Al Qaida becoming the MySpace of terrorism?

In a bid to remain relevant, Al Qaida is claiming responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris last week.

Al Qaida's fading prominence may have been the rationale behind the attacks moreso than the specifics about offense to the prophet Mohammed.

Like MySpace, Al Qaida we just don't care about you any more. There's a bigger threat and a broader issue to deal with. You are now part of the scenery of the problem, not the entire problem.

Benghazi-gate is just getting interesting

It looks like the White House is getting close to panic mode on the ABC report today about the Benghazi spin and now it seems to be in cover-up mode.

Via ABC:

WASHINGTON - When it became clear last fall that the CIA's now discredited Benghazi talking points were flawed, the White House said repeatedly the documents were put together almost entirely by the intelligence community, but White House documents reviewed by Congress suggest a different story.

ABC News has obtained 12 different versions of the talking points that show they were extensively edited as they evolved from the drafts first written entirely by the CIA to the final version distributed to Congress and to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice before she appeared on the Sunday talk shows after the attack.

White House emails reviewed by ABC News suggest the edits were made with extensive input from the State Department. The edits included requests from the State Department that references to the Al Qaeda-affiliated group Ansar al-Sharia be deleted as well as references to CIA warnings about terrorist threats in Benghazi in the months preceding the attack.

That would appear to directly contradict what White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in November about the talking points.

That's not exactly a smoking gun, but it is damning and deserves to be investigated much more deeply than it has been.  Those who sought back in November to derail those who questioned why nothing was done and why the story out of the White House through it's speakers like Susan Rice was very different from what really happened.

Why is it flaring up now?  There are whistle blowers out there saying the official White House version of events on the ground is deliberately misleading.  They will get skewered (unfairly) for doing so. And more importantly the White House goes on the offensive and Press Secretary Jay Carney is out there blaming the right, again.

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Friday continued to downplay the Obama administration’s role in editing official talking points following the deadly terrorist attacks in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, and in doing so took a swipe at former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, as well as former president George W. Bush.

“This ongoing effort [to compile the talking points] began hours after the attack, when Mitt Romney put out a press release to try to take political advantage out of these deaths, out of the attack in Benghazi, in a move that was maligned even by members of his own party,” Carney said. “And from that day forward there has been this effort to politicize it.”

I don't think they are panicking just yet in the Obama camp, but they most surely are getting nervous.  You can see the wounded dog going on offense at the latest media briefing.

This is all an attempt to cover for both Obama and Hillary Clinton.  Failing being able to do that, Hillary will be tossed under the bus.  That's where it will really get interesting.  Meanwhile the real problem is the bumbling on the night of September 11th, 2012 that led to four dead Americans.  Those in charge deserve all of the fallout from this that they get.

Train Terror Plot Thwarted in Canada

Via CBC, something that looks like it hasn't yet made much traction in the U.S., a bomb plot involving trains between Canada and the U.S.

Canadian police say they have arrested two men and thwarted a plot to carry out a major terrorist attack on a Via passenger train in the Greater Toronto Area.

The two accused are Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, from Toronto. They have been charged with conspiracy to carry out a terrorist attack and "conspiring to murder persons unknown for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group."

The two men arrested are not Canadian citizens, police said Monday, but would not provide any details about their nationalities.

The RCMP accused the two men of conspiring to commit an "al-Qaeda-supported" attack.

Police said the two accused were getting "direction and guidance" from al-Qaeda elements in Iran. There was no information to suggest the attacks were state sponsored, police said.

In light of  the recent Boston Marathon bombings and the false sense of security the Obama administration has tried to peddle to Americans, this should be raising more alarm bells than the Boston Marathon did because it shows that there could be a lot more attacks in the works.

UPDATE: CNN is on it. At least the media isn't burying the story.

GOP foreign policy debate: No real winner

In the first hour of the South Carolina GOP candidates debate, there was no clear winner. In the bonus on-line time, there wasn't much difference. Everyone did well, and as Newt Gingrich pointed out, everyone on that stage would be an improvement over president Obama.  Everyone handled themselves as expected, and there were no real surprises.

Al Qaida on the run? Maybe Not.

Via AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- America's top two intelligence officials said Tuesday that al-Qaida is weaker and U.S. intelligence agencies are smarter since the Sept. 11 attacks - but the terrorists are nowhere near giving up.

In his first week on the job, CIA director David Petraeus told members of Congress that al-Qaida's recent losses of Osama bin Laden and others have opened "an important window of vulnerability."

Petraeus predicted that al-Qaida leaders may even flee to Afghanistan or leave South Asia altogether to escape the CIA, which has quadrupled covert drone strikes against al-Qaida under the Obama administration. He testified at a joint congressional intelligence committee hearing.

Petraeus and the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, both said that al-Qaida's Yemeni offshoots and others are growing more daring and dangerous - a sentiment shared by lawmakers.

The chairman of the House intelligence committee, Mike Rogers, R-Mich., warned against dismissing new al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri as "feckless" and dismissed suggestions that "the threat of terrorism has significantly waned." He said he feared Americans becoming complacent.

Does America have the stomach to continue the war on terror? Does it require a continued presence in Afghanistan or are drone strikes, better intel and more groping at airports enough? To be honest those are not easy questions, nor am I trying to be more than a little facetious. The important thing is to not let our guards down.

Obama runs it in from the one.

President Obama is undoubtedly a glory hound. This week he was admonishing Congress to stick it out and get a budget deal done and not take a recess. This from the man who has taken countless golf vacations and is going to be taking a break himself. He wants to be seen to swoop in and sign the deal at the last moment and take all the credit. Glory hound. But there's a worse example.

For nearly 10 years the country has been battling to eradicate Al Qaida. If it were a football game, President Bush would have been the quarterback as America started at it's own one yard line. Over the course of his term in office he managed a couple of big plays (like toppling the regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq). Those were, big pass plays. Perhaps even, ugh, long bombs. But mostly he moved the ball down the field with short, unexciting run plays. 3 to 5 yard gains.

Getting closer to the end zone, Obama was able to hand off for a run play to get the ball right into the Al Qaida end zone by killing Osama Bin Laden. But he just as Bush did, called the play he didn't run it. But Obama wants you to remember that he was responsible for the entire scoring drive. Touchdown Obama, not touchdown America. He's the team star. He deserves all the glory now that next is the possible clock running out on the game for Al Qaida.

Next: Arming the Libyan rebels?

Send more guns!

I was just listening to Fox News this morning and apparently the unmentioned part of President Obama's non-military goal of regime change in Libya was that arming the rebels is an option that is seriously being considered. The details from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations courtesy of Ambassador Rice can be found here. It's big news and it's a bad idea. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, President Reagan chose to arm the Mujahidin with stinger missiles and other arms to combat the invasion. The differences between then and now are numerous.

Hey, is Al-Qaida in Iraq? Who knew?

According to the Department of Defence,

WASHINGTON, March 26, 2010 – The suspected Baghdad “sharia emir” for al-Qaida in Iraq was killed today during a combined security operation in the northern part of the Iraqi capital, military officials reported.

A sharia emir is responsible for enforcing radical religious rules imposed by groups such as al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Acting on a warrant issued by an Iraqi judge, Iraqi forces and U.S. advisors searched for Sinan, also known as Mohannad Rahman Salim Muhaymid al-Ani, who is believed to be one of the primary approval authorities for al-Qaida in Iraq attacks and assassinations in the Baghdad region.

...

In other news from Iraq, Iraqi forces captured a suspected regional al-Qaida in Iraq leader during a combined operation today in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad.

Iraqi forces and U.S. advisors arrested a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq leader, who is believed to have been involved in planning multiple coordinated vehicle-borne bombing attacks against the Iraqi government, several of which have taken place in Baghdad.

In case anyone still believes they aren't there.

Iraqi Al-Qaida Terror Leader Killed

From the US Armed Forces web site;

Acting upon a warrant issued by an Iraqi judge, Iraqi forces and U.S. advisors stopped a vehicle and searched several buildings for Khalid Muhammad Hasan Shallub al-Juburi, also known as Shaykh Khalid, who is a suspected leader for the terrorist group in northern Iraq.

He is believed to have played an integral role in approving AQI operations, including attacks against the Iraqi people before and during the recent parliamentary elections, officials said.

One more win for the good guys.

Dictator Watch - February 14, 2010

The focus of today's Dictator Watch is on the nuclear program in Iran, and the dangerous relation to the threat of terrorists using WMDs on American or other Western interests and/or populations



There's a great video out from the site Nuclear Tipping Point about the dangers of proximity of nuclear anything, to the Middle East because of the possibility of access by terrorist groups.

Compare the level-headed analysis above with the idea that preventing a nuclear Iran of any sort - peaceful purposes or not - makes any sort of sense.

The only way to deter terrorists from using WMDs is to keep them as many steps away from access to the tools to do so, as possible. Iran is not three steps away from Al Qaeda, let alone ten steps away. How comfortable can we feel about Iran's latest boasts of becoming a nuclear power? The answer is that we should feel extremely uncomfortable.

Others disagree. They do so at their own peril. For that matter, they do so at all our peril.

"No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons. That is why I strongly reaffirmed America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons. And any nation - including Iran - should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That commitment is at the core of the Treaty, and it must be kept for all who fully abide by it."

Naive, beyond naive.

Why America needs Guantanamo

President Obama has already ordered a stop to all cases related to detainees at Guantanamo for 120 days so his administration can study the situation and determine what they believe to be the best course of action. Likely, despite Obama's frequent feints to the right, demurring to the reality of the situation and the complexity of the issue, it seems more likely now that a shutdown of the facility is a possibility. It could be a feint to the left before coming back to reality, a ploy to please his base wherein he comes out in 4 months and says something to the effect of "we'd like to close it down but the issue is too complex and it's going to take quite some time to resolve, please be patient with us."

It's a mantra the Obama administration will likely come to lean on for just about everything over the next four years. The economy - it's complex, it's going to take time to fix. The environment, yes it's important but we can only make minimal progress until we get this economy sorted out. The Fairness Doctrine - we're working on it, there are kinks to work out. Card check - you know, this darn thing is trickier than we realized. The White House will become an automated voice response system to the left, the center and the right. "We are experiencing an unusually high volume of special interest demands. Your issue is important to us, please be patient. You are issue number 12 in the queue. The approximate wait time for your issue is 2013. Your patience is appreciated." Followed by the elevator music version of Guantanamera.

But the specific issue of Guantanamo is one that hopefully will stay in the queue indefinitely. The case of Maher Arar in Canada is instructive as to why. The case was big news in Canada when it became the subject of a commission of inquiry. Arar was captured after a firefight in Afghanistan in 2002. Arar was rendered to Syria after his capture by U.S. forces. In Syria he apparently had been tortured. Arar was eventually cleared by the Canadian commission and was awarded a $10.5 million settlement. But the Toronto Sun yesterday reported that another Canadian detainee, Omar Khadr who is being held at Guantanamo, shortly after his detainment, identified Arar as someone he had seen at Al Qaida training camps.

That Khadr, a teenager at the time of his capture should be credible as to being involved with Al Qaida is not in question. According to the report in the Toronto Sun,

Parts of a 27-minute video seized by U.S. forces after the firefight shows a
baby-faced, grinning Khadr in the company of al-Qaida leaders helping assemble
and lay improvised explosive devices.

and further,

Khadr described in detail how he had been trained by top al-Qaida figures —
associates of his father — in surveillance techniques and in making and laying
explosive devices aimed at American forces.

His father, who was killed in a raid in Pakistan, ran two agencies that
raised funds for al-Qaida. The Khadr family often stayed with terrorist
financier Osama bin Laden.

Khadr's testimony and other parts of the Sun story, belie the cruel and unusual punishment image the world seems to associate with Guantanamo. More importantly, the explosive evidence associated with the Khadr case, while old but only recently revealed, came from Guantanamo prison refutes the Canadian commission's findings. Guantanamo is serving a purpose, beyond simply detaining potential terrorist thugs. It is helping with intelligence and doing so, in this case at least, in a humane way.

Guantanamo is necessary. Certainly Arar would not have been tortured like he was in Syria. Certainly Khadr would have been less compliant and co-operative under a different detainee location. The fact that the thugs at Guantanamo are not wanted elsewhere should indicate that there is reason for them being there. And in the War on Terror, it is clearing garnering evidence that would be lost upon the likes of the Canadian commission on the Arar case, and likely on the standard due process provided by American courts.

This is a war. The detainees are at least suspected, enemy combatants. To treat them as otherwise is to ignore the reality of the situation. America needs Guantanamo for it's intelligence value, as well as it's detainment of those who pose a threat to the lives of innocent civilians.