Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2005 – A new Defense Department report sent to Congress today cites strong forward momentum in developing Iraq's security forces, noting a 50 percent increase in the number of troops capable of taking the lead in combat operations. The Report to Congress Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq, the second quarterly "report card" on the security, political and economic environment in Iraq, addresses specific baseline metrics, measurements and indicators of Iraq's security, political and economic environment. Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defense of international security affairs, told Pentagon reporters today not all aspects of progress or lack...

tty. Gen. Bill Lockyer is fighting a battle on two fronts, and butting heads with conservative Californians on both sides. Lockyer, a Democrat, announced Wednesday that he would fight an amendment to the new federal spending bill that penalizes states for keeping abortions available to all women. In a related battle, Lockyer penned a legal opinion saying school districts do not have the authority to inform parents if their children leave school for medical treatments, including abortions and drug counseling. These two statements have turned California conservatives red with anger. While Lockyer says he is protecting the rights of women...

Two weeks ago, the National Post and I were served with a notice of libel by the Canadian branch of the Council on American Islamic Relations, or CAIR. The Post and I are not alone. Over the past year, CAIR's Canadian and U.S. branches have served similar libel notices on half a dozen other individuals and organizations in the United States and Canada. Each case has its own particular facts, yet they are linked by a common theme: That we defendants have accused CAIR (in the words of the notice served on me) of being "an unscrupulous, Islamist, extremist sympathetic...

More Islamist terror fronts busted Worse than the KKK: Hamas terrorists receive cash and material support from US-based groups. As FBI Director Robert Mueller continues to pander to radical Islamist groups, federal agencies - including his own - continue their crackdown on Muslim terrorist fronts. In a coordinated move with the British government, the US Treasury Department ordered the blockage of accounts of the Al-Aqsa Foundation, alleged to be funding Hamas suicide bombers. The Wall Street Journal reports that FBI agents have apprehended a figure in the Muslim Students Association (MSA) who used the national campus-based group as "cover for...