Free Republic

Republicans themselves brought on the whipping they suffered in the 2006 elections, Colorado state GOP chairman Dick Wadahms said in appearances in Montana. "I don't think Democrats really won the 2006 elections," said Wadhams, who spoke to the Montana Republican Party convention ... "They were just standing there. We didn't deserve to win in 2006." Wadhams is a former campaign director and staff member for Conrad Burns, who represented Montana... Republicans lost in 2006 because they forfeited their claim to fiscal responsibility, "mishandled the ethical lapses" ... Wadhams, 51, has won more campaigns than he's lost, but he lost a...

By Pedro O. Vega As published today in the Johnstown Tribune DemocratThe situation in which we find ourselves in Iraq because of the war on terror defies my attempts at originality to describe. I find myself in need of laying hold of aphorisms and clichés said by the truly Great Ones, and some not-so-great. The first one that comes to mind is from Thomas Paine, an American Founding Father, written in 1776. It’s one I used in a previous column, one I keep returning too because of its sheer wisdom: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer...

The most lasting tragedy of the Vietnam War is that it has legitimized “giving aid and comfort to the enemy”. We are seeing the giving of aid and comfort to the enemy running wild in this war on terror and sadly not only among liberals and their media but also among some conservatives who some of them are right here on this great Free Republic. When Al Qaeda terrorists, or the terrorist regimes in Iran and Syria, or the Iraqi insurgent terrorists whether they are Sunnis or Shia hear the speeches of defeatism coming from liberals and their media, or...

NEWS RELEASE CONTACT:  Robert Dixon - Phone: (916) 441-6197 or Email: robert@moveamericaforward.org December 6 2006 IRAQ STUDY GROUPA COMPLETE FAILURE Report Makes Few Constructive Proposals Advocates Cooperation with Sponsors of Terrorism: Iran & Syria The Chairman of the nation’s largest grassroots pro-troop organization, Move America Forward, has issued the following statement after reviewing the Iraq Study Group’s report.  A complete analysis will soon be posted on the organization’s website (www.MoveAmericaForward.org). ________________________________________ STATEMENT BY MELANIE MORGAN, CHAIR, MOVE AMERICA FORWARD: “The Iraq Study Group has failed.  With great hubris and pomposity, the Iraq Study Group released a report they wrote...

The attack on the small Mustafa Sunni mosque began as worshippers were finishing Friday midday prayers. About 50 unarmed men, many in black uniforms and some wearing ski masks, walked through the district chanting "We are the Mahdi Army, shield of the Shiites." Fifteen minutes later, two white pickup trucks, a black BMW and a black Opel drove up to the marchers. The suspected Shiite militiamen took automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers from the vehicles. They then blasted open the front of the mosque, dragged six worshippers outside, doused them with kerosene and set them on fire.

A federal judge has ruled that a portion of a post-Sept. 11 executive order allowing President Bush to create a list of specially designated global terrorist groups is unconstitutionally vague. U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins, in a Nov. 21 ruling released Tuesday, struck down the provision and enjoined the government from blocking the assets of two foreign groups which were placed on the list. The ruling was praised by David Cole, a lawyer for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Constitutional Rights. "This law gave the president unfettered authority to create blacklists," he said. "It was reminiscent of the McCarthy era."...

It's Official: Media Body Burning Story is Bogus Posted by Greg Sheffield on November 27, 2006 - 13:25. The news that six Sunnis were captured by Shiites, doused with kerosine and burned alive, was too sensational to not be picked up by the mainstream media. But it turns out that the event never happened. Furthermore, the Iraqi "spokesman" relied on to give all information regarding this event is as fictional as the story itself. Jamil Hussein, the man news reports called "police Capt. Jamil Hussein," was the source for all information regarding the burning. Although he is mentioned by USA...

A mortar attack ignited a huge fire Monday night at an oil facility in northern Iraq, shutting the flow of crude oil to a major refinery, and a U.S. Air Force jet with one pilot aboard crashed in Anbar province, a hotbed of the Sunni-Arab insurgency, officials said. Al-Jazeera reported that the pilot was killed.

Bombshell: Centcom says AP’s Iraqi police source isn’t Iraqi police posted at 1:07 pm on November 27, 2006 by Allahpundit Send to a Friend | printer-friendly I laid off this post at Flopping Aces initially because I didn’t think there was anything particularly suspicious about the cop. Centcom was disputing his report of the six Sunnis burned alive by Shiites but they could have been wrong just as easily as he could. I also didn’t (and still don’t) see Curt’s point about the cop only being quoted in cases where Shiites attack Sunnis. If he’s stationed in an area where...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has asked the U.N. Security Council to extend the mandate of the 160,000-strong multinational force in Iraq, according to a letter circulated Monday. In the letter, al-Maliki said a top priority of his government is to assume full responsibility for security and stability but it needs more time. The United States circulated a draft resolution that would extend the mandate for one year starting on Dec. 31, with a review at the request of the Iraqi government or by June 15. The draft, obtained Monday by the Associated Press, contains the...

CBS's Lara Logan Declares US Defeated In Iraq; General Abizaid Disputes Claim Posted by Michael Rule on November 27, 2006 - 16:09. On Sunday’s "60 Minutes," CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan insisted the US had been defeated in Iraq. During an interview with General John Abizaid, the top US Commander in Iraq, Logan asserted, "We hear very little about victory in Iraq these days. We hear a lot about how to manage the defeat." It appears Ms. Logan suffers from selective hearing. While many Democrats and some Republicans talk about Iraq as a lost cause, sources such as...

Congressman Charles Rangel said most enlisted soldiers join the military because they do not have the "option of having a decent career." Speaking with Fox News reporter Chris Wallace on Sunday, Representative Rangel voiced his belief that soldiers in America's armed forces join only for lack of a better choice. He said, "I want to make it abundantly clear: if there’s anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of...

I'm reading an astonishing number of comments on Free Republic these days by posters who have joined the ranks of the anti-American left in calling for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Some claim to have military experience, some claim to be patriotic Americans and some claim to be smarter than the rest.These posters are joining the Murtha-Rangel-McDermott treason caucus. Oh, they say they love the troops, but their decision to abandon them in the field speaks otherwise.Three years ago, the United States led an international coalition to rid the world of one of the worst regimes on the planet. Saddam...

A bomb intended to kill the contentious speaker of the Iraqi Parliament exploded inside one of his armored cars today while the car was rolling through the fortified Green Zone, injuring the driver and trapping members of Parliament inside the legislative building as the American military shut down the area for hours, a parliamentary aide said. Though the speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, was unscathed by the explosion, the assassination attempt was one of the most serious breaches of security in the four-square-mile Green Zone in recent memory. The Green Zone houses the seat of the Iraqi government and the American embassy,...

"The right-wing stranglehold on Congress has been broken," declared Joelle Fishman, chair of the Communist Party USA’s (CPUSA) political action commission, to a meeting of its 81-person National Committee this past weekend. Fishman noted, "This is a victory being celebrated around the world." Fishman delivered her report to the committee as it discussed the results of the election and prepared to move the struggle for democracy, peace, and economic justice forward in the new Congress, and to build the size and influence of the Communist Party. Overwhelmingly, the committee claimed victory for the US working class, the world, and for...

IN THIS POLITICAL season, the debate about Iraq has become almost completely backward looking. It has degenerated into finger pointing and partisan sniping--stuck between a false choice of "cut and run" versus "more of the same." Failure in Iraq is not an option, because it would spell disaster for U.S. national security and foreign policy credibility, not to mention military morale. Our mission in Iraq continues to move forward, and U.S. forces have successfully defeated the insurgents in several areas, yet the enemy has proven resilient and effective. Thus, we must succeed in Iraq by changing the status quo. The...

Is it a Roar or a Meow?Governance is not the same as easy criticism. Already the Democrats are learning, as is eternally true of our wonderful political system, that loud opposition is not the same as being responsible for governance. Suddenly the beloved press is looking again into John Murtha’s questionable ethics—and wondering whether we can really leave Iraq so easily. Nancy Pelosi was unable to see Murtha elected as majority leader, and we wonder about her political skills when it is matter of being a leader rather than a megaphone. And we still await something novel from the Democrats...

Well beyond us now is any overarching Churchillian vision of our enemies. We lack the practical understanding of an FDR that all of these Islamists loathe us far more than they despise each other. Their infighting, after all, is like the transitory bickering of thieves over the division of loot that always pales before their shared hatred of the targeted bank owner. So we are at a crossroads of all places in Iraq. The war there has metamorphosized from a successful effort to remove a mass-murdering dictator into the frontlines of the entire struggle between Islamic radicalism and Western liberality....

The disappointing results of the recent election have led to a lot of discussion about WHY this happened. In the search for the grand unifying theory of why we lost, there seems to be an inordinate amount of bitterness and recrimination.The problem is that we all are looking at this through the perspective of our own beliefs. Conservatives look at the loss of Chaffee and Northrup and think "If only we had had a real conservative in those seats." Moderates point to the loss of Hayworth and Santorum and caution about moving too far to the right. Some blacks look...

The more Democrats insist on timetables and an early evacua tion of Iraq, the more they sow the seeds of America's defeat - with disastrous consequences for both the region and U.S. interests. Not that they seem to care. Last week, it was Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the incoming chairman of the Armed Services Committee, calling for "a phased redeployment of our forces within four to six months." He was echoing the Senate's next majority leader, Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who says that "we need to redeploy" and that a withdrawal should start within months. Even New York's junior senator, Hillary...