Free Republic

The nation's top military official in the Middle East on Wednesday said Iran is one of the greatest threats to the U.S. today and has increased its "destabilizing role" in the region. "I believe that Iran is operating in what I call a gray zone," Commander of the U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. Joseph Votel, told the House Armed Services Committee in testimony Wednesday. "And it's an area between normal competition between states — and it's just short of open conflict." The general said Iran is exploiting this area in a variety of different ways, through things such as "lethal...

Pro-Scottish independence accounts on X have gone dark after Iran's Internet shutdown - after experts exposed their links to the regime in Tehran. Multiple accounts, which regularly pumped out pro-independence messages, abruptly stopped posting on January 8 - the date the Iranian authorities began their blackout in a bid to quell nationwide protests. The profiles claimed to be ordinary Scottish people, with names including 'Scottish Lad' Jake and 'Proud Scottish lass' Fiona.

American intelligence analysts have been pressured into giving a more positive assessment of the progress of the war against ISIS, it has been reported, confirming what was obvious to everyone not subject to influence from the White House: the anti-ISIS campaign is failing. To devise an effective strategy involves understanding where ISIS came from, and that involves examining the Saddam Hussein regime. Saddam is commonly regarded as the quintessential secularist, and he was initially. But the Saddam regime Islamized over its last 15 years, effectively creating a religious movement under Saddam's leadership, giving additional space and power to the non-governmental...