Free Republic

Lawmakers who were early champions of a U.S. strike on Assad regime targets in Syria have stayed mum as video clips emerge appearing to show opposition soldiers both killing unarmed men and indicating they have possession of chemical weapons. Yigal Carmon, the president of the Middle East Media Research Institute, who also reviewed the tape, said, "The message is if the West doesn't act, we (the rebels) too will have no red lines, and will use chemical weapons." "There are times where we have to make hard choices if we're going to stand up for the things we care about,"...

Rebels including al-Qaeda-linked fighters gained control of a Christian village northeast of the capital Damascus, Syrian activists said Sunday. Government media provided a dramatically different account of the battle suggesting regime forces were winning. Independent information has been nearly impossible to come by in the 2.5-year-old conflict in Syria. Maaloula, a scenic mountain community, is known for being one of the few places in the world where residents still speak the ancient Middle Eastern language of Aramaic. The rebel advance into the area this week was spearheaded by the Jabhat al-Nusra, or Nusra Front, exacerbating fears among Syrians and religious...

While U.S. leaders continue pushing for war against the Syrian government, today “Al-Qaeda-linked rebels,”reports AP, “launched an assault on a regime-held Christian mountain village in the densely populated west of Syria and new clashes erupted near the capital, Damascus, on Wednesday… In the attack on the village of Maaloula, rebels commandeered a mountaintop hotel and nearby caves and shelled the community below, said a nun, speaking by phone from a convent in the village. She spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.” Arabic news agency Al Hadath gives more information concerning this latest terror attack on Syria’s Christians,...

Eyewitness: "The aim of the militants was to kill as many as possible Christian inhabitants" On September 5th the Syrian opposition armed groups attempted to capture Maalula, the town populated mostly by Christians, located 60 km from Damascus. The correspondent of "Voice of Russia" got in touch with the eyewitness to the events, which was in town during the assault, Vail Malas. Maalula town is best known for the fact that its inhabitants speak a dialect of Aramaic, which is close to the language of Jesus Christ. Government troops repulsed the attack, but the militants related to "Dzhabhat en-Nusra" and...

President Obama, John Kerry, John McCain and Lindsey Graham are all peddling the anti-Syrian government line and now they have a beloved "red line," whereby they can assist the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and various al-Qaeda terrorist groups. Of course, when Carla del Ponte stated earlier this year that the United Nations believed that terrorist forces had used chemical weapons; then, of course, this was conveniently ignored by America, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Similarly, it appears that Obama, Kerry, McCain and Graham don't believe in a red line when it applies to al-Qaeda affiliates, the Free...

Has anyone heard of a protest against attacking Syria that's scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at Rep. Tom Graves' district office in Dalton. I've heard there's going to be one. But I'm trying to see if anyone knows anything about it.

A Maaloula resident said the rebels, many of them sporting beards and shouting God is great, attacked Christian homes and churches shortly after moving into the village overnight. They shot and killed people. I heard gunshots and then I saw three bodies lying in the middle of a street in the old quarters of the village,' said the resident, reached by telephone from neighboring Jordan. 'So many people fled the village for safety.' Now, Maaloula 'is a ghost town. Where is President Obama to see what befallen on us?' asked the man. Another resident who fled the village of 3,000...

The Muslim terrorist group Qa’adat el-Jihad claimed responsibility Saturday for a terrorist bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria. The bombing in Bulgaria last week killed five Israelis, one a pregnant woman. The Lebanese paper El-Nashra reported that the group, which has ties to Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility in an email to the Arab press.

...Bacile claims to have made "Innocence of Muslims" on a budget of $5 million with the help of 100 Jewish donors, but one look at the film clips on YouTube will call that claim into question. The movie appears to have been shot using a consumer-grade DV camcorder with amateur actors, fake backgrounds and cheap sets. The lighting and sound are of equally low quality. In Hollywood dollars, $5 million may be considered low-budget, but if the filmmaker really spent that much money on this shoddy work, it's his donors who should be doing the protesting. Meanwhile, efforts to uncover...

The United States warned the maritime industry on Thursday that Iranian ships were still using other country's flags in an attempt to evade Western sanctions against the country. Sierra Leone is the latest country to revoke its flag for a vessel controlled by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), which is on the U.S. blacklist for its involvement in Iran's weapons program. …

Apparently, Dem operatives pre-marked ballots for Brown, so Coakly campaign can claim Repub Fraud.

For Immediate Release: January 19, 2010 Contact: Alex Zaroulis (617) 549-0358Campaign Manager Kevin Conroy: We've received several independent and disturbing reports of voters across the state being handed ballots that are already marked in favor of Scott Brown. This is obviously a serious violation, and our legal team is taking immediate steps to protect the integrity of this election. We do not yet know why this is happening, but you and everyone you know needs to be aware of the situation so that you can carefully inspect your ballot. If a vote has already been marked, you must return the...