Free Republic

In this image released by the US Army on Wednesday April 11, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of Multi-National Corps Iraq, left, talks about security conditions in Dora neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq, as Ryan Crocker, United States ambassador to Iraq, and Brig. Gen. Gazwan Sharif Abed al Hamid, commander of the 6th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi National Police Division, look on Thursday, April 5, 2007. BAGHDAD - Iran has been training Iraqi fighters in the assembly of deadly roadside bombs known as EFPs, the U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday. EFPs, or explosively formed penetrators, hurl a molten, fist-sized lump of...

WASHINGTON - President Bush promised a diplomatic offensive to win support for Iraq from Middle Eastern countries that, if anything, have become more hostile to U.S. policy in Iraq since Saddam Hussein's execution. In doses of rhetoric hard to square with facts in the region, Bush portrayed the ordinary people of the Middle East as being behind U.S. goals in Iraq, in his speech to the nation Wednesday night. And he declared the need to address Iran's and Syria's support for insurgents, without acknowledging his refusal to engage either country diplomatically, as many U.S. allies and the Iraq Study Group...