Free Republic

WANA, Pakistan -- On a remote plain dotted with mud fortresses and ringed by steep mountains, Pakistani soldiers are waging their fiercest battle yet in the 2 1/2-year-old war against terrorism. At least 100 prisoners have been taken and casualties are mounting after five days of fighting between 7,000 Pakistani troops and an estimated 400 to 500 local Pashtun tribesmen and suspected foreign militants that showed no sign of abating Saturday. Pakistani officials now are backing down from speculation that the senior al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri is among the fighters hunkered down in a cluster of fortified mud-brick compounds west...

Planes, Trains, Armored Trucks, and Afghanistan Instead of “planes, trains, and automobiles,” my trip from western Nineveh to Mosul, to Erbil, to Vienna, to Stuttgart, to Atlanta, to El Paso, and then to Florida was much more interesting. It included helicopters, armored pickup trucks, trains, buses, cars and numerous jets. And the “fun” has just begun. After Florida there will be Washington, D.C., and then back to the war. As always, I beg forgiveness for the great difficulty I have responding to emails. In addition to all the travel there is also the endless homework. A big challenge has been...