Free Republic

The scenes of the Hurricane Katrina disaster are beyond horrific. As they play across our television screens, they look more like the pictures of last December's Southwest Asia tsunami than anything we've ever seen in America. No one can even collect the dead, because an increasingly desperate search for the living goes on into the night. As the Red Cross and FEMA organize disaster relief, and as Americans reach into their hearts and their pockets to donate to help fellow Americans, there is another part of America working hard. There is one thing the tsunami and Katrina have in common:...

During the election process, Iraqi police will provide security at the polling sites; Iraqi army troops will provide additional security in the vicinity. By U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel W. Bailey 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment FORWARD OPERATING BASE NORMANDY, Iraq, Aug. 31, 2005 — To ensure Iraqis in the Diyala Province are confident they can vote safely for the upcoming constitutional referendum and in the December national elections, Task Force Liberty soldiers are keeping a close eye on the polling stations to make sure everything runs smoothly. With the start of voter registration, U.S. soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 34th Armored...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2005 – Multinational forces from Task Force Freedom detained 17 suspected terrorists in Iraq on Aug. 28, U.S. military officials reported today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons from a vehicle during separate operations in southern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon-and-search operation in northern Mosul. Soldiers from the same unit seized another weapons cache in western Mosul consisting of a one 60 mm mortar, several rifles including AK-47s assault rifled, rocket-propelled grenade launchers,...

U.S. soldiers bring toys -- and smiles -- to the young patients during a visit to the Baghdad hospital. CAMP TIGERLAND, Iraq, Aug. 15, 2005 — Task Force Baghdad soldiers spent part of the day July 31 bringing smiles to a Baghdad children’s hospital during a humanitarian aid mission. U.S. Army Command Sgt. Major James Mays, from Pineville, La., senior enlisted noncommissioned officer of the 256th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division; and Lt. Col. (Dr.) Joseph Dore, from Charlotte, N.C., brigade surgeon, hosted the mission at the General Children’s Hospital in Baghdad, bearing toys and stuffed animals for young...

HADITHA, Iraq (Aug. 10, 2005) -- Insurgents in the Haditha region of the Al Anbar province were met by a group of unfamiliar faces Aug. 5 when the Marines of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment arrived in support of Operation Quick Strike. The Marines traveled about 100 miles southeast of their area of operation in Al Qa’im overnight to help 3rd Bn., 25th Marines, clear the towns of Haqliniyah, Bani Dahri and Barwanah just south of the city of Haditha. The task force conducting Quick Strike included many different units task organized for the mission. Each unit, including those from...

As U.S. soldiers were investigating a tip about a terrorist associated with a recent attack which killed one U.S. soldier and 24 Iraqi children, a car bomb detonated. BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 9, 2005 — A terrorist failed to cause significant U.S. casualties or damage in a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack Aug. 6 in east Baghdad. Two U.S. soldiers and one Iraqi civilian sustained minor wounds from the attack. The vehicle, described by soldiers on the scene as a Volkswagen van, approached the halted convoy of 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division around 9:30...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday created a task force charged with improving the economy and quality of life in California's San Joaquin Valley, a quickly developing region beleaguered by high unemployment, suburban sprawl and some of the nation's dirtiest air. The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley establishes a 26-member panel that includes government representatives and those from the private sector. "I want to make this task force a model for how state governments can work together more effectively with local governments and the regional economy," the governor said. "The valley is home to the...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the co-chairman of a congressional task force to examine United Nations reform, said Friday he was impressed with U.N. officials' apparent desire to fix the world body. Gingrich, a Republican, said U.N. officials recognized that the opportunity was right after years of promises that had brought no significant change. "There was no argument today about the fact that there are systems that just don't work, there are patterns that just aren't acceptable," Gingrich told reporters during a visit to the United Nations. He was accompanied by fellow co-chair George Mitchell, a...

-OPERATION FALCON- (Or Operation Horsefeathers ?) A massive roundup of fugitives has been carried on over the past few days, on a nationwide scale.Newscasters tell us - breathlessly-10,000 fugitives have been "taken off the streets" !! Really ? Such fugitive roundups are nothing new. I was involved in them (peripherally) once or twice a year for at least 5 years before I retired.They work like this: Every police department in the nation has a backlog of fugitive warrants. Most are for failure to appear minor offenses,but a hefty percentage involve non-appearance on more serious matters. Periodically, the US Marshal's Service...

OLYMPIA, Wash. - A task force has found that public trust in Washington state's election system was damaged by last year's tight gubernatorial race that took two months to resolve, and it recommended a package of reforms. The task force, created by Gov. Christine Gregoire in the wake of her razor-thin victory, recommended moving the primary date to earlier in the year, requiring voter identification at the polls, and color-coding provisional ballots so they won't be counted before voters' registration is confirmed. In a 23-page report obtained by The Associated Press, the task force declared that imperfections and mistakes in...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Pentagon task force investigating certain defense contracts won by Boeing Co. has concluded that there were some anomalies but will not call for a criminal investigation.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2004 — Three Marine Corps disaster relief assessment teams are on the ground or about to arrive in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and at least two P-3 aircraft are conducting initial reconnaissance of damaged areas as a wide range of other Defense Department assets works its way to tsunami-stricken regions of the Indian Ocean. U.S. Pacific Command has marshaled assets ranging from carrier strike groups to water purification ships to aircraft to provide emergency support for victims following the Dec. 26 earthquake and subsequent tsunamis, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the...

A City Hall investigation that could bring censure hearings against besieged San Jose Councilman Terry Gregory gathered steam Friday when a task force issued subpoenas to compel witnesses to testify about allegations of Gregory soliciting gifts from businessmen. The city council's ethics task force, charged with examining accusations that Gregory sought and received gifts and pressured companies to give contributions to a special events fund, voted to issue subpoenas to: • Dennis Fong, majority owner of the Tropicana Shopping Center. In May, a Mercury News editorial reported that Fong gave Gregory a free case of wine, valued at about $1,400....

Vote this Tuesday. We need President George W Bush. Please vote this Tuesday. To All Northern Arizona University students, if you are interested in helping out the President this is your LAST chance.The NAU College Republicans have kicked off their 72 hours task force !We need people to phone bank, precinct walking, work on Pro-Bush rallies and on Tuesday we need poll watchers. Stop by the GOP Headquarters (across from City Hall in the Enterprise Rent a Car parking lot) If you have ANY time at all, please visit our website for details how you can help RIGHT NOW: http://www.naurepublicans.com...

local6.com Statewide Task Force Created To Investigate Voter Fraud Complaints POSTED: 10:25 PM EDT October 21, 2004 UPDATED: 12:00 AM EDT October 22, 2004 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has set up a statewide task force to investigate voter fraud complaints, saying problems are popping up in so many places it doesn't make sense to investigate them separately. The department has received complaints about voter registration or absentee ballot issues in Bay, Leon, Orange, Alachua, Broward and Miami-Dade counties and also plans to work with investigators in Duval County who are already looking into fraud allegations...

WASHINGTON — U.S. military planners have assembled a special task force charged with finding and neutralizing Jordanian terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (search), U.S. officials told FOX News. Known as Task Force 626, the operation is assembled along the same lines as that of Task Force 121 (search), which searched months before capturing Saddam Hussein and is still hunting Usama bin Laden.

Readers of Tom Clancy are probably familiar with his book, Rainbow Six, which focuses on the work of an elite team of terror fighting commandos, who were formed to respond to terror attacks, especially those involving hostages. The team was formed in the sequel to his book Executive Orders, where the US Capitol building was destroyed by a terrorist acting on his own, and the US was hit by multiple attacks including one involving bioweapons. As Clancy readers will tell you, quite often Clancy’s fictional writings draw striking parallels to reality. We need look no further than the tragedy that...

The folks at the Council on Foreign Relations sure have an exquisite sense of timing. Within days of the release of a new CFR report urging the U.S. appeasement of Iran, the 9/11 Commission fingered the Islamic Republic as -- at a minimum -- an important enabler of al Qaeda terrorism. Another two weeks have now passed and the mullahs also appear to be tearing up a European-brokered deal on their nuclear program to resume uranium enrichment. ... Last December Mr. Kerry himself blasted the Bush Administration in a speech to the Council, saying it "stubbornly refuses to conduct a...

Ill Advised: George Bush was the American Muslim choice in 2000. Many are now saying they got bad information. Invisible Men By Najeeb Hasan Once a footnote to electoral history, Muslims are growing politically in America but in what direction? LAST SATURDAY, in a San Jose Convention Center meeting room, about 150 members of the South Bay's Muslim community gathered expectantly for a South Bay-wide Muslim town-hall meeting. The meeting, sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), would be one of 40 such meetings scheduled in major cities across the nation by the American Muslim Task Force, an...

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN A Mexico cover-up of U.S. terror threats? Task-force investigators find U.S. space center, George Bush International Airport among targets -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: April 13, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern Editor's note: Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin is an online, subscription intelligence news service from the creator of WorldNetDaily.com – a journalist who has been developing sources around the world for the last 25 years. © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com While Washington is focused on finger-pointing over responsibility for 9-11, some of the 100 members of the Houston Task Force on Terrorism say Mexico is not fully cooperating on preventing the...