Free Republic

BAGHDAD — Over the past three decades, Hadi al-Amiri has gone from being a guerrilla fighting on behalf of Iran against his home country, Iraq; to notorious militia leader accused of running "death squads"; to parliament member in Baghdad, where he has emerged as a key player in the fight against the Islamic State (IS). “The Iraqi people, they love bravery,” Amiri said, by way of explaining his newfound influence. -excerpt- Amiri is the leader of the Badr Organization, a Shiite militia infamous during Iraq's civil war for its brutal tactics, which has now transformed into a political party that...

-excerpt- On September 15, roughly one month before Obama’s October letter, Khamenei openly dismissed the U.S.-led coalition’s efforts to fight the Islamic State as “empty” and “biased.” Khamenei explained, “I said we do not work with the Americans as they have evil intentions and stained hands. How is it possible to cooperate with Americans under such circumstances?" Iran’s supreme leader said America’s claims about fighting the Islamic State “are lies” and any successes against the group are owed due to the efforts of “the Iraqi people and Army,” not the U.S. or its foreign partners. -excerpt- Obama and his surrogates...

U.S. citizens Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller have been released from North Korea, where they were detained for two years and seven months, respectively, the U.S. State Department announced Saturday.

A WBUR video created in honor of "Car Talk's" 35th anniversary, in 2012. Posted for fans, in memory of Tom

Vowels to Bosnia ask and you shall receive... Cities of Sjlbvdnzv, Grzny to Be First Recipients Before an emergency joint session of Congress yesterday, President Clinton announced US plans to deploy over 75,000 vowels to the war-torn region of Bosnia. The deployment, the largest of its kind in American history, will provide the region with the critically needed letters A,E,I,O,U, and Y, and is hoped to render countless Bosnian words more pronounceable. "For six years, we have stood by while names like Ygrjvslhv and Tzlynhrand Glrm have been horribly butchered by millions around the world,"Clinton said. "Today, the United States...

Ottawa Canada – Since the terrorist attack in Canada that took the life of CPL. Nathan Cirillo, a guy in a Marine uniform sporting five Purple Hearts has been guarding the Canadian National War memorial. The below interview was done with him, and we began getting emails and wall posts from everyone wanting to know if he was really a Marine. He goes by the name of Major “Fox” Sinke, and he stated, Courtesy of Global News: “ “That’s how I see it. So I’m paying tribute to him, as best I can. We are not intimidated. Take your best...

-- Tom Magliozzi, half of the "Click and Clack" team of brothers who hosted NPR's "Car Talk" radio show, died Monday. He was 77. NPR reported the death Monday afternoon. The cause was complications from Alzheimer's disease, the radio network said. In a statement, his brother Ray remembered a jovial partner. "We can be happy he lived the life he wanted to live; goofing off a lot, talking to you guys every week, and primarily, laughing his ass off," he said.

How Sergeant-at-Arms hid behind same pillar as Canada gunman, then dived on the floor and shot him dead: Dramatic new details have emerged of how the hero Sergeant-at-Arms dove onto the floor from behind a pillar and shot the Muslim convert who attacked the Canadian parliament. Kevin Vickers was in his office when he heard masked gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau fire a flurry of bullets while running down the Hall of Honour towards the doors to the Parliamentary Library. He immediately picked up his firearm, left his office and hid behind a pillar just an 'arm's length' from where the shooter...

Jeffrey Fowle, an American arrested in North Korea in May for leaving a bible at his hotel, has been released and is on his way home, a senior State Department official told CNN on Tuesday. An American government plane picked up Fowle on Tuesday before flying to Guam, the official said. Fowle was arrested at the airport earlier this year while trying to leave North Korea.

The Prime Minster is refusing to confirm or deny the terrifying report. According to reports out of the Quebec city of St. Jean sur Richelieu, a man went on a frenzied rampage targeting members of the military after he was heard speaking about the terrorist group Islamic State, also known as ISIS. CJAD reported the man entered a Department of National Defense office late Monday morning and, prior to exiting, spoke to at least one individual inside about the Islamic extremist network. Upon leaving the military office, reports indicate he got into a vehicle and struck two soldiers, critically injuring...

From a globally lauded athlete to convicted killer, Oscar Pistorius' fall from grace culminated Tuesday with a five-year sentence in the shooting death of his girlfriend. The sentence was imposed for the charge of culpable homicide, which in South Africa means a person was killed unintentionally, but unlawfully. Under South African law, he will have to serve at least one-sixth of his sentence -- 10 months -- before he can ask to be considered for parole.

The BBC is adapting John le Carre's novel The Night Manager for a new six-part series. The book, published in 1993, is about a former British soldier who ends up going undercover as part of a sting against a black market weapons dealer. Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston are set to star, according to the Hollywood Reporter, but the BBC said that was just speculation. US networks are also looking to pick up the series, the magazine reported.

-excerpt- On September 9, as reported by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI), seven young Iranians went on trial. Their supposed crime? Producing a dance video of the Pharrell Williams’s pop hit “Happy” and uploading it to YouTube. You might think Iran’s rulers would be pleased at expressions of felicity by their citizens. In Tehran, however, cheerful enthusiasm outside a narrow religious context is illegal. -excerpt- ...(they) were detained on May 19 of this year and held for two days at the Vozara Complex of the Tehran Morality Police, until they posted bail of $10,000-$16,600 each. "While...

Despite the loss of a close ally in outgoing prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) appears ready to move on by offering substantial military support to his successor in Baghdad. As incoming Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi goes about the business of forming a new government, Iran seems intent on expanding direct military assistance to its neighbor. Tehran made a major military commitment to Baghdad while Maliki was still clinging to power, and the political and military steps it has reportedly taken since then indicate determined support for a nascent government that remains dominated by Maliki's...

-excerpt- Al Jazeera reported that the planes are now being held by a group called the Masked Men Brigade who plan to use them in terror attacks. Moroccan military expert Abderrahmane Mekkaoui told Al Jazeera there is "credible intelligence" that the Masked Men Brigade "is plotting to use the planes in attacks on the Maghreb state' on the 9/11 anniversary." A commander for the Libyan Dawn group said earlier this week his forces had entered and been in control of the US Embassy compound in Libya's capital since last week

On June 24, 2012, the body of Shane Todd, a young US electrical engineer, was found hanging in his Singapore apartment. The Singapore Police say it was suicide, but the Todd family believes he was murdered. -excerpt- ... Shane told his family that he was being asked to compromise US security and he feared for his life. Shane refused to do what he was being asked to do and turned in his sixty day notice at IME. Shane found a good job with a company in Virginia, and bought a ticket to fly back to the US on July 1,...

Yemen's president is accusing Iran of provoking current unrest in his country as Shi'ite Houthi rebels advance on the capital Sana'a. -excerpt- He claimed in a statement that Iran was trying to “trade Sana'a for the Syrian capital, Damascus,” a reference to Iranian support for Syria's Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war.

Britain raised its terrorism threat level on Friday to “severe,” the second highest level, in response to possible attacks being planned in Syria and Iraq, Home Secretary Theresa May said. “That means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but there is no intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent,” May said in a statement.

A Tweet from Yasmina Haifi: ISIS heeft niets met Islam te maken ...is vooropgezet plan van zionisten die bewust Islam willen zwart maken Which translated into English means roughly: ISIS has nothing to do with Islam. It's a preconceived plan by Zionists who want to deliberately blacken Islam's name. Who is Yasmina Haifi? She's an official at the Dutch Ministry of Justice who serves as project leader at the Netherlands' National Cyber Security Center. And she thinks Isis is a Zionist plot to make Islam look bad. She could be right. On the other hand, maybe Yasmina Haifi is a...

Abulghasem Salavati, who heads Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, is known as one of Iran’s “hanging judges.” ...an Iranian opposition advocate now living in Norway, described Salavati ordering half a dozen death sentences against protestors in the reformist “Green movement” of 2009. More than 100 participants in the “Green movement” were charged in a mass show trial held in Tehran that year, over which Salavati presided. ... Mohammad Moghiseh, has meanwhile sentenced eight Iranian Facebook users—six men and two women—to a total of 127 years in prison. ... such verdicts “go beyond what Iran’s own laws dictate.”...