Free Republic

Before there was Iraq, there was Lebanon.  In 1982, following Operation Peace for Galilee, JINSA reported on the international terrorist haven that had arisen in Fatahland – the southern part of Lebanon controlled by Yasser Arafat.  Aside from the expected mélange of Middle Easterners, there were Japanese Red Army, German and Italian Red Brigades, Nicaraguan Sandinistas, Salvadorans, Colombians and Peruvians.  There were Iranian Shi’ites, East Germans and Bulgarians.  Before there was Iraq, there was Lebanon, again.  Religious Iran and secular, Ba’athist Syria made a deal to use Syrian-controlled Lebanon as a base for Hizballah to attack Israel.  Today, Israel...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Quitting government service under fire for the second time, John M. Poindexter says he hopes Congress will save the less controversial parts of his much-criticized research project designed to predict terrorist attacks. The more controversial elements Poindexter's project - developing a futures market on Mideast developments and scanning public and private databases loaded with personal information about innocent Americans - drew a hail of criticism from privacy advocates and politicians in both parties. Poindexter said the project had been misrepresented and misunderstood. "I regret that we have not been able to ... reassure the public that we...

WHO KILLED MUHAMMAD BAQIR AL-HAKIM? By Kathleen Ridolfo A symbolic funeral was held in the holy city of Al-Najaf in Iraq on 2 September in memory of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim. The ayatollah was killed in a car bombing on 29 August as he left the Imam Ali Mosque in Al-Najaf following a noon Friday prayers sermon. Some 80 Iraqis were killed and more than 100 injured in the incident. Al-Hakim's body has yet to be identified, and mourners carried a casket containing only his wristwatch, ring, and pieces of his turban in a three-day procession from Baghdad...