Free Republic

Times, they are a’ changing... The moonbats continued “protesting” in Portland Oregon, today; blocking traffic and generally causing mayhem. Only this time the police had enough and begin enforcing the rule of law.

Via Breitbart, another dim attempt by the White House to keep this new Iraq intervention in Americans’ rhetorical comfort zone. “Wars” are long, involve vast numbers of fighters on both sides, and absorb much blood and treasure; our “victories” in war lately tend to be unsatisfying and ephemeral too. “Counterterrorism,” though, is lightning fast, typically involves a small number of military assets, and is usually decisive. (It also conveniently doesn’t require a new AUMF.) The Bin Laden raid is the supreme example. By the White House’s own reckoning, rolling back ISIS will take three years at least, already involves a...

The United States sent two nuclear-capable stealth bombers on a practice run over South Korea on Thursday, just a day after North Korea’s dictatorship warned that war could break out “at any moment.” The military’s unusual confirmation of the training run—in which munitions were dropped on a South Korean island—was seen as a warning to Pyongyang that the United States will stand behind its ally despite increased saber-rattling from the North’s young leader Kim Jong Un. … Tensions with the North have been rising since Pyongyang’s third nuclear test in February. Kim’s regime has warned of pre-emptive strikes at Washington...

Perhaps George W Bush's most significant failure as president was not convincing enough Americans that the war on terror was a real war. From the vantage point of most Americans it had -- and still does have -- the look and feel of a police action, something far less. A bit like the "phony war" for Brits in 1939-1940, right up until the Battle of Britain and for Americans until Pearl Harbor. Without most Americans convinced that it is a real war, the ruthless tactics necessary to wage a real war will never be fully accepted either morally or even...

2008 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who says she was misled into voting for military intervention in Iraq, now wants the U.S. Air Force to lead an international coalition to stop the genocide in Darfur. Mrs. Clinton, whose husband did nothing to stop the 1994 Rwandan genocide, sent a letter to Bush on Thursday where she urges:

Kerry: 'We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance'...

The special rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Asma Jahangir, has expressed deep concern at the many deaths in Thailand's war on drugs. Ms Jahangir has urged Thai authorities to ensure law enforcement and security officials carry out their duties in strict compliance with national and international human rights, and in particular that ``the strict limits on the use of lethal force, as stipulated under the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law-enforcement Officials, are followed rigorously and without exception''. She also called on authorities to...