Free Republic

The Chicago studios of talk-show superstar Oprah Winfrey and the iconic “Sears Tower” (renamed Willis Tower) were the targets of a terrorist truck-bomb plot in 2009. But initially unbeknownst to federal authorities, two of the conspirators recently were arrested for unrelated state crimes in different parts of the country. The alleged bombers targeted Ms. Winfrey’s Harpo Studios because they resented her popularity and power, while the tower was selected because of its obvious landmark status. The bomb plot itself, planned in 2009, was inspired by militant Islamist hatred of American military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to law...

Holiday travelers faced a literal nightmare on Sunday morning when the line for security checks at Midway Airport in Chicago was reportedly over a mile long. KOMO reporter Denise Whitaker said that the line was 1.2 miles long. An airport spokespersonsaid that she wasn't surprised by the crowds. “This happens sometimes,” Chicago Aviation Department rep. Karen Pride told the Chicago Sun-Times. “There was a period of time earlier this morning, between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., that lines were long because that is when most people are traveling for the holiday period.” Twitter users posted pictures of the hellish scene....

The FBI arrested two members of the New Black Panthers in Ferguson, Missouri late last week on weapons charges, after they used straw purchases a pair of .45 ACP Hi-Point pistols (one for the other, it seems) and bombs from an FBI informant. They planned to murder St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch and Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson, and then destroy the iconic Gateway Arch in St. Louis with three pipe bombs. Unfortunately for them… well, just read it for yourself. Sources close to the investigation were uncertain whether the men had the capability to carry out the...

KANO, Nigeria — More than 102 people were killed in the bomb explosions at the central mosque in this city, said a hospital worker. A mortuary attendant at the Murtala specialist hospital Kano, Malam Isa Labaran, on Saturday told Associated Press that he counted over 102 dead bodies deposited inside the mortuary on Friday after the multiple explosions at the mosque.

Sometimes, those attacking America seem to understand our economy and the source of our power better than we do ourselves. Terrorists plot big, jarring attacks, in part hoping the spin off effects will cascade throughout our economy, pyramiding the ultimate costs. When terrorists hijacked airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center towers, they were hoping not just to murder a few thousand innocent Americans, but to bring down the entire, world leading American economy as well. And they could have, without some careful, pro-growth, national economic policies in response. The hijacking of three, American jumbo jet airliners on...

Two men affiliated with the New Black Panther Party allegedly planned to murder Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson and St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch and bomb the Gateway Arch. In an undercover police sting, the two bought a pipe bomb, and intended to buy two more but couldn’t afford it until one man’s girlfriend’s Electronic Benefit Transfer card was refilled, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Brandon Orlando Baldwin and Olajuwon Ali Davis, who go by the names Brandon Muhammad and Ali, were indicted last week on weapons charges when Baldwin purchased two hi-point .45-caliber pistols intended for someone...

Taxpayers' own money is being used against them, as the government doles it out in benefits to fraudulent claimers who use it to fund terrorism, the metropolitan police's counter terrorism unit has revealed. Assistant Commissioner Terri Nicholson said terrorists were becoming ever more “innovative” in their attempts to smuggle much needed cash to their colleagues abroad in places like Syria and Iraq. She said as well as engaging in complex fraud, terror funding gangs often used women to smuggle large amounts of money abroad in the belief they were less likely to arouse suspicion. Nicholson said: “We are seeing a...

A woman has been charged with encouraging terrorism on Twitter, police have said. Alaa Abdullah Esayed, 22, of Kennington, south London, will appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court on December 10. She has been charged with two offences under the Terrorism Act - encouraging terrorism, and the dissemination of terrorist publications and released on bail. Police said one of the charges related to posts on Esayed's Twitter account, along with photographs and video links. The charge states "she intended, or was reckless as to whether, members of the public would be directly or indirectly encouraged or otherwise induced by the statement...

The Department of Defense will no longer call captured terrorists "unlawful combatants," but will now refer to these people as "unprivileged enemies." In a joint publication released this month, terrorists captured and detained by the United States will no longer be called "unlawful combatants," which is now apparently an obsolete term. Instead, a more polically correct term, "unprivileged enemies," has been chosen. The manual explains, "Belligerent. In general, a person who is engaged in hostilities against the US or its multinational partners during an armed conflict. The term belligerent includes both privileged belligerent and unprivileged enemy belligerent." It also includes...

The image above is that of a leaflet which - as part of Counter Terrorism Awareness Week - was distributed yesterday by the police at railway stations around the UK to guard people against a possible Mumbai-style attack that security forces are expecting may be attempted by Muslim extremists. The leaflets tell the public to "run, hide and tell" in the event of such an attack. They are part of a campaign just launched by Chief Constable of British Transport Police (BTP) Paul Crowther, who said: "More than six million people travel on our railways every single day." He added:...

<p>Officials at Fort Sam Houston say they’ve taken into custody the driver of a vehicle that military officials say contained explosive materials, and which sparked a lockdown at the San Antonio Army base.</p> <p>The Bexar County Sheriff’s Department said on Twitter that the lockdown was being handled by military police, and the sheriff’s department had no units assigned to the case.</p>

If you’re wondering why we’re having so much trouble winning the War on Terror, here’s how much bureaucracy taking out a Taliban terrorist involves. I explained that for the more complex missions, such as a mission to search for a weapons cache or to kill or capture a Haqqani commander, my Special Forces teams had to assemble a forty-slide conop for briefing and approval by a dozen higher headquarters if the team wanted to use helicopters.“A dozen command approvals?” Vickers asked me incredulously. “Name them.” The lieutenant colonel who was accompanying him glared at me over Vickers’ shoulder.“Absolutely. Now,...

Complete Headline: Saudi National Reportedly Crashes Car Containing Explosives Into US Army Post Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas A driver who rammed his car into the gates of U.S. Army post Fort Sam Houston in Texas is in custody after the ordeal on Sunday. Police have not provided much information about the situation or the suspect, but the military base, which had been placed under lockdown, has returned to normal operations. The suspect has been identified as a male Saudi national, according to KCEN TV. Authorities have not identified the man, but he is in custody. His car...

Secretary of State John Kerry has been a non-stop embarrassment to us since he broke onto the stage as a disgruntled, Viet Nam veteran who was angry at America and proud to tell the world about it. Those who were around at the time can still “see” the horse faced phony in a fatigue shirt talking about Jengus Khan and proudly describing how Richard Nixon ordered him into Cambodia before he was even inaugurated. Since then he has become a gigolo who married the foulmouthed Teresa Heinz the widow of Republican Senator John Heinz. Kerry honed his lying skills at...

Last year saw the highest number of terrorist incidents since 2000, according to the latest Global Terrorism Index released by the Institute for Economics and Peace. Worldwide, the number of terrorist incidents increased from less than 1,500 in 2000 to nearly 10,000 in 2013. Sixty percent of attacks last year occurred in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria. The report suggests that U.S. foreign policy has played a big role in making the problem worse: "The rise in terrorist activity coincided with the US invasion of Iraq," it concludes. "This created large power vacuums in the country allowing different factions...

BY THE THOUSANDS they streamed to Yanuh-Jat, Israelis of every description making their way on Wednesday to the remote northern Galilee district, where a fallen hero was to be buried with full honors. Israel's president, Reuven Rivlin, was there to pay his respects; so were the minister of internal security and the nation's top police commissioner. From around the country, hundreds of black-hatted haredi ("ultra-Orthodox") Jews came on chartered buses, disembarking to join throngs of Arabic-speaking Druze in traditional white turbans, police officers in dress blues, and so many other mourners that even the roofs of nearby homes were crowded...

A suicide bomber blew himself up Sunday amid a crowd at a volleyball tournament in eastern Afghanistan, killing 45 people and injuring dozens more in the deadliest attack since a new government took power, officials said. The evening explosion in Paktika province was a chilling reminder of the violence that insurgents continue to inflict on Afghanistan despite the inauguration of a national unity government two months ago and the impending withdrawal of most U.S.-led international troops. Mokhles Afghan, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the bomber was mingling with spectators at a local volleyball tournament when he detonated a vest...

“Isis now is like a magnet that attracts large numbers of Muslims,” said Abu Talha, who defected from the FSA a few months ago and is now in negotiations with other fighters from groups such as the al-Nusra Front to follow suit. Assam Murad, a fighter from a 600-strong dissident FSA brigade near Homs said: “There’s no way we would fight Isis after the US military campaign against them.” Murad, a fighter with the FSA’s 600-strong al-Ribat brigade near Homs, said an offer three months ago by the US-backed Hazem movement to supply his unit with advanced weaponry if it...

Two men suspected of buying explosives they planned to detonate during protests in Ferguson, Missouri, once a grand jury decides the Michael Brown case, were arrested on Friday and charged with federal firearms offenses, a law enforcement official told Reuters. Word of the arrests, reported by a number of media outlets Friday, came ahead of the grand jury's widely anticipated decision on whether the white police officer who fatally shot Brown, an unarmed black teenager, should be indicted on criminal charges. The Aug. 9 slaying of 18-year-old Brown under disputed circumstances became a flashpoint for U.S. racial tensions, triggering weeks...

On December 28, 2013, The New York Times published a thoroughly researched review of the September 11, 2012 attacks on the American diplomatic and CIA facilities in the city of Benghazi. David Kirkpatrick, The Times’ Cairo bureau chief, traveled to Libya and personally conducted a series of interviews with witnesses and even the relatives of suspects in that attack. His exhaustive account of the events on that night was illuminating, but his conclusions about what sparked that deadly attack made the most waves. Kirkpatrick found that there was “no evidence that al Qaeda or other international terrorist groups had...