Free Republic

from the April 09, 2003 edition - CSM POROUS BORDER: Afghans show documents to a guard to cross into Pakistan. Officials say radicals are regrouping on both sides of the border.FAISAL MAHMOOD/REUTERS   A triangle of militants regroups in Afghanistan Intelligence officials say Al Qaeda and Taliban are tied to a radical Islamist party. By Scott Baldauf and Owais Tohid PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN - Sana Hamid has come to Pakistan to recruit a few good terrorists.Not just anyone will do. There are plenty of people in this part of Pakistan who would love to fight American forces in Afghanistan. But...

"America's Stunning Victory"by J. R. Nyquist  It is now apparent that Iraq is on the verge of defeat. The threat to U.S. lines of communications has been countered. Any delays to America’s forward advance were therefore insignificant. At the same time, Iraqi forces were unable to launch an effective counterattack. As these words are written, Iraq’s best divisions are being shredded, the Iraqi people are turning against the regime of Saddam Hussein, and the prospect of a sudden Iraqi collapse is before us.If Saddam’s army collapses or surrenders in the next two or three weeks the war will be...

DEBKAfile’s Exclusive Middle East sources have tracked down top Iraqi leadership’s bolt-hole: Baghdad pre-paid and chartered entire Hotel Cote d’Azur De Cham Resort at Syrian Mediterranean port of Latakiya near Assad family villa. Group may include Saddam Hussein or his sons, but this is not confirmed. Top Iraqi officials hiding there since March 23, four days after coalition invaded Iraq, guarded by Syrian commando unit armed with anti-air missiles and Syrian naval missile boats securing port!  

Text of Slain Soldier's Last Letter Home By The Associated Press The last letter written by Army Pfc. Diego Fernando Rincon, 19, of Conyers, Ga., to his mother. It is dated Feb. 22 and received March 22. Rincon was killed in Iraq (news - web sites) in a suicide bombing attack Saturday:

British tanks wipe out Iraqi Soviet-made tanks around Basra Iraqi armored units have proven to be no match to British main battle tanks. Officials said Britain's Challenger-2 tanks have easily picked off Iraqi T-55 tanks around the southern city of Basra. So far, they said, scores of Soviet-origin T-55 tanks have been destroyed in battles around Basra over the last two days. On Thursday, officials reported the destruction of 14 Iraqi tanks, believed to have been T-55s. Iraq first obtained the T-55 in the mid-1960s and some of them were upgraded in the 1980s. Officials said Iraq appears to...

March 24, 2003Inside the IDF's Wartime Broadcast Studio The new IDF wartime broadcast studio is situated underground at IDF headquarters. From within this confined, sound proof "aquarium", whose dimensions are only two meters by two meters, no more than two people can broadcast. Most of the time, IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Ruth Yaron will, alone, convey up to date facts and messages to the public. Yet, if necessary, the Chief of General staff will also broadcast from the studio. In addition to this new IDF studio, the Homefront Command maintains a studio located in the center of the country,...

Latest from Debka.... HEADLINES Fresh flare-up of US-Turkish military frictions. Ankara holds back permission for American over-flights in reprisal for US denial of Turkish troop entry into northern Iraq. Ankara also furious over US joining forces with Kurds for northern oil fields takeover.

Arrow anti-missile system on high alert (Day in the life of Missle Crew..) By Amos Harel Haaretz Correspondent The face of the air defense commander, Brigadier General Yair Dori, paled in seconds. Dori was about to complete a routine briefing to journalists visiting an Arrow anti-missile system battery at Palmachim on Thursday. In the absence of any other action, the journalists had jumped at the opportunity to take some photographs of the system poised to defend against a threat from the east. About a minute before completing the briefing, a siren began to wail. Lieutenant Colonel Shachar, commander of...

Zero Hour Approaches I pray that the Iraqi military commanders will disobey their orders to use Chemical/Biological weapons. We need to pray for our military's Divine protection. This could be a very costly war. Biological weapons are a terrifying element to defend against. The weather plays a critical role in this. If it is unseasonably hot, soldiers could collapse from heat exhaustion inside their protective suits. If the winds change, other severe problems are presented. The latest intelligence reports that the Republican Guards in southern Iraq have already deployed chemical artillery shells. Israel is preparing for the worst. Some...

JAPAN PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR USA AND PRESIDENT BUSH...   New U.N. resolution unneeded for attack   By TARO KARASAKI, The Asahi Shimbun With the U.S. and Britain set to drop the hammer on Iraq, Japan falls in line diplomatically.While stressing Japan was pinning its hopes on last-minute diplomatic options, officials in Tokyo on Monday shifted away from the need for a new United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing a U.S.-led attack against Iraq, and said current resolutions were sufficient.The new stance came following the weekend meeting in the Azores by leaders of the United States, Britain and Spain.Addressing the issue...

Understanding the Breakdown of Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations Lt. Col. Jonathan D. H. [Editor's note: The author is an IDF intelligence officer. This is an abbreviated version of the article that first appeared in Ma'arakhot, the IDF magazine for military affairs (in Hebrew). It received the IDF Chief of Staff's prize for military affairs writing. A longer version, including the author's footnotes, is available from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs website, www.jcpa.org] The second Camp David summit (July 2000) was the culmination of nearly ten years of political dialogue between Israel and the representatives of the Palestinian people, and of almost...

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada author Clive Douglas Campbell and Phoenix, Arizona, USA publisher Selah Publishing Group are pleased to announce the release of Messiah: 2030. Nobody knows the day and hour of the Second Coming, but the following years are on the front cover: Messiah: 2030 Cluny: 1030 Jesus: 30 David: 970 Abraham: 1970 Noah: 2970 Adam: 3970 Messiah: 2030 claims the Bible prophesies a sixth Arab-Israeli war will be over in 2003 and include the following: --the Palestinians will be deported to Jordan --Israel will go to war with Jordan, possess Jordanian land east of the Jordan River and King...

Does Yasser Arafat really want a "Palestinian homeland"? Or, as many have suggested, is this 35-year-old demand merely a ploy to conduct asymmetrical warfare against the Jewish state of Israel? While there is no doubt in my own mind that Arafat has no interest in governing a new Arab state neighboring Israel and living at peace with it, many in the West – even in Israel – remain convinced pursuing such a plan still represents the best hope for the region. I just read a 1998 book, "Arafat," by Said K. Aburish, an author quite sympathetic to the Palestinian cause,...

Israeli soldiers used Quran as toilet paper 1 May 2002 Israeli soldiers who have taken part in the invasion of 1967 Palestine used torn pages from the Quran to wipe themselves. At the opening meeting of the Knesset's summer session yesterday Arab Member of the Knesset Ahmed Tibi accused soldiers of "wiping their butts" with pages of the Holy Quran during the so-called Operation Defensive Shield. "They take a Koran and use it to wipe themselves in the bathroom, your soldiers, your boys," Tibi said. "You should be ashamed of yourselves. What a disgrace." Tibi also accused the IDF of...

Russian politician dies in air crash Lebed (l) with former Russian President Boris Yeltsin Former Russian presidential candidate Alexander Lebed has died from injuries sustained in a helicopter crash in Siberia. The Mi-8 helicopter is said to have hit a power line in poor weather conditions at 0615 local time before crashing near Abakan, about 2,100 miles (3,400km) east of Moscow. Lebed, elected governor of the huge Krasnoyarsk region in 1998 and once a prominent army general, was taken to a nearby hospital with severe injuries but later died. At least five other people were killed in the crash....

Bulldozers destroy Arafat's carsBy Saud Abu RamadanFrom the International DeskPublished 4/27/2002 4:11 PM GAZA, April 27 (UPI) -- Israeli army bulldozers Saturday destroyed cars that belong to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's convoy, official Palestinian sources at Arafat's office in Ramallah reported.The sources said the bulldozers powered into Arafat's compound and destroyed seven presidential armored Mercedes.Witnesses in Arafat's office said the bulldozers also flattened the presidential guards' vans and Cherokee jeeps.Meanwhile, Palestinian National Authority Minister of Information Yasser Abed Rabbo lashed out at the military for directing loudspeakers at Arafat's main office, describing the measure as "provocative and criminal Israeli army...

Vigilante killings escalate in West Bank By GREG MYRE, Associated PressHEBRON, West Bank (April 24, 2002 9:59 a.m. EDT) - When Israel killed a prominent Palestinian militia leader in a nighttime helicopter attack, his loyal gunmen exacted swift revenge and put their work on public display. The body of a suspected informer for Israel hangs from a power pole as a crowd of children watch in the southern West Bank town of Hebron on Tuesday. AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis TODAY IN PHOTOS The militiamen entered a Palestinian jail at dawn Tuesday and seized three men accused of collaborating with Israel. All...

"Fear and Trembling in the Middle East"by J. R. NyquistAfter Vice President Richard Cheney met British Prime Minister Tony Blair on March 12, Blair ordered the manufacture of 16 million doses of smallpox vaccine. Did Cheney warn the British of a possible biological attack?According to Joseph Curl, writing in the April 16 edition of The Washington Times, Cheney told Blair that the U.S. and Britain are vulnerable to weaponized Iraqi smallpox. Not wasting any time, the British government began to coordinate defensive measures. Health ministers from Germany, the U.S., France, Mexico, Japan and the U.K. met in London on March...

I just got back from the American Enterprise Institute. When I arrived there, police were everywhere. The line to go through security and get into the conference room was long, but by being near the end of the line (I was late, so sue me), I passed through the metal detectors just before Bibi came breezing in. I stepped forward to try to shake his hand and five Secret Service agents gave me the stare of death... so, no hobnobbing with greatness tonight. But I did listen to one of the most engaging and intelligent politicians I've ever encountered. Netanyahu...