Free Republic

Baghdad - The request for candy seemed innocent enough, but as the children approached the marines on patrol in Baghdad, Iraqi forces drove up and unleashed a salvo of rocket-propelled grenades. The ensuing five-hour firefight left nine marines wounded, including one who was shot in the head and remains in a critical condition. Staff Sergeant Brian Ivers said the experience on Wednesday, shortly after the marines' arrival in the Iraqi capital, had rammed home the dangers of being lulled into a false sense of security. Ivers said it appeared that the group of youngsters had been deliberately set up as...

Apr. 10, 2003 'No place in new Iraq for Palestinians' By DOUGLAS DAVIS There will be strong ties with Israel but no place for Palestinians in the new Iraq, a leading member of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) told me late Wednesday night. The Washington-backed organization, a secular, democratic umbrella for Iraq's Shi'ite, Sunni, and Kurdish communities, is committed to a unitary state, with a large measure of autonomy for what they envisage will be three federal components. Until recently, the vigorously pro-Western movement was based in London. Now most of its leaders have relocated to various parts of Iraq,...