Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2006 – The horrific attacks against those trying to build a new Iraq and against innocent Iraqis are to create fear and doubt in the people of Iraq, a Multinational Forces Iraq spokesman said in Baghdad today. Speaking to Pentagon reporters via satellite, Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald Alston said the terrorists targeted innocent Iraqis in the recent string of attacks in Karbala, Baghdad, Muqtadiyah and other areas. The terrorists are not slowing the drive toward democracy, he said. He also spoke of the coalition and Iraqi successes against the threats of car bombs. The general said...

Bush Attacks Democrats In Chicago Speech Protestors Make Feelings Known UPDATED: 7:46 pm CST January 6, 2006 CHICAGO -- President George W. Bush on Friday opened a sharp election-year attack against Democrats, who he said would devastate the economy and turn back recent job gains by blocking free trade and raising taxes. It was Bush's first 2006 speech on the road and, with Republican control of Congress potentially at stake in the November elections, the president pulled no punches. "Just as this economy is getting going, there are some in Washington who want to take the money out of your...

BAGHDAD (Army News Service, Jan. 5, 2006) – Coalition and Iraqi forces responded Jan. 4 after a suicide bomber laden with explosives attacked a funeral procession about 60 miles north of Baghdad and other militants attacked a convoy of 60 fuel tankers. After the attack on the funeral, located in the town of Muqdadiya, Coalition forces joined the Iraqi Security Forces to secure the site of the bombing. The suicide bomber killed at least 30 and wounded more than 40 people, according to reports. After the ambush on a convoy of fuel tankers Jan. 4, a militant group known as...

(AP) BAGHDAD Suicide bombers targeted Shiite pilgrims in the south and police recruits in central Iraq, and a roadside bomb killed five U.S. soldiers, bringing Thursday's death toll to at least 130 people in a series of attacks as politicians tried to form a coalition government. The two-day toll from insurgent attacks rose to 183, reflecting a dramatic upsurge in bloodshed following the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections. Some leading Sunni politicians accuse the Shiite-led government of condoning fraud in the voting. Iraq's prime minister denounced the violence as an attempt to derail the political process at a time when progress...

FREMONT, Calif. -- A pack of angry Chihuahuas attacked a police officer who was escorting a teenager home after a traffic stop, authorities said. The officer suffered minor injuries, including bites to his ankle, Detective Bill Veteran said.

I've been getting a large number of firewall probes all morning - on the order one every minute to two minutes. Mostly pings and port 1026s (Windows Messenger). I've been monitoring the WMF exploit for the last couple of days, and when I was checking up on this morning's high activity, I noticed this article:Worry Watch -- Instant Messenger attacks rise in number and damage (from post-gazette.com, 12/31/2005) Wonder if someone(s) are trying to use the WMF exploit via Windows Messenger in a big way?

WASHINGTON, Dec. 26, 2005 – Iraqi police, firefighters and Task Force Baghdad soldiers responded to a series of car bomb attacks in central and eastern Baghdad today, military officials reported. At 8:30 a.m., a suicide car bomber detonated in the Karadah district, killing an Iraqi civilian and wounding an Iraqi police officer and an Iraqi civilian. The second car bomb exploded in eastern Baghdad at about 10 a.m., injuring five Iraqi police officers. At 10:43 a.m., a third car bomb detonated near an Iraqi police patrol in northeast Baghdad, killing four Iraqi civilians and wounding two Iraqi police officers. About...

Rights group attacks Iran's 'ministers of murder' By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 15/12/2005) Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has packed his government with former security and intelligence officials responsible for serious human rights abuses, including the killing of thousands of dissidents in Iranian jails, a leading human rights group said yesterday. After Mr Ahmadinejad caused renewed international outrage by calling the Nazi Holocaust of Jews a "myth", a report by Human Rights Watch, based in New York, took aim at his hardline cabinet - in particular the new interior minister, Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has renewed his attack...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2005 – By combating terrorists in Iraq, the U.S. military is helping to prevent another terror attack on American soil, a senior U.S. military officer told reporters at a Baghdad news conference today. Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch pointed to today's terrorist bombing of a passenger bus in Baghdad that killed almost 30 Iraqis as a key rationale for American forces to be in Iraq. Lynch is a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq. "Think about what happened today," Lynch said, noting that innocent civilians, including children, were on that bus when the suicide bomber detonated the bomb....

Friday, December 17, 2004 HOLIDAY BLUES Homosexuals behind Target action? Stores banned Salvation Army bell ringers from property Posted: December 17, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern Citing a history of homosexual attacks on the Salvation Army, pro-family activists are convinced alternative-lifestyle advocates are behind Target's decision to ban the organization's traditional red-kettle bell ringers from outside its stores. The Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council, points to a story in the homosexual publication Washington Blade published last year describing a three-year boycott of the Salvation Army's Christmas fund-raising outside retail stores. "Gay rights groups continue to target the...

Conservatives have been attacked by liberals and it's time for them to fight back, Ann Coulter, a legal analyst, public commentator and political columnist, said at the University of Texas at Tyler's Cowan Center on Thursday. "Every time I turn on the news, they (liberals) are always claiming they're oppressed. So let's do it. Let's oppress them," she said, eliciting laughter and cheers from audience members at the Distinguished Lecture Series event. Known for her biting rhetoric and sarcasm interjected into conservative criticism of national politics, Ms. Coulter didn't appear to disappoint audience members expecting a sampling of her humor...

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali pirates attacked five ships in the past week in a sharp rise of banditry apparently directed from a mysterious "mother ship" prowling the busy Indian Ocean corridor, shipping experts said on Friday. ADVERTISEMENT ZIP code where you park at night: Do you currently have auto insurance? Yes No Have you had a U.S. driver's license for more than 3 years? Yes No Has any driver in your household had 2 or more accidents or moving violations in the last 3 years? Yes No Most vessels escaped, but one was commandeered, bringing to seven the number of...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2005 – Iraqi and coalition forces remain hot on the trail of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, following the deadly Nov. 9 hotel bombings in Jordan, the Pentagon's top spokesman said today. However, it's still too soon to know for certain that Zarqawi was the force behind the attacks on the Grand Hyatt, Radisson and Days Inn hotels in Amman, Lawrence Di Rita told Pentagon reporters. The Jordanian government is investigating the attacks, and until the results of that investigation are known, there's no firm evidence that al Qaeda directed the attacks, he said....

In this Palestinian village, the Akhras clan mourned 17 relatives killed by a suicide bomber in Jordan — the first time Palestinians have been a target in a suicide attack. "Oh my God, oh my God. Is it possible that Arabs are killing Arabs, Muslims killing Muslims?" asked a weeping Najah Akhras, 35, who lost two nieces. Similar thoughts were heard over and over in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Thursday, as Palestinians expressed outrage over suicide attacks aimed at civilians. The bombings at three hotels in Amman on Wednesday night killed at least 56 people, including 27...

Is Islam a religion of peace or terror? Is it only the Islamic fundamentalists causing the problem or is the root problem in Islam itself? Here are some facts to consider: 1. Nearly all the conflicts and terror currently occuring around the world involve Muslims. 2. More people are killed by Islamists each year than in all 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition combined. 3. Islamic terrorists murder more people every day than the Ku Klux Klan has in the last 50 years. 4. 19 Muslim hijackers killed more innocents in two hours on September 11th than the number of...

MIAMI - Cruise lines say their crews and ships are well prepared for attacks like the one off the coast of Somalia this past weekend, when pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns at the luxury vessel Seabourn Spirit. The ship safely evaded two pirate boats after using an earsplitting sonic weapon, changing course and heading out to sea. But security experts say that despite all the preparations, cruise liners remain vulnerable to attacks like this or the deadly bombing by al-Qaida-linked militants of the USS Cole in Yemen five years ago. The Cole was rammed by an explosives-laden boat...

CANBERRA, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Sydney's harbour bridge and Opera House are among a range of possible targets linked to intelligence about potential terror attacks in Australia, newspapers said on Friday. Prime Minister John Howard has said Australia received intelligence this week about a "terrorist threat", but refused to give any details on Friday, saying to do so would compromise police and security agency investigations. Australia, a staunch U.S. ally with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil. The country has been on medium security alert since shortly after the Sept. 11,...

The following are excerpts from an Iranian animated movie for children, which aired on IRIB 3 TV on October 28, 2005, at 8 a.m. Iran time. Karim: "This is not only in revenge for your father, mother, and brother. This bloodthirsty man must be held accountable for all his crimes. We must not allow these bloodthirsty Zionists to take even one inch of our holy land. If necessary, we will die this way." (Scene changes: A dirt road. Abd Al-Rahman, waiting for an Israeli military convoy to pass by, ties a string of grenades around his waist. The convoy approaches.)...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2005 – It's little surprise that October turned out to be one of the most violent months in Iraq, as insurgents stepped up their attacks in an unsuccessful attempt to disrupt the Oct. 15 referendum, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Pentagon reporters today. "It's understandable that the two months that have had the highest casualties were last January and this October," Marine Gen. Peter Pace said. Both were election months during which more U.S. and coalition forces were on the ground in Iraq to help maintain security, he pointed out. "And as we...

Contact: Tracey Schmitt 202-863-8614 WASHINGTON –RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman issued the following statement on Senator Chuck Schumer’s political attacks on Supreme Court nominee, Judge Samuel Alito.“Earlier this year, Senator Schumer showed us that he was willing to use Hurricane Katrina to raise campaign cash.  It was wrong to politicize a natural disaster and it's wrong to distort what should be a thoughtful and deliberate process to place an eminently qualified judge on the High Court.  This isn’t the first time that Senator Schumer has made ominous threats about a nomination to further his political and fundraising goals.  Senator Schumer needs...