Free Republic

American Patrol Report Letter to Supreme Court Justices I am writing about a possible threat to all of humanity. Under present law the President of the United States has sole authority to authorize the use of nuclear weapons. The possibility of holding the fate of the entire human race in ones hands is an awesome responsibility. The person to whom we grant that responsibility must be of the highest moral and ethical character. While the popular vote is a necessary prerequisite to assume the powers of the presidency, it should not be sufficient. I have become aware of serious questions...

The media loves the troops -- as long as they are dead, wounded, disfigured, disabled, evicted, disturbed, suicidal, broke, deserting, or otherwise in a category that can be portrayed as a “victim” of the Pentagon or a Republican President. Healthy, squared-away, gung-ho troops who believe in their country, duty and mission, interest the media very little. This is why I’m always suspicious of claims from certain quarters of the press (do the initials “C.M.” and “K.O.” seem to fit?) that they “support the troops.” But for those who would like to support the troops in a way the troops might...

November 04, 2008, 6:00 a.m. Soldiering SuffrageFighting for their votes. By Mark Hemingway Electoral democracy is a very messy and often controversial process. And, as with seemingly every other issue these days, the two political parties are at loggerheads over how to resolve issues complicating voter registration and ballot counting. But some perennial voter problems are so obvious and so easily correctable it’s downright shameful they have yet to be addressed. Nowhere is this more obvious than the issue of absentee military ballots, which are often challenged due to the difficulty of complying with wildly divergent local voting requirements...

On the stump, Barack Obama usually concludes his comments on Iraq by saying, "and it hasn't made us safer." It is an article of faith on the left that nothing the Bush administration has done has enhanced our security, and, on the contrary, its various alleged blunders have only contributed to the number of jihadists who want to attack us. Empirically, however, it seems beyond dispute that something has made us safer since 2001. Over the course of the Bush administration, successful attacks on the United States and its interests overseas have dwindled to virtually nothing. Some perspective here is...

The Chris Plante Show, 630 WMAL, Washington, DC is discussing RIGHT NOW (during the 10:00 - 11:45 ET a.m. hour) what Obama needs to do to earn the respect of Americans and military families. Perfect opportunity for Freepers to call-in and express your thoughts on this matter!!! LISTEN LIVE: http://radiotime.com/program/p_61017/Chris_Plante.aspx http://www.630wmal.com/article.asp?id=632848 CALL: 888 630 9625

US soldiers in Baghdad captured an Iraqi arms dealer and "assassination squad" leader responsible for trafficking Shi'ite extremists in and out of neighboring Iran for training, the military said Sunday. The arrest reinforced long-standing US allegations that Iran arms, trains and funds Shi'ite Muslim militiamen inside Iraq - charges that Teheran denies. It also coincided with a two-day visit to Iran by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, his second such trip in a year. The Iraqi prime minister, himself a Shi'ite, is struggling to keep Washington happy while reassuring Iran, the largest Shi'ite nation, that a proposed US-Iraqi security agreement...

How the classified military documents from Iraq, which named the coordinates of where the Army suspected weapons of mass destruction to be hidden, ended up in an Arabic translator's apartment on Hoyt Street in Brooklyn, is clear. Not likely to be known anytime soon is what, if anything, the army contractor did with the documents. The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, which is prosecuting the case, appears to have little direct evidence that Noureddine Malki passed information on to the insurgency, either during his time in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, or upon his return to America in 2005. But...

...The purpose of Sunday's instantly notorious feature "alerting" the American people that our Iraq and Afghanistan vets are all potential murderers when they move in next door was to mark those defenders of freedom as "unclean" - as the new lepers who can't be trusted amid uninfected Americans.... The hard left's hatred of our military has deteriorated from a political stance into a pathology: The only good soldier is a dead soldier who can be wielded as a statistic (out of context again). Or a deserter who complains bitterly that he didn't join the Army to fight . . ....

January 11, 2008 -- AS you read these lines, our troops are in the midst of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a "mini-surge" to squeeze al Qaeda and its fast-dwindling band of allies out of their few remaining safe havens in Iraq. Iraqi troops fight beside us against a common enemy. Vast swaths of the country enjoy a newborn peace. Commerce thrives again. At the provincial and local levels, the political progress has been remarkable. As for Operation Phantom Phoenix, our commanders expected terrorist dead-enders to put up a fight. Instead, they ran, leaving behind only booby traps and disgust among the...

There is a repulsive conversation going on in Washington at the moment. Journalists, un-named Pentagon officials and many politicians are discussing, as if true, the precise method by which President Bush intends to exit from Iraq in time for the midterm elections next year. Perhaps future events will reveal me to be naive (not a charge usually posted against me). But for the record, I do not believe that President Bush is cynically looking for an exit strategy. However, most of the Washington political class clearly believes he is planning to pull troops out of Iraq in the next three...

Today is Nov 10th, the Marine Corps birthday, happy birthday Marines! On November 10th, 1775, the Second Continental Congress resolved to raise two battalions of Continental Marines marking the birth of our United States Marine Corps. As Major General Lejeune’s message reminds us, the ensuing generations of Marines would come to signify all that is highest in warfighting excellence and military virtue. Each November as Marines the world over celebrate the birth of our Corps, we pay tribute to that long line of “Soldiers of the Sea” and the illustrious legacy they have handed down to us. This past year...

The 2005 Rally for the Troops, Cleveland is now history, and I have spent enough time beside the fire at home that I am thawed out enough to report that it was a cold, wet, drizzly SUCCESS for every veteran, active duty military personnel, or parent of same that turned out on the late winter day on the North Coast of America. Free Republic's own Nikki Mendicino was there with Mark Mix, a 33 year old soldier from Columbus Ohio who was recently paralyzed in Operation Iraqi Freedom and is confined to a wheelchair. Nikki got a great reception from...

New Emphasis on Insurgencies and Terrorism Is Planned The Pentagon has drafted terms for an ambitious reshaping of U.S. forces that would put less emphasis on waging conventional warfare and more on dealing with insurgencies, terrorist networks, failed states and other nontraditional threats, according to senior defense officials and others familiar with the confidential planning. This proposed shift in strategic focus stems partly from a recognition that U.S. forces were inadequately prepared for the insurgency in Iraq and the wider hunt for terrorists around the world. But officials said it also grows out of a heightened perception of other potential...

Be prepared to get some sand in your eyes over this one... AN ARMED FORCES TRIBUTE God bless, protect and preserve our troops as they do the hard work of freedom.

DISTORTION OF HISTORY With pride in America, and our Armed Forces, I salute the vast majority of men & women who serve our country with honor in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world. May God bless them and their families. To allow the few who dishonor our country to become a reflection of our entire nation is to distort history. And to place the blame for their actions on their Commander n’ Chief, is an unfair assessment of the leadership qualities of our President. Were there not far greater scandals in previous administrations, and in the Catholic Church...

FORWARDED BY http://Vets4Bush.com -------------------------------------- Subject: FW: Email from 1stLt in Iraq Hello Everyone, I am taking time to ask you all for your help. First off, I'd like to say that this is not a political message. I'm not concerned about domestic politics right now. We have much bigger things to deal with, and we need your help. It seems that despite the tremendous and heroic efforts of the men and women serving here in Iraq to bring much needed peace and stability to this region, we are losing the war of perception with the media and American people. Our...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 14 — Insurgent bombmakers, whose roadside explosives claimed the lives of six more American soldiers this weekend, have adopted new and grimly devious tactics, military officers said Sunday. The tactics include setting multiple charges along convoy routes, disguising bombs inside animal carcasses and planting hollow artillery shells to draw troops into an ambush, they said. One American soldier was killed early Sunday when his convoy west of Baghdad was blasted by a roadside explosive. Three soldiers died Saturday when their patrol in southeast Baghdad also fell victim to a homemade bomb. Those deaths, announced by a military...

Coalition Troop Casualties, MIAs The Associated PressPublished: Nov 8, 2003 The Department of Defense and family members have identified 387 U.S. servicemembers who died supporting U.S.-led operations in Iraq. Of these, 249 died on or after May 1, when President Bush declared that major combat operations there had ended. The total of 387 includes accidental and non-combat related deaths. Other U.S. deaths have been reported but have not yet been identified. The British government said 52 of its soldiers had died. The Danish, Polish, Spanish and Ukrainian governments each said one of their soldiers had died. DEATHS: Nov. 7 Army...

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If anyone here hasn't seen the new video for the band 3 Doors Down's new single "When I'm Gone," it features US servicemen and women hugging their families goodbye, and also some video of our military in action. The video at the end is dedicated to our men and women in uniform. The band also plays concerts for military personnel (i.e. USO shows). I have liked the band before, but haven't been motivated enough to go out and buy their albums. Today, I decided to show my support...I picked up their new album "Away From the Sun" and "The Good...

If the United States goes to war, the people who will be shouldering the burden of battle will in some respects be unlike any other military force in American history. They will be older and more experienced - on average 27 years old. They will serve in a military that is one-third smaller than the one that existed just 12 years ago in the Gulf war. Most important, they will be far more diverse than almost any military force of the past. A record number of women will be serving on the front lines, for instance, as will a higher...

Career military officers work and sweat and bleed their entire careers just to occupy a position of command, and possibly make a difference at a critical juncture in their nation's history. The looming war with Iraq finds Lt. Gen. William S. Wallace, the commander of the U.S. Army's V Corps, home-stationed in Heidelberg, Germany, at just such a juncture. Wallace is a West Point graduate and veteran of the Vietnam War and now commands all U.S. Army fighting forces in the Kuwaiti theater. On March 11, National Journal Correspondent James Kitfield interviewed Wallace in his headquarters at Camp Virginia, Kuwait.NJ:...

God's Speed, Protection, Strength, Wisdom and Hand be upon our troops in this Hour of Testing for America. Our Proud Salute to America's Finest as they "Lay It On The Line" in defense of the freedoms we all know and love.

Sorry for the Vanity, but I have sent this note to as many ships that I know of that are the Gulf. If anyone would like to do the same, it will be greatly appreciated. I will do likewise with the other branches of the Armed Forces, when I can find their addresses. Please pass this along to as many sailors as you can. My name is ------. I am from ---------. I served in the Air Navy (Reserves) in the early 1970's, during the Vietnam war. I know from personal experience how disheartening it is when you feel that...

Atlantic Unbound | January 8, 2003 Dialogues with James Fallows ..... From: Robert Coram To: James Fallows Subject: Re: What's wrong with the military? Jim: First, thanks for inviting me to participate in this dialogue, especially for putting me alongside Maj. Don Vandergriff, whose brilliant book already has become part of the canon. You are right in saying my book is historical. Therefore I don't have the credentials to answer your question: "Can things be as bad as you suggest?" But what I can do is tell you of the response to Boyd from career military people who, in surprising...

The needle and the damage done By Tim Reid London Times 26 November 2002 Hundreds of American soldiers have suffered serious illness after being compulsorily injected with a controversial Anthrax vaccine, a batch of which has been found to be contaminated   ON THE MORNING of December 17, 1998, Ronda Wilson, a supremely fit, strikingly beautiful American helicopter gunship pilot, was heading for military stardom. Just 21 and the only woman in her squadron, she had recently defeated her 63 male fellow pilots to earn the coveted Top Gun award in her first gunnery flight test. She was without...

Monday, November 18, 2002 HOMELAND INSECURITY Are 'jihadists' infiltrating U.S. military? Low-security positions could be used by potential terrorists By Jon Dougherty -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com A disturbing pattern of infiltration of lower levels of the U.S. military by would-be Islamist jihad warriors is emerging, cautions one analyst of military affairs and terrorism. The Defense Department heavily screens all personnel competing for high-security positions involving nuclear weapons and military intelligence. Before applicants are ever allowed inside those small elite circles, they are subjected to rigorous background and criminal checks, as well as comprehensive psychological evaluations. The reason is obvious: Only...

(WASHINGTON--JULY 1, 2002) Today, U.S. Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-IL), chairman of the House Committee on International Relations, made the following statement regarding consideration by the United Nations Security Council of options for renewing the mandate for peacekeeping operations in Bosnia: "I commend the Bush Administration for its dogged efforts in the United Nations Security Council to defend American sovereignty. No one should expect the United States to deploy its Armed Forces around the world on humanitarian missions on behalf of the United Nations if those forces are to be exposed to prosecution by a United Nations court whose jurisdiction...