Saturday, December 31, 2011

Blast Rocks Hezbollah Stronghold In South Lebanon

From Middle East and Terrorism Blog:

Thursday, November 24, 2011


Blast Rocks Hezbollah Stronghold In South Lebanon







by Mohammed Zaatari







SIDDIQIN, Lebanon: An explosion shook a Hezbollah stronghold near Siddiqin in the Tyre region of south Lebanon overnight, a security source told The Daily Star Wednesday.





The Lebanese Army released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying that the explosion was likely the result of a landmine or a cluster bomb left over from the July-August war between Lebanon and Israel in 2006.





Earlier Wednesday, the security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the cause of the blast, which was heard shortly before midnight, could not be determined due to a heavy security blanket by Hezbollah that followed the explosion.





In its statement Wednesday, the army said it had searched the area but found no trace of the explosion as it “left no visible effects.”





Early in the day, local media said the explosion likely took place at a Hezbollah arms cache.





In a statement later in the day, Hezbollah denied that the explosion in south Lebanon was a result of an explosion at an arms depot.





"What has been circulating in the media regarding the explosion in Sidiqqin and that it is related to storage center for Hezbollah is utterly false,” the party said in the statement.





Four Israeli warplanes were spotted flying over Siddiqin at around 10.00 a.m. and patrols by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon were active in the area. A UNIFIL helicopter could also be seen flying over the village.





A spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force said UNIFIL had heard about the explosion on the news.





"We have no information at the moment. We are checking this report," Andrea Tenenti told The Daily Star by telephone.



Mohammed Zaatari



Source: Thanks to IMRA; http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Nov-23/154877-huge-blast-rocks-hezbollah-stronghold-in-south-lebanon.ashx#ixzz1eZBydUSN



Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Posted by sally at 11:22 PM

Report: More than half of people arrested for Islamic terrorist activities were American citizens

From Jihad Watch:

20 November 2011




Report: More than half of people arrested for Islamic terrorist activities were American citizens





Sixty percent of people arrested for Islamic terrorist activities between January 2009 and April 2011 were American citizens, according to a new report from Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. The study of 104 people who were arrested included U.S. and non-U.S. citizens living in America or abroad.





The report, "Analyzing the Islamic Extremist Phenomenon in the United States: A Study of Recent Activity," was authored by Joan Neuhaus Schaan, fellow in homeland security at the Baker Institute. Jessica Phillips, an intern with the Baker Institute's homeland security and terrorism program, provided research support for the study.



Using data from international and U.S. news reports, general Internet media, public records and official court documents, the researchers set out in November 2010 to analyze information on the status of Islamic extremism in the United States. They also looked at some of the unanswered questions raised by U.S. Rep. Peter King's Committee on Homeland Security hearing, "The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and That Community's Response." King, R-N.Y., and chair of the committee, held the hearing March 10, 2011.



"Providing policymakers this data can allow for a factual discussion and diminish rhetoric," Neuhaus Schaan said. "Consequently, policy can be crafted to address current and future needs in the face of change and adaptation by those determined to bring harm to the United States."



Other key findings from the report include:

•Of the 104 people arrested for Islamic extremist activities between January 2009 and April 2011, half were born in the U.S., 22 percent were naturalized citizens and 7 percent were dual citizens.

•Of the 104, 5 percent entered the U.S. on a visa.

•Sixty-three percent of converts had a known prior criminal record.

•Of the 14 American converts with a prior criminal history, at least 55 percent had converted to Islam in prison.

•Ninety-two 92 percent were male.

•Sixty-four percent were 30 years old or younger.

•Sixty-six percent had traveled or were in the process of traveling to the Middle East, Somalia, South Asia or the Balkans.

•Of the 104, 70 percent had an association or were attempting an association with an internationally recognized terrorist organization; al-Qaida and its associated branches were cited most.

•Of the 29 persons with no known association to a group, 11 had been active on terrorist-related chat rooms and websites.

•Overall, 38 percent had been involved in this Internet activity.

•Only 10 of the 104 are what the authors would consider "lone wolves"; most in the cohort had ties to others in the group or to an organization.



Information on birthplaces and conversion to Islam was available for 77 of the 104 people arrested. The data revealed that 60 percent of the group was born outside the U.S. Of the 31 U.S.-born persons where religion of origin could be determined , 14 were born into Muslim families and 17 converted to Islam.



"The Internet and prison conversion are the two biggest new trends that policymakers need to look at more closely," Neuhaus Schaan said. "We've seen a major change in how people become associated with extremist groups in the past 20 years, and we need to adapt."



The report concludes that approximately two-thirds of those involved in extremist activity are men under the age of 34, and no single, all-encompassing profile can be made of the analysis group of 104. Neuhaus Schaan said that the Baker Institute will continue to compile data and issue an updated report annually.



###



To interview Neuhaus Schaan, contact David Ruth, director of national media relations, at druth@rice.edu or 713-348-6327.





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Report: Iranian claims to arrest CIA agents linked to Revolutionary Guard efforts to hide missiles in event of Israeli strike

from Jihad Watch:


Report: Iranian claims to arrest CIA agents linked to Revolutionary Guard efforts to hide missiles in event of Israeli strike







An update on this story. "Iran CIA agent arrests linked to missile testing," by Yaakov Lappin for the Jerusalem Post, November 24:



Iran’s claim to arresting 12 CIA agents in its territory is linked to clandestine efforts by Tehran to disperse missiles around the country, a senior Iran analyst in the US told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.



Professor Raymond Tanter, adjunct scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and founder of the Washingtonbased [sic] Iran Policy Committee, said the Iranians were moving and testing missiles “that would form the first response” to an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites.



“The rollup of alleged western spies in Iran involves the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),” Tanter said, adding that this organization “operates all of Iran’s Scud missiles and provides the military leadership for Iranian missile production.



“Events in Iran concern surreptitious testing and movement of missiles at an IRGC facility during mid- November to harden and hide them from surprise attack,” he added.



Referring to a mysterious and powerful blast that rocked a missile base on the outskirts of Tehran earlier this month, killing Gen. Hassan Moghaddam, the architect of Iran’s missile program, and at least 16 other Iranian officials, Tanter said, “The accident in Iran is consistent with statements by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak that Tehran seeks to create a ‘zone of immunity,’ which spreads missile sites around the country. The goals are to increase the costs of an Israeli first strike, lower the likelihood of success, and decrease the time window of opportunity for Israel to attack Iran.”



Earlier on Thursday, Iran’s IRNA official media outlet said the supposed agents were planning to attack Iranian targets. The report quoted a senior Iranian security official as saying that the alleged spies were planning to carry out espionage attacks to “damage Iran both from inside and outside with a heavy blow, using regional intelligence services.



“Fortunately, with swift reaction by the Iranian intelligence department, the actions failed to bear fruit,” said the official, named as Parviz Sorouri, a member of Iran’s foreign policy and national security committee. Sourouri also said the alleged agents were working with “the Zionist regime.”



Tanter said that “there is a humongous need for human intelligence from inside Iran,” adding, “The best source to complement Western intelligence on the IRGC is the main Iranian opposition organization, the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MeK), which is under siege in Iraq but still maintains an effective intelligence network in the Iranian national security establishment.”



On Tuesday, unnamed US officials were quoted by Reuters as saying that Hezbollah too “succeeded in identifying and arresting informants within its ranks who were working for the CIA,” and described the development as an apparent “serious setback for US intelligence.”



“Some former US officials said that the CIA informants, believed to be local recruits rather than US citizens, were uncovered, at least in part, due to sloppy procedures – known in the espionage world as ’tradecraft’ – used by the agency,” Reuters said.



Posted by Marisol on November 25, 2011 12:02 AM

U.S. congressmen call for investigation after Palestinian Authority's embezzlement of development fund to reward jihadists

From Jihad Watch:


U.S. congressmen call for investigation after Palestinian Authority's embezzlement of development fund to reward jihadists







It is not at all surprising to see the Palestinian Authority using the Palestinian Investment Fund for pet projects, except for how brazenly it has tapped the fund for this, of all purposes. The PA should be held accountable by all contributors, and a broader investigation of its use of aid is certainly warranted.



"Congressmen ask for probe into PA use of US funds," by Lahav Harkov for the Jerusalem Post, November 24:



Florida Democratic Congressman Ted Deutsch and New York Democratic Congressman Steve Israel have asked US Comptroller-General Gene Dodaro to investigate the Palestinian Authority’s use of American funding.



The request this week came three weeks after MK Moshe Matalon (Israel Beiteinu) had sent a letter to the budget committees of the US Senate and House of Representatives, informing them of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s policy of paying freed Palestinian prisoners who had been convicted of murder $5,000 and building them new homes.



Matalon received a copy of the congressmen’s letter on Thursday.



“Many of the released prisoners were convicted of orchestrating and carrying out Hamas-sponsored terrorist attacks in Israel, including the bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub that killed 21 people, the attack on a Netanya hotel that killed 29 people, and the bombing of a Sbarro Pizzeria that killed 15 people,” Deutsch and Israel wrote.



The two congressmen explained to Dodaro that they “are troubled by reports of President Abbas’ use of Palestinian Investment Fund (PIF) funds to provide housing for these convicted terrorists.”



According to the letter, the US contributed to the PIF after PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad founded it in 2002 “under a framework of transparency and accountability.” However, recently there has been “ambiguity surrounding the amount of US taxpayer dollars contributed to the PIF,” Deutsch and Israel wrote.



Aside from the issue of Abbas building houses for convicted terrorists, Deutsch and Israel “are concerned about the increasing lack of transparency for the PIF as well as reports that Prime Minister Fayyad is no longer overseeing the fund and that Hamas has taken control of PIF assets in Gaza.”



The letter also requested that the US Government Accountability Office, which Dodaro heads, investigate whether US Economic Support Funds (ESF) given to the PA were used to fund Abbas’s trips around the world “on his misguided attempt to unilaterally declare statehood at the United Nations... efforts that are in direct contravention of US policy.”



The congressmen said US ESF should not be used “to fund Mr. Abbas’ extensive lobbying to achieve a Palestinian state by any means other than direct negotiations with Israel.”



They added that “the US must be unequivocally committed to ensuring that American taxpayer dollars are used to serve the interests of the US and our allies around the world.”



In his letter three weeks ago, Matalon had written that Abbas was rewarding “unrepentant terrorists.”



“At the ceremony Abbas held [in honor of released prisoners] in Ramallah, he is reported as having praised these individuals for their ‘courage and sacrifice,’” the Israel Beiteinu MK wrote. “The atrocities referred to by Abbas as acts of ‘courage’... include the murders of scores of innocents, including women and children.”



He continued: “I feel it incumbent upon myself to present these facts to you, as a fellow parliamentarian, not as interference in your parliamentary activities, but rather in order to ensure that the full facts are before you, as you deliberate on whether to continue extending financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority.”



Posted by Marisol on November 25, 2011 12:06 AM

Israel a Burden on its Allies, Turkish President Says

Israel a Burden on its Allies, Turkish President Says

"Inspire" Magazine: Open Source Jihad

"Inspire" Magazine: Open Source Jihad

Is Syria Planning to Attack Jordan?

Is Syria Planning to Attack Jordan?

Cross Removed at Base in Afghanistan | Vision to America

Cross Removed at Base in Afghanistan Vision to America

Harlem man plotted to bomb soldiers, police officers: cops

From Christians Under Attack:

22 November 2011




Harlem man plotted to bomb soldiers, police officers: cops





A seething “al Qaeda sympathizer’’ who wanted to kill US military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan was busted in Harlem just one hour before his homemade pipe bomb would be operational, officials said last night.









Lone wolf’’ Muslim convert José Pimentel, 27, also plotted to strike NYPD facilities and patrol cars and post offices near his Manhattan home, as well as police facilities in Bayonne, NJ, officials said.



“His actions were certainly something that could have killed a lot of people,’’ Mayor Bloomberg said at a press conference, where he was joined by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.



VIDEO: AL QAEDA SYMPATHIZER ARRESTED OVER NEW YORK BOMB PLOT



Still, “he appears to be a total lone wolf,’’ the mayor added of Pimentel, who hoped at one point to change his name to Osama Hussein after his two “heroes,” Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, Bloomberg said.



“There is no evidence that he worked with anyone else.”



After his arrest, Pimentel confessed to building the bomb and insisted that “Islamic law obligated all true Muslims to wage war against the United States,” court papers show.



Disheveled and dressed in a black T-shirt and black pants at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court last night, he was ordered held without bail.



Pimentel, also known as Muhammad Yusuf, planned to blow up his makeshift pipe bomb — which used Christmas lights as part of the ignition device — in a mailbox to test it before using another on human targets, authorities said.



The mayor played a video of a device made out of the same materials Pimentel allegedly used to construct his bomb. The footage showed what damage the device would have caused to a car — it exploded in flames, its doors and roof blown off.



Pimentel, who relatives said converted to Islam two years ago, last month bought an alarm clock from a 99-cent store in Manhattan to serve as a timing device, authorities said. He also bought elbow pipe joints, the Christmas lights and work gloves from a Home Depot on Exterior Street in The Bronx.



He planned to affix nails to the device to act as shrapnel, Kelly said.



A confidential informant, tailed by NYPD undercover officers, was with him when he went on his shopping excursions for the materials.



Authorities said they have video of Pimentel shaving off the heads of more than 700 wooden matches to be used in the explosive.



To avoid raising red flags, he was careful not to buy all his supplies at the same time, authorities said.







Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/ny_qaeda_fan...

Soldier: Removing Cross From Army Chapel Is Attack On Christianity

Soldier: Removing Cross From Army Chapel Is Attack On Christianity

Calling Things by their Proper Names

From Middle East and Terrorism Blog:

Saturday, November 26, 2011


Calling Things by their Proper Names







by Caroline Glick









Maliki and the dwarf.jpg

Next month, America's long campaign in Iraq will come to an end with the departure of the last US forces from the country.





Amazingly, the approaching withdrawal date has fomented little discussion in the US. Few have weighed in on the likely consequences of President Barack Obama's decision to withdraw on the US's hard won gains in that country.





After some six thousand Americans gave their lives in the struggle for Iraq and hundreds of billions of dollars were spent on the war, it is quite amazing that its conclusion is being met with disinterested yawns.





The general stupor was broken last week with The Weekly Standard's publication of an article titled, "Defeat in Iraq: President Obama's decision to withdraw US troops is the mother of all disasters."





The article was written by Frederick and Kimberly Kagan and Marisa Cochrane Sullivan. The Kagans contributed to conceptualizing the US's successful counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, popularly known as "the surge," that president George W. Bush implemented in 2007.





In their article, the Kagans and Sullivan explain the strategic implications of next month's withdrawal. First they note that with the US withdrawal, the sectarian violence that the surge effectively ended will in all likelihood return in force.





Iranian-allied Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is purging the Iraqi military and security services and the Iraqi civil service of pro-Western, anti- Iranian commanders and senior officials. With American acquiescence, Maliki and his Shi'ite allies already managed to effectively overturn the March 2010 election results. Those elections gave the Sunni-dominated Iraqiya party led by former prime minister Ayad Allawi the right to form the next government.





Due to Maliki's actions, Iraq's Sunnis are becoming convinced they have little to gain from peacefully accepting the government.





The strategic implications of Maliki's purges are clear. As the US departs the country next month it will be handing its hard-won victory in Iraq to its greatest regional foe - Iran.





Repeating their behavior in the aftermath of Israel's precipitous withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, the Iranians and their Hezbollah proxies are presenting the US withdrawal from Iraq as a massive strategic victory.





They are also inventing the rationale for continued war against the retreating Americans. Iran's Hezbollah-trained proxy, Muqtada al-Sadr, has declared that US Embassy personnel are an "occupation force" that the Iraqis should rightly attack with the aim of defeating.





The US public's ignorance of the implications of a post-withdrawal, Iranian-dominated Iraq is not surprising. The Obama administration has ignored them and the media have largely followed the administration's lead in underplaying them.





For its part, the Bush administration spent little time explaining to the US public who the forces fighting in Iraq were and why the US was fighting them.





US military officials frequently admitted that the insurgents were trained, armed and funded by Iran and Syria. But policy-makers never took any action against either country for waging war against the US. Above the tactical level, the US was unwilling to take any effective action to diminish either regime's support for the insurgency or to make them pay a diplomatic or military price for their actions.





As for Obama, as the Kagans and Sullivan show, the administration abjectly refused to intervene when Maliki stole the elections or to defend US allies in the Iraqi military from Maliki's pro-Iranian purge of the general officer corps. And by refusing to side with US allies, the Obama administration has effectively sided with America's foes, enabling Iranian-allied forces to take over the US-built, trained and armed security apparatuses in Iraq.





ALL OF these actions are in line with the US's current policy towards Egypt. There, without considering the consequences of its actions, in January and February the Obama administration played a key role in ousting the US's most dependable ally in the Arab world, president Hosni Mubarak.





Since Mubarak was thrown from office, Egypt has been ruled by a military junta dubbed the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Because SCAF is comprised of the men who served as Mubarak's underlings throughout his 30-year rule, it shares many of the institutional interests that guided Mubarak and rendered him a dependable US ally. Specifically, SCAF is ill-disposed toward chaos and Islamic radicalism.





However, unlike Mubarak, SCAF is only in power because the mobs of protesters in Tahrir Square demanded that Mubarak stand down to enable civilian, majority rule in Egypt. Consequently, the military junta is much less able to keep Egypt's populist forces at bay.





Throughout Mubarak's long reign, the most popular force in Egypt was the jihadist Muslim Brotherhood. The populism unleashed by Mubarak's ouster necessarily rendered the Brotherhood the most powerful political force in Egypt. If free elections are held in Egypt next week as planned and if their results are honored, within a year Egypt will be ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood. This is the outcome Obama all but guaranteed when he cut the cord on Mubarak.





Recognizing the danger a Brotherhood government would pose to the army's institutional interests, in recent weeks the generals began taking steps to delay elections, limit the power of the parliament and postpone presidential elections.





Their moves provoked massive opposition from Egypt's now fully legitimated and empowered populist forces. And so they launched what they are dubbing "the second Egyptian revolution."





And the US doesn't know what to do.





In late 2010, foreign policy professionals on both sides of the aisle in Washington got together and formed a group called the Working Group for Egypt. This group, with members as seemingly diverse as Elliott Abrams from the Bush administration and the Council on Foreign Relations, and Brian Katulis from the Center for American Progress, chose to completely ignore the fact that the populist forces in Egypt are overwhelmingly jihadist. They lobbied for Mubarak's overthrow in the name of "democracy" in January and February. Today they demand that Obama side with the rioters in Tahrir Square against the military. And just as he did in January and February, Obama is likely to follow their "bipartisan" advice.





FROM IRAQ to Egypt to Libya to Syria, as previous mistakes by both the Bush and Obama administrations constrain and diminish US options for advancing its national interests, America is compelled to make more and more difficult choices. In Libya, after facilitating Muammar Gaddafi's overthrow, the US is faced with the prospect of dealing with an even more radical regime that is jihadist, empowered and already transferring arms to terror groups and proliferating nonconventional weapons. If the Obama administration and the US foreign policy establishment acknowledge the hostile nature of the new regime and refrain from supporting it, they will be forced to admit they sided with America's enemies in taking down Gaddafi.





While Gaddafi was certainly no Mubarak, at worst he was an impotent adversary.





In Syria, not only did the US refuse to take any action against President Bashar Assad despite his active sponsorship of the insurgency in Iraq, it failed to cultivate any ties with Syrian regime opponents. The US has continued to ignore Syrian regime opponents to the present day. And now, with Assad's fall a matter of time, the US is presented with a fairly set opposition leadership, backed by Islamist Turkey and dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood. The liberal, pro-American forces in Syria, including the Kurds, have been shut out of the post-Assad power structure.





And in Egypt, after embracing "democracy" over its ally Mubarak, the US is faced with another unenviable choice. It can either side with the weak, but not necessarily hostile military junta which is dependent on US financial aid, or it can side with Islamic extremists who seek its destruction and that of Israel and have the support of the Egyptian people.





HOW HAS this situation arisen? How is it possible that the US finds itself today with so few good options in the Arab world after all the blood and treasure it has sacrificed? The answer to this question is found to a large degree in an article by Prof. Angelo Codevilla in the current issue of the Claremont Review of Books titled "The Lost Decade."





Codevilla argues that the reason the US finds itself in the position it is in today owes to a significant degree to its refusal after September 11, 2001, to properly identify its enemy. US foreign policy elites of all stripes and sizes refused to consider clearly how the US should best defend its interests because they refused to identify who most endangered those interests.





The Left refused to acknowledge that the US was under attack from the forces of radical Islam enabled by Islamic supremacist regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Iran because the Left didn't want the US to fight. Moreover, because the Left believes that US policies are to blame for the Islamic world's hostility to America, leftists favor foreign policies predicated on US appeasement of its enemies.





For its part, the Right refused to acknowledge the identity and nature of the US's enemy because it feared the Left.





And so, rather than fight radical Islamists, under Bush the US went to war against a tactic - terrorism. And lo and behold, it was unable to defeat a tactic because a tactic isn't an enemy. It's just a tactic.





And as its war aim was unachievable, the declared ends of the war became spectacular. Rather than fight to defend the US, the US went to war to transform the Arab world from one imbued with unmentionable religious extremism to one increasingly ruled by democratically elected unmentionable religious extremism.





The lion's share of responsibility for this dismal state of affairs lies with former president Bush and his administration. While the Left didn't want to fight or defeat the forces of radical Islam after September 11, the majority of Americans did. And by catering to the Left and refusing to identify the enemy, Bush adopted war-fighting tactics that discredited the war effort and demoralized and divided the American public, thus paving the way for Obama to be elected while running on a radical anti-war platform of retreat and appeasement.





Since Obama came into office, he has followed the Left's ideological guidelines of ending the fight against and seeking to appease America's worst enemies. This is why he has supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. This is why he turned a blind eye to the Islamists who dominated the opposition to Gaddafi. This is why he has sought to appease Iran and Syria. This is why he supports the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated Syrian opposition. This is why he supports Turkey's Islamist government. And this is why he is hostile to Israel.





And this is why come December 31, the US will withdraw in defeat from Iraq, and pro- American forces in the region and the US itself will reap the whirlwind of Washington's irresponsibility.





There is a price to be paid for calling an enemy an enemy. But there is an even greater price to be paid for failing to do so.





Originally published in The Jerusalem Post.





Caroline Glick



Source: http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2011/11/calling-things-by-their-proper.php



Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Posted by sally at 11:03 PM

NATO strike kills 28 Pakistani troops after recent allegations of Pakistani-Taliban cooperation

from Jihad Watch:


NATO strike kills 28 Pakistani troops after recent allegations of Pakistani-Taliban cooperation







Needless to say, this development bodes ill for the so-called alliance between the U.S. and Pakistan. It could be a tragic accident; however, several recent allegations of collaboration between Pakistani and Taliban forces on the border with Afghanistan raise questions about the circumstances of this incident, and about what NATO personnel thought they were dealing with at the time.



"Pakistan stops NATO supplies after raid kills up to 28," by Shams Mohmand for Reuters, November 26:



(Reuters) - NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing as many as 28 troops and plunging U.S.-Pakistan relations, already deeply frayed, further into crisis.



Pakistan retaliated by shutting down vital NATO supply routes into Afghanistan, used for sending in just under a third of the alliance's supplies.



The attack is the worst single incident of its kind since Pakistan uneasily allied itself with Washington in the days immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. targets.



Relations between the United States and Pakistan, its ally in the war on militancy, have been strained following the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. special forces in a raid on the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad in May, which Pakistan called a flagrant violation of sovereignty.



A spokesman for NATO-led troops in Afghanistan confirmed that NATO aircraft had been called in to support troops in the area and had probably killed some Pakistani soldiers.



"Close air support was called in, in the development of the tactical situation, and it is what highly likely caused the Pakistan casualties," said General Carsten Jacobson, spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).



He added that he could not confirm the number of casualties, but ISAF is investigating the "tragic development."



"We are aware that Pakistani soldiers perished. We don't know the size, the magnitude," he said.



The Pakistani government and military brimmed with fury.



"This is an attack on Pakistan's sovereignty," said Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. "We will not let any harm come to Pakistan's sovereignty and solidarity."



The Foreign Office said it would take up the matter "in the strongest terms" with NATO and the United States.



The powerful Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, said in a statement issued by the Pakistani military that "all necessary steps be under taken for an effective response to this irresponsible act.



"A strong protest has been launched with NATO/ISAF in which it has been demanded that strong and urgent action be taken against those responsible for this aggression."



Two military officials said that up to 28 troops had been killed and 11 wounded in the attack on the outposts, about 2.5 km (1.5 miles) from the Afghan border. The Pakistani military said 24 troops were killed and 13 wounded.



It remains unclear what exactly happened, but the attack took place around 2 a.m. (2100 GMT) in the Baizai area of Mohmand, where Pakistani troops are fighting Taliban militants.



"Pakistani troops effectively responded immediately in self-defense to NATO/ISAF's aggression with all available weapons," the Pakistani military statement said.



The commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, General John R. Allen, said he had offered his condolences to the family of any Pakistani soldiers who "may have been killed or injured."



The U.S. embassy in Islamabad also offered condolences.



About 40 Pakistani army troops were stationed at the outposts, military sources said. Two officers were reported among the dead.



"The latest attack by NATO forces on our post will have serious repercussions as they without any reasons attacked on our post and killed soldiers asleep," said a senior Pakistani military officer, requesting anonymity.



Reflecting the confusion of war in an ill-defined border area, an Afghan border police official, Edrees Momand, said joint Afghan-NATO troops near the outpost on Saturday morning had detained several militants.



"I am not aware of the casualties on the other side of the border but those we have detained aren't Afghan Taliban," he said, implying they may have been Pakistani or other foreign national Taliban operating in Afghanistan....



Posted by Marisol on November 26, 2011 8:24 AM

Iran to U.S., Israel: Don't attack us, or Turkey gets it

From Jihad Watch:


Iran to U.S., Israel: Don't attack us, or Turkey gets it







The target would be the NATO missile defense shield located in Turkey, but such an attack would still be a strike on the territory of an un-involved third country. That could carry unintended consequences for Iran, which is not taking into account in this round of saber-rattling that Turkey just might also take umbrage at that sort of thing.



"Iran threatens to hit Turkey if US, Israel attack," from the Associated Press, November 26:



TEHRAN, Iran -- A senior commander of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard says the country will target NATO's missile defense shield in Turkey if the U.S. or Israel attacks the Islamic Republic.



Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards' aerospace division, is quoted by the semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying the warning is part of a new defense strategy to counter what it sees as an increase in threats from the U.S. and Israel.



He says Iran will now respond to threats with threats rather than a defensive position.



Tehran says NATO's early warning radar station in Turkey is meant to protect Israel against Iranian missile attacks if a war breaks out with Israel.



Turkey agreed to host the radar in September as part of NATO's missile defense system.



Posted by Marisol on November 26, 2011 9:37 AM

Nigeria: Boko Haram bombs police station, bank, "beer parlour"

from Jihad Watch:


Nigeria: Boko Haram bombs police station, bank, "beer parlour"















In heaven there is no beer, and Boko Haram wants to kill you for drinking it here. Once again, the group consistently attacks institutions and practices that stand in the way of their imposition of Sharia law. "Suspected Islamists bomb police station, bank in Nigeria," from Agence France-Presse, November 26:



Gunmen suspected to be members of the Islamist sect Boko Haram on Saturday bombed a police station, a bank and a beer parlour in Nigeria's northeastern Yobe state, residents said.



The gunmen threw explosives into a police station and a beer parlour in Geidam town, 160 kilometres (100 miles) from the state capital Damaturu, they said.



The attackers, armed with Kalashnikov rifles, also bombed a bank near the police station and carted away money from its vault.



Gaidam is the home town of the Yobe state governo Ibrahim Gaidam.



"The attackers who are from all indications members of Boko Haram came in a large number and attacked the police station with explosives and gunshots and burnt it down", resident Abba Kashim said.



"They also bombed and robbed a bank nearby," Kashim said on the phone from Geidam.



Idrissa Galda, member of a local vigilante group, said the attackers also bombed a beer parlour and burnt down adjoining shops.



The attackers kept firing indiscriminately and residents remained indoors Galda said.



Details of casualties were still unclear.



"Many people have been trapped in the attacks but it is difficult to say how many have been affected," Galda said.



Another resident, Umar Maina, said the attackers engaged the police in a shootout.



"There were three explosions in all followed by incessant gunshots and I learnt from phone calls I made that the police station, a bank and a beer parlour were the targets of the explosions", Maina said.



Maina said the attackers were heading for the prison.



Posted by Marisol on November 26, 2011 6:15 PM

What could go wrong? Taliban members paid £100 a month to stop fighting, but get to keep guns

From Jihad Watch:


What could go wrong? Taliban members paid £100 a month to stop fighting, but get to keep guns















You can't buy love, but British authorities, with the full support of NATO, are trying to rent it for a monthly payment. You'll want to read this one sitting down. "Taliban paid £100 a month to stop fighting," by Sean Rayment for the Telegraph, November 26:



Members of the Taliban who give up their fight are being paid £100 a month and will be allowed to keep their guns in a new initiative to end the insurgency.



The “reintegration” programme, which has the full support of Nato, is intended to keep them from attacking troops from the International Stabilisation and Assistance Force (ISAF).



Those who have attacked and killed British forces are also effectively given an amnesty, which means they will never be put on trial.



The amnesty extends to all Taliban fighters, including those who have taken part in atrocities, such as murdering children, beheadings and hanging women.



The agreement is part of a policy signed by the British Government in which insurgents are being allowed to “walk off the battlefield” and enter a “reintegration” scheme.



Are you still sitting down? Good:



Taliban joining the programme are not interrogated but instead are asked to complete a questionnaire explaining their reasons for joining the insurgency.



The truth is stranger than Monty Python. It would only befit the general surrealism of the situation that the Ministry of Silly Walks and the Kilimanjaro expedition jointly administer the questionnaires. ("Will both of you be surrendering?")



The strategy has been designed to encourage rank and file Taliban to stop fighting and instead return to their communities with “dignity and honour”.



More than 2,700 insurgents have been reintegrated into mainstream Afghan society since October 2010, with 800 now described as “showing interest in leaving the Taliban”.



Of those, about 90 are from Helmand, where nearly 400 British troops have been killed and more than 5,000 injured.



The reintegration policy has already produced some startling results. In northern Afghanistan, about 900 former Taliban have left the insurgency and violence has decreased by 30 per cent.



What happens when the dough dries up, or someone gets a better offer?



But it is not without risk. Maj Gen David Hook, the director of the Joint Force Integration Cell in Kabul, admitted in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph that the programme would be difficult for many British families to accept but insisted that reintegration was vital if peace was to be achieved.



The British general, who previously served as a commander in southern Afghanistan, said he saw some horrendous examples of Taliban brutality, which he said he would have “personally found difficult to forgive”.



The general confirmed that even if the insurgent who murdered five members of the Grenadier Guards battlegroup at a check point in Nad e’Ali in November 2009 entered the scheme, he would not be prosecuted. “This is an Afghan process which the international community signed up to,” said Maj Gen Hook.



It's an Afghan process, but it's not Afghan money.



“My role is to support the Afghans in that process. This idea of forgiveness has been agreed by the international donors and the UK has given £6.5  million and helped design the programme to deliver peace at the local level.



“We accepted large numbers of IRA back into our own society because we wanted peace in Northern Ireland and I don’t see it any different in Afghanistan.”



Really?



Posted by Marisol on November 27, 2011 12:11 AM

How To Reduce Military Suicides by Laurence M. Vance

How To Reduce Military Suicides by Laurence M. Vance

Who Won the Iraq War? by Eric Margolis

Who Won the Iraq War? by Eric Margolis

Senior official: NATO air attack on Pakistani troops was in self-defense

From Jihad Watch:


Senior official: NATO air attack on Pakistani troops was in self-defense







"A more troubling explanation would be that insurgents in the area were operating under the nose of Pakistani security forces." It could be a tragic accident, but unfortunately, there is also ample precedent for such allegations.



An update on this story. "Nato air attack on Pakistani troops was self-defence, says senior western official," by Jon Boone for the Guardian, November 26:



An attack by Nato aircraft on Pakistani troops that allegedly killed as many as 28 soldiers and looks set to further poison relations between the US and Pakistan was an act of self-defence, a senior western official has claimed.



According to the Kabul-based official, a joint US-Afghan force operating in the mountainous Afghan frontier province of Kunar was the first to come under attack in the early hours of Saturday morning, forcing them to return fire.



The high death toll from an incident between two supposed allies suggests Nato helicopters and jets strafed Pakistani positions with heavy weapons.



The deadliest friendly fire incident since the start of the decade-long war also prompted Pakistan to ban Nato supply trucks from crossing into Afghanistan and to issue an order demanding the US quit the remote Shamsi airbase, from which the US has operated some unmanned drone aircraft.



A spokesman for Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it was "highly likely" that aircraft which had been called into the area to provide "close air support" to troops on the ground was responsible for causing casualties among the Pakistani soldiers.



For their part, a statement by the Pakistani military claimed that it was they who were attacked first, forcing them to respond to Nato's "aggression with all available weapons".



According to Pakistani officials the 40 or so soldiers stationed at the outposts were asleep at the time of the attack. Government officials said the two border posts that were attacked had recently been established to try to stop insurgents who use bases in Afghanistan to attack Pakistan from crossing the border and launching attacks.



Afghan intelligence say the US-Afghan force was conducting operations against suspected Taliban training camps in the area.



The vagueness of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is one potential, and relatively innocent, explanation for the incident. Drawn up by the British Raj in 1893, there is little agreement on where the so-called Durand Line actually falls, meaning troops from either side of the border can wander into the neighbouring country without realising it. One senior military official said that, in places, rival maps have discrepancies of "multiples of kilometres – sometimes as much as five kilometres".



Much of the fighting in Afghanistan is conducted by guerrillas based a short distance inside Pakistan. Nato forces are not allowed to cross the border and militants sometimes fire artillery and rockets across the line from locations close to Pakistani army posts.



And yet both sides have worked hard to try and minimise any confusion. The attack happened just a day after John Allen, the US commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, met with Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, the Pakistani army chief, to discuss enhanced co-operation on the border.



But a more troubling explanation would be that insurgents in the area were operating under the nose of Pakistani security forces. Many Afghan officials believe Pakistan helps the Taliban with cross-border operations.



Edrees Momand of the Afghan Border Police said that a US-Afghan force in the area near the Pakistani outposts detained several militants on Saturday morning.



"I am not aware of the casualties on the other side of the border but those we have detained aren't Afghan Taliban," he said, implying they may have been Pakistani or other foreign national Taliban operating in Afghanistan....



Posted by Marisol on November 27, 2011 7:22 AM

Afghanistan: Senior jihadist commander responsible for NATO deaths given amnesty, now head of Kandahar's Islamic Affairs Department

From Jihad Watch:


Afghanistan: Senior jihadist commander responsible for NATO deaths given amnesty, now head of Kandahar's Islamic Affairs Department







To land a gig like that, are they sure he has been miraculously cured of his "misunderstanding" of Islam? He does not sound terribly remorseful below in spite of hitting a few talking points. In fact, it sounds like he is bragging. More on this story. "Insurgent commander who planned bomb attacks that 'blew soliders to bits' is granted amnesty," by Ben Farmer for the Telegraph, November 27 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):



Maulawi Noor ul Aziz estimates he ordered or took part in hundreds of attacks on Afghan and Nato forces during his decade as an insurgent commander. As a senior rebel leader in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand during some of that time, many of his targets were likely to have been British troops.



Yet the commander has been welcomed and granted amnesty by the Afghan government under a British-funded scheme to undermine the Taliban by coaxing fighters away from the battlefield and reintegrating them into society.



Maulawi Noor ul Aziz became the scheme's greatest success yet when he and 80 of his men defected to the government in April 2011, when he was then "shadow" governor of the northern province of Kunduz - in charge of the Taliban's own clandestine administration.



Rather than face trial for his role in the insurgency, he has been given a government job as acting head of Kandahar's department for Hajj and Islamic Affairs.



He told The Sunday Telegraph he had decided to leave the war against Hamid Karzai's government and its foreign backers because his country had seen enough fighting.



He said: "Fighting does not lead to peace or prosperity anywhere in the world. We have to use this chance for peace." The Afghan Taliban had also come too heavily under the influence of Pakistan he believed.



"There are people in the Taliban who do not want to kill their own people on the orders of strangers. They wish to join this government, to join their own people, to live together, but those Taliban are under the control of strangers. If they have the opportunity, I am sure they will switch sides like me."



Maulawi Noor ul Aziz, who is originally from the Panjwayi district of Kandahar, said he had joined the Taliban movement as soon as it formed in 1994. "I have been in many battles in the past 10 years since our government was overthrown by the foreigners."



As he rose through the ranks he directed ambushes and improvised bomb attacks against the Afghan and Nato forces in Kandahar, Zabul and Helmand provinces.



"I was a commander of fighting and I cannot tell you how many were killed, or injured. The fighting was often at a distance. Maybe in our struggle our mines and bullets killed some government forces and foreigners.



"Also, I was very busy with battle planning and making mines and ambushes. I did not myself participate a lot in the face-to-face fighting as much as I would have liked to."



He said his most successful attack came when he and his men had sown a field in Nad-e Ali with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) rigged up to a command wire, to target regular foreign patrols which passed through.



As they waited, they were surprised to see a Nato Chinook helicopter land in the field instead. He and his band detonated their bombs from 400 yards away as foreign soldiers disembarked from the aircraft.



"All the bombs went off. Some of the foreigners were blown to bits and some were wounded. We were very happy with the result. I have done hundreds of these missions," he said. [...]



Critics of the scheme have warned that too few of those defecting are actual insurgents, and that it is failing to undermine the rebels in their southern heartlands.



"Of around 30,000 insurgents, only eight per cent have reconciled so far - and 99 per cent of them are not from the south," said Hanif Atmar, former interior minister.



"Frankly speaking, it does not work. The eight per cent that are reconciled, most of them are not genuine insurgents, particularly not from the regions that matter."



Posted by Marisol on November 27, 2011 8:11 AM

Afghan officials: "Forces were retaliating for gunfire from two Pakistani army bases"

From Jihad Watch:


Afghan officials: "Forces were retaliating for gunfire from two Pakistani army bases"







This account supports a senior Western official's statement that the airstrikes were a defensive measure, and suggests another case of curiously close proximity between jihadists and Pakistani military posts. U.S. officers reportedly also believed the Pakistani military was providing cover for jihadists in a firefight in late October, along with other recent allegations of jihadists' operating in the sight of the Pakistani military.



Once again, this may have been a tragic accident. Or jihadists may have tried to draw fire in the direction of Pakistani bases to create an incident. Or, it may have been the inevitable outcome of collaboration between Pakistan and its jihadist clients, and recent reports such as the ones linked above make the last scenario all too plausible. "Afghan officials: Fire from Pakistan led to attack," by Rahim Faiez and Sebastian Abbott for the Associated Press, November 27:



ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghanistan officials claimed Sunday that Afghan and NATO forces were retaliating for gunfire from two Pakistani army bases when they called in airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, adding a layer of complexity to an episode that has further strained Pakistan's ties with the United States.



The account challenged Pakistan's claim that the strikes were unprovoked.



The attack Saturday near the Afghan-Pakistani border aroused popular anger in Pakistan and added tension to the U.S.-Pakistani relationship, which has been under pressure since the secret U.S. raid inside Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden in May.



Pakistan has closed its western border to trucks delivering supplies to coalition troops in Afghanistan, demanded that the U.S. abandon an air base inside Pakistan and said it will review its cooperation with the U.S. and NATO.



A complete breakdown in the relationship between the United States and Pakistan is considered unlikely. Pakistan relies on billions of dollars in American aid, and the U.S. needs Pakistan to push Afghan insurgents to participate in peace talks.



Afghanistan's assertions about the attack muddy the efforts to determine what happened. The Afghan officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said it was unclear who fired on Afghan and NATO forces, which were conducting a joint operation before dawn Saturday.



They said the fire came from the direction of the two Pakistani army posts along the border that were later hit in the airstrikes.



NATO has said it is investigating, but it has not questioned the Pakistani claim that 24 soldiers were killed. All airstrikes are approved at a higher command level than the troops on the ground....



Posted by Marisol on November 28, 2011 12:18 AM

Russia’s new threats may endanger Obama’s ‘reset’ policy

Russia’s new threats may endanger Obama’s ‘reset’ policy

Hizballah honcho Nasrallah reportedly worth $250 million

From Jihad Watch:


Hizballah honcho Nasrallah reportedly worth $250 million







"A fool and his money are soon partying" - Steven Wright



Hizballah is reportedly going broke, but Nasrallah is said to be livin' large. "Hezbollah's Nasrallah worth $250M?" by Doron Peskin for YNet News, December 29:



American intelligence officials estimate fortune of Shiite organization's leader, senior members totals some $2 billion, which are scattered in hundreds of bank accounts across the world



Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah is worth some $250 million, a Saudi newspaper reported recently, quoting American intelligence officials.



According to the report, the fortune of Nasrallah's deputy, Sheikh Naim Qassem, and other senior organization members amounts to as much as $2 billion.



The anonymous intelligence sources believe the funds have been deposited in hundreds of bank accounts across the world, including in Europe, using fabricated or fake names.



Two Western sources are quoted as saying that the Hezbollah leaders from time to time channel millions of dollars from their bank accounts or their wives' bank accounts to senior members of the Revolutionary Guards in Iran, who are responsible for transferring money to the Shiite organization from the office of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.



According to the report, Iranian parliament members are aware of this corruption, are unhappy with it but are avoiding discussing it.



Straw companies



A British security source who worked at the embassies in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon in the 1990s is quoted as saying that the West has figured out Hezbollah's money laundering method.



According to the source, the Shiite organization's common method is setting up straw companies in Arab or African countries, which sell cars or large amounts of goods.



See also: the recent identification of a ring of over 30 U.S. auto businesses implicated in funneling almost half a billion dollars to Hizballah.



The organizations also operate small cells of six to 10 people who specialize in stealing cellular phones, personal computers or credit cards, and open fake bank accounts using the victims' details.



According to the report, the Hezbollah members also specialize in stealing passports, which are used by the organization operatives to travel around the world for commerce purposes, among others.



By setting up companies, mainly in Eastern European countries and in Soviet republics in central Asia, Hezbollah provides all the financial needs of the organization members in Lebanon.



According to a recent report among many on the organization's financial situation, senior Iranian officials are furious over an internal report pointing to corruption among Hezbollah's highest ranks.



Another report says the Iranians were "amazed" to learn of the flamboyant life led by the organization members, mainly during their visits abroad.



Posted by Marisol on December 31, 2011 12:08 AM

Obama Wants to Continue Secret Talks With Taliban in Europe

Obama Wants to Continue Secret Talks With Taliban in Europe

U.S. Weighs Releasing Taliban Commander From Gitmo as Part of Peace Talks

U.S. Weighs Releasing Taliban Commander From Gitmo as Part of Peace Talks

Bradley Manning: A Hero, Not a Traitor | Common Dreams

Bradley Manning: A Hero, Not a Traitor Common Dreams

The Intellectual Cowardice of Bradley Manning’s Critics | Common Dreams

The Intellectual Cowardice of Bradley Manning’s Critics Common Dreams

United States as a Global Power: New World Disorder | Common Dreams

United States as a Global Power: New World Disorder Common Dreams

Air Force on Flickr Update

Air Force on Flickr Update

Befogging the Enemy: U.S. Officials as Human Pretzels

Befogging the Enemy: U.S. Officials as Human Pretzels

U.S. Navy Photos of the Day Update

U.S. Navy Photos of the Day Update

US seals $3.5B missile deal with Middle East ally | Vision to America

US seals $3.5B missile deal with Middle East ally Vision to America

Pentagon confirms policy of military response to cyberatacks | Homeland Security News Wire

Pentagon confirms policy of military response to cyberatacks Homeland Security News Wire

Despite Pakistan's NATO Cutoff The Drone War Carries On | Common Dreams

Despite Pakistan's NATO Cutoff The Drone War Carries On Common Dreams

U.K.: Foreign secretary warns of jihadists without borders in Africa

From Jihad Watch:


U.K.: Foreign secretary warns of jihadists without borders in Africa







More fallout from Libya, along with the now-standard concerns about al-Qaeda's potential cooperation with al-Shabaab and Boko Haram. "U.K. warns of growing al-Qaeda risk in North Africa," from the Associated Press, November 28 (thanks to Kenneth):



LONDON (AP) – Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague says there is a risk mercenary fighters driven out of Libya could switch allegiance to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.



Hague told the House of Commons on Monday that Britain is also concerned that weapons from unguarded stockpiles in Libya may have fallen into AQIM hands following dictator Moammar Gadhafi's fall.



He warned that the al-Qaeda affiliate had established ties to Boko Haram, the Nigeria-based extremist group waging a bloody sectarian fight against the African nation's weak central government.



Hague said there was an escalating threat across the entire Sahel region, which stretches from Mauritania to Chad.



Britain is "stepping up our efforts to counter terrorism in the Sahel," Hague said.



Posted by Marisol on November 29, 2011 12:04 AM

Libya: New Threat in the Middle East

Libya: New Threat in the Middle East

Friday, December 30, 2011

Iraq Status of Forces Agreement - HUMAN EVENTS

Iraq Status of Forces Agreement - HUMAN EVENTS

Intelligence Experts: CIA Penetration by Terrorist Group Is "Catastrophic" - HUMAN EVENTS

Intelligence Experts: CIA Penetration by Terrorist Group Is "Catastrophic" - HUMAN EVENTS

Medal of Honor: - HUMAN EVENTS

Medal of Honor: - HUMAN EVENTS

Iran prepping al-Qaida for large-scale attacks

Iran prepping al-Qaida for large-scale attacks

FEULNER: Meeting the missile threat - Washington Times

FEULNER: Meeting the missile threat - Washington Times

House Bill Lets Soldiers Keep Their Combat Boots On at Airports - HUMAN EVENTS

House Bill Lets Soldiers Keep Their Combat Boots On at Airports - HUMAN EVENTS

CSAF signs munitions realignment program action directive

CSAF signs munitions realignment program action directive

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb reportedly planning wave of kidnapping of Westerners in North Africa

From Jihad Watch:


Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb reportedly planning wave of kidnapping of Westerners in North Africa







A possible fundraising drive for Jihadists Without Borders. "Terror: Al-Qaeda 'planning N. Africa kidnapping wave of Westerners'," from AdnKronos International, November 29 (thanks to Kenneth):



Algiers, 29 Nov. (AKI) - Algeria's secret service agency believes a branch of Al-Qaeda is planning a wave of abductions of Westerners in North Africa, according to a local news report.



The Department of Investigation and Security, or DRS, has informed its neighbours in the Sahel region that Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb has a plan to kidnap Westerners in the Sahel, according to a report in Algerian daily el-Khabar.



Sahel the countries bordering Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa: parts of the territory of Senegal, southern Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, southern Algeria, Niger, northern Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, northern Ethiopia and Eritrea.



The next kidnappings were slated to be carried out by Mauritanian terrorists.



The DRS believes recent abductions were carried out by a group headed by Algerian Wahi Abdel Baqi, the report said.



European humanitarian aid workers - Italian woman Rossella Urru, Spanish woman Ainhoa Fernandez Rincon and Spanish man Enrico Gonyans - were abducted on 23 October from the Rabuni camp, primarily inhabited by refugees from Western Sahara, in western Algeria.



Baqi, 44, speaks English and French as [sic] was allegedly in competition with other North African Al-Qaeda cells, said el-Khabar.



Posted by Marisol on November 29, 2011 7:39 AM

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=66610

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=66610

U.S., Israel discuss “red lines” for bombing Iran

U.S., Israel discuss “red lines” for bombing Iran

U.S. Navy Photos of the Day Update

U.S. Navy Photos of the Day Update

MEMRI: PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: I Will Never Recognize a Jewish State; The Capturing of Israeli Soldier Gilad Shalit Was a Good Thing

MEMRI: PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: I Will Never Recognize a Jewish State; The Capturing of Israeli Soldier Gilad Shalit Was a Good Thing

MEMRI: Khalil Al-Khayeh, Member of the Hamas Gaza Leadership, Salutes Released Palestinian Prisoners, "The Heroes of the Knife, the Heroes of Martyrdom Operations, Jihad, and the Resistance"

MEMRI: Khalil Al-Khayeh, Member of the Hamas Gaza Leadership, Salutes Released Palestinian Prisoners, "The Heroes of the Knife, the Heroes of Martyrdom Operations, Jihad, and the Resistance"

MEMRI: Khodhr Habib, a Member of the Islamic Jihad Leadership in Gaza, Vows: We Will Give You Nothing but Bombs, Spears and Swords, Which Will Slit Your Throats

MEMRI: Khodhr Habib, a Member of the Islamic Jihad Leadership in Gaza, Vows: We Will Give You Nothing but Bombs, Spears and Swords, Which Will Slit Your Throats

MEMRI: Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya Condemns the Killing of the "Muslim Mujahid" Osama Bin Laden

MEMRI: Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya Condemns the Killing of the "Muslim Mujahid" Osama Bin Laden

MEMRI: Preacher Eulogizes Bin Laden at Al-Aqsa Mosque and Warns: Obama Will Soon Be "Hanging from the Gallows," Next to Bush

MEMRI: Preacher Eulogizes Bin Laden at Al-Aqsa Mosque and Warns: Obama Will Soon Be "Hanging from the Gallows," Next to Bush

MEMRI: Hamas Leader Khaled Mash'al Condemns the Way Bin Laden Was Killed

MEMRI: Hamas Leader Khaled Mash'al Condemns the Way Bin Laden Was Killed

Taliban jihadi in Afghan army murders two French soldiers

From Jihad Watch:


Taliban jihadi in Afghan army murders two French soldiers







As I have said many times in the context of many similar incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no reliable way to distinguish a peaceful Muslim from a jihadist. This is yet more fruit of the unwillingness to make even a cursory attempt to take that fact into account.



And every few weeks (the last time was November 10), I find the paragraph above in the archives and post it again.



"Rogue Afghan soldier kills 2 French soldiers," by Ernesto Londoño for the Washington Post, December 29 (thanks to D.):



KABUL — A man wearing an Afghan army uniform fatally shot two French service members in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, military officials said, the latest in a string of similar attacks that the Taliban claims to have masterminded.

Hours later, a roadside bomb killed 10 Afghan police officers in southern Helmand province, an attack that authorities said was among the deadliest against Afghan security forces this year.



“It was the work of the enemies, the Taliban, who have suffered a defeat in face-to-face fighting and only resort to planting mines like these," said Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for Helmand’s governor.





Doesn't Dawood Ahmadi know that the Taliban aren't the enemy? Joe Biden said so!



The two attacks marred what has been a relatively quiet winter in Afghanistan, a season during which violence tends to ebb because the snow and cold temperatures limit mobility.

Still, sporadic attacks continue, including the suicide bombing outside a funeral in northern Afghanistan on Sunday that killed 20 people, including a member of parliament.



The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting of the French soldiers in a statement, which said a rogue soldier named Ibrahim joined the “puppet army” for a “specific purpose.” The statement said Ibrahim shot the French troops on a base in Kapisa province.



“He was shot and martyred by the invaders in exchange of fire,” the Taliban statement said....





Posted by Robert on December 29, 2011 7:26 AM

Genocidal Sheikh Qaradawi mediator in secret U.S.-Taliban talks

From Jihad Watch:


Genocidal Sheikh Qaradawi mediator in secret U.S.-Taliban talks







Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi has been praised by Saudi-funded dhimmi pseudo-academic John Esposito as a champion of a “reformist interpretation of Islam and its relationship to democracy, pluralism and human rights.” But numerous statements of Qaradawi demonstrate that he anything but a “reformist” or a genuine champion of “democracy, pluralism and human rights” – and is, in fact, positively Hitlerian in his Jew-hatred and bloodlust.



During the uprising against the Mubarak regime, a Muslim website published a chapter from Qaradawi’s book Laws of Jihad, including this passage: “One of the forms of jihad in Islam is jihad against evil and corruption within [the Islamic lands]. This jihad is crucial in order to protect society from collapse, disintegration, and perdition — for Muslim society has unique characteristics, and if these are lost, forgotten or destroyed, there will be no Muslim society.”



Qaradawi also enjoys a reputation as a moderate beyond just Esposito: the former Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is himself widely assumed to be a “moderate” despite evidence to the contrary, has hailed Qaradawi as a “very very well known Islamic jurist, highly regarded all over the Muslim world.” And another Muslim leader whose moderate bona fides have been questioned, the vaunted “Muslim Martin Luther” Tariq Ramadan, wrote a foreword to one of his books in 1998, and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone welcomed him to the city in 2004 and praised him repeatedly, despite the fact that during that visit Qaradawi explained to the BBC that suicide attacks against Israelis were not actually suicide at all, but “martyrdom in the name of God.” (Qaradawi has since been banned from Britain, as well as from the U.S.)



And the things that Qaradawi tells the millions of Muslims that he reaches are anything but moderate. In January 2009, during a Friday sermon broadcast on Al-Jazeera, he prayed that Allah would kill all the Jews: “Oh Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people. Oh Allah, do not spare a single one of them. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one.” He also declared: “Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the [Jews] people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by [Adolf] Hitler.”



And now he is a mediator for the U.S. Government.



"Report: Radical Sheikh a Key Mediator in U.S.-Taliban Talks," from IPT News, December 28 (thanks to Pamela Geller):



Radical Islamist cleric and longtime Muslim Brotherhood spiritual guide Yusuf al-Qaradawi serves as a "key mediator in secret talks between the U.S. and the Taliban," according to unnamed government sources referenced in a report published late Wednesday in The Hindu.

In early December, the report said, "Qaradawi helped draw a road map for a deal between the Taliban and the United States, aimed at giving the superpower a face-saving political settlement ahead of its planned withdrawal from Afghanistan." The United States is expected to begin pulling out of Afghanistan in 2014.



The Qaradawi-brokered deal calls for significant American commitments, including "the release of prisoners still held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, the lifting of United Nations sanctions on its leadership and its recognition as a legitimate political group." In return, the Hindu's sources say, the Taliban would be "expected to sever its links to transnational organisations like al-Qaeda, end violence and eventually share power with the Afghan government."



If true, the report raises significant questions about American strategy in the talks and the enhancement of a radical cleric's stature.



Qaradawi repeatedly has lashed out against Jews, glorifying violence against them and calling for Allah to "count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one." In 2009, he prayed for the chance to kill a Jew before dying. He has readily encouraged suicide bombing as "the greatest of all sorts of Jihad in the Cause of Allah." And, perhaps most troubling when considering the nature of the talks, Qaradawi actively supported the killing of U.S. servicemen and women, writing in 2003:



"Those killed fighting the American forces are martyrs given their good intentions since they consider these invading troops an enemy within their territories but without their will…Although they are seen by some as being wrong, those defending against attempts to control Islamic countries have the intention of Jihad and bear a spirit of the defense of their homeland."



Posted by Robert on December 29, 2011 12:33 PM

Report: Al-Qaeda's former second banana sends veteran jihadists to establish presence in Libya

From Jihad Watch:


Report: Al-Qaeda's former second banana sends veteran jihadists to establish presence in Libya







They already have quite a few friends there. Along with the havoc they can wreak within Libya, it would be a handy forward operating base for striking in Europe, noting that one of the major figures named below has already spent time in the United Kingdom. This development may also be a chance to bolster ties with the North African franchise, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. "Source: Al Qaeda leader sends veteran jihadists to establish presence in Libya," by Nic Robertson and Paul Cruickshank for CNN, December 29:



(CNN) -- Al Qaeda's leadership has sent experienced jihadists to Libya in an effort to build a fighting force there, according to a Libyan source briefed by Western counter-terrorism officials.



The jihadists include one veteran fighter who had been detained in Britain on suspicion of terrorism. The source describes him as committed to al Qaeda's global cause and to attacking U.S. interests.



The source told CNN that the al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, personally dispatched the former British detainee to Libya earlier this year as the Gadhafi regime lost control of large swathes of the country.



The man arrived in Libya in May and has since begun recruiting fighters in the eastern region of the country, near the Egyptian border. He now has some 200 fighters mobilized, the source added. Western intelligence agencies are aware of his activities, according to the source.



Another al Qaeda operative, of dual European-Libyan nationality, was arrested in an unnamed country on his way to Libya from the Afghan-Pakistan border region.



The individual now trying to establish a bridgehead for al Qaeda in Libya is known as "AA." His name has not been made public because of UK law on terrorist suspects who are detained but not charged.



"AA" has been close to Ayman al-Zawahiri since the 1980s and first traveled to Afghanistan in the early 1990s to join mujahideen fighting the Soviet occupation -- as did hundreds of Arab fighters.



"AA" later moved to the United Kingdom, where he began spreading al Qaeda's ideology to younger Muslims. He was an admirer of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who emerged as leader of al Qaeda in Iraq after the U.S. invasion and who led an especially brutal campaign that targeted civilians and promoted sectarian hatred between Sunni and Shia Muslims.



After the terrorist attacks in London in July 2005, heightened concern about terrorist activities in the UK led to the arrest of a number of Libyans resident in England.



"AA" was detained under what was termed a "control order," a mechanism used to detain terrorist suspects -- usually under home arrest -- without charging them. Control orders have been used in dozens of cases where the government does not want to reveal evidence in court for fear of compromising security sources. Those subject to control orders are not named by authorities.



"AA" also spent some time in Belmarsh high-security jail in the UK in 2006-07, possibly because he was seen as a flight-risk. It is also possible, according to the source, that he was resisting legal moves to have him deported to Libya. At the time, relations between the Gadhafi regime and the United Kingdom were improving, and Libyan authorities were seeking the deportation of opponents.



At some point the control order lapsed, and "AA" left Britain late in 2009 and went back to the Afghan-Pakistan border area -- taking two teenagers with him. One was subsequently killed.



Western intelligence agencies have voiced concern in public and privately about the potential for Islamist extremists and especially al Qaeda to gain a foothold in Libya....



Posted by Marisol on December 30, 2011 12:09 AM

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Alleged wannabe jihadist from Staten Island chatty for interrogators, report says

From Christians Under Attack:

30 December 2011




Alleged wannabe jihadist from Staten Island chatty for interrogators, report says





STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A former Staten Islander who authorities say took a trip to Pakistan in an attempt to join the Taliban spilled his guts for interrogators, ratted out dozens of New Yorkers he felt were pro-jihadists, according to a published report.





Abdel Hameed Shehada, 22, formerly of Annadale and Prince's Bay, apparently had a lot to say when he was questioned after his arrest by the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force, the Daily News reported, citing information from court papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.



The alleged pro-jihadists he described include a College of Staten Island student who attended a fund-raiser at Brooklyn College for a terrorist, according to the report. Also included are Brooklyn teachers of the Islamic orthodoxy Salafism, a livery cab driver and an Ethiopian Muslim in the Army.



Shehadeh's lawyer is trying to suppress the 22-page FBI report, according to the News.



Last October, federal prosecutors charged Shehadah, accusing him of lying when he told authorities that he took a trip to Pakistan in 2008 to attend a religious school. In fact, prosecutors allege, he was trying to join the Taliban.



A criminal complaint alleged the FBI and the NYPD had been investigating Shehadeh "and several other individuals in connection with a plot to travel overseas and wage violent jihad against the United States and other coalition military forces."





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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

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Tennessee: Raid on auto dealership after owner accused of funneling money to Hizballah

From Jihad Watch:


Tennessee: Raid on auto dealership after owner accused of funneling money to Hizballah







This case is apparently connected to a larger investigation which found 30 auto businesses in the U.S. that laundered over $300 million in money to benefit Hizballah. Even in Tulsa. "Raid on Wilson auto dealership stuns landlord, neighbors," from The Tennessean, December 24:



A Wilson County car dealer accused of aiding Lebanon-based terrorist organization Hezbollah was born in that Middle Eastern country in 1969 and moved to Tennessee nine years ago, Davidson County court records show.



Khalil Aref Abdelkhalek’s landlord at Cedar Exports Auto Sales and neighboring businesspeople said they were shocked to hear that federal agents had raided the company — along with dozens of other dealerships across the country — as part of a civil money laundering and forfeiture lawsuit seeking nearly half a billion dollars from an alleged massive, international scheme to funnel money to Hezbollah.



Another "decent fellow":



“You could have knocked me over with a feather,” said Tony Moorby, owner of the Dealer Plaza complex where Cedar Exports and 13 other automotive dealers are located. “This chap has been great. He actually comes looking for us to pay his rent. He’s always been happy, courteous, smiling. He’s always been very gracious.



“But I’m sure the feds can’t do this kind of thing without all the consideration that’s due.”



Reached by telephone, Abdelkhalek, 42, referred comment to his lawyer, Nashville attorney Nader Baydoun, who did not return phone messages and emails seeking comment. In an interview with WSMV-TV, Abdelkhalek emphatically denied the government’s charges that he aided terrorists and suggested he may have unwittingly been caught up in the alleged scheme.



“As part of the scheme, funds were wired from Lebanon to the United States to buy used cars, which were then transported to West Africa,” states a news release announcing the civil charges brought last week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. “Cash from the sale of the cars, along with proceeds of narcotics trafficking, were then funneled to Lebanon through (Hezbollah)-controlled money laundering channels.”...



Posted by Marisol on December 26, 2011 9:56 AM

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Pakistan's President: Islam is a religion of peace and tranquility -- as jihadis murder 16 in attack on NATO fuel truck

From Jihad Watch:


Pakistan's President: Islam is a religion of peace and tranquility -- as jihadis murder 16 in attack on NATO fuel truck







Glad he cleared that up. Now if he could just convince the Pakistanis who are mourning Osama bin Laden in droves. "Islam is a religion of peace not terrorism: Zardari," from APP, May 21:



LONDON, May 21 (APP)- President Asif Ali Zardari has said that Islam is a religion of peace and tranquillity and totally opposed to friction and terrorism. President Zardari, in his message to the International Imam Council, organisers of Syeda Fatima (S.A.) Interfaith Conference at the House of Lords here last evening, noted that such conferences highlight the real image of Islam being a peaceful religion and clear the confusion that Islam, in any way, favours terrorism. The President said: ”It gives me immense pleasure that Imam Hussain Council arranged an Interfaith Conference in recognition of Hazrat Fatima Tu-Zahra ( S.A.) , the daughter of our Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is a distinguished personality of the Muslim world.

“She is a shining moral example for all the women across the globe. Her life, her teachings, her mannerisms and even her authority over her father, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is a precedent for us to follow even today.” [...]





Some useful idiots followed:



Bishop Nick Holtam of Salisbury shared a story of two extraordinary women who visited St Martin’s from Israel Palestine. He said both these women had lost their sons but following the footsteps of Lady Mary, Miriam and Syeda Fatima (peace be upon them) embarked on a joint reconciliation women while the conflict is still alive. He says these are mothers such as these who can promote the cessation of acts of hostility and the achievement of a political agreement Senior Rabbi Mark Winer said, “Although I am not a Muslim, I am a dedicated student of the Quran, the Hadith, and the entirety of Islam. Although I am a Rabbi and dedicated to teaching Torah, I am also an Islamophile, a lover of Islam and Muslims.”

Julian Bond of the Christian Muslim Forum said : “Reflecting on Fatima and Mary, they both had important messages, they challenged men’s words, actions and outlooks and had close family relationships with our founders - the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Jesus Christ”....





"Sixteen killed in NATO fuel truck blast in Pakistan," by Ibrahim Shinwari for Reuters, May 21 (thanks to Ima):



LANDIKOTAL, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least 16 people were killed in northwest Pakistan on Saturday after a bomb attack claimed by a militant group hit a truck carrying fuel supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan, the latest attack in an upsurge in violence since Osama bin Laden was killed.

It took place near the Torkham border crossing in the Khyber region, the main route for moving supplies to NATO and American forces in Afghanistan....



In another attack in the same region, a bomb struck 16 NATO fuel trucks late on Friday, setting them on fire. No one was hurt.



Militants have stepped up attacks in Pakistan, an unstable U.S. ally, since U.S. special forces killed al Qaeda leader bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad this month.



Abdullah Azzam Brigade, a militant group affiliated with Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for both attacks on the NATO trucks.



"It is our jihad against Americans. We want to stop supplies for NATO from our territory," Abu Musa'ab, a spokesman for the group, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location....





Posted by Robert on May 21, 2011 6:23 AM