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Early evidence in the December 30 bombing that killed seven CIA agents suggests a link to Pakistan, two senior Afghan sources, including an official at their spy agency, told The Daily Beast. The pair said that U.S. has already taken a chemical fingerprint of the bomb used by a Jordanian double agent in the attack, and that it matches an explosive type used by their Pakistan equivalents, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI. The bomb’s provenance was an immediate concern after the attack, which took place in a remote base in eastern Afghanistan called Camp Chapman, because of its...

A bold-faced political hatchet job, a mysterious memo, a bad pun and a predictable dig at Fox News. Those are just some of the enlightening tidbits contained in the 3,000 pages of Hillary Clinton emails released late Tuesday. The exchanges, which span the period between March 2009 and December 2009, show that Clinton maintained a relatively tight-knit circle of State Department aides who worked to plan schedules, arrange secure phone calls and draft speeches. They also show that Clinton corresponded more frequently than previously known with her longtime friend Sidney Blumenthal. Here are 11 of the most interesting snippets from...

The State Department on Tuesday released 3,000 pages of emails from the private server former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used while in office. The correspondence, released online, covers March through December 2009. Among the messages, on July 11, 2009, Clinton received an email from "Jimmy" — presumably former President Jimmy Carter — titled "N. Korea.” The message seems to be about freeing journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were charged and held with illegal passage into the Stalinist state. It read: "Hillary: As I explained to you on the phone, I don´t think it is appropriate to tell...

The U.S. State Department said it would release 3,000 pages of emails from the account of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton at 9 p.m. EDT on Tuesday (0100 GMT on Wednesday). Department spokesman John Kirby said at a news briefing the latest batch of emails would cover March through December 2009. "We recognize it's an inconvenient time," Kirby said of the nighttime release. He said State officials would be working until the last minute to get the second tranche of emails out to meet a court-ordered deadline.

SNIPPET: "Sudden jihad syndrome or just the crazy? I'll remind my readers that the two are not mutually exclusive categories. In fact, Aaron over at SOFIR has a pretty interesting typology of the "terrorist continuum" in which he posits that the more rational the terrorist the more likely they will be to need organizational help. At the other end of the spectrum are "lone wolves" who are characterized by a high degree of "internal disquiet". I've no idea if the grad student/murderer named Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani was motivated by Islamic extremism. I throw it out there because it can't be discounted...

Dr. Richard Antoun of Binghamton University, a retired professor of anthropology with a specialty in comparative religions allegedly was stabbed four times in the chest by a Saudi national, Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani, a cultural-anthropology grad student. Professor Antoun was a peace activist, and a convert to Judaism, and was known on campus as "a really nice guy."

Wow, so Bob Woodward’s new book is making a lot of headlines to today and why shouldn’t it? It’s an amazing view into the White House and well, frankly scared the bejeesus out of me just knowing that this joker is in charge of our country and military. Where to begin? It starts with the front page story from the Washington Post which talks about Bob Woodward’s new book, Obama’s Wars. The book quite literally is a stark reality check for the American people on who their Commander-in-Chief is and how he thinks. The first bombshell that people are talking...

Spokesman Todd Womack says the 22-year-old woman was on her way to the family's apartment Wednesday night when she stopped at an intersection and was approached by someone. Womack says she rolled down the window, was dragged from the car and thrown to the ground. He said Thursday that she was sore but not seriously hurt. Womack says the senator had arrived at the scene within minutes. "Her shoes were across the road. She was pretty shaken up," Corker said, adding that Julia quickly remembered that her Chevrolet Tahoe had OnStar, a GPS-tracking service. "It was my campaign car back...

The Obama administration’s handling of the Christmas Day terror plot has been “schizophrenic” says King. “It’s reflective of their handling of other incidents. They still haven’t given us any information on Fort Hood. Even with the gate crashers, they’ve refused to give us on information on communications between the White House social secretary and the Secret Service. They’re giving us nothing and Democrats in Congress are very reluctant to have any meaningful investigations.” Politics, not national security, is driving these decisions, says King. “They’re holding back because they don’t want to share embarrassing material.”

Questions asked of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri of Iran on his website....... In your opinion: What were the achievements of the (SoG)Movement over recent months? What are the factors that could stop the movement from expansion and make the way harder for them. What are the ways that would strengthen, safe-guard and protect the movement? What do you suggest to make the movement grow and blossom?” 1. The (SoG) Movement is the real representation of the legitimate demands of the majority of the Iranian nation, over many years. Although until now it has been facing the rough and extreme retaliation of...

Iran's opposition seized upon the death of one of the Islamic republic's founding fathers -- a revered ayatollah who was also a fierce critic of the nation's leadership -- to take to the streets in mourning. Tens of thousands of Iranian mourners--many chanting protest slogans--joined the funeral procession Monday for Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who had described government crackdowns as the work of power-hungry despots. Iranian authorities have barred foreign media from covering the processions in the holy city of Qom for Ayatollah Montazeri, who died Sunday at age 87. But witnesses said many mourners shouted protest cries including...

Demonstrations in Esfahan and Najafabad are evidence that the opposition movement has spread beyond Tehran to include a broad cross-section of people in central Iran. Esfahan and Najafabad were the "spiritual capitals" of the late Montazeri, said Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, a Tehran analyst and journalist who strongly supports the opposition movement. The harsh crackdown against Montazeri's supporters has the potential to drive them deeper into the opposition camp. "What has happened was a religious reaction out of devotion and conviction" to Montazeri, he said. "While on the surface the unrest has no relation with the political agenda of the green [opposition]...

Today, the Islamic regime in Iran faces what could be a perfect storm. A respected opposition leader is being mourned, it is the most holy day of the year for Shiites, and the pro-democracy Green Movement is more energized and radicalized than ever. The spirit of liberation is alive and well. ...One of our New Year's wishes is that peaceful change comes to Iran, but the regime will do everything in its power to prevent that from happening. Hopefully the reform movement will reach critical mass before the Islamic regime's nuclear program does.

Washington, 28 December (WashingtonTV)-Iranian authorities have declared martial law in the city of Najafabad, the hometown of the dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died last week, a pro-reform website reported on Sunday. The Rahesabz website said that at 9 pm local time [17:30 GMT], security forces used loudspeakers to announce martial law and asked citizens not to leave their homes. The declaration was the first since the 1978-79 Islamic revolution overturned the former Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The declaration came as security forces clashed with protesters across Iran, who were making use of the Shiite holy day...

Mideast: As the death of a dissident cleric spawns renewed protests, Sen. John Kerry seeks to make nice with the oppressors of those who truly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. How about regime change, Senator? The death toll from the brutal suppression of the latest round of Iranian protests against their government has reached double digits. We wonder if the senator still wants to be the highest U.S. official to visit Tehran since U.S. hostages were held for 444 days by the very same regime. To Kerry and this administration, the problem is one of mistrust and misunderstanding. Come, let...

One of Iran's most prominent dissident clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, has died aged 87. Hossein Ali Montazeri was a moving spirit in the 1979 revolution which created Iran's Islamic state, and was at one stage set to become its leader. His fierce criticism of the slaughter by Khomeini in his prisons - ended in his being "banned" and theoretically "demoted". Announcing his death, the Mullah regime refused to even give him an Ayatollah title let alone his true Grand Ayatollah one, mentioning him only by his name. One of Shia Islam's most respected figures, he was also a...

Vice President Biden’s national security adviser met with Iranian officials as far back as the summer of 2012, a new report reveals. Jake Sullivan secretly traveled to Oman in July 2012 to meet with Iranian officials, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. This would mark one of the earliest in-person meetings the U.S. held with Iran in recent years. Sullivan joined the State Department in 2009 and served under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as deputy chief of staff for policy. Although he moved to the White House in February, he continued to partake in backchannel discussions with Iran. The AP...

How do you say "corruption" in Arabic? A college pal of Tony Rezko who was accused of embezzlement, jailed in Iraq's Green Zone, and then escaped from prison and fled to Jordan is now running for a seat in Iraq's parliament, reports USA Today. Aiham Alsammarae, a dual U.S.-Iraqi citizen who attended the Illinois Institute of Technology with Rezko -- and who helped raise part of Rezko's $8.5 million bail -- was appointed to run the electricity ministry in 2003 after Saddam Hussein's ouster. During his tenure, a Rezko-owned company won a $50 million contract from Alsammarae's ministry. The deal...

Private Bergdahl - assuming he's still alive - is spending Christmas as a captive of the Taliban. His captors spent the last day or two uploading a video showing Private Bergdahl reading a statement. The video was divided into four segments and uploaded to YouTube on 25 December 2009. The YouTube account is:

Political forces in Pakistan want the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency to be placed under civilian control but the matter has been put on the backburner for the time being, President Asif Ali Zardari has said. "The political forces want the ISI should be brought under civilian control but for the time being, this matter has been shelved," Zardari said in an interview with a TV news channel. He did not give the reasons for the issue being shelved. The government led by Zardari's Pakistan People's Party had attempted to place the ISI under the control of the interior ministry in...