Free Republic

ROME (AFP) – General David Petraeus, commander of US forces in the Middle East and Central Asia and credited with boosting security in Iraq, said Tuesday that he has recommended a major troop surge in Afghanistan. Petraeus said he had "already made recommendations" for an almost doubling of US troops in Afghanistan based on requests from General David McKiernan, the top commander of US and NATO troops in the central Asian country. Petraeus is widely credited for turning around a Sunni insurgency in western Iraq with a 30,000 troop "surge" to secure Baghdad and its environs during his tenure as...

British lawyers linked to $1m payment for favours at US Congress By Philip Sherwell in Washington and David Harrison in London (Filed: 08/01/2006) A British law firm is at the centre of the investigation into America's biggest influence-buying scandal in decades. The London-based solicitors, James & Sarch, channelled $1 million (£565,000) into a conservative United States pressure group linked to Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist. The firm, which was dissolved in 2000, made the payment by a single cheque in June 1998 to the US Family Network, a now-defunct organisation that had close ties to the embattled Republican Congressman, Tom...

Schwarzenegger to ask Bush for 'a lot of favours' By Oliver Poole in Los Angeles (Filed: 10/10/2003) Arnold Schwarzenegger opened in his new role as California's governor-elect yesterday by saying he would demand federal aid from President George W Bush to solve the state's budget crisis. In his debut press conference after winning office, he said: "For every dollar we pay in tax we get only 77 cents back. So there's a lot of money we can get from the federal government. "He [Mr Bush] promised me he will do everything possible to help California, so I am looking forward...