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Kandahar, Afghanistan — An airstrike in southern Afghanistan earlier this week killed 18 or 19 civilians and destroyed a mosque, according to a human-rights investigator. Amir Mohammed Ansari, a researcher for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, returned yesterday from a visit to Kajaki District in Helmand Province, where he was checking a report by coalition forces that aircraft attacked a cluster of Taliban fighters on May 28. At the time, a statement from a Combined Joint Task Force spokesman in Bagram said more than 30 Taliban launched an unsuccessful attack and were hunted down as they retreated, blasted from...

BAGHDAD, May 2, 2006 – Coalition forces killed 10 terrorists, three of them wearing suicide vests, and wounded one at approximately 1:30 a.m. today at a safe house located approximately 40 kilometers southwest of Balad, Iraq, while searching for an al Qaeda terrorist leader. Upon the troops' arrival, a terrorist sleeping while on guard outside the safe house woke up and attempted to engage the assault troops with a pistol. The terrorist was shot before he could fire his weapon. As the wounded terrorist fell backward, he reached toward his chest and detonated a suicide vest. None of the assault...

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2006 – Two insurgents were killed and eight captured near Kirkuk, Iraq, April 1 after 101st Airborne Division soldiers spotted terrorists planting a homemade bomb near a road the soldiers frequently travel, military officials said today. The soldiers initially spotted eight men exit a suspicious truck stopped alongside the road. The men quickly dropped several artillery rounds before driving to a nearby village, where about 10 more men gathered around the truck. Within minutes, the truck drove off, and four insurgents started walking toward the makeshift bomb. Splitting into two teams, two team members positioned themselves off...

Phoenician city not destroyedLife after supposed death for Motya near Trapani (ANSA) - Palermo, March 14 - An ancient Phoenician city unearthed in Sicily was inhabited after its supposed destruction, the head of an Italian dig team claims . "Our finds, including cooking pans, Phoenecian-style vases, small altars and pieces of looms, show Motya had a thriving population long after it is commonly believed to have been destroyed by the Ancient Greeks," said Maria Pamela Toti . The continued life of Motya had been put forward by various archaeologists over the years but until now no proof had been found...

BAGHDAD (Army News Service, March 8, 2006) – Suspected terrorists who have been known to engage in ‘murder-for-hire’ assassinations were captured in Coalition operations Feb. 26. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, Company B, 10th Mountain Division had been conducting a routine inspection of vehicles in western Abu Ghraib. During a search of a suspicious vehicle, troops discovered two known murderers of Iraqi civilians. The men were carrying rifles and contracts for the murder of other Iraqis. A day prior, C Company troops acted on a tip from an Iraqi citizen and found a...

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2006 – Coalition forces destroyed an improvised explosive device-manufacturing site in Fallujah, Iraq, yesterday, and Iraqi forces freed an Iraqi hostage March 6 in Balad, military officials in Iraq reported. The coalition forces were conducting a raid looking for an al Qaeda in Iraq military operations leader and discovered the IED manufacturing site in a terrorist safe house about 10 miles east of Fallujah. Coalition forces destroyed all equipment and explosives in place. Troops detained five men during the raid. The men will be questioned about their knowledge of and involvement in terrorist activities. In Balad, a...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2006 – Iraqi soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, cleared the rural village of Subiyhat of insurgents yesterday, marking their second independent operation, officials said today. Marines from 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 8, assisted in the operation by providing security on the outer perimeter. The operation resulted in the detention of four suspected insurgents and enhanced relations between the citizens of Subiyhat and the Iraqi army, officials said. It was also another step toward the Iraqi unit's operational independence, said Marine battalion commander Lt. Col. David J. Furness....

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2006 – About 420 detainees, including five women, were to be released from coalition detention facilities in Iraq today and tomorrow, officials announced. The Iraqi-led Combined Review and Release Board reviewed the detainees' cases and recommended that they be released. The board, established in August 2004, consists of members from the ministries of Human Rights, Justice and Interior, as well as officers from the multinational forces, officials noted. To date, the board has reviewed the cases of more than 26,900 detainees, recommending more than 14,100 individuals for release. In other news, Iraqi soldiers from the 2nd Battalion,...

NEW ORLEANS - Searing heat and lack of electricity throughout New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina ruined hundreds of thousands of bottles of rare wines by degrading corks and cooking the contents. Owners fear that even those bottles that appear to have survived the hurricane may hold spoiled wine. This city's once-vibrant culinary industry, already beaten back by disaster, has been further injured by damage to its wines. Losses are estimated to be as much as tens of millions of dollars. Private collectors, restaurants and distributors are preparing to destroy much of their stock. Insurance companies are just...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2005 – Coalition forces detained five terrorists and seized a large weapons cache today when they raided a suspected al Qaeda safe house northwest of Qaim, Iraq, military officials reported. The cache consisted of weapons, ammunition, mortars and bomb-making materials, officials said. Intelligence sources and tips from local citizens led coalition forces to the location. Coalition aircraft, using precision guided munitions, destroyed the safe house and weapons cache after coalition forces left the scene. Elsewhere in Iraq, Iraqi police and coalition forces stopped short a coordinated attack on the Khalis Iraqi police station Oct. 20, in Diyala....

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2005 – A Marine assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), was killed Sept. 15 from an indirect-fire explosion at Forward Operating Base Camp Ramadi in Iraq, military officials announced today. The Marine's name is being withheld, pending family notification. In other Iraq news, coalition forces raided an al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist complex south of Haditha that contained a car-bomb factory and weapons caches. Tips from local citizens and intelligence resources had confirmed the 12-building complex's existence. All terrorists had fled the facility before the coalition had arrived, but forces found that...

Weldon: Atta Papers Destroyed on Orders By DONNA DE LA CRUZ Associated Press Writer September 15, 2005, 9:09 PM EDT WASHINGTON -- A Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed Atta as a terrorist two years before the 2001 attacks, a congressman said Thursday. The employee is prepared to testify next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee and was expected to name the person who ordered him to destroy the large volume of documents, said Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa. Weldon declined to name the employee, citing confidentiality matters. Weldon described the documents as "2.5 terabytes" -- as...

For the past 25 years when Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, why did Saddam Hussein not use those weapons of mass destruction against the US or Israel, or hand them over to the Al-Qaeda terrorists or the terrorists in the west bank, even though during the past 25 years, on and off, the following were done which angered and humiliated Saddam Hussein (1) Israel destroyed Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactors in the 80s (2) Through the Iran-Contra scandal, the US supplied arms to Iran in the Iran-Iraq war in the 80s (3) In the 90s, the US ousted Saddam...

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!

WISCASSET, Maine (AP) - The most visible symbol of Maine's nuclear power past - the massive domed containment building at the defunct Maine Yankee plant - will be eliminated from the landscape with a big boom this week. Explosives will bring down the reinforced concrete structure Friday, the first time explosives have been used to knock down a commercial reactor containment building, said Justin Manafort, of Manafort Bros, which is overseeing the decommissioning. "Other reactors have been taken down but none of this size or magnitude. The majority are done conventionally with cranes and torch cutting. We chose to use...

The founder and president of the Media Research Center believes the ongoing liberal bias at major news organizations will cause their imminent collapse. L. Brent Bozell's new book is called Weapons of Mass Distortion: The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media (Crown Forum, 2004). According to the author, that process of destruction has actually already started. He says a look at current trends reveals people's growing awareness of the liberal media's left wing bias, and "the public isn't liking it and is leaving." The change over time has been dramatic. "Fifteen years ago you had about 20 percent of the...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky's largest church plans to focus on religious tolerance at upcoming services after several of its teenagers destroyed a Virgin Mary statue at an Indiana home. Southeast Christian Church has disciplined a 24-year-old employee who supervised the campers at Country Lake Christian Retreat Center in Clark County, Ind., said spokeswoman Cindee Coffee. She did not identify the worker, who she described as "embarrassed and remorseful." ... Senior pastor Bob Russell planned to address the incident at weekend services and future staff meetings. After a Bible lesson on worshipping idols, the teens went to Barthold's neighboring wooded...

BRASILIA, Brazil - Brazil's army burned all documents about the suppression of a 1970s insurgency against the military dictatorship, the government said Wednesday, angering activists who had hoped that the papers would help them find the remains of missing rebels. The revelation also effectively ruins activists' hopes of properly documenting the guerrilla movement, which was inspired by Fidel Castro (news - web sites)'s Cuban uprising. While insurgencies in other Latin American countries including Bolivia and Peru have been well traced, little is known about Brazil's Araguaia guerrillas. It will also likely make any related prosecutions linked to the disappearances more...

<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) - Last month's wildfires burned more acreage and damaged more buildings than any others in California history, state officials said.</p> <p>New statistics from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection show that the Cedar Fire in San Diego County scorched about 273,000 acres, eclipsing a record set in 1932 by the Matilija Fire in Ventura County, which burned about 220,000 acres.</p>

Sold for a Mere Pittance Works of art worth tens of millions of pounds today have been sold off quietly by museums over the past 50 years for a few pounds. British art institutions such as the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and the Exeter City Museum have disposed of pictures by masters such as Van Dyck and Henri Fantin-Latour. They were sold without public notice, dismissed as too unimportant to keep. Among the most serious cases is a painting by the 19th-century master, John William Waterhouse. In 1965, the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro sold it for £200 ($300) to...