Free Republic

GENEVA, October 16, 2009 -- Today's emergency UN Human Rights Council debate on the Goldstone Report predictably saw a line-up of the world's worst abusers condemn democratic Israel for human rights violations. In a heated lynch mob atmosphere, Kuwait slammed Israel for “intentional killing, intentional destruction of civilian objects, intentional scorched-earth policy,” saying Israel “embodied the Agatha Christie novel, 'Escaped with Murder'.” Pakistan said the “horrors of Israeli occupation continue to haunt the international community’s conscience.” The Arab League said, “We must condemn Israel and force Israel to accept international legitimacy." Ahmadinejad’s Iran said “the atrocities committed against Palestinians during...

The top US military commander in Afghanistan has denied that there is a rift with the White House over sending more troops to Afghanistan. Gen Stanley McChrystal recently submitted a bleak assessment of the war in which he warned of the danger of failure without adequate resources.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan warned President Barack Obama in a confidential report that the war against the Taliban could be lost within a year without more troops. In a grim assessment of the eight-year conflict leaked to the Washington Post and published Monday, General Stanley McChrystal said a new strategy was needed and warned that "inadequate resources will likely result in failure. "Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) -- while Afghan security capacity matures -- risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no...

A German commander who ordered an air strike on fuel tankers that killed dozens of Afghans used intelligence from a single observer in a possible breach of tactical rules. An American warplane dropped 500lb bombs on the tankers after they were hijacked by Taliban militants and then became stuck in a river. Reports suggested dozens of civilians could have been burned alive alongside the militants as villagers crowded round the lorries to collect fuel before the bombs struck in northern Kunduz province. The Washington Post reported grainy live video footage seen by the officer from the F15 jet had not...

(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.

FORT JACKSON, S.C., Aug. 4, 2009 – Army Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa King of the 369th Adjutant General Battalion has been selected the next commandant of the U.S. Army Drill Sergeant School. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa King will become the first female commandant of the Army’s Drill Sergeant School in September. U.S. Army photo by Crystal Lewis Brown  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. When she assumes responsibility in September, the ceremony not only will be commemorating a new school leader, but also the school’s first female commandant. King, who learned of the selection in June, will replace Army...

When asked how they feel about President-elect Barack Obama as commander in chief, six out of 10 active-duty service members say they are uncertain or pessimistic, according to a Military Times survey. In follow-up interviews, respondents expressed concerns about Obama's lack of military service and experience leading men and women in uniform. ''Being that the Marine Corps can be sent anywhere in the world with the snap of his fingers, nobody has confidence in this guy as commander in chief," said one lance corporal who asked not to be identified. Underlying much of the uncertainty is Obama's stated 16-month timetable...

KAILUA, Hawaii – He’s not the commander in chief yet, but was President-elect Barack Obama briefly practicing his salute on Sunday? On the first morning of his vacation here, Mr. Obama arrived at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii for his daily workout. As he walked out of the Semper Fit Center, his gray T-shirt soaked in sweat, he lifted his right hand and gave a quick salute to two Marines in fatigues who were standing in the distance. The brief moment was not captured by cameras. Photographs and video were not permitted to be taken on the military base, according...

That is why I am thankful above all that the next U.S. commander in chief is a constitutional lawyer. Nothing has been more damaging to the United States than the violation of the legal principles at the heart of the American idea.

ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe Reports: Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., blew into the Buckeye State Friday afternoon, four days before Election Day, blasting Republican attacks against Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and declaring that come Tuesday, Obama's critics will be calling him the next commander-in-chief. "Ladies and gentlemen, we need to move past the politics of division and attack," the Democratic vice-presidential nominee told a crowd of 2000 in Kettering. "Over the past week, Republicans have gone way over the top in my view, calling Barack Obama every name in the book, and it probably will get worse in the next three...

<p>SAN DIEGO - The commander of a Navy air reconnaissance squadron that provides the president and the defense secretary the airborne ability to command the nation's nuclear weapons has been relieved of duty, the Navy said Tuesday.</p> <p>Cmdr. Shawn Bentley was relieved of duty Monday by the Navy for loss of confidence in his ability to command, only three months after taking the job.</p>

Security progress in Basra is “overwhelming” and Iraq’s second-largest city could be “another Dubai in the coming decade,” the commander of Multi-National Division - Southeast said July 14, referring to the bustling international business hub. British Army Maj. Gen. Barney White-Spunner told Pentagon reporters via teleconference from Baghdad that Operation Charge of the Knights - ordered by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in March - has “well and truly” turned the tide in the city. Before the operation, militias controlled large parts of the city. Militia leaders, many under control of Iran, intimidated the populace and turned the city into...

MADRID (AFP) - Spanish police said Saturday they had arrested a 57-year-old Spanish woman they claim is the leader of the Spanish cell of Colombian Marxist rebel group FARC. Maria Remedios Garcia Albert was arrested at her home in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, northeast of Madrid, they said. The interior ministry said Garcia Albert had provided logistical support for FARC and had direct contacts with Raul Reyes, the FARC number two who was killed by Colombian troops inside Ecuador earlier this year. Analysis of Reyes' computer passed on to Spanish investigators by Colombian authorities had led...

Stone took over a military detention system in April 2007 that was known mainly by the legacy of abuse at Abu Ghraib, the notorious prison west of Baghdad that was given back to the Iraqis in 2006. The detention facilities had become a breeding ground for extremism, hardening the radical beliefs of those held, U.S. officials have acknowledged. But under Stone, the military’s new focus on counter-insurgency operations was brought to the detention system, said Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. "[Stone] revolutionized the way we perform detainee operations in Iraq,""Petraeus said. Calling Stone a man of...

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia's defense minister said security forces killed a leading commander of the FARC rebel group on Saturday. The commander known as "Raul Reyes" was also the leftist rebels' official spokesman, Juan Manuel Santos said a news conference. He was killed in the southern province of Putumayo, a long-time guerrilla stronghold near the border with Ecuador. It was by far the most severe blow to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia since hardline President Alvaro Uribe took office in 2002. A total of 17 rebels and one soldier were killed in the fighting. As well as writing the...

HABBANIYAH, IRAQ (Feb. 12, 2008) -- If there is one unit in 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, that observes their unit’s 200 square kilometer area of operation (AO) on a daily basis, it is the battalion commander’s personal security detachment (PSD). PSD provides transportation and security for the commander as he travels throughout the AO and to other key areas in the battle space, said Sgt. Jason S. Hubbard, PSD platoon commander. “Basically, we take the commander wherever he needs to go and provide security to make sure he is safe at all times,” said the...

CAIRO, Egypt - One al-Qaida's top commanders in Afghanistan, Abu Laith al-Libi was killed in Afghanistan, a Web site used by militant groups said Thursday. Al-Libi was a key link between the Taliban and al-Qaida. He led and al-Qaida training camp and appeared in a number of Internet videos. The U.S. says he was likely behind the February 2007 bombing at the U.S. base at Bagram in Afghanistan during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney. The attack killed 23 people. While the claim could not be verified independently, the announcement of his death appeared as a banner in a...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A key Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan has been dismissed for disobeying the militant group's rules, a Taliban spokesman said Saturday. Mansoor Dadullah was "disobeying orders" and conducting activities "against the Taliban's rules and regulations," said Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid. He did not provide any details. "For this reason Mullah Mansoor Dadullah is no longer in the Taliban and no longer a Taliban commander," Mujahid said in a statement he attributed to Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Dadullah rose in the militia's ranks as a key commander in southern Afghanistan after his brother, Mullah Dadullah, was killed during...

WASHINGTON – President Bush's top Iraq war commander said Sunday that as far as he knows, his command performances now and in the future will be strictly military, not political. In fact, Army Gen. David Petraeus cited the words of Civil War-era Gen. William T. Sherman in declaring he has no interest in shedding his uniform and running for the White House, as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower did 55 years ago. “None,” Petraeus replied, when asked on “Fox News Sunday” if he had an interest in running. “I have great respect for those who do choose to serve our country...

BAGHDAD - The top U.S. commander in northern Iraq warned Wednesday that al-Qaida in Iraq was still capable of staging spectacular attacks despite a 50 percent drop in bombings and other violence in his region. Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling said that al-Qaida in Iraq was being pushed north by the increased numbers of U.S. troops that surged into Baghdad over the summer and fall, and from Anbar province by "awakening councils" — the groups of Iraqi Sunni tribesmen that the U.S. military has backed to help fight al-Qaida in Iraq and its allies. "Many of them have transited...