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WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2006 – The war on terror has been a fight unlike any the United States ever has experienced, but the country has proven its resolve and will continue to do so as it faces the challenges that lie ahead, Vice President Dick Cheney said today at the Heritage Foundation here. "The United States will keep our commitment," Cheney said. "We will continue the work of reconstruction; our forces will keep going after the terrorists; we will continue training the Iraqi military so that Iraqis can eventually take the lead in their country's security and our men and...

12/16/2005 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Moving supplies across Iraq can be a daunting task, but it is one more than 150 Airmen of Detachment 2632 have come together to do each day. These 732nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron “in-lieu-of” forces assist the Army's 181st Transportation Battalion run convoy missions primarily to forward operating locations throughout Iraq. Det. 2632 is not their official Air Force name. They inherited it from the 2632nd Transportation Company, a California Army National Guard unit from which the Air Force picked up the mission. The Airmen, representing nine specialty codes, have varying experience...

ABOARD USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (NNS) -- Aircraft assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 stationed aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) continued support of Operation Steel Curtain (OSC) throughout the second week of November, conducting five consecutive days of strikes against terrorist targets in support of coalition troops in Iraq. The missions flown during OSC demonstrate the quickness and flexibility of CVW 8 and the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TRCSG) to provide continuous support on both land and sea. “Carrier Air Wing 8 continues to demonstrate that we can deliver a knock-out punch in support of coalition troops on...

KEY WEST, Fla. (NNS) -- Key West service members and their families returned to the island Oct. 30 after a weeklong evacuation from Hurricane Wilma. Upon their return, they discovered an air station invaded not only by the sea, but a surge of Navy support hard at work to bring Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West air operations and family life back to full mission capability. “Military careers are full of challenges but no challenge is greater than the one Mother Nature threw our way with Hurricane Wilma,” said NAS Key West Commanding Officer Capt. James Scholl. “It’s going to...

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (AP) - Defending his special election before an audience of voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday said his "year of reform" ballot initiatives are crucial to continue the changes he started after taking office two years ago. He cast the Nov. 8 election as the next step of the 2003 recall election that propelled him to office. Voters, he said, sent him to Sacramento to rebuild the state's economy and fix a moribund political system. After 400,000 new jobs and billions in new revenue, it was time for him to enter Act II, he said. "Now is...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2005 – Elements of the Texas National Guard continue supporting relief efforts for areas affected by Hurricane Rita, and Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio, has been providing essential support, military officials reported. The Texas National Guard is placing fuel-distribution sites in the Texas towns of Beaumont and Lufkin today. The National Guard will be used to supply fuel to state and local emergency vehicles and facilities in the areas affected by Hurricane Rita. After establishing the stationary fuel supplies, Guard units will provide unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel on heavyweight flatbed trucks. Each truck can transport...

ELLINGTON FIELD, Texas -- More than 100 tons of relief supplies have left this airfield for hurricane-affected Gulf Coast areas via CH-47 Chinook helicopters since Sept. 24. The airfield, which is the central hub for Texas relief operations, is home to the 147th Fighter Wing and its fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcon jets. Wing leaders asked the 136th Airlift Wing at Fort Worth, Texas, to support operations. The Fort Worth wing’s tanker airlift control element has been controlling the airflow to and from the airfield since it opened the day Hurricane Rita passed. And the 136th Aerial Port Squadron has...

NEW ORLEANS (Sept. 11, 2005) -- The empty silence of a decimated New Orleans street is broken by the call of an infantryman, "United States Marines. Is anyone in there?" For the past six days, Marines from B Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, have been conducting search-and-rescue patrols with the help of Assault Amphibian Vehicles from 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion. Since their arrival here Sept. 5 as part of Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force St. Bernard, the Marines of 1/8 and 4th Tracks have rescued 78 residents of New Orleans' hardest-hit areas. "We provide a unique capability to...

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFPN) -- In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Air Mobility Command has moved thousands of military support people, civilian emergency responders and evacuees, and has delivered tons of emergency equipment and supplies supporting relief operations. To handle the increased air mobility operations into and out of the hurricane relief area, AMC has deployed three contingency response group elements to the region, each tailored to meet the needs of air mobility operations at several airfields in the Southern United States. CRGs are able to rapidly assess, open and sustain air mobility operations. Forty-six Airmen from the...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A shadowy Hamas bombmaker who tops Israel's most-wanted list on Saturday issued his first videotaped statement since going into hiding more than a decade ago. Mohammed Deif praised Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a victory for armed resistance, rejected calls for his group to disarm, and vowed to continue attacks on Israel until the Jewish state is erased from the map. Deif, who has escaped three Israeli attempts to kill him, has been living underground since 1992. He is so shadowy that the most recent photograph of him is from the 1980s.

A small bomb attached to a car exploded in Jerusalem this morning, but failed to injure anyone. Secuity forces do not yet know the motive for the attack. The bomb went off before sunrise in the Ramot neighborhood in northern Jerusalem, damaging three other cars nearby. Ramot is adjacent to several of the capital's Arab neighborhoods, but police are still exploring the possibility that the attack may have been criminally motivated. Also this morning, IDF troops caught three PA Arabs near Kibbutz Kfar Aza trying to break through the fence between Gaza and pre-1967 Israel. The IDF troops opened fire...

(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ariel Sharon responded this afternoon to the attack near Hevron's Cave of the Patriarchs. Sharon said that Jews will continue to live in Hevron and pray at the Tomb of the Patriarchs. He said the attack was "an attempt to harm Jewish freedom of worship" and that he would stand by every person's right to pray there. He also said that the attack only strengthened Israel's insistence that the PA fight terrorism. The Prime Minister made the statements at the beginning of a Likud faction meeting.

Last week, George W. Bush took the oath of office and began his second term. With 150,000 troops still in Iraq, Iran developing nuclear weapons and new leadership in the Palestinian Authority, the Middle East will continue to dominate White House attention.To what extent will Bush's second term be different from his first? For better or worse, not much.Pundits who keep a scorecard of second-term appointments forget three factors: First, this president remains firm in his views. When he speaks about freedom, liberty and democracy, he is sincere. Second, the rank-and-file of not only the CIA, but also of the...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Harold W. Andersen: Swift-boat questions continue because Kerry refuses to reply BY HAROLD W. ANDERSEN WORLD-HERALD CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Published Sunday, September 19, 2004 An attorney friend wrote to complain about "wild-eyed accusations" against John Kerry. His letter said that "most of the assertions by the Texas-funded 'Swift Boat Veterans' regarding John Kerry's actions in Vietnam had been refuted by real facts and undermined by their own contradictory statements." But the truth is that most of the assertions by members of "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" not only have not been refuted - they haven't even been replied to. Most of...

BERLIN (AP) - Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder insisted on Monday that there was no turning back in cutting social programs despite pressure to reverse the unpopular measures after his party suffered a rout in a German state election. Schroeder's Social Democrats lost 45 percent of their voter support Sunday in the small western state of Saarland, while the conservative Christian Democrats - the main opposition party at the national level - retained control of the local legislature and the governor's post. Schroeder said Monday he "would have wished for a better result." But in a speech to labor leaders, he said...

Hamill Says Iraq Mission Must Continue By KATHY HANRAHAN, Associated Press Writer MACON, Miss. - Former hostage Thomas Hamill, back home Saturday after his three-week ordeal in Iraq credited God and worldwide support for his survival and said the rebuilding mission that nearly cost him his life must continue. "I knew I was going to make it. I knew I was coming home," Hamill told reporters before a prayer vigil held in his honor at the Noxubee County Court House. "I told the Lord to pick the time and place." Speaking publicly for the first time since his early-morning return...

WASHINGTON - John Kerry (news - web sites) will play in the South. Winning is the hard part. With four Southern primary victories in hand — and four more expected Tuesday night — the left-leaning Massachusetts senator has hit his peak in Dixie. He'll be lucky to win one or two states below the Mason-Dixon line Nov. 2, and only then if President Bush (news - web sites) loses by an unexpected landslide. But the region is still critical to Kerry's election strategy: Just as the White House hopes to make him compete in Democratic-inclined California, Kerry must allow Bush...

People don't write letters much anymore. Too bad. A personal letter from a friend is one of the good things in life. In the last few days I've received hundreds of letters that were not from friends and weren't so good. In response to a statement I read about Pat Robertson saying he'd heard from God, I said on "60 Minutes" that God had called me, too. According to Pat, God told him that President Bush was going to be re-elected "in a walk." I quoted what God had said to me about both Pat Robertson and Mel Gibson. For...

Issue Ads Continue Despite New Limits 1 hour, 10 minutes ago By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - One TV commercial in Iowa urges voters to tell the candidates to support tougher immigration laws. Another in New Hampshire says they should find out where the president and the candidates stand on the issue of nuclear weapons. Two more single out Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean. Voters might have thought they would be free of issue ads in the weeks leading up to the first contests of the presidential race, thanks to the year-old campaign finance law, but spots by...