Free Republic

"..........Indeed, The Libertarian Mind is a mixture of “whatever” the individual deems to be his interest. “Whatever” can consist of the reasonable libertarian outcry against big government and abusive regulations, or its excellent affirmation of free markets, rule of law and property rights. But “whatever” also consists of the throwing off of moral restraints that inhibit gratification and self-interest. Thus, the author obsesses about the urgent need for same-sex “marriage,” the end to pornography restrictions, and the right to legal drug use.Throughout his explanation,...(h)abits like drug abuse, for example, are only seen from the individual’s perspective of happiness and not...

BENI MAZAR, Egypt — The fire burned all night long. It was only after desperate town residents borrowed the keys to a firetruck that they were able to quell the blaze. By then, the evangelical church was all but destroyed. It was one of more than 60 churches that have been attacked, vandalized and in many cases set aflame across Egypt in a surge of violence against Christians that has followed the bloody Aug. 14 raid by Egyptian security forces on two Islamist protest camps in Cairo. The attacks, most of them in Egypt’s Nile Valley, have lent legitimacy to

Israeli defense personnel are watching closely as Syrian gunmen begin to carry their battle into Lebanese territory. Earlier this month, the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee issued an authorization for a call up for as many as 22 IDF battalions to guard the northern and southern fronts after hearing testimony from security officials. Almost immediately, six battalions were activated. Pro and anti-Syrian factions within the Lebanese population clashed in the streets of the Bab al-Tebbaneh neighborhood of Tripoli on Monday, firing assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs). At least five were killed and 100 wounded by the third...

BAGHDAD (AP) — A wave of bombings targeting Shiites in Iraq killed 72 people on Thursday, deepening sectarian tensions that exploded just after the last American troops left the country in mid-December. The coordinated attacks targeting Shiites bore the hallmarks of Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaida, although there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

WASHINGTON -The enormous cache of secret war logs disclosed by the WikiLeaks website paints a picture of an Iraq burdened by persistent sectarian tension and meddling neighbors, suggesting that the country could drift into chaos once U.S. forces leave. The reports, covering early 2004 to Jan. 1, 2010, help explain why Iraq's struggle to create a unified, independent state continues, despite a dramatic reduction in violence. They appear to support arguments by some experts that the U.S. should keep thousands of troops there beyond their scheduled departure in 2011, to buy more time for Iraq to become stable. The threats...

It was only one killing, but it unleashed the demons of a bitter and perhaps unfinished past. The victim was a Sunni man in the mostly Shiite neighborhood of Hurriyah, in northwest Baghdad. The death and the aftermath were reminiscent of the prelude to the sectarian war, which began in late 2005 with a smattering of killings and threats and culminated with 100 bodies a day being dumped in the streets of the capital. With the imminent departure of American forces and fierce competition for power ahead of general elections on March 7, many here say sectarian strife is reigniting.

WASHINGTON — Recent high-profile attacks against civilians near Mosul reflect al-Qaida in Iraq’s continued desire to incite sectarian strife, a senior U.S. military officer posted in Iraq said yesterday. Army Maj. Gen. Robert Caslen, commander of Multi-National Division - North, told Pentagon reporters during a satellite-carried news conference the attacks don’t indicate a statistical spike in violence. In fact, he said, the average weekly numbers of attacks committed in and around the northern city of Mosul actually have trended down over the past six months. About 40 to 42 weekly attacks occurred in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, in the six...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2008 – Incidents of Iraqi-on-Iraqi attacks due to ethno-sectarian strife and other types of violence in Iraq have decreased markedly from a year ago, a senior U.S. officer posted in Iraq said yesterday. “Iraq is in a very different place than it was just 12 months ago,” Multinational Force Iraq spokesman Army Brig. Gen. David G. Perkins told reporters at a Baghdad news conference. “Iraqis refuse to be pitted against each other by senseless violence.” For example, Perkins said, the number of security incidents so far during Ramadan is more than 60 percent lower than it was...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2007 – Iraqi citizens are reaching across sectarian lines and volunteering in unprecedented numbers to drive out terrorists and reconcile their country, a coalition military commander said today. “These are Iraqi volunteers who are stepping forward at the local level in different villages and different cities,” Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said. “They are most importantly taking a stand to fight the extremists and take a direct role in improving security in their communities.” Bergner, the Multinational Force Iraq deputy chief of staff for strategic effects, spoke with online journalists and “bloggers” shortly after conducting an operational...

Monday, September 03, 2007 Maliki orders investigation into Kerbala bloodletting Compiled by Daily Star staff Hard-line Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Sunday warned the Baghdad government of retaliation if it delays a probe into a gun battle in Kerbala last week in which 52 people died. Shortly afterward, the government announced an inquiry into last Tuesday's clashes, while Kerbala police said that they had arrested some 269 people for alleged involvement in the fighting, which turned a major Shiite pilgrimage into a bloodbath in the southern shrine city. Sadr's warning came just days after he ordered a freeze on the...

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2007 – Sectarian murders and executions in Baghdad are declining, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said today on the “Fox News Sunday” television program. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus told host Chris Wallace via satellite link from Baghdad that the U.S. troop surge has helped reduce sectarian murders and executions in Baghdad by one-third between January and April. And despite an uptick in violence in May, the levels of violence are again going down. “The fact is, as we go on the offensive, the enemy is going to respond,” Petraeus said. Last week Petraeus received...

BAGHDAD — A press conference concerning the progress of security in Diyala, Iraq was held via videoconference at the Combined Press Information Center in the International Zone Friday. Army Col. David W. Sutherland, commander of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, and Maj. Gen. Shakir Halail Husain, 5th Iraqi Division commander, discussed increased enemy activity due to escalated Coalition and Iraqi security forces operations and the continuing effort to fight terrorism. “We have seen an increase on attacks against Coalition and Iraqi security forces in the past several months,” Sutherland said. “On the other hand, we have also seen...

Consulting Google Earth can help people work out routes to avoid Google is playing an unlikely role in the Iraq war. Its online satellite map of the world, Google Earth, is being used to help people survive sectarian violence in Baghdad. As the communal bloodshed has worsened, some Iraqis have set up advice websites to help others avoid the death squads. One tip - on the Iraq League site, one of the best known - is for people to draw up maps of their local area using Google Earth's detailed imagery of Baghdad so they can work out escape...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13, 2007 – For the new U.S. strategy in Iraq to succeed, Iraqis must work in concert with American military forces toward ending sectarian violence, President Bush said today during his weekly radio address. “Their leaders understand this, and they are stepping forward to do it,” the president said. “But they need our help, and it is in our interests to provide that help.” Bush said ending sectarian violence and providing security for the Iraqi people would help foster a political solution to the country’s problems. During a Jan. 10 televised address to the nation, the president...

TIKRIT, Iraq, Oct. 17, 2006 – U.S. soldiers are helping Iraqi security forces here to quell a surge in sectarian violence, military officials reported today. Throughout the past 96 hours, officials here said, more than 60 Iraqis were killed as a result of sectarian violence in Balad, just north of Baghdad. In the past 48 hours, officials said, the city has been hit with five indirect-fire attacks, killing six civilians and wounding 10. “We continue to conduct our normal patrols in the city and provide support for Iraqi security forces as they lead operations in stopping the sectarian violence in...

WASHINGTON – The Iraqi Interior Ministry, with the help of Coalition Forces, is developing a strong, loyal and capable police force. “Collectively we can improve their skills and teach them truly how and what democratic policing is all about and what community policing is all about,” Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson, commander, Civilian Police Assistance Training Team, told journalists in a Pentagon press briefing Oct. 6. Peterson explained that CPATT is charged with helping the Iraqi government to build and develop its Interior Ministry, as well as to train Iraq’s National Police, a paramilitary force that eventually will take over...

BAGHDAD — Senior U.S. officials in Iraq are calling a four-point plan released Oct. 3 by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to halt sectarian violence “a significant step in the right direction.” Maliki’s plan, released Oct. 3, aims at uniting Shiite and Sunni parties to reduce and ultimately stop growing sectarian violence that threatens Iraq. “This … shows that the Iraqi leaders want their country to succeed and are responding to the wishes of their people for security,” said U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. George W. Casey, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, in a statement released yesterday....

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2006 – Senior U.S. officials in Iraq are calling a four-point plan released yesterday by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to halt sectarian violence “a significant step in the right direction.” Maliki’s plan, released yesterday, aims at uniting Shiite and Sunni parties to reduce and ultimately stop growing sectarian violence that threatens Iraq. “This … shows that the Iraqi leaders want their country to succeed and are responding to the wishes of their people for security,” said U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and Army Gen. George W. Casey, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, in a statement...

A collection of 9/11 tributes I’ll add to the list below, and if you have any you’d like to add to this (or any other sort of tribute/remembrance), please do so here. Either leave a comment with the link, or link to this post and send a trackback. 9/11: The 5th Year Anniversary Tribute Blood of Heroes September 11th, Uncensored From Brain Terminal: Crystal Morning: September 11th, 2001 From William Teach: 9/11 Plus 5 From Crusader: WTC Tribute More from YouTube: 911 tribute September 11th - Five Years Later: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 September 11th - Flash...

Top 10 Reasons Islam Might Not Be a Religion of Peace Written by Don Feder Thursday, August 31, 2006 A passenger revolt occurred on a Malaga-Manchester flight.  Vacationing Brits refused to fly with two Arabic-speaking men.  This came in the wake of arrests of 21 British-born Muslims who were plotting to blow up as many as 11 trans-Atlantic flights. A spokesman for Britain’s opposition Tory party said the passengers panicked into “behaving irrationally.”  Fancy that, not wanting to fly with members of a faith whose adherents keep trying to blow things up.  Oh, how irrational! Within days of this incident, a Lebanese student...