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General: U.S. may consider troops in Libya Army Gen. Carter Ham says ground forces wouldn't be ideal, but may be a possible way to aid rebels; Says current operation largely stalemated (CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - The United States may consider sending troops into Libya with a possible international ground force that could aid the rebels, according to the general who led the military mission until NATO took over. Army Gen. Carter Ham also told lawmakers Thursday that added American participation would not be ideal, and ground troops could erode the international coalition and make it more difficult to get Arab support...

Army Gen. Carter Ham says ground forces wouldn't be ideal, but may be a possible way to aid rebels; Says current operation largely stalemated (CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - The United States may consider sending troops into Libya with a possible international ground force that could aid the rebels, according to the general who led the military mission until NATO took over. Army Gen. Carter Ham also told lawmakers Thursday that added American participation would not be ideal, and ground troops could erode the international coalition and make it more difficult to get Arab support for operations in Libya. Ham said the...

NATO commander Adm. James Stavridis says it is too early to be talking about an exit strategy from Libya. He said a ground force may be needed if rebels drive Muammar GaddafiMuammar Gaddafi out. "When you look at the history of NATO, having gone through this, as many on this committee have, with Bosnia and Kosovo, it's quite clear that the possibility of [the need for] a stabilization regime exists," he said. "And so, I have not heard any discussion about it yet, but I think that history is in everybody's mind as we look at the events in Libya,"...

RAS LANOUF, Libya – Moammar Gadhafi's forces hammered rebels with tanks and rockets, turning their rapid advance into a panicked retreat in an hourslong battle Tuesday. The fighting underscored the dilemma facing the U.S. and its allies in Libya: Rebels may be unable to oust Gadhafi militarily unless already contentious international airstrikes go even further in taking out his forces.

Hillary Clinton has paved the way for the United States to arm the Libyan rebels by declaring that the recent UN security council resolution relaxed an arms embargo on the country. As Libya's opposition leaders called for the international community to arm them, the secretary of state indicated that the US was considering whether to meet their demands when she talked of a "work in progress". The US indicated on Monday night that it had not ruled out arming the rebels, though it was assumed this would take some time because of a UN arms embargo which applies to all...

U.S. aircraft have fired on a Libyan coast guard vessel, forcing it to limp to shore, after it launched missiles at merchant ships in the port of Misrata, U.S military officials said Tuesday. A U.S. Navy P-C3 Maritime Patrol aircraft fired at the Vittoria after multiple explosions were seen near the Libyan port Monday evening, according to Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn statement. The 12-meter patrol vessel "was hit and no longer operational, and forced to beach near the port," Lt. Nathan Potter told The Associated Press in a phone interview from aboard the USS Mount Whitney. "The purpose of...

Coalition air raids have hit the town of Sirte, Col Muammar Gaddafi's hometown and the next target of rebel forces advancing westwards. A Libyan government spokesman said three Libyan civilians had been killed in the city's port. Heavy explosions were also heard in the capital, Tripoli, late on Sunday. The raids came as Nato took full command of the whole military operation in Libya, intended to enforce a UN resolution to protect civilians. <----snip----> "We are already enforcing the arms embargo and the no-fly zone, and with today's decision we are going beyond. We will be acting in close co-ordination...

The big takeaway from Byron York’s piece on the new mission of NASA will probably focus on making Muslims feel better about their scientific achievements, but that’s really just one part of the problem. The expressed instructions from Barack Obama to Charles Bolden, the new administrator of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, all have one thing in common: they have nothing to do with space. Obama’s three new objectives have nothing to do with anything for which Congress should provide funds to NASA: "In a far-reaching restatement of goals for the nation’s space agency, NASA administrator Charles Bolden says President...

There are four justices over seventy years of age: Stevens 88, Ginsberg 75, Scalia 72, and Kennedy 71. Of these, only Scalia is conservative. With McCain, the GOP can own the Court for decades with conservative replacements. But will he campaign on this issue?

Composite exchange of late seen too often at FreeRepublic: Petulant Poster #1 Juan McCain is not a conservative. The Republican party jumped the shark by nominating this open borders, gang of fourteen, amnesty liberal. He’s a RINO, a dem in pubby clothing. The only thing that would persuade me to vote for McCain is if he picks ______ (fill in the blank, Mitt Romney, Michael Steele, Duncan Hunter, Jindal, Palin, Pawlenty, etc.) as his running mate. Purist Poster #2 I’m not voting this cycle. It’s time for the Republicans to suffer for going so far leftward. The only way the...

Police Benefit From Pr Warren's Peace Project The New Times (Kigali)NEWS 12 March 2008 Posted to the web 12 March 2008 By Florence Mutesi Kigali Renowned US Pastor Rick Warren's missionary work in Rwanda has now been extended to law enforcement. Four police experts from Warren's Saddleback Church in California, US, have since March 6 been training 50 Rwandan police officers in Kigali on how to better deal with various crimes such as gender-based violence, and how to provide counseling. According to Deputy Director of Training in Rwanda National Police (RNP), Superintendent Pascal Nkurikiyimfura, the training covers such issues as...

TOKYO, Feb 28 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice voiced concern on Thursday about Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, but stopped short of an explicit call for Israel to exercise restraint. A surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence along the border of Gaza has raised fears of a full-scale conflict amid public pressure on Israeli President Ehud Olmert for tougher military action to deal with rocket attacks by Islamic group Hamas. A rocket launched from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip killed a man in Israel on Wednesday, the first such death in nine months, and Israeli...

Posted 04/07/05 09:19 U.S. Jet Fighter Programs Beset by Prohibitive Rising Costs By JIM MANNION, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE The U..S. Air Force's jet fighter programs; the F/A-22 and the Joint Strike Fighter are beset by soaring costs, development delays and changing world threats that raise questions about their viability," Congress's investigative arm said April 6. The Government Accountability Office said in a report that the original business case for the F/A-22 has been "severely weakened, and that the original business rationale for the JSF is unexecutable." The uncertainty surrounding the two fighter programs, which together require future investments of 240...

<p>By John Berlau © 2003 Insight/News World Communications Inc.</p> <p>It was widely reported as an outrage, a use of the USA PATRIOT Act by the puritanical Attorney General John Ashcroft and his Justice Department to go after a crime that had nothing to do with terrorism.</p>

WASHINGTON - Crisscrossing the country to defend the USA Patriot Act from the slings and arrows of conservatives and liberals alike, Attorney General John Ashcroft praises the law as invaluable to the war on terrorism and national security. "We have used these tools to prevent terrorists from unleashing more death and destruction on our soil," he said last month as he kicked off a multistate defense of the law. Virtually unmentioned, however, is the fact that the Patriot Act extended the government's powers well beyond the terrorism arena. The creatively named law - USA Patriot stands for "Uniting and...

Tom Ridge was a pretty good governor and is President Bush's friend. People who know him say he's also a pretty good guy. But it's becoming increasingly clear that he's rapidly becoming little more than another run-of-the-mill Washington bureaucrat more interested in accumulating power than in doing his job. Anyone who doubts that should look at what his Department of Homeland Security is up to these days. The department was cobbled together in the days after Sept. 11 by an administration rightly worried about our security, and, on paper at least, it made a lot of sense. The new department...

G.I.'s to Guard Afghan Leader Amid Concerns By CARLOTTA GALL ABUL, Afghanistan, July 22 — American soldiers, including Special Forces, will move into the presidential palace and take over responsibility for the security of President Hamid Karzai, illustrating concern for his safety after the assassination of a vice president this month, a presidential spokesman said today. In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the newest mission for American soldiers in Afghanistan might last several months and was intended to ensure that Afghans keep the leader recently appointed by a grand council of representatives from all over the country. "We...