plea bargain.

"It's one thing to charge them with high charges, but it means nothing if they plea bargain to something very low," she said. "...?If they are responsible for his death they need to be charged and found guilty of that."

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/23/9639517-harshest-charges-in-asian-american-gis-death-may-not-stick-experts-say

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652 dead, 808 missing in Philippine floods

ILIGAN, Philippines (AP) ? The Philippine Red Cross says the death toll from a storm that ravaged a wide swath of the south has risen to 652 with 808 others still missing.

Red Cross Secretary-General Gwendolyn Pang said Sunday that flash floods set off by Tropical Storm Washi killed 346 people in Cagayan de Oro city and 206 in nearby Iligan city. Deaths were also reported in five other southern and central provinces.

Pang said more people have reported missing relatives, including 447 in Iligan and 347 in Cagayan de Oro.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

ILIGAN, Philippines (AP) ? As a storm that killed more than 530 in the southern Philippines raged outside the store where she works, Amor Limbago worriedly called home to check on her parents, but their cellphones just kept ringing and later went dead.

Limbago, 21, rushed home as soon as the flash floods receded and confirmed her worst fear: Her parents and seven other relatives were gone, swept away from their hut by the river. They had eagerly planned a small Christmas dinner in that hut just days earlier.

"I returned and saw that our house was completely gone," a weeping Limbago told The Associated Press from Cagayan de Oro city. "There was nothing but mud all over and knee-deep floodwaters."

Tropical Storm Washi blew away Sunday after devastating a wide swath of the mountainous region on Mindanao island, which is unaccustomed to major storms.

Most of the victims were asleep Friday night when flash floods cascaded down mountain slopes with logs and uprooted trees, swelling rivers and killing at least 532 people. The late-season tropical storm turned the worst-hit coastal cities of Cagayan de Oro and nearby Iligan into muddy wastelands filled with overturned cars and broken trees.

Most of the dead were children and women, Philippine Red Cross Secretary General Gwendolyn Pang said.

With 458 others reported missing, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and top military officials flew to Cagayan de Oro to help oversee search-and-rescue efforts and deal with thousands of displaced villagers. Among the items urgently needed are coffins and body bags, said Benito Ramos, who heads the government's disaster-response agency.

"It's overwhelming. We didn't expect these many dead," Ramos said.

Although the disaster-prone Philippines is lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms annually, the devastation shocked many, coming close to Christmas ? the predominantly Roman Catholic nation's most-awaited time for family reunions. Army officials in the south said they canceled Christmas parties and would donate the food to homeless survivors.

Limbago said she and her mother, Jean, 50, and father Amancio, 63, planned to have a simple Christmas dinner of spaghetti. Those plans had evaporated Sunday as she and surviving relatives checked crowded morgues, hospitals and evacuation centers for any sign of her missing parents.

Others lost homes and belongings but were happy to have survived.

Edmund Rubio, a 44-year-old engineer, said he, his wife and two children scrambled to the second floor of their house in Iligan city as floodwaters engulfed the first floor, destroying his TV set and other appliances and washing away his car and motorcycle.

Amid the panic, he heard a loud pounding on his door as neighbors living in nearby one-story houses pleaded with him to allow them up in his second floor. He said he brought 30 neighbors into the safety of the second floor of his house, which later shook when a huge floating log slammed into it.

"It's the most important thing, that all of us will still be together this Christmas," Rubio told the AP. "There was a nearby shantytown that was smashed by water. I'm afraid many people there may not have been as lucky as us."

Army officers reported unidentified bodies piled up in morgues in Cagayan de Oro, where electricity was restored in some areas, although the city of more than 500,000 people remained without tap water.

At least 239 died in Cagayan de Oro and 206 in nearby Iligan, the Red Cross said. The death toll was expected to rise because many isolated villages still had not been reached by overwhelmed disaster-response personnel.

"Our fear is there may have been whole families that perished so there's nobody to report what happened," Red Cross chief Pang said.

Both Iligan, a bustling industrial center about 485 miles (780 kilometers) southeast of Manila, and Cagayan de Oro were filled with scenes of destruction and desperation.

A lone worker gingerly embalmed scores of bodies laid side by side in an Iligan city funeral parlor. Outside the embalming room, seven white coffins were placed in a corridor, surrounded by weeping relatives.

"Many mothers, fathers were walking from one funeral parlor to another, looking for their children," said army Maj. Eugenio Osias, who led a rescue effort in Cagayan de Oro.

Ramos attributed the high casualties "partly to the complacency of people because they are not in the usual path of storms" despite four days of warnings by officials that one was approaching.

In just 12 hours, Washi dumped more than a month of average rain on Mindanao.

Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of local police, reservists, coast guard officers and civilian volunteers were mobilized for rescue efforts, but were hampered by flooded-out roads and lack of electricity. Rescuers in boats rushed offshore to save people swept out to sea.

___

Jim Gomez reported from Manila. Associated Press writers Oliver Teves and Hrvoje Hranjski contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-18-AS-Philippines-Storm/id-d243ba3f9914422b91ca07cb1fb8aca9

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House Republicans oppose Senate payroll tax bill (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? House Speaker John Boehner threw into doubt the fate of a popular tax break for workers on Sunday, saying he and his fellow House Republicans oppose the two-month extension backed by the Senate and want something longer passed before the holiday break.

Boehner said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program he wants a one-year extension of the reduced rate for U.S. payroll tax paid by workers to fund Social Security.

"It's pretty clear that I and our members oppose the Senate bill. It's only for two months," Boehner said, adding this was "kicking the can down the road."

The Senate passed a two-month extension on Saturday but Boehner said he wanted to work out differences with the Senate before the end of the year, when the tax cut expires.

The biggest sticking point for a year-long extension is how to cover the $120 billion in lost revenue. Republicans are demanding spending cuts to cover the cost and Democrats want to pay for it by closing some tax breaks for the wealthy.

Boehner said Congress should stay in Washington and pass the longer extension before going home for the holiday break.

Beyond a one-year extension, Boehner said House Republicans are demanding reforms to the federal unemployment insurance program to cut the number of weeks for benefits - measures largely opposed by Democrats.

The package also includes a provision to avert a pay cut for doctors treating the elderly on the Medicare healthcare program.

"How can you do tax policy for two months?" Boehner said. "We really do believe it's time for the Senate to work with the House to complete our business for the year. We've got two weeks to get this done. Let's do it the right way."

President Barack Obama, a Democrat, says the lower 4.2 percent payroll tax rate will help boost economic growth. Without congressional action, the rate on the tax workers pay into the Social Security retirement fund will snap back to 6.2 percent.

White House economic adviser Gene Sperling was more optimistic about the prospects for the Senate-passed shorter extension.

"I really think it is very unlikely that the House would disrupt this compromise ... six days before Christmas," Sperling said on CNN's "State of the Union" program on Sunday.

(Reporting By David Lawder; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111218/ts_nm/us_usa_taxes_boehner

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Barry Bonds gets 30-day home sentence ? at worst (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Eight years of being investigated for steroid allegations ended for home run king Barry Bonds on Friday with a 30-day sentence to be served at home. No more ? and maybe less.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston immediately delayed imposing the sentence while Bonds appeals his obstruction of justice conviction. The former baseball star was found guilty in April not of using steroids, but of misleading grand jurors.

Even without prison time, the case has left its mark on the seven-time National League MVP. His 762 career home runs, and 73 homers in 2001, may forever be seen as tainted records, and his ticket to baseball's Hall of Fame is in doubt.

Bonds declined to speak in court. Well-wishers hugged the 47-year-old in the hallway courtroom after the hearing was over, and a smattering of fans cheered him as he left the courthouse. It was a marked departure from his initial court appearance four years ago, when guards had to clear a path for Bonds to get through dozens of onlookers to his SUV.

"Whatever he did or didn't do, we all lie," said Esther Picazo, a fan outside the courthouse. "We all make mistakes. But I don't think he should've gotten any kind of punishment at all."

Bonds was sentenced to two years of probation, 250 hours of community service, a $4,000 fine and 30 days of home confinement. It will take time to determine whether he serves any of it; his appellate specialist, Dennis Riordan, estimated it would take nearly a year and a half for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rule.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Parrella called the sentence a "slap on the wrist" and the fine "almost laughable" for a superstar athlete who made more than $192 million for playing baseball.

Parrella had sought 15 months in prison and argued that home confinement wasn't punishment enough "for a man with a 15,000-square-foot house with all the advantages." Bonds lives in a six-bedroom, 10-bath house with a gym and swimming pool.

"The defendant basically lived a double life for decades before this," Parrella said. He ripped Bonds not only over performance-enhancing drugs but over his personal life: "He had mistresses throughout his marriages."

Parrella said Bonds made lots of money due in part to his use of performance enhancers and that he has been "unrepentant" and "unapologetic" about it.

Illston said none of that had any bearing on Bonds' sentencing.

She said she agreed with a probation department report that called Bonds' conviction an "aberration" in his life. She said she received dozens of letters in support of Bonds, some discussing how he has given money and time "for decades" to charitable causes.

Bonds is the last ? and highest-profile ? defendant in the government's investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO, a steroids distribution ring. The ex-slugger has long denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.

Illston said she was compelled to give Bonds a sentence similar to the two she meted out to other figures convicted after trial of lying to the grand jury and federal investigators about their connection to steroids.

The case against Bonds after he testified before the grand jury Dec. 3, 2003. Prosecutors revised his original 2007 indictment several times and spent a year unsuccessfully appealing a key evidentiary ruling before jurors deadlocked in April on three of the four remaining charges related to his grand jury testimony.

On the final charge, the trial jury convicted Bonds of purposely answering questions about steroids with rambling non sequiturs in an attempt to mislead the grand jury.

"I think he probably got off a little easy," said Jessica Wolfram, one of the jurors who convicted Bonds of obstruction. "He was just so clearly guilty, so I actually am happy he got sentenced to something."

Wolfram said she researched the case after the trial and viewed evidence not presented then. After that, she felt even more comfortable that Bonds was guilty.

Besides Bonds, 10 people were convicted of various charges in BALCO cases. Six of them, including track star Marion Jones, were ensnared for lying to grand jurors, federal investigators or the court. Others, including Bonds' personal trainer Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty to steroid distribution charges.

The government's top BALCO investigator, Jeff Novitzky, declined to comment outside the courtroom after attending the hearing.

Bonds was one of two former baseball superstars to stand trial in doping-related cases this year. The trial of pitcher Roger Clemens was halted after just two days in July because prosecutors used inadmissible evidence. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton has set a new trial for April 17.

Both men will face a different judgment day in 2013, when they'll be eligible for the Hall of Fame.

__

Associated Press writers Jason Dearen in San Francisco and Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbo_bonds_steroids

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Obama fights for Jewish support amid GOP attacks (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama and his Republican opponents are clashing over U.S. policy toward Israel as each side jockeys for support from Jewish voters, who could be critical in the 2012 election.

Aiming to cast Obama as unfairly harsh toward Israel and soft on the Palestinians, Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have called on the president to fire his ambassador to Belgium. The envoy, Howard Gutman, had said that some anti-Semitism stemmed from tensions between Israel and the Palestinians; Romney and Gingrich say his remarks unfairly blamed Israel.

The White House says Obama has a strong record on support for Israel, and quickly fired back with a statement condemning "anti-Semitism in all its forms." The State Department said Gutman would remain in his job.

Republicans also challenged Obama's assertion at a fundraiser last week that "this administration has done more in terms of the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration." Romney said Obama has "repeatedly thrown Israel under the bus" ? an accusation the Republican National Committee repeated Monday.

Firing back, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz called Romney's comments "outrageous" and questioned his own policies. The White House cited military aid to Israel and support at the United Nations, and pointed to statements from Israeli officials backing up Obama's assertion.

The fiery debate will probably continue Wednesday when the GOP presidential candidates attend a Washington forum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Obama campaign officials say they will be ready to respond. And the next day, Jewish leaders will be at the White House for briefings on Israel and a Hanukkah party, followed by an Obama speech next week to an expected audience of nearly 6,000 at a conference of the Union for Reform Judaism.

Such attention is all being paid in recognition that Jewish voters, though comprising only 2 percent of the electorate nationwide, are an important part of Obama's base and could make the difference in battleground states including Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada in a close election. Moreover, the Jewish community is an important source of donations, and Obama campaign supporters want to maintain that support as much as Republicans want to chip away at it.

"This campaign takes the Jewish vote very, very seriously," said Ira Forman, the Obama campaign Jewish outreach director. "I'm confident this will be the most comprehensive effort in presidential campaign history."

The White House outreach has increased since May when Obama caused a furor by calling for Israel's 1967 borders, with agreed-upon land swaps, as a basis for resuming negotiations toward a two-state solution with the Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the `67 borders as indefensible and largely disregarded Obama's emphasis on land swaps to account for current conditions.

Republicans seized on the dispute. And while Obama supporters say his argument was widely mischaracterized, damage was done. Now the Obama campaign and its backers say they are determined to respond rapidly to such criticism in future.

"We are trying to responsibly respond to all of these unsubstantiated or false allegations, but there are so many of them, and they are so frequently recited despite the fact that the people who are spreading them have to know that they're false, that it's hard to keep up with them," said Alan Solow, an Obama fundraiser and longtime associate.

The effort involves using surrogates including Vice President Joe Biden, and use of the president's own time in public appearances and private talks with donors and religious leaders, such as a conference call between Obama and rabbis ahead of the Jewish New Year this fall.

The Obama campaign also is going on the offense against Republicans. In conversations about the Jewish vote, Obama backers are quick to bring up comments by Romney, Gingrich and Rick Perry at a debate last month suggesting they would start foreign aid for all countries at zero. Obama supporters say would imperil funding for Israel, even though the candidates also sought to affirm their support for the Jewish state.

Democratic candidates typically enjoy a big electoral advantage among Jewish voters. Obama won 78 percent of the Jewish vote in 2008, compared with 21 percent for Republican John McCain.

But Gallup has found that Obama's approval rating among Jews has fallen from 83 percent in January 2009 to 54 percent in late summer and early fall of this year. Still, that figure is much higher than his overall 41 percent approval rating, and the drop-off in support was about in line with other voter groups.

Sid Dinerstein, chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party in Florida, predicted that Obama would be limited to around 60 percent of the Jewish vote in 2012. Obama backers say that won't happen, but it could mean a potentially decisive difference of tens of thousands of votes in key states.

A candidate's position on Israel may not be the top issue for most Jewish voters, who like others are more motivated by jobs and the economy. But it's important to many, and Republicans see an opening, given the consternation over Obama's 1967 borders speech, his administration's rebukes of Israel for building settlements in disputed areas, and a recent incident in which Obama was overheard appearing to endorse criticism of Netanyahu from French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"The reality is that the Jewish community understands that on a number of critical issues this administration has undermined not only the U.S.-Israel relationship, but has made Israel more vulnerable," said Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Brooks points to the recent upset in New York's special election to replace Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, in which Republican Bob Turner won in the heavily Jewish district. Brooks says this was a warning sign to Obama on his stance on Israel. Obama supporters say other factors were at play, including the heavily Orthodox and more conservative makeup of the district.

But even strong supporters are disappointed that Obama has not yet traveled to Israel in his capacity as president, after delivering a major speech in Cairo early in his administration. An Israel trip had been rumored to be in the works but seems unlikely to happen prior to the 2012 election.

Democratic Rep. Steve Rothman of New Jersey said he remains hopeful a trip will happen in the next year.

"No president has been perfect on every subject, though history will record that Obama has been the best president for Israel when it comes to military and intelligence support," said Rothman.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111206/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_jewish_voters

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Keith Pikett?s Miracle Dogs (Theagitator)

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