In his latest video, Al Qaeda Terrorist-in-Chief Osama Bin Laden threatens the European Union. He’s angry with Europe because European newspapers had the audacity to publish the so-called “Mohammed cartoons.” (more…)
Bad news for / regarding the war on terrorism: Al Qaeda’s youngsters have taken “control over the network’s operations, according to American intelligence and counterterrorism officials” while the U.S. took out the older generation.
Al Qaeda is adapting. It has become less hierarchical, its “leadership is now more diffuse, with several planning hubs working autonomously and not reliant on constant contact with” Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri. Not much is known about the “about the backgrounds of the new Qaeda leaders; some have adopted noms de guerre. Officials and outside analysts said they tend to be in their mid-30s and have years of battlefield experience fighting in places like Afghanistan and Chechnya. They are more diverse than the earlier group of leaders, which was made up largely of battle-hardened Egyptian operatives. American officials said the new cadre includes several Pakistani and North African operatives.”
The Australian has interesting news (article from The Sunday Times): “an elite group of native American trackers is joining the hunt for terrorists crossing Afghanistan’s borders.”
The name of the unit is Shadow Wolves and has been created in the early 1970s. The Shadow Wolves normally track “smugglers along the U.S. border with Mexico.” The article goes on to explain:
Harold Thompson, a Navajo Indian, and Gary Ortega, from the Tohono reservation, are experts at “cutting sign”, the traditional Indian method of finding and following minute clues from a barren landscape. They can detect twigs snapped by passing humans or hair snagged on a branch and tell how long a sliver of food may have lain in the dirt.
As AJ Strata points out, it is a bit surprising that “the US waited this long to bring them in”, but better better late than never of course.
The article quotes Robert Gates as saying: “If I were Osama bin Laden, I’d keep looking over my shoulder.”
That sounds about right.
Melinda Henneberger reports for the Huffington Post, that “the Nevada Democratic Party today backed out of a FOX News-sponsored presidential debate after Fox President Roger Ailes’s recent remarks jokingly comparing Democratic Senator Barack Obama to al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.”
The so-called ‘netroots’ called on the Dems to boycott Fox and are celebrating the decision made by the Nevada Democratic party and congratulating each other with their ’success’. Ron Beasley agrees with Kos, Bowers, et al.
Hot Air, takes a slightly different position, same goes for Macsmind. Not surprisingly of course.
Macsmind has a good point: Fox is doing just fine without the Democratic party. On the other hand, he argues that although Fox does not need the Democrats, the Democrats do need Fox. I disagree with that (as does Ron Beasley): Fox is a ‘conservative’ network, those who watch it will, in 90% of the cases, vote Republican. A debate between Democrats (on Fox) isn’t likely to change anything.
The Telegraph reports that the C.I.A. is intensifying its efforts to capture or kill Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. He is believed to hide in Pakistan, near the border with his former safe haven Afghanistan. Al Qaeda is re-establishing itself, it’s building terrorist training camps in Pakistan.
So, Dick Cheney has put pressure on Musharraf to allow the U.S. to go into Pakistan more to try to get to Bin Laden. “Stephen Kappes, deputy director of the CIA”, gave Musharraf “satellite photographs and details of communications intercepts” in order to convince him of cooperating. It seems to have worked.
It’s now 5.5 years ago that Osama Bin Laden attacked America - and the entire free world. He is still safe. He is still alive. His organization is regaining strength, not just in Pakistan but also in Afghanistan. If those facts aren’t a source of inspiration and, yes, encouragement for terrorists worldwide, I don’t know what is. He has to serve as an example: that terrorists, no matter how rich they are, no matter how well they hide, will be hunted down and held responsible for their crimes.
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