Free Republic

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq, Aug. 5, 2008 – Doctors from 41st Fires Brigade and El Salvador’s Cuscatlan Battalion brought medical care to citizens of the Zuwarijat district of Kut, Iraq, July 31. Salvadoran 1st Lt. Fernando Alfaro, of the Cuscatlan Battalion, treats an Iraqi policeman during a medical activity by American and Salvadoran doctors at the Jameer clinic in the Zuwarijat district of Kut, Iraq, July 31, 2008. About 200 patients received treatment, which focused on preventive medicine, during the event. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Daniel T. West, 41st Fires Brigade  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA — Salvadoran dignitaries and the American ambassador to El Salvador visited the Cuscatlan Battalion, rotation X, here to assess its mission and morale May 14 and 15. Division general and minister of national defense, Jorge Alberto Molina Contreras; chief of greater state assembly armed forces Eduardo Ernesto Mendoza Morales; and Ambassador Charles Glazer formed the official party for the visit. “This opportunity here is to be in contact with Coalition authorities to see the advancement of the … progress of the reconstruction of Iraq,” Contreras said. The primary tasks of this rotation have been reconstruction projects...

A wreath lays at the base of the Salvadoran Memorial Monument in honor of fallen Salvadoran soldiers during the “Day of the Salvadoran Soldier” ceremony May 7 at FOB Delta, Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Stacy Niles. FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA — The Salvadoran Cuscatlán Battalion, X rotation, celebrated the “Day of the Salvadoran Soldier,� here May 7. The day recognized the contributions of the Salvadoran soldiers for preserving the freedom of their country and the democratization of others. It also served to commemorate the 184th year of the Salvadoran armed forces.“We must remember our history,� said...

The Salvadoran Cuscatlán Battalion delivered $4 million in medical supplies to the al Kut Director General of Health Warehouse April 1. The supplies, donated by the International Red Cross, are for Iraqis affected by the recent upsurge in violence by criminals. The donated supplies will replenish what was used during the civil unrest in the city and will increase supplies on hand. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Stacy Niles. FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA — The Salvadoran Cuscatlán Battalion delivered $4 million in medical supplies to the al Kut Director General of Health Warehouse April 1.“It is very important...

Salvadoran Col. Walter M. Arevalo, commander of the Cuscatlan battalion X rotation, gives a bag of food supplies to a local Iraqi boy in a village near Shaikh Sa'ad, Iraq, on April 2. A total of 350 bags were distributed among the residents of a village near Shaikh Sa'ad and the village of al Sheeb, each containing a 15-day supply of food. Photo by Sgt. Carlos Lazo, 302nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment. AL KUT — Coalition forces distributed food supplies and wheelchairs in two villages around al Kut, April 2. Salvadoran Soldiers from the Cuscatlán battalion distributed 350 bags of...

Police suspected Darak Antonio Williams and Kashema Reddish knew more about the death of 3-year-old Kavannah Salvador than they were saying, but lacked sufficient evidence to detain the couple, authorities said Thursday. The slain child’s mother and live-in boyfriend walked out of Scranton police headquarters a week ago. Kavannah’s death has since been ruled a homicide, but police have been unable to locate the couple. “You can’t just hold people,” said Deputy District Attorney Michelle Olshefski. “At that point, it was a potential homicide. You’ve got to do an investigation. It’s not like TV, like ‘Law and Order,’ when you...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq, Feb. 26, 2008 – The tenth rotation of soldiers from El Salvador assumed responsibility of humanitarian efforts in Kut, Iraq, Feb. 22. A Salvadoran soldier salutes as the color guard of the ninth rotation of the Cuscatlan Battalion marches by during a transfer-of-authority ceremony at Forward Operating Base Delta, in Iraq, Feb. 22, 2008. The unit transferred authority and responsibility of humanitarian efforts in Kut, Iraq, to the Cuscatlan Battalion 10th Rotation. Photo by Staff Sgt. Carlos Lazo, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. During a transfer-of-authority ceremony at Forward Operating Base Delta,...

New Haven (WTNH) _ Veterans are outraged that a war memorial in New Haven has been vandalized. The Vietnam War Memorial at Long Wharf was spray painted with the threatening words "Kill whites MS 13." Seeing this just crushed the veterans we spoke to. The names on that wall that are covered in paint, are the names of those who fought and died for this country in the Vietnam War. Tonight, police are investigating whether this is the work of a violent street gang, but the veterans we spoke to, say whoever they are, aren't as tough as they might...

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Eight people died Sunday after a section of stands at a soccer stadium in northeastern Brazil collapsed as cheering fans jumped up and down at the end of a game, police said. At least nine people fell through a section of the highest bleachers at the Fonte Nova stadium in the coastal city of Salvador, and eight were killed, said Maj. Edmilson Tavares of the city's federal police. -snip-

A twice-deported Salvadoran immigrant was charged with strangling an acquaintance during a fight Sunday, Prince William County police said Wednesday. Christian Molina, also known as Jose Maximino Flores-Perales, 30, of 9011 Whispering Pine Court, Manassas, was charged with the murder of 51-year-old Ronald Dean Hollingsworth. The two men were at a mutual friend's house at 10625 Dumfries Road - a rundown house near a gas station by Old Dominion Speedway. The two had been drinking when they began to fight, Hernandez said. Molina then strangled Hollingsworth, police said. A third man, whose name was not released, was also at the...

Foreign policy often dominates U.S. immigration policy By Tim Funk and Danica Coto McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) CHARLOTTE, N.C. - In a national debate fixated on Mexicans sneaking across the border, there's been barely a peep about how arbitrary and political U.S. immigration law can be. Congress, the White House and U.S. immigration agencies have developed over the years a complex patchwork system that favors some groups and nationalities over others. Did you know that: 220,000 Salvadorans - many of them illegal immigrants now living in the Carolinas - can legally stay and work because the Bush administration has offered them...

SAN SALVADOR -- The convoy of Salvadoran troops was rumbling along a highway in southern Iraq when a bomb exploded under the first Humvee, slicing the driver's neck with shrapnel. As a medic scrambled to reach him, insurgents hiding nearby unleashed a torrent of small-arms fire. It was the soldiers' first taste of combat in Iraq. But for those who had fought in El Salvador's fierce civil war as teenagers two decades earlier, the skirmish near Diwaniyah last September felt uncomfortably familiar. Once again, they were crouching for cover against the deafening rat-a-tat-tat of AK-47 assault rifles. Once again, they...

"A report says government officials are reviewing a page from their old playbook to help deal with Iraqi guerrillas: sending special forces to train "death squads" to help install order."

I'm an active participant in wikipedia. Generally, it's a wonderful project that allows people to share their knowledge and find some more. There are, however, things that make me feel disappointed and disgusted. The biggest problem there is bias. As there are many leftists out there, they tend to show the history in a way that is favorable to them. Not only that they write the biased articles, where all achievements of Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan (RIP) or Augusto Pinochet are belittled, and the alleged "achievements" of the socialist and communist governments are applauded; some of them also do make...

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) - Salvadoran police have arrested the mother-in-law of a U.S. Teamster gunned down in El Salvador last month, along with five other suspects, describing the slaying as a contract killing that was the result of a family dispute. Jose Gilberto Soto, 49, a U.S. citizen of Salvadoran origin from Cliffside Park, N.J., was shot in the back on Nov. 5 outside his family's house in Usulutan, 70 miles southeast of San Salvador. Soto had arrived in El Salvador on Oct. 30 to meet with the country's trade union leaders and port drivers. Rosa Elba Ortiz,...

SAN SALVADOR (AFP) - An official with El Salvador's leading political opposition was angry at US Vice President Dick Cheney for comparing his country's civil war in the 1980s to the current situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. In his debate late Tuesday with Democratic contender John Edwards in Cleveland, Ohio, Cheney reacted to charges by his rival that violent insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan were making democratization difficult in those countries. "Twenty years ago we had a similar situation in El Salvador," said Cheney. "We had -- guerrilla insurgency controlled roughly a third of the country, 75,000 people dead, and...

5 wounded Salvadoran soldiers flown home. The rest will stay in Nayaf.Congressman Cass Ballenger spends time with Salvadoran soldiers Coalition troops honor Natividad Mendez, killed by an al Sadr shiite mobTaps for Salvadoran hero Flying into Iraq Cuscatlan Batallion of El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR, April 4 (Reuters) - El Salvador Defense Minister Juan Martinez on Sunday condemned what he called an "unjustified" attack on Salvadoran troops in Iraq which he said left one soldier dead and 12 wounded.. The violence in Kufa, near Najaf, began after protesting militiamen marched on a Spanish-run military base to denounce the arrest of an aide to a radical Shi'ite cleric and the closure by U.S. officials of a militant Baghdad newspaper. "Personnel of the Cuscatlan Battalion were unjustly attacked by armed groups attempting to enter the encampment," Martinez told a press conference. Martinez identified the dead...