Free Republic

Libya staged a lavish spectacle Tuesday, parading white-robed horsemen and gold-turbaned dancers as jets streaked overhead to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Moammar Gadhafi to power in the oil-rich nation. The four-day festivities were designed to highlight the volatile leader's acceptance on the world stage, but were overshadowed by new controversies about the recent return of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland. While African leaders held a summit to coincide with the celebrations, most Western leaders stayed away. Libya's decision to include a...

Over ferocious American objections, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie jet bombing, flew home to a jubilant welcome in Libya on Thursday night after the Scottish government ordered his release on compassionate grounds. Mr. Megrahi,57, a former Libyan intelligence agent, had served 8 years of a 27-year minimum sentence on charges of murdering 270people in Britain’s worst terrorist episode. Widely forecast in British news reports over the past week, his release angered many Americans whose relatives died in the bombing, leaving them to confront anew the agony and anguish of loss and to question...

Looking at the video, you'd think it was someone who had just won 5 gold medals in the Olympics getting off the plane, sadly this SOB is responsible for killing 270 people in 1988...

Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi has lashed out at the United States by likening the 1986 U.S. Strikes on Libya to Osama bin Laden's terror attacks on the United States in 2001. He was speaking Thursday in Rome, where he is on a three-day official visit. In a speech to Italian lawmakers, Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi urged the world to understand the reasons that motivate terrorists. He called for dialogue with terrorists, saying, "One must talk to the devil, if it brings about a solution." While condemning al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden, he implied there was little difference between bin Laden's...

Libya’s sudden decision to end its years in the international wilderness and embrace the West has abruptly transformed one of the world’s most isolated countries. Iason Athanasiadis reports from a nation in flux There is something of the pasha in Khalifa Mahdaoui, a descendant of one of Libya’s most influential tribes. It is not just the red fez perched on his head as he ambles in his suit and tie from his ground-floor office to the trellised porch outside, lights a menthol cigarette and takes a sip from the dainty cup of Turkish coffee delivered by an aide.The impression is...

BOOK REVIEW The Mother of Mohammed by Sally Neighbour Reviewed by David Wilson What drives a blonde Australian beach bunny to go on jihad? That extraordinary question serves as the premise for one of the most absorbing non-fiction titles to surface this year. The Mother of Mohammed (MUP) by Australian journalist Sally Neighbour, 48, digs into the background of the beach bunny in question, Rabiah - born Robyn - Hutchinson, with flair, wit and candor. This book pulls no punches. "She was a scrawny, pale-skinned runt, with a shock of frizzy white-blonde hair and an eye-patch she wore from the...

Law Of The Sea: The U.S. seeks U.N. authorization to fight Somali pirates from the air, on land and at sea. When American cruise ships become targets, maybe it's time to renew a proud tradition: Send in the Marines.On Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice formally presented to a special U.N. session on Somalia a draft Security Council resolution saying that member states fighting against piracy "may take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia, including its airspace, to interdict those who are using Somali territory to plan, facilitate or undertake acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea and to...

TRIPOLI // Abu Ahmad looks around his deserted machine shop in the impoverished Tripoli neighbourhood of Beb al Tibani and blames last summer’s sectarian violence between the Sunni and Allawite sects for the poor business. “A year later and we have seen our business fall almost 90 per cent because of the fighting last summer,” he said. “We see those incidents as a mistake and so do many of the Allawite up the mountain, for they lost their jobs as well.” Abu Ahmad admits that he is no innocent victim of last year’s fighting, which killed dozens of people in...

[...] Almost 180 years ago our infant country attacked Tripoli under circumstances that are eerily similar to contemporary times. That conflict, immortalized in the Marine Corps Hymn, "From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli" called the Tripolitan War or the Barbary Pirate War, came shortly after we gained our independence from England. The United States chose to fight the pirates of Barbary, rather than pay tribute, as did all the other nations who traded in the Mediterranean Sea. The decision was bold, but the eventual victory by the tiny United States Navy broke a pattern of international...

The Wars of the Barbary PiratesEssential Histories #66Osprey Introduction Most Americans are unaware that, as a young republic, their nation fought a war with the Barbary pirates, the North African corsairs who plied the waters of the Mediterranean at the turn of the 19th century in search of ships to loot and men to enslave. This is perhaps not surprising, for the wars were conducted on a small scale, over a short period of time, and at a considerable distance from American shores. They were, moreover, the product of one of the most inglorious – even degrading – episodes in...

Roadside bomb kills at least 18 in Lebanon It was the worst attack on the army since last summer, when it fought a 16-week battle with al- Qaeda-inspired militant group Fatah al-Islam, losing 170 soldiers. The gunmen, of Lebanese, Palestinian and other Arab nationalities, were holed up in the Nahr El-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, just north of Tripoli. Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker al-Abssi and other fighters slipped away during the battle and remain on the loose.

Bomb in northern Lebanese city kills 18 TRIPOLI, Lebanon - A bomb ripped through a bus carrying civilians and members of the Lebanese military during Wednesday morning rush hour in the northern city of Tripoli, killing 18 people and wounding 46, security officials said. The officials said the dead included 10 off-duty soldiers, from a bomb planted on the side of a main street that detonated as the bus passed. The streets were filled with people heading to work, which contributed to the many casualties, the officials said.

Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

Lebanese security officials said a bomb has exploded on a busy street in the northern city of Tripoli, killing at least three people and wounding many. The officials said the target was a military bus in the central Nour Square. They said Wednesday's explosion happened as the streets were filled with people heading to work, causing many injuries. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity for not being authorized to speak to the media. Tripoli has witnessed sectarian clashes in the past weeks that killed and wounded dozens of people. The city is also close to the Palestinian refugee camp...

Lebanon proposes to rebuild Nahr al-Bared, the Palestinian city-camp near Tripoli pulverised in a long siege last year in an attempt to kill Sunni militants holed up there. The new, as yet only imagined, town is intended to preserve the memories of the old, yet return the area to the control of Lebanon.

The Marine Hymn should remind us that America has a problem with Islam that dates back to the founding of our nation. Before that, Britain, as our “Mother Country”, dealt with the problem of Islamic state sponsored piracy. Either you paid tribute to the Barbary States or they raided and seized your ships and sailors. You could consider the tribute that was paid the maritime version of the jizya, the tax infidels pay to not be molested by Muslims. The Tripolitan ambassador to London made it clear in a conversation with Thomas Jefferson and John Adams that as Muslims, they...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Pro-government Sunni Muslim gunmen and militiamen loyal to Lebanon's Iranian-backed Shi'ite Hezbollah battled with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades in the northern city of Tripoli on Monday. The violence, which broke out when Hezbollah gunmen fought pro-government forces in Beirut last week, is the worst since the end of the 1975-90 civil war in 1990. Security sources said six people were wounded when Sunni government supporters in Tripoli's Bab Tebbaneh district exchanged machine gun and grenade fire with Alawite militiamen allied to Hezbollah in the nearby Jebel Mohsen area. The fighting later gave way to the occasional...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Heavy fighting broke out Monday between government supporters and opponents in Lebanon's second-largest city, where the two sides battled with rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and mortars, security officials and residents said. Residents said they heard strong explosions reverberating through Tripoli. At least six people were wounded, security officials said. The fighting had stopped Sunday morning after Lebanese troops deployed between the two sides, then flared again Monday after soldiers pulled back when the situation calmed. The fresh clashes erupted when pro-government forces thought opponents gathering for a funeral in a nearby neighborhood were preparing a new...

Beirut - A recent electronic mail leaked by Egypt unveils U.S. readiness to launch wide-scale military offensive against Syria if the Assad regime sticks to its policy towards Lebanon, Germany's DPA news agency reported. DPA on Friday quoted reliable sources as saying "the e-mail leaked a few days ago by Egypt to Syria reveals that the U.S. is ready to launch a wide-scale military offensive against Syria if (Damascus) holds onto its current position towards the Lebanese crisis." "This is the main reason behind (the deployment of) the (USS Cole) destroyer off the Lebanese and Syrian coasts," the sources added....

A senior Lebanese Shia cleric has said that the new US move to deploy a US warship off the Lebanese coast amounts to a declaration of war. Seyyed Mohammed Hossein Fadlallah said, “The deployment of the USS Cole to the area is no less than a declaration of war and a new attempt to break the resistance and anti-American groups in the region.” No doubt, Democrats will claim that Bush is sabre rattling, and that if he had just left the USS Cole farther out in the Med, then anti-American Islamic groups wouldn’t be anti-American (ignoring that fact that they...

MOHAMMARA, Lebanon - The last militant stronghold of a Palestinian refugee camp devastated by more than three months of fighting between Islamic fighters and Lebanese soldiers fell to the army on Sunday, security officials said. Hours after the army killed 32 militants and captured at least 15 others as they tried to break out of the Nahr el-Bared camp, only occasional gunfire could be heard inside. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the last stronghold of Fatah Islam militants fell later in the day to the army, which captured five wounded militants in their hideout. Celebratory gunfire erupted...

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (Reuters) - Two Lebanese soldiers and four al Qaeda-inspired militants were killed on Wednesday in pitched battles at a Palestinian refugee camp, taking the death toll from nearly 12 weeks of fighting to 267. Security sources said the men were killed in overnight and morning clashes at Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon during which artillery, rockets, grenades and machine guns were used. Troops made some advances inside, seizing a number of buildings, they said. The military control a large part of the camp and its vicinity, home to 40,000 refugees before the fighting, but Fatah al-Islam...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Police have killed the deputy commander of al-Qaida inspired militants entrenched in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, the government said Monday. Abu Hureira was killed a few days ago by police in the northern port city of Tripoli, near the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp where Fatah Islam militants have been fighting Lebanese soldiers for more than two months, said Information Minister Ghazi Aridi. "Cabinet was informed by Interior Minister Hassan Sabei that Lebanese security forces have killed the Fatah Islam's No. 2 in the Abu Samra neighborhood" in Tripoli, Aridi told reporters following a Cabinet...

For the past three months, a Palestinian refugee camp in the Middle East has been under attack, resulting in the death of hundreds of people and the displacement of nearly half of the camp’s 40,000 residents. Yet the United Nations Security Council has not held an emergency session to condemn the attack. Nor have the governments of France and Britain issued statements condemning the “atrocities” against the Palestinian refugees in the Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon. For those who may wonder why there is no public outcry, the answer is simple. The army that is attacking the camp with...

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (Reuters) - Al Qaeda-inspired militants killed six Lebanese soldiers on Thursday in fierce battles at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon, security sources said. They said 22 soldiers were wounded, three seriously, in fighting at the Nahr al-Bared camp which began in the early morning after Fatah al-Islam snipers shot dead two soldiers, prompting Lebanese troops to unleash artillery barrages. The army and Fatah al-Islam militants have been fighting at the coastal camp for nearly eight weeks. At least 212 people have been killed, making it Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. Security...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese troops raided an Islamic militant hideout in a hillside cave and killed six fighters Thursday as violence spread from a Palestinian refugee camp where the military has been battling an al-Qaida-inspired group. The dawn gunbattle — a 20-minute drive from the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian camp by the northern port city of Tripoli — showed the Fatah Islam militants may have found allies among some of the region's Sunnis, ready to provide or point out hiding places. The fighting at Nahr el-Bared has become the worst internal violence since Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, and is believed to...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Some 300 Islamic militants have been killed or wounded in the monthlong battle with Lebanese troops in a Palestinian refugee camp, leaving only a few dozen fighters still hiding in the besieged camp, Defense Minister Elias Murr said Tuesday. In an interview with the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television, Murr said the Lebanese army has cornered the remaining members of the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah Islam group in a small section of the Nahr el-Bared camp, located near the northern port city of Tripoli. The military now controls 80 percent of the camp, the minister said. The army has captured about...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon's defense minister declared victory Thursday over the Fatah Islam militant group, saying it had been crushed after a monthlong military assault on its stronghold in a northern refugee camp and only mopping up remained. A Muslim cleric who has been acting as a mediator said later that Fatah Islam agreed to stop firing, and calm descended over the Nahr el-Bared camp outside the port of Tripoli The battle, Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war, killed 76 soldiers, at least 60 militants and more than 20 civilians. It came amid a fierce political power...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese troops inched toward Islamic militant strongholds in a north Lebanon Palestinian refugee camp Tuesday as mediators hinted at a possible cease-fire deal that includes the disarmament of the al-Qaida-inspired militants. Two Lebanese soldiers became the latest victims of the battle around the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp near the northern city of Tripoli that began on May 20, security officials said. As the battle with the Fatah Islam group continued, mediators gave indications that a cease-fire deal with the militants was a possibility. According to a Palestinian Muslim cleric who has been acting as mediator, the deal...

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (AFP) - Lebanese soldiers and diehard Islamist militants entrenched in a refugee camp fought gunbattles on Sunday after at least 17 people were killed in an operation to storm rebel positions. As the showdown entered its fourth week, an army officer at the scene said the high casualties were suffered in clashes on Saturday that were often at close quarters and accompanied by heavy artillery fire from the military. The army, which has encircled Nahr al-Bared, tried to push into the Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon and overrun positions held by Fatah al-Islam militants, which has...

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Lebanon's army stepped up its assault on Islamic militants hiding inside a Palestinian refugee settlement on Saturday, launching artillery barrages and sending in armored carriers and special forces. Witnesses in the Nahr el-Bared camp reported some of the heaviest army shelling since June 1, when the Lebanese army — using tanks and artillery — launched an offensive to drive out the Fatah Islam militants. Security officials said five soldiers were killed Saturday and 15 wounded, some seriously. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to give official statements. Local and Arab television...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Islamic militants killed a soldier Thursday in a Palestinian refugee camp where violence has raged for weeks, and an army raid on a suspected militant hide-out in eastern Lebanon uncovered vehicles rigged with explosives. Tensions have been high since the fighting broke out May 20 between the army and Fatah Islam militants in the northern Nahr el-Bared camp. Since then, there have been clashes at the Ein el-Hilweh camp in the south and several bombings in the Beirut area, sparking concerns Lebanon could devolve into widespread chaos. The soldier was gunned down Thursday by Fatah Islam snipers...

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Seven al-Qaida-inspired guerrillas surrendered Tuesday to a secular Palestinian faction at a besieged refugee camp in northern Lebanon, offering the first tangible sign that moderate Palestinians might be moving against the militants. But others in the extremist group Fatah Islam continued to fight, and Lebanese government troops battered their hideouts in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp for a fifth straight day. Clouds of smoke billowed over the camp as artillery shells exploded on militant positions. Calm held at Lebanon's biggest Palestinian refugee camp, Ein el-Hilweh in the south, where Islamic extremists sympathetic to Fatah Islam clashed with...

EIN EL-HILWEH CAMP, Lebanon - Islamic militants clashed with Lebanese troops at the country's biggest Palestinian refugee camp Monday, threatening to open a southern battle front that could complicate the army's effort to defeat al-Qaida-inspired extremists in the north. Two government soldiers and a militant were reported killed in fighting at the Ein el-Hilweh camp in the southern city of Sidon, which began when the Jund al-Sham group attacked army outposts late Sunday. The assault was seen as an attempt by Jund al-Sham to ease military pressure on an allied Islamic group, Fatah Islam, whose guerrillas have been battered by...

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - A missile-firing helicopter joined the Lebanese army offensive against al-Qaida-inspired militants on Saturday, the second day of a push against Islamic fighters vowing a fight to the death inside a Palestinian refugee camp. Army tanks shelled militant hideouts in the Nahr el-Bared camp by this northern port city, blasting upper floors of buildings where the militants placed snipers. A Lebanese air force helicopter fired two missiles and strafed militant positions in the first use of airpower since fighting began with the Fatah Islam group on May 20. The air attack was an apparent attempt to block an...

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Under the cover of artillery, the Lebanese army on Friday moved against Islamic militants barricaded inside a Palestinian refugee camp, claiming tanks and armored carriers had "tightened the ring" around the group and urging surrender. Artillery barrages began in the morning, targeting the Nahr el-Bared camp where Fatah Islam militants have holed up for 13 days among narrow, winding streets and apartment buildings. The army later called on the militants to surrender and urged Palestinians not to provide them a safe haven. The statement said the army had "tightened the ring" around the group in fighting Friday;...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Heavy fighting resumed Friday between the Lebanese army and Islamic militants at a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. Tanks could be seen moving down the streets outside the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp as heavy shelling could be heard in the background, according to an AP Television News crew at the scene. Plumes of smoke rose out of the camp where Fatah Islam militants have been holed up in a 13-day siege by the Lebanese army. This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) —...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Palestinian leaders tried on Monday to negotiate an end to a bloody standoff between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants who have been holed up in a refugee camp for more than a week. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said his country would not waver over its demand that the militants surrender and face justice. But the Fatah al-Islam group said it would not hand over its fighters. Worried violence could spill over to other Palestinian camps, the government is giving Palestinian factions time to try and strike a deal with Fatah al-Islam, which has been battling...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A senior member of Lebanon's governing coalition said on Sunday military action was not on the table for ending a standoff between the Lebanese army and militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp. Druze leader Walid Jumblatt demanded the handing over of the Fatah al-Islam Islamist militants, who have been battling the army at the Nahr al-Bared camp for a week in Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. "Nobody has proposed a military settlement. But we want the murderers handed over to Lebanese justice," Jumblatt said. The army is not allowed into Lebanon's...

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (AFP) - Fears for thousands of civilians caught in the Lebanese army's siege of Islamist militants grew Sunday as those brave enough to escape told harrowing tales of survival. The United Nations made an urgent appeal for the safety of children among an estimated 10,000 mainly Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, where the Islamist gunmen are holed up. Lebanese troops encircled the camp a week ago, when fighting broke out with Fatah al-Islam militants that has killed 78 people, forced thousands to flee and trapped thousands more in unbearable conditions....

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (Reuters) - The United States sent more ammunition on Saturday to Lebanon, whose army is struggling to defeat a group of heavily armed Islamist militants holed up inside a Palestinian refugee camp. The militant Fatah al-Islam group, which has vowed to fight to the death, said in a statement the U.S. military supplies included nerve gas and cluster bombs. "If they use unconventional weapons against us, we will respond with unconventional attacks everywhere," said the statement, read by the group's spokesman Abu Salim Taha. A military spokesman said he had no reaction to "these false allegations which...

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Three U.S. transport planes carrying military aid to Lebanon's army arrived in Beirut Saturday, part of an international airlift to support troops fighting Islamic militants in a Palestinian refugee camp. At the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp on the outskirts of the northern city of Tripoli, a four-day-old truce mostly held up despite sporadic gunfire. A few dozen more Palestinians left the camp. Four ambulances entered the camp bearing medicine on Saturday, and trucks from the international Red Cross brought water, bread and candles. Souad Ali, 70, one of the people who left, said she had cancer and...

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (AFP) - The Lebanese army warned on Friday that it would respond forcefully if it came under renewed Islamist attack as sniper fire hit the refugee camp that has been the main battleground. But after overnight clashes, a fragile undeclared truce largely held, even as the Lebanese government took delivery of US military assistance to bolster its fight against the Palestinian militants of Fatah al-Islam. "The situation is calm today. The army is respecting the truce, but will respond forcefully and decisively if attacked," an army officer, who asked not to be identified, told AFP. "Last night,...

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Sporadic gunfire erupted Thursday inside the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp where Islamic militants are holed up after refusing an ultimatum by Lebanon's defense minister to surrender or face a military onslaught. Lebanon's leader vowed to uproot the fighters. Insurgents from the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah Islam militant group barricaded in the Palestinian refugee camp vowed not to give up and to fight any Lebanese assault. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, in an address to the nation, said that his government would stamp out Fatah Islam. "We will work to root out and strike at terrorism, but we will embrace...

Lebanese troops killed a militant from the extremist Fatah al-Islam during a house raid in the northern port city of Tripoli, police said. They said Bilal Drakish, also known as Abu Jandal, was shot dead on Wednesday as he prepared to throw a grenade at a unit of security forces raiding an apartment in Tripoli's northern neighborhood of Tibanneh. Police said the security forces had been pursuing Drakish who tried to throw a hand grenade at them but was fatally shot before he could trigger it. State-run National News Agency said two passers-by were wounded in the exchange and...

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - The militants began trickling into the camp about 10 months ago, distinguished by their beards, combat uniforms and the assault rifles they carried openly. They rarely smiled and spoke only to rebuke camp residents for smoking or other perceived "sins" against Islam. Residents of the Nahr el-Bared camp and surrounding areas on Tuesday described the men of the Fatah Islam militant group at the heart of the fighting as deeply religious and reclusive, rarely associating with those who lived there. Some roamed about with Kalashnikov rifles, wearing traditional Arab robes and beards without mustaches, a trademark of...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 5/22/07 - Ein el-Hilweh, Nahr al-Bared, Verdun Beirut BREAKING: Nahr al-Bared 'Palestinian'-al Qaeda terrorist camp under seige by Lebanese soldiers BREAKING: Verdun Beirut shopping center - evening explosion BREAKING: Ein el-Hilweh terrorist camp - PLO 'Palestinian' terrorist camp QFN ==== YE OLDE QUAGMIRE-FREE NEWS Exclusive to FReerepublic PICTURES YOU WILL NOT SEE IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA ========= Nahr al-Bared 'Palestinian' terrorist camp ========= At the Nahr al-Bared 'Palestinian'-al Qaeda terrorist camp Lebanese soldiers continue to free the city on day three and assault the al Qaeda in their 'safe house'. The Lebanese...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 5/21/07 - Nahr al-Bared, Achrafieh, Beirut, Tripoli BREAKING: Achrafieh, East Beirut, terrorists attacks, explosions against Christians, at busy mall. Ignored by the MSM. BREAKING: Tripoli, Lebanon - 'David' takes on al Qaeda, Syria and Iran as the EU, Israel and the US do nothing BREAKING: North Lebanon - at the Nahr al-Bared 'Palestinian'-al Qaeda Fatah al-Islam terrorist camp, more retaliation QFN ==== YE OLDE QUAGMIRE-FREE NEWS Exclusive to FReerepublic PICTURES YOU WILL NOT SEE IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA ========= North Lebanon - Nahr al-Bared ========= INCOMING FROM THE GOOD GUYS - LEBANON...

May 04, 2007 Russia to Supply Over $2.2bln Weapons to Libya Russia’s state weapons exporter, Rosoboronexport, is elaborating a contract to sell weapons to Libya for a total worth of more than $2.2 billion. Libya that has purchased no armaments of Russia for over 15 years may emerge as one of ten top buyers now. The bulk of the acquisition will be formed by air defense systems, more powerful than needed for regional conflicts. The contract for weapons delivery to Libya could be sealed already this year, during the visit of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to Tripoli. The budget of...

April 11, 2007 By the late 1790s, America was fighting an undeclared "Quasi-War" with France on the high seas. (web site) France's revolutionary government, at war with England, began allowing its navy to seize American ships trading with that country. England began interfering with American ships trading with France. Congress authorized the War Department to build six frigates (primarily intended to fight Barbary pirates, no longer confined to the Mediterranean by Portugal) in 1794, but by 1797 only three had been built. Meanwhile, the French were further incensed by a trade agreement between America and Great Britain. In 1796, France...