Free Republic

A Miltary Father’s Response to Senator Durbin’s Apology I penned a short essay about the remarks Senator Durbin made on the Senate floor comparing our troops and detention center in Guantanamo Bay to Nazi death camps, Soviet Gulags, and Pol Pot’s “killing fields.” I feel honor-bound to take issue with this non-apology apology on several grounds. #1) The Senator actually believes that the US is no better than the Nazi’s, Soviet’s or Pol Pot. It doesn’t take a week to decide that you’ve been misinformed and apologize. The Senator KNEW that this was a lie when he spoke it. He...

NEW YORK — Last year, more than 328 million people worldwide visited amusement parks but the death this week of one 4-year-old boy at Walt Disney World has led some to question whether more needs to be done to improve theme park safety. Daudi Bamuwamye (search) died on a popular ride at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center. Since the "Mission: Space" attraction opened in 2003, seven people have been taken to the hospital for chest pains, fainting or nausea. The intense attraction simulates a rocket and spins riders around in a centrifuge. "We believe the ride is safe in its...

PETA employees charged with animal cruelty and illegally dumping dead animals Click to watch video06:30 PM EDT on Thursday, June 16, 2005By 13News A month-long investigation into alleged animal cruelty has ended with the arrests of two people, employed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Norfolk. Ahoskie Police photosAndrew Cook and Adria Hinkle Officers said Andrew Benjamin Cook, 24, of Tree Top Drive in Va. Beach, and Adria Joy Hinkle, 27, of Claremont Ave. in Norfolk picked up live animals from shelters in Northampton and Bertie counties but dumped dead animals in Ahoskie. In all, 31 animals...

Baghdad – Ibrahim al-Idrissi, 37, goes to work every day with a handgun in a holster on his hip. In most countries, the line of work Idrissi is in wouldn't require such firepower. But this is Iraq. Idrissi is the president of the Association for Free Prisoners, an Iraqi non-governmental organization that has been documenting the execution of political prisoners under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Many of Saddam's torturers and executioners are still at large. There have been two attempts on Idrissi's life, and three on the organization's headquarters in Baghdad. "Fortunately, their aim hasn't been very good so...

I witnessed the dead of Belsen: we must always confront tyranny By James Molyneaux (Filed: 27/01/2004) My first encounter with Belsen was the sight of dead bodies hanging from the electric fences. These victims had thrown themselves on the fences to end their own unimaginable suffering. The camp authorities had left them where they died. It was May 1945. The Allied and Russian armies were battling to link up in central Germany; Field Marshal Montgomery led his 21st Army Group to Lüneburg, with our RAF Regiment Wing in close support. On arrival at Tactical Headquarters, we had been briefed on...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Kim Yong seemed to have it all. He was a trusted lieutenant colonel in a North Korean police agency and worked for a company that exported fish to Japan. He had access to dollars, foreign goods and a chauffeur-driven car. Then one day, North Korean authorities learned that Kim had been living for decades under an assumed name. He actually was the son of a man who, decades earlier, had been executed as a spy for the United States. Kim was immediately sent to a detention facility in Pyongyang, where he was forced to kneel for...

What can you learn from a shoe? As I stood in the Maidanek death camp recently, I tried to understand, tried to envision, tried to learn about a woman who died more than sixty years ago. I know almost nothing about her, other than the fact that she came to Maidanek and probably never left. There are hundreds of thousands of shoes at the Maidanek death camp in Poland, all stored behind wire mesh. The shoes are dusty and mangled, most crushed almost beyond recognition. Our guide quoted the number 800,000, but I don’t really believe it matters exactly how...