Free Republic

There has been a second night of violence in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, with criminal gangs attacking police stations, and riots in prisons. At least 52 people have died in more than 100 attacks since Friday night, state officials said. They say the unrest is being organised by a criminal faction known as the First Command of the Capital (PCC). Friday's transfer of about 600 prisoners to a maximum security unit is thought to have sparked it. The transfer was organised to try to counter a co-ordinated rebellion planned by the PCC for the weekend in a number...

Iraq will surrender its soul to America only when the US army has left There is growing dissension and dismay in the US armed forces about their prospects of victory in Iraq. The yellow ribbons, lapel pins and yard signs expressing solidarity with the nation's soldiers are still conspicuous around army bases across America. But commanders and soldiers alike are conducting an increasingly anguished debate. There are four reasons for this. First, many service people are shocked by the incontrovertible evidence that the justifications offered by the Bush administration for invading Iraq — WMD and a link with international terrorism...

The Times Square ball isn't the only thing that dropped. There were 570 murders in the city in 2004 — 27 fewer than the year before, and 17 less than in 2002, according to police. "It was the lowest number of homicides since 1963," said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. That year, 549 people were killed.

Ousted Army Chief Blasts Bush Iraq Policy Tue Sep 2, 4:49 PM ET By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer WASHINGTON - Thomas E. White, forced to resign as Army secretary in May, has fired back in a book that describes the Bush administration's postwar effort in Iraq (news - web sites) as "anemic" and "totally inadequate." The book, which presents a blueprint for revitalizing Iraq, asserts that the administration underestimated the difficulty of putting that country back on its feet after the fall of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). "Clearly the view that the war to `liberate' Iraq would...

During the 2000 campaign, George W. Bush emphasized that a vital national interest ought to be at stake before the United States launches a military intervention. Unfortunately, the president is about to violate his own standard by sending American troops to Liberia at the head of an international peacekeeping force. There is not even a peripheral, much less a vital, U.S. interest at stake in Liberia. It might be possible to find a country that is less relevant than Liberia to America's security and well-being, but it would take a major effort. Writer Irving Kristol had it right more than...