Free Republic

Many opponents of the Iraq war both in the US and Europe have felt a not-so-secret sense of schadenfreude at the developing chaos in Iraq. While many might intellectually support the emergence of a stable, democratic, pro-western government in Baghdad, "success" in this matter would be seen as a vindication of all of the baggage that the Bush administration loaded on to this project, including its unilateralism, use of force and incompetent execution of the war's aftermath. Many would therefore be happy seeing Washington suffer a setback, to deter such interventions in the future. But people should be careful what...

Attendance was down at the (anti-war) Rally in the Valley, which marked the third year of war in Iraq. Last year about 600 people attended the event in Courthouse Park in downtown Fresno. Last Saturday about 300 participants held a rally which started on the corner of Shaw and Cedar, they marched to the Free Speech Area at CSU-Fresno, and listened as several speakers call for an end to the war. There were also musicians on stage and many community groups set up literature tables. Photos and a story about the Rally in the Valley are available here: http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/03/1808674.php Fresno...

Preparing to greet the commies - Early Saturday Morning DStarr chooses a sign from her arsenal as she prepares to confront the leftist march. This past Saturday, March 18, 2006 we conducted our third annual FReep in commemoration of the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. As in past years, leftists marched through the streets of Fayetteville, NC (home of Fort Bragg and Pope Airforce Base) and congregated in Rowan Park for their day of music and speeches, coordinated by NC Peace and Justice Coalition. The support the troops rally was conducted on the hillside overlooking Rowan Park. Wolfpat's sound...

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2006 – The best way for the American people to promote freedom and liberty around the world is to stand behind the U.S. armed forces, President Bush told a group yesterday at the City Club of Cleveland. Bush said it's his responsibility as president to ensure the public understands why the United States is waging the war on terror and why it's important to stay the course. "And so I will continue making the case. ... But the best way you can help is to support our troops," he told a questioner in the audience at the...

President Bush said Tuesday that American forces will remain in Iraq for years and it will be up to a future president to decide when to bring them all home. But defying critics and plunging polls, he declared, "I'm optimistic we'll succeed. If not, I'd pull our troops out." The president rejected calls for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, chief architect of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Listen, every war plan looks good on paper until you meet the enemy," Bush said, acknowledging mistakes as the United States was forced to switch tactics and change a reconstruction strategy...

President Bush to Hold 10 a.m. News Conference (Just Breaking No Info Yet!)

Bush tumblingPresident was hanging in there until he tripped on tactical errors By Paul Jackson SALT LAKE CITY -- U.S. President George W. Bush's ratings now appear in freefall and Republican strategists are looking at mid-term November elections with little speckles of perspiration showing up on their brows. If the GOP loses control of the Senate or House of Representatives this fall, the Democrats will hammer and hogtie the president at every artificial opportunity they can muster. Filibuster and even impeachment will be in the arsenals of tools they will use to thwart Bush's every move. It looks bleak right...

Monday, March 20, 2006 The third anniversary...sacrifice, fear and hopeIt has been three years since 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' began and for three years we debated whether the decision was right or wrong and until this moment we have different feelings and opinions about where this operation brought us and where its aftermaths are going to lead us. This disputed operation no doubt had-and will continue to have-major effects on the future of the region and the rest of the world and it's not limited to the boundaries of Iraq; a fact that makes rational debate legitimate by all standards....

<p>Kristinn Taylor of Free Republic and Stephen Cleghorn of Military Families Speak Out appeared on Hardball this evening to discuss the pro-War and anti-War message. Free Republic supports the War, while Military Families Speak Out is against the war and wants to pull our troops out of Iraq immediately. Both guests have family members serving in either Iraq or Afghanistan.</p>

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. (Applause.) Thank you all. Please be seated. Sanjiv, thanks for the introduction. He called me on the phone and said, listen, we believe in free speech, so you're going to come and give us a speech for free. (Laughter.) Thanks for the invitation, thanks for the warm welcome. It's good to be here at the City Club of Cleveland. For almost a century, you have provided an important forum for debate and discussion on the issues of the day. And I have come to discuss a vital issue of the day, which is the safety...

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2006 – President Bush today pointed to the dramatic turnaround in Tal Afar, Iraq -- a city once gripped by terrorist oppression that's now undergoing a vibrant revitalization -- as concrete evidence that the national strategy for victory in Iraq is working. Speaking at the City Club of Cleveland, a free speech forum, the president said developments in Tal Afar show clear progress on the political, security and economic fronts and proof that the Iraqi people want to live in freedom. Calling the northern Iraqi city with its diverse population "a microcosm of Iraq," the president said...

President Bush listens as he is introduced before speaking about the war on terror in Cleveland, Monday, March 20, 2006. Bush sought Monday to emphasize progress over disillusionment after three years in Iraq, urging Americans to see a developing democracy beyond the frequent images of violence. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

The President is speaking from Cleveland OH...comments welcome.

So we’re at the three year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. I like it when political issues get resolved. Welfare reform is a good example. It’s hard to believe from the perspective of today, but this was a hugely divisive political issue throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Many, many Democrats (and a few Republicans) opposed efforts to change a system that many, many Americans believed had fostered dependency and a culture of failure among our poorest citizens. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, one of the chamber’s brightest members, who had spent much of his career studying the issue, predicted it...

President Bush on Monday cited progress in stabilizing an insurgent stronghold in northern Iraq, saying he has "confidence in our strategy" and critics should look beyond the images of violence to see clear signs of progress. Bush tried a new tactic to boost sagging support for the war, relating to his audience in Cleveland a lengthy story about a campaign to rid the northern city of Tal Afar of terrorism against civilians. Success there "gives reason for hope for a free Iraq," he said. Bush described how the insurgents who have been using murder and intimidation to run roughshod over...

Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf ('Baghdad Bob') THEN ...Al-Sahaf’s daily press briefings in the lead-up to the war and in its first weeks led to him being nicknamed Baghdad Bob or Comical Ali (an allusion to “Chemical Ali,” the nickname of former Iraqi defense minister Ali Hassan al-Majid.) He gained a considerable cult following, with several Web sites devoted to his outrageous claims...as coalition troops stormed the capital, al-Sahaf declared, "The infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad."... NOW On 25 June 2003, the London newspaper The Daily Mirror reported that al-Sahaf had been captured by coalition...

The latest criticism of the war in Iraq has become so politically manipulative, so disingenuous, so over-the-top that it is undermining a critical cause that we cannot, for a variety of global security reasons, afford to lose... Let’s look at last Thursday, March 16, the day the Iraqi National Assembly opened in Baghdad and a high-profile "air assault" northeast of Samarra, as an example:

The third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was marked over the weekend by a wave of protests around the world. Most of the marches in America were spearheaded by United for Peace and Justice, the nation’s largest anti-war coalition. United for Peace and Justice is a large umbrella association of more than thirteen hundred local and national groups who have joined together to protest the immoral and disastrous Iraq War and oppose our government’s policy of permanent warfare and empire-building. The organization’s recent press release tells us of a massive effort planned for the week of March 15...

Iraqi and coalition forces continued in recent days to detain terrorist suspects and search, find and destroy weapons caches through a series of patrols and operations designed to bring stability to that country, officials in Iraq reported today. Back-to-back cordon-and-search missions of six houses in Kirkuk on March 16 by Iraqi police, for instance, netted nine terrorist suspects. The police moved into the city's Qadiysiahya neighborhood and systematically checked every room in the houses, while detaining the men inside. All nine terrorist suspects were questioned by the police; four were released; and five were transferred into U.S. custody for additional...

On the third anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, the US capital’s historic protest venues were surprisingly serene on Sunday. Outside the White House tourists had their pictures taken next to a cardboard cut-out of the president, families enjoyed the sun on the Mall and several bored-looking policemen stood guard outside the vice-president’s DC home. Not a placard in sight or a chant to be heard. Americans may have turned decisively against the war in Iraq in recent months, but their change of heart has been largely expressed quietly to pollsters rather than in loud public protests. The micro-protests...