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WASHINGTON, June 23, 2008 – The number of weekly attacks in Iraq has dropped from about 1,200 a week in June 2007 to about 200 a week now, the commander of the tactical unit responsible for command and control of operations in Iraq said today. Mirroring this reduction in violence has been a 70 percent decrease in roadside-bomb attacks and an 85 percent spike in the number of weapons caches coalition forces have found over the past year, Army Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, told reporters via satellite from Baghdad at a Pentagon news...

(IsraelNN.com) Jews in Canada and Latin America are on the hit list of Hizbullah terrorist cells, according to an ABC television news report, quoting American and Canadian intelligence officials. They said that the terrorist party, headed by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, is seeking revenge for the attack last February on Imad Muginiyeh. Israel has denied involvement n the attack on the Hizbullah mastermind, who was assassinated in a car bomb blast in Damascus. ABC said Hizbullah agents have been conducting surveillance on the Israeli embassy in Ottawa and on Toronto synagogues. "They want to kill as many people as they can,...

VICTORVILLE — Sheriff's deputies arrested a physician after he lost patience with a patient's husband, punched him and threw a chair at him, sheriff's officials announced Wednesday. The victim received first aid from the injuries at the physicians office, officials said. Sukalpa John Dutta, 36, was booked into jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, according to San Bernardino County sheriff's officials from the Victorville station. San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies came to the 12600 block of Hesperia Road at 4:37 p.m. after receiving a report of the attack. Deputies said the victim was with his wife whose...

Firefighters in Malmö in southern Sweden are demanding police escorts on calls. The firefighters have had enough of threats and violence in some of the city's rougher areas. After being attacked by stones on a recent call, they are threatening not to take calls to Rosengård without a police escort. They are also demanding shatterproof windows and surveillance cameras on their vehicles. Bertil Ahlgren, a spokesman at Jägersros fire station where two of the men worked, told TT that their work situation was "completely unacceptable". The firemen were attacked twice last week during calls in the city's Rosengård suburb. In...

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatened Sunday to send Afghan troops across the border to fight militants in Pakistan, a forceful warning to insurgents and the Pakistani government that his country is fed up with cross-border attacks. Karzai said Afghanistan has the right to self defense, and because militants cross over from Pakistan "to come and kill Afghan and kill coalition troops, it exactly gives us the right to do the same." Speaking at a Sunday news conference, Karzai warned Pakistan-based Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud that Afghan forces would target him on his home turf. Mehsud is suspected...

Hi everyone, I'm just wondering if anyone had this experience before. I wrote a column about the proof of the existence of a Divine Creator (see http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2029192/posts ) and am now getting google stalked by an Atheist Group in Austin, in addition to phone calls and emails. I'm not going to stop saying/writing what I believe or stop speaking out against these tactics, but was wondering if anyone here had experience and knows what to do about google, etc. I know some of us may disagree on the issues, but I don't think there's much debate about these tactics. The...

Palestinian Authority Arabs started off the day by attacking Israelis in various locations around the country from the wee hours of Monday morning. In northern Gaza, terrorists attacked IDF soldiers as they carried out routine counterterrorism operations. The attackers fired anti-tank missiles and automatic weapons in the exchange, but no soldiers were injured. In the Samaria region, PA Arabs pelted an Egged bus near the Samarian town of Hizme. The bus was damaged but no injuries were reported. A few hours earlier, an Egged bus was hit by a barrage of rocks hurled by Arabs from inside a schoolyard as...

Computer hackers in China, including those working on behalf of the Chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of U.S. companies and government agencies, stolen proprietary information from American executives in advance of their business meetings in China, and, in a few cases, gained access to electric power plants in the United States, possibly triggering two recent and widespread blackouts in Florida and the Northeast, according to U.S. government officials and computer-security experts. One prominent expert told National Journal he believes that China’s People’s Liberation Army played a role in the power outages. Tim Bennett, the...

Zimbabwe farm invasions and attacks spread By Sebastien Berger Southern Africa Correspondent Last Updated: 2:01PM BST 01/05/2008 Zimbabwe's farm invasions are spreading to the western half of the country, with a white landowner attacked and shot at north of Bulawayo. The assault on Wayne Munro happened only a few miles from where Martin Olds, the first farmer murdered when Robert Mugabe first unleashed the mobs in 2000, was killed. Mr Munro and his family, including his bed-ridden grandfather, are under siege from around 200 so-called “war veterans” at his property in Nyamandhlovu. He was confronted in his office by a...

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces stepped deeper Friday into the Iraqi government's fight to cripple Shiite militias, launching airstrikes in the southern city of Basra and firing a Hellfire missile in the main Shiite stronghold in Baghdad. The American support occurred as Iraqi troops struggled against strong resistance in Basra and retaliation elsewhere in Shiite areas — including more salvos of rockets or mortars into the U.S.-protected Green Zone in Baghdad. It was the first time American jets have been called to attack militia positions since Iraqi ground forces launched an operation Tuesday to clear Basra of the armed groups that...

My window panes rattled again Wednesday morning. That told me two things: Another mortar attack was under way and the mood in the Green Zone was about to change quickly. ADVERTISEMENT Joggers disappear from the streets. People normally walking around in T-shirts and jeans toss on body armor and helmets. Any plans to leave your compound are abruptly canceled. Nerves become strained. E-mails zip between Green Zone pals, asking if anyone was hurt. The war — usually fought on the other side of the 15-foot concrete blast walls — is falling again on Baghdad's famous fortified oasis that includes the...

Spitzer's sex scandal supplants sedition Posted: March 14, 20081:00 am Eastern © 2008  Portland, Ore.Denver, Colo.St. Louis, Mo.Washington, D.C.Toledo, Ohio.Ithaca, N.Y.Milwaukee, Wis.The list is endless.Red state, blue state, it doesn't matter anymore. What the hell is going on?Attacks on military recruiting centers are taking place all across the United States, and many of our leaders in law enforcement and government don't realize the size and scope of this violent and hateful campaign against our troops here at home. This isn't just an isolated incident in Berkeley, Calif., where everybody knows that there is a fierce anti-war sentiment.You probably also know about...

Iraqi officials say Iranian forces have fired artillery at several northwestern Iraqi villages suspected of harboring Kurdish rebel bases. The officials say Iran's military shelled the villages in Iraq's Sulaimaniyah province near the Iranian border for about an hour Thursday. No injuries were reported, but the officials say villagers in the region were terrified. Iran has not confirmed the artillery strike. Iraqi officials say Iranian forces appeared to be targeting bases of Kurdish militant group PJAK (the Party for Freedom and Life in Kurdistan). Iran blames the separatists for deadly attacks in northwestern Iran. Iranian officials say security forces killed...

At least 33 pilots in Canada, including some flying large commercial airliners, have complained about being flashed in the eyes by bright lights that could be lasers, officials said on Thursday. Canada's transport ministry said it is probing the complaints, which started in 2005, and had handed most of them over to the police. "All we know is that a bright light was shone into the cockpit. We don't know if it is in fact a laser and that's why when these reports happen, an investigation is started," said ministry spokeswoman Kirsten Goodnough.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2008 – The U.S Embassy in Baghdad and Multinational Force Iraq today strongly condemned al Qaeda’s attacks on Iraqi citizens making their way to Karbala for a Shiite holy festival yesterday. A suicide bomber struck near Iskandariyah, killing 40 and injuring 60, according to initial reports from local officials. Hours earlier, a suicide-bomb attack in southern Baghdad killed three and wounded 36 others, according to other news sources. The violence reflects the nature of an enemy who will target even those practicing their religion in an effort to reignite sectarian strife in Iraq, the statement said. “Yesterday’s...

Attacks on firefighters rising, says union Firefighters are being subjected to an increasing number of violent attacks despite Government claims to the contrary, new figures show. The FBU wants better protection for fire crews Crews are regularly being spat on and pelted with bricks, bottles, burning wood and stones as they try to save lives across England and Wales. The Fire Brigades Union has revealed that assaults increased by 15 per cent last year, although government statistics show a fall of 68 per cent. Figures obtained by the union under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the number of attacks...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2008 – Attacks have dropped in Baghdad to levels seen in 2005, a senior commander in Iraq said today. Coalition forces also are finding and clearing more bombs than they have in the past four years, Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, chief of staff of Multinational Corps Iraq, told reporters in the Pentagon via satellite from Camp Liberty, in Baghdad. This comes on the heels of the new year’s offensive, Operation Phantom Phoenix, aimed at driving al Qaeda and other extremists from safe havens in outlying provinces. In the past week of operations, the overall number of...

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Suspected Islamic extremists arrested last week in Barcelona were planning al Qaeda-style attacks in Spain, Germany, France, Britain and Portugal, according to an informant who "infiltrated" the group, Spain's El Pais newspaper reports. "If we attack the metro [subway system in Barcelona], the emergency services can't get there," one of the suspected suicide bombers told the informant, El Pais reported on Saturday. "Our preference is public transport, especially the metro." El Pais reported that it had access to the informant's testimony to Spanish officials. CNN has confirmed that authorities have given high importance to an informant's...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The Pakistani military pounded an extremist stronghold Sunday near the Afghan border where a rebel leader blamed for the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is believed to be hiding, officials and witnesses said. The strikes came after authorities said Saturday they had arrested a 15-year-old boy in northwestern Pakistan alleged to have been involved in the Dec. 27 slaying of Bhutto, an opposition leader critical of rising Islamic extremism in the country. The central government has never had much control over South Waziristan, a tribal area where several top militants are believed to live. They...

Calcium tablets 'raise risk of heart attacks' By Nic Fleming, Medical Correspondent Last Updated: 2:28am GMT 16/01/2008 Calcium supplements taken by about a million women could increase their risk of suffering heart attacks and strokes, scientists said yesterday. Researchers found that women aged 55 and over who took the tablets to combat osteoporosis were almost 50 per cent more likely to have a heart attack than those given placebos. Their chances of having a stroke during the five years of the study were elevated by more than a third. Three million people in Britain suffer from osteoporosis, with one in...

KABUL, Afghanistan - A Taliban spokesman warned Tuesday that militants would increase attacks against restaurants in Kabul frequented by Westerners, a day after eight people died in a brazen assault on a luxury hotel in the Afghan capital. Afghan officials said they had arrested four men following Monday's assault on the Serena Hotel a heavily guarded and high-profile property frequented by Western workers and officials. Among those detained was one of the attackers disguised in a police uniform. "We will target all these restaurants in Kabul where foreigners are eating," Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told The Associated Press by...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 2007 – The decrease in violence seen in Baghdad’s northern and western outskirts has created a sense of stability and fueled economic activity that Iraqis view as a presage to the return of normalcy, a U.S. commander posted in Iraq told Pentagon reporters today. “From a security perspective, there has been significant progress,” Army Col. Paul E. Funk, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, told reporters during a satellite-carried news conference. The 4,000-soldier-strong 1st Brigade has been responsible for security issues in areas north and west of Baghdad since December 2006, Funk said,...

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - A top American general said Sunday that attacks along the Afghan-Pakistan border have dropped more than 40 percent since July and the U.S. and its allies are making progress in the fight against the Taliban. Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel said the decrease in insurgent activity along the border could be attributed to the onset of winter, a rise in insurgent attacks in Pakistan and an increase in communication and coordination among NATO, Afghan and Pakistani forces. Recent media and analysts' reports have said the international mission is not succeeding and Afghanistan is becoming increasingly unstable. This year...

Two men accused of plotting behind prison walls to launch attacks on military sites, synagogues and other targets in 2005 pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to wage war against the United States. Washington, Patterson and Samana — who attended the same Inglewood mosque — are accused of conducting surveillance of military sites, synagogues, the Israeli Consulate and El Al airline facilities in the region, as well as doing Internet research on Jewish holidays, prosecutors said in 2005.

I do love Red-on-Red violence, but this is beginning to border on outright Democrat Racism, and the MSM won't cover it, that's for sure... The fact that the average Democrat Voter can be swayed by someone like Oprah is scary enough, but the war room machine that is about to be released on "O" is downright FRIGHTENING... Already we have Drudge headlining Andrew Young's comments that "Bill is every bit as black as Barack" and "He's probably gone with more black women than Barack" Young went on to say that Obama needs a protective network that he currently lacks -...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2007 – Initiatives taken in Iraq over the past 11 months have reduced improvised-explosive-device attacks dramatically and sent the enemy scrambling, Multinational Corps Iraq’s deputy commander for support told reporters in Baghdad today. (Video) Army Maj. Gen. James E. Simmons pointed to a dramatic drop in IED “events” -- explosions or identifications. In March, 3,239 IED incidents were reported, with 1,641 of them exploding and 1,489 identified and cleared. In October, that number was down almost 50 percent. Of 1,560 IED events, 763 exploded and 767 were cleared. “IED attacks and corresponding casualties for coalition forces,...

So, Kathleen Willey writes a book about how she was attacked by the Clinton machine when she was forced to testify about his sexual predatory behavior. I put up a post about it, with (what I thought was) a link to an interview of her. A commenter (anonymous, other than a first name) shows up and implies that she's lying about her book manuscript being stolen (i.e., slandering her and besmirching her character). I challenged the commenter to go actually follow the link, and read the interview. (S)he said that (s)he had done both. Funny thing, though. It turns out...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2007 – Improvised-explosive-device, mortar and rocket attacks have declined by 50 percent since the height of the troop surge in April, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said today. Related to this dramatic decrease is a rise in the number of weapons caches uncovered by coalition forces, Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith told reporters during a news conference in Baghdad. “In April, when the majority of the surge forces had arrived in Iraq, the number of caches found spiked considerably, and in the ensuing months we’ve seen a steady increase,” Smith said of the 20,000 troop increase...

Help! The left wing, religion hating website "Sadly, No!" is currently 3 votes away from taking the lead in the Funniest Blog category of the Weblog 2007 weblog awards voting. A fellow Freeper runs the DUmmie Funnies blog that makes fun of the left wing site, Democratic Underground, and he is currently in the lead. Each have about 2300 votes at this time. Sadly, No! will likely take the lead as I type this. Please vote HERE for the DUmmie FUnnies as the FUnniest Blog on the Web or click on the above "Source" link under the title to vote....

DOUGLAS — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said the alleged drug smuggler shot by an officer on Thursday belongs to a drug trafficking organization that has resorted to ramming law enforcement vehicles a total of three times in four days in order to escape apprehension in the Douglas area. An ICE officer shot Ramon Davalos-Lopez, 41, on Thursday because he was driving a stolen pickup truck in a manner that was endangering the lives of law enforcement officials pursuing him, said Carol Capas, spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office. Vincent Picard, public affairs officer for ICE, said a...

BAGHDAD — If the people in the Adhamiyah District’s Abu Hanifa Market hadn’t already heard about the afternoon’s grenade attack on a U.S. Soldier, they heard about it when Lt. Col. Jeff Broadwater showed up. “Who threw the grenade!?” Broadwater shouted, stalking from shop to shop as an Apache gunship circled overhead. “Where are they? Show me where they are and I will take them out of here!” Not half an hour before, a Soldier from Broadwater’s unit, the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, had been wounded by a grenade thrown at his patrol. Now, in response, Broadwater was bringing...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2007 – Air cavalry helicopter pilots have had to change their tactics to adapt to newer and higher-tech surface-to-air missile systems that officials believe are coming in from Iran, a senior official in Iraq said today. Crews from 1st Air Cavalry Brigade out of Camp Taji, Iraq, have flown support for operations in and around Baghdad for more than a year. Since their arrival, there has been an increase in the sophistication of attacks and types of weapons, Army Col. Daniel J. Shanahan said in a conference call with military analysts. “In the last several months,...

Who needs to wait for another hyped-up "War on Christmas?" It's only mid-October. And we're already in the thick of a breathless national "Assault on Halloween." Consider yourself warned, you precious little trick-or-treaters, you toilet-paper-tossing miscreants: Two weeks before the greatest kids' holiday of the year, a bunch of nay-saying grownups are hell-bent on spoiling the fun. Apparently, every major holiday has to be a major controversy now!

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese military intelligence officials have detained members of a suspected "terrorist network" for plotting attacks against U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, the army said Monday. The group had planted a bomb near the southern city of Tyre in an attempt to target a U.N. patrol, but it did not explode because of a problem with the trigger, the army said in a statement. The suspects also admitted they planned to plant two other bombs in the area and detonate them within a short period "in order to cause maximum casualties among the forces," the statement said. Two...

A snapshot in time of anything can't tell the whole story or firmly establish things like patterns. Yet they can give an indication of what is happening. Reuters offers a daily round-up of news from Iraq, much if not most of which doesn't get much coverage. Here is October 6:

Here's a link to Part one of Glenn Beck's special "The Perfect Day" that's going on this week. This video shows us a terrible scenario that we *must* guard against and presents evidence that plans *are* in the works to bring Beslan to America.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2007 – On the sixth anniversary of al Qaeda’s attacks on U.S. soil, White House officials released a “fact sheet” that takes stock of actions the United States and other nations have taken to confront the terrorist threat. The document, posted on the White House Web site and distributed to media outlets, notes the sacrifices of the attacks’ victims and responders and pays tribute to the armed forces, the law enforcement and intelligence communities, “and the thousands of others at the local, State, and Federal levels who protect our country, secure our liberty, and work to...

French government officials say they are now the fourth victim of cyberattacks originating from China, saying the attacks are similar to those reported by other countries. In the past three weeks, government officials in Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom have claimed that cyberattacks on government systems have originated from China. Chinese officials have denied they are behind the attacks. French officials were careful not to implicate the Chinese government as the source of the attacks.

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq - Senior leaders with the Multi-National Division - Baghdad reported that criminal militia have conducted 11 attacks in Baghdad since Aug. 30. Among the 11 attacks attributed to criminal militia members are 107mm rocket attacks impacting Coalition outposts and residential Baghdad neighborhoods, small arms attacks, the use of the deadly explosively-formed projectiles and one complex attack requiring detailed coordination and planning. "Many citizens are concerned with their criminal activities," Brig. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, the deputy commanding general for support of MND-B and the 1st Cavalry Division told a gathering of Iraqi media in the International Zone...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2007 – Recent strides in Iraq’s economic development, including the reopening of a flour mill last week, are occurring as Iraqi and coalition forces disrupt al Qaeda and other terrorist elements, a senior military spokesman in Iraq said today. “Local production of flour in a previously dormant mill is a small but meaningful step in Baqubah that demonstrates that as al Qaeda in Iraq is driven out, economic growth emerges,” Navy Rear Adm. Mark I. Fox, deputy spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said at a news conference. The flour mill in Baqubah, closed for nearly a year,...

Rocket attacks on Basra airbase increase By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent Last Updated: 2:41am BST 20/08/2007 Rocket attacks on British troops sheltering at the airbase in Basra have "ramped up considerably" with more than 450 raining down in the last three months, officers said. The 4,000 service personnel and thousands of civilian employees are becoming increasingly anxious at the upsurge in attacks. Riflemen from the Royal Green Jackets in Basrah One officer said that in tented accommodation all people can do is put on their body armour and helmets and "pray" they are not hit. In the last three months...

Mitt Romney's camp has been tracking all the DNC releases during the course of the cycle -- and is just tickled that they're the numero uno target of the House that Terry Built. In fact, the Romney research dept. has been keeping a chart handy, which they've shared. UPDATE: A rival campaign points out that perhaps the reason why the Dems have attacked Romney so much is because his evolution on issues has created so much fodder.

Pakistan militants step up bomb attacks By Isambard Wilkinson in Matta Last Updated: 1:58am BST 20/07/2007 The aftermath of yesterday’s car bomb attack in the Pakistani town of Hub, near Karachi, which killed 29 people, including seven police officers Suspected Islamic militants exploded three bombs in Pakistan yesterday, killing at least 52 people in the most serious violence since the siege at Islamabad's Red Mosque. In the deadliest attack, seven police officers and 22 bystanders were killed in the town of Hub, near Karachi, when a moving car blew up next to a police vehicle protecting a convoy of Chinese...

Muslim group 'backing' Army attacks faces ban By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor Last Updated: 2:13am BST 06/07/2007 A radical Muslim group was again threatened with a ban yesterday after one of its leaders defended terrorist attacks on British armed forces overseas. Taji Mustapha, a spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir, pledged "support" for attacks on British soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I will stand up and support the right of people whose land is occupied to defend themselves," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) was threatened with proscription by Tony Blair two years ago. The pledge was...

LONDON (AFP) - Britain's main umbrella group of Muslim organisations on Tuesday strongly condemned the three failed car bomb attacks here, calling for cross-community efforts to tackle the extremist threat. "Those who seek to deliberately kill or maim innocent people are the enemies of us all," said Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the moderate Muslim Council of Britain. Speaking at a news conference at the MCB's east London headquarters, Bari said there was "no cause whatsoever" to justify the attempted bomb attacks in central London early Friday and at Glasgow airport on Saturday afternoon. "Those who engage in such...

LONDON - Gordon Brown doesn't do charisma. In contrast to Tony Blair, the new British leader has offered no emotive sound bites, no promises of tough new laws and no talk of a "war on terror" since the failed attacks in London and Glasgow. The stern Scot's few public statements have been somber, measured and brief. Many Britons welcome the change, saying the lower-key approach may better reassure a rattled nation and prevent racial tensions from exploding. "We need to be calm about it," said Duncan Walls, 64, a retired lawyer walking through a London on "critical" terror alert after...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iranian operatives are training fighters in Iraq and helping to plan attacks there despite diplomatic pressure on Tehran to halt such interference, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. The latest accusation leveled against Iran by the U.S. military followed rare diplomatic talks in Baghdad last month between the two old adversaries to discuss Washington's concerns in Iraq. "There absolutely is evidence of Iranian operatives holding weapons, training fighters, providing resources, helping plan operations, resourcing secret cells that is destabilizing Iraq," said military spokesman Brigadier-General Kevin Bergner. "We would like very much to see some action on their part...

McCain's Obsession posted by: jason | posted at: 6:58 AM | permalink here McCain seems to be literally obsessed with Romney. I guess it's that whole dying gasp thing. First he was going to open www.mittvstruth.com, then he was thinking about it, now it's definitely off the table. Now he is in Massachusetts taking pot shots at Romney, all the while sinking himself into presidential obscurity: BOSTON - Sen. John McCain said Monday he hopes to take advantage of former Gov. Mitt Romney's sagging support at home and lead a resurgence of the Republican Party in the northeast during...

Mitt Romney responds to the personal attacks that have been made on him. It's a fantastic answer, IMHO. Check it out. View the video here.

Patrick Ruffini: Why then attack Romney this early? The easy answer is desperation. But I also think that their passions have gotten the better of them. They’re on autopilot, and like Sunni and Shi’a, can’t imagine not fighting the other guys. Ambinder: Contradiction? I wrote about Romney's conversion for National Journal and came away with the impression that the Harvard incident began the process, rather than ended it -- that it took time before Romney fully came to realize that the pro-life position was correct. Also, Romney has always claimed that, even after his personal revelation, he never went...