Free Republic

An ultra-radical Islamic ideology mixing zealot-like devotion and holy war creed is drawing more scrutiny in anti-terrorist probes from the Middle East to Europe — with increasing indications that its base on the fringes of Islamic extremism could be widening. In existence since the 1960s, al-Takfir wa al-Hijra has offered intellectual inspiration to al-Qaida and other militant groups. But authorities now worry about followers becoming more aggressive with recruitment and retaliation against perceived foes of Islam, such as Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Officials in the Netherlands say the Dutch-Moroccan suspect — accused of killing Van Gogh on a busy...

Jacko is shocko at his associate's gay porno BY MICHELLE CARUSO DAILY NEWS WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEF SANTA MONICA, Calif. - A wide-eyed Michael Jackson testified he "was shocked" when he saw a video of his ex-associate actively directing a gay porn film, according to videotaped deposition shown in court yesterday. The no-show singer's ghostly image was projected on a 4-foot-by-4-foot screen in the trial of a $1.5 million breach-ofcontact suit filed by his former video producer Marc Schaffel in Santa Monica Superior Court. In the sworn testimony, which was taped in London's Dorchester Hotel on Sept. 23, 2005, and...

<p>RABAT (Reuters) - At least 20 people were killed in four bomb attacks -- three of them car bombs -- in Morocco's commercial capital Casablanca on Friday night, the official MAP news agency said.</p> <p>The car bomb attacks targeted the Belgian consulate, a Jewish community center and the Hotel Safir, located in the old heart of the city center.</p>

Early on the morning of March 16th, 1984, William Buckley left for work at the American embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. Officially, Mr. Buckley, a decorated veteran of the Special Forces, served as the political officer at the embassy. In reality, however, Mr. Buckley was the embassy’s CIA station chief. On his way to the compound, Buckley’s car was stopped by a group of masked men, who forced him from his car at gunpoint. His assailants would later be identified as terrorists from the group Islamic Jihad, which served as an alias for the real perpetrators, Hezbollah. The circumstances surrounding the...

OP-ED COLUMNIST Felix Rohatyn knew that he and a handful of relatives had been lucky to get out of Nazi-occupied France in the early-1940's, when he was 12 years old. But there were details about the harrowing escape that have only recently come to light. Mr. Rohatyn, now 76, is the financier who helped save New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970's and later served as ambassador to France during the Clinton administration. His family was Jewish, and originally from Poland. In the fall of 1940 the dark night of the Holocaust was spreading across France with terrifying speed....

A High-Risk Nuclear Stakeout The U.S. took too long to act, some experts say, letting a Pakistani scientist sell illicit technology well after it knew of his operation. By Douglas Frantz, Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON — Nuclear warhead plans that Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan sold to Libya were more complete and detailed than previously disclosed, raising new concerns about the cost of Washington's watch-and-wait policy before Khan and his global black market were shut down last year. Two Western nuclear weapons specialists who have examined the top-secret designs say the hundreds of pages of engineering drawings and handwritten notes...

Michael Curtiz (December 24, 1886 - April 10, 1962) was a film director, whose films include The Adventures of Robin Hood, Casablanca, and White Christmas.

Some time ago, in my eternal quest to set the record straight, I suggested that the true hero of the motion picture industry wasn’t Thomas Edison or D.W. Griffith, not Chaplin or Keaton, not Jack Warner or Louis B. Mayer, but the anonymous fellow who first came up with the notion of putting salt on popcorn, thus turning packing material into a concession stand bonanza that costs more per-pound than lox and caviar put together. But there are others who, more often than not, get overlooked while far too much praise is lavished on actors and directors. I refer to...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

ROME - Anti-terrorism police arrested the Algerian cleric of a mosque and four Tunisians Sunday in a crackdown authorities said was aimed at preventing an al-Qaida-linked cell from sending suicide attackers to Iraq (news - web sites). The suspects were seized in pre-dawn raids in three cities in the northern Tuscany region, Genoa's Police Chief Oscar Fiorolli said. Genoa, a northern port city, began the investigations that led to the arrests. The suspects allegedly belonged to a cell of Ansar al-Islam, an organization based in northern Iraq with links to al-Qaida, Fiorolli told the Associated Press in Rome in a...

There's a new gin joint in town, and now everybody comes to Rick's. In homage to the 1942 movie, Casablanca, a former US diplomat spent two years of work and $US1 million ($A1.39 million) dollars in investments to bring Rick's Cafe to Morocco's largest city. The elegant nightclub where Humphrey Bogart pined for Ingrid Bergman was just a set on a Warner Bros. sound stage in California - the film crew never got anywhere near North Africa. The new Rick's has the same warm atmosphere as the Hollywood original. It's a white villa near the port, with palm trees flanking...

Operation of the DST counters suspects islamists in Paris area (press) A significant operation carried out by the services of against-espionage (DST) is in hand with Aulnay-under-Wood and with Mantes-the-Pretty to stop islamists suspected of having taken part in the attacks of Casablanca on last 16 May which had made 45 died, Monday morning announced radio Europe 1. According to the radio, which quotes investigators, the operation started with 6H00 and is always in hand. It aims at dormant dies and cells within the framework of an investigation opened by Parisian judges, of which judge Jean-Louis Bruguière.

A London accountant has described how Pakistan's disgraced nuclear hero Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan visited the West African state of Mali on three occasions between 1998 and 2000. Abdul Ma'bood Siddiqui accompanied A.Q. Khan on three mystery trips  between 1998 and 2000. Their final destination was Timbuktu, a remote outpost in the desert that has always been a magnet for explorers and adventurers from around the world. The mystery behind the visits has deepened following recent revelations that Khan is also the owner of a small hotel in the town that he has named after Hendrina, his Dutch-born wife and...

Frenchman Pierre Robert has received a life prison term for plotting terrorist attacks in Morocco. Rabat's criminal court found him guilty of charges of preparing terrorist acts, possessing weapons and endangering state security. Robert's trial was part of investigations into the May 16 suicide bombings in Casablanca that claimed 45 lives. Robert and his 33 co-defendants were each given the right to a "last word" before the five judges began 12 hours of deliberations earlier on Thursday, local time. Two of his co-accused also received life terms, for the murder of a woman in Tangiers. Only two of the accused...

RABAT: An alleged accomplice of Frenchman Pierre Robert, on trial here on charges of leading a Muslim cell involved in suicide bombings in Casablanca, admitted in a court hearing overnight Monday that he received and hid a cache of chemical weapons in the country in the 1980s. Mohammed Neggaoui also told Rabat’s criminal court that he had met Robert three times at the home of another suspect in the northern city of Tangiers. He denied, however that they had discussed terrorist projects in Morocco. Robert and his 33 co-accused are charged with criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to undermine state security, premeditated...

The first trial has begun of people accused of involvement in the terror attacks in Morocco on May 16th this year. Forty-four people lost their lives when various Western and Jewish targets were bombed in the capital, Casablanca. Since then, the Moroccan authorities have detained around 700 people, who are to stand trial in connection with the attacks. At the request of the defence team, the proceedings against the first group of 52 people was adjourned today until the end of the week. The accused are also charged with being members of Salafiyah Jihadia, a group of Muslim fundamentalists which...

A court in the Moroccan city of Casablanca has sentenced ten Muslim fundamentalists to death. Eight men received life sentences; several others were sentenced to twenty years. The radical Muslims are members of the Salafia Jihadia, the movement held responsible for the suicide attacks in Casablanca on May 16th, in which 40 people were killed. The convicts were already in custody at the time of these attacks on charges of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping and extortion. Immediately afterwards, the Moroccan authorities said they would crack down hard on all forms of terrorism.

RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccan authorities say they have charged another 19 members and sympathisers of an extremist Islamic movement in connection with suicide bombings in Casablanca last month in which 43 people died. Some of the men, all Moroccans, had planned similar attacks on the tourist destinations of Marrakesh, Agadir and Essaouira, in southern Morocco, the official MAP news agency said on Friday. State prosecutor Abdellah Alaoui Belghiti said most of the men, aged between 17 and 40, belonged to an ultra-conservative Islamist movement known as the Salafist Jihad. Some had declared their support for the May 16 attacks on...

Six would-be bombers charged SIX people were charged today with being "reserves" for the devastating bomb attacks in the Moroccan commercial captal Casablanca in which 43 people, including 12 suicide bombers, were killed. The accused were allegedly among a group of reserve suicide bombers who were ready to commit extremist attacks, the city's prosecutor said. Five people, including three would-be suicide bombers, appeared in the same court on Monday for their roles in the Casablanca attacks, which took place on May 16. The authorities said yesterday that the suspected mastermind of the suicide blasts, identified as Abdelhak, died of heart...