Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) - Bluntly contradicting the Bush administration, the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks reported Wednesday there was "no credible evidence" that Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaida target the United States. In a chilling report that sketched the history of Osama bin Laden's network, the commission said his far-flung training camps were "apparently quite good." Terrorists-to-be were encouraged to "think creatively about ways to commit mass murder," it added. Bin Laden made overtures to Saddam for assistance, the commission said in the staff report, as he did with leaders in Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere as he sought to build...

(NOTE: SALIM MUWAKKIL is a senior editor at In These Times, a contributing columnist to the Chicago Tribune and a Crime and Communities Media Fellow of the Open Society Institute. This article is due to be published on 3/15). WHEN THE DEADLY TOXIN RICIN WAS FOUND February 3 in the mailroom of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), there was no change in Homeland Security colors. Although biological attacks on the apparatus of government are a veritable shortcut to domestic insecurity, they don't register on the chromatic terrorism scale. Americans have been trained to disassociate such attacks from the war...

NY Times: No Evidence of Halliburton Profiteering A comprehensive investigation into Halliburton's multibillion-dollar contract to restore Iraq's oil infrastructure shows "no evidence of profiteering" by the Houston-based oil services company. That's the verdict by the New York Times, which assigned its Whitewater sleuth Jeff Gerth and investigative ace Don Van Atta to lay bare all the tawdry details of how Vice President Dick Cheney's former company was reaping big-bucks profits from sweetheart deals imagined by Democrats. One problem: Gerth and Van Atta found almost nothing for Dems to hang their hats on. In fact, not only couldn't the Times find...

A caller to G. Gordon Liddy show today, said he was an employee of Bose (on his lunch break), and said BOSE corporate has ordered all flags, and flag related decorations taken down from all stores so as not to offend customers!!! Caller said one employee refused and quit. Has anyone else heard about this???

<p>Modesto police on Thursday asked the public for help corroborating the story of a Modesto man who reported his pregnant wife missing Christmas Eve.</p> <p>Police released photos of Scott Peterson's truck, boat and boat trailer, asking anyone who saw Laci Peterson's husband the two days before Christmas to call the Police Department.</p>

The Vietnam Syndrome is not dead. Certainly the United States is no longer gun-shy -- the Gulf War proved that -- but a different Vietnam Syndrome not only lives but seems to be thriving: the willingness of Washington to exaggerate the threat. This is happening now with Iraq. Not that Iraq is no threat. Under Saddam Hussein, it has twice invaded neighbors -- Iran and Kuwait -- and used chemical weapons against both foreign and domestic enemies. It also has biological weapons and is trying to secure nuclear weapons. If it gets the latter, the entire balance of power in...

Americans who value the Constitution should stand with Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and oppose George Bush's attempted power grab in conjunction with establishing a Department of Homeland Security. The Bushies are trying to frame the debate as either protecting bureaucracy or providing security for Americans. In fact, the debate is about preventing an authoritarian president from sacrificing the Constitution in the name of providing security. Let me remind you that those who prefer security to freedom will lose both. Bush wants to be able to disregard labor contracts and civil-service rules, as well as move money within the department as...