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Iraqis Pay Tribute to U.S. Service Members By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service ARLINGTON, Va., May 27, 2004 — As the sound of "Taps" wailed from Army Sgt. Major Henry Sgrecci's bugle today, seven Iraqi citizens pressed their new prosthetic hands against their hearts at the Tomb of the Unknowns here to honor U.S. service members who have given their lives in Iraq. Seven Iraqi merchants put their new prosthetic hands across their hearts May 27 while laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of U.S. service members killed in Iraq....

AL ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq(July 11, 2004) -- Sally's children were taken away from her more than six months ago. Her husband beat her. Her brother threatened her life while holding a gun to her head. Her own father contracted her death with a $5,000 reward. Sally, an Iraqi translator working with Coalition Forces, lost everything by working to help Americans rebuild Iraq. Still, she feels her service with Americans is the right thing for her country "I lost everything I have, but I have gained so much," Sally said. "If I had to do it over again I would. I...

BAGHDAD -- On Wednesday the sovereignty of Iraq will be restored, and the Iraqi people will take their first major steps toward a free and prosperous future, after more than three decades of tyrannical rule, repression, wars and sanctions. This will be an important milestone for Iraq, the region and indeed the whole world, endorsed by the unanimous approval of the U.N. Security Council in Resolution 1546 earlier this month. As Iraqis, we thank the coalition for the sacrifices made by its soldiers and its people for the liberation and rebuilding of Iraq, and for the contributions by all the...

Thatcher will win the verdict of history GERALD WARNER AND then there was one... The striking, poignant image of a black-clad Margaret Thatcher bowed over the coffin of Ronald Reagan was an iconic snapshot of history. The partnership that demolished Communism had finally been dissolved by death. In the present era of candy-floss soundbite politics, predicated upon nothing more than the acquisition of office by manipulation of the public mood - rootless and purposeless - that wordless farewell was a moment of greatness revisited. Lady Thatcher is now the sole survivor of a very personal alliance that remoulded the world....

We have lost a great president, a great American, and a great man. And I have lost a dear friend. In his lifetime Ronald Reagan was such a cheerful and invigorating presence that it was easy to forget what daunting historic tasks he set himself. He sought to mend America's wounded spirit, to restore the strength of the free world, and to free the slaves of communism. These were causes hard to accomplish and heavy with risk. Yet they were pursued with almost a lightness of spirit. For Ronald Reagan also embodied another great cause — what Arnold Bennett once...

AND then there was one... The striking, poignant image of a black-clad Margaret Thatcher bowed over the coffin of Ronald Reagan was an iconic snapshot of history. The partnership that demolished Communism had finally been dissolved by death. In the present era of candy-floss soundbite politics, predicated upon nothing more than the acquisition of office by manipulation of the public mood - rootless and purposeless - that wordless farewell was a moment of greatness revisited. Lady Thatcher is now the sole survivor of a very personal alliance that remoulded the world. It is all too easy to overlook that prodigious...

JEWELLER Nazaar Joudi cries as he remembers the Americans taking over Abu Ghraib prison. But the tears in his eyes are of gratitude, not humiliation. He knows that a handful of US soldiers have brought shame upon themselves and their nation for the way they treated Iraqi prisoners at the jail. But he also knows how much worse the prison was under Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Nearly 30 years after it ended, the Vietnam War has, in the minds of some, come back to life in the Middle East. With every snippet of news from the battlefield — especially if it's bad — the debate gets a little hotter on both sides. The entire episode has given me a strange feeling of déjà vu. The first time I heard the phrase, "another Vietnam," was 20 years ago, and back then, the would-be debacle in question was El Salvador. Iraq today far more closely resembles that place than Vietnam. To understand this, cast your mind back to...

From "60 Minutes:" The president still believes with some conviction, that this was absolutely the right thing, that he has the duty to free people, to liberate people. And this was his moment,” says Woodward. But who gave President Bush the duty to free people around the world? “That's a really good question. The Constitution doesn't say that's part of the commander in chief's duties,” says Woodward. “That’s his stated purpose. It is far-reaching, and ambitious, and I think will cause many people to tremble.”

HOUSTON (AP) - This time the tears streaming down Laith Aqar's face weren't the result of fear and loss, but of hope and a sense of rebirth. In 1995, Aqar was one of a group of Iraqi men who had their right hands amputated by Saddam Hussein's government for alleged trading in foreign currency. Nearly 10 years later, Aqar sat in a Houston hospital bed Monday after doctors had operated on his right arm to prepare it for a technologically advanced prosthetic he will soon receive. "The first time was hard. We were crying because we knew we were going...

CHOMAN, Iraq, April 9 (Reuters) - As much of Iraq marked the anniversary of Saddam Hussein's fall with fighting and bloodshed, Kurds in the relatively stable north celebrated with parties and the melting of an ice statue of the ousted dictator. In the mountains north of Arbil, hundreds of people held a carnival to cheer the fall of a regime that oppressed Iraq's Kurdish minority, in stark contrast to large parts of the country further south where insurgents battled foreign troops. "Those people who are fighting now don't like freedom for Iraq. We are celebrating this day," said the mayor...

<p>March 19, 2004 -- A YEAR ago, on the evening of March 20, 2003, I was sitting on an MII3 armored personnel carrier on the Kuwait-Iraq border, wearing full chemical gear, when the artillery opened up behind us, signaling the beginning of the liberation of Iraq by the U.S.-led coalition. A few hours later, that same MII3, crammed with six combat engineers in full "battle rattle," plus one film critic-turned-embedded-war-correspondent, crossed the border into Saddam Country.</p>

In Iraq, as in the War on Terror, we're the good guys. In fact, rarely in the course of world history has the essential goodness of a nation been revealed so starkly as in America's conduct of the war against Saddam Hussein. The question is: Why is it so hard for so many Democrats, liberals and Europeans to accept it? What is it about the liberation of 25 million people and the removal of a barbaric tyrant — a tyrant who either directly or indirectly murdered at least 1 million of his own people and waged wars that killed another...

It struck me the other day that the usual left-wing media has been subliminally skewing its coverage of the liberation of Iraq by mislabeling the US “coalition authority” as the US “occupation authority,” thus adopting the terrorists’ language. For example: “coalition authority” cites Knight Ridder 3/15/04 article http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/special_packages/iraq/8194910.htm “…yet the coalition authority can boast of notable successes that US officials argue have laid the groundwork for Iraq's prosperity. ...” UPI in the Washington Times 3/18/04 article http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040318-072123-7284r.htm “…Jordan is training members of the new Iraqi army and new police force under an agreement it signed with the coalition authority in...

BALAD, Iraq — As a crowd of Iraqis clapped and cheered, leaders of the 4th Infantry Division unit that brought calm to this city gave a gift meant to symbolize peace and friendship. Lt. Col. Nate Sassaman and Capt. Matt Cunningham — battalion and company commanders from the 4th ID’s 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment — presented a statue of a dove flying above a map of Iraq. It stands atop a red-tile pedestal and fountain built by local artisans. The officers dedicated the statue to 1,500 men, women and children from the Shiite city of 170,000 who were slaughtered...

It has now been almost a year since the liberation of Iraq, the fury of the antiwar rallies, and the publicized hectoring of Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Sean Penn, and other assorted conspiracy freaks — and we have enough evidence to lay some of their myths to rest. I just filled up and paid $2.19 a gallon. How can that be, when the war was undertaken to help us get our hands on "cheap" oil? Where is the mythical Afghan pipeline when we need it? "No Blood for Oil" (never mind the people who drove upscale gas-guzzlers to the rallies...

Iraq War Veteran Meets With Students, Recounts Experiences By Gerry J. GilmoreAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2004 –- As her unit moved toward Baghdad, liberated Iraqis "were tearing down things in celebration of the fall of the regime," Army 1st Lt. Emily Woolsey, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, recalled during a Feb. 26 visit with seventh- and eighth-graders. Army 1st Lt. Emily Woolsey, of the 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky., describes captured Iraqi military equipment during a Feb. 26 visit with students at Franklin Middle School in Chantilly, Va. Photo by Gerry J. Gilmore(Click photo...

“Ah, you are from America. Thank God for George Bush!” It’s the first thing Ghazi Suleiman – a devout Muslim and one of Sudan’s top human-rights lawyers – says as I sit down in his living room in Khartoum one night. Dressed in a white tunic-like robe, he explains why he’s such a fan of President Bush. First, he says, America’s ouster of Saddam Hussein has put pressure on leaders all over the Muslim world to loosen political and religious strictures. In Sudan – a nation with a predominantly Muslim North and predominantly Christian South - the government has continued...

"My satisfaction came when we were riding through from Kuwait and all these children were shouting 'America is number one'," said Staff Sgt. Temu Gibson from Schenectady, N.Y.