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The Saudi student who fatally shot three people at a U.S. naval base in Florida hosted a dinner party earlier in the week where he and three others watched videos of mass shootings, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Saturday. One of the three students who attended the dinner party videotaped outside the building while the shooting was taking place at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Friday, said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity after being briefed by federal authorities. Two other Saudi students watched from a car, the official said. The official said 10...

Second World War Desert Rats describe their disgust and sadness after it emerges that the celebrated tank unit would be left without any tanks as a result of the latest round of defense cuts. Major Sam Bradshaw, who fought with the 7th Armoured Brigade throughout the conflict, including its famous campaign in north Africa, said he would like to wring David Cameron’s neck. … He added: “They are just cutting back, cutting back, cutting back. You can’t put a price on defense. I won’t live to regret it, but my thoughts are with the people of the future. I hope...

The Pipes and Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, Scotland's only remaining tank regiment, have signed a £1 million record deal with Universal Music to record an album of songs which is set to storm the charts in time for Christmas. The new album includes versions of Paul McCartney's Mull Of Kintyre and Rod Stewart's Sailing as well as traditional Scottish ballads such as Amazing Grace along with film themes including The Last of The Mohicans, Dances with Wolves, Watership Down and Sharpe. The 24 pipers and drummers are part time musicians and fulltime soldiers. Military piping originated in...

British to adopt the tactics that beat Rommel By Oliver Poole in Amarah (Filed: 24/08/2006) The soldiers of the Queen's Royal Hussars will today board a fleet of stripped-down Land Rovers, festooned with weapons and equipment, bound for the depths of the Iraqi desert. Their mission is to adopt tactics pioneered by the Long Range Desert Group, the forerunners of the SAS, more than six decades ago in the campaign against Rommel in North Africa. They will leave Camp Abu Naji, the only permanent base in Maysan province near the local capital of Amarah, and head into the remote region...

U.S. says they're stoking false hopes ARIVACA, Ariz. – Andy Sellers anxiously drives the woman north in a dusty 1992 Nissan Pathfinder dubbed "the Desert Rat." Just 12 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, he passes the first of five U.S. Border Patrol vehicles. He can't help but think of the two colleagues arrested weeks earlier on charges of transporting illegal immigrants – just what he was doing. Mr. Sellers, 23, is one of hundreds of volunteers with the humanitarian group No More Deaths. Their goal: to aid lost, abandoned or injured illegal immigrants. "I was a little nervous when I...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The chief of a Saudi charity that has been accused of terror links has been fired, Saudi officials said. The officials said that Akeel al-Akeel of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation was sacked and replaced by his deputy, Dabbas al-Dabbasy. The officials, speaking Wednesday on condition of anonymity, said Minister of Islamic Affairs Saleh al-Sheik issued the decision to dismiss al-Akeel, but they did not say when he was sacked or why. In 2002, the U.S. government said it had evidence that some money from the organization's offices in Bosnia and Somalia had been diverted to support...

BASRA, Iraq, April 7 (AFP) - Spurred on by jubilant locals, British forces won a bitter battle with inspired Iraqi fighters Sunday to take near total control of Basra at the end of what a British officer described as "one hell of a day." British tanks advanced into the center of Iraq's second city, surrounded the local Baath Party headquarters and accepted cheers and thumbs-up from local people, correspondents reported. Tanks and troops from Britain's legendary 7the Armoured Brigade -- the Desert Rats -- first mounted a dawn raid on a headquarters of the Fedayeen, a paramilitary militia fiercely loyal...

BASRA’S Shia population celebrated yesterday as Challenger tanks and Warrior armoured vehicles from three Desert Rats battle groups surged into the city shortly after 5.30am (2.30GMT).Some Iraqis cheered and waved at the advancing British troops while others turned on Fedayin paramilitaries, with several of the militiamen seen being killed by lynch mobs. Chairs, tables and other possessions were looted from wrecked government and paramilitary buildings as inhabitants of the Shia slums on the outskirts of Basra flocked from their homes to capitalise on the British advance. As night drew in, tanks and infantry from the Royal Scots were positioned at...

THE commander of Britain’s Desert Rats declared last night that the Iraqi regime in Basra was "on the run" as his troops continued their push into the city. Brig Graham Binns, the commanding officer of the 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats, said that the ability of Saddam Hussein’s paramilitaries to coerce the population of Basra into fighting was "evaporating", and predicted that their "days are limited". His assessment was delivered only hours after reports in Arab papers that the Ba’ath party in Basra was preparing to surrender as soon as Baghdad is taken. Binns insisted that he had no...

April 05, 2003UN and Army at odds as troops encourage lootingFrom Daniel McGrory in southern Iraq UNITED NATIONS officials have rebuked British commanders for urging local residents to loot buildings belonging to the Iraqi Army and the ruling Baath Party. The British view is that the sight of local youths dismantling the offices and barracks of a regime they used to fear shows they have confidence that Saddam Hussain’s henchmen will not be returning to these towns in southern Iraq. One senior British officer said: “We believe this sends a powerful message that the old guard is truly finished.” Armoured...

Iraqi Fighters Prepare for Last Stand in Basra, AFP Reports Basra, Iraq, March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Civilians fleeing the southern Iraq city of Basra say Iraqi fighters remaining behind are preparing for a last stand, Agence France-Presse reported. Hundreds of residents are streaming out of the city over a bridge leading south. They told AFP that Iraqi soldiers, paramilitaries and Baath party members loyal to President Saddam Hussein were trying to stop the exodus. Iraqi mortar positions and snipers had fired on the fleeing civilians in the last few days to stem the flow, AFP cited unidentified British soldiers as...

Female soldier 'will go in and do the job' In Basra: Angie Little serves with British 7th Armoured Brigade Anne Marie Owens, with files from Lillian Au, Global Television National Post, with files from Global Television CREDIT: Global News "I prayed something like this would never happen ... but I've always been very supportive of my children's decisions and I'm very proud of her," says Janet Little, mother of Angie Little of Nova Scotia, who is a Second Lieutenant with Britain's 7th Armoured Brigade in Basra. When Angie Little graduated from high school, she was given her own private graduation...

UMM QASR, Iraq (AP) - Striking before dawn, British tanks and infantry staged a lightning raid into besieged Basra on Saturday, destroying five Iraqi tanks and blowing up two statues of Saddam Hussein before withdrawing without casualties. The strike was the first thrust into the city confirmed by British officers, and it and other limited attacks around Basra could be a preview of how coalition commanders might deal with a siege of Baghdad. The move also was further evidence that British troops fighting for control of Iraq's far south are not here just as window dressing in the war to...

DEADLY: Marines with an anti-tank Milan missile launcher yesterday PROUD: Salute from a Challenger tank crew off for night patrol in Basra city HUMBLED: PoW is escorted away by British soldier at camp in south Iraq SADDAM GIVES TWO MEDALS IN SICK HONOUR TO SUICIDE KILLER SICK Saddam yesterday awarded two posthumous medals to the suicide bomber who lured four American soldiers to their deaths at an Army checkpoint. And as the killer, Ali Hammadi al-Namani,was named and hailed a hero on Iraqi TV, the country's Vice-President warned the US could expect MORE suicide attacks on its troops. Gloating...

In our sights ... Desert Rats and tanks mass near Basra yesterday Pictures: TERRY RICHARDS & BRIAN ROBERTS From NICK PARKER with the British Army Field HQ, southern Iraq SADDAM’S henchmen fled in terror as the Desert Rats closed in on Basra with tanks yesterday. Dozens of bloodthirsty thugs loyal to the tyrant were killed as warplanes blitzed three of their official buildings — paving the way for the British advance. Survivors of the precision strikes ran for their lives from the rubble as the 7th Armoured Brigade swept in to end their reign of fear for good in...

Gloating ... TV shows Iraqis clambering on overturned Land Rover SICKENING TV film showing two executed British soldiers lying in a dusty Iraqi street triggered outrage and tears last night.The Arab station Al Jazeera broadcast pictures taken by Saddam Hussein’s Fedayeen militiamen minutes after they killed the pair, both Desert Rats.One trooper had a massive chest wound and the other’s neck and upper chest was covered in blood.Both men’s faces were clearly visible on the film — shot at close range in the border town of Safwan. Nearby, dozens of Iraqi militiamen were seen clambering over the soldiers’ overturned Land...

British forces entered the outskirts of Iraq's second largest city of Basra after Iraqi troops reportedly fired mortars at their own people to quell an uprising.Aid agencies were also trying to rush water to the besieged population of some 1.2 million people amid fears of a humanitarian crisis in the mainly Shiite city unless water supplies can be restored soon.British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said Iraqi militia had begun to flee in the teeth of artillery and air strikes, and cited reports that an attempted rebellion by local people had been brutally snuffed out."We know there have been attempts by...

A U.S. Marine helps an injured POW moments after securing the port of Um Qusar in southern Iraq, Sunday, March 23, 2003. Members of the Desert Rats, Zulu Company, Royal Fusiliers, drive their Warrior tank into a monument of Saddam Hussein as they enter Basraand in southern Iraq, Monday, March 24, 2003.

British troops in Iraq yesterday mounted aggressive patrols to track down Saddam Hussein’s henchmen and looters. In districts around the south-western edge of Basra sections of soldiers maintained a high presence to deter any would-be insurrection. Others, acting on specific intelligence provided by the local population, raided homes and properties belonging to members of the Iraqi ruling Baath party and militiamen loyal to Saddam. Any found with weapons were immediately arrested as prisoners of war. Protecting the numerous oil and gas processing plants in the area has become a key role for the 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats, as...

Allies Pound Iraqi Vehicles in Basra By DOUG MELLGREN and NICOLE WINFIELD .c The Associated Press NEAR BASRA, Iraq (AP) - British and U.S. aircraft pounded a convoy of Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles that was streaming out of the besieged southern city of Basra late Wednesday, British military sources said. The sources estimated the column at about 120 vehicles, heading southeast along the main road toward Abadan. They said it appeared the Iraqis were using the sandstorm that had blanketed the region to try to sneak out. Basra had been largely quiet for much of the day Wednesday, with...