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THE US will launch a new effort to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding along the mountainous Afghan-Pakistani border, US national security adviser James Jones says. Asked in an interview if the administration planned a fresh attempt to go after al-Qaeda's leader, Mr Jones said: "I think so."

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has historically been a place for bipartisanship—a place where both parties and all members come together to advance America’s interests in the world. -Senator John Frakkin' Kerry, Chairman of U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. As with the 2006 Senate Intelligence Investigation into pre-war intel, and its 2008 phase II final report, this report, TORA BORA REVISITED: HOW WE FAILED TO GET BIN LADEN AND WHY IT MATTERS TODAY smacks of politicization, right from the opening get-go. It's nothing more than blame-handing "Bush's fault", right before President Obama is to announce his "new way forward"...

Osama bin Laden was within the grasp of US forces in late 2001 and could have been caught if then-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld hadn't rejected calls for reinforcements, a hard-hitting US Senate report says. The report, set for release Monday, is intended to help learn the lessons of the past as President Barack Obama prepares to announce a major escalation of the conflict, now in its ninth year, with up to 35,000 more US troops. It points the finger directly at Rumsfeld for turning down requests for reinforcements as Bin Laden was trapped in caves and tunnels in a mountainous...

"We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah," bin Laden said in the transcript.

Whoever suggested that Barack Obama is not a Christian? Obama’s decision to try those Gitmo prisoners in New York is the perfect gift for Osama bin Laden and just in time for Christmas. We can only imagine those non-alcoholic champagne corks popping in some remote cave in Afghanistan. While al Qaeda and the far left celebrate the Obama-Holder decision, it has shocked and outraged most Americans. They are outraged because these men were captured in a war on terror; and should be treated as enemy combatants. And because prosecuting them in a civilian court rather than by military tribunal will...

In its pages, Omar (and his mother) reveal that the Clinton administration failed in a major assassination attempt of Osama bin Laden, just days after the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings. This is something that has often been speculated but never confirmed. Former insiders like Richard Clarke say Omar bin Laden’s account of the assassination failure appears to be credible. And if this is the case, it might explain a little more about what documents Sandy Berger really had stashed away.

<p>Just announced by Jennifer Griffith in a live interview, WH has asked Pentagon for a formal assessment of a withdrawal from Afghanistan, that the Afghan Wart is no longer in our nations interest, blamed the Afghan elections.</p>

Osama bin Laden is back with another message for the world: CAIRO — Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden described President Barack Obama as “powerless” to stop the war in Afghanistan and threatened to step up guerrilla warfare there in a new audiotape released to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. In the 11-minute tape, addressed to the American people, bin Laden said Obama is only following the warlike policies of his predecessor George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and he urged Americans to “liberate” themselves from the influence of “neo-conservatives and the...

WASHINGTON – In a tape released Sunday by al-Qaida's media wing, terrorist leader Osama bin Laden said President Barack Obama is "powerless" to stop the war in Afghanistan. SITE Intelligence Group, a terrorist-monitoring firm that translated the address, said bin Laden, whose al-Qaida organization was behind the Sept. 11 attacks, blamed the war on the "pro-Israel lobby" and corporate interests. IntelCenter, another company that monitors terrorist propaganda, said the 11-minute video shows a still picture of bin Laden while audio of the address plays. Bin Laden's address to the American people comes two days after the eighth anniversary of the...

Posted on 09/10/2008 10:14:12 PM PDT by doug from upland FOR 9/11 - THE BALLAD OF MIKE MORAN Many of you lost personal friends on that horrific day. FReepers lost some they knew, but never personally met. We surely miss Battalion Commander John Moran and Barbara Olson. I wrote a parody for Barbara that she saw and commented here on FR that she had posted it on her refrigerator.

****** The conventional wisdom after the fall of the Taleban was that tracking bin Laden down would not make much of a difference to the larger War on Terror. At a March 2002 press conference, President Bush referred to bin Laden as “a person who’s now been marginalised”. In 2005 the CIA even closed “Alec Station”, its dedicated bin Laden unit that had been given the mission of hunting al-Qaeda’s top leaders, and reassigned its analysts and officers to other counterterrorism missions. Senior CIA officials believed that al-Qaeda was no longer the hierarchical organisation it once had been. Although it...

Spare Change Day of Reckoning: My Two Cents on Learning from 9/11 David J. Aland 11 Sep 09 I survived 9/11 without a scratch. I didn’t even get my uniform dirty. Through nothing less than the grace of God, I was not where I was supposed to be when the terrorists slammed an airliner into the Pentagon. Friends, colleagues, and shipmates of mine died that day, but I lived. In the hours, days, and weeks that followed, my hands joined the thousands that picked up, reconstituted, and continued the work of those that had been killed. To this day, I...

<p>The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.</p> <p>I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.</p>

How many members are in your family, your close family, the family that comes to birthday parties or lifecycle celebrations? Ten? Twenty? I bet it's fewer than 40. How about your friends — your close friends, the ones who call when you're sick, the ones who share vacations? How many? I bet it's fewer than 40. Now imagine if, in one fatal moment, they were all gone. On Friday, in northwest Pakistan, a suicide bombing killed around 40 people in a mosque. This was during prayer hours. The carnage was so bad, according to news reports, that people saw body...

WASHINGTON -- According to the mighty Wurlitzer in the White House press office, this week's penitent presidential venture to the Middle East has been "historic" and a "new beginning" for our relationship with Islam. Unfortunately for Mr. Obama -- and his campaign promise to make a major speech in a Muslim capital -- Osama bin Laden didn't play along. That's the trouble with homicidal megalomaniacs; they very often don't abide by the rules of "acceptable behavior." As the Grand Apology Tour swept into Saudi Arabia, the al-Qaida terror chieftain released yet another diatribe on audiotape, condemning "U.S. aggression" in Afghanistan...

Osama bin Laden has condemned Barack Obama's policies towards Muslim countries in a new audio recording, it was reported today. The al-Qaida leader said the US president had planted seeds of "revenge and hatred" towards the US in the Muslim world, al-Jazeera television reported. It reported Bin Laden as saying that Obama was continuing in the steps of his predecessor, George Bush. He also told Americans to be prepared for the consequences of the White House's policies...

Cheney mixes up Obama, Osama By Reid Wilson Posted: 06/01/09 03:00 PM [ET] Former Vice President Dick Cheney confused the president of the United States with the world's most-wanted terrorist in a speech on Monday. Speaking at the National Press Club, Cheney answered a question as to why his administration had not caught Osama bin Laden. But in a faux pas certain to end up on cable news networks and late-night talk shows, Cheney transposed bin Laden's name with that of the current president. "I believe he's still out there someplace," Cheney said of bin Laden. "I'm sure the current...

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has alleged that elusive Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was a US operator who had tried to destabilise his late wife Benazir Bhutto’s government back in 1989. In fact, as premier Bhutto had “warned America about Osama bin Laden in 1989 with a call to then US president George H. Bush”, Zardari said on NBC’s Meet the Press programme Sunday. “She rang senior Bush and asked of him: ‘Are you destabilizing my government?’ because he (apparently referring to bin Laden) paid the then opposition $10 million to overthrow the first woman elected (prime minister)...

Osama bin Laden is dead, according to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari. This week he stunned the world with the exciting news that Pakistan's intelligence services have "obviously" concluded that bin Laden "does not exist any more, that he is dead."

Are you following me camera guy?

President Obama’s national intelligence director told colleagues in a private memo last week that the harsh interrogation techniques banned by the White House did produce significant information that helped the nation in its struggle with terrorists. “High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qa’ida organization that was attacking this country,” Adm. Dennis C. Blair, the intelligence director, wrote in a memo to his staff last Thursday. -snip- Admiral Blair’s assessment that the interrogation methods did produce important information was deleted from a condensed version of his memo...

If a President of the United States had information, from the best sources available, that a nuclear weapon, or nuclear materials which could be used in a "dirty bomb," had been or were about to be smuggled into the United States, is there anything that President should not do? If a leader of al-Qaeda was believed to know the location of the nuclear weapons and the plans of attack were captured by the CIA in Pakistan, would waterboarding be off limits? ... And if you are morally absolute as to waterboarding, then please tell us, which American city you would...

Claims of the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden seem to be as common as sightings of David Duchovny at porn shops. It is tempting to dismiss all such accounts as hearsay and rumors, but current reports focus on three areas of the world as the most likely hideout for the globe’s most wanted man: Parachinar, Pakistan; Chitra, Pakistan; and most shockingly, the Islamic Republic of Iran. While it is often argued bin Laden would never receive harbor on Iranian territory, this is the location most identified by eyewitness reports available to the public, allowing for a detailed chronology of his...

BERLIN -- A Dutch TV jury has found Osama bin Laden not guilty of the Sept. 11 attacks. In the conclusion Wednesday night to the show "Devil's Advocate" on Dutch public broadcaster Nederland 2, the jury of two men and three women, along with the studio audience, ruled there was no proof bin Laden was the mastermind behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001.

Guantanamo & Cheney Obama interviewed by Steve Kroft Strong words for former Vice President Cheney.

Who would have thought 55 days into this administration we would be asking the question, what did he know and when did he know it? Word that a provision in the stimulus bill gave the green light for AIG to hand out bonuses using taxpayer money sent the media bloodhounds hot on the trail of whoever is the culprit. For a time, it looked like Senate Banking chairman Chris Dodd would take the fall, but after 24 hours of twisting in the wind, Dodd said the change that exempted past agreements to pay bonuses was made at the request of...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. hasn't done a good job sorting out who should be released from the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Obama says in a broadcast interview that some of the people released from the facility in Cuba have rejoined terrorist groups. He also says U.S. officials have not always been effective in determining which prisoners will be a danger once they are let go.

Not long ago, after a string of especially bad days for the Obama administration, a veteran Democratic pol approached me with a pained look on his face and asked, "Do you think they know what they're doing?" The question caught me off guard because the man is a well-known Obama supporter. As we talked, I quickly realized his asking suggested his own considerable doubts. Yes, it's early, but an eerily familiar feeling is spreading across party lines and seeping into the national conversation. It's a nagging doubt about the competency of the White House. It was during George W. Bush's...

Osama bin Laden released a new audio today tape, which was quickly played on Al Jazerra before anyone had a chance to listen. The following is a transcript of the remarkable turn of events: I had a bad night thinking about the failure at Gaza and how my underwear no longer fits right. Seemingly, there is no symbiosis between those two problems, but, in Islam, there is always a dichotomy within which lies true meaning. There is too much dirt, and it is now ground into the fabric of my clothing as I sit here and sleep in these caves,...

A new audio message said to be from al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden accuses moderate Arab leaders of conspiring with the West against Muslims. Bin Laden, who has been America's most wanted man since the 9/11 attacks in 2001, also renews his attacks on Israel in the recording attributed to him. It was broadcast by the Qatari-based TV channel al-Jazeera which did not say how it had been obtained. Correspondents say the voice sounds similar to previous Bin laden tapes.

"We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority,” so said candidate Obama during an October 7, 2008 presidential debate. This comment echoed those Obama had made six years earlier during his celebrated, October 2002, anti-Iraq speech in Chicago, the broadside that enabled him to flank Hillary to the left. “You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s finish the fight with Bin Laden and al-Qaeda,” the then obscure Obama blustered six months before the Bush administration would launch its “dumb war” in Iraq. For the next six years, most ambitious Democrats...

Applying nighttime satellite images, advanced geographical techniques, and mathematical models to history's biggest manhunt, researchers say they have a strong idea where Osama bin Laden went after escaping from Afghanistan in 2001 - and where he may be hiding still. The researchers, using what is billed as the first attempt to apply scientific methodology to the pursuit, point to the lawless frontier town of Parachinar in northwest Pakistan as a prime place to search for the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

One of al-Qaeda's founding leaders, Dr Fadl, has begun an ideological revolt against Osama bin Laden, blaming him for "every drop" of blood spilt in Afghanistan and Iraq. Sayyid Imam al-Sharif: The terrorist attacks on September 11 were both immoral and counterproductive, he writes

A UCLA bio-geographer says he know where Osama is hiding. (Pakistan, with a garden)

Federal officials said this morning they have indicted an Afghan national for lying about his alleged ties to terrorists in a bid to fraudulently obtain a U.S. passport. Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, 34, who was arrested without incident this morning at his Tustin residence by members of the joint terrorism task force, was named in a five-count indictment returned Feb. 11 by a federal grand jury. The indictment, unsealed this morning, alleges Niazi hid associations with “Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” groups including Al Qaeda, Hizb-i-Islami and the Taliban, when he

C'mon! Now...turn a blind eye. Jean Akhbar had a VERY bad upbringing. French mom...Islamic dad. He was torn between two worlds...Should I be a white-flag-waving whore? Should I be a cowardly-islamofascist-terrorist?

(I'reading a fascinating book calledThe Siege of Mecca by Yaroslav Trofimov. I came across of section I thought Freepers might find interesting. It has to do with the Muslim concept of the "End of Days" and part played in it by Jesus Christ. It is from Chapter 5, pp. 47-48. (P.S. I having to type this in, so please forgive by hunt-and-peck fingers. Hopefully there's not too many typos.) ================================================= "The idea of a Mahdi has fuel Muslim imagination for centuries. There is no mention of it in the Quran itself . But the Phophet Mohammed, according to some nattators,...

In September of 2006, Kelly J. McCrum sold 1525 S Sangamon St. Unit 707, Chicago IL to a person named Osama Barakat. Kelly J. McCrum is the wife of Craig M. Robinson. Craig Robinson is Michelle Obama's brother. The part of the transaction that I found odd was the creditor. Burlew Plumbing & Heating of New Jersey issued credit for the transaction. Burlew also owns Magic Touch Construction Company Inc. This contractor does nonresidential construction, plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning. Knowing how New York and New Jersey share contracts for Port Authority work, I can't help but wonder if this is...

What was really behind 9/11? Now it can be told, at least by Scientologists: psychiatry. It should comes as no shock that Scientologists, who think psychiatry is behind all the great wrongs of the world from the Middle Ages forward, would also cause terrorism. Still, it's just perverse to blame psychiatry for 9/11. But that's what Dave Figueroa, president of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (founded by the Church of Scientology), does in this video clip from Xenu TV.

Quote: "What’s in a name? A great deal. Democracy, fascism, and communism represent different systems of government. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are also titles for different religious systems. Whereas democracy is defined as the rule of the people, by the people, for the people, Islam is defined as the rule of Allah, by Allah and his emissaries, for the pleasure of Allah. And when people, out of concern for political correctness or ignorance, describe Islam as a religion of peace, they are, at the very least, guilty of misrepresenting it. The word “Islam,” is derived from the word “taslim,” which...

Here is video from last night's Hannity, where Fox News' Kimberly Guilfoyle called President Barack Obama, "the Teflon President." She said Obama believes his cabinet picks should be confirmed because they have been "anointed" by Obama. The first part of the video features liberal Democrat Steve Murphy saying he would even oppose waterboarding "Osama" if he were to be captured, because he believes it to be torture. Never mind that no physical injury is done to anyone who is waterboarded. They feel like they are drowning, but they are not. Never mind that it has proven to work and has...

The new White House website unveiled by President Barack Obama’s team Tuesday includes a shot at former President Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Under the “agenda” portion of the site regarding Katrina, it reads: “President Obama will keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. He and Vice President Biden will take steps to ensure that the federal government will never again allow such catastrophic failures in emergency planning and response to occur.” “President Obama swiftly responded to Hurricane Katrina,” the statement on the site continues. “Citing the Bush Administration’s ‘unconscionable ineptitude’...

Osama bin Laden's third eldest son, an al Qaeda operative, is no longer under arrest in Iran and is likely in Pakistan, the top U.S. spymaster said Friday. The release or escape of Mr. bin Laden's son, Saad bin Laden, suggests possible collaboration between Iran and al Qaeda and the potential that Saad bin Laden is a go-between. Al Qaeda has been regrouping in Pakistan after the U.S. forced the group out of its base in Afghanistan, and Osama bin Laden is thought to be hiding there. Saad bin Laden "has left Iran," said Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell...

Examination of New Tape Raises Questions about Bin Laden's Health ...Bin Laden… You remember this guy? Of course you do; who could forget such a major tool? Why haven’t we put his head on a pike yet? There must be something we don’t know; some political problem keeping us from nabbing him, or perhaps even some corruption on the part of the Afghanis or Pakistanis. You're telling me that the US military, though depleted in Afghanistan, along with US special forces, US intelligence, spy satellites, UAV’s, and ally support isn’t enough to bring one man to justice? The man is...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Railway today unveiled an innovate locomotive that may go a long way toward turning the tide against the world’s climate change problems. The Osama, a remarkable train with external seating and standing room for commuters, can carry an average of 72 people per square foot. Named after popular terrorist Osama bin Laden, the train was designed with the goal of improving relations among terrorists and capitalists, while serving a greater good for the environment.

A key witness in O.J. Simpson's Las Vegas trial acknowledged to a Nevada investigator that the former NFL star paid him off, the investigator told a judge in Santa Monica this morning. The investigator from the Clark County district attorney's office said Alfred Beardsley admitted that Simpson gave him his Hall of Fame ring in exchange for altering his testimony to help the defenseI asked what did you get to change your testimony," said Bill Falkner, who worked with prosecutors building the armed robbery and kidnapping case against Simpson. The answer, he said, was the Hall of Fame ring. The...

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Questions are mounting about the possible involvement of President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel in the scandal engulfing Gov. Rod Blagojevich. As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, Blagojevich represented the North and Northwest Side's 5th Congressional District in Washington before he was elected governor and Emanuel took over in 2002. An examination of the FBI complaint against Blagojevich and the days immediately following Obama's historic election victory suggests the governor was highly interested in Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett as a potential Senate appointee, albeit with a steep price tag. The 76-page complaint contains multiple references...

CHICAGO (AP) - Barack Obama and his wife say they wanted to show their young daughters the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday, especially at a time when so many are struggling. They took 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha to a food bank today, where the girls joined their parents in shaking hands and giving holiday wishes to hundreds of people who'd been lined up for hours. The family handed out wrapped chickens to the people waiting in the chilly outdoor courtyard on Chicago's south side. The president-elect told, telling people to call him "Barack," said he wanted his girls to...

If you’re going to start a movement to change the name of what’s for dinner, you might want to pick something with a bit more ambiance than “sea kittens.” “Luca Brasi sleeps with the sea kittens” just doesn’t…ahem…hold as much water as does the classic line from my all-time favorite movie, The Godfather. I mean, I understand why PETA wants us to stop eating fish and all.

THE best foreign-policy advice any president left behind for his successors was Teddy Roosevelt's admonition: "Walk softly, and carry a big stick." President-elect Barack Obama should take it to heart. In a "60 Minutes" interview Sunday evening, Obama sounded well-intentioned - but dishearteningly like President Bush at his most naive: He set his own bar for success impossibly high. Just as Bush vowed to get Osama "dead or alive," Obama suggested - as he did during the campaign - that he'll get the terror master Bush failed to find. Worse, the president-elect stated that he'll "stamp out al Qaeda once...