Free Republic

NEW CONFLICT, OUTDATED STRATEGY? The U.S. Government launched Operation ENDURING FREE- DOM, Operation IRAQI FREEDOM and the Global War on Terror (GWOT) in response to the events of September 11, 2001 (9/11), and in alliance with various nations. Many other nations objected to the U.S. invasion of Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussayn's region did not, in their views, pose a credible Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) threat as was claimed at the time, and because they believed that American dismantlement and occupation of Iraq would surely be interpreted as neocolonialist interventionism. Indeed, Islamist extremists labeled these as Crusader...

Carmen bin Laden lifts the lid on life in Osama's family By Catherine Milner and Charlotte Edwardes (Filed: 09/11/2003) A sister-in-law of the world's most wanted terrorist leader has described her life in Saudi Arabia as a "prison" and says that the young Osama bin Laden was so religiously zealous that he "froze" when he saw her face unveiled. Carmen bin Laden, who is divorcing the al-Qa'eda leader's half-brother, Yeslam, said that even in the privacy of her home, Osama bin Laden "couldn't bear looking at my naked face. He never deigned to speak a word to me". Mrs bin...

Indonesia arrests cleric as he prays for Osama's safety By Kathy Marks in Bali 20 October 2002 Indonesian police finally moved yesterday against a militant Muslim cleric linked with al-Qa'ida, arresting Abu Bakar Bashir as he lay in a hospital bed in central Java. Mr Bashir, accused of being the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a radical Islamic group – which he denies even exists – was under armed guard as police waited to question him about a spate of church bombings in December 2000. He runs a religious boarding school near the Javanese city of Solo, and collapsed on...