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The US military claimed on Thursday that American and Iraqi forces had arrested an alleged financier for al-Qaeda who had received $100m from donors outside Iraq to fund insurgent operations. Military officials have long attributed al-Qaeda's expansion in Iraq to its access to external finance, but rarely release figures that give insight into the scale of the operation that they say that they are facing. The $100m (€71m, £50m) sum - far greater than amounts usually associated with Sunni insurgents - had been received over the summer from "terrorist supporters who cross the Iraq border illegally or fly into Iraq...

The Senate overwhelmingly approved $3 billion for added border security that includes a 700-mile fence on the Mexico border, as Democrats lost another bid to force a U.S. pullout from Iraq. The popular border security measure, an amendment to the $459 billion defense appropriations bill, passed 95-1, ensuring Republicans are not put in the awkward position of challenging President Bush's promised veto of a homeland security bill that includes the same provision. "It's a belt-and-suspenders approach," said Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican, referring to the legislative maneuver used to protect the money for hiring more Border Patrol agents, fencing and...

Liberals often like to say that "violence is senseless." That’s wrong. Violence isn't senseless. Senseless violence is senseless. And I should know. Before being awarded the Navy Cross and having the privilege of becoming a Marine, I was a gang member. Sometimes it takes having used violence for both evil as well as good to know that there's a profound moral difference between the two. People often ask me whether I still support the war. I never hesitate when answering: "Absolutely I support completing the mission," I tell them, "Now more than ever"...

Republican lawmakers unlikely to support a surtax to pay for the war in Iraq are nonetheless warning that if Congress doesn't fund Iraq operations soon, the troops will be left without the resources to fight. The Senate is currently debating a $460 billion defense spending bill for fiscal year 2008, which started Monday. A continuing resolution is in place until Nov. 16 that keeps the government running at 2007 levels. House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey had proposed a war tax to pay for the cost of the war in Iraq. The tax rate of two to 15 percent would...

The war in Iraq was always going to be won by the Iraqis, and so it has proven. But the Iraqis who have won it are on our side. It was in the spring of 2004--a month or so before I first arrived in Baghdad in a taxi to stay in a small hotel--that the Sunnis launched their disastrous insurgency. Its defeat is becoming ever more clear this autumn as new reports reach us of the patriotic stand of the Anbar tribes, the pacification and nascent prosperity of Fallujah and Ramadi, the isolation of al Qaeda, and the peace overtures...

raq will take over security from British troops in Basra province within two months, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told reporters Tuesday after meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who said 1,000 more British troops would be withdrawn from Iraq by year's end. Brown was on an unannounced visit, which also was to include a session with U.S. Commander David Petraeus before the British leader flies to Basra to meet with his forces and military leaders in the oil-rich region in the deep south of Iraq. "We are prepared to take over security of Basra within two months and we...

Iraqi soldiers can fight. That’s something Americans serving alongside them have not always said with complete confidence. At the individual and small-unit level, Iraqis have been fighting well for close to three years. But only now are U.S. troops seeing the dramatic kinds of improvements and capabilities among the brigade and division-sized Iraqi units that one might expect from similarly trained Western forces. Much of the success of the Iraqi army is a result of training and operational leadership on the part of coalition forces, primarily — at least from my vantage point while there — U.S., British, and Australian...

Despite liberal media portrayals, the surge is working. What Gen. Petraeus shared with America is true; "monthly attack levels in Anbar have declined from some 1,350 in October 2006 to a bit over 200 in August of this year." The great news too is that our military is using the methods that are bringing the coalition and Iraqi army success in Anbar and is adopting them in other areas, including Baghdad. Though these good reports are by no means the only reports, it sure would be nice to hear a few more of them run on our more liberal news...

Samarra, Iraq -- Like their hardline Islamist brethren in other nations -- such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia, among others -- the Islamic State of Iraq (or “ISI,” the name under which al Qaeda in Iraq has organized in Iraq) has built a brutal reputation not only for terrorism against its members’ own countrymen and against the coalition, but also for being a proponent of the most medieval, fundamentalist interpretation -- and enforcement – of what its leaders claim to be the laws of the Koran. Enforcement of these laws -- which can...

WASHINGTON — At a White House news conference Thursday, President Bush took the opportunity to drop a political bomb on Democrats, saying they are more afraid of riling extreme wings of their party than of riling the U.S. military. The president was responding to a question about an advertisement run last week by the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org, which suggested Multinational Forces in Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus was falsifying information about the war, under a bold headline, "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" "I thought the ad was disgusting," Bush told reporters in the White House briefing room Thursday....

A suspected Al Qaeda in Iraq fighter believed responsible for the assassination of a U.S.-allied Sunni tribal leader in Anbar province was arrested north of Baghdad, the military said Sunday. Fallah Khalifa Hiyas Fayyas al-Jumayli, an Iraqi also known as Abu Khamis, was seized Saturday in a raid west of Balad after intelligence reports linked him to the killing of Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, the military said. He was not believed to be acting alone and the search continued for other suspects, military spokesman Rear. Adm. Mark Fox said.

"CNN Heroes is featuring ordinary people making an extraordinary difference in the lives of others. Do you know someone who deserves to be honored as a CNN Hero?" CNN features Mohammed Mamdani who "started the Muslim Youth Hotline, a confidential counseling service for other young Muslims. Now, at age 24, he has launched the Ansar Youth Project. Its goal: to help teens feel comfortable with their dual identities as Muslims in Western culture." http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/cnn.heroes/

Not enough attention has been paid, on the Iraq question, to the factor of universal access to information. For many years, in many wars, news reporters could not get near the front-line scene. And where high politics were concerned and dictators held sway, newsmen — and foreign diplomats — not only were stymied, they were deliberately misled. A report issuing from the foreign office in Berlin was often read, we know from postwar books and articles, as in a great game of tag: What do they want to make us think by handing out that bulletin about naval action in...

The General is kicking butt.

Hunting al Qaeda, I of III Witches Sink, Insurgents Float Writing these words from downtown Baqubah at a place called Combat Outpost White Castle, I am surrounded by soldiers from Alpha Company 1-12 Cav who are preparing for combat. Tomorrow, [15 July] they will clear a dangerous palm grove that abuts the Diyala River, a place where just last night approximately 7 suspected enemy were killed by American forces. Among the dead apparently were several members of Tonto’s family. But before tomorrow’s mission, there is today’s mission, which includes linking up with 1920 Revolution Brigades [1920s] to swap information. Open...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Army Staff Sgt. Antonio Gonzales points his weapon across the Tigris River, keeping a close eye on a bridge that was cracked in half by an insurgent attack a few months ago. He's 31 and on his second tour in Iraq. His survival and that of the men he serves with rely on an instinctive ability to spot hidden threats. A pile of trash, an odd formation of wires, a cart seemingly left innocently by the side of the road -- all could mean death. "If you don't come out here, then you really have no...

Victory Tour In Tucson While Tucson, Arizona usually boasts of a dry heat it was not to be this Thursday morning on September 6, 2007. Overnight rain soaked the thirsty sagebrush and cactus; yet, they can only hold so much liquid. The rest of the water ran hither and yon upon the hard packed desert floor only to steam up the land into a humid hothouse as the desert day began. A drizzling rain fell intermittently from gloomy grey clouds. Yet Tucson Pro-Americans were not depressed! With a song in our hearts at Freedom Park our task force of...

Congressman Duncan Hunter, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee and is a Republican candidate for president, will be coming to Carson City, Nevada to speak at the "Fight for Victory Tour" pro-troop rally.  The event takes place on Monday, September 3rd, 2007 at 9:00 AM at Mills Park in Carson City.The rally kicks off a historic pro-troop caravan that will travel 4,384 miles across the country.  Supporters of Operation Iraqi Freedom will conduct a nationwide caravan along with more than 2-dozen rallies across America calling for continued support of U.S. troops based in Iraq in the days leading...

----- Original Message ----- From: Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson - Move America Forward To: Patriots@FreeRepublic.com Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 9:08 PM Subject: I'll See You On the Road! For 20 years I proudly served my country as a pilot in the Air Force. I also served as the senior military aide to the President of the United States, carrying the "nuclear football." During this time I had the chance to work with the finest individuals this nation will ever know -- the men and women of America's military.Today our troops are fighting a war that Islamic jihadists declared...

Attempting to counter increasing efforts by anti-war organizations to persuade lawmakers to back a U.S. pullout from Iraq, a conservative group, Freedom's Watch, has embarked on a $15-million ad campaign backing President Bush's Iraq policy. However, the New York Times's website reported today (Wednesday) that while Fox News and CNN have agreed to run its ads, the two NBC Universal-owned cable networks, CNBC and MSNBC, have balked. The Times quoted a letter that Freedom Watch has sent to the two channels, which states: "Your history of airing other issue advocacy advertisements makes the denial of FW advertisements troubling and raises...