Free Republic

Singer and actress Hilary Duff took the stage of Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, N.C. Tuesday night in a free concert for military families. Duff, the multi-platinum recording artist and star of Disney's "Lizzie McGuire" and movies such as "A Cinderella Story," performed "Hilary Duff Rocks for the Troops" in Fayetteville, home of Fort Bragg. Those in attendance were either in the military or have a military family member. Duff has previously made a block of tickets available for military families but decided this time to perform just for them. "I think she understands, or at least wants to try to...

Diana Irey Visits Walter Reed Hospital By: O. P. Ditch, Col USAF (ret) Vets4Irey.com We met her at a McDonalds near the Hospital - what a down to earth Lady. Can you imagine the "cut & runner" doing that? Well, it was a brief introduction, I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting her to that point. But I was most impressed with her genuineness, pleasant personality and intelligence. She is very easy to talk to and she was very interested in our ideas for helping with her campaign. So don't be shy with your recommendations, she's a good listener....

Despite a recent increase in sectarian violence throughout Baghdad, the U.S. military death toll in Iraq fell 40 % since April. According to stats collected by Icasualties.org, the U.S. death toll in Iraq reached 45 in the month of July, down from 76 in the month of April. The July figure is lower than the 61 deaths in June, which was lower that the 69 in May. Since July of 2005, only March saw a lower death toll than the current July.

We need help at our weekly rallies in Los Angeles, especially on Friday night. Rallies last about 1 1/2 - 2 hours depending on when the leftist go home. Then we go out to eat. These are some of the longest on-going rallies in California, if not the nation. So come be a part of history, and take on the left! Friday 6pm Studio City SE corner of Ventura Blvd at Laurel Canyon Opposition is strong. Sunday afternoon Current start time: 6:00 (Time changes with the season) Woodland Hills SE corner of Victory at Topanga Canyon No opposition, just trying...

SavetheSoldiers.com Launches Censure Murtha Petition SavetheSoldiers.com, a web community committed to supporting the U.S Military and most importantly the officers, Marines and soldiers who are doing the fighting, has placed a petition online to censure Congressman John Murtha. The petition can be reached at www.censuremurtha.com."This is about decency not politics. We ask people regardless of political affiliation to send a message that this conduct will not be tolerated and there will be a price to pay. We ask all Americans of good conscious to support our effort against Mr. Murtha and remain vigilant against any politician or publication that...

The group Human Rights Watch said in a report released Sunday that U.S. military commanders encouraged abusive interrogations of detainees in Iraq, even after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal called attention to the issue in 2004. Between 2003 and 2005, prisoners were routinely physically mistreated, deprived of sleep and exposed to extreme temperatures as part of the interrogation process, the report said. "Soldiers were told that the Geneva Conventions did not apply, and that interrogators could use abusive techniques to get detainees to talk," wrote John Sifton, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. The organization said it based its...

American viewers of network news, and Arabic viewers of al-Jazeera TV, generally regard Operation Iraqi Freedom as a failure for various reasons: Iraqis are too sectarian to form a nation; they reject democracy as an imposition; or the average Iraqi lives a life of fear due to the deterioration of security since Saddam’s fall. The International Republican Institute’s “Survey of Iraqi Public Opinion,” released July 19, 2006, provides a useful reality check to these assumptions. The survey records that Iraqis overwhelmingly reject sectarianism and national division; and that they widely support the government they have elected. Moreover, most Iraqis feel...

It's fitting that Sean Hannity's fourth annual Freedom Concert tomorrow will be held once again at Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park in Jackson, N.J. Hannity has had a great adventure of his own the past few years. His afternoon radio show on WABC (770 AM) is syndicated to more than 500 stations, and his 12 million-15 million weekly listeners put him behind only Rush Limbaugh. But numbers are only part of the story. Between the radio and his evening "Hannity and Colmes" on the Fox News Channel, the 44-year-old Hannity has risen above a crowded pack to become one...

Gleam of Dawn Moonbat Mysteries Part III by Wayne Boettcher Posted: 07/15/2006 It was a beautiful morning on July 12, 2006 as I traveled through Tucson toward 2302 E. Speedway in Tucson, Arizona, the address of a strip mall containing the Military Recruiting Center where a weekly protest / pro-troops rally occurs. Earlier the almost full moon shone brightly in the southwest as the vapor trail from a successful White Sands high-altitude missile interceptor test curled in the eastern sky. When I arrived at 7:00 am, Pro-Americans were already set up with flags and banners. I had admired the...

Belleville Soldiers Deployed To Iraq created: 7/8/2006 6:51:32 PM updated: 7/8/2006 7:02:56 PM Saturday was the second time local family and friends said goodbye to Army reservists. In 2002, the group deployed to Afghanistan, and now they are preparing to spend 18 months in Iraq. There were numerous, poignant moments as loved ones said goodbye and good luck to the men and women of the 657th transportation detachment. The reservists are preparing to spend the next year and half overseas. One of the groups main responsibilities is to coordinate transportation activities in Iraq. Roland Cruz is leaving behind his...

Lt. Dan Band featuring Gary Sinise - Special Engagement Saturday, July 22 8:00 pm Parade Field We are pleased to announce a concert performance by Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band to benefit our Troops! The concert will be held on the grounds of Cantigny at 8 pm on July 22, 2006. Actor, director, producer, and star of the highly rated CSI:NY, (Wednesdays, 9 pm CST on CBS), Gary Sinise is a dedicated supporter of the USO. He is the recipient of many awards including the 2004 Above and Beyond Patriot Award from the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum...

10 WAYS THE LIBERATION OF IRAQ SUPPORTS THE WAR ON TERROR With the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, Iraq is no longer a state sponsor of terror. According to State Department reports on terrorism, before the removal of Saddam's regime, Iraq was one of seven state sponsors of terror. Saddam Hussein's regime posed a threat to the security of the United States and the world. With the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime, a leader who pursued, used, and possessed weapons of mass destruction is no longer in power. Saddam Hussein would not uphold his international commitments, and now that he...

Civil Liberties for Terrorists But Not for American TroopsBy Jacob LaksinFrontPageMagazine.com | June 21, 2006 In recent years the ranks of alleged victims championed by civil libertarians on the political Left have swollen to include everyone from the terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay, to anti-American radicals, to environmentalist ultras and illegal immigrants. But there’s at least one group ineligible for victim status under the legal Left’s guidelines: American troops.  This seems to be the lesson of the “Camp Pendleton Eight.” A group of seven Marines and one Navy corpsman, they are currently being held--reportedly under excessively harsh conditions--at the Camp...

The theme for the Independence Day Greely Stampede parade was "Define the daily grind." FReepers Weldgophardline and Fire engine red created a float dedicated to our brave troops serving in Iraq. Fire engine red singlehandedly worked for 27 days to present a float for the annual parade in Greely, Colorado. Weldgophardline said, "She does all the work, I just promote it." My daughter and I were honored to be invited to ride on their float, and following are some pictures and observations from the parade. Fire engine red and Weldgophardline before the parade. Natalie and Jan in Colorado Weldgophardline requested...

Last week, two American soldiers, Pfc. Kristian Menchaca of Houston and Pfc. Thomas Tucker of Madras, Ore., were taken prisoner in Iraq. They were brutally tortured, and so severely mutilated that their faces were unrecognizable. They were tied together with a bomb between their legs - a booby trap intended to kill whoever tried to recover their remains. Would you regard such actions as serious violations of the laws of war and fundament. . .human rights? It is not clear that the most powerful human rights organizations see it that way. Amnesty International, which claims its mission is "to protect...

Without saying so in public Iraq's new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has given himself 100 days to achieve what his entourage describe as "the beginnings of a turnaround" in the newly liberated country. His success could determine the course of events in Iraq for months, if not years, to come. Al-Maliki's plan, presented under the slogan "Together, Forward", has three key objectives. The first is to get the institutions of government, starting with the newly elected parliament and the Council of Ministers, working. This might seem odd to those who take a functioning government for granted. In post-liberation Iraq, however,...

To the sophisticated post-modern ear, General William Tecumseh Sherman’s famous formulation sounds cynical, too dry and concise, an ironic understatement. But there is no evidence that Sherman intended to be funny. In fact, it was part of a plea to graduating military cadets in 1880, that they should not hope for war, but only engage in it when absolutely necessary. As he said on that afternoon, “You don’t know the horrible aspects of war. I’ve been through two wars and I know. ... I tell you, war is hell!” Sherman was a man who knew both war and hell. There...

ABC News Has Learned Two Army Brigades Will Likely Not Go to Iraq June 26, 2006 — The White House and Pentagon insist that no decisions have been made on troop reductions in Iraq, but ABC News has learned that two Army brigades that were packed and ready to go have been told it is likely they will not make the trip. One group, including 3,500 soldiers from the third brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, N.C., was scheduled to leave later this summer, but they have now been told they'll probably stay home. Another 3,500 soldiers...

Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha, who has called for the immediate redeployment of U.S. troops in Iraq to Okinawa, Japan, now says the American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that Murtha also denounced what he called the military's cover-up of the deaths of Iraqi civilians at the hands of U.S. Marines in Haditha at a town meeting in Miami this weekend, despite a Pentagon report last week that found no evidence of a knowing cover-up....."

On the Proposed AmnestyFirst of all, I don't think it makes any sense. IED makers and planters kill more Iraqis than Americans, just like the rest of the "resistance". They kill children. They kill motorists. They lack fire discipline and a certain degree of conscience. It is a fallacious belief that there exist Iraqis who make bombs destined only American stryker vehicles and none for Shi'a mosques; and that those making bombs don't collaborate with those recruiting human bombs for Iraqi neighborhoods. Secondly, I don't think it will have the desired effect: ending the insurgency. Because the amnesty is general,...