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TEL ASQUF - With Kalashnikovs slung over their shoulders, Iraq's first Christian militia enforces one simple rule on the border of this little village. "Anyone not from Tel Asquf, is banned." This village in northern Iraq's flashpoint Nineveh province, frequently targeted by Sunni and Shiite fighters, has now taken security into its own hands with armed patrols and checkpoints at the village's four entrances. The village borders are marked with a sand barrier built by residents in a bid to stop car bombs breaching the perimeter as they did in 2007 when two such attacks within six months rocked the...

AMNESTY International yesterday warned that arming civilians and militias in Mindanao against Muslim rebel attacks could escalate the violence there. Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced and dozens killed in recent attacks blamed on Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels, prompting the government to scrap a preliminary peace accord calling for an expanded autonomy for minority Muslims. The rebels, who have been fighting for Muslim self-rule, said they regretted the violence but rejected government demands to hand over two commanders blamed for recent civilian deaths. The military has stepped up pressure on the rebels by launching limited air strikes...

Shi'ite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr stepped back into Iraq's political fray Friday with an offer that (if genuine) Washington would be hard-pressed to refuse: Set a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and the Mahdi Army will begin to disband. "The main reason for the armed resistance is the American military presence," said Sadr emissary Salah al-Ubaidi, who spoke to reporters in Najaf Friday. "If the American military begins to withdrawal, there will be no need for these armed groups." Sadr in the past has vowed to expand the humanitarian work of his movement but promised to maintain...

Over the last decade, they cropped up in cities throughout China, tucked into raucous markets or along forgotten side streets, their interiors smelling of musty canvas and crammed with bounty for aspiring young soldiers: illicit weapons shops with names like ARMY GOODS STORE and GUNCOOL. For a few thousand yuan--a few hundred dollars--assault rifle-like air guns await in dirty back rooms, along with fatigues, bulletproof vests, kneepads, long underwear, camouflage t-shirts, rucksacks, bandoliers, helmets, helmet sleeves, walkie-talkies, and two-liter CamelBaks. Once outfitted, China's militiamen organize into clubs--Guangzhou Fight Men, Shanghai Band of Brothers, Tianjin Seals--and storm remote lots or abandoned...

Early in World War II, Japan considered invading the mainland of the United States. Admiral Isoroku Yamoto, commander in chief of the Japanese naval forces and architect of the Pearl Harbor bombing, advised against invading. Twenty years prior, Admiral Yamoto had spent a few years in the United States studying at Harvard University. Based on his experience with American culture, Admiral Yamoto reportedly told his government, “I would never invade the United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.” Admiral Yamoto’s observation speaks to the heart of America’s uniqueness. The Admiral observed, in essence, that America...

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is using a vacant lot behind the Talladega Superspeedway to detonate 168 illegal weapons seized from the Alabama Free Militia. ... Members of the Alabama Free Militia claimed their weapons were for self-defense. But ATF bomb experts say faulty fuses on the homemade grenades made them highly dangerous — not only to the public, but the militia members themselves. The seven defendants in the Alabama Free Militia investigation have pled guilty to various weapons charges. Now that they’re behind bars, the ATF is able to wrap up this case with a bang....

April saw 49 U.S. casualties in Iraq, the highest total in seven months. Does this mean, as some insist, that the enormous progress we have made since the start of the military surge is being lost? As one who has spent nearly two years with American soldiers and Marines and British Army troops in Iraq - having returned from my last trip a month ago - here's my short answer: no. We are taking more casualties now, just as we did in the first part of 2007, because we have taken up the next crucial challenge of this war: confronting...

Sadr City is experiencing a relative lull after several days of intense battles between the Mahdi army and US and Iraqi forces. US troops killed six Mahdi Army fighters in a series of engagements, while the Iraqi government reported over 900 have been killed since fighting broke out in Sadr City at the end of March. Iraqi's prime minister has vowed to continue the operation in Baghdad and Basrah. US troops killed six Mahdi Army fighters during separate engagements in Sadr City last evening and this morning. US Abrams tanks and unmanned aerial vehicles targeted Mahdi Army fighters as they...

A historic event may soon be taking place; in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court will make a ruling that may finally decide whether the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms or if it only protects a state's right to maintain a militia, this often being defined as the National Guard. While supporters of the 'individual rights' interpretation of the Second Amendment no doubt pray for a ruling that supports their views (as well as the Founding Fathers'), there may be little to fear from a ruling stating that the Second Amendment applies...

Militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are positioning explosives to defend the major routes into Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood in anticipation of a major battle with U.S. and Iraqi government forces, residents said yesterday. Iraqis also said families in Sadr City and other Shi'ite areas of Baghdad are stocking up on food, fearing new fighting that will leave them unable to get to the markets. While food prices in most of Baghdad are stable, they have increased in Sadr City and surrounding neighborhoods as people brace for a resumption of fighting that rocked the neighborhood late last month, said...

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Moqtada al-Sadr's militiamen Tuesday battled troops in four Iraqi cities on Tuesday, including the capital, as the hardline Shiite cleric threatened a countrywide campaign of civil revolt. Heavy clashes broke out between Sadr's Mahdi Army fighters in the southern oil city of Basra, killing at least seven people and wounding 48, and in Kut and Hilla, both south of Baghdad, officials said. As evening fell, Mahdi Army fighters fought with Iraqi and US forces in their Sadr City bastion in eastern Baghdad for the first time since last October, a security official and witnesses told AFP. Troops...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia ordered shops to close in some Baghdad neighborhoods on Monday in what they said was the start of a "civil disobedience campaign." The show of force by the feared militia, which the U.S. military once called the greatest threat to peace in Iraq, alarmed residents, but leaders of Sadr's political bloc in parliament stressed that it was a peaceful protest. The militia has kept a low profile since Sadr called a ceasefire last August and extended it last month, a move U.S. commanders say has helped to sharply reduce...

West Virginia is considering a bill to teach schoolchildren how to handle a gun and hunt safely its proponent hopes will increase state revenues from hunting licenses, a state lawmaker said Thursday. "We will teach a hunting safety course during their physical education class," state senator and bill sponsor Billy Wayne Bailey told AFP. The courses would be imparted in secondary schools, from the eighth to 10th grade (13-16 years of age)...

BISBEE — A local border watch group recently changed its operational name and some of its tactics due to the types of illegal immigrants its members are encountering. Cochise Borders Civil Defense Corps is now officially known as Cochise County Militia. Bill Davis, the director and founder of the group, said he is authorizing the carrying of rifles and shotguns, in addition to handguns. Members also can wear military-type battle dress uniforms, camouflage gear and face paint.

Here is a remarkable development. Just twenty-five years ago, there was a strong consensus, among judges and academics, that the Second Amendment did not create an individual right. No federal court had invalidated a restriction on guns on Second Amendment grounds (ever). As recently as 1992, Chief Justice Warren Burger, a conservative Republican appointee, rejected the individual rights view in public. (For some details, see my TNR piece, "The Most Mysterious Right.") In a short period, the consensus has shattered. There is a strong possibility that the Supreme Court will accept a view that seemed utterly implausible in the relatively...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- A Colorado Springs megachurch instituted security precautions after a shooting at a Denver area mission center earlier Sunday, saving "hundreds of lives" at the New Life Church, senior Pastor Brady Boyd said Monday. A New Life parishioner acting as a security guard shot and killed a gunman who entered the church Sunday afternoon after he had gotten no more than 50 feet inside the building, Boyd said.... Boyd said the female security guard was a hero in preventing further bloodshed, rushing to confront the gunman just inside the church. "She probably saved over a hundred...

Who’s going to duck and cover on the Second Amendment debate that’s really getting wound up since the Supreme Court of the United States decided to rule on District of Columbia vs. Heller, or more commonly known as the D.C. Gun Ban? It seems that the republican candidates are getting involved and are at least letting voters know how they interpret the Second Amendment. The democrats seems mum on the issue, maybe because they know that gun rights can be politically deadly. The debate hitting all the media outlets still seems to be on the interpretation of “A well-regulated militia...

America needs a gun ban. Yes, a ban that denies possession, transfer and ownership of firearms. I say that as a gun owner myself. I say this as a strong defender of the Second Amendment to the Constitution. I say it with the belief the Second Amendment empowers American citizens to defend their sacred honor, their homes and families and to help “defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.” It is the phrase “all enemies foreign and domestic” that leads me to endorse a gun ban. The Second Amendment is clear: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to...

THA’ALBA — Iraqi and Coalition forces captured six enemy targets during the early morning hours of Sept. 25 in Tha’Alba, during Operation “Viking Squeeze II.” U.S. Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., and Soldiers from the Iraqi 5th Special Troops Company detained 10 individuals – six of which are suspected of facilitating and executing attacks against innocent civilians, Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition forces. Two of the detainees are members of a kill squad, one of whom is suspected of participating in a minimum of...

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq - Senior leaders with the Multi-National Division - Baghdad reported that criminal militia have conducted 11 attacks in Baghdad since Aug. 30. Among the 11 attacks attributed to criminal militia members are 107mm rocket attacks impacting Coalition outposts and residential Baghdad neighborhoods, small arms attacks, the use of the deadly explosively-formed projectiles and one complex attack requiring detailed coordination and planning. "Many citizens are concerned with their criminal activities," Brig. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, the deputy commanding general for support of MND-B and the 1st Cavalry Division told a gathering of Iraqi media in the International Zone...

As gun-control advocates prepared to hold a "National Day of Protest Against Gun Violence" on Tuesday, a group dedicated to correcting misconceptions in the media about social conservatism and religious faith issued a study claiming that news outlets regularly "take potshots" at rights provided by the Second Amendment. "During the first seven months of 2007, the media waged an intermittent war against the Second Amendment, using a variety of fallacious arguments to make the pitch for gun control," according to "The Media Assault on the Second Amendment," which was released on Monday by the Culture and Media Institute (CMI). "When...

SHIITE militiamen from the Mahdi Army took over the police joint command centre in Basra yesterday as UK soldiers withdrew from the facility and handed control to Iraqi police. Police left the building when the militiamen, loyal to anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, arrived, witnesses said. Last night, the MoD disputed the reports, saying it had been in contact with the Iraqi general in charge of security in Basra, who said the Mahdi Army was not there. But witnesses said the Mahdi Army emptied the building in early evening - taking generators, computers, furniture and cars - and remained there. The...

BAGHDAD - A Muslim imam dropped his cloak to the sidewalk. It was a signal for the gunmen to move. They surrounded the top Iraqi security official in a north Baghdad district. Iraqi military vehicles — commandeered by other Shiite militiamen — screeched into a cordon, blocking his exit. A gun was put to his head. Brig. Gen. Falah Hassan Kanbar, a fellow Shiite, managed to escape when his bodyguards pulled him into a vehicle that sped down an alley. Details of the Aug. 5 ambush emerged this week in interviews with Kanbar, U.S. military and intelligence officials. It remains...

American jets and helicopters bombed Baghdad's largest Shiite slum on Wednesday, in a deadly strike targeting Iranian-backed militia, as thousands of pilgrims thronged the streets of the city. The US military said 30 "terrorists" were killed in the overnight strike on Sadr City, but families complained that women and children were among the dead, and angry mourners gathered to bury simple wooden caskets. Helicopters and war planes were called in as Iraqi and US ground troops arrested 12 members of a cell that American commanders believe brought weapons and explosives from Iran, and sent militants to Iran for training. "During...

Rogue Shiite militia fighters said to be armed and trained by Iran were responsible for nearly three-quarters of attacks that killed or wounded Americans in Baghdad last month, the No. 2 US commander in Iraq said Sunday. Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno said factions that have broken away from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army were believed responsible for most of the attacks. He said military successes against al-Qaida had left a void that was being filled by the rogue militiamen. He also blamed Iran for stepping up support for the Shiite fighters in an attempt to influence opinions in...

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2007 – Iraqi troops captured a militia commander, a U.S. helicopter crew destroyed a heavily armed vehicle, and an Iraqi police chief and more than a dozen associates have been arrested, military officials reported. Iraqi special operations forces apprehended a commander in radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s illegal militia during an early morning raid in Kadamiyah, a central suburb of Baghdad, yesterday. The suspect allegedly is responsible for providing financial, logistical and political support for insurgent groups and terrorist organizations. He also is suspected of managing operations to murder and intimidate local Iraqis, ordering several attacks on coalition...

Federal, state and local authorities seized weapons and explosives belonging to a militia group at two homes in Collinsville and three other counties early Thursday morning. DeKalb deputies, along with U.S. Marshals and ATF agents executed federal search warrants in DeKalb, Jefferson, Marshall and Etowah counties, including two near Collinsville School. Agents from Atlanta and Huntsville bomb squads and the FBI were also on the scene. “The good news is hopefully today Alabama is free of the Free Militia,” said ATF agent in charge Jim Cavanaugh. “There is a lot of concern for the future as a result of this...

Simultaneous raids carried out in four Alabama counties Thursday turned up truckloads of explosives and weapons, including 130 grenades, an improvised rocket launcher and 2,500 rounds of ammunition belonging to the small, but mightily armed, Alabama Free Militia. Six alleged members of the Free Militia also were arrested by federal authorities and are being held without bond. Investigators said the DeKalb County-based group had not made any specific threats or devised any plots, but was targeted for swift dismantling because of its heavy firepower. The militia, which called itself the Naval Militia at one point, had enough armament to outfit...

COLLINSVILLE, Ala. — Federal agents and state investigators arrested five men during a series of raids in northeast Alabama early Thursday as part of an effort to bust an explosives sales ring being run by an as-yet-unidentified local militia group, FOX News has learned. At least five bomb teams were on the scene in case explosives were found during the searches. Eric Kehn, a spokesman with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive, said the action "involves weapons and things along those lines," but declined to elaborate. The five were arrested on federal warrants and agents had four search...

What the Washington Times of Tuesday, 17 April, aptly headlined as the “Massacre at Virginia Tech” is a tragedy that should—that must—teach this country a number of serious lessons. First, that all so-called “gun-free zones” are exceedingly dangerous places. For all “gun-free zones” amount to “self-defense prohibition zones” for honest citizens, and therefore “free-fire zones” for psychopaths, “terrorists,” and other homicidal criminals. If common sense did not, certainly the experiences documented by researchers such as John Lott confirm that the less “gun free” an area is (in terms of firearms in the immediate possession of honest citizens ready and willing...

BOGOTA, Colombia - Authorities captured a fugitive right-wing warlord Tuesday accused in massacres and of running a murderous criminal band involved in drug trafficking and extortion, officials said. Ever Veloza, one of the few top paramilitary bosses who fled into hiding rather than embrace a government peace deal, was arrested in the turbulent banana-growing Uraba region on the Caribbean coast, police said. Better known by his alias "Hernan Hernandez," Veloza once commanded the Banana and Calima blocs of the United Self-Defense Forces, known by its Spanish initials as AUC. The two blocs are blamed for hundreds of murders of human...

A federal appeals court panel in Washington has marched blithely past a longstanding Supreme Court precedent, the language of the Constitution and the pressing needs of public safety to strike down Washington’s law barring residents from keeping handguns in their homes. The ruling, approved 2 to 1 last week by the Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was the first from a federal appeals court to hold a gun control law unconstitutional on Second Amendment grounds. It cries out for prompt reversal by the full circuit, and ultimate rejection by the Supreme Court. The district’s strict...

"... A second task we can take on together is to design and establish a volunteer Civilian Reserve Corps. Such a corps would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them. And it would give people across America who do not wear the uniform a chance to serve in the defining struggle of our time."

Last Somali Islamist base 'falls' Ethiopia was at the forefront of the drive against Islamists Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers have captured the last stronghold of the Union of Islamic Courts, the defence minister says. Col Barre Aden Shire said the town of Ras Kamboni, in south-eastern Somalia, fell after several days of fighting. Remnants of the militia are now reported to be hiding in dense forest along Somalia's border with Kenya. Ethiopia has led a military campaign against the Islamists, who controlled much of Somalia for six months. The US this week launched air strikes against Islamists,...

Fincher Guilty In Machine Gun Case Friday, January 12, 2007 3:37 PM CST It took a jury just under five hours to find Hollis Wayne Fincher guilty of owning illegal machine guns and a sawed-off shotgun. Closing arguments in federal court in Fayetteville wrapped at mid-morning and the case went to the federal jury about 10:30 a.m. The jury returned its verdict about 3:20 p.m.

I've been kicking it around for a few weeks and I came to a conclusion. I don't know how to use my weapon. That is actually hard for me to say as I have been shooting and hunting for pretty much as long as I can remember. In Boy Scouts when I was about 12 I could put 5 shots in the same hole at 20 yards with a BB gun and 50 yards with a .22, both with 0 wind. At longer ranges I could hit the center of the target, scoreable areas, or in the black depending on...

FAYETTEVILLE — A Fayetteville militia member was arrested Wednesday by teams of special agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other federal and state agencies and local police in connection with illegal firearms. Fayetteville police Lt. Mike Reynolds said 14 search warrants were executed Wednesday in Fort Smith and Fayetteville and one of the warrants was for a lieutenant commander of the Militia of Washington County, Hollis “Wayne” Fincher, of 16085 East Black Oak Road. “We assisted ATF and several other agencies in arresting Fincher. I don’t believe he has a criminal history with us. That’s...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A motorcycle bomb killed seven people and wounded 45 others as it ripped through a crowded motorbike market in Baghdad's Shi'ite Sadr City district on Thursday, an Interior Ministry source said. The bomb, detonated by remote control, targeted shoppers in the Mureydi market. The source, quoting police at the scene, said officers initially thought the explosion was caused by a rigged car but later determined the explosives had been planted on a motorcycle. The densely populated and impoverished area is often targeted by Sunni militants. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded the U.S. and Iraqi military...

BAGHDAD - Shiites from the crowded Baghdad district of Sadr City are reveling in what they deem their "victory" over American forces after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Tuesday ordered the dismantling of US and Iraqi checkpoints surrounding the area. The checkpoints - manned by US and Iraqi troops for a week in an effort to find a kidnapped US military translator of Iraqi descent as well as snare an alleged death-squad leader - had snarled traffic and bred growing anger in the slum. They also provided Mr. Maliki with a chance to further assert his independence after weeks...

(RTTNews) - Somali government troops and heavily armed Islamist fighters have gathered on Sunday around Burhakaba, a strategic southern Somali town, a day after it was captured by government troops. Reports say that the residents of the town are fleeing as a conflict between the Somali government troops and the Islamic militia have become imminent as the Islamists have threatened to launch a counter-attack to recapture the town if the government troops does not withdraw. The interim government has in turn refused to withdraw its forces from Burhakaba.

Pakistan's leader Pervez Musharraf has stepped up his war of words with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai over the Taliban ahead of their talks with US President George W. Bush. Speaking at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Musharraf slammed Karzai for saying that Pakistan created the Taliban, which has been waging a tenacious insurgency against NATO-led troops in southern Afghanistan. Karzai made the accusation after Musharraf charged that the Taliban had its "roots" in the Afghan people. The quarrel between the Islamic neighbours is giving a headache to Western powers, facing high casualties in the NATO bid to destroy...

WASHINGTON, Sep. 3, 2006 – An Iraqi Army unit caught a mid-level leader of an illegal militia group during an early-morning Aug. 31 raid in southeastern Baghdad, according to Multinational Corps Iraq officials. The Iraqi soldiers, accompanied by coalition advisers, were specifically looking for the militia’s chieftain, officials said, noting that he is believed to be responsible for inciting sectarian violence, fear and instability through acts of intimidation and murder. He also was wanted for authorizing the acquisition and use of heavy weapons and improvised explosive devices employed in attacks on Iraqi citizens and coalition troops. No civilians or Iraqi...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's health minister, who is aligned to a powerful Shiite militia, claimed Sunday that U.S. forces arrested seven of his personal guards in a surprise pre-dawn raid on his office. The reason for the alleged arrests was unclear. Health minister Ali al-Shemari said the soldiers arrived at 3 a.m. Sunday, broke open doors inside the building leading to his office and hauled away the seven men, who were posted there as night guards. U.S. officials did not immediately respond to the claim. "There was no legal warrant, there was no prior warning to the ministry, there was...

The Man Who Stepped Out of LineIn this post-feminist age where men are still learning remedial masculinity, we have a model of manhood lived heroically which we would do well to emulate. In the early twentieth century Poland gave us that manly priest, John Paul II, but also his hero, Maximilian Kolbe, priest, missionary, spiritual father and martyr of brotherly love. St. Maximilian’s feast day is August 14th, the vigil of his beloved Virgin Mary’s Assumption and the day which commemorates the conquest of virile love over the totalitarian creeds of his generation. As men, we could all learn a...

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi and U.S. troops battled Shi'ite militiamen in a village northeast of Baghdad on Thursday, and witnesses and police said U.S. helicopters bombed orchards to flush out gunmen hiding in the palm groves. Iraqi security officials said Iranian fighters had been captured in the fighting, in which the commander of an Iraqi quick reaction force and two soldiers were shot dead by a sniper. They did not say how the Iranians had been identified. The U.S. military had no immediate comment. Police said the fighting was still going on at 6 p.m. (1400 GMT) in the...

DAYS after winning control of Mogadishu, an Islamist militia was yesterday advancing towards the last stronghold of secular warlords, Jowhar.The coalition of warlords are widely believed to be backed by Washington and their defeat is seen as a setback for US policy. The United States has called for an international meeting this week in New York to discuss strategy on Somalia, bringing together officials from the UN, Europe and Africa. Residents said the militia, who won control of the Somali capital last week after driving out the warlords, drew closer overnight to the warlord stronghold of Jowhar, 55 miles to...

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Islamic militia appeared to control Mogadishu on Monday after winning a bloody three-month battle against warlords who have run the Somali capital for 15 years. The warlords are widely believed to be covertly backed by a U.S. administration concerned, according to former U.S. intelligence officials, that Islamist rulers could provide a save haven for al Qaeda akin to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Many fled on Monday to other parts of Somalia or neighbouring Kenya. The Islamic side, which supports sharia courts in Mogadishu, announced they controlled the city in radio broadcasts and public meetings. Both residents and some members...

The New Warrior Class Government Opinion (Published) Keywords: SOLDIER, PATRIOT, WARRIOR, ARMY WAR COLLEGE Source: http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/parameters/1994/peters.htm Published: Parameters, 1994 Author: Ralph Peters Posted on 10/03/1999 20:26:33 PDT by Cvengr The New Warrior Class, author RALPH PETERS, © 1994 Ralph Peters PARAMETERS, US Army War College Quarterly - Summer 1994 The New Warrior Class RALPH PETERS © 1994 Ralph Peters The soldiers of the United States Army are brilliantly prepared to defeat other soldiers. Unfortunately, the enemies we are likely to face through the rest of this decade and beyond will not be "soldiers," with the disciplined modernity that term...

<p>The Iraqi government and the U.S. military have issued starkly different accounts of a gunfight around a mosque in northeast Baghdad that was being used as a headquarters by the Moqtada al Sadr's militia, the "Mahdi army."</p> <p>An Interior Ministry spokesman said 22 "bystanders" were killed. An aide to al Sadr said 25 "innocent men" were killed. The dead included the mosque's 80-year-old imam, they said.</p>

Amendment II Right to bear arms. Ratified 12/15/1791. 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. http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am2 * ** *** INFRINGE: vb [Latin infringere] 1: violate, transgress 2: encroach, trespass Source: NMW In the context of the Constitution, phrases like "shall not be infringed," "shall make no law," and "shall not be violated" sound pretty unbendable, but the Supreme Court has ruled that some laws can, in fact, encroach on these phrases. For example, though there is freedom of speech, you...