Free Republic

Face to face with a Taliban bomber after a high-speed desert chase, Private Lee Stephens acted on instinct and adrenalin. With no time to consider his own safety, he leapt unarmed from his Warrior armoured vehicle, dragged the insurgent from his motorcycle and laid into him with his fists. Gunner Pte Stephens, 30, from Solihull, did not have time to get his gun. He said: ‘I jumped out and I grabbed the geezer. ‘It was mark one left, mark two right fists. That was it. No weapons, just my hands.’ It was only afterwards that the full significance of his...

MoD fury at leak claims A British soldier shot dead an eight-year-old Iraqi girl as she played in the street, it was claimed yesterday. The explosive allegation was made at a press conference about the secret "war logs" from the US military released by the whistleblowing Wikileaks website. Lawyer Phil Shiner said the murder happened while soldiers were handing out sweets to children. He said: "The tank stopped at the end of the street, she's there in her yellow dress, a rifleman pops up and blows her away." The claim came among revelations that secret reports by the US military...

CAMP DAVID, Maryland — President Bush on Saturday said Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines was "inexcusable" and called for their immediate, unconditional release. Bush said Iran plucked the sailors out of Iraqi waters. Iran's president said Saturday they were in Iranian waters and called Britain and its allies "arrogant and selfish" for not apologizing for trespassing. "Iran must give back the hostages," Bush said at the Camp David presidential retreat, where he was meeting with the president of Brazil. "They're innocent. They did nothing wrong." It was the first time that Bush had commented publicly on the...