Free Republic

Baghdad will mark the first anniversary of Saddam Hussein’s execution on Sunday as a city transformed, largely as a result of thousands of his loyalists forging new alliances with the American military. Frontline: Our soldiers in Iraq and AfghanistanSuccess of troop surge gives Republicans hope The rushed and chaotic circumstances of Saddam’s final hours - the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki personally ordered his hanging on the eve of a major religious feast - illustrated the dramatic rise of Shia Muslim power in Iraq following the US overthrow of the Sunni-dominated regime in 2003. Mobile telephone cameras caught the executioners...

A day after the fourth anniversary of Saddam Hussein's capture, Chico veterans and others welcomed one of the participating soldiers on Friday. Now retired, Army Lt. Col. Steve Russell of Oklahoma City praised American soldiers for their role in the Iraq war, and their families for making sacrifices. His appearance came during the Red, White and Blue Christmas dinner and fundraiser for local National Guard families at the Elks Lodge. More than 500 attended. The unit that Russell commanded was one of the central players in Hussein's capture. "It was one of the proudest days in my life," Russell said...

Paul Bremer, former US supremo in Iraq, reveals the extraordinary chain of events that followed the seizure of America’s most wanted dictatorThe phone beside my bed jolted me awake at 1.30am on Sunday, December 14, 2003. I had barely got to sleep after another 18-hour day. “Sorry to wake you, sir.” It was my assistant military aide, Major Pat Carroll. He said that General John Abizaid, head of US central command, needed to talk to me right away on a secure line. The clunky red STU-III scrambler phone in my house didn’t work so I started throwing on my clothes...

Yaa, you repukes are not doing so well, huh? Imagine, you repukes control the presidency, both houses of Congress, and appointed 7 of the 9 Supreme Court justices. Yet the Supreme Court thre out sodomy laws in all 50 states and recognized the right of government to seize land for any reason. And you couldn't pass your Social Security changes could you? Sorry, that was your last shot. Come November, we're going to start seeing more Democratic faces in the House. It's the end for you guys. You guys are celebrating when Bush's numbers go *up* to 45%. Then Faux...

Bush’s giant Right Wing Noise Machine (RWNM) loves to preach about the Bush economic miracle. In fact, the RWNM’s current thinking is Bush doesn’t spend enough time talking about his economic triumphs. If only he did, then everyone would fall in line and believe in the great Bush economic miracle. There is one problem with this argument: it’s a lie. Any way you look at the Bush economy, it comes up short. Today, I want to compare Bush’s job creation record with other economic recoveries. As usual, Bush comes up way short. The national Bureau of Economic Research has identified...

Why does anybody support George w Bush as President? He is clearly the worst President I have ever seen -- a complete disaster. And before you say anything, I have been a registered Republican for 25 years.

Lies of omission about 9/11 -- stoking fears of terrorism THEY WANT YOU TO BE AFRAID The following post was censored by freerepublic.com shortly after it was posted on their "public" forum on 9/11/04. That forum is designed to appear as though it is a community forum open to all, but this post only received three responses before it and its replies were deleted, and a repeat posting at 4 am PST on 9/20/04 didn't stay online for 5 minutes! Someone is apparently watching closely over the content of the freerepublic.com forums and censoring them 24/7 (though they might have...

Across the Tigris River from his opulent palaces, Saddam Hussein shuttered himself at the bottom of a narrow, dark hole beneath a two-room mud shack on a sheep farm, a U.S. military official said Sunday. Having opted not to travel with security forces or an entourage that might bring attention to him, only a Styrofoam square, dirt and a rug separated the deposed Iraqi leader from the U.S. soldiers who routed him from his hiding place Saturday night. "He was in the bottom of a hole with no way to fight back," said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno. "He was caught...

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Oct 6 (Reuters) - A Brazilian court will consider a psychic's claim that the U.S. government owes him a $25 million reward for information he says he provided on the hiding place of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Brazil's second-highest court, the Superior Court of Justice, decided on Thursday the Brazilian justice system could rule on the matter and told a court in the psychic's home state of Minas Gerais to judge the case. The lower court had earlier told Jucelino Nobrega da Luz it could not take up his claim and it would have to...

An Iraqi who worked with US special forces tells Alex Leith how he wrestled with the dictator after flushing him from his hiding hole The photograph shows Saddam Hussein moments after he was pulled from his “foxhole”, bloodied and bewildered. Crowded around are members of an American elite special forces unit. But kneeling on his prostrate body and staring defiantly into the lens is a young man in a camouflage anorak. His look betrays more than the professional satisfaction of a job well done.

Many argue that communism will never be possible because of "human nature". The essence of this false argument is the belief that a communist society would consist of an all-powerful central government that would tell everybody what to do--and would therefore undermine the creative initiative of individuals and the search for happiness. • This argument is based on two false assumptions: (1) It assumes that a communist society will look like the former Soviet Union, or the current China, North Korea, etc (ie: corrupt police states with a feudal-style ruling class) (2) It assumes that people will only work in...

Gas costs so much. I cant afford it. Why want Bush do something? Don't say he can't. His daddy or his handlers could be on the phone in 2 minutes with the Rothchilds and by 1 week, oil prices would be under $20 and gas would be 1 dollar a gallon. You know it and I know it. Why want he? Do you know? Is there sombody we can call? Plaese advice.

<p>What is this palce? Are you peeple for reel? Is this some kind of joke?</p>

The U.S. military victory against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq gets the credit for "inspiring democratic reformers from Beirut to Tehran," President Bush said Saturday. "Today, women can vote in Afghanistan, Palestinians are breaking the old patterns of violence, and hundreds of thousands of Lebanese are rising up to demand their sovereignty and democratic rights," Bush said in a weekly radio address that marked the two-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. "These are landmark events in the history of freedom," he said. With his primary rationale for the war — Saddam's alleged possession of weapons of mass...

I apologize for being me, true and dedicated to freedom for everyone especially those who haven't seen it truly in a long time.

<p>Stop inhumane experiments on liberal trolls!!!!!!! Oh my! I recently encountered stunning liberal talking points concerning trolldom! Or concerning what FReepers do on the forum with idiots.</p> <p>I was really shocked and my eyes wide open when I was reading it! Unfortunately I lost the link but I will retell you what I happened to get to know. The people at the DNC set inhumane experiments over trolls! It is outrageous!</p>

The assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri has initiated an international political chess match which is being played out on the streets of Lebanon and in the media worldwide. Hariri's murder twenty-four days ago sparked a governmental crisis in Lebanon that resulted in Prime Minister Omar Karami's resignation, cries of blame on Syria, street protests by the opposition in Lebanon, a massive counter-protest by government supporters, the reinstatement of Karami, and continuing uncertainty.

i just joined up. i'm a liberal who's looking for some stimulating political discussion. i wasn't sure what the procedure was, so i thought i'd say hello. howdy.

The Media CIA CONTROLED MEDIDA AND/OR MEDIA MANIPULATION IS A VIOLATION OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT TO A FREE PRESS CONCERNING ALL 50 STATES AND EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN PLEASE REVIEW: http://government.rantnetwork.com/usgovcoverups (read website on "operation mockingbird") Journalism is a perfect cover for CIA agents. People talk freely to journalists, and few think suspiciously of a journalist aggressively searching for information. Journalists also have power, influence and clout. Not surprisingly, the CIA began a mission in the late 1940s to recruit American journalists on a wide scale, a mission it dubbed Operation MOCKINGBIRD. The agency wanted these journalists not only to...

The woman walking behind me froze when I turned to look at her after a stoplight flashed red. That became her signal to hurriedly walk in another direction. This is the 10th year that well-groomed people in the heartland have made me feel like garbage simply because of the clothes I had on. At least once a year I dress in my old army coat, black knit cap, faded jeans, frayed flannel shirt and grass- stained sneakers to gauge people's reaction to folks who appear to be homeless. The message is unspoken, yet unmistakable. People who are better off make...

A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated. Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army. "I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- A secret intelligence unit created within the US Defense Department after the Sept. 11 attacks helped capture former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in December 2003, news reports said Monday. The unit, called the Strategic Support Branch, had a hidden hand in interrogations and identifying clues inside Iraq that narrowed the search for Saddam Hussein and led to his capture, the reports said. The unit's existence was first revealed by The Washington Post on Sunday. Quoting interviews with participants and documents it obtained,the Post said the Pentagon has created a previously undisclosed organization, called the Strategic...

WASHINGTON - When U.S. troops pulled Saddam Hussein from a hole in the ground a year ago, the capture was described afterward as the work of a team of conventional and special operations troops. Nothing was said about an assist from an intelligence unit that the Pentagon created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to expand the military's ability to collect human intelligence — information from spies as opposed to listening devices or satellites. The unit's existence was revealed by The Washington Post on Sunday. Pentagon officials said Monday that the unit, called the Strategic Support Branch, had a...

Brunei Press Sdn Bhd. CAIRO (dpa)december 27, 2004 - A lawyer for Saddam Hussein has disputed the US version of how the former Iraqi dictator was captured a year ago, reports said Sunday. In an interview with the weekly al-Osbou magazine to appear Monday, Saddam's lawyer Khalil al-Duleimi said that the toppled dictator had described the US account of his capture as "a silly fabricated cowboy movie." Saddam was captured on December 13, 2003. US forces said the deposed leader was found hiding in a hole in the ground near a farmhouse in al-Dour, south of his hometown Tikrit. Al-Duleimi,...

10. Had a heartwarming reunion with the guy who deloused him. 9. Put his name in for that homeland security opening. 8. Ordered one of Carvel's delicious fudgy the goat cakes. 7. Rehearsed for his role as Fezziwig in prison production of "A Christmas Carol." 6. Same as every Monday: "CSI: Miami" and frozen pizza bagels. 5. Pampered his beard with VO5 Hot Oil Treatment. 4. Asked guards if he could stay up late to catch Ashanti on Letterman. 3. Counted his blessings that he ain't Bernard Kerik. 2. Waited 13 hours for visit from Uday and Qusay. 1. Compared...

The clinically precise raid that ended with the capture of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein followed 12 failures, said the man who planned it. Army Col. James Hickey, commander of the 1st Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said groundwork for the raid began months earlier as the brigade fought its way north from Baghdad into Mr. Hussein's home turf. The brigade's assigned area included much of Mr. Hussein's power base – the birthplace of his ruling Baath Party and headquarters of the 1st Republican Guard. "Saddam Hussein's extended household was there – his cronies, his wife, his sons –...

The former ruler looked haggard, with a wild, graying beard and ratty hair. "He looked old and miserable," Samir says. When Samir called the man names, the ousted ruler retorted, "`Don't talk to me. I'm Saddam Hussein,'" Samir recalled. "I said, `You are nobody.'" Samir cherishes a photo of him helping pin Saddam to the ground. Before returning to the United States, Samir said his family told him to thank Bush for helping liberate Iraq. Last month, Samir got his chance. When Bush came to campaign July 20 in the St. Louis suburb of St. Charles, Samir was just one...

New details of Saddam capture Pulled from spider hole, Saddam asks: "America, why?" Thursday, August 5, 2004 Posted: 1:46 AM EDT (0546 GMT) Saddam Hussein after his capture (CNN) -- After an extensive search of an Iraqi farm on December last year, U.S. Special Forces and a translator named Samir brushed aside leaves and dirt from one area of the farm, uncovering the spider hole where Saddam Hussein was hiding. "I grabbed him," Samir told CNN in a recent interview. "I was like I am not going to let him go." "I told him that if you're a real...

By Deanne Lane (KSDK) -- It's a world famous photograph, showing a man wearing military camouflage holding Saddam Hussein down on the ground. What few people knew, until now, that man lives in the St. Louis area. "I just told myself it can't be, no way," says 34 year old Samir. He's asked us not to use his last name, or identify exactly where he lives. Samir worked with the military as an interpreter. He was at the remote farm on December 13th, when U.S. forces discovered a secret hiding place. The next few minutes will feel like a lifetime...

How Saddam Hussein was captured BBC News Online looks at how the operation to capture former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein unfolded. SADDAM HUSSEIN'S HIDING HOLE 1050: Tip-off received, two targets identified and given codenames 1800: 600 troops move towards 'Wolverine 1' and 'Wolverine 2' 2000: Targets searched, Saddam Hussein not found 2030: Hole found, Saddam Hussein captured with no resistance Saddam Hussein was captured after a tip-off led American troops to a small, underground hole concealed next to farm buildings near the former leader's hometown of Tikrit. Soldiers were seconds away from throwing a hand grenade into the hole,...

Saddam Hussein was finally betrayed by a relative who was one of his closest bodyguards, a BBC programme reveals. Panorama reports that after eight months on the run, the hiding place of the ousted Iraqi leader was given away by an aide known as "the fat man". The programme, to be broadcast on BBC One on Sunday, says Mohammed Ibrahim Omar al-Musslit gave away the secret after being arrested and interrogated. Saddam Hussein was captured on 13 December near his home town of Tikrit. Mr Musslit was a loyal lieutenant of Saddam Hussein. He was one of the people who...

Baghdad – Saddam Hussein failed to anticipate the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and even after hostilities had started, deluded himself that he was winning the war and could clinch a negotiated settlement through French and Russian mediation. According to newly uncovered secret documents, the former Iraqi regime never contemplated its imminent defeat and continued to function normally under Saddam's direct control, even as American tanks were closing in on Baghdad. While much has been made about intelligence failures in the West, it seems that Saddam's own senior officials, diplomats and spies offered him such a warped vision of the outside...

Special Dispatch Series - No. 663 February 16, 2004 No.663 Editor of Egyptian Journal: 'We Should Feel Humiliated that Saddam's Fall Came at the Hands of the U.S. and Britain... The Arabs Should Have Been the Ones to Bring Him Down' Dr. Osama Al-Ghazali Harb, the editor in chief of the Egyptian quarterly Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya magazine and board member and advisor to the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, published a column in the most recent issue of Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya. The article praised the capture of Saddam Hussein and denounced Arabs and Muslims who lament it and propagate...

  Singer dedicates ‘Hey Saddam’ to Soldiers on line By Lee Elder NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Army News Service, Feb. 4, 2004) -- Like many Americans, country songwriter Dave Gibson was glued to the television and the Internet the Sunday morning when the world learned of Saddam Hussein’s capture. “I thought to myself, ‘Somebody ought to write a song about this,’” said Gibson, a former front man for the famed country act, the Gibson/Miller Band. So he picked up his guitar and started playing it. The song was done in two hours. The result of Gibson’s efforts was “Hey Saddam,” a...

UJA, Iraq - U.S. authorities on Wednesday prepared to demolish Saddam Hussein's five palatial homes in the village where he was born, having stripped them of expensive marbles, tiles and valuable furniture. The 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, based in Tikrit, received permission from coalition authorities Tuesday to go ahead with the demolition in Uja village, said the commander, Lt. Col. Steve Russell. For the past couple of months, contractors hired by the U.S. forces have been removing valuable materials from the homes including hand-cut Italian bricks and polished marble tiles, Russell told reporters taken on a tour of the...

Evil tyrants are nothing new to the region of Babylon, present-day Iraq. One of the most vicious in history was Nebuchadnezzar (sixth century BCE), the Babylonian king who built the most powerful nation in the world by ruthlessly attacking and annexing neighboring countries.The Tenth of Tevet (January 4, 2004) commemorates the day when Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem. The Babylonians eventually destroyed the First Temple, slaughtered 100,000 Jews, rounded up the rest and sent them into exile.Whenever Nebuchadnezzar made a conquest, he used the stolen wealth to build monuments to his own glory. It was in his capital city that...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- When the news broke last month that Saddam Hussein had been captured -- disheveled and disoriented, hiding in a dark hole in the ground -- it was hard to overstate the magnitude of the shockwaves that reverberated around the world. World leaders and regular citizens across the globe felt an exhilarating sense of satisfaction knowing that this ruthless dictator would finally answer for his heinous crimes. It didn't take long for pundits here in the states to begin theorizing about the political fallout from this long-awaited event either. The most elementary political calculus tempts us to chalk...

A couple on here i hadnt seen.

When the U.S. 4th Infantry Division pulled Saddam Hussein from his hole in the ground on December 13, 2003, the Iraqi dictator was meek, bizarrely offering to negotiate with the U.S. By contrast, Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary general who strained every sinew to stop the war of liberation and now aims to thwart U.S. postwar plans, remains thoroughly defiant. Yet if there is one person on the international stage who deserves to be called to account for his conduct over Iraq, it is Kofi Annan. Missing from the debate on how and where Saddam should be tried has been...

<p>BAGHDAD — Attacks against coalition forces in Iraq have dropped 22% in the four weeks since Saddam Hussein's capture, military records show. U.S. military officers say the decline in attacks, after months of growing intensity, is the first proof that Saddam's capture and recent U.S. offensives have dampened, but not eliminated, resistance to the occupation.</p>

Secret photo of a cowering dictator makes waves on the web THIS appears to be the moment Saddam Hussein was dragged from his hole and exposed to the world – but it is a snapshot the US military did not want the world to see. The photograph, apparently taken in the seconds after Saddam's capture near Tikrit last month, appeared for the first time yesterday on a military-related website. The image shows a US soldier posing for the camera as he pins the bearded dictator's body and face to the dirt. A clearly-distressed Saddam lies on his stomach as members...

<p>LONDON — A Web site catering to active and retired U.S. military personnel has published a picture apparently showing Saddam Hussein at the moment he was dragged out of his below-ground hiding place Dec. 14 in Iraq.</p> <p>The photo, which military authorities believe to be genuine, could help to puncture conspiracy theories in the Arab world questioning the U.S. account of Saddam's capture.</p>

X-Ray prisoners told of Iraq war From correspondents in Guantanamo Naval Base,Cuba January 9, 2004 DEPRIVED of most world news since their capture, some of the hundreds of prisoners at this US base expressed shock when told recently of the capture of Saddam Hussein, a US general said today. Interrogators told some detainees of the war in Iraq in June, and word of Saddam's capture reached others during interrogations in December, Major General Geoffrey Miller told reporters in an interview. The entire prison population was later informed of Saddam's capture by loudspeaker after officials determined there was no risk to...

A REAL picture of Saddam being dragged out of his spider hole. The source is a Special Forces soldier on the scene when the capture occurred. He was documenting the raid with a camera. A picture is definitely worth a thousand words, so ... Naturally, Saddam was willing to negotiate ...

AMERICAN HEROES IN ACTION Here's a number of photos of the pastoral beauty and utter simplicity of Saddam Hussein's Country Palace. Many of these interesting photographs will be new to you. More great photos from Operation Red Dawn HERE

<p>BAGHDAD -- A U.S. soldier with north central-Ohio ties got to enjoy a minute of fame and a part in history in Iraq.</p> <p>Art and Shirley Utley of Marion are swelling with pride after learning that their grandson, Pfc. Travis Utley, was a part of the 4th Infantry Division that captured former dictator Saddam Hussein.</p>

It was an incredible day, an historic day, a day for freedom. Saddam was captured. The streets were filled with jubilant Iraqis. But this is not a story for me to tell, for I am a guest in this country. Better to have an Iraqi tell it in his own words. The only way the US army can operate here in Iraq is with the help of our Iraqi interpreters. This is the story of one of them. For security purposes, I cannot tell you even his first name or show you his picture. He is incredibly brave. He literally...