Free Republic

Damascus, Syria (CNN) -- An 80-foot-tall statue of Jesus Christ stands atop of a hill overlooking the Syrian Christian town of Saidnaya, about a 40-minute drive from Damascus. The statue is part of the ancient Cherubim Monastery in the Qalamoun Mountains, a quiet, spiritual place that's very important to Syria's Christians. But these days, there is a gruesome sight at the feet of the statue of Christ the savior. About 30 mutilated and charred bodies lie in piles near a footpath that leads to the monastery. The dead are rebel fighters who tried to storm the monastery but were killed...

WikiLeaks has declared that American forces engaged with armed elements of the Mahdi Army during the 2007 surge are guilty of “collateral murder.” Part of that claim is based upon the fact that two Reuters employees, embedded with a band of armed militants, were destroyed by 30mm cannon fire from Apache helicopters. The Apaches were providing support for ground forces that had been under sporadic rifle and RPG fire throughout the morning. Wikileaks would have us hold the pilots responsible for not discerning the armed militiamen from the identically dressed Reuters employees that so comfortably moved with them. WikiLeaks would...

In Baghdad, at an informal meeting of the incoming U.S. ambassador to Iraq and members of the media, the ambassador got an earful about how difficult it was to cover this war. Despite the dainty hors d’oeuvre and wine (in the first real glasses I have seen since my arrival in Iraq), the press brought out a laundry list of issues preventing them from doing their job: checkpoints, transportation, the bureaucracy of blood tests at the border, and the need for more personal security. For what was supposed to be a meet and greet, the greet did not last long....

SAN DIEGO The chair of the House Armed Services Committee asked the Pentagon today to remove C-N-N reporters embedded with U-S combat units. The network televised portions of a video on Wednesday showing insurgent snipers targeting U-S military personnel. Executives said the tape came to the network unexpectedly through contact with an insurgent leader. Representative Duncan Hunter wrote in his letter that, quote, "C-N-N has now served as the publicist for an enemy propaganda film featuring the killing of an American soldier." San Diego-area Republicans Darrell Issa and Brian Bilbray also signed the letter. C-N-N executives defended their decision to...

NEW YORK, March 6 — “Hey, buddy.” That was David Bloom’s all-purpose greeting for anyone who crossed his path. Usually when someone develops a shorthand like that, it’s a cover for not remembering the other person’s name, or not much caring. For David, who used it with even his oldest friends, the effect was the opposite. He was gifted in his ability to establish a human connection almost immediately, which is part of what made him a gifted broadcaster. But it was more than that. He made you feel he was your buddy because he was. He mixed sincerity and...

By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, March 31, 2003; Page C01 John Roberts, the CBS newsman traveling with the 1st Marine Division, is fed up with "all this armchair quarterbacking from people who aren't here." In an interview from Iraq, where he whispered because members of his unit were sleeping nearby, Roberts sounds exasperated with those who are ripping the Pentagon's embedding program for journalists. "Let them try not showering for a week, sleeping out in the desert, living through sandstorms, being under fire -- I don't see these people out there. All they do is criticize."