Free Republic

Infiltration of the federal government by members of the radical Muslim Brotherhood is worse than some have warned recently, says a former FBI special agent in Washington. The agent confirmed that at least three operatives of the Egypt-based Brotherhood – whose credo is "Jihad is our way and death in the cause of Allah is our dream" – have penetrated the Obama administration. The shocking charge was first leveled by Muslim reformer Tarek Fatah during a recent speech in Toronto. "Today in the White House, there are three members of the Muslim Brotherhood that influence Obama's policy," he told the...

Taliban fighters will be handed jobs and free homes under plans to crush the insurgency in Afghanistan. Even Mullah Omar, their fugitive leader, could be rewarded with property if he renounces violence and severs links with Al Qaeda. But senior Government officials said it was unlikely the insurgents would be paid cash to give up their weapons, for fear it would be used to buy arms to target British troops.

MUNICH, Germany – Vice President Joe Biden promised a sharp break from the go-it-alone policies of the Bush era in a major speech on Saturday, saying it was time to "reset" Washington's ties with Russia and talk to Iran. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, an annual gathering of leaders and defense experts, Biden said the new U.S. administration of President Barack Obama was determined to "set a new tone" in Washington and with its allies. In the wide-ranging 25-minute address, Biden focused on relations with Moscow, badly strained by Russia's brief war last year with Georgia and...

President Obama on Thursday will order the closure of so-called black sites, where CIA and European security services have interrogated terrorist suspects, under executive orders dismantling much of the Bush admistration's architecture for the war on terror, according to four individuals familiar with a draft executive order. Mr. Obama will shutter "all permanant detention facilities overseas," the draft said, according to the individuals who asked not to be named because the orders have not yet been signed. There are at least eight such prisons, according to published reports. The Bush administration never revealed the number or location of the facilities,...

Obama's appointments to Homeland Security, the Justice Department and now the CIA indicate a virtual abandonment of the War on Terror. As Homeland Security chief, he's named a governor whose only experience has been with the US-Mexican border. His attorney general pick, meanwhile, took the lead in pardoning FALN terrorists. Now he's rounded out his national-security and Justice Department teams by naming ultraliberals. Leon Panetta, his choice for CIA chief, is as liberal as they come. As Clinton's chief of staff (a tenure that coincided with my own work with Clinton) he was a dedicated liberal, opposing accomodation with Republicans...

Republican Ron Paul missed out on the 19th century, but he admires it from afar. He speaks lovingly of the good old days before things like Social Security and Medicaid existed, before the federal government outlawed drugs like heroin. In his legislative fantasies, the amiable Texas congressman would do away with the CIA and the Federal Reserve. He'd reinstate the gold standard. He'd get rid of the Department of Education and leave the business of schooling to local governments, because he believes that's what the Constitution intended. "Article 1, Section 8 gives me zero amount of authority to do anything...