Free Republic

LONDON (Reuters) - An Iranian refugee has sewn his eyes, ears and mouth shut in protest at the rejection of his asylum application, a friend says. The move by Shahin Portofeh, 23, comes less than two months after another Iranian refugee, Abas Amini, won the right to stay in Britain after resorting to the same extreme tactic. "I'm standing next to him right now and he is in a lot of pain," said a woman describing herself as a friend and interpreter in Portofeh's bedroom in Coventry. The interpreter, who declined to be named, said Portofeh was lying on his...

<p>WASHINGTON — The former civilian head of the Army said Monday it is time for the Pentagon to admit that the military is in for a long occupation of Iraq that will require a major commitment of American troops. Former Army secretary Thomas White said in an interview that senior Defense officials "are unwilling to come to grips" with the scale of the postwar U.S. obligation in Iraq. The Pentagon has about 150,000 troops in Iraq and recently announced that the Army's 3rd Infantry Division's stay there has been extended indefinitely.</p>

To the Editor: Spectator, now for the second time in less than a year, has succeeded to quote me in a remarkably decontextualized and inflammatory manner. In Margaret Hunt Gram's report on the faculty teach-in against the war in Iraq (March 27, 2003), I am quoted as wishing for a million Mogadishus but with no indication whatsoever of the perspective that framed that remark. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that your Staff Editorial in the same issue, denouncing the teach-in for "dogmatism," situates me in particular as the premier example of an academic "launching tirades against anything and everything American."...

Glenn Beck is trying to setup rallies in various markets to show our patriotism and support of the troops, and to show the hollywood pinheads that they don't speak for us. If you live in the area please contact 610 WTVN in Columbus to help them make the decision to hold one of these rallies in Columbus. You can email Steve Konrad at: stevekonrad@ClearChannel.com You can also call the main switchboard at: 614-486-6101

If anyone had told me, in the autumn of 2001, that we were less than 18 months away from what might become the world's first nuclear war, I would have thought they were insane. In the half century since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no one has been that reckless or indeed that stupid – even, or so I thought, the Bush White House. Then came the twin towers and everything changed overnight, to the point where we find ourselves apparently on the threshold of a terrifying conflict in the Middle East. So the question I am going to ask, at the...

Glenn’s outline on how to explain the upcoming Iraqi war to all the pinheads! 1. We should send more inspectors! - Analogize it to your kid caught smoking weed, who denies everything and is defensive and accusatory. At what point do you actually punish the child for smoking weed? Do you just keep hiring babysitters ad nauseam to watch over him? At some point you have to lay down the law and Mean What You Say. 2. There is always time for war: this should be a time for peace and we need more time. - 12 years is...

I know this is not the biggest piece of news for the day, but I heard this live and could not let it pass unremarked upon. Ronn Owens, a moderate Dem who generally supports the President, has the big-rating morning talk show on KGO 810 AM in San Francisco. He had the despicable Socialist Congressman (masquerading as a Democrat) Pete Stark on this morning. As I tuned in, I heard Ronn ask him about Iraq and the President. I was driving, but this is the gist of the conversation: Ronn: (asks about Stark's opposition to the action against Saddam and...

Al-Qaeda has hacked a website of the fans of Hellraiser movies. The Islamists put up a ~100MB Arabic website which carried messages allegedly from bin Laden congratulating his followers for the killings in Yemen and on the French oil tanker last week. This is the fourth time in the past month Al-Qaeda has hacked into someones server and put up the hidden sub-directory. Al-Qaeda then communicates the location of the secret site via email and posts to Arabic jehad forums.   The Hellbound Web | Interact | Forums | Site Discussion | Hacked / F*cking Terrorists Author Thread    tripps...

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan speaks to demonstrators for reparations for slavery on the National Mall in Washington Saturday, Aug. 17, 2002. Hundreds of blacks rallied Saturday, saying it is long past time to compensate blacks for the ills of slavery. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

<p>THE MORE powerful the United States becomes, the more frightened we are. Why is that?</p> <p>An undercurrent of hysteria has coursed through the talk out of Washington over the last week as, first, critics demanded to know whether government officials had ignored warnings of the terrorist attacks of last September and, second, the same government officials - in response? - issued a new warning of coming attacks that might be even worse.</p>