Free Republic

June 22, 2002 Conspiracy Theory Grips French: Sept. 11 as Right-Wing U.S. PlotBy ALAN RIDING ARIS, June 21 — Even before the fires were extinguished at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, conspiracy theories began flooding the Internet. A few quickly spilled out of Web sites and were widely circulated by e-mail before fading into oblivion. One, however, has taken on a life of its own in France. It was turned into a book that has become the publishing sensation of the spring. In the book, "L'Effroyable Imposture," or "The Horrifying Fraud," Thierry Meyssan challenges the entire official version...

There has been intensive covert research in many countries, in an attempt to produce modifications in disease-producing viruses. Russia and Iraq have been at the forefront of these researches. There have emerged several major threats to mankind in the form of lethal viruses and bacteria. Among these are smallpox (variola), hemorrhagic viruses such as Ebola, and the encephalitis viruses. Ebola is extremely susceptible to sunlight, heat and drying. It is difficult to handle and deliver while still viable and infectious. Nonetheless, it is highly lethal and effective in large enclosed spaces such as auditoriums (?) and, probably, stadiums. Most of...

June 22, 2002 G.O.P. Drug Plan for Elderly Nears Passage in HouseBy ROBERT PEAR ASHINGTON, June 21 — After an all-night session, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce approved a Republican bill today to provide prescription drug benefits to the elderly under Medicare, clearing the way for House passage of the measure next week. The party-line vote, 30 to 23, was a major legislative and political victory for House Republicans, who, like Democrats, have been bombarded with appeals from constituents complaining they cannot afford the drugs prescribed by their doctors. Both parties are eager to position themselves as protectors...

June 22, 2002 Bush Mideast Policy Delayed by Staff DebateBy TODD S. PURDUM ASHINGTON, June 21 — The announcement of President Bush's promised new Middle East policy has been delayed by renewed debate among his senior advisers over the terms and timing of creating any Palestinian state, administration officials said today. The president's senior national security team, which debated the plan for seven hours in a teleconference last Saturday, had no plans to meet this weekend, officials said, a sign that disagreements remained sharp enough that no early announcement was likely. "I can't really imagine it happening at all next...

June 22, 2002 Mourning Spawns Revenge for Israeli SettlersBy IAN FISHER TAMAR, West Bank, June 21 — The mourners, maybe 3,000 of them, were angry. They scuffled here with the Israeli police and the army this afternoon. They bought T-shirts that read, "No Arabs, no attacks." Then, at the end of a week of violence, something happened that laid bare this conflict's widening circle of hate, violence and revenge. A few carloads of Jewish settlers — outraged at the deaths on Thursday night of a mother and three of her children in their own home, as well as that of...

June 22, 2002 Cabinet in Israel Endorses Seizure of the West BankBy JOHN KIFNER ERUSALEM, June 21 — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's security cabinet followed through on a plan for all-out seizure of the West Bank today, scrapping a tactic of intermittent raids in favor of a permanent armed presence as tense Israeli soldiers in armored columns poured into Palestinian cities, towns and refugee camps, military officials said. The government's pledge this week to begin taking Palestinian lands "as long as terror continues," went into full swing today. Israeli tanks and troops moved into six of the eight West Bank...

I often say I would preach in hell if they promised to let me out. I say this as a way of showing that Christians should never be reluctant to express our faith, even in environments that may be openly hostile to us. It was this thinking that prompted me to accept an invitation by the Nickelodeon Network's Linda Ellerbee to appear in the "My Family Is Different" special that aired on June 18. In the interview, I denounced those who enact violence against homosexuals and those who disparage homosexuals with demeaning language. I said that all people should be...

Yellowstone got our attention when it went up in smoke more than a decade ago. Each year, the fires seem to get worse. If it's not California burning, it's New Mexico, or Idaho, or Arizona, or Colorado. Beautiful forests reduced to ashes. Homes destroyed. Animals roasted. Firefighters – often young volunteers – sacrificed needlessly on the altar of "wilderness." On June 19, 2002, more than a half-million acres were burning in seven states. And the fire season is just beginning. How did the eco-zealots convince a generation of people – and lawmakers – that it is a good thing to...

Last week, South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges ordered state troopers to physically prevent the Department of Energy from transferring excess weapons-grade plutonium from the Pantex Plant in Texas, the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado and the Hanford Site in Washington to the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, where it would be converted into fuel for nuclear power reactors. DOE shipments of nukes and fissile materials – which terrorists would love to get their hands on – are heavily guarded. Furthermore, the guards have orders to prevent – at all costs – any of our nukes from getting loose. Fort...

It's nearly impossible to write a column on the Middle East these days with original points and analysis. The same doublespeak, the same lying, the same violence is constantly cycling. The Middle East situation is like a nightmare playing over and over again, as if it were a broken record. While you would think the situation would be clear to most, the Mideast is anything but clear. Near the beginning of the launch of "Operation Enduring Freedom," President Bush stated that you can't negotiate with terrorists. However, Israel and the United States are attempting to negotiate with terrorists – they...

One sure way to stop the suicide bombers in Israel is to hold the parents responsible for their child's crime. Today, Palestinian parents willingly and proudly send off their kids to become suicide bombers and commit mass murder inside Israel. In exchange for sacrificing their child, they receive from Saddam Hussein or Saudi Arabia a cash payment of $35,000. The Israeli Knesset should pass a law making it a capital crime to offer a child to become a sacrificial suicide bomber. After all, such sacrifice is tantamount to murdering one's own child. The $35,000 the parents receive should be confiscated...

A British banker was killed yesterday in a suspected car bomb attack in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, signaling the return of attacks on foreigners that were perpetrated in 2000 and 2001. The 35-year-old man died when his vehicle exploded in the street outside a residential compound at 9:45 a.m. Saudi time. The bomb is believed to have been planted on the vehicle, according to Saudi police sources cited by the BBC. The bombing appears to be the latest in a string of attacks against American, British and Australian expatriates in Saudi Arabia reaching back to November 2000. But...

In the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks and a growing fear of nuclear, biological and chemical warfare, many Americans are wondering what they can do to protect themselves against such threats. Leonard Henrikson believes he has the answer. Henrikson has designed a product to protect against possible nuclear fallout, as well as biological or chemical attack. The NBC Safe Cell Air System creates a "safe room" in either an apartment, home, car, bomb shelter or office by filtering contaminated air into safe, breathable air. Motivated to start producing the filtration systems after the WTC bombings and the anthrax scare,...

Landowners and activists committed to upholding the property rights of a free society are in a quandary, perceiving the current administration they once relied upon for relief from park and monument declarations as now stepping over to the side of the environmentalists. But congressional and Bush administration spokespeople refute that characterization, arguing that some ongoing National Park Service activities have been continued solely because of congressional mandates handed down prior to the 2000 presidential election. The Gaviota Coast in Santa Barbara County, Calif., is one such area over which landowners, environmentalists and politicians are currently clashing, with each side awaiting...

A leader of the "tax honesty movement," whose hunger strike last year convinced federal officials to agree to answer in public tough questions about the income tax's legality – though the government later reneged on the offer – now says he will no longer file income tax returns and has pledged to tour the country to convince other taxpayers to do likewise. Bob Schulz, chairman of the We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education, said in a June 17 letter sent to President Bush, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rossotti and congressional leaders that he believes "the federal income tax...

Saudi Arabian intelligence officials warned the FBI about an Iraqi plot to attack federal facilities in 1995, including the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, according to an Oklahoma lawyer teaming up with a noted Washington, D.C., public-interest law firm. Mike Johnston, co-counsel for Judicial Watch, said Thursday that on April 19, 1995 – the day of the Oklahoma City bombing – Saudi intelligence alerted CIA officials in Washington, who in turn advised FBI agents at the Washington Metropolitan Field Office. "Vincent Canastraro, who is the former chief of counter-terrorism for the CIA … called Special Agent Kevin...

<p>The headline for a statement by activists opposed to the U.S. war on terror is, "Not in Our Name," but it more accurately should read, "We're better than you are."</p> <p>The signers include C-list celebrities such as Ed Asner and Casey Kasem, and perennial lefties Alice Walker, Noam Chomsky and Gloria Steinem. They "call on all Americans to resist the war and repression that has been loosed on the world by the Bush administration. It is unjust, immoral and illegitimate. We choose to make common cause with the people of the world."</p>

<p>The commencement season is upon us and, on more than 3,000 college and university campuses, shorts and baseball caps are giving way to gowns and mortarboards. It is a moment of personal accomplishment and family pride, but graduation also provides a rare public look behind the gates of campus life. When the commencement platform is built and the curtains drawn back, we can see something of the value system that has influenced the next generation during the formative years of college.</p>

<p>Nobles: Gino Merli and Jack C. Montgomery, who put their lives on the line to provide a safe harbor for posterity. Both men, each a Medal of Honor winner for heroic actions during World War II, died peacefully this week.</p>

<p>Alas, more bad news: "Rolling Stone, Struggling for Readers, Names Briton as Editor." So wrote the New York Times in announcing the latest British invasion, this one to be spearheaded by 37-year-old Ed Needham, the editor of FHM, a raunchy British "laddie" magazine. His mission? To save the not-exactly-venerable chronicler of (and contributor to) the American counterculture. But even if Mr. Needham manages to close the door on exiting advertisers and boost newsstand sales of Jann Wenner's flagship publication, he'll probably do so presiding over a retooled and virtually unrecognizable magazine.</p>