Free Republic

 Photo credit: Marooned in Marin It's been six years since President Bush launched an attack on - not Iraq, not Bagdad, not a country and its people, but - Saddam Hussein -- Saddam Hussein and; those who would attack the U.S. And on this anniversary day, Brian Becker, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R.) or cANSWER ("CANCER") as we like to call it, organized his scruffy, useless, parasitic contingent to march on Washington once again. The DC Chapter has been there each time to counter protest. In the early years, cANSWER was able round up great...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of war protesters from across the country gathered in Washington on Saturday to mark the sixth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Organizers from the ANSWER Coalition said more than 1,000 groups sponsored the protest to call for an end to the Iraq war. Holding signs that read "We need jobs and schools, not war" and "Stop the war!" they rallied around noon across the street from the Lincoln Memorial and by 1:30 p.m., were beginning to march across the Memorial Bridge to the Pentagon.

Barack Obama and Joe BidenThe Democrat Foreign Policy Team: Their Judgment One Year Ago “I opposed this war from the beginning. I opposed the war in 2002. I opposed the war in 2003. I opposed it in 2004, and 2005 and 2006." --Barack Obama, September 12 2007“It's time to turn the corner in my view, gentlemen. We should stop the surge and start bringing our troops home. We should end a political strategy in Iraq that cannot succeed and begin one that can.” --Joe Biden, September 11 2007 [Click images to enlarge] September 11, 2007: General David Petraeus was in...

Bush Mulls Bin Laden Offer to Convert to Islam by Scott Ott (2007-09-07) — Just hours after the release of al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden’s latest video message inviting all Americans to convert to Islam, U.S. President George said he would “seriously consider the offer, because it sure would simplify the war in Iraq.” “If I convert to Islam and order all of our troops to do the same,” said Mr. Bush, “we can stay in Iraq indefinitely, drop the restrictive rules of engagement, save a lot of money by using cheap, unguided bombs, clear neighborhoods flat out, blow...

Report says war on terror is fuelling al Qaeda By Kate Kelland 12 minutes ago Six years after the September 11 attacks in the United States, the "war on terror" is failing and instead fuelling an increase in support for extremist Islamist movements, a British think-tank said on Monday. A report by the Oxford Research Group (ORG) said a "fundamental re-think is required" if the global terrorist network is to be rendered ineffective. "If the al Qaeda movement is to be countered, then the roots of its support must be understood and systematically undercut," said Paul Rogers, the report's author...

....the story made me both laugh and cry, because it reflected something so true — how much, since 9/11, we’ve become “The United States of Fighting Terrorism.” Times columnists are not allowed to endorse candidates, but there’s no rule against saying who will not get my vote: I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don’t need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate. What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But...

Thomas Friedman thinks you are "stupid" if you still care about the atrocity committed against this country by Islamofascists in New York on 9/11/2001. He thinks "9/11 is over" and we all should just move on. Even worse, he has decided that we are no longer a great country, but are filled with seemingly meaningless "fear," that we have a dilapidated infrastructure, and that while America used to be "the gold standard," he believes "We aren’t anymore." Friedman is falling for the typical, leftist doom-and-gloom scenario and imagines that China is better than we are, Europe is more inviting, and...

Two weeks ago, not far from here, bells tolled at Ground Zero. We commemorated the sixth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. And we marked the passage of another year without a terrorist attack on American soil. It is important to pause and reflect on how we reached this milestone, so that we can better understand what we must do to reach another one. This task grows more complicated with every passing year. In the wake of the September 11th attacks, the focus of the nation was crystallized. Our objective was clear: We knew who, and where, our enemies were,...

09/25/2007 - By Michael Scheuer (from Terrorism Focus, September 25) - More than six years after the September 11 attacks, Osama bin Laden remains free, healthy and safe enough to produce audio- and videotapes that dominate the international media at the times of his choosing (Terrorism Focus, September 11). Popular and some official attitudes in the United States and its NATO allies tend to denigrate the efforts made by their military and intelligence services to capture the al-Qaeda chief. The common question always is, "Why can't the U.S. superpower and its allies find one 6'5" Saudi with an extraordinarily well-known...

Bin Laden may have just escaped U.S. forces August mission in Tora Bora almost snared 'high value target' A little more than a month ago, with the anniversary of Sept. 11 approaching and fears of a new al Qaeda attack rising, some U.S. intelligence and military analysts thought they had found one of the world’s two most wanted men just where they last saw them six years ago. For three days and nights — between Aug. 14 and 16 — U.S. and Afghanistan forces pounded the mountain caves in Tora Bora, the same caves where Osama Bin Laden had hidden...

September 19, 2007 In Drunken Rage, Atheist Guru Hitchens Bullies Hero Priest of 9-11 Posted in: Poe.com Writer Christopher Hitchens has hit the jackpot. His new book, God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, has proved a runaway bestseller. Why, then, is Mr. Hitchens so angry? Father George Rutler returns from Ground Zero on September 11, 2001. He spent the day hearing confessions and giving the last rites to firemen. His brother priest Father Mychal Judge did not return alive that day. Eyewitnesses report that Hitchens erupted into a drunken rage at a recent promotional event for his...

The Muslim Student Association at CU finds itself in a progressive state with a woman as president. Kelly Brewer, MSA's president, stands out not only in her leadership role, but also as a convert to Islam. Raised in a Catholic-Christian household, Brewer began learning about Islam as a 9th grader. The Sept. 11 media coverage at the time portrayed Muslims in Islam's "malpracticed" state, and Brewer became interested in Islam's "true form." While delving into Islamic culture, Brewer was "impressed by the conduct of Muslims" in their kindness. Brewer, who converted after Sept. 11, said that "now a lot of...

After Osama bin Laden reappeared on the world's television screens on the sixth anniversary of 9-11, commentaries focused on his newly blackened beard and his changed message. But more important was the reaction of a Saudi cleric. In an open letter, one of bin Laden's most prominent Saudi mentors, the preacher and scholar Salman al-Oadah, publicly reproached bin Laden for causing widespread mayhem and killing. "How many innocent children, elderly people, and women have been killed in the name of Al Qaeda?" asked al-Oadah in a letter on his Web site, Islamtoday.com, and in comments on an Arabic television station....

The appearance of Osama bin Laden in a taped video speech on the sixth anniversary of 9/11, and ahead of the U.S. Congressional hearings of General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker's reports on the situation in Iraq, could not have been a mere coincidence. It was timed to send the message that simply by not being killed or captured by American forces bin Laden, and the Islamist movement he symbolizes, remains unbeaten. From here the leap for his followers and sympathizers in the Arab-Muslim world is simple: to remain unbeaten despite the odds means eventually to triumph by relentlessly...

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad requested to visit Ground Zero during an upcoming trip to New York. That request was rejected Wednesday. But a source tells Eyewitness News that the decision may not stop him. A law enforcement source says the Iranian mission to the United Nations has informed the Secret Service that the Iranian president intends to visit Ground Zero Monday at 10 a.m. The source says regardless of the NYPD's rejection of the request for a Ground Zero tour, Iran's president and his entourage will be accompanied by a Secret Service protective detail, a detail provided to all heads...

By the first week of October 2001, American's chit-chat class had lost patience with America's new war in Afghanistan. Television's hype-drenched talk shows claimed the Pentagon had botched it. The gloomiest prognosticators (most of them from the political left) foresaw a Himalayan defeat, with U.S. soldiers outsmarted by wily, inspired "resistance fighters." As fighting raged and Afghan winter blizzards arrived, millions would starve. A column of mine published during that period argued for patience, perseverance and a little faith. "Afghan demographics -- religious, tribal and ethnic fractures -- create a politically fragmented society," the column noted. "It takes time to...

Apart from marring an otherwise captivating, often beautifully written story, the Pakistani-born writer [of "The Reluctant Fundamentalist"] should have known better than to make the same, common mistake made by countless others (Sen. Joe Biden called for a moment of silence this morning for nearly 3,000 dead "Americans"): that 9-11 was simply about America. -snip- Two hundred and nine citizens from 36 other countries were also killed. That's close to the 224 mostly East Africans killed in the 1998 Al Qaeda bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, and more than the 191 mostly Spanish people killed in the 2004 Madrid train...

War On Terror: A third al-Qaida video marking the 9/11 anniversary urges jihadists to make terror "a normal part of life" in America. If this doesn't wake us up to the threat, nothing will. The video has received little press, but it's more chilling than the two earlier messages by Osama bin Laden. It calls on Islamic radicals to sow terror in the hearts of Westerners by creating a regular climate of fear. The hope is that by turning our cities into Tel Avivs, where violence is accepted as routine, we will capitulate to the demands and ways of the...

NEW YORK (AP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked permission to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site when he comes to New York City next week, but the request was denied, a police official said Wednesday. Ahmadinejad, who is arriving Sunday to address the United Nations' General Assembly, had asked this month for permission to visit the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, police spokesman Paul Browne said. The request to enter the fenced-in site was rejected because of ongoing construction there, Browne said. "Requests for the Iranian president to visit the immediate area would...

NEW YORK -- Officials on Wednesday decided to reject the Iranian president's request to visit ground zero just weeks after the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The decision came in a meeting that included representatives of the NYPD, the Secret Service and the Port Authority, according to police. NYPD officials confirmed in a statement that earlier this month the department received a request from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to visit the World Trade Center site during the United Nations General Assembly. A statement issued by the NYPD said, "Requests for the Iranian president to visit the immediate area would also be...