Free Republic

Trust in action on January 30, 2005 in Nasarwasalam, Iraq: Mom goes to vote; in addition to guarding the voting station, the masked Iraqi Security Force soldier performs the new duties of holding and guarding her baby who, all bundled-up and without a care in the world, sleeps peacefully in his arms. Photographer: Cpl. Trevor Gift, United States Marine Corps, http://www.usmc.mil Sources and credits: United States Navy, http://www.news.Navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=21324; original big image at http://www.news.Navy.mil/management/photodb/photos/050130-M-7981G-034.jpg; above image from http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20050201.htm

ALT="Support our Advertisers! Click Here!" BORDER="0"> href="http://www.reason.com/subscribe.html"> src="http://www.reason.com/ads/rsubadx.gif" alt="Subscribe to Reason" border="0">     Reason DailyRecent stories Civil Offense (4/12) Doctor Who and the Fandom of Fear (4/8) One For the Team (4/7) Reason Daily archive April 12, 2004 Civil Offense Where are the U.S.-trained Iraqi forces? Jeff Taylor An Iraqi battalion last week refused to go into battle in Fallujah and a third battalion of U.S. Marines was sent in instead. That is the crux of the awful problem facing the Bush administration one year into its optional war in Iraq. The ultimate goal of the U.S. invasion...

No one can say with any certainty who was behind the bombings at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad and the Shiite holy place in Najaf, but here is what you can say about them: They are incredibly sick and incredibly smart. With one bomb at the U.N. office, they sent a warning to every country that is considering joining the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq: Even the U.N. is not safe here, so your troops surely won't be. They also stoked some vicious finger-pointing within the Western alliance. And with the bomb Friday in Najaf, they may have threatened the most...

General in Iraq Says More G.I.'s Are Not Needed By ERIC SCHMITT ACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., Aug. 28 — The top American commander for Iraq said today there was no need for more American troops there, but he encouraged Muslim allies like Turkey and Pakistan to send peacekeepers and said accelerating the training of a new Iraqi army should be considered. The commander, Gen. John P. Abizaid, said these steps were among those that could help Iraqis take more responsibility for their country's security sooner, ease the physical burden on American troops and help counter the image of an...

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) - With U.S. troops watching from a distance, dozens of Iraqi police stormed a farm near Tikrit on Saturday in what the Americans said was a promising sign that Iraqis are beginning to take responsibility for their own security. The police raid in Saddam Hussein's hometown, 120 miles north of Baghdad, showed signs of confusion. The Iraqi police commander who led the raid said he believed that boxes of ammunition and artillery fuses unearthed in a dusty field were buried by the Iraqi army, contradicting the Americans who insisted the Russian-made equipment was recently hidden by...

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A member of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council called on Friday for internal security to be handed over to Iraqis following the killing of top Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim in a devastating car bombing in the holy city of Najaf. Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Pentagon -backed Iraqi National Congress (INC), blamed remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime and supporters of the al-Qaeda terror network for the attack, which came a little over a week after another deadly bombing wrecked the UN headquarters in Baghdad. "This is not an inter-Shiite affair," Chalabi told AFP, flatly rejecting the...

<p>The top U.S. commander in Iraq said yesterday that he now has thousands of Iraqi border guards in place to try to stop the influx of foreign terrorists aiding guerrillas faithful to Saddam Hussein.</p> <p>"We now have 47,000 border guards that are in place and actually exercising control of Iraq's borders," Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said during a wide-ranging news conference in Baghdad.</p>

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis have joined 82nd Airborne Division soldiers in guarding the country's key places. On Tuesday, Spc. Chad Gomez and Pfc. Luis Sanchez sat in a watchtower overlooking the Tigris River. With them providing security for the Al Dora power plant were Thair Fawzi Salim and Baha Mzid. Salim and Mzid are members of the Facility Protection Service, the Iraqi security force that assists the paratroopers in protecting banks, the power plant and an oil refinery. Having them join Americans is part of the effort to relinquish control to the Iraqi people. When the program started a few...