Free Republic

LANGFANG, China — Casting aside long-standing reticence about taking part in U.N. peacekeeping duties abroad, China said yesterday it was deploying a large squad of anti-riot police to Haiti and bracing for postings in other world trouble spots. Officials put on display a new $18 million training center for peacekeepers and said it underscored China's positive attitude toward taking part in global peacekeeping missions. "It is inevitable that China is going to play a bigger role in peacekeeping efforts," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Liu Jianchao said. As one of five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, China helps...

Retired U.S. Navy Adm. Thomas Moorer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from July 1970 to June 1974 and chief of naval operations from 1967 to 1970, died today at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He was 91. The 41-year Navy veteran retired from active duty in 1974, ending a distinguished career that included service as the seventh chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and 18th chief of naval operations. Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Gordon England, praised the admiral’s distinguished service by saying, “Admiral Thomas Moorer served his country with honor, courage and...