Free Republic

Heavy Fighting Engulfs Mogadishu Published: 3/30/07, 3:25 PM EDT By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Insurgents shot an Ethiopian helicopter gunship out of the sky and mortar shells slammed into a hospital Friday during the heaviest fighting in the Somali capital since the early 1990s, leaving corpses in the streets and wounding hundreds of civilians. By official count 30 people have been killed since Thursday. But the fighting was so severe and so widespread in Mogadishu that bodies were not being picked up or even tallied, and residents said hundreds more were believed dead across the city of...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Insurgents in Iraq detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle with two children in the back seat after US soldiers let it through a Baghdad checkpoint over the weekend, a senior US military official said Tuesday. The vehicle was stopped at the checkpoint but was allowed through when soldiers saw the children in the back, said Major General Michael Barbero of the Pentagon's Joint Staff. "Children in the back seat lowered suspicion. We let it move through. They parked the vehicle, and the adults ran out and detonated it with the children in the back," Barbero said. The general said...

We often hear in the media about insurgents or the insurgency; yet I believe that many Americans do not understand who they are and the threat they pose to our success in the overall mission in Iraq. The insurgency in Iraq is opposed to any occupying authority and their goal is to regain political and economic power. The insurgents that are in Iraq are classified as terrorist as apposed to guerrillas by virtue of their indiscriminate targeting of either civilians or combatants. Guerrillas would confine themselves to government and military targets. This is not the case with Iraqi insurgents; they...

BAGHDAD, Sunday, March 18 — Three suicide bombers driving trucks loaded with explosives and tanks of chlorine gas detonated their payloads in Anbar Province on Friday, killing at least two Iraqi police officers and wounding or sickening more than 350 people, the American military command said Saturday. Police and hospital officials, however, said that as many as eight people had been killed. Insurgents began combining explosives with chlorine gas and other chemicals in January in an effort to sow more fear and havoc among civilians, military officials say.

VIENNA, Austria: Austrian authorities have approved the export of 30,000 handguns to Iran, local media reported Friday, days after a report that sophisticated Austrian rifles were finding their way into the hands of Iraqi insurgents. Austrian media reported the pistols had been sold to Iran's interior ministry, which is in charge of the police force. Austrian economic ministry officials told state radio that their ministry had approved the sale of the "Glock" pistols last month, saying Iranian authorities had provided documentary evidence that they would not be passed on to others. Another request for the weapons from the Iranian army...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. troops battled insurgents in fierce fighting that killed at least 12 people in the volatile Sunni city of Ramadi, the military said Thursday. Iraqi authorities said the dead included women and children. The six-hour firefight began after the U.S. troops were attacked by insurgents with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades Wednesday evening in eastern Ramadi, said Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Shawn Mercer. The fighting ended after "precision guided munitions" damaged a number of buildings being used by the insurgents, he said. Twelve insurgents were killed and three were wounded, he said, adding that there were no...

British 'quick fix' aid for Afghans brought to halt by insurgents By Tom Coghlan in Lashkargar Last Updated: 1:16am GMT 19/02/2007 Few foreign aid agencies are prepared work in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand. Two weeks ago, a white clad figure approached the sandbagged guard post outside the compound of one agency. Very politely the man explained that he was a suicide bomber. "I have no problem with you," he told the local guards, opening his jacket to show the bomb strapped to his body. "Just let me go inside and kill the foreigners." The nearest guard shot him in...

Wednesday, February 14, 2007 Foreign Operatives Using Message Boards All over the Internet, it is apparent that a coordinated, well-funded effort is under way to undermine and warp American values by attacking us through our least protected zone...the Internet. From AOL, to Yahoo, to Netscape, possible terrorists are posting on message boards while posing as liberals. They are taking advantage of the natural anti-American tendencies liberals have anyway, and therefore can more easily blend in. However, there are a few traits you should look for to determine whether someone is actually a foreign agent instead of just the average liberal:...

This email from a guy who is there.. No politics here, just a Marine with a bird's eye view opinion: 1) The M-16 rifle : Thumbs down. Chronic jamming problems with the talcum powder like sand over there. The sand is everywhere. Jordan says you feel filthy 2 minutes after coming out of the shower. The M-4 carbine version is more popular because it's lighter and shorter, but it has jamming problems also. They like the ability to mount the various optical gunsights and weapons lights on the picattiny rails, but the weapon itself is not great in a desert...

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government on Monday backed US claims that Iran's leadership has provided weapons to insurgents fighting coalition forces in Iraq. Blair first expressed concern in October 2005 about technology for roadside bombs and other weapons entering Iraq from Iran, the prime minister's official spokesman said. "The prime minister has been at the cutting edge of identifying this problem," the spokesman said on condition of anonymity, in keeping with government policy. "We continue to say what actually is the case, which is that we keep finding this weaponry which we do not believe can be sourced from...

The recent loss of five helicopters in Iraq has caught the attention of the media. Also in the media is all the new talk of Iranian influence on weapons in Iraq, although my readers learned about the issue more than a month ago in Walking the Line (Part Two of Three). In the face of all this “new” controversy about “foreign” weapons in the battle space, I recalled some of the many photos I.ve taken of caches of weapons captured by Iraqi and American forces in Iraq. The photo above is from one of these. None of the military persons...

Terrified that sectarian Muslim bloodshed could soon engulf the region, U.S. allies and adversaries in the Middle East have stepped up joint efforts to head off a religious civil war. Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran have held intensive talks in recent days on ways to tamp down sectarian violence in Iraq and Lebanon. Over the weekend, Saudi King Abdullah issued an unusual public call for calm. Top Islamic clerics and scholars in Egypt, Qatar and Iraq also have issued statements urging Muslim unity, often blaming the United States and other outside actors of trying to divide the faithful....

Excerpt - Iraqi militants are taking most of the $US1.5 billion a year that's stolen from Iraq's main oil refinery through smuggling and corruption, the government told parliament today. Speaking at the second reading of the 2007 budget, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said crime is behind the crisis in the oil industry, which is struggling to meet Iraq's own fuel needs despite having the world's third biggest reserves. "We have a system and an administration which encourage corruption," said Mr Salih, who has oversight over the economy. ~ snip ~

TEHRAN, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Iran is demanding the immediate release of five Iranians held by U.S. forces in Iraq, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Sunday, adding that the five are diplomats. The five were arrested on Thursday in the northern Iraqi town of Arbil and the U.S. military has accused them of links to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard group that provides weapons to Iraqi insurgents. "Americans should immediately release the five Iranians and pay compensation for the damages they caused to our office in Arbil," Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a weekly news conference, adding the five were...

Iran announced Thursday that it has arrested a senior official for allegedly spying on the country's nuclear program. The name of the detainee has not been released, but he was identified as an employee of the parliamentary research center. The center provides research services and advice to parliamentarians and security on strategic issues.

UK troops 'destroy' Taleban camp Many Taleban fighters are thought to have been killed in the operation British troops have destroyed a Taleban training camp in southern Afghanistan, killing dozens of insurgents, according to the military. About 110 Royal Marines carried out the operation in northern Helmand, which it is hoped will pave the way for repairs on a hydroelectric dam in the province. It is hoped nearly two million people will now get access to electricity. Operation Clay was launched on New Year's Day. Plymouth-based 42 Commando were engaged in four days of fighting. Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has...

Wanna sign-up for totalitarian 'anti-freedom' freedom fighters?   Freedom Fighters most ironic term terrorists use, translation: fighting AGIANST any freedom. What went through your mind when you heard militant Cindy Sheehan calling the terrorists fighting in Iraq "militia freedom fighters"?Would these same "militias" spare her throat giving the chance? why after all, the very factor of an 'infidel being in Arab land (Iraq) is already good enough to shout: "Allah Akbar" & head cut off!   If you are about to use the "freedom" word You might call it "freedom from the non Muslim existence", if you wish. Unless the Islamists are...

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Fighters belonging to a militant Islamist movement fled into a rugged, forested corner of Somalia from rapidly advancing government forces Monday, and the prime minister offered amnesty if they surrendered. Regional diplomats worked to arrange the speedy deployment of African peacekeepers to help the interim government establish its authority in the country, which has known only anarchy for 15 years. As the last remaining stronghold of the Islamic group was overrun by government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and MiG fighter jets, the net began closing on suspected al-Qaida militants believed to be sheltered by the...

U.S. IS DETAINING IRANIANS CAUGHT IN RAIDS IN IRAQ... DEVELOPING... American military holding at least 4 Iranians in Iraq, including men Bush administration called senior military officials, who were seized in pair of raids late last week, NY TIMES reporting Monday... MORE...

A French new study by Nicolas Martin-Lalande, Étude Raoul-Dandurand published by the strategic and diplomatic studies institue of the Quebec University,Montréal, Canada, made an extensive overview of the present situation in Iraq and the future of the country and the insurgency there. The conclusion : a) the insurgency will be long to be defeated, but has no chance to win stategically gains due to its lack of unity. b) the present situation in Iraq is NOT a civil war. The recent comments by sunnis, shia and kurds prove each ethnicity changes his point of view frequently about how to deal...