Free Republic

ARIS, Oct. 22 - France's antiterrorist police on Friday identified a young Frenchman killed fighting the United States in Iraq, the first confirmed case of what is believed to be a growing stream of Muslims heading from Europe to fight what they regard as a new holy war. Redouane el-Hakim, 19, the son of Tunisian immigrants, died during an American bombardment of insurgents in Falluja on July 17, according to an intelligence official close to the case. Intelligence officials fear that for a new generation of disaffected European Muslims, Iraq could become what Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya were for European...

BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) - Three years after the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings, the military does not have a fix on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and his top deputy, but they are believed to still be issuing the orders for al-Qaida attacks, a top American commander told The Associated Press on Saturday.

U.S. intelligence officials say al-Qaida has turned its terror sights to a sea jihad, targeting Western luxury liners and aircraft carriers. The Brisbane Courier-Mail reports owners of the world's largest cruise ship – the recently launched $1.3 billion Queen Mary 2 – confirmed terror threats hang over its maiden voyage slated for early next year. The paper reports U.S. intelligence officials also found evidence Osama bin Laden's terror network planned to attack the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal as it passed through the Gibraltar Straits en route to the Iraq theater of war earlier this year. WorldNetDaily exclusively reported Sept....

Intelligence officials in Israel say al-Qaida is trying to establish operational cells in the Palestinian Authority, attempting to reach out to the Israeli-Arab communities in the Galilee and in the so-called ''triangle region,'' according to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, a premium, online intelligence newsletter published by WND. According to G2 Bulletin sources in Tel Aviv, the Internal Security Service (Shin-Beth) has foiled a number of attempts by al-Qaida sympathizers to cross the border between Israel and Jordan, planning to establish cells in Nablus and Jenin. Similar attempts were made to penetrate the Gaza Strip through the underground tunnel systems coming...

LONDON — European intelligence and security agencies are concerned that Al Qaida has been recruiting Western youth to fight against the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. European officials said security agencies in countries such as Britain, France and Germany have detected signals of Al Qaida recruitment of volunteers to fight the U.S. military in Iraq. The officials said the recruitment effort targets both young Muslims as well as those as those who oppose the U.S. presence in Iraq. "There is a sort of daily understanding of the evolution of a movement that is extremely complicated and difficult to understand," said Jean-Louis...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has advised federal agencies to initiate emergency counterterrorism measures to prevent possible al-Qaida car bombings planned during the last days of the Muslim holiday Ramadan, according to an internal department memo obtained by WorldNetDaily. Citing al-Qaida's "increasingly sophisticated" car-bombing tactics, it recommends security guards tow all vehicles parked illegally in and around government facilities, if their owners cannot be identified, and inspect the undercarriage and other areas of vehicles entering sensitive areas, among other high-threat protective measures.

Citing an "unimpeachable source," Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are in Iran, according to a Fox News analyst. Al-Zawahiri was seen within the last two weeks, and bin Laden was spotted in July, says the network's foreign affairs analyst Mansoor Ijaz. The report dovetails with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's announcement last summer that he had sent his own army into the northern tribal areas near the border with Iran to ferret out bin Laden. "That was an extraordinary admission at the time, one that I could not understand how he could make if bin Laden, in...

Will al-Qaeda bring the royal house down? The Riyadh attack, believed to be the work of bin Laden’s supporters, was a challenge to the ruling House of Saud, finds Trevor Royle. Now they must decide whether to appease or confront the critics The bombs which ripped through the Muhaya residential compound in Riyadh last week did more than kill 17 innocent civilians, most of them workers from Lebanon and other Arab countries. They sent a powerful signal that Saudi Arabia is still on the frontline against terrorism and that more of the same can be expected in the months ahead....

LONDON, Oct. 31 — Across Europe and the Middle East, young militant Muslim men are answering a call issued by Osama bin Laden and other extremists, and leaving home to join the fight against the American-led occupation in Iraq, according to senior counterterrorism officials based in six countries. Advertisement The intelligence officials say that since late summer they have detected a growing stream of itinerant Muslim militants headed for Iraq. They estimate that hundreds of young men from an array of countries have now arrived in Iraq by crossing the Syrian or Iranian borders. But the officials say this influx...

Did the government let bin Laden’s trail go cold? One day this past March, in Langley, Virginia, there was jubilation on a little-known thoroughfare called Bin Laden Lane. Analysts at the C.I.A.’s Counter-Terrorism Center, a dingy warren of gray metal desks marked by a custom-made street sign, were thrilled to learn that, seven thousand miles away, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, colleagues from the agency had helped local authorities storm a private villa and capture Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the man believed to be the third most important figure in the Al Qaeda terrorist organization. At last, the stalled hunt for Al Qaeda...

Nine Americans were among 11 men charged today with conspiring to train on U.S. soil for a "violent jihad" overseas. According to an indictment issued by the federal government, the men belong to the Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, or "Army of the Righteous," which seeks to drive India out of the disputed Kashmir province, Fox News reported. "These indictments are a stark reminder that terrorist organizations of various allegiances are active in the United States and these groups exploit America's freedom as a weapon to recruit and position themselves on our shores, in our society," U.S. Attorney Paul J. McNulty...

Bali bomb blast victim Christian Cronje is back in Cape Town as one of the few lucky survivors of the Bali blasts - but his dream holiday has been replaced by a nightmare. At the N1 City Hospital on Tuesday the 27-year-old chartered accountant recalled the horrific events that are etched forever in his memory. He was dancing in one of the packed tourist bars on Kuta Beach when the bomb exploded. One of his injuries gives an inkling of the power of the explosion: bone shards of another victim penetrated his arm. "I had arrived in Kuta at about...

Within a short while Saddam is going to get bombed into the ground. It is only fair that I pass along some advice. Because that is not a nice position to be in, no matter how stupid a despot could be. He better start doing some diplomatic maneuvers and quick.