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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A tearful U.S. soldier was sentenced to a year in jail Wednesday after pleading guilty to abusing Iraqi detainees in a scandal threatening to undermine President Bush's re-election chances. Military policeman Jeremy Sivits, who apologized to Iraqis at the first court martial of soldiers accused of abuses which sparked worldwide outrage, was also expelled from the army. It was not enough for Iraqis protesting outside Abu Ghraib prison, scene of the scandal that came to light when pictures were published of naked and terrified Iraqi inmates being abused and sexually humiliated. "It's a kangaroo court, set up...

<p>KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (May 13) - The al-Qaida-linked Web site that first posted a video of American civilian Nicholas Berg's beheading was shut down Thursday by the Malaysian company that hosted it - because it was drawing too much traffic.</p>

frame grab taken from web site video footage May 11, 2004, shows a man, who identified himself as Nick Berg of Philadelphia (C) seated in front of his five masked captors moments before he was executed. Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq beheaded an American civilian and vowed more killings in revenge for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, an Islamist Web site said on Tuesday. After one of the masked men read out a statement, they pushed Berg to the floor and shouted 'God is greatest' above his screams as one of them sawed his head off with a large knife...

WASHINGTON - A small amount of residue from mustard, a potentially deadly chemical agent, has been found in an old artillery shell on a Baghdad street, according to a U.S. military report obtained Thursday by Knight Ridder. The shell was from a "very old stockpile," and for that reason experts didn't consider it evidence that former dictator Saddam Hussein was hiding illegal stockpiles of chemical weapons, said a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The report said tests identified the substance as mustard residue. The official confirmed that and said more tests were under way. Mustard the chemical...

A team of military intelligence and police drug enforcement units rounded up some 50 Muslim residents of the Al-Salam Mosque Compound in Barangay Culiat, Quezon City as part of intensified operations against illegal drugs and firearms in the metropolis. Senior Superintendent Procopio Lipana, chief of the Central Police District-Criminal Investigation Unit (CPD-CIU), said 12 suspects remained under their custody while the rest were released. Lipana identified the 12 as Dawabe Ben Albi Maulana, businessman from Basilan; Musa Sabaddin Abdurahman, 27; Awop Wadja Ignus, 26; Radjail Karawan Tirih, 34; Raquel Francisco Mabajo, 26; Pamaran Alain Awali, 48; Abubakar Cuevas Zunco, 34;...

MADRID, Spain - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian linked to al-Qaida and suspected of heading a terrorist network in Iraq (news - web sites), is now believed to have been the brains behind the deadly Madrid railway attacks, a French private investigator told The Associated Press on Friday. Investigator Jean-Charles Brisard said Spanish officials told him some suspects held in the March 11 attacks were in contact with al-Zarqawi as recently as a month or two before the bombings, which killed 190 people and wounded more than 1,800. "They believe today he was the mastermind," Brisard, who is probing the...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1095637/posts Al-Qaeda Claims Responsibility3-11-04 | AP Purported Qaeda Letter Claims Spain Bombings-Paper Spain: Van, Detonators, Quran Tapes Found FROM HAARETZ AQ Casablanca bombings http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,89442,00.html AQ Jakarta Marriot hotel bombing (US Embassy had 20 rooms, but cancelled 4 hours prior after warning) http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3130835.stm NYC already beefing up security in the wake of Madrid bombings: http://www.ny1.com/ny/TopStories/SubTopic/index.html?topicintid=1&subtopicintid=1&contentintid=38028     http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1095619/posts Madrid Bombs Don't Match ETA Style - Europol Head (Update: AQ Claims Attack)Yahoo News/ Reuters ^ | March 11 , 2004 | Yahoo News/ Reuters     http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1095600/posts (BREAKING) ARABIC TAPE AND DETONATORS FOUND IN VAN IN MADRID - SPANISH MINISTERReuters ^ |...

In an exclusive WORLD interview, the longest-serving UN weapons inspector for Iraq, ROLF EKEUS, blames himself for caving in to international pressure and letting Saddam off the hook, blames Bill Clinton for making it harder to keep an eye on WMD development, and blames George W. Bush for focusing on WMD "hardware" rather than "software." Yet his toughest words are for those who would second-guess the war. Such critics, he says, trivialize "a major threat to international peace and security" In a terse pause to an otherwise feisty nationally televised address, CIA director George Tenet, speaking at Georgetown University on...

HERO’S BURIAL: Gen. John MacDonald, official representative of the US army, hands over the American flag to Helen Therriem, mother of Fil-American US army specialist Solomon Bangayan (inset) who was killed in action in Iraq earlier this month. Bangayan was given the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal as he was buried in his hometown of Sudipen in La Union yesterday.

MOSUL, Iraq, Jan. 9, 2003 -Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) captured six people suspected of anti-coalition activities during pre-dawn raids in northern Iraq Jan. 8, according to U.S. Central Command officials. Officials said an element of the division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team detained five individuals in Ash Shura for attacks on coalition forces and for their connections to making improvised explosive devices. The element confiscated an AK-47 rifle and electrical components that could be used for making the homemade bombs. In Mosul, officials said 3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment detained a man wanted for the sale of...

Has the President Gone on a "Spending Spree"? Only if you think that withdrawing from the war and surrendering the world to Osama bin Laden is a viable option. A lot of conservatives have been on a tear lately (myself included). Every time you turn around, someone is screaming about government spending and the there are those who are more than happy to exploit the confusion surrounding spending issues to erode support for the President. The San Francisco Chronicle recently put out a hit piece attempting to spin the spending numbers in a way that makes the President seem like...

Terrorism, Afghanistan, and America's New Way of War. Norman Friedman. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute, 2003, 304 pp. $29.95 The frustrations of occupying Iraq have obscured the short, sharp military campaign with which the United States and the United Kingdom seized the country in the first place. Although Saddam Hussein's regime was rotten and inept, it did have a defense strategy, which coalition forces beat through well-planned variations in the pace and character of their attack: moving on the ground without waiting for the air offensive to finish; adjusting quickly to resistance in the south; gradually isolating opposition in Basra...

Laurie Mylroie will appear on C-SPAN's Washington Journal (9:00-10:00 AM, EDT) today, Dec 24, to discuss her book, "Bush vs. the Beltway" and other Iraq-related issues. You may tune in on the internet if you can't access it on television: http://www.c-span.org They usually re-air Morning Journal in case you miss it the first time. You may check the web site for the c-span schedule in your area.

We are headed out on patrol with the infantry tonight. The Bradley fighting vehicle arrives, and its rear door lowers slowly to the street. We scramble up the ramp, take a seat and rumble away. Our armored vehicle triggers a massive traffic snarl, but no one - not even horn-loving Iraqis - dares honk at a Bradley. The men of the 1st Battalion, Eighth Infantry Regiment, have been after us all week to come watch them work. They are the trigger-pullers of Third Brigade Combat Team based in Denver's Fort Carson, hard men who do the dirtiest of the dirty...

Jassem Muhammed Hussin, 14, is staying with the soldiers of Dragon Co. 113 ACR who have taken the boy, nicknamed Stevo, under their protection. David P. Gilkey, Detroit Free PressDRAGON BASE, Iraq - Outside the barbed-wire fence of this remote, sand-swept U.S. military base along the Syrian border, Jassem Hussin, 14, gestured and muttered softly in Arabic. His father was a key figure in a guerrilla cell that was killing American soldiers, he said. Jassem wanted him arrested. The GI on guard duty radioed his superiors. Military intelligence - key to fighting the insurgency in Iraq - can come...

TIKRIT, IRAQ - A roadside bomb destroyed a Stryker vehicle with the Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade. A scout platoon on a reconnaissance mission south of Tikrit ran over what the military calls an improvised explosive device. The soldiers inside got out safely but the 19 ton vehicle caught fire and burned out of control. "There was a small explosion, and the engine caught fire. The soldiers inside got out and tried to put the fire out but it got out of control and started setting off the ammunition," said ABC news producer in Iraq, Mike Gudgell. One soldier in the...

Mosul, Iraq-AP -- Neighbors of a senior officer in an Iraqi paramilitary group say U-S soldiers shot and killed the man at his home in Mosul (MOH'-sul) today. The U-S Army confirms there were raids in the area, but it's refused to comment on the reported death. Two of the man's neighbors says U-S troops stormed his house, and shooting was later heard. They also say he was a member of Saddam Fedayeen, a group believed to be taking part in attacks against U-S occupation forces in Iraq. The house was locked this afternoon. There were several bullet holes in...

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. forces have arrested three men suspected of heading Iraqi rebel cells in their homes and say they seized a cache of weapons big enough to launch 50 guerrilla attacks. In the front garden of one of the two houses raided in the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit in the early hours of Thursday, soldiers dug up a hoard of rifles, grenades and explosives that the commanding officer described as "a Fedayeen candy shop". "This is mission-oriented. This is stuff they dole out," said Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell of the U.S. Fourth Infantry Division. "They are...

Vote for Tasty Manatees, Don't Let Anti-War.com win! Please take ten seconds to click on this link to the 2003 Weblog Awards and vote for Tasty Manatees. Apparently, Tasty Manatees is listed in the "Crawly Amphibians" category for some reason. I would really feel discouraged if more people voted for Anti-war.com over Tasty Manatees! [2nd Update- Anti-war.com has more votes for best blog than Tasty Manatees. Currently, about 1 in 15 of you are actually hitting the link and voting. Understandable, but please take ten seconds to make a statement that you do not agree with the rants of the...

HAWIJA, Iraq -- When U.S. soldiers found explosives in the house of Aziz Abdel-Wahhab and his elderly wife during a raid in the Iraqi town of Hawija, they proposed swift and direct punishment -- demolishing the building. "This house is the heart of terrorism and if you're going to harbor terrorism, we're going to remove you from the community," said First Lieutenant Steve Brignoli, explaining the order to destroy the one-story stone house in a Hawija suburb. "This will be a show of force to embolden the local authorities." The explosives were found during a major operation by the 173rd...