Free Republic

Last week, the Washington Post reported that the border city of Qaim was overrun by al Qaeda jihadis, who soon afterward declared it the "Islamic Republic of Qaim" and proceeded to implement Shariah law. These claims have been under no uncertain terms refuted by the Marines: Maj. Neil Murphy, a spokesman for II Marine Expeditionary Force, told Marine Corps Times that reports detailing an all-out al-Qaeda takeover in Qaim were a “crock of crap.” “Sure, anyone can hang up a poster. That does not mean anything,” Murphy wrote in an e-mail response to questions. “We have a battalion there. [The...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday criticized Syria's leaders for "not behaving in a wise manner" by aiding Iraqi insurgents and warned that such conduct could come back to haunt them. "The United States and the world obviously has to create a better clarity in the minds of leaders of Syria that what they are doing is harmful ultimately to themselves," Rumsfeld said after a speech in Beverly Hills at which he was twice heckled. In the early days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks the United States praised Syria for its cooperation in combating...

CAIRO, Egypt — Egypt's (search) first ambassador to post-Saddam Hussein Iraq has been kidnapped in Baghdad just a month after arriving in the country, Egyptian diplomats said Sunday. Two diplomats, speaking in Cairo and Baghdad on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Ihab al-Sherif was kidnapped late Saturday in the Iraqi capital. Al-Sherif had arrived in Baghdad on June 1.

CAIRO, Egypt - There are new signs of hostility between homegrown insurgents in Iraq and extremists fighting under al-Qaida's banner - including foreigners - with the two camps trading threats and increasingly divided over the strategy of killing civilians to undermine the fragile new government. The tension comes at a crucial moment as the mainstream component of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency - which remains active, deadly and going strong nearly two years after it began - makes tentative moves to translate its militant firepower into political gain. What's driving the change appears to be Iraq's new post-election realities - a...

Many of Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab insurgents would lay down their arms and join the political process in exchange for guarantees of their safety and that of their co-religionists, according to a prominent Sunni politician. Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein, who heads Iraq's main monarchist movement and is in contact with guerrilla leaders, said many insurgents including former officials of the ruling Ba'ath party, army officers, and Islamists have been searching for a way to end their campaign against US troops and Iraqi government forces since the January 30 election. “Firstly, they want to ensure their own security,” says Sharif Ali,...

Hundreds of thousands of rusty munitions leftovers from the Iran-Iraq war are scattered across the green fields and gentle hills of the two countries' common border. Long ignored, they are now being harvested by insurgents who recycle them into crude but highly deadly bombs to use against U.S. and Iraqi troops. Saddam-era ordnance, repackaged as roadside bombs or bundled together to use in car bomb attacks, has been the leading killer of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Concerned about the growing trend, the military is paying Iraqis thousands of dollars for information about weapons caches.... The military has allocated hundreds of...

Saddam Hussein, seated, and his family in the 1990's, including from left to right, Hussein and Saddam Kamel, his sons-in-law, and Uday and Qusay, his sons. The Kamels were killed on Mr. Hussein's order in 1996; a cousin is now said to be aiding the rebels. WASHINGTON, July 4 — A network of Saddam Hussein's cousins, operating in part from Syria and Jordan, is actively involved in the smuggling of guns, people and money into Iraq to support the anti-American insurgency, say American government officials and a prominent Iraqi. The operations involve at least three cousins from the Majid...