Free Republic

SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON: A US official identified as Michael Furlong organised a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the purpose of finding and killing suspected militants, The New York Times reported Monday. Citing unnamed military officials and businessmen in Afghanistan and the United States, the newspaper said Furlong, who works for the Defence Department, hired contractors from private security companies that employed former CIA and Special Forces members. These people gathered intelligence on the whereabouts of suspected militants and the location of insurgent camps, the report said. After that, the information was sent to military units and intelligence...

Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill suspected militants, according to military officials and businessmen in Afghanistan and the United States. The official, Michael D. Furlong, hired contractors from private security companies that employed former C.I.A. and Special Forces operatives. The contractors, in turn, gathered intelligence on the whereabouts of suspected militants and the location of insurgent camps, and the information was then sent to military units and intelligence officials for possible lethal action in Afghanistan and Pakistan,...

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP)Though officials say it's not tied to this year's plagiarism controversy, Piper High School will lose almost 30 percent of its teachers and counselors, district officials said. Seven teachers and two counselors from the high school's staff of 31 teachers and counselors have resigned, Piper Superintendent Mike Rooney said. The number is higher than usual, but the people are leaving for "a whole bunch of reasons," Rooney said. "I wouldn't tie it all to what happened with the botany project," Rooney said. However, a teacher who has served as a spokeswoman for the school's teachers said she...