Free Republic

Half a world away from Denver, Army Capt. Joel Parker sat in a military camp outside Baghdad on Saturday and watched his graduation ceremony from Regis University via the Internet. A virtual graduation was fitting for Parker, since he has been completing his master's of business administration degree online while fighting on the front lines. "It's a great feeling," said Parker in a telephone interview from Iraq. "It feels like a mission accomplished." His father, Leedell Parker of Denver, stood in his 36-year-old son's place Saturday, donning a black cap and gown and striding across the Regis stage to accept...

On July 6, 2006, Stonebridge International, a global strategy firm, announced that it had added a new member to its high-profile, five-member advisory board—former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton. True to form, the major media ignored the Hamilton appointment. They should not have. Hamilton, who had served as Vice-Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, had just joined a firm headed by the man who had criminally undermined that very Commission, Stonebridge chairman and founder, Samuel "Sandy" Berger.

Webster's dictionary defines the word hero as a man or woman of distinguished valor or enterprise in dangers. This is the story of a hero. His name is Jim Regan. Friends call him Jimmy. He was born in Rockville Centre, N.Y., and grew up in Manhasset. By high school, at Chaminade High in Mineola, N.Y., he had become a top student and a gifted athlete and excelled in community efforts. He was named an all-American lacrosse player and all-state scholar for football and was given the Nassau County Sports Commission award for outstanding academic achievements, athletic achievements and service to...

February 7, 2007 -- JUST a couple hours after filing his presidential "statement of candidacy" Monday, Rudy Giuliani was spotted slipping out of the Carlton Hotel presidential suite via a back elevator. Even more curious, he was clutching a stack of DVDs titled "Obsession." No, it wasn't a VIP stag party or the Brian De Palma movie. This "Obsession" is a documentary about radical Islam. Giuliani had just been interviewed in the suite by producer Erik Werth for the sequel.

Dec. 7, 2006 — The story of a group of Marines' quest to save a sick baby in war-torn Iraq gives some hope to humanity this holiday season. At the center of the story is Navy medic Chris Walsh and the 1st Battalion 25th Marines. The Marines were patrolling the streets of Fallujah in June when they faced an enemy attack.

The landscaper charged with vehicular homicide and drunken driving in a crash Thanksgiving night that killed a Marine on leave and his date is apparently in the country illegally and had received a Maryland driver's license by first obtaining one from North Carolina - a state whose loose requirements once made it a favorite for undocumented aliens seeking identification cards. It is unclear how Eduardo Raul Morales-Soriano, 25, a Mexican citizen living in Laurel, came to the United States or whether the North Carolina license was his first, but anti-immigration activists said yesterday said that until North Carolina changed its...

A man charged with manslaughter in the drunken-driving deaths of two people was apparently in the U.S. illegally and had obtained a driver's license in North Carolina, according to immigration officials. Eduardo Raul Morales-Soriano, 25, of Laurel, has been charged with two counts of homicide by motor vehicle in the deaths of Marine Cpl. Brian Mathews, 21, of Columbia, and Jennifer Bower, 24, of Montgomery Village. Mathews and Bower, who were on their second date, were killed on Thanksgiving when Morales-Soriano allegedly slammed into the back of their car. Mathews had recently finished eight months of duty in Iraq and...

The US economy grew at a rate of 2.2 per cent in the third quarter, faster than previously thought, while wage growth earlier this year was revised down on Wednesday, adding to evidence that the economy is on track for a soft landing. This picture was reinforced by the latest Fed Beige Book survey of economic conditions, which offered little sign of a deterioration in the US economy during October and early November. Most regional Fed districts “reported continued moderate growth.” In spite of “continuing softness in automobile and housing-related sales”, most districts said customer spending increased over the period.

he economy lost steam in the late summer but not nearly as much as first thought, a hopeful sign the country is weathering the housing slump. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that economic growth clocked in at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the July-to-September quarter. The new reading was a considerable upgrade from the government's earlier estimate of a 1.6 percent growth rate, which would have been the worst showing in more than three years if it had held up.

The missing American soldier who has been the subject of an intensive manhunt here in the capital since he was kidnapped by gunmen outside the heavily protected Green Zone last week was secretly married to an Iraqi woman and had been visiting her at the time of the abduction, several people who identified themselves as his in-laws said Sunday.

Financial regulators on both sides of the Atlantic may not be able to resolve policy disputes through co-operation and the creation of a global regulator should be considered, according to Barney Frank, the senior Democratic congressman.

I NEVER quite thought it would happen, but there is no doubt that millions of people approach the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks with a dutiful sense that such a "benchmark" date should not go unobserved, while probably millions more are repressing a sigh or a yawn. (I am not sure I believe a recent poll which tells me that millions of Americans cannot name the year the attacks took place, but I do know that many people have been quoting the findings as if they were significant.)

A doctor has been charged in the drive-by shooting of a bicyclist, who was hit in the chest and shoulder and is now recovering at the same hospital where the physician works. Dr. Wameeth Fadhli, a doctor at the University of Texas Medical Branch hospital in Galveston, was jailed Thursday on $60,000 bond after being accused of firing numerous shots at the 22-year-old man on Tuesday. According to witnesses, the victim was riding his bicycle when a sport utility vehicle pulled alongside and began firing what they described as a pistol. The witnesses told police the shooter was alone and...

Former Army Capt. James Yee, whose work as a Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo ended when he was arrested and accused of spying, said Sunday that he was unfairly detained at the Canadian border while returning from a brief visit. Yee, who spent 76 days in solitary confinement before being cleared of all charges in March 2004, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that memories of his experience in Army detention came back to him while he was being questioned for two hours at the border on Saturday evening.

Man Responsible For Killing, Mutilating Two U.S. Soldiers Dies POSTED: 7:58 am EDT July 18, 2006 BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A Jordanian who killed two U.S. soldiers last month was fatally wounded in a clash with security forces, a senior Iraqi official said Tuesday. Diyar Ismail Mahmoud, known as Abu al-Afghani, was identified as the killer of the two soldiers, National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie told reporters. The two soldiers' mutilated bodies were found after they were captured in a clash near Youssifiyah, southwest of Baghdad. A third American was killed in the clash. Al-Rubaie did not say when Mahmoud was...

SPOTSWOOD - A young man who fought for his country is now battling for his life. And on July 15, local residents will have the opportunity to help him do just that. Justin, whose last name is not being disclosed at the request of the U.S. Department of Defense, is a Navy SEAL and former Spotswood resident who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. The Navy is turning to Justin's hometown community to help him find a bone marrow stem cell donor who could save his life. Justin is fairly well-known in the area. At Spotswood High School, he was president...

The Bush administration seems finally ready to admit that it was wrong about Iraq - privately, anyway. "Syriana" writer-director Stephen Gaghan had an off-the-record lunch yesterday in Washington with White House officials who, he says, acknowledged that the U.S. occupation has gone from bad to worse. "They think we're in a disastrous state of affairs in Iraq and that there was no plan for the aftermath," the 40-year-old Oscar-winner revealed to Lowdown. "They're the people who provide the talking points, and they said they were guilty of hubris at the highest level, that kind of stuff."

Ever since Hurricane Katrina, Americans have been exposed to another side of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. Prior to the hurricane, New Orleans residents recognized Nagin as a “big idea” guy who rarely delivered on his promises. For example, Nagin proposed to sell the New Orleans airport to pay for infrastructure improvements, to build a new city hall and for the City of New Orleans to take over and operate 20 of the worst performing public schools and turn them into centers of excellence. All of these ideas were good, but none became reality because Nagin excels in grand thinking,...

As I drive into New Orleans on the West Bank Expressway, the bruised-looking Superdome is on my left, and an abandoned, 10-foot boat sits on the shoulder to my right. Straight ahead is a phalanx of guys in fatigues. They're pointing the kinds of guns that could put a Dodge Stratus-sized hole in my Dodge Stratus. I hold up the plastic card that says I'm a writer, and they let me go. Seconds later, I'm driving over the Mississippi River on the Crescent City Connection Bridge and headed into the city. In the two days I've been in Louisiana, I've...

HALFWAY, Md. - Ryan Brandt Young, a San Diego man and former Navy SEAL performing diplomatic security in southern Iraq, died Wednesday when a bomb destroyed his armored vehicle. Young, 32, a native of Halfway, Md., served in the U.S. Navy for more than 13 years, including stints as a Navy SEAL and SEAL instructor, said his father, Greg Young. Ryan Young was in Iraq as a security contractor for Triple Canopy Inc. of Herndon, Va. and was working with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. He was riding in the lead vehicle of a motorcade escorting someone from an airport...