Free Republic

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A purported audio recording by the leader of Iraq's al Qaeda wing gloated over the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as a top U.S. general said the military was preparing to recommend strategy changes. Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, said in the recording posted on the Internet on Friday that the group has 12,000 armed fighters and 10,000 others waiting to be equipped to fight U.S. troops in Iraq. "I tell the lame duck (U.S. administration) do not rush to escape as did your defense minister ... stay on the battleground," he...

The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, enacted last December, gives the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., exclusive jurisdiction to review habeas-corpus petitions from the terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay. The act also expressly provides that, other than that court, “no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider . . . an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba . . .” Legislative word-smithing does not get much clearer than that. Equally clear is Congress’s authority to...

Not long ago, a young soldier in Iraq asked Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld a question. His question dealt with what is called up-armoring of HumVees. Much has come out since then about the up-armoring of HumVees used in both Iraq and Afghanistan, not the least of which is that over 85% of all HumVees used in both theatres of operations had been up-armored at the time of the question. What got our attention was not the question, but Secretary Rumsfeld’s answer. He replied to the soldier by saying "… You go war with the Army you have, not the...

Skopje, June 18 (MIA) - "NATO's doors still remain opened," US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wrote in the telegram, which he sent on the occasion of the ministerial conference of the Adriatic Charter signatories. "I believe that Macedonia, Albania and Croatia are in a phase of implementation of the Action plan for membership and the reforms in the sphere of defense. The NATO Summit in Istanbul will be a forum, at which further improvement of the cooperation with the three countries will be discussed," Rumsfeld pointed out. Emphasizing that the Conference takes place in a very significant period, i.e....

Since he returned to the Pentagon three years ago, Donald H. Rumsfeld has been one of the most activist secretaries of defense in a generation, challenging the uniformed brass to modernize the nation's military into a 21st century fighting force and leading the armed services through two major wars in 18 months. Along the way, Rumsfeld has rankled many in the military with his aggressive style and far-reaching agenda for "transforming" the military, even as he has won acclaim for his leadership of the Pentagon through the trauma of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the building and ensuing conflicts...

Rumsfeld Condemns 'Evil Dictatorship' WASHINGTON - The U.S. defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said this week that North Korea's famine and suffering were due to its "evil dictatorship." “The solution is for North Korea to acknowledge that a market economy, not totalitarianism or despotism, is the system that creates the most for the people,” he said. Rumsfeld was at the Hudson Research Institute in Washington, receiving the James Doolittle prize for exhibiting courage in the defense of the nation's freedoms. The German doctor and activist for North Korean rights and refugees Norbert Vollertsen was in attendance, and asked Rumsfeld, “North Korean...

[Translated Russian Military Intel from Babelfish] Based on Russian Intelligence and that of our allies Russian military experts believe that the Baghdad large scale operation will be launched from the general facility of Karabela and will develop into a wide manueuver around Baghdad from the West ending in the area of the Tartar lake east of Al Hadid. (or east of the Tartar lake at Samarrah)From this point a part of the force will continue advancing towards Saddam's home of Tikrit and from there it will turn North towards Baghdad through Samarrah and Baahkuba; meanwhile the rest of the coalition...

While Germany thinks about the need for more reports arms inspectors in Iraq, Germans and French assail U.S. defense secretary's criticism of "old Europe." Politicians in Berlin and Paris expressed their disapproval on Thursday at the latest salvos volleyed by U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over Germany and France's reluctance to move forward with plans for a U.S.-led war against Iraq. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld criticized German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and French President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday for their public demands that a second resolution be brought before the United Nations Security Council before any military action could be...