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On July 15, 2010, Democrat Charles Rangle introduced a piece of legislation into Congress that would basically reinstate the draft (compulsory military service). H.R. 5741 will give the President of the United States the power to require all American citizens between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform either military service or civilian service in the interests of "national defense and homeland security." It would also give him the power to require citizens to join the military during wartime to meet the manpower needs of the military. In February 2009, President Barack Obama asked Congress to send him a...

Mr. Obama took the opportunity to reiterate that U.S. troops were meeting their timetable for withdrawal, yet failed to mention that he was executing a policy put in place by the George W. Bush administration. The president is quick to blame his predecessor for various supposed problems he inherited, but the O Force is noticeably stingy when it comes to expressing appreciation for the things the previous administration demonstrably got right. The policies President Bush pursued that then-Sen. Obama opposed, denounced and fought against have made it possible for Mr. Obama effortlessly to preside over the successful conclusion of a...

Now more than ever we must raise our voices to let our brave men and women in uniform know that we have their six. We are putting together the logistics for our Victory in Iraq Rally this 13 June, 2009 on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Our brave warriors must have our support. We must have a huge showing at this event to let those shouldering the burden in the Global War on Terror know that we will never let them down. Gatheringofeagles.org

Iraq: Nineteen months after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared the war "lost," a freely elected Iraqi Parliament signs a security pact with the United States. We won. It is the terrorists and their appeasers who lost.While Americans sat down for Thanksgiving dinner deciding what they were thankful for, the Iraqi parliament Thursday passed an agreement with the U.S. that set a date certain for American withdrawal, as war critics wanted. But it was based on conditions on the ground, as the Bush administration insisted. The conditions on the ground are that the jihadists are a spent force that lost...

President Bush's “coalition of the willing” is set to all but disappear from Iraq by the end of the year, with 13 countries, including South Korea, Japan, Moldova and Tonga preparing to withdraw their few remaining troops. Britain, Australia, Romania, Estonia and El Salvador are the only nations, apart from the US, that plan to remain after a UN mandate authorising their presence expires on December 31. London must still reach an agreement with Baghdad, however, to keep its 4,100-strong contingent on the ground into the new year. Failure to do so in time would leave British troops without legal...

We won. The Iraq War is over. I declare November 22, 2008 to be "Victory in Iraq Day." (Hereafter known as "VI Day.") By every measure, The United States and coalition forces have conclusively defeated all enemies in Iraq, pacified the country, deposed the previous regime, successfully helped to establish a new functioning democratic government, and suppressed any lingering insurgencies. The war has come to an end. And we won. What more indication do you need? An announcement from the outgoing Bush administration? It's not gonna happen. An announcement from the incoming Obama administration? That's really not gonna happen. A...

Free Republic Friends Move America Forward and Michelle Malkin have teamed together to host the first ever Internet telethon for our troops.Entitled, From the Frontlines, the eight-hour extravaganza will be V-cast live on UStream.The goal is to send the most number of care packages at one time to our troops fighting the war on terror.The all-star line-up of guests includes Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Jackie Mason, Ann Coulter as well as veterans and Gold Star parents including Marcus Luttrell and Joe and Jan Johnson.Michelle Malkin wrote about From the Frontlines today:I’ll be in beautiful Mountain View, CA all...

Reid: Bush has 'exit strategy' only for himself Congressional Democrats pushed back hard Thursday against President Bush’s speech on Iraq, accusing him of delaying further troop withdrawals so that he can hand off the conflict to the next president. Democrats welcomed Bush’s call to reduce troop deployments from 15 months to 12 months, but they said he should go further and embrace a proposal by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) under which soldiers would spend at least a year at home before they could be called back to active duty in Iraq. Webb’s deployment proposal came up three votes short last...

The new effort to establish security in Iraq has begun. At this early stage, the most important positive development is a rise in hostility to al Qaeda in the Sunni community. Al Qaeda has responded with its own "surge" in spectacular attacks, which so far has not revived support for the terrorists or reignited sectarian violence. The Coalition has also made unexpectedly rapid progress in reducing the power of Moktada al-Sadr, including killing or capturing more than 700 members of his Mahdi Army. At the same time, the rhetoric of the Iraqi government has changed dramatically, and there are early...

Today CSPAN decided: a) not to cover the Gathering of Eagles rally, and b) to cover the Workers World Party's rally against America.With this deplorable decision, CSPAN has spit on the American military veteran. How can CSPAN make such a blatantly biased decision? Will they defend their decision, saying that "our" rally doesn't have any celebrities like Gold Star mother, Cindy Sheehan?What about the Gold Star mothers on our side who will be speaking? They may not have the name recognition that Cindy Sheehan has, but CSPAN viewers have a right (and an expectation) that their voices should carry equal...

Sen. Hillary Clinton declared this weekend, " I'm in to win." Anyone who has watched her remarkable trajectory can have no doubt that she'll do whatever it takes to win the presidency. I wish she felt the same way about the war. In fairness, Clinton, with her proposal for arbitrary caps on troop levels and hemming and hawing about her vote for the war resolution, has company on both sides of the aisle. Sen. Joseph Lieberman is the only national Democrat showing any courage on this issue. We Republicans -- with help from senators such as Chuck Hagel -- seem...

The American mission in Iraq must succeed. Our goal--promoting a stable, accountable democracy in the heart of the Middle East--cannot be achieved by purely military means. Iraqis need to establish a civil society. Without the support of mediating civic and social associations--the informal ties that bind us together--no government can long remain stable, and no cohesive nation can be maintained. To establish a civil society, Iraqis must rebuild their basic infrastructure. Iraqis must take control of their destiny by rebuilding houses, stores, schools, roads, highways, mosques and churches. But the constant threat of violence, combined with a high unemployment rate...

President Bush's address to the nation last night was not just a rejection of the political clamor at home for an early withdrawal of US forces from Iraq. It was not simply a rebuff to those in his own party and in the Pentagon who believe that victory in Iraq is irretrievable from the mire in which the US finds itself. It was not merely an admission of mistakes in the execution of this calamitous war so far. It was a clarion reaffirmation, even in the midst of unparalleled adversity, of the entire foreign policy strategy that drove the Bush...

I had a note from an old friend the other night. He's got a new job and has to move on for a while. We've known each other for years and, due to job requirements, only recently have we been able to get together on a regular basis - usually an informal lunch at his office -- to discuss military affairs, politics, personalities, literature and the challenges history poses for civilization. It sounds heavier than it really is as the conversations are generally casual and inquisitive. But my friend has found himself thrust forward again. His name is Lieutenant General...

THE moment of truth, of decision, has arrived for Iraq. Last week the Iraq Study Group, appointed by the US Congress, made public its report. The bipartisan group, led by former secretary of state James Baker and former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton and peopled by experienced former political and diplomatic practitioners, gave a sombre view of the state of affairs in Iraq. The group also put forward new proposals for US policy including talking to Syria and Iran, withdrawing US combat troops by the first quarter of 2008, and deploying up to 20,000 US troops to train and advise Iraqi...

Western Iraq's powerful sheikhs have launched an offensive against foreign Al-Qaeda extremists on their territory, they have said, in an important victory for the US-backed government. "The operation is on!" said Sheikh Abdel Sattar Baziya, head of the Abu Risha clan and chair of the Anbar province tribal council. "The sons of Anbar's tribes today captured three Saudis, two Syrians and three Iraqi teenagers and turned them over to police," he told AFP Friday. This is not the first time that Anbar province's Sunni tribes have pledged to turn over the Sunni insurgents in their midst, but US officers are...

By Sgt. Jeff Lowry124th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment The first full Iraqi Army division will soon be operating without the mentoring of U.S. advisors, a U.S. Army official who oversees Iraqi security forces’ training said Monday in Baghdad.Brig. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard discussed the formation of the Iraqi National Police and security concerns throughout Iraq in a briefing to reporters.Pittard, commander of the Iraqi Assistance Group, said that after Sept. 3, the 8th Iraqi Army Division will be operating independently.Coalition forces will provide only guidance going forward to what will become the first Iraqi Army division to reach such...

The level of violence in Baghdad has fallen sharply since July thanks to troop reinforcements and the new government's efforts to reconcile warring Shi'ites and Sunnis, Iraq's national security adviser said on Tuesday. Mowaffaq al-Rubaie insisted that the sectarian and insurgent bloodshed that has seized Iraq was not a civil war, a description U.S. President George W. Bush's administration has strenuously avoided in the face of mounting casualties. "This is absolutely not a civil war," Rubaie told Reuters in an interview during a visit to Japan. "Al Qaeda tried for that for three years and failed miserably. But it has...

FROM NEWSWEEK to the New York Daily News, nearly every major media outlet has fallen for at least one of the three major myths concerning Abu Musab al-Zarqawi: that he was an "American creation"; that he was not a unique warlord but was easily replaceable; or that American soldiers allegedly committed atrocities against a dying Zarqawi. These myths should be destroyed before they take root.(1) The U.S. "created" Zarqawi by giving him prominence in public pronouncements. The day after Zarqawi's death, London's Daily Mail noted: "The great irony of the rise of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is that it was the...

George Bush made his trip to Baghdad, he told the new prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, "to look you in the eye." Yet his surprise visit established more than a first-hand connection. It signposted the dramatic events of the past week, which bode well both for Iraq's future and for the broader war on terrorism. As he stood in the hall of one of Saddam's former palaces--quite literally in the eye of the storm--Mr. Bush implored the Iraqis to "seize the moment." There are now emerging indications that they are doing just that. Thanks to the efforts of the men...