Free Republic

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is preparing contingency plans to evacuate its employees if necessary now that one of the deadliest Islamic militant groups in the region has taken control of large swaths of Iraq, a U.S. official told TheBlaze. The State Department also warned U.S. citizens against traveling to Iraq, following several days of bloody clashes between insurgents with the Al Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Iraqi military forces. ISIL has taken control of Mosul, Tikrit and Fallujah and aims to create an Islamic state across the Iraq-Syria border. The U.S. official told TheBlaze that...

US Ambassador Robert Ford resigned from his State Department post a month ago, after a long and difficult time as the envoy to Syria. Ford showed great personal courage in his service while Bashar al-Assad instigated attacks on Western embassies and eventually provoked a massive civil war which has turned into a regional threat, thanks to the collapse of his power in large regions of Syria. The collapse of American policy in Syria over the past year was presumed to have prompted Ford’s departure, which he confirms with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview today.This is interesting for more...

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- The U.S. military has doubled the number of aircraft standing by in Italy if needed to evacuate Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, CNN has learned. A decision to evacuate as violence in the Libyan capital grows is "minute by minute, hour by hour," a defense official told CNN on Monday. Fierce fighting swept across the city Sunday after armed men stormed the country's interim Parliament. Sporadic bursts of gunfire and blasts could still be heard on the outskirts of the capital Monday evening. The violence appeared to be some of the worst since...

US Embassy in Venezuela Halts New Visas US Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela Notification March 23, 2014 We regret that as a result of the expulsion of several consular officials and Venezuelan government delays in issuing visas for incoming officers, the U.S. Embassy in Caracas does not have sufficient consular staff at present to continue to schedule appointments for first-time tourist (B-1/B-2) visa applicants. Until further notice, we are able to offer such appointments only in emergency situations. If you already have an appointment, please appear at the appointed date and time, because it is unlikely under current staffing conditions that...

"Mali national arraigned in 2000 killing of American diplomat in Niger" 


Shin Bet officials announced on Wednesday that they have arrested three Palestinians, two of them East Jerusalem residents with Israeli identification cards, for alleged involvement in an Al-Qaida plan to carry out terror attacks in Israel. The group had planned two simultaneous suicide attacks, the Shin Bet said, one at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem and the other at the United States embassy in Tel Aviv. The three men were arrested on December 25, a gag order on the case lifted Wednesday revealed. A high-ranking Shin Bet official told reporters in Tel Aviv that a member of one of...

Israeli authorities today announced the arrest of three global jihadists who were allegedly preparing to carry out terror attacks after being recruited by an al-Qaeda-linked operative in the Gaza Strip. The three terrorists were identified as Iyad Mahmoud Khalil Abu Sara, Rubin Abu Nagma, and Ala Yasin Mohammed Anam. The arrested Palestinians from the West Bank and Jerusalem area were recruited online and planned to carry out kidnappings and bombings at the International Convention Centre in Jerusalem as well as the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, among other attacks. Israeli authorities kept their counterparts in the "US and elsewhere" updated...

JERUSALEM – Israel's internal security agency says it has foiled an Al Qaeda plan to attack the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and hit other targets in the country.

A New York Times investigation of the attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, concluded that al Qaeda did not play a role, but an anti-Muslim video was a factor. Based on interviews with witnesses, the report found that local militia leader Ahmed Abu Khattala was the central figure behind attacks that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and four other Americans. It said the attack was pre-planned, but grew as people angry about the anti-Muslim video, “Innocence of Muslims” poured in spontaneously. The newspaper notes that not only is there no evidence of a link to al Qaeda,...

As most Americans are planning for this week's Christmas Celebration, it seems the Obama Administration has found itself a nice little military conflict to get us involved in with the possible hope of deflecting from the failures that is Obamacare. CBS Evening News tonight reported that more than 120 U.S. troops station in Spain are heading for the African Nation of Djibouti to help with the possible evacuation of U.S. Embassy Personnel from the nation of Southern Sudan, which has been in the grips of a civil war for months now. Last week 4 U.S. Military Personnel were wounded as...

This is ‘very grave if true,’ says senior MK, calling it ‘classic espionage’ that Israel would not carry out against the US US intelligence not only spied on then-defense minister Ehud Barak’s offices during 2008-2009, but also maintained an apartment opposite Barak’s primary residence for that purpose, according to a report on Sunday, which came amid new revelations of the extent of US and British intelligence activity against Israel and other allies. In 2007, Israeli intelligence noted that the US government had rented an apartment across the street from Barak’s high-rise apartment in Tel Aviv, and observed “sizable amounts of...

The newly installed tapestry of President Obama casts a warm smile over guests at an event @USAinUK last night.

Can you blame him? 13 hours on a plane with Joe Biden is not exactly a dream getaway. 85 year-old Merrill Newman, a war veteran, declined a ride home on Air Force Two with Joe Biden. Newman was deported after being detained over his role in special forces operations in the Korean War six decades ago. (Daily Mail) The Daily Mail reported: An 85-year-old U.S. tourist detained in North Korea for six weeks for alleged ‘war crimes’ has landed back in San Francisco after catching a flight from Beijing. North Korean state media said Saturday that Merrill Newman, a war...

The new U.S. ambassador to Japan has weighed in on escalating tensions between China and Japan over the East China Sea. On Wednesday, Caroline Kennedy criticized China's recent move to create its own Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which requires that all aircraft notify Chinese authorities before entering the airspace. "Unilateral actions like those taken by China with their announcement of an East China Sea Air-to-Sea Identification Zone undermines security and constitutes an attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea. This only serves to increase tension in the region," the ambassador said. The new ADIZ includes...

What would you do next if you had successfully brokered a “Neville Chamberlin” style deal with a rogue state that wants to annihilate America and her Middle East allies? Well. . . You’d downgrade diplomatic ties with the Vatican, of course. At least, that’s what you would do if you were working in the Obama White House. The White House has recently announced that they will shut down the US Embassy to the Holy See, and relocate it to a “safer” location on the grounds of the American Embassy in Italy. Officially, the US is explaining the relocation effort as...

US Envoy Caroline Kennedy Meets Japan's Emperor TOKYO November 19, 2013 New U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy traveled by horse-drawn carriage into the Imperial Palace to present her credentials to Japan's emperor on Tuesday, giving the public a rare look at a diplomatic tradition. Thousands of onlookers lined the avenues near the moat-ringed palace to snap pictures and wave as Kennedy, the 55-year-old daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, waved back from inside the carriage.

<p>This item just in via an “activity report” from the U.S. Embassy in Bern, Switzerland, headlined “Soul Legend Relinquishes U.S. Citizenship.”</p> <p>“Long-time Swiss resident Tina Turner” was in the embassy Oct. 24 to sign her “Statement of Voluntary Relinquishment of U.S. Citizenship under Section 349 (a)(1) of the INA” — the Immigration and Naturalization Act.</p>

TEHRAN -- At least 10,000 Iranians protested outside the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran Monday, burning American flags and effigies of Barack Obama on the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the building. Annual demonstrations take place at the site, marking the date on which activists stormed the embassy 34 years ago and took 52 staff hostage for 444 days -- an act that severed diplomatic ties with the U.S. for more than three decades. But this year’s demonstration was larger than usual, fueled by anger among Iranians at President Hassan Rouhani's recent moves to reopen dialogue with the West....

The federal shutdown has disrupted a training program for diplomatic security officers that was ramped up after last year’s attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, U.S. officials confirmed Thursday. The prolonged closing of a key training facility could mean significant delays in efforts to beef up protection for U.S. diplomats abroad, enhancements that were ordered after an independent review board criticized the State Department for its handling of the Sept. 11, 2012 attack, officials said. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, a facility operated by the Department of Homeland Security in Glynco, Ga., was shuttered Tuesday due...

Terrorist planned attack on nuclear warhead stockpile By Philip Delves Broughton November 17 2002 The Sun-Herald An Al Qaeda terrorist has confessed that he planned to drive a giant explosive device into a United States air force bunker in Belgium believed to contain nuclear warheads. News of the plot came as the US warned that a broadcast thought to contain the words of Osama bin Laden foreshadowed a likely attack. The FBI said national landmarks and the aviation, oil and nuclear industries were all possible targets. In an interview with a Belgian radio station, Tunisian Nizar Trabelsi, 31, a former...