Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) - Law enforcement officials from five countries said Wednesday they are struggling to deal with the street gang called MS-13 that is plaguing communities from the United States to Central America. A meeting at FBI headquarters launched an unprecedented effort to make inroads against what officials called "a culture of violence." "We're trying to build networks of communication for sharing historical and current data on MS-13 members," said Deborah Strebel Pierce, deputy assistant director for the FBI criminal investigative division. Shorthand for Mara Salvatrucha, which loosely translates to guerrilla gang, MS-13 is a Latin American gang founded in...

A year to the day after voters swept him into office and upended California's power structure, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hinted Thursday that he would soon place broad political reform at the center of his agenda and work to "make sure that the politicians cannot be bought by special interests." The brief remarks by Schwarzenegger, which came at a San Jose campaign event to oppose November ballot initiatives on Indian gaming, suddenly revived the populist themes he used to unseat Gov. Gray Davis. But the comments also come as public interest groups and political opponents say Schwarzenegger embodies the very ills...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Troops flooded a Baghdad neighborhood in a new U.S. military offensive against guerrillas Sunday, as an audiotape purportedly made by Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) urged Iraqis to escalate their fight against the occupation. The U.S. military moves in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq (news - web sites) came as the Army tried to determine why two of its Black Hawk helicopters crashed in the northern city of Mosul, killing 17 soldiers in the worst single loss of American life since the war began. In its offensive, the military fired a satellite-guided missile with a 500-pound...