Free Republic

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How The West Was Won The rapid and unexpected decline of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq was officially recognized this week, when Maj. Gen. John Kelly, commanding the Marine Expeditionary Force, turned operational control of Anbar Province over to the Iraqi army and police. Anbar, a vast expanse of desert the size of North Carolina, had been the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. For years, foreign fighters loyal to al-Qaida had sneaked across Iraq's northwestern border with Syria, into Anbar and down a "rat line" of safe houses in Haditha, Ramadi and Hit. From Fallujah, the arch terrorist Zarqawi...

Don’t blame a bird for the punch that the Northwest Airlines plane took in the nose on Sunday. Northwest is now examining the dented nose cone of a Boeing 757 jet that was damaged during a flight from Detroit to Tampa. Images snapped by passengers... show the front tip of the plane looking a bit like a beer cup smashed in after a football game. Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the F.A.A. in Atlanta, said pilots heard a bang when the plane was at 18,000 feet during its descent into Tampa. Its radar went out, prompting the crew to suspect...

A flight attendant angry about his work route set a fire in an airplane bathroom, forcing an emergency landing, authorities said. The Compass Airlines flight carrying 72 passengers and four crew members landed safely in Fargo on May 7 after smoke filled the back. No injuries were reported. The plane was flying from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan, authorities said. Eder Rojas, 19, appeared in court Thursday, following his arrest a day earlier in Minneapolis, and ordered held without bail, prosecutors said. The charge of setting fire aboard a civil aircraft carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Check out Richard Blum's inside action at Northwest. Unbelievable. This guy shorted Northwest into the ground RICHARD BLUM Declared Holdings Relationship/Company Reported Shares Value Director Northwest Airlines Corp Cl A Roster, Transactions 12/01/2003 216423 as of: 12/01/2003 as of: 09/27/2005 $2,835,141.29 $136,346.48 12/01/2003 *26304 as of: 12/01/2003 as of: 09/27/2005 $344,582.40 $16,571.52 12/01/2003 7,850 NWACQ Stock Gift value of $102,835.00 10/22/2003 56,104 NWACQ Stock Gift value of $777,601.43 10/20/2003 1,786 NWACQ Stock Gift value of $25,182.59 10/17/2003 31,786 NWACQ Stock Gift value of $440,553.96 09/16/2003 2,325 NWACQ Stock Gift value of $25,342.50 07/14/2003 22,222 NWACQ Stock Gift value of $245,997.54...

They are one of California's most influential political couples: four-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Richard Blum, a wealthy businessman, philanthropist and behind-the-scenes political advisor. For decades, first as San Francisco mayor and then as senator, Feinstein has had the public persona while Blum has operated in the background. Now, at 71, Blum has stepped into the limelight to take over as chairman of the University of California Board of Regents. --snip-- Blum was appointed to a 12-year term on the 26-member board in 2002 by then-Gov. Gray Davis, to whom Blum and his companies had given more than...

Six imams removed from a US Airways flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix are calling on Muslims to boycott the airline. If only we could get Muslims to boycott all airlines, we could dispense with airport security altogether. Witnesses said the imams stood to do their evening prayers in the terminal before boarding, chanting "Allah, Allah, Allah" -- coincidentally, the last words heard by hundreds of airline passengers on 9/11 before they died. Witnesses also said that the imams were talking about Saddam Hussein, and denouncing America and the war in Iraq. About the only scary preflight ritual the imams didn't...

THE HAGUE (AFP) - Twelve passengers on a Northwest Airlines flight that returned to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport after the pilot raised an alert over worrying behaviour have been arrested, the Dutch ANP news agency has reported. The plane was flying from the Dutch capital to Mumbai, India, with 149 passengers on board on Wednesday when what the pilot called "behavior of concern" prompted him to return to Amsterdam. The plane was escorted by two Dutch air force jets.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- An airport spokeswoman says Dutch F-16s have escorted a Northwest Airlines flight back to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.

45 year old D.B. Cooper enters Portland International Airport. Cooper uses the name Dan Cooper to buy a one-way ticket to Sea-Tac International Airport on November 24, 1971, a Wednesday before Thanksgiving. He boards Northwest Flight 305, a Boeing 727-100. He boards the airplane and attracts no attention. He is wearing suit with a pearl tie and wearing a homburg hat. The airplane starts to taxi and take off from the runway. Flight attendant Flo Schaffner walks by and he hands her a note. Men traveling alone handed nots to flight attendants as a way to pass hotel and phone...

SUMMARY: Northwest Airlines took heat from the ACLU on Thursday for refusing to honor award tickets that a gay couple in Los Angeles tried to use for a trip to Florida. Northwest Airlines took heat from the ACLU on Thursday for refusing to honor award tickets that a gay couple in Los Angeles tried to use for a trip to Florida. In a letter to Northwest, the legal advocacy group said the airline's action violated California's nondiscrimination laws. Rob Anders, a longtime airline industry employee, won the tickets at a holiday party in December. When he tried to redeem the...

HE may consider it prudent not to wade into politics at this time, but former Manila congressman Mark Jimenez can never be away from the limelight for very long. The controversial businessman, who was released recently from a United States prison, has taken up the cause of Filipinos claiming to have been allegedly mistreated by the United States-based Northwest Airlines. Jimenez announced during the Christmas weekend that he was planning to lead Northwest victims in filing a class suit against the US carrier for allegedly treating its Filipino passengers on its December 18 flight from Detroit to Manila like...

<p>The Detroit Free Press reported that after three days of negotiations between Northwest Airlines and its mechanics union, talks broke down Sunday over severance pay issues. That leaves the union with no talks set at the bargaining table and with no deal.</p>

BREAKING NEWS: Northwest Airlines mechanics walk off the job. Full article coming shortly.

Thanks to a partnership between Northwest Airlines and the nonprofit Fisher House Foundation, travelers can donate their miles from the airline's WorldPerks frequent-flyer program to help service members wounded or injured on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. Northwest is providing travel through the use of donated WorldPerks miles for wounded or injured service members to take leave or pass from military hospitals, and for their families to visit them at their bedside. Jim Weiskopf, Fisher House spokesman, said the Northwest program is the second airline partnership involving the foundation. The first one, with American Airlines, uses donated "AAdvantage Award"...

Suspicious device found in terminal. A,B,C serve Alaska, NW and Southwest. Developing.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German airline Lufthansa said on Saturday it was seeking approval to resume flights to Baghdad as soon as possible. Deutsche Lufthansa AG said it needed the consent of the authorities in Iraq but hoped to take a decision in a few weeks after clarifying issues such as take-off and landing rights. ``With its oil refineries, Baghdad is the country's leading industrial center and is becoming an increasingly important destination for business travelers,'' it said in a statement. A spokeswoman said decisions on the frequency of flights and aircraft to be used would be taken once approval was...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Northwest Airlines Corp. said on Friday it has applied to U.S. government agencies for permission to start flight service between Detroit and Baghdad via Amsterdam. The U.S. government has banned commercial flights to the Iraqi capital since 1990, and Northwest is the first major carrier to seek approval to fly to Iraq (news - web sites) since the end of the U.S.-led war. Cargo carriers World Airways Inc. and North American Airlines Inc. have also applied for permission to fly to Baghdad, said a spokesman for the Department of Transportation. He said there was no timetable for...

I truly wish I had been on this flight. H O M E I want to tell you of an experience I had last night flying home from Atlanta. The pilot came on the intercom and went through the usual announcements telling us that "we're just east of Montgomery cruising at 28,000 feet" and "you've picked a beautiful night for flying, just look at the gorgeous southern sunset out of the right side of the plane." He then, however, said this: "Please bear with me as I deviate from the script, but I want you all to know that simply...

<p>A Boeing 747 en route from Minneapolis to Tokyo was diverted to Anchorage on Thursday and searched by bomb-sniffing dogs after an unruly passenger claimed to be a terrorist, federal officials said.</p> <p>The plane remained in Anchorage overnight, said Eric Gonzalez, a special agent in the FBI's Anchorage office.</p>