Free Republic

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his aides swear the Syrian “rebels” he was pictured last year with weren’t ISIS members or supporters, and the mainstream media is by and large buying the 2008 GOP presidential nominee’s story. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has endured brutal criticism—media fact checkers, reporters, and political figures have shredded him—for questioning just who McCain posed with. But a closer look at the situation tells perhaps a different story than McCain’s office or the mainstream media have pushed. The criticism of McCain centers around how the Arizona senator met with Syrian rebel leaders in May 2013 when...

The US Government hit out on Friday at a highly-critical report in a German newspaper claiming the country had become the “headquarters” for America’s “secret wars”. The Süddeutsche newspaper published an investigation in its Friday edition into America’s foreign policy and wars being conducted from German soil. It claimed: “The U.S. knows no limits. And Germany looks on—even asking where it can help.” But on Friday afternoon, the US Embassy’s press department in Berlin took the unusual step of sending out a statement attacking the “outrageous” claims. It described the story as “full of half-truths, speculation, and innuendo”. …

The U.S. military is preparing to conduct military and special operations training for Libya’s military and the training will risk including Islamist terrorists among the trainees, according to the commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command.Adm. William McRaven, the commander who helped lead the covert raid to kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said in a brief interview Saturday that the counterterrorism training operation has not begun. “We’re in the early stages,” he told the Free Beacon.McRaven said a major gun battle erupted in Tripoli last week among opposing militias, a sign of instability in the North African country....

A top U.S. official said on Sunday that Washington has given $100 million in aid to Jordan to help host tens of thousands of Syrians who have fled the unrest back home and taken refuge in the kingdom. U.S. ambassador to Jordan, E. Jones, said that the U.S. aid will also help Jordan meet its growing energy needs in light of the repeated cut-offs occurring from unstable gas supplies from Egypt. He said the aid will address “the strains on the national budget as a result of the repeated disruption of the Egyptian natural gas, and especially the added cost...