Free Republic

<p>WASHINGTON -- Not quite three years ago, campaign audiences regularly broke into applause when then-candidate George W. Bush promised to limit the role of the American military in regional disputes around the world.</p> <p>Today, the commander in chief faces the prospect of deploying more than 100,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for months -- and perhaps even years -- to come. And that's only a start to the revolution that's occurring in the U.S. military.</p>

<p>Today, the commander in chief faces the prospect of deploying more than 100,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for months -- and perhaps even years -- to come. And that's only a start to the revolution that's occurring in the U.S. military. The president has sent troops to Africa, a continent candidate Bush said was outside the United States' sphere of "national strategic interests." He's investigating opening new U.S. bases in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. And he's putting the rulers of Iran and North Korea on notice that he's not afraid to unleash the military's big guns again.</p>

<p>JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia's tradition of charitable giving to Muslim causes may have been exploited by Al Qaeda (search) to raise money for the Sept. 11 attacks, analysts said Saturday as the Saudi government refuted allegations of links to terrorists.</p>

Treaty with U.S. will allow police to cut diplomatic red tape Japan and the United States will sign a treaty next week that allows their law-enforcement authorities to bypass diplomatic channels in exchanging information on criminal cases, Japanese officials said Friday. The mutual legal assistance treaty, to be signed Tuesday, paves the way for the Justice Ministry and National Police Agency to ask the U.S. Justice Department directly for cooperation and information, and vice versa. Japanese law stipulates that the Foreign Ministry must serve as the window for international cooperation in investigating criminal cases. The government is hoping to secure...

Nations seek to integrate climate change tracking mechanisms Government officials and scientists from more that 30 countries have called for the speedy development of an integrated method to observe climate change and other environmental trends on Earth. Participants at the so-called "Earth Observation Summit" held at the US State Department in Washington, have pledged to move ahead with an "international, comprehensive, coordinated and sustained" monitoring mechanism within 10 years' time. "We, the participants, call for and intend to participate in a comprehensive, coordinated Earth observation system that is used for the benefit of humankind and thereby contributes to sustaining the...