Free Republic

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will load domestically made nuclear fuel rods into its Tehran Research Reactor on Wednesday for the first time to keep it running, a senior official told a national news agency. Tehran had announced in January that it had successfully manufactured and tested fuel rods for use in nuclear power plants, a move to show that international sanctions are failing to stop it making advances in nuclear know-how and to strengthen its hand in any renewed negotiations with six world powers. "The first home-made nuclear fuel roads will be loaded in the Tehran Nuclear Research Reactor in...

Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor told the United Nations Monday that Syrian children are dying from famine but that “they are not the tragic fatalities of a famine. They are not the accidental casualties of war. They are the deliberate targets of a brutal regime that will commit any crime and cross any line to cling to power.” “They look out at the camera with pleading eyes – desperate for help,” he said in a discussion on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s continuing brutal suppression of the 11-month-old rebellion. “Today I recall the images of infants and young children from the Baba...

Ron Paul has called Bradley Manning a hero, for bravely releasing national secrets to wikileaks. Has this damaged the US? Has it cost lives?

Any good armchair general with a good search engine and time on their hands can figure out in a hurry that the song and dance about Iran being unable to close the Strait if Hormuz for long is just a plain crock. Worse than a crock. Yet, this big Orwellian lie persists, so once again I have to set the record straight. Iran has the capability of not only closing the Strait for some time, but creating a world of hurt for the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. Iran possesses a build up of anti-ship weapons called Sunburn missiles, which it...

Israel embassies preparing for Iran strike? Diplomats stationed in Israel request gas masks, prepare contingency plans in case of missile attacks; envoys fear that thousands of dual-citizenship Israelis will seek evacuation Itamar Eichner Published: 02.08.12, 00:05 / Israel News Preparing for Iran strike? Foreign embassies in Israel have recently started to formulate contingency plans to evacuate their citizens from the Jewish State in case of a missile attack on Israel. Senior officials in Jerusalem said that several diplomatic missions have shown great interest in preparing for various emergency situations, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday. In the framework of the preparations for...

The Occupy Wall Street movement is almost five months old and although some vow not to abandon their posts throughout the country, HBO’s Bill Maher says the protest has ran its course. On Friday night’s airing of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Maher likened the Occupy movement to the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, which according to him has gone on too long. “Let me ask about another occupation because this is, and you would be good on this, too, panel — the Occupy Wall Street,” Maher said. “Because similar to Afghanistan, when you occupy anything too long, people do get...

Israeli facilities in North America -- and around the world -- are on high alert, according to an internal security document obtained by ABC News that predicted the threat from Iran against Jewish targets will increase. "We predict that the threat on our sites around the world will increase … on both our guarded sites and 'soft' sites," stated a letter circulated by the head of security for the Consul General for the Mid-Atlantic States. Guarded sites refers to government facilities like embassies and consulates, while 'soft sites' means Jewish synagogues, and schools, as well as community centers like the...

The Council on American-Islamic Relations announced Monday night that it had successfully prevented retired Lieutenant General William G. “Jerry” Boykin from speaking at an upcoming prayer breakfast at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. “We welcome Mr. Boykin’s withdrawal from this event and hope that the speaker who replaces him will offer cadets a spiritual message that promotes tolerance and mutual understanding,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad in a statement. West Point initially balked at the calls to remove Boykin — a former military intelligence officer — from the event. Lt. Col. Sherri Reed of West Point...

Following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi cleric Sa'd Bin Al-Shathari which aired on Al-Resala TV on October 8, 2011, and was posted on the Internet. Interviewer: There is a great deal of interest in the death of Steve Jobs, the founder and owner of Apple and its former CEO. I'd like you to comment on two matters. First, is it permissible to be sad over the death of an infidel? Second, is it permissible to ask for Allah's mercy for an infidel? There was a lot of debate on Twitter and Facebook about this. Sa'd Bin Al-Shathari: With...

This is chilling. This is in Texas. Iranian grad student, activist killed in Houston KSAT News (hat tip Armaros) HOUSTON - A woman whom Houston police described as an activist on behalf of Iranian women's civil rights was found shot dead at the wheel of her car after it crashed into a townhouse garage. Houston police said the shooting happened around 12:30 a.m. Monday in a posh development near the Galleria. According to investigators, someone walked up to the passenger's side of 30-year-old Gelareh Bagherzadeh's car and shot her in the head. Bagherzadeh's body was found inside her running car,...

Who’s Really To Blame For America’s Catastrophic Financial Meltdown And Devastating National Recession? Contrary to what the “Occupy Movement” might tell you, it’s not greedy Wall Street executives. No, as one of America’s top financial professionals reveals in this shocking new book, the real culprit is economic warfare, with our foreign enemies exploiting our lurking financial weaknesses. In Secret Weapon, Kevin D. Freeman unveils how all the evidence – including motive, means, and opportunity – points to America’s foreign enemies as deliberately pushing our economy over the brink. In this stunning expose, Freeman reveals: * The evidence linking Communist China...

Turkish customs officials intercepted four trucks on Tuesday suspected of carrying military equipment from Iran to Syria, a Turkish provincial governor. The governor of Kilis province said the trucks were confiscated at the Oncupinar border crossing into Syria after police received information about their cargo, according to Dogan news agency. "The four trucks were confiscated by customs. They are alleged to be carrying military equipment," Governor Yusuf Odabas said. He said experts were being sent from Ankara to examine the cargo. Turkey imposed economic sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad's government in November, having earlier implemented an arms embargo in protest...

Osama Bin Laden's hideout will be spectacularly destroyed by the Pakistan military in front of TV cameras, it has emerged. Military chiefs plan to launch rocket propelled grenades at the mansion hideout in Abbottabad. It will then be bulldozed in order to prevent the walled complex from becoming a shrine to the former Al Qaeda leader.

The carrier, along with the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, reaches the region as tensions are rising with Iran. Deployed San Diego-based ships in the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and Makin Island groups are now in the Middle East, the U.S. Fifth Fleet and Central Command has announced. The sailors, Marines and airmen aboard the ships arrive after Iranian officials recent threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for the world's oil supply, and warned a departing U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, not to return to the Persian Gulf.

INSIGHT, a top international provider of supply chain planning solutions for the world's foremost companies, believes that substantial supply chain problems will result if conflict breaks out in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent - 30 percent of the world's oil supply passes on a daily basis. Of more immediate concern to supply chain managers is the impact on global oil markets. While the consequences of military action in the Strait would be severe, even the threat of conflict has resulted in significant crude oil price increases in the past few weeks. Iran threatened last week to stop...

A university lecturer and nuclear scientist has been killed in a car explosion in north Tehran, reports say. Iranian media sources named the casualty as Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, an academic who also worked at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility. The blast happened when a motorcyclist stuck a magnetic bomb on the car, said Iran's semi-official Fars news agency. Several Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in recent years, with Iran blaming Israel and the US. Both countries deny the accusations. Local sources said Wednesday's blast took place at a faculty of Iran's Allameh Tabatai university. Two others were reportedly also injured...

There are two names that are at the center of a case that helped lead U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels to sign documents that identify the state of Iran, Hezbollah, the Ayatollah, and others as being very involved in the September 11th attacks. Janice Kephart, Director of National Security Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, and former counsel for the 9/11 Commission provided a written affidavit for the case. Abolghasem Mesbahi, an Iranian who fled that country when he was tipped off by a colleague that he was on the regime's kill list, provided what Daniels deemed credible...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Days after the last U.S. troops left Iraq, a federal appeals court ended a lawsuit over an episode that produced one of the more disturbing images of the war: the grisly killings of four Blackwater security contractors and the hanging of a pair of their bodies from a bridge in Fallujah. Families of the victims reached a confidential settlement with the company's corporate successor, Arlington, Va.-based Academi, and the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the suit last week. The settlement was first reported Friday by The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Va. The deal ends the...

Move America Forward - We're so very pleased with the effect our K9 Care Packages are having for the troops and their military working dogs in Afghanistan. Since we began this effort to help K9 units, the response has been very positive. Supporters love the idea of sending special packages for military dogs and the troops who work with them. We recently received a response from a soldier in Afghanistan confirming that these packages are making a great impact on the teams receiving them and gives us more encouragement to keep sending K9 packages to our brave troops! Move America...

SAS target Taliban using Royal Navy submarine technology The SAS is targetting Taliban insurgents and Afghan smugglers in the Helmand desert using Royal Navy technology designed to hunt down Soviet submarines, it can be disclosed. The Daily Telegraph has been allowed access to operations along supply routes that involve radar technology traditionally used to spot periscopes breaking the surface and missiles skimming across wave tops. Using a sack-like device with which helicopters carry the radar equipment, the Sea King airborne surveillance and control (Skasac) can spot camel trains, pickup trucks and insurgents on foot dozens of miles away. The Navy...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani Islamist militants on Sunday pledged to cease their four-year insurgency against Pakistani security forces, and join the Taliban's war against NATO troops in Afghanistan. The agreement reunited four major Pakistan-based militant factions under the flag of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban chief, an announcement by the militants said. Security experts in Islamabad said the agreement to end the insurgency with Pakistan was a dual-purpose tactical move by the Taliban. It has lost hundreds of fighters during a two-year surge of U.S. forces in its southern Afghanistan strongholds. The Pakistani militants, too, have been pummelled by security...

Prominent Al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban fighters asked Pakistani militants in a pair of rare meetings to set aside their differences and step up support for the battle against U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, militant commanders said Monday

MIRANSHAH (SANA): A bomb ripped through a military vehicle Saturday martyring two soldiers in a village in Miranshah. According to sources close to security forces, the incident took place in Data Khel area of North Waziristan tribal agency that left two soldiers dead. The remote-controlled bomb planted on a roadside hit a patrol party leading a convoy of security forces at Boya village, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of Miranshah. The vehicle was also damaged as a result of blast. Security forces imposed curfew in the area after the attack and launched a search operation to trace the perpetrators....

INSIDE OCCUPY D.C. People monitoring the Occupy D.C. movement tell Inside the Ring that the two encampments are fast becoming health hazards. Numerous protesters also recently were sickened with unusual respiratory illnesses. The major emerging problem for the leftists camped out in tents at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza is rats. The rodents appear to be moving into the area by the hundreds, and their numbers are increasing daily. The McPherson camp appears be where more radical leftists are based. An observer familiar with the McPherson camp said one distinctive smell coming from the park area is that of methamphetamine...

The Arabic School Textbooks Which Show Children How To Chop Off Hands and Feet Under Sharia Law By LEON WATSON 23rd December 2011 Barbaric textbooks handed out in Saudi Arabian schools teach children how to cut off a thief's hands and feet under Sharia law, it has emerged. The shocking books, paid for and printed by the Saudi government, also tell teenagers that Jews need to be exterminated and homosexuals should be 'put to death'. Recent editions were obtained by the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, D.C., which says they should raise fears in the West over the use...

A wave of violence ripped across Baghdad on Thursday morning, killing at least 57 people and injuring nearly 200 in a coordinated attack designed to wreak havoc in the Iraqi capital just days after American forces left the country.

If terrorists ever target Fargo, N.D., the local police will be ready. In recent years, they have bought bomb-detection robots, digital communications equipment and Kevlar helmets, like those used by soldiers in foreign wars. For local siege situations requiring real firepower, police there can use a new $256,643 armored truck, complete with a rotating turret. Until that day, however, the menacing truck is mostly used for training runs and appearances at the annual Fargo picnic, where it’s been displayed near a children’s bounce house. “Most people are so fascinated by it, because nothing happens here,” said Carol Archbold, a Fargo...

With the death of Kim Jong-il, the world loses one of the greatest self-aggrandizing fantasists of all time. Here are ten of the craziest Jong-il stories floating out there: 1. North Korean schools teach children that Jong-il's birth was "supernatural." He was born in a log cabin inside a secret base on the sacred Mt. Paekdu, the story goes, and his arrival was accompanied by the apparition of a new star. The seasons then spontaneously changed from winter to spring, and a double-rainbow appeared, followed by a talking iceberg. (Western accounts say he was born in a guerrilla camp in...

(ad nauseam)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. John McCain says the world is better off now that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has died, and predicted the dictator would join the likes of Adolf Hitler "in a warm corner in hell." McCain's political colleagues, including GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, have joined the prominent and outspoken senator in saying bluntly that Kim will not be missed after decades of oppression and threatening the world with his nuclear program.

The world has been spared another day's company with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. Even among his evil peers, Mr. Kim's atrocities stand out. His despotism starved millions of Koreans to death while he developed a reputation as an epicurean. He literally stole Korean and Japanese babies from their parents to train them as spy moles for the communist regime. He sold nuclear weapons technology to state terrorists that are sworn enemies of the US and Israel. He committed various capricious acts of war, including shelling defenseless civilian island homes. As with other evil men, like Mao, Pol Pot,...

1 --According to his biography, he first picked up a golf club in 1994, at North Korea's only golf course, and shot a 38-under par round that included no fewer than 11 holes in one. Satisfied with his performance, he reportedly immediately declared his retirement from the sport.

Feel free to personally wish him Merry Christmas here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Abu-Mussab-Wajdi-Akkari-Official/123179511075285

North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles off its east coast on Monday, the same day it announced the death of leader Kim Jong-Il, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

BAGHDAD – A Lebanese Hezbollah commander allegedly responsible for killing four U.S. soldiers in Iraq will be prosecuted for a lesser charge of illegal entry with a forged passport, Iraqi officials said Saturday. Ali Musa Daqduq was the last American prisoner in Iraq and was handed over to Iraqi authorities on Friday. On Saturday, two Iraqi officials said Daqduq will be prosecuted for illegal entry with a forged passport -- the only Iraqi charge against him. The charge generally carries a sentence of just over five years in prison. But the officials say an investigative judge will consider U.S. allegations...

Jennifer Griffin of Fox News exposes evidence that Barack Obama wimped-out when faced with a decision to either protect American intelligence and national security or upset the Iranians. “With early knowledge that the aircraft had likely remained intact, the senior U.S. official also told Fox News that President Obama was presented with three separate options for retrieving or destroying the drone. The president ultimately decided not to proceed with any of the plans because it could have been seen as an act of war, the official told Fox News.” “Among the options the U.S. considered were sending in a special-ops...

Army Gen. Martin. E. Dempsey revised his assessment of the relationship between the Pakistani and United States militaries, which he described as "a mess," whereas two weeks ago he said the relationship remained solid despite the recent NATO strike controversy. Dempsey said "U.S.-Pakistani military-to-military relations 'are a mess,'" according to the American Forces Press Service -- an apparent deterioration from late November, when he assured British media that the relationship was still firm. Addressing the recent border incident, Dempsey told an audience at the Atlantic Council that he "can absolutely say that it wasn't something we did intentionally." "Regrettably, the...

<p>Santayana defined fanaticism as redoubling your effort while losing sight of your goal. America’s recent discussions about the war on terror would give him few grounds to change his view.</p> <p>Several GOP presidential candidates have said they would support bringing back waterboarding, a practice the U.S. prosecuted as a war crime after WWII. Apparently it’s only torture when the other side does it.</p>

Reports did not mention where they were imported from Published Thursday, December 08, 2011 Saudi authorities seized a large quantity of imported shirts and other clothes adorned with the cross, a newspaper reported on Thursday. The ministry of commerce and industry said it had confiscated all the stuff seized at garment shops in the southwestern town of Raniya. “We confiscated all the stuff after a Saudi customer informed us about the presence of such items at shops,” said Mohammed Dafer Al Subai, director of the government trade office in Raniya. In its report, the Arabic language daily Sabq newspaper said...

One of two men charged with planning to attack a Seattle military recruiting station last summer has agreed to plead guilty, his lawyer said Wednesday. Michele Shaw, an attorney for Walli Mujahidh, confirmed to The Associated Press that he will plead guilty to multiple charges in federal court Thursday, after the change-of-plea hearing was posted in the court calendar. She declined to comment further. The 32-year-old from Los Angeles was arrested in June along with Khalid Abdul-Latif of Seattle in an FBI sting. Federal prosecutors said the men were taken into custody when they arrived at a warehouse garage to...

The U.S. is pulling its troops out of Iraq by the end of the year. Well, not quite.There will still be a large group of soldiers left behind to train Iraqis and to repair the war-damaged sites. Now, will someone from the White House hierarchy, past or present, please tell the American people why we invaded Iraq in March 2003? The truth and nothing but the truth - that will be the day. Why are we still speculating on the reasons we went to war in the first place, other than to hunt down and kill Saddam Hussein, the brutal...

President Barack Obama on Sunday expressed condolences to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari for the deaths last month of 24 Pakistani troops, saying the NATO airstrikes that killed them were not a "deliberate attack." A White House statement said Obama placed a call early Sunday to Zardari expressing his regrets over the "tragic loss" and promising a "full investigation" into the incident, which has plunged the two uneasy allies into a diplomatic crisis. Obama "made clear that this regrettable incident was not a deliberate attack on Pakistan and reiterated the United States' strong commitment to a full investigation," the statement...

QUETTA: An American aircraft reached Pakistan on Sunday to carry US nationals who are vacating the Shamsi airbase in Balochistan. Sources said that the aircraft landed in Pakistan today (Sunday), and the passengers were shifted to the aircraft amongst strict security. Officials from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) were also present at the site. Residents living around the area were told not to leave their homes while the American nationals were being shifted to the aircraft. Pakistan demanded that the US leave the remote airbase used for drone flights within 15 days and blocked ground supply routes to US forces...

If you are like us, every day you pick up a smartphone and you send email, visit with friends on Facebook, send a text message or even log into your bank's website and pay a bill. These modern day conveniences have become routine. We all believe that our passwords are secure, our data is protected, and life is easier if we don't have to write a check to pay a bill or dig around and find a stamp to send a friend a quick note. But this morning we are no longer sure. The tech world is in a fury,...

An attack by Nato aircraft on Pakistani troops that allegedly killed as many as 28 soldiers and looks set to further poison relations between the US and Pakistan was an act of self-defence, a senior western official has claimed. According to the Kabul-based official, a joint US-Afghan force operating in the mountainous Afghan frontier province of Kunar was the first to come under attack in the early hours of Saturday morning, forcing them to return fire. The high death toll from an incident between two supposed allies suggests Nato helicopters and jets strafed Pakistani positions with heavy weapons.

Pakistan has cooperated secretly with the U.S. on several war-fighting missions in an odd-couple alliance that also sees factions in Islamabad backing the fiercest American enemy. The uneasy relationship is being put to the test again, as Pakistan accused NATO on Saturday of unleashing a helicopter strike on a Pakistan army border outpost and said 24 soldiers were killed. U.S. military personnel who have served in the region tell The Washington Times that Pakistan does far more in secret than either side acknowledges. It wants money from Washington to keep flowing, yet fears a democratic Afghanistan could one day align...

KHAR, Pakistan — Pakistani officials say seven army soldiers were killed when NATO helicopters fired on a checkpoint in the country's northwest near the Afghan border.

Syria faces a Friday deadline to sign an Arab deal allowing monitors into the country or incur sanctions over its crackdown on protests including halting flights, curbing trade and stopping deals with the central bank. Arab foreign ministers warned in Cairo that unless Syria agreed to let the monitors in to assess progress of an Arab League plan to end eight months of bloodshed, officials would consider imposing sanctions on Saturday. Under a November 2 Arab League initiative, Syria agreed to withdraw troops from urban centers, release political prisoners, start a dialogue with the opposition and allow monitors and international...

Presidential hopeful Ron Paul says his rivals’ militant stances on “the defense of liberty” would make it difficult for him to support any of them for president should he not get the Republican nomination, because their positions would lead to bigger government. But the Texas congressman also told Fox News’ Neal Cavuto Wednesday that despite these concerns, he probably would not run as a third-party candidate. “I would have trouble with what I heard last night because it is almost opposite of the defense of liberty that I’m talking about,” Paul told Cavuto, referring to Tuesday night’s presidential debate. “I...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton formally announced new measures to sequester Iran Monday evening, and she warned that more sanctions could come. “Today’s actions do not exhaust our opportunities to sanction Iran,” Clinton said alongside Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. “We continue actively to consider a range of increasingly aggressive measures.”