Free Republic

The State Department official who issued visas to many of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists is still employed by the federal government, according to J. Michael Springmann, the author of Visas for al-Qaeda: CIA Handouts That Rocked the World. Springmann, former head of the visa section at the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, told PJM that Shayna Steinger approved 11 of the visas granted to the 19 9/11 hijackers. Fifteen received their visas at the Jeddah consulate. Page 7 of the 9/11 Commission report states that “one consular officer issued visas to 11 of the 19 hijackers.” Those visas...

Hillary Clinton claimed surprising ignorance of a bill she should be intimately acquainted with as a former secretary of state and New York senator. ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos brought up the legislation introduced by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, which would allow 9/11 victims to sue state sponsors of terror for the attack that took nearly 3,000 lives in 2001. "Your senior senator here in New York, Chuck Schumer has sponsored a bill backed by the 9/11 families that would give them the right to sue state sponsors of terror in federal court," he said Sunday on "This Week." "Now,...

Everyone wants a piece of Djibouti. It’s all about the bases. ... the New Jersey-sized nation. Yet its quiet stability within the volatile Horn of Africa has made the country of just 875,000 people a hub for the world’s superpowers. ... The stars and stripes flutters alongside the runway where military and passenger planes touch down: Camp Lemmonier, America’s only permanent military base in Africa, hosts 4,500 troops and contractors who conduct missions against al-Qaeda in Yemen and al-Shabab in Somalia. The outpost, leased for $60m a year, shares an airstrip with the international airport, ... Djibouti also hosts France’s...

A resurgent al-Qaeda is “very active” and poses a “big threat” to Afghanistan, the country’s acting defense minister told CNN. “They are really very active. They are working in quiet and reorganizing themselves and preparing themselves for bigger attacks,” declared Afghan Defense Minister Masoom Stanikzai. “They are working behind other networks, giving them support and the experience they had in different places. And double their resources and recruitment and other things. That is how — they are not talking too much,” he added. “They are not making press statements. It is a big threat.” ***snip**** “The Afghan militant group was...

Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent took credit for the brutal murder of a critic of Islam, detailing his secular "crimes" in a statement warning that the assassinations will continue.Nazimuddin Samad, 28, a law student at Jagannath University, was walking down a Dhaka street with a friend on Wednesday evening when a trio of men approached on a motorbike and attacked him with machetes, police said. As Samad lay on the ground, his attackers shot him before fleeing.Police said witnesses reported hearing the killers shout "Allahu Akbar." They said Samad had recently moved to Dhaka to begin his law studies, and...

Arms dealer .. Omar Khalif Mohammed Abu Baker Mahjour Umar. Yes he's got a lot of names. Also a longtime associate of Osama bin Laden who helped establish training camps for Al Qaeda after the US bombed them. He served as an explosives and weapons trainer at terrorist training camps. And commanded a training camp. He was an arms dealer who worked with Osama bin Laden and plotted to carry out IED attacks against US forces. He also has ties to Zawahiri and the mastermind of the USS Cole Bombing. He's listed as posing a high risk to the US...

Khaled al-Hamad (????-2016) was tragically killed in the Syrian Civil War. Al-Hamad was known as a devoted father, husband and cannibal. He fought for truth, justice and an Islamic State that would behead infidels, cover women and eat body parts. A passionate rebel,. Khaled, also known as Abu Sakkar, came to the world's attention when he passionately ate a heart or possibly a lung on camera. Syrian rebel commander Abu Sakkar has said he has no regrets about cutting open the body of an enemy soldier and taking a bite out of his internal organs. In the video, Sakkar, identified...

The American government has released two prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, the high profile anti-terrorism prison in Cuba, the Defense Department confirmed on Monday. The two Libyans, formerly explosives experts for al-Qaeda, were transferred to Senegal. Salem Abdu Salam Ghereby is thought to have fought in Afghanistan against coalition forces at Usama bin Laden’s Tora Bora “and was associated with senior members of al-Qaeda.” In 2008, Omar Khalif Mohammed Abu Baker Mahjour Umar was judged likely to “immediately seek out prior associates and reengage in hostilities and extremist support activities.” …

U.S. President Barack Obama urged world leaders on Friday to do more to safeguard vulnerable nuclear facilities to prevent “madmen” from groups like Islamic State from getting their hands on an atomic weapon or a radioactive “dirty bomb.” Speaking at a nuclear security summit in Washington, Obama said the world faced a persistent and evolving threat of nuclear terrorism despite progress in reducing such risks. “We cannot be complacent,” he said. Obama said no group had succeeded in obtaining bomb materials but that al Qaeda had long sought them, and he cited actions by Islamic State militants behind recent attacks...

President Barack Obama is acknowledging that “civilians have been killed that shouldn’t have been” in past U.S. drone strikes, but says the administration is now “very cautious” about taking strikes where women or children are present. […] He says the U.S. has to take responsibility when it is not acting appropriately. …

The French are slowly waking up from their denial. At some point America will come to a crossroads on this same issue. If a mosque is found to be involved in material support for terrorism in the US, it should NOT be protected by the 1st amendment of our constitution. And make no mistake, it is in fact in the mosques that recruitment and organization for Jihad is occurring. Despite what the so-called mainstream media’s narrative claims–namely that “radicalization” occurs simply over the internet and social media–an honest review of history indicates that it is mosques that serve as the...

Achin’s district governor is at war with an old friend from Guantanamo Bay. It is nearly breakfast time in the governmental office of the Achin district, in the far east of Nangarhar province. The road from Jalalabad, the provincial capital, is a Mediterranean landscape interrupted by mud-brick fortresses topped by an Afghan flag. Less than two months ago, these very check points were constantly attacked by the Islamic State of Khorasan, the South Asian branch of the Iraq and Syria-based group. Their aim is to conquer Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Central Asia countries. Haji Ghalib Mujahid, the district governor, was...

The Brussels terrorist attacks, savage evidence of terrorism’s continuing global threat, will inevitably cause political turmoil across Europe and America. On both sides of the Atlantic, rising sentiment against indiscriminately accepting migrants from the chaotic Middle East is already a potent force. Britain’s June referendum on whether to stay in the European Union and our November presidential election pose critical tests about what voters actually want. The Brussels carnage, added to the devastating January and November 2015 Paris attacks, the December San Bernardino massacre and the spreading threats of ISIS, Boko Haram, al Qaeda and the Taliban, are combining to...

The Guantanamo Bay detainee who U.S. authorities say is responsible for killing Americans was released during President George W. Bush’s time in office, according to a senior Obama administration official. “Less than five percent of detainees released since January 2009 are confirmed of re-engaging in terrorism and, of those, none are assessed to have killed Americans,” the official told the Washington Examiner. […] Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said the “clear admission” by the Obama administration of the killings shows that the president’s efforts to close the facility are “detrimental to our security.” …

Obama administration officials say fewer prisoners released from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are returning to the fight than before. But they acknowledged during congressional testimony Wednesday that Americans have been killed by released Guantanamo detainees. […] Their remarks triggered criticism from Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee over Obama’s intent to close the facility and house the remaining prisoners elsewhere. …

A coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia is fighting alongside al-Qaeda militants against Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to a report. A BBC documentary crew has filmed jihadists and pro-government militiamen fighting rebels near the southern city of Taiz, supported by UAE soldiers (bold emphasis mine)

A federal judge in New York ruled last week that the Iranian regime is liable for damages in the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. The ruling by George Benjamin Daniels, Judge of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, ordered Iran to pay almost $11 billion in compensation to families of victims killed on 9/11 and to insurance companies who covered those suffering damages in the attack. The Iranian government failed to defend itself in the lawsuit, and the ruling is a default judgment. According to court documents publicized by Asharq al-Awsat, a London-based Arabic-language newspaper,...

This is a video of Malcolm Nance discussing his book 'Defeating ISIS'. "U.S. Strategy Against ISIS: Malcolm Nance talks about his book, Defeating ISIS: Who They Are, How they Fight, What They Believe, which examines the Islamic State’s (ISIS/ISIL) evolution and tactics, as well as possible strategies to defeat the militant group." "Malcolm W. Nance was a career counterterrorism and intelligence officer for the U.S. government’s Special Operations, Homeland Security, and Intelligence agencies, with over 33 years of experience in combatting radical extremism. An honorably retired U.S. Navy Arabic-speaking intelligence collections operator, field interrogator, Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape specialist...

Al-Qaeda militants swept through a rebel-held town in northern Syria in a display of dominance Sunday, arresting U.S.-backed fighters and looting weapons stores belonging to the Free Syrian Army. The militants belonging to the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front along with allied jihadists have been moving to exert their authority over rebel-held areas in Idlib province since a partial ceasefire to the country’s five-year conflict took effect two weeks ago, extinguishing patriotic demonstrations and sidelining nationalist militias. …

Have you no shame, Hillary Clinton? In a stunning display of callous indifference to the casualties of her incompetent foreign policy as Secretary of State, the woman who claimed to have dodged sniper fire in Bosnia, in Wednesday’s CNN debate in effect called Patricia Smith, mother of Benghazi casualty Sean Smith, a liar. As Breitbart News reported the exchange: RAMOS:  Secretary Clinton, on the night of the attacks in Benghazi, you sent an e-mail to your daughter Chelsea saying that al qaeda was responsible for the killing of the Americans, however some of the families claim you lied to...