Free Republic

On May 30th, in a 1400+ word essay, an unnamed NRA-ILA writer ignited a firestorm against Second Amendment supporters in the opposition media.  In a few badly chosen words near the end of the essay, the unnamed staffer gave the opposition priceless ammunition to smear open carriers.    This should be a lesson to everyone to choose their words carefully.   I do not know if editorial control was exercised.   It is clear that the word choices were emotionally loaded and welcomed by those who desire a disarmed population. In other words, the unnamed writer pulled a Zumbo. Here are the...

This post is written in anger and frustration. Angry that we continue to follow the Republican Party’s elite ignorance. A party that continues to pull defeat from the jaws of victory characterized by pompous fools who fulfill the sterotype built by the left. Frustrated that the reality of politics is this: There will be no third party capable of competing with the coalition constructed by the dems. As a result, true conservatives MUST take steps to irradicate the ignorance of the Republican Party while still adhering to the core values of our forefathers (beliefs that I discovered are considered extreme...

In July 2005, Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman Zawahiri sent a long letter to the group's lead operative in Iraq, urging him to tone down his activities. In Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi had been orchestrating suicide bombings of Shiite Muslim shrines. His followers frequently videotaped the beheading of hostages. Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor who helped organize the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. and other violence, told Zarqawi he was going too far. "We are in a media battle, in a race for the hearts and minds" of Muslims, wrote Zawahiri, who was named Thursday to succeed Osama bin Laden...

fighting in the former Taliban stronghold in Marjah has died down. US forces completed an operation to push the Taliban out of their main southern Afghanistan stronghold, but found residents there deeply sceptical of the Afghan government's promises to rebuild. US Brigadier General Lawrence Nicholson says convincing local residents they can trust the Afghan government will be a big issue for US, NATO and Afghan forces. He says in a recent meeting with elders, one self-proclaimed "Taliban leader" backed the presence of the Americans, but then turned to their Afghan government counterpart and declared: "I don't trust you." Gaining local...

U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia wants the Pentagon to freeze up to $300 million in contracts with companies the military is hiring to place pro-U.S. news stories and entertainment programs in the Iraqi media . Webb wrote Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday to ask that the deals be suspended until they can be reviewed by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the next presidential administration. A freshman Democrat, Webb sits on the Armed Services panel. With the United States in "a grave economic crisis" and Iraq's government carrying a $79 billion budget surplus drawn from oil exports, "it...

Winning Hearts and Minds July 7th, 2008 Way back at the beginning of this war, and continuing through tomorrow, we have debated how to win the hearts and minds of the people of the Middle East. I have always viewed this discussion as important, but perhaps ultimately unknowable, because as Machiavelli loves to remind us, these things are all about winning and losing. The war, not the debate. During the Cold War there was an endless discussion about our enemy, just as there is today. Back then, the main question was: are we fighting a global movement (international communism), and...

/29/2008 - ALI BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- A single doctor, a retired Air Force colonel, arrived here without much fanfare May 18 and left four days later. He left in his wake improved sight for many Iraqis and priceless training for Nasiriyah General Hospital physicians in Nasiriyah, Iraq. He traveled with a few bags and a 50-pound box containing a microscope. A specialized, portable, eye-surgery microscope he used to treat people who may not have otherwise afforded it. He also carried 200 prescription glasses and 300 sunglasses to hand out freely to those in need. He performed his wonders at...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq, May 5, 2008 – Coalition forces conducted a medical assistance mission in Byda village, near Kut, Iraq, May 2. Capt. (Dr.) Frederico Gomez, a dentist with the Salvadoran Cuscatlan Battalion, extracts a tooth during a medical assistance mission in Byda village near Kut, Iraq, May 2, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Daniel T. West  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The mission is part of an outreach program to provide for outlying villages in Iraq’s Wasit province that have seen little or no coalition presence, said Army Lt. Col. Rob Jones, deputy team...

ORLANDO, FL -- A small Florida company has turned one of the world's most popular high tech gadgets into a tool for American troops that can help save lives. "They speak with their hands -- a lot," US Army Sergeant Darren Williams said, remembering the times he worked to communicate with the local people during his year as a soldier in Iraq. "If you grab something, or if you say, 'Hold it.' Or, 'Pick it up. Pick it up.' You use that a lot, too," the Jacksonville-based Army recruiter said, waving his hands through a series of gestures. For Williams,...

JERUSALEM - The top American diplomat in Jerusalem said Monday that the Bush administration is seeking $400 million in new aid for the Palestinian Authority. .... Walles said the administration will ask Congress for $400 million, half of which would be aimed at the private sector and infrastructure. He said $150 million would be earmarked for budget support and $25 million each would go to security and refugees. The allocation would help counter a huge deficit in the Palestinian budget that followed the Western aid cutoff. Foreign aid covers about half of the Palestinian Authority's operating budget. Since 1993, when...

COMBAT OUTPOST CLEARY — Using a school in the city of al Wahida, Soldiers from a Fort Bragg, N.C., Civil Affairs battalion attached to the 3rd Infantry Divsion set up a one-day clinic for Iocal residents July 28. Known as a cooperative medical engagement, the operation requires Coalition and Iraqi forces to come together and provide medical treatment in prescribed areas, said Staff Sgt. Patrick R. Weston, special operations medical noncommissioned officer, Civil Affairs Team Alpha 712th, Company A, 97th Civil Affairs Battalion. Physician assistants and unit medics out of COP Cleary diagnosed and provided medicine to those in need....

GHALANAI, Pakistan: The United States plans to pour $750 million in aid into Pakistan's tribal areas over the next five years as part of a "hearts and minds" campaign to win over the lawless region from Al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Mounting pressures from Muslim parents in the region have prompted the Muslim Educational Trust to open the new coeducational Oregon Islamic Academy - the first high school in the Northwest geared to Muslim students. Syed Ahmad was one of those parents. He told Wajdi Said, the trust's executive director, that he moved his family from Texas to Oregon for work and they lived in Tigard to be close to the Muslim Educational Trust's prekindergarten to eighth grade Islamic School. But he told Wajdi that he'd take his family back to Texas to attend an Islamic high...

Page One article in today's Wall Street Journal on how the US Army is learning to swim like fish among the people in rural Afghanistan (sub req): A year ago, U.S. commanders here would have been reluctant to insert a small force of infantrymen into a remote village. But, along the Pech River and tributaries such as the Waygal, one 750-man U.S. Army battalion is trying a risky, grueling way to isolate the insurgents and win the support of the villagers. Instead of operating out of safe rear bases and commuting to the war, for the past year the soldiers...

A first-time listener to Radio Farda might mistake it for an eclectic pop music station that broadcasts such artists as Madonna, Shania Twain and Britney Spears. But those who continue to listen will hear a news anchor delivering reports on Iran's enrichment of uranium, the Saddam Hussein verdict and the 100th birthday of composer Dmitri Shostakovich. Since its beginning in 2002, the U.S.-funded station, which beams a 24-hour mix of pop music and news into Iran from Northern Virginia, has been criticized for playing too much music and not enough hard news.

The dramatic story of how Jamil fled his home, helped an American Army unit root out insurgents and eventually made his way to live in the United States, is told in Daniel Hendrex's new book (co-written with Wes Smith), A Soldier's Promise: The Heroic True Story of an American Soldier and an Iraqi Boy (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $25). Hendrex, of Colorado Springs, will appear at local bookstores this week, in support of the release.

Despite this week's bad news, things have gotten better in Iraq. A lot of the reason has to do with the success of the Jan. 30 election and the growing competence of Iraqi security forces. But give credit where it's due: The U.S. military has stepped up its game. When the insurgency began in the summer of 2003, the U.S. armed forces were caught off guard. Most soldiers and Marines had little training for, or interest in, nation-building and counterinsurgency operations. But the U.S. military has proved that it adapts to unexpected events, learns from its mistakes and passes those...

The Defeaticrats - Of hearts and minds, at home and in Iraq MARK STEYN Hands up, everyone who thinks Iraq’s a quagmire. Not the Iraqi people: According to the latest polls, 70 percent think “life is good,” and 69 percent are optimistic that things will get even better in the year ahead. For purposes of comparison, they took a similar poll in Europe a while back: In France, 29 percent said they were optimistic about the future; in Germany, 15 percent. Sixty-three percent of Iraqis say they feel “very safe” in their own neighborhoods, which is more than the residents...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq, Dec. 16, 2005 – Nothing makes Army Lt. Col. Jamie Gayton more angry than someone saying coalition projects in East Baghdad have no effect. "We are making a difference every day in the lives of average Iraqis," said Gayton, the commander of 2-3 Brigade Troops Battalion and responsible for coalition projects in East Baghdad. Sadr City is a part of the area of operations for the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, a unit of the 3rd Infantry Division. Hundreds of projects in the area of 2.6 million people have changed life in the neighborhoods. When Americans...

Free Republic Opinion Poll: Do you approve of the way the mainstream media is handling its job of reporting on the war in Iraq? 05% - Yes93% - No02% - Abstained [vs] Survey in Babel, Iraq: Our society (Human Rights Society in Babel) has conducted a survey among Babel residents, with regard to their confidence in the freedom of press in Iraq. The sample has included 527 persons, 250 women and 277 men.  Each was asked to answer the following questions: Do you believe in the existence of freedom of press in Iraq? 53% - Yes41% - No06% -...