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A US soldier who deserted to Canada and sought refugee status for opposing the war in Iraq has been extradited to the United States, officials said, in Canada's first such case since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. "I can confirm that he has been expelled from Canada and returned to his country of origin," Shakila Manzoor, a spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency (ASFC) said. US citizen Robin Long, 25, fled to Canada in 2005 and demanded refugee status, claiming he would suffer irreparable harm if he were sent back to the United States. He also argued that he...

Last week’s daring rescue of 15 Colombian hostages held by the Marxist FARC has been universally hailed as a triumph of military strategy. But at least one group besides the gulled guerilla jailers looks diminished in its aftermath: Congressional Democrats. While Colombia’s military will rightly reap praise for the rescue, the operation was in no small measure an American achievement. In addition to U.S. satellite intelligence that pinpointed the FARC guerillas’ jungle location, Colombian security forces have benefited from $4 billion in American aid since 2002. For this assistance – so vital in last week’s events – Colombia does not...

Both John McCain and Barack Obama will address the National Council of La Raza (The Race) annual convention in San Diego, this Sunday and Monday. La Raza is a far-left, pro-illegal alien group that literally means “The Race”. The organization opposes the border fence and gives legitimacy to radical groups like MEChA that advance the “Reconquista” agenda. More info on La Raza: Rep. Charlie Norwood, Michelle Malkin, Grassfire’s backgrounder. Grassfire is organizing a national Citizen Letter protesting the appearance by McCain and Obama at the La Raza convention. We have arranged to ship the Citizen Letters to our friends with...

On June 30, Barack Obama gives a speech in Independence, Missouri, proclaiming his "deep and abiding love for this country," and daring anyone to question his patriotism. The July 7 issue of Time Magazine has a cover story ("The New Patriotism") asserting, "no matter how they define patriotism, Americans should tremble before insisting that any fellow citizen lacks it." If the mainstream media got talking-points from the Democratic National Committee, they could hardly be more on-message. The Time story was written by Richard Stengel, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Taking instruction on patriotism from Time and...

WASHINGTON: Senator John McCain told a major Hispanic group here Tuesday that he remained committed to passing the kind of immigration legislation that angered many Republican voters last year, but he underscored that he intended to first secure U.S. borders. Speaking to the convention of the League of United Latin American Citizens, McCain noted his efforts to pass comprehensive immigration legislation, which was supported by President George W. Bush and such Democrats as Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts but which fell apart last year after an angry grass-roots movement that viewed it as tantamount to amnesty rose up to oppose...

A Canadian court has ordered the country's refugee board to re-examine an American deserter's rejected attempt for asylum in Canada.The court ruled that the board made mistakes when it turned down Joshua Key's claim for asylum. Mr Key served in Iraq in 2003 before deserting to Canada with his family while on leave in the US. The ruling could affect scores of other US soldiers sheltering in Canada who have refused to fight in Iraq. Possible deportations Joshua Key served in Iraq as a US combat engineer in Iraq in 2003. He claims that he witnessed several cases of abusive...

Sharia law could play a role in some parts of the legal system, the most senior judge in England and Wales has said. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, emphatically ruled out the possibility of sharia courts sitting in this country or deciding penalties. But in a speech at the East London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel he said there was no reason why sharia principles could not be used in "mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution". Sharia - a set of principles governing the way that many Muslims believe one should live one's life -...

A Grand Jury to Unlock Rosenberg Records …The Rosenbergs are remembered for stealing what has been called "the secret of the atomic bomb." A wire from historian Ronald Radosh, ... reminds us that it is widely acknowledged that the atomic material given to the Soviets by Julius Rosenberg's brother-in-law, David Greenglass, served only as confirmation to the Russians of the much more accurate information they had received from atomic scientists Klaus Fuchs and Theodore Hall. The Rosenbergs are remembered for stealing what has been called "the secret of the atomic bomb." A wire from historian Ronald Radosh, ... reminds us...

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Too bad, because an otherwise fascinating story about the scramble to build a counterterror apparatus after 9/11, the merits of coercive vs. non-coercive interrogation, and the stings that nailed Abu Zubaydah and KSM is going to be submerged in a debate over their decision to publish the lead interrogator’s name against his wishes and those of CIA chief Michael Hayden. Here’s the obligatory editor’s note justifying the decision. Quote: "After discussion with agency officials and a lawyer for [the interrogrator], the newspaper declined the request, noting that [the interrogator] had never worked under cover and that others involved in the...

RICHMOND| - Two Republicans who last year lead state government's budget-writing committees on Monday endorsed Mark Warner, a Democrat, for Senate. Former Delegate Vincent F. Callahan and former state Sen. John H. Chichester, both Northern Virginia, said they're backing Mr. Warner because of how he handled a state budget crisis six years ago. They said the Republican nominee, former Gov. James S. Gilmore III, led the state into a fiscal crisis by presenting rosy economic forecasts as Virginia slid into a recession in 2001. Mr. Callahan and Mr. Chichester praised Mr. Warner, who was Mr. Gilmore's successor as governor, for...

Parliament on Tuesday voted to allow US resisters of the Iraq war who fled to Canada to stay in this country, thus avoiding military court-martial in the United States. The non-binding motion passed 137 to 110, with support from all three opposition parties, which hold a majority of seats in the House. It urged the government to allow conscientious objectors "who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations" to stay in Canada. "Canada has always been a place which has welcomed those who seek peace and who seek freedom," opposition Liberal...

Liberals - VS- Troops In Quotes . Liberals Vs. The Troops In Quotes In honor of Tom Harkin's latest moronic comments about John McCain not being a good candidate for President because he spent too much time in the military, I present to you, "Liberals Vs. The Troops In Quotes." Enjoy the Left-Wing version of "supporting the troops!" Quote:"...This NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer - force that thinks it is doing the dirty work." -- Washington Post blogger, William Arkin Quote:"Through every Abu aib and Haditha,...

FP: Paul Kengor, welcome back to Frontpage Interview. Kengor: Always great to be back, Jamie. FP: We’re here today to revisit Ted Kennedy’s reaching out to the KGB during the Reagan period. Refresh our readers’ memories a bit. Kengor: The episode is based on a document produced 25 years ago this week. I discussed it with you in our earlier interview back in November 2006. In my book, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, I presented a rather eye-opening May 14, 1983 KGB document on Ted Kennedy. The entire document, unedited, unabridged, is printed in the book,...

Lieberman: Carter Is 'Naive' at Best Thursday , April 17, 2008 Former President Jimmy Carter met another top Hamas official Thursday in a Cairo hotel and planned to meet more officials in Syria Friday, drawing the ire of dozens of U.S. lawmakers. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., told FOX News that "at best, President Carter is being naive" in trying to negotiate with avowed terrorists. "There is a long list of people who thought they could reason with dictators and killers, going back to Neville Chamberlain and Hitler in the 1930s, but it has been shown to be absolutely wrong." Rep....

For over a year, we have been waging a relentless, nearly solitary battle in apprising the Congress and the American public about a billion dollar boondoggle and scandal: the lack of credible Arabic translators for our national security and intelligence agencies. As a result hundreds have been killed in Iraq from infiltration of our military and civilian intelligence agencies by agents of Islamist terrorists. Our FBI and CIA have been infiltrated by Muslim linguists who have successfully evaded polygraph tests and been able to pass on vital information to terror groups in the Middle East such as Hezbollah. Tens of...

The most senior black congressman in America had a tough warning for Hillary Clinton this weekend as she fought to wrest the Democratic presidential nomination from Barack Obama. “We’ll be playing with fire if we interfere with the voters’ choice,” James Clyburn, the party’s chief whip in the House of Representatives, told The Sunday Times. “African-Americans will feel cheated.” Clinton is hoping to win by persuading superdelegates – the party officials with a free vote and the power to tip the nomination at the Democratic convention in August – to back her, even if Obama is in the lead once...

Jeremiah Wright on estrogen Posted: April 18, 20081:00 am Eastern © 2008  Last Friday in this column I reported on a brewing scandal that would be front-page news on the New York Times if the developments had concerned anyone other than their hero:Barack Hussein Obama.Instead, the new media was left to pick up and disseminate how one of Barack Obama's presidential campaign bundlers is Jodie Evans – a political ally to Venezuelan dictator, Hugo Chavez, and an advocate for Islamic militants.The story was also a yawner for ABC News "journalist" George Stephanopolous, because he didn't see fit to ask a single...

Who says San Francisco doesn't honor veterans? Last weekend, the city, which voted in 2005 to ban military recruiters from public high schools and colleges, unveiled a memorial to fighting men and women in uniform. The uniforms they donned, however, were not those familiar to American soldiers, sailors, airmen, or Marines. The city honored American Communists and their fellow travelers who fought in the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. The $400,000 monument, donated from private funds but hosted on public land, extends 40-feet long and eight feet high. Media accounts of the tribute uniformly noted that members of...

It was soon after the tragedy of 9-11 and I was working as an ORSA at beautiful Ft. Hood, Texas. The world was shocked at the brutality and savagery of the attack, but we at the mighty US Army Operational Test Command did not lose our sense of humor. The lady who cleaned the latrines in our building dutifully brought in a urinal cake holder with Osama’s smiling mug right in the center. You would have had to have been drunk to have missed. After a tough, hard day of nerd-wrestling test data, I could always imagine myself hosing the...

If we can't accuse them of being unpatriotic, can we at least accuse some Democrats of being monumentally dense? Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. The three anti-war Democrats made the trip in October 2002, while the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq. While traveling, they called for a diplomatic solution. Prosecutors say that trip was arranged by Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a Michigan charity official, who was charged Wednesday with setting up the junket at...

... I listened last night to syndicated talk-radio host Mark Levin report the breaking news that an Iraqi-American had been indicted as a spy. In addition, he stands accused of secretly funding the October 2002 pre-invasion trip to Iraq of three antiwar House Democrats, Congressmen Jim McDermott (D-WA), Mike Thompson (D-CA), and David E. Bonior (D-MI, now retired). I first posted a clip of that audio on MarkLevinFan.com and then I followed the money. Always follow the money. You just think that you have read all where it led in this case.

Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a member of a Michigan nonprofit group, of arranging for three members of Congress to travel to Iraq in October 2002 at the behest of Saddam's regime. Prosecutors say Iraqi intelligence officials paid for the trip through an intermediary.At the time, the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq.The lawmakers are not named in the indictment but the dates correspond to a...

Texas soldier's father calls son's death 'a waste'Sgt. Gregory Unruh, 28, died in vehicle rollover in Iraq Sgt. Gregory Daniel Unruh was in search of an adventure when he enlisted in the Army. But after five months in Iraq, the war was not what he expected, his father said Tuesday. The 28-year-old Unruh died March 19 in Mandali, Iraq, from injuries suffered when his military vehicle rolled over during a reconnaissance mission. The incident remains under investigation. ... "I think it's a waste of his life," said an emotional Anthony Unruh, his father. "I don't think anybody should die that...

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye. I wish I could be proud of a nation that has a sitting president that has been responsible for killing almost a million innocent Iraqi people in a misadventure that was based on lies and is for profit.I sit here behind my computer screen in solidarity with Rev. Wright. Not only do I not denounce him, but I support him in telling the truth"

Aiding The Enemy INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted 3/17/2008 Media: Is there anything to the theory that an enemy gains strength when its opponent demonstrates a lack of will to fight? Yes, say two Harvard scholars, and it has happened in Iraq. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Radha Iyengar, a health policy economist, and Jonathan Monten, an international security program research fellow, found that "in periods after a spike in war-critical statements, insurgent attacks increases by 5% to 10%." The results might surprise some. But there's no reason they should. North Vietnamese generals knew they had a chance for a favorable outcome in their war...

For years, William Zammer Jr. has relied on 100 seasonal foreign employees to turn down beds, boil lobsters and serve cocktails at the restaurants, golf course and inn he owns on Cape Cod and in nearby Plymouth. This summer, however, the foreign workers will not be returning, and Mr. Zammer, like other seasonal employers across the nation, is scrambling to find replacements. “It’s a major crisis,� he said. “We’re very short on work force. We’ll be looking at opening a little later, closing a little earlier, looking at how we do our menus.� Mr. Zammer is caught up in a...

Arriving in the Port of Oakland at 6 a.m. last Thursday, the grey-blue colossus auto carrier Century Highway No. 3 carries enough cars to fill all the parking lots surrounding the Giants stadium — a mere fraction of the average 368 million annual tons of autos, toys, and other goods moving through the 29 ports along America's Pacific coast. Could there be a force of man or nature powerful enough to interrupt this perpetual merchandise tsunami? Would you believe — San Francisco radical peaceniks? On May 1, the usually bustling ports along the West Coast will become still, as members...

IVAW nutball update: One membership terminated, another indefinitely suspended By Michelle Malkin  •  March 12, 2008 12:53 PM The Iraq Veterans Against the War zealot who threatened to “waste” pro-military activists has had his membership revoked.The Iraq Veterans Against the War zealot who threatened to bomb the Gathering of Eagles and who issued an assassination threat against me has had his membership suspended.An IVAW official also issues an apology: While this blog is not primarily an official blog, and often veers into the personal, I would like to put my official hat on and make the following statement on behalf of Iraq...

SAN FRANCISCO, Actor Sean Penn and Peace Activist Cindy Sheehan will headline "Iraq: 5 Years Too Many", an event marking the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. Also featured will be Reverend Gregory Stewart, Senior Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church; Matt Gonzalez, former President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors; and Justin Raimondo, Editorial Director of Antiwar.com. The program will begin at 5pm on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 1187 Franklin Street (near Geary) in San Francisco. After the speakers finish, attendees will march to the War Memorial Auditorium on Van Ness...

March 20 is the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and in conjunction with the five-year mark is a boost of political activity in Ithaca throughout the spring. To kick it off a rally will be held on The Commons on March 15, as well as sit-ins, art exhibits, films and speakers on the Cornell campus and a 10-day walk to Fort Drum, N.Y., in May. There are dozens of local and student groups active in working locally to end the war. Some remain more active, some less so. It has been a trying five years. Now, some local...

Maybe we need to change it from Bush Derangement Syndrome to simply American Derangement Syndrome: The hot fashion accessory [at Sunday’s Oscar ceremony] was apparently orange ribbons and bracelets in solidarity with terrorist suspects in Guantanamo: Out on the red carpet, Paul Haggis (the director whose “Crash” won Best Picture in 2006) said he didn’t know what accounts for all these deeply dark, brooding, troubled films. But isn’t it obvious, he asked, flashing an orange ribbon on his lapel. Orange, why orange? “It’s Guantanamo,” his Max Azria-clad wife, Deborah, said, showing off her orange bracelet, which read: “Silence + torture...

WASHINGTON -- Democrats, facing rejection today of a proposal co-sponsored by Wisconsin's Sen. Russ Feingold to cut off money for the Iraq war, are planning to shift their emphasis to the war's toll on the American economy to rebuild anti-war momentum.In recent months, violence in Iraq has declined, and the Baghdad government has made small steps toward political reconciliation, including plans to hold provincial elections on Oct. 1. While Democratic voters remain largely against the war, the security improvement has helped to cool anxiety among Republicans and stave off legislation demanding that troops start coming home. The Senate was expected...

The agreement, defined as a Civil Assistance Plan, was not submitted to Congress for approval, nor did Congress pass any law or treaty specifically authorizing this military agreement to combine the operations of the armed forces of the United States and Canada in the event of a wide range of domestic civil disturbances ranging from violent storms, to health epidemics, to civil riots or terrorist attacks. ...

From March 13-16, 2008, members of the antiwar group Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) will gather in Washington, DC to “testify” against the US military at a protest event called Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan. The name “Winter Soldier” is taken from the infamous 1971 event at which members of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) related gruesome stories of crimes they claimed to have participated in or witnessed. The VVAW insisted that rape, torture and murder were standard practices for the US military in Vietnam. Organizers of the new IVAW tribunal, which is supported by several former...

Springsteen, Young join anti-war soundtrack Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:30pm EST NEW YORK (Billboard) - Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and Peal Jam have contributed tunes to the anti-war soundtrack for a documentary about a U.S. soldier paralyzed in Iraq. The 30-song, two-disc album "Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran" will be released March 18 via Warner Music's Sire Records label. All proceeds from the sale of the album will benefit Iraq Veterans Against the War. "Body of War" focuses on

Some columns write themselves. Some are a struggle and leave me confused, conflicted and a little angry. This is one of those. It started out as a tongue-in-cheek look at the recent action by the city council in Berkeley, Calif., to oust the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office and brand the Marines “uninvited and unwelcome intruders.” I planned to compare the situation in that strange city with our fairly-liberal-but-not-ridiculously-so approach here in Corvallis. Then I started doing research. I learned that an anti-military organization has access to our high school students equal to that of the U.S. Armed Forces. The...

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Get this: Right in the middle of the hottest presidential primary in decades, both Obama and Hillary are sending their foreign policy honchos to Damascus. These advisors are people who have a chance of running US foreign policy in the next administration. They aren't shy. They are taking over our foreign affairs right now, because they are entitled to. They know better than our elected officials. What are they doing in Damascus? Not having a Christian conversion experience, for sure. Damascus is a world sanctuary for Islamic terrorists. One of them, Imad Mughniyeh, was just assassinated there. He ran Hezbollah's...

Berkeley Code Pink Out-Gunned By Move America Forward Pro-Troop Supporters February 12, 2008 - Berkeley, CA - PipeLinenews.org - As the nine member Berkeley City Council prepared to decide the fate of the city’s Marine Corp Recruiting Center, Move America Forward - the nation’s largest grassroots pro-troop organization - took to the streets, confronting a rag-tag group of counter culture lefties, including members of Code Pink, a group much in favor with California Democrat legislators. Starting at 5am conservatives streamed into the notoriously radical city of 100,000, carrying the dual themed but unified message of support for both our...

Global Poverty Act of 2007 - Directs the President, through the Secretary of State, to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the U.S. foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide who live on less than $1 per day.

Senator Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was trying to rush Obama's "Global Poverty Act" (S. 2433) through his committee without hearings. It was scheduled for a Thursday vote but was moved up a day, to Wednesday, and rushed through by voice vote. (snip) The House version (H.R. 1302) was suddenly brought up on the House floor last September 25 and was passed by voice vote.

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - City council members who were criticized for telling Marine recruiters they don't belong here have moderated their position, saying they oppose the Iraq war but support the troops. The Berkeley City Council voted two weeks ago to send a letter to a downtown recruitment station advising the Marines they were not welcome. After a marathon session that stretched into early Wednesday, the council decided against sending the letter, saying it recognizes recruiters' right to be in Berkeley. The council members say they still strongly oppose the war and the recruitment of young people, but "deeply respect...

SACRAMENTO -- Republican Assemblyman Guy Houston of San Ramon announced plans today to punish Berkeley's stance against Marine recruiting by withholding $3.3 million in state road funds, atop a $2.3 million federal allocation that's being challenged. Meanwhile, Move America Forward -- which calls itself the nation's largest grassroots pro-troop organization -- scheduled an all-day demonstration against the Berkeley City Council on Tuesday, until the council meeting begins at 7 p.m. The council voted last week to tell the Marines that a recruiting office is not welcome in their town. Move America Forward today asked Berkeley to rescind its action and...

BERKELEY — Two Berkeley City Council members want to rescind an official statement that the U.S. Marines and their recruiting station are "uninvited and unwelcome intruders" in the city after the action sparked a national uproar. But Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli, who wrote the proposal, did not move to rescind three other related items the council passed last week: calling on residents to impede the work of any military recruiting station in the city; asking the city attorney to investigate whether the Marines violate city laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation; andgiving the protest group Code Pink a...

...Juan Hernandez is one endorsement that Mr. McCain won't be trumpeting in front of the cameras. Hernandez, who now serves as one of McCain's Hispanic Outreach Directors, is no amateur in the debate over illegal immigration into the United States. Though largely unknown to the public, he's been at the center of the policy maelstrom for years, a critical frontline player for the proponents of open borders and an unflinching advocate for strident Mexican nationalism. Though born in the United States to a father from Mexico and a mother from Texas, Hernandez has left no doubt as to where his...

Breaking the negotiated annual truce, for surprise, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese regulars launched the Tet Offensive, in the night of 30/31 January 1968, named for the Vietnamese lunar new year. This campaign continued in various forms through September of that year, ending in total military defeat, for the aggressors. And a brilliant propaganda victory, for the same. Thinking back on the Vietnam War this last week. And while I was doing so, a young leftist friend wrote to me, on an entirely unrelated topic, taunting with a remark about 2008 being, "The last year of the American Empire" --...

Amnesty International today issued an urgent action calling for the protection of several Kenyan human rights defenders and activists who have received serious death threats. The group, which includes six men and three women -- some of whom are prominent members of human rights organizations -- have received a number of anonymous threats in the form of SMS messages, phone calls and emails. They are now taking precautions for their safety, such as moving house and not making any public statements. The threats include accusations that they are ”traitors” to their ethnicity. All but one of the activists are of...

It was 40 years today that the film from the first day of the Tet Offensive (January 30th) made it onto our television screens. Back then there was no live satellite link from Vietnam so the newsfilm of the war was flown to Hong Kong or Tokyo for satellite transmission to the United States. I sat as a seven year old transfixed by the exciting pictures of the kamikaze style attack by the Vietcong on the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. Militarily speaking the attack was an utter failure, but visually speaking the attack was shocking to Americans sitting in their...

In response to a Marine Corps recruiting office established in Berkeley last year, local activists are trying to make it more difficult for future recruiting centers to open in the city. If passed by a majority of Berkeley voters, a proposed initiative would require military recruiting offices and private military companies in Berkeley to first acquire a special use permit. To obtain this permit, a business must hold public hearings and a public comment period. If the initiative passes, recruitment offices could not be opened within 600 feet of residential districts, public parks, public health clinics, public libraries, schools or...