Free Republic

500 gather in square to voice support for troops, war effort There was a moment of silence -- though motorists passing through Old Courthouse Square continued to honk their support -- then, at a pastor's invitation, the gathered crowd called out a chorus of names. "Bobby ... David ... James ... Shawn ... Michael ... John ... Peter ... Jessie ..." and perhaps two dozen more, the names of military men and women at war in Iraq or on its borders. Standing in the crowd of about 500 people who assembled in downtown Santa Rosa on Saturday afternoon in the...

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — More than 400 South Koreans gathered outside this American air base Wednesday to support the U.S. military and call for an end to North Korea’s nuclear-arms development. The rally was an oddity following a month with tens of thousands of anti-American protesters filling the capital’s streets demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops and a revision of the legal guidelines governing servicemembers in South Korea’s legal system. The catalyst was the acquittal of two U.S. soldiers who were manning an Armored Vehicle Launched Mine Clearing Line Charge that crushed to death two 13-year-old South Korean...