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Vice President Joe Biden asserted, in a recent interview, that the Taliban is not an enemy of the United States. But, ironically, in 2008, Mr. Biden had a completely different view of the Taliban than the one he currently espouses. In fact, in 2008, Biden made the claim that both Al Qaeda and the Taliban had attacked us on 9/11. VIDEO

Syria's opposition groups are getting ready for “the day after” the fall of the Assad regime, and are anticipating a new, democratic regime. But some things are unlikely to change; Syria's likely future leaders still consider Israel an enemy, and will continue to demand Israel's withdrawal from the Golan Heights. The two largest opposition groups in the country, the Syrian National Council and the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria (NCB), signed an agreement to establish a a transitional government that would guarantee the rights of all citizens, hold parliamentary elections, and draft a constitution that guarantees a...

As the violence in Syria spirals out of control, top officials in President Barack Obama's administration are quietly preparing options for how to assist the Syrian opposition, including gaming out the unlikely option of setting up a no-fly zone in Syria and preparing for another major diplomatic initiative. Critics on Capitol Hill accuse the Obama administration of being slow to react to the quickening deterioration of the security situation in Syria, where over 5,000 have died, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Many lawmakers say the White House is once again "leading from behind," while the Turks,...

In an interview with Leslie Gelb in Newsweek, Vice President Joe Biden says: "Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That’s critical. There is not a single statement that the president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens U.S. interests. If, in fact, the Taliban is able to collapse the existing government, which is cooperating with us in keeping the bad guys from being able to do damage to us, then that becomes a problem for us." Via Ben Smith. Interestingly, in the rest of the interview...

Joe Biden has a long history of verbal flubs, but this one may take the cake. ‘The Taliban, per se, is not our enemy,” Biden said. That’s right. The Vice-President of the United States, initially added to the Obama campaign to add foreign policy gravitas to the ticket, has come out and questioned whether the Taliban are our enemy. Let’s get right to the context, which the media will inevitably hype in an effort to conflate an amazing gaffe with straight-talkin’, straight-shooting’ foreign policy from the VP. Biden was answering questions from Les Gelb for a Newsweek interview, the full...

Such is the state of U.S./Pakistan relations that no one seems fully confident this was accidental. Is there another “alliance� in the world of which that could be said — where one country wipes out two dozen troops from the other and it’s not instantly clear it was a terrible miscalculation instead of a response to some shadowy provocation?Is it “friendly fire� if the two sides aren’t really friendly? “It seems quite extraordinary that we’d just nail these posts the way they say we did,” said one senior American official who was in close touch with American and NATO officials...

ISLAMABAD: The Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) has decided to close NATO/ISAF logistics supply lines with immediate effect also asked US to vacate Shamsi Airbase in 15 days. The DCC also decided that the Government will revisit and undertake a complete review of all programmes, activities and cooperative arrangements with US/NATO/ISAF, including diplomatic, political, military and intelligence. An emergency meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet was chaired by the Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani here this evening at the Prime Minister’s House which was attended by Federal Ministers, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Services Chiefs...

Senators--mostly Democratic, but not exclusively--are incensed at China's artificially low currency, which reduces the value of its exports to the US, and increases American firms' propensity to source overseas. Taken as an isolated phenomenon, this costs the US manufacturing jobs. Critics of China specifically, and global sourcing generally, are reluctant to recognize the domestic benefits flowing from outsourcing, e.g., lower domestic consumer prices; money flowing to more efficient and competitively advantageous domestic uses thereby creating jobs in new growth industries. Neither do they care that a stronger Chinese Yuan will merely shift the venue of sourcing, not its incidence. The...

There is one incontestably great actor on the world stage today, and he has no interest in following our script. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — soon to be Russia’s president again — has proven remarkably effective at playing the weak strategic hand he inherited, chalking up triumph after triumph while confirming himself as the strong leader Russians crave. Not one of his international peers evidences so profound an understanding of his or her people, or possesses Putin’s canny ability to size up counterparts.

Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) are ramping up anti-Tea Party sentiment this week, with one congresswoman calling the movement "the real enemy" in Florida on Monday night. "Let us all remember who the real enemy is. The real enemy is the Tea Party," Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) said at a Miami town hall, according to a report by the Miami Herald. "The Tea Party holds the Congress hostage. They have one goal in mind, and that's to make President Obama a one-term president." Wilson's comments follow incendiary remarks about the Tea Party from another member of the...

Reuters) - The newest version of Apple Inc's popular iPhone has already hit the Chinese market -- the fake market that is. The 'hiPhone 5' is selling for as little as 200 yuan ($31) on China's top e-commerce platform Taobao, which is owned by Alibaba Group. But one has to pay around 800 yuan for a more "genuine" one, according to some shop clerks at a mobile phone market in Shanghai. "Look at this. It's not the same as the 300-400 yuan ones," Shanghai-based daily Metro Express quoted a clerk as saying, pointing to one originally priced at 850 yuan....

The captain of the US 'Audacity of Hope' arrested for violating a Greek ban on sailing to Gaza from its ports was freed on Tuesday, Reuters reports. Greek authorities last week banned ships destined for Gaza from leaving Greek ports "for their safety". American John Klusmire, 60, was charged during a hearing on Tuesday with breaching the ban and putting lives at risk after being intercepted last week at sea by the Hellenic Coast Guard. When ordered to return to port Klusmire, ferrying mostly American passengers, refused, leading to a two-hour stand off that ended when Greek commandos boarded his...

* General Staff working on plan to boost presence in Arctic * Russia set to start producing Bulava nuclear missile MOSCOW, July 1 (Reuters) - Moscow will create two brigades to protect its valuable Arctic resources, Russia's defence minister said on Friday. Moscow has walked a fine line between cooperation and aggression in the Arctic which the world's top energy producer believes could hold huge reserves of natural gas and oil. "The General Staff is currently working on plans to create two such units," Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov was quoted as telling media by state-run news agency Itar-Tass. ... Prime...

Tony the Tiger, some NASCAR drivers and cookie-selling Girl Scouts will be out of a job unless grocery manufacturers agree to reinvent a vast array of their products to satisfy the Obama administration’s food police. Either retool the recipes to contain certain levels of sugar, sodium and fats, or no more advertising and marketing to tots and teenagers, say several federal regulatory agencies. The same goes for restaurants. It’s not just the usual suspected foods that are being targeted, such a thin mint cookies sold by scouts or M&Ms and Snickers, which sponsor cars in the Sprint Cup, but pretty...

It has been said by persons such as Abraham Lincoln that the cause of tyranny can oftentimes be mistaken for and promoted as the cause of liberty. To prevent such a destructive misconception from metastasizing, Americans must concern themselves most seriously with understanding what liberty is -- and also what it is not. John Stuart Mill, in what is perhaps his most famous and influential work, On Liberty, helped build the foundation for a modern understanding of freedom, one which an overwhelming number of Americans support. In doing so, he argued that for a society to be properly liberated, its...

Obama Gives Libya Rebels 25 Million Dollars. ANOTHER LINK Aiding and providing comfort to the enemy.

OPEC believes the oil price is approaching $120 per barrel but unlikely to go higher, a level that is "acceptable" and will not hinder global growth, Iraqi oil minister Abdul-Kareem Luaibi said on Tuesday. "Global oil prices are moving towards $120 a barrel. We consider this an acceptable price that will not harm global growth," Luaibi told a news conference in Baghdad. "We think the price will not exceed $120 per barrel." Oil prices slipped on Tuesday, with Brent crude falling below $115 a barrel as investors betting prices would rise with Western involvement in Libya took profits in anticipation...

Although James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, is accused of having “blown it” by stating his belief that China presents the greatest threat to America at this time … I happen to believe that he may have inadvertently (Maybe intentionally?) swerved into the truth. Don’t misunderstand; I have never been comfortable with Mr. Clapper in the EXTREMELY important position to which President Obama appointed him. I thought it was a very bad call on the President’s part, one of many such bad decisions made by our current President. And, just so we are clear on this: I’d like to...

RUSH: Folks, I know I speak for all of you. We had this last caller. He's been paying attention to politics for two years and he's tired of all the bickering, and he said, "We just want everybody to get along. We want there to be no division between rich and poor." (laughs) Well, how's this gonna happen, sir? Are the rich just gonna give up their money or are the poor gonna go find the pot of gold? How does it happen? Who's gonna sit there and determine what everybody has, what everybody gets? I know I speak for...

Energy: Keeping a campaign vow to bankrupt the industry, the administration revokes the permit for an approved, working coal mine in West Virginia. Guess those electric cars will have to get their energy elsewhere. We and others have warned that in the wake of November's "shellacking," the Obama administration would attempt to implement its agenda through regulations and rule making. As West Virginia's coal industry has found, it matters not even if you follow the rules. In pursuit of this agenda, the rules can be changed on the fly. The Environmental Protection Agency has revoked the coal mining permit for...

Today is my 12th anniversary as a Freeper. I came across Free Republic in the summer of 1998 as a lurker, troubled by an increasingly lawless President Clinton, and what was happening to our country. I lurked for about four months, reading every day and being amazed at the group of talented and knowledgeable people on this site. When Jim Robinson put out the call for people to come to Washington, DC to attend the March for Justice Rally on October 30, 1998, I came from NJ on my own, not knowing a soul there, because someone was finally calling...

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WASHINGTON — The American public aren’t the only ones feeling weary from nine years of war in Afghanistan - so are cave-dwelling Taliban leaders, according to Gen. David Petraeus' command in Kabul. Petraeus’ NATO headquarters insists the enemy is getting worn out from living on the run or underground, even though forward commanders "downrange" and senior U.S. counterterror officials in Washington have told the Daily News that the Taliban are rallying in the face of the U.S. troop surge this year.

An Open Letter To President Obama Dear Mr President, Many of us are outraged that you consider us your enemy; not me, I'm proud to be your enemy. No, not the type who wants to put you in the cross-hairs at 800 meters: I am an American who loves his Freedom and his Country with its traditions. Sure, I have my doubts concerning the citizenry that would elect a Marxist for President, but most of them aren't old enough to have seen the devastation among the warriors who returned home from WWII, Korea, and Indo China: I am. As...

There are among the population of the country Barack Obama has been chosen to lead those who have experienced firsthand the iron fist of a dictatorial government and who have survived the bloodshed that resulted. Tens of millions died during the past century under dictators. Deep within their psyche, these survivors are extraordinarily attuned to those factors that gave rise to the devastation when dictators have their way. They know that the first step along this path is the emergence of a leader willing to do or say anything to promote a destructive and failed political philosophy and to achieve...

You have to wonder what on earth ABC’s “This Week” host Christiane Amanpour is thinking by holding a so-called town hall meeting this close to a pivotal midterm election. On the Oct. 3 broadcast of “This Week,” the brainiacs at ABC determined it would be appropriate to pitch Christian leaders again moderate and extremist Muslims. This choice of programming comes at a time when many conservatives have chastised for being outspoken over the placement of Islamic worship center near the Sept. 11 Ground Zero site. However, perhaps the most alarming statement on Amanpour’s program came from Anjem Choudary, a former...

Radical Islam, schmadical Islam. "[N]ine years after 9/11, the fight over the mosque near Ground Zero shows how obsessed we remain with an enemy that may no longer exist." That's the argument from Time magazine deputy managing editor Romesh Ratnesar in his August 17 online Viewpoint essay entitled, "The 'Ground Zero Mosque' Debate: Exaggerating the Jihadist Threat." "The mosque's critics and champions both say their goal is to counter radical Islam," Ratnesar noted, arguing that both sides are all wet: The prevalence of such rhetoric on both sides of the mosque debate

An unrepentant Andrew Breitbart told POLITICO on Thursday that the Obama administration and its allies have manufactured a controversy over the video he posted of Shirley Sherrod’s speech to the NAACP as part of an orchestrated effort to take him down. “I am public enemy No. 1 or 2 to the Democratic Party, the progressive movement and the Obama administration based upon the successes my journalism has had,” Breitbart said in a telephone interview late Thursday morning as he headed to the airport for what he said was a long-planned, three-day vacation. Breitbart asserted that liberal media outlets are shifting...

U.S. believes it killed al Qaeda No. 3 By Zeeshan Haider Zeeshan Haider 8 mins ago ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Al Qaeda's third-in-command, whose role spanned from operations to fundraising, is believed to have been killed last month in a U.S. missile strike in Pakistan, dealing a serious blow to the embattled group. Sheikh Sa'id al-Masri, also known as Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, was believed to be killed along with members of his family in a strike by a pilotless CIA-operated drone attack. Al Qaeda confirmed his death in a statement on a Islamist website earlier on Monday. "We have strong reason...

PESHAWAR: Maulana Fazlullah, the chief of the Pakistani Taliban in the restive Swat valley, has apparently been killed along with 6 other militants in a clash with Afghan border forces in that country's Nuristan province, intelligence sources said on Thursday. Fazlullah, who was known as 'Mullah FM' for his fiery sermons broadcast on an illegal radio station, apparently died during Wednesday's clash with Afghan border forces, the sources said. Clashes between Taliban militants, including those based in Pakistani, and Afghan forces had erupted in Nuristan province three days ago, the sources said. Fazlullah and his militants had established a parallel...

It's all posing. They're not getting anything done here. They're just hopscotching from event to event to event saying, "Look what we're saying about it. We're going to go to New Orleans." Yeah, 12 days after the spill happened. "Oh, yeah, and we care, we really care." Meanwhile, Robert Gibbs is out there saying about British Petroleum, "We're gonna keep the boot on their throat." So BP is an adversary. No crisis is too good to waste. A crisis is the playground of a tyrant. ....And, meanwhile, a tyrant loves a crisis, and here's an enemy, British Petroleum, made to...

MIRAMSHAH: A US drone fired three missiles into a militant compound in Pakistan's tribal area near the Afghan border on Saturday, killing seven militants, security officials said. The strike took place at 9:00 pm in Marsi khel area, 20 kilometers east of Miramshah, the main town of North Waziristan. The nationalities of the seven dead militants were not immediately clear, a senior Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Another security official confirmed the strike and the death toll.—AFP

German troops in northern Afghanistan have killed five Afghan soldiers, Nato has said. The troops were in two civilian cars which did not heed warnings to stop as they drove up to German troops in Kunduz province, a Nato statement said. The Nato forces are said to have been en route at the time to the scene of a clash with Taliban insurgents that left three German soldiers dead. Germany has the third-largest foreign contingent in Afghanistan. Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said in a statement it regretted the loss of life in Friday evening's friendly fire incident. The...

Do you remember how the Democrats framed the health-care “reform” fight as a battle against the insurance industry and its allies? Obama said the bill represented “standing up to the special interests.” Democratic House members attacked “reform” opponents regularly with statements like “We can either stand with the American people or with the insurance companies.” Majority Leader Harry Reid put it this way: “It’s about whether you will fight for insurance company profits, or for families’ peace of mind.” You could easily come up with dozens of similar examples with five minutes of searching the Web. Snip Now, that same...

WASHINGTON, March 26, 2010 – The suspected Baghdad “sharia emir” for al-Qaida in Iraq was killed today during a combined security operation in the northern part of the Iraqi capital, military officials reported. A sharia emir is responsible for enforcing radical religious rules imposed by groups such as al-Qaida and the Taliban. Acting on a warrant issued by an Iraqi judge, Iraqi forces and U.S. advisors searched for Sinan, also known as Mohannad Rahman Salim Muhaymid al-Ani, who is believed to be one of the primary approval authorities for al-Qaida in Iraq attacks and assassinations in the Baghdad region. Before...

Sometimes it's good to go back to the beginning and review the basics. This is an old classic. Try showing this to a college kid. Their head will explode.

The reinvention of Al Qaeda: NYPD terror-fighters say the enemy has evolved and we must adapt, tooBy David Cohen and Richard Falkenrath Wednesday, March 3rd 2010, 11:58 AM As we learn more about the maturity of their plans and the capability of their weaponry, the Najibullah Zazi terrorist plot against our subway system is a stark reminder that Al Qaeda is a resilient organization - one that has maintained an ability to recruit and plan operations while its objective to strike New York City remains unabated. Despite the best efforts of the U.S. government and its allies to destroy Al...

Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) are set to introduce sweeping legislation that will forbid detainees dubbed "enemy combatants" by the intelligence community from being read their Miranda rights, Fox News reported Thursday. This would have the effect of banning all civilian trials for such alleged terrorists, pushing those detainees into military commissions. The bill, the "Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010," lays out "comprehensive policy for the detention, interrogation and trial of suspected unprivileged enemy belligerents who are believed to have engaged in hostilities against the United States by requiring these individuals to be...

The international law on assassination is clear enough; assassination is murder and can be an act of aggression. The Dubai authorities are entitled to arrest and try the assassins of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh if they can catch them. They would be entitled to try to sentence them under Dubai law, though they would have a duty to provide a fair trial.That is the ruling in law, but there is a separate issue of morality. Many Israelis undoubtedly feel that Mr Mabhouh was a dangerous terrorist and that Mossad—if it was responsible—was acting legitimately in self-defence. Yet there are interesting differences between...

A senior Islamic militant was among six killed in an assault by Philippines troops on a rebel camp on the southern island of Jolo, officials say. Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad was wanted for the abduction of three Red Cross workers on the island last year. Gen Benjamin Dolorfino said his death was a "big blow" to the group. Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for bombings, beheadings and kidnappings of Filipinos and foreigners. It has been accused of links with al-Qaeda. "We have confirmed that one of the six bodies found belonged to Albader Parad as confirmed by independent civilian...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-4127 Congress > Legislation > 2009-2010 (111th Congress) > H.R. 4127 Text of H.R. 4127: To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide that alien unprivileged enemy belligerents may... Nov 19, 2009 - Introduced in House. This is the original text of the bill as it was written by its sponsor and submitted to the House for consideration. This is the latest version of the bill currently available on GovTrack. HR 4127 IH 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 4127 To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide that alien unprivileged...

Afghan and Coalition special operations forces killed a Taliban commander who works with foreign fighters and 10 Taliban and al Qaeda operatives during a raid in a region just outside the battle zone in Marja in Helmand province. During a raid in the district of Washir, the combined force targeted and killed Mullah Sarajudin, the Taliban commander, along with four al Qaeda operatives and six Taliban fighters. Washir lies just north of the district of Nad Ali, where Afghan and Coalition forces have launched a massive operation to take control of the city of Marja and the surrounding areas. "Troops...

American marines landed by helicopter in a pre-dawn assault on the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, seizing two central shopping bazaars and firing rockets at Taliban fighters who attacked from mud-walled compounds. As the marines secured their first objective, a jumble of buildings at the centre of the farming town, thousands of soldiers moved in on foot. Harrier jets called in by the marines fired heavy-calibre machineguns at the Taliban. Fighting continued for hours, according to an embedded correspondent. Cobra gunships unleashed Hellfire missiles into bunkers and tunnels. By nightfall, marines appeared to be in control of the centre of Marjah,...

MARJAH, Afghanistan – U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers spearheading the ground assault reached the outer rim of the Taliban-held town Saturday, as a major offensive began to break the extremists' grip over a wide area of their southern heartland. Punching their way through a line of insurgent defenses that included mines and homemade bombs, the ground forces reached the main canal that marks the northern entrance to Marjah. Five Taliban fighters have been killed and eight arrested since the offensive began overnight, said Helmand government spokesman Daoud Ahmadi. He said troops had recovered the bodies of the dead militants. The...

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A new frenzy of rumours spread about the fate of Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud on Tuesday, but a U.S. counter-terrorism official said he could not definitively confirm the death of the militant. Hakimullah was wounded in a U.S. drone aircraft attack in January. The strikes have escalated since Hakimullah appeared in a farewell video with the double agent suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees in December in Afghanistan. The CIA is likely to step up efforts to hunt him -- if he is alive -- after the Taliban claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed...

Pakistani Taliban confirms Hakimullah Mehsud's death PTI, 9 February 2010, 01:11pm IST ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Taliban on Tuesday confirmed that its chief Hakimullah Mehsud had died of injuries sustained in a US drone strike, ending weeks of speculation over his fate. Taliban sources based in the Aurakzai tribal region told TV news channels that 28-year-old Mehsud was severely injured in a drone attack in Shaktoi area of North Waziristan Agency on January 14. The sources claimed Mehsud died recently near Multan city in Punjab province while being taken to Karachi for treatment. His body was taken back to the tribal belt,...

PESHAWAR: Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud’s close aide Qari Hussain, the top trainer of suicide bombers and one of his potential successors, was killed in the same US drone attack that fatally injured him, sources said.

A CIA-operated drone strike on a suspected militant hideout last weekend killed one of FBI's most-wanted terrorists who had been involved in 1986 hijacking of an U.S. airline, a senior Pakistani offical said. Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin who had a bounty of $5 million on his head, was killed in the strike in North Waziristan on Sunday, along with another Jordanian who was identified as Mahmoud Zaydan, the official said. Mr. Rahim was released from a Pakistani prison a few years ago after a conviction for his role in the Sept. 5, 1986, hijacking of...

WANA: Nine back-to-back missiles fired by suspected US drone killed 11 people, including one foreigner in North Waziristan tribal region near Afghanistan border on Friday. According to reports, the missiles first hit a house situated in Mir Ali, in which five people, including a foreign militant, was killed. While one hour after the first attack, unmanned US drones targeted another militants’ compound in Shaktoi area, killing four more people. The unmanned US plane targeted Zarniri area, which is near the spot where U.S. missiles are believed to have narrowly missed the Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud the day before.

We have suffered another devastating attack on American security by the most secretive and opaque President we have ever had the misfortune to elect. While Obama and his gang of thieves hide behind closed doors to pass secret, enslaving legislation under the Stalin- like propaganda chimera of "reform," he has opened the floodgates to a veritable treasure trove of intel to our mortal enemies.