Free Republic

On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda operatives slaughtered nearly 3,000 Americans in an operation that marked the second major attack by violent jihadists against the World Trade Center. There wasn’t much mystery about who had carried out these atrocities — unless you were Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Marayati warned Americans not to conclude that the suicide hijacking attacks were the work of Muslim terrorists. “If we are going to look at suspects,” he told a Los Angeles radio station, “we should look at groups that benefit the most from these kinds of incidents, and I...

Note: The following text is a quote: Dutch Firm and Two Officers Plead Guilty to Conspiracy to Export Aircraft Components and Other Goods to Iran A Dutch aviation services company, its director and sales manager pleaded guilty today in the District of Columbia to federal charges related to a conspiracy to illegally export aircraft components and other items from the United States to entities in Iran via the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus. The announcement was made by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Channing D. Phillips, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; and...

Ancient sea link discovered by ASI Press Trust of India CHANDIGARH, Feb. 12. — Unraveling some facts buried in history, experts from Archaeological Survey of India said the possibility of a sea link between south India and the rest of Asia about 3,800 years ago could not be ruled out. Mr Arun Malik, an archaeologist with ASI, Chennai, while throwing light on Adichannallur civilisation, said here that the observation of human morphological types based on the cranial evidences point to the existence of more than one racial and ethnic group in that region during the period of the civilisation’s long...

Assibit, 50, describes life as a slave in Niger, where 43,000 people are estimated to be in bonded labour, as the Timidria organisation which helped her escape wins an award in London. "I was my mistress's slave - that was my identity," says Assibit, 50, who ran away from her master in June of this year. Assibit is pressing charges against her former master After walking 30 kilometres to the nearest village, she was taken by locals to the Timidria office in Abalak. Assibit was born into slavery - as was her mother, her husband and her five children. The...

LONDON, Feb. 29 - A new video surveillance system has captured the interest of military authorities after its successful use in the Iraq war. The Pentagon has ordered tests of more advanced versions for use in unmanned tanks and reconnaissance planes, encouraging the inventor, a small Scottish company, to pursue other security applications, both military and civilian. The technology, an encoding device and software developed by Essential Viewing in Glasgow, compresses video data and sends it with virtually no delay over just about any communication network, even low-capacity military radio systems. Its use in Iraq allowed commanders far from the...