Free Republic

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA A new front in the global struggle for Islamist rule is emerging in Africa. And there are worrisome signs that battles between Somalia's rising Union of Islamic Courts (IUC) and the country's foundering Western-backed government might soon engulf the entire Horn of Africa in a regional war. Last week, the UN Security Council voted to send peacekeeping forces to Somalia, a move the Islamists say would be met with holy war. But neighboring Ethiopia isn't waiting for the UN. As the Islamists continue to take town after town away from Somalia's transitional government, and to march closer...

Polish Troops Find New French Missiles in Iraq Fri October 3, 2003 03:54 PM ET By Pawel Kozlowski WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish troops in Iraq have found four French-built advanced anti-aircraft missiles which were built this year, a Polish Defense Ministry spokesman told Reuters Friday. France strongly denied having sold any such missiles to Iraq for nearly two decades, and said it was impossible that its newest missiles should turn up in Iraq. "Polish troops discovered an ammunition depot on Sept. 29 near the region of Hilla and there were four French-made Roland-type missiles," Defense Ministry spokesman Eugeniusz Mleczak said....

Here it is: Enduring Freedom Video

Marine Corps Times October 7, 2002 Pg. 8 Parachute Sabotage Reserve equipment saves 3 Marines; lines were cut on more than 12 chutes By C. Mark Brinkley, Times staff writer CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — More than a dozen Marine parachutes were sabotaged and rigged to fail, investigators believe, a plot that three Marines discovered as they were falling from the sky. Marine investigators and agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service now are on a manhunt for the possible saboteur, who allegedly cut suspension lines on more than a dozen prepacked parachutes stored in II Marine Expeditionary Force warehouses. It...

North County (CA) Times August 18, 2002 Marine Officials Weigh Heroism Award In Fatal Helicopter Crash By Gidget Fuentes, Staff Writer MIRAMAR -- With black smoke rising from the battered fuselage of his helicopter, Marine Capt. Douglas V. Glasgow climbed out of his seat, carried his co-pilot from the crushed cockpit and searched for survivors among his Miramar Marine Corps Air Station-based crew. The growing fire was already exploding machine gun rounds around him. Marine Corps officials are reviewing the pilot's actions in the fiery chaos of that early Jan. 20 morning on a 9,500-foot mountain in Afghanistan in weighing...

Chaplains feel stand justified DAILY NEWS STAFF “Tyranny in the guise of tolerance” is how New River Air Station Navy chaplain Gary Stewart describes the Navy Chaplain Corps. The lieutenant commander came to believe that after he was temporarily relieved of his chaplain duties at the Great Lakes, Ill., training base. Stewart said the reprieve was based on the way he said a prayer in his own worship service. “Our motto is cooperation without compromise, but I was told to compromise or I’d never see another promotion,” Stewart said. Stewart is among current and former Navy chaplains nationwide who claim...

San Bernardino County Sun August 6, 2002 Marine Combat Exercise 'Disneyland For Grunts' Modern warfare simulated at Victorville airport By Vince Lovato, Staff Writer VICTORVILLE … Three desperate Marines were pinned down against a brick wall that was once the patio of a house as enemy fire buzzed inches above their heads. They had been fighting house-to-house, street-to-street in 90-degree heat for hours, terminating enemies and liberating civilians. But now, they were caught in a crossfire. As one Marine sprayed cover fire, another threw a smoldering canister into the street near an overturned car. After a few seconds, the war-torn...

Honolulu Advertiser July 24, 2002 Navy To Land 'Freddie' In Retirement By William Cole, Advertiser Military Writer The USS Frederick, the Navy's last LST (tank landing ship) and Hawai'i's only amphibious ship, is being decommissioned in October. "That's it — there are no more LSTs," said Navy veteran Milan Gunjak, who served on the beach landing ships from 1943 to 1949. "It's like a battleship. It's the end of an era." The 32-year-old Newport-class ship, which differs from its World War II counterparts in that it doesn't run itself onto the beach, still got close enough to the action with...

<p>When he was promoted to officer rank at eighteen, S. L. A. MARSHALL was the youngest shavetail in the United States Army during World War I. He rejoined the Army in 1942, became a combat historian with the rank of colonel; and the notes he made at the time of the Normandy landing are the source of this heroic reminder. Readers will remember his frank and ennobling book about Korea, THE RIVER AND THE GAUNTLET, which was the result of still a third tour of duty.</p>

1) You read the Constitution once and thought to yourself, "There's got to be a better way." 2) You refer to abortionists as "the brave and saintly Dr. So-and- So." 3) You don't know how much longer you can take this constant harassment from reality. 4) You look forward to the day when you're president and won't have to put up with it anymore. 5) You often wish you were as charismatic as that Bill Bradley fellow. 6) You're trying to be a bad boy and you don't know how. 7) When you're president you plan to make, "No...

16:25 2002-06-03 US SOLDIERS WERE TOLD TO SPECIFICALLY KILL WOMEN AND CHILDREN The stench of decaying flesh hung heavy in the air as soldiers passed blown-up bunkers and caves. As they moved down an L-shaped corridor, the stiffened limbs of a Taliban soldier jutted from beneath piles of rock and dust in the sweltering afternoon air. Ripped-up pages from the Koran, and booklets describing ways to kill Americans, littered the tree-lined valley that had been bombarded by U.S. air strikes before their arrival. These recollections, marking the intensity of every hour of every day felt in combat, typify the memories...

16:56 2002-05-03 1994: NIGHT TANK ATTACK ON THE CITY OF GROZNY. PART I Ex-head of Chechen Nadterechny Region’s administration, ex chairman of Supreme Soviet of Chechen Republic, Umar Avturkhanov tells about his three-year fight against Dudaev’s regime. Question. Umar, seven years ago, by the night attack on Grozny, military actions on Chechen territory were initiated. Answer. Yes, at night on 25th to 26th November, the so-called tank attack broadly advirtized by mass media really took place. Though, as a matter of fact, the situation was different. December 1993, the most active levels of Chechen society who were against general Dudaev’s...

Israel’s Ajax The Tragedy of Mr. Sharon. Sophocles once wrote a magnificent play about the Greeks' greatest fighter at Troy after Achilles — Ajax, as irreplaceable in war as he proved expendable in peace. During the struggle for Troy, the Greeks were often saved by the towering, clumsy "donkey." Without the dash of a youthful, handsome Achilles or the divine dispensation of a crafty Odysseus, Ajax battered down the Trojans — fighting out of a sense of duty, personal honor, and perhaps a sheer love of combat. Yet once the victory was obtained, danger past, and spoils allotted, the more...

New Arab Television Network Takes Aim at al-Jazeera By BSNN.net Middle Eastern Correspondent Ahsure bin Lyin RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA—The Qatar based al-Jazeera network may be the long-established leader in Arabic programming, but they are about to get some competition from a new Islamic network, The Islamic Broadcasting Service, based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and funded by Crown Prince Abdullah. In an exclusive interview with BSNN.net, IBS Spokesman Damdu Ireek revealed network plans to beam Islamic programs to the entire world via satellite. “It will be unlike anything that's ever been seen on television before,” Ireek boasted. “It will enable victims...

Crime, Bribery, Riots, Anti-Semitism: What's Wrong with France? Posted by Serge and Hercule April 9, 2002: French Crime Rates Ignored by Campaigning Politicians French politicians have apparently spent more time recently reading about how the US faked the Pentagon terror attack than they have addressing the one big issue in the upcoming presidential election: crime. From the mass murder of eight people in a town hall meeting a couple of weeks ago (followed by the suicide of the killer who jumped out a jail window even though he was being guarded by two detectives), this past weekend saw a shocking...

In my humble opinion, the Clinton Administration foreign policy turned China into a nation of pissed-off coolies. In my humble opinion, what many people in Vermont call lovemaking, folks in the other forty nine states call “tailgating.” In my humble opinion, in her heart of hearts Hillary Clinton believes that pornography is too good for “the chil’run.” In my humble opinion, I used to think Michael Jackson was trying to find a gender with which he could identify. Now, I believe it’s a species he’s after. In my humble opinion, Doris Kearns Goodwin has finally found out nobody likes a...

Return of the Troll April 2, 2002: Like a bad April Fools joke, Madeleine Albright waddled out from under her stone bridge to tell the Bush Administration how to conduct foreign policy, which is akin to Michael Jackson giving Catholic priests lessons on how to avoid pedophilia. Last night Larry King asked her, "Your thoughts on how this administration and your successor, Colin Powell, is dealing with it [the Mid East]?" "Well, I think that, I hate to be critical," the troll responded as she launched criticism after criticism. Being irrelevant must be so hard. Here are some snippets from...

<p>PRAGUE -- For Petr Lebeda, Easter just isn't the same if he doesn't get to whip a few women.</p> <p>The day after Easter, Mr. Lebeda and hordes of other men and boys across the Czech Republic will be chasing female relatives and friends with willow sticks. After a few thwacks across the legs, their victims may be doused in cheap perfume or dragged under a cold shower. Not even grandmothers are immune.</p>

Gone With the War? Ideas whose time has passed. By Victor Davis Hanson, author most recently of Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power. February 1, 2002 8:20 a.m. Over the last few months we have heard a litany of politically correct lamentations: The orcs were too predictably dark in Lord of the Rings, fiction which employed a "good" North and West against an "evil" East and South. The Somalians of Black Hawk Down were all black, their American opponents nearly all white. The photo of the three white firemen at Ground Zero should be transmogrified,...

Driver's Ed Class Finally Gets To See Legendary Safety Film NEW BEDFORD, MA— After months of eager anticipation, the second-period driver's-education class at Lincoln Memorial High School finally got to see the legendary highway safety film Wheels Of Tragedy Monday. "Both my older brothers saw [Wheels Of Tragedy] when they took the class, so I knew I was probably gonna get to see it," sophomore Kevin Younkers said. "Mr. Fait held out for two months, though. He made us finish the entire workbook before showing it." Purchased by the school in 1973, Wheels combines grisly footage of actual car wrecks...