Free Republic

It has been revealed that Turkey informed Italian officials about Mehmet Ali Agca's plan to assassinate Pope II Jean Paul one year before the incident.Turkish Interpol warned member countries by issuing a red bulletin after Agca escaped from prison in 1979 where he was sentenced to life for murdering Abdi Ipekci, editor of the moderate left-wing newspaper Milliyet; however, the countries did not pay much heed to "the red bulletin" at first. After Agca's assassination attempt, Interpol’s Secretariat General thanked the Turkish Security Directorate and held Turkey as an example for other countries.Retired Security Director Selahattin Gultepe who worked at...

ANKARA, Turkey - The Turkish gunman who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II is applying for Polish citizenship because he wants to live in the country of the late pontiff, whom he called his "spiritual brother." But the Polish Foreign Ministry said the chances of Mehmet Ali Agca getting citizenship are "minimal" since he hasn't provided any "good service" to John Paul's mostly Catholic homeland. Agca also wants to be transferred to a prison in Poland to serve the remainder of his sentence on a different conviction, lawyer Haci Ali Ozhan told The Associated Press. "He has chosen Poland...

THE Vatican said today it accepted the decision by a Turkish court to release Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to kill the late pope John Paul II in 1981. "With legal issues, the Holy See leaves it up to the courts with competence in these areas," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. He said the Vatican had only learned of the court's decision from press agencies and had not been given prior notice. Agca, 48, is expected to be released between Tuesday and Sunday, Turkish officials told the Anatolia news agency. He was a 23-year-old far-right militant on the...

January 18, 2010 Gunman Mehmet Ali Agca may reveal KGB plot to kill Pope John Paul II Richard Owen The Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II nearly 30 years ago is to be released from prison today Monday and has raised hopes that he will finally shed light on whether the assassination attempt was a KGB plot. Mehmet Ali Agca, 52, said last week that he would “answer all questions” about the murder attempt after his release. When he was arrested minutes after the attack on St Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981, he claimed that...

Blackwater involved in Bhutto and Hariri hits: former Pakistani army chief Tehran Times Political Desk TEHRAN - Pakistan’s former chief of army staff, General Mirza Aslam Beg (ret.), has said the U.S. private security company Blackwater was directly involved in the assassinations of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto and former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Blackwater later changed its name and is now known as Xe. General Beg recently told the Saudi Arabian daily Al Watan that former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf had given Blackwater the green light to carry out terrorist operations in the cities of Islamabad, Rawalpindi,...

A Texas man is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday after being arrested for threatening to kill a federal official identified as Sen. Ted Cruz. James Amos Headley, 59, was arrested after admitting to FBI agents that he left a threatening phone message for the official, who was described by the initials T.C. in an affidavit but identified by sources as Mr. Cruz, the San Antonio Express-News reported. A message left July 11 on voicemail at the U.S. Capitol included a threat against the official as well as his family. “Pretty soon you’re gonna be runnin for your life, just...

When James Hodgkinson walked onto the baseball field and fired on those practicing a beloved American game, he committed the most serious political assassination in decades. The Capitol Police were there at the scene, and they acted in saving lives. If they had not, it would have been a massacre. There was little for the FBI to do here. The motives of the shooter are pretty clear, and he had a list of names of his targets. He ranted and raved about Republicans on social media, and he asked before the shooting were the players Republicans or Democrats. Looks like...

The handwritten list was found in a van belonging to James Hodgkinson by the FBI, and the lawmakers named on the list are known to be conservative members associated with the Freedom Caucus: Reps. Scot DesJarlais (R-TN) (pronounced day-zharr-LAY), Trent Franks (R-AZ), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Mo Brooks (R-AL) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA).

Hodgkinson had a history of violence that did not rise to the level to prohibit him from legally owning a firearm. He was the foster father of at least two girls. The first, Wanda Ashley Stock, 17, committed suicide in 1996 by pouring gasoline on herself and setting herself on fire after a few months of living with the Hodgkinsons, the Belleville News-Democrat reports. The Hodgkinsons gave an interview to the paper after her suicide, calling her a “very practical, level-headed girl.”

The News-Democrat also cites a Facebook profile it says belonged to Hodgkinson, which featured a post from Monday: “I Want to Say Mr. President, for being an ass hole you are Truly the Biggest Ass Hole We Have Ever Had in the Oval Office.” Other Facebook posts support Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Hodgkinson campaigned for Sanders in Iowa. The Facebook profile is linked to a number of left-wing, anti-Republican groups, including “Terminate The Republican Party,” among others: I do not like Trump, Cruz, the TeaParty! or “Hate-Radio” Damn! Damn! Damn! Expose Republican Fraud Boycott The Republican Party Liberal...

Two high-level Iranian government backers, including a former Islamic Republic official and another accused of lobbying on Tehran’s behalf, were hosted at the Obama White House for more than 30 meetings with top officials at key junctures in the former administration’s contested diplomacy with Iran, according to White House visitor logs that provide a window into the former administration’s outreach to leading pro-Iran advocates. Seyed Mousavian, a former Iranian diplomat and head of its national security council, was hosted at the White House at least three times, while Trita Parsi, a pro-Iran advocate long accused of hiding his ties to...

The FBI warned UK security chiefs that Manchester jihadi Salman Abedi was plotting an attack in Britain, an inside source has claimed. MI5 were warned in January by the U.S. intelligence service that Abedi was part of a North African terror cell planning to strike a political target in Britain according to the source, the Mail on Sunday reports. A U.S. investigation into the Manchester bomber’s links to terror groups in Libya brought the information to light, and U.S. security services placed Abedi on a watchlist identifying key terror suspects in 2016. “In early 2017 the FBI told MI5 that...

It’s an ancient story: An innocent idealist sets out to change the world and in the process becomes what he hates most. “He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster,” Friedrich Nietzsche advised. That’s probably the best spin one can put on Sidney Blumenthal, the longtime Hillary Rodham Clinton aide and confidant. But it would be just that — spin — given that Blumenthal was never an idealist, never mind an innocent. He has remained the same man he was in 1976, when he co-edited Government by Gunplay: Assassination Conspiracy Theories from...

Last Thursday, I gave a lecture on the jihad threat at the Grand Hotel in Reykjavik, Iceland. Shortly thereafter, a young Icelandic Leftist registered his disapproval of what I said by poisoning me. It happened after the event, when my security chief, the organizers of the event, and Jihad Watch writer Christine Williams, who had also been invited to speak, went with me to a local restaurant to celebrate the success of the evening.  At this crowded Reykjavik establishment, I was quickly recognized. A young Icelander called me by name, shook my hand, and said he was a big fan....

Moscow is preparing a list of U.S. officials it will ban from Russia in retaliation for a White House policy to keep Russian human rights abusers out of the U.S. Russia's Foreign Ministry this week began preparing a list of officials connected to the U.S. apprehension of suspected arms dealer Viktor A. Bout and convicted drug dealer Konstantin Yaroshenko, according to reports in the Russian press. The State Department last month announced that it has a list of Russian officials connected to the 2009 slaying of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who would be denied visas to visit the United States...

Ah Washington Post, you've done it again. Here you have a legitimate, under-reported story, and you manage to find a way to drop in some good old fashioned radical left wing bias. From your 6/21 edition: The No. 1 trending question related to Donald Trump on Google right now is "Who tried to shoot Trump?" Which means a lot of people don't know the answer. Which is probably because the assassination attempt on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee hasn't been covered as a major news story. The answer, authorities say, is Michael Steven Sandford, a 20-year-old British citizen who...

Authorities in Las Vegas arrested a 19-year-old man after he allegedly tried to disarm a police officer at the Donald Trump presidential rally. Fox News: Las Vegas Metro police said Michael Sanford approached a uniformed officer and started a conversation looking to get an autograph. Minutes into the conversation, Sanford attempted to disarm the officer, police said. Authorities said officers assigned to the rally were able to take Sanford into custody with little disruption at the venue. No other incidents or injuries were reported.

Michael Sandford stopped calling his mother last May. He was in a foreign country, unemployed and living out of a car, but he had a plan. He had learned how to shoot a gun. He wanted to kill Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The autistic 20-year-old British man set out from California at about the same time his mother, Lynne, reported him as missing. In June, Sandford showed up at a Trump rally in Las Vegas. As the candidate spoke before a raucous crowd, the Briton moved close to the stage. He noticed a holstered gun strapped to a policeman's...

A rogue nation targeted a multinational corporation and won.  North Korea has almost certainly ordered the massive cyber-attack on Sony Pictures, stealing and publicly dumping enough data to make a dent in the company’s stock price. North Korea cannot challenge the United States militarily, despite what movies have portrayed.  Regardless of their saber-rattling, and America’s reduced presence on the Korean peninsula, a real attack of any substance against our ally South Korea (or Japan for that matter) would bring a suicidal level of retribution on the North, and they know it.  But they’ve found a vein where they can draw...