Israeli tanks head for Hamas stronghold

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip

Israeli tanks entered Gaza City early today and headed for a neighborhood where leaders of the violent Islamic militant group Hamas live, witnesses said.

A Palestinian policeman was killed and four civilians, including a doctor, were wounded by Israeli gunfire, hospital officials said.

It was the first time Israeli forces moved on the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza City. The incursion came after Saturday's blast in northern Gaza, in which four Israeli soldiers died when their tank set off a huge bomb. Hamas claimed responsibility.

Early today, witnesses said about 35 tanks, accompanied by attack helicopters, moved into position around a five-story building in Gaza City where Ahmed Ghandour and his family live and blew it up. Palestinians said Ghandour is the top aide to Hamas bombmaker Adnan al-Roul, believed responsible for planning the attack on the tank.

Two Palestinians were wounded slightly by Israeli gunfire, hospital officials said. Israeli military sources, speaking on condition on anonymity, said an operation was underway in Gaza City but it was not a large-scale invasion.

Israeli military sources, speaking on condition on anonymity, said that an operation was underway in Gaza City, but it was not a large-scale invasion.

Witnesses said that after surrounding the building, soldiers ordered everyone out and took the men away. Then soldiers sent dogs inside to see if anyone was left behind.

Israel has been blowing up the houses of suspected militants for several months as a deterrent measure. Palestinians and human rights groups charge that innocent relatives are made to suffer, but the Israelis believe that might give militants second thoughts about carrying out attacks.

Greenspan's comments complicate Bush plan

WASHINGTON

His pointed criticism of the Bush tax plan showed that Alan Greenspan, often taken to task for being too murky in his economic pronouncements, can be crystal clear when he wants to be.

The Federal Reserve chairman warned that further tax cuts should be paid for, leading Democrats to proclaim that Greenspan had delivered the 'kiss of death' for President Bush's $1.3 trillion proposal.

GOP lawmakers fumed. Greenspan, himself a Republican, had stabbed them in the back, they said.

The White House went into damage-control mode, pointing out that Greenspan had endorsed the plan's centerpiece, elimination of the tax on stock dividends.

Private economists saw the episode last week as remarkable given Greenspan's deft touch, after more than 15 years on the job, in avoiding political mine fields. They wondered if Greenspan's blunt words were a sign of a man no longer worried about his future. 'It appears as though Greenspan either does not want to be reappointed as Fed chairman next year or has learned that he will not be reappointed,' said Paul Kasriel, chief economist at Northern Trust Co. in Chicago.

Presidential aides quickly dismissed speculation that Greenspan's comments indicated a serious rift between the Fed and Bush, or that the administration had decided on Greenspan's successor.

'His term is not even expired until the middle of next year, so it's sort of silly to begin speculating about that,' White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said.

Greenspan's latest comments certainly differed from his remarks about Bush's first tax cut, a $1.35 trillion, 10-year reduction that Congress passed in 2001.

Greenspan came out in favor of a big tax cut that year and gave a major push to the new president. Greenspan reasoned that the 10-year projected surplus of $5.6 trillion gave Congress plenty of room to cut taxes and still accomplish his preferred goal: to reduce the national debt.

The surplus turned out to be illusory, however, eaten up by a recession, the fight against terrorism and the tax cut.

What was surprising about Greenspan's congressional testimony last week was not so much the warnings against further tax cuts, now that budget deficits have returned, but rather the extent of his criticism of the Bush program.

Greenspan said future tax cuts should be paid for, either by spending cuts or tax increases. Bush does not propose that. The Fed chairman also raised doubts about one of Bush's biggest selling points - that the economy needs another round of government stimulus.

Greenspan contended that once the uncertainty over war in Iraq passes, economic growth should accelerate without the need for additional tax cuts.

For good measure, he directly challenged the administration's 'deficits don't matter' school of thought and the contention that economic growth alone can take care of the revenue lost from the tax cuts.