Free Republic

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 8, 2005 — The recent grand opening of the Afghan National Army’s Darulaman Garrison troop medical clinic marked the completion of the Afghan National Army’s 201st Corps’ third new soldier healthcare facility. The other 201st Corps clinics, located at the Pol-e-Charkhi Garrison and the Kabul Military Training Center, were completed in August 2004 and February 2005, respectively. The opening of the new clinics is a clear indication of the Afghan National Army’s movement toward well-managed, resourced healthcare for its soldiers. As the Afghan National Army continues to grow toward a final end-strength of 70,000 troops, the need...

Army Regulation 15-6: Final Report Investigation into FBI Allegations of Detainee Abuse at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Detention Facility EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Detention and interrogation operations at Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) cover a three-year period and over 24,000 interrogations. This AR 15-6 investigation found only three interrogation acts in violation of interrogation techniques authorized by Army Field Manual 34-52 and DoD guidance. The AR 15-6 also found that the Commander of JTF-GTMO failed to monitor the interrogation of one high value detainee in late 2002. The AR 15-6 found that the interrogation of this same high value detainee resulted in degrading...

It is perhaps not as widely known as it ought to be—in light of the hyperventilating criticism of our alleged treatment of detainees at the U.S. military’s detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba—that there has never been a single death recorded at the center known by the military as “GTMO” (pronounced gitmo). It is perhaps also not as widely known that many of the detainees at GTMO do not complain of their treatment. In fact, many detainees report that conditions at GTMO are better than those they suffered fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq prior to their being captured:...

or all the grief America is suffering over Guantanamo Bay, U.S. soldiers there might as well have flushed 1,001 Korans down 1,001 toilets — live on Al-Jazeera TV. Newsweek's May 15 retraction of its false and deadly Koran-in-the-can story has worked as well as a severed brake line in slowing calls by Democrats (and some wobbly Republicans) to padlock the terrorist detention facility. Illinois's Dick Durbin, the U.S. Senate's No. 2 Democrat, infamously compared Gitmo to the Soviet Gulag, Nazi concentration camps, and the Khmer Rouge's killing fields, despite the base's paucity of firing squads, gas chambers, or neatly stacked...

One simple, do-it-yourself method of examining American politics is determining what, at any given moment, liberals are screeching about. This works mainly because, as opposed to solution-minded conservatives, liberals are always screeching about something. As of this writing -- and this may change very rapidly, I realize -- they’re worried about the treatment of terrorists in Cuba. They’re not worried about the Communists in Cuba, mind you; terrorists who favor collectivism have never really concerned liberals. Amnesty International may call Gitmo a “gulag,” but, historically, liberals haven’t been able to find much to say when it comes to actual gulags...

BANGKOK, Thailand - Call it the Case of the Missing Cobras — all 82 of them. The deadly snakes were apparently stolen from a Red Cross facility, and police fear they were destined for the stew pot. The King Cobras had been kept with other poisonous snakes at the Red Cross' compound in downtown Bangkok, where they are milked for their poison to be used as serum for snakebite medicine. Workers discovered that 62 snakes went missing in January. After 20 more were gone on Feb. 2, Red Cross veterinarian Montri Chiewbamrungkiet filed a complaint with police. Authorities said they...

Senator John Kerry is once again making claims that he cannot substantiate. He charges that President Bush’s “misjudgments” led to the disappearance of 380 tons of explosives from the Iraqi al-Qaqaa facility, and that these explosives have been used against U.S. troops -- even though there is no proof for such accusations. While the Kerry campaign has already released a television ad making such allegations, they simultaneously have backed off from the same charges. Senator Kerry’s TV ad states: The obligation of a Commander in Chief is to keep our country safe. In Iraq, George Bush has overextended our troops...

'It was just total panic' Woman seeks $10 million in storage facility ordeal 09/27/03 By GARY McELROY Staff Reporter A woman who survived being stuck in a storage unit for 63 days told jurors Friday of cold, hunger, thirst and despair as her civil suit continued in Mobile County Circuit Court. Wanda Hudson, 44, is suing Parkway Storage, located on Dauphin Island Parkway. She is asking $10 million, claiming negligence on the company's part. From Our Advertiser For a few minutes Friday, it looked as though attorney Mallory Mantiply's case against the company would self-destruct when Hudson, out of the...

WEBSTER, N.Y. - Two people were shot, one fatally, Tuesday morning in an apparent robbery of the credit union at a sprawling Xerox complex, authorities said. Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said one victim died and the second was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital with a shoulder injury. He said it appeared to be a robbery that went bad. No arrests had been made as of midday, more than two hours after the shooting. Authorities did not say whether the two people who were shot were credit union customers or employees. Bill McKee, spokesman for the sprawling Xerox complex, confirmed...

A Planned Parenthood affiliate agreed today to settle a lawsuit brought by three pro-life activists barred from a library the agency ran as part of a public system. The abortion provider has agreed to pay damages in the suit. "This is a severe blow to Planned Parenthood's efforts to infiltrate public libraries," said Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel of the Liberty Legal Institute, the organization representing the women. "This should send a message to every level of government, if you team up with Planned Parenthood to push just its viewpoint, a lawsuit is sure to follow." As WorldNetDaily reported, Planned Parenthood...

Even as war rages in Iraq, federal agents have begun to unlock the secrets of an unlicensed, unregistered Islamic charity in upstate New York that allegedly pumped millions of dollars into Baghdad. Flouting U.S. economic sanctions, the group shipped cash out of Syracuse, laundered it in banks in Jordan and then illegally funneled it into Iraq, according to an unsealed federal indictment. Operating under the name Help the Needy, the organization described itself as a tax-exempt nonprofit that provided food and humanitarian assistance to the "starving children and suffering Muslims of Iraq." But it lacked charitable status, misrepresented itself in...

<p>SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP) - It was a scene from a 1940s prison movie. Heavily barred cells stretched five tiers up, footsteps clanged on metal stairs as officers marched condemned men to their cells, a steady trickle of water from a makeshift shower splashed down to the concrete floor.</p>

ANNAPOLIS (AP) - A lobbyist whose fraud conviction prompted lawmakers to make a tougher ethics law has been released from federal custody, and he has taken steps to work again at the Maryland State House. Gerard E. Evans, 46, filed papers Friday with the state ethics commission to represent a handful of high-profile clients. They include Baltimore Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos and the Baltimore and Prince George's County chapters of the state's largest police union. [SNIP] Evans built his $1 million lobbying franchise largely on the strength of his ties to Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Prince...