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Taliban Defends Peace Accord with Pakistani Government
2008-06-09 18:24:00
The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a new communiqué from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban movement) defending the recent peace accord negotiated between the Pakistani government and local Taliban forces. According to the statement, “We consider the peace accord in Pakistan as an internal affair, which pertains to that country alone—yet the occupation forces in Afghanistan and the forces hostile to Islam around the world oppose this peace accord and argue it...(read more)
More About: Peace , Government , Pakistani government

Chavez's Abrupt About-Face on the FARC
2008-06-09 17:40:00
What does Hugo Chavez's abrupt call for the FARC to end its war and free all its hostages mean for the Colombian rebels? And what does it mean for Chavez? Chavez, who earlier this year repeatedly called for the world to recognize the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) as a legitimate "belligerent force" rather than a terrorist group, said the guerrillas were "out of step" with the times and that their war was "history." In his weekly television and radio programme on Sunday, Mr Chavez...(read more)
More About: Farc , Face

In Southeast Asia, a Counterterrorism Strategy That's Working
2008-06-09 17:10:00
According to today's New York Times , a number of counterterrorism experts and governments have concluded that JI and other major terrorist networks in Southeast Asia have suffered significant setbacks in the past three years. The Times article found that the major elements in combatting the terrorist groups were effective law enforcement, heightened intelligence, ongoing military operations and "an erosion of public support." The implication is that an actual strategy, implemented over an extended...(read more)
More About: Strategy , Working , Counterterrorism

Recreate 1968......why would ANYBODY want to do that?
2008-06-08 12:41:00
Recreate 1968??why would anybody want to do that? by Daniel Hunter   Now, I wasn?t around for 1968 (I?m a young buck of 22 years), but I can imagine that it totally SUCKED from what I?ve been reading, and guess what?  A group of left wing radical nuts plans on recreating one of America?s lowest points in history.  They are a group called the Recreate 68? Alliance.  According to their website, www.recreate68.org, they are a branch of a group called the All Nations Alliance.  From what I could gather on their site, they actually sound like a very concerned group of ?grassroots? activists.  I, myself, am a grassroots Constitutionalist.  They seemed pretty cool, but I looked into the group a bit more; mainly because I saw the words ?racism? and ?imperialism? in their ?about us? section on the site.  These are two words only leftists use.         ;     On their site, www.recreate68.org, the Recre...

NEFA Foundation Translation of Latest Zawahiri Recording: "Lift the Siege o
2008-06-08 01:48:00
The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a copy of an audio recording of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri released by Al-Qaida’s official As-Sahab Media Wing on June 4, titled “On the Anniversary of the Disaster - A Call to Help Our People in Gaza.” During the recording, al-Zawahiri once again called upon “the sons of the Islamic nation [to] break the chains of the treacherous regimes and the impotent authorities [surrounding Israel] and set forth to join the battle and aid the...(read more)
More About: Recording , Lift , Translation

N.Y. Detainee Allegedly Hosted Riyadh Bomb Plotter on U.S. Visit
2008-06-07 19:58:00
Several interesting pieces of Information have surfaced in legal documents relating to the immigration case of Mourad El Hamyani, a permanent U.S. resident who is currently detained in New York. In February, a federal immigration judge denied the government's request to deport El Hamyani, but DHS is challenging that ruling. According to a recently released DHS document (available on the NEFA Foundation website) , El Hamyani "attended a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan...assisted in the planning...(read more)
More About: Riyadh , Bomb , Visit , Hosted

Indonesian Government Weighs Options Against Hard-Liners
2008-06-07 13:10:00
Last Sunday, the paramilitary Islamic Defender’s Front (Front Pembela Islam, or FPI) led a brazen attack against a gathering to promote religious tolerance at Jakarta’s National Monument. Dozens were wounded, including critical injuries inflicted to a leading human rights advocate. The background to the attack is as follows. For the past few months, several conservative Muslim groups across Indonesia have been demanding that the government ban the Ahmadiyah sect. This sect was founded...(read more)
More About: Government , Indonesian , Hard , Options , Liners

Exclusive: NEFA Dossier on Al-Qaida's Shaykh Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid
2008-06-06 17:20:00
The NEFA Foundation has released a new dossier I have authored examining the role of Shaykh Mustafa Abu al-Yazid (a.k.a. “Shaykh Saeed”), appointed in May 2007 as “the overall head of al-Qaida Organization in Afghanistan.” According to Al-Qaida’s official As-Sahab Media Wing, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid personally “took part in founding al-Qaida in 1989, and is a member of the Shura council of Qaida al-Jihad.” Considered quite close to Al-Qaida Deputy Commander...(read more)
More About: Exclusive

Israel Will Move Into Gaza Very Soon, and Washington Knows It
2008-06-06 15:58:00
A newswire story today sounds the alarm on a probable Israel i incursion into Gaza to address repeated Hamas terrorist attacks into Israel. "Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Friday raised the spectre of a full-scale military operation in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip despite Egyptian attempts to mediate a truce. 'According to the information as it is now, the pendulum is much closer to tough military action,' Olmert told journalists on arrival in Israel following a three-day trip to the United States.'"...(read more)
More About: Washington , Move

Mistrial for Naveed Haq for shootings at Greater Seattle Jewish Federation
2008-06-06 00:19:00
This was co-authored by counterterrorism researcher Timothy Thompson, who followed the Haq trial closely. The facts were never in dispute at his trial in Seattle , Washington: Naveed Haq, 32, killed one woman, wounded five others, and kidnapped a teenage girl at gunpoint on July 28, 2006 in his shooting rampage at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle . The jury’s task was always to determine Haq’s level of legal culpability in light of his chronic mental illness. Prosecutors, in fact,...(read more)
More About: Mistrial

9/11 Defendants Charged by U.S. Military at Gitmo
2008-06-05 21:59:00
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL STATION, Cuba - A military court at this remote U.S. outpost is in the process of a grinding hearing in which five Sept. 11 plotters are being charged with murdering 2,973 Americans. It’s the first time Al Qaeda “military commander” Khalid Shaikh Mohamed, facilitator Ramzi Binalshibh, USS Cole mastermind Walid Ba Attash, and money men Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa al-Hawsawi have been seen publicly since their individual captures. I was in the courtroom for...(read more)
More About: Military , Gitmo

Wael Julaidan, Founder of al Qaeda, Back in Action in Saudi Arabia?
2008-06-05 16:21:00
Is Wael Julaidan, founder of al Qaeda and one of only two Saudi s ever designated as terrorist financiers by the Saudi regime and supposedly out of circulation, back in the public spotlight? It would seem so. According to the English language Saudi paper, the the Arab News Julaidan was a featured speaker at a recent conference hosted by the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). The article was first noted and commented on by the Global MB Report (registration required). There are no other known leaders...(read more)
More About: Action , Founder , Al Qaeda , Saudi Arabia

Clueless in D.C.
2008-06-05 04:00:00
Another violent weekend has Washington, D.C., police blaming guns, not the criminals. And this time they're even blaming guns for homicides committed by someone who used a knife! Assistant Police Chief Diane Groomes told the press, "We need to get the guns out of people's hands," despite the fact that one of the people killed over the weekend was stabbed to death. It's not a matter of gangs of guns wandering the streets of Washington, D.C. It's a matter of gangs of people with evil intent....(read more)
More About: Clueless

Al-Qaida Claims Attack on Danish Embassy in Islamabad
2008-06-05 02:22:00
This evening, the Al-Fajr Media Center has circulated copies of an communique signed by senior Al-Qaida commander Mustafa Abu al-Yazid claiming responsibility for Monday's suicide bomb attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad . According to the statement, "in the context of our jihad against the assault on our Islamic nation by the Crusaders, the Jews, and all the other tyrannical enemies of Islam, and in defense of our religion and the blood of Muslims, their land, and honor... In retaliation against...(read more)
More About: Embassy , Claims , Al Qaida

How to measure al Qaeda's defeat
2008-06-04 22:48:00
In an article published in the Washington Post on Friday May 30, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden is quoted as portraying al Qaeda movement as "essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border." The article said Hayden asserts that "Osama bin Laden is losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Islamic world and has largely forfeited his ability to exploit the Iraq war...(read more)

FARC's Top Military Commander Ailing?
2008-06-04 17:43:00
The Colombian daily El Tiempo reports that Mono Jojoy, the top FARC military commander has a severe form of diabetes. (A picture from El Tiempo is posted below.) Head of the “Eastern Bloc” Mono Jojoy is generally believed to be the organization’s top military leader. With 4000 fighters the Eastern Bloc is one of the stronger FARC Blocs. It borders Venezuela and is heavily engaged in the drug trade. Mono Jojoy represents the military wing, as opposed to the new chief Alfonso Cano...(read more)
More About: Military , Commander

NEFA Foundation: Iraqi Insurgents Quarrel Over Recognizing International La
2008-06-04 07:35:00
The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated two new statements from an emerging Sunni insurgent faction calling itself “the Iraqi Martyrs Brigades.” In its initial statement of purpose, the IMB indicated that its fighters were being guided both by Muslim Shariah law and “contemporary laws… Our clerics have previously agreed that fighting the enemies who are attacking Muslim countries—by any means necessary—is a duty in and of itself. International contemporary...(read more)
More About: Quarrel

Earliest Known "American Al Qaeda" Pleads Guilty to Terrorism Charges
2008-06-03 21:39:00
Christopher Paul of Columbus, Ohio, pleaded guilty today to conspiring with others to use a weapon of mass destruction, namely explosive devices, against targets in Europe and the United States. Paul is the last of three Ohio men charged with terrorist activities after the FBI opened an investigation over five years ago. Iyman Faris pleaded guilty in May, 2003, in the plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge (see Evan Kohlmann's July 2007 post on the NEFA Foundation report on that plot). Nuradin Abdi,...(read more)
More About: Terrorism , American , Al Qaeda , Al-Qaeda , Qaeda

Viktor Bout is Apparently Worth Quite a Bit to the Russians
2008-06-03 17:56:00
Well, from my sources in Thailand and elsewhere it seems that Viktor Bout, weapons merchant extraordinaire, is worth quite a bit to the Russians . Bout, in prison in Thailand awaiting extradition to the United State, may not make it back, despite having a long history of providing weapons to terrorists, criminals and some of the world's most vicious thugs, such as Charles Taylor, Laurent Kabila, the Taliban, the FARC and hosts of others. The reason he may not make it back is that the Russians are...(read more)
More About: Worth

Ahmadinejad's past explains the seriousness of the nuclear threat
2008-06-03 17:56:00
I just wrote an article for the Middle East Times on how Ahmadinejad's past history makes it even more relevant to believe his threats. For an extensive coverage on the situation in Iran, please visit The Croissant (subscriptions available for a small fee). To read the whole article, please click here . Here is an excerpt: In just three years Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's controversial president, has become a household name. It is worth noting that for a man whose name is mentioned so much, not much...(read more)
More About: Nuclear , Past , Threat

NEFA TerrorWatch Episode 5: Bin Laden's Latest Messages
2008-06-03 17:39:00
The NEFA Foundation has released the fifth episode of its TerrorWatch video-on-demand service . This week, TerrorWatch takes a look at the most recent pair of audio recordings from Al-Qaida leader Usama Bin Laden focusing on the subject of Palestine and the Palestinians. Is there an explanation for Al-Qaida’s sudden re-focus on the plight of the Palestinians? What is the exact relationship between Bin Laden and the jihad in Palestine? To watch TerrorWatch Episode 5 , or to view corresponding...(read more)
More About: Messages , Episode 5

Hypocritical Google Removes Videos Which Offend Thailand's King But Not Ter
2008-06-03 16:37:00
On May 19, U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman called on Google to remove to remove Internet videos produced by terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda from its YouTube subsidiary. "Islamist terrorist organizations use YouTube to disseminate their propaganda, enlist followers, and provide weapons training," the Senator said in his letter. "YouTube also, unwittingly, permits Islamist terrorist groups to maintain an active, pervasive, and amplified voice, despite military setbacks or successful operations...(read more)
More About: Videos , King , Offend

Nasrallah's speech: Hezbollah Ruled, the West was Fooled
2008-06-03 02:13:00
In the next days a major battle in the War of Ideas will be unfolding worldwide and particularly through the international media. We are now witnessing a massive campaign by Hezbollah 's strategic communication machine (as our West ern jargon likes to describe it) to frame the outcome of the battle for Lebanon, significantly lost by the United States, the West and the forces of Democracies in the region. The main issue at hand in the Iranian funded war room is not about convincing the international...(read more)
More About: Speech

Sanctions Against Iran: A Promising Struggle
2008-06-02 23:30:00
I had an article in the Summer 2008 edition of The Washington Quarterly on Iran sanctions. In the piece, I look the development of the US government's Iran strategy, evaluate its effectiveness, and make recommendations for how to improve the current approach. Here is an excerpt of the article: For most of 2007, concerns about Iran grew louder. This situation changed dramatically in December, with the release of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran's nuclear intentions and capabilities....(read more)
More About: Sanctions

NEFA Foundation: Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) Interview with German Convert "E
2008-06-02 21:56:00
The NEFA Foundation has obtained a new interview published by the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) with “Abdul Gaffar al-Almani”—better known as “Eric B.”, a 20-year old German convert to Islam from Neuenkirchen in Saarland who traveled to Pakistan in 2007 and joined the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU). According to “Abdul Gaffar”, as long as European governments continue to participate in the NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan, “Germany—along with every...(read more)

U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Government in Two Money Laundering Cases
2008-06-02 20:13:00
This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the government in two money laundering cases. In one case the Supreme Court overturned the money laundering conviction of Humberto Cuellar, who was convicted following his arrest in 2004, in Texas, while driving toward Mexico with $83,000 in cash hidden beneath the floor of his car. Police believed the money came from drug trafficking. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled the government failed to introduce evidence that the reason drug smugglers...(read more)
More About: Government , Money , Rules , Cases

Why The War in Afghanistan Cannot be Won
2008-06-02 17:43:00
Under current conditions, the NATO-led war against the Taliban in Afghanistan cannot be won. The most graphic reason is described in New York Times article on the reality of the Taliban control in Tribal Territories. While the Pakistani army goes for show, flying journalists in for a brief visit to demonstrate how the Taliban is in retreat, the Taliban goes for a far different tactic. Baitullah Mehsud, the head of Pakistani Taliban, called a news conference in the same area, drove up in a new Toyota...(read more)

Ayman Al-Zawahiri and the Attack on the Danish Embassy in Islamabad
2008-06-02 17:38:00
In the wake of today's massive car bomb attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad , I think it is appropriate to revisit particular comments made by Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri during his most recent public Q&A session ( an English transcript is available exclusively on the NEFA Foundation website ): Q.) “In 2004, you threatened Norway and other countries because of their aid to America in her war against you, and because of their forces being present in Afghanistan and fighting against you. Don’t...(read more)
More About: Embassy , Attack

Shutting Down Ranges
2008-06-02 04:00:00
The mayor of Toronto, David Miller, is at it again. The Michael Bloomberg of Canada is not just calling for a nationwide ban on handguns, but is now trying to shut down shooting ranges in his city. Miller says that sport shooting "directly results in people being shot and killed on the streets." As you can imagine, the few gun owners that remain in Toronto are angry that their mayor is accusing them of being accessories to murder. Olympic shooter Avianna Chao, who will represent Canada...(read more)

The Danger of False Assumptions
2008-06-01 23:38:00
Today's edition of the New York Times includes a column from its Public Editor Clark Hoyt regarding a recent Op-Ed published in the Times written by Edward Luttwak and titled "President Apostate?" In his original piece, Mr. Luttwak argued that under Islamic Shariah law "as it is universally understood,” were Barack Obama to be elected president, he would be spurned by countries in the Muslim world as an "apostate" who had converted to Christianity. Luttwak went as far as to argue that Obama's...(read more)
More About: Danger , Assumptions