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BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a newspaper interview Saturday he won't step down before elections and that the United States has no right to interfere in his country's politics, raising new doubts about a U.S-Russian effort to get Assad and his opponents to negotiate an end to the country's civil war. In the capital Damascus, a car bomb killed at least three people and wounded five, according to Syrian state TV. It said bomb experts dismantled other explosives in the area. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said eight people were killed,...

Former hostage ‘spared after he recited verses from Quran’. Vienna: An Austrian man held hostage for five months in Yemen said he was kept in permanent darkness in a room too small to stand up in and was forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint. At one point, Dominik Neubaur told Austrian magazine News, he was taken out for what he thought would be his execution — but believed he was spared after he recited verses from the Quran. “I heard a weapon being loaded and felt its muzzle on the back of my head,” he said his first interview...

SNIPPET: "A genuinely inspiring issue of AQAP's flagship English language publication. This is what pages 1, 2, & 3 look like:" SNIPPET: "The remaining pages were rendered intentionally blank by person or persons unknown."

No media vehicle has proven more potent for the spread of radical teachings of "Islamic Holy War" than the Internet. And Al-Qaeda knows it. In fact, one of the 39 principles of Al-Qaeda's Jihad, which has recently been exposed in a private study by Israeli researcher Col. Jonathan D. Halevi, explicitly illustrates a how-to chapter on Performing Electronic Jihad. These people are not riding donkeys, rather these 21st century Jihadists have their fingers dancing on computer keyboards across the globe. From the thousands of Islamic and Arabic Websites riding ISDN and ADSL, Halevi found the proverbial terror manual needle in...

“You’ll have to take my word for it,” said a spokesperson for the most transparent administration in history when reporters asked her to substantiate her claim that the CIA removed references to terrorists from the Benghazi talking points before the State Department ever saw them. “If you look at the talking points and the train of that, the reference to al Qaeda was taken out even before the State Department saw the talking points,” Jen Psaki, former traveling campaign press secretary for the Obama team in 2012, told reporters during the State Department press briefing Monday.

Iran has given the go-ahead to operatives of three terrorist groups that have infiltrated the United States to carry out missions, including what is expected to be a Mumbai-style attack on a hotel where innocent bystanders would be killed, WND has learned. A full report with many details of the missions has been passed on to U.S. officials. Three targets have been chosen within America for imminent attack, and the terror teams have now cut communications with the operational center in Iran, a sign that they are moving ahead with the attacks, according to a high-level intelligence officer within the...

<p>Looks Like DOJ HAS BEEN TAPPING AP NEWS TELEPHONE LINES TO DISCOVER THEIR CONFIDENTIAL SOURCES IN CONGRESS!</p> <p>The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news.</p>

May 12, 2013 Watch out for Petraeus in Benghazi scandal Joseph Curl EXCERPT: Carnival barker Jay Carney looked almost ashen Friday as he took the podium to face a suddenly invigorated press corps. Of course, the public briefing came after a private session with “reporters who matter,” a sure sign the White House is in full hunker-down mode — and, more precisely, terrified. Speaking for the White House, the flack said the CIA was fully to blame for the talking points. Fully. “That is what was generated by the intelligence community, by the CIA,” he said. For the record, this...

More glorious fruit of the Arab Spring. "3 Arrested in Plot to Bomb Egyptian Cities and Embassy," by Ben Hubbard in the New York Times, May 11 (thanks to Kenneth): CAIRO — Egyptian security forces have arrested three militants with ties to Al Qaeda who were planning terrorist attacks in Egyptian cities and against a foreign embassy, the interior minister said Saturday. A Western official said the Egyptians had privately identified the embassy as the United States Embassy in Cairo. Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said at a news conference that the suspects had been arrested with 22 pounds of explosive...

For the last 8 months, many news organizations have looked very casually (to put it lightly) on the Benghazi story…some journalists and news organizations have even been highly critical of those journalists or news organizations who dared to think the American people were not getting the whole story (yes, Fox News has been the subject of some sneering but we can take it …. we are big boys and big girls…and more importantly, we are also not afraid of what the media clique says about us. We do our job.) I don’t know what will shake out when we finally...

Terrorists aren’t supposed to get visas. But Hani Nour Eldin was apparently invited to D.C. this week to meet with top officials. Did no one Google him? It was supposed to be a routine meeting for Egyptian legislators in Washington, an opportunity for senior Obama administration officials to meet with new members of Egypt’s parliament and exchange ideas on the future of relations between the two countries. Instead, the visit this week looks like it’s turning into a political fiasco. Included in the delegation of Egyptian lawmakers was Hani Nour Eldin, who, in addition to being a newly elected member...

'If we're going to get a grip on this, we have to know their narrative and understand it' A noted specialist on Islamic law and ideology from the Center for Security Policy, who has been cited as an expert for the Pentagon, says a coalition of Islamists and Marxists is working to destroy the United States. The comments come from Stephen Coughlin, a lecturer for leading Department of Defense institutions such as the Naval War College, Marine Corps HQ-Quantico and for the FBI. Coughlin is a retired major in the U.S. Army reserves and was assigned to USCENTCOM, with a...

TEL AVIV – There is a common threat that links the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi attack to both the Boston Marathon bombings and the terror assault on the In Amenas gas facility in southern Algeria in January. The thread runs through al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, one of the most deadly members of the al-Qaida conglomerate. AQAP previously attempted several major attacks within the U.S. The group was the first al-Qaida member to comment on the Benghazi attack, releasing a statement arguing the assaults on the U.S. mission and nearby CIA annex were revenge for the death of...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com - Obama’s Benghazi PropagandistPosted By Matthew Vadum On May 8, 2013 @ 12:56 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 4 Comments A young White House speechwriter may be responsible for concocting the official lies about last September’s deadly terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.The Obama administration’s rapidly unravelling narrative about what happened at the U.S. consulate in Libya’s second-largest city may have been cooked up by creative writer Ben Rhodes, the president’s 30-something Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting.The origin of the administration’s desperate election-season fabrications may come up today as a congressional committee...

My iPhone buzzes on a regular basis with "news alerts" from Politico, The Hill and other sources. Politico provides breathless, this-cannot-wait-till-you-get-to-your desk "breaking news" sirens on every hiccup emanating from the White House. On April 22, for example, the news flash permitted me to learn without delay that "President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will on Thursday attend a memorial service for the victims of last week's explosion in West, Texas." When three career employees of the State Department announced their intention to testify before Congress -- contradicting the Obama administration's carefully constructed storyline about events in Benghazi,...

New evidence reveals the Obama administration’s version of the events that took place in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 was based on a tissue of lies. The Weekly Standard’s Steven Hayes has obtained a timeline and a series of emails revealing the self-serving efforts made by administration officials, who heavily edited CIA talking points about the attack that cost four Americans, including ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, their lives. Also revealed is who made the changes and why they made them. The revelations are part of a report published by the five Republican Committee chairmen that has been largely dismissed...

The deputy of slain U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens has told congressional investigators that a team of Special Forces prepared to fly from Tripoli to Benghazi during the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks was forbidden from doing so by U.S. Special Operations Command South Africa. The account from Gregory Hicks is in stark contrast to assertions from the Obama administration, which insisted that nobody was ever told to stand down and that all available resources were utilized. Hicks gave private testimony to congressional investigators last month in advance of his upcoming appearance at a congressional hearing Wednesday. According to excerpts released Monday,...

The Libyan militia group that the State Department hired to defend its embattled diplomatic mission in Benghazi had clear al-Qaida sympathies, and had prominently displayed the al-Qaida flag on a Facebook page for months before the deadly attack. That organization, the February 17th Martyrs Brigade, was paid by the U.S. government to provide security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. But there is no indication the Martyrs Brigade fulfilled its commitment to defend the mission on Sept. 11, when it came under attack.

TEL AVIV – Russia delivered to the Obama administration a list of the names of al-Qaida members among the Syrian rebels, who are receiving arms shipments coordinated by the U.S., according to informed Middle Eastern security officials. The list, the officials added, demonstrates the U.S. is failing to vet the rebels being supported by the West for ties to al-Qaida and other jihad groups. The information comes amid scores of news media reports that the Obama administration is aiding the rebels, including by coordinating Arab arms shipments. The arming of Syrian rebels is considered highly controversial. A major issue is...

SNIPPET: "Muslim convert Richard Dart declared “judging is only for Allah” and refused to stand in the dock as he was jailed for six years for terrorism yesterday." SNIPPET: "Mr Justice Simon said the three held “radical Islamist beliefs” and showed they were “committed to acts of terrorism”. Dart, 30, of Ealing, west London, was jailed for six years; Mahmood, 22, from Northolt, west London for nine years and nine months, and Alom, 26, of Stratford, east London, for four years and six months." SNIPPET: "Dart and Alom travelled to Pakistan to try to get terrorist training, and took advice...

Police in Canada said Monday that two men suspected of plotting to derail a passenger train were guided by Al Qaeda elements in Iran, but the statement surprised many experts who study terrorism in the Middle East and Iran. “It frankly doesn’t compute for me,” said Barbara Slavin, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. "If there is any link, I would think it was extremely tangential." Iran and Al Qaeda have frequently had chilly relations, according to Slavin and other experts. Iran is majority Shiite, while Al Qaeda is firmly Sunni. In Syria, Al Qaeda has jumped into the...

The kidnapping of the two Syrian Orthodox archbishops in Syria is an act of retaliation on the part of terrorist Chechen jihadists who are fighting with anti-Assad rebels over the killing of one of two Chechens responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings and the arrest of the other, by U.S. police forces, Turkish newspaper Sabah reported this morning. The two prelates, the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo, Yohanna Ibrabhim and the Greek Orthodox bishop Boulos Yaziji were taken hostage on Monday, 30 kilometres from the Turkish border, as they were returning by car to Aleppo. Their driver was killed by...

Bombing suspect reportedly a fan of al-Qaida magazine and Alex Jones website Videos on the Internet and an online jihadist magazine may have played a part in the Boston Marathon bombings suspects’ self-radicalization, according to reports. New accounts say the brothers learned how to build a bomb from the online magazine, Inspire, which gave instructions on how to make them with a pressure cooker. Pressure cooker bombs, authorities say, were used in the attacks at the Boston Marathon. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect, reportedly told investigators there was no foreign influence on him and his brother. But apparently the brothers...

The Muslim terrorist group Qa’adat el-Jihad claimed responsibility Saturday for a terrorist bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria. The bombing in Bulgaria last week killed five Israelis, one a pregnant woman. The Lebanese paper El-Nashra reported that the group, which has ties to Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility in an email to the Arab press.

<p>WASHINGTON – Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has called for jihadists in Syria to form an emirate there while militant Islamists associated with the Syrian opposition increasingly are getting money and weapons from the United States, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.</p>

SNIPPET: "Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics security will be beefed up following Boston Marathon explosions, officials say Russian sports officials said they will beef up security at forthcoming sports events and the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games in the wake of deadly explosions at Boston's marathon that killed three people, and injured over 140 others." "Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics security will be beefed up following Boston Marathon explosions, officials say" SNIPPET: "The World Athletics Championship takes place in Moscow on Aug 10-18, and the event is seen as a dress rehearsal for the 2014 Winter Games in the Black Sea resort...

An 18-year-old Aurora man was arrested Friday night before he tried making his way to Syria to join a ‘jihadist militant’ group, federal authorities said. Abdella Ahmad Tounisi was taken into custody without incident late Friday at O’Hare Airport by members of the Chicago FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force as he attempted to board a flight destined for Istanbul, Turkey, according to the FBI’s Chicago office. Tounisi, a U.S. citizen, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel G. Martin Saturday for allegedly attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He appeared on Saturday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Tounisi,...

Former Ptech Officer Arrested for SBA Loan Fraud Indictment Unsealed Charges Former Ptech President with Dealing in Assets of Specially Designated Global Terrorist BOSTON—A former resident of Somerville, Mass. who has been living in South Korea was arrested today after arriving at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. An indictment, originally returned on March 1, 2007, was unsealed today charging Buford George Peterson and Oussama Abdul Ziade, both former officers of Ptech, Inc., a computer software company that was principally located in Quincy, Mass., with making false statements to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in connection with a...

"Texas Congressman Says Terrorists Taught to 'Act' Hispanic To Enter U.S." SNIPPET: ""We know that Al Qaeda has camps over with the drug cartels on the other side of the Mexican border,” U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert said on C-SPAN. “We know that people are being trained to come in and act like they're Hispanic when they're radical Islamist."" SNIPPET: "Gohmert, who is vice chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, said during the interview that while the United States should continue welcoming immigrants, it also needs to be highly vigilant about its borders."

Iran has reportedly been training pro-government Syrian militia groups at a secret base inside Iranian borders. It is allegedly an “open secret” within the Syrian government that the Iranians are helping train at least 50,000 militiamen, although both governments have denied the allegations. A member of one of the pro-Assad militias said of the training that “it’s the same course Hezbollah operatives normally do…the course teaches you the important elements of guerrilla warfare, like several different ways to carry a rifle and shoot, and the best methods to prepare against surprise attacks.” Irregular militia groups have recently played a prominent...

(CNSNews.com) – Although no group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s deadly bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon, a leading al-Qaeda ideologue last year recommended that jihadists in America include sporting events in their list of prospective terror targets.

WASHINGTON — The coalition can still “win” in Afghanistan, but the U.S. must maintain a strong presence and commitment after 2014 to maintain stability in the region, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford told Senators on Tuesday. “From my perspective, winning is achievable,” Dunford, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Dunford, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, defined winning as completing the transition to an Afghan lead on security, supporting a democratic political process and denying al-Qaida sanctuary. “If we do those three things … I believe by the end of 2014,...

Mohammad al-Chalabi, the head of the extremist Jordanian Muslim Salafi group, said ‘Let the Americans feel the pain we endured by their armies occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and killing our people there.’ The group has not been linked to the attack. --snip-- “American blood isn’t more precious than Muslim blood,” said Mohammad al-Chalabi, who was convicted in an al-Qaida-linked plot to attack U.S. and other Western diplomatic missions in Jordan in 2003.....

Signs that Canadian citizens were involved in the attack by hostage-taking Islamist militants on a remote gas plant in Algeria are of great concern to American authorities, U.S. intelligence officials said on Thursday. While Algerian authorities apparently have not yet provided Western governments with cast-iron proof, a senior U.S. intelligence official said: “We’re taking very seriously the reports of the two Canadians’ involvement.” ... Confirmation that Canadian citizens were involved in the attack on the In Amenas facility in the Algerian desert would raise concerns about a worrying nexus between North America and North African militants. At least 38 plant...

War On Terrorism: We have a medal for those who remotely operate drones, but the Pentagon claims awarding the victims of the 2009 shooting with Purple Hearts would jeopardize the shooter's chance at a fair trial. We recently noted that the Obama administration's shameful designation of the Nov. 5, 2009, rampage at the Army base in Killeen, Texas, by Major Nidal Hasan as "workplace violence" had denied survivors benefits they would have been entitled to had the attack been properly labeled an act of terror. For example, Staff Sgt. Shawn Manning was shot six times but was denied benefits that...

The Western arms pipeline to the Syrian rebels fighting Bashar Assad is starting to run dry since the discovery that some of the weapons are being resold and used by al Qaeda in its conquest of southern Syrian and takeover of positions on the Jordanian and Israel borders. French President Francois Hollande for this reason reversed his government’s policy. “We will not do it [send the Syrian rebel arms] as long as we cannot be certain that there is complete control of the situation by the opposition,” he said Friday, March 29. That day too, Ankara announced that Turkish authorities...

Snippet: "An Orange County pharmacist who admitted to wiring $2,050 to Pakistan to be used to fund terrorist activities was sentenced Friday to five years in federal prison."

Republicans are blasting the Obama administration for detaining a Somali terror suspect for two months aboard a U.S. warship before flying him to New York over the July Fourth holiday to face charges in a civilian trial. Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, who has ties to the Al Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab, was captured April 19 in the Horn of Africa region, possibly in Yemen. At his arraignment in New York Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty to the nine charges he's been indicted on by a federal grand jury, including providing material support to a terrorist organization. "The Obama administration won't detain terrorists...

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Somalia's al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab rebels Saturday mocked a US offer of up to $33 million for information enabling the arrest of its top leaders, saying they would give 10 camels to anyone who helped locate President Barack Obama. The highest price put up by the US State Department on Thursday was for al Shabaab chief Ahmed Abdi aw-Mohamed -- more commonly known as Godane or Abu Zubayr -- with a $7 million bounty for information on where he is hiding. "I can assure you that these kind of things will never dissuade us from continuing the...

SNIPPET: "Harun, described as “a prototype al Qaeda operative,” was “arrested by Italian authorities on board a refugee ship and was indicted by the United States in February 2012. Italy extradited him to the United States on Oct. 4, 2012,” the Hill reported. Harun could face life in prison if convicted."

Osama bin Laden´s son-in-law has been captured and is in the hands of the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI, two administration officials said on Thursday. Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, was captured within the last week in Jordan, according to a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Peter King of New York. The lawmaker had been told of the capture by law enforcement officials. Congress was notified when Ghaith was taken into U.S. custody, the officials said.

SNIPPET: "Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has released the 10th edition of Inspire, its English language propaganda magazine that is marketed to Westerners. The magazine features an article by Adam Gadahn, the American traitor who works with al Qaeda's core leadership cadre in Pakistan." SNIPPET: "Gadahn also advises jihadists in the West to continue "direct engagement [attacks] at home and abroad with America and its NATO parents, particularly France and Britain."" SNIPPET: "Gadahn is believed to be based in Pakistan and is known to work with As Sahab, al Qaeda's primary propaganda production outfit. He also releases propaganda via...

SNIPPET: "Below is the full transcript of Adam Gadahn's latest tape, " A Call to Arms." Gadahn, al Qaeda's American-born spokesman, is thought to have been captured in Karachi on March 7, but there is much controversy over the reports." Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2010/03/transcript_of_adam_gadahns_a_c.php#ixzz0hZclnjoa

Saudi Officials Try To Shut Down Oregon Charity Group Owns Property In Ashland ASHLAND, Ore. -- The Saudi Arabian government is trying to shut down an Islamic charity with ties to Oregon and to terrorism. Al-Haramain runs a branch in Ashland and owns a house and acreage (pictured) in the Southern Oregon town. The FBI shut down the Ashland branch and seized evidence several months ago. The Oregon foundation is accused of laundering money from overseas and channeling it to terrorist groups. Al-Haramain still owns the Ashland property but cannot use it until the investigation is complete. The organization's president...

TIMBUKTU, Mali — One of the last things the bearded fighters did before leaving this city was to drive to the market where traders lay their carpets out in the sand. The al-Qaida extremists bypassed the brightly colored, high-end synthetic floor coverings and stopped their pickup truck in front of a man selling more modest mats woven from desert grass, priced at $1.40 apiece. There they bought two bales of 25 mats each, and asked him to bundle them on top of the car, along with a stack of sticks. "It's the first time someone has bought such a large...

Late last August, a 40-year-old cleric named Salem Ahmed bin Ali Jaber stood up to deliver a speech denouncing Al Qaeda in a village mosque in far eastern Yemen. It was a brave gesture by a father of seven who commanded great respect in the community, and it did not go unnoticed. Two days later, three members of Al Qaeda came to the mosque in the tiny village of Khashamir after 9 p.m., saying they merely wanted to talk. Mr. Jaber agreed to meet them, bringing his cousin Waleed Abdullah, a police officer, for protection. As the five men stood...

At least 12 men had hands or feet cut off after MUJAO (Movement for Jihad and Unity), and its allies in AQIM (al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb), took control of Gao last April. The exact number is not known because some were amputated in the military base... The mayor's office, a few yards from the punishment ground, was turned into a sharia court... Suspects were confined to a small room where they were tied up and beaten, before being brought before Islamic judges, known as marabous, who sat every Monday and Thursday. Ali Altini and Mohammed Aklini were due to...

Four years ago, as his first term began, President Barack Obama ditched the name Global War on Terror (GWOT). Instead of fighting Al-Qaida-inspired terrorism around the world, the U.S. would conduct "overseas contingency operations" (OCO). Obama's act of oratorical magic -- poof, the global war has ended -- became an awkward problem, however. Real world events subsequently demonstrated that the word "overseas" was at best misleading, if not outright wrong. Detroit, New York and Portland, Ore., certainly aren't overseas, yet militant Islamist-inspired terrorists tried (and fortunately failed) to bomb all three -- Detroit on Christmas 2009, New York's Times...

The Washington Post reports today that al Qaeda’s successful attack on the Algerian natural gas plant has greatly boosted al Qaeda’s prestige in Africa. Along the way, the Post notes rather casually: The assailants were well-trained and armed with what appear to have been weapons from the late Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s arsenal. The overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi has turned out to be a terrible blunder. It has empowered radical Muslims, led directly to the Benghazi debacle, and scattered Gaddafi’s armory among terrorist elements, including al Qaeda. There has been, of course, no accountability for the Libya decision, either with...

Andrew McCarthy: Don't think Obama will release him? Not so fast! An ugly and confusing terrorist attack at an Algerian gas facility is getting even more troubling as the Islamic radicals now demand the release of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and another prominent terrorist in exchange for the remaining American hostages. Abdel Rahman is the blind sheikh now serving a life sentence for masterminding the 1993 attack against the World Trade Center. Terrorists are also demanding the release of Aafia Saddiqui, who is imprisoned on her conviction for attempted murder. And the captors in Algeria are not the only ones...