Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Pentagon is pushing for more troops to go to Afghanistan but experts question whether a new "surge" can shut down the insurgency flourishing in Pakistan's safe havens. "That's a totally open question," said Michael O'Hanlon, an expert at the Brookings Institution. US commanders in Afghanistan have asked for 10,000 more combat troops for what until recently was thought of as a forgotten war. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday he wanted to send more forces "sooner rather than later." The push comes on the back of a "surge" strategy in Iraq that succeeded in bringing...

Texas' Defending the American Dream summit will include topics for bloggers. Move over, Netroots Nation: The conservatives are coming. As an estimated 3,000 people, mostly liberal bloggers and online activists, convene in Austin next week, the Texas chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a grassroots organization that champions limited government and free markets, has added for the first time a new-media emphasis to its traditional Defending the American Dream state summit. "We're not trying to go toe-to-toe with Netroots," said Peggy Venable, Texas director of Americans for Prosperity, noting that the conservative meeting might be one-tenth the size of the Netroots...

As news spread across the world of Iran’s provocative missile tests, so did an image of four missiles heading skyward in unison. Unfortunately, it appeared to contain one too many missiles, a point that had not emerged before the photo appeared on the front pages of The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times, The Chicago Tribune and several other newspapers as well as on BBC News, MSNBC, Yahoo! News, NYTimes.com and many other major news Web sites.

[note: due to AP/AFP misunderstanding Fair Use, you must follow the link to read the story - there is no excerpt, I had to check the box in order to post] The premise of this "news story" (really editorial thinly disguised as such) is that McCain is in trouble. He has less money, less organization, less votes in the polls, an unpopular incumbent and less hair (OK I made the last one up). Oh, and this year the Democrats should practically win without holding an election, after all it's basically their turn. We may not be able to quote the...

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran on Saturday said it considered an attack by arch-enemy Israel as "impossible" after US media reported military exercises by the Jewish state were a possible practice for a strike against Iran. Such impudence and audacity to have an aggression against our national interest and integrity is an impossible action," the Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Anti-Americanism is at record levels thanks to US policies such as the war in Iraq, and Washington's perceived hypocrisy in abiding by its own democratic values, US lawmakers said Wednesday. A House of Representatives committee report based on expert testimony and polling data reveals US approval ratings have fallen to record lows across the world since 2002, particularly in Muslim countries and Latin America. It says the problem arises not from a rejection of US culture, values and power but primarily from its policies, such as backing authoritarian regimes while promoting democracy, human rights and the rule...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The world is agog at the prospect of a Barack Obama presidency, but are expectations of a revolution in US diplomacy justified? No US leader, including Obama if he beats Republican John McCain, can wave a magic wand to bring peace to the Middle East, or halt climate change, or force "rogue states" to renounce their nuclear schemes. No president can ram through an international treaty or trade agreement if Congress takes umbrage. What a president Obama would bring, however, is a vast well of goodwill in a world thirsting to re-engage with the sole remaining superpower...

ARIZONACOLORADOGEORGIAILLINOISKANSASMICHIGANMISSOURINEW JERSEYNORTH CAROLINANORTH DAKOTAOHIO OKLAHOMASOUTH CAROLINASOUTH DAKOTATEXASVIRGINIAWISCONSIN TABORSocial SecurityTaxesSpendingTradeOrganizationEarmarksMisc.Education      Click to go to Summit site Mark Levin to Keynote Defending the American Dream Summit We are thrilled to announce that Mark Levin will be the keynote speaker on Friday morning, May 30th, at Americans for Prosperity Foundation’s Defending the American Dream Summit! Mark Levin has become one of the hottest properties in Talk radio, his top-rated show on WABC New York is now syndicated nationally by ABC Radio Networks. He is also one of the top new authors in the conservative political arena. Americans for Prosperity Foundation...

Hasn't the MSM learned anything from the unfortunate episodes of John "stuck in Iraq" Kerry and Stephen "if you don't read you've got the Army" King? Apparently not. Once again, the liberal media, this time in the form of the AFP, has perpetrated the canard that the our military is the last resort of the poor and uneducated. An AFP article of May 16 reported the story of Army sergeant Matthis Chiroux, who has refused deployment to Iraq, claiming he considers it "an illegal war." Chiroux has said that he was "from a poor, white family from the south, and...

Agence France-Presse, in a report on Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on Pennsylvania's death row for over twenty-five years for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981, referred to the cop killer as a "human rights campaigner." Abu-Jamal, whose birth name is Wesley Cook, had his murder conviction upheld by a panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, but the court also decided that either he must receive a life sentence, or receive a new sentencing hearing. AFP’s headline for their report read, "US court overturns rights campaigner’s death penalty," and its opening sentence...

BEIJING (AFP) - China turned its back Saturday on appeals for dialogue with the Dalai Lama, vowing to smash anti-China forces in Tibet, where it said the death toll from recent unrest had risen to 19. A day after Beijing launched a manhunt for monks and others it blamed for violence in Tibet, an editorial in the People's Daily, mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist party, said opposition to Chinese rule in the Himalayan region must be wiped out.

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US-led war on Iraq that toppled the brutal regime of dictator Saddam Hussein entered its sixth year on Thursday with millions of Iraqis still battling daily chaos and rampant bloodshed. On March 20, 2003, US planes dropped the first bombs on Baghdad. Within three weeks, invading troops toppled Saddam but left US forces battling a resentful and rebellious people. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said the invasion ended Saddam's era of "torture and tyranny" but acknowledged that present-day Iraq was awash with "violence and terrorism," while "corruption has become a dangerous disease." Five years on, Iraqis, US...

Just an accident, I’m sure. I mean, who wouldn’t give AFP the benefit of the doubt? Right.

Agence France Presse goes way overboard, lavishing praise on Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and mocking the US, in one of the most disgustingly biased mainstream media articles you’ll ever read: Ahmadinejad pokes Uncle Sam in eye on Iraq visit. BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad poked his finger in the eye of Uncle Sam on his visit to Iraq on Sunday, displaying his country’s regional influence in the face of 158,000 US soldiers in Iraq. Top officials from the US-supported Iraqi government welcomed Ahmadinejad with hugs and kisses on a trip that opens a new phase between former enemies...

Americans for Prosperity-Virginia Invites You to A Legislative Town Hall Meeting Saturday, February 16th from 2:30 to 3:30p.m. At the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites-Newport News-943 J. Clyde Morris Blvd. Meet and Hear Congressman Rob Wittman, Delegate Glenn Oder & Delegate Brenda Pogge Discuss the Current Fiscal Issues Facing our State and Federal Governments. Get answers to your questions about the $1 billion State budget shortfall, the Governor's pork filled budget, and LEGISLATORS' efforts to trim it. Light appetizers will be served. Please RSVP to infova@afphq.org

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan has shipped one billion rifle bullets to the United States for NT$560 million in a rare arms sale to the United States, it was reported yesterday. The 5.56 mm bullets are mainly used to replenish supplies which have run low after wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Taipei-based China Times reported, citing a military source. Taiwan's defence ministry last year beat off competition from the likes of Singapore and South Korea to win the five-year contract from a U.S. military subcontractor, it was reported. In a separate deal, the China Times said the Taiwanese Army plans...

Here's the description of the event: "The Defending the American Dream Summit promises to be a massive show of force for our shared belief in lower taxes, more limited government, and free-market policies that promote prosperity. On October 4-5, please join your fellow Americans for Prosperity members from across the country as we descend on the nation’s capital to demonstrate to presidential candidates, elected officials, and the national media that there exists a real and powerful national grassroots movement focused on reining in the out-of-control government spending and taxation that threatens our very freedom and prosperity. We're going to bring...

Iran on Wednesday dismissed the latest strategy report by the top US commander in Iraq as doing nothing to extract the United States from what he called a quagmire in the conflict-torn country. "This report will not save the United States from the Iraqi quagmire," said foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini, according to the official IRNA news agency. "It was clear from the very start that this report was being prepared in advance of the next US (presidential) elections as a response to the needs of the neo-conservatives to justify continuing to occupy Iraq," he added. Hosseini's comments came...

I definitely lost my ability to be bothered, shocked or amazed by the depth at which some of the greatest Western news agencies and media outlets are prepared to sink in their support to the enemies of their own civilization, last year almost to the day, when Reuters and its stringers cast smoke on Lebanon, and produced some of Hezbollywood's greatest blockbusters.

Magic Bullets Discovered in Sadr City by AFP PhotographerWed, Aug 15, 2007 at 9:45:56 am PSThttp://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=26666_Magic_Bullets_Discovered_in_Sadr_City_by_AFP_Photographer&onlySometimes the propaganda is so obvious it’s almost funny.An elderly Iraqi woman shows two bullets which she says hit her house following an early coalition forces raid in the predominantly Shiite Baghdad suburb of Sadr City. At least 175 people were slaughtered on Tuesday and more than 200 wounded when four suicide truck bombs targeted people from an ancient religious sect in northern Iraq, officials said. (AFP/Wissam al-Okaili)To make it even tastier, there’s another one from July 10, 2007, apparently featuring the same woman, holding...

Terrorist Propaganda Picture of the Week. An elderly Iraqi woman shows two bullets which she says hit her house following an early coalition forces raid in the predominantly Shiite Baghdad suburb of Sadr City.

Monika Scislowska of the Associated Press reported on Warsaw rallies in support of a complete ban on abortion in Poland. It's restricted now to the first 12 weeks and only in the cases of rape, incest, or the life of the mother. But look at the labeling contrast AP employed, the usual stereotype of the epic political battle between the ultraconservatives and the nonpartisans: The two marches were organized by an ultraconservative Roman Catholic radio station and a right-wing political party. Mostly elderly demonstrators attended a Mass and marched through central Warsaw carrying Polish and Vatican flags. One banner had an image of...

A 12-year Republican lock on Congress came to an abrupt end in 2006, as voters punished US President George W. Bush for the quagmire in Iraq. Democrats rode the US leader's perceived mishandling of Iraq to take control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives from Bush's Republican party in elections held last month. A Democrat-controlled Congress, which takes power next month, is expected to make the president's last two years in the White House tough ones, ending the virtual rubber stamp Bush has enjoyed since coming into office in January 2001. During the six years of the...

BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- The following is the full text of "Measures for Administering the Release of News and Information in China by Foreign News Agencies" issued by Xinhua News Agency on Sunday. Measures for Administering the Release of News and Information in China by Foreign News Agencies Article 1. These Measures are formulated in accordance with national laws, administrative regulations and the relevant regulations of the State Council to regulate the release of news and information in China by foreign news agencies and the subscription of such news and information by users in China and to promote the...

Earlier this month, gamer named Mitchell S. with the online screenname "Kuja105" who posts on a few online videogame forums (including GameFaqs.com and MetalGearSolid.org) committed suicide. On January 2 he posted a message in both forums detailing his intent to end his own life, citing overwhelming complications with school and finances. A very brief period of initial disbelief was followed by a barrage of replies from fellow forum members pleading that he not take his life, trying to talk him out of it. For days, no word was heard from Mitchell. Fearing the worst, members and administration from metalgearsolid.org began...

A systematic effort by hackers to penetrate US government and industry computer networks stems most likely from the Chinese military, the head of a leading security institute said. The attacks have been traced to the Chinese province of Guangdong, and the techniques used make it appear unlikely to come from any other source than the military, said Alan Paller, the director of the SANS Institute, an education and research organization focusing on cybersecurity. "These attacks come from someone with intense discipline. No other organization could do this if they were not a military organization," Paller said in a conference call...

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty says Australia is prepared for the possibility of a terrorist attack on home soil. International terrorism expert Dr Rohan Gunaratna has told a Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism forum in Sydney that the most dangerous threat to Australia is posed by home-grown terrorist networks. He says an attack in Australia is likely within the next few years. Commissioner Keelty says his organisation is ready for the worst. "We've obviously said that there's nothing that we've done in this country to make us immune and I think the important thing for us is...

Tony Blair risks a "historic" humiliation over the British Army's continued presence in Iraq, a former colonel said last night. Tim Collins: 'The Army could be chased over the border into Iran' Tim Collins, whose eve-of-battle address during the Iraq war has been praised as among the greatest in British military history, raised the spectre of the Army being defeated by insurgents and chased out of the country. He called on the Prime Minister to "fall on his sword" after presiding over what he termed a "right rollicking cock-up". Ministers are likely to try to shrug off his attack as...

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the kidnapping of France 3 TV crew soundman Mohamed Ouathi by three gunmen yesterday in Gaza and urged the Palestinian authorities to do everything possible to ensure that he is quickly released. "We call for Mohamed Ouathi's immediate and unconditional release and we ask the Palestinian authorities to react quickly so that he is freed as soon as possible," the organisation said. "The fact that his abductors did not have their faces covered shows that a degree of impunity and laxity prevails in Gaza." Ouathi and the three other members of the French TV station's...

Taxpayer rights advocates oppose use of tax dollars for lobby association dues Aftershocks of the recent legislative session reverberated through the capitol today, as several Texas members of the grassroots organization Americans for Prosperity (AFP) announced that they are filing a lawsuit against Williamson County for violating a state law that prohibits using general revenue funds to join organizations that lobby the state legislature. Taxpayer advocacy groups like AFP blame taxpayer-funded lobbying efforts for the failure of property tax appraisal cap legislation and for the gutting of another measure, which would have limited property tax increases. Americans for Prosperity is...

Check out this form to enter or get more information. So far, the national conversation on the future of Social Security has focused on what various reform options mean for the current retired community, the soon-to-retire baby-boomer generation, and today’s younger workers. But what about the workers of tomorrow, the generation of Americans currently enrolled in America’s elementary, middle, and high schools? Without the power to vote, younger Americans have had little opportunity to make their voices heard in the debate about Social Security’s future. Your chance has arrived! Americans for Prosperity is sponsoring an essay contest for students currently...

US spy chiefs ordered agents to deliver Osama bin Laden's severed head in a box of dry ice and hoist heads of other Al-Qaeda leaders on pikes, a retired field officer has disclosed. As America reeled in shock days after the September 11 attacks in 2001, former CIA officer Gary Schroen was sent to Afghanistan to help the opposition Northern Alliance to topple bin Laden's hosts the Taliban. He told National Public Radio in an interview broadcast on Monday and Tuesday that he stopped by the office of then-CIA counterterrorism director Cofer Black for final instructions. He said he was...

City, county groups accused of 'drowning out' taxpayers' calls for capping rates Advocates for lower taxes say it is outrageous that associations representing cities and counties are paying lobbyists to fight legislation that would limit how much money local governments can raise from property taxes. The four biggest groups in the fight are the Texas Municipal League, the Texas Association of Counties, the Texas Conference of Urban Counties and the Texas County Judges and Commissioners Association. These groups are spending as much as $1.3 million on lobbying efforts this session. So far, they have killed legislation to lower the cap...

Google is in the process of removing French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) from its Google News service, which aggregates links to online articles and accompanying photos from about 4500 news outlets. Google's decision is a direct reaction to a lawsuit AFP filed against the search engine provider alleging copyright infringement over the inclusion of AFP content in Google News, said Steve Langdon, a Google spokesman, on Monday. Google doesn't have a timetable for when all AFP links and content will be removed from Google News, but the company is actively working on the matter, Langdon said. "We allow...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Agence France-Presse has sued Google Inc. for copyright infringement, alleging that the Internet search engine included AFP headlines, news summaries and photographs published without permission. In a suit filed in a Washington court, AFP sought damages and interest of at least 17.5 million dollars (13.1 million euros) and an interdiction on the publication of its text and photos without prior agreement. In Paris, the AFP management declined comment. AFP, which has its headquarters in Paris and bureaus around the world, is one of the major global news agencies, and supplies its news services to various kinds of...

The pinheads over at Agence France Presse -- or as I like to call them, the Paris bureau of Al Jazeera -- have decided to sue Google News for a minimum of $17 million. Their claim? That Google's news aggregation service reproduced snippets of AFP's copyrighted photos, headlines and stories without permission. Attention, AFP geniuses: this lawsuit is almost as sensible as giving your 16-year-old daughter permission to date Mike Tyson. In fact, if AFP had the common sense that God gave a sea otter, they would have dealt with this "problem" (and AFP must think having traffic directed to...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Agence France Presse has sued Google Inc. (GOOG), alleging the Web search leader includes AFP's photos, news headlines and stories on its news site without permission. The French news service is seeking damages of at least $17.5 million and an order barring Google News from displaying AFP photographs, news headlines or story leads, according to the suit filed on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

CHICAGO (AFP) - Connie Cominsky, a suburban businesswoman, has become the archetype disillusioned Republican and made it her mission to vote the US president out of office. An opponent of the Iraq invasion, Cominsky became active in the anti-war movement and then the Democratic presidential campaign. Her face is showing up in advertisements for groups such as MoveOn.org, and the anti-war Band of Sisters that are running issue ads backing the Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites). "I'm speaking out while I can," said Cominsky, who comes from the Chicago suburbs and speaks in a voice made...

(CNSNews.com) - Two of Sen. John Kerry's surrogates on Monday accused President Bush of politicizing the military strategy in Iraq, but when a reporter asked how the senator's plan would be better than Bush's, a Kerry aide promptly halted the discussion. The episode took place during a 2:15 p.m. conference call that featured two military advisers to the Kerry campaign. They spoke about a press report that suggested the United States would hold off on any major combat operations in Iraq until after the Nov. 2 election. At the start of the question-and-answer portion of the call, Agence France-Presse reporter...

Bush: US probing possible Iran role in September 11 2 hours, 59 minutes ago Add Politics - AFP to My Yahoo! WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) said that the United States was investigating whether Iran played any role in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, amid CIA (news - web sites) skepticism of an official link. AFP Photo   "As to direct connections with September the 11th, we're digging into the facts to determine if there was one," Bush said as he met with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos in the Oval Office. His...

KARBALA: Eleven Iraqis were injured by Polish soldiers who fired "indiscriminately" after a bomb attack on one of their patrols, police said on Sunday. A spokesman for the Polish troops which patrol the area as part of the multinational forces in Iraq said he had no knowledge of the incident. "After the bomb explosion three kilometers west of the city, which didn't injure any Polish soldiers, they opened fire wounding eleven people," said a police spokesman in the Shiite holy city 110 km south of Baghdad. "The soldiers panicked and fired indiscriminately," the spokesman said, explaining the high number of...

Czech and Irish voters went to the polls on the second day of European Parliament elections, clouded by fears of a rise in the eurosceptic vote as the enlarged EU faces major decisions about its future. The Czech Republic was the first of 10 mostly ex-communist European Union newcomer states to begin voting in the elections, which are to climax Sunday when most states in the newly-expanded bloc will go to the polls amid fears of a low voter turn-out. The elections, coming six weeks after the EU's landmark May 1 enlargement, kicked off on Thursday in the Netherlands and...

Monday, April 12, 2004 GIs lose status as super-warriors in Iraq BAGHDAD: A joke circulating in Baghdad says: “If you want to frighten an American soldier, shout ‘Fallujah’.” The town where US troops have been blocked for seven days by insurgents fighting from street corners, rooftops and minarets — often using less than sophisticated weapons — has become a symbol of the changed attitude to the US-led occupation forces.s. In one year, American GIs have fallen from the status of super-warriors to ordinary men in the eyes of Iraqis who have seen them fall victim to old rocket-launchers and home-made...

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - The US sergeant yelled, threw his helmet and punched the walls after two of his marines were shot and badly wounded by a sniper during the middle of a break in fighting in the rebel Iraqi bastion of Fallujah. He heaved and dry vomited, paced, then sat silently, filled with rage, knowing the sniper had violated a ceasefire brokered between the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, Iraq's interim Governing Council and Fallujah city elders. The pain and gut-wrenching agony of watching fellow marines fall in action has taken its toll over a back-breaking week of street-to-street fighting...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US support for the conflict in Iraq is eroding, according to the latest CNN/Time survey, which found, amid a new Iraqi insurgency against US troops, that 57 percent of Americans think US military goals will fail unless a tougher stance is taken. Approval of US President George W. Bush and his administration's handling of Iraq was down to 44 percent of Americans, according to the poll, new elements of which were released Sunday, down from 51 percent surveyed March 26-28. Meanwhile, Bush's overall approval rating had sunk to a record low of 49 percent since CNN/Time started...

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US-led coalition and insurgents in Fallujah have agreed to a 12-hour ceasefire starting Sunday 0600 GMT to pave the way for US Marines to leave the town, an Iraqi mediator said. "The two sides have agreed to observe a 12-hour ceasefire tomorrow Sunday at 10:00 am (0600 GMT)," Hatem al-Husseini, a senior member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, told AFP. "This will pave the way for the gradual pullout of US Marine troops from Fallujah," Husseini said after a meeting with coalition officials following his return from mediation efforts in the troubled town. Husseini said he...

Hunkered down in one of Fallujah's rat-infested factories, US marines gripping M-16 machine guns and smoking cigarettes peered out Friday onto a no-man's land of bullet-riddled cars and abandoned homes. The nervous wisecracks about Kung Fu movies and body odour of the 13 young men are suddenly broken by the crackle of Kalashnikov fire from insurgents who have declared open war on them in this Sunni Muslim bastion. The marines turn and rip machinegun fire across an empty street toward the gunmen hiding in rows of brown concrete houses. The US troops, who are holed up in a number of...

Insurgents seize main highway between western Iraq towns April 10, 2004 Armed insurgents today seized control of the highway linking the predominantly Sunni Muslim town of Abu Gharib with the besieged city of Fallujah further west of Baghdad, a correspondent said. Hundreds of militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov assault rifles were running along the highway or hiding in houses nearby, the correspondent said. US troops were positioned on a bridge that links the old and new highway while insurgents controlled the stretch of highway between Abu Gharib and Fallujah further west. Armed militants were also stationed outside Abu...

Russia calls on the United States to end its offensive in Iraq (AFP)

US President George W. Bush on Saturday pledged to contribute training and an unspecified sum of money to help the Philippines military as it embarks on a five-year modernization and reform plan. "Today, President (Gloria Macapagal-)Arroyo and her government committed to a five-year plan to modernize and reform your military," Bush said in remarks prepared for delivery to lawmakers here during an eight-hour state visit. "My country will provide technical assistance, field expertise, and funding," he promised in what was the first speech by a US president to a joint session of the Philippines Congress since Dwight Eisenhower in 1960....