Free Republic

Washington -- Investigators are probing whether the Obama administration divulged too many details of the secret raid on Osama bin Laden to Hollywood filmmakers. Rep. Peter King, who heads the House Homeland Security Committee, has questioned how much information was shared about the U.S. special operations mission in Pakistan that killed the al Qaeda leader in May.

Compare and contrast: Biden in Israel and Susan Rice in Sudan Joe Biden was in Israel and a few housing permits were issued for East Jerusalem, resulting in an uproar at the White House. Condemnations and recriminations followed. There was a tongue-lashing over a minor issue. Susan Rice was in Sudan to celebrate the coming independence of Southern Sudan. Sudan, headed by a genocidal dictator (Omar al-Bashir) whose case has been referred to the International Criminal Court, invades a disputed town between the borders of the nation-to-be and Sudan while Susan Rice and other representatives of the UN Security Council...

The people of South Kordofan have become caught up in the unresolved contradiction of the post-John Garang Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), which is now leading South Sudan into independence; what happens when a national federalist political movement becomes an ethnic separatist political movement? This is the problem in several areas of Sudan outside the new borders of South Sudan, areas in which the then federalist SPLM/A recruited fighters to combat the Khartoum regime in the interests of creating a federal “New Sudan.” With South Sudan declaring full independence on July 9, a force of roughly 40,000 Nuba SPLA fighters...

RICHMOND, Va. - An outbreak of smallpox was the furthest thing from historian Dr. Paul Levengood's mind when his staff at the Virginia Historical Society put together an exhibit of "bizarre bits" that were added to the society's collection since its founding in 1831, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. There was Confederate president Jefferson Davis's cigar, confiscated by Union troops. There was a fungus carving of Robert E. Lee on his horse, Traveller, and a wreath made of human hair. Then someone mentioned a letter, handwritten and dated 1876, with what appeared to be a smallpox scab pinned inside...

This is breaking news: Ayman al-Zawahiri has officially been named ‘emir’ of Al Qaeda. This makes him the successor of Obama bin Laden, who was taken out by a team of Navy Seals earlier this month. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports that it has read classified documents from the Dutch secret intelligence organization (AIVD). According to the documents, Al-Zawahiri was appointed as Al Qaeda’s new leader during a meeting on May 9, a week after the death of OBL. “On May 9, the leadership of Al Qaeda elected Al-Zawahiri during a meeting in the tribal areas, between Afghanistan and Pakistan”,...

<p>The protests have now spread to other cities, with violence reported in parts of Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol.</p> <p>Great Britain and other parts of the world are experiencing unrest at a time of global economic uncertainty and stock market volatility.</p>

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will nominate businessman John Bryson to lead the Commerce Department, a White House official said Tuesday. Bryson's appointment brings another private sector player into an administration that has been making a concerted effort to improve its relationship with the business community.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Two Muslim religious leaders say they were asked to leave a commercial airliner in Memphis on Friday and were told it was because the pilot refused to fly with them aboard. Masudur Rahman, who is also an adjunct instructor of Arabic at the University of Memphis, said by phone from the terminal at Memphis International Airport that he and another imam had already been allowed to board their Delta Connection flight to Charlotte, N.C., before they were asked to get off the plane. Transportation Security Administration spokesman Jon Allen in Atlanta confirmed the incident and said it...

Osama bin Laden died on Walpurgisnacht, the night of black sabbaths and bonfires. Not an inappropriate night for the Chief Witch to fall off his broomstick and perish in a fierce firefight. One of the most common status updates on Facebook after the news broke was “Ding, Dong, the witch is dead,” and that spirit of Munchkin celebration was apparent in the faces of the crowds chanting “U-S-A!” last night outside the White House and at ground zero and elsewhere. Almost a decade after the horror of 9/11, the long manhunt had found its quarry, and Americans will be feeling...

US President Barack Obama is to make a state visit to the UK in May after accepting an invitation from the Queen, Buckingham Palace has announced. Mr Obama will be joined by his wife Michelle for the three-day trip, which comes ahead of the G8 summit of world leaders in France which the American politician is expected to attend. The announcement of the visit, from May 24 to 26, was made simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic by the Palace and the White House. Downing Street said: ''We are very pleased that this visit is taking place. It is...