Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told grieving family members at the Pentagon’s west wall today that the military would continue to pursue and defeat America’s enemies, especially terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda, which instigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. (Video) Mazie Lawson meets with reporters after the Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony at the Pentagon on the sixth anniversary of the attacks. Lawson said she still grieves for her daughter, Cecelia E. Richard, a federal civilian employee who was among the 184 innocent people killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the...

Key quote"Anyone knowingly giving shelter from legal obligations has a clear civic duty to facilitate compliance with the law. If they do not do so, they will have little cause for complaint if police enter their premises." - LORD CARLILEStory in full POLICE should be more willing to enter mosques or other places of worship when pursuing terrorist suspects, the government's terror-law watchdog urged yesterday. The recommendation follows the case of an accused terrorist who escaped after police decided not to follow him into a mosque. He remains on the run. Lord Carlile, the lawyer who acts as independent assessor...

SAN DIEGO – The City Council unanimously agreed Tuesday to begin the process of negotiating a possible settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged violations of federal securities laws. The city is being investigated by the SEC and other agencies for errors and omissions discovered in its financial disclosures to potential investors related to the debt-ridden pension system and wastewater rates. A settlement with the SEC would not protect individuals under investigation for alleged wrongdoing, but would shield the city from prosecution, city officials said. City Attorney Michael Aguirre said the vote "reflects a real change on the...

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Sunday to pursue a peaceful nuclear program — an effort the United States maintains is really a cover for trying to build atomic bombs — and said his government will not be an extremist one. Ahmadinejad also said Iran did not need the United States to help it become more self-reliant. His comments came as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld criticized Friday's vote, in which the ultraconservative former Tehran mayor steamrolled former President Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, as a "mock election." Rumsfeld said more than 1,000 potential candidates — including all women —...

ANNAPOLIS -- President Bush yesterday urged Naval Academy graduates to challenge the status quo in the same way he is challenging congressional Democrats to enact his conservative agenda. "This advice comes with a warning: If you challenge established ways of thinking, you will face opposition," Mr. Bush said in his commencement speech at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. "Believe me, I know -- I've lived in Washington for four years. "The opponents of change are many, and its champions are few, but the champions of change are the ones who make history. Pursue the possibilities others tell you do not exist."...

California's largest public pension plans want investors to think green - as in money and the environment. And they want deep-pocket investors to think beyond feel-good investments such as power-generating solar and wind farms - to wireless sensors to monitor power usage in supermarkets, or to home water-treatment systems. Investors can make money by mining opportunities in emerging clean technology ventures, say officials at the influential California Public Employees' Retirement System and California State Teachers' Retirement System. Or, they say, they can eventually lose money by ignoring the future financial risks of greenhouse gas emissions. "We're trying to look at...

Everywhere the governor goes these days, the loud, angry nurses seem to follow. Members of the California Nurses Association stood up as Schwarzenegger was speaking at the Sheraton Grand on Thursday and unfurled a banner reading, "Stop the Power Grab." A week earlier, they protested as the Republican governor and a group of Hollywood stars arrived for a Sacramento movie premiere. The California Highway Patrol pulled one nurse out of the theater audience for questioning after spotting her hospital uniform. The CNA plans to fly an anti-Schwar-zenegger banner over the Oscar ceremonies in Hollywood on Sunday night. Officials of the...

Associated Press (Oct 07, 01:36 PM) Bolstered by U.S. support for Israel's strike against Syria, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Tuesday that his nation would not hesitate to attack its enemies wherever they are. Syria's president countered that the raid - targeting what Israel said was a Palestinian militant training camp - would only enhance his country's power in the Middle East. The Israeli attack, made in retaliation to a suicide bombing, raised concern in Israel and the Arab world that the Palestinian conflict could widen into a regional crisis if Israel begins pursuing militants in neighboring nations. With tensions...

ELITE teams of US Delta Force commandos have been inside Iraq for weeks and are preparing to descend on Baghdad with the objective of capturing or killing President Saddam Hussein, US defence officials said yesterday. Small, highly mobile units picked from the US Army’s most revered and secretive fighting force have been assigned a key mission of the war: to hunt down Saddam, his two sons and at least a “dirty dozen” of Iraq’s top military and civilian leaders. The Delta Force, the US equivalent of the British SAS, has 306 men. It has been training for several years with...