Free Republic

Israel was tonight under pressure to allow an independent inquiry into its assault on the Gaza aid flotilla after autopsy results on the bodies of those killed, obtained by the Guardian, revealed they were peppered with 9mm bullets, many fired at close range. Nine Turkish men on board the Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times and five were killed by gunshot wounds to the head, according to the vice-chairman of the Turkish council of forensic medicine, which carried out the autopsies for the Turkish ministry of justice today. [SNIP] Dr Haluk Ince, the chairman of the council...

Violence in Gaza prompted local activists Tuesday to don white masks and march on the Madison offices of U.S. legislators to deliver letters demanding an end to U.S. support of Israel. "We're very concerned about U.S. policies all over the world," organizer Joy First told a staffer at the office of U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin -- where another local activist, Allen Ruff, condemned Baldwin's failure to speak out against U.S. military aggression as "contemptible and out of character." Ruff left behind a pair of shoes, a symbol of contempt in the Arab world and reminiscent of the incident last month...

World soccer's governing body has raised concerns with the Israeli government after the IDF targeted the main soccer stadium in the Gaza Strip with artillery fire. The shells, which reportedly left a large crater in the center of the field, were fired early last Friday morning in response to Kassam rocket attacks. Those attacks included one rocket that landed on a soccer field at Kibbutz Karmiya, south of Ashkelon, the day before. The IDF has acknowledged that the stadium was specifically targeted to "send a strong message to the Palestinian people against terrorism." "Knowing the stadium was unpopulated, artillery fire...

Activism A Seattle Central Community College campus antiwar group, Students Against War, is in hot water after students chased U.S. Army recruiters off the SCCC campus during an Inauguration Day anti-Bush rally. Nobody was hurt in the incident, in which students ripped up recruiting literature and verbally confronted recruiters. Right-wing bloggers and radio talk shows across the country have gotten hold of the story and are besieging SCCC administrators with demands to discipline the students. The upshot, says Pete Knutson, the students' faculty adviser, was a letter from the administration demanding that the students apologize by Thursday or have their...

<p>A picture's worth a thousand words. My question: Why didn't the security guards escort the PROTESTERS out of the building??? Disgusting.</p>

Ohio Democrat Rep. Dennis Kucinich has teamed up with something called The Global Renaissance Alliance (GRA) to promote the establishment of a cabinet-level Department of Peace which would have little to do with world peace and everything to do with shoving socialist programs down the throats of the American people. Among the goals for the proposed department the GRA sets forth, would be the development of " … new programs that relate to the societal challenges of school violence, guns, racial or ethnic violence, violence against gays and lesbians, and police-community relations disputes.” Kucinich, one of the most unlikely potential...

<p>One of the most convincing arguments for U.S. action comes from the Clinton administration's Iraq expert. Kenneth M. Pollack's new book, The Threatening Storm, provides terrifying testimony. Pollack, former National Security Council director of Gulf affairs, shows how foolish it would be to allow Saddam to remain in power until he's killing Kansans as well as Kurds.</p> <p>Discussing Saddam's 1979 rise to power, Pollack writes that "like his idol Josef Stalin, Saddam Hussein quickly set about purging the party and government of any but the most devoted and non-threatening adherents.</p>

The Left is Revolting! The peacniks will be featuring free sex, free drugs and free rock & roll as they insult our country, military and values during their Anti-American protest. Calling all Northern California Freepers and Lurkers (yes, you). This is a onetime ping to let everyone know that we are having a STAND UP FOR AMERICA counter Freep on Sunday 2/16. Please join us! For more information or if you would like to participate please, ping STL to be added to the SF Chapter ping list thread here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/834491/posts If you can't make the Freep, we can still use...

In the midst of this joyous holiday season we will all enjoy a series of family and social gatherings sure to provide festive food, abundant libations and freewheeling political rants. It could be your Uncle Murray or perhaps your sister-in-law Fawn, but this year one or more members of your clan will inevitably offer some indignant objection to the upcoming war against Iraq. Here, as a public service, we present a handy guide to the top-10 arguments against that war, and the most direct and effective ways to counter them. War never solved anything. Not true – war has successfully...

As a Navy veteran, I was incensed to read Mark Vaughan's column on Veterans' Day ("War is not the answer to terror.") Wistfully he writes of his days spent as a 1960s radical protesting our armed forces and of his hopes to relive his days of youth by protesting America's war against terrorism. Vaughan describes his fear of the U.S. government as it battles rogue totalitarian states and terrorists at home and abroad. For all of you peaceniks hoping to flash back to the 1960s, here are a few sobering thoughts to ponder. The true lesson of Vietnam is that...