A Safer Place, Part Three

"I believe we were right to take action, and America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison. He retained the knowledge, the materials, the means, and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction. And he could have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies. Saddam Hussein was a unique threat, a sworn enemy of our country, a state sponsor of terror, operating in the world's most volatile region. In a world after September the 11th, he was a threat we had to confront. And America and the world are safer for our actions."

-- pResident George W. Bush, today.

Egyptian resort hotel blast kills 36.

Three explosions late Thursday rocked Egyptian resort areas where Israelis were vacationing, celebrating the weeklong Jewish holiday Sukkot.

Israeli media report a massive explosion killed at least 36 people and wounded dozens at the Hilton Hotel in Taba, a Red Sea resort just across the border with Israel.

Some witnesses described the scene as "the gates of hell."

"The whole front of the hotel has collapsed. There are dozens of people on the floor, lots of blood. It is very tense," witness Yigal Vakni told Israel's Army Radio, according to The Associated Press. "I am standing outside of the hotel, the whole thing is burning and they have nothing to put it out with."

"We know of other people trapped under the ruins of the hotel," rescue worker spokesman Yerucham Mendola told the AP.

At least 80 of the wounded were taken to Joseftal Hospital in Eilat, said hospital spokeswoman Naomi Itchak-Halevi.

Meanwhile:

• Palestinian sources say 4 shot in Gaza; Israel continues offensive to stop rocket attacks.
• Rocket strikes Afghan capital
• India: Entire North-East has been put on red alert
• Violence adds to the cost of Iraq reconstruction
• As grief persists in Beslan, fears of retaliation for massacre grow
• U.S. officials advise how to stop terrorist takeover of schools
  
• Deaths in Darfur could reach 300,000, US official says
• 41 killed by car bomb at Sunni Muslim prayer
• Insurgent attacks killed a 13th Corps Support Command soldier near Falluja and a 1st Infantry Division soldier near Beiji. This brings the number of U.S. troop deaths since the Iraqi war began to 1,067, according to the U.S. military.
• Saddam still in custody.