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The United States calls them heroes in the war on terrorism, but elite soldiers in New Zealand's Special Air Service unit cannot show off their presidential award till the Queen says so. SAS commander Lieutenant Colonel Peter Kelly was presented with the Presidential Unit Citation last week for the SAS' involvement in the war in Afghanistan from October 2001 to March 2002. It is believed SAS members will wear a shoulder patch, but need royal consent. The Government has confirmed the award. However, Green MP Keith Locke said yesterday it seemed embarrassed by the award. The blanket of secrecy...

A WOUNDED US soldier seen on TV shooting dead an Iraqi prisoner was defended last night by SAS hero Andy McNab. The US marine — shot in the cheek earlier — machine-gunned the man in the head as he lay bleeding in a mosque in Fallujah. The soldier feared the Iraqi was pretending to be dead to draw him into a trap. Just before the killing, a fellow GI yells: “He’s f***ing faking he’s dead!” Walking away ... victim is obscured by fellow captive after burst of gunfire The marine faces a murder probe. But McNab — who has stared...

AN SAS hit team was last night hunting down the barbaric killers of Ken Bigley. The troops and America’s crack Delta Force were ordered: “Nail the bastards” after Ken, 62, was beheaded in Iraq. They were closing in on the town of Latifiya, 22 miles south west of Baghdad, where Liverpool engineer Ken is thought to have been killed. Intelligence officers at Britain’s GCHQ believe they have identified the area where butcher Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is holed up. Zarqawi is believed to have personally executed Ken and two Americans snatched with him last month. An SAS rescue unit has been...

AN advance team of Special Air Service reconnaissance specialists has hit the ground in Iraq in an effort to confirm whether two Australians are being held hostage by an Islamic terrorist group. The small SAS advance team, equipped with sophisticated eavesdropping devices, includes Arabic-speaking troopers able to blend in with local people. The team of between 12 and 30, which flew out of Perth aboard a Hercules C-130 on Tuesday night, will provide on the ground support to a 15-strong team of hostage negotiators with state of the art communications equipment based near the Iraqi border. A political row erupted...

British special forces sent in to counter Olympics terror threatBy Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent(Filed: 08/08/2004) British special forces have been sent to Greece to help protect British athletes taking part in the Olympic Games. Two six-man teams, one from each of the armed forces' elite counter-terrorist units, have been advising Greek army and navy officials on how to thwart attacks by al-Qaeda. The troops were dispatched following fears expressed by British and American security services that the terror group might try to disrupt the Games with an outrage designed to inflict mass casualties. The Special Boat Service and the Special...

THE Australian air force has airlifted the Iraqi Olympic team out of Baghdad at the start of its journey to Athens. A Royal Australian Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft flew the 48-member team from Baghdad International Airport earlier today under tight security. The team was flown to Jordan to meet connecting flights into Athens where the Games begin with an opening ceremony this Friday. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he was proud that the Australian Defence Force had been able to help the Iraqis get to Athens. "I think it's very appropriate that a country like Australia, which has helped...

REPORT OF LADIES HANDGUN SEMINAR Ojai Valley Gun Club, Ojai (Ventura) CA - Saturday, July 31, 2004 The best Ladies Handgun Seminar ever!! I left home (Fresno) at 4:30 a.m. and arrived at 8:30 a.m. Whew! What a drive! But worth every mile; believe me. The Ojai Valley Gun Club is located smack dab in the middle of Los Padres National Forest. The Club leases the range from the feds. What a fabulous setting!!! You cannot imagine how beautiful it is – and they even have flush toilets. When I first arrived, I was greeted by the awesome sound of...

LADIES HANDGUN SEMINAR Saturday, July 31, 2004, at the Ojai Valley Gun Club, beginning promptly at 9 a.m. Second Amendment Sisters – www.2asisters.org – invites women of all ages and backgrounds to attend this seminar to learn how to operate a gun with safety and confidence. Novice shooters welcome!! There will be a general safety briefing (classroom) after which shooters will pair up with coaches for specialized, tailored instruction in accordance with questionnaire information provided by the participant. If you don’t have a firearm, one will be provided. Women bringing their own firearms will have the weapon and ammunition checked...

SAS ordered into Saudi Arabia to shield embassy By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent (Filed: 23/06/2004) A 25-man SAS team has been sent to Saudi Arabia to bolster security at the British embassy and plan a possible mass evacuation of foreigners, defence sources said last night. The squad is backed by many more special forces troopers in neighbouring Qatar. This force would be summoned if the 20,000 British citizens in Saudi had to be withdrawn in a hurry. The members of the SAS team are counter-revolutionary warfare specialists and were deployed last week. The larger SAS force has been given diplomatic...

I attended the Second Amendment Sisters SAFER rally yesterday, and also checked out the "Million" Moron Mom rally. They had about 2000 people, we had about 200. Enjoy the photos and check out Kristinn's after-action report thread here: Second Amendment Sisters SAFER Rally, After Action Report 5/09/04 The "Million Mom March" Ahh, irony. The "American Sheep" shirt with the "FOLLOW" slogan... the Kerry for President sticker... make special note of this "gun free" sticker. A friend of mine hoping for a happy September. Let's hope this is one promise the President WON'T keep! This guy gave me a free "Million...

The Second Amendment Sisters, some of whom here may remember were born on Free Republic, held their second national rally to counter the Million Mom March in Washington, D.C. today.While both gatherings had fewer participants than expected, the turnout for the anti-gun MMMs had to be disappointing.Four years ago, with a White House send off by President and Mr. Clinton, the MMMs claimed 750,000 people attended their Mothers Day rally in D.C. A year later, a few hundred returned to the nation's capital for the MMMs. This year, only 2,000 people made the Mothers Day trek to call for more...

One of the most testing and controversial elements of con-tinuation training is a three-week, combat-survival course at Exmoor, in which candidates are stretched psychologically as well as physically. The point of such training is to prepare men to fight a guerrilla war behind enemy lines. Much of the course is run by a Joint Services Interrogation Unit staffed by SAS and other personnel. It is preceded by a special period of training at the regiment's Hereford base. Both courses are a mixture of tuition in living off the land -- identifying edible seaweed and fungus, learning trapping techniques to procure...

Call-In Second Amendment Issues C-SPAN, Washington Journal Washington, District of Columbia (United States) ID: 181756 - 6 - 05/08/2004 - 0:30 - No Sale Nugent, Shemane, Spouse Shemane Nugent, wife of rock star Ted Nugent, will discuss her support for second amendment rights.

WASHINGTON -- Mrs. Nugent came to Washington yesterday, but she left her .38-caliber revolver and her rock star husband, Ted, at home. He would have been out of place anyway at the Conservative Women's Network luncheon, where a roomful of Washington's elite ladies heard the mantra of empowerment through firepower. "The Second Amendment is a commandment we must defend," Shemane Nugent told those gathered for the lecture. "I like to think of a firearm as an equalizer." Her speech coincides with tomorrow's Million Mom March, which organizers hope will persuade Congress to renew the ban on assault weapons. Puget Sound...

(CNSNews.com) - The May 3rd shooting death of an eight-year-old District of Columbia girl -- killed in her aunt's home while picking up her dolls -- is expected to galvanize anti-gun groups that are coming to the city this weekend for a Mother's Day march against guns. The so-called "Halt the Assault" rally is being sponsored by the Million Mom March, a group that advocates gun control. Eight-year-old Chelsea Cromartie was shot in the head Monday night by a stray bullet that crashed through a window of her aunt's house. Police said the gunfire erupted on a street outside, following...

This is a final reminder of weekend SAS events. *Member reception: 7-10 PM Saturday May 8, JW Marriott hotel, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC. *Members are admitted free. Non-members will be charged $25 at the door, which also covers a year membership! *Dress is casual. We may or may not have press there, so please be comfortable but dress for TV. *Finger foods will be served. This will not be enough to be considered dinner, so you may want to grab dinner before you come. *Rally! 11:00 AM Sunday May 9. Freedom Plaza, Washington DC. *Rally shirts will be available...

Women's Groups Headed for Showdown Over Guns; S.A.F.E.R. Event to Support Gun Rights 4/21/2004 8:45:00 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor Contact: Maria Heil of the Second Amendment Sisters, 877-797-4857 (press inquiries only) or press@2asisters.org News Advisory: On Mothers' Day, May 9, the Second Amendment Sisters (SAS) will be standing up for the basic human right of self-defense for women and others. The SAS event in Washington, D.C., is called the Second Amendment Freedoms for Everyone Rally, commonly known as the S.A.F.E.R. event. The event is being held at Freedom Plaza, on Pennsylvania Avenue, between 13th and 14th...

So now that we have heard that the "grassroots" (not nearly a) Million Mom March is descending once more on Washington DC--this time more than ever to try to take away our Second Amendmend Freedoms, what are we going to do about it?Here's one thing: SECOND AMENDMENT SISTERS WILL HOLD A S.econd .A.mendment F.reedom for E.veryone R.ally, or S.A.F.E.R, also in Washington DC, on Monday's Day.Second Amendment Sisters is the true grassroots organization that will be in DC on Mother's Day, having been formed right here of FreeRepublic.com, in December of 1999. Five freeper women were a bit horrified when...

SAS joins hunt for OsamaBy Michael Smith and Peter Foster (Filed: 20/03/2004) Britain has sent 100 SAS soldiers to Afghanistan and the Americans have asked it to send hundreds more elite troops to support an intensified push to capture Osama bin Laden, defence sources said yesterday. The SAS force was seen passing through Bagram air base, north of Kabul. An official at the base, the headquarters of allied special forces in Afghanistan, said it was on its way to the mountainous border with Pakistan to take part in Operation Mountain Storm against al-Qa'eda and Taliban militants. Defence chiefs are considering...

Britain has sent about 100 special forces to Afghanistan as the hunt for Al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri heats up, an airport official says. The official, who asked not to be named, says the British soldiers arrived at Kabul International Airport on March 10 and left the same night for an unknown destination. British special forces "looking like SAS" embarked from their plane and waited on the tarmac until nightfall before taking off in their vehicles. A spokesman for the British embassy in Kabul says he is unable to comment on operations involving special forces. Britain...