By GottaLaff
Via a New York Times e-mail alert:
American officials said Wednesday that it was very likely that a radical group once thought unable to attack the United States had played a role in Saturday's bombing attempt in Times Square, elevating concerns about whether other militant groups could deliver at least a glancing blow on American soil.
By GottaLaff
A Pakistani helicopter gunship attacked, and most likely killed, a pretty big fish, Maulvi Faqir Mohammed, an al-Qaeda-linked commander of the Pakistani Taliban:
Pakistani officials said Saturday that a top Taliban leader was probably killed in an airstrike in the northwest, dealing another blow to a militant group that fighters say has been leaderless since January. [...]Analysts said that Mohammed's death, coming amid stepped-up military operations and U.S. drone strikes, would help reduce the Pakistani Taliban to something more like the patchwork of local insurgencies that it was before it grew into a lethal umbrella group. Mohammed had been considered a candidate to lead the national organization.
"They're shellshocked," Aftab Sherpao, a former Pakistani interior minister, said of the Taliban. "Pakistan is on the front foot right now."
By GottaLaff
Another one bites the dust:
Pakistani intelligence officials say a Taliban commander wanted in connection with the 2006 bombing of the U.S. consulate in Karachi has been killed in a suspected CIA missile strike.Two intelligence officials said Mohammed Qari Zafar was among 13 people killed in the missile attack Wednesday in the Dargah Mandi area of North Waziristan region near the border with Afghanistan.
By GottaLaff
Once again, President Obama proves what a hindrance he is to national security:
Mulvi Kabir, the former Taliban governor in Afghanistan's Nangahar Province, and a key figure in the Taliban regime was recently captured in Pakistan, two senior US officials tell Fox News. Kabir, considered to be among the top ten most wanted Taliban leaders, was apprehended in the Naw Shera district of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province by Pakistani police forces.
By GottaLaff
KABUL — Pakistani authorities, aided by U.S. intelligence, said Thursday they have apprehended more militant chiefs following the capture of the Afghan Taliban's No. 2 figure — arrests that together represent the biggest blow to the militant organization since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
By GottaLaff
This just arrived by e-mail:
Secret Joint Raid Captures Taliban's Top CommanderHmm, I wonder why BushCo couldn't do that.
The Taliban's top military commander was captured several
days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by
Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to
American government officials.
The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan
described by American officials as the most significant
Taliban figure to be detained since the American-led war in
Afghanistan started more than eight years ago. He ranks
second in influence only to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the
Taliban's founder, and was a close associate of Osama bin
Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mullah Baradar has been in Pakistani custody for several
days, with American and Pakistani intelligence officials both
taking part in interrogations, according to the officials.
Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/world/asia/16intel.html? emc=na
By GottaLaff
Robert Gibbs is on MSNBC's Hardball right now, with Chuck Todd subbing for Chris Matthews, who is recovering from tests he had related to his diabetes.
Chucky is pressing Gibbs to fill in some blanks.
Gibbs is referring Chucky to the web site and a radio address for health care answers. He's saying we'll save money via malpractice reform. He's reiterating the illegal immigrant policy. "We've had a very good week."
Chuck: You'll need Republicans. At least one.
Gibbs: Obama has talked to Repubs in the past few days... [he won't reveal names because their "phone would ring off the hook"]. He's reiterating talking points about health care reform, you've heard them all.
Chuck: War in Afghanistan... to get Al Qaeda, Bin Laden. Why is he still out there? Is getting him your goal? What is?
Gibbs: Disrupt, dismantle, destroy Al Qaeda and its extremist allies. That's where 9/11 attack started. We want to prevent future attacks. We want to capture or kill Bin Laden, but that's not all. There are terrorists who want to kill Americans.
Chuck: Two enemies: Al Qaeda, the Taliban. If you feel you've destroyed Al Qaeda, then at what point can you say you've destroyed the Taliban?
Gibbs: Taliban wants to destabilize Afghan., Pakistan, sow seeds of terror. We have to disrupt, dismantle both.
Chuck: More R's agree with Afghan. policy than Dems. Pelosi, Levin nervous. How much will Obama work on the politics of that?
Gibbs: Long view: Obama asked to reassess and reevaluate. He authorized more troops to bring security to region, for election. He's asked for a review, assessment since then. No imminent timetable for troop decisions. It'll be many, many weeks. We're working through McChrystal's assessments.
Chuck: Detailed exit strategy for Congress?
Gibbs: We're working with Congress to establish benchmarks.
Chuck: A negative strategy.
Gibbs: It's a measure of strategic progress. We won't be there forever. No resources for that, or manpower, or budget. We have to focus our goals.
Chuck: Reports about training exercise about Coast Guard.
Gibbs: The Coast Guard is trying to come up with explanation. The TV reporting was false, it alarmed too many people, especially today. I wish the reporters had taken time to check for accuracy. It's more important to be first to report accurately, not just first, instead of scaring people.
By GottaLaff
Sadly, this makes sense to me in the most chilling way imaginable.Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds dropped a bombshell on the Mike Malloy radio show, guest-hosted by Brad Friedman (audio, partial transcript).
Sibel Edmonds on the Mike Malloy Show, hour 1
Sibel Edmonds on the Mike Malloy Show, hour 2
In the interview, Sibel says that the US maintained ‘intimate relations’ with Bin Laden, and the Taliban, “all the way until that day of September 11.”
These ‘intimate relations’ included using Bin Laden for ‘operations’ in Central Asia, including Xinjiang, China. These ‘operations’ involved using al Qaeda and the Taliban in the same manner “as we did during the Afghan and Soviet conflict,” that is, fighting ‘enemies’ via proxies.
As Sibel has previously described, and as she reiterates in this latest interview, this process involved using Turkey (with assistance from ‘actors from Pakistan, and Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia’) as a proxy, which in turn used Bin Laden and the Taliban and others as a proxy terrorist army.
The goals of the American ’statesmen’ directing these activities included control of Central Asia’s vast energy supplies and new markets for military products.
The Americans had a problem, though. They needed to keep their fingerprints off these operations to avoid a) popular revolt in Central Asia ( Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan), and b) serious repercussions from China and Russia. They found an ingenious solution: Use their puppet-state Turkey as a proxy, and appeal to both pan-Turkic and pan-Islam sensibilities. [...]
According to Sibel:
[...]This started more than a decade-long illegal, covert operation in Central Asia by a small group in the US intent on furthering the oil industry and the Military Industrial Complex, using Turkish operatives, Saudi partners and Pakistani allies, furthering this objective in the name of Islam.
Sibel has famously been dubbed the most gagged woman in America, having the State Secrets Privilege imposed on her twice. Her 3.5 hour testimony to the 9/11 Commission has been entirely suppressed, reduced to a single footnote which refers readers to her classified testimony.
In the interview, she says that the information that was classified in her case specifically identifies that the US was using Bin Laden and the Taliban in Central Asia, including Xinjiang. In the interview, Sibel reiterates that when invoking the gag orders, the US government claims that it is protecting ” ’sensitive diplomatic relations,’ protecting Turkey, protecting Israel, protecting Pakistan, protecting Saudi Arabia…” This is no doubt partially true, but it is also true that they are protecting themselves too, and it is a crime in the US to use classification and secrecy to cover up crimes.
As Sibel says in the interview:
I have information about things that our government has lied to us about… those things can be proven as lies, very easily, based on the information they classified in my case, because we did carry very intimate relationship with these people, and it involves Central Asia, all the way up to September 11.
Summary
The bombshell here is obviously that certain people in the US were using Bin Laden up to September 11, 2001.
It is important to understand why: the US outsourced terror operations to al Qaeda and the Taliban for many years, promoting the Islamization of Central Asia in an attempt to personally profit off military sales as well as oil and gas concessions.
The silence by the US government on these matters is deafening. So, too, is the blowback.
By GottaLaff
Fox News analyst Lt. Col. Ralph Peters will be a guest on "The O'Reilly Factor" tonight, presumably to explain his comments on FNC this weekend that captured Army Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl is, "an apparent deserter."
Original post about this here, including video.
So: What will he come up with? Or, if the show has already aired, what did he say?
By GottaLaff
UPDATE: Mark Karlin at BuzzFlash came up with the perfect caption for this video:
FOX News "Honors" Cronkite with New Slogan: “AND THAT’S THE WAY IT ISN’T – ON EVERY SINGLE DAY WE BROADCAST.”So, now, didn't John Sidney McCain "collaborate with the enemy" too? That would be the same J Sid who was the revered Rushpublic presidential candidate only months ago? Oh, silly me. That was Sarah Palin. J Sid was just along for the ride:
[O]n "America's News HQ," guest pundit Ralph Peters suggested something to the effect that the Taliban should "save us the headache" and execute captured 23 year-old American soldier Bowe Bergdahl, because "it looks like" Bergdahl deserted his unit. While prefacing his comments by stressing that a military decision should not be made until all of the facts surrounding Bergdahl's capture are determined, Peters then ignored his own advice and encouraged the Taliban to kill this young man. Fox News' Julie Banderas was visibly shocked at the words coming out of Peters' mouth, but did not challenge any of his statements before awkwardly ending the segment.Oh my stars. Allowing a commentator to talk about our military that way without so much as a peep? A guest wishing harm on one of our soldiers? That's pretty appalling! Really Faux Noise, you can do better than this.
By GottaLaff
Heart-wrenching:
The American soldier who went missing June 30 from his base in eastern Afghanistan and was later confirmed captured, appeared on a video posted Saturday to a Web site by the Taliban, two U.S. defense officials confirmed.The ObamAdministration has its hands awfully full. What a time to be president, and what major decisions with major outcomes rest on President Obama's shoulders.The soldier is shown in the 28-minute video with his head shaved and the start of a beard. He is sitting and dressed in a nondescript, gray outfit. Early in the video one of his captors holds the soldier's dog tag up to the camera. His name and ID number are clearly visible. He is shown eating at one point and sitting on a bed. [...]
He is interviewed in English by his captors, and he is asked his views on the war, which he calls extremely hard, his desire to learn more about Islam and the morale of American soldiers, which he said was low.
Asked how he was doing, the soldier said on the video:
"Well I'm scared, scared I won't be able to go home. It is very unnerving to be a prisoner."
He begins to answer questions in a matter-of-fact and sober voice, occasionally facing the camera, looking down and sometimes looking to the questioner on his left.
He later chokes up when discussing his family and his hope to marry his girlfriend.
"I have my girlfriend, who is hoping to marry," he said. "I have a very very good family that I love back home in America. And I miss them every day when I'm gone. I miss them and I'm afraid that I might not ever see them again and that I'll never be able to tell them that I love them again and I'll never be able to hug them."
He is also prompted his interrogators to give a message to the American people.
"To my fellow Americans who have loved ones over here, who know what it's like to miss them, you have the power to make our government bring them home," he said. "Please, please bring us home so that we can be back where we belong and not over here, wasting our time and our lives and our precious life that we could be using back in our own country. Please bring us home. It is America and American people who have that power."
By GottaLaff
But we shouldn't look back. Just keep moving along...Dick Cheney, the former vice president, ordered a highly classified CIA operation hidden from Congress because it pushed the limits of legality by planning to assassinate of al-Qaida operatives in friendly countries without the knowledge of their governments, according to former intelligence officials.
Former counter-terrorism officials who retain close links to the intelligence community say that the hidden operation involved plans by the CIA and the military to launch operations, similar to those by Israel's Mossad intelligence service, to hunt down and kill al-Qaida activists abroad without informing the governments concerned, even though some were regarded as friendly if unreliable.
The CIA apparently did not put the plan in to operation but the US military did, carrying out several assassinations including one in Kenya that proved to be a severe embarrassment and helped lead to the quashing of the programme. [...]
Another former senior intelligence official responsible for dealing with al-Qaida said that assassination plans were reined in after similar covert operations by the military were botched and proved to be embarrassing, particularly the killing in Kenya. [...]
The official said he believes from conversations with serving members of the CIA that the area of real concern in Congress is that the planned operations may also have involved the covert surveillance of American citizens, a particularly sensitive subject in the US.
There appears to be common agreement among knowledgeable former intelligence officials that the controversy goes beyond the immediate question of assassination and capture of al-Qaida operatives as there have been numerous killings and detentions since the 9/11 attacks. One former official said that the Bush administration discussed the assassination question in the context of a ban introduced in the 1970's in response to several failed CIA attempts to murder Fidel Castro and concluded that as the US had declared itself at war with Al-Qaida and the Taliban the ban did not apply.
Peter Bergen, a senior security analyst at the New America Foundation, said that the secret operation must have gone further than that to have created such a backlash in Congress. "If it's an assassination programme of al-Qaida leaders that is hardly surprising. Clinton had an assassination programme against Bin Laden. There have been 27 drone missile strikes against al-Qaida alone this year," he said.
By GottaLaff
Another day, another ruling. I smell an appeal:
A federal judge has rejected aspects of the Obama administration's definition of who can legally be held as a prisoner in the war on terror.
In a 22-page decision issued Tuesday evening, U.S. District Court Judge John Bates ruled that members in Al Qaeda or the Taliban could be detained, but that mere support for Al Qaeda activities is not a sufficient basis for the government to hold prisoners at Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere.
Bates said he pressed the Justice Department to explain why rendering assistance to Al Qaeda was enough to lock someone up without criminal charges.
"After repeated attempts by the Court to elicit a more definitive justification for the 'substantial support' concept in the law of war, it became clear that the government has none," wrote Bates, who was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush. "Regardless of the reasonableness of this approach from a policy perspective, a detention authority that sweeps so broadly is simply beyond what the law of war will support. The government's approach in this respect evidences an importation of principles from the criminal law context," Bates said. [...]
Bates's decision does not mean it would be impossible to hold someone for knowingly giving aid to Al Qaeda. Rather, the government would have to proceed with a criminal indictment or perhaps a military commission or court-martial, all of which would are likely to give Guantanamo prisoner more rights than he currently enjoys.
Bates's reservation on the support issue put him at odds on that point with one of his colleagues, Judge Reggie Walton, who essentially adopted the Obama definition last month in the first ruling to consider the issue. One or more of the rulings is likely to be appealed to the D.C. Circuit and eventually to the Supreme Court.
A government official noted that Bates rejected an argument by detainee lawyers that the government could only detain individuals who directly participated in hostilites against the U.S. Bates made clear in his ruling that simple membership in Al Qaeda or the Taliban was enough to permit detention. [...]
Bates's analysis on the support issue was strikingly similar to that which the executive director of Human Rights Watch, Ken Roth, gave reporters and bloggers during conference calls on Monday discussing the Obama Administration's detention policy.
By GottaLaff
Twelve seconds of video proves what a liar you are, Idiot in Chief, as do the following:
He lies so often, he couldn't possibly keep track of all his contradictions. Then again, even if he did, he wouldn't care.September 2002: “The Taliban’s ability to brutalize the Afghan people and to harbor and support terrorists has been virtually eliminated.”
April 2002: “With the Taliban eliminated and al-Qaida badly damaged, we have moved into the second stage of our war on terror.”
At other times, Bush prematurely declared victory using similar language:
September 2004: “And as a result of the United States military, Taliban no longer is in existence. And the people of Afghanistan are now free.”
December 2004: “In Afghanistan, America and our allies, with a historically small force and a brilliant strategy, defeated the Taliban in just a few short weeks.”
October 2005: “Over the years these extremists have used a litany of excuses for violence — the Israeli presence on the West Bank, or the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia, or the defeat of the Taliban, or the Crusades of a thousand years ago.”
By GottaLaff
Whether it's Abu Khabab al-Masri or al-Zawahiri, contradictory stories abound. There were too many to post, but here are a few examples.
Then:
Musharraf confirms 'al-Qaeda' hit 11 Feb 2006
When news of the attack first emerged, there were reports that Ayman al-Zawahiri had been killed.
He Was So Bad We Had to Kill Him Twice-Gate --'Countdown' with Keith Olbermann 31 Jul 2008 In the Administration's fifty running scandals, Bushed! Number three: He was so bad we had to kill him twice-gate. (MSNBC video)
Al-Qaeda No. 2 May be Injured, Possibly Re-killed--But Still Cranking Out Videotapes -- 08 September 2008Now:
Al-Qaeda No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, was 'killed,' then wounded, then re-killed--but through all of his deaths and injuries, he is still able to produce videotapes. Whenever the GOP hits a bump in the road -- say, for example, the imminent implosion of Caribou Barbie -- al-Zawahri is reborn and healed and a busy little bee!
Taliban show no let up despite 8,000 soldiers in FATA 28 Sep 2008 Taliban hostilities show no sign of abating despite the deployment of 8,000 troops in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the army’s claim of killing 1,000 Taliban, according to The Times. The newspaper said in a report on Saturday that a constant supply of fresh fighters from inside the country and across the border in Afghanistan is helping the Taliban to stay in the fight. Bajaur Agency is a main operating base for Al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] and the Taliban. Pakistani intelligence believes that Ayman al-Zawahri, the second-in-command of Al Qaeda, has been a visitor.H/t: CLG
By Paddy
I get so weary reading stuff like this. I'm not a war monger, but I was 100% behind going into Afghanistan and routing out the Taliban and Bin Laden. Almost 7 years later, this is what we've got to show for it.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the deadliest suicide bombing in Afghanistan's capital Kabul since the US-led invasion in 2001.
A Taliban suicide car bomb hit the Indian Embassy in Kabul killing 41 people and wounding 141, in an attack Afghan authorities said was co-ordinated with foreign agents in the region, a likely reference to Pakistan.
Afghanistan has accused Pakistani agents of being behind a number of attacks in recent weeks and Afghan President Hamid Karzai last month threatened to send troops across the border to attack militants there if Pakistan does not take action.
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