Free Republic

The White House said Friday that the Islamic State’s territorial caliphate in Syria, where the terrorist group once controlled 8 million people, has been 100 percent wiped out. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders showed reporters maps of Islamic State, or ISIS, territory in 2014, when it controlled large swaths of the war-torn nation, and of Syria today, with all the previous Islamic State areas defeated by U.S. and allied forces. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan briefed President Trump about the developments during a flight on Air Force One to Florida. The announcement came after intense fighting in recent...

Afghan President Hamid Karzai confirmed Monday that his office has received "bags of money" from Iran, but insisted the payment was transparent and a form of aid from a friendly country. The New York Times reported Saturday that Karzai's chief of staff, Umar Daudzai, has been receiving regular cash payments from Iran, which is trying to expand its influence in the presidential palace in Kabul. Cash payments "are done by various friendly countries to help the presidential office and to help the expenses," Karzai said at a news conference in Kabul, according to the AFP news agency. "The government of...

Democrats are intensifying efforts to hold President Bush and his fellow Republicans accountable for missteps in the Iraq war, as they seek to exploit a potential GOP vulnerability heading into Congress' midterm election year. Outnumbered on Capitol Hill, Democrats are embracing the little power they have in the GOP-controlled House and Senate by using procedural techniques to highlight Iraq troubles and issue blistering critiques of Bush's war policies. At the same time, increasing numbers of Democrats are calling for the president to start withdrawing U.S. troops by year's end and are laying out their own timetables for pulling out of...

..transcript of an October 19 public conversation sponsored by The Nation Institute at the New York Ethical Culture Society The conversation was based on revelations in Ritter's new book, Iraq Confidential MR. HERSH: What I'm going to do is just ask Scott a series of questions. I've read his book a couple of times, So, Scott, to begin, before we even talk about how we got to where we are, my own personal view is we have two options in Iraq. Option A, we can get all our troops out by midnight tonight, and option B, we can get them...

Dear Congressman LaTourette and Senator's DeWine and Voinovich Our household just received a phone call from a left wing organization advocating with drawl of our troops from the Middle East. I could not agree more. After we have totally with drawn our troops and the last U.S. soldier boot has left Iraq soil please authorize our militay to promptly burn the region to glass! Till then, let those fine young men and women complete their mission. We cannot let the left manipulate this issue soley for political gain. When America comitts to a course of action, it must stay the...