Free Republic

Israel defies restraint plea with new strike on Hamas By Justin Huggler in Jerusalem 14 June 2003 An Israeli helicopter again fired missiles into a crowded area of the Gaza Strip last night in an assassination of a Palestinian militant. Children were among the 23 wounded by the missile strike. The killing came despite an opinion poll published yesterday which found that 67 per cent of Israelis want the assassinations to stop, at least temporarily, to give the peace process a chance. But the Israeli government pressed on. The deputy defence minister, Zeev Boim, vowed that the government would "wage...

Chirac defies Bush at G8 summit By Benedict Brogan and Toby Harnden in Evian (Filed: 02/06/2003) France poured cold water last night on an American and British proposal to limit the spread of weapons of mass destruction as Tony Blair and George W Bush sought to outflank Jacques Chirac at the opening of the G8 summit. While M Chirac, the host, sought to emphasise his vision of a multipolar world, Mr Blair and Mr Bush joined forces with other members of the Iraq coalition to try to force him to make combating terrorism a central agenda item of the gathering...

Sheikh who defies bin Laden's thugs By Philip Smucker in Sana'a (Filed: 09/11/2002) Inside the grounds of his tightly guarded mansion in Sana'a, Sheikh Abdul Azziz Al Shaif plucks some leaves off a branch of a qat tree and stuffs the narcotic greenery between his cheek and gum. The chief of the largest tribe in Yemen, he is known locally as the "Sheikh of Marlborough" for his devotion to his estate in Wiltshire. He is also one of several leading moderates, dissident voices who claim they have faced assassination attempts by al-Qa'eda for their opposition to the network's use of...

CLAY SPRINGS - This is a story about a town that felt it had to break the law to save itself. At the height of the "Rodeo-Chediski" fire, when the destruction of the town seemed imminent, local members of the Pinedale-Clay Springs Volunteer Fire Department disobeyed federal fire commanders and made a stand in their back yard. They slipped past Department of Public Safety roadblocks and fought the fire with bulldozers, chainsaws and hoses, in direct defiance of an order to retreat. The 26 "Clay Springs Renegades," as they came to be known, plowed seven miles of unauthorized firebreaks through...