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Two powerful bombs exploded outside the Iraqi capital's tightly-guarded Green Zone on Tuesday as US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte was ending a visit focused on a controversial military pact. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said an agreement was "very close" and that there were "new ideas and new language" to clinch a mutually-acceptable security deal. "This needs some bold political decisions now," he said. An Iraqi military officer said at least one soldier was wounded in the blasts which went off in quick succession at a time of heavy traffic.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security today issued an analytical "note" to U.S. law-enforcement officials cautioning that al-Qaida terrorists have in the past expressed interest in attacking public buildings using a dozen suicide bombers each carrying 20 kilograms of explosives. Authors with the U.S. Office of Intelligence and Analysis added that they have "no credible or specific information that terrorists are planning operations against public buildings in the United States." *snip* According to the note obtained by NBC News, a "recently discovered audio recording of al-Qa‘ida training sessions conducted several years ago provides instruction to potential suicide terrorists on...

FBI Warns of Potential Terror Attacks The FBI and Department of Homeland Security today issued an analytical "note" to U.S. law-enforcement officials cautioning that al-Qaida terrorists have in the past expressed interest in attacking public buildings using a dozen suicide bombers each carrying 20 kilograms of explosives. Authors with the U.S. Office of Intelligence and Analysis added that they have "no credible or specific information that terrorists are planning operations against public buildings in the United States." The FBI and DHS analysts said they were releasing the note because "it is important for local authorities and building owners and...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2008 – Coalition forces captured 10 suspected terrorists in northern and central Iraq today as they continued to disrupt al-Qaida in Iraq networks, military officials reported. Coalition forces targeted an alleged terrorist courier believed to have ties to regional al-Qaida in Iraq leaders during an operation near Sharqat, about 55 miles south of Mosul, officials said. Three suspects believed to be associates of the wanted man also were detained during the operation. Two coordinated coalition operations in Fallujah, about 35 miles west of Baghdad, targeted the city's al-Qaida in Iraq car- and roadside-bomb networks, officials said. Seven...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2008 – Violent attacks in northern Iraq have dropped by 60 percent in the past year, and progress in the region has left the insurgency broken, a senior commander in the area said today. “Our assessment is that the insurgency has become fractured, certainly still capable and lethal, and they are increasingly relying on intimidation to garner support from local populace,” said Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, commander of Multinational Division North. Hertling briefed Pentagon reporters via satellite from Contingency Operating Base Spiker outside of Tikrit, Iraq. Coalition forces working alongside improved Iraqi security forces have...

Taliban leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country's bloody conflict -- and are severing their ties with al Qaeda, sources close to the historic discussions have told CNN. The militia, which has been intensifying its attacks on the U.S.-led coalition that toppled it from power in 2001 for harboring Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, has been involved four days of talks hosted by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, says the source. The talks -- the first of their kind aimed at resolving the lengthy conflict in Afghanistan -- mark a significant move by the Saudi...

Our moves in Pakistan are killing them. We're winning. Don't let up!!

The U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, stated this week more troops and economic aid were needed “as quickly as possible” for the seven-year-old counterinsurgency battle. The core of McKiernan’s military aid request is four more combat brigades and helicopters, indicating Afghanistan will have a “surge” of its own.

Taliban ‘upset’ at missile hit Monday, October 06, 2008 DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The Taliban are unusually angry about the latest suspected US missile strike in Pakistan, indicating that a top militant may have died, officials and residents said on Sunday as the death toll from the attack rose to 24. Several Arab militants were said to be among the dead in Friday's strike in North Waziristan. Two Pakistani intelligence officials said that over the weekend two people wounded in the attack died at a hospital in Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan. The officials, who spoke on condition of...

(CBS) Shortly after 9/11, the Pentagon ordered a top secret team of American commandos into Afghanistan with a single, simple order: kill Osama bin Laden. It was America's best chance to eliminate the leader of al Qaeda. The inside story of exactly what happened in that mission, and how close it came to its objective has never been told until now.

As Mrs. Palin pointed out, when it comes to foreign policy, the Obama-Biden team is backward looking. It continues to view international issues through the prism of opposition to George W. Bush. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Obama-Biden's continuing assertions that the Iraq war was a mistake, from beginning to the end, and that, at best, it constituted an irrelevant distraction from the combat that really matters -- in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden himself called Iraq the "central front" in his fight against the United States. Thousands of jihadists operated in Iraq where, with the help of Sen....

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2008 – Coalition forces killed five enemy fighters in operations Oct. 3, targeting al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorist networks in eastern Afghanistan. Coalition forces targeted a Taliban sub-commander in Andar district who is known to plan and coordinate bombing attacks in Ghazni province. He is also wanted for helping move foreign fighters into Afghanistan. In Ghazni, coalition forces killed two armed militants. Coalition forces found several AK-47s and bomb-making materials at the compound. In Konar, coalition forces called in air strikes on several enemy fighters as they approached a U.S. base. Three armed militants were killed. Forces searched...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2008 – A terrorist detonated a suicide vest Oct. 5 in Mosul as coalition forces were trying to capture a wanted man. Coaliton forces entered a building looking for the man and were shot at by enemy fighters. One man in the building detonated the vest he was wearing. No coalition force injuries were reported. Five suspected terrorists, along with three women and three children, were killed. Forces searched the building and found a weapons cache holding various small arms weapons and explosives. In other operations today, forces near Baghdad captured two wanted men and detained two...

Senator Obama's campaign made fun of John McCain for not using email (and by implication, for not knowing how to use a computer). After the most recent debate, I think Obama may not know how to use one, either. I remain undecided about the best way to stay informed about current events. I still like newspapers and cable television, but I also learn a lot from Internet news sites, even e-mail. Running for president is a busy job, but it seems that there should be time for flipping open the old laptop occasionally. If Senator Obama had done so, he...

During the first Presidential debate in Mississippi Senator Obama claimed that “...al Qaeda is resurgent, stronger now than at any time since 2001.” By what measures has the Senator come to this conclusion? Let's look at this question. The terrorist organization has been unable to launch a single terrorist attack in the United States in seven years. But that doesn't tell the entire story. Prior to 9/11, al Qaeda had ties to the previous 1993 bombing of the WTC (it is arguable whether al Qaeda was directly involved with that attack or came together with the perpetrators later, although I...

Adam Gadahn, the former Orange County, Calif., resident who's become known as al Qaeda's media director, resurfaced in a new video released on the Web today after nearly nine months of silence. Looking thin but healthy, the young al Qaeda spokesman lashed out against escalating U.S. and Pakistani air strikes in tribal regions, where he and other top al Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding. The tape appeared to be recently recorded, as Gadahn pointedly spoke about America's financial crisis, referring to "the escalating chaos and looming meltdown threatening the crusaders' economic system." He references the current economic crisis...

CAIRO, Egypt — An American member of Al Qaeda pointed to economic troubles in the United States as proof that "the enemies of Islam" face defeat, in an English-language video released Saturday. In a half hour video message, California-native Adam Gadahn urged Pakistanis to unite against their government and U.S. forces, and taunted Americans over their economic crisis, relating it to their military interventions. "The enemies of Islam are facing a crushing defeat, which is beginning to manifest itself in the expanding crisis their economy is experiencing," said Gadahn, in a clip of the message distributed by the SITE Intelligence...

Authorities busting a suspected ID thief in Brooklyn stumbled upon a possible terrorist nest full of al Qaeda news clippings, chemical manuals and weapons literature, sources told The Post yesterday. Cops made the disturbing find Thursday evening after a landlord found the photocopied IDs inside the apartment of a former tenant on Classon Avenue in Prospect Heights and dialed 311.

"The enemies of Islam are facing a crushing defeat, which is beginning to manifest itself in the expanding crisis their economy is experiencing," said Gadahn, in a clip of the message distributed by the SITE Intelligence Group, a Washington-based monitor of militant Web sites. "A crisis whose primary cause, in addition to the abortive and unsustainable crusades they are waging in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, is their turning their backs on Allah's revealed laws, which forbid interest-bearing transactions, exploitation, greed and injustice in all its forms." Gadahn, 29, grew up in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles. He was indicted...

http://experimentumcrucis.blogspot.com/2008/10/al-qaeda-weighs-in-on-our-policies-in.html

Howie just posted that a Al Qaeda tape is out featuring Adam Gadahn...it is recent as it mentions the resignation of Mushy and the new Pakistani leader Zardari. Link Jawa Report

U.S.-led forces said they shot dead a leader of al Qaeda in Iraq on Friday who was the mastermind behind a series of deadly recent bombings in Baghdad. A spokesman for coalition forces said Mahir Ahmad Mahmud Judu' al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami, had been al Qaeda in Iraq's "emir" of the Rusafa neighborhood of the capital.

BAGHDAD – The legacy leader of one of al-Qaeda in Iraq’s Baghdad networks who was the mastermind behind some of the city’s recent bombings was killed by Coalition forces Friday.Mahir Ahmad Mahmud Judu’ al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami, is believed to be the AQI “emir” of the Rusafa neighborhood of Baghdad. He exercised a degree of control over terrorist operations in other districts as well. Coalition forces were led to a building in Baghdad’s Adhamiya neighborhood Friday after intelligence reports indicated Abu Rami was there. Upon arriving at the building, Coalition forces surrounded it and called...

Finding that a Yemeni cleric and his assistant had been deprived of a fair trial because of errors by the presiding judge, a federal appeals panel in New York on Thursday overturned their convictions in a prominent terrorism case once hailed by the Bush administration as a significant blow to Al Qaeda. The appeals court judges found that the defendants, Sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad and his aide, Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed, did not receive a fair trial because the trial judge, Sterling Johnson Jr., allowed the jury to hear inflammatory testimony and other evidence that prejudiced the defendants’ case.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2008 – With terrorists on the run and violence down, coalition forces are now also able to concentrate on areas other than the battlefield, thanks to the improvement of the Iraqi security forces, a military official said yesterday. Al Qaeda insurgents are “in disarray” and attacks are down 80 percent since June of last year, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, chief of staff of Multinational Corps Iraq told bloggers during a teleconference from Iraq. “The corps and our major commands have driven violence down to four-year lows and secured the Iraqi population in the process,”...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2008 – Coalition forces yesterday captured five suspected Iranian-backed illegal militia members during an operation in Baghdad's Rusafa neighborhood, military officials reported. Based on intelligence information, coalition forces targeted a suspected senior leader believed to be involved in smuggling Iranian-supplied lethal aid into Iraq. He is believed to be a key facilitator in planning and conducting attacks on Iraqi and coalition forces, officials said. Coalition forces detained the wanted man and four other suspects without incident, they said. According to intelligence assessments, the group receives funding, training, weapons and direction from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force,...

AMARAH — Soldiers of the 38th Iraqi Army Brigade and the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division completed their second combined tactical air insertion, Sept. 28. “Today was a good operation, and we look forward to visiting these areas again in the future,” said Josim Soban, assigned to the 38th IA Bde. The 38th IA is focused on reaching the tribal villages in some of the more remote areas of the Maysan province. The ability to move by air allows the Soldiers to search areas seldom patrolled by Coalition forces. The battalion, which has...

US air strikes have killed at least 20 people including suspected foreign militants close to Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, reports say.

Please, forgive me for presenting this article with my highlights. (I could highlight everything actually). I knew I like Michael Totten, but in this article he exceeded my high expectations. Follow the link to the original to bypass my highlights. Senator Barack Obama said something at the presidential debate last week that almost perfectly encapsulates the difference between his foreign policy and his opponent’s: “Secretary of Defense Robert Gates himself acknowledges the war on terrorism started in Afghanistan and it needs to end there.” I don’t know if Obama paraphrased Gates correctly, but if so, they’re both wrong.If Afghanistan were...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2008 – Coalition forces in Iraq captured seven terrorism suspects, including two wanted men, in operations today, military officials reported. Coalition forces, acting on tips from individuals already in custody, captured a wanted man and two additional suspects in Mosul. The wanted man is believed to be developing technology to impede coalition forces' ability to detect car bombs and other improvised explosive devices, officials said. Intelligence reports also suggest that the man is using his business as a cover for al-Qaida money-laundering activities. In Baghdad, coalition forces captured another wanted man believed to provide a hideout for...

During last Friday’s debate, John McCain – whose performance was otherwise very strong – failed to debunk the falsest charge of the evening. According to Obama, “from a strategic national security perspective, Al Qaeda is resurgent, stronger now than at any time since 2001.” This is the one meme of the anti-war left that the success of the surge has most decisively put to rest. But after the debate – and after eight years of an administration that long ago stopped trying to defend its policies in Iraq – the prospect that McCain will more competently ward off critics is...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2008 – The war against radical Islamists operating in Afghanistan will be won, despite the challenges, the senior U.S. military officer posted there said today. “I am more convinced than ever that the insurgency will not win in Afghanistan,” Army Gen. David D. McKiernan, commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force for the past four months, told Pentagon reporters. McKiernan replaced Army Gen. Dan K. McNeill. McKiernan is in Washington to meet with President Bush, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and other senior civilian and military leaders. The White House is conducting a governmentwide review of Afghanistan...

BAGHDAD, Oct. 1, 2008 – Coalition troops today and yesterday captured two wanted men and four others suspected of aiding al-Qaida in Iraq in Mosul and Baghdad, military officials reported. The captures marked two days of operations to break up the leadership of al-Qaida in and around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Today, coalition troops detained two suspects during an operation targeting a wanted man believed to be associated with Mosul’s al-Qaida in Iraq leaders. Coalition forces operating yesterday in the Jazeera Desert west of Qayyarah, about 38 miles south of Mosul, captured a wanted man believed to have...

LONDON — A second-hand camera sold on eBay by a top MI6 agent held secret records used in the fight against Al Qaeda terrorists. Names, snaps, fingerprints and suspects’ academic records were found in the memory of the digital device. Alongside them were photos of rocket launchers and missiles which spooks believe Iran is supplying to Usama Bin Laden’s henchmen in Iraq. And a hand-drawn graphic revealed links between active Al Qaeda cells — with terrorists’ names and occupations. Meanwhile a document marked "top secret" detailed the encrypted computer system used by real-life James Bonds working away from MI6’s London...

LONDON - Britain's MI6 intelligence service is investigating how a camera holding sensitive information about al-Qaida suspects came to be lost by one of its agents and then sold on eBay, police said on Tuesday.

Today we look at the latest moves from Al Qaeda, Pakistan sacks its Pro-Taliban ISI boss and finally a look at the role that Sharia Banking may be playing in the home mortgage crisis in America. That plus the latest in the Somalia Piracy Case, including the latest in the mysterious Iranian frigate-- does it have a nuke on board, plus the latest from the world of transnational gangs and Border Security. Running time 60 Minutes.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2008 – Coalition forces captured three wanted men and detained eight additional suspected terrorists yesterday and today during operations targeting al-Qaida in Iraq in and around Baghdad and Mosul, military officials reported. Southeast of Mosul yesterday, coalition forces targeting al-Qaida communication networks captured one wanted man believed to be a courier for the terrorist organization. The man, who identified himself to coalition forces during the operation, is also believed to have connections to al-Qaida communication lines coming out of Mosul. Today in Mosul, a coalition force operation targeting a wanted man believed to be a foreign terrorist...

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) - A missile strike by a suspected US spy drone hit a house in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan, killing at least four people and wounding nine, security officials said Wednesday. The attack is the latest in a string of incidents on the rugged frontier that have raised tensions between Islamabad and Washington, including a clash between Pakistani troops and US-led forces in Afghanistan. It happened shortly after Pashtun tribesmen shot at three drones circling the village of Khusali Toorikhel in North Waziristan, a known haunt of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants. "After the drones came under...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's army chief named a general considered a hawk in the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban to head the country's powerful spy agency, asserting his control at a time of U.S. concern that rogue operatives are aiding Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha oversaw military offensives against militants in the lawless border regions with Afghanistan in his most recent job as director general of military operations. His appointment as head of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, the country's main spy agency, was part of a broader shake-up of army top brass announced...

As the Taliban and al Qaeda insurgency rages in northwestern Pakistan, the Pakistani government has stepped up its efforts to engage the local tribes to battle the extremists. The effort to gain the support of the Pashtu tribes in northwestern Pakistan was highlighted when General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, the Chief of Staff of the Pakistani Army visited the Bajaur tribal agency, where a two-month old offensive against the Taliban is still underway. Kiyani "expressed his satisfaction that local tribesmen have risen against miscreants and are fully supporting the Army," Geo TV reported. Miscreant is a term often used by Pakistanis...

This show is so good, it will be a best of. We visit with Bill Roggio at Long War Journal.Org. He breaks down the latest on 100k taliban fighters in Pakistan. Brett also talks about the Somalia Piracy Problem and the latest threats against Kylie Minogue in Dubai. Email the show at CovertRadio@GMAIL.Com.

BAGHDAD, Sept. 29, 2008 – Five wanted men and two additional suspects were detained during coalition operations targeting al-Qaida in Iraq bomb networks and foreign terrorist cells in and around the Iraqi capital today, military officials reported. Coalition forces operating near Mahmudiyah, about 17 miles south of Baghdad, captured one wanted man believed to be a member of the area's al-Qaida in Iraq foreign terrorist cell. The man, who identified himself to coalition forces, also is believed to have links to other cells in the region and may have connections to terrorists outside of Iraq, officials said. In Baghdad, forces...

As Pakistani investigators hunt the terrorists behind the massive Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad, FBI agents in the U.S. have begun aggressively hunting for Americans who have recently returned from trips to Pakistan where they may have trained at al-Qaida camps, WND has learned. A coast-to-coast dragnet has been launched partly in response to leads developed in the arrest of one of al-Qaida's "fixers" in the U.S., say FBI officials. They report the bureau is in a race against time to identify Pakistan-trained sleeper cells and disrupt a possible pre-election "October surprise." For the first time since 9/11, counterterrorism field...

When Osama bin Laden declared war on the United States in al-Qaeda's name in the late summer of 1996, he outlined ambitious worldwide Islamist goals but noted that al-Qaeda could not accomplish them on its own. He said that al-Qaeda could, at best, serve as the vanguard that would attack the United States, assist Muslim insurgencies around the world and generally try to incite Muslims to join the jihad against the United States, Israel and the police states that govern much of the Arab and Muslim world. At the time, Bin Laden was very clear in saying that the ultimate...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2008 – Coalition and Iraqi forces continue their relentless assault on al-Qaida in Iraq and “special groups” criminals with targeted raids that get these terrorists off the streets. Even as violence trends downward – Iraq has the fewest violent incidents since early 2004 – coalition and Iraqi forces are keeping the pressure on insurgent groups. Operations this weekend targeted terrorists in the north and around Baghdad. In the north, coalition and Iraqi forces detained 12 suspected al-Qaida terrorists in five coordinated operations in Mosul and nearby Al Qasr. Forces zeroed in on al-Qaida car bomb networks yesterday,...

Karachi, 26 Sept. (AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - A militant Al-Qaeda satellite cell linked to Pakistan's top Taliban commander, Baitullah Mehsud, and other jihadi organisations was targeted in a major raid by security forces in Karachi on Friday. Three key militants died during the raid on the cell, which was allegedly planning a campaign of destruction. Their targets are believed to have included the bureau of the country's intelligence services (ISI), NATO supply lines from two Karachi ports and anti-Taliban politicians. The satellite cell had direct links to Baitullah Mehsud and Qari Zafar, the alleged mastermind of the...

Washington, Sept 27: A top US defence official has reportedly claimed that Pakistan had reassured him that its troops had no intention of using force against the US troops along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. "I've been given assurance by the senior military leadership in Pakistan that there is certainly no intent or plan to fire on (US) forces," said Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Addressing a Pentagon news conference, he said that he received the reassurance last week during a visit to Pakistan, reported The News. He said that he had no reason to believe that...

Kuwait's interior minister urged Iran in remarks published on Saturday not to provide a safe haven for "terrorists" but said there was no proof of claims that Tehran has sleeper cells in his country. "Iran should not serve as a haven for, or bankroller of, terror," Sheikh Jaber Khaled al-Sabah was quoted as telling the Saudi daily Okaz. It said Sheikh Jaber called on Iran "not to harbour terrorists from Al-Qaeda and not to serve as a launchpad or safe passage for terrorists."

This was the scene yesterday in the Bajaur tribal region, as it has been for much of the past six weeks. Bajaur, which borders southeastern Afghanistan, is a main operating base for al-Qaeda and the Taleban; Pakistani intelligence believes that Ayman al-Zawahri, the second-in-command of al-Qaeda, has been a visitor. Now it is the venue for the fiercest battle between Pakistani military and Islamic fighters since Pakistan joined the US War on Terror in 2001. More than 8,000 Pakistani troops have been involved in the six-week campaign. The generals claimed yesterday to have killed 1,000 militants so far – yet...

KARACHI (Reuters) - Three Islamist militants who were planning an attack in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, blew themselves up Friday when police raided their hideout, killing a hostage they had been holding for several months, police said. < snip > The raid in Karachi followed a tip-off from a suspect arrested earlier, said city police chief Waseem Ahmed. "Police raided the house and had an exchange of fire with the militants there. When the militants ran out of ammunition, they blew themselves up. The house collapsed," Ahmed told Geo Television. "They were planning a terror attack in Karachi," he said....