Free Republic

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- A Swedish citizen wanted in the U.S. on suspicion of plotting to set up a terrorist camp there was extradited Tuesday from the Czech Republic, officials said. Czech Justice minister Jiri Pospisil ruled on Sept 18 there was no reason to refuse a U.S. extradition request for Oussama Kassir, spokeswoman Zuzana Kuncova said. Kassir left the country by plane on Tuesday bound for the United States, said Kuncova. Kassir was arrested on Dec. 11, 2005, at Prague's Ruzyne international airport while flying from Stockholm, Sweden, to Beirut, Lebanon. He has been held in a Czech prison...

In the video Usama bin Laden released last week, he attempts to rebut the "neocon" assertion that immediate withdrawal from Iraq will precipitate a genocidal bloodbath with a history lesson that could have been delivered at any number of college campuses in the U.S.: "[T]he morality and culture of the holocaust is your culture, not our culture. In fact, burning living beings is forbidden in our religion, even if they be small like the ant, so what of man?! The holocaust of the Jews was carried out by your brethren in the middle of Europe, but had it been closer...

Usama bin Laden must be following the U.S. presidential campaign so closely that he has begun channeling the talking points of several candidates, as evidenced by this transcript of his latest video: UBL: "[D]espite America being the greatest economic power and possessing the most powerful and up-to-date military arsenal as well; and despite it spending on this war and is army more than the entire world spends on its armies; and despite it being the being the major state influencing the policies of the world, as if it has a monopoly on the unjust right of veto; despite all of...

The following is a partial transcript of the Oct. 1, 2006, edition of "FOX News Sunday With Chris Wallace": "FOX NEWS SUNDAY" HOST CHRIS WALLACE: Bill Clinton said a lot of things in our interview last week. How much of it was true? Well, we've assembled a panel of experts to discuss just that: Daniel Benjamin, a counterterrorism expert for the Clinton National Security Council; Michael Scheuer, who ran the CIA unit that hunted Usama bin Laden; and Lawrence Wright, author of a behind-the-scenes new book on the run-up to 9/11 called "The Looming Tower." We should note we invited...

President Bill Clinton was overbearing, threatening, and in the face of "FOX News Sunday" host Chris Wallace. The wild eyed, finger wagging Clinton was astonishing to watch and embarrassing. He possibly could have been charged with assault and battery against the Fox host. Chris Wallace, the son of liberal 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace, appeared to be overwhelmed by the ire of his guest. Clinton was ready to pounce on anything the mild mannered interviewer asked. In most states, an assault/battery is committed when one person 1) tries to or does physically strike another, or 2) acts in a threatening...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday named the Philippine and Indonesian branches of the International Islamic Relief Organization as fund-raisers for al Qaeda and other terror groups. It also designated one of the Saudi-based organization's high-ranking officials, Abd Al Hamid Sulaiman Al-Mujil, as a fund-raiser for al Qaeda. The action means that no American can have any dealings with the two branches of the organization or with Al-Mujil and that any assets they have in the United States will be frozen. "Al-Mujil has a long record of supporting Islamic militant groups, and he has maintained a cell...

Saudi Wealth Fuels Global Jihadism Posted Oct. 27, 2003 By Kenneth R. Timmerman Generations of Muslims in the Middle East have been raised on the anti-Western, anti-Semitic theologies of Ayatollah Khomeini and in the Saudi Wahhabi system of madrassas (religious schools). This foundation set the stage for the rise of Osama bin Laden. Doaa 'Amer is a professional TV anchor who hosts Muslim Woman Magazine on IQRAA TV, a satellite channel broadcasting throughout the Arab world. As she tells it, her job is to educate the next generation of children to be "true Muslims." Readers accustomed to hearing Islam described...

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

US spy chiefs ordered agents to deliver Osama bin Laden's severed head in a box of dry ice and hoist heads of other Al-Qaeda leaders on pikes, a retired field officer has disclosed. As America reeled in shock days after the September 11 attacks in 2001, former CIA officer Gary Schroen was sent to Afghanistan to help the opposition Northern Alliance to topple bin Laden's hosts the Taliban. He told National Public Radio in an interview broadcast on Monday and Tuesday that he stopped by the office of then-CIA counterterrorism director Cofer Black for final instructions. He said he was...

In the small rural community of Kamdesh, Nuristan province, US troops recently constructed a base that houses hundreds of troops, making it the first such outpost of its kind to be built in one of the most untamed areas of Afghanistan. The base at Kamdesh is dug into a rugged mountain side that backs up to a sheer mountain side; prime real estate in the insurgent saturated northeast. Serving as an extension of forward operating base Naray, which lies due south in Kunar province, Kamdesh aims to reach further into the northern areas, namely Nuristan, to help the locals with...

Al-Qaida has smuggled tactical nuclear weapons and uranium into the U.S. across the Mexican border and is planning to launch a major terrorist attack using a combination of nukes and dirty nukes, according to an interview with Osama bin Laden's biographer, Hamid Mir, in WorldThreats.com.

Pakistan not doing enough on terrorism, U.S. saysSat May 6, 2006 7:08 PM ISTBy Yousuf AzimyKABUL (Reuters) - Pakistan is not doing enough to help root out Taliban and al Qaeda leaders who have found safe haven in its lawless tribal lands along the Afghan border, a senior U.S. security official said on Saturday.Most al Qaeda and Taliban leaders are in Pakistan, and while the United States did not know where Osama bin Laden was hiding, he was probably on the Pakistan side of the border, said Henry Crumpton, State Department coordinator for counterterrorism.Pakistan, a vital U.S. security ally, has...

I've set out to create a sort of information clearinghouse of post-war information on Iraq's WMDs, ties to terror groups, ties to Al Qaeda in particular, Russia providing aide to Saddam, etc. I wanted to have post with a lot of background so as newly released documents continue to roll in and get translated and liberals whine "so what, this is just one document", we can always link back to this post or find older links in it. It started out mainly just for my personal use, for when I post on developments as they come, I will always link...

Has Dubai Port World, the company that was given management responsibilities of several U.S. ports, had any contracts with Bin Laden Construction Company in the past? Do they have contracts with them now? If Dubai Port World itself does not have contracts with the company, its owners might. In order for a foreigner to start a business in the Emirates, he/she must get a citizen of the UAE to sponsor it - in other words to basically own it. Dubai Port World is actually owned by citizens, but it is run by foreigners. Many UAE citizens own multiple businesses without...

Bin Laden cannot be named in Damra trial Judge fears mention would inflame jurors Tuesday, June 15, 2004 John Caniglia Plain Dealer Reporter A federal judge, fearing the mention of Osama bin Laden would prejudice jurors, barred prosecutors from bringing up the terrorist's name during imam Fawaz Damra's trial, which begins today in Akron. Damra, the leader of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, is accused of concealing his ties to terrorism on immigration forms in 1994. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison and deported. U.S. District Judge James Gwin's decision helped Damra, 41,...

I created this little video the other day, in honor of Kerry and Bin Laden's almost identical statements... It was spawned of my disgust at the Washington Post calling Pat Robertson and Ahmadinejad a "duo", etc. a few weeks back, and ignoring all the Bin Laden tape quotes that sound like they were ripped right out of the Dems playbook. I'm to lazy to copy everything over, so just read my post for the history, that also links to other old posts for more background, and then watch the video. This was my first attempt at using "Windows Movie Maker",...

ah ha! http://www.rightwinged.com/2006/01/cia_missed_alzawahiri_heres_wh.html

The Council on American Islamic Relations, better known as CAIR, fashions itself as a mainstream, moderate group. Well, read this article by noted scholar Daniel Pipes, and see if you agree with CAIR's claims. An excerpt: CAIR is particularly worrisome because it claims to be nothing but a mild public affairs organization promoting "interest and understanding among the general public with regards to Islam and Muslims in North America," and is widely seen as such. In fact, it is radical to the core; to quote its chairman, Omar M. Ahmad (as reported by the San Ramon Valley Herald in July...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia asked the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to impose sanctions on British-based Saudi dissident Saad al-Faqih for allegedly providing financial and material support to al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden. The United States and Saudi Arabia also asked the council to impose sanctions on Saudi businessman Adel Abdul Jalil Batterjee, who was instrumental in founding the Benevolence International Foundation, an Islamic charity that the United States has previously deemed a global terrorist group. Council diplomats said the two names were circulated among the 15 Security Council members on Tuesday. If...

HAMBURG, Germany, Aug. 10 — A German court today began a retrial of Mounir el-Motassadeq, the only person convicted of involvement in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, with the disclosure that the United States will for the first time share evidence about the plot. Mr. Motassadeq's conviction was thrown out in March by an appeals court, which said that critical evidence had been withheld by American authorities. After having been sentenced to 15 years in prison, Mr. Motassadeq was freed in April. The decision by the United States to offer limited cooperation to the Germans introduces a combustible element to...

A KEY al-Qaeda operative responsible for recruiting the shoe bomber Richard Reid and one of the September 11 hijackers helped to kidnap five British children from their Norwich home and take them to Libya, a court was told yesterday. Djamel Beghal, 39, is serving ten years in a French prison for plotting a suicide attack on the US Embassy in Paris and was described as so dangerous that even other al-Qaeda members thought him beyond the pale. While he was living in Leicester in the late 1990s Beghal, an Algerian, met Azzedin Journazi, from Libya, at a city mosque and...

<p>An Indianapolis family kept vigil Tuesday awaiting news of two brothers they say are wrongly being held in the Philippines for suspected ties to terrorists.</p> <p>"This is like a (bad) dream," said Pamela Stubbs Thornton, a sister of the detained men, Michael Ray Stubbs and Jamil Daud Mujahid.</p>

Al-Qaeda's Completed Warning Cycle - Ready to Attack?   03/03/2005 - By Michael Scheuer DCI Porter Goss's testimony before Congress on February 16 that Soviet nuclear material could be in al-Qaeda's hands is a troubling coda to speeches by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri in late 2004. Bin Laden's October 30 speech was treated by the media as an attempt to influence the election. Most post-speech commentary also claimed the speech moved bin Laden away from war and toward political discourse. That the speech was directed to the American people is clear. What received little notice, however, is that...

BIN LADEN: AN OPEN LETTER TO PETER BERGENby B.Raman Dear Mr.Bergen, We have never run into each other in any of the innumerable seminars on jihadi terrorism in general and Al Qaeda in particular which I keep attending, but you are one of the few Al Qaeda watchers whose comments I carefully look for and read with attention and respect. Your comments are often tinged with a healthy dose of skepticism which, I have always felt, is an important component of good analysis. 2. Before going to bed on Thursday night, I leant from the TV channels about the latest...

U.S.: Pakistan of little help in the hunt for bin Laden By James Risen and David Rohde THE NEW YORK TIMES Hunting for Osama bin Laden, the CIA established a series of small, covert bases in the rugged mountain frontier of northwest Pakistan in late 2003. Bin Laden, the terrorist leader, was being sheltered there by local tribesmen and foreign militants, the agency had concluded, and he controlled a group of handpicked operatives dedicated to attacking the United States. But since the bases opened, the CIA officers stationed there have been strictly supervised by Pakistani officials, who have limited their...

Michael Scheuer, the former CIA official in charge of tracking down Usama bin Laden, was interviewed on 60 Minutes this evening and identified Nasir al-Fahd as the Saudi shaykh who issued the fatwa giving bin Laden religious approval to use a nuclear device against U.S. civilians. The fatwa, "A Treatise on the Legal Status of Using Weapons of Mass Destruction Against Infidels" (Risalah fi hukm istikhdam aslihat al-damar al-shamel didh al-kuffar), was published by Fahd on May 21, 2003. In November of last year, while in prison for his participation in the bombings by al Qaida against Western compounds in...

"Stupidity is not limited to any one group of people. Sometimes the people we look up to most make the biggest fools of themselves. When they do, we are here to point it out." http://www.famousfools.com/

COWARDS .... One day after Usama bin Laden went on Al Jazeerah television and warned America, in so many words to vote for John Kerry and not for Bush, how did we respond? Like Spain! Overnight, Kerry went up 2% in the polls. What did you say to a pollster? Were you one of the newest victims of the terrorists, a willing victim? Americans, mainly democrats, have cowered down before the world’s bully! I cannot believe this is happening in the United States of America! Party before country! We were the sons and daughters of those who fought nobly at...

Pakistan ‘gives Al-Qaeda refuge’ Nicholas Rufford OSAMA BIN LADEN is being given safe haven with the help of Pakistani officials, British security sources believe. Recent intelligence reports coming from remote tribal areas of Pakistan have indicated the Al-Qaeda leader is being given refuge by senior figures in the regional government. America has given Pakistan tens of millions of dollars since the start of the war on terrorism and the hunt for Bin Laden. There is growing impatience in Washington at the failure of the military to capture him. He is believed to be hiding along the mountainous 1,500mile frontier between...

By John J. LumpkinASSOCIATED PRESS2:35 p.m. October 19, 2004 WASHINGTON – The top American commander in Afghanistan said Tuesday he has no evidence Osama bin Laden is in day-to-day control of al-Qaeda but suggested the long-absent terrorist leader is alive. Lt. Gen. David Barno, speaking to reporters during a visit to the Pentagon, talked mostly of a lack of evidence about bin Laden's whereabouts, health and current role in the al-Qaeda network. He remains, however, a critical target, Barno said. Still, "I don't see any indications that he is in day-to-day command and control, as it were, of the al-Qaeda...

http://www.globalterroralert.com/zarqawi-bayat.pdfGlobalterroralert.com (10/17/04): Abu Maysarah al-Iraqi, official media representative of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Tawheed wal-Jihad Movement in Iraq has released a new statement on behalf of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. According to the document, after 8 months of tense and prolonged negotiations, Zarqawi and his loyal fighters in central Iraq have sworn an oath and officially joined "under the banner" of Usama Bin Laden and Al-Qaida. Speculation has been rampant since Zarqawi first emerged in media reports over his relationship with Bin Laden and Al-Qaida. It is significant to note that many of Zarqawi's top lieutenants have been trained in Al-Qaida military...

An anti war group says it doubts the substance and authenticity of CNSNews.com's exclusive report based on Iraqi intelligence documents that show Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and had ties to terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda. "[The CNSNews.com article] is probably a complete fabrication. There is just so much evidence to the contrary that Saddam and Osama [bin Laden] hated each other, were in opposite poles in the world. It's just really tough to swallow," said Michael Austin of AntiWar.com in an interview conducted just a day or two after the original article was published. "It just seems...

An Oil-for-Food Connection? From the August 9, 2004 issue: On whether any of Saddam's loot made its way into Osama's pockets. by Claudia Rosett 08/09/2004, Volume 009, Issue 45 IF, as the 9/11 Commission concludes, our "failure of imagination" left America open to the attacks of September 11, then surely some imagination is called for in tackling one of the riddles that stumped the commission: Where exactly did Osama bin Laden get the funding to set up shop in Afghanistan, reach around the globe, and strike the United States? So let's do some imagining. Unfashionable though it may be, let's...

Muslim militants claiming links to al Qaeda vowed in a statement on Wednesday to launch a "bloody war" on Europe after a "truce" offered by Osama bin Laden expired earlier this month. ... The group had warned in an internet statement earlier this month it would launch new attacks on Europe once the truce, which expired in mid-July, ended. Al Qaeda leader bin Laden, in an audiotape on April 15, gave European states three months to pull troops out of Afghanistan, Iraq and other Muslim countries or face new attacks like the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people on...

Washington, Feb 21 (UNI) The US has scotched reports coming out of Pakistan that its forces have captured Osama bin Laden. ''That would be news to everybody in this room. No, I haven't heard anything -- haven't heard anything like that,'' spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters at the White House here yesterday. Asked to clarify what prompted President Pervez Musharraf to say a couple of weeks ago that Pakistani forces would have bin Laden by the year-end, the spokesman said, ''I speak for the President. Obviously, I don't speak for President Musharraf.'' As for whether the capture of bin Landen...

OSAMA bin Laden is reportedly surrounded by United States special forces in a mountain range that straddles north-west Pakistan and Afghanistan. Internationally respected investigative journalist and author Gordon Thomas says the al-Qaida terror group leader has been sighted for the first time since 2001 and is being monitored by satellite. In a report to be published in a British newspaper, Thomas says bin Laden is in a mountainous area to the north of the Pakistani city of Quetta. The region is said to be a stronghold for bin Laden supporters and the terror kingpin is estimated to have 50 of...

<p>SANAA, Yemen, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- A purported statement by al-Qaida in Yemen warned Saturday of a "major strike" soon in the United States.</p> <p>The statement, distributed by the Yemeni Tagamoo Party for Reforms, said: "A major strike, a big event will take place in America soon," reminiscent of the Sept. 11 attacks.</p>

CAIRO, Egypt — An audiotape purportedly from Usama bin Laden (search) was broadcast Sunday on the Al-Jazeera satellite channel, urging Muslims to continue fighting a holy war in Iraq and the Middle East rather than cooperate with peace efforts. The speaker, who referred to recent events -- including the December capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, called on Muslims to "continue the jihad to check the conspiracies that are hatched against the Islamic nation." He said the U.S.-led war against Iraq was the beginning of the "occupation" of Gulf states for their oil. "My message is to incite you...

<p>LOS ANGELES — Air France resumed service between Paris and Los Angeles on Friday after grounding six flights over the Christmas holidays, an action taken because of a terror threat that may have involved crashing an airplane in Las Vegas.</p>

A new tape from OBL is expected to air shortly.

A baby walking around with a loaded diaper is an obvious distraction to anyone within sniffing distance. When our second son did his best to contribute to the sulfurous quality of the atmosphere in the Rummo household, it was left up to me or Mrs. Rummo (usually the latter) to change his diaper. My older son, a toddler at the time, was always pre-occupied with his own playthings. Despite the rank odor, he somehow managed to ignore it long enough until the adults got wind of the crisis and did something about it. Loaded diapers remind me of Bill Clinton's...

AFP officials say MILF ordered $2-M in arms from Nokor spy By FERNAN MARASIGAN TODAY Reporter The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has ordered more than $2-million worth of armaments and sophisticated weapons from an alleged North Korean intelligence officer, as part of rebel plan to launch an all-out war against the government, military officials said Thursday. The officials said the rebels also plan to purchase minisubmarines to augment its fighting capability. These orders and plans were revealed, the military added, by documents seized from the house of MILF chairman Salamat Hashim, when the military overran the rebel camp in...

CIA, FBI directors say al-Qaeda threat remains strong 02/11/2003 By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT / The Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON -- The al-Qaeda terrorist network remains a dangerous and ruthless foe, plotting more attacks perhaps as early as this week against the United States and its allies, the heads of the CIA and FBI told Congress today. But, with war looming against Iraq and a nuclear crisis brewing on the Korean Peninsula, al-Qaeda is not the only danger on the horizon, CIA Director George Tenet and FBI Director Robert Mueller said. "The national security environment that exists today is significantly more...

<p>DOHA, Qatar — Usama bin Laden called on Muslims throughout the world to unite behind Iraq Tuesday in an audiotape broadcast on Al-Jazeera satellite TV.</p> <p>Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Colin Powell told a Senate committee that the audiotape would be aired, and that the voice on the recording is believed to be that of bin Laden, the Al Qaeda mastermind who has been in hiding since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.</p>

Bin Laden's kin reportedly tried to use Hajj to get to Afghanistan 02/09/2003 Associated Press ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Increased U.S. fears of terror attacks may not be unfounded. The Hajj, the huge annual Muslim pilgrimage to Islam's holy city of Mecca, can provide cover for militant organizations attempting to secretly place operatives around the globe to stage attacks. Four years ago, Osama bin Laden's relatives, worried about his ill health, tried to use the pilgrimage as a cover to visit the Saudi-born terrorist while he was holed up in Afghanistan, says a former Afghan airline official who was approached...

Software likely in hands of terrorist By Jerry Seper THE WASHINGTON TIMES Accused spy Robert P. Hanssen gave secret U.S. software to his Russian handlers that later went to terrorist Osama bin Laden, allowing him to monitor U.S. efforts to track him down, federal law enforcement officials said. The sophisticated software gives bin Laden access to databases on specific targets of his choosing and the ability to monitor electronic banking transactions, easing money-laundering operations for himself or others, according to the sources. Believed to be an upgraded version of a program known as "Promis" developed in the 1980s by a...

Bin Laden reportedly sought nuclear expert's help Pakistani said to have rebuffed al-Qaeda's appeal to build bomb 12/30/2002 Associated Press ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A leading Pakistani nuclear scientist, barred by his government from talking to reporters, has made it known through his son that Osama bin Laden approached him before the Sept. 11 attacks for help in making nuclear weapons. The al-Qaeda leader was rebuffed, the son, Azim Mahmood, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Basically Osama asked my father, 'How can a nuclear bomb be made and can you help us make one?' " he said....

Arafat to bin Laden: Stop exploiting Palestinians 12/16/2002 The New York Times JERUSALEM - Yasser Arafat sought to distance himself unequivocally from al-Qaeda in an interview published on Sunday, warning Osama bin Laden to stop justifying attacks in the name of Palestinians. "I'm telling him directly not to hide behind the Palestinian cause," Mr. Arafat was quoted as saying in the Sunday Times of London, referring to recent statements by al-Qaeda leaders. "Why is bin Laden talking about Palestine now?" Mr. Arafat asked. "He never helped us. He was working in another, completely different area and against our interests."...

A voice on an audio tape purported to be that of Osama bin Laden threatening attacks against U.S. allies will be analyzed to determine if it is that of the al Qaeda leader, a U.S. official said on Tuesday. "We've seen these reports, and we will analyze the recording. At this point we have not made any judgements about whose voice is on the tape," said Sean McCormack, spokesman for the White House National Security Council. The tape was broadcast on Tuesday by the Arabic-language al-Jazeera satellite television channel based in Qatar. A man identified as the Saudi-born Islamic extremist...