Category Archives: al-Qaeda

Cost of refusal to deal with reality can be measured in lives.

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One of the little mental applets I run in the background of my mind as a general rule, is trying to estimate the difference between some kind of objective reality, and how we as individuals or as a species decide to view events. Certainly the cost is in some kind of proportion to the difference. To borrow from a very old phrase, if you cannot tell the difference between shit and shinola, you will have very stinky shoes.

In this case, president Obama seems unable or unwilling to recognize who the enemy is with respect to the shooter at Fort Hood. This very refusal, it is now clear as day, is exactly the reason this attack happened. Everyone knew that this man was sympathetic to Islam and it’s goals and political ambitions. He was already under investigation for his terrorist ties among other things. But political correctness made it impossible for him to be removed from his position of power, access, and authority and ultimatly to the deaths of over a dozen US servicemen and injury to dozens more.

President Clinton for similar reasons was unable to prevent the attack on the WTC on September 11 2001 because his administration was not prepared to deal with the facts of the first attack on that same building by that same group for the same reasons less than a decade earlier.

For each of us, our refusal to admit where reality ends and our fantasies begin has a personal cost. Sometimes in mere money but as often in health and lifespan such as smoking or other habits we may cling to. But in a leader, the cost is exponential and to all of us.

During WW2, Adolph Hitler had a curtain built into his car so that if he was forced to drive through a bombed out area, he could draw his curtain and would not have to see the devastation wreaked on the German people. When Churchill was told about German rocket damage, he would take a car to the spot immediately and examine what the Nazi forces had done in order to best asses the damage and better determine the right course of action.

It is likely this one thing more than any other that won the war for the allies and against the Nazis. Reality, trumps fantasy when it comes to tactics.

Obama needs to have this explained to him.

Or perhaps it is as Shakespeare so eloquently stated it in the character of the king of Denmark in Hamlet:

“Madness in great ones, must not unwatched go”

Eeyore for Vlad

Robert Spencer on the Fort Hood shooting

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Compare and contrast this with the absurd analysis by Dr. Phill in the video below.
h/t Occidental Soapbox

Repost: Woman shoots attacker, kills him, wins award from government.

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I am re-posting this because it bears noticing, that the western world for decades now has been teaching us to submit to violent criminals and not to fight back theoretically to minimize any damage criminals may wish to do to us. Clearly it is the wrong strategy. The answer is always resist terrorists, extortionists, criminals and all who would do you harm even your own governments when they are acting unjustly to you and your genuine human rights as an individual using any and all means at your disposal. This woman’s brave actions will give pause to the next bunch of thugs that wish and expect “kingly” treatment from the next home invasion they do.

Please let us all follow her magnificent example. And the next time the police give a lecture on how to submit to criminals and hope they go away, remember they have guns and in Canada at least, forbid those of us who pay the police from having them. So its easy for them to say.

Eeyore

By Dean Nelson in New Delhi
Published: 10:02PM BST 29 Sep 2009

Rukhsana Kauser with the gun she snatched from one of the militants.

Rukhsana Kauser with the gun she snatched from one of the militants.

Rukhsana Kausar, 21, was with her parents and brother in Jammu and Kashmir when three gunmen, believed to be Pakistani militants, forced their way in and demanded food and beds for the night.

Their house in Shahdra Sharief, Rajouri district, is about 20 miles from the ceasefire line between Indian and Pakistani forces.

It is close to dense forests known as hiding places for fighters from the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which carried out the Mumbai terrorist attack last November.

Militants often demand food and lodging in nearby villages.

When they forced their way into Miss Kausar’s home, her father Noor Mohammad refused their demands and was attacked.

His daughter was hiding under a bed when she heard him crying as the gunmen thrashed him with sticks. According to police, she ran towards her father’s attacker and struck him with an axe. As he collapsed, she snatched his AK47 and shot him dead. Continue Reading →

Bear kills militants in Kashmir

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It sure is nice to be able to post some good news once in awhile.

_46658036_bear226afp BBCNEWS… A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered Kashmir, police say.

Two other militants escaped, one of them badly wounded, after the attack in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar.

The militants had assault rifles but were taken by surprise – police found the remains of pudding they had made to eat when the bear attacked.

It is thought to be the first such incident since Muslim separatists took up arms against Indian rule in 1989.

Bodies found

The militants had made their hideout in a cave which was actually the bear’s den, said police officer Farooq Ahmed.

The dead have been identified as Mohammad Amin alias Qaiser, and Bashir Ahmed alias Saifullah.

News of the attack emerged when their injured comrade went to a nearby village for treatment.

“Word spread in the village that Qaiser had been killed by the bear,” another police officer said.

A joint party of the police and army personnel went into the forest and collected the bodies of the two militants.

Police say they also recovered two Kalashnikov assault rifles and some ammunition from the hideout.

Animal attacks

Wildlife experts say the conflict in Kashmir has actually resulted in an increase in the population of bears and leopards.

Following the outbreak of the insurgency people had to hand in their weapons to police – which put a halt to poaching.

As a result, there has been a greater incidence of man-animal conflict, say experts.

There have been many reports of bears and leopards killing or mauling humans in different parts of the Kashmir valley in recent years.

Three years ago, residents of Mandora village near the southern town of Tral, beat a black bear to death which had strayed into the village.

Canadian’s bid to sue US rejected. Mahar Arar told no by NYC court

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Arar has his what was it? Ten Million Dollars without the bother of a trial from the Canadian government already.

It pays to be a terror suspect these days.

H/T GOV

From the BBC News:

Maher Arar

The Canadian government formally apologised to Mr Arar in 2007

A New York court has ruled against allowing a Syrian-born Canadian to sue US authorities over his mistaken 2002 arrest for alleged terrorism links.

Maher Arar was held at New York’s John F Kennedy airport following erroneous advice from Canadian officials that he had links to Islamic militants.

Mr Arar was then flown to Syria where he claims he was tortured, something which Syrian authorities deny.

In a statement, Mr Arar described the US ruling as a loss to the rule of law.

After exonerating him in 2007, Canadian authorities paid him 10.5m Canadian dollars (US$8.9m; £4.54m) in compensation.

Mr Arar is now seeking redress from the US, arguing that he was a victim of “extraordinary rendition”, a process in which terrorism suspects are transferred to foreign countries for harsh interrogation.

But the New York court ruled that it was not authorised to intervene in the case.

“If a civil remedy in damages is to be created for harms suffered in the context of extraordinary rendition, it must be created by Congress,” the court said in a written statement.

Mr Arar’s lawyers say they will now take the case to the US Supreme Court.

Phyllis Chesler: A Dangerous Denial

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The New York Times does not tell us whether Tareq Mehanna, the 27-year-old Massachusetts pharmacist who was just arrested on federal terrorism charges, is or even might be a Muslim. In their pages, telling this particular truth is still verboten, politically incorrect, rude, racist, a cheap shot, even “Islamophobic.”

Look: Mehanna might have traveled to Pakistan, Syria, and Yemen (which he did) because, as a relatively young man, he just wanted to sew his wild oats. No matter that Mehanna and his “associates,” including one Ahmad Abousamra who subsequently fled to Syria, had traveled together “seeking training from terrorist groups to fight against American soldiers.” No matter that Mehanna had tried to buy a gun from one Daniel Maldonado who is “currently serving a 10-year-prison sentence for training with Al Qaeda in Somalia. “

Please click here to read the rest of this article. If you have any friends who are in denial of the facts of Islam, please send them this link. Chesler explains them rather well here.

Islamists break Somali port truce

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BBCNEWS… Fierce clashes have broken out between two Somali militant Islamist groups near the southern port of Kismayo, breaking a recent ceasefire deal.

An al-Shabab spokesman said his group had fought off an attack from the Hizbul-Islam group, killing some of their fighters.

There has been no independent verification of his claims.

The two groups began fighting over the port at the start of this month, but agreed a truce shortly after.

The militants had ousted government troops from Kismayo last year and agreed to govern the port together.

But al-Shabab named an administration last month which excluded Hizbul-Islam, sparking the fighting.

After a truce for most of this month, al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Hassan Ya’qup said Hizbul-Islam attacked his fighters in Birta, 60km (37 miles) north of Kismayo.

“We repulsed them – they left some dead bodies behind,” he said.

Analysts said it was the first time Hizbul-Islam had been on the offensive in the dispute.

Their members were reported to have fled Kismayo after at least 12 people were killed in fighting at the start of the month.

The country has been wracked by conflict since 1991, when it last had an effective national government.

Islamist militants and warlords control much of southern Somalia, fighting against government troops.

The government, backed by the UN and African Union, controls only small parts of the capital, Mogadishu.

Some three million people – half the population – need food aid, while hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country.

Another Muslim Charged In Terror Plot

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Terek Mehanna

 Fox News…  A 27-year-old Massachusetts man has been charged with conspiring with others to support and plan violent jihad in and outside the United States, including terror plots to attack U.S. shopping malls and U.S. military in Iraq.Federal officials in Boston say Tarek Mehanna of Sudbury worked with others from 2001 to May of 2008 to provide support and resources in a conspiracy to “kill, kidnap, main or injure” people in foreign countries and to kill prominent U.S. politicians.
Mehanna was charged in a complaint with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, according to the Department of Justice.

The complaint further alleges that the co-conspirators attempted to radicalize others and inspire each other by, among other things, watching and distributing jihadi videos.

The charges accuse the suspects of talking about their desire to participate in Islamist holy war and of their desire to die on the battlefield.

 Federal prosecutors say Mehanna and his conspirators planned the logistics of a mall attack — including the possibility of attacking emergency responders. However, authorities say the plot was not carried out because they could not get automatic weapons.

“Mehanna and the co-conspirators had multiple conversations about obtaining automatic weapons and randomly shooting people in a shopping mall, and that the conversations went so far as to discuss the logistics of a mall attack, including coordination, weapons needed and the possibility of attacking emergency responders,” the Justice Department said.

Mehanna’s attorney J.W. Carney Jr. did not immediately return calls for comment.

If convicted on the material support charge, Mehanna faces up to 15 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine, the Justice Department said.

Mehanna was arrested in November 2008 for allegedly lying to authorities about the whereabouts of a man who trained with Al Qaeda members with the goal of overthrowing the Somali government.

In December 2006, Mehanna got a phone call from American Daniel Maldonado, who urged Mehanna to join him in Somalia, where he was training for jihad.

But when interviewed by FBI a few days later, he told FBI that Maldonado was in Egypt working for a Web site.

The FBI also interviewed Mehanna about a trip he and two othes made to Yemen in 2004.

 

Dozens of Westerners attending terror camps

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Officials: Americans, Europeans travel to Pakistan, Afghanistan for training. MSNBC-washington post

The Washington Post
Flow of terrorist recruits increasing
BERLIN – Midway through a propaganda video released last month by a group calling itself the German Taliban, a surprise guest made an appearance: a cleanshaven, muscular gunman sporting the alias Abu Ibrahim the American.

White Al Queda

White Al Queda

The gunman did not speak but wore military fatigues and waved his rifle as subtitles identified him as an American. The video contained a stream of threats against Germany if it did not withdraw its troops from the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. Although the American’s part in the film lasted only a few seconds, it has alarmed German and U.S. intelligence officials, who are still puzzling over his background, his real identity and how he became involved with the terrorist group.

U.S. and European counterterrorism officials say a rising number of Western recruits — including Americans — are traveling to Afghanistan and Pakistan to attend paramilitary training camps. The flow of recruits has continued unabated, officials said, in spite of an intensified campaign over the past year by the CIA to eliminate al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders in drone missile attacks.
Since January, at least 30 recruits from Germany have traveled to Pakistan for training, according to German security sources. About 10 people — not necessarily the same individuals — have returned to Germany this year, fueling concerns that fresh plots are in the works against European targets.

“The drone attacks seriously weaken these organizations, but you can’t rely on that alone,” said Guido Steinberg, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. “They obviously have no problem recruiting new members. In the long run, they won’t have any problem replacing the leaders who have been killed.”

On Saturday, the Pakistani military deployed 30,000 troops into South Waziristan as part of a broad offensive against the Taliban and other militant groups. U.S. and European officials have said they hope the mission will force many of the training camps to shut down. Continue Reading →

Anjem Chaudery, bloviates for youtube

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This morning the world was greeted by another chirpy ‘convert or die’ video by the UK’s own miniature Bin Laden, what the Brits might call, a ‘Mini-Laden’, or possibly, a ‘Laden Mini’.  I couldn’t help but notice that instead of the OBL black jihad flag, he used large green cloth this time to sit in front of. Typically in video editing, that is called a ‘Green Screen’ and is an easy way to take the foreground and move it to any other video setting you want. So I thought it best to move Anjem to a much more suitable environment for him and his psychotic ‘religion’.

Fears Al Qaeda-linked scientist was planning nuclear attack on UK after MI5 learn he worked at top-secret British lab

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From the daily mail: h/t gar

  • MI5 investigate brilliant scientist’s links to world-famous Rutherford Appleton nuclear research centre
  • French Interior Minister claims ‘worst may have been avoided’ after brothers’ arrest
  • Uncanny parallel to Dan Brown novel as scientist hunting for ‘God particle’ is held over fears he planned to attack Britain
hicheurRaid scene: French police at the modest flat in Vienne where Adlene and Halim Hicheur were arrested on Thursday

A brilliant young nuclear scientist who was arrested in France last week over alleged links to Al Qaeda had worked for a top-secret British nuclear research centre.

Last night fears were growing that Dr Adlene Hicheur – who was a researcher for the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire for a year – could have been planning a nuclear attack in the UK.

The French government said yesterday that the arrest of Hicheur, 32, and his brother Dr Halim Hicheur, 25, could have averted a terrorist atrocity.

They were seized after an 18-month investigation by French anti-terrorist police hours before Adlene Hicheur was due to travel to the laboratory where he now works at, CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research near Geneva.

Halim Hicheur carries out research at similar high-security scientific institutions around Europe.

The brothers’ council flat was stormed at 6am last Thursday by eight masked officers from the elite Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence (CDII), the French equivalent of MI5, and 20 armed riot officers.

With almost no noise, a spearhead unit rushed up the concrete steps leading to the cramped flat in Vienne, South-East France. A battering ram was used to break the lock and the warning ‘Armed police!’ shouted.

Large-calibre machine pistols and other weapons were aimed at those inside the flat, including the brothers’ parents and siblings.

Secret agents had been monitoring the brothers’ movements, and all their phone calls, text messages and emails were being bugged ‘in real time and minute by minute’, according to a security source.

‘It was like we were sitting on their shoulders. We knew exactly what they were saying.’

HicheurMysteries of the universe: An aerial view of the Rutherford Appleton lab where Dr Hicheur worked

The source said that Adlene Hicheur had been ‘pinpointing nuclear targets’ but would not be more specific.

The scientists were being questioned last night at the maximum-security headquarters of the CDII on the outskirts of Paris while MI5 began trying to piece together their movements and contacts in Britain. Continue Reading →

Ottawa’s refusal to take Gitmo inmates irks U.S.

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White House puzzled by Canada’s abrupt refusal to accept detainees from Guantanamo prison

Flag-Sticker Toronto Star…GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA–An apparent snub by the Canadian government has dismayed officials on the Obama administration’s task force who are working to resettle dozens of detainees here and close the prison, a high-ranking administration source told the Star.

Various foreign governments have offered refuge to prisoners that the Pentagon has cleared for release, including France, Portugal, Ireland and smaller nations such as Bermuda and Palau. Dozens more are now negotiating with the task force, answering U.S. President Barack Obama’s call for help.

But the official, who has intimate knowledge of the negotiations and who spoke to the Star on the condition he not be named, said Canada abruptly stopped talks earlier this year. He said the task force was surprised to learn of Canada’s decision through a press release.

“I just found it puzzling,” there were no phone calls or diplomatic meetings, the official said. “A public rejection was odd.” Continue Reading →

The Muslim spin. US Troops Seek Protection Among Afghans

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Islamonline compares U.S. tactics to Hamas. They just don’t include the Hamas part.

CAIRO – US troops have shut two military outposts in northern Afghanistan following a deadly Taliban attack, in a move said to be part of a policy to reposition troops into populated areas, reported the Los Angeles Times on Saturday, October 10.

“We’ve been planning to realign our forces to better protect the (Afghan) population for months,” Army spokesman Maj. T.G. Taylor said.

“The closures are part of that realignment.”

The US evacuated troops from two outposts in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan province.

Military officials said departing US troops destroyed what was left of the outposts before their evacuation.

Washington says the closure is a pre-planned policy to “reposition” the US-led troops from remote regions into populated areas in Afghanistan.

Top US commander in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal has said he is in favor of pulling troops from remote areas to concentrate efforts on securing urban areas.

The closure came a week after a deadly Taliban attack on the outposts, which left eight US troops and two Afghan soldiers dead.

The growing Taliban attacks have made 2009 the worst year for the US-led foreign troops since the 2001 US-led invasion.

Some 394 soldiers have died so far this year, 236 of them Americans, according to a tally of coalition deaths by the independent icasualties.org website.

More than 1,430 soldiers have died since 2001.

Taliban Flag

The Taliban claimed control of the Kamdesh district after the US troop withdrawal.

“This is another victory for Taliban,” spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, reported The Times.

“This means they (US troops) are not coming back.”

The spokesman said that the Taliban have flown their flag over the US outposts.

“We have control of another district in eastern Afghanistan.”

The Taliban has launched a protracted guerrilla warfare against the US-led forces and the Kabul government of Hamid Karzai since the 2001 US invasion.

The Taliban has stressed that they are fighting to force the foreign troops out of Afghanistan, stressing that the Afghan group poses no threat to the West.

“We did not have any agenda to harm other countries including Europe nor we have such agenda today,” the Taliban said in a statement, marking the 8th anniversary of the US invasion.

“Still, if you want to turn the country of the proud and pious Afghans into a colony, then know that we have an unwavering determination and have braced for a prolonged war.”

‘Rebels’ threaten Somali hospital

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Medina hospital is vital to Mogadishu's war-torn population

Medina hospital is vital to Mogadishu's war-torn population

Militant Muslims upset people are not dieing fast enough in Somalia.

 BBCNEWS…The main hospital in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu has received a warning not to accept aid from foreign charities.

Leaflets were scattered near the Medina hospital emblazoned with guns and grenades threatening staff, patients and aid groups including the Red Cross.

No-one has claimed responsibility, but a BBC reporter in Mogadishu says the pamphlets are typical of those distributed by Islamist insurgents.

Somalia is wracked by conflict between rebels and the weak government.

The BBC’s Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says the leaflets accuse doctors of giving treatment to “apostate soldiers” – believed to mean government troops.

He says the pamphlets refer to the hospital as a military site.

Medina Hospital director Dr Muhammad Yusuf said staff were disappointed by the leaflets, but the warnings would not deter them from carrying out their duties.

An official from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the organisation was aware of the threat and was taking steps to ensure the work of the hospital was not affected.

Somalia last had a functioning central government in 1991.

Since then numerous armed groups have been fighting for control of the country.

Islamist groups dominate much of southern and central Somalia, while the UN-backed government only runs parts of the capital.

NYC Terror Suspect’s Friend, Activist Group Urge Against Targeting Muslims

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ZAZI. Another misunderstood terrorist

ZAZI. Another misunderstood terrorist

 FOXNEWS…Members of the New York City Muslim community suggested Saturday they were being unfairly targeted in a terror plot probe, as a friend of the probe’s prime suspect said the scrutiny has put his “life on hold.”
Several people speaking Saturday afternoon at a news conference cautioned authorities against profiling Muslims in their probe of an alleged bomb plot with links to Al Qaeda.
The suspect, Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan immigrant who worked in Denver and New York City, is being held without bond in New York. The friend, Naiz Khan, befriended Zazi 10 years ago at a mosque.
Kahn let Zazi stay with him in New York City in the days leading up to what investigators say was a failed attempt last month to bomb sites as the city marked eight years since the Al Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Kahn now is under 24-hour FBI surveillance.
“We are so, so nervous,” Khan told reporters at the news conference, organized by the nonprofit group DRUM in Queens, N.Y. “My life has been affected by this. I have no job. … I have put my life on hold.”
DRUM, which stands for Desis Rising Up and Moving, describes itself as a group representing South Asian immigrants of various generations in New York City.
DRUM, which stands for Desis Rising Up and Moving. Does this not have a ring of militancy to it?
Its executive director said that a wave of fear has gripped the Queens community since raids of several apartments and businesses were executed there last month as part of the investigation into the suspected bomb plot.
“People should not be profiled or characterized as terrorists because of religion,” Monami Maulik told reporters Saturday afternoon.
The fact that it is Muslims again and again who plot these attacks should have no influence on who is investigated. The fact that Islam calls for militant Jihad against the Infidel should be ignored at the peril of Americans in the interest of community cohesion.
However, prosecutors say they have evidence that Zazi and others — regardless of their religion –trained with Al Qaeda in Pakistan. Investigators still are hunting for additional players and expect to make more arrests. Officials say Zazi’s suspected accomplices are under surveillance and are no longer a threat because the plot was thoroughly disrupted
Zazi, 24, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiring to detonate homemade explosives in the United States, and on Friday, Zazi’s father pleaded not guilty to a charge of lying to investigators.
Federal investigators have questioned two men whose photographs were shown to a Muslim religious leader along with a picture of Zazi. Adis Medunjanin, a 24-year-old Bosnian immigrant, reportedly met voluntarily with investigators for 14 hours, and Zarein Ahmedzay, a 24-year-old New York City cab driver, also was interviewed by the FBI.
Both men’s photos were among four shown to Ahmad Wais Afzali, an imam at a Queens mosque accused of tipping off Najibullah Zazi that New York Police Department detectives were searching for him.
Naiz Kahn has said he also has been questioned by the FBI, though his photo reportedly was not among those shown to the imam.
Zazi, who left New York earlier this year to take a job driving an airport shuttle in Denver, is the only person charged in an international terror investigation described by Attorney General Eric Holder as one of the most significant plots uncovered in this country since 9/11. Zazi, who’s being held without bond, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction.
Prosecutors have said Zazi and others they have not identified received explosives training at an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan. U.S. intelligence and senior administration officials have said they became aware of Zazi’s connection to a possible plot in late August. They said he was recruited and trained by Al Qaeda, and he had contact with a senior Al-Qaeda operative.