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The news out of Syria is nothing short of horrific, and it provides a fresh illustration of what a catastrophic failure the Obama strategy ... “hundreds of Christians, including Greek Orthodox, and Alawites have been killed after clashes broke out on Thursday in the Latakia and Tartous regions on Syria’s Mediterranean coast ... That death toll may be a tragic underestimation . ... the death toll could be as high as 1,800, mostly Alawites, but also Christians.” The perpetrators are members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamic jihad group that toppled the Assad regime and took control of Syria several...

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday big-footed the brigadier general overseeing the war court at Guantanamo Bay and revoked the plea deals she had struck with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh-Mohammed and two co-conspirators, which took the death penalty off the table. We support Austin’s move, but what does tough-as-nails former prosecutor Kamala Harris, the anointed Democratic presidential nominee, think about this issue? It would be nice to know, should the press ever dare to ask her a question. There are a couple of reasons to wonder. The first is her brother-in-law Tony West’s role as a "key campaign adviser" to...

Michael, George. The enemy of my enemy.... United States: University Press of Kansas, 2006, p.115.https://books.google.com/books?id=RvLtAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA151[W]e Muslims were fascinated by the Third Reich in the 1930s because Hitler had some ideas at the political level and the economic level , and the cultural field , which were very close to the political, economic, and cultural So this man and his movement were fascinating to many Muslim intellectuals all during the 1930s. And since 1945, Muslims have been studying all of these things . And we judge him in a different way. Even if now, of course, when the Muslims protest against...

The U.S.-led military coalition in Syria likely used a unique variant of the beloved Hellfire missile to kill a mercenary trainer who recently worked with an al Qaeda-affiliated militant group there, according to photos from the scene of the strike. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported last week that a drone strike likely affiliated with the U.S.-led international military coalition in the country was responsible for killing Abu Yahya al-Uzbeki, an independent "military trainer" recently affiliated with the al Qaeda-linked Hurras Al-Din organization, while he was traveling in Syria's Idlib province. Photos of the aftermath of the strike on...

Hasan has remained on death row for seven years and counting. Manning said he hopes "justice gets served" but realizes Hasan may never be executed. ... When it came to Hasan, Manning said, there was a double standard. Hasan wrote emails to radical American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki seeking advice on reconciling his Muslim faith with serving in the Army. This fact was known to the FBI. “You could lose your security clearance in the Army for having bad credit and be kicked out of the Army. But you can't lose your security clearance for talking to a member of Al...

Al Qaeda terrorists reportedly declared war on the Islamic State Monday following a “dispute” between the groups over a prisoner exchange with the Lebanese army. The two competing terror organizations are at odds with one another, with clashes erupting along the Syrian and Lebanese borders, Iran’s state-controlled Fars News Agency reported, citing “sources.”

U.S. Marines are on high alert. So are the CIA and the White House for that matter. Politicians on both sides of the aisle also are ready to enter the fray. All the fuss is over the Senate Intelligence Committee's $50 million investigation of Bush-era CIA interrogation tactics on detainees in the years following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The long-delayed report on the use of torture - "enhanced interrogation techniques" - by the U.S. government is expected to be released Tuesday morning. This won't be a full disclosure, but the report's 480-page executive summary. There will also be...

Obama administration officials said Monday the “necessary precautions” have been taken at U.S. facilities around the world in preparation for the looming release of a Senate report on the alleged use of torture by the CIA. White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters the president strongly supports the release of the declassified support, but that the administration also recognizes the document could spark outrage and may put American interests across the globe in danger. The report is expected to be released Tuesday. It likely will include bombshell details of CIA practices during the war on terror. While the White...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Jurors deliberating the fate of four former Blackwater security guards in the shootings of more than 30 Iraqi citizens were granted a request to watch a videotape showing the aftermath of the violence.</p> <p>Monday was the 25th day of deliberations by the jury of eight women and four men. They asked to see the tape, which had been shown during the trial.</p>

NORFOLK--Fourteen years after al Qaida suicide bombers attacked the USS Cole, shipmates, friends and families of the fallen sailors will come together to remember. A private ceremony is planned Sunday at Naval Station Norfolk. It was October, 12, 2000, when the guided missile destroyer was refueling at the Port of Aden, Yemen, when terrorists blew a 40 x 40-foot hole in the ship's hull, killing 17 crew members. Former Cole sailor Anthony VanCampen served as ship's bugler then. He plans to play "Taps" at this weekend's memorial service. "The biggest thing for me is that somebody has to tell the...

Jen Psaki says Biden was 'running point on Iraq' in apparent attempt to shift blame from Obama for ISIS debacle. At the daily State Department briefing on Friday, the blame-game over the Obama policy catastrophes of Iraq and Syria seems to have gone super-nova, when Jen Psaki, the State Department Spokesperson, appeared to insulate President Barack Obama, and directly indict Vice President Joe Biden over the debacle, by claiming the 2009-2011 Iraq total withdrawal “was the Vice President’s portfolio.” In a peppery questioning of Spokesperson Psaki by a reporter, the reporter constantly interjected “So it’s his [Biden’s] fault,” and Psaki...

WASHINGTON — Jurors who have for weeks been deliberating in the murder and manslaughter case against four former Blackwater Worldwide security contractors passed a note to the judge on Wednesday that suggested they were leaning toward conviction on at least some counts. In their note, jurors asked whether the firearm charge applies to defendants convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors are seeking convictions for voluntary manslaughter. The note suggests that, at least for some of the counts, jurors are leaning toward convicting, but for the lesser charge. Manslaughter carries a sentence of up to 15 years per count, or up to...

Last year a recurring theme in Obama's campaign was that Al Qaeda was on the run or similar. Variants include Al Qaeda was decimated or they were on the path to defeat. So if that is the case then how did Al Qaeda break out some 500 members from two Iraqi prisons. Al Qaeda is most definitely on the run as Obama wanted the sheeple to believe Somalia, Iraq and Syria just to name 3.

Washington -- Jurors in the murder and manslaughter trial of four Blackwater Worldwide security guards concluded their 15th day of deliberations on Thursday with no verdict in sight, showing that the group of 12 is painstakingly considering the issues of the complex case, which may work in the defense's favor, experts say. For 10 weeks, the Blackwater jury heard testimony alleging that Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard and some other members of Blackwater's Raven 23 convoy fired shots in Baghdad's Nisour Square on Sept. 16, 2007, killing 14 Iraqis and injuring 18 others. But the 12-person jury...

Credible information has reached Saudi, British and Australian agencies that two al Qaeda branches – IS in Iraq and Syria and AQAP at its base in Yemen - have wrapped up plans to roll out coordinated terrorist spectaculars around the 13th anniversary of the September 11, 2011 attacks on New York and Washington. According to DEBKAfile’s counterterrorism sources, they are preparing to strike simultaneously in the Middle East and a West European city. Next, they will go for US targets in the Middle East and Europe. In the estimate of Islamist experts, the IS and AQAP have decided to delay...

BEIRUT - Heavy fighting between rival Islamic rebel groups in eastern Syria killed 62 fighters and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes, activists said Sunday. Meanwhile, talks continued over allowing rebels to leave the besieged Old City in Homs. Rebels from the al-Qaida breakaway group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and fighters of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front have fought each other for months over territory they previously captured together from President Bashar Assad's forces. The rebel-on-rebel violence has raged in the north along the Turkish border that opposition fighters have controlled since a...

(VIDEO) Senator McCain gets hit hard at a Phoenix town hall meeting. After 5 seconds, Click to 'Skip The Ad.'

« CNN on al Qaeda's 'encrypted messaging system' | Main | Bloomberg News on Zawahiri's communications » Link lwj-print-icon-2.jpg Comments (3) ShareThis Free Syrian Army commander celebrates victory with al Qaeda affiliate By Bill RoggioAugust 10, 2013 10:38 AM In this New York Times article on the influx of foreign fighters into Syria (more than 6,000 foreign fighters are now estimated to be fighting with jihadist groups) is a report of a Free Syrian Army commander celebrating the capture of the Minnigh airport in Aleppo with a leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an al Qaeda...

The ‘Syria problem' is playing out in other post-Arab Spring countries, from Libya to Tunisia and Egypt, where the space vacated by despotic regimes has been taken over by Islamic militants. Terror organisations have a ready platform In May, US President Barack Obama said that he was hoping to “refine and repeal” the mandate that he got from the Congress to fight the war on terror against Al Qaeda and its affiliates, as the core group was on the “path to defeat” and “this war, like all wars, must end”. Less than three months later, he has evacuated the US...

With the US being too eager to hold talks with the Taliban, which opened their political office in Qatar recently, it’s now official that America's much-hyped war on terror is all but over. What does it mean for Afghanistan and the rest of the world, particularly India? With the 2014 deadline for withdrawal from Afghanistan fast approaching and the International Security Assistance Force’s military effort unable to break the back of the Taliban insurgency, the US appears to have concluded (one daresay wrongly) that it has run out of options for effecting a responsible and honourable exit from the Afghan...