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WASHINGTON -- Asked at a New Hampshire campaign stop about possibly staying in Iraq 50 years, John McCain interrupted -- "Make it a hundred" -- then offered a precise analogy to what he envisioned: "We've been in Japan for 60 years. We've been in South Korea for 50 years or so." Lest anyone think he was talking about prolonged war-fighting rather than maintaining a presence in postwar Iraq, he explained: "That would be fine with me, as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed." And lest anyone persist in thinking he was talking about...

Iraqi Police search men entering the clothing factory in Lutifiyah, Iraq, as they apply to become Iraqi police officers, July 9, 2007. The security was stiff, but over 1,100 residents of the Mahmudiyah district showed up to apply. Courtesy photo Several Hundred Police Recruits Vie for Security Jobs Violence doesn't deter Iraqis from taking control. By Multi-National Division - Center Public Affiars Office MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq, July 11, 2007 — Despite Iraqi Security Forces being a primary target for anti-Iraqi terrorists, people continue to volunteer to become members of the Iraqi police. An Iraqi Security Forces recruiting drive, held July...

NEW CONFLICT, OUTDATED STRATEGY? The U.S. Government launched Operation ENDURING FREE- DOM, Operation IRAQI FREEDOM and the Global War on Terror (GWOT) in response to the events of September 11, 2001 (9/11), and in alliance with various nations. Many other nations objected to the U.S. invasion of Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussayn's region did not, in their views, pose a credible Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) threat as was claimed at the time, and because they believed that American dismantlement and occupation of Iraq would surely be interpreted as neocolonialist interventionism. Indeed, Islamist extremists labeled these as Crusader...

Eighteen Hundred and Froze To Death The Infamous "Year Without A Summer" Of the cold summers in the period 1811 to 1817, the year 1816 has gone down in the annals of New England history as "The Year There Was No Summer," the "Poverty Year" and "Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death." The year began with a moderate but dry winter. Spring was tardy and continued very dry. The growing season from late spring to early fall, however, was punctuated by a series of devastating cold waves that did major damage to the crops and greatly reduced the food supply....

Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in Iran: The Invisible Revolution. During the U.S. presidential campaign, debate over Iran policy received unprecedented attention. The reasons are multifold. With Iran on the verge of developing both nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile capability, Washington policymakers can no longer ignore the Iranian threat, especially when confidants of Supreme Leader Ali Khomenei lead televised chants of "American will be annihilated," as Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati did last June. American concern over a nuclear Iran is multifold. The danger is not necessarily that Iran would conduct a nuclear first strike, although former president Ali Akbar...

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!

"The creation of the United States of America is the central event of the past four hundred years." Thus does Walter A. McDougall of the University of Pennsylvania begin the first volume of his acclaimed new American history, Freedom Just Around the Corner (HarperCollins).Not surprisingly, this central event has evoked a wide range of opinions. Tens of millions of immigrants have voted with their feet to slough off prior allegiances and join the boisterous experiment that makes "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" its official goal.The result has been an astounding success. "We dominate every field of human endeavor...

Re 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Oregon voters have rejected a temporary income tax surcharge -- handing a major victory to the state Libertarian Party, which led the fight against the proposed tax hike. On January 28, in a statewide referendum, voters rejected Measure 28 by 55%-45%. Had it passed, the initiative would have raised taxes by $725 million over three years. "We are very happy tonight," said Oregon LP Executive Director Richard Burke, as the magnitude of the anti-tax vote became clear. "We were very surprised by the margin." Just eight days earlier, a statewide poll by Portland's KATU Television had said the vote was...

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