Free Republic

TG-132 SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON-- The U.S. Department of the Treasury today targeted the support network of al-Qa'ida in Iraq (AQI) by designating Syria-based Sa'ad Uwayyid 'Ubayd Mu'jil al Shammari (aka Abu Khalaf) under Executive Order 13224. E.O. 13224 targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. AQI is a Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. "We will continue to aggressively implement the international obligation to target al-Qa'ida-linked terrorists, like Abu Khalaf, who threaten the safety of Coalition Forces and the stability of Iraq," said Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Abu Khalaf...

Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...