Free Republic

If Nancy Clutter had survived, she would be 67 years old. But on Nov. 15, 1959, she was murdered in her family's farmhouse near Holcomb, Kansas, along with her mother, father and 15-year-old brother. Six more years would pass before author Truman Capote would publish "In Cold Blood," his landmark book about the murders. Nancy Clutter was 16 years old when she died, and I was 16 years old when I read about the last days, hours and moments of her life.

War On Terror: As Khalid Sheikh Mohammed receives the benefits of U.S. justice, three Navy SEALs face court-martial for allegedly punching a captured terrorist who hanged Americans from a bridge in Fallujah. Apparently our efforts to impress the world about the marvels of our criminal justice system require us to give foreign terrorists such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the man who invented the manned cruise missiles that flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and plowed into a Pennsylvania field on its way to the Capitol Building, the full rights and protections of the American citizens he conspired...

War In Iraq: The press is salivating over the prospect of an Iraqi My Lai in the town of Haditha, with ABC trotting out Rep. John Murtha to brand U.S. troops war criminals just in time for Memorial Day. Appearing Sunday on ABC's "This Week," and with the matter still under investigation, Murtha, D-Pa., decided it would be sentence first and trial later when he proclaimed Marines responding to an attack in the town of Haditha on Nov. 19 guilty of murder of at least 15 Iraqi civilians. The incident began as a Marine convoy of Kilo Company, Third Battalion,...

A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the case of a man who stormed into a Jewish center two years ago and shot six women, killing one, as he ranted against Israel and the Iraq war. Jurors had indicated in questions posed to the judge that they were hopelessly deadlocked and struggling to determine whether Naveed Haq, 32, was not guilty by reason of insanity, as he claimed. King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas ended the jury's deliberations in their eighth day. The jurors reached a partial verdict on only one of the 15 counts against Haq, finding him...

Mark your calendar for February 27, 2008. You are invited to a party at the Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City -- the one next to the mall. Now, it's not our party. It's John Murtha's party. (see the last item) I just want you to go crash it. Take pictures of the people who are there. Let's put them online. Let's make sure this thing gets in the headlines. Let's expose Democrat hypocrisy. The annual payback dinner by defense contractors who benefit from earmarks by Democratic Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, will be held Feb. 27 at...

...[b]ut eyewitnesses and local officials told Time that the 15 civilians were killed as a result of a rampage by Marines - not by a roadside bomb. Eyewitnesses and local officials claim the Marines raided three civilian houses after the blast, shooting innocent women and children, some still in their night clothes, others shielding children with their bodies. The potentially criminal nature of the incident went unreported until Time magazine presented military officials in Baghdad with accounts it gathered from Iraqis in January. The military began its investigation in March. According to the military, the Marines thought they were under...