Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2009 – The Army’s chief of staff stepped back in history Thursday evening to Christmas Eve in Belgium 65 years ago by reading one of the most inspirational letters written by a commander to his troops. Gen. George W. Casey Jr., chief of staff of the Army, reads the World War II Christmas letter from Gen. Anthony McAuliffe to his troops during the 13th annual Norwegian Tree Lighting Ceremony in Union Station, Washington D.C., Dec. 3, 2009. The tree is a gift from Norway and a symbol of the friendship between the United States and Norway. DoD...

CHIÈVRES, Belgium, Dec. 1, 2009 – Sixty-five years after World War II's landmark Battle of the Bulge, U.S. and Belgian troops will again march side by side in Bastogne on Dec. 12 and 13. Veterans and servicemembers from both nations are scheduled to join thousands of well-wishers, including town officials, dignitaries and local residents, in commemorating the Allied forces' victory in the famous World War II battle. "The traditional carnival-like atmosphere in Bastogne over the weekend celebrates the historic grit and determination of our two nations' veterans 65 years ago, and the solemn ceremony at the Mardasson Memorial overlooking the...

Flying into the besieged Afghan base during a nighttime firefight this weekend was a harrowing mix of overwhelming noise, stomach dropping maneuvers and shadows hurrying through the gloom. When the chopper lifted off moments later with three wounded soldiers, it left behind others who were wounded but refused to be MEDEVACED out of the combat zone so they could return to fight with their buddies. Fighting raged at two remote U.S. outpostsnear the Pakistan border this weekend, that left eight U.S. soldiers dead and 24 wounded. The battle was fought from Friday night through Sunday as hundreds of Taliban insurgents...

Specialist Alexander Miller had been watching a mysterious Afghan standing in a cornfield for 20 minutes. But it took only a split second for the American soldier to be mortally wounded. As Miller turned his back momentarily, the Afghan picked up a weapon hidden at his feet and fired a burst. One of the rounds tore into the 21- year-old soldier’s groin. Troops rushed to apply pressure to the wound as they called in a helicopter, but he was dead on arrival at the nearest field hospital... Nuristan’s rugged landscape, dotted with stone huts encircled by farmland, formed the backdrop...

US Marines are at the vanguard of the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Our correspondent Ian Pannell has travelled to one of the Marines' most remote outposts, south of Garmisir, where he witnessed the heat of the battle. (VIDEO)

A NOAA-led research mission has located and identified the final resting place of the YP-389, a U.S. Navy patrol boat sunk approximately 20 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, NC, by a German submarine during World War II. Six sailors died in the attack on June 19, 1942. There were 18 survivors. The wreck is located in about 300 feet of water in a region off North Carolina known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” home to U.S. and British naval vessels, merchant ships, and German U-boats sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic. NOAA and its expedition partners...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A new international naval force under American command will soon begin patrols to confront escalating attacks by Somali pirates after more than 100 ships came under siege in the past year, the U.S. Navy said Thursday. But the mission — expected to begin operations next week — appears more of an attempt to sharpen the military focus against piracy rather than a signal of expanded offensives .. The force will carry no wider authority to strike at pirate vessels at sea or specific mandates to move against havens on shore — ..

Its the 170th anniversary of a pioneer story hardly anyone ever hears anymore. One of those stories about courageous men with nothing more than a bag of seeds, a hoe, hammer and musket, a pregnant wife and a horse come to stay. They fought off wild animals, hostile natives, outlaw bandits and other hardships to make the once desolate landscape a land of flowing milk and honey. The story you are about to read is one that hardly any American ever hears. Primarily because this story is not set in the wild untamed west of North America but in the...

Army News video: Quebec reservists train to deploy with artilleryValcartier, QC – 5 RALC teaches recruits about equipment, tactics for future Afghanistan missions.

If you don't want to wake up on Wednesday morning with the most marxist, socialist, corrupt, anti-american president we have ever had, then this message is for you. Please do not spend the next 4 days in your house or at work. Please take the day off and get busy fighting for John McCain and Sarah Palin. Even if you are not in a swing state, if you are a near a swing state, then get to one and help!!! If you are in a non-swing state, get on the phone and call the numbers at JohnMcCain.com to help convince...

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported October 23 that Democratic Congressman Jack Murtha is in a statistical dead heat with Republican challenger William Russell, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who decided to run against Murtha after the congressman made disparaging remarks about Marines serving in Iraq. According to the report, Murtha holds a lead of just over 4 percentage points, which is within the polling margin of error for the poll cited by the Tribune-Review. The poll was taken immediately after Murtha's latest controversial remark about constituents in his district, so the poll may change again after the effect of Murtha's comments...

Here’s the news The Battle for Main Street, Hometown, U.S.A: Sept 29, 2008, Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Dodd committed an act of domestic, economic terrorism. Don’t wait for the claim of responsibility from their organization known as ALL SPENDA. Obama Bin Phonein will not call that in, he does not want us to get a fix on his position. We should expect the release of tapes demonstrating that Bin Phonein is still alive, it’s all Bush’s fault and that all American’s will pay dearly on April 15th 2009. The follow up attack of April 15th is being conducted under the...

WHEN IS JOHN McCAIN ACTUALLY GOING TO JOIN BATTLE WITH HIS OPPONENTS IN THIS CAMPAIGN? I have grown so discouraged with John McCain's inaction; his seeming lack of commitment; his refusal to take the fight to the enemy in this Presidential Campaign, that a few moments ago I submitted the comments below to his Official Campaign Website. For all I know they may be deleted and totally disregarded by the operatives at his end. But they relect my true feelings at this juncture.

Shifting Battleground Since the polling team last surveyed likely voters in August, a lot has changed. The number of battleground states has shrunk — from 19 to 14 — as Alaska, Georgia, North Dakota and Montana returned to their Republican roots. In August, Obama led in the 14 states by 3 points. Now McCain leads in those states by 2, and the underlying political landscape has shifted a bit as well. In August, by a 7-point margin, more voters identified themselves as Democrats. Now, in the battleground states, the Democratic advantage in party identification has shrunk to 2 points.

One of the members of the crew of a ship in the Black Sea Fleet, upon his return to Sevastopol is interviewed by a reporter regarding the battle with Georgian cutters off of Abkhazia on 10 August. This is currently leading the news in the Ukraine. The story suggests he is being interviewed by a kpunews reporter. "We took up station guarding the opposed landing on the Abkhaz shore when all of a sudden four high speed targets were detected. We sent out an IFF signal and the targets didn't react. Receiving a command from the flagship, we got into...

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2008 – Army and Air National Guard members from California and North Carolina are supporting firefighting efforts in Northern California today following a state active-duty call-up by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a request for airborne firefighting assets by the Interagency Fire Center. The governor's office reported yesterday that a "swarm of dry lighting cells over the last 16 hours sparked nearly 400 new fires across the state, spanning from Monterey and Fresno counties to the Oregon-California border." Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency June 22 for Monterey and Trinity counties. The governor made similar declarations for...

SACRAMENTO - Guarding against a unilateral move by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to build a revised Peripheral Canal, key lawmakers have inserted special provisions in the state budget to prevent an end-run around the Legislature and voters. Schwarzenegger's top water advisers maintain they have no intentions of independently launching a new north-to-south delivery system. But, the state has already initiated exploratory environmental studies for four different conveyance options. Even the Legislature's own attorney, in a recent opinion, concluded that the Department of Water Resources "has the authority, without further legislative or voter approval, to build a conveyance facility, commonly referred to...

KOBE, Japan - The world is losing momentum in the battle against global warming, the U.N. climate chief warned on Saturday, urging environmental ministers from wealthy nations to revive the effort by setting clear targets for reducing greenhouse gases. The ministers gathered in the western Japanese city of Kobe for a three-day meeting as evidence mounted that rising world temperatures have been taking a toll on the earth at a faster rate than previously forecast. The officials from the Group of Eight countries, joined by representatives from other countries including China and other organizations, were to lay the foundations for...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, conducted training with their IA counterparts at Patrol Base Red May 15 to prepare the IA Soldiers for joint patrols. The Soldiers of Company D, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, are stationed at PB Red along with the Iraqi company from 6th Battalion, 25th Brigade, 6th IA Division. “We’re currently training the IA in basic soldiering skills,” said platoon leader and instructor 1st Lt. Christopher Domenico, adding the Soldiers are right out of the Iraqi basic training environment. “They do know good skills. They can...

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Moqtada al-Sadr's militiamen Tuesday battled troops in four Iraqi cities on Tuesday, including the capital, as the hardline Shiite cleric threatened a countrywide campaign of civil revolt. Heavy clashes broke out between Sadr's Mahdi Army fighters in the southern oil city of Basra, killing at least seven people and wounding 48, and in Kut and Hilla, both south of Baghdad, officials said. As evening fell, Mahdi Army fighters fought with Iraqi and US forces in their Sadr City bastion in eastern Baghdad for the first time since last October, a security official and witnesses told AFP. Troops...

Battle for the £4 million sea fortress By Richard Savill Last Updated: 1:36am GMT 07/03/2008 With armour-plated walls rising defiantly from the sea, No Man's Land Fort has held out against invaders since it was built to repel Napoleon III 150 years ago. Now, however, the Solent fortress is under siege for the first time and could be facing its most determined enemy yet - estate agents. The fort, which has been converted into a hotel, has been put on the market by administrators. However, Harmesh Pooni, 42, who claims he is the rightful owner of the Grade II-listed building,...

** EXCERPT ** (CNN) — Likely GOP nominee John McCain said Sunday that beating an energized Democratic party in a fall election fight would be “an uphill battle all the way.”The Arizona senator told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week that he “can out-campaign them, and I can out-debate them, and I can out-perform them” but conceded that he had his work cut out for him in the months ahead.“…We've got to reunite the party, and we've got to re-energize the party. And I'm prepared to do that. We've got plenty of time. But I won't waste a day,” said...

McCartney and Mills' divorce battle to continue By Nick Allen Last Updated: 4:34pm GMT 15/02/2008 Sir Paul McCartney’s estranged wife Heather has criticised him for turning down a request from an autograph hunter as their divorce battle moved towards a bitter conclusion at the High Court. Heather Mills smiles as she leaves court The Beatles fan approached Sir Paul with an original version of the 1968 White Album as he prepared to enter Court 34 where the proceedings are being held in private. But, apparently Sir Paul turned him down, explaining he was sorry but he was not allowed to...

Ringgold City Council is facing potential legal action based on its 2005 decision to remove the Confederate Battle Flag from the Ringgold Depot Civil War Memorial. The Southern Legal Resource Center notified the city Feb. 11 by letter from SLRC chief trial counsel Kirk D. Lyons that it will face legal action unless it replaces the battle flag within 10 days. According to Roger McCredie, Southern Legal Resource Center executive director, the letter puts the city on notice that its clients, the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and its local Joseph McConnell Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp...

BASTOGNE, Belgium, Dec. 21, 2007 – Standing next to the killing field where he once found himself face-down in the snow surrounded by the dead and dying, Ted Paluch said his return wasn’t as emotional as it once was, especially having visited three other times. Emotions begin to overcome Malmedy massacre survivor Ted Paluch after he presented a wreath to remember 84 U.S. soldiers executed in World War II. To Paluch’s right is Fabien Steffese, curator of the Baugneze 44 Historical Center, which recounts the tragedy. Photo by Ray Johnson  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. His resiliency and...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 6, 2007 – Violence in Iraq has dropped significantly in recent months, but it’s still too soon to declare the home stretch in U.S. operations here, the commander of Multinational Force Iraq said today. Army Gen David H. Petraeus cited significant security progress during a roundtable with reporters at the Multinational Task Force headquarters at Camp Victory. Following the roundtable discussion, the general spent an hour with visiting Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. Weekly attacks in recent weeks are roughly 60 percent of the levels they were in June, Petraeus said. High-profile attacks are down 60 percent from...

I wasn't born at the time of the Vietnam war... I am from the Reagan-Bush Sr generation. This video is my tribute to the previous generation who fought and bled there, and who often thinks that they are ignored by the new generation.

KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S.-led coalition forces killed about 80 Taliban fighters during a six-hour battle outside a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, the latest in a series of increasingly bloody engagements in the region, officials said. Also Saturday, suicide bomber wearing an Afghan security uniform detonated his explosives at the entrance to a combined U.S.-Afghan base in the east of the country, killing four Afghan soldiers and a civilian, officials said. The battle near Musa Qala in Helmand province — the world's largest poppy growing region — is at least the fifth major fight in the area since...

Doctors battle to save 'human pin-cushion' By Richard Spencer and Juliet Turner Last Updated: 5:47pm BST 25/10/2007 Doctors in China have saved the life of a woman who had 26 pins and needles inserted into her body when she was a child in an apparent attempt to change her sex to a boy. The objects were discovered when the 29-year-old woman, named in local papers as Luo Cuifen, went to hospital for a check-up after she started experiencing blood in her urine. They had penetrated vital organs such as the lungs, kidney and liver, while a needle in her brain...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2007 – An eight-hour battle this morning in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province ended with another defeat of the Taliban by Afghan forces. A combined force led by an element of 205th Afghan National Army Corps advised by coalition forces was on a combat patrol near a small village in the Meian Nashin district when more than 30 enemy fighters attacked from multiple compounds and fighting positions using small-arms fire. The Afghan-led force repelled the attempted ambush with small-arms and crew-served-weapons fire. As the insurgents continued to reinforce their positions with additional fighters, the ground commander requested coalition close-air...

MOBILE, Ala., Aug. 18 (UPI) -- The city of Mobile, Ala., is contesting a judge’s $3,000 award to a man arrested for flipping off a cop who later sued the city. The favorable decision for Addison DeBoi, 56, of Mobile, which was rendered by District Judge Michael McMaken, was the subject of an Aug. 7 Fox News Channel talk show segment titled “Is it legal?” during which host Bill O’Reilly labeled the judge a "pinhead," the Mobile Press-Register said. The judge, in making the award, wrote that legal precedent holds that police officers should have a “thicker skin” than someone...

Mass Grave Sheds Light on Europe's Bloody History By David Crossland in Berlin Europe's soil is blood-soaked from centuries of fighting but rarely yields mass graves from battles that took place before the two world wars. One such grave has now been found near Berlin with over 100 soldiers who died in the 1636 Battle of Wittstock. Archaeologists say they can learn much from the skeletons which show terrible wounds. An archaeologist gently uncovering a row of skeletons in the mass grave found in Wittstock near Berlin. Archaeologists in Germany are examining a mass grave containing the skeletons of more...

High-flying John Travolta is in an uproar over an airport near his $8 million home in Florida. Travolta contends he was lied to(!) by owners of the Greystone Airport near Ocala, Fla., because they didn't want him to land his Boeing 707 there. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the new Mrs. Edna Turnblad claims that Greystone owners James and Christine Garemore falsely told Travolta that they couldn't accommodate his jumbo jet. It's so tough owning your own plane! Travolta says he used to use the Greystone airport all the time, but in 2006, the Garemore's changed the airport's master record...

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces battled Iraqi police and gunmen Friday, killing six policemen, after an American raid captured a police lieutenant accused of leading an Iranian-backed militia cell, the military said. Seven gunmen also died in the fight, a rare open street battle between American troops and policemen. Washington has demanded the government purge its police force of militants, and U.S. and Iraqi authorities have arrested officers in the past for militia links. But the Bush administration said in an assessment Thursday that progress on that front was "unsatisfactory." The lieutenant was captured before dawn in eastern Baghdad, but the...

Palestinians flee as Lebanon army set to storm camp By Nazih Saddiq 40 minutes ago About 160 Palestinians fled a refugee camp in north Lebanon on Wednesday as the Lebanese army prepared to launch a final assault against al Qaeda-inspired militants holed up inside. Troops have been battling Fatah al-Islam fighters at Nahr al-Bared for nearly eight weeks in Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. A total of 205 people have been killed. The army seized all the militants' positions on the outskirts of the camp last month but refrained from entering its official boundaries. A 1969...

In Memoriam: Custer's Last Stand, June 25, 1876 Private William Slaper : «Each man had secreted himself behind a slain horse. » Lieutenant Charles DeRudio: “The horses were laying as if to suggest a barricade.” Lieutenant Luther Hare: “The evidence on the Custer field indicated very hard fighting.” __ Reno court of Inquiry: “In regard to the severity of the fighting on General Custer’s battlefield, did you see any evidences that there was hard fighting there, or the contrary? Lieutenant Godfrey: “I think there must have been a very hard fighting. Reno court of Inquiry: “You think there was a...

Imagine it's June 7, 1944, the day after the D-Day invasion. You pick up your newspaper. There's no mention of Normandy on the front page, and only a brief reference to it in a roundup story on an inside page.

LOS ANGELES Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told U.S. mayors Saturday they must take the lead in battling global warming and creating an economy based on "clean" technology. Schwarzenegger said California and other states are "not waiting for Washington" before promoting legislation to protect the environment by reducing greenhouse emissions blamed for climate change. "Washington is just a little dot on the map. You are making up America. So we don't have to wait for Washington to get aboard," Schwarzenegger told the 75th annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which made the environment one of its top agenda items. The...

The Army is developing the most expensive and complex weapons system in its history, but it's based on some very questionable concepts. The Army bought what has become one of the Pentagon's most costly and problem-plagued weapons programs during a post-Cold War identity crisis. Locked in a political battle for taxpayer dollars with the Air Force and Navy in the late 1990s, when the military embraced a questionable vision of warfare fought from a distance with sensors and precision munitions, which obviated the need for ground troops that could result in politically costly deaths, the Army turned to industry to...

FONTAINEBLEAU, France - After more than 200 years in the family, the gold-encrusted sword Napoleon carried into battle in Italy will be auctioned off Sunday, across the street from one of his imperial castles. The intricately decorated blade is 32 inches long and curves gently — an inspiration Napoleon drew from his Egyptian campaign, auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat said. "He noticed that the Arab swords, which were curved, were very effective in cutting off French heads" and ordered an imitation made upon his return, Osenat explained. The last of Napoleon's swords in private hands, it has an estimated value of at...

EIN EL-HILWEH CAMP, Lebanon - Islamic militants clashed with Lebanese troops at the country's biggest Palestinian refugee camp Monday, threatening to open a southern battle front that could complicate the army's effort to defeat al-Qaida-inspired extremists in the north. Two government soldiers and a militant were reported killed in fighting at the Ein el-Hilweh camp in the southern city of Sidon, which began when the Jund al-Sham group attacked army outposts late Sunday. The assault was seen as an attempt by Jund al-Sham to ease military pressure on an allied Islamic group, Fatah Islam, whose guerrillas have been battered by...

The Battle of Midway was a pivotal naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. It took place from June 4 to June 7, 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, about five months after the Japanese capture of Wake Island, and six months after the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor that had led to a formal state of war between the United States and Japan. During the battle, the United States Navy defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll (located northwest of Hawaii) and destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers and a...

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2007 – Afghan and coalition forces detained five suspected insurgents yesterday and today and killed about two dozen insurgents after a convoy was attacked in Helmand province May 27, military officials reported. Afghan and coalition forces detained three suspected al Qaeda militants in a raid on two separate compounds early today in the Nadar Shahkot district of Khowst province. Credible intelligence led the forces to the location suspected of housing operatives in the Haqqani network, officials said. The forces searched the compounds for contraband and found two pistols, two AK-47s and four fragmentation grenades. The weapons...

WASHINGTON, May 20, 2007 – Enemy forces attacked elements of 1st Kandak, 1st Brigade, 201st Afghan National Army Corps and coalition forces in the Al Asay Valley of Kapisa province, Afghanistan, close to midnight on May 18, Defense Department officials reported. The ANA and coalition troops, who were on a patrol at the time, returned fire and began maneuvering out of the enemy ambush site, officials said. Enemy forces continued their assault and attempted to reinforce their ambush positions. They also emplaced improvised explosive devices along the route in a failed attempt to trap ANA and coalition forces. Coalition aircraft...

Click here for the video.

A Muslim woman has won her battle with a supermarket in western Sweden which informed her that she could not work there if she chose to wear a headdress. The Ica Kvantum supermarket in Västra Frölunda has now made adjustments to its dress code following criticism from the Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen - DO).

Egypt anchorwomen battle for hijab By Ranyah Sabry BBC News, Cairo Ghada insists she has no political agenda by wanting to wear the veil The last four years in the lives of TV presenters Hala El Malki and Ghada El Tawil have been a continuous struggle brought about by their employers' refusal to implement two court verdicts. It all started in 2002 when the two presenters decided to wear the hijab head covering worn by many Muslim women. But their employers objected and they were excluded from appearing on the state-run TV station where they work. Believing that they had...

Female madrassa students battle Musharraf By Massoud Ansari in Islamabad, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 11:54pm BST 14/04/2007 They look like ninjas in the morning shadows, and as the sun sets in the woods around their madrassa, they resemble wraiths. Dressed in black from top to toe and wielding menacing bamboo sticks, the young women students of Islamabad's Jamia Hafsa religious school make a fearsome enemy - as the government of Pakistan is finding out. Women students chant outside the Jamia Hafsa religious school For the past three months, they have been in a standoff after President Pervez Musharraf launched a...

Many historians in America are complaining that people are not interested in American History, and not ready to want accuracy. Here is a video about Custer's Last Stand, in words and pictures. Enjoy 6 minutes of accurate American history! (this video was done by a Custer historian) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKeTsG2JpQA

Air Force Tech. Sgt. James Fisher, who until recently was at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, will send regular dispatches from Afghanistan. Excerpts will run on Sundays in the Star. Find Fisher's blog at http://go.azstarnet.com/kabulHello, I must be going (Jan. 5) My name is Jim Fisher. I am a technical sergeant in the Air Force, assigned to Davis-Monthan, and I'm on my way to Afghanistan. I have been stationed in Tucson for less than a year, but I have family here, and I've been coming here to visit for years. I'm 16 years into a 20-year career (hopefully), and...