Free Republic

A desire by both men to secure their places in history might forge an unlikely pairing. BY RICK SANTORUM Obama also faces the reality of needing at least one Republican senator to join him to break filibusters. Many speculate that three moderate Republicans will provide the necessary Senate votes and the imprimatur of bipartisanship. . . . . . But I believe Obama has an ace in the hole among Senate Republicans. This unlikely ace can deliver not only the GOP moderates needed to break a filibuster, but also the stamp of bipartisanship: the 2008 GOP standard bearer, John McCain.....

Man accused of trying to help al-Qaida sought US public rebellion MICHAEL RUBINKAM The Associated Press SCRANTON, Pa. - A man charged with trying to help al-Qaida blow up U.S. energy facilities described in chilling detail a plan to target a natural gas refinery and wrote that it would lead to "instant rebellion" by an American public disgusted over the Iraq war... Michael C. Reynolds, 49, of Wilkes-Barre, is on trial here on federal charges of providing material support to terrorists. He was arrested in December 2005 after he tried to meet a purported al-Qaida contact near a hotel where...

Stephen Kappes: The Wrong Man at CIA by Kenneth R. TimmermanPosted May 31, 2006Before Gen. Michael Hayden settles in as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Congress needs to ask hard questions of the man he has said he wants to appoint as deputy director of the CIA: former operations chief Stephen R. Kappes. Kappes is a former Marine who elicits strong praise from former operations officers such as Gary Berntsen, who worked under him for two years. Hayden also heaped praise on Kappes. "When I did the Rolodex check around the community about Steve … they’re almost universally positive,"...

The coming economic crisis. Unemployment. Health care for the poor. The almost 1,500 dead soldiers. The almost 100,000 dead Iraqis. Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher. The Christian Conservative takeover of our nation. The missing 9 billion. The missing weapons of mass destruction. The impending invasion of Iran, and Syria. The total failure to protect us on 9-11.

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

It's no accident that the US Army sergeant who allegedly tried to wipe out the entire brigade command of his 101st Airborne Division unit in Kuwait just happened to be a convert to Islam. And a radical mutation of Islam it must be, for Sgt. Asan Akbar's attitude problem, as the army calls his motive, means he no longer views himself as an American, and that his own buddies in the 101st are the enemy. "You guys are coming into our countries and you're going to rape our women and kill our children," Akbar reportedly said after the attack, which...

Sgt. Held in Attack Feared Persecution .c The Associated Press FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) - A sergeant accused of killing a fellow serviceman by throwing grenades into tents at a military command center in Kuwait told his mother he feared persecution because he is a Muslim and reportedly had recently been reprimanded for insubordination. Sgt. Asan Akbar of the 101st Airborne Division's 326th Engineer Battalion was in custody, said George Heath, a civilian spokesman at Fort Campbell. Heath said Akbar had not been charged with a crime but was the only person being questioned in the attack that also wounded...

Sgt. Asan Akbar

Fox listed the traitor who attacked the 101st with grenades as Assan Akbar

U.S. Soldier Held in Attack on Own Troops By PATRICK McDOWELL .c The Associated Press KUWAIT CITY (AP) - A U.S. soldier was detained Sunday on suspicion of throwing grenades into three tents at a 101st Airborne command center in Kuwait, killing one fellow serviceman and wounding 15, at least three of them seriously. The motive in the attack ``most likely was resentment,'' said Max Blumenfeld, a U.S. Army spokesman. The name of the soldier killed was not released because family members had not been notified, said George Heath, civilian spokesman for Fort Campbell, Ky., the storied 101st Airborne Division's...

TIME's Jim Lacey has been traveling with the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. Over two weeks ago, they had set up camp in northern Kuwait just 20 miles south of the Iraqi border. Then the drama began: It was 1:45 Sunday morning when I was awakened by the first blast—a boom 10 times louder than a car backfiring. Ten seconds later there was a second blast, and then soldiers started screaming, "Get out! Get out!" Someone had slipped two hand grenades into the tent housing more than a dozen of the brigade's officers. One woman in my tent,...

Sabotage averted (paraphrasing) The FoxNews crawler just had a message that many of the Iraqi facilities we have taken over have been found to be wired for destruction... the focus on the message had to do with oil wells I think. It said Saddam was prepared to 'blow up his entire economy.' Analysis ... If true, we (and the Iraqi people) were extremely fortunate Bush launched that strike against Saddam on Wednesday night, just after the 48 hour deadline had expired. (BTW You just read this analysis here, but I doubt that you will read it in the main...

Did translator shortage backfire?WND exposed inadequate preparation of Arabic-language interrogators Posted: March 22, 200311:00 p.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com As two Kuwaiti Arabic translators are held along with an American Muslim sergeant in the fragging attack at Camp Pennsylvania, questions are being raised about the Army's heavy reliance on local translators rather than qualified U.S. military Arabic speakers and interrogators. Back in September, WorldNetDaily first blew the whistle on the shortage of trained U.S. military translators and Arabic interrogators. Sources close to the preparations for a U.S. invasion of Iraq were concerned even last fall about what they perceived to be the...

<p>CAMP PENNSYLVANIA, Kuwait (CNN) -- A U.S. soldier has been detained and is being questioned in connection with a grenade and small arms attack early Sunday at an Army camp in northern Kuwait, the U.S. Central Command said.</p> <p>The attack at Camp Pennsylvania, where soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division are stationed, wounded 13 people -- six of them seriously -- U.S. military officials said. Central Command said the suspect is assigned to the division.</p>

Muslim-American soldier detained in Kuwait attack 16 troops injured in grenade assault described by Pentagon as 'inside job'A U.S. soldier being described as a Muslim is now in custody for alleged complicity in the grenade and small-arms attack on members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division encamped in Northern Kuwait, which injured 16 soldiers, 11 seriously. In addition, two Kuwaitis who had served a translators are being held for questioning, according to CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann, who is imbedded with the 101st. Strassmann reported that the grenades were rolled into two commanders' tents. When officers ran from their...

Sat March 22, 2003 11:59 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of the 13 soldiers wounded in a grenade attack on a tented camp in Kuwait early on Sunday has died of his injuries, CNN reported. Time magazine correspondent Jim Lacey told the broadcaster by telephone from Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait that he had been told of the death by several people. "We're allowed to talk about it," he said.

'US SOLDIER ATTACKS TROOPS' An American Muslim soldier is understood to have carried out a grenade attack on a US military camp which injured 16 soldiers. A second man, who is not a soldier, is thought to be held. Three grenades were rolled into three tents housing military leaders of the 101st Airborne Division Saturday night at Camp Pennsylvania, home of the, near the Iraqi border, said Sky correspondent Stuart Ramsay, who is in the base. The grenade that was rolled into the first tent, where the commanding officer sleeps, did not go off. But two other grenades used to...