Free Republic

War On Terror: Charges against the mastermind behind the bombing of the USS Cole are dismissed. He will be retried, but not by a military commission that would have given him the death penalty he deserves.Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell announced on Thursday that Susan Crawford, the convening authority for military tribunals at Guantanamo, has made the decision to withdraw charges against Abd al-Rahim Hussain Mohammed al-Nashiri. This is the Saudi man believed to be the architect of the bombing of the guided missile destroyer USS Cole, killing 17 American sailors, as it sat in the Yemeni port of Aden. The...

Three Republican lawmakers on Wednesday endorsed Doug Hoffman's third-party campaign for the special House election in New York -- a slap in the face to the party's leadership and the current top brass at the National Republican Congressional Committee. Endorsing Hoffman in the 23rd District contest were Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of California and Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who also served as NRCC chairman from 2006 to 2008. The party's preferred candidate is GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava. Hoffman's name will appear on the upstate ballots as the Conservative Party nominee. The nods from the three...

Intellectually grappling with a man of University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole’s knowledge base is an intimidating task, but an appearance he made on MSNBC on September 19 cannot go unchallenged. Cole, in remarkable fashion, downplayed the threat from Iran’s nuclear program and gave the regime a benefit of the doubt that he never gave the Bush administration and the dreaded neoconservatives. “I think American intelligence has a very good idea of what’s going on [in Iran],” he said. “It seems clear that they are not pursuing a nuclear weapon, but they are pursuing the capability to close the fuel...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A man on trial for the deaths of two Bellacino's pizzeria workers took the stand Thursday to defend his part in the deaths.

Link to the image since the port office pulled it from their website. Remember, the president had to approve this.

(CNSNews.com) - A terror suspect charged with the attempted murder of two U.S. soldiers -- before a judge ruled that his confession was coerced and inadmissible -- returned home to Afghanistan on Monday, the same day news broke of a policy change in interrogations. After many Democrats and some Republican lawmakers called the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation techniques such as playing loud music and waterboarding “torture,” President Barack Obama reassigned interrogation responsibilities from the CIA to the National Security Council – which is run out of the White House, the Washington Post first reported.

WASHINGTON -- The CIA's internal investigator found that interrogators conducted mock executions of terror suspects and in one case threatened a detainee suspected in the USS Cole bombing with a gun and power drill, congressional officials said late Friday. The disclosure is contained in a 2004 report by the CIA's inspector general, which has keep secret and is to be released next week, two officials told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the report has not yet been cleared for release. The report's findings were first reported by Newsweek on its Web site Friday night. In...

Aug. 3, 2009 | Is Sarah Palin America's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? The two differ in many key respects, of course, but it is remarkable how similar they are. There are uncanny parallels in their biographies, their domestic politics and the way they present themselves -- even in their rocky relationships with party elders. Both are former governors of a northwest frontier state with great natural beauty (in Ahmadinejad's case, Ardabil). Both are known for saying things that produce a classic Scooby-Doo double take in their audiences. Both appeal to a sort of wounded nationalism, speaking of the sacrifice of dedicated troops...

The Girls Aloud singer has been chosen by her co-presenter on the British hit show, Simon Cowell, to host the show, it is claimed. The revelation came as the Newcastle-raised star celebrated her 26th birthday with friends in an attention-grabbing Alexander McQueen dress with her husband, the footballer Ashley Cole, at her side.

Note: The following text is a quote: Wife of Gang Leader Pleads Guilty to Narcotics Charges On the day her trial was to begin in U.S. District Court in Lubbock, Texas, Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN) member Marie Chavez, aka "Shorty," the wife of an alleged ALKQN leader Jose Nava, aka "Chino," pleaded guilty to a superseding indictment charging her and 16 co-defendants with various offenses related to alleged narcotics and weapons trafficking and violent activities. Specifically, Chavez, 28, of Lubbock, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute five kilograms...

Note: The following text is a quote: Eight Uzbekistan Nationals Among 12 Charged with Racketeering, Human Trafficking & Immigration Violations in Scheme to Employ Illegal Aliens in 14 States Twelve defendants, including eight Uzbekistan nationals, have been charged in a 45-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on May 6, 2009, on RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) charges related to labor racketeering, forced labor trafficking and immigration and other violations in 14 states. Abrorkhodja Askarkhodjaev, 30, Nodir Yunusov, 22, Rustamjon Shukurov, 21, citizens of Uzbekistan residing in Mission, Kan.; Ilkham Fazilov, 44, Nodirbek...

RICHMOND Nearly nine years after 17 sailors were killed in a terrorist attack on the USS Cole, a judge has ordered New York banks to release $13.4 million in frozen Sudanese accounts to family members of the victims. U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood issued the order last week, ending a six-year quest by 59 spouses, parents and children of the victims to hold the Sudanese government accountable for the deaths. “I’m so excited,� said Lorrie Triplett of Suffolk, whose 31-year-old husband, Andrew, was killed in the Oct. 12, 2000 attack. “I just know Andrew was saying halleluiah for me and...

After Obama dropped the charges against the suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole, he asked the families of the victims in that tragedy to meet with him. One mother refused, and now says,"I voted for the wrong person." It's really sad when the President of the United States thinks it's ok to not prosecute someone who murdered our sailors. I generally try to be a good sport and see political differences as exactly that, but not on this one. Not when it comes to our troops, and avenging their deaths. A President who would do anything less than...

The TV and the written press keep referring to the attack on the USS Cole as having been a “terrorist” attack. Any definition of the word “terrorist” insists that the attack described be against a civilian target with an aim of resulting in a political change. I do believe that this word is being used so as to elicit sympathy and, to some, fear and therefore urge the public be skeptical when they come across it in the press. Recently, I came across the use of “victims,” referring to crew members on the Cole that were killed, instead of “casualties”...

Evidently the former editor of the Harvard Law Review seems to think that one of his powers as president is personally to pick and choose which constitutional rights apply to terror defendants and which do not. That's the very thing they were criticizing President Bush for. White House Counsel Greg Craig, often seen whispering in the president's ear during question periods, admitted later to Ms. Burlingame that the chief executive was getting the facts of the law wrong during the discussion with the families. Craig asked her if CIPA covers a case in which terrorists defend themselves, noting that "this...

The sister of Seaman James McDaniels, a sailor killed in the terror attack on the U.S.S. Cole wants President Barack Hussein Obama impeached over his decision to withdraw charges against the al Qaeda mastermind of the attack.Diane McDaniels, the mother of the slain sailor, related her daughter's outrage over the President's decision during an interview on the Fox News Channel show Your World with Neil Cavuto this afternoon.Ms. McDaniels also expressed her own regret for having voted for Obama last November. She declined an invitation to meet Obama with other Cole family and crew members and 9/11 families at the...

Glen Beck has taken Obama to task and slammed him for his behavior and stated Obama is going soft on terrorism. He is about to have the former Cole Commander on and the family of one of the murdered sailors about their meeting at the Whitehouse with Obama and his decision to drop all charges against the terrorist that murdered 17 U.S. Sailors.

More calm than I would be.

A top officer slammed Obama's decision to seek the withdrawal of charges against the 2000 suspected U.S.S. Cole ship bomber. The commanding officer of the U.S.S. Cole during the 2000 attack slammed President Barack Obama Friday for his decision to seek the withdrawal of charges against the suspected ship bomber and the president’s order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. “Personally, I am very disappointed he has gone forward with this,” said retired Cmdr. Kirk S. Lippold on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show. “But more important is the impact that has on the families who have waited for eight years for...

A military judge has refused the Obama administration's request to delay proceeding for 120 days in the case of a detainee held at the U.S. naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who is accused of planning the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole warship, an al-Qaeda strike that killed 17 service members and injured 50 others. The decision throws into some disarray the administration's plan to buy some time as it reviews individual detainee cases as part of its plan to close the prison. The Pentagon may now be forced to withdraw the charges against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a...

For more than six years, Jesse Nieto drove to work at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in a car that left no doubt about his views. "Islam = terrorism" asserted one sticker on the back window of his maroon Scion. Another decal showed a cartoon boy urinating on the image of a turban-wearing man. A third, paraphrased to eliminate a curse word, said, Disgrace my flag, and I will defecate on your Quran. His feelings stem from a personal tragedy: His son died in a terrorist attack on the Norfolk-based destroyer Cole in Yemen in 2000. In August, base officials told Nieto,...

Be bold, be bold, but not too bold, Mr. Fox in an old English fairy tale. US Rep. Tom Cole (OK), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), acknowledging that “a large segment of the American people doesn’t have confidence” in the GOP, urged his party’s candidates for Congress to put forth a bold agenda for change. In a telephone conference call with reporters today, he cited the example of presumptive GOP nominee John McCain for establishing his own identity and running substantially ahead of a generic Republican in opinion polls. Cole said voters like candidates “who are bold,...

After losing their third special election loss in recent weeks, Mike Allen says there are "whispers among some House Republicans" about trying to replace Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) with Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), "who was NRCC chairman from 1998 to 2002." In addition, Allen says House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) "also has to watch his back" since House conservatives are "especially restive." Cole, as Marc Ambinder notes, pushed the panic button last night "warning his incumbents and challengers: change or die."

A US warship, which was deployed off Lebanon in February amid concern over Beirut's political crisis, crossed Egypt's Suez Canal on Sunday on its way to the Mediterranean, an official with the canal authority told AFP. “The USS Cole has crossed the Suez Canal and is headed to the Mediterranean,” the official said, adding he did not know its exact destination. The United States sent the guided-missile destroyer to waters off the coast of Lebanon on February 28, in what US officials said was “a show of support for regional stability” amid concerns over Lebanon's protracted political crisis. US Secretary...

U.S. Frustrated By Elusive Justice Served to USS Cole Plotters May 04, 2008 It's been called "the forgotten attack" but it's one of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history. Eight years after the USS Cole was attacked by a motorboat packed with explosives, all of the six men convicted of the strike have escaped from prison, or been freed by Yemeni officials. Seventeen sailors were killed and 40 more wounded in the strike, blamed on Usama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Jamal al-Badawi, who helped organize the Cole plot, has reportedly escaped from Yemeni prisons twice. He is supposedly...

An American warship attacked by suspected suicide terrorists in the Gulf is embedded in a British flotilla that begins exercises with the Indian Navy off Goa from Monday. The 12-day exercise is the third in the series of the Konkan drills between the Royal Navy and its Indian counterpart. A French ship, the Surcouf, will also participate in the war game that involves the Royal Navy carrier strike group led by the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. The attack on the USS Cole on October 12, 2000, at the Yemen port of Aden by suspected al Qaida suicide bombers blew a...

The United States has sent the USS Cole warship to the coast of Lebanon in a "show of support" for regional stability, US officials said today. A senior Bush administration official said the US was concerned about the political deadlock in Lebanon, which Washington blames on Syrian interference. "The United States believes a show of support is important for regional stability. We are very concerned about the situation in Lebanon. It has dragged on very long," said the senior official, who spoke on condition anonymity. Lebanon's western-backed governing coalition and its Syrian- and Iranian-backed opposition have failed to reach a...

Juan Cole has written a embarrassing post which just proves to me that liberals are so invested in the defeat of our country that they will ignore reality and instead pawn off myths as some kind of facts, and facts as myths.  This time he lists the "top 10 myths" about Iraq.  Some of his doozies are that there really is no reconciliation going on in Iraq between the rival factions.  Of course this ignores recent studies that show a majority of Sunni's and Shia describing themselves as Iraqi's above all else and almost no one inside Iraq believe separating...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (AP) — The White House sharply criticized Yemen on Friday for releasing one of Al Qaeda’s masterminds of the bombing of the destroyer Cole in 2000 that killed 17 American sailors. Jamal al-Badawi, who is wanted by the F.B.I., was convicted in 2004 of plotting, preparing and helping to carry out the bombing of the Cole and received a death sentence that was commuted to 15 years in prison. - - - “The United States is dismayed and deeply disappointed in the government of Yemen’s decision not to imprison Badawi,” said Gordon D. Johndroe, a White House...

Yemen grants house arrest to Cole attack planner Reuters Yemen has commuted to house arrest the prison term of a mastermind of al Qaeda's 2000 bombing of a U.S. Navy vessel after he surrendered to Yemeni authorities, his relatives said on Friday. Relatives told Reuters they were allowed to visit Jamal Badawi at his home in the southern port city of Aden while under police surveillance. Details of the decision to release Badawi from prison were not known. But a Yemeni government official who asked not to be identified said the militant remained "under close scrutiny and control of the...

Anyway, I do think my judgment is superior to his [Juan Cole's] when it comes to the big picture. So, I have an idea: Since he doesn't want to debate anything except his own brilliance, let's make a bet. I predict that Iraq won't have a civil war, that it will have a viable constitution, and that a majority of Iraqis and Americans will, in two years time, agree that the war was worth it. I'll bet $1,000 (which I can hardly spare right now). This way neither of us can hide behind clever word play or CV reading. If...

But I freaking LOVE IT. And you will, too. The singer is Aussie star Beccy Cole and the song is in response to some of her (former) fans who have, as moonbats often do, taken extreme exception to her support of the Australian troops who are fighting in the Iraq war. Thanks to the readers who sent along the link, which was first posted at Blackfive.

I received this in an e-mail from a Dem who is obviously pretty worked up about the Clinton interview. I thought it was pretty instructive...it offers insight into their mindset... ARE REPUBLICANS THAT NAIVE THAT THEY WOULD RATHER BELIEVE THE WORDS OF THESE PEOPLE WHO HAVE CONSISTANTLY LIED TO, AND MISLEAD, US, THAN BELIEVE FACTUAL INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION? Then again I guess they are liars too. I know it's hard but, just try and think for YOURSELF. Do not be led around by your complete and utter lack of dignity. Chris Wallace asked Bill Clinton why he didn’t respond to...

Sen. Hillary Clinton has spoken up in support of her husband Bill’s defense of his anti-terror efforts, saying she’s tired of Democrats being pushed around on national security issues. "I just think that my husband did a great job in demonstrating that Democrats are not going to take this,” she said on Monday in remarks reported by Newsday. In a heated discussion with Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday,” Bill Clinton said that as president, he did more than many of his conservative critics to pursue al-Qaida, and alleged that President Bush didn’t try to stop terrorism in the eight...

Bloomberg cannot be posted to FR, so here is a link to the story:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aBZvrM76tIlk&refer=worldwide_news

<p>FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ON NOT CAPTURING BIN LADEN: 'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...</p>

Lopez: In sum, how many times did Bill Clinton lose bin Laden?Miniter: Here's a rundown. The Clinton administration:1. Did not follow-up on the attempted bombing of Aden marines in Yemen.2. Shut the CIA out of the 1993 WTC bombing investigation, hamstringing their effort to capture bin Laden.3. Had Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a key bin Laden lieutenant, slip through their fingers in Qatar.4. Did not militarily react to the al Qaeda bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.5. Did not accept the Sudanese offer to turn bin Laden.6. Did not follow-up on another offer from Sudan through a private back channel.7. Objected to...

The captain of the USS Cole, who saved his ship from sinking after an al-Qa'eda suicide attack by speedboat, has lashed out at senior Pentagon staff blocking his promotion because of allegations that he could have done more to protect the ship. Commander Kirk Lippold, who now serves behind a desk at the Pentagon, accused the head of the navy, Admiral Mike Mullen, and the navy secretary of "over-riding the judgment" of officers who had recommended his promotion. He complained he was the only officer being held to account for the attack in Aden harbour six years ago. The Cole...

Wouldn't it be WONDERFUL to see the USS Cole off the coast of Beruit providing protection for 25000 fleeing Americans? I think that'd send a knife-like message to UBL, and those who got so much pr from attacking it. It's in the area, and just did a port call in Greece a week or so ago. I think in the War on Terror it'd be a great reminder of the USS Cole incident and as the world media reported its presence. Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, MSNBC, CBS, NYT....they'd all be compelled to report its signifigance, the attack done on it,...

First, if there is a rebellion of any active duty General, this writer has not heard about it, but if one believes the media, Generals are in full-scale revolt. As Colonel Sherman T. Potter of MASH fame said, “horse pucky.” Of course there are disagreements, and should be. On the other hand, if there was an actual rebellion, “Houston, we have a problem.” Second, disagreement is the fire that refines arguments and thinking. The decibel level may vary, but in the end, after the arguments have been heard, active duty Generals have a UCMJ and Constitutional obligation to “keep silent.”...

General Anthony Zinni, recently retired Pentagon Chief for Middle East operations defended his original decision to use Aden as a refueling port and the desirability of bringing Yemen closer to American interests. General Zinni told the New York Times that several ship visits had been vetoed by the American Ambassador to Yemen, Barbara Bodine, who worried about the threat of terrorism.

Once on fast track to be captain, Kirk Lippold now works at a desk. Last in a two-part series. WASHINGTON -- For 5½ years, the Washington military and political establishment has not known quite what to do with Kirk Lippold. Cmdr. Lippold was the skipper of the USS Cole when al-Qaida terrorists committed a suicide bombing in the Yemen port of Aden on Oct. 12, 2000. The attack, from a small barge that pulled alongside the Cole, blew a 40-by-40-foot hole in the guided-missile destroyer. Seventeen sailors died and 42 were wounded. After he led an intense three-week effort to...

Reprinted from NewsMax.com Tuesday, April 18, 2006 12:09 p.m. EDTGen. Anthony Zinni: USS Cole Blunder Is My Fault Former CENTCOM Commander, Gen. Anthony Zinni - who has called for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign because of Rumsfeld's alleged incompetence in running the Iraq war - admitted six years ago that he made the disastrous decision to have the USS Cole use the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling, where the ship was blown up by al-Qaida terrorists. Worse still, at least one report indicates that Gen. Zinni may have played a role in an August 1998 leak that tipped...

Former CENTCOM Commander, Gen. Anthony Zinni - who has called for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign because of his alleged incompetence in running the Iraq war - admitted six years ago that he made the disastrous decision to have the U.S.S. Cole use the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling, where the ship was blown up by al Qaeda terrorists. Worse still, at least one report indicates that Gen. Zinni may have played a role in an August 1998 leak that tipped off Osama bin Laden to an impending U.S. cruise missile attack - allowing the top terrorist to...

I have a few thoughts for you in response to some letters of late. The voices now crying for the impeachment of Bush were silent during Waco, Elian Gonzales and the first World Trade Center attack, Ruby Ridge and the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole. Their favorite president presided over the the largest bubble burst in U.S. economic history (DOT.COM). China, India and Pakistan get nukes. The U.S. bombed Yugoslavia for weeks; hit the Chinese embassy and killed thousands of untold civilians. The U.S. did a lot of bombing from 30,000 feet because Clinton was afraid to lose one soldier....

Google has been asked to explain why the name of England and Arsenal soccer star Ashley Cole has been linked to the word gay in internet search results. The world's most popular search engine will be asked by the player's legal advisers to justify why typing his name on the site generates "see results for Ashley Cole gay". Mr Cole has brought a libel action against the News of the World and the Sun over allegations about Premiership players performing sexual acts on each other. Mr Cole's solicitor has initiated proceedings over the stories which prompted a flurry of internet...

Come on, if there's a problem in the world, you just knew that it had to be Bush's fault. A few Danish cartoonists poke mild fun at radical Islam's stereotypically violent response to anything and everything and the Muslims respond by acting, you guessed it -- stereotypically violent. Embassies are burned, people riot in the streets, and people are killed.And what else have we been treated to by radical Islam over the past few years? The 9/11 attacks, the attacks on American interests in the 1990s, beating and burning schoolgirls who aren't dressed in burqhas, suicide bombings, support of suicide...

Sanaa: A total of 13 men accused of bombing a US destroyer and a French oil tanker were among the 23 Al Qaida suspects who escaped from the intelligence prison after digging a tunnel to a neighbouring mosque, official sources said. "The fugitives dug a 70-metre-long tunnel from inside the prison to a neighbouring mosque from where they escaped to an unknown place," the state-run website, 26 sepnet, quoted an unidentified security official as saying. The official did not rule out that the escapees received help from people outside the prison. Fawaz Al Rabyee, the alleged main accused in the...

One of the things I like to do occasionally is to visit some political forums on the internet to see what people, other than those who are journalists or bloggers, are saying. Whenever I do, I am often amazed at the number of people who have greatly distorted ideas about the Muslim religion and about Muslim terrorism around the world. In my view, 1. Muslim terrorism is an extremely serious threat to all non-Muslims and to peaceful Muslims alike; 2. it has been happening, in greater or lesser dimensions, since the Middle Ages; 3. it has become much more serious...

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 13, 2005 – The sailors who died on board the USS Cole in a terrorist attack were remembered Oct. 12 at Arlington National Cemetery on the fifth anniversary of the attack. The White House Commission on Remembrance hosted the ceremony at the site where three of the guided missile destroyer's crewmembers are buried. As the Cole was refueling in the harbor of Aden, Yemen, a small craft approached the port side of the guided missile destroyer and exploded, blasting a 40-by-40-foot hole in the ship's side. The attack took the lives of 17 crewmembers and 39 others...