Free Republic

It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for the Frogs. After raging against America's Iraq policy for months, French citizens are suddenly saying that President Bush was right and their own Jacques Chirac was wrong, the Christian Science Monitor reported today. "Since they saw the rapid fall of Saddam's empire, the French are asking themselves if they hadn't perhaps been wrong in making themselves irrelevant to the course of history," admitted Dominique Moisi of French Institute of International Relations. Three weeks ago, 84 percent of the French opposed Operation Iraqi Freedom. Only 55 percent felt that way last...

  Sky's Chater in Baghdad ME AND SADDAM'S HEAVIES First light came with gunfire throughout the city.A fat, waxing American moon hung over Baghdad. The armoured wagons of the US Marine Corps surrounded our hotel, writes Sky's Baghdad correspondent, David Chater. The pools of burning oil had been extinguished...but fresh flames were being set by the looters.My last night in the Iraqi capital after three weeks of war.Paranoia punctuated the dawn drive westwards to Jordan.In the outskirts of the city, we passed a checkpoint still manned by the Iraqi militia.Then through the Coalition's surrounding chokeholds where all questions were...

Iraqi jubilation has anti-warmongers flabbergasted ALAN DAWSON The worst nightmare has come true for the anti-war, anti-globalisation, anti-American mobs. The people of Iraq say they have been liberated. It will be interesting to see how those who supported keeping Saddam Hussein in power _ unwittingly or purposely _ will squirm out of the predicament. Certainly, none of them will admit they were wrong. But they were. The Iraqi people did not organise to resist the American-British coalition, although The Guardian of London said on March 30 they already had. ``Instead of rising up to welcome the invaders,'' the paper thundered...

SADDAM'S 'LOVE SHACK' US troops have discovered what they described as Saddam Hussein's "love shack" in Baghdad. Reports said the secret hideaway resembled "a playboy's fantasy straight from the 1960s". Troops said it reminded them of the Austin Powers spy spoofs. They yelled Powers' catchphrases "yeah, baaabeee" and "shagadelic" as they went from room to room. Associated Press reporters with US forces said the split-level, one bedroom house in central Baghdad had a mirrored bedroom and lamps shaped like women. On the walls were air-brushed paintings of a topless blonde woman and another of a moustached hero battling a crocodile....

On to the next quagmire! Don't get mired in the bog of yesterday's conventional wisdom, when the movers and shakers have already moved on to new disasters. America may have won the war but it's already losing the peace! Here's your at-a-glance guide to what the experts who got everything wrong last week will be getting wrong next week: 1) "Iraq's slide into violent anarchy" (Guardian, April 11). Say what you like about Saddam, but he ran a tight ship and you didn't have to nail down your nest of tables: since the Brits took over, Basra's property crime is...

SANAA, April 11 (KUNA) -- Some Yemenis who had sentiments of admiration for the deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, now have different feelings toward the man, whose statues were downed and his posters were beaten with shoes in public places in the Iraqi war-stricken capital Baghdad. Saeed Abdullah, 40, who manages a popular cafe in the heart of the Yemeni capital, said the sudden disappearance of Saddam has become the main topic of daily debates among his customers, and protested that these discussions often heat up and turn into quarrels. Hamdi Ahmad, a government employee, said, "our sentiments toward...

BAGHDAD, April 11 (AFP) - Residents of Baghdad, once known throughout the Arab world as a citadel of anti-Americanism, say they can live with US troops in their midst as their arrival means Saddam Hussein is gone for good.But they insist their uninvited guests must not outstay their welcome.Their mood is in stark contrast to the Arab masses outside Iraq, who are in shock and denial at the swift collapse of Saddam's regime following an invasion by US and British troops."We don't consider the presence of American soldiers as an occupation. They came to free us from injustice, tyranny and...

Iraqi Ambassador Meets U.N. Chief By EDITH M. LEDERER .c The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Iraq's U.N. ambassador met privately Thursday with Secretary-General Kofi Annan but refused to talk about his immediate plans. Mohammed Al-Douri had declared ``the game is over'' on Wednesday and became the first Iraqi official to concede defeat in the U.S.-led war. He expressed hope that the Iraqi people will now be able to live in peace. But Al-Douri wasn't talking to the media Thursday, refusing to respond to all questions about his talks with the secretary-general, his future, and the war. ``I am...

Just reported from Baghdad: First baby born in Baghdad, since the liberation. Grateful parents named him George, after President George W. Bush.

Operation Iraqi Freedom This thread is dedicated to the brave men and women of the  Armed Forces of the United States of America. "Wish You Were Here" For all the free people that still protest. You're welcome. We protect you and you are protected by the best. Your voice is strong and loud, but who will fight for you? No one standing in your crowd. We are your fathers, brothers, and sons, wearing the boots and carrying guns. We are the ones that leave all we own, to make sure your future is carved in stone. We are the...

Could it be a good 'ol American Fig Newton? Posted 10:09 AM, Pacific Posted at 6:40 AM, Pacific That looks like a pretty happy quagmire to me. I read the New York Times editorial pages for the first time in a couple of weeks to see how the gang would spin this. It isn't easy, after all, being revealed as beyond-Pluto wrong about how the war would go. Tom Friedman goes local and files "pay no attention to the people in front of the curtain" article. Maureen Dowd just goes low, attacking Victor Davis Hanson as Dick Cheney's "war guru."...

The manager of the Palestine hotel put on his best suit and a broad smile and crossed his parking lot to meet the Americans. "Happy to see you," he said to an approaching group of soldiers. Cradling their M16s and casting wary glances around them, the marines had just emerged from their armoured vehicles in front of the hotel in the middle of Baghdad. They looked taken aback by the strange welcoming committee. With his helmet pulled down low over his brow, Colonel B P McCoy of the US Marine Corps seemed surprised to be shaking the hand extended to...

The streets of the Kurdish capital, Erbil, filled with American, Iraqi and Kurdish flags yesterday as tens of thousands took to the street to celebrate the demise of the regime. Kurdish Iraqis celebrate in the northern Iraqi town of Arbil "Saddam, the criminal, the murderer, the savage, wild animal is gone," shouted a widow, Fauziya Ali, 45. "The black criminal, perpetrator of Halabja, is dead," she said. Halabja, a town that bore the brunt of Saddam Hussein's genocidal attempt to quell the Kurds with nerve agents and chemical weapons, is foremost among the reasons that the Kurdish people hunger for...

Arabs in Shock, Denial at Toppling of Saddam By Paul Taylor CAIRO (Reuters) - The Arab world was in shock, and some Arabs were in denial, after Baghdad fell almost without a fight and jubilant Iraqis, aided by U.S. Marines, toppled a towering statue of Saddam Hussein. Images of crowds rejoicing at the fall of the authoritarian ruler and cheering U.S. forces, broadcast live in many Arab countries on Wednesday, caused consternation and a sense of shame, tinged in some places with envy. Palestinians watching the al-Jazeera and Abu Dhabi satellite stations were stunned at seeing the giant Saddam...

Tony Blair is watching with "delight" the television pictures of Iraqis celebrating in Baghdad but says the coalition should not claim victory too early. The prime minister's official spokesman said: "What we have seen today is the scales of fear falling from the eyes of the people of Iraq and they are able to express themselves for the first time in two decades." The message from Downing Street came as there was Iraqi jubilation as a statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down by US troops in Baghdad. Mr Blair's spokesman said: "We are all watching these images along with...