Free Republic

My first experience of combat as a Marine was in Mogadishu, Somalia in the '90s and then subsequently I was in the first Marine division during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. I have completed tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, been involved in the evacuation of civilians from Libya in 2011 and commanded a special operations task force against the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2016...I have a greater respect for the ethical behavior of the Islamic State than I do for the Russians. That is no exaggeration.

....and, finally, the good guys!

\ (Meeting President Bush in Queens)

Protesters got upclose and personal with Vice President Cheney at Madison Square Garden for the past two nights. Medea Benjamin, 51, of the peace group Code Pink, said she unveiled a banner near Cheney that read "Be Pro Life, Stop the Killing in Iraq" last night. Benjamin, of San Francisco, said she borrowed "a friend of a friend's" floor pass to gain access to the Garden. She said the veep forced a smile as she yelled, "Mr. Cheney, how much money did Halliburton make in Iraq?" Security staff then tackled her to the floor and took her to a basement...

THE POLICEBarricades Help Officers Keep Crowds ControlledBy WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and MICHAEL WILSONPublished: September 1, 2004 he Police Department faced its biggest test of the Republican National Convention yesterday, confronting a series of large, unannounced and sometimes unruly demonstrations with a massive show of force. The police arrested more than 900 people and mobilized to block roving groups from massing and moving toward Madison Square Garden.As of late last night, the department's strategy seemed largely successful. The police appeared to focus mostly on protesters blocking traffic or otherwise breaking the law, letting alone those who chanted and jeered, including hundreds...

September 1, 2004DEMONSTRATIONSAt Least 900 Arrested in City as Protesters Clash With PoliceBy DIANE CARDWELL and MARC SANTORA series of demonstrations rippled across Manhattan last night when protesters tried to converge on the Republican National Convention, as a day of planned civil disobedience erupted into clashes with police officers and led to the arrest of more than 900 people.The wave of confrontations - which included a brawl with the police at the New York Public Library, marauding crowds cursing at delegates in Midtown and the detention of hundreds of protesters near ground zero - created a day of disorder in...

GROUND ZERORepublicans Decide to See for Themselves What the Terrorists DidBy LESLIE EATONPublished: August 31, 2004 he only other time that Dennis and Judy Buchholtz of Warren, Mich., were in New York was about a decade ago, and they "drove through as fast as we could go - we didn't tarry," as Mr. Buchholtz put it.But they feel differently now. As soon as the Republican National Convention let out yesterday, they took a taxi to ground zero, wearing their matching shirts with the state outline appliquéd in red, white and blue on the back, their Bush-Cheney buttons and elephant pins...

August 31, 2004CONFRONTATIONSProtesters' Encounters With Delegates on the Town Turn UglyBy RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD utside a hotel in Times Square, delegates to the Republican National Convention were swarmed by protesters dressed in black and swearing at them. Blocks away, delegates engaged in shoving matches with protesters seeking to spoil their night at the theater. And outside "The Lion King" on 42nd Street, a delegate was punched by a protester who ran by.Although the organized protests yesterday and Sunday have been largely peaceful, there has been a starkly different tone to smaller incidents in Midtown and elsewhere: angry encounters and planned...

August 30, 2004 Vast Anti-Bush Rally Greets Republicans in New YorkBy ROBERT D. McFADDEN roaring two-mile river of demonstrators surged through the canyons of Manhattan yesterday in the city's largest political protest in decades, a raucous but peaceful spectacle that pilloried George W. Bush and demanded regime change in Washington.On a sweltering August Sunday, the huge throng of protesters marched past Madison Square Garden, the site of the Republican National Convention opening today, and denounced President Bush as a misfit who had plunged America into war and runaway debt, undermined civil and constitutional rights, lied to the people, despoiled the...

The poll is on the middle right-hand side of the page. Let the protesting bicyclists know their traffic-snarling tactics not welcome here!

PROTESTS TAKE A NASTY SWING IN BX. By PERRY CHIARAMONTE and JOE McGURK August 28, 2004 -- Vandals hacked up fairways and spray-painted political slogans on a city golf course in The Bronx early yesterday, as protesters geared up for an anti-GOP protest march tomorrow past the Republican convention site. The graffiti — which included the slogans "Stop the War!" and "Politics Isn't Business" — was discovered at Van Cortlandt Golf Course and on nearby lawns and tunnels, parks officials said. "There was extensive damage to holes 15 through 18," said Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe.