Free Republic

WASHINGTON, August 4, 2006 -- Eighteen cities and counties in Virginia’s Hampton Roads region are planning Freedom Walks to commemorate victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and show support for veterans past and present. Inspired by the 2005 America Supports You Freedom Walk, in Washington, D.C., Hampton Roads and several other cities nationwide are planning their own Freedom Walks, marking the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11. Each Freedom Walk will conclude with a ceremony, featuring speeches from local officials and patriotic music. Organizers of the walks say they anticipate 500 to 1,000 people will participate in each...

Iraqi Police in Mosul began specialized training with the Coalition's Police Transition Team in July. Department of Defense photo by Cpl. Richard Vogt. WASHINGTON – The U.S. commander who oversees military operations in the Middle East says extremism “remains a serious danger to global peace and stability” and that the influence of private militias in the Middle East must be curbed. Army Gen. John Abizaid , who leads the U.S. Central Command, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that the forces of extremism are strong, ruthless and well-connected and that private militias as “the curse of the...

BAGHDAD, June 13, 2006 – Defeating an ideology is much more difficult than defeating a physical threat, but that is at the heart of U.S. Central Command's strategy in this region, the command's chief, Army Gen. John Abizaid, said in an interview today. Abizaid, the commander of U.S. CENTCOM, is in Iraq, where he met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and newly appointed Defense Minister Abdel Qader Jassim. It is no shock that al Qaeda and associated groups are the main threat facing the United States, the general said. "This ideology backed by (Osama) bin Laden, (Ayman al-) Zawahiri and,...

HIT, Iraq, June 4, 2006 – Bringing the Iraqi army to the lead in the country's beleaguered Anbar province is a tough assignment. But Marines assigned to the military transition team at Firm Base 4 here have taken it on. Vehicles return from a patrol in Hit, Iraq. Army troops work with Iraqi soldiers to maintain order in the Euphrates River city in Anbar province. Photo by Jim Garamone  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Along with soldiers of Battalion Task Force 1-36, they are working to train Iraqi soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 7th Division. Anbar...

SHINAHOTA, Bolivia - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who often accuses the U.S. of plotting to overthrow him, warned Bolivia's president Friday he could be facing the same prospect. Chavez spoke during a visit to the heart of Bolivia's coca-growing region with Bolivian leader Evo Morales and Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage — a trip designed to bolster trade ties among three leftist governments. Chavez responded to President Bush's comment Monday that he was "concerned about the erosion of democracy" in Bolivia and Venezuela. "If the U.S. president says he's worried the democracy is eroding in Bolivia, this simply means that...

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2006 – The United Service Organizations of Metropolitan Washington and Joint Employment Transition Services will present their first Military Spouse Career Expo at the Sosa Recreation Center at Fort Belvoir, Va., June 17, USO officials announced. USO of Metropolitan Washington is a member of "America Supports You," a Defense Department program to showcase the nation's corporate and grassroots support to servicemembers and their families. The expo is designed to empower military spouses through information, motivation and skill development leading to sound career choices. It will include presentations on federal jobs, self-employment and alternative careers, officials said. Debbie...

HADITHA, Iraq (May 5, 2006) -- Since their arrival in the Al Anbar Province nearly two months ago, Marines here say Iraqi Security Forces are progressing toward relieving Coalition Forces and stabilizing the region. In this rural region along the Euphrates River valley, the transition from U.S.-led to Iraqi-led military operations is well on its way, according to one U.S. Marine who has spent nearly two months mentoring Iraqi soldiers in this region. But the atmosphere in this portion of western Al Anbar Province has changed since Saddam Hussein was removed from office in 2003. Instead of daily fire fights...

WASHINGTON, April 18, 2006 – Negative media reports on continuing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan make it hard for people to recognize political and economic progress being made there and in surrounding countries, the senior enlisted advisor to the commander of U.S. Central Command said here. Air Force Command Chief Master Sgt. Curtis L. Brownhill said progress in the Central Command region -- which runs from Kenya in Africa to Kazakhstan in Central Asia and includes Egypt and Pakistan -- includes more than just what is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq. Progress is measured in many countries taking steps toward...

CAMP AL QA'IM, Iraq (March 24, 2006) -- Marines from 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment never thought they’d see the Al Qa’im region of Iraq again when they departed their military camp here in March last year. One year later, the Twentynine Palms, Calif.-based unit has returned to this remote forward operating base here, located just east of the Syrian border in western Al Anbar Province, to continue to keep insurgents at bay and provide stability in the region. But this time, they’ve got a new mission — assisting an Iraqi Army unit to eventually take control of the area....

Trove of Teutonic weapons uncovered in Krusne Hory region [09-02-2006] By Jan Velinger, Martina Schneibergova Listen 16kb/s ~ 32kb/s It's not unusual in this country to come across weapons caches dating back to the Second World War. But, finding a pile of javelin tips, parts of shields and a sword dating back to the 2nd century A.D., doesn't happen every day.Lenka OnderkovaAccording to museum officials in the north Bohemian town of Chomutov it was a find that almost "never happened": a trove of twenty-two Teutonic items, weapons or parts of shields, dating back 1,800 years, that one finder almost failed...

Chief ousted as British troops head for Afghan drug region By Ahmed Rashid in Kabul (Filed: 23/12/2005) Britain has had a feudal chief removed from the region at the heart of Afghanistan's drug trade in an effort to calm the violent region before some 3,000 British troops deploy there next year. Sher Mohammed Akhunzada was removed from office as governor of the south-western province of Helmand, bordering Pakistan, last week. His family, who have governed the province for more than 25 years, has long been suspected of heavy involvement in drug trafficking. The combination of drug and Taliban activity in...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today said the Bush administration was considering opening direct contact with Iran as part of a broader effort to gain greater cooperation from Iraq's neighbors in quelling the insurgency that grips large swaths of the country. "We're considering whether that might be useful," Rice said. She told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that any such contact would probably take place between the U.S. and Iranian embassies in Baghdad. Direct US diplomatic contact with Tehran would be highly controversial within the Bush administration, which has long been divided between hardliners who have argued that any...

As the drumbeat of war gets louder in Tehran it is, perhaps, time to wonder whether President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s new administration is not walking into a trap partly of its own making. Over the past week or so Iranian officials at various levels have made a number of statements that could harm Iran’s interests at a difficult time. Many had hoped that Ahmadinejad would use the opportunity provided by his presence at the UN General Assembly in New York to offer a way out of the diplomatic impasse over Iran’s alleged nuclear ambitions. But that didn’t happen. Ahmadinejad’s speeches and...

PhotoID: 200592134840 Submitted by: 2nd Marine Division Operation/Exercise/Event: Operation Iraqi Freedom Caption: Hit, Iraq -Lance Cpl. John W. Anderson, 23 of Delmont, Penn., an assistant team leader with K Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment poses for a picture with his young friend Afooie during a patrol stop. Photo by: Cpl. Ken Melton

CANBERRA (Herald-Tribune) -- Iran and the United States are now on a collision course. Despite warnings from America and Europe, Iran has resumed enriching uranium, with its new President, Mahmud Ahmedinejad, insisting it has a right to do so under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty for peaceful purposes. President George W. Bush has reacted by declaring all options open, including military action, which has drawn a stiff rebuke not only from Tehran, but also from Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany, one of America's allies. Israel is also reported to have plans for targeting Iran's nuclear facilities. But the use of force...

TEHRAN – Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said here on Tuesday that maintaining energy security in the world is not possible without Iran. “Iran is in a powerful position in view of its resources, geographical location and scientific capability; this power should be introduced to the people and those who favor the Islamic Revolution worldwide,” he said in a meeting with heads of the external branches of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) network. Referring to the recent events concerning Iran’s nuclear issue, Rafsanjani noted the country will soon face a wave of propaganda against its nuclear activities...

Syrian President Bashar Assad is scheduled to arrive in Tehran today for an official visit to Iran in order to hold discussions on Tehran-Damascus bilateral cooperation in all political, economic, and cultural spheres. Due to their common anti-Zionist stance and their resistance to Zionist expansionism in the region, both Syria and Iran have been targets of U.S. propaganda campaigns for the past 25 years. Syria, which is located in the heart of the Middle East, has always played a significant role in regional political developments since the late Hafez Assad assumed the presidency in 1970. Syria’s active role in the...

Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer and former U.S. President, has a huge problem: his mouth. The things emanating from that orifice are bizarre in the extreme, considering that Carter was arguably the worst president in the history of the United States. His most recent foot-in-mouth episode involves his running commentary on George W. Bush’s veracity and the "atrocities" committed by American soldiers in the war on terrorism. Carter maintains that had the U.S. not waged war against the Taliban who were sponsors of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network, or deposed Saddam Hussein, then the Islamic terrorists would have no...

LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) - Deadly blasts in London drew shock and sympathy from Middle Eastern capitals on Thursday, some of them all too familiar with carnage on their own streets. "We've been experiencing terrorism for 30 years," said Samira Murr, a Lebanese teacher in her 50s, in Beirut. "It's like the Madrid bombings, like the 9/11 attacks. We feel we are not safe anywhere in the world any more." In Damascus, Syrian businessman Majed Ali said: "I really hope this is not the doing of an Arab or a Muslim because our values are 100 percent against this devilish...

In the Appalachian Mountains, writes James Webb in Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, “American flags are frequent, on the trucks and in the yards and on the porches. America got bombed and mountain people don’t forget, even if it happened in New York and Washington, because when it comes to fighting wars, mountain people have always been among the first to go.” In chronicling the Scots-Irish, Webb writes of the people who made him and, he argues persuasively, America what both are today. It is a close call on which benefited the most from that lineage. Webb is...