Free Republic

This is the week that the Democratic party ran up the white flag when it comes to the surge in Iraq. Leading the surrender was none other than Barack Obama, the Democratic party's presumptive nominee for president and among the most vocal critics of the counterinsurgency plan that has transformed the Iraq war from a potentially catastrophic loss to what may turn out to be a historically significant victory. On Monday, Obama wrote a New York Times op-ed in which he acknowledged the success of the surge. "In the 18 months since President Bush announced the surge," Obama wrote, "our...

Where will you be in five years? Many claim the American dream has died. Earnings have supposedly stagnated, even while corporate profits boom and health coverage disappears. Most Americans believe the economy is in a recession. Pick up any newspaper, and it seems the days when most Americans could work hard and expect to get ahead are over. But look more closely at the polls. They show most Americans think it's harder for other Americans to get ahead, but that they personally will be better off in the future. How can most Americans believe opportunities are vanishing for others but...

Why is it that with every bump in the road, some people in the Democratic Party immediately assume the “kiss my behind goodbye position” illustrated on aircraft seat cards? When they’re not depressed over the war that the USA won in Iraq, and the larger ongoing successes against terrorism, they’re bracing themselves for the party itself to implode - for the ground to break under their feet and swallow them.

The United States appears to be on a downward spiral from which there is no apparent escape. Our very way of life is being severely threatened in the interest of fairness, multiculturalism and liberalism in general. Tradition, culture and national identification mean nothing anymore because so-called progressives -- the new term for liberals -- are bent on molding this country into an unidentifiable glob of feel-good socialism. One need only look at recent events in order to verify my concern. The country is flooded with illegal aliens who have no fear of apprehension or deportation and in fact are aided...

Repeal the 2nd Amendment June 27, 2008 No, we don't suppose that's going to happen any time soon. But it should. The 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is evidence that, while the founding fathers were brilliant men, they could have used an editor. A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

So much for that second-half rebound. Truth be told, that was always more of a wish than a serious forecast, happy talk from the Fed and Wall Street desperate to get things back to normal. It ain't gonna happen. Not this summer. Not this fall. Not even next winter. This thing's going down, fast and hard. Corporate bankruptcies, bond defaults, bank failures, hedge fund meltdowns and 6 percent unemployment. We're caught in one of those vicious, downward spirals that, once it gets going, is very hard to pull out of. Only this will be a different kind of recession --...

Picture Generals Obama, Reid and Pelosi standing a foot deep in snow at Vally Forge: Quartermaster reports: "The soldiers are freezing, shall we search for more firewood?" The Generals: "No! Impose a tax on all the firewood suppliers!"

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams pleaded with graduates from Ohio State University in Columbus to repair America during a commencement speech Sunday. "I come here today with a request for the Class of '08: We need you to fix the country – and I'm sorry to ask this of you," Williams said, suggesting that the U.S. is broken. "And I'm deadly serious and we really do. I am 49 and on behalf of my generation, I'm so sorry …" The news anchor, who was awarded an honorary Doctor of Journalism degree from the university, said the Internet has distracted...

Party of Defeat: How Democrats and Radicals Undermined America's War on Terror Before and After 9-11 By David Horowitz and Ben Johnson FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, April 11, 2008 The following [link] is the introduction from the new book Party of Defeat by David Horowitz and Ben Johnson. The introduction lays out the book's thesis: that the opposition to the war in Iraq has crossed a troubling boundary. For the first time, a large number of national leaders have not merely opposed a war; that would be their inalienable right under the U.S. Constitution. Instead, they have actively sabotaged an ongoing...

Nearly 60 House Democrats yesterday urged the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to examine whether top Bush administration officials may have committed crimes in authorizing the use of harsh interrogation tactics against suspected terrorists. In a letter to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, the lawmakers cited what they said is "mounting evidence" that senior officials personally sanctioned the use of waterboarding and other aggressive tactics against detainees in U.S.-run prisons overseas. An independent investigation is needed to determine whether such actions violated U.S or international law, the letter stated.

Groom, many guests of one wedding will be on call for another - that of the president's daughter Saturday, May 10, 2008 WEST — Nora Bartosh has been waiting for her wedding, scheduled for today, for the past six years. Now, the 34-year-old West drugstore clerk is worried that a president's daughter could steal her groom and thus her special day. The groom, all eight groomsmen and about 150 of the guests work in McLennan County law enforcement. That leaves Bartosh hoping that everything goes smoothly in and around President Bush's Crawford-area ranch today as first daughter Jenna says her...

It’s a popular upgrade for new homes, but could your granite countertop actually be a hazard to your health? The family who agreed to have their granite countertop tested for radiation wants you to know the answer to that question. They asked that their identity not be revealed, but they would like to share what was found at their home. “We’re living in a world that has radiation in it. And there’s nothing that you can do to stop it. However, that’s above background. That is an enhanced source of radiation,” said Bill Llope. Llope is a Rice University physicist....

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Kaplan, in a recent publication, the US National Defense University described the Iraq War as a "major debacle." According to the latest statistics, 500 insurgent attacks are still taking place each week. Still, you are convinced that there is a "learning curve" for the US Army in Iraq. What exactly has been learned? Kaplan: One attack is one too many. But a while ago there were 500 attacks a day. So empirically, the situation has improved -- whether measured in terms of Iraqi cilivans killed or American soldiers attacked, insurgents captured or the number of intelligence tip-offs....

...They are not only tired of nation-building in Iraq and in Afghanistan, with so little to show for it. They sense something deeper — that we’re just not that strong anymore. We’re borrowing money to shore up our banks from city-states called Dubai and Singapore. Our generals regularly tell us that Iran is subverting our efforts in Iraq, but they do nothing about it because we have no leverage — as long as our forces are pinned down in Baghdad and our economy is pinned to Middle East oil. Our president’s latest energy initiative was to go to Saudi Arabia...

<p>Tribal leaders in southern Iraq are starting to push back against Iranian-supported militias in Basra, cracking their hold over the economically crucial province, Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker said yesterday at two separate roundtable interviews with reporters. Continues...</p>

The outcome of the Iraq war may still be in the balance but U.S. President George W. Bush has already won the war about the war in Washington. In November 2006 elections, Bush's Republican Party lost control of both houses of Congress largely due to public anger about Iraq. Democrats pledged to end the war that started in March 2003 and bring the troops home. But testimony to Congress this week by the top commander on the ground, Army Gen. David Petraeus, indicates there will be about the same high level of U.S. troops in Iraq when Americans elect Bush's...

Sen. Biden: Troop buildup is failure 16 minutes ago A leading Democrat on Saturday declared last year's troop buildup in Iraq a failure. Sen. Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the military push didn't succeed because U.S. troops remain committed there in large numbers and political reconciliation has not been achieved. "The purpose of the surge was to bring violence in Iraq down so that its leaders could come together politically," said Biden, D-Del., in this week's Democratic radio address. "Violence has come down, but the Iraqis have not come together." He later added, "There is...

Hagel: Who says we have to win Iraq? Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:19:47 Republican Senator Chuck Hagel says some of the top politicians in Washington hold regrettable views on how the Iraq war should end. In a Thursday interview with CNN, Hagel criticized Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain for framing the situation in Iraq as one that the US must 'win'. "John (McCain), the President and the others have put the Iraqi situation in the wrong context. This isn't a win or lose," said Hagel. "We shouldn't frame this up as a win-or-lose because, when we do that - and this...

5 Ex-Chief Diplomats: Close Guantanamo Mar 27 08:46 PM US/Eastern By GREG BLUESTEIN Associated Press Writer ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - Five former U.S. secretaries of state on Thursday urged the next presidential administration to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and open a dialogue with Iran. The former chiefs of American diplomacy, who served in Democratic and Republican administrations, reached a consensus on the two issues at a conference in Athens aimed at giving the next president some bipartisan foreign policy advice. Each of them said shuttering the prison camp in Cuba would bolster America's image abroad. "It says to...

President Bush on Thursday defended the slow pace of progress in Iraq, asserting "it is not foot-dragging" as Iraqi politicians try to reach agreement on political, security and economic goals. Bush derided calls from Congress for troop withdrawals or deadlines so that the military could focus more on the anti-terror battle elsewhere. "This argument makes no sense," he said. Bush offered his assessment of the war in a speech before a military audience of more than 1,000 people at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton. Within weeks, Bush is expected to endorse the recommendations of...

Top Democrats on Monday reacted to the 4,000th U.S. death in Iraq by calling for a change in policy.Democratic presidential frontrunner Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) called the event a “grim milestone” and advocated a new course on Iraq. “It is past time to end this war that should never have been waged by bringing our troops home, and finally pushing Iraq's leaders to take responsibility for their future,” Obama stated.His rival for the nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), said at the onset of a speech on the economy that the news of the 4,000th U.S. death in Iraq is...

#It is no real surprise to learn that while John McCain is visiting our troops in Iraq, Hillary Clinton is back in America declaring that Iraq is a war that "we cannot win." She says that McCain's course of action would leave us in Iraq for another 100 years, compared to Hillary's plan to get us out by 2009. On McCain and George Bush, Hillary says, "They both want to keep us tied to another country's civil war, a war we cannot win ... That in a nutshell is the Bush/McCain Iraq policy. Don't learn from your mistakes, repeat them."...

  Angelina Jolie Makes More Sense than the Democrats on Iraq February 29, 2008 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT <SNIP> Everybody today is raving about a piece in the Washington Post by Angelina Jolie in which she just got back from Iraq. She says, "We have finally reached a point where humanitarian assistance, from us and others, can have an impact."  Her point is to stay, help the Iraqis, especially those who are out of the country, want to come back home, the time is right now, and that the surge is working.  Now, if you read the piece by Angelina Jolie...

Be careful what you wish for... Democrats wanted power in 2006, and vowed to end the war if they got it. They got power, and showed that they had no clue how to end it, and no intention of doing so in any event. There was talk of cutting funds for the war, and they could have done that, but instead chose to push their party agenda rather than make concessions needed to pass a funding cut measure in a bi-partisan way. Instead they tell their constituents that the Democratic Party needs more power. They need enough power to override...

WASHINGTON -- Democrats, facing rejection today of a proposal co-sponsored by Wisconsin's Sen. Russ Feingold to cut off money for the Iraq war, are planning to shift their emphasis to the war's toll on the American economy to rebuild anti-war momentum.In recent months, violence in Iraq has declined, and the Baghdad government has made small steps toward political reconciliation, including plans to hold provincial elections on Oct. 1. While Democratic voters remain largely against the war, the security improvement has helped to cool anxiety among Republicans and stave off legislation demanding that troops start coming home. The Senate was expected...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Congress on Wednesday moved to prohibit the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods on terror suspects, despite President Bush's threat to veto any measure that limits the agency's interrogation techniques. The prohibition was contained in a bill authorizing intelligence activities for the current year, which the Senate approved on a 51-45 vote. It would restrict the CIA to the 19 interrogation techniques outlined in the Army field manual. That manual prohibits waterboarding, a method that makes an interrogation subject feel he is drowning. The House had approved the measure in December. Wednesday's Senate vote...

The government of Iraq recently announced quite loudly that later this year, the U.S. presence in the country would be confined to garrisons. Although he hasn’t commented publicly on such issues since he left office, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who advocated strict parameters for the use of military, would be appalled at the notion of Americans holed up like rats in indefensible positions. Not surprisingly, the Department of Defense suggested this would not be the case, but the spat defined the problem that confronts our military and political leadership. Those who believe that the size of the American...

Democrats are increasingly bailing on their previously held view that the troop surge in Iraq has been a "failure," but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid isn't ready to jump on the bandwagon with other Democrats who say the surge has worked. The Senate re-opened for business on Monday after a two-week Thanksgiving break, during which key Democrats traveled to Iraq and declared that the surge is working, at least from a security and military perspective. Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), one the top war critics, stunned fellow Democrats late last week with his statement that "the surge is working," even though...

Declaring war "incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ," the bishops of The United Methodist Church called on leaders of all nations to begin an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. The bishops also urged against deploying additional troops to Iraq and against establishing permanent military bases in the Middle Eastern country.

58 Votes on Iraq War This Year: Why? Republicans Ask By Susan Jones CNSNews.com Senior Editor November 09, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Thursday that she will bring another troops-out-of-Iraq bill to the House floor on Friday. It will be the 58th "politically motivated" bill on the Iraq war by the House and Senate this year, Republicans complained. "We are restating the differentiation between us and the president of the United States," Pelosi said at a press conference. "This gives voice to the desires of the American people," she said of the bill, which ties war...

US appears guilty of torture: Pelosi by Jitendra Joshi 21 minutes ago The United States appears to be illegally torturing terror suspects contrary to denials by President George W. Bush, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday. The country's highest ranking Democrat also said that she still hoped to get most US troops out of Iraq by the end of 2008, despite the party's repeated failure to win over enough Republicans in Congress to an exit strategy. Interviewed on Fox News Sunday, Pelosi said reported interrogation tactics such as simulated drowning, head slapping and exposure to extreme temperatures all...

Media Research Center From the Desk of: Brent Bozell, Founder ++ Rush Limbaugh is under attack. Your immediate action is needed. See details. To All; The radical left activist group, Media Matters (funded by George Soros and others) has launched an all-out smear attack against Rush Limbaugh. And the liberal media are shamelessly promoting the assault. Their goal? To force Rush off the air. Unless our MRC Action Team takes a stand right now, they could actually succeed. Here is what is happening: Media Matters is claiming that Rush called any soldier that opposes the war a "phony soldier." In...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush should announce on September 15 an initial pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq to spur the Iraqi government to take steps toward political reconciliation, an influential Republican senator said on Thursday. Virginia Sen. John Warner said Bush should "announce on the 15th that in consultation with our senior military commanders he has decided to initiate the the first step in a withdrawal of our forces."

Reid: NIE Highlights Need For Urgent Change In Iraq Policy Washington, DC—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made the following statement today, following the release of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq: “Today’s National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq confirms what most Americans already know: Our troops are mired in an Iraqi civil war and the President’s escalation strategy has failed to produce the political results he promised to our troops and the American people. Our troops have done everything asked of them and more. Unfortunately Iraq’s leaders have not. And as today’s NIE makes clear, a political solution is extremely unlikely...

SAN FRANCISCO - Stung by reports implicating mental health specialists in prisoner abuse scandals at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, the nation's largest group of psychologists is considering banning its members from interrogations of terror suspects. The American Psychological Association, which is holding its annual meeting in San Francisco, is scheduled to vote Sunday on two competing measures concerning its 148,000 members' participation in military interrogations at Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. military detention centers. One measure would bar members from any involvement in interrogations at U.S. detention facilities where foreigners are held. The moratorium would not be backed by...

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia is still for lovers, but the state's tourism agency will eliminate images of people making heart symbols with their hands in its upcoming advertising campaign because the gesture is also used by a violent street gang. The Virginia is for Lovers "Live Passionately" campaign will remove images of models making the hand gesture, one of several signs associated with the Gangster Disciples, Virginia Tourism Corp. officials said Friday. The gesture shows thumbs and index fingers formed into a heart. "Our intent was to show people using their hands to make a heart to signify 'Virginia is...

A year after the Taliban fell to an American-led coalition, a group of NATO ambassadors landed in Kabul, Afghanistan, to survey what appeared to be a triumph — a fresh start for a country ripped apart by years of war with the Soviets and brutal repression by religious extremists. With a senior American diplomat, R. Nicholas Burns, leading the way, they thundered around the country in Black Hawk helicopters, with little fear for their safety. They strolled quiet streets in Kandahar and sipped tea with tribal leaders. At a briefing from the United States Central Command, they were told that...

Gerald Astor’s “Presidents at War” is a chronology of military actions, not declared wars by congress, but conducted by presidents who did so with the consent and advice of both houses of Congress.  The argument seems to be that Congress and Congress alone has the Constitutional authority to declare war; however, the president under Article II, Section 2, is empowered to respond to an attack upon the U.S., just as FDR did when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. Neither Lyndon B. Johnson, under the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, nor George W. Bush, with the October 10, 2002, consent of...

COOPER: Just in the spirit of trying to get the answer, does that mean no American ground troops [in Darfur]? CLINTON: American ground troops I don't think belong in Darfur at this time. I think we need to focus on the United Nations peacekeeping troops and the African Union troops. We've got to figure out what we're doing in Iraq, where our troops are stretched thin, and Afghanistan, where we're losing the fight to al Qaeda and bin Laden. (emphasis added) (APPLAUSE)

Virginia senator joins with Indiana's Lugar on proposal to narrow troops' mission

WASHINGTON - Two prominent Senate Republicans have drafted legislation that would require President Bush to come up with a plan by mid-October to dramatically narrow the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq. The legislation, which represents a sharp challenge to Bush, was put forward Friday by Sens. John Warner and Richard Lugar, and it came as the Pentagon acknowledged that a decreasing number of Iraqi army battalions are able to operate independently of U.S. troops. "Given continuing high levels of violence in Iraq and few manifestations of political compromise among Iraq's factions, the optimal outcome in Iraq of a unified,...

WASHINGTON — Two prominent Senate Republicans have drafted legislation that would require President Bush by mid-October to come up with a plan to dramatically narrow the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq. The legislation, which represents a sharp challenge to Bush, was put forward Friday by Sens. John Warner and Richard Lugar and it came as the Pentagon acknowledged that a decreasing number of Iraqi army battalions are able to operate independently of U.S. troops. "Given continuing high levels of violence in Iraq and few manifestations of political compromise among Iraq's factions, the optimal outcome in Iraq of a unified,...

WASHINGTON - Two prominent Senate Republicans have drafted legislation that would require President Bush by the end of the year to dramatically narrows the mission of U.S. troops. The legislation, which represents a sharp challenge to Bush, was put forward by Sens. John Warner and Richard Lugar, the ranking members of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations. It came as the Pentagon acknowledged that a decreasing number of Iraqi army battalions are able to operate independently of U.S. troops. "Given continuing high levels of violence in Iraq and few manifestations of political compromise among Iraq's factions, the optimal outcome in...

Conventional wisdom is that whatever happens between Israel and radical Islam will also be the fate of Western nations, especially the United States. The continued appeasement of Hamas and Fatah by the Israeli government and its failure to thoroughly defeat Hezbollah in last summer’s war validates the contention that without strong political resolve it is impossible to be victorious over radical Islamofascists. As Congress moves forward in its renewed attempt at forcing the US military out of Iraq we would be wise to examine Israel’s current situation more carefully as it is a precursor of things to come. DEBKAfile, a...

Not Worth Fighting For: Defeatist Republican Senators By Hugh HewittThursday, July 12, 2007 I have written three books in the past three years that deal in whole or part with the differences between the Republican and democratic parties: If It’s Not Close, They Can’t Cheat, Painting The Map Red, and A Mormon In The White House. I believe in party politics, and the silly folks arguing for “non-partisan” or “bipartisan” approaches to politics distinguish themselves chiefly as ignorant of American political history or thoroughly deceptive in their appeals to the public. What, I wonder, was the non-partisan approach to...

Speaking in the Senate today, John McCain offered a point-by-point rebuttal of the New York Times editorial board's recent call for withdrawal from Iraq. Here are a few clips: Video at link

On July 8, the New York Times ran an historic editorial entitled “The Road Home,” demanding an immediate American withdrawal from Iraq. It is rare that an editorial gets almost everything wrong, but “The Road Home” pulls it off. Consider, point by point, its confused—and immoral—defeatism. 1. “It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.” Rarely in military history has an “orderly” withdrawal followed a theater-sized defeat and the flight of several divisions. Abruptly leaving Iraq would be a logistical and humanitarian catastrophe. And when...

Are they traitors or prophets, these Republicans who have jumped ship and called for Bush to begin pulling out of Iraq — Sens. George Voinovich (Ohio), Richard Lugar (Ind.), John Warner (Va.), and Pete Domenici (N.M.)? More likely the latter. A look at the political map and the electoral calendar tells us that GOP Sens. Arlen Specter (Pa.), Norm Coleman (Minn.), Olympia Snowe (Maine), Susan Collins (Maine), Chuck Hagel (Neb.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Gordon Smith (Ore.) are probably not far behind them............." If you haven’t been counting, that comes to 11 Republican defections —enough to force a vote even...

Thursday, July 12, 2007 You cannot make this stuff up. All the troops for Gen. David Petraeus' surge have been in place for only a few short weeks . . . almost everyone admits the upshot of U.S. failure will be bloody and far-reaching . . . Petraeus is set to provide an early progress report in mid-September . . . even The New York Times and the BBC are reporting tangible signs of military progress on the ground . . . and a new clutch of panicked Republicans join anti-war, anti-Bush Democrats in saying we need a new strategy....

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) is quickly becoming the last line of defense for the White House in a standoff with congressional Democrats over keeping U.S. troops in Iraq. With Senate Republicans publicly bucking the president's war plan, Boehner and House Republicans remain largely unified in their opposition to a withdrawal, even though many have expressed grave frustration with the White House since casting a series of votes earlier this year opposing an end of U.S. involvement. Democrats will test that resolve this week when House members vote on a measure to force a speedy withdrawal that would...