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The "American" dead? KCAL-TV: Adam Gadahn has been credited with helping transform Al Qaeda's propaganda wing into a slick operation able to communicate in fluent English and produce professional quality DVDs, including one for Osama bin Laden last year.

A human tide of more than 300,000 civilians has fled the al-Qa'ida badlands, amid indications that the fighting there has reached unprecedented levels, with the Pakistani army using massive firepower to attack jihadi militant strongholds. Helicopter gunships, fixed-wing strike aircraft, tanks and heavy artillery have been used in the onslaught that followed the visit last month by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to Washington, where he was berated for Pakistan's failure to wipe out the militants. The offensive runs counter to perceptions that Pakistan's new civilian Government is "soft" on Islamic extremism. This will reassure Washington, whose ally in the...

What do you think of Suskind's allegation? I believe it 69% I don't believe it 31% Total Votes: 16,169

On the stump, Barack Obama usually concludes his comments on Iraq by saying, "and it hasn't made us safer." It is an article of faith on the left that nothing the Bush administration has done has enhanced our security, and, on the contrary, its various alleged blunders have only contributed to the number of jihadists who want to attack us. Empirically, however, it seems beyond dispute that something has made us safer since 2001. Over the course of the Bush administration, successful attacks on the United States and its interests overseas have dwindled to virtually nothing. Some perspective here is...

It now has been four years since Dr. William Graham, Science Advisor to President Ronald W. Reagan and Chairman of the General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament, and a distinguished panel completed a study of High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and its potential effects upon this country. The conclusions of this study are the most frightening I have seen concerning modern-day threats. Few have heard of it because the report has yet to be made public. The reason it has not been made public is simple: if EMP were understood by the American people, the next logical question...

Jihadism in the 21st century has plans for all types of situations, including Mujahada (Jihadi activity) in a courtroom when needed. This is now what the world will witness during the trials of the al Qaeda detainees in Guantanamo, Cuba. Both the inmates on the inside and the Jihadi-mates on the outside were waiting for this moment to strike, politically and psychologically, using the media as their weapon. To the well-trained and -indoctrinated five standing trial, the objective is not to gain as many rights and freedoms as possible under current U.S. and international law; rather it is to resume...

Key will be the relations between al-Qaida, tribal leaders of north-west Pakistan and figures such as Baitullah Mehsoud, accused of being responsible for the death of Benazir Bhutto last year. But al-Qaida's influence in southern Afghanistan is said to be diminishing, disrupted by Nato, the US, military activity and money. Officials talk about the appeal of an "attractive area of ungoverned space". This is Somalia, described as an increasingly popular destination for "western jihadists", though al-Qaida is playing only a small part in the violence there, western intelligence officials suggest. Of more immediate concern is north Africa. Algeria is a...

America is very close to succeeding in Iraq. The "near-strategic defeat" of al Qaeda in Iraq described by CIA Director Michael Hayden last month in the Washington Post has been followed by the victory of the Iraqi government's security forces over illegal Shiite militias, including Iranian-backed Special Groups. The enemies of Iraq and America now cling desperately to their last bastions, while the political process builds momentum. These tremendous gains remain fragile and could be lost to skillful enemy action, or errors in Baghdad or Washington. But where the U.S. was unequivocally losing in Iraq at the end of 2006,...

Al-Qaida fighters and other Sunni insurgents have largely scattered from the northern city of Mosul in the face of a U.S.-Iraqi sweep, fleeing to desert areas further south, an Iraqi commander said Sunday. He vowed the forces will not allow them to regroup. The U.S. military said al-Qaida in Iraq was "off-balance and on the run" but remains a very lethal threat, tempering remarks by the U.S. ambassador a day earlier that the terror network was closer than ever to being defeated. The comments came amid a flurry of attacks in Baghdad and other areas, most likely attributable to Sunni...

Al Qaeda's most fervent supporters acknowledge that Iraq has turned into a disaster for them. Nibras Kazimi, a visiting scholar at the Hudson Institute, reports on a posting at one of al Qaeda's web sites: A prolific jihadist sympathizer has posted an ‘explosive’ study on one of the main jihadist websites in which he laments the dire situation that the mujaheddin find themselves in Iraq by citing the steep drop in the number of insurgent operations conducted by the various jihadist groups, most notably Al-Qaeda’s 94 percent decline in operational ability over the last 12 months when only a year...

One of the most powerful men in Iraq isn't an Iraqi government official, a militia leader, a senior cleric or a top U.S. military commander or diplomat, He's an Iranian general, and at times he's more influential than all of them. Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani commands the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, an elite paramilitary and espionage organization whose mission is to expand Iran's influence in the Middle East. As Tehran's point man on Iraq, he funnels military and financial support to various Iraqi factions, frustrating U.S. attempts to build a pro-Western democracy on the rubble of Saddam...

A ‘key player’ accused of radicalising British Muslims is living openly in the UK A suspected terrorist who scored a legal victory against the Government this week is a senior al-Qaeda operative living openly in London, security agencies say. The man, who can be identified only as G, is one of five people who challenged the Treasury’s powers to freeze terrorist suspects’ bank accounts in a successful High Court action. Yesterday security sources described him as “a key player” who acts as a conduit between British-based extremists and the al-Qaeda leadership hiding out in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Under the Government’s...

Head of Al Karama political front Abu Uzam Al Tamimi affirmed that members of factions fighting Al Qaeda and opposing its activities in Iraq have joined the front which was formed few days ago to participate in the political process. Al Tamimi told Al Hayat Newspaper that the new political bloc joins a number of tribal sheikhs and heads of awakening councils in Baghdad in addition to a group of technocrats and members of armed factions that have fought against Al Qaeda. He added that some members who used to operate with the Islamic Army in Iraq and Eshreen revolution...

I was collecting articles on a post showing the end game coming in Iraq for Sadr and his Mahdi Army but Bill Roggio beat me to the punch today in a much better post than I was going to put together. Update - some interesting tidbits inside Roggio’s piece are worth emphasizing: Iraq’s Department of Border enforcement also seized a large shipment of roadside bombs, landmines, and explosives as it was smuggled from Iran into Iraq’s Diyala province. The Mahdi Army appears to be striking back by targeting political and religious leaders in the Baghdad South. Over the period of...

As Coalition and Iraqi security forces work to dismantle al Qaeda in Iraq’s network nationwide, al Qaeda is attempting to re-establish operations in its former stronghold in Baghdad as well as in the northern city of Mosul. Al Qaeda’s ability to conduct large-scale, coordinated attacks has diminished since the fall of 2007 as the security situation improved. But as yesterday’s suicide attacks in Baqubah, Mosul, Ramadi, and Baghdad show, al Qaeda still maintains some capacity to coordinate operations and target civilians. US and Iraqi security forces have killed or captured 53 senior members of al Qaeda in Iraq’s network over...

It's a shame Sen. Carl Levin failed to take the time to call public attention to Gen. David Petraeus' "Anaconda Strategy" chart. Petraeus briefly referred to the chart during his initial testimony this week before Levin's Senate Armed Services Committee. The Anaconda Chart is a complex graphic that depicts an intricate, multi-dimensional war. It's tough to describe even with a copy in front of you. However, the strategic concept behind Petraeus' chart (titled "Anaconda Strategy versus al-Qaida in Iraq") is dirt simple: Squeeze and keep squeezing. A commercial artist would certainly describe the chart as "too busy," but war isn't...

The outcome of the Iraq war may still be in the balance but U.S. President George W. Bush has already won the war about the war in Washington. In November 2006 elections, Bush's Republican Party lost control of both houses of Congress largely due to public anger about Iraq. Democrats pledged to end the war that started in March 2003 and bring the troops home. But testimony to Congress this week by the top commander on the ground, Army Gen. David Petraeus, indicates there will be about the same high level of U.S. troops in Iraq when Americans elect Bush's...

Asked repeatedly yesterday what "conditions" he is looking for to begin substantial U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq after this summer's scheduled drawdown, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said he will know them when he sees them. For frustrated lawmakers, it was not enough. "A year ago, the president said we couldn't withdraw because there was too much violence," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). "Now he says we can't afford to withdraw because violence is down." Asked Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.): "Where do we go from here?" Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said: "I think people want a sense of what...

WASHINGTON — For the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Obama, a "messy, sloppy status quo" is the Iraq war tagline of the moment.That was the message from Mr. Obama's colloquy yesterday with General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Mr. Obama warned the top American general in Iraq and the American ambassador there against setting the bar for success too high."If, on the other hand, our criteria is a messy, sloppy status quo, there's not, you know, huge outbreaks of violence; there's still corruption, but the country's struggling...

The senior al Qaida operative who helped direct the 2005 London subway bombings and a plot to blow up commercial airliners over the Atlantic Ocean has died in Pakistan’s tribal region, U.S. counter terrorism officials said Tuesday.

The past month seemed like a hopeful time for Democrats – before an intense internal struggle turned in a direction that left them struggling for a way to deal with it. What . . . you thought I was talking about the presidential campaign? No, sillies. Iraq. That’s where Basra appeared to be giving the Democrats just what they so desperately wanted. Shiite militias got boisterous and perpetrated an uprising, prompting a response from Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki that was less than overwhelming in its ferocity. As things appeared to be spinning out of control in Basra, Hillary Clinton and...

President George W. Bush will make a brief speech about the troop mission in Iraq Thursday after his top general and ambassador in the war-torn country testify to Congress, the White House said Tuesday. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush would make a 15 to 20 minute long speech, but she refused to indicate his position amid expectations he will freeze troop withdrawals in July. Bush will invite the Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress Wednesday to hear to their views of the testimony delivered by the commander of US forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and Ambassador...

As General David Petraeus briefs Congress this week on Iraq, it's clear his surge has achieved remarkable results. The most crucial is that the U.S. can no longer be defeated militarily in Iraq, which could not be said a year ago. The question now is whether Washington will squander these gains by withdrawing so quickly that we could still lose politically.Sixteen months after President Bush ordered the change in strategy, the surge has earned a place among the most important counteroffensives in U.S. military annals. When it began, al Qaeda dominated large swaths of central Iraq, Baghdad was a killing...

Not What They Supposed The terror connection missed by the Clintonistas. by Stephen F. Hayes Four months after the start of the Iraq war, two former senior Clinton administration national security officials took to the pages of the New York Times to demand accountability for the Bush administration's claims about Iraq and terrorism. Or, as they put it in their opening sentence, "Iraq's supposed links to terrorists." Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon wrote that the Bush administration's assertions about Iraqi support for terrorism were "suspect" and demanded scrutiny. One sure way to know the truth about Iraq and terrorism, they...

If Iran is not supporting al-Qaeda efforts why is it so many terrorists in Europe use Tehran as their transit point between Europe and the training facilities and gathering forces of al-Qaeda inside Pakistan? On April 1, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on April 1 notified leaders of Germany’s military, the United Nations and potential targets — including a five-star hotel in Kabul — that two men from Germany with known ties to terrorist groups could be planning a bomb attack against Germans in Afghanistan.The men are identified as Eric B., a 20-year-old German Muslim convert, and Houssain al-M.,...

And Yes, Iran Has Unsettling al Qaeda ConnectionsSen. McCain Was Correct, Sen. Obama Is IncorrectNicholas Guariglia Last week I wrote an article that explored what the 9/11 Commission had to say about Iraq’s links to al Qaeda. The consensus of that commission was, in essence, that while it has not been proven that Saddam’s Iraq had any collaborative relationship with the terror group – that is to say, they never cooperated on a specific attack – there were, in fact, serious connections and high-level contacts between the two parties for years (offers of asylum to bin Laden, requests for basing privileges...

The trial of eight British men accused of plotting to blow up seven airliners using liquid explosives began yesterday at Woolwich Crown Court, where prosecutor Peter Wright QC laid out details of their alleged plan. Using a home made liquid explosive mixture concealed in soft drinks containers the accused intended to set off the explosions when all the aircraft were at high altitude, he said, causing thousands of casualties. The prosecution claimed that the explosive was planned to consist of hydrogen peroxide mixed with a powdered version of the fruit drink Tang. The addition of Tang, "which is an energetic...

The Winning Side of the Iraq Campaign by Walid Phares In his latest assessment of the state of the campaign in Iraq President Bush drew strategic assertions regarding the measurement of success and the risks of failure on that battlefield, in what we can coin as the next stage in the confrontation against the forces of terror in the region. The successful surge Practically the military surge has denied al-Qaeda and the Mahdi militia the realization of their current objectives. So far al-Qaeda wasn’t able to create an "Emirate" in the Sunni triangle, nor even to reconstitute a Fallujah-like enclave:...

The militant is known as Abu Ubaida al Masri, and charting his path reveals his vulnerabilities and those of the terrorist group. COPENHAGEN -- If Al Qaeda strikes the West in the coming months, it's likely the mastermind will be a stocky Egyptian explosives expert with two missing fingers. His alias is Abu Ubaida al Masri. Hardly anyone has heard of him outside a select circle of anti-terrorism officials and Islamic militants. He has overseen the major plots that the network needs to stay viable, investigators say: the London transportation bombings in 2005, a foiled transatlantic "spectacular" aimed at U.S.-bound...

Looking at the President's Assessment of the Iraq Campaign By Walid Phares April 1, 2008 President Bush's March 27 assessment of the state of the war in Iraq raised important strategic assertions that warrant greater attention from the public and the defense and national security sectors. The principles announced by the president with regard to the measurement of success and the risks of failure on the Iraqi battlefield constitute a series of components of what I would coin as the next stage in the confrontation against the forces of terror in the region. The surge's success The 2007-2008 military surge...

The Wall Street Journal’s editors took the time to read the Pentagon report on the connections between Saddam Hussein and terrorist groups, and wonder why the national media have ignored the story. The analysis of the Harmony documents got initially misreported, and after the Pentagon released the full analysis, few if any news agencies opted to correct the initial distortions they published — and the WSJ says that leaves Americans misinformed: Five years on, few Iraq myths are as persistent as the notion that the Bush Administration invented a connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Yet a new Pentagon...

The blast crater at Combat Outpost Inman. Photograph by Bill Roggio. MOSUL, IRAQ: Al Qaeda in Iraq pulled off a highly successful suicide truck bombing today in western Mosul. Thirteen Iraqi soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Iraqi Army division were killed and 42 were wounded after a suicide bomber drove a truck packed with explosives and detonated it in the center of Combat Outpost Inman. Three officers and nine enlisted soldiers were among those killed. Eight other soldiers suffered serious injuries and were evacuated to Forward Operating Marez for medical treatment. A dump truck packed...

Five years on, few Iraq myths are as persistent as the notion that the Bush Administration invented a connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Yet a new Pentagon report suggests that Iraq's links to world-wide terror networks, including al Qaeda, were far more extensive than previously understood.Naturally, it's getting little or no attention. Press accounts have been misleading or outright distortions, while the Bush Administration seems indifferent. Even John McCain has let the study's revelations float by. But that doesn't make the facts any less notable or true. The redacted version of "Saddam and Terrorism" is the most definitive...

Foreign fighters have become disillusioned with jihad in Iraq and have begun to exit the theater, US military officials reported yesterday. These fighters comprise al-Qaeda in Iraq’s best resource for suicide bombers, and their loss gives them much less operational capability. AQI leadership has not yet given up the fight, but prospects for replacements look grim: A growing number of foreign fighters are leaving or attempting to flee Iraq as U.S. and Iraqi forces have weakened al-Qaeda and forced its members from former strongholds, U.S. military officials say.

Mosul (AsiaNews) - The Chaldean archbishop of Mosul is dead. Archbishop Faraj Rahho was kidnapped last February 29 after the Stations of the Cross. His kidnappers have given word of his death, indicating to the mediators where they could recover the body of the 67-year-old prelate. "It is a heavy Cross for our Church, ahead of Easter", Rabban al Qas, bishop of Arbil, tells AsiaNews in response to the news.

Bush vetoes interrogation limits Human rights groups say water-boarding is torture US President George Bush says he has vetoed legislation that would stop the CIA using interrogation methods such as simulated drowning or "water-boarding".He said he rejected the intelligence bill, passed by Senate and Congress, as it took "away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror". The president said the CIA needed "specialised interrogation procedures" that the military did not. Water-boarding is condemned as torture by rights groups and many governments. It is an interrogation method that puts the detainee in fear of drowning. Track record...

Scores of people were injured when a powerful explosion ripped through a tribal meeting in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, government officials said. "The blast occurred when tribesmen were holding a meeting to discuss the security situation in Dera Adamkhel," the official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters. "Initial reports say scores of people were wounded and an emergency has been declared at hospitals in neighboring towns," he said.

AP Photo: Adm. William Fallon, the commander of U.S. Forces in the Middle East, testifies on Capitol... WASHINGTON - The top military commander in the Mideast said Wednesday that he does not expect Taliban forces in Afghanistan to launch a spring offensive this year. If anything, he said, he sees the momentum continuing to swing in the direction of coalition forces. "The spring offensive is going to be by our people, as they move out and take advantage of the situation that they helped create through their good works there in the fall of last year," Adm. William Fallon...

Update: As I mentioned before you cannot take reporting or statements from the lawless regions of Pakistan at face value. But with that said it is interesting to learn about the young, newly elected Member of Parliament who represents one of the probable havens for al-Qaeda. Meet Kamran Kahn, he has interesting views on what is happening right now in Pakistan: According to Khan, only one percent of the local population supports the militants. [”]The local people are fed up with the violence, the beheadings, and the daily fear. They want to live in peace[”], he said. [”]They want to...

U.S. forces found, targeted and killed in a Somali desert city the senior al Qaeda operative who masterminded the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa and had since spent a decade in hiding, The Washington Times has learned. Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who is one of the FBI's most-wanted terrorists, was the target of a U.S. missile strike on a residence in Dobley, a small town in southern Somalia near the Kenyan border, according to a U.S. military official who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity because of the nature of the operation.

AP) Republican presidential hopeful John McCain mocked Barack Obama's view of al Qaeda in Iraq, and the Democratic contender responded that GOP policies brought the terrorist group there. The rapid-fire, long-distance exchange Wednesday underscored that the two consider each other likely general election rivals, even though the Democratic contest remains unresolved. McCain criticized Obama for saying in Tuesday night's Democratic debate that, after U.S. troops were withdrawn, as president he would act "if al Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq." "I have some news. Al Qaeda is in Iraq. It's called `al Qaeda in Iraq,'" McCain told a crowd...

As a young reporter working in Beirut 25 years ago, when my daily routine consisted of dodging car bombs and the attentions of Shia kidnappers, one name guaranteed to spread terror throughout the beleaguered community of foreign nationals was that of Imad Mughniyeh. The 1980s were the heyday of the celebrity terrorist. There was Carlos the Jackal, the Venezuelan-born Marxist who led the team that took 42 Opec ministers hostage during a conference in Vienna in 1975; he was then living under the protection of Syria in Damascus. And there was Abu Nidal, the radical Palestinian terrorist, who thought nothing...

In today's article, I catalogue some of the problems with the Senate bill which would overhaul FISA — while explaining that the bill absolutely must be passed by the House or our foreign intelligence collection is going to collapse.  It would be unconscionable for Democrats to allow that to happen while our nation confronts an enemy hell-bent on reprising 9/11 and while we have 200,000 men and women in uniform relying on the continuing flow of information from our intelligence services. Well it looks like the unconscionable is about to occur.  I am hearing from several sources that the House...

One day after a Pakistani newspaper reported al Qaeda propagandist Adam Gadahn may have been killed in the same airstrike that killed al Qaeda leader Abu Laith al Libi, the rumor remains unconfirmed. Speculation over Gadahn's presence at the al Qaeda safe house in North Waziristan began on Jan. 29, the day of the airstrike. An unnamed US official denied Gadahn was killed in the strike. But on Feb. 7, The News reported, based on statements from Western sources, that Gadahn was killed in the airstrike. Gadahn was believed to be en route to the village of Khushali Tari Khel...

US says Mullah Omar 'in Pakistan' Taleban leader Mullah Omar and al-Qaeda commanders, including Osama Bin Laden, are living in Pakistan, a senior US official has told reporters. He said senior Taleban leaders were in hiding with Mullah Omar in Quetta, from where they co-ordinated the insurgency in Afghanistan. He also reiterated Washington's belief that Bin Laden was taking refuge in Pakistan's western tribal areas. Islamabad repeatedly denies that Mullah Omar or Bin Laden are in Pakistan. The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity in Washington, told reporters: "There is no question that the iconic leaders of al-Qaeda -...

Spain arrests 14 terror suspects   Spain is still haunted by the Madrid bombings - carried out by Islamists Bomb-related material has been found during raids in Barcelona which led to the arrest of 14 people suspected of links with an Islamist terror network. Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the suspects included 12 from Pakistan and two from India. Local media reports that the Spanish intelligence agency had warned France, the UK and Portugal that a terror cell was preparing an imminent attack. This coincides with a European tour by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. Radical threat Police...

Al-Qaeda's white army of terror         Two and a half years on from the 7/7 attack on London, MI5 has identified a worrying new trend in Al-Qaeda recruits Picture: Phil Wilkinson     HUNDREDS of British non-Muslims have been recruited by al-Qaeda to wage war against the West, senior security sources warned last night. As many as 1,500 white Britons are believed to have converted to Islam for the purpose of funding, planning and carrying out surprise terror attacks inside the UK, according to one MI5 source. Lord Carlile, the Government's independent reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation,...

Baghdad : The Interior Ministry announced Friday that al-Qaeda in Iraq has been successfully penetrated by means of a recently formed government security apparatus and is virtually an "open book," confirming that the sectarian sedition in the country was at the end of its rope.Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf, director of operations at the Interior Ministry, told KUNA here "we have succeeded in establishing a capable intelligence apparatus to penetrate the al-Qaeda organization in Iraq and all armed groups targeting Iraqi national security." He said emphatically that the sectarian sedition in Iraq has virtually ended, adding that the new intelligence...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan —  President Pervez Musharraf warned U.S. troops would be regarded as invaders if they crossed into Pakistan to hunt Al Qaeda militants and said he would resign if opposition parties tried to impeach him after next month's elections. Musharraf's remarks in an interview with Singapore's The Straits Times published Friday came as police investigated a suicide attack a day earlier in the eastern city of Lahore that killed 24 people, adding to pressures on the former general as he struggles to stay in office eight years after seizing power in military coup. Pakistan is under growing U.S. pressure to...