Free Republic

A more diffuse, locally based movement is waging jihad against Western influence in the heart of the Muslim world [snip] The paradox of al-Qaeda in the two years since 9/11 has been that while the efforts of U.S. and allied intelligence agencies have battered its core transnational networks, al-Qaeda as a movement or an idea — as distinct from a narrow clandestine organizational network — has actually grown. Analysts believe the international intelligence and security cooperation has severely impeded al-Qaeda's ability to conduct highly sophisticated transnational terror operations such as the attacks in New York and Washington, but that Bin...

<p>An Army Islamic chaplain, who counseled al Qaeda prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval base, has been charged with espionage, aiding the enemy and spying, The Washington Times has learned.</p> <p>Capt. James J. Yee, a 1990 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., was arrested earlier this month by the FBI in Jacksonville, Fla., as he arrived on a military charter flight from Guantanamo, according to a law-enforcement source.</p>

<p>NORTHERN IRAQ (CNN) --U.S. forces have begun combing a bombed site in northern Iraq in search of chemical and biological weapons after airstrikes hit the facility this weekend, the top U.S. general said Sunday.</p> <p>The complex is believed to be where the lethal poison ricin was produced for an alleged plot to attack London, England, that has since been foiled, said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.</p>

Arafat Accuses Bin Laden of Exploiting Palestinians BACK UP OF WHAT I PUT IN AL QEDA FILE Reuters Saturday, December 14, 2002; 7:56 PM LONDON (Reuters) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has ordered al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to stop exploiting the Palestinian cause to further his own interests. In an interview with Britain's Sunday Times newspaper, Arafat said he believed bin Laden and his al Qaeda network were using the Palestinian campaign for independence to gain support in the Islamic world. "Why is bin Laden talking about Palestine now? ...He never helped us. He was working in another,...

<p>MOMBASA, Kenya --Kenyan authorities have released a Western couple who were being questioned in connection with the bombing of a resort hotel in Mombasa.</p> <p>Alicia Kalhammer, an American citizen, and her Spanish husband, Jose Tena, were released on Saturday after nearly two days in police custody.</p>

LONDON -- British police have arrested Abu Qatada, a Muslim cleric whose angry sermons and alleged ties to terrorists across Europe and beyond made him one of the most revered and most wanted figures in Al Qaeda, authorities said Friday. "I think it's very significant: He is on the FBI most-wanted list, he's wanted [in] France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Belgium for a variety of terrorist conspiracies," said Andrew Dismore, a parliamentary deputy. "He really is one of the spiders at the very center of the web."

AS A result of the continuing investigation on the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) network, the Internal Security Department (ISD) has arrested 21 additional persons suspected of involvement in terrorism-related activities last month. The Home Affairs Ministry on Monday said the suspects, who were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA), are all Singapore citizens. Nineteen of those arrested are current or previous JI members, with most belonging to or linked to JI operational cells. Two others are linked to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a secessionist group in the Philippines. A few have reportedly undergone military training at Al Qaeda...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ The Time in UK MI6 warned US of Al-Qaeda attacks Nicholas Rufford MI6 warned the American intelligence services about a plot to hijack aircraft and crash them into buildings two years before the September 11 attacks

<p>By all means, let's have an investigation of any intelligence shortcomings that may have helped make the Sept. 11 atrocity possible. But there's something awfully unseemly about the way some Democrats have been strutting about, patting themselves on the back for their 20/20 hindsight.</p>

What Went WrongThe inside story of the missed signals and intelligence failures that raise a chilling question: did September 11 have to happen? By Michael Hirsh and Michael Isikoff NEWSWEEK May 27 issue — Forget James Bond. Intelligence gathering is more like taking a metal detector to the city dump. SO MUCH COMES IN, rumor, hearsay, disinformation, so little of it more than trash: once in a blue moon an agent-prospector may get lucky. But even then an agent’s warning is likely to be dismissed as what Condoleezza Rice last week called “chatter.” “There’s always TMI—too much information,” says former...

<p>Sudan's Angle How Clinton passed up an opportunity to stop Osama bin Laden.</p> <p>Hours before cruise missiles began raining out of the dark skies of Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden appeared on Al-Jazeera, an Arabic-language television network. America "deserved" the attacks of Sept. 11, he said, and called on all Muslims to rise up and strike back at the free world. "America is full of fear from its north to its south, from its east to its west," he said. "Thank God for that."</p>

Threat of US strikes passed to Taliban weeks before NY attack Jonathan Steele, Ewen MacAskill, Richard Norton-Taylor and Ed Harriman Guardian Saturday September 22, 2001 Osama bin Laden and the Taliban received threats of possible American military strikes against them two months before the terrorist assaults on New York and Washington, which were allegedly masterminded by the Saudi-born fundamentalist, a Guardian investigation has established. The threats of war unless the Taliban surrendered Osama bin Laden were passed to the regime in Afghanistan by the Pakistani government, senior diplomatic sources revealed yesterday. The Taliban refused to comply but the serious nature...

<p>Osama bin Laden was emerging as a terrorist as Bill Clinton was inaugurated as president.</p> <p>The Saudi exile would be implicated in the first World Trade Center bombing, which occurred a month after Clinton took office. Bin Laden would contribute to the Somali debacle that scarred the president's first use of military force abroad. His al-Qa'eda network would kill more Americans in two bombings in Saudi Arabia and at two U.S. embassies in East Africa, and nearly sink a Navy warship in the final months of Clinton's term.</p>

Mailbox Package Explodes in Philly PHILADELPHIA- Federal agencies were investigating the origin of a mailbox package that exploded while being defused by a bomb squad after a mail carrier became alarmed by an attached note. "He saw a package. He didn't like the looks of it, he didn't like the writing on it," FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi said. Bystanders Maria Gonzalez and Joe Johnson said the mail carrier told them the note said "Free Palestine" and mentioned al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. A police official who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed that account. The carrier didn't handle...

Seven of the WTC Hijackers found alive! 2-20-02 Some of the men the FBI claims hijacked planes on Sept. 11 and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon, and Stony Creek Township, Pennsylvania are still alive. No they weren't pulled from the rubble, they were never on the planes. The FBI press release of September 27th, 2001 containing names, photographs, aliases and other information is seriously flawed. They have used these peoples names and made claims based on the fact they were pilots and other supposedly incriminating evidence and yet they were not involved. Places...

Submitted in part to comply with the LA Times copyright policy- Philippine Rebels Feel U.S. Presence By TYLER MARSHALL Times Staff Writer April 20 2002 ISABELA, Philippines -- The campaign of kidnapping and terror waged for a decade by Muslim extremists on Basilan island hasn't ended yet, but residents believe that they know why the tide seems to be turning in the government's favor. It's because of the American soldiers who recently arrived, and their high-tech equipment. "The Americans are superior," math teacher Mario Orbigoso said as he slouched at the front gates of a school. "They can see at...