Free Republic

BAGHDAD (Agencies): British forces said they killed Omar al-Farouq, a top terrorist leader, Monday, identified by Iraqi officials as an al-Qaida leader who had escaped from a U.S. prison in Afghanistan and returned to Iraq. Al-Farouq, was one of four al-Qaida suspects who broke out of the prison in Bagram, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, in July 2005. It was an embarrassing incident for the U.S. military, and Pentagon waited until November to confirm that the man had escaped. The delay in releasing his name upset Indonesia, who hadarrested Al-Farouq in 2002 and then turned him over to the...

All aboard the Basra express By Rupert Wingfield Hayes and Jennifer Glass BBC correspondents in Umm Qasr The first train of post-Saddam Hussein Iraq has left the southern port of Umm Qasr on a journey to Iraq's second city, Basra. On board to test the railway line were local dignitaries, British military brass and a large contingent of international media. The largely ceremonial train journey began amid much fanfare to the strains of a British military band. It is part of an effort by British and American forces to get Iraq's infrastructure working again and to help Iraqis get their...