Free Republic

Over a year ago and many times since, I wrote that I could give no endorsement, because I had honestly not made up my mind about which candidate to support. I also told the CapQ community that if I did make a decision, I would announce it as soon as I made it so that they knew where I stood. The deadline for that decision rapidly approaches, since Minnesota caucuses on February 5th, and I have decided to caucus for Mitt Romney. This decision did not come easily. Some have complained about the choices available to the Republicans, but I...

While Congress debates on the supposed quagmire of Iraq and the lengthy time it has taken to establish a democracy, word comes out of the Balkans that the Americans have finally pushed the Bosnians to normalize their own political system -- after ten years of military occupation separating the three ethnic factions that have threatened to rip each other's throats apart. The Serbs, Muslims, and Croats of Bosnia will dump their ethnically-based tripartite executive in favor of a true parliamentary system, much like the one Americans helped Iraqis establish in less than a quarter of the time spent in Bosnia:...

Source July 08, 2005 More Progress In Afghanistan You're Likely To Have Missed The Army News Service reports that eighteen top Taliban commanders have turned themselves over to the Karzai government for its amnesty program. The commanders come from the splinter Taliban group Hezb-i Islami, which often found itself at odds with Mullah Omar: Eighteen of Gulbiddin Hekmatyar’s Hezb-e Islami commanders turned themselves over to government officials in the Paktia Province June 12. Under the terms of the Afghan government’s reconciliation program, Pakhm-e Sohl, the former commanders returned home after years of living in Pakistan. ... The loyalty statement to...

For those of us in the information business, this is truly an earth-shaking time. Who would have imagined that the downfall of one of the world's most powerful news executives would be precipitated by an ordinary citizen blogging his eyewitness report at Davos in the wee hours of the morning on Jan. 27? It's simply stunning. The courage of Rony Abovitz cannot be overstated. This ordinary American citizen raised his voice at an international forum of media and political heavyweights--also attended by Europe's most influential America-haters--and demanded that Eason Jordan back up his poisonous assertion about the American military targeting...

August 15, 2004 The Alston Timeline Several of you have written to ask that the Alston/Kerry issue be put into some sort of timeline, and I think one would be helpful. Below is the timeline I can re-create using the information and links supplied to me by Tom "River Rat" Mortensen, The Bandit, Lori, and several others. I'll update this timeline as more information becomes available.22 January 1969John Kerry and all other Swiftboat officers go to Saigon to meet with Admiral Zumwalt, leaving his command of PCF-44. Kerry and other Swift boat commanders travel to Saigon for meeting with Adm....