Free Republic

My ears perked up as soon as I heard that Michelle Kosinski would be reporting from the Amazon. Could we be treated to another shot of the comely correspondent in a canoe? Alas, no. But that doesn't mean the segment was without its diversions. It told the tale of a Brazilian environmentalist in Manaus, on the edge of the Amazon. Ann Curry, long back from her Green Week exploits at the South Pole, introduced the story. View video here.

AL KIFL, IRAQ - All is quiet now except for the rumble of engines in U.S. military vehicles. The Euphrates River silently flows underneath the bridge where those vehicles idle. Stopping by charred cars, trucks or vans, one by one, 3rd Infantry Division soldiers pull dead Iraqis from inside. They silently lay the bloodied bodies in bags, zip them shut and then ease the body bags onto the back of a cargo truck. The soldiers have very little to say. Sgt. Nixon saw a wire wrapped around one man's ankle and tied to an AK-47 rifle. The Iraqi soldiers were...

KIFL, Iraq, March 29 (Reuters) - When U.S. tanks rumbled into this town on the Euphrates river, irregular Iraqi forces set up sniper nests up and down the main street, opening fire from doors, windows, market stalls and patches of open ground. A crimson sunset painted the street red and visibility fell to less than five meters (15 feet) as a swirling sand and dust storm kicked up when the guerrilla units attacked. U.S. officers said fighters in minivans, pick-up trucks and cars drove straight at the oncoming tanks. Others took to canoes, rowing down the river and trying to...