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MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. (Dec. 9, 2005) -- A Company D graduate served his country once before as a sailor, and he returns to serve again as a Marine despite criticism from his friends and family. Pfc. Leonidez Cruz, Platoon 1131, 30, grew up in El Paso, Texas and joined the Navy in 1994 - a week after he graduated from high school. Trying to get away from home, Cruz wanted to move his life in a different direction. "I just wanted to get away from home and see the world, so I went into the aviation-electrical...

COMMENTARY Base Transfer Part of March Toward Democracy By U.S. Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. Multinational Force-Iraq Commanding General BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 23, 2005 — The other day, Coalition forces transferred the largest base in Tikrit, Forward Operating Base "Danger" to the Ministry of Finance. Also known as the Tikrit Palace Complex, FOB Danger is perhaps the most significant of all the installation transfers. About 30 military compounds have changed from coalition to Iraqi control. The massive complex is more than 1,000 acres with 136 buildings. In addition to the buildings, there are more than 60 additional structures...

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The fast-attack submarine USS Norfolk (SSN 714) departed from its namesake homeport Nov. 7 for a six-month deployment as part of the USS Nassau (LHA 4) Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG). Norfolk is heading to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility (AOR) in support of the global war on terrorism (GWOT). Commanding Officer Cmdr. Scott Adams is excited about this opportunity for his crew and ship to show just what the submarine force can do. “Our sub can operate in shallow water, under ice, and in congested areas in all weather conditions. We are able to...

Actor Bruce Willis wanted to serve his country as far back as the Gulf War. His friends laughed at him, telling him he was too old. Undaunted, Willis looked into himself – only to find out they were right. He was too old. So the star of "Die Hard," "The Sixth Sense," "Hostage" and dozens of other movies, did the next best thing. He traveled to Iraq with his band, the Accelerators, to entertain troops with the USO. He is also planning to join returning troops at Fort Lewis in Washington state Nov. 5. "The idea of serving my country...

RAMALLAH, West Bank - The Israeli military has rounded up 379 militant activists, including dozens of electoral candidates from Hamas, prompting accusations that Israel is using a weekend truce breach as an excuse to crush the Islamic group before upcoming Palestinian elections. The arrest sweep in the West Bank — the biggest in three years and part of a new offensive against Hamas — came after Israel failed to win international backing for its demand that the militant organization be barred from the Jan. 25 parliamentary vote. Israel says a government that includes Hamas, which calls for the destruction of...

New York, 1 July (AKI) - UN secretary general Kofi Annan has urged Islamic nations to play their full role in tackling issues from terrorism and human rights abuse to UN reform, in a message to foreign ministers of Islamic countries meeting in Sanaa, Yemen. "The international community has reached a fork in the road. One path leads to a more anarchic, conflict-ridden world of entrenched poverty. The other leads to increased global cooperation and solidarity," he said in a message delayed by his envoy Ali Alatas to Foreign ministers of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) which ended...

WASHINGTON -- It was not merely a leak from the normally leak-proof Bush White House. For more than a week, a veritable torrent has tipped Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as President Bush's first nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. It has sent the conservative movement into spasms of fear and loathing. Gonzales long has been unacceptable to anti-abortion activists because of his record as a Texas Supreme Court justice. Beyond pro-lifers, he is opposed by organized conservative lawyers. Ironically, the same Bush supporters who have been raising money and devising tactics for the mother of all judicial confirmation fights are...

Archaeologists unearth part of 3, 500 year-old gold mask SOFIA (bnn)- Archaeologists in Southern Bulgaria, exploring what they believe to be the tomb of Orpheus, discovered fragments of a golden mask dating from the Trojan War, state TV reported. The expedition found the gold in a 3, 500 year-old temple that has survived untouched by treasure hunters. Archaeological team leader Nikolay Ovcharov said the mask was older than a 690-gram (24.3-ounce) Thracian gold mask that was unearthed a year ago in central Bulgaria. The Thracians were Bronze Age people, who lived in the Balkans between 4,000 B.C. and the seventh...

Imagine, if you will, that a Democrat President nominated a judge whose constitutional and policy views were, by any measure, on the extreme left fringes of American society. Let’s assume, for example, that this nominee had expressed strong sympathy for the position that there is a constitutional right to prostitution as well as a constitutional right to polygamy.

FES, Morocco (AP) The infant son of King Mohammed VI was circumcised Thursday, and thousands of Moroccans also went through the procedure in a massive show of solidarity for the prince, a news agency reported. The circumcision of Moulay Hassan, the king’s only son, marked the start of three days of nationwide celebrations across the north African kingdom to honor the event. The boy turns 2 next month. Some 5,000 boys were circumcised in Casablanca, Morocco’s largest city, and thousands more in other cities and towns, the official news agency MAP reported. The ritual of circumcision, known as “t’hara” or...

(Talon News) -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced on Wednesday a proposal for "jobs and prosperity" which she says would provide Americans with "the opportunity to succeed, to live a secure and comfortable life including good jobs here at home, affordable health care, a growing economy with stable prices, investments in new technologies, and fiscal responsibility in government." "With nearly 8 million Americans unemployed, the need to create jobs is urgent," Pelosi said. "It takes significantly longer to find a job today than in years past ... and too many people have simply given up hope and given...

THE TSUNAMI PART - II I

Archaeologists believe they have discovered part of throne of Darius Tehran Times Culture Desk TEHRAN (MNA) -- Iranian archaeologists believe they have found a part of one leg of the throne of Darius the Great during their excavations at Persepolis, the ancient capital of the Achaemenid dynasty, the director of the team of archaeologists announced Sunday. “Four archaeologists of the team found a piece of lapis lazuli during their excavations in water canals passing under the treasury in southeastern Persepolis last year,” said Alireza Askari, adding, “The studies on the piece of stone over the past year led the archaeologists...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

A north Harris County woman was on the run Friday, accused of cutting off her boyfriend's penis with a kitchen knife while he was sleeping, sheriff's detectives said. The severed organ has not been found since the attack about 11 a.m. Thursday at the woman's home in the area of West Mount Houston and Airline. The victim, 33, is in Ben Taub General Hospital and is expected to survive. Eighty percent of his penis was severed, detectives said. The Harris County Sheriff's Department declined to release the couple's names because the woman has not been charged. Detectives expect to charge...

HANNIBAL, Mo. - Forget polite sensibilities. Many women along the Democratic campaign trail are telling Teresa Heinz Kerry to keep speaking her mind. To them, the sassy, gabby wife of presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) is a key part of the package they want to put in the White House. These women don't care that Heinz Kerry doesn't always follow the etiquette rules for potential first ladies. Like when she marches up to a persistent reporter and tells him to "shove it" or when she tells Republican hecklers that they want "four more years of hell." Dawn...

<p>TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's foreign minister said Friday that the al-Qaida operatives Iran now has in custody were arrested before the May 12 suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia and couldn't have been involved in the attacks.</p> <p>"There is no possibility that they were able to do any (bombing) operation nor could they lead these kind of military operations," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told reporters at one of several impromptu news conferences he's held recently to counter American accusations that his country is failing to fight terrorism. "When they are in prison all their connections are cut with the outside."</p>

China uncovers lost part of Wall China has announced the discovery of a lost section of the Great Wall which was hidden for centuries beneath shifting sands. The segment was found in the north-western region of Ningxia which was crucial to imperial China's border defences, the state news agency Xinhua reports. It stretches some 80 kilometres (50 miles) along the southern slope of Helan Mountain, about 40 km (25 m) from the Ningxia provincial capital, Yinchuan. Other sections of the vast wall - a Chinese and world heritage monument - have been uncovered in the past in remote parts of...