Free Republic

Police say as many as five masked men wearing FBI baseball caps invaded a home in the Annandale section of Fairfax County on Thursday. Fairfax County Police say the masked men were all wearing police style tactical gear when they entered the home around 12:15 p.m. They tied up a woman and her son who was home with a toddler, and then searched the house. The men then took off in a gold or beige Cadillac Escalade. It's unclear what the men wanted and police wouldn't say what they took. The man and woman who were tied up inside the...

Expanding Afghan War Awaits New President An expanded U.S. military involvement awaits a new U.S. president in Afghanistan where the unfinished business of September 11 has flared over the past three years into a major insurgency. A raft of assessments and reviews now underway in Washington point to a fundamental rethinking of the Afghan war. But whoever is elected Tuesday will face choices on the size of the military buildup, how to strengthen the central government, how far to go in dealing with insurgent sanctuaries across the border, how to help stabilize Pakistan, and whether and how to reconcile...

An FBI informant helped agents uncover a visa fraud and gun smuggling scheme run by two Annandale men, one of whom told the informant he could sell him a missile that “can reach the Pentagon,” according to a sworn statement unsealed Monday. The investigation started when the informant met with Amjad Hamed, a Jordanian native and legal U.S. resident since 1978, in Hamed’s Annandale home in April 2006, the affidavit said. Hamed reportedly asked the informant to obtain visas for six associates who wanted to immigrate to the U.S. from Jordan and the West Bank. Hamed reportedly told the informant...

Memo to our amigos in Central America: The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has agreed to put out a $400,000 welcome mat to ease the illegal transition of your citizens in Herndon, Annandale and Culmore. In case you have not heard, some of your citizens illegally cross the border with bladder conditions and then have no choice but to relieve their discomfort after setting up shop on the grounds of private businesses. We crazy gringos never knew that our Central American friends were afflicted with so many bladder issues. But now we do, and in true American spirit, our duly...