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Honolulu (AP) -- The leader of a Hawaiian pro-sovereignty group that broke into a historic palace once home to royalty said he planned to chain himself to the throne but couldn't find it because he had never been in the palace before. But palace officials said three locks, including those securing the throne room, were damaged. No artifacts were damaged or stolen, but the group broke into a barracks building and raised a flag on the flagpole, officials said. Police arrested 23 people during the stunt, in which members of the Kingdom of Hawaii locked the gates to the Iolani...

Archaeologists uncover Aberdeenshire’s hidden history on slopes of Bennachie Archaeologists have uncovered ancient traces, from tiny bead ornaments to massive walls, of a forgotten prince’s palace on the slopes of Bennachie in Aberdeenshire. Only yards from a busy car park used by walkers visiting the landmark hill, a 15-strong team rediscovered remains of Maiden Castle just below the surface of a wooded hillside mound. A stone’s throw from the Rowantree car park, near Pitcaple, and also close to one of the most important Pictish carved monuments in the country, the two-week dig confirmed the importance of the 2,000-year-old fort area....

Nepal celebrates as former king evicted from palace By Thomas Bell, South East Asia Correspondent Last Updated: 11:16PM BST 11/06/2008 Nepal's former king has been evicted from his palace as his former subjects revelled in the loss of his dignity and the opening of his secrets. Gyanendra loses his £1.5 million annual allowance and 600 staff The country was declared a republic two weeks ago and Gyanendra – now Mr Shah – was told to pack his bags and leave. In his final public act before leaving the palace, he addressed the nation on television. "I have assisted in and...

Mexican archaeologists unearth ruins of Aztec palace The Associated PressPublished: June 10, 2008 MEXICO CITY: Mexican archaeologists said Monday they have unearthed the remains of an Aztec palace once inhabited by the emperor Montezuma in the heart of what is now downtown Mexico City. During a routine renovation project on a Colonial-era building, experts uncovered pieces of a wall as well as a basalt floor believed to have been part of a dark room where Montezuma meditated, archaeology team leader Elsa Hernandez said. Montezuma's palace complex — known as the Casas Nuevas, or New Houses to distinguish them from his...

Mysterious church and palace from the beginning of the 1st millennium A.D. discovered by Polish archaeologists in Sudan Archaeological site in SelibAt the beginning of this year, archaeologists from Warsaw University, headed by Dr Bogdan Żurawski discovered the remains of an Early Christian church and an even older palace. "During research in the area of Selib, a village located on the right bank of the Nile, between the 4th and 3rd cataract, the remains of a building erected on the plan of a huge rectangle were found. It soon turned out that this was one of the most unique churches...

It's amazing what $5 US per gallon of gas can buy... This palace is owned by the family of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the former president of the United Arab Emirates and rule of Abu-Dhabi. My Mom said to always look at the bright side of things -good things these people are doing so 'well'!

Prince Andrew angers Palace with US attack By Andrew Pierce Last Updated: 2:44am GMT 06/02/2008 The Duke of York has angered the Queen and senior politicians with his extraordinary attack on the White House on the eve of his trade mission to the United States. Downing Street and the Foreign Office were also dismayed by the timing of his comments so close to the Super Tuesday primaries. The Duke of York is about to embark on a 10-day mission to the US as British trade envoy The duke's criticism, in a newspaper interview, of President Bush's post-war strategy for Iraq...

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chadian rebels surrounded the presidential palace in N'Djamena on Saturday after storming into the capital, and France began evacuating French and foreign nationals from the city. After a day of fierce clashes in the streets of N'Djamena, there was speculation about the whereabouts of President Idriss Deby, but at least two of his ministers said he remained inside the palace complex at the head of loyal troops. The official Libyan news agency JANA reported one of the leaders of the rebels, Mahamat Nouri, had agreed to a ceasefire and negotiations with government forces following mediation by Libyan...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq — In the midst of a combat zone, the Prince of Peace was honored with a Christmas Eve candlelight service. The service held in Al Faw Palace filled the nearly four story rotunda as sounds of carols echoed off the marble hall. It was time for Christians to remember their roots, Chaplain (Col.) Mike Tarvin said. Those roots go back to the Middle East, a place many Americans and others from a host of nations now find themselves, the senior chaplain for Multi-National Corps-Iraq said. “I love Christmas, even here in Iraq,” the Christian Church of Disciples...

Archaeologists have uncovered a royal palace used by King Henry II AN ANCIENT royal palace near Kingsclere unearthed during recent excavations will be open to the public over the weekend (September 22-23). The Royal Palace of Fremantle has lain hidden under the Hampshire Downs at Tidgrove Warren Farm, in the parish of Hannington, for nearly 900 years. Over the last three years the site has been excavated by staff and students from the University of Southampton in association with the Kingsclere Heritage Association local volunteers. Explorations have revealed a medieval enclosed settlement surrounded by a massive ditch - larger than...

From The Times (UK)August 22, 2007 Inside the Emperor’s underground palace Dalya Alberge, Arts Correspondent It covers an area the size of Cambridge but so far only a tiny proportion of the site of the First Emperor of China’s underground palace for the afterlife has been excavated. Now Chinese archaeologists have used computerised imagery to complete a 3-D reconstruction of the giant tomb that lies 30 metres beneath a mound, with the Qinling mountains in the background. The dramatic imagery has been made available to The Times by the historian John Man, before he publishes pictures and a detailed description...

Palace of Darius the Great Discovered in Bolaghi Gorge Discovery of remains of a gigantic palace in Bolaghi Gorge and its similarity to the constructions of the time of Darius I, Achaemenid King, in Persepolis show that it was built during the same period of time. Tehran, 15 May 2006 (CHN) -- Iran-French joint archeology team at Bolaghi Gorge succeeded in discovering and identifying the remains of a gigantic palace, believed to be from the Achaemenid era (648 BC–330 BC), during their second season of excavations in the area. “Before the start of this season of excavations, our geophysical tests...

/5/2006 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- A common trait exists among the injured Airmen recuperating at hospitals in the capital region, said the Air Force chief of staff. “Every Airman I’ve met wants to return to active duty and (his or her) unit,” said Gen. T. Michael Moseley in recent testimony on Capitol Hill. “I am proud of them and their courage as they travel the hard road to recovery.” The determination of injured Airmen inspired the creation of a program dedicated to helping them -- Palace HART, or Helping Airmen Recover Together. This program is offered to separated or retired...

Palace of Homer's hero rises out of the myths From John Carr in Athens ARCHAEOLOGISTS claim to have unearthed the remains of the 3,500-year-old palace of Ajax, the warrior-king who according to Homer’s Iliad was one of the most revered fighters in the Trojan War. Classicists hailed the discovery, made on a small Greek island, as evidence that the myths recounted by Homer in his epic poem were based on historical fact. The ruins include a large palace, measuring about 750sq m (8,000sq ft), and believed to have been at least four storeys high with more than thirty rooms. Yannos...

Does an amazing new discovery show that the Bible is supported by science? Many archeologists are calling the latest Israeli archeological discovery “the find of the century” (Canadian Jewish News, October 20). Eilat Mazar, an Israeli archeologist, is claiming to have unearthed, in East Jerusalem, the palace of biblical King David. King David was the 10th century b.c. poet-warrior and slayer of Goliath, whom the Bible says consolidated and expanded the ancient Israelite kingdom into a regional power. In approximately 1000 b.c., King David conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites (Washington Post, December 2), and subsequently made it his capital....

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, Feb. 20, 2006 – Just as any other day at Al Faw Palace, soldiers work to continue the mission of freeing Iraq. Boom! Suddenly the palace shakes and the noise within becomes faint. Soldiers run around frantically, trying to figure out what has went wrong. A bomb went off within the palace. Seven soldiers lie wounded on the ground. Combat lifesavers rush over to provide the casualties with medical aid. Thankfully, this scenario was an exercise based on a simulated attack on the palace Feb. 17. The exercise prepares soldiers within the palace in the event of...

ABC news has obtained 12 hours of tape recordings of Saddam Hussein meeting with top aides during the 1990's, apparently recorded in the Baghdad version of the Oval Office. The tapes were provided to ABC News by Bill Tierney, a former member of an UN inspection team who was translating them for the FBI. He says the U.S. Government is wrong to keep these tapes and others secret from the public. "Because of my experience being in the inspections and being in the military, I know the significance of these tapes when I heard them" said Tierney. U.S. officials confirm...

The huge dining room's domed roof still stands, as do the pillars decorated with ornate plaster, but everything else in the room is destroyed beyond recognition. In the middle of the circular hall, where the great and the good of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party would have sat around a huge, luxurious table, are two deep trenches. Look up, and the two overlapping holes slap bang in the middle of the dome show where the bunker busting bombs entered the palace from more than 12,200 metres (40,000 feet). Everything else is rubble. Concrete reinforcing rods have been bent around a pillar...

BAGHDAD (AFP) - On a day their grandchildren will surely hear about, 66 soldiers from 30 countries became US citizens in a sumptuous palace built by Saddam Hussein at Baghdad's airport. "You are truly the best that America has to offer," Lieutenant General John Vines told Sergeant Ambar Penelope Gonzalez from the Dominican Republic, Specialist Collins Umoh from Nigeria and their fellow servicemen and women. They were given a certificate, a US flag that had flown over the marble Al-Faw palace, at Camp Victory west of Baghdad, and two standing ovations by senior US officers and enlisted personnel. "This is...

Amazing discovery in heart of biblical Jerusalem By: DAVID HAZONY Special to the CJN Recent archaeological find, thought by some to be the biblical palace built by King David, stirs controversy over the right of the Jewish people to claim Jerusalem. In what many archaeologists hail as the potential find of the century, remains of a massive structure dating to the time of King David have been discovered in the heart of biblical Jerusalem. Eilat Mazar, the Israeli archaeologist leading the excavation, has suggested that it may, in fact, be the palace built by David as described in the Bible....

In what many archaeologists hail as the potential find of the century, remains of a massive structure dating to the time of King David have been discovered in the heart of biblical Jerusalem. Eilat Mazar, the Israeli archaeologist leading the excavation, has suggested that it may, in fact, be the palace built by David as described in the Bible. The discovery has shaken the already contentious field of biblical archaeology to its roots: For the last few years, a number of respected archaeologists n most prominently Israel Finkelstein, chairman of Tel Aviv University’s archaeology department and author of the 2001...

BEIJING, Dec. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese archaeologists have found the of a grand gate of the 1,300-year-old Daming Palace, the largest imperial architectural complex of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Archaeologists have recently discovered that the Danfeng Gate, or Vermillion Phoenix Gate, of the Daming Palace, had five doorways, which means it was the largest-scale imperial palace gate in the Chinese history, said Chinese archaeologist An Jiayao here on Friday. An, a researcher with the Institute of Archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the gates of ancient Chinese palaces usually...

Down the slope from the Old City's Dung Gate, rows of thick stone walls, shards of pottery and other remains of an expansive ancient building are being exhumed from a dusty pit. The site is on a narrow terrace at the edge of the Kidron Valley, which sheers away from the Old City walls, in a cliffside area the Bible describes as the seat of the kings of ancient Israel. What is taking shape in the rocky earth, marked by centuries of conquest and development, is as contested as the neighborhood of Arabs and Jews encircling the excavation. But the...

TIKRIT, Iraq (Army News Service, Nov. 23, 2005) -- The Iraqi government took control of Saddam Hussein’s palace complex in Tikrit from U.S. coalition forces during a ceremony Nov. 22 which continued despite a dud round fired by terrorists. Terrorists fired what officials called "unidentified explosive ordnance" that impacted about 300 yards from the ceremony. The projectile failed to explode, and no one was injured in the incident, officials said. The ceremony halted only briefly, they said, and was completed without further disruption. This was the 25th coalition operating base turned over to the people of Iraq so far, officials...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2005 – In what's being regarded as a highly symbolic development in Iraq, coalition forces will turn over former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's palace in Tikrit to the new Iraqi government during Nov. 22 ceremonies. The sprawling palace complex in Saddam's hometown, 90 miles north of Baghdad, is the largest and most elaborate of his presidential sites, a senior military official in Iraq said today on background. The U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division initially secured the complex in 2003, dubbing it Camp Iron Horse. The camp served as the division's headquarters when its members captured Saddam in...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOB DANGER TO BE TURNED OVER TO IRAQI GOVERNMENT TIKRIT, Iraq — Multi-National Forces will turn over control of the former Saddam Hussein Palace Complex here to Iraqi government officials in a ceremony in Tikrit Nov. 22. “The planned turnover of the complex to the Iraqi Ministry of Finance and the provincial government will be a landmark event highlighting the increased capability of the Iraqi government to administer and govern itself,” said Col. Billy J. Buckner, Multi-National Corps-Iraq spokesman. The Tikrit complex consists of more than 1000 acres of land situated on a high bluff overlooking the...

TIKRIT: U.S. commanders on Tuesday moved out of a complex of palaces that once belonged to ousted president Saddam Hussein, a site Iraqi officials hope to turn into a tourist destination. The complex, which overlooks the Tigris River, was built just outside Saddam's hometown of Tikrit soon after the end of the 1989-90 Gulf war. It served as headquarters to the 42nd Infantry Division, responsible for military operations in north-central Iraq. Their replacement, the 101st Airborne Division, will be staying at a former Iraqi airbase a few kilometers up the road. Local Iraqi officials will take control of the site...

Palace plan jars community leaders' peace of mind Harmony and joy may be coming to St. Paul and other areas in the form of a Peace Palace. Curt Brown, Star Tribune Last update: October 26, 2005 at 11:49 PM They promise inner happiness and fulfillment through transcendental meditation. And they've got their eye on a vacant lot on St. Paul's East Side for the first of 10 Maharishi Peace Palaces in the Twin Cities area. Neighbors and community leaders, trying to keep an open mind about opening minds, are a bit skeptical and concerned about "hidden agendas." But the group's...

The field of biblical archeology has been rocked, so to speak, by dramatic new finds in the heart of ancient Jerusalem. For the last few years, a number of respected archaeologists have posited that the biblical accounts of Jerusalem as the seat of a powerful, unified monarchy under the rule of David and Solomon are essentially false. The most prominent of these is Israel Finkelstein, chairman of Tel Aviv University’s archeology department, whose 2001 book, "The Bible Unearthed," written together with Neal Asher Silberman, became an international best seller. The lynchpin of his argument was the absence of clear evidence...

A debate of biblical proportions By Ran Shapira The recently ended season of excavations at the top of the City of David slope was accompanied by much excitement. With every passing day, more and more parts of an enormous building were unearthed. Dr. Eilat Mazar, the archaeologist in charge of the site, believes this could be the palace King David built after conquering Jerusalem from the Jebusites. The discovery has stirred up the old argument among archaeologists as to whether the events described in the Bible in fact occurred, and in this context, the importance and greatness of David himself....

An Israeli archaeologist says she has uncovered in East Jerusalem what may be the fabled palace of the biblical King David. Her work has been sponsored by a conservative Israeli research institute and financed by an American Jewish investment banker who would like to prove that Jerusalem was indeed the capital of the Jewish kingdom described in the Bible. Other scholars are skeptical that the foundation walls discovered by the archaeologist, Eilat Mazar, are David's palace. But they acknowledge that what she has uncovered is rare and important: a major public building from around the 10th century B.C., with pottery...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, July 25, 2005 – One hundred forty-three U.S. servicemembers from 42 different countries held up their right hands and became U.S. citizens today in the Al-Faw Palace rotunda here. The Army and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services led the ceremony. The Oath of Citizenship of the United States of America includes the words "... that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States of America when required by law." But Army Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, Multinational Corps Iraq commander, noted the new citizens had already made their decision about serving the...

Hello Lads, I don't know what sort of news coverage you're getting in the U.S, but I just thought I'd show you some pictures of London yesterday... 3 days after the terrorists struck: A Lancaster Bomber, escorted by a Spitfire and a Hurricane flies over Buckingham Palace to the Mall. Between 250,000 and 500,000 people are in the Mall. The Queen and the Royal Family are on the balcony of Buck House just as she was with Winston Churchill in 1945. The bomb doors open, and a million poppies fall to earth to commemorate those who made the ultimate sacrifice...

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A total of 147 foreign-born US military personnel serving in Iraq gathered inside a former Saddam Hussein palace to be granted US citizenship. In a mass ceremony the soldiers, sailors, and airmen, along with one marine and a navy medic, simultaneously raised their right hands and swore to "support and defend the constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic." US soldiers listen on during a swearing-in ceremony for citizenship, at Camp Victory in Baghdad. One hundred and forty seven foreign-born US military personnel serving in Iraq gathered inside one...

Listen While You Freep! All programs are replayed for 23 hours and again on weekends so tune in when it’s convenient for YOU! Call In Number - 866-884-TALK (8255) Heating the EDGE of a New Media! 12pm-2pm EST - VOICES OF SOLDIERS TOUR 2005!! BUZZ LIVE FROM BAGHDAD! Join Buzz as he broadcasts live from Camp Victory, Iraq. Lots of insightful interviews with our men and women in uniform from the front lines. The Buzz Cut! 2pm EST – “Breaking Free” with Kerri Houston and Peter Roff! 3pm EST - Live From Baghdad!!! Martha joins Buzz Patterson on the Voices...

  To begin 4th of July weekend, U.S. soldiers spend the afternoon around a swimming pool outside a former Saddam Hussein palace, which is now part of the U.S. military base Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, July 3, 2005. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) AP - Jul 03 10:56 AM To begin the 4th of July weekend, U.S. soldiers spend the afternoon around a swimming pool outside a former Saddam Hussein palace which is now part of the U.S. military base Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, July 3, 2005. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) AP - Jul 03 10:49 AMTo begin 4th of July weekend, U.S....

The U.S. Army launched a criminal investigation yesterday into the deaths of two New York National Guard officers who were killed while they were sleeping in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces. The military initially reported that Capt. Phillip Esposito and 1st Lt. Louis Allen, both assigned to the 42nd Infantry Division, died late Tuesday as the result of an "indirect fire" attack on the palace in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit. Col. Bill Buckner, spokesman for the Multi-National Corps in Iraq, revised the record. "The evidence indicates that this was not indeed caused by a mortar attack," he said. A...

Man accused of throwing chair during Palace brawl pleads no contest 3/29/2005, 10:48 a.m. ET By SARAH KARUSH The Associated Press PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A fan charged with throwing a chair during one of the worst brawls in U.S. sports history pleaded no contest Tuesday to one count of felony assault and one count of misdemeanor assault and battery. Bryant Jackson was the only one of the 13 Indiana Pacers players and Detroit Pistons fans charged with a felony for their alleged role in the Nov. 19 melee at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Oakland County Circuit Judge Rae...

CONSTRUCTION has been completed of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe’s controversial £5 million mansion in Harare’s leafy northern suburbs. The 25-bedroom private house, built by a Serbian construction company Energoproject to a Chinese architectural design, has two lakes in its 44 acre landscaped grounds and is protected by a multi-million pounds radar system. Approach roads to the mansion, topped by a Chinese-style roof clad in midnight blue tiles from Shanghai, are off limits to the general public. THE PALACE MUGABE BUILT It is understood that some 50 police riot response officers guard the Mugabe palace on a 24- hour basis in...

While the decency wars continue to rage in Washington, the MPAAMPAA has okayed the most profane PG-13 pic ever. Palm PicturesPalm Pictures won its appeal Thursday of the original R rating given to Iraq war docudocu "Gunner Palace." Pic is the Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein-helmed docu following U.S. soldiers living in a bombed-out palace formerly owned by Saddam Hussein's son Uday. "Palace" was picked up by Palm last year at the Toronto Film Festival via the Submarine and Cinetic MediaCinetic Media sales banners. "Palace" contains no gory footage, but the docu does contain numerous instances of soldiers cursing, including...

WE HAVE TWO CANDIDATES WHO BOTH WANT TO BE PRESIDENT.  I HAVE THE PERFECT SOLUTION.  MR BUSH HAS BEEN PRESIDENT FOR FOUR YEARS, SO LET'S RE-ELECT HIM AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HIS EXPERIENCE AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF.

President Bush to visit The Palace on Wednesday 10/22/2004, 12:19 p.m. ET The Associated Press AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) — President Bush will hold a rally at The Palace on Wednesday evening, campaign spokesman John Truscott said Friday. The campaign hopes to begin handing out 15,000 tickets on Saturday for the event at the Auburn Hills home of the defending NBA champion Detroit Pistons. The visit will be the first of several the Republican president plans to make in the final week of the campaign. "There will be other stops in Michigan before election day, but we don't have those...

Donated Tackle Helps Troops Fish at Saddam's Private Lake By Spc. Andy Miller, USASpecial to American Forces Press Service BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 29, 2004 -- The large man-made lake between Camp al-Tahreer and Camp al-Nasr here was once stocked with fish as part of Saddam Hussein's private hunting reservation, and has since become one of the largest overseas American military bases built since the Vietnam War. Army 1st Lt. Kevin Black (left), executive officer for 1st Cavalry Division's headquarters company, shows off a fish he caught at Camp al-Tahreer in Baghdad, Iraq, with Capt. Sean Tyson, headquarters company commander....

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 18 - Nine months after American troops pulled him disheveled and disoriented from an underground bunker near his hometown, Tikrit, Saddam Hussein is living in an air-conditioned 10-by-13 foot cell on the grounds of one of his former palaces outside Baghdad, tending plants, proclaiming himself Iraq's lawful ruler, and reading the Koran and books about past Arab glory. American and Iraqi officials who have visited the former Iraqi leader say he wears plastic sandals and an Arab dishdasha robe, eats American soldiers' ready-to-eat meals for breakfast, and is permitted three hours' daily exercise in a courtyard outside...

St. Poelten. Public prosecutors have reopened investigations into the mysterious death of a trainee priest from the seminary in St. Poelten at the heart of a recent child porn scandal. The body of 53-year-old Ewald S. was recovered from the Old Danube lake in Vienna in October 2003. The dead man was a former student from the seminary in St. Poelten but at the time police excluded possible foul play and closed the file as a suicide case. The head of the seminary at the time Ulrich Kuechl spoke of an “accident.” The case was reopened in February as a...

Earliest palace city discovered in Henan www.chinaview.cn 2004-07-25 09:57:20 The undated file photo shows part of the Erlitou site in Yanshi, central China's Henan Province. Archaeologists said that the palace city discovered last spring at the Erlitou site may be the earliest palace city ever discovered in China. (Xinhua Photo)> The undated file photo shows part of the Erlitou site in Yanshi, central China's Henan Province. (Xinhua Photo) The undated file photo shows relics unearthed from the Erlitou site in Yanshi, central China's Henan Province. (Xinhua Photo) ZHENGZHOU, July 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Archaeologists said that the palace city discovered last...

Australian troops in Baghdad spend their nights sleeping in a lavish and opulent shag palace. Well, that's what the soldiers say - and it may be true. The vast Presidential Palace North, now christened Camp Victory, features hundreds of ornate buildings with Aussie troops locating their headquarters and accommodation in buildings on the edge of a huge artificial lake. "You know what this used to be?" mused one soldier relaxing in the early evening outside what's called the round house. He's delighted to explain. The story goes that the round house was used for love trysts by Uday Hussein, the...

Priceless Picture: U.S. Troop in Iraq ... fishing

Curmudgeon Emeritus -- Francis W. Porretto March 18, 2004 "Those who have not swords may still die upon them." -- Eowyn of Rohan, in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings. They can do more, much more. And some of them do. Now and then, your Curmudgeon frets over his contribution to the security of the nation. A 52-year-old man isn't normally expected to take up arms and cross the seas to do battle with evil, regardless of the Left's repeated cries of "chickenhawk!" at those of us who have counseled all-out war but would not have to...

US troops demolish Saddam’s palaces Baghdad, Iraq Press, February 28, 2004 – US occupation forces have hired Iraqi contractors to level down at least ten magnificent mansions the ousted leader Saddam Hussein had built for his family. The villas, though not among the main presidential palaces Saddam built for himself, are unique in their architectural design. Experts say their demolition, expected to start soon, will be a great loss both from the artistic and financial point of view. Even the Iraqi contractors who won lucrative deals to bring the palaces down are said to be reluctant to go ahead. The...