Free Republic

KABUL (Reuters) - Four Arab al Qaeda militants who escaped from a heavily fortified U.S. detention center in Afghanistan this week reached a Taliban guerrilla haven safely on Thursday, a spokesman for the rebel movement said. "The Taliban found and recovered four al-Qaeda mujahideen (holy warriors) this morning," Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said from an undisclosed location. Hakimi, whose information has often proved unreliable in the past, declined to say where the escapees were, but added: "They are far away from Kabul. They are safe and now taking rest." The U.S. military said it was pressing on with an...

...Even during ongoing military campaigns, Mr. Rumsfeld never wavered from his transformational objectives.... Mr. Rumsfeld, with the brilliant leadership of General Schoomaker, was able to move personnel from noncombat to combat units, enabling them with additional reorganization to create 15 newly restructured combat brigades. Also, because of Mr. Rumsfeld's successful plan, our military is more flexible, more agile and better able to fight unconventional enemies. A new civilian personnel system was designed to reward merit, reduce force stress and replace a bureaucratic culture of risk aversion with one of innovation. Moreover, he was able to move military personnel out of...