Free Republic

Osama bin Laden mission agreed in secret 10 years ago by US and Pakistan US forces were given permission to conduct unilateral raid inside Pakistan if they knew where Bin Laden was hiding, officials say. The US and Pakistan struck a secret deal almost a decade ago permitting a US operation against Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil similar to last week's raid that killed the al-Qaida leader, the Guardian has learned. The deal was struck between the military leader General Pervez Musharraf and President George Bush after Bin Laden escaped US forces in the mountains of Tora Bora in...

During the second presidential debate, John Kerry said: "I ask each of you just to look into your hearts, look into your guts. Gut-check time. Was this really going to war as a last resort?" How about this for "gut-check time": When you close your eyes, can you see the Democrats defending America? Because I can't see it. These are the people who are obsessed with getting the French to like us. They call terrorism a "nuisance," like prostitution and other petty crimes. ("Hundreds of Children Killed in Chechnya by Nuisance," "British Civilian Beheaded by Annoyance," "9-11: What a Hassle!")...

Not long ago I turned down an invitation to have my work posted on a website named in president Bush's honor. It's not a bad site and seems to be doing well, but I respectfully declined, largely due to my loyalty to this publication. I also had a problem with that name, because it, at least to me, implies a degree of loyalty to Mr. Bush and I am loyal to no politician. While I am certainly a conservative and find that my views are better represented in the Republican Party, I'm less than impressed by the GOP's lack of...

WASHINGTON--Like fractious brothers whose frequent fighting clouds their fraternal bond, the United States and France have been tormented allies for more than three centuries. From the Battle of Yorktown in 1781 to the Normandy invasion of 1944 and on to the jungles of Indochina in the 1950s and 1960s, American and French sailors and soldiers have fought on the same side. Nearly as often, their leaders have quarreled, pointed fingers and lectured each other about proper behavior on the global stage. "There is no doubt that France and the United States are mirror images of each other," said Jean-Robert Leguey-Feilleux,...