Free Republic

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a convenient way of measuring and comparing the size of national economies. Annual GDP represents the market value of all goods and services produced within a country in a year. Put differently: GDP = consumption + investment + government spending + (exports – imports) Although the economies of countries like China and India are growing at an incredible rate, the US remains the nation with the highest GDP in the world – and by far: US GDP is projected to be $13,22 trillion (or $13.220 billion) in 2007, according to this source. That’s almost as...

Shortly before landing, Bob Hayden and a flight attendant had agreed on a signal: When she waved the plastic handcuffs, he would discreetly leave his seat and restrain an unruly passenger who had frightened some of the 150 people on board a Minneapolis-to-Boston flight Saturday night with erratic behavior. Hayden, a 65-year-old former police commander, had enlisted a gray-haired gentleman sitting next to him to assist. The man turned out to be a former US Marine. "I had looked around the plane for help, and all the younger guys had averted their eyes. When I asked the guy next to...

For those who didn't have the pleasure of spending dsome time with the Democrats over at the DU tonight I've posted three comments that you may find interesting. There were tons that I could have selected but these captured the essence of their message boards tonight. The pathology is amazing. Our resident shrinks will probably have a field day with these. :^) I hope the mods don't mind this post. I just thought the "enemy's" comments were very insightful.

LBT -=-=-

This article appeared in Military Review June-July 1997 Introduction As the 20th Century draws to a close, military theorists and planners, in and out of uniform, are considering the implications that changes in the global security environment have for future conflict and war. The certainties of the Cold War have been replaced by a number of indeterminate, indistinct threats. As Desert Storm proved, the US military remains prepared to defeat large conventional forces, but is it ready to tackle those obscure dangers looming on the horizon? Consider the recent comments of the Marine Corps Commandant: "future war is most likely...

Iraqi teen turned in his father, faces dangerous future By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS The Associated Press 6/14/04 9:18 AM The Wall Street Journal HUSAYBAH, Iraq -- One day in December, a smooth-chinned 14-year-old approached American soldiers at a checkpoint here and asked surreptitiously to be arrested. He told the soldiers that his father, an Iraqi Army officer under Saddam Hussein, led a 40-man cell of insurgents, and he agreed to show the troops where to find the men and their weapons. The soldiers put a sack over the teen's head, loosely cuffed his hands and led him away to a...

An unidentified US Marine from Charlie 1/1 of the 15th MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) carries empty sand bags to the position of a light mortar company on the front lines of the US Marine Corps base in southern Afghanistan December 1, 2001 near a collection of cardboard signs that marines posted. The signs proclaim the name of the unit's base as "Camp Justice" and is located on the perimiter of the Marines base. REUTERS/Jim Hollander

Next Up: Iraq The look of the next step. n October 29, Saddam Hussein launched an initiative to rid the world of the burden and danger of weapons of mass destruction, starting with the United States and Israel. Well, nice try. Meanwhile, in a statement last Monday, President Bush made it clear that states such as Iraq that are developing weapons of mass destruction with the intention of using them to terrorize the world would be held accountable. "Terrorism is terrorism," he stated. Nice to have a guy around who does know the meaning of the word is. The ...

Special Dispatch 302: Terror in America (27) - Kuwaiti Columnist on Arab Political Culture Kuwaiti university professor Ahmad Al-Baghdadi recently wrote an article titled "Sharon is a Terrorist. And You?" which first appeared in the Kuwaiti paper Al-Anbaa and was later picked up by the Egyptian weekly Akhbar Al-Youm(1). The article attacked the Arab press for focusing on Israel's actions but disregarding what was being done by Arab rulers to their own people. Al-Baghdadi is best known for his October 1999 one month prison sentence for defaming Islam in an article which claimed that the Prophet Muhammad had failed to ...

Rabbani says he has 'no personal ambitions' AFP London, November 24 Anti-Taliban Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani has said in a newspaper interview here on Saturday he had "no personal ambitions," seen by the Daily Telegraph as a clear willingness to relinquish his position. "As far as my future is concerned, the people will determine the role of every concerned personality. I will accept the decision of the (Bonn) meeting. I have no personal ambitions," he told the paper. Next Tuesday will see the start of multi-party talks near Bonn on the future of Afghanistan. The Bonn conference aims to bring ...