Free Republic

U.S. visas still contentious, but officials keep mum about dialog details EU Interior Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vittorino once again appealed to the USA yesterday to waive entrance visas for the citizens of the new EU member countries. While both Richard Boucher, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, and Pietro Petrucci, a spokesperson for the EU, refused to reveal any details of the talks, Rzeczpospolita has claimed the Americans are willing to take into account the fact that Poland and the other Central Europe entrants, have all joined up to the Schengen agreement concerning the waiving of the passport controls...

The Current Situation in Serbia D. Kathleen Stephens, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Europe, House International Relations Committee Washington, DC March 17, 2004 Thank you for inviting me to testify before your committee today, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to have this opportunity to share with you some of the transformations that are taking place today in the Republic of Serbia – to share how far we have come in our relationship, to underscore our continued commitment to a stable and prosperous Serbia and to outline the serious challenges that remain before...

NEW YORK - (KRT) - A prominent Yemeni cleric is suspected of raising money for terrorists at a Muslim charity and several mosques in Brooklyn, it was disclosed yesterday. An FBI agent pulled back the veil on a secret investigation of Sheikh Abdullah Satar at the trial of an associate who is charged with lying about the cleric's activities. The agent, Brian Murphy, said in Brooklyn Federal Court that Satar was under surveillance during a fund-raising swing through Brooklyn in early 2000. At the time, the feds were conducting an investigation into the financing of terrorist groups. After Satar -...

U.S. forces launched a massive operation early Sunday to crush insurgents and capture senior figures from the ousted regime in a show of force designed to stem a wave of deadly attacks on U.S. troops. The operation, dubbed "Desert Sidewinder," is taking place in a huge swath of central Iraq stretching from the Iranian border to the areas north of Baghdad, and is expected to last for several days, military officials said. Americans arrested a man in Khalis, 45 miles north of Baghdad. He is suspected of recruiting young men to launch attacks on Americans, according to military officials. In...

Just days after the Oklahoma City bombing, the INS deported Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, even though the FBI had evidence that linked the Saudi businessman to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1995 Bojinka plot and Oklahoma City. Not only was Khalifa deported to Jordan, where he was subsequently freed, but the U.S. government let him leave with potentially incriminating evidence and cleared his record of terrorism charges. Evidence in the FBI's possession at the time potentially implicated the Saudi businessman in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the airliner bombing plot and the Oklahoma City...

Chas W. Freeman, Jr.   DAMMAM, 22 January 2004 — A former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia and an expert on Middle East politics, Chas W. Freeman, Jr., has said that there are members of the Bush administration who are prejudiced against Saudi Arabia and are therefore detrimental to Saudi-US relations.Freeman was ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War of 1990-91. He is currently president of the Middle East Policy Council and also heads Projects International which is a business group.The former ambassador, who was in Saudi Arabia and who met Crown Prince Abdullah, Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal...

To Suspend Entry as Immigrants or Nonimmigrants of Persons Engaged in or Benefiting From Corruption By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation In light of the importance of legitimate and transparent public institutions to world stability, peace, and development, and the serious negative effects that corruption of public institutions has on the United States efforts to promote security and to strengthen democratic institutions and free market systems, and in light of the importance to the United States and the international community of fighting corruption, as evidenced by the Third Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and...