Free Republic

Islam teaches peace, they told anyone who would listen in news conferences, at interfaith services and, most famously, standing in a mosque with President Bush. But five years later, the target audience for their pleas has shifted. Now the faith's American leaders are starting to warn fellow Muslims about a threat from within. The 2005 subway attacks in London that investigators say were committed by British-born and -raised Muslims, and the relentless Muslim-engineered sectarian assaults on Iraqi civilians, are among the events that have convinced some U.S. Muslims to change focus. "This sentiment of denial, that sort of came as...

France, Germany and Italy paid about $45 million to obtain the release of hostages kidnapped in Iraq, despite denying it in public, a British newspaper reports. Britain has not handed out any money to kidnap gangs, the paper said on Monday, basing its report on "documents seen by The Times". The list of payments has also been seen by Western diplomats, who are angered at the behaviour of the three governments. France, Italy and Germany have all publicly denied paying any ransom money. "But according to the documents, held by security officials in Baghdad who have played a crucial role...

More proof why so many of the goons who protested the war on terror yesterday are beyond redemption.(Nod and thanks to Little Green Footballs)

Iranian officials said Thursday that Iran has several unnamed Al Qaeda operatives in custody, The Cable News Network has learned. The acknowledgement came as Washington has intensified its accusations that Al Qaeda terrorists are inside Iran-something Terhan had previously denied.United States officials say the key area in question is whether the Al Qaeda operatives in custody are allowed to communicate and recieve visitors. One Bush Administration official told CNN that Landar Brahimi , the United Nations Special Representative for Afghanistan met Thursday in Geneva with Iranian officials. It was during that meeting that Iran said it had several Al Qaeda...

An intelligence source says that United States Defence Secetary Donald Rumsfeld last week ordered the drawing up of contingency plans for a possible invasion of Syria, New York Newsday reported Thursday.According to the newspaper's website, Undersecretary of Defence Douglas Ferth is working on a policy paper highlighting how the nation of Syria's support of terrorist groups is a threat to the region.But the newspaper also reported that a senior Pentagon officer said he was unaware of any new planning involving Syria.Secretary Rumsfled said Wednesday that Syria had allowed Iraqi regieme figures to enter the nation and provided Iraq with military...

A small group of Latin American countries, which we may call the coalition of the hopeful, expects to reap major rewards for supporting the U.S.-led war on Iraq. Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama hope to emerge as President Bush's new ''best friends'' in the region. They deny any offer of paybacks, but they expect that their decision will create a climate of goodwill with the United States and produce concrete benefits. In most of Latin America, where polls show an overwhelming majority of the population opposes the war, the leaders who supported Bush...