Free Republic

Rome paid tribute to the barbarians clamoring at her gates. It didn't do any good. Paying ransom only postponed the inevitable sacking, burning, and looting of the empire's capital. The UK's Neville Chamberlain sought to pacify Hitler, only to see Brits hiding in basements from the blitzkrieg a few years later. Instead of remembering history's lessons, the Washington Post today indulges in feel-good, intellectual rationalization of Muslim intolerance and hatred. In a 5-page manifesto entitled, "Anatomy of the Cartoon Protest Movement," authors Anthony Shadid and Kevin Sullivan exercise unlimited poetic license, calling Islamist hooliganism "a rare moment of empowerment among...

Recently, despite the terrorist bombings in London and Egypt, much has been printed in columns or spoken on news shows against the Patriot Act in the United States and against the shooting of a potential terrorist in London. A young Brazilian man ran from the police who had tried to question him because he was wearing a heavy, bulky coat even though everyone one else was in shirtsleeves in the warm weather. He ran into, of all places, a subway entrance, jumping over a turnstile and into a subway train identical to the one that had killed over fifty people...

There are apologists amongst us The 'We told you so' lot have been bleating on about Iraq ever since the atrocities of 7/7 - it is time to fight back Norman Geras Thursday July 21, 2005 Guardian Within hours of the bombs going off two weeks ago, the voices that one could have predicted began to make themselves heard with their root-causes explanations for the murder and maiming of a random group of tube and bus passengers in London. It was due to Blair, Iraq, illegal war and the rest of it. The first voices, so far as I know,...

After the 7/7 London bombings many have raced to renounce the phrase “Islamic terrorism.” A London Anglican priest named Paul Hawkins said in a sermon: “We can name the people who did these things as criminals or terrorists. We must not name them as Muslims.” It may seem odd to deny to the likely perpetrators of the bombings the name that they themselves prize above all others, but such are the politically correct dogmas that prevail in most contemporary public discourse. No one is better versed in those dogmas, or more relentless in her pursuit of any dissenters from them...

From Norm Geras in the UK (with a hat tip to Glenn Reynolds for the reference), possibly the most coherent and powerful argument I have ever read regarding those among us who are apologists for our enemies. I rank this right up there with some of Bill Whittle's fine work: OK, it's more than time to nail this. Within hours of the bombs going off last Thursday the voices one could have predicted began to make themselves heard with their putative explanations for the murder and maiming of a random group of tube and bus passengers in London. It was...

CANTON, Texas -- The father of a high school football player shot and wounded the team's coach Thursday, then fled in a truck loaded with weapons and tried to kill himself by slashing his wrists, authorities said. Jeffrey Doyle Robertson, 45, went to the school just after classes started and shot coach Gary Joe Kinne in the chest, apparently with a .45-caliber pistol, police said. The coach, who also is the school's athletic director, was in critical condition Friday at Trinity Mother Frances Health System in Tyler, said Lisa Morgan, the hospital's clinical coordinator. Robertson's pickup was found about two...

American Friends? HardlyBy Gordon LambFrontPageMagazine.com | June 5, 2003 When the first Quakers arrived in America in the late 17th century, they were thought of as heretics, sometimes witches and routinely bizarre. Theirs was a religion based on the ideas the individual is supreme, that the relationship between God and man is a very private affair not to be regulated by government or society, that temperance ("all things in moderation") is a noble way to live one's life. Above all, it prized peace and stated that violence should be avoided if at all possible.The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has mastered...

JEDDAH, 16 January 2005 — Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, the Kingdom’s grand mufti, said the people who attack Islam accusing it of encouraging terrorism and extremism and denying human rights are telling lies and know very well they are spreading falsehood. Speaking at a conference organized by the Makkah-based Muslim World League on inter-culture dialogue, Al-Asheikh said critics of Islam are driven by their enmity of the faith. He called upon Muslims to project the true face of Islam without any excesses or compromises. “The accusations directed against Islam by those who accuse it of terrorism, extremism and disrespect for...

Pop quiz: Who’s responsible for the attacks of 9-11? If you said the United States, you’re well qualified to teach American students about the defining historical event of their lives. That, at least, is the conclusion reached by Dickinson College. This September, in a bid to resolve the lingering dilemma over how best to broach with students the subject of the attacks, and terrorism generally, the Carlisle, Pa-based college sponsored a contest. Together with the Smithsonian Institution, the college invited educators across the country to submit lesson plans proposing creative ways to teach the subject of September 11. The four...

We can't tell if this is parody or self-parody, though we suspect the latter--and in either case, it's hilarious. Late last week a new Web site, SorryEverybody.com, appeared on the scene. Here's its manifesto:Some of us--hopefully most of us--are trying to understand and appreciate the effect our recent election will have on you, the citizens of the rest of the world. As our so-called leaders redouble their efforts to screw you over, please remember that some of us--hopefully most of us--are truly, truly sorry. And we'll say we're sorry, even on the behalf of the ones who aren't.The site features...

It was 6 a.m. when Russian soldiers hoisted themselves over the wall, crashed through the window, and broke down the front door......Altogether, an estimated 40 family members of senior Chechen rebel leaders were assembled at Khankala from Thursday, a day after the hostage seizure in Beslan, until Saturday, the day after it ended. Semiyev's daughter, Kusama, is the wife of Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov. Around him were suddenly assembled the entire extended families of Maskhadov, the former Chechen president, and of Chechen warlords Shamil Basayev and Doku Umarov. Maskhadov's brother was in the tent where the men were kept,...

CAIRO: Images of dead, wounded and traumatized Russian children being carried from the scene of a rebel school siege have horrified the Arab world, prompting forthright self-criticism and fresh concern about an international backlash against Islam and its followers. Arab leaders, Muslim clerics and ordinary parents across the Middle East denounced the school siege as unjustifiable. Some warned such actions damage Islam's image more than all its enemies could hope. Even some supporters of Islamic militancy condemned it, though at least one insisted Muslims were not behind it. ``Holy warriors'' from the Middle East have long supported fellow Muslims fighting...

Confusion at Colorado College Posted: September 4, 20021:00 a.m. Eastern © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com On Sept. 12, the second day of the second year of America's war on terror, Colorado College will host a symposium titled: "September 11: One Year Later." The symposium may not yield much insight into the war, but it tells us all a great deal about the moral confusion that dominates this campus and, I suspect, hundreds of others. As the first speaker on the first day of the conference – the "keynote speaker" according to the college – Colorado College has selected Hanan Ashrawi, a longtime spokeswoman for...

People, poor, rich, tall, short, American or South African - you choose the variety, it will still be true - are all capable of making better or worse choices. There are a few totally incapacitated ones of whom this is not the case, but the bulk of us are moral agents. But that is exactly what many on the political left deny to the poor. They attack their dignity by declaring them helpless, inept, in constant need of meddlesome intruders and the paternalist state.

Why do the Democrats like to talk about Vietnam so much? Because it's the only war they ever won.

OPERATION: "REMEMBER the ACHILLE LAURO" GOAL: Distract the pro-PLO goon squad DATE: Sunday, May 9th (Mothers Day) TIME: 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. LOCATION: Watertown Square (corner of Mount Auburn & Main Street/Route 20, accessible via Bus #71 from Harvard Square) The Arafat-huggers and terror-apologists are at it AGAIN! Tomorrow, they are planning to celebrate Mothers Day (May 9th) by picketing an event called "Shop Israel." This event, taking place at a Hebrew school in Watertown, is a mini-trade show in which vendors of products made in Israel display their wares for one day. The pro-PLO crowd is going to...

I am not so blinded by fear that I am going to blame my own government for the sins of Islamic fascism. It might be helpful right now to remember a few things as events in Washington and Iraq unfold. 1. We are at war. Anyone who thought it would be easy or painless has too quickly forgotten the lessons of 9/11. We are fighting fascists who would rather trample an American flag or kill an innocent civilian than do the hard work of building a free society. They are the enemy. Not the Bush Administration. Nor the Clinton administration....

Trevor is a junior at Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day Trevor, along with a couple of friends, decided to orchestrate a campaign that he be named the recipient of the "Distinguished African American Student Award" for next year. In the best American political tradition, they printed and plastered throughout the school about 150 posters showing a smiling Trevor giving a thumbs up and encouraging votes for him. The award has been given for eight years on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to a senior selected by teachers. There was only one slight problem....

<p>WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (CNN) -- As attorneys for Rush Limbaugh went to court Monday to try to keep his medical records out of the hands of Florida prosecutors, there have been negotiations on a possible plea bargain for the conservative talk show host, according to a spokeswoman for his radio network.</p>

WASHINGTON, 17 December 2003 — As the jubilation settles over the capture of Saddam Hussein, questions remain about the validity of the US presence in Iraq. “Saddam’s capture is further evidence that if a threat was posed by Iraq, and that certainly is debatable, the threat has been removed,” said Charles Pena, director of Defense Policy Studies at the Washington-based CATO Institute, in an interview yesterday. Because no weapons of mass destruction have been found, Pena said it is time for the US to remove its troops and “hand the government back to the Iraqi people and let them determine...