Free Republic

AUBURN, Ala. -- Alabama’s Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby has become a bitter high-dollar contest with the three strongest contenders jockeying for the nomination. The leading candidates are U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks who won — and then lost — former President Donald Trump’s backing in the race; Katie Boyd Britt, the former leader of Business Council of Alabama and Shelby’s former chief of staff; and Mike Durant, an aerospace company owner best known as the helicopter pilot whose capture during a U.S. military mission in Somalia was chronicled in the...

Republicans Katie Britt and Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama are distancing themselves from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell after McConnell suggested there were no problems with the 2020 election. Britt and Brooks are competing, along with “Black Hawn Down” veteran Mike Durant, for the U.S. Senate seat that retiring Sen. Richard Shelby will leave open later this year. After South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds on Sunday dismissed election complaints and claimed the 2020 election “was fair, as fair as we have seen,” McConnell backed Rounds’ comments on Tuesday, telling CNN, “I think Sen. Rounds told the truth about what...

On Thursday, the U.S. Army announced it had approved upgrades to the medals 60 special operations troops received from 1993’s Operation Gothic Serpent in Somalia, also known as the Battle of Mogadishu or “Black Hawk Down.”In total, 58 special operations troops were upgraded to Silver Stars, the third-highest U.S. military decoration for valor in combat. Two more special operations troops were upgraded to Distinguished Flying Crosses, which recognizes acts of heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight.The Oct. 3, 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia was part of a U.S. Army mission to capture Somali warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid....

The pilots were on a routine training flight when their Black Hawk helicopter went down near Lucky Peak. BOISE, Idaho — Three pilots with the Idaho Army National Guard were killed Tuesday night when their helicopter went down near Boise. The UH-60 Black Hawk crashed south of Lucky Peak just after 8 p.m. Tuesday. The three guard members were participating in a routine training flight, officials say. “This is a tremendous loss to the Idaho National Guard and our community,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Garshak, adjutant general of Idaho and commander of the Idaho National Guard. “Our thoughts and prayers...

President Trump, at a fiery "Make America Great Again" campaign rally Wednesday night in Greenville, North Carolina, blasted four progressive congresswomen, Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, with whom he continues to spar after an ongoing feud over comments he made against them that critics deemed "racist." "Let 'em leave... they're always telling us how to run it, how to do this, how to do that. You know what? If they don't love it, tell 'em to leave it," Trump said of the congresswomen, doubling down on...

Some thoughts on the Ilhan Omar Twitter imbroglio and what it means to be an American.

At times, my boss tells me that Twitter can be just a prolonged resignation letter. Bad tweets, unsavory tweets, etc. have been weaponized. From politicians to top NFL draft prospects, like OklahomaÂ’s Kyler Murray, have been victims. Some of them are pretty bad, no doubt. But most are just hijinks and stupidity thatÂ’s often captured and exhibited by teenagers. Now, Twitter could be oneÂ’s epitaph in public life, though Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) enjoys the fact that her district is deep blueÂ…and totally insane for electing her. Her anti-Semitic hijinks have been exposed and itÂ’s not just one isolated incident....

The United States Army was the villain in the “Black Hawk Down” incident in Somalia, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., wrote in a 2017 Twitter post. Omar, a Somali native elected to Congress last fall, was responding to a tweet that falsely described the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu as the worst terrorist attack in Somali history. The original tweet noted that 19 American soldiers were killed and 73 American soldiers were wounded. “In his selective memory, [the writer] forgets to also mention the thousands of Somalis killed by the American forces that day! #NotTodaySatan,” Omar wrote while still a Minnesota...

Today's post is in honor of the 19 soldiers who gave their lives on this day in 1993 during Operation GOTHIC SERPENT: Sgt. Cornell L. Houston Sr. and Pfc. James H. Martin Jr. of the 10th Mountain Division; SSgt. William D. Cleveland Jr., SSgt. Thomas J. Field, and CW4 Raymond A. Frank of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment's SUPER 64; CW3 Clinton P. Wolcott and CW3 Donovan L. Briley of SUPER 61; Cpl. James E. Smith, Spc. James M. Cavaco, Sgt. James C. Joyce, Cpl. Richard W. Kowalewski Jr., Sgt. Dominick M. Pilla, and Sgt. Lorenzo M. Ruiz of...

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden wanted to introduce himself to America with an ABC television interview months before al Qaeda bombed two U.S. embassies in Africa, the interviewer testified on Tuesday. Former ABC correspondent John Miller, testifying at the first Guantanamo war crimes trial, also recalled comparing bin Laden with U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt as he made small talk during filming of the May 28, 1998, interview at an Afghanistan mountain hideout. It was a rare opportunity for an American journalist, and Miller detailed a movie-thriller route to get to bin Laden, complete with...

Editor’s note: Stars and Stripes Pacific News Editor Paul Alexander was the first Associated Press reporter into Somalia after “Black Hawk Down.” On the 20th anniversary of that infamous battle, he looks at the lessons learned — and forgotten. U.S. and U.N. officials had high hopes for the cauldron of famine, venom and easy death that Somalia had become by late 1992. First, a U.S.-led multinational military coalition went in to provide security and ensure food relief was getting to the starving. Early success in that United Nations humanitarian mission created a chance to take peacekeeping to a new level,...

Fox military analyst Col. David Hunt checked in with us again after the revelation that there were multiple listening posts which heard the cries for help from the US Embassy in Libya, and none of them did anything.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012 Is Benghazi Obama's Mogadishu? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday attempted to take one for Team Obama. While in Lima Peru, Secretary Clinton stated, "I take responsibility, I'm in charge of the State Department's 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts. The president and the vice president wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals. They're the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a considered decision." Is Hillary Clinton the new Les Aspin? In 1994, then Secretary of Defense Les Aspin,...

The UK is to send helicopters to Libya following similar announcements by France. Britain and France are to deploy attack helicopters against Libya in an attempt to break the military stalemate, particularly in the important coastal city of Misrata, security sources have told the Guardian. In a significant escalation of the conflict, the Apaches – based on HMS Ocean – will join French helicopters in risky operations which reflect deepening frustration among British and French defence chiefs about their continuing inability to protect civilians. Apaches, which are being used in counter insurgency operations in Afghanistan, can manoeuvre and attack small...

Residents who knew Mohamud say there might have been warning signs leading up to a Somali teenager’s arrest in connection with a plot to bomb the annual tree-lighting ceremony. "He would always talk about the movie ‘Black Hawk Down,’ saying, 'We beat your country, F white people' when he got mad"

I don't often watch the weekend talk shows. When I do, I'm usually shocked by what passes as conventional wisdom. It's as if some of the pundits on these shows spend the week in a sound-proof, thought-proof room, then are programmed with inanities 15 minutes before the red light goes on. There's no escaping it. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC and, yes, Fox, too. Let me give you just one example from this past weekend. On Saturday, I listened in amazement to Jane Hall of American University say the following on "Fox News Watch" in explaining why she thought the...

Law Of The Sea: The U.S. seeks U.N. authorization to fight Somali pirates from the air, on land and at sea. When American cruise ships become targets, maybe it's time to renew a proud tradition: Send in the Marines.On Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice formally presented to a special U.N. session on Somalia a draft Security Council resolution saying that member states fighting against piracy "may take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia, including its airspace, to interdict those who are using Somali territory to plan, facilitate or undertake acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea and to...

ARLINGTON, VA -- Today, Chief Warrant Officer (4th class) Michael J. Durant (Ret.) issued the following statement on Barack Obama's canceled visit to Ramstein and Landstuhl: "Over the last week, Barack Obama made time in his busy schedule to hold a rally with 200,000 Germans in Berlin, hold a press conference with French President Nicholas Sarkozy in Paris, and hold a solo press conference in front of 10 Downing Street in London. The Obama campaign had also scheduled a visit with wounded U.S. troops at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, but this stop was canceled after it became clear that...

<p>McCain enlists "Blackhawk Down" pilot to attack Obama July 28, 2008 12:37 PM The McCain campaign this morning is trying to stir up outrage over Obama's cancelled visit with injured troops in Ramstein, Germany, last week.</p> <p>Senator Obama's campaign has had about a dozen reasons as to why they were unable to visit the troops. My understanding from the Pentagon is that the Obama campaign was more than welcome to have Senator Obama go in his official capacity as a United States senator. What the Pentagon objected to, of course, is bringing the campaign apparatus and the photographers and the zoo that accompanies these candidates sometimes.</p>

Food riots and anti-US protests in Somalia are compounding the chaos in the long-suffering war zone in the Horn of Africa. Meanwhile, an Amnesty International Report released Tuesday alleged that Islamist militants, as well as US-backed Ethiopian and Somali government troops, are committing widespread atrocities against civilians in the capital, Mogadishu. And a recent US strike against what it says was an Al Qaeda leader in Somalia has sparked further protests. The Associated Press reports that Tuesday saw a second day of protests over rising food prices, with hundreds of youths burning tires, throwing stones, and blocking roads. Somalia is...