Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama, the U.S. Senate candidate from Chicago who has become the Democratic Party's latest rising star, is drawing enough support from the entertainment industry to put on his own variety show. From comedian Chris Rock to singer Barbra Streisand to musician Herbert Hancock, entertainers have written out checks of $1,000 or $2,000 to help the 42-year-old Illinois state senator win the seat being vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Peter Fitzgerald. Film directors Rob Reiner ("The American President") and Edward Zwick ("The Last Samurai" and "Courage Under Fire") both contributed in the past three months, according to Obama's...

According to the Spanish daily ABC, a Libyan rebel commander who played a key role in overthrowing the rule of Muammar Qaddafi previously participated in the May 2010 attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza aboard the Turkish-owned vessel the Mavi Marmara. The operation famously culminated in a deadly clash between Israel Defense Force commandos and “activists” armed with iron rods and knives aboard the ship. The paper’s source for the story is the rebel leader himself: Mahdi al-Harati, the commander of the so-called Tripoli Brigades, which are widely credited with having played a decisive role in the rebel...

WASHINGTON - The Pakistani military was pounding a mud-walled fortress last night where a "very senior" Al Qaeda leader - possibly Osama Bin Laden's No. 2 - was holding out against a Pakistani siege. American intelligence officials were cautious about who might be inside the mountain stronghold, but Pakistani sources said they believe it was Bin Laden's top general, Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and he may be wounded. Al-Zawahiri, nearly always at Bin Laden's side during his taunting videotapes, helped create Al Qaeda and was considered the brains behind its operations. His capture or death would be a major blow to...

The name of President Obama came into play this afternoon at the political corruption trial of former governor Rod Blagojevich as an associate of political fund-raiser Tony Rezko testified that Rezko asked him to write a $10,000 check to Friends of Obama. The Chicago Sun-Times reported in January 2008 that Glenview businessman Joseph Aramanda, who is testifying today, made the donation as part of a scheme orchestrated by Rezko. Aramanda gave $10,000 in campaign cash to Obama’s U.S. Senate campaign on March 5, 2004, according to records. The money came from part of a finder’s fee Aramanda received, but did...

(Cromwell-AP, Aug. 11, 2004 1:25 PM) _ A Cromwell man says he's being targeted in a federal terrorism probe because he's a Muslim. Forty-one-year-old Syed Maswood is denying allegations he offered support to a militant Islamic Web site. Maswood confirms that he's he unnamed Connecticut resident mentioned last week in a federal affidavit charging a British national with supporting terrorism. Maswood says that on March 17th, federal agents raided his home, seizing computer equipment and financial records. According to the affidavit, investigators discovered Maswood's e-mail address among files used to maintain a Web site that funneled money and equipment to...

CROMWELL, Conn. -- A Connecticut nuclear engineer is under investigation in a federal terrorism probe, but denies allegations he offered support to a militant Islamic Web site and said he's being targeted because he is Muslim. Syed R. Maswood, 41, confirmed that he is the unnamed Connecticut resident mentioned last week in a federal affidavit charging a British national with supporting terrorism. Federal agents raided Maswood's home March 17, seizing computer equipment and financial records, he said. Investigators discovered his e-mail address among files used to maintain a Web site that funneled money and equipment to terrorists, according to the...

Nuradin Abdi was convicted in 2007 of planning to blow up an Ohio shopping mall. Iyman Faris was convicted in 2003 of planning to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge. Christopher Paul was convicted in 2008 of conspiring to use explosives against targets in the U.S. and Europe. All three terrorists worshiped and socialized at a small mosque in Columbus, Ohio, and, according to David B. Smith, an attorney for Faris, were part of a larger group of jihadists and extremists who frequented the mosque. The FBI now is investigating reports of links to that same mosque by Muslim-convert Abdulhakim Muhammad...

AP source: Queens workers take suspicious trash to police By DONNA DE LA CRUZ Associated Press Writer March 17, 2004, 5:39 PM EST NEW YORK -- A box containing material that warned about terrorist activities and books on electronic circuitry and aircraft was found by sanitation workers collecting garbage on a Queens street on Wednesday and was taken to a police precinct, a high-level police source told The Associated Press. As a precaution, police scanned the workers' garbage truck for radioactivity and got a reading high enough to prompt them to evacuate the 114th Precinct, but the box and the...

Holder omitted Blagojevich link from questionnaire Announced as a ‘special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board’ in 2004 December 17, 2008 BY CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporter/cfusco@suntimes.com Before Eric Holder was President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be attorney general, he was Gov. Blagojevich's pick to sort out a mess involving Illinois' long-dormant casino license. Blagojevich and Holder appeared together at a March 24, 2004, news conference to announce Holder's role as "special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board" -- a post that was to pay Holder and his Washington, D.C. law firm up to $300,000. Holder, however, omitted that event from...

He also reveals that The Tunisian talked to UCIE agents.Cartagena Identifies the Police Officer that Asked Him to Go into the Leganés Apartment in the Morning of April 3rd.The testimony as protected witness, asked by the State Attorney Olga Sánchez, of the Police informer nicknamed Cartagena has left a lot of question that might change drastically the trial. Some details had been already revealed by EL MUNDO, as the pressure from the Police to avoid mentioning ETA. According to his testimony, The Tunisian was also linked to UCIE Police Officers. Asked by the Accusation Attorney, he gave names: “Enrique, Rubio,...

Large amounts of uranium may have gone missing from a nuclear technology company in Sweden. The American Central Intelligence Agency fears a worst-case scenario where the material has already fallen into terrorist hands, newspaper Expressen reports. "The company (Ranstad Mineral) is a security risk and we have taken the matter to top level to get the Swedes to stop them," a CIA spokesman told the Swedish newspaper. The CIA operative claims to know that the little Swedish company has educated Syrian nuclear physicists in the treatment of uranium. He also has information that a Swedish consultancy has sold nuclear equipment...

A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.

Mar 9, 10:54 AM ESTMarines Kill Driver at Haiti CheckpointBy PETER PRENGAMANAssociated Press Writer PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- U.S. Marines shot and killed the driver of a vehicle speeding toward a military checkpoint, a spokesman told The Associated Press on Tuesday, the second reported fatality at the hands of the peacekeepers.A passenger in the car also was wounded in the Monday night shooting, said the spokesman, Sgt. Timothy Edwards, in a telephone interview."When you see a vehicle approaching at high speed it is seen as a threat, so the Marines opened fire," Edwards said. "The driver was killed. ... A...

The secret war On the North-West Frontier, soldiers are trying to tighten the noose around bin Laden's forces. But in Europe and America, there is no clear enemy to fight - yet every expert knows that a terrorist atrocity is coming Mark Townsend in Tangier, John Hooper in Madrid, Greg Bearup in Peshawar, Paul Harris in Washington, Peter Beaumont in Baghdad, Antony Barnett, Martin Bright, Jason Burke and Nick Pelham in London Sunday March 21, 2004 The Observer There were shadows in the rocks. As the 12 US Special Forces soldiers arrived at a remote mountain region in eastern Afghanistan...

Did United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan hightail it to Moscow to check in with his handpicked UN reform man Yevgeny Primakov within weeks of William Safire’s New York Times expose on alleged scandal in the Oil-For-Food Program? The first of Safire’s groundbreaking Oil-For-Food investigative stories ran in mid-March, 2004. Here’s Annan’s Moscow itinerary as documented by The Russian Federation: "Annan arrived in Moscow on Sunday, April 4, 2004 where he had an early working dinner with Evgeni (sic) Primakov, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation." On the following day, Annan visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where...

Did United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan hightail it to Moscow to check in with his handpicked UN reform man Yevgeny Primakov within weeks of William Safire’s New York Times expose on alleged scandal in the Oil-For-Food Program? The first of Safire’s groundbreaking Oil-For-Food investigative stories ran in mid-March, 2004. Here’s Annan’s Moscow itinerary as documented by The Russian Federation: "Annan arrived in Moscow on Sunday, April 4, 2004 where he had an early working dinner with Evgeni (sic) Primakov, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation." On the following day, Annan visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where...