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Tag: Al-qaida


the pain of fleeting joy (CC BY-SA 2.0)

An Interview With Marjorie Cohn About Targeted Killings

We have a global battlefield, where if there is someone, anywhere, who might be associated with Al-Qaida, according to a high government official, then Obama can authorize on Terror Tuesday who he is going to kill after consulting with counterterrorism guru John Brennan.

Posted on Feb 8, 2013 READ MORE



AP/Mohammad Hannon

Jordan’s King Abdullah Sees a ‘New Taliban’ Rising in Syria

As he watches neighboring Syria “implode,” the king of Jordan worries that the country will fracture and become a hotbed of religious extremism.

Posted on Jan 30, 2013 READ MORE


Jihadism in North Africa Gets U.S. Attention

Is the Sahara the newest great threat to the United States—“a terrorist training ground,” hotbed of extremism, the new Afghanistan—in the Great War against Islamic terrorism that still preoccupies the American political class and the foreign affairs community?

Posted on Jan 29, 2013 READ MORE


Questions That Need Asking

Republicans wanted nothing more than to summon Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Capitol Hill and grill her about the tragic fiasco in Benghazi. Sadly for them, they got their wish.

Posted on Jan 25, 2013 READ MORE



Mike Licht (CC-BY)

Obama Rushed Rules for Drone Assassinations in Case Romney Won

The New York Times reports that there is internal strife within the administration about the willy-nilly use of drones to kill people abroad (2,500 since President Obama took office) and, fearing defeat at the polls, the Obama administration was working overtime to lay down a set of rules governing robotic assassination.

Posted on Nov 25, 2012 READ MORE



pasukaru76 (CC BY 2.0)

Overwrought Empire

The U.S. is now the sole planetary Top Gun in a way that empire-builders once undoubtedly fantasized about: alone and essentially uncontested. By all the usual measuring sticks, it should be supreme in a historically unprecedented way. And yet it couldn’t be more obvious that it’s not.

Posted on Oct 10, 2012 READ MORE



Photo illustration from an image by Colin Grey (CC-BY)

‘Chris Stevens Was a Hero’ to Libya

This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Juan Cole, recently returned from Libya, says “Libyans love the United States and ... [Ambassador] Chris Stevens was a hero to most of them.” Also: Captured by the Taliban; progressives’ racial divide, and presidential debates.

Posted on Sep 13, 2012 READ MORE


‘Chris Stevens Was a Hero’ to Libya

This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Juan Cole, recently returned from Libya, says “Libyans love the United States and ... [Ambassador] Chris Stevens was a hero to most of them.” Also: captured by the Taliban; progressives’ racial divide, and presidential debates.

Posted on Sep 13, 2012 READ MORE


Limbaugh: Al-Qaida ‘Gave Up’ bin Laden to Help Obama Re-Election (Listen)

The conservative radio icon is no stranger to saying controversial and outlandish things, but he might have outdone himself with his latest conspiracy theory.

Posted on Sep 13, 2012 READ MORE


Monuments

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Posted on Sep 11, 2012 READ MORE



FreedomHouse2 (CC BY 2.0)

Obama Reportedly OKs Support for Syrian Rebels

President Barack Obama earlier this year secretly authorized the CIA and other U.S. agencies to support Syrian rebels in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad, anonymous sources have told Reuters.

Posted on Aug 2, 2012 READ MORE



The Penguin Press

A Former CIA Operative Against Excessive Secrecy

Human rights lawyer Scott Horton, on the Harper’s Magazine website, asks career CIA counterterrorism agent Henry Crumpton what America can do to balance the need for secrecy with the people’s right to know what their government is doing. Crumpton is author of the new book “The Art of Intelligence.”

Posted on Jul 5, 2012 READ MORE



U.S. Air Force/Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison

Drone Warfare Foretells an Ever-Expanding and Illegal War

President Barack Obama’s acts consciously undermine the civilized order of modern society. The United States has quite deliberately made itself an outlaw state.

Posted on Jun 12, 2012 READ MORE



AP/Mohammad Sajjad

Poking Holes in Pakistan

U.S. officials are awfully chuffed over the ability to reach out and bomb someone—most recently it’s maybe, possibly, al-Qaida’s No. 2 Abu Yahya al-Libi and at least four others. Pakistani complaints about a flurry of drone strikes in the last two weeks are falling on deaf ears.

Posted on Jun 5, 2012 READ MORE



AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Who Will the President Kill Next? It’s a Secret

The revelation that President Barack Obama is personally selecting names for a kill list of suspected al-Qaida terrorists is a striking illustration of what actually occurs behind the White House’s closed doors.

Posted on May 30, 2012 READ MORE


Fruit of the Boom

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Posted on May 8, 2012 READ MORE        



AP/J.P. Karas

Report: Al-Qaida Bomb Plot Against Jet Thwarted

The CIA foiled an elaborate new underwear bomb plot by an al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen that was intended to bring down a U.S.-bound airliner, The Associated Press reported Monday.

Posted on May 7, 2012 READ MORE  |  51 COMMENTS



AP/FBI File

U.S. Drone Strike Kills an Al-Qaida Leader in Yemen

The CIA killed Fahd al-Quso, a high-profile al-Qaida leader wanted by the FBI for his role in the 2000 bombing of the U.S. Navy destroyer Cole, with a missile fired from a remote-controlled drone in Yemen on Sunday.

Posted on May 7, 2012 READ MORE  |  16 COMMENTS


New Al-Qaida

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Posted on May 6, 2012 READ MORE  |  1 COMMENT



AP/Thibault Camus

Former CERN Physicist Jailed in Terrorist Plot

Adlene Hicheur, a 35-year-old Algerian-born nuclear physicist who worked in Switzerland’s CERN laboratory, was sentenced to five years in prison by a French court for “criminal association with a view to plotting terrorist attacks” on a French barracks with al-Qaida’s North African affiliate.

Posted on May 4, 2012 READ MORE  |  8 COMMENTS


Obama the Dragonkiller

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Posted on May 3, 2012 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS



DoD

Obama From Afghanistan: ‘This Is Where It Will End’ (Update: Video)

First the president spoke to the troops, then to the American people. In a live address from Afghanistan, Barack Obama echoed his predecessor: “I will not keep Americans in harm’s way a single day longer than is absolutely required for our national security.”

Posted on May 1, 2012 READ MORE  |  27 COMMENTS



United Nations Photo (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Political Scientist: Patriot Act Blocked Aid to Somalis

Humanitarian groups withheld aid from Somalis suffering the effects of a severe drought that killed tens of thousands and displaced more than a million people last year out of fear that their assistance would amount to material support for regional terrorists under the U.S. Patriot Act, a Davidson College professor says.

Posted on Apr 21, 2012 READ MORE  |  1 COMMENT



AP/K.M.Chaudary

Taking Uncle Sam for a Ride

Why has the Obama administration committed itself to releasing more than $1 billion to a government that has challenged its attempt to bring to justice an alleged mastermind of cross-border terrorism?

Posted on Apr 18, 2012 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS



openDemocracy (CC-BY)

Bush Official Warned About Torture in Secret Memo

Months before al-Qaida operative Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is set to stand trial for his alleged role in the 9/11 attacks, a draft of a secret memo written in 2006 by a senior adviser to Condoleezza Rice warning that the “enhanced interrogation” techniques used by the Bush administration in the “war on terror” violated U.S. law has surfaced at the U.S. State Department.

Posted on Apr 5, 2012 READ MORE  |  112 COMMENTS



AP / Remy de la Mauviniere

The Nightmare Won’t End in Toulouse

The horrific chain of seven slayings in Toulouse, France, that has stunned that country could have been lifted directly from a television thriller. In fact, this whole terrible affair has been a nightmare scenario that for decades has haunted authorities in France, Europe and the United States.

Posted on Mar 21, 2012 READ MORE  |  42 COMMENTS



AP / Christophe Ena

French Police Corner Shooting Suspect

The man suspected of killing three children and a rabbi on Monday in Toulouse, France, was identified and surrounded by police on Wednesday. More details about Mohammed Merah, who is also connected to the shooting deaths of three paratroopers earlier this month, also emerged.

Posted on Mar 21, 2012 READ MORE  |  6 COMMENTS



AP / Rahmat Gul

Taliban Talks Come to a Halt in Afghanistan

Pointing to “the shaky, erratic and vague standpoint of the Americans” as one key reason for their decision, Taliban leaders in Afghanistan put the kibosh on plans to meet with U.S. envoys, releasing a statement on Thursday explaining the change of plans.

Posted on Mar 15, 2012 READ MORE  |  16 COMMENTS


Eric Holder
U.S. Dept. of Justice

Holder: U.S. Can Kill Citizens in Overseas Terror Groups

According to Attorney General Eric Holder, it is within the government’s rights to kill American citizens implicated in anti-U.S. terrorist plots hatched abroad. Along with general human rights concerns, this raises some issues vis-à-vis the Constitution and the Fifth Amendment.

Posted on Mar 5, 2012 READ MORE  |  72 COMMENTS



U.S. Navy / MC2 Brooks B. Patton Jr.

Europe Decides Not to Play America’s Game

Stephen Hadley, a former official in ex-Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, said in Munich that Europe must spend more if it wants to be a global player. The Europeans regard the George W. Bush administration record, and now the Obama administration’s, and see the disastrous results of “global playing.”

Posted on Feb 7, 2012 READ MORE  |  22 COMMENTS



bbc.co.uk

Pakistan Denies Taliban Ties in Afghanistan

Claims made by NATO that Pakistan is in cahoots with the Afghan Taliban are tantamount to “old wine in an even older bottle,” according to Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. However, this particular batch of wine represents thousands of mandatory conversations (read: interrogations) versus Khar’s official denial.

Posted on Feb 1, 2012 READ MORE  |  24 COMMENTS



Wikimedia Commons/Central Intelligence Agency

Anti-American Groups Gather in Pakistan

Members of al-Qaida, the Taliban and militant groups from Afghanistan and Pakistan met up twice late last year in an effort to combine forces against America’s diminished presence in Pakistan—one common target on which they might agree to focus.

Posted on Jan 2, 2012 READ MORE  |  2 COMMENTS



AP / J. Scott Applewhite

Obama Drops Veto Threat, House Passes Defense Bill

The House passed the controversial National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday night, scarcely hours after President Obama caved to pressure from various factions in Congress and withdrew his veto threat. Let’s consider some of the scary tactics that would be permitted if the measure is signed into law.

Posted on Dec 14, 2011 READ MORE  |  26 COMMENTS



cnn.com

Dozens Killed in Afghan Bombings

At least 63 people were killed in a series of bomb attacks in Afghanistan on Tuesday during ceremonies marking the Shiite holiday of Ashura in three different targeted locations, but the majority of the deaths occurred in Kabul. A Pakistani group claimed responsibility for this sudden and ominous outbreak of sectarian violence.

Posted on Dec 6, 2011 READ MORE  |  2 COMMENTS



AP / Mike Redwood

Al-Qaida Holding American Hostage in Pakistan

Claiming retaliation for American aggression in Pakistan, al-Qaida said Thursday that it was holding a U.S. citizen, 70-year-old aid worker Warren Weinstein, in that country after capturing him in Lahore four months ago. Al-Qaida boss Ayman al-Zawahiri announced Weinstein’s capture in a video demanding that the U.S. ...

Posted on Dec 1, 2011 READ MORE  |  9 COMMENTS



Wikimedia Commons / Scrumshus

Senate Votes to Keep Detention Clauses in Military Bill

Pointing to the threat of terrorist groups like al-Qaida, Sen. Carl Levin and 60 of his colleagues voted Wednesday in favor of keeping provisions in the proposed National Defense Authorization Act that would grant the military the ability to detain terrorist suspects abroad and at home under controversial circumstances.

Posted on Nov 30, 2011 READ MORE  |  32 COMMENTS


Northwest flight 253
AP / J.P. Karas

Abdulmutallab Pleads Guilty, Sounds Warning Note in Detroit Court

It’s a busy week in homeland security here in the U.S., what with the news of an alleged Iranian attempt on the life of a key Saudi diplomat (a case that wasn’t exactly news to select members of the Obama administration), and now a new chapter to an even older story with a prepackaged, media-generated catchphrase you may recall: “underwear bomber.”

Posted on Oct 12, 2011 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS



Magharebia (CC-BY)

Secret U.S. Panel May Put Americans on ‘Kill List’

Alleged al-Qaida leader Anwar al-Awlaki, killed last month in an American drone attack in Yemen, was placed on a kill and capture list managed by a secretive panel of senior U.S. government officials. What the president knows of the panel’s operations and his role in its decision-making process are being kept hidden. (more)

Posted on Oct 7, 2011 READ MORE  |  9 COMMENTS



AP / Jin Lee

New York, D.C. Respond to Specific, Credible Terrorist Threat

New York and Washington, D.C., police officers are ramping up security measures Friday in response to what intelligence officials are calling a specific, credible terrorist threat planned for the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Posted on Sep 9, 2011 READ MORE  |  6 COMMENTS



Flickr / asterix611

Tom Engelhardt: America, Tear Down ‘Freedom Tower’

Seven years into the Soviet Union’s fatal adventure in Afghanistan, U.S. President Ronald Reagan stood before the international community in West Berlin and demanded that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev tear down the wall that separated East Germany from the West. (more)

Posted on Sep 9, 2011 READ MORE  |  16 COMMENTS


Recognize That It’s Over

There never was a “war on terrorism.” There most definitely was a war against al-Qaeda, and we won.

Posted on Sep 8, 2011 READ MORE  |  26 COMMENTS



AP / Suzanne Plunkett

9/11 and the Damage Done

On the day the towers fell, furies flew out of the hole in the ground and like all restless spirits, they headed west. I did not realize it at the time, of course, but did have the sense a few days after the dust began to settle at Ground Zero that things had shifted, a feeling that we all had, as if the world itself had gone off its axis.

Posted on Sep 7, 2011 READ MORE  |  22 COMMENTS



Surian Soosay (CC-BY)

Bin Laden’s Unintended Legacy

Ten years on, Osama bin Laden, were he not at the bottom of the sea, could be reasonably satisfied with what he has accomplished.

Posted on Sep 6, 2011 READ MORE  |  18 COMMENTS



AP / National Counterterrorism Center

Al-Qaida’s No. 2 Leader Is Dead

Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, al-Qaida’s second in command and trusted confidant of Osama bin Laden, has been killed in Waziristan, Pakistan’s tribal region, a U.S. government official announced Saturday. The State Department had placed a $1 million reward on his head. (more)

Posted on Aug 28, 2011 READ MORE  |  10 COMMENTS



Sex Ed? Palins Flunk Again

Sarah Palin’s strict views have turned her into a grandma for the second time; al-Qaida takes a page out of Disney’s book to recruit children; meanwhile, Facebook fights Google+ by adding news to its online community. These discoveries and more after the jump.

Posted on Jul 23, 2011 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS



Paul Keller (CC-BY)

Bin Laden Thought About Re-Branding Al-Qaida

A letter found in Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan compound details his concerns about the name al-Qaida and the organization’s ability to galvanize Muslims with a shorthand moniker that just means “the base” (originally it was “the base of holy war”). It is unknown to whom bin Laden’s public relations missive was directed.

Posted on Jun 24, 2011 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS


Cellphone Use

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Posted on Jun 18, 2011 READ MORE


Pakistan Threat

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Posted on Jun 18, 2011 READ MORE



AP Television News

Meet the New Face of Al-Qaida

Ayman al-Zawahri is the new leader of al-Qaida, according to a statement attributed to the group’s leadership. Zawahri, the “obvious choice,” says the BBC, was a top lieutenant of Osama bin Laden. The 60-year-old native of Egypt is believed to be hiding out somewhere in the notorious Af-Pak hinterlands.

Posted on Jun 16, 2011 READ MORE  |  18 COMMENTS



AP / Aqeel Ahmed

Pakistan Busts Alleged Aides in Bin Laden Blitz

This bit of news probably will not help the already dicey relationship between Pakistan and the U.S.: Pakistani officials have arrested five people believed to have assisted the CIA in the operation that felled Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad last month. 

Posted on Jun 15, 2011 READ MORE  |  2 COMMENTS


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