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I moved from the U.S. to Europe in 1998, and I’ve been drawing comparisons ever since. Living in turn in the Netherlands, where kids come out of high school able to speak four languages, where gay marriage is a non-issue, and where book-buying levels are the world’s highest, and in Norway, where a staggering percentage of people read three newspapers a day and where respect for learning is reflected even in Oslo place names (“Professor Aschehoug Square”; “Professor Birkeland Road”), I was tempted at one point to write a book lamenting Americans’ anti-intellectualism—their indifference to foreign languages, ignorance of history,...

I have created a public register of "bump lists" here on Free Republic. I define a bump list as a name listed in the "To" field used to index articles. Free Republic Bump List Register

DUBAI, July 15 (AFP) - Hundreds of alleged members of Al-Qaeda, including 18 of its top leaders, and other terror groups are living in Iran, some under tight security, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported Thursday. "More than 384 members of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organisations are present in Iran, including 18 senior leaders of Osama bin Laden`s network," the London-based daily said, citing a senior source in the Iranian presidency. The Saudi-owned newspaper said the terrorist leaders were living under tight protection, some of them in villas in the Namak Abrud region, near the town of Chalous on the Caspian coast,...

President Bush (news - web sites) took a hard hit yester day when the Senate Intelligence Committee released its scathing re port on the CIA (news - web sites)'s erroneous pre- war assertions about Iraq (news - web sites)'s weap ons of mass destruction. As he should have. Bush is the commander-in-chief; the buck stops with him. The CIA's assertions — that Iraq had stockpiles of banned weapons and was well on its way to making nukes — were wrong, the report said. Those claims were based on false or overstated analyses, it said. The committee's Republican chairman, Sen. Pat...

After the arrow has hit, the bowman's success is in the hands of whoever decides where to paint the target. President George W. Bush's Iraq arrow is still in flight, so I'm going to paint the target where I think it should have been. I'll leave it to others to decide what Bush was really aiming at. There were four principal reasons for removing Saddam Hussein in spring 2003. Some of the intended results have been achieved. Others have not. The costs have clearly been higher than expected. The first and most prominent justification for the war was to...

Nato diplomats were struggling last night to agree eleventh-hour deals on Iraq and Afghanistan to shore up the alliance's credibility in the war on terrorism. As the 26 Nato leaders met for an eve-of-summit dinner in Istanbul, officials toiled to produce agreements allowing them to claim they had staved off another damaging rift between America and Europe. President George W Bush is hoping for an agreement for Nato to train the troops of the new Iraqi army. But France, Germany and Belgium were blocking attempts to place the mission under the Nato flag. White House officials were, however, optimistic that...

With the failure to find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and the continuing difficulties in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, it's reasonable to ask: Has a death blow been delivered to the idea of military preemption and, more broadly, to the idea of preventive wars? Has our experience in Iraq effectively removed from play a policy option that many here and abroad believed was the cornerstone of the Bush administration's new strategic doctrine? For the foreseeable future, the Iraq war and its aftermath cannot help but put a hitch in the step of any president contemplating similar action. People can continue...

Summary The United States has clearly entered a new phase of the Iraq campaign in which its relationship with the Iraqi Shia has been de-emphasized while relationships with Sunnis have been elevated. This has an international effect as well. It obviously affects Iranian ambitions. It also helps strengthen the weakening hand of the Saudi government by reducing the threat of a Shiite rising in strategic parts of the kingdom that could threaten the flow of oil. The United States is creating a much more dynamic and fluid situation, but it is also enormously more complicated and difficult to manage. Analysis...

"We will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime." - President George W. Bush, September 20, 2001 Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime indisputably harbored terrorists and supported terrorism. Under the Bush Doctrine that won resounding bipartisan assent in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and that remains as worthy today as...

AL GORE AND THE DEMOCRATS--A JYB WEBAD The JYB has entered the political ad fray. Below is our first effort. It's an avi file and about 2.3 megs. Here are a few screenshots: Set your connection on its highest setting, and commence downloading: Al Gore and the Democrats Posted by B. Preston at 11:56 PM

Below is a list of President Bush's pro-life efforts and accomplishments in regard to protecting children in the womb and promoting the sanctity of life.  I include some accomplishments in other areas but mostly focus on his pro-life record. This list is by no means comprehensive.  When considering other issues much more could be added to the list of positive things that Bush has done since he has been in office. I started to compile this list shortly after the President was reinaugurated after hearing from many, who consider themselves pro-life, that Bush was not really pro-life. I disagreed and...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A nuclear-armed Iran would pose an intolerable threat to peace in the Middle East and a mortal danger to Israel, President Bush said on Wednesday, adding that any such threat would be "dealt with" by the United States and its allies. In strongly worded remarks before an audience of newspaper editors and publishers, the Republican president pressed the secretive leadership of the Islamic republic to heed U.S. and European demands not to pursue a nuclear weapons program. "It would be intolerable to peace and stability in the Middle East if they get a nuclear weapon, particularly since...

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who is seeking to improve ties to the West, says his government would sign an international treaty banning torture. He also said 'normal criminal law procedure' should replace current 'revolutionary court' law and Libya should play a 'leading international role in defending human rights.' Addressing lawyers and judges, he praised human rights groups for attacking the use of torture by governments-without saying if he included his own.'We deeply regret these facist actions practiced by governments across the world against citizens and foreigners,' he said on the use of torture, in remarks reported by the state news...

<p>Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and tried to light it? Did you know his trial is over? Did you know he was sentenced? Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments on TV/Radio? - Didn't think so. Everyone should hear what the judge had to say.</p>

Over our debates on iraq and the war on terrorism hangs the specter of Vietnam. You can hear it in the arguments made by George W. Bush's opponents and critics. Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, they say, although he was only reporting the conclusions of major intelligence services, just as Lyndon Johnson lied about the Gulf of Tonkin and Richard Nixon lied when he said he had a plan to end the war. Bush made war for oil, Europeans say, just as some critics argued, absurdly, that America went to war in Vietnam for offshore oil....

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) - Egypt offered Sunday to host a summit of Arab leaders, trying to resurrect a meeting that collapsed because of deep divisions over how to bring more democracy to the Middle East and tackle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Arab League leaders had planned to use the summit, which was slated to start Monday, to submit proposals for political reforms in response to U.S. calls for greater freedoms in the region. Many of the most powerful countries in the Middle East are led by absolute rulers or royal families. But Israel's March 22 assassination of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed...

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has vowed that he would "eliminate" al-Qaeda and said that the terror network's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was on the run. Musharraf spoke during an interview with ABC News, one day after an audio tape -- attributed to Zawahiri -- urged Pakistan's military to support al-Qaeda and sweep Musharraf from power. "Now as far as if he's taunting me well, I would like to say that I'm going to eliminate all of them," Pakistan's leader said, referring to Zawahiri and al-Qaeda loyalists. "I mean, Zawahiri is on the run. For heaven's sake, it's just one tape. Let's...

Dr. Kay Had Maps with Coordinates of WMD Hiding Places in Syria Feb. 17 - Setting up an inquiry commission is the political leader’s favorite dodge for burying an embarrassing problem until the pursuit dies down. President George W. Bush will this week bow to election-year pressures from Democrats and his own Republicans alike and sign an executive order to investigate US intelligence failings regarding Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction on the eve of war. Both his senior war partners, the Australian and British prime ministers, face the same public clamor ever since WMD hunter Dr. David Kay resigned,...

Pearl Harbor probably will happen again. Only this time the attacks won't be in far-off Hawaii but against the American mainland. That's what some of the nation's top experts are saying as the national-security community scrambles to ward off attempts to attack the U.S. homeland with terrorist weapons of mass destruction and crippling raids on public- and private-sector information systems on which the entire economy - and the American way of life - depend. Geopolitical and technological changes after the collapse of the Soviet Union are forcing U.S. national security to stand on its head - and with good reason....

<p>Give President Bush's critics credit for versatility. Having spent months assailing him for doing too much after 9/11 -- Iraq, the Patriot Act, the "pre-emption" doctrine -- they have now turned on a dime to allege that he did too little before it. This contradiction is Mr. Bush's opportunity to rise above the ankle biting and explain to the American public what a President is elected to do.</p>

Libya on Thursday brought to an end decades of international isolation as a pariah state with a promise to join forces with the United States of America and the United Kingdom to fight the global war against terrorism.It is to provide intelligence to help root out Al Qaeda and on Thursday secured a gas exploration deal with Shell that could be worth billions of dollars.Tony Blair, UK Prime Minister, held two hours of talks with Col. Muammer Gadaffi in a bedroom tent a few miles outside of Tripoli, the first time a British leader has set foot in the country...

Al Qaeda isn't the only terrorist group we're up against. The real al Qaeda — the al Qaeda that attacked us on September 11, the al Qaeda we are hunting in Pakistan and Afghanistan right now — is a dangerous enemy, but it's not the only al Qaeda. There's another, equally dangerous al Qaeda: the mythical, ten-foot-tall al Qaeda we create when we give the group credit for every major terrorist attack, everywhere in the world, heedless of evidence that, in many cases, points elsewhere. The press does that, routinely. In the collective media mind, when it comes to terrorism,...

At 1:30 on a Wednesday afternoon, two weeks after receiving the nod as Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice walked into a room... Rice told him (Clarke) first, he said, that the dangers appeared to be greater than she had known. "Her second reaction was 'What are you going to do about it?'‚" Clarke said. ....... (Clinton info provided to Condi Rice:) One of those came in a handwritten note, covering less than a page. The lined paper had nothing on it but three names and three telephone numbers – the Pentagon's top career specialists on terrorism. ......... Rice, by...

Five days after a series of bombs exploded on Madrid’s commuter trains killing over 200 people Spanish investigators and Western intelligence agencies are said to be almost certain that Islamic terrorists were to blame for the attacks—and not the Basque separatist group ETA, as the Spanish premier and his interior minister had initially declared. If the attack was indeed the work of al-Qaida or one of its many affiliates, it was singularly successful in achieving its presumed political objectives. Until the morning of March 11 the Popular Party (PP) government of the outgoing prime minister José Maria Aznar looked poised...

Last Update: Friday, March 19, 2004. 2:59pm (AEDT) Al Qaeda logs on: The Internet is a valuable propaganda tool. (ABC TV) How Al Qaeda uses the Internet The Internet has replaced Afghanistan as the main meeting place for radical Islamists, according to experts studying Al Qaeda's presence on the web.They say the Internet is one of Al Qaeda's key survival tools, through which it is waging a relentless propaganda campaign to incite war against the West.Thomas Hegghammer, who researches Islamist websites at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, last year found a 42-page document detailing how terrorist attacks timed for the...

<p>"Blow to Bush: Ally rejected/voters clearly reiterate opposition to Iraq  war."</p> <p>You could almost see terrorists around the world smiling.</p> <p>The story underneath concluded: "The Bush administration must now fight  the perception, accurate or not, that acts of terror against America 's  allies can sway nations into rethinking the wisdom of standing too  closely with Mr. Bush ." And too close to America .</p>

<p>THE GRAND DEBATE over American foreign policy and its war on terrorism can be reduced to a single question: How many carrots versus how much stick?</p> <p>In other words, how much should the United States depend on its military might, its hard power, to go it alone against its enemies, brushing aside reluctant allies to get the job done? And how much should America deploy soft power, appealing to a mutuality of interests, an attraction of shared values, and a willingness to consult others, tiresome though that might be, in order to get people to want the same outcomes? The Bush administration has chosen to emphasize the former and neglect the latter.</p>

Last Thursday's deadly terrorist attacks in Madrid thrust Spain's elections into the world spotlight. The surprise results from Sunday's elections now grab headlines around the world as the press takes a look at what it all means. The leader of Spain's victorious Socialists, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, said Monday he would likely withdraw Spain's 1,300 troops from Iraq in June. "The war has been a disaster, the occupation continues to be a disaster. It has only caused violence," Mr. Zapatero said. "There must be consequences. There has been one already – the election result. The second will be that the...

Saddam Hussein supplied financial support, training and shelter for an array of deadly terrorist organizations right up until the onset of the Iraq war a year ago, including such notorious groups as Hamas, Ansar al-Islam, the Palestinian Liberation Front, the Abu Nidal Organization and the Arab Liberation Front, according to a comprehensive report released by the Hudson Institute. Titled "Saddam's Philanthropy of Terror," the report details the role played by terrorists supported by Saddam's regime in an array of infamous acts that killed hundreds American citizens both inside and outside the U.S. before and after the Sept. 11 attacks -...

World News » Bodies are evacuated after a train exploded near the Atocha train station in Madrid Time is GMT + 8 hoursPosted: 13 March 2004 0735 hrs Documents show Al-Qaeda's link to Madrid blasts: Norwegian researchers Related News » • Millions fill Spanish streets to rage at Madrid attacks • European leaders close ranks behind grieving Spain • Basque leader says unclear who bombed Madrid trains more>> OSLO: Norwegian defence researchers have come across documents that could link Al-Qaeda to the Madrid train bombings that have claimed nearly 200 lives, Norwegian television reported on Friday. Researchers with the...

Remarks by the President on Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation Fort Lesley J. McNair - National Defense University Washington, D.C. THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm honored to visit the National Defense University. For nearly a century, the scholars and students here have helped to prepare America for the changing threats to our national security. Today, the men and women of our National Defense University are helping to frame the strategies through which we are fighting and winning the war on terror. Your Center for Counterproliferation Research and your other institutes and colleges are providing vital insight into...

Nearly a year has now passed since the commencement of the Battle of Iraq. Given the time elapsed it now seems appropriate to assess the success of our venture there, the relative rightness of our pre-war arguments, and the path that we must now take towards a brighter future. Let us review our successes. Iraq is free and Saddam is in jail. More than that, the spin-offs of the invasion have been astounding. Libya has surrendered her weapons of mass destruction. Two foreign tyrants, thus convinced to US resolve, have willingly gone into exile when, in the past, they would...

Summary The war that began Sept. 11, 2001, has entered a new phase. The war in Iraq is reshaping itself, and that is redefining the entire conflict -- and returning attention to Saudi Arabia. Analysis The war that began Sept. 11, 2001, has entered a new phase. The war in Iraq is reshaping itself -- and that is redefining the broader war. There are two aspects of this. The rate at which the United States is incurring casualties in Iraq has declined dramatically during the past month. One American died on March 2; the last American deaths before that occurred...

It's an interesting reflection on our democratic age that nations are now expected to publish their grand strategies before pursuing them. This practice would have surprised Metternich, Bismarck, and Lord Salisbury, though not Pericles. Concerned about not revealing too much, most great strategists in the past have preferred to concentrate on implementation, leaving explanation to historians. The first modern departure from this tradition came in 1947 when George F. Kennan revealed the rationale for containment in Foreign Affairs under the inadequately opaque pseudonym "Mr. X," but Kennan regretted the consequences and did not repeat the experiment. Not until the Nixon...

KARACHI - A massive land and air military operation on either side of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is now under way, with the main goals of catching leading commanders of the Afghan resistance, as well as Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar. The focal point of the operation at this point is the tribal areas of North and South Waziristan on the Pakistani side, and Paktia and Paktika in Afghanistan. On Sunday, Pakistani Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat confirmed that Pakistani paramilitary troops had been deployed in these tribal areas. In the coming weeks, the operation...

I just saw this on Fox News and haven't seen an article yet that I can post. But I'm paraphrasing what I heard: A top lieutenant of Abu Musab Zarqawi was killed by US troops in Iraq. Apparently a Civil Affairs team was handing out flyers in Fallujah. They were fired on from a house (those in the house apparently thought the soldiers were coming after them). A quick reaction force was called in and there was a firefight. One of those killed was the chief bombmaker for Zarqawi. The house was apparently a safe house. Also found in the...

<p>Civil society springs up in tyranny's wake.</p> <p>Out of the ruins of one of the world's worst tyrannies, in an ancient land that has rarely known decent governance, a democracy is struggling to be born.</p> <p>Iraq is one of the world's least likely sites for a transition to democracy. Virtually all of the classic preconditions for liberal government are lacking. And yet, with its decades-long despotism shattered, Iraq is now better positioned than any of its Arab neighbors to become a democracy in the next few years. That achievement, however tentative and imperfect, would ignite mounting aspirations for democratization from Iran to Morocco.</p>

Many in Pakistan have rallied to defend the country's bomb-makers (needlessly and incorrectly called "scientists" although they are technologists and have not created any new science). This is even after abundant proof that they have freely spread nuclear weapons secrets and equipment around the globe. Some vociferously argue that, by not having signed the NPT, the bomb-makers are blameless since they broke no law or treaty by sharing nuclear secrets with other parties. But this legalistic argument is weak, unconvincing, and insufficient to prevent serious damage to Pakistan. For over 15 years Pakistan had repeatedly assured the world that it...

The US media almost entirely ignores news regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Tony Snow of the Fox News Network has put it, “this is probably the most under-reported news story of the year.” But most American’s are unaware that the Islamic Republic of Iran is NOT supported by the masses of Iranians today. Modern Iranians are among the most pro-American in the Middle East. There is a popular revolt against the Iranian regime brewing in Iran today. Starting June 10th of this year, Iranians have begun taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change....

The Boston Globe -- the respected, liberal newspaper owned by the New York Times -- ran an article last week that Bush critics might wish to read carefully. It is a report on a new book that argues that President Bush has developed and is ably implementing only the third American grand strategy in our history. The author of this book, "Surprise, Security, and the American Experience" (Harvard Press), which is to be released in March, is John Lewis Gaddis, the Robert A. Lovett professor of military and naval history at Yale University. The Boston Globe describes Professor Gaddis as...

<p>BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - An anti-American operative in Iraq appealed for help from al-Qaida leaders to help spark a sectarian war between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in an effort to ``tear the country apart,'' U.S. officials said Monday.</p> <p>The officials confirmed a report Monday in The New York Times about the alleged plan, which was outlined in a 17-page letter that U.S. forces confiscated from an al-Qaida suspect in Iraq.</p>

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 8 — American officials here have obtained a detailed proposal that they conclude was written by an operative in Iraq to senior leaders of Al Qaeda, asking for help to wage a "sectarian war" in Iraq in the next months. The Americans say they believe that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who has long been under scrutiny by the United States for suspected ties to Al Qaeda, wrote the undated 17-page document. Mr. Zarqawi is believed to be operating here in Iraq. The document was made available to The New York Times on Sunday, with an accompanying...

How US put rogue atom scientist out of business By David Blair in Islamabad (Filed: 09/02/2004) America closed down the Pakistani-based "nuclear supermarket" by confronting President Pervaiz Musharraf with "mind boggling" evidence and threatening isolation and economic sanctions, it emerged yesterday. A high-powered American delegation met Gen Musharraf last October and demanded that he deal with Abdul Qadeer Khan, the "father" of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, who has confessed to trading atomic secrets. Gen Musharraf: 'stunned' by the detailed evidence The pressure on Gen Musharraf was comparable to the aftermath of September 11, when America demanded - and received - Pakistan's...

According to intelligence sources close to FP, following on from a secret deal with India over Kashmir and removal of the scientists behind Pakistan’s nuclear programme, Musharraf has moved onto the next stage of implementing the US plan for the region. That of strengthening the US control over Afghanistan, disbanding Pakistan’s premiere intelligence agency the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and purging the military of anti-US hardliners. By taking such actions under the cover of the war against terrorism, Musharraf will complete the process of dismantling Pakistan as a regional strategic power. On January 28 ,2004 , the US newspaper, The...

<p>A so-far fruitless search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq has put the Bush administration on the defensive, but Republican strategists say Democrats won't be able to exploit the issue for political advantage in November.</p> <p>Democrats have seized on a statement by David Kay — who resigned last week after leading the search for banned weapons in Iraq for seven months — that he doubts WMD ever will be found there.</p>

[ED. NOTE: In the last few months, FReeper Southack put together a list of Bush administration achievements over its first three years in office, and tirelessly posted it whenever an opportunity presented itself. Southack gave me permission to take that list, organize it by topics, and enhance it with further research from whitehouse.gov and other sources. This thread is posted in gratitude to and in honor of Southack.]Abortion & Traditional Values Banned Partial Birth Abortion — by far the most significant roll-back of abortion on demand since Roe v. Wade.Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy.By Executive Order...

<p>DAVOS, Switzerland  — Free nations, working together, must not shy from using force if diplomacy cannot deter terrorism and check the spread of the world's most dangerous weapons, Vice President Dick Cheney (search) told Europe on Saturday.</p> <p>"Direct threats require decisive action," Cheney said in a speech to the World Economic Forum (search). He urged European allies to "act with all the urgency that this danger demands."</p>

Last May, someone sat down at an IBM desktop here and typed out a polite letter to a bitter foe of al-Qaida, the anti-Taliban leader Ahmed Shah Massoud. The writer tapped at the computer for 97 minutes, according to its internal record, then printed out the fruit of his labor: a request for an interview with Massoud, to be conducted by “one of our best journalists, Mr. Karim Touzani.” ON SEPT. 9, two men posing as journalists, one carrying a passport in the name of Karim Touzani, detonated a hidden bomb as they interviewed Massoud. The legendary Afghan commander was ...

What used to be called the "post-Cold War world" has gone through three distinct periods. First, the "Long 1990s", beginning with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and ending with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, marked a time of drift and, at least in international politics, American confusion and indecision. The second, from 9/11 until the March 19, 2003, invasion of Iraq, was a period of transition, during which the Bush administration struggled to fashion a response to events that destroyed its illusions that the world's problems could be "managed" by a small knot of confident...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - An al-Qaida program to develop chemical and biological weapons was in the early "conceptual stages" when it was cut short by the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, U.S. and Malaysian security officials told the Associated Press. The information on the state of Osama bin Laden's weapons plan came from interrogations of terrorist suspects captured in Southeast Asia and from clues gathered in the Afghan battlefield, the authorities said. The project was being developed in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Officials believe the program was being run by Yazid...