Free Republic

AL-JAZIRAH DESERT, Iraq – Two young cavalry leaders rode hard through the western border country, pushing their Fort Lewis troops nearly 185 miles from Tal Afar to the Euphrates River, then back again. Their faces caked with dust stuck to a week’s worth of sweat, Capts. Keith Walters and Vince Maykovich watched the horizon unfold at 35 mph from the rear hatches of their Stryker. Their troop of 15 vehicles rumbled over scrubland and dry lake beds, slowing now and then to clamber across the wadis – narrow desert gorges where water flows during the rainy season. The longtime friends...

U.S. and Iraqi troops battled foreign fighters near the Syrian border and found the body of Anbar province's missing governor, the highest-ranking Iraqi official kidnapped since the fall of Saddam Hussein, authorities said Tuesday. Foreign extremists are thought to be a small portion of the Sunni-dominated insurgency, although they are blamed for some of the worst bombings and other bloodshed that have killed 765 Iraqis in the month since the new government took power. Officials said the body of Anbar Gov. Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi was found Sunday after troops engaged in a fierce firefight with foreigners holed up in...

Gunmen Kidnap Governor of Iraqi Province BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Gunmen kidnapped the governor of Iraq's western Anbar province Tuesday and told his family he would be released when U.S. forces withdraw from Qaim, the site of a major offensive against followers of Iraq's most-wanted militant, relatives said. Gov. Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi was seized as he drove from Qaim to the provincial capital of Ramadi, his brother, Hammad, told The Associated Press. The kidnappers later called the family and said they were holding the governor until U.S. forces pull out of the Syrian border town about 200 miles west...