Free Republic

'They killed with apparent impunity, effortlessly dodging capture by the world’s deadliest special forces. Nothing, it seemed, could stop Al Qaeda’s two top Iraqi terrorists as they orchestrated a campaign of high-profile kidnappings, car bombings and executions in Baghdad and beyond. At the height of their reign, one of them, Maher Ahmed Mahmoud az-Zubeidi, better known by his alias Abu Rami, was believed to have been responsible for the murders of 200 people each month. Yet perhaps even more ferocious was his charismatic co-leader, Abu Uthman, whose exploits in two battles in Fallujah earned him the nickname Abu Nimr –...

Briton Norman Kember and his Canadian colleagues James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden were freed after a multinational military raid acting on information provided by a detainee, the US military says. The rescue was completed without any shots being fired and with no kidnappers present, suggesting the operation was carefully planned and carried out. But the crucial bit of intelligence that enabled the rescue came only after two men were captured by US forces on Wednesday night. One of the suspects had the information which led officials to the Baghdad house where the hostages were four months into their ordeal....

TORONTO - Efforts to negotiate the release of two Canadians held hostage in Iraq were feverish Monday, but there was no indication the peace workers were any closer to freedom. With lives at stake, authorities were being extraordinarily careful in providing any information about the hostages. Even the peace workers' organization requested its name not be publicized, saying other members of its team in Iraq were worried that identification could put the hostages or themselves in jeopardy. "Release of any details is really detrimental to people who are in danger," said a Toronto spokeswoman for the group. Four foreigners were...