Free Republic

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 Palin Runs with Biden's Test Warning [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Sarah Palin in Reno today, via the campaign: Two weeks from today, Americans will be asked to cast their vote for the next president of the United States. There’s no time to wait. Let’s get right to it. Did you hear what Senator Biden said at a fundraiser on Sunday? He guaranteed that if Barack Obama is elected, we’ll face an international crisis within the first six months of their administration. He told Democrat donors to mark his words – that there were “at least four or...

More on the we've won front from Michael Totten:I’m reluctant to say “the war has ended,” as he did, but everything else he wrote is undoubtedly true. The war in Iraq is all but over right now, and it will be officially over if the current trends in violence continue their downward slide. That is a mathematical fact. Over the past few days al Qaeda has detonated several car bombs in Diyala. So, how is the war "over"? Totten goes on to say that the violence may never actually peter off to nothing in Iraq, but reminds us that violence...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Security Forces are taking the lead in securing the city of Mahmudiyah against criminals. Iraqi Army soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 25th Brigade, 6th IA Division are securing the city’s neighborhoods with support from Red Knight Rakkasans of 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). This effort, which began March 27, has already proven successful. A cordon and search resulted in the discovery of a significant weapons cache in the Qadasiya Apartments March 28. The cache included 17 explosively-formed projectiles (EFP), 192 DSHKA rounds, Iraqi National Police uniforms and 18 assault...

BAGHDAD - Fighters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have melted away from the streets of the Iraqi capital and Basra where they fought fierce battles with security forces, AFP reporters said today. Yesterday, Sadr ordered his fighters to withdraw from the streets in a move signaling the end of clashes which erupted in the southern port city of Basra and quickly spread to Shiite areas across Iraq. AFP correspondents in Baghdad and Basra said that militants were off the streets in the two key cities where they fought Iraqi security forces backed by US-led coalition air power. The Sadr...

Foreign fighters have become disillusioned with jihad in Iraq and have begun to exit the theater, US military officials reported yesterday. These fighters comprise al-Qaeda in Iraq’s best resource for suicide bombers, and their loss gives them much less operational capability. AQI leadership has not yet given up the fight, but prospects for replacements look grim: A growing number of foreign fighters are leaving or attempting to flee Iraq as U.S. and Iraqi forces have weakened al-Qaeda and forced its members from former strongholds, U.S. military officials say.

Sergeant Anthony Diaz has been stationed in Baghdad since August, at about the time when the violence levels started consistently dropping throughout Iraq. He arrived a month before Hillary Clinton implied that his commander lied to Congress when testifying to the improvements that had already been made, and he remains in Iraq while they continue. Despite a national media that focuses only on the latest bombing, Diaz writes in the Washington Post that the surge has succeeded in giving Iraq a strong momentum for peace and democracy: Since I arrived here last August, I have been struck by four things:...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2008 – A surge in military operations and a shift in local support in northern Iraq has driven many al Qaeda fighters out of cities that once provided them safe haven and into the desert, or even out of the country, a commander in the region said today. Citizens in the four-province region of Multinational Division North have begun shifting their support to coalition and Iraqi forces in “droves,” and security gains are increasingly putting extremists on the run with no clear place to go to be safe, said Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, commander of...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2008 – Even as al Qaeda in Iraq ramps up its torture of civilians and begins to employ women and children in suicide-bombing missions, Iraqi citizens are coming forward by the thousands to volunteer to help protect their communities, officials in the region said today. This trend has made it more difficult for extremists to reorganize and has restricted their movement, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman Army Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner said today in a briefing in Iraq. “They are changing the atmosphere. It’s that courage of the Iraqi people that is changing the dynamic in such...

The Marines of Marine Wing Security Battalion 372 gather information from residents of the Sahl Hawran during a census, Dec. 27. Marines gathered demographic information including each resident’s physical characteristics, the location of their homes and family information. AL ASAD, Iraq (Jan. 21, 2008) -- The Marines of Marine Wing Security Battalion 372 have more to look out for than themselves and each other; the local Iraqis are relying on them to watch their backs too. They help support one local Iraqi village by patrolling through to ensure their safety, but also to ensure they have the means for...

FALAHAT, Iraq (Jan. 9, 2008) -- Lance Cpl. Justin Milsaps and his fellow Marines with Engineer Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 8, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward), provide force protection despite low enemy activity in the area. FALAHAT, Iraq (Jan. 9, 2008) -- Sgt. Berry Oakley looks on as his Marines emplace barriers to provide protection for an Iraqi police station here. The force protection is also intended to spare policemen from manning posts at the station so they can instead patrol the area. Oakley is a Logistics Vehicle System operator with Engineer Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 8, 2nd Marine...

December 15, 2005, 8:27 a.m. It's Electric U.S. troops describe a festive atmosphere across Iraq. By W. Thomas Smith Jr. As Iraqis queue up at polling stations, some of the scenes look more like a series of regional block parties than what most Westerners would associate with an election day. Children can be seen waving flags or playing soccer. Adults are cheering, clapping hands, beating drums, singing, dancing, and waving at passing U.S. and Iraqi military vehicles. There simply seems to have been more energy in the run-up to this election than in previous ones. And why not? December 15,...

Polls are open in Australia - close at 6:00 pm Sydney time. Results maybe by 10:00 pm Sydney time. Good luck to the Liberals, the Coalition, and Mr.Howard.