Free Republic

BAGHDAD, April 20, 2007 – The United States is committed to the success of the fledgling Iraqi government, but not to the indefinite use of American troops to secure Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today. “The United States sees Iraq as an important regional ally and a vital partner in the global war on terrorism,” Gates said in a news conference at the Iraq Ministry of Defense, in Baghdad’s heavily fortified International Zone. “Our commitment to Iraq is long-term, but it is not a commitment to have our young men and women patrolling Iraq’s streets open-endedly.”...

PARIS - Paris prosecutors opened an inquiry Tuesday into two young bloggers who urged French youths to riot and revolt against the police, a judicial official said. The youths, a 16-year-old French teen and an 18-year-old with Ghanian nationality, were detained Monday in the Paris region, said the official. They were to be placed under investigation, a step short of formal charges, for inciting harm to people and property over the Internet, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because French law bars the disclosure of information from ongoing inquiries. Conviction on the charge could carry a sentence...

<p>The California Senate joined the state Assembly on Monday in urging Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., to resign as chairman of a congressional subcommittee because of his comments rationalizing the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.</p> <p>Coble, a North Carolina Republican who heads the House Judiciary subcommittee on homeland security, said during a Feb. 4 radio show that the internment was for the Japanese-Americans' own protection.</p>