Free Republic

MARGRATEN, Netherlands, June 10, 2009 – The 8,301 Americans buried at this beautifully manicured cemetery reminded Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today of the cost Americans pay for freedom. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates tours the World War II Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial where 8,301 U.S. servicemembers are buried in Margraten, Netherlands. Along the sides are Tablets of the Missing on which are recorded 1,722 names, June 10, 2009. DOD photo by Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates visited this cemetery during a break in meetings about Afghanistan’s Regional Command...

Provo, Utah - The head of the Iranian opposition group in exile that supplied early intelligence on Iran's clandestine nuclear program says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has engineered a clever disinformation campaign to convince foreign experts that Iran is eight to 10 years away from developing a nuclear bomb. But in fact, she says, the regime is less than two years away from producing such a weapon, as part of its plan to "create an Iranian empire" in the Middle East. In a wide-ranging weekend telephone conversation from her base of exile in Paris, Maryam Rajavi told me that Mr. Ahmadinejad...

"Well, excuse me for seeming dense, but I don't see a lot of ruthlessness going on here. I see us being played for chumps again on a Friday evening. Everyone else is already home getting ready to party! We're stuck here waiting for that bloody UPS guy to show up..'...sometime between now and 7:30, sir...'. If we get any more ruthless, we'll have to volunteer to deliver hot meals to old folks..." The boss laughed and scratched his nose. "I can see how this is cutting into your weekend, so let me explain ruthlessness while we're waiting to load out...

'Hey, Nick. Your mom's here.' Anti-war Alameda woman's trip to see son serving in Iraq has surprises for both ........Galleymore was more political as a young mother, taking her young children on protest marches during the Iran-Contra controversy of the mid- 1980s. Her children hung out with the progressive thinkers she met while working for a food policy organization. But Galleymore's activism faded as her children entered adolescence, her time eaten up by the demands of single motherhood. And somewhere along the line, her children didn't absorb her political perspective. After Nick finished his third year at San Francisco State...

Freedom Definitely Isn't Free So far the Bush administration has requested $75 billion ($255 an American) for Operation Iraqi Freedom. How does that compare to other wars? BusinessWeek pegs World War I at $191 billion in 2002 dollars ($2,489 for each American), WWII at $2.9 trillion ($20,388 each), Korean War at $336 billion ($2,266 each), Vietnam War at $494 billion ($2,204 each) and the Gulf War at $76 billion ($306 each), $54 billion of which coalition members reimbursed.