Free Republic

While most war crimes committed by Serb forces during the Balkan wars are being investigated and made public knowledge, the role played by Russian mercenaries kontraktniki [contract soldiers] deserves more attention. Many Russian citizens voluntarily fought in the Balkans for the government of Serbian President Slobodan Miloševiæ, committing a range of crimes along the way including mass murder, assault and battery, rape, robbery, and theft. Most, if not all, of these Russian kontraktniki war criminals have gone unidentified by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague – hence, so far, unpunished. As the Miloševiæ trial...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Dozens of French Muslims are training with the Taliban in northwestern Pakistan, raising fears of future attacks following the shooting deaths of seven people in southern France allegedly by a man who spent time in the region, Pakistani intelligence officials said Saturday. Authorities are investigating whether Mohamed Merah, the Frenchman of Algerian descent who is suspected of killing three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three French paratroopers in Toulouse this month, was among the training group, the officials said. Merah was killed in a dramatic gunfight with police Thursday after a 32-hour standoff at...

FALLUJAH -- A Syrian found handcuffed in Fallujah and rescued by U.S. Marines was kidnapped with two French journalists in August, and has told authorities he last saw the Frenchmen a month ago -- the first confirmed word on the captives since they disappeared in August. Marines sweeping through Fallujah as part of a major U.S. offensive against insurgents located Mohammed al-Joundi, the U.S. military said, but there was no sign of journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot. The Marines said the Syrian, who was found late Thursday, told them he was separated from the journalists a month ago. The...

I hate George Bush and want to move abroad! The only problem is that I do not have the resources to do so since I am poor and the government won't pay for it! What should I do? Would you all be interested in taking up a collection to boot my ass out of the country?

Two French nationals with suspected ties to the two British Muslims who who carried out the April 30 suicide bombing in Mike's Place pub in Tel Aviv have been deported from the country, Jerusalem police revealed Sunday night. The two suspects, an Algerian-born Muslim and a Christian, were arrested in an eastern Jerusalem hotel two days after the attack that killed three people. A gag order that was imposed on the case was lifted Monday morning. The two French tourists who were identified only by their first names, Kamal and Emmanuel told Shin Bet investigators that they knew the two...