Free Republic

A Coast Guard inspection of a freighter docked at the Port of Longview "didn't uncover or reveal anything," a Coast Guard spokesman said Saturday, but the crew members are not allowed off the ship and security will be maintained until the ship leaves. "We were not expecting to find anything," Lt. Cmdr. Glynn Smith, the Coast Guard's public affairs officer for the Pacific area, said Saturday by telephone from his office in Alameda, Calif. The search was routine, according to the Coast Guard, but Longview officials said the security crackdown is the most port activity since the Sept. 11, 2001,...

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - A single laptop can reveal much, and so it is with the digital treasure chest that Colombian commandos found in the jungle quarters of slain rebel leader Raul Reyes. Files in the computer seized in Saturday's raid into Ecuador that claimed the lives of Reyes and 23 of his comrades offer an intimate portrait of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's desire to undermine Colombia's U.S.-allied government. If authentic, the documents show that sympathies Chavez first aired publicly in January grew out of a relationship that dates back more than a decade. But Chavez is not one of...

As the cliche goes, there are no coincidences in politics. Obama fundraiser group Code Pink just happened to have arrived in Cairo last week for the group’s ninth visit there in two years as part of its campaign to undermine the Mubarak government and help Hamas, the terrorist group that controls Gaza. Code Pink and the media are trying to portray the leftist group's 'sudden' appearance in Cairo Wednesday as an act of courageous support for a democratic revolution. Nothing could be further from the truth.Code Pink protests the Mubarak government in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt. February 2, 2011. Code...

An appellate court in Milan upheld on Wednesday the conviction of 23 Americans charged with kidnapping an Egyptian cleric in 2003 and ordered even harsher sentences. All but one of the Americans are Central Intelligence Agency operatives.

WASHINGTON — Daniel Ellsberg, the former Defense Department official who leaked the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War, is urging government insiders to provide similar classified documents about the invasion of Iraq. Joined by other whistle-blowers and former government employees, Ellsberg said at a Sept. 9 news conference that claims of government deception and lies have “little credibility” unless supported by documentary evidence, which often is available only in classified materials. The document that came to be called the Pentagon Papers was a 7,000-page study of U.S. decision-making in Vietnam that was classified “top secret.” Ellsberg leaked the study to...

<p>WASHINGTON - Sami Amin al-Arian, the University of South Florida professor charged with being the US leader of a Mideast terrorist group, was an influential figure in Tampa's small Muslim community whose political activism landed him in a photograph with President Bush during the 2000 campaign.</p>

PREWAR INTELLIGENCE WASHINGTON, July 30 - A senior leader of Al Qaeda who was captured in Pakistan several months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was the main source for intelligence, since discredited, that Iraq had provided training in chemical and biological weapons to members of the organization, according to American intelligence officials. Intelligence officials say the detainee, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a member of Osama bin Laden's inner circle, recanted the claims sometime last year, but not before they had become the basis of statements by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and others...

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Thieves emptied more than 100 vaults at a diamond trading center in what officials said might be the largest theft ever in Antwerp, the gem trading capital of the world. Authorities were still trying Tuesday to determine the amount of the loss from the cellar of a building that houses dozens of gem trading companies in a city that has been a center of the trade in precious stones since the 16th century. The thieves bypassed heavy security to steal the diamonds from 123 of 160 vaults in the cellar of the Antwerp Diamond Center over the...

Police have been ordered to "shoot to kill" suicide bombers following intelligence warnings that an al-Qa'eda terrorist attack in Britain may be imminent.The Telegraph can reveal that Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, placed his force on its highest alert last week. Force alert: 'If we think we are facing a suicide bomber, we should shoot first and ask questions later' He also took the unprecedented step of ordering all front-line officers to be trained in how to spot potential suicide bombers and how to respond.The decision to issue new guidance has been prompted by intelligence passed to Britain...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -- An airplane that raised questions in this college town is being used by the FBI to monitor people who might have terrorist connections, agency officials acknowledged. The FBI denied knowledge of the plane earlier this week after aviation officials disclosed that the aircraft was conducting law enforcement surveillance. Agent Thomas V. Fuentes said the FBI issued the denial because a reporter asked if the airplane is doing electronic surveillance, which it is not. Fuentes and agent James H. Davis said the FBI is not aware of any threat to Bloomington or the state, but is watching...

Top brass flew to Baghdad with publicity-shy empowerment businessman Mzilikazi Wa Afrika, Jessica Bezuidenhout and Andre Jurgens Two of the ANC's most powerful officials travelled to Iraq with a controversial Johannesburg businessman just weeks before he landed a R1.2-billion state oil deal. Sandi Majali is one of about 270 people around the world who have been named in an alleged sanctions-busting scam involving oil from former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime. The names appeared in Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organisation documents found after the fall of Saddam. Majali, 41, who heads the media-shy empowerment company Imvume Resources, has for the...

NEW YORK — U.S. officials received intelligence that Al Qaeda operatives had been 45 days away from releasing a deadly gas into the city's subways when the plan was called off by Usama bin Laden's deputy in 2003, according to a book excerpt released Sunday on Time magazine's Web site. According to the investigative report by Ron Suskind, an informant close to Al Qaeda leaders told U.S. officials that Ayman al-Zawahiri had canceled the plan in January 2003, despite the likelihood that the strike would have killed as many people as the Sept. 11 attacks. The informant said the operatives...

Senior Iraq Defector May Not Have Made It All may not be well for Adib Shaaban, senior aide to Saddam’s powerful son Uday and Iraq’s highest-ranking would-be defector. His attempt to flee to the United States, first revealed exclusively in DEBKA-Net-Weekly 97 (February 14), may not have come off. First a recap: Shaaban -- charged with Uday’s most sensitive missions -- traveled to Jeddah in early February, saying he needed to put through some gold transactions ahead of the war. From Jeddah, he flew to Beirut and disappeared. But he never really went to the Lebanese capital. Instead, he made...

Three giant cargo ships are being tracked by US and British intelligence on suspicion that they might be carrying Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Each with a deadweight of 35,000 to 40,000 tonnes, the ships have been sailing around the world's oceans for the past three months while maintaining radio silence in clear violation of international maritime law, say authoritative shipping industry sources. The vessels left port in late November, just a few days after UN weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix began their search for the alleged Iraqi arsenal on their return to the country. Uncovering such a deadly...

Prosecutors in Italy have issued three more arrest warrants over the kidnapping of an Egyptian imam based in Milan by a team of CIA agents. Among those wanted in connection with the operation, which led to the man - Abu Omar - being tortured in Egypt, is a 38-year-old female CIA agent who was working as a diplomat at the US embassy in Rome and is said to have led the operation. Betnie Medero, who was second secretary at the embassy until a few months ago, is one of 22 CIA agents now wanted by Italian police over the kidnapping,...

Mark Foley is a scumbag! Mark Foley is a scumbag! Mark Foley is a scumbag! Now that that is out of the way I will reveal how I (and a few others) discovered Jordan Edmund was one of the former house pages that participated in sexually explicit instant messages with Rep. Mark Foley. Also I will explain to you why I believe it necessary to reveal Jordan Edmund's identity. You may not agree with my decision, but I hope to explain my reasoning by the end of this story. Read More HERE!

Sudan warns Britain that intervention could turn into another Iraq By George Jones, Andrew Sparrow and Rachel Sylvester (Filed: 23/07/2004) British troops are welcome to enter the Darfur region, Sudan's foreign minister said yesterday, but they would rapidly find themselves in an Iraq-like situation. Responding to a British newspaper report suggesting that Tony Blair was considering options to send troops to the region, Mustafa Ismail said his government was willing to withdraw from Darfur. Children at Abu Shok refugee camp "We will give him the chance if he can give security to Darfur," Mr Ismail said in Paris. But he...

In page 3 this Saddam Regime document ISGZ-2004-019744.pdf dated February/3/2003 there is a request to supply Chemical gear for the Chemical group. This document is a letter from an Iraqi “Export and Import Company” Vendor” addressed to the Iraqi Army “Commission Of Equipment” stating his pleasure to provide the Chemical Gear for the Chemical Group and he goes into Chemical gear equipment he can provides. This Chemical Group is part of the Feedaeyeen Saddam as other parts of the document indicate. Beginning of the translation page 3 of the ISGZ-2004-019744.pdf : In the Name of God the Most Merciful The...

ASSOCIATED PRESS An Iraqi scientist has told U.S. interrogators that her team destroyed Iraq's stock of anthrax in 1991 by dumping it practically at the gates of one of Saddam's main palaces, but never told U.N. inspectors for fear of angering the dictator. Rihab Rashid Taha's decision in 2003 to remain silent stoked suspicions of those who contended Iraq still harbored biological weapons, contributing to the U.S. decision to invade Iraq two years ago this month. "Whether those involved understood the significance and disastrous consequences of their actions is unclear," the CIA-led Iraq Survey Group says of Mrs. Taha and...