AL QAEDA ~ TERRORIST ISLAMIC CULT in AL QAEDA ~ TERRORIST ISLAMIC CULT.................... Forum

Author	Comment
Sharon		#81	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2509 May 19 11 12:04 PM	Remove this ad Al Qaeda releases posthumous bin Laden audio recording CAIRO (Reuters) – Al Qaeda released a posthumous audio recording by Osama bin Laden in which he praised revolutions sweeping through several Arab countries, and called for more Muslim "tyrants" to be toppled. Islamists have conspicuously been absent in the uprisings in the Middle East that have largely been led by ordinary citizens angered by autocratic rule, corruption and mismanaged economies. Al Qaeda and other militant groups have waged bloody, but unsuccessful, campaigns to topple these same rulers and by praising the revolts, bin Laden, who was killed in a U.S. raid on May 2 in Pakistan, appeared to be trying to make the Islamists relevant again. Al Qaeda had said bin Laden, who masterminded the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, recorded a message a week before his death. The audio was included in an Internet video more than 12 minutes-long and posted on Islamist websites. "The sun of the revolution has risen from the Maghreb. The light of the revolution came from Tunisia. It has given the nation tranquility and made the faces of the people happy," the speaker, who sounds like bin Laden, said. "To the Muslim nation -- we are watching with you this great historic event and share with you the joy and happiness. Congratulations for your victories and may God grant your martyrs mercy, your injured recovery and your prisoners freedom." Tunisia's president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown by mass protests in January, followed by Egypt's Hosni Mubarak. Bin Laden praised the Egyptian revolution and urged Arab protesters to maintain their momentum, adding: "I believe that the winds of change will envelope the entire Muslim world." "This revolution was not for food and clothing. Rather, it was a revolution of glory and pride, a revolution of sacrifice and giving. It has lit the Nile's cities and its villages from its lower reaches to the top," he said. "To those free rebels in all the countries -- retain the initiative and be careful of dialogue. No meeting mid-way between the people of truth and those of deviation." Bin Laden made no specific reference to Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen, where pro-democracy protesters have had less success than in Egypt and Tunisia, but said Israel, reviled by many ordinary Arabs, was worried by the unrest. REVOLUTION CALL Bin Laden called on young Arabs to consult "those of experience and honesty" and to set up a framework that would allow them to "follow up events and works in parallel... to save the people that are struggling to bring down their tyrants." But he did not mention or advocate democratic rule, which was a key demand of protesters in Egypt, Tunisia and Bahrain in particular. Al Qaeda figures usually pour scorn on Western-style democracy which they see as contradicting Islamic values. "Tunisia was the first but swiftly the knights of Egypt have taken a spark from the free people of Tunisia to Tahrir Square," said bin Laden, adding: "It has made the rulers worried." U.S. commandos killed bin Laden in a compound in Abbottabad, a garrison town near the Pakistani capital. The incident embarrassed Pakistan's military and spy agencies and led to calls by members of the U.S. Congress for a tougher approach toward the country. Al Jazeera television, citing Pakistani security sources, said on Wednesday that al Qaeda had appointed Egyptian Saif al-Adel as temporary leader following bin Laden's death, but bin Laden's number two Ayman al-Zawahri, another Egyptian, is widely seen as best placed to take over the whole organization. Audio and video announcements from bin Laden largely dried up in recent years while Zawahri recorded frequent messages. But Zawahri, an Egyptian medical doctor, is seen as lacking the charisma and oratorical skills of Saudi-born bin Laden, who has Yemeni roots. Al Qaeda has an active wing in Yemen but has not managed to establish itself in Egypt, the most populous Arab nation. http://news.yahoo.com/s/n...l_nm/us_binladen_audio;_
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
jefffranklin		#82	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6841 May 20 11 7:21 AM	Guantánamo Bay terrorists radicalised in London to attack Western targets April 26, 2011 A mosque in north London served as a “haven” for Islamic extremists as the capital became a central hub in the worldwide movement of militants, US documents seen by WikiLeaks showed Monday. The files, written by senior US military commanders at Guantanamo Bay, called the Finsbury Park mosque “an attack planning and propaganda production base” and named preachers Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza as key recruiters. According to the leaked document — details of which were published on the website of the Telegraph newspaper — the two men sent dozens of extremists from throughout the world to train and fight in Pakistan and Afghanistan. At least 35 detainees at the prison at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were captured while fighting against allied forces in Afghanistan having arrived there via British mosques. Of these, 17 were British nationals or citizens who had been given residence after claiming asylum with the rest coming from abroad. US officials described Qatada, whom the British government once paid compensation after he was “unfairly detained”, as “the most successful recruiter in Europe” and a “focal point for extremist fundraising”. Hamza, who is famous for his prosthetic hook hand, was accused of urging “his followers to murder non-Muslims”. Both preachers were granted asylum in Britain. Actually, Hamza is not so much ‘famous’ for his hook as he is notorious for being an intolerant bigot whose hatred lead him to preach “murder and hatred” to his followers, telling them it was their “religious duty to kill” non-Muslims. London’s Daily Telegraph says: Four mosques in London and an Islamic centre are highlighted as places where young Muslim men were radicalised and turned into potential terrorists. Finsbury Park mosque “served to facilitate and training of recruits,” note the files, adding that it was “a haven for Islamic extremists from Morocco and Algeria.” The Daily Telegraph, along with other international newspapers, is publishing details of more than 700 files on the Guantánamo Bay detainees obtained by the WikiLeaks website. Earlier, this newspaper disclosed that dozens of terrorists held at the prison had admitted plotting a wide array of attacks against targets in Britain and America. However, it also emerged that more than 150 innocent people had been sent to Guantánamo. Now, the key role that Britain and British-based preachers played in the lives of many of the Guantánamo detainees can be disclosed. British intelligence services also provided information, including lists of suspected extremists seized from raids on Islamic centres, to the US military as it interrogated detainees. The information was passed on despite the Government publicly condemning the use of torture at Guantánamo. Citing Wikileaks the Telegraph also described how Britain ‘became a haven for migrant extremists’: When Finsbury Park mosque opened nearly 20 years ago it was intended to be a centre for peaceful worship, feted by the Prince of Wales and seen as an emblem of multi-cultural Britain. But the Guantánamo files disclose that by the late 1990s the mosque in north London had become a “haven” for extremism where disaffected young men from around the world were radicalised before being sent to al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. [...] The mosques became recruitment centres for an al-Qaeda cell led by Abu Hamza, the radical imam formerly based in Finsbury Park, who is serving a seven-year sentence at Belmarsh high security prison, and Abu Qatada, a fanatical Muslim cleric described by British intelligence as “Osama bin Laden’s ambassador to Europe”. Together, they turned London into a hub of global terrorism, taking in impressionable immigrants by the dozen and churning them out as killers-in-waiting. As well as the men who passed through mosques in London, another 10 were radicalised outside the capital, mainly in Birmingham. For many of the Guantánamo detainees who passed through London, their journey to extremism began with hopes of a better life. [...] For the young men, the mosques became their home, providing accommodation, food and a sense of community. For the extremist clerics who ran the mosques, however, the stream of young men coming through their doors were ripe for recruitment. The Guantánamo files disclose how they were allegedly brainwashed with videos of atrocities committed against Muslims in Bosnia and Chechnya, and subjected to lectures by Hamza and Qatada which highlighted the virtues of the “pure Islamic state” to be found in Afghanistan. As their indoctrination progressed, many of them became increasingly disenchanted with life in Britain. http://www.religionnewsbl...ts-radicalised-in-london Guantánamo Bay terrorists radicalised in London to attack Western targets At least 35 terrorists incarcerated at Guantánamo Bay were sent to fight against the West after being indoctrinated by extremist preachers in Britain, secret files obtained by The Daily Telegraph disclose. Abu Hamza speaks to his followers outside Finsbury Park Mosque. The preacher is named by US authorities as responsible for recruiting dozens of terrorists. Abu Qatada is named by US authorities as responsible for recruiting dozens of terrorists. By the late 1990s the Finsbury Park mosque had become a 'haven' for extremism. Abu Hamza lived off state benefits in Britain after claiming asylum. By Robert Winnett, Christopher Hope, Steven Swinford and Holly Watt 25 Apr 2011 Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza, two preachers who lived off state benefits after claiming asylum, are identified by the American authorities as the key recruiters responsible for sending dozens of extremists from throughout the world to Pakistan and Afghanistan via London mosques. The leaked WikiLeaks documents, written by senior US military commanders at Guantánamo Bay, illustrate how, for two decades, Britain effectively became a crucible of terrorism, with dozens of extremists, home-grown and from abroad, radicalised here. Finsbury Park mosque, in north London, is described as a “haven” for extremists. United States intelligence officials concluded the mosque served as “an attack planning and propaganda production base”. The files will raise questions over why the Government and security services failed to take action sooner to tackle the capital’s reputation as a staging post for terrorism, which became so established that the city was termed “Londonistan”. The documents show that at least 35 detainees at Guantánamo had passed through Britain before being sent to fight against Allied forces in Afghanistan. This is thought to be more than from any other Western nation. Of those, 18 were originally from abroad. The other 17 were British nationals or citizens granted residency here after claiming asylum, who were indoctrinated before being sent to terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. The Government has paid millions of pounds in compensation and benefits to people regarded as highly dangerous by the US authorities. Qatada, who was paid compensation under human rights laws for being “unfairly detained”, is described as “the most successful recruiter in Europe” and a “focal point for extremist fundraising [and] recruitment”. Hamza is accused of encouraging “his followers to murder non-Muslims”. Four mosques in London and an Islamic centre are highlighted as places where young Muslim men were radicalised and turned into potential terrorists. Finsbury Park mosque “served to facilitate and training of recruits,” note the files, adding that it was “a haven for Islamic extremists from Morocco and Algeria.” The Daily Telegraph, along with other international newspapers, is publishing details of more than 700 files on the Guantánamo Bay detainees obtained by the WikiLeaks website. Earlier, this newspaper disclosed that dozens of terrorists held at the prison had admitted plotting a wide array of attacks against targets in Britain and America. However, it also emerged that more than 150 innocent people had been sent to Guantánamo. Now, the key role that Britain and British-based preachers played in the lives of many of the Guantánamo detainees can be disclosed. British intelligence services also provided information, including lists of suspected extremists seized from raids on Islamic centres, to the US military as it interrogated detainees. The information was passed on despite the Government publicly condemning the use of torture at Guantánamo. The leaked documents also reveal that: • Sixteen detainees sent back to Britain are regarded as “high risk” by the US authorities and are liable to plan attacks against the West. However, they have been paid a reported £1 million each in compensation by the Government. For the first time, details of their alleged extremist activities, including travelling to Afghanistan to fight against British troops, are disclosed; • The US government suspected the BBC of being a “possible propaganda media network” for al-Qaeda after details of a phone number at the broadcaster was found in the possession of several suspected terrorists. The number, which now appears to be disconnected, was thought to be for an employee of the BBC World Service, which was then funded by the Foreign Office; • Terrorist recruits from across Africa and the Middle East flocked to London to claim asylum, often after travelling through other European countries; • British taxpayers’ money was used to bankroll an Afghan politician who was sent to Guantánamo Bay after being exposed as an al-Qaeda aide. Mullan Haji Rohullah received more than £300,000 to destroy his opium crop – but he sold the drugs and kept the money from the Department for International Development. • Four of the Guantánamo detainees were “British intelligence sources” who betrayed their paymasters. • The last remaining British national at the prison is an al-Qaeda commander who directed terrorist forces in Tora Bora during the Afghanistan conflict. His family, who were previously allegedly paid directly by Osama Bin Laden, is thought to have received compensation from the Government. The files help to explain American anger towards the British authorities, who have been regularly accused of failing to tackle radicalisation in this country. The top-secret documents show how Muslim men travelled to European countries such as France, from where they obtained fake EU passports. They then crossed the channel to take advantage of Britain’s generous asylum system. Extremist preachers radicalised the men at London mosques, showing them videos of atrocities committed against Muslims in Bosnia and Chechnya. According to one document, Finsbury Park mosque was “a key transit facility for the movement of North African and other extremists in London to and from al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan”. They were flown to Pakistan and Afghanistan at the terrorist group’s expense, put up in special guesthouses and sent to the training camps. They were introduced to senior al-Qaeda figures including Bin Laden and taught to fight and make bombs. Wives were arranged for some terrorists and their families received generous payments. The US government condemned the release of the Wikileaks documents. In a statement, the Pentagon said: “It is unfortunate that news organisations have made the decision to publish numerous documents obtained illegally by WikiLeaks concerning the Guantánamo detention facility. These documents contain classified information about current and former detainees, and we strongly condemn the leaking of this sensitive information. “The WikiLeaks releases include Detainee Assessment Briefs (DABs) written by the Department of Defence between 2002 and early 2009. These DABs were written based on a range of information available then. Any given DAB illegally obtained and released by WikiLeaks may or may not represent the current view of a given detainee. “The previous and current administrations have made every effort to act with the utmost care and diligence in transferring detainees from Guantánamo.” Barack Obama, the US President, previously made a high-profile pledge to close the Guantánamo Bay facility and prosecute in the criminal courts those alleged to have broken the law. However, the pledge has now been largely abandoned and the US authorities recently announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the most senior terrorist at the prison and the alleged mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, will be tried at a controversial military tribunal. Mohammed, who was tortured more than 100 times, has admitted his involvement in dozens of plots, including plans to hijack aircraft and crash them into Heathrow airport, Big Ben and Canary Wharf, and assassination attempts against Pope John Paul II and former President Bill Clinton. He is among 15 so-called kingpins at the prison who are unlikely to ever be freed. http://www.telegraph.co.u...leaks/8472784/WikiLeaks- Guantanamo-Bay-terrorists-radicalised-in-London-to-attack-Western-targets.html http://cultbustersgalactica.yuku.com/
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Sharon		#83	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2509 May 28 11 7:49 AM	Al-Qaeda's remaining leaders After 11 September 2001, the US issued a list of suspected al-Qaeda leaders. Many have now been captured or killed, including Osama Bin Laden, while some new names have emerged. Ayman al-Zawahiri Ayman al-Zawahiri, an eye surgeon who helped found the Egyptian Islamic Jihad militant group, is expected to replace Osama Bin Laden as the leader of al-Qaeda. He was already the group's chief ideologue and was believed by some experts to have been the "operational brains" behind the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US. Zawahiri was number two - behind only Bin Laden - in the 22 "most wanted terrorists" list announced by the US government in 2001 and continues to have a $25m bounty on his head. Zawahiri was reportedly last seen in the eastern Afghan town of Khost in October 2001, and went into hiding after a US-led coalition overthrew the Taliban. He was thought to be hiding in the mountainous regions along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border with the help of sympathetic local tribes. However, the killing of Bin Laden on 1 May 2011 in Abbottabad, north of the Pakistani capital Islamabad, suggests this may not be the case. His wife and children were reportedly killed in a US air strike in late 2001. Zawahiri was for a time al-Qaeda's most prominent spokesman, appearing in 40 videos and audiotapes since 2003 - most recently in April 2011 - as the group tried to radicalise and recruit Muslims worldwide. He has also been indicted in the US for his role in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Africa, and was sentenced to death in Egypt in absentia for his activities with Islamic Jihad during the 1990s. Abu Yahya al-Libi Abu Yahya al-Libi, also known as Hasan Qayid and Yunis al-Sahrawi, is thought to have been a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) before he allied himself to Osama Bin Laden. He has since emerged as al-Qaeda's leading theologian, and most visible face on video, surpassing Ayman al-Zawahri in recent years. Libi is believed to have spent five years as a religious student in Mauritania in the 1990s. He claims he was captured by Pakistani forces in 2002 and then sent to the US military airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan, from where he escaped in July 2005 along with three other al-Qaeda members. Al-Qaeda has named Libi as a field commander in Afghanistan, though he has styled himself in his many videos as a theological scholar, and spoken on a variety of global issues of importance to the group. Khalid al-Habib Khalid al-Habib, thought to be either Egyptian or Moroccan, was identified in a November 2005 video as al-Qaeda's field commander in south-east Afghanistan, while Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi was named as its commander in the south-west. Habib seems to have assumed overall command after the latter's capture in 2006. He was described as al-Qaeda's "military commander" in July 2008. US military officials say he oversees al-Qaeda's "internal" operations in Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. Habib may be operating under an assumed identity, according to some analysts. One of his noms de guerre is believed to be Khalid al-Harbi. Adnan el Shukrijumah In August 2010, the FBI said Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah had taken over as chief of al-Qaeda's "external operations council". Having lived for more than 15 years in the US, it is the first time a leader intimately familiar with American society has been placed in charge of planning attacks for the group outside Afghanistan. Such a position - once held by the alleged mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - necessitates regular contact with al-Qaeda's senior leadership and military commanders, and makes him likely to be killed or captured. Born in Saudi Arabia, Shukrijumah moved to the US when his father, a Muslim cleric, took up a post at a mosque in Brooklyn. They later moved to Florida. In the late 1990s, he became convinced that he had to participate in jihad in place like Chechnya, and left for training camps in Afghanistan. Shukrijumah has been named in a US federal indictment as a conspirator in the case against three men accused of plotting suicide bomb attacks on New York's subway system in 2009. He is also suspected of having played a role in plotting al-Qaeda attacks in Panama, Norway and the UK. Atiyah Abd al-Rahman A Libyan, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman joined Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan as a teenager in the 1980s. Since then, he has gained considerable stature in al-Qaeda as an explosives expert and Islamic scholar. He retreated with Bin Laden to the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border region in late 2001, and has since become a link to other Islamist militant groups in the Middle East and North Africa. In June 2006 the US military recovered a letter he wrote to the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian who ran al-Qaeda in Iraq, chastising him for alienating rival insurgent groups and attacking Shia Muslims. It warned Zarqawi that he could be replaced if he did not change his ways. He is said to have successfully brokered a formal alliance with the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which changed its name to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Saif al-Adel An Egyptian in his late 30s, Saif al-Adel is the nom de guerre of a former Egyptian army colonel, Muhamad Ibrahim Makkawi. He travelled to Afghanistan in the 1980s to fight Soviet forces with the mujahideen. Adel was once Osama Bin Laden's security chief, and assumed many of military commander Mohammed Atef's duties after his death in a US air strike in November 2001. He is suspected of involvement in the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa, training the Somali fighters who killed 18 US servicemen in Mogadishu in 1993, and instructing some of the 11 September 2001 hijackers. In 1987, Egypt accused Adel of trying to establish a military wing of the militant Islamic group al-Jihad, and of trying to overthrow the government. Following the invasion of Afghanistan, Adel is believed to have fled to Iran with Suleiman Abu Ghaith and Saad Bin Laden, a son of the late al-Qaeda leader. They were allegedly then held under house arrest by the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iran has never acknowledged their presence. Several letters and internet statements bearing Adel's name or aliases have been released since 2002, leading analysts to believe he is still in contact with al-Qaeda's leaders in the region. Recent reports say Adel may have been released and made his way to northern Pakistan, along with Saad Bin Laden. Mustafa Hamid Mustafa Hamid, the father-in-law of Saif al-Adel, served as instructor in tactics at an al-Qaeda camp near Jalalabad and is the link between the group and Iran's government, according to the US. After the fall of the Taliban, he is said to have negotiated the safe relocation of several senior al-Qaeda members and their families to Iran. In mid-2003, Hamid was arrested by the Iranian authorities. Saad Bin Laden Saad Bin Laden, one of Osama Bin Laden's sons, has been involved in al-Qaeda activities. In late 2001, he helped his relatives flee to Iran. He made key decisions for al-Qaeda and was part of a small group of al-Qaeda members involved in managing the organisation from Iran, according to US officials. He was arrested by Iranian authorities in early 2003, but recent reports say he may have been released and made his way to northern Pakistan. US officials said an "adult son" of Osama Bin Laden's was killed alongside him in the raid in Abbottabad in May 2011. It is not known if it was Saad. Hamza al-Jawfi Hamza al-Jawfi, a Gulf Arab, is believed by some to have become al-Qaeda's external operations chief after the death of Abu Ubaida al-Masri from hepatitis C in December 2007. However, the FBI has said this year that Adnan el Shukrijumah had assumed this role. Matiur Rehman Matiur Rehman is a Pakistani militant who has been identified as al-Qaeda's planning chief. He is said to have been an architect of the foiled "liquid bomb" plot to explode passenger aircraft over the Atlantic in 2006. Abu Khalil al-Madani Little is known about Abu Khalil al-Madani, who was identified as a member of al-Qaeda's Shura council in a July 2008 video. His name suggests he is Saudi. Midhat Mursi An Egyptian chemist, Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Omar has allegedly overseen al-Qaeda's efforts to develop chemical and biological weapons. Also known as Abu Khabab, he left Egypt to fight the Soviets in the 1980s. A fellow mujahideen says he was slow to join al-Qaeda because he disagreed with the group's central strategy and was not an ally of Ayman al-Zawahiri, but changed his mind in part because he needed the money. Mursi was a trainer at al-Qaeda's Derunta camp in Afghanistan when it was set up in the late 1990s. In addition to teaching courses on conventional explosives, he wrote manuals on how to make toxic weapons and conducted a variety of experiments as part of Project al-Zabadi, or "curdled milk". The US believes he may be living in Pakistan, although other reports suggest he escaped to the Pankisi Gorge in the Caucasus region in 2001. US intelligence officials do not believe he occupies a senior leadership position. Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso Fahd al-Quso is wanted in connection with the 2000 bomb attack on the USS Cole in Aden, which resulted in the deaths of 17 US sailors. In April 2003, he was being held by the Yemeni authorities in connection with the attack when he escaped. He was recaptured 11 months later, but was released from prison early in 2007 despite US protests. It was thought that he was still in Yemen, but reports say he may have been killed by a US drone strike in September in North Waziristan, Pakistan. Adam Gadahn Adam Gadahn, a US citizen who grew up in California, has emerged as a high-profile propagandist for al-Qaeda, appearing in a string of videos. After converting to Islam as a teenager, he moved in 1998 to Pakistan and married an Afghan refugee. Gadahn performed translations for al-Qaeda and become associated with al-Qaeda's captured field commander, Abu Zubaydah. He is also thought to have later trained at a militant camp in Afghanistan. In 2004, the US justice department named him as one of seven al-Qaeda operatives planning imminent attacks on the US. Shortly afterwards, he appeared in a video on behalf of al-Qaeda, identifying himself as "Azzam the American". In September 2006, he appeared in a video with Ayman al-Zawahiri and exhorted his fellow Americans to convert to Islam and support al-Qaeda. The next month, Gadahn become the first US citizen to be charged with treason since World War II. The indictment said he had "knowingly adhered to an enemy of the United States... with intent to betray the United States". A $1m bounty was placed on his head. Analysts say Gadahn is not part of al-Qaeda's senior leadership, and does not hold any operational or ideological significance. Nasser Abdul Karim al-Wuhayshi Wuhayshi, a former aide to Osama Bin Laden, is the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which was formed in 2009 in a merger between two offshoots of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. US counter-terrorism officials have said it is the "most active operation franchise" of al-Qaeda beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan. Wuhayshi, who is from the southern Yemeni governorate of al-Baida, spent time in religious institutions before travelling to Afghanistan in the late 1990s. He fought at the battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, before escaping over the border into Iran, where he was eventually arrested. He was extradited to Yemen in 2003. In February 2006, Wuhayshi and 22 other suspected al-Qaeda members managed to escape from a prison in Sanaa. Among them were also Jamal al-Badawi, the alleged mastermind of the USS Cole bombing, and Qasim al-Raymi, al-Qaeda's in the Arabian Peninsula's military commander. After their escape from prison, Wuhayshi and Raymi are said to have overseen the formation of al-Qaeda in Yemen, which took in both new recruits and Arab fighters returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The group claimed responsibility for two suicide bomb attacks that killed six Western tourists before being linked to the assault on the US embassy in Sanaa in 2008, in which 10 Yemeni guards and four civilians died. Four months later, Wuhayshi announced in a video the merger of the al-Qaeda offshoots in Yemen and Saudi Arabia to form "al-Qaeda of Jihad Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula". The group's first operation outside Yemen was carried out in Saudi Arabia in August 2009 against the kingdom's security chief, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, though he survived. It later said it was behind the attempt to blow up a US passenger jet as it flew into Detroit on 25 December 2009. A Nigerian man charged in relation with the incident said AQAP operatives had trained him. Anwar al-Awlaki A radical American Muslim cleric of Yemeni descent, Awlaki has been linked to a series of attacks and plots across the world - from 11 September 2001 to the shootings at Fort Hood in November 2009. Since going on the run in Yemen in December 2007, Awlaki's overt endorsement of violence as a religious duty in his sermons and on the internet is thought to have inspired new recruits to Islamist militancy. US officials say he is also a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an offshoot of the militant network in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and helped recruit Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of attempting to blow up an airliner as it flew into Detroit on 25 December 2009. Following the failed attack, President Barack Obama took the extraordinary step of authorising the Central Intelligence Agency to kill him. Soon afterwards, Awlaki survived an air strike in southern Yemen. Awlaki is currently thought to be hiding in the mountainous governorates of Shabwa and Marib, under the protection of the large and powerful Awalik tribe, to which he belongs. His family say he is not a terrorist. Abou Mossab Abdelwadoud A former university science student and infamous bomb-maker, Abdelwadoud is the leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). He became leader of the head of the Algerian Islamist militant organisation, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), in mid-2004, succeeding Nabil Sahraoui after he was killed in a major army operation. After university in 1995, Abdelwadoud joined the Armed Islamist Group (GIA), a precursor to the GSPC which shared its aim of establishing an Islamic state in Algeria. He is said to have become a member of the GSPC in 1998. Abdelwadoud, whose real name is Abdelmalek Droukdel, was one of the signatories to a statement in 2003 announcing an alliance with al-Qaeda. In September 2006, the GSPC said it had joined forces with al-Qaeda, and in January 2007 it announced it had changed its name to "al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb" to reflect its allegiance. Abdelwadoud said he had consulted Ayman al-Zawahiri about the group's plans. Three months later, 33 people were killed in bomb attacks on official buildings in Algiers. Abdelwadoud allegedly supervised the operation. That December, twin car bombs killed at least 37 people in the capital. The ambitions of the group's leadership widened, and it subsequently carried out a number of attacks across North Africa. It also declared its intention to attack Western targets and send jihadis to Iraq. Westerners have also been kidnapped and held for ransom; some have been killed. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11489337
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
jefffranklin		#84	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6841 Jun 4 11 4:16 PM	Al-Qaida militant said killed by U.S. in Pakistan By CHRIS BRUMMITT and ISHTIAQ MEHSUD 6/4/2011 Related Content A supporter of the Pakistani religious party Jamaat-e-Islami shouts during a rally … Supporters of the Pakistani religious party Jamaat-e-Islami attend a rally against … ISLAMABAD (AP) — An al-Qaida leader sought in the 2008 Mumbai siege and rumored to be a longshot choice to succeed Osama bin Laden was believed killed in a U.S. drone attack as he met with other militants in an apple orchard in Pakistan, an intelligence official said Saturday. If confirmed, it would be another blow against the terror organization a month after the slaying of its leader. The purported death of Ilyas Kashmiri — who also was accused of killing many Pakistanis — could help soothe US-Pakistan ties that nearly unraveled after the May 2 bin Laden raid. While it was unclear how Kashmiri was tracked, his name was on a list of militants that both countries recently agreed to jointly target as part of measures to restore trust, officials have said. It also would be a major victory for U.S. intelligence, particularly the controversial CIA-run drone program, which began in 2005 but has been increasingly criticized by the Pakistanis amid rising anti-American sentiment in the country. Senior U.S. officials in Washington, Islamabad and the Afghan capital, Kabul, said they could not confirm that Kashmiri was killed. Other Pakistani officials also said they couldn't confirm it. Described by American officials as al-Qaida's military operations chief in Pakistan, the 47-year-old Pakistani was one of five most-wanted militant leaders in the country, accused of a string of bloody attacks in Pakistan and India as well as aiding plots in the West. He also has been named a defendant in an American court over a planned attack on a Danish newspaper that published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005. Washington had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his location. One Pakistani intelligence officer said Kashmiri was believed killed along with eight other militants in a drone strike Friday close to Wana town in South Waziristan, not far from the Afghan border. A senior Pakistani security official said there "were strong indications" of his death. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of department policy and the sensitivity of the subject. Verifying who has been killed in the drone strikes is difficult, with DNA samples or photographic evidence typically needed. Initial reports have turned out to be wrong in the past, including one in September 2009 that said Kashmiri had been killed. Sometimes they are never formally denied or confirmed in Pakistan or in the United States. A fax purportedly sent by the militant group he was heading — Harakat-ul-Jihad al-Islami's feared "313 Brigade" — confirmed Kashmiri was "martyred" in Friday's 11:15 p.m. strike. It was sent to journalists in Peshawar, and its authenticity could not be independently confirmed. The group, which has not previously communicated with the media, promised revenge against America in the handwritten statement on a white page bearing its name of the group. Soon after the attack, local intelligence officials said the slain men were in a large compound. The intelligence officer said Saturday that the militants were meeting in an apple orchard near the house when the missiles hit. Kashmiri fought with jihadi fighters in Afghanistan and in Indian-held Kashmir in the 1990s, allegedly with the support of the Pakistani state, and was said to have lost a finger and been blinded in one eye during those conflicts. He reportedly once served in the Pakistani army, but he denied that in an interview in 2009. Like other top al-Qaida and allied militants, he was believed to be living in the tribal regions close to the Afghan border in recent years. Indian officials have alleged Kashmiri was involved in the 2008 siege of a hotel and other targets in the Indian city of Mumbai that killed more than 160 people. In an ongoing terror trial in Chicago, an admitted American-Pakistani militant has testified that Kashmiri helped plan the Mumbai siege and wanted to attack U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin. Kashmiri had been angry over U.S. drone attacks inside Pakistan and wanted to target the company, according to David Coleman Headley. Headley, who pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the Mumbai attacks, also testified during the trial of his longtime friend Chicago businessman Tahawwur Rana that he worked with Kashmiri to plot the attack against the Danish newspaper. Headley said he traveled to Copenhagen to conduct surveillance. The attack was never carried out and Kashmiri was charged in absentia along with several others in the case. Kashmiri has most recently been linked to last month's 18-hour assault on a naval base in Karachi. He is also accused of masterminding several raids on Pakistan police and intelligence buildings in 2009, as well as a failed assassination attempt against then-President Pervez Musharraf in 2003. Pakistani leaders did not immediately comment on Friday's attack, but Kashmiri's alleged involvement in attacks on Pakistanis was likely to mute the public reaction. The U.S Department of State says he organized a 2006 suicide bombing against the U.S. consulate in Karachi that killed an American diplomat and three other people. In early 2009, it said Kashmiri operated a militant training center in Miram Shah in North Waziristan. Considered to be one of al-Qaida's most accomplished terrorists, he had been mentioned by security analysts as a contender for replacing bin Laden as head of the group, though many thought the fact that he was not an Arab dampened his chances. Ties between Washington and Islamabad have deteriorated since the bin Laden raid. Pakistanis viewed the unilateral operation as a violation of sovereignty, while bin Laden's location in an army town close to the capital added to long-standing suspicion in Washington that elements of Pakistan's security forces were protecting him. With fresh leverage, American officials made it clear they expected Pakistan to boost efforts to locate other al-Qaida leaders in the country. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in Islamabad two weeks ago she expected Pakistan to "take decisive steps" in the days ahead. The U.S. drone strikes have been controversial since they picked up pace in 2008, with about 30 reported so far this year. Pakistani army officers and politicians publicly protest them, too weak to admit to working with the ever unpopular America in targeting fellow Pakistanis, but the country's intelligence agencies have been known to provide targeting information. Opposition to the strikes grew this year after a CIA contractor shot and killed two Pakistanis in the street, triggering ever more intense anti-American anger. After the bin Laden raid, the parliament issued a declaration calling for the attacks to end. The United States does not acknowledge the CIA-run program, though its officials have confirmed the death of high-value targets before, including the head of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, in 2009 — a strike welcomed by many Pakistan officials because he too was a sworn enemy of the country. http://beta.news.yahoo.co...-pakistan-182637955.html http://cultbustersgalactica.yuku.com/
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Sharon		#85	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2509 Jun 6 11 2:00 PM	The reported death of Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri deals a huge hit to the terror cell, still reeling from bin Laden's killing. Ex-CIA analyst Bruce Riedel on the impact on U.S.-Pakistan relations. Pakistani sources are reporting the death in a drone strike this weekend of Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri f true, it is a big setback for al Qaeda and could help ease tensions between Pakistan and the U.S. a bit. Kashmiri is al Qaeda's top Pakistani operative. He was born in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir on February 10, 1964. Trained in the camps of the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence directorate (ISI) and then the elite Pakistani commando group, the Special Services Group (SSG), he was the darling of the Pakistani army for years. He fought in the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan where he lost an eye and a finger. Then he took the war to India both in Kashmir and in New Delhi itself. Ilyas Kashmiri speaks at a press conference in Islamabad, Pakistan on July 11, 2001. (Photo: Saeed Khan, AFP / Getty Images) He formed his own militant group called the 313 Brigade, after the 313 fighters who joined the prophet Muhammad in an early Islamic victory. His exploits in India were legendary. He was personally decorated and thanked by the then head of Inte-services Intelligence , Mahmud Ahmad and Pakistani's dictator, Pervez Musharraf, in 2000. But Kashmiri broke with his ISI and army friends in 2002 when Musharraf decided to give the Americans at least some help against al Qaeda. Kashmiri took his 313 Brigade into al Qaeda's camp and assisted in training Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and began targeting his former friends in the ISI. His teams killed at least one senior ISI officer. He was involved in an attempt to assassinate Musharraf in 2004. The United Nations credits him as a key player in the plot to murder former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007. The Pakistani American David Headley, who has confessed to plotting the Mumbai terror attack in November 2008, says Kashmiri was his key contact in al Qaeda. The two worked on a plot to attack a Danish newspaper office in Copenhagen in 2009. That was foiled when the FBI arrested Headley, but Kashmiri continued planning to carry out Mumbai-style attacks in Europe. Another was foiled in Denmark at the end of 2010. Kashmiri would have played an important role in helping al Qaeda recover from bin Laden's demise. He had key connections inside the Pakistani syndicate of terror groups. Just last week one of Pakistan's best investigative reporters Syed Salam Shahzd was murdered after finishing a new book on al Qaeda in Pakistan. According to excerpts published in India and Pakistan, Shahzad had evidence Kashmiri may have been the real brains behind the Mumbai plot and hoped it would precipitate an Indo-Pakistani war that al Qaeda could exploit. This is not the first time Kashmiri has been reported killed by a drone attack; he has reappeared after claims of his demise. But if this time he is dead, it is a significant setback for al Qaeda just a month after American commandoes killed Osama bin Laden. Kashmiri would have played an important role in helping al Qaeda recover from bin Laden's demise. He had key connections inside the Pakistani syndicate of terror groups with both the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba, and with al Qaeda operatives in Europe and fund raisers in the Persian Gulf. And he had penetrations deep inside the Pakistani army and ISI. So both Washington and Islamabad will be glad to see him gone. Kashmiri's demise won't solve all the problems in the tortured American relationship with Pakistan by any means but it will help. Of course, if Kashmiri is not dead and reappears yet again unscathed, it will only add to his credentials. Bin Laden benefited enormously from surviving the cruise missile attack that targeted him in 1998. Recriminations could damage the Pakistani-American relationship further. Nonetheless those are risks worth taking. In either case we will know soon. Al Qaeda is quick to eulogize its martyrs. If Kashmiri's dead, they will say so. http://www.thedailybeast....ons/?cid=topic:featured4 Imagine Al Qaeda attacking a country for the sole purpose of starting a war from which they could exploit as Kashmiri did in the Mumbai plot, hoping it would precipitate in an Indo- Pakistani war. How evil is that, killing innocent people just to exploit the war that follows. And what is worse they are killing Muslims, their own people.. what can be more evil than that? Do not get me wrong, when I first knew the Lord Jesus I was so excited, I could not wait to take a look at what being a Christian meant.. it broke my heart. Christians murdering other Christians. Crying witch, witch like some foolish children, and causeing untold suffering for so many. I wonder in the millions of dead if even one witch is amoung them. Catholics murdering Protestants. A king splitting a religion to sleep with a woman, and then killing her.. So I do understand how ones religion can get into deep trouble with greedy nasty men at the wheel... but in this day and age, it is so clear to so many. And it scares folks because it makes it SEEM as if Muslims are all about blowing up families, and killing innocents in the name of Allah. Allah will not be impressed with such murderers. Edited 1 time by Sharon Jun 7 11 1:57 AM.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
jefffranklin		#86	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6841 Jun 8 11 10:11 AM	Al Qaeda deputy vows jihad in bin Laden eulogy By Ho An image provided by SITE Intelligence Group shows Ayman al-Zawahiri giving eulogy. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda's long-time number two, has vowed in a video eulogy to Osama bin Laden that he will pursue his late leader's jihad against the West, SITE Intelligence Group reported on Wednesday. "We will pursue the jihad until we expel the invaders from Muslim lands," he was quoted as saying in the eulogy to bin Laden who was killed in a US raid in Pakistan on May 2. "The man who terrified America in his life will continue to terrify it after his death," he added in the video message titled "The Noble Knight Dismounted," which SITE said was posted on jihadist online forums on Wednesday. "You will continue to be troubled by his famous vow: You shall not dream of security until we enjoy it and until you depart the Muslims' lands," added the Egyptian militant, who was in white garb and a turban with a machinegun behind him. He vowed to make sacrifices needed to "deprive America of security." Zawahiri also vowed allegiance to the leader of Taliban, Mullah Omar. "We renew our allegiance to the leader of the believers, Mullah Mohammad Omar," said Zawahiri speaking of the one-eyed leader who has a $10-million US bounty on his head. "We promise him obedience... in jihad for Allah and to set up sharia (Islamic) law," he added. Last month, the Taliban fiercely denied Omar had died after an Afgan intelligence source called a handful of reporters to tell them that he had been killed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency. The claims came exactly three weeks after the killing of bin Laden by US Navy SEALs in Pakistan and amid a fierce wave of targeted attacks as the Taliban said it was launching a spring offensive. In an audio message on May 22, Zawahiri backed the wave of Arab revolts and called for sharia Islamic law to be applied in Egypt. But he warned Libyans the NATO-led aerial bombing campaign against Moamer Kadhafi seeks to replace the strongman with its own tyrannical regime. http://beta.news.yahoo.co...en-eulogy-141041813.html http://cultbustersgalactica.yuku.com/
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
jefffranklin		#87	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6841 Jun 11 11 2:50 PM	Somalia says killed top African al Qaeda operative By Abdi Sheikh Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU – Somali police said on Saturday that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Africa's most wanted al Qaeda operative, was killed in the capital of the Horn of Africa country Tuesday. Mohammed was reputed to run al Qaeda in east Africa, operated in Somalia and evaded capture for over a decade after being accused of playing a lead role in the 1998 U.S. embassy attacks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, which killed 240 people. Police said they shot Mohammed at a checkpoint in Mogadishu after an exchange of fire at midnight Tuesday in the chaotic country where Mohammed, also known as Harun, an accomplished linguist and computer expert with at least 18 aliases, is believed to have been hiding for most of the past decade. Washington says several al Qaeda members involved in the embassy bombings sought sanctuary in Somalia's south, its most violent region. Somalia, Kenya's northern neighbor, has been without an effective central government since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. "We have confirmed he was killed by our police at a control checkpoint this week," Halima Aden, a senior national security officer, told Reuters in Mogadishu. "He had a fake South African passport and of course other documents. After thorough investigation, we confirmed it was him, and then we buried his corpse," Aden said. The United States had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of the Comorian, who spoke five languages and was said to be a master of disguise, forgery and bomb making. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters: "Harun Fazul's death is a significant blow to al Qaeda, its extremist allies, and its operations in East Africa." "It is a just end for a terrorist who brought so much death and pain to so many innocents in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and elsewhere -- Tanzanians, Kenyans, Somalis and our own embassy personnel," she said on a visit to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A senior U.S. official in Washington said that his killing removed one of the group's "most experienced operational planners in East Africa and has almost certainly set back operations." U.S. officials say Mohammed, believed to be in his mid 30s, also masterminded an attack on an Israeli-owned hotel along Kenya's coast in November 2002 that killed 15 people. WRONG ROAD At times, Somali sources say, Mohammed hid among mixed-race, minority communities that live in villages dotted along the coast between Mogadishu and the Kenya border, where his Comoran looks blended in well with the coast's Benadir and Bajuni people of mixed Somali, Arab, Persian, Portuguese and Malay ancestry. These accounts fit with Mohammed's well-known method of "hiding in plain sight." Adopting the guise of an itinerant Islamic preacher, he settled in an isolated Kenyan coastal village, Siyu, near Somalia's south, in 2002, evading detection for months before and after the hotel bombing. Shortly after, he slipped into southern Somalia. Local residents said that every morning Mohammed exercised on a beach near Gendershe before he left to live just south of Mogadishu. But in recent years he was believed to have been more often under the protection of al Shabaab fighters in inland areas. Tuesday, Aden said, Mohammed may have intended to take a road that diverted into an al Shabaab base, but mistook the road and stopped at the checkpoint -- the southernmost point controlled by the government before passing into al Shabaab territory -- thinking it was manned by al Shabaab. When he realized he was in the wrong place, he opened fire at police who shot back. "He was killed Tuesday midnight in the southern suburbs of Mogadishu at ... (a) checkpoint. Another Somali armed man was driving him in a four-wheel drive when he accidentally drove up to the checkpoint," Aden said. "We had his pictures and so we cross-checked with his face. He had thousands of dollars. He also had a laptop and a modified AK-47," he said. A U.S. official familiar with the events said: "He was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time -- for him, that is. It was the right place and time for enemies of al Qaeda and other terrorist groups." There was no immediate comment from Somali's transitional government, which was rocked Friday by the killing of the country's interior minister claimed by al Shabaab rebels. U.S.-based Somalia expert Abdi Samatar said the killing would not affect the security situation much in the short term. "But over time the gradual loss of skilled people like him and the relatively shrinking spaces they control in Mogadishu and the population's disgust with them will do the needed damage," he told Reuters. A Western security source in east Africa, speaking about al Shabaab as well as al Qaeda, said: "It might tone down their capability in the region. He would have been the top man to bring in resources and coordinate operations." J. Peter Pham, director of the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center at the Atlantic Council, said that Mohammed's death would have little impact operationally on the Islamist insurgency in Somalia, which is led by al Shabaab. "Even the foreign fighters present in Somalia are under Shabaab control, rather than the aegis of al Qaeda in east Africa," he said. "Likewise, al Shabaab has its own ties with the nearest effective al Qaeda branch, the Yemen-centered al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," J. Peter Pham said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_somalia_alqaeda http://cultbustersgalactica.yuku.com/
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Sharon		#88	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2509 Jun 13 11 8:45 AM	Terrorist leader killed in Somalia carried plans for bombing the West Suspected al-Qaeda terrorist leader Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was carrying “very specific” plans for bombings in Western countries when he was killed by Somali soldiers near Mogadishu, a Somali intelligence official says. Mr. Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 1998 bombings that killed 224 people at two U.S. embassies in East Africa, was shot dead when his vehicle apparently blundered into a military checkpoint by mistake. He was believed to be the senior al-Qaeda commander in East Africa, and for more than a decade he was Africa’s most wanted fugitive, with a $5-million bounty on his head. He was a bomb-making specialist who was suspected of involvement in a series of recent bombings, including the explosions in Uganda last July that killed 79 people who were watching the World Cup final on television. After he and another suspected militant were shot dead in an exchange of gunfire at midnight at an army checkpoint near Mogadishu last Tuesday night, he was originally identified as a Somali-Canadian who fought for the militant al-Shabab group under the nom-de-guerre “Abdurrahman Canadian.” Somali sources are now uncertain why he was linked to Canada, but they say he was carrying a South African passport, not a Canadian passport. After the shootout, Somali soldiers discovered that his SUV contained a cache of weapons, mobile phones, video cameras, laptop computers, photos, about $40,000 in cash, and Qaeda-linked documents in English and Arabic. “By the next morning, it was clear that he was a very, very important person,” said the Somali government intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Mr. Mohammed’s fingerprints and DNA were sent to Nairobi, where his identity was eventually confirmed. “This is going to be huge,” the Somali intelligence official said. “The documents we got from him are about plans not only in Somalia but throughout the world. I think we’ve saved a lot of lives.” The bombing plans in Mr. Mohammed’s possession were “very specific” and included targets in the West, the official said. “We will share these with all the relevant agencies.” Mr. Mohammed was a master of disguise and forgery who reputedly spoke five languages and used 18 different names, along with three different dates of birth on his multiple passports. Born in the Comoros Islands off the eastern coast of Africa in the early 1970s, he reportedly trained at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At a young age, he is said to have participated in the “Black Hawk Down” battle in which 18 U.S. soldiers were killed in Mogadishu in October, 1993. He was allegedly the chief planner of the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. And he was a key organizer of the bombing of a Kenyan beach resort in 2002, which killed 16 people, along with an attempted missile attack on an Israeli passenger jet at the same time. He was reportedly appointed by Osama bin Laden as the head of al-Qaeda operations in East Africa. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the death of Mr. Mohammed was “a just end” and “a significant blow to al-Qaeda, its extremist allies, and its operations in East Africa.” As she placed flowers at a memorial to the embassy victims in Dar es Salaam on Sunday, she noted the recent deaths of Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Mohammed. “I know justice was served and I hope that that gives you some measure of comfort,” she told those at the memorial service. A senior U.S. intelligence official, quoted by the Long War Journal, described Mr. Mohammed as one of al-Qaeda’s “most dangerous and most capable leaders.” The official added: “He has been at the top of our list for some time.” A spokesman for al-Shabab confirmed that Mr. Mohammed was one of the men killed in the checkpoint shootout last week, according to Agence France-Presse. Somali officials say Mr. Mohammed was carrying a South African passport under the name “Daniel Robinson.” The passport was issued on April 13, 2009, and it contained visa stamps indicating that he had been in South Africa as recently as March of this year, the officials said. The South African government has been widely criticized for corruption that allows criminals to easily obtain fraudulent South African passports. One source said a fake South African passport can be obtained in three days with $1,000 in bribes. http://www.theglobeandmai...the-west/article2057763/ Sharon Says... this man is not a Muslim Terrorist he is just a plain everyday phychopath who likes to kill people and see the disaster it causes. I mean he killed 79 people watching the world cup.. he had no idea who they were, or how many children were amoung them because he did not care, it was just the fact he could murder them. It is a shame that these murderers are joining such groups as Al qaeda... it gives them more power.. and shame on Al Qaeda for accepting such killers as religous killers when in truth he is just a killer, kills Muslims, Jews, Atheists, Christians, and anyone he pleased. Glad he is gone, save other Mothers from having to pick up their babies arms and heads off the filthy ground where this Godless man has blown them.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
jefffranklin		#89	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6841 Jun 16 11 6:21 PM	New Qaeda boss no bin Laden but will be hunted: U.S. By Matt Spetalnick and David Alexander Osama bin Laden sits with his adviser and purported successor Ayman al-Zawahri during an interview in Afghanistan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's new chief Ayman al-Zawahri lacks Osama bin Laden's stature among Islamists worldwide but the United States is just as determined to hunt him down and kill him as it did his predecessor, U.S. officials said on Thursday. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Zawahri, al Qaeda's longtime second-in-command and now its top leader, does not have the "peculiar charisma" and operational experience of bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. forces last month. But Gates and other U.S. officials said al Qaeda remains a threat despite its loss of bin Laden, who was considered the driving force behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. "We should be mindful that ... al Qaeda seeks to perpetuate itself, seeks to find replacements to those that have been killed and remains committed to the agenda that bin Laden put before them," Gates told reporters. "So I think he's (Zawahri's) got some challenges but I think it's a reminder that they are still out there and we still need to keep after them," he said. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made clear that Zawahri -- an Egyptian-born ideologue -- remained high on the U.S. list of hunted militants even after commandos killed bin Laden in a raid on his Pakistan hide-out 45 days ago. "He and his organization still threaten us. And as we did seek to capture and kill -- and succeed in killing -- bin Laden, we certainly will do the same thing with Zawahri," Mullen told reporters. Zawahri has taken over the leadership after the killing of bin Laden, the group said on Islamist websites on Thursday. 'NO SURPRISE' The White House said Zawahri's rise had been expected since he had long served as bin Laden's deputy, but the State Department said it "barely matters" who the new leader was, contending the violent Islamist group's influence was on the wane. "It's neither surprising nor does it change some fundamental facts," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. "Al Qaeda's ideology is bankrupt. The fact is the peaceful movements for change are the future of the region and al Qaeda is the past." U.S. officials, in a rhetorical campaign that seemed designed to undercut the new al Qaeda leader, also raised doubts about whether Zawahri had the personality to emulate the unifying role played by bin Laden. Bin Laden was the network's founding figurehead and became a global symbol of Islamist militancy despised in the West but admired by some in Muslim countries. "He hasn't demonstrated strong leadership or organizational skills during his time in AQ," a senior administration official said. "His ascension to the top leadership spot will likely generate criticism if not alienation and dissension (within al Qaeda)." "Unlike many of AQ's top members, Zawahri has not had actual combat experience, instead opting to be an armchair general with a 'soft' image," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Gates said he understood there was also some suspicion among militants because Zawahri is Egyptian. Zawahri's apparently prickly temperament and Egyptian background could make it hard to mediate between the Egyptians who have dominated the upper reaches of the central al Qaeda group and other militants, including nationals of Arab, Asian, African and European countries as well as of the United States, experts say. The administration official said the Zawahri would also have a hard time leading al Qaeda because he would have to focus "on his own survival." Asked at a White House briefing whether the United States had any plans to send Zawahri "a congratulatory drone or bunker buster," Carney said tersely: "I have no comment on that." http://beta.news.yahoo.co...-hunted-u-213542801.html http://cultbustersgalactica.yuku.com/
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
jefffranklin		#90	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6841 Jun 26 11 4:17 PM	Remove this ad Trial of 85 Qaeda suspects begins in Saudi Arabia By Bilal Qabalan A Saudi officer looks at the wreckage of the devastated Al-Hamra expatriate housing. Eighty-five Al-Qaeda suspects went on trial in a special Saudi security court on Sunday in connection with deadly attacks carried out in the kingdom, state news agency SPA said. The defendants face charges of belonging to Al-Qaeda, of taking part in attacks on public buildings and residential compounds, and of smuggling and possession of weapons, it said. Thirteen of the group are accused of participating in the May 2003 car bombings of three residential compounds that left 129 people dead or wounded, including women and children, SPA said. Nine U.S. nationals were among 35 of those killed. SPA said the arrests of the 85 suspects had foiled plots to attack two air bases, a residential compound in the Eastern Province of the Gulf state and on state oil giant Aramco. In April, a judicial source said a total of 5,080 terrorist suspects either faced trial or had already been tried before the special court which has come in for criticism from lawyers. http://beta.news.yahoo.co...udi-191608645.html;_ylt= http://cultbustersgalactica.yuku.com/
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
jefffranklin		#91	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6841 Jun 26 11 5:40 PM	Mauritania army keeps up pressure on Al-Qaeda camp June 26, 2011 A map of Al-Qaeda activity in the West African desert. The Mauritanian army has stepped up its operation targeting militants from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in a campaign that has already left several dead, security sources in Nouakchott and Bamako said. The Mauritanian army stepped up its operation targeting militants from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) on Sunday in a campaign that has already left several dead, security sources in Nouakchott and Bamako said. Soldiers involved in the operation in a forested area just across the border in Mali received reinforcements overnight, according to the sources interviewd from Bamako. The army bombed a camp in the country's western Wagadou region on Friday evening in an attack that involved fierce fighting and left four soldiers wounded. Military officials on Saturday reported seeing several bodies following the operation, which follows concerns AQIM had been trying to set up a new base in the area. Sources were not able to say on Sunday how many troops were involved but said they still had the forest encircled. Mauritanian press reported that two soldiers were killed and two injured when their vehicle hit a mine at the entrance to Wagadou forest on Friday evening. AQIM, which has its roots in Algeria, has camps in Mali which it uses as a launchpad to carry out armed attacks and kidnappings in the Sahel desert region where the group is also involved in arms and drugs trafficking. The withdrawal of Mauritanian troops from Mali two months ago has been followed by the establishment of new AQIM units near the border, notably in the forest region. Earlier this month the neighbours agreed to lead a joint military operation to thwart the group which has yet to issue a response to Friday's attack. The four nations most affected by AQIM operations -- Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger -- work closely together on security and military issues in efforts to crack down on the Islamic extremist movement's activities. http://beta.news.yahoo.co...amp-143824328.html;_ylt= http://cultbustersgalactica.yuku.com/
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Sharon		#92	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2509 Jul 14 11 8:33 AM	Bin Laden wanted to change al-Qaida's bloodied name Documents obtained in US assassination reveal frustrations of al-Qaida leader and desire to win over world's Muslims Osama bin Laden, left, with Ayman al-Zawahiri, who has replaced him as leader of al-Qaida. Photograph: Hamid Mir/REUTERS Osama bin Laden was considering changing al-Qaida's name to improve its image among Muslims, according to documents obtained by US special forces from the compound where he was killed. A letter apparently written in the months before he died indicates that Bin Laden felt al-Qaida, which means "the base", was not sufficiently religious and did not reinforce the message that the group considered itself to be engaged in a holy war against the enemies of Islam. A name change would allow al-Qaida to distance itself from growing criticism within the Islamic world that it was responsible for killing large numbers of Muslims, Bin Laden wrote. The letter, described to the Associated Press news agency by US officials, provides further evidence that Bin Laden was considering increasingly desperate measures to retain support for his campaign of violence and to maintain the relevance of his group. One project considered by Bin Laden, reported in the Guardian last month, was the creation of a grand alliance of militant groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan under the umbrella of al-Qaida. Security sources and analysts dismissed such an idea as unfeasible. However, Bin Laden may have been helped in Pakistan by members of a separate local militant group that has close connections to the Pakistani security establishment. The New York Times reported that records of the mobile phone belonging to the courier who helped conceal Bin Laden – and eventually inadvertently led the CIA to him – revealed frequent calls to the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) group. Founded in the 1980s, HUM sent members to fight in Afghanistan alongside the Taliban and against Indian security forces in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir in the 1990s. Since 2001 the group has survived successive crackdowns announced by Pakistani authorities. It retains close ties to Pakistani security services. The New York Times reported that individuals called from the seized phone had contacted the ISI, the main Pakistani military intelligence agency. However, an official told the newspaper that there was n o smoking gun indicating that the ISI had know about Bin Laden's location . The question of the name of the group led by Bin Laden has often posed problems. Minutes of the meeting at which it was founded in 1988 reveal that "al-Qaida" was chosen in some haste. One suggestion has been that the name referred to a database of contact details for international militants who had fought in Afghanistan against Soviet occupiers. Another is that it refers to the "al-Qaida al-Sulbah" or vanguard of the strong, which militant ideologues were calling for at the time to continue the extremist campaign beyond south-west Asia. One former militant on trial in the US referred to al-Qaida (which in Arabic can also mean a maxim or method), as "a formula system", denying that it was the name of a group. When Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden's then deputy and now successor, formally fused his own group Egyptian Islamic Jihad with al-Qaida the full name of the group was "al-Qaida al-Jihad" or "the base for the jihad". In the leaked letter Bin Laden is reported to have complained that the last part was often omitted. This, he wrote, allowed the west to "claim deceptively that they are not at war with Islam". Instead, the letter reveals, Bin Laden pondered alternatives including Taifat al-Tawheed Wal-Jihad (Monotheism and Jihad Group), or Jama'at I'Adat al-Khilafat al-Rashida (Restoration of the Caliphate Group). In his last speech, released posthumously, Bin Laden gave no hint of any such thoughts. However, his statements on the Arab Spring did not include the calls to violence that had preciously marked his rhetoric, indicating at least a shift in tone. On Wednesday Barack Obama, in his speech to the nation on withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, said that information recovered from Bin Laden's compound showed that al-Qaida was "under enormous strain". "Bin Laden expressed concern that al-Qaida had been unable to effectively replace senior terrorists that had been killed and that al-Qaida has failed in its effort to portray America as a nation at war with Islam, thereby draining more widespread support," Obama said. The recipient of the letter has not been identified. US investigators believe that Bin Laden only communicated with his most senior commanders, including Zawahiri and Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, a senior militant who ran external operations for the group as well as fundraising and liason with the Afghan Taliban. Al-Yazid was killed in a US air strike last year. Because of the courier system used by Bin Laden it is unclear to US intelligence whether the letter was actually sent. In one letter sent to Zawahiri within the past year or so, Bin Laden said al-Qaida's image was suffering because of attacks that had killed Muslims, particularly in Iraq, officials said. Bin Laden also wrote that he found the suggestion of one militant in Yemen that blades be attached to a tractor or other farm machine to create a "killing machine" in the US "unacceptable". Al-Qaida was not about indiscriminate killing he said. Bin Laden and his senior associates have long struggled to make sure the disparate elements of the group and its various affiliated networks only attack targets they consider as legitimate. A series of letters and envoys were sent to Iraq in a bid to moderate – or at least better focus – the brutality of international extremists there. In a question and answer internet session four years ago, Zawahiri was bombarded by aggressive demands that he justify the number of deaths of Muslims resulting from al-Qaida attacks. Successive polls in the Muslim world have shown decreasing support for radical Islam and Bin Laden since around 2005. Yesterday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where Bin Laden was born, few expressed any support for the dead extremist. "He was a freedom fighter against the Russians but then took the wrong path. Violence like that is never justified whatever the provocation," said Abdulillah, a 42-year-old shopkeeper. In other journal entries and letters, US officials said, Bin Laden wrote that he was frustrated many of his trusted longtime comrades, whom he had fought alongside in Afghanistan, had been killed or captured. Using his courier system Bin Laden could still exercise an element of operational control over al-Qaida, but increasingly the men he was directing were younger and inexperienced, the fugitive leader complained. With the senior militants who had vouched for new recruits dead or in prison, Bin Laden, confined to his walled compound and cut off from the phone or internet for security reasons, was without any means of verifying new recruits' competence or loyalty, he wrote. The US has now essentially completed the review of documents taken from Bin Laden's compound, though intelligence analysts will continue to mine the data for a long time, officials have said. http://www.guardian.co.uk...cuments-alqaida-struggle Sharon Says..oh my yes ..change the name of al-Qaida and I am sure the Muslims will forget all about that whole killing Muslims indiscriminately.. I am sure they will think it was some other terrorist group killing children with human bombs. I may be a Christian but I will never forget that these people murdered and raped Muslim women and children . And lets not forget the towers.. was that not indiscriminate.. 300 Muslim men and women died there. It was not a military target. They are such an evil group that evil men who dream of being able to just plain murder folks are desperate to join them..they pretend to be Muslim so they can be traided to kill... and get away with it.. that is who this group is..if it was not so then they would not kill children, they would not rape women, and they would not blow up planes loads of innocents. To them everyone is guily of something, Muslims, Christians and Jews and they just want to kill someone.. they are not Muslim men for Muslim men fear God.. these men break Gods commandments as often as possible and take vipers into their bosums. Real Muslims do not . They can change their name a thousand times it will not change the truth.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Sharon		#93	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2509 Jul 16 11 4:28 AM	Turkey charges 14 militants with anti-US plot ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A court has charged 14 suspected al-Qaida militants for allegedly planning to attack the U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capital. The charges — which were filed by an Ankara court late Friday — come as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visits Turkey's cultural capital of Istanbul for a meeting on religious tolerance. The 14 suspects were captured just before Clinton's arrival. A 15th suspect was released, though may later also face trial. Turkish media have speculated that homegrown radical Islamist militants affiliated with al-Qaida are preparing to avenge the May 2 killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by U.S. forces. Al-Qaida's austere and violent interpretation of Islam receives little public backing in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim but officially secular country. However, al-Qaida and several other radical Islamic groups have been active in Turkey before. The state-run Anatolia news agency reported Saturday that one of the suspects had carried out surveillance around the U.S. Embassy in Ankara and some other foreign missions, including taking photos. Police have seized 1,500 pounds (700 kilograms) of chemicals along with bomb-making instructions, assault rifles, ammunition and maps of Ankara, it said. Police captured the suspects after tracking one of them for six months, according to Anatolia. The police captured the suspect less than a week ago on a street in Sincan, a town on the outskirts of the capital where he is believed to have received weapons training. The others were rounded up on Tuesday. In June, police arrested 10 suspected al-Qaida militants in the southern Turkish city of Adana, which is home to the Incirlik Air Base used by the United States to transfer noncombat supplies to Iraq and Afghanistan. Authorities have said Muslim militants tied to al-Qaida planned to attack Incirlik in the past but were deterred by high security. Turkish authorities have said dozens of Turkish militants have received training in Afghanistan. In 2008, an attack blamed on al-Qaida-affiliated militants outside the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul left three assailants and three policemen dead. In 2003, homegrown Islamic militants tied to the al-Qaida attacked the British Consulate, a British bank and two synagogues in Istanbul, killing 58 people. http://news.yahoo.com/tur...i-us-plot-082705644.html
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Sharon		#94	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2509 Jul 16 11 8:45 AM	1 Al Qaeda’s 9/11 Obsession Osama bin Laden was plotting a new attack to mark 9/11’s 10th anniversary. Now it’s up to his successor. Bruce Riedel on the terror group’s obsession with pulling off a second global game changer. Al Qaeda is obsessed with remembering the Manhattan Raid, as it calls the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. To mark 10 years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden was hard at work planning an anniversary attack on the United States, according to information found in his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and his organization has tried several times to stage mass-casualty attacks on the anniversaries of its most important operation. The U.S. intelligence community reportedly found evidence in computers and other material captured in the Abbottabad raid showing that in the weeks before his death, bin Laden was weighing how to stage a 10th-anniversary attack on America with other senior al Qaeda operatives, including Attiyah Abu Rahman, one of al Qaeda’s most senior operations planners. The intercepted communications focused on selecting operatives for an attack, but the target was apparently not clear in the information found in his hideout. Al Qaeda has every reason to be obsessed with 9/11. The plot that toppled the World Trade Center towers and damaged the Pentagon cost al Qaeda less than half a million dollars to pull off, according the 9/11 Commission report. The property damage alone cost about $100 billion, and estimates of the total economic damage inflicted by the attack range up to $2 trillion. The cost of the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that flowed out of the 9/11 tragedy has been estimated recently by Brown University scholars at about $4 trillion. Al Qaeda pulled off the world’s cheapest global game changer ever on Sept. 11, 2001, and we are still living with the consequences and costs. This photo taken Sept. 11, 2001 by the New York City Police Department shows smoke and ash engulfing the area around the World Trade Center in New York., NYPD / Greg Semendinger Every year since then al Qaeda has at least issued a lengthy statement remembering its 19 hijackers and encouraging its followers to keep fighting America on battlefields around the world. Sometimes these missives have included pre-taped video messages from one of the 9/11 terrorists. They always include a roundup of al Qaeda’s view of recent events in the global struggle with America; in effect, a state of the global jihad. Inevitably al Qaeda claims it is bleeding America economically and wearing down our will. This year it is sure to claim victory is close at hand in Iraq, with American forces scheduled to depart by year’s end, and that victory is coming in Afghanistan, with the first withdrawal of American and other NATO troops starting. Al Qaeda also has tried to mark the anniversary in the past with spectacular terror attacks. Twice it has come very close. For the fifth anniversary, in 2006, al Qaeda planned simultaneous explosions on as many as 10 jumbo jets flying from the United Kingdom to the U.S. and Canada, with liquid explosives brought on board by 20 or so suicide bombers. The terrorists had already been selected, some had done their martyrdom videos, and the explosives were prepared when British intelligence disrupted the plot in August 2006. Several of the terrorists have been convicted of the conspiracy. Their bombs would have worked, according to experts who examined the evidence, and all forensic evidence of the crime would have settled to the bottom of the Atlantic. Trans-Atlantic air traffic would have come to an end; no one in their right mind would insure flights. The targets chosen for the attacks included flights to Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Montreal, and Toronto. Such an attack would have been a second global game changer. “ Ayman al-Zawahiri has been involved in all the past plots. No doubt he is trying to put together another attack. ” The key mastermind in the 2006 plot was a British citizen of Pakistani origin named Rashid Rauf. Born in Birmingham, he shuttled between the terrorists in the U.K and al Qaeda’s senior leadership in Pakistan, putting the plan together. Other evidence found in Abbottabad shows that bin Laden was involved in the planning in 2006. Rauf was arrested by the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, when the plot was rolled up in England, but escaped less than a year later, probably with inside help. Rauf, as well as bin Laden, was involved in al Qaeda’s next big anniversary plot, in 2009. This time he had taught an Afghan American named Najibullah Zazi in Pakistan how to make bombs to be used on the New York City subway system. Zazi and two other Americans planned to blow themselves up on the first Monday after 9/11 at 9 a.m., the peak of rush hour, and attack commuters on trains at Times Square, Grand Central, and the Port Authority stations. The attack would have been a North American repeat of al Qaeda’s attacks in Madrid and London that killed or wounded thousands of Spanish and British civilians in 2003 and 2005. The FBI arrested the three on the eve of the attack, and Zazi later confessed. Rauf may have died in a drone strike since, but that is uncertain. So al Qaeda has motive and intent. Its new leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been involved in all the past plots and has been a regular performer in the annual state of the jihad video messages. No doubt he is trying to put together another attack. http://www.thedailybeast....ion-with-new-attack.html Sharon Says...that must really burn their cookies that some 911 nuts like Charlie Sheen want to think it was a big conspiracy on the part of ...well everyone to blow up the towers, the police, the fire department, pilots, workmen, military, the president, and lots and lots of more folks all got together and planned the whole thing, not quite sure how they got the folks who called their loved ones from the plane just before it crashed to fall in with their plan.. but you need them if you wanted the plan to work.. and lets not forget the building inspectors and demolition experts. Every body kept that secret really really good. Except for the fact it never happened.. Oh yes and this group of terrorists want to kill, well everyone.. what continent have they not yet murdered innocents on? They are not Muslims they are just killers. No different than any other killers.. they try and pretend they have a cause and it does sound good but can it be that their enemies are everyone but them. I worry about every one in Muslim countries, they are not safe. When will they be safe?? I love that they are making great changes but the fear for them is so close to the surface. Especially women as even police in those countries are not to be trusted. Do not get me wrong I know there are millions of good men, men who risk everything to make it a safer place. Men who gave up their lives and returned to Allah. Real men, brave men.. strong men. There are Millions more of them than there are terrorists.. and in the end the Good men win .. we know that. I pray to God that he keeps our Muslims safe, and give them the strength for this battle. By ours I mean the worlds, for they are our brothers and sisters, and their danger is our danger. We shall not find peace until they have peace.
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
jefffranklin		#95	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6841 Jul 17 11 5:36 PM	Was bin Laden planning a terrorist attack for 9/11/11? Intel seized from the terrorist's compound in Pakistan reveals details of a nascent plot to target President Obama and others this September July 15, 2011. Osama bin Laden in front of a map of Afghanistan in 1998: The terrorist ringleader was reportedly plotting attacks on President Obama and Gen. David Petraeus before his death this spring. Photo: Mike Stewart/Getty Images SEE ALL 47 PHOTOS Osama bin Laden was planning to attack the U.S. this September, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, The Wall Street Journal reports. That information comes from a "treasure trove" of materials that was seized from the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where bin Laden was killed this spring. Here, a brief guide to bin Laden's array of rough plans: What kinds of attack were being plotted? Bin Laden was enthusiastic about carrying out an attack on "dates of symbolic significance," like July 4 or Sept. 11, says Siobhan Gorman at The Wall Street Journal. Bin Laden and operations chief Attiyah al-Rahman had reportedly begun recruiting and building an attack team for a mission to take place on Sept. 11, 2011, which may have targeted a train. According to ABC News, bin Laden was also "obsessed" with planes as a terrorist weapon, and wanted to fly a small airplane into a major sporting event, causing mass casualties. Did any of bin Laden's plans have specific human targets? President Obama was a "primary target on bin Laden's hit list," says Martha Raddatz at ABC News. Officials say that one plan hatched by bin Laden involved shooting down Air Force One or the presidential helicopter, Marine One. Gen. David Petraeus, who was commander of forces in Afghanistan and now heads up the CIA, was also a target. Bin Laden hoped to kill him in the same way, by attacking him in the air. How far along were these plots? The plans hadn't gone further than the "discussion phase," according to the Journal. There were no signs from bin Laden's correspondence with al-Rahman that the schemes "ever went beyond early planning." The terrorist ringleader's attack team was far from assembled, as he "repeatedly rejected" names suggested to him by al-Rahman. Where exactly do these details come from? The communication between bin Laden and al-Rahman were stored on documents saved to flash drives, which were obtained in the raid on bin Laden's compound. The raid yielded several computers, almost a dozen hard drives, and approximately 100 other data storage devices. Counterterrorism officials from a half dozen U.S. agencies reviewed the materials and submitted detailed reports from their findings. Could attacks like these actually happen? An attack at a sporting event is feasible, says former FBI special agent Brad Garrett, as quoted by ABC News. "We have so many small airports, you could fly below radar." But it's very unlikely that any aircraft carrying President Obama or Gen. Petraeus could be shot down. "It's difficult, but not impossible," Garrett says. "The reality is because of the countermeasures and other planes and helicopters in the air, it's not a likely scenario." http://news.yahoo.com/9-1...h-worried-100700071.html http://cultbustersgalactica.yuku.com/
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
jefffranklin	Isn't that sweet of Al Qaeda? Cartoons for children teaching them how to kill other children.	#96	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6841 Jul 20 11 6:44 PM	Al-Qaida plans cartoon recruiting film for kids 7-20-2011. By PAISLEY DODDS This image taken from the the Arabic-language al-Shamouk jihadist website shows promotional cartoon. LONDON — An al-Qaida affiliate says it plans to roll out what some have called a Disney-like animated cartoon aimed at recruiting children to the terror network. Scenes from the proposed short film show young boys dressed in battle fatigues and participating in raids, killings and terror plots. It is the latest attempt by the terror organization to use multimedia to draw in potential recruits. Recently, a Yemen-based extremist group released an online women's magazine with makeup and chastity tips. News of the animated film was announced by a group called Abu al-Laith al-Yemen on the Arabic-language al-Shamouk jihadist website, the London-based Quilliam Foundation reported Wednesday. Quilliam, which was formed by former jihadists and now aims to stamp out extremism, said it appears the group is affiliated with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. "It's a Disney-like film aimed at kids that tells stories of the Prophet, stories of holy wars and anti-Western propaganda," said Noman Benotman, a former jihadist with links to al-Qaida who is now an analyst at Quilliam. "But I think it could backfire. Families will be angry that al-Qaida is directing this at their children." British intelligence officials view al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula — which is the branch active in Yemen and nearby countries — as a significant threat. A bomb placed under the driver's seat of a British man's car blew up in southern Yemen on Wednesday, killing the man and wounding several others. Security across Yemen has nearly collapsed after five months of mass protests calling for the end of autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule. The U.S. and Yemen's Gulf neighbors fear al-Qaida and other armed groups could exploit the chaos to step up operations. The British man, who has not been identified, was killed after a bomb planted in his sport utility vehicle blew up as he drove through the southern port city of Aden, security officials said. The man worked for the Aden-based Arab Company for Inspection and Marine Consulting. Benotman said the group behind the film said it was in its final stages and planned to distribute it through websites and DVDs. The movie makers released four takes of the movie through the Arabic-language web site and asked for feedback from forum users. Most approved, Benotman said. The released film clips are in Arabic. British intelligence and security officials have also warned of propaganda coming from U.S.-born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who has won a following with English speakers in the Unites States and Britain with video sermons that talk about foreign policy and poor job prospects for young Muslims. Roshonara Choudhry, a student jailed for 15 years after she stabbed and wounded a British lawmaker in May 2010, told police she had listened to 100 hours of al-Awlaki's online lectures. Al-Awlaki has also been tied to the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, that left 13 dead, the attempted suicide bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner and other recent plots aimed at the U.S. and Britain. http://news.yahoo.com/al-...film-kids-200401028.html http://cultbustersgalactica.yuku.com/
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
jefffranklin		#97	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6841 Jul 26 11 1:52 PM	US: bin Laden death ups terror risk for Americans 7-26-2011 WASHINGTON — The Obama administration says Osama bin Laden's death has raised the risk of anti-American violence worldwide. The State Department said in a global travel warning Tuesday that Americans should take precaution and maintain vigilance about terrorist threats, demonstrations and the possibility of violence against U.S. citizens. It said al-Qaida and other groups are planning terrorist attacks against U.S. interests in Europe, Asia, Africa and Middle East. The department said attacks may be in the form of suicide operations, assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings and bombings. Americans should consider the potential for attacks on transportation systems and tourist infrastructure, it said. It noted such attacks in Moscow, London, Madrid, Glasgow and New York in recent years. The department also warned Americans to avoid demonstrations in the Arab world because they can turn violent. http://news.yahoo.com/us-...americans-173547030.html http://cultbustersgalactica.yuku.com/
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Sharon		#98	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2509 Aug 27 11 2:25 PM	Al Qaeda's second-in-command killed in Pakistan by U.S. drone Washington now believes terror network is on brink of defeat Al Qaeda’S second-in-command has been killed in Pakistan amid speculation that he was targeted by an unmanned U.S. CIA drone aircraft. The death of Libyan-born Atiyah Abd Al-Rahman – who had been considered as a possible successor to the group’s leader Osama Bin Laden after his death earlier this year – is such a major blow to the terror network that American intelligence officials claimed last night it was on the verge of defeat. Al-Rahman, Al Qaeda’s former operational leader, rose to be its No 2 after U.S. Navy Seals killed Bin Laden in a dramatic raid on his Pakistan compound in May. Dead: Atiyah Abd Al-Rahman is believed to have been killed in a U.S. drone attack Last night, sources within US President Barack Obama’s administration said Al-Rahman, an explosives expert, was killed on August 22 in the lawless Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan. More... At least 18 dead as suicide car bomber smashes into UN office in Nigeria U.S. officials would not say how Al-Rahman was killed. But his death came on the same day that tribal leaders in the area said CIA drones had struck a vehicle and a guest house. Such attacks by unmanned aircraft are Washington’s weapon of choice for killing terrorists in the mountainous, hard-to-reach area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Al-Rahman, second-in-command to the new Al Qaeda leader, Egyptian-born Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri, was a close confidant of Bin Laden and once served as his emissary to Iran. He was allowed to move freely in and out of Iran as part of that arrangement and has been operating out of Waziristan for some time. Last autumn, the U.S. government posted a $1 million reward for information on Al-Rahman’s whereabouts. Lethal weapon: Unmanned drones are the weapon of choice for the U.S. as they hunt down Al Qaeda operatives hiding in Pakistan's mountainous terrain Al-Rahman, 38, a fanatical Islamic fundamentalist, linked up with Bin Laden as a teenager in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union. He joined Al Qaeda in the early Nineties then fought in Afghanistan. In 1993 he moved to Algeria to serve as a liaison between Al Qaeda and Algerian radicals fighting a civil war against the military government in the North African nation. Intelligence analysts learned only in June 2006 that Al-Rahman was a leading player in Al Qaeda when the U.S. military recovered a long letter he had written to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian fighter who ran Al Qaeda’s operations in Iraq. After Navy Seals killed Bin Laden, they found evidence of Al-Rahman’s role as Al Qaeda’s operational chief. U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said last month that Al Qaeda’s defeat was within reach if the U.S. could mount a string of successful attacks on the group’s weakened leadership. ‘Now is the moment, following what happened with Bin Laden, to put maximum pressure on them,’ he said. ‘If we continue this effort we can really cripple Al Qaeda as a major threat.’ http://www.dailymail.co.u...drone.html#ixzz1WGqj52ij
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
jefffranklin		#99	[url]	[-]
Posts: 6841 Sep 5 11 6:07 PM	Pakistan detains top al-Qaida suspect 9-5-2011 By ADAM GOLDMAN and CHRIS BRUMMITT ISLAMABAD — A battered al-Qaida suffered another significant blow when Pakistani agents working with the CIA arrested a senior leader believed to have been tasked by Osama bin Laden with targeting American economic interests around the globe, Pakistan announced Monday. Younis al-Mauritani's arrest — made public six days before the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks — also point to improved cooperation between two uneasy anti-terror allies after the rancor surrounding bin Laden's killing. Al-Qaida has seen its senior ranks thinned since bin Laden was killed May 2 in a raid by U.S. Navy SEALs in Pakistan without the knowledge of local authorities. Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, the terror network's No. 2, was killed in a CIA missile strike last month. Pakistan's unusual public announcement of close cooperation with the U.S. spy agency appeared aimed at reversing the widespread perception that ties between the CIA and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency had been badly damaged by bin Laden's death. The Pakistanis accused the Americans of violating their sovereignty with the raid, while Washington was angry the terror leader had been found in a house in a military garrison town. The Pakistani military said the arrest of al-Mauritani and two other Qaida operatives took place near the Afghan border in the southwestern city of Quetta, long known as a base for militants. It did not say when. The arrests were carried out in the past two weeks, according to a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. The capture of an al-Qaida operative inside Pakistan has become rare in recent years: most targets of CIA operations in the country have been killed by drone aircraft in a relentless series of operations that started to increase in 2008. His capture is likely to create chaos within al-Qaida: even if he does not reveal compromising information, that possibility is almost certain to force the network to alter plans, move operatives and make a variety of other sudden changes, damaging its ability to carry out attacks. "This operation was planned and conducted with technical assistance of United State Intelligence Agencies with whom Inter-Services Intelligence has a strong, historic intelligence relationship. Both Pakistan and United States Intelligence agencies continue to work closely together to enhance security of their respective nations," the military said in a written statement. Al-Qaida's center of operations is believed to be in the lawless tribal areas of northwest Pakistan, many hours from Quetta, a large city that is home to both the Taliban's ruling council and a significant Pakistani military presence. The statement said al-Mauritani was mainly responsible for al-Qaida's international operations and was tasked by bin Laden with hitting targets of economic importance in America, Europe and Australia. It said he was planning attacks on gas and oil pipelines, power generating dams and oil tankers that would be hit by explosive-laden speed boats in international waters. It named the other two detainees as Abdul-Ghaffar al-Shami and Messara al-Shami. In its statement, the Pakistani army also described them as senior operatives. "This action has dealt yet another blow to al-Qaida and is an example of the longstanding partnership between the United States and Pakistan in fighting terrorism," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said. "We applaud the actions of Pakistan's intelligence and security services that led to the capture of a senior al-Qaida operative who was involved in planning attacks against the interests of the United States and many other countries." The U.S. has said it doesn't know of any specific al-Qaida plot to attack the U.S. ahead of Sept. 11. The U.S. provided "critical lead information and technical assistance in working with Pakistan" against al-Mauritani, another American official said on condition of anonymity, in order to discuss intelligence. Al-Mauritani is considered "a seasoned, senior operative" trusted by the group's top leaders, who the U.S. believes "played an absolutely central role in planning and coordinating al Qaeda's operations in Europe," with plots that targeted both European and American interests, the official said. Since the 2001, attacks, Pakistan's spy agency has cooperated with the CIA to arrest scores of al-Qaida suspects, most of whom were handed over to the United States. "This reflects how Pakistan and the United States working together can deal an effective blow to the terrorists," said Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani. He said the intelligence cooperation had been restored almost to levels prior to a series of U.S.-Pakistan diplomatic clashes. Many top al-Qaida commanders are still believed to live in Pakistan, and getting Islamabad's cooperation in cracking down on the network has been a top American goal since 2001. But there have been persistent suspicions that the country was protecting militants. The fact that bin Laden was killed in an army town close to the capital, Islamabad, led to fresh doubts over Pakistan's commitment. Michael Vickers, the Pentagon's under secretary of defense for intelligence, told The New York Times in a recent interview there were perhaps four important al-Qaida leaders left in Pakistan, and 10 to 20 leaders over all in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. http://news.yahoo.com/pak...a-suspect-152504059.html http://cultbustersgalactica.yuku.com/
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote
Sharon		#100	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2509 Sep 12 11 3:44 AM	Remove this ad ��
Interact My Recent Posts	Reply Quote