Free Republic

Justice Clarence Thomas correctly wrote in his concurrence to the 2007 abortion case of Gonzalez v. Carhart, "I write separately to reiterate my view that the Court’s abortion jurisprudence, including [Planned Parenthood] v. Casey and Roe v. Wade, has no basis in the Constitution." The American people need to realize how absolutely clear this really is. In fact, they need to recognize that doing nothing more than just looking to Supreme Court precedent alone is enough in and of itself to demonstrate this point all to well. Gonazelez v. Carhart, and the line of abortion cases leading to it, proves...

Before you read this, I request you check these songs and listen to EVERY SINGLE WORD. They will help you to understand what I’m speaking about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2gAi6xAxSA&list=FLNsrZy-L0vl7Eg2hdz7VEiw&index=336&feature=plpp_video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWrMeBR8W-c&ob=av2e Now read these links: http://floppingaces.net/2010/06/21/obamas-rules-of-engagement-in-afghanistan-will-ensure-we-lose/ http://www.captainsjournal.com/2011/07/13/british-soldiers-told-not-to-shoot-ied-emplacers/ http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/09/08/75036/were-pinned-down-4-us-marines.html http://www.theusreport.com/the-us-report/2010/11/11/in-afghanistan-us-fights-taliban-and-military-roe.html I want the reader to ask themselves how the daughter of a soldier must feel when she learns that her father died because his unit was denied support for fear of civilian casualties, or how the wife of a soldier would feel to learn that her husband died because he wasn’t permitted to kill the person who planted the IED that killed him. What...

They are instead being ordered to just observe insurgents and record their position to reduce the risk of civilian casualties. The controversial policy emerged at an inquest into the death of Sgt Peter Rayner, 34, a soldier from the 2nd Batallion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment who was killed in October last year by an improvised explosive device as he led a patrol in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Wendy Rayner, 40, disclosed that in the days leading up to his death her husband been told that it was not his job to attack insurgents laying bombs.

Listening to Col David Hunt (Retired) on Fox right now explaining how the rules of engagement did not permit the Americans the Afghan pilot killed to have loaded weapons on base. The angry pilot simply shot them execution style after he left the meeting and retrieved a loaded firearm from his office. Have any of you heard this before? I am outraged. How do you fight a war with one hand tied behind your back?

I first learned of John Bernard through Diana West (“ROE Are Merely Symptom of ‘Hearts and Minds’”) and the Stars and Stripes blog entry, “Photo of dying Marine forces a difficult decision.” Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan murdered Mr. Bernard’s son, Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard. Media outlets ignored his wishes and the wishes of the Department of Defense by running a photograph of his son as he lay dying from his wounds. This initially outraged me but because our nation bombards us with insult after insult, my outrage has subsided and now I simply keep this action in mind as the...

Obama Celebrates Abortion on 38th Roe Anniversary On the 38th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton Supreme Court decisions that allowed virtually unlimited abortion, President Barack Obama released a statement celebrating them, despite the 53 million abortions taking place since then. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/01/23/obama-celebrates-abortion-on-38th-roe-anniversary/

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is marking the 38th anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark decision on abortion by calling the procedure a constitutional right he's committed to protecting...

Today, January 13th, marks the thirty-eighth anniversary of the the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in the case of Roe v. Wade. And despite of the media's attempt to elevate the anniversary date to red-letter status, the country is still sharply divided over the Court's decision. In fact, the number one question looming over any nominee to sit on the Supreme Court, well, any nominee by a Republican administration, is "how will they rule regarding Roe v. Wade?" So, did the Court rule judiciously in regards to the Constitution, or expeditiously in regards to an agenda? Let's go back and take...

http://icasualties.org/oef/

"We are pinned down. We are running low on ammo. We have no air. We've lost today," Marine Maj. Kevin Williams told his Afghan translator as Afghan soldiers repeatedly asked for helicopter support. American military trainers and the Afghan soldiers they were working with had been pinned down by intense machine gun, rocket-propelled grenade, and mortar fire for several hours, and the artillery support they had been promised was being withheld by commanders at a nearby forward operating base. The combined force of 60 Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers, 20 Afghan border police, and 13 U.S. trainers set out before...

(h/t Gateway Pundit) The utter hypocrisy in our media and on the left is on display with the above graph. The United States has now lost more military men and women in Afghanistan under President Obama than during 8 years of the Bush Administration. We couldn't go a day without frontpage headlines emblazoned across every paper and on every nightly newscast about the death toll in Iraq. Each new report vilifying Bush. Now? Not so much blame for our current President. Hmmmmm, I wonder why? Say Anything: A couple of years ago, every casualty in Iraq was front page news....

Some families of service members killed in the war say the rules of engagement protect Afghan civilians at the expense of American troops. U.S. combat tolls have peaked this summer. Bill and Beverly Osborn still can't bring themselves to erase the phone message from their son Ben. He had called from Afghanistan in June to assure them that he was safe. Four days later, he was killed in a Taliban ambush. The Osborns long ago accepted the risks faced by their son, an Army specialist. But what they can't accept now are the military rules of engagement, which they contend...

The servicemen say that the strict rules put them in greater danger, even as they aim to avoid civilian casualties.

WASHINGTON -- Afghanistan commander Army Gen. David Petraeus has renewed orders to American troops to refrain from calling in artillery or air power when battling Taliban forces unless they're certain that no civilians are present. The Aug. 1 order, Petraeus' first since he assumed command early this summer from ousted Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, was an effort to fine-tune a McChrystal directive that had angered some U.S. troops, who said the restrictions on the use of artillery and air power exposed them to greater danger. Petraeus' order, unclassified portions of which were released Wednesday, seemed unlikely to mollify that complaint,...

Washington, D.C. — It was the speediest nomination, Senate confirmation hearing and vote to affirm a presidential appointment since President Obama moved into the White House. Shortly after noon on June 30, just seven days after he was named to replace General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. Senate voted 99-0 to appoint General David Petraeus as the next commander of the International Security Assistance Force (COM-ISAF) in Afghanistan. He faces extraordinary challenges. Unfortunately, the O-Team isn't likely to make a tough job any easier. General Petraeus takes command in the midst of an increasingly difficult and bloody campaign. U.S. and NATO...

The US Report was one in a minority of voices in the political blogosphere months ago when we raised the issue of the Rules of Engagement for US forces, partly in response to reading milblogs as well as following dispatches filed by war correspondent Michael Yon. And Congress, at least, appears to be mindful. Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) issued a statement on Friday after sending a letter to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (MO-4) and Ranking Member Howard “Buck” McKeon (CA-25). Jones’ statement said he is “requesting a Full Committee classified hearing on Rules of Engagement and Tactical...

Fox News, outgoing Afghan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s least favorite news channel (he banned it from the televisions in his HQ), reports that one of the first moves of incoming Afghan commander Gen. David Petraeus will be to loosen the controversial rules of engagement in Afghanistan to allow more artillery and air strikes. Troops in Afghanistan complain they’re fighting with one hand tied behind their back because of the various “directives” issued by McChrystal restricting the use of indirect fires in an effort to curtail civilian casualties. Not so fast, reports Leo Shane with Stars and Stripes, who asked Petraeus’...

If finding Obama "not engaged," as Gen. McChrystal did, is now a firing offense, who among us is safe? What do Gen. McChrystal and British Petroleum have in common? Aside from the fact that they're both Democratic Party supporters. Or they were. Stanley McChrystal is a liberal who voted for Obama and banned Fox News from his HQ TV. Which may at least partly explain how he became the first U.S. general to be lost in combat while giving an interview to Rolling Stone: They'll be studying that one in war colleges around the world for decades. The management of...

General Petraeus has announced he will "adjust" or "modify" the Rules of Engagement governing the war in Afghanistan.

When enemy action kills our troops, it's unfortu nate. When our own moral fecklessness murders those in uniform, it's unforgivable. In Afghanistan, our leaders are complicit in the death of each soldier, Marine or Navy corpsman who falls because politically correct rules of engagement shield our enemies. Mission-focused, but morally oblivious, Gen. Stan McChrystal conformed to the Obama Way of War by imposing rules of engagement that could have been concocted by Code Pink: * Unless our troops in combat are absolutely certain that no civilians are present, they're denied artillery or air support. * If any civilians appear where...