Free Republic

The headlines are among the most stark documenting gang violence. A Latino gang member, without saying a word, guns down a 14-year-old black girl standing on a sidewalk. A black gang member shoots a Latino toddler point-blank in the chest. For the most part, though, the role racial animosity has played in gang crime has gone unexamined, largely undocumented in crime statistics and often tamped down by politicians and law enforcement officials anxious about inflaming tensions. That changed this month when Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Police Chief William J. Bratton and L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca all spoke with...

Mullah Omar 'hiding in Pakistan' Muhammad Hanif was seen sitting in a dimly-lit room Taleban leader Mullah Omar is living in Pakistan under the protection of its ISI intelligence agency, a captured Taleban spokesman has said. The spokesman, Muhammad Hanif, made the apparent confession to Afghan agents who videotaped the questioning. Mr Hanif is seen sitting in a dimly-lit room telling agents that Mullah Omar is in the city of Quetta. Correspondents confirm the voice is his. Mullah Omar has not been seen since 2001. Pakistan rejected the claims. 'Baseless' Afghanistan's intelligence agency distributed copies of the video CD to...

AMMAN - Jordanian Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit warned Monday that inter-Palestinian violence would damage the Palestinian cause and undermine efforts for a Middle East settlement. “We and our Palestinian brothers are in constant contact and of course we fear inter-Palestinian fighting. This is something we always warned against because it weakens the internal front,” Bakhit told reporters. “We have high hopes that the Palestinian brothers will use their wisdom so as to ... reach a united position and avoid bloodshed,” he added. Speaking a day after a Jordanian-Egyptian summit in Cairo, Bakhit reiterated calls for the creation of a Palestinian...

(CNSNews.com) -- A former Iraqi general alleges that in June 2002 Saddam Hussein transported weapons of mass destruction out of the country to Syria aboard several refitted commercial jets, under the pretense of conducting a humanitarian mission for flood victims. That's one of several dramatic claims made in the book by former Iraqi General Georges Sada: "Saddam's Secrets: How an Iraqi General Defied and Survived Saddam Hussein." Since the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Sada has served as the spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and continues to serve as national security advisor. He is the former vice marshal...