Free Republic

The “Overseas Contingency Program” – more commonly known as the “war on terror” – is back at the center of the political world, thanks to the uncertain prosecution of the war in Afghanistan. As President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Congress and the generals in the field contemplate the damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t consequences of Afghanistan, terror has reappeared in the American vernacular. “America is still a salient target and attractive target for terrorists,” said Paul Pillar, a former senior CIA counter-terrorism official. And while words like “Islamic terrorist,” “jihad” and “Muslim extremist” have been scrubbed from administration chatter, we remain...

In an effort to extract U.S. armed forces from Afghanistan, the Obama Administration has sent out peace feelers to the Taliban contingent upon their disentanglement of themselves from al-Qaeda. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs sought to clarify the difference between Taliban and al-Qaeda. “Al-Qaeda has carried out terrorist strikes around the world,” Gibbs pointed out. “The Taliban have confined their murders and oppression to those within the borders of Afghanistan. The President is confident he can live with that.” Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar is said to have welcomed “the offer of surrender from the ‘Great Satan,’” expressed his willingness “to...

NEW YORK (CBS) -After facing one of the most serious terror threats since the 9-11 attacks, Department of Homeland Security officials are slashing a big chunk of anti-terror funding to New York City.Local lawmakers say the cut could put American lives at risk.Just weeks after Najibullah Zazi was nabbed in an al-Qaida terror plot to explode dirty bombs here, the feds have inexplicably slashed Big Apple terror funding designed to build a network of sensors to uncover nuclear or radioactive devices in a 50 miles radius of the city. "To me this is beyond comprehension that less than a month...

Federal investigators have questioned two men whose photographs were shown to a Muslim religious leader along with a picture of an Afghan immigrant accused of plotting a bomb attack in New York City. Adis Medunjanin, a Bosnian immigrant, met voluntarily with investigators for 14 hours, said Robert Gottlieb, a New York lawyer representing him. Zarein Ahmedzay, a 24-year-old New York City cab driver, also was interviewed by the FBI, said his brother, Nazir Ahmedzay. Both men's photos were among four shown to Ahmad Wais Afzali, an imam at a Queens mosque accused of tipping off Najibullah Zazi (nah-jee-BOO'-lah ZAH'-zee) that...

Adiba, 17, of Kabul, showed her support for Afghan presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai at the bidding of her teacher as he met with women from the Malal group at his home in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 12, 2009. Although she planned to vote on Aug. 20, she had not decided which candidate would get her vote. Nikki Kahn-THE WASHINGTON POST This is indeed the dawning of the Age of Barack Hussein Obama....mmm...mmm....mm: The anti-war group Code Pink, which rose to prominence with high-profile protests against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars over the past seven years, is softening its stance...

With talks of "exit strategy" and "narrower focus", it's like the nation with the greatest military on the planet is throwing in the white towel of surrender to these thuggish clowns: Taliban fighters ride on their motor bikes in an undisclosed location in the south of Afghanistan May 13, 2008. REUTERS/Stringer From the AP by way of ALLAHPUNDIT: Obama’s developing strategy on the Taliban will “not tolerate their return to power,” the senior official said in an interview with The Associated Press. But the U.S. would fight only to keep the Taliban from retaking control of Afghanistan’s central government —...

The troop request on the desks of the president and his national security team outlines three options, according to a source familiar with the document. One path is not to send anymore troops to Afghanistan, considered a "high risk option." The second is to send 40,000 troops, and the third calls for a major increase in troops, far more than 40,000. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, according to the source, recommends the "middle" option of 40,000 as the minimum number needed to have a chance of success...The White House, however, is downplaying the troop numbers as the focus of the president's deliberations......

President Obama kicked off his reconsideration of strategy in Afghanistan by questioning on national television whether the United States needed to keep supporting the Afghan government and army. But the alternatives the president appears to be considering do not depart so radically from the plan proposed by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal. Obama told congressional leaders that he did not intend to reduce U.S. troop levels or limit U.S. operations to drone attacks on al-Qaeda. Nor, according to his national security adviser, would he give up on building the Afghan government and army. The White House's Plan B would mainly amount...

The president promised to close the prison at Guantanamo Nava Base nearly every day of his campaign. He was promising to close Gitmo on his first day in office and promised to prosecute the prisoners or “detainees” or turn them loose, after evaluating each case individually. The Liberals were ecstatic, on the campaign trail, the Liberals were comparing Obama to “The Great Emancipator” Lincoln. On his second day in office, he signed a law that was meant to close Gitmo in one year. Liberals were dismayed by the sudden delay of closure, but disappointment was expressed in hushed tones. One...

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- German police on Wednesday conducted a "city-wide search" in Berlin, targeting "potentially violent Islamic extremists," a police spokeswoman told CNN. While there is no "concrete" evidence of any attack plot, the raid is targeting people suspected of being involved in "jihadi training," according to the spokeswoman. The Berlin raid began shortly after 6 a.m. (midnight ET) and was still ongoing by midday, she said. Germany's capital has been on high alert after al Qaeda and the Taliban released threatening videos before Germany's recent national elections. The videos warned voters not to vote for leaders who want...

Being Supreme Leader of the Free World is a tough job; but someone's got to do it. Enter Barack Hussein Obama. Mmm....mmm...mm. When he's not pushing Obamacare, bashing FOX News for linking him to ACORN and other radical associations, hiding in the closet on gay rights, what's he doing? Why he's busy taking heat from all sides in the Afghanistan debate. I guess you just can't please all the people, all of the time. Or in this case, any of the people on all sides of the debate. Health care legislation has been hard for President Obama, but Afghanistan...

Homeland Security: Provisions of the law that spared New York another 9/11 are set to expire Dec. 31. So why do Democrats want to gut this law and remove the immunity telecom companies have for helping protect America? To borrow a British expression from World War II, it was a very near thing. The capture, arrest and indictment of 24-year-old Afghan immigrant Najubullah Zazi before he could set off bombs made from store-bought chemicals prevented a tragedy of potentially devastating proportions. It wouldn't have happened if the critics of Patriot Act had their way. The capture of Zazi was made...

Several people who traveled from New York to Pakistan last year with a man accused of plotting a terrorist attack have since returned to the United States, sources close to the investigation told CNN. Najibullah Zazi, 24, pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring with others to detonate explosives in the United States. Prosecutors allege that on August 28, 2008, Zazi and others flew to Peshawar, Pakistan, a city with a strong Taliban and al Qaeda presence. Those currently under surveillance in the United States include members of Zazi's travel group, according to one source familiar with the investigation. Another...

AJLOUN, Jordan – Hosam Maher Husein Smadi cradled his mother, weeping. Just 16 years old, the eldest of four children, he had dreaded this moment. During his mother’s 18-month fight with cancer, he had kept vigil by her bed. Now it was time to let her go. Along with his brother, Husein, and several loved ones, he gripped his mother’s cloth-wrapped body. They began to lower her into the freshly dug 3-foot-deep grave. Suddenly, he froze. Please, he implored of his uncle, a doctor. Check her pulse. Maybe she is still alive.

Before Obama charmed his way into the Oval Office, liberals sharply criticized President Bush for naming Iran as part of the “axis of evil.” Now liberals are suddenly concerned about the obvious danger of Iran and why nothing has been done to stop their nuclear ambitions. Consider two articles from Huffington Post from then and now.

Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes has given perhaps his most dire warning yet, saying that the Obama administration is preparing to stage terror attacks, declare martial law and cancel the 2012 elections, which is why they are demonizing their political enemies as criminals and terrorists. Keyes is best known for his performance during the 2000 Republican presidential debates, when he was accredited by many media outlets as being the clear winner during a series of debates with George W. Bush and John McCain. “It’s obvious that they will stop at nothing,” Keyes told attendees of a reception in Fort Wayne,...

Al-Qaida’s new method of delivering a deadly payload — in effect a plastic explosive suppository — would make security experts nervous, you might think. It is not easily spotted by conventional detectors. But it does have some who know their explosives busting a gut. A month ago in Saudi Arabia, a terrorist named Abdullah Hassan Tali’ al-Asiri reportedly walked past palace checkpoints with a small bomb inserted in a body cavity. Judging by the al-Qaida video featuring him proudly holding a device before committing the deed, it was about 3 inches long. He wanted to blow up a Saudi prince...

Mr. Obama’s five television appearances than for the president, who rounded off the day with an unusual 18-hole golf game (more than four and a half hours for those of you keeping track).

NEW YORK — After interrupting what they believed was a terrorist plot on New York City with a series of raids and arrests, authorities have intensified their focus on possible accomplices of the suspected Al Qaeda associate at the heart of the case, a law enforcement official said Monday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation continues, confirmed that investigators know the identities of at least three people believed to be in on a bombing plot they say might have targeted mass transit in the New York area. Authorities released a flurry of terrorism warnings for...

WASHINGTON – Former Attorney General John Ashcroft and one of his hardline lieutenants face the rare prospect of being held personally liable for alleged violations of individuals' rights in the aggressive aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks. High-ranking officials usually are protected from such civil rights claims. Not necessarily in these cases. Three federal courts have left open the possibility that former Bush officials may have to reach into their own pockets to compensate people who were swept up in the law enforcement and intelligence efforts after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Unbelievable. While serving up caf and decaf, the java guy was secretly working to commit mass murder. Cream and sugar with your terrorist attack, madam? Glazed or jelly donut with your bomb blast, sir? The recent arrest of suspected terrorist Najibullah Zazi reminds us all of the important role surveillance plays in safeguarding our people and our nation. Zazi is in custody on charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. He was accused last week of conspiring to launch a bombing attack in America with the help of some common beauty supplies and insidious training from al-Qaida in...

PARIS — Locked in a deepening dispute with the United States and its allies over its nuclear program, Iran said that its Revolutionary Guards test-fired missiles with sufficient range to strike Israel, parts of Europe and American bases in the Persian Gulf. “Iranian missiles are able to target any place that threatens Iran,” a senior Revolutionary Guard official, Abdollah Araqi, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency. The reported tests of the liquid-fueled Shahab-3 and the solid-fueled Sejil-2 missiles were not the first, but they came only days after President Obama and the leaders of France and...

The scruffy young Afghan at the heart of a plot to bomb New York looked ripe for a makeover as he shopped for Ion Sensitive Scalp Developer, which promises "brilliant color results." Najibullah Zazi also filled his cart with bottles of nail polish remover and hair dye agents like Clairoxide Liquid Developer. Sometimes Zazi was joined on his shopping trips to the beauty supply stores in suburban Denver by other bearded men ... Zazi...might have fooled the clerk, but it didn't fool the feds. They knew the hydrogen peroxide - and the other acetone-based goodies that Zazi bought - could...

WASHINGTON — As President Obama weighs sending more troops to Afghanistan, one of the most consequential decisions of his presidency, he has discovered that the military is not monolithic in support of the plan and that some of the civilian advisers he respects most have deep reservations. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s troop request, which was submitted to the Pentagon on Friday, has reignited a longstanding debate within the military about the virtues of the counterinsurgency strategy popularized by Gen. David H. Petraeus in Iraq and now embraced by General McChrystal, the top American and NATO commander in Afghanistan. General McChrystal...

Join General Paul Vallely(ret'd) and Bill Roggio of the Long War Journal for vital conversation on the Long War and Rules of Engagement. Chill those brewsky's break out the cigars, and put on your slippers for some great computer side chat. The Long War Journal consistently provides original and accurate reporting and analysis of the Long War (also known as the Global War on Terror). LWJ accomplishes this through embedded reporters, news aggregation, podcasts, and other media. Bill Roggio is retired Army and has embedded with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Long War Journal has become the go-to site...

Translated by Babelfish The Parliament today authorized the entrance of troops, ships and airships of the Armed Forces of the United States and Venezuela, to participate in an interchange of experience in this country with humanitarian aims, informed legislative sources today. The entrance of the American and Venezuelan military was proposed by the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, with character urgent, and approved today in the plenary session by 63 of the 92 deputies before the National Assembly, needed the president the Legislative one, the sandinista René Núñez. The Congress authorized the entrance of the 10 military of the special...

Tehran's new uranium enrichment plant will be operational soon, and "will blind the eyes of the enemies," Iran's semi-official news agency Fars reported Saturday, quoting a senior Iranian official. On Friday, Tehran acknowledged the existence of a second uranium enrichment facility near the Shia Muslim holy city of Qom. The announcement came ahead of a planned meeting October 1 between Iran and the five permanent United Nations Security Council members, plus Germany. "God willing, this plant will be put into operation soon, and will blind the eyes of the enemies," the senior official, Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, said in a...

For years, he was a fixture in Lower Manhattan, as regular as the sunrise. Every morning, Najibullah Zazi would be there on Stone Street with his pastries and his coffee, his vending cart anchored to the sidewalk. For many on Wall Street — young, old, all in a hurry, the charging bulls of Bowling Green — his was the first hello of the day. Affable and rooted, he lived for 10 years in the same apartment with his family in Flushing, Queens. His father drove a cab for more than 15 years. He was, in other words, no brooding outcast,...

A wannabe terrorist from Brooklyn was indicted yesterday for allegedly seeking training and weapons from Islamic militants to fight US troops overseas. The FBI said Betim Kaziu, a US citizen, traveled to Cairo in February and later to Kosovo, where he was arrested in August. Along the way, Kaziu allegedly sought to join Al-Shabbab, an armed movement listed as a terrorist group by the State Department, and train in Pakistan to fight American troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans.

With four months left to meet its self-imposed deadline for closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Obama administration is working to recover from missteps that have put officials behind schedule and left them struggling to win the cooperation of Congress...Today, officials are acknowledging that they will be hard-pressed to meet that goal. The White House has faltered...because of the legal, political and diplomatic complexities involved in determining what to do with more than 200 terrorism suspects at the prison. But senior advisers privately acknowledge not devising a concrete plan for where to move the detainees and...

Terror Plot Targeting Dallas, Texas Skyscraper Foiled By FBI Well, if anyone still has any doubt that our borders aren't well protected, this should send a clear and decisive message that we need action NOW! The FBI reported that James T. Jacks, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, and Robert E. Casey, Jr., Special Agent in Charge for the Dallas Office of the FBI, announced today that Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, 19, has been arrested and charged in a federal criminal complaint with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Smadi, who was under continuous surveillance...

Purported non Muslim Barack Hussein Obama made a presidential appointment of Muslim Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Arif Alikhan for a top job at the federal Department of Homeland Security. In his new job, Arif Alikhan will be Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy Development at the Department of Homeland Security. Alikhan has been Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles--in charge of public safety for the city. Why Muslim Alikhan at the Department of Homeland Security you might ask? DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said Alikhan’s “broad and impressive array of experience in national security, emergency preparedness, and counterterrorism will make him...

Arizona’s border was judged to be open not only to drug smugglers but also aliens with “extensive criminal records” and from “special interest countries,” which are defined as “countries that could export individuals who could bring harm to the United States through terrorism. ”Special-interest countries are those designated by the intelligence community as countries that could export individuals who could bring harm to the United States through terrorism,” said the NDIC report.

The accused al Qaeda bomb maker from Denver planned to use chemicals and hair care products he bought at beauty parlor supply stores to build a series of devastating bombs, according to a federal indictment made public today of 24-year old Najibullah Zazi. According to court documents, Zazi "purchased unusually large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and acetone from beauty supply stores in the Denver metropolitan area." The chemicals in the products matched those listed in nine pages of hand written bomb-making instructions Zazi received when he attended an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan late last year, according to officials....

'Al-Qaeda members' flee Iraq jail At least 15 senior al-Qaeda members have escaped from a prison in Tikrit, Iraqi officials said, with authorities locking down the city as they search for fugitives. Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, an Iraqi military spokesman, said on Thursday that six of the escaped inmates are considered dangerous. Police sources told Al Jazeera that all of the men are charged with killing civilians and attacking security forces in the province in Salahiddien, north of Baghdad. They added that one of the prisoners, who has been sentenced to death, was re-arrested near the jail. The prisoners are said...

The lawyer for a Flushing imam arrested in a nationwide terror probe said his client's family plans to put up property in Queens and Virginia to secure a request for bail. Ron Kuby, the civil rights attorney representing Ahmad Wasi Afzali, 37, said the property would be posted by relatives of Afzali at a bail hearing Thursday in Brooklyn federal court...Federal prosecutors said they intend to try to keep Afzali in jail on the grounds that he may flee. The Brooklyn bail hearing, as well as one in Denver, where two other suspects are being held, comes as major rail...

NEW YORK - A suspected bomb plot under investigation in New York and Denver has the ingredients of a worst case scenario for U.S. security, experts say: an al Qaeda link, overseas training and free movement within U.S. borders. Colorado airport shuttle driver Najibullah Zazi, who U.S. authorities say admitted to taking a bomb-making course at an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, is at the center of what they say could be a plot to blow up subways or other targets... Whether the allegations outlined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in court papers are true, the picture they...

Canada will reportedly boycott Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the United Nations Wednesday in protest of his anti-Israel comments and repeated Holocaust denials. Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon and other Canadian delegates will vacate their seats at the U.N. General Assembly's annual debate in New York when the Iranian president approaches the podium, the National Post said, citing an unidentified Canadian official. "President Ahmadinejad's repeated denial of the Holocaust and his anti-Israel comments run counter to the values of the U.N. General Assembly, and they're shameful," the official told the newspaper. "He uses his public appearances to provoke the international...

NEW YORK — Police in New York City stepped up their patrols and increased their random searches on subways and buses Wednesday following reports that as many as 24 more people are being sought in a suspected cross-country terror plot. Amid media reports that some public storage centers in the region were being raided, the FBI told FOX News that there may be "consensual searches" under way, but no facilities were being "raided." The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued bulletins earlier this week warning law officials around the country to watch mass transit, stadiums, warehouses with rentable...

Stadiums, Hotels Put On Alert Amid Terror Probe Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009 in New York. Associated Press Writers Tom Hays And Devlin BarrettNEW YORK – The government expanded a terrorism warning from transit systems to U.S. stadiums, hotels and entertainment complexes as investigators searched for more suspects Tuesday in a possible al-Qaida plot to set off hydrogen-peroxide bombs hidden in backpacks. Police bolstered their presence at high-profile locations. Extra officers with bulletproof vests, rifles and dogs were assigned to spots such as Grand Central Terminal in New York. Plainclothes officers handed out fliers at a nearby hotel with a warning...

The alleged Al Qaeda terror thugs involved in the plot to bomb the city tried to rent a 'Jumbo Sized Super Mover' U-Haul truck in St. Albans, Queens. Another terrorist cell was taken down, but the question remains did they arrest all of them and how many more remain under surveillance or worse, not even known to our FBI? HE WAS OUT TO KILL Detectives were combing Queens storage facilities on Monday for stockpiled explosive chemicals that Al Qaeda terror thugs planned to use to bomb New York, sources said. At the same time, the Daily News has learned...

Counter-terror agents raided several city apartments on Tuesday searching for evidence that could link a half-dozen suspected terrorists to a recently uncovered plot to bomb in New York. The men are friends and associates of the three Afghan immigrants arrested over the weekend after police raided several Queens apartments...Between 16 and 20 men are under surveillance - as are their haunts in the city, sources said...(Police Commissioner Raymond) Kelly also declined to address reports that detectives were combing Queens storage facilities looking for explosive chemicals that were stockpiled by Al Qaeda terrorists.... The News also reported that NYPD investigators, in...

A depressing report in the Washington Times about the ongong terrorism investigation, suggesting that turf warring between rival agencies — the FBI and the NYPD — prematurely blew the investigation before law enforcement could gather enough evidence to make a strong terrorism case against anyone. Specifically, the FBI was watching the Denver-based prime suspect, Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old native Afghan who has reportedly received training in al-Qaeda camps. Zazi had plans to be in New York by the anniversary of 9/11 (always a date of concern) and, in fact, took two days to drive there. (Driving, rather than flying or...

A 24-year-old Afghan man at the center of an unfolding FBI investigation into a possible U.S. terrorism cell was ordered held without bond Monday as authorities raced to learn more about an alleged plot using hydrogen peroxide explosives and who else might have been helping to carry it out. A federal judge in Denver followed the recommendation of Justice Department prosecutors and refused to release Najibullah Zazi, a permanent U.S. resident...Unlike in recent U.S. plots -- which federal authorities often described as "aspirational" and whose leaders' search for expertise or weapons often unwittingly led to them to consult FBI informants...

DENVER – An airport shuttle driver under arrest in Colorado may have been planning with others to detonate backpack bombs on New York City trains in a terrorism plot similar to past attacks on London's and Madrid's mass-transit systems, officials said. The investigation into the possible terror plot has prompted counterterrorism officials to warn mass-transit systems around the nation to step up patrols.

Reporting from Washington and New York - Federal authorities have tied as many as a dozen people to a suspected Al Qaeda-linked bomb plot on U.S. soil as they continue to gather evidence to indict on terrorism charges the young Afghan immigrant at the center of the case, law enforcement officials said Monday. Authorities said that they did not know the exact number of potential suspects or many of their identities, but that they had been connected through electronic intercepts, surveillance, seized evidence and interviews. A federal law enforcement official and others, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the...

...Do we arrest potential terrorists too early and allow them to plead to lesser charges? Or do we wait and risk an attack? How seriously has law enforcement taken the plot? Serious enough for the FBI to have sent out warnings to local law enforcement to be on the lookout for bombs and bomb-making material. Was a terrorist attack “imminent”? We may never know how close the alleged plotters were to actually carrying out their attacks. If this New York Post article is to be believed, sometime prior to the raid Zazi was warned that he was the subject of...

Federal agents Saturday reportedly took Najibullah Zazi, the man under investigation in a terrorism probe in New York, and his father into custody after swarming his Aurora, Colo., apartment. At 9:30 p.m., 15-20 law enforcement cars reportedly swarmed into the parking lot of Zazi's apartment. Both Najibullah's Zazi and his father, Muhommad, were removed from the apartment in handcuffs.

Jen in the UK found an interesting article in yesterday's print version of The Evening Standard. For some reason, she couldn't find any reference to it online. But here's what it said: "An Islamic sect with links to the airline bomb plotters and 7/7 suicide bombers has been warned it faces legal action over its illegal mosque near London's Olympic park.Newham council has given Tablighi Jamaat six months to submit plans for a "mega-mosque" or risk the removal of a temporary Portakabin-style structure it has used without planning permission for three years." Tablighi Jamaat was followed by the 7/7 bombers...

AURORA, Colo. — Djilali Kacem tugged at his beard and surveyed the warehouse of Islamic books he helps oversee near Denver International Airport. “The government should know better by now,” said Mr. Kacem, an imam at a local mosque. “It has been eight years since Sept. 11 and our government still overacts sometimes when it comes to Muslims.” As an investigation into a possible terrorist plot against New York City focused increasingly last week on a local Afghani shuttle bus driver, some Muslims in and around this Denver suburb have grown uneasy, saying they are concerned that law-enforcement officials are...