Free Republic

In his 1980 graduate thesis at the University of Texas at Austin, John Brennan denied the existence of “absolute human rights” and argued in favor of censorship on the part of the Egyptian dictatorship. “Since the press can play such an influential role in determining the perceptions of the masses, I am in favor of some degree of government censorship,” Brennan wrote. “Inflamatory [sic] articles can provoke mass opposition and possible violence, especially in developing political systems.” Brennan serves as President Barack Obama’s national security advisor. Obama has nominated him to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.

WASHINGTON--A former top US diplomat suggested Washington foment Arab Spring-style Palestinian protests as a method of pushing the Israeli leadership into making moves, a new batch of emails from former secretary of state Hillary Clinton shows. On December 18, 2011, Thomas Pickering, a former US ambassador to Israel who also served as undersecretary of state for political affairs under former president Bill Clinton, emailed Clinton a recommendation to spark Palestinian demonstrations, led by female protesters, to push Jerusalem into talks. Upon receiving the message, Clinton asked an aide to print it out. Without detailing how the US would spark these...

ISLAMISTS WITH SUICIDE BELTS Open Fire on Tourist Hotel in Hurghada, Egypt

Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, has a new project. ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Late one night last November, a plane carrying dozens of Colombian men touched down in this glittering seaside capital. Whisked through customs by an Emirati intelligence officer, the group boarded an unmarked bus and drove roughly 20 miles to a windswept military complex in the desert sand. The Colombians had entered the United Arab Emirates posing as construction workers. In fact, they were soldiers for a secret American-led mercenary army being built by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater Worldwide, with $529 million...

When losing ground in a war, it’s not unusual to see an enemy make use of one’s facilities and equipment. The report from Eli Lake at the Daily Beast only surprises because the US has insisted that we are not losing ground in the war against al-Qaeda, and still insists that the decapitation of the Moammar Qaddafi regime was sound policy: A key jihadist leader and longtime member of al Qaeda has taken control of a secretive training facility set up by U.S. special operations forces on the Libyan coastline to help hunt down Islamic militants, according to local media...

Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, who preached in Tahrir Square 10 days ago, loathes Israel, justifies suicide bombings against its civilians. 1. Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Abdallah al-Qaradawi is a central figure affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. He was expelled from Egypt and found refuge in Qatar, operating from there throughout the Muslim world. 2. Many consider him the supreme religious and ideological authority for the Muslim Brotherhood, although he is not officially its leader. (In the past, he refused to accept the title of the Muslim Brotherhood’s General Guide). He is influential in Egypt and considered one of the most important Sunni...

Behind the rise of ISIS, the Libyan Civil War, the unrest in Egypt, Yemen and across the region may be a single classified document.That document is Presidential Study Directive 11.You can download Presidential Study Directive 10 on “Preventing Mass Atrocities” from the White House website, but as of yet no one has been able to properly pry number 11 out of Obama Inc.Presidential Study Directive 10, in which Obama asked for non-military options for stopping genocide, proved to be a miserable failure. The Atrocities Prevention Board’s only use was as a fig leaf for a policy that had caused the...

Hillary Clinton has no record to run on. Family income is lower and the world is more dangerous. Donald Trump nailed it when he told Chris Wallace, "Hillary calls me 'dangerous'? She's killed hundreds of thousands of people with her stupidity." Trump was referring to the Obama administration's campaign to overthrow Arab dictators like Libya's Qaddafi and Egypt's Mubarak, which contributed to the chaos in the Middle East after the so-called "Arab Spring." Marco Rubio can't attack Hillary's disastrous foreign policy record because--as Ted Cruz observes--Rubio supported all the same stupid policies. Picture a Cruz-Clinton presidential debate: Cruz denounces Hillary's...

It is hardly surprising that when Faida Hamdy wonders whether she is responsible for everything that happened after her moment of fame she is overwhelmed.

What if the biggest mystery surrounding Col. Moammar Gadhafi had nothing to do with his long, brutal reign as the world's most eccentric and violent leader turned pariah? And what if a long-lost letter from a Catholic cardinal who knew Gadhafi's true identity was evidence that could have solved the mystery? To many Libyan people, the biggest question mark about Gadhafi does not involve his repressive and dictatorial rule, delusional statements or brazen lies. Behind closed doors, for years, they've wondered if he is Jewish. Last week the issue came out in the open, as NBC's Richard Engel reported from...

Moammar Gadhafi’s death is not enough for Donald Trump, who says the United States did not get enough for the kill. On his YouTube page on Thursday, the one-time prospective Republican presidential candidate said, “So the reports are that we caught Gadhafi. Big deal. What do we get out of it? They have the oil. The rebels would have given us everything if we had some leader that knew how to negotiate. The rebels were being routed four months ago — absolutely routed by Gadhafi and his men.” Trump went on to lament the outcome as a missed opportunity and...

PARIS (AFP) - There is an increasing risk of Libya becoming a haven for combatants from Islamic State, even as western nations target the extremist jihadist group in Iraq and Syria, the French defence minister warned in comments published Sunday. "We see foreign jihadists arriving in the region of Syrte (northern Libya) who, if our operations in Syria and Iraq succeed in reducing the territorial reach of Daesh (Islamic State, IS) could tomorrow be more numerous," defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the Jeune Afrique weekly. Le Drian ruled out military intervention in Libya but warned the West had to...

Our friends at The Villages Tea Party just hosted hero Kris "Tanto" Paronto. KRIS "TANTO" PARONTO Former Ranger, 2nd Battalion, 75th Regiment Security and Military Consultant Hero of Benghazi Attack Kris Paronto - "Tanto" as he is affectionately known in security contracting circles - is a former Army Ranger from 2nd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment and private security contractor who has deployed throughout South America, Central America, the Middle East and North Africa. He also worked with the US Government's Global Response Staff conducting low profile security in high threat environments throughout the world. Mr. Paronto was part the CIA...

The war on terror, that campaign without end launched 14 years ago by George Bush, is tying itself up in ever more grotesque contortions. On Monday the trial in London of a Swedish man, Bherlin Gildo, accused of terrorism in Syria, collapsed after it became clear British intelligence had been arming the same rebel groups the defendant was charged with supporting. The prosecution abandoned the case, apparently to avoid embarrassing the intelligence services. The defence argued that going ahead with the trial would have been an “affront to justice” when there was plenty of evidence the British state was itself...

Citizens of Belgium's capital Brussels haven been told to avoid crowded places like cafés, restaurants and theaters because of "precise information" about a planned terrorist attack. The city's metro has been shut down for the day. The steps were taken immediately after the Belgian government raised its terror alert to the highest possible level, implying that a terror attack is "imminent." The Belgian prime minister explained that the alert is a result of "quite precise information about the risk of an attack like the one that happened in Paris." A few days ago, the country raised its threat level to...

A former CIA director says leaker Edward Snowden should be convicted of treason and given the death penalty in the wake of the terrorist attack on Paris. "It's still a capital crime, and I would give him the death sentence, and I would prefer to see him hanged by the neck until he's dead, rather than merely electrocuted," James Woolsey told CNN's Brooke Baldwin on Thursday. Woolsey said Snowden, who divulged classified in 2013, is partly responsible for the terrorist attack in France last week that left at least 120 dead and hundreds injured. "I think the blood of a...

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is a conservative candidate for President. He just announced he’s leading an effort in both houses of Congress to OFFICIALLY list the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.With major support in Congress, this legislation would force the State Department and other federal agencies to determine if the Muslim Brotherhood officially meet the requirements to be a terrorist organization… which they most certainly do! However, "if the Secretary of State determines that the Muslim Brotherhood does not meet the criteria," it must submit to Congress "a detailed justification as to which criteria have not been met," according...

George Soros has all sorts of ideas -- dictates, really -- for how Europe must sign up for its demise by importing hordes of Muslims. Soros outlines a six-point plan for civilizational demise in Project-Syndicate, as summarized below, with a bit of commentary in parentheses. The EU must accept a million "asylum-seekers" every year for the foreseeable future. And the EU must pay 15,000 Euros (about $17,000) per invader for at least the first couple of years after they arrive. George strongly urges Europe to make sure these "asylum seekers" get to settle in whichever country and whichever region of...

Austrians are arming themselves at record rates in an effort to defend their households against feared attacks from Muslim invaders. Tens of thousands of Muslim “refugees” have poured into Austria from Hungary and Slovenia in recent months on their way to Germany and Sweden, two wealthy European countries that have laid out the welcome mat for migrants.

Hillary Clinton has only one accomplishment; the Libyan War. Bombing Libya in support of a Muslim Brotherhood takeover was Hillary’s pet project. Obama unenthusiastically signed off on a war that he had told members of Congress “is all Secretary Clinton’s matter.” The Pentagon fought Hillary’s illegal war every step of the way. Both the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs opposed Hillary’s plan to bomb Libya. One of the Chairman’s top aides said that he did not trust the reports coming out of the State Department and the CIA, then controlled by Clinton loyalist Leon Panetta....