Free Republic

US and Western European political leaders have begun to focus on Yemen as a source of projected instability and as a haven for jihadist terrorism against the West. This simplistic and overly narrow view has largely been a reaction to media reporting of the links of alleged (and unsuccessful) Nigerian-born terrorist bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to a radical Yemeni group, and to intense ongoing fighting between insurgents and Yemeni and Saudi government forces on the Yemen-Saudi border. The reality is far more complex and far-reaching. The situation has a long history which has been ignored — or which has lacked...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is prepared to accept some Taliban involvement in Afghanistan's political future and appears inclined to send only as many more U.S. troops to Afghanistan as are needed to keep al-Qaida at bay, a senior administration official said Thursday. The sharpened focus by Obama's team on fighting al-Qaida above all other goals, and downgrading the emphasis on the Taliban, comes as the administration is engaged in a methodical but intensely debated review of how to overhaul the increasingly unpopular eight-year-old war.

SNIPPET: "The leader of the al Qaeda-linked Chinese terror group has threatened to attack Chinese interests around the world to avenge the death of Uighurs in the eastern province of Xianjiang. Abdul Haq al Turkistani, the leader of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party, threatened to attack Chinese embassies worldwide as well as targets within the country. Haq made his threats on a video that was released on an Islamist Internet site." SNIPPET: "Haq, who is also known as Maimaitiming Maimaiti, became the leader of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party in late 2003 after Hassan Mahsum, the group’s previous leader, was...

MIAMI (AP) -- An uncooperative juror has been replaced on the panel in Miami deliberating the case of six men accused of plotting to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and attack FBI offices. . . . U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard said Tuesday the juror had violated her duty by refusing to deliberate and casting doubt on the law.

- Al-Qaida threats against the Dakar Rally and an attack in Mauritania forced organizers to cancel the annual race on Friday, the eve of the 5,760-mile trek across North African desert scrubland and savannah. It was the first time the automobile, motorbike and truck rally has been called off in its 30-year history. In a statement, organizers blamed "threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organizations." the Dec. 24 killings of a French family and international tensions. The race's central appeal—its course through African deserts, scrubland and savannas—is also its weak point, making it difficult to protect thousands of...

BAGHDAD - Blood-splotches on walls, chains hanging from a ceiling and swords on the killing floor — the artifacts left a disturbing tale of brutalities inside a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq torture chamber. But there was yet another chilling fact outside the dirt-floor dungeon. Villagers say they knew about the torment but were too intimidated by extremists to tell authorities until now. Stories such as these — claims of insurgent abuses and the silence of frightened Iraqis — have emerged with increasing frequency and clarity recently as U.S.-led forces push deeper into former extremist fiefdoms and forge alliances with tribes...

A SENIOR leader of al-Qaeda operating in executed dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq and accused of killing 20 policemen has been arrested, police said. A police officer from Tikrit said Hussein al-Ajeeli, also known as Abu al-Ajeeli, was arrested in a raid yesterday in the village of Albo Ajeel near Tikrit. "The police raided his house after local villagers gave information about him," the officer said on condition of anonymity. Ajeeli is accused of plotting a suicide attack against a police building in Tikrit two months ago which killed 17 policemen, the officer said. Ajeeli is...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARHORSE, Iraq — Eight operations carried out in the Iraqi province of Diyala in the last week by U.S. and Iraqi forces resulted in the deaths of 33 members of al-Qaida, with at least 14 others being detained, military officials said on Saturday. The missions, divided between two battalion-level operations and six company-level assignments, also uncovered eight weapons-storage sites, safely detonated five roadside bombs and destroyed two homes rigged with explosives. The operations come in the wake of June and July’s Operation Arrowhead Ripper, which drove hundreds to thousands of insurgents from the provincial capital, Baqouba, and...

When Crockumentarian Michael Moore sang his hosannas to socialized medicine, I don’t think he quite expected the revelations of the past week in Great Britain. His movie, Sicko, openly suggests that socialized medicine would greatly improve American healthcare. It just doesn’t seem to address the issue of where these physicians would actually come from. Osama Bin Ladin, the resourceful guy that he is, has offered up the services of his organization to the NHS. It seems that the chronic shortage of doctors willing to put up with the bureaucratic NHS has given the master terrorist an easy way to smuggle...

"A Swedish citizen has been reported killed in Somalia following an American air attack against alleged Islamic extremists in the rebel Puntland region. The governor of the Barri Region, Mussa Jelle Yusuf, told news agency AFP that the Americans were targeting "an al-Qaeda hideout." The dead Swede was said to be among a number of citizens of western countries killed in the attack."

A battle raged in west Baghdad on Thursday after residents rose up against al-Qaida and called for U.S. military help to end random gunfire that forced people to huddle indoors and threats that kept students from final exams, a member of the district council said. Elsewhere, a suicide bomber hit a police recruiting center in Fallujah, killing as many as 25 people, police said. The U.S. military said only one policeman was killed and eight were wounded. The American military also reported the deaths of three more soldiers, two killed Wednesday in a roadside bombing in Baghdad and one who...

CAIRO, Egypt -- An Islamic militant Web site announced Monday that Osama bin Laden's second-in-command would soon release a new message addressing the conflict between Muslims and infidels. The Internet advertisement banner for Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaida's No. 2, did not specify when the message would be released or whether it would be a video, an audiotape or text. The announcement, displayed on a site frequently used by militants, carried the logo of al-Qaida's media production wing -- al-Sahaba -- which usually releases videos.

We’ve all waited 4 years to see a good report on what happened to Saddam’s WMD and September 8, 2006 the last investigative report was released by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The only problem is…I searched the entire 400 pages of this “Phase II report” (or rather both reports that make up the Phase II report) and I couldn’t find those two words: “Bush lied.” I can’t even find, “Bush mislead” in those 400 pages. What I did find was 400 pages of evidence showing that the intelligence community used small amounts of weak intelligence from a decrepit...

This is my line in the sand. This is where I have decided that I will no longer allow lies about the war in Iraq, the global war on terror, or the decay of America's intelligence services. I will make my stand here, now, on this issue. No more will their lies go unchecked. The Senate Phase II report has been marketed as some sort of evidence that Al Queda and Iraq are not related. They are. I examined the report, stomached it's political lies (lies it admits to having within its own text!), and I have taken my action....

Norway's largest synagogue received an ominous warning last November that it would be one of two targets of terrorist attacks in Oslo. The threats came in conjunction with the arrests in Italy of several members of an alleged terror group. "I can confirm that we received information that an attack was planned against the synagogue," Anne Sender of The Mosaic Religious Community in Norway (Det Mosaiske Trossamfund, DMT) told newspaper VG on Monday. Sender said the threats were so credible and alarming that they were taken "very seriously," and the synagogue's security went on high alert. She wouldn't say who...

911 Happened on Bush’s Watch As we approach the fifth anniversary of the 911 attacks, it’s time to face some facts. 911 DID happen on President Bush’s watch. He was in charge. The fault for letting the attacks happen rests with the top of the pyramid. The man deserved to be held accountable. Some would have preferred impeachment since it would have offered a partisan chance to avenge the impeachment of President Clinton 8years ago (still perceived by many as having been unwarranted). Lacking impeachment, there should have at least been a national referendum on the Presidency of George W...

The assistant to Al Qaida's new network chief has been killed in a foiled insurgency strike. Iraqi security sources said a lieutenant of Al Qaida network chief Abu Ayoub Al Masri was found killed in a car on its way to an insurgency strike. The sources said a bomb inside the car blew up prematurely and killed the lieutenant and three other Al Qaida operatives. Officials identified the Al Masri aide as Mansour Sulayman Mansour Khalifi Al Mashhadani. The U.S. military confirmed the killing, reported to have taken place in Yusufiyah, west of Baghdad on June 19. U.S.-led coalition spokesman...

Those of us who have believed all along that the Anglo-American coalition was strategically correct in moving into Iraq, but have been the victims of executional incompetence, insensitivity and bungling, may finally have some hope. Jordanian Islamist Fascist, one Khalaylay, popularly (or more appropriately infamously) known as Zarqawi is dead. Zarqawi combined Beria’s wickedness with Eichmann’s matter-of-fact fanaticism and added a dash of cunning that one can associate only with Karla (he of John Le Carre’s Moscow Centre fame). In fact, he resembled Karla in more ways than one.The usual quota of well-meaning and ineffective liberals like Robert Fisk was...

Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the most feared commander in the Iraqi insurgency, may have been forced to surrender his leadership by rival groups, angered by his tactics and the interference of foreign fighters in the Iraqi conflict. According to Huthayfah Azzam, the son of Abdullah Azzam, al Zarqawi’s former mentor, the notorious commander of al Qaida in Iraq was stripped of his political duties at a meeting two weeks ago. “The Iraqi resistance high command asked al Zarqawi to give up his political role and replaced him with an Iraqi because of several mistakes,” said Azzam in an interview with...

Sanaa: A total of 13 men accused of bombing a US destroyer and a French oil tanker were among the 23 Al Qaida suspects who escaped from the intelligence prison after digging a tunnel to a neighbouring mosque, official sources said. "The fugitives dug a 70-metre-long tunnel from inside the prison to a neighbouring mosque from where they escaped to an unknown place," the state-run website, 26 sepnet, quoted an unidentified security official as saying. The official did not rule out that the escapees received help from people outside the prison. Fawaz Al Rabyee, the alleged main accused in the...

U.S.-Led Forces Launch Major Attack on al-Qaida Stronghold in Major Test for Iraqi Soldiers. About 3,500 U.S. and Iraqi troops backed by jets launched a major attack Saturday against an insurgent-held town near the Syrian border, seeking to dislodge al-Qaida and its allies and seal off a main route for foreign fighters entering the country. U.S. officials describe the town of Husaybah as the key to controlling the volatile Euphrates River valley of western Iraq and dislodging al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The U.S.-led operation includes about 1,000 Iraqi soldiers, and the offensive will...

Islamabad, August 11: In an apparent attempt to break the unity of the G-4 countries seeking permanent membership of the UNSC, Pakistan has said it would "step back" and consider supporting Japan's bid if Tokyo disassociates itself from the grouping that includes India. "If the G-4 composition changes, we will review our position. Our relations with Japan are historic, Japan is our largest creditor, the single largest contributor to our debt," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who is on a visit to Japan, told the international media there. "If that framework changes, we will step back and see what to do,"...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration was warned as early as 1998 al-Qaida could use an aircraft to attack a U.S. landmark, a formerly secret report says. The claim was made in the final report of the Sept. 11 commission that investigated the terror attacks of 2001, but only made public Tuesday, The New York Times. The FAA was warned al-Qaida could "seek to hijack a commercial jet and slam it into a U.S. landmark," and was also warned in 2001 that airport screeners' ability to detect possible weapons had "declined significantly" in recent years. Members...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Al-Qaida leaders in hiding and foot-soldiers preparing for terrorist attacks are turning to outlawed Pakistani extremist groups for spiritual and military training, shelter and logistical support, say U.S. officials who see them as an emerging threat. One group — Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, or Army of the Pure — is an example of how Osama bin Laden’s followers take advantage of scattered Islamic militant allies to maintain momentum, four years after a U.S.-led military campaign destroyed al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan. Lashkar is among the organizations fighting for the disputed region of Kashmir. U.S. officials say the group stands out for...

McLEAN, Va. (AP) - A man accused of plotting to assassinate President Bush was indicted Thursday on additional charges that could bring life in prison, and prosecutors now say he also planned to establish an al-Qaida cell in the United States. Prosecutors say Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 24, of Falls Church joined al-Qaida in 2002 while studying in Saudi Arabia and that he discussed possible terrorist operations, including a plot to kill Bush either by shooting or by a suicide bombing.Prosecutors also allege Abu Ali discussed plans to assassinate members of Congress and to hijack aircraft and fly them into...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Police raids touched off fierce gunbattles Thursday that killed six Islamic extremists, and authorities said the dead included al-Qaida's leader in Saudi Arabia, whose hideout was found to hold the head of a murdered American last summer. Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi, the kingdom's top fugitive, had led local al-Qaida operations since his predecessor was killed by police a year ago during a crackdown on religious militants in the homeland of Osama bin Laden and most of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackers. Al-Aoofi was believed involved in the June 2004 kidnapping and beheading of engineer Paul M. Johnson...

(excerpts)Aspiring legislator, pilot and self-confessed Al-Qaeda operative Mohammed Afroze was on Friday found guilty of conspiring to ‘‘commit terrorist acts on territories of nations at peace with India’’ and forgery. … Afroze’s conviction is probably the first such of an operative from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda in India, and came after investigators searched for evidence in at least three countries. … The police charged that between 1997 and 2001, the three accused had entered into a criminal conspiracy to hijack passenger planes and crash them into the House of Commons in London, the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in...

July 14, 2005 JS-2632 Treasury Designates MIRA for Support to Al Qaida ******In 2003, MIRA and Faqih received approximately $1 million in funding through Abdulrahman Alamoudi. According to information available to the U.S. Government, the September 2003 arrest of Alamoudi was a severe blow to al Qaida, as Alamoudi had a close relationship with al Qaida and had raised money for al Qaida in the United States. In a 2004 plea agreement, Alamoudi admitted to his role in an assassination plot targeting the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and is currently serving a 23 year sentence.******

Here's an interesting summarized timeline showing several important points that I've suggested earlier. 1) Saddam and UBL had a relationship 2) The claims of that relationship stemmed not from a BUSHLIED conspiracy theory or an OSP neocon crap, but from the Clinton Administration 3) Operation Desert Fox emboldened Saddam and UBL, and proved to both: a) America wasn't serious about fighting either one of them b) If there was to be a drastic change in US policy re Iraq (which both UBL and Saddam wanted), then drastic action would be needed 4) The Desert Fox bombing campaign was so weak...

<p>RUSH: Chris in Danielsville, Pennsylvania, as we start on the phones today. Welcome, sir, great to have you with us.</p> <p>CALLER: Hello, sir. Happy New Year.</p> <p>RUSH: Oh, it's a female! I'm sorry, nice to have you with us.</p> <p>CALLER: That's okay.</p> <p>RUSH: Apologize for that.</p>

Two al Qaeda leaders (Saleh Arugayan Kahlil and Bassim Mohammad Hazeem) were captured by marines in Anbar province (which contains Fallujah) in late December. These two men led groups that have been killing off duty Iraqi soldiers and smuggling weapons and foreign terrorists across the border from Syria. Their boss, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, a Jordanian Islamic radical who had been hiding out in Baghdad, as a guest of Saddam Hussein, when Iraq was invaded in early 2003, is still at large. With the defeat of Saddam, al Zarqawi suddenly found Iraqi Sunni Arabs were eager to join al Qaeda....

DUBAI, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Following is a chronology of major statements attributed to Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden since Sept. 11, 2001. Some experts believe video or audio messages from bin Laden and his Egyptian lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri might be signals to followers to trigger attacks. Dates of messages by Osama bin Laden: Oct. 30, 2004 - Days before the U.S. presidential election, bin Laden in a video broadcast on Al Jazeera television tells Americans President George W. Bush has deceived them and the United States could face more strikes like Sept. 11. May 6, 2004 - Islamist Web...

By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writer KARACHI, Pakistan - It started with a robbery, but the gang that burst into a branch of Al-Habib Bank in this teeming port city had no interest in striking it rich, and the university graduate driving the getaway car was just getting started on a master plan for terror. The heist, carried out in daylight and with AK-47 assault rifles, is emblematic of a new brand of Islamic militant — more educated but less established and largely cut off from traditional sources of terror funding, Pakistani police and intelligence officials told The Associated Press....

Top Democrats slapped back Sunday at a remark by House Speaker Dennis Hastert that al Qaeda leaders want Sen. John Kerry to beat President Bush in November. At a campaign rally Saturday in his Illinois district with Vice President Dick Cheney, Hastert said al Qaeda "would like to influence this election" with an attack similar to the train bombings in Madrid days before the Spanish national election in March. When a reporter asked Hastert if he thought al Qaeda would operate with more comfort if Kerry were elected, the speaker said, "That's my opinion, yes."

The brutality of the hostage-taking and the targeted murder of children has shocked even experienced professionals. According to the estimation of intelligence analysts, the Beslan perpetrators have reached a level of terrorism that can lead to even greater violence. Berlin/Washington – Early analyses of the German intelligence agencies and the American CIA agree that an incredible escalation in terrorist attacks has shown itself in the Beslan school in the Russian Republic of North Ostien. Until now, children have been substantially protected in all the attacks of the international terrorist organizations. The increasing brutality is now to be expected from...

http://www.scottmalensek.com/forums/index.php? I find it incredibly awful that a man boasts about being on the Senate Intel Committee if he's not there half the time, and if his time on that committee is the exact same time frame as the rebirth of Al Queda to the 911 plot. Al Queda reborn in 92/93, begins bombing and grows to mega terror group by 2000. John Kerry on Sen Intel Committee from 93-2000. When asked for more money, he tries to cut budgets, and post911/postIraq there are at least 6 reports showing that the intel community needed major oversight during the period (guess...)...

August 5, 2004, 6:48 AM EDT ALBANY, N.Y. -- Federal agents and city police raided a Muslim mosque overnight Wednesday, with armed officers sealing off a block in downtown Albany for several hours. Authorities declined to immediately discuss the raid at Masjid As-Salam mosque. An FBI spokesman said a press conference was tentatively set Thursday afternoon in Washington. Some mosque members held morning prayers Thursday on a nearby sidewalk. WTEN-TV reported two men were arrested and are suspected of providing material support for terrorism. Calls to the U.S. attorney's office were not immediately returned. On Tuesday, William Chase, special agent...

We're all now suppossed to be scared. Those Al Quaida guys must be tough. They're so tough they just executed a U.S. POW. This impresses me to no end. The execution of Keith M. Maupin has to constitute about the most stupid thing Al Quaida could have done. The one moral advantage these thugs still had was that in the aftermath of Abu Ghraib Prison, they could claim the Americans were barbarians for how they treated prisoners. Well, that argument is gone. There could be no more cowardly or pathetic an act than executing a person who has surrendered himself...

A Saudi security official would not directly address whether the militants who led a bloody assault against a residential and resort complex in Khobar, Audi Arabia were allowed to escape. But he said: "Our main priority was the hostages, and those guys who ran away, we know how to find them," according to the Associated Press. However, as of Monday, the three terrorists who sped away in a vehicle have not been apprehended. Only one of the four attackers was captured, but the Interior Ministry said the arrested militant, who was wounded, was the ringleader of the assault and "an...

Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols met with World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef in the Philippines before he and Timothy McVeigh carried out their plot, investigative reporter Jayna Davis said Wednesday. "Terry Nichols and Ramzi Yousef met personally in the Philippines on the island of Mindanao in the early 1990s to discuss, of all things, bombmaking," Davis told ABC Radio Network host John Batchelor. On Wednesday, an Oklahoma jury returned a 161 count murder verdict against Nichols. He is expected to face the death penalty. But the bizarre Yousef-Nichols tie-in did not come up in the trial. Davis said she...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- About 130 U.S. troops have crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan looking for Taliban or al Qaeda fighters, Pakistani intelligence sources and local authorities said Sunday, in what is believed to be the fifth such operation in two weeks. The Americans crossed into the Pakistani tribal territory of North Waziristan on Saturday after exchanging "hard words" with Pakistani border scouts, intelligence sources said. Local officials said the U.S. convoy included 14 vehicles and an estimated 130 troops. It was the second time in less than a week that U.S. troops crossed the border without Pakistani permission. Foreign...

THE al-Qaida recruit accused of plotting to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra was ignored when he contacted Australian and American authorities after returning from Afghanistan, a court was told today. British-born Islamic convert Jack Roche, 50, is on trial in Perth District Court, accused of conspiring with top al-Qaida officials to blow up the embassy with a truck bomb, and cause harm to diplomatic staff as a result. In a taped conversation with a journalist played to the court, Roche said he had contacted both the US Embassy in Canberra, and ASIO in mid-2000, after a falling out...

THIS ISN'T going to be easy. But some things need to be said to Michael Berg even as he grieves the loss of his son.       ````` snip ````` But... George Bush did not kill your son. Nor did Donald Rumsfeld. And, quite frankly, you are the one politicizing his death when you introduce their names into the same breath as his obituary. Furthermore, it's just not accurate for you to say "Nicholas Berg died for the sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld." Your son died due to the sins of unholy people acting through some misguided...

Abu Musad al Zarqawi, the Al Qaida-affiliated terrorist who U.S. intelligence says conducted the videotaped beheading of American civilian Nick Berg on May 11, also claimed responsibility for a terrorist bombing in Baghdad last week. The attack on a coalition forces headquarters was the work of the Tawhid and Jihad Group, a group that is part of the Zarqawi network, officials said. A poster distributed by the U.S. Army shows different images of Abu Musad al Zarqawi, a Jordanian national. AFP/US ARMY-HO Zarqawi remains the most dangerous terrorist in Iraq despite a major covert operation to find and kill or...

The Roman Emperor Domitian ruled with an iron hand. He beat down all opposition and brutalized his enemies with an 'aw shucks' grin on his face. His trademark slogan was 'Oderint dum metuent' which can be loosely translated to 'Let them hate me as long as they fear me.' He made this statement after his son Titus put Jerusalem to the torch and a very large number of its inhabitants to the gladius. It was Domitian's way of saying that he practised terrorism for the simple reason that it worked. It worked in the 1st Century AD and it works...

AL-KADR, Ahmad Sa'id (a.k.a. AL-KANADI, Abu Abd Al-Rahman) (DOB 01 Mar 1948; POB Cairo, Egypt) (individual) [SDGT]

Print Article         Close Window     Spanish Flee By Reid Collins Published 3/16/2004 12:04:48 AM It works! Terrorism, that is. When applied in the right place. And the implications of the Madrid train bombing are enormous. Rather than vent their anger in the direction of terror, the Spanish electorate ousted their own conservative government in favor of socialists who promise a more benign attitude toward terror! For starters, the removal of the token force of 1,300 Spanish forces sent in as an earnest of support for the Bush administration's preemption in Iraq. Before the bombings, opinion polls had indicated...

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN Al-Qaida south of the border Rumsfeld: Human smuggling rings tied to bin Laden's terrorist network -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: February 16, 2004 WASHINGTON – Pentagon officials have confirmed human smuggling rings in Latin America are attempting to sneak al-Qaida operatives into the U.S., information first reported in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin more than a year ago. In a Defense Department briefing Friday about National Guardsman Ryan Anderson, suspected of trying to give al-Qaida information about U.S. capabilities and weaponry, reporters were also told to expect Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to provide details on two other subjects: Guantanamo...

Ungrateful Americans Written By Richard Brzakala,Toronto Canada Published as Opinion Letter-Chicago Sun Times America took a lot upon itself in 2003 when no one else would, to do whatever it had to to protect its people. Your government and people should be applauded.

A federal judge gave stunning support to accusations -- long-suppressed by government and Big Media -- that the 9-11 attack may have been a "false flag" operation, in which Osama bin Laden served as a mere front or patsy for other parties. The judge's decision Wednesday suggests that at least one of those parties may have been Iraq. But who are the others? According to the Associated Press, Judge Harold Baer slapped Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, Saddam Hussein and the recently-toppled Iraqi government with nearly $104 million in damages, in a civil suit filed by families of two 9-11...