Tag: al qaeda (last 300)
More coffee for the man
(NYT) Pakistan military to U.S. DefSec: ‘Are you with us or against us?’ ... Abbas denied AQ on border, Gates perked up when he was brought some coffee and pushed back.
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(NYT) GOP meme: Dem Sen. candidate ‘wrong’ when she said no terrorists in Afghanistan. But Coakley’s right: AQ has largely moved to Pakistan, and Taliban haven’t created international plots vs. U.S.
Kill HinJewMericans, win glory
(Tabloid) U.S. counterterrorism: AQ Yemen ‘an extension of Al Qaeda core, coming out of Pakistan.’ Aimed at U.S. to raise visibility among jihadis, like LeT did with 11/26.
CIA bomber went to Pakistan
The new Pakistan VI
(WaPo) Yemen plays down U.S. alliance while taking money. More interested in insurgency than fighting AQ. Official made explicit the Pakistan parallel.
The new Pakistan V
Doctor a double agent
The new Pakistan III
(WSJ) Yemeni gov’t may have leaked to AQ before raids [like Pakistan did with Taliban]. Sheikhs allied with AQ. Gov’t focuses only on small fry. ‘To eliminate al Qaeda, you cannot do it without angering the tribes.’
The new Pakistan
(BBC) Yemen asks for $ to fight terrorists it hosts. ‘We are very short of helicopters. The U.S. can do a lot.’ [Is that al-Qirbi or Zardari talking? Do I smell a new biz model?]
Underneath your clothes
(ABC) Pics of underbomber’s chuddies. 2 of 4 AQ in Yemen leaders released from Gitmo to useless Saudi art therapy / deprogramming gig.
MoDo asks the obvious
(NYT) MoDo: What if victory over AQ lies in Pakistan? Are we going to go get them or not? Bin Laden’s escape is a humiliating symbol of our failure.
Mercenary force
(NYT) Blackwater participated in clandestine CIA raids in Afghanistan, Iraq vs. AQ suspects, sometimes killing them. More: [via]
Jihadi cool
(CNN) Wanna-be jihadis ‘extremely shallow ideologically’ like junior gangbangers. Somali wanna-be AQ ‘don’t even know what Somalia was.’
AQ recruiting in diaspora
(WSJ) Wanna-be jihadis arrested in Pakistan are U.S. citizens. -Al Qaeda is very successful in recruiting in the Muslim diaspora. -Many British and German citizens have joined... Germans of Turkish origin.
Domino theory redux
(TNR·L) Afghanistan war backers argue domino theory like Vietnam, claiming Pakistan could be lost and conflating AQ with Taliban.
Hasan on CIA radar
(ABC) The CIA knew Ft. Hood shooter Nidal Hasan tried to contact Al Qaeda but refuses to disclose what it knows to lawmakers.
Patriot games
(Harpers) The ISI played Dubya for a patsy, helping AQ and Taliban escape Afghanistan, sheltering them in the NWFP, and filling Gitmo with innocent chaff.
Hillary: Pakistan military shelters bin Laden
(NYT) HRC accuses Pakistan of sheltering bin Laden: ‘I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where [AQ leaders] are and couldn’t get to them if they really wanted to.’
Why Afghanistan matters
(FP) Coll: It’s not true that all AQ sanctuaries are of the same importance. The Haqqanis have never betrayed their Arab guests.
Drone strikes kill 10x as many civilians
(Brookings Jul) For every militant killed in U.S. drone strikes, 10 or so civilians also died. And killings are a poor second to arrests. Dead men tell no tales.
Obama expanded drone strikes
(New Yorker) Drone strikes don’t stir public anger like CIA hit squads. Obama’s ramped them up: only 6 of 41 in Pakistan targed Al Qaeda.
Interview with a terrorist
(Atimes) AQ guerrilla warfare chief claims Indian road construction co’s in Afgh. are RAW fronts, threatens attacks bigger than 11/26. (via @yesnosorry)
Splitting Arabs from Afghans
(SF Chron) Obama strategy leak: the U.S. would fight only to keep the Taliban from controlling the central gov’t in Afghanistan and sheltering AQ. Would rehabilitate Taliban.
FINALLY focusing on bin Laden
(NYT) Obama: AQ is now in Pakistan, let’s focus there. Taliban don’t directly threaten U.S. right now, and they’re locals and hard to tackle.
AQ popularity declining
(NYT) In Pakistan, proliferating bombings and the Bhutto hit soured all social classes on Qaeda-style violence. No longer can people back AQ as ‘sticking it to the man.’
Pathan radicalization
(Newsweek) AQ considered Pathans bumpkins. But Pathans are getting more wordly and radicalized after the Afghanistan war.
Afghanistan war now pointless
(WaPo) AQ leadership is not even in Afghanistan, having decamped to Pakistan years ago. Terrorists can choose several unstable countries. And the Net makes all this fairly irrelevant.
Obama focusing on Pakistan drone strikes
(AP) White House: Pakistan the top concern since that is where top al-Qaida leaders are hiding. Very few al-Qaida extremists are believed to still be in Afghanistan.
Musharraf admits U.S. swindle
CIA tactics: yo mama
(LAT) New docs: CIA threatened tortured AQ suspects with raping their mothers and killing their children.
Eating their young II
(NYT) Hakimullah Mehsud reported killed by Waliur Rehman in succession battle. AQ-Taliban-Punjab militant nexis: Punjabis can move unnoticed in central Pakistan, unlike Pathans.
Al Qaeda is self-destructive
(Atlantic) AQ’s bombing Muslims in AfPak has destroyed their popularity. America can harm itself worse than AQ by overreacting. We should declare victory in the war on terror and move off crisis mode.
Pakistan an OBL safe haven
(LRB) Osama bin Laden chooses to be in Pakistan precisely because Pakistan can restrict US operations.
Assassinating terrorists at home
(WaPo) CIA’s AQ assassination program allowed operations in U.S., Europe — imposed no geographical limit.
An offer they should refuse
(Guardian) AQ bigwig Ayman al-Zawahiri released an audio message saying the U.S. is coming after Pakistani nukes and AQ can ‘protect’ them.
Dick’s assassination team
(Guardian) This Cheney AQ assassination squad story doesn’t add up. We’re killing AQ today. Was he planning on killing terrorism suspects within the U.S.? None of the MSM stories reveal just what the program was.
Tales from the bin Laden hunt
(Style ‘08) ISI tipped Haqqani to CIA attack... Tribal safe houses are so nasty (e.g. slaughterhouse with rats), CIA takes any volunteer... CIA agreed to ISI shadowing them at all times [!]
ISI saved bin Laden from Clinton missiles
(Historycommons) ‘98: ISI dir Hamid Gul allegedly tipped bin Laden to Clinton’s cruise missile strike hours in advance, well before the U.S.’ 10 minute airspace warning to Pakistan. [Later, ISI wired $100K to Atta.]
AQ shifting to Somalia, Yemen
(NYT) Some AQ foot soldiers are fleeing drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas for Somalia and Yemen.
Pioneers of the belly bomb
(WaPo) LTTE rebuffed AQ on bomb tech sharing: ‘We don’t go after kids in Pizza Hut.’ A bomber faked a pregnancy in an elaborate mil hospital plot. Other women trained on how to walk, act as if pregnant while carrying a bomb.
Guerrilla vs. guerrilla
(WSJ) Gen. McChrystal will likely do more commando raids against Taliban and AQ. Sec defense Gates wants to limit the # of troops in Afghanistan.
Terrorists moving to Somalia
(WaPo) A small number of Al Qaeda have moved from AfPak to Somalia to instigate suicide attacks in East Africa.
Dubya’s desaparecidos
(Propublica) 3 dozen prisoners are still unaccounted for by the CIA. Pakistani Saud Memon, who owned the shed where Daniel Pearl was held, was disappeared for 4 yrs before being dropped off at his family home, where he died 2 wks later of TB.
Many Pathans back drone strikes
(NYT) One reason the drone attacks received support in the tribal region is that they mostly single out Arab AQ leaders, widely disliked by Pathans for enforcing Wahhabism.
Taliban extending into Punjab
(NYT) Taliban are linking up with rural Punjab groups which usually attack Kashmir or Shias, doing joint attacks like the Islamabad Marriott bombing. Multan is effectively under sharia. ‘Politicians send their children abroad, come only for elections.’
Granny spies
(ToL) To shadow AQ suspects, MI5 hires elderly women and young moms with babies in prams. They’re rumored to have a colourless chemical painted on a suspect’s clothes during break-ins, allowing a dog to follow his trail.
M.I.A. was right
(Harpers) Given the long history of Al Qaida in Somalia, no one wants to discuss the possibility that it may have a role in this pirate activity as a revenue stream. Jefferson handled pirates better by attacking then on land.
U.S. warns of ‘internal collapse’ in Pakistan
(NYT) The father of a dead Pakistani soldier slapped the body’s escort with his shoe, angry over ‘America’s war.’ But a U.S. advisor thinks the jihadis could take down the gov’t within 6 months. Petraeus is more cautious.
Torture for torture’s sake
(WaPo) The info gotten by torturing low-level AQ fixer Abu Zubaydah proved false. The U.S. began torturing for revenge, not intel. ‘There was a disbelief in Abu Zubaydah and also a desire for retribution — “If he doesn’t talk, we’ll do whatever." ‘
Let the tribes catch bin Laden
(WaPo) Kilcullen at State Dep’t: Pakistan’s army is bigger than the U.S. army, and al-Qaeda HQ sits in the 2/3rds the gov’t doesn’t control. The ISI is a rogue state within a state... Ideally the tribes would try bin Laden for treason, not America.
Missile madness
(LAT) Under Musharraf, the Pakistani military used to take a day to give UAVs permission to fire [hey, it takes time to tip off a terrorist in hiding]. After his fall, the CIA began firing at will. Now AQ is hunting down its moles.
Strikes demoralizing Al Qaeda
(NYT) UAV strikes are demoralizing AQ fighters in Waziristan, forcing them to sleep outdoors with an ear cocked for planes. The killing of a senior leader was a significant blow.
Like Pakistan, UK fears being U.S. war scapegoat
(Dailypioneer) Britain fears a renewed war will lead to retaliatory strikes by sleeper cells among British Pakistanis. America, with its relatively robust integration model, will be sequestered; Britain worries it will bear the brunt. (ht: N)
In UK, LeT more popular than al Qaeda
(Telegraph) The CIA has launched a huge operation to recruit informants and spy on British Pakistanis to avert terrorist attacks on the U.S. Brits say 40% of such CIA activity is in the UK, and the LeT is more entrenched than AQ there.
The Pakistani line on 11/26
(WSJ) Pakistan plans to pin the blame for 11/26 on LeT, but also a Bangla group and Al Qaeda, and will claim the attack was planned outside Pakistan.
‘If Pakistan is unwilling to act, we will’
(Belfercenter) A major Al Qaeda attack inside the U.S. could spark a ground invasion of Pakistan’s tribal region.
Obama gets under AQ’s skin
(WaPo) With Obama, al-Qaeda faces an entirely new challenge, a U.S. president well liked throughout the Muslim world. ‘For al-Qaeda, George W. Bush had been a near-perfect foil.’
2 more missile attacks in Pakistan today
(ABC) ‘Al Qaeda leaders are freaking out over this. They have begun to punish local tribesmen who they suspect have tipped off the U.S. to their presence and this is beginning to drive a wedge between the al Qaeda people and the locals.’
Bin Laden son operating in Pakistan
(NYT) A son of Osama bin Laden who spent years under Iranian house arrest has left Iran and is now probably working for AQ inside Pakistan.
Too Fluffy for terr’ists
Dubya lacked even basic understanding of Pakistan
(VF) CIA: Dubya didn’t get that the Pakistani Border Force was a Taliban ally and would let OBL go... Mahbubani: China played Dubya on Iraq. Clarke: It was disgusting, Rumsfeld was talking Iraq while bodies were still burning in the Pentagon and WTC.
U.S. reiterates ISI-LeT connection
(NYT) U.S.: ‘These are not rogue ISI elements [training the LeT]. What’s going on is done in a fairly disciplined way’... Al Qaeda is wary of Lashkar’s relationship with the ISI.
AQ mentioning India more
(NYT) The LeT was funded by Saudi Arabia and protected by the ISI... Al Qaeda recently turned its rhetoric more against India.
Al Qaeda, LeT intertwined
(WSJ) Multiple AQ terrorists passed through LeT camps, including Australian al Qaeda operative David Hicks, shoe bomber Richard Reid and Dhiren Barot. AQ is also getting more Pakistanized as it shifted its base to Pakistan.
Hitchens: Stand by India
(Slate) Hitchens: U.S. statements on 11/26 have been anemic and media coverage parochial. India is a close friend that was battling Al Qaeda [LeT?] long before we were.
Rauf worked in family bakery
(Telegraph) Killed by a U.S. missile, alleged AQ terrorist Rashid Rauf used to work in his family’s bakery in Birmingham.
Predator kills liquid bomb mastermind
(Guardian) U.S. missiles apparently killed Rashid Rauf, a 27-year-old jihadi from Birmingham who allegedly masterminded the liquid bomb airline plot and ‘escaped’ Pakistani police.
Al Qaeda tries to cleave Muslims from Obama
(Newsweek) Worried that Obama will come after them in AfPak, AQ called him a ‘house Negro.’ The attempt to divide will fail. Muslims like Obama because he’s black, comes from a minority and is named Hussein.
Oh no he di’nt
(CNN) Al Qaeda video by Ayman al-Zawahiri calls Malcolm X an ‘honorable American,’ Obama, Condi, Powell ‘house slaves.’
Al Qaeda chatter backs McCain
(WaPo) Al Qaeda nudged its affiliates on a jihadi site to attack the U.S. before the election. The chatter said it might ensure a McCain win, as he would be more likely to continue the Afghanistan and Iraq wars which are draining the treasury.
UN hunkers down in Islamabad
(WaPo) Pakistan is focused on homegrown Taliban, whereas the U.S. targets Al Qaeda. A suicide bomber bearing boxes of mithai attacked an anti-terror squad. The UN in Islamabad covered its windows with steel plates.
MIT neuroscientist held in Afghanistan
(NYT) Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist trained at MIT and Brandeis and married to an AQ member, allegedly tried to kill American soldiers and F.B.I. agents in Afghanistan last month.
Right hand, left hand
(NYT) An American UAV struck an Al Qaeda target, possibly Richard Reid’s bombmaker, even as Dubya discussed better cooperation with the Pakistani PM in Washington.
The system is blinking red again
(NYT) Frank Rich: 2 months before 9/11, an essay called ‘Defusing a Time Bomb’ implored Dubya in vain to pay attention to Afghanistan. Here we go again, with terrorism at the bottom of our priorities and Chandra Levy’s murder again in the news.
A global AQ isn’t real
(WaPo) CIA veteran: Local jihadist groups claiming to be allied with AQ are like 1880s anarchists: dupes of ‘true belief,’ the flotsam of revolutionary cultural change and personal anomie. They are not a serious threat. The real AQ’s reach exceeds its grasp. [via]
Obama is no Jimmy Carter
(TNR·L) Obama is no Jimmy Carter. His advisers say he would partner with unsavory proxies like Pakistan’s government, which has long backed the Taliban, to root out Al Qaeda.
U.S.-friendly Afghan jailed at Gitmo
(McClatchy) A pro-American Afghan who despised the Taliban for paralyzing his brother was thrown in Gitmo for 3.5 years because of bad info fed to the U.S. in a personal vendetta. At Gitmo, AQ members tried to kill him. [via]
Inside the Zubaydah takedown
(NYT) 14 addresses in Lahore and Faisalabad were under surveillance. At 2 a.m., the Punjab Elite Force hit the locations all at once. Abu Zubaydah was found at a handsome house on Canal Road in Faisalabad with $100,000 in cash.
Terrorism bounties a bust
(WaPo) The Al Qaeda bounty program is virtually shut down. Few in tribal areas know about it. Those likely to turn in AQ are Pakistanis mistreated by foreign AQ, and $5-25M is abstract to them. All they want is a moto.
Iraq a distraction from Afghanistan
(NYT) Frank Rich) McCain keeps saying Iraq is about fighting Al Qaeda. But they weren’t even part of the Shiite-vs.-Shiite Basra battle. AQ is enough in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the real front in the war on terror.
Pakistan wants stop to missile strikes
(Bloomberg) Pakistan’s new government will press the U.S. to stop firing missiles without approval at suspected al Qaeda militants in its territory.
Deep cover in Al Qaeda
(WaPo) Western informants in Al Qaeda in Pakistan would need a support network that’s hard to sustain for years, and might be ordered to organize a suicide attack or kill someone. A French one succeeded; Spain blew his cover.
Pakistan missile attack targeted AQ affiliate
(NYT) Locals said the dead belonged to a little-known group affiliated with Al Qaeda called Abu Hamza and were from Turkmenistan.
Ad hoc jihad
(WaPo) 1st and 2nd wave global jihadis are on the run. 3rd wave wanna-bes gather in password-protected chat rooms and dare each other to take action, watching vids from Iraq. They’re barely Muslim, are bored and want thrills.
WaPo: Backing Musharraf risks another 9/11
(WaPo op/ed) Thanks to Musharraf, the danger of another 9/11 is real. AQ is in the final stages of planning one, training Western recruits at its Pakistani bases. Yet Dubya’s officials call Musharraf ‘indispensable.’ [They will have blood on their hands.]
D.C. starting to get Musharraf’s gambit
(NYT) Washington is leaning heavily on Musharraf to stop militants with a string of high-level military visits. Admiral Mullen said the next attack against the U.S. would likely come from AQ in the Pakistani tribal areas.