Free Republic

As most of you have read or seen by now, a journalist and NBC/MSNBC media consultant named William “Bill” Arkin has created quite a stir by viciously insulting American soldiers in Iraq. He wrote at his Washington Post blog, “Early Warning: William M. Arkin on National and Homeland Security” column (1/30/07), that “… this NBC (Nightly News) report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer force that thinks it is doing the dirty work” re Iraq. The “report,” according to Arkin, featured “a number of soldiers (who) expressed frustration with...

In 1979, Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists and killed in a shootout between his abductors and police. Lieutenant Commander Adolph Dubs ,United States Navy Foreign Service Officer(1920-1979) of Maryland. Born in Chicago, Illinois, August 4, 1920. Served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II; U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, 1978-79. Assassinated in Afghanistan, February 14, 1979. Interment at Arlington National Cemetery.

Despite repeated, self-serving claims by Obama officials that the Administration did everything it could to head off and then respond appropriately to the violence against American facilities in Libya and Egypt last week, their blunders in policy, intelligence and security illustrates an incompetence every bit as profound as exhibited by the administration of Jimmy Carter in Iran 33 years ago. It appears nothing has been learned in more than three decades; despite significant gains in technology available to the U.S. government during those intervening years. In 1979, the Carter Administration precipitously abandoned the Shah of Iran, Washington’s long-time and loyal...

Former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher died at the age of 85 Friday night, KABC-TV Los Angeles reported on its 11 p.m. newscast. Christopher attended the University of Redlands before transferring to USC, where he graduated in 1945. He was secretary of state under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. He died from complications of kidney and bladder cancer, KABC reported.

Despite persistent anxiety over its nuclear programme, the Jimmy Carter administration failed miserably in efforts to dissuade Pakistan from fuel enrichment and officials were left "scratching their heads" on how to tackle the problem, newly declassified documents have shown. The recently declassified United States government documents from the Jimmy Carter administration, published on the Internet on Wednesday by the National Security Archive, shed light on the critical period in the late 1970s when the US first became aware of Pakistan's nuclear intentions. The documents show that the Pakistani nuclear weapons programme had been a source of anxiety for American policymakers...

Reading "Masters and Commanders," Andrew Roberts's magnificent account of British and American leaders in World War II, I was struck by how many of them, working prodigious hours and under great strain, were struck down by heart attacks while in their 60s. This doesn't happen anymore, I thought, with the blood pressure and cholesterol medicines many of us routinely take. But it does, as we were reminded by the sudden death at age 69 this week of Richard Holbrooke, who was working prodigiously as Barack Obama's special representative for AfPak, i.e., Afghanistan and Pakistan. Holbrooke was known in cynical Washington...

DB: How aggressive can Obama be in insisting to the Israelis that a military strike might be in America’s worst interest? Brzezinski: We are not exactly impotent little babies. They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch? DB: What if they fly over anyway? Brzezinski: Well, we have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this...

The Subprime home mortgage collapse...a Primer. It's ALL about the CRA of 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977 - This required banks to offer credit throughout their entire market area for “underserved” populations and small businesses. The CRA gave incentives to help low income borrowers become “home owners”. Liberals call this group “low income borrowers”. Conservatives call them a RISK!The CRA was passed by the Carter administration. In 1995 the Clinton administration authorized subprime loans under the CRA. Democrats added these provisions for the securitization of subprime loans and then ENFORCED the lending to high risk individuals. By 2000,...

No doubt, President Bush has one knee on the canvas. What is in doubt is whether he's buying time or simply cannot get back up. Just look at the serious body blows he has taken lately: His bold Bush Doctrine of striking down terror before it shatters us is in disarray in Afghanistan, Iraq, even here at home. His magnificent ambition to plant the seeds of liberty and spread freedom throughout the enslaved world is unraveling. His sworn obligation to protect Israel, one of America's few authentic allies, at all costs, and never to accept a peace in Lebanon that...