Free Republic

[full title]:The Saddam interrogation: Ten years after the tyrant's execution, the CIA agent who grilled him reveals the shattering truth... that everything the US thought it knew was WRONG CIA analyst John Nixon grilled the ruthless dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein In the course of interrogations, Saddam 'turned our assumptions upside down' In his 2010 memoir, Bush wrote: ‘I decided I would not criticise the hardworking patriots of the CIA for the faulty intelligence on Iraq.’ But that is exactly what he did. He blamed the agency for everything that went wrong and called its analysis ‘guesswork’ while hearing only...

Turkey and Iran’s Dangerous Collision Course By ALI VAEZ DEC. 18, 2016 Today’s competition between Turkey and Iran is the latest iteration of an old power game: a struggle their progenitors, the Byzantine and Persian empires, started over the control of Mesopotamia ? today’s Iraq and Syria. While the rivalry outlived their transformation from empires to nation-states, they have managed to keep the peace between themselves for nearly 200 years. Yet Turkey and Iran are now on a collision course, mostly because of their involvement as the region’s major Sunni and Shiite powers in the deepening sectarian conflicts in Iraq...

Iraqi Christians are holding on to their faith in God as they plan to revive a town that was ravaged by the Islamic State. Around 60,000 people fled from the Christian town of Qaraqosh when ISIS took over the region in August 2014. Some of the Iraqi Christians are now seeing the devastation left by the terrorist group after the town was liberated by the Kurdish militia a few weeks ago. Sister Diana, a Dominican nun, recently paid a visit to the Immaculate Conception Cathedral and saw how the Islamic radicals desecrated the building. "This is considered the largest church...

QARAQOSH, Northern Iraq – On August 6, 2014, nearly 60,000 people fled the Christian town of Qaraqosh just hours before ISIS overran the area. A few weeks ago, the Kurdish military liberated the city, uncovering a trail of destruction and devastation left behind by the occupiers. CBN News joined Sister Diana, a Dominican nun, and her team who showed us what ISIS did to their city. We visited her home church, the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, first. "This is considered the largest church for us in the Middle East," Sister Diana said. "We do all our worship in here. I would...

A dam is on the verge of collapse and just a partial breach could create a wave 82ft high, experts have warned. The Mosul dam is slowly sinking, sparking fears that 7 million lives are at risk if it breaks. Even if just 26 per cent of the dam collapsed there would be floods on a catastrophic scale with the equivalent of 4,400 Olympic-sized swimming pools gushing down stream. It would hit Mosul at 82ft high 100 minutes after breaching the wall and then three and a half days later it would destroy Baghdad with a 26ft wave. Cities, towns,...

Paul D. Miller, associate director at the University of Texas-Austin’s Clements Center for National Security, spoke at the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation to discuss his book, American Power and Liberal Order: A Conservative Internationalist Grand Strategy. Americans, and historians in general, "overthink" and "overlearn" the past and apply those interpretations of history lessons to the present, he argued "The problem in trying to learn lessons from history… We have a tendency to overlearn from history and swing the pendulum too far in the other direction,” Miller said. Rand Paul, he avers, exemplifies this tendency. Similarly, President Obama, said Miller,...

At least 90 Iraqi soldiers have lost their lives when fighter jets from the United States Air Force (USAF) mistakenly struck their position in Mosul as government forces and allied fighters are trying to flush Daesh terrorists out of the strategic northern city. An Iraqi army source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Arabic service of Russia’s Sputnik news agency on Saturday that the airstrike had targeted soldiers from the 9th Armored Division of the Iraqi army the previous day, destroying eight infantry fighting vehicles as well as four Humvee military trucks. Some 100 soldiers were also wounded as...

In January 2014 President Obama referred to ISIS, one of the most vicious terror armies to ever exist, of being a "JV team." “The analogy we use around here sometimes,and I think is accurate, is if a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant,” Obama told the New Yorker at the time. After that comment the group marched from Syria to Iraq, taking large swaths of territory, pillaging and raping along the way and slaughtering thousands. Now with just a month left in his presidency, President Obama is saying he was surprised by the capability of...

Full Title: Everybody should read General John Kelly’s speech about two Marines in the path of a truck bomb Eight years ago, two Marines from two different walks of life who had literally just met were told to stand guard in front of their outpost’s entry-control point. Minutes later, they were staring down a big blue truck packed with explosives. With this particular shred of hell bearing down on them, they stood their ground. Heck, they even leaned in. I had heard the story many times, personally. But until today I had never heard Marine Lt. Gen. John Kelly’s telling...

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense called the 2003 invasion of Iraq a “mistake,” according to a recording obtained by The Intercept. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Mattis said, “we will probably look back on the invasion of Iraq as a mistake — as a strategic mistake.” Mattis was one of the Iraq campaign’s most important ground commanders. He led the 1st Marine Division during the invasion and later oversaw the bloody retaking of Fallujah from insurgents in 2004. As for the Pentagon’s view on the Iraq invasion at the time, Mattis said this: “I think people were pretty much...

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) issued a report on Monday responding to allegations by the US State Department that ranged from press violations to torture in the Kurdistan Region. The report by the KRG’s High Committee to Evaluate and Respond to International Reports comes after nearly a year of investigations that examined various points addressed in the 2015 US Department of State’s annual report on Human Rights Practices in Iraq, which also examined the rights situation in Kurdistan. Among other things, the US report contained allegations that the Peshmerga were systematically destroying Arab homes in towns...

Over 1,900 Iraqi security forces killed by ISIS as fight for Mosul rages ? December 3, 2016 ? Middle East & World Erbil ? At least 1,959 members of the Iraqi security forces have been killed since the launch of the anti-ISIS Mosul operation on 17 October, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). “The number of civilians killed in November was 926, and the number of civilians injured was 930. Fifty-two foreign civilians were killed and 31 injured in November,” UNAMI said. “A total of 1,959 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed, including police...

AN SAS sniper has picked off his 100th Islamic State militant during fighting for the Iraqi city of Mosul. The impressive tally makes him one of the most successful snipers in the British armed forces. His latest kill is said to be a “high valued target” in the terror group, which has put up fierce resistance as the US-backed coalition attempts to recapture Iraq’s second city from the extremists. . . . Taking his position outside a compound that was once a base for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the sharpshooter needed just a single bullet to punch through the...

But the announcement that Mr. Obama will deliver a speech to U.S. Special Forces to confirm the wisdom of his counterterrorism strategy looks like validation of an effort that is far from settled. . . . “This speech will be a final opportunity for him to discuss at length how he has effectively, durably, and successfully implemented reforms to keep us safe,” Mr. Earnest said. The preview strongly hinted that Mr. Obama will defend his counterterrorism strategy, which has been sharply criticized by President-elect Donald Trump and congressional Republicans, as the correct path forward for the incoming administration.

Jake Hamby has posted these photographs of a small shop manufactured .50 caliber single shot, scoped rifle.  It was captured from ISIS forces in Iraq. Many on the Internets are disparaging the rifle, characterizing it as a "face bomb" waiting to go off.  Several good views of the rifle are shown in the short Youtube montage below. Link to Youtube It is a mistake to judge a weapon by the exterior finish. Sure, the superb craftsmen at pre-1940 commercial Mauser, or Colt before 1970, are known for their excellent polish and bluing.  If you look at war production, you...

Two men are facing federal charges they tried to do a $1 million deal in Broward County that would have illegally sent anti-aircraft ammunition to Iraq and Sudan. Henri Shushan, 39, of Tamarac, and Venyamin Golynkin, 65, of Belarus, were arrested last week in Pompano Beach after an extensive undercover investigation by the FBI. Federal prosecutors said the men were involved in a plot to illegally export a total of 500,000 rounds of 23mm anti-aircraft ammunition, which is fired from a large cannon, to Sudan and Iraq. The U.S. bans export of defense items, including weapons and ammunition, to both...

At 2.00 A.M. on 2 August 1990, Iraqi Republican Guard soldiers, special forces, regular army troops, and air force units invaded Kuwait. Despite calls for Kuwaitis to rise up and “make the aggressors taste the chalice of death”, the invading forces swiftly overran the country’s defences. Within days, Saddam Hussein announced that the Emir of Kuwait had been deposed and Kuwait was now Iraq’s nineteenth province. Hussein’s motives went back to the Iraq-Iran war of 1980–88 in which he invaded Iran. Kuwait lent him US$ 14 billion to help finance the conflict, and Hussein became unhappy when Kuwait refused to...

Thousands of Mosul residents flee the city every day as the Iraqi army pushes farther into the city from the east. But despite suicide car bombs, airstrikes and the whizzing sound of bullets around them, when they emerge, one of the first things they ask for from the soldiers are cigarettes. For almost 2½ years, the Islamic State (IS) in Mosul projected an image that it was against the consumption of narcotics; in reality, however, it has reaped enormous funds from the trade. Ala Munir was at home one blistering day in July last year when four IS militants turned...

Obama is big on making up his own laws and rules. He rules by executive order and he's gotten into the truly illegal habit of unilaterally signing treaties with foreign governments. This is a very basic problem. And in the context of his deal to take in Muslim migrants rejected by Australia, he is being warned once again that his actions are grossly illegal and unconstitutional. ... We’re not even being told the total numbers who will shortly be making their way to our shores, but the Journal notes that two of the camps located on Naru and Manus Islands...

Iraq’s parliament on Saturday voted to accord full legal status to government-sanctioned Shiite militias as a “backup and reserve” force for the military and police and empower them to “deter” security and terror threats facing the country, like the Islamic State group. […] The Shiite militias, most of which are backed by neighboring Shiite Iran, have been bankrolled and equipped by the government since shortly after IS swept across much of northern and western Iraq in 2014. Many of these groups existed long before IS emerged, fighting American troops in major street battles during the U.S. military presence in Iraq...