Free Republic

An al Qaida-linked suspect who allegedly tried to blow up a transatlantic plane is studying at a UK university, it has been reported. The Nigerian is accused of trying to detonate a powdery substance on a plane from Amsterdam as it prepared to land at Detroit with 278 people on board. US sources said he was subdued by passengers and has since claimed to have been acting for al Qaida. He has been named by ABC News as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, an engineering student at University College London, with the broadcaster citing US government documents. The suspect, who has...

<p>"NatWest handed Al Qaeda terrorist 100% mortgage to buy £93,000 home he turned into a bomb factory"</p> <p>SNIPPET: "A bank has sparked outrage by handing over a 100 per cent mortgage to an Al Qaeda terrorist who smuggled himself into Britain.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP)— A federal judge has ordered the release of a Kuwaiti man held at Guantanamo Bay and rebuked the U.S. government for relying on scant evidence, uncredible witnesses and coerced confessions to hold him for more than seven years. In an opinion declassified Friday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said government attorneys presented a “surprisingly bare” record during four days of classified hearings last month to oppose Fouad Al Rabiah’s request for release from the U.S. naval detention facility in Cuba. She said the aviation engineer is being held almost exclusively on confessions obtained through abusive techniques and that...

GLENDALE -- SNIPPET: "Cornelius Hardy, who often goes by Neil, was last seen Saturday evening at his home near 67th Avenue and Glendale Road. Friends and family have gathered at that home this morning. Annette Hardy said she came home at about 8:30 p.m. to find her husband gone. Hardy's family said the 41-year-old is consistent in his routine and that it's not at all like him to simply disappear. They said they have checked his credit cards and cell-phone records and found no activity since Saturday." SNIPPET: "Hardy has high security clearance at the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant,...

Gulf Region Division commander, Maj. Gen. Michael Eyre (left), passes the flag to Gulf Region South District commander, Air Force Col. Jeffry Knippel, during the historic July 9 change-of-command ceremony while outgoing commander, Col. John Drolet looks on. Knippel is the first Air Force officer to command a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ district. (GRD photo) TALLIL — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Gulf Region Division (GRD) in Iraq made history July 9, when Col. Jack Drolet relinquished command of the USACE's Gulf Region South (GRS) district to Col. Jeffry D. Knippel, the first U.S. Air Force officer...

Note: The following text is a quote: 09 July 2009 EGYPT ARRESTS TERRORIST CELL OF 25 MEMBERS CAIRO, July 9 (Xinhua) The Egyptian authorities have arrested a terrorist cell of 25 members, 24 Egyptians and one Palestinian, for plotting to carry out terrorist attacks in Suez Canal, Egyptian Interior Ministry said in statement issued on Thursday. According to the statement, the members of the cell who believe in Jihad (Holy War) were located in Cairo, Alexandria and Daqahlia governorates and communicated through internet with other terrorist groups outside Egypt. The cell's members, mostly engineers, were developing high-tech and electronic devices...

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, May 27, 2009 – As thousands of additional troops arrive in Afghanistan, one concern has been having enough civilian experts to fill an increasing shortage in support roles. Last month, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he may ask reservists skilled in certain areas to deploy and fill those roles until replacements arrive. Joint Sustainment Command Afghanistan engineer Army 1st Lt. Alex R. Chester III installs wiring while building the 143rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command compound at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. Chester uses his civilian engineering skills to support the build-up of troops in Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo...

Click here for hilarious video!

Senior Airman Brandon Lindley finishes up a testing sample Jan. 16, 2009. The sample measures the strength of concrete, which will be used in upcoming projects throughout Balad. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Lionel Castellano, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing. JOINT BASE BALAD — The engineering flight of the 332nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron here has earned the Brig. Gen. Archie S. Mayes Award for 2008 -- an Air Force-level award that recognizes the most accomplished CE programs flight for the year. “[The flight] feels honored,” said Capt. James Rosner, Green team lead project manager. “This [Air Expeditionary Force] rotation and the...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2009 – A project engineer from the Balad Resident Office in Iraq was selected as one of the 2009 “Top Five New Faces in Engineering” for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Liz Burg, a project engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Balad, Iraq, briefs Richard Hancock, Gulf Region Division chief of programs, about the Pipeline Exclusion Zone project. Burg was recently named one of the “Top Five Faces in Engineering” by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Elizabeth Burg, an Army civilian who...

CHATSWORTH, Calif. (CBS) ― Metrolink officials Saturday put the blame squarely on the engineer of the train for the deadly crash that has claimed at least 25 lives. They say he ran a red light. But a group of local teens, train enthusiasts, who know the engineer well doubt that he was to blame. They called their friend professional and caring and said he helped them learn about trains and being an engineer. To a man, they said he would "never" have been reckless or unprofessional or run a red light. But one minute before the deadliest crash in Metrolink...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― A commuter train engineer who ran a stop signal was blamed Saturday for the nation's deadliest rail disaster in 15 years, a wreck that killed at least 25 people with more bodies still to be pulled from the smoldering, twisted metal. A preliminary investigation found that "it was a Metrolink engineer that failed to stop at a red signal and that was the probable cause" of Friday's collision with a freight train in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell said. She said she believes the engineer, whose name was not released, is dead....

Team members visit a renovated school. Most schools in southern Iraq showed years of neglect so the renovations normally included window and door repair, new lights, bathroom fixtures and painting. Darrow’s six-person FEST-A team started 170 projects, including 49 schools, during four months in 2003. Courtesy photo. FOB KALSU — He was among the first helping rebuild key facilities in southern Iraq shortly after Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled. This month, Lt. Col. Michael Darrow returned to Iraq on another U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mission. This time he will be the Officer-in-Charge of the Forat Area Office overseeing 42...

SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 8, 2008 – A flight engineer with the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing’s 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron surpassed 10,000 flight hours during a KC-10 Extender mission March 29. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Robert Fisher, 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron flight engineer, steps off a KC-10 Extender after his landmark flight surpassing 10,000 flight hours for his career, March 29, 2008. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Senior Master Sgt. Robert Fisher, a St. Petersburg, Fla., native home-stationed at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., ended his landmark flight with 10,003 hours. “The most difficult...

A Chinese-born engineer convicted of conspiracy to export U.S. defense technology to China was sentenced Monday to 24 1/2 years in federal prison by a judge who said the defendant betrayed his adopted country. Chi Mak, 67, who worked on naval propulsion systems, was also convicted of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, attempting to violate export control laws and making false statements to the FBI. Federal prosecutors asked for 30 years, while Mak's defense team proposed 10 years. There is no parole in the federal prison system. Mak asked U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney for leniency before sentencing....

BASRA, Iraq, Jan. 30, 2008 – The Basra Children’s Hospital project can get its hooks into people. Workers take a lunch break while others work at the Basra Children’s Hospital, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project in Iraq’s Basra province. Photo by Mohammed Aliwi  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Take Army Lt. Col. Kenneth McDonald, for example. He’s an area deputy commander in the Gulf Region Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and he leads the Basra Area Office in the division’s southern district. Part of his job is overseeing the Basra Children’s Hospital project,...

A federal judge denied a motion Monday for a new trial in the case of a Chinese-born engineer convicted of conspiring to export U.S. defense technology to China. U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney rejected Chi Mak's motion after a hearing that included testimony from several defense witnesses. Carney set Mak's sentencing for March 24. Mak could face up to 45 years in prison. Mak, 67, was convicted last May of conspiring to export U.S. defense technology to China, including data on an electronic propulsion system that prosecutors said could make submarines virtually undetectable. A jury also found him guilty of...

TALLIL — The Adder Area Office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is hoping to wrap up more than a dozen projects of different sorts before the end of the year. Navy Cmdr. Mike Lang, officer in charge of the office, said the intent is to end the year “with a strong finish” by closing out a significant number of projects. The office is part of the Corps’ Gulf Region South (GRS) district, which serves Iraq’s nine southern provinces. Among the projects being eyed for completion before year’s end are three primary healthcare centers (PHC) in Dhi Qar...

For decades, and most particularly since Sept. 11, 2001, commentators have noted the curious prevalence of higher education amongst members of radical Islamist movements. The idea that poverty is a "root cause" of radical terrorism can no longer be put forward without attracting snickers -- at least not without some further account of why it is the brightest and educationally best-equipped in poor societies who turn to violence. Of course, no one can be surprised that university campuses should serve as incubators of radicalism in the Muslim world, since they have served the same function here for so long. The...

US researchers have engineered a line of "mighty mice" whose human equivalent would have similar abilities to the bicycling champion Lance Armstrong, according to research published Thursday. The breed of mice can run six kilometers (four miles) at a speed of 20 meters (yards) per minute for up to six hours without stopping, according to Richard Hanson, a biochemistry professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. "They are metabolically similar to Lance Armstrong biking up the Pyrenees; they utilize mainly fatty acids for energy and produce very little lactic acid," said Hanson, the senior author of the article...