U.S. Kills Another Top Al Qaeda Leader

I can't help but think we can kill all the bad guys we want, but it won't make a difference until we build a bridge to the Arab world. Obama's trying but a republican president could destroy all of the administration's efforts.

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How America Accommodated Bin Laden

Ted Koppel writes a compelling piece in the Washington Post, which lays out how we played right into the hands of terrorists. Each and every screaming match about the mosque in NYC also plays into the hands of terrorists. Bin Laden and the bigot in Florida, Ann Coulter and her ilk prove how just a few creepy apples can spoil everything for everyone. Koppel says it's time to reflect:

We have raced to Afghanistan and Iraq, and more recently to Yemen and Somalia; we have created a swollen national security apparatus; and we are so absorbed in our own fury and so oblivious to our enemy's intentions that we inflate the building of an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan into a national debate and watch, helpless, while a minister in Florida outrages even our friends in the Islamic world by threatening to burn copies of the Koran.

If bin Laden did not foresee all this, then he quickly came to understand it. In a 2004 video message, he boasted about leading America on the path to self-destruction. "All we have to do is send two mujaheddin . . . to raise a small piece of cloth on which is written 'al-Qaeda' in order to make the generals race there, to cause America to suffer human, economic and political losses."

Through the initial spending of a few hundred thousand dollars, training and then sacrificing 19 of his foot soldiers, bin Laden has watched his relatively tiny and all but anonymous organization of a few hundred zealots turn into the most recognized international franchise since McDonald's. Could any enemy of the United States have achieved more with less?

Could bin Laden, in his wildest imaginings, have hoped to provoke greater chaos? It is past time to reflect on what our enemy sought, and still seeks, to accomplish -- and how we have accommodated him. Read the whole thing

Al Qaeda Support on the Decline?

Maajid Nawaz, a former extremist, now tries to educate Muslims that the U.S. isn't fighting Islam (only our fringe, Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, tea partiers... work against U.S. efforts to defuse and dismantle terrorist organizations). Nawaz explained on 60 Minutes how he was radicalized and why many Muslims believe the U.S. is against them.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Biden Speaks on Killing of Senior Al-Qaeda Officials

A U.S. soldier was killed in the battle that killed the Al-Qaeda leaders.

U.S. Officials on Alert for Female Suicide Bombers

Watch the ABC news video here. Britain raised its threat level, which means a terrorist attack is likely but not imminent.

As Haiti Suffers Terrorists Planning New Attack From Yemen

Meanwhile, Al Qaeda in Yemen is planning a new attack. When a natural disaster occurs, I always wonder why so many want to wreak havoc on purpose. Imagine if the terrorists shifted their focus to disaster relief.

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Obama's aggressively coordinating Haiti relief efforts and doing everything else:

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Double Agent CIA Killer Speaks From the Grave Video

There is just no way to put away all the extremist maniacs when they're willing to make videos to be viewed after they're dead.

Then we have republicans, such as Peter King, who are doing nothing but getting in the way, exploiting people's fears. Republicans don't seem to realize that we elected a president. It's just the strangest thing.

If terrorists see that republicans aren't on board with our President on national security, they will find a way to use that to their advantage. The republicans need to stop criticizing Obama on national security. If they're going to do it, they need to do it in PRIVATE.

This isn't health care or the economy. Republicans are playing around with our lives. It's as though they want the terrorist attacks to keep coming, so that they can attack the Obama administration. It appears republicans will do anything for political gain.

Obama Orders Increased Airline Security Following Attempted Terrorist Attack

Amazing that we all still have to take off our shoes but someone can still get through security with explosives.

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It seems to me if someone is on the "watch list," as this person was, and they're boarding a plane, then they ought to be guarded while flying.

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Hillary Clinton's Interview With Andrea Mitchell

Hillary Clinton differentiates between strategy and tactics. The strategy of defeating Al Qaeda is still the same, she said. The way that happens is what the Obama administration is hammering out. Today, Obama held another meeting with military officials. Hillary is leaving Pakistan and headed to the Middle East to jumpstart peace talks.

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The Pakistanis don't appear to be very warm to the U.S. They say that the war in Afghanistan is our war and they want money to fight our war. Hillary, who says she wants more honest relations with Pakistan, seemed to have offended them by saying that someone has got to know where Al Qaeda is hanging out (watch video):

During her three-day trip Mrs Clinton hoped to strengthen ties between the US and Pakistan and tried to address a rising tide of anti-American feeling.
In an interview with the BBC she urged Pakistanis to "realise the connection" between al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
But her arrival was overshadowed by a deadly bombing in the city of Peshawar.
More than 100 people died when a car bomb exploded in a busy market on Wednesday.
The BBC's Jill McGivering says that a great deal of anger in Pakistan is focused on the US - widely seen as interfering and destabilising Pakistan for its own ends.
....
Mrs Clinton acknowledged there was what she called a trust deficit towards the United States in Pakistan because of past policies.
But she said she was working to change that by reaching out to ordinary Pakistanis.
Mrs Clinton is due in the Middle East at the weekend to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
BBC

Susan Collins gives kudos to Hillary for calling out Pakistan on Al Qaeda:

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Obama Says Afghanistan Decision Coming in Weeks

Obama says after the election it was important to reassess the situation in Afghanistan. That's what's going on now with the deliberations. The main mission is to root out Al Qaeda, Obama says. The U.S. is also interested in stabilizing the region, including Pakistan, and helping achieve peace and prosperity.

White House Press Briefing Oct. 8

Tomorrow, Obama will give a speech on regulatory reform at 2 pm eastern.

Obama Bumper Sticker Seller Kicked out of Mall

Loren Spivack, who had a bumper sticker kiosk at a Simon mall in North Carolina, was kicked out for his offensive bumper stickers. It's one thing to oppose the president. It's another to be an ignorant racist. Word to the conservatives: If you're going to oppose Obama, present your argument intelligently and then base your argument in policy not idiocy. As if that's ever going to happen.

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Al-Qaeda Leaving Pakistan for Somalia and Yemen

I think they're ready to move at a moment's notice. Al-Qaeda seems pretty agile.

Obama's Rattled Terrorist Leaders

Seems Bush was the perfect enemy.
Bush foolishly elevated terrorists to new heights by declaring his "war on terror." He made terrorists heroes to followers. Bush lumped terrorists and Muslims together, degrading a whole population of people. But Obama is not Bush and Obama purposefully reached out to the Muslim world during his inauguration speech (the more I think about that the more I see it as a stroke of genius) and Al-Qaeda leaders are having a tougher time convincing their people that Obama is an enemy.

WaPo: Soon after the November election, al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader took stock of America's new president-elect and dismissed him with an insulting epithet. "A house Negro," Ayman al-Zawahiri said.

That was just a warm-up. In the weeks since, the terrorist group has unleashed a stream of verbal tirades against Barack Obama, each more venomous than the last. Obama has been called a "hypocrite," a "killer" of innocents, an "enemy of Muslims." He was even blamed for the Israeli military assault on Gaza, which began and ended before he took office.

"He kills your brothers and sisters in Gaza mercilessly and without affection," an al-Qaeda spokesman declared in a grainy Internet video this month.

They're using the same rhetoric but it's not working:

With Obama, al-Qaeda faces an entirely new challenge, experts say: a U.S. president who campaigned to end the Iraq war and to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and who polls show is well liked throughout the Muslim world.

Whether the pro-Obama sentiment will last remains to be seen. On Friday, the new administration signaled that it intends to continue at least one of Bush's controversial counterterrorism policies: allowing CIA missile strikes on alleged terrorist hideouts in Pakistan's autonomous tribal region.

But for now, the change in Washington appears to have rattled al-Qaeda's leaders, some of whom are scrambling to convince the faithful that Obama and Bush are essentially the same.

"They're highly uncertain about what they're getting in this new adversary," said Paul Pillar, a former CIA counterterrorism official who lectures on national security at Georgetown University. "For al-Qaeda, as a matter of image and tone, George W. Bush had been a near-perfect foil." Read the whole story

Security Alert Issued in DC

I hope this doesn't rain on the parade. Be thoughtful and vigil officials say. Keep your eyes peeled if you're in DC.

WaPo: U.S. counter-terrorism officials are aggressively investigating a potential threat of "uncertain credibility" to today's inauguration events posed by an East African Islamic extremist group with ties to al-Qaeda.

In a bulletin issued Monday night to state and local law enforcement, the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and intelligence officials said they are analyzing information received in the last few days that people affiliated with al-Shabaab, a radical group fighting an insurgency in Somalia, may try to stage an attack at some point Tuesday, U.S. officials said.

Analysts have drawn no conclusions but are investigating the possibility of a link between the threat and reports that U.S.-based Somalis have traveled to the African country to fight.

"Authorities at all levels are vigorously pursuing any lead relating to this threat information," DHS spokesman Russ Knocke said, saying Obama administration officials have been informed of the investigation. "The Transition Team has been briefed and is fully integrated into the process."

Finger Pointing at Pakistan

At this rate, I hope that Obama will get to tackle some of the issues in the U.S. It seems India is ready to blame Pakistan for the terrorist attacks, not good for for trying to quell the violence in Afghanistan. Obama has been briefed.

The Times UK says India has itself to blame as well. The Australian says the attacks were a message to Obama. 

The Atlantic has a story about the Hindu-Muslim tensions in India. India has the third largest Muslim population.

It seems that there is a war of religions in the world, which is ironic, because all religions advocate peace.

NYT: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The terrorist attacks in Mumbai occurred as India and Pakistan, two big, hostile and nuclear-armed nations, were delicately moving toward improved relations with the encouragement of the United States and in particular the incoming Obama administration.

Those steps could quickly be derailed, with deep consequences for the United States, if India finds Pakistani fingerprints on the well-planned operation. India has raised suspicions. Pakistan has vehemently denied them.

But no matter who turns out to be responsible for the Mumbai attacks, their scale and the choice of international targets will make the agenda of the new American administration harder.

Reconciliation between India and Pakistan has emerged as a basic tenet in the approaches to foreign policy of President-elect Barack Obama, and the new leader of Central Command, Gen. David H. Petraeus. The point is to persuade Pakistan to focus less of its military effort on India, and more on the militants in its lawless tribal regions who are ripping at the soul of Pakistan.

A strategic pivot by Pakistan’s military away from a focus on India to an all-out effort against the Taliban and their associates in Al Qaeda, the thinking goes, would serve to weaken the militants who are fiercely battling American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

But attacks as devastating as those that unfolded in Mumbai — whether ultimately traced to homegrown Indian militants or to others from abroad, or a combination — seem likely to sour relations, fuel distrust and hamper, at least for now, America’s ambitions for reconciliation in the region.

Twittering the news of the attacks.
Reports that many of the terrorists are from Pakistan

Obama's working holiday

Deepak Chopra: This is a world problem. Muslims need to help.

Obama is Bad News for Al Qaeda

This is interesting, considering some in the U.S. are still trying to prove that Obama was born in Kenya and therefore is a Muslim terrorist. A result of skepticism turned into denial turned into mass mental illness on the parts of the folks.

AJC: While it’s a bit irritating to have an atavistic mass murderer presume to dictate appropriate politics for a black American, Zawahiri’s diatribe is good news. In fact, it may be the best news we’ve gotten in the struggle against al-Qaida since the so-called Sunni awakening in Iraq. Zawahiri and his fellow jihadists are clearly worried both about the symbolic power of an Obama presidency and about the smarter strategy against terrorism that Obama has laid out.

The hamfisted tactics favored by George W. Bush, including his ill-fated invasion of Iraq, were a gift to al-Qaida and its recruiting efforts. They allowed bin Laden and Zawahiri to paint the U.S. government as an imperial power bent on a 21st-century crusade against Islam.

However, that’s a more difficult argument to make when the Oval Office is occupied by a black man whose Kenyan grandfather was Muslim and who played with Muslim friends during his childhood years in Indonesia.

“Obama’s election has taken the wind out of al-Qaida’s sails in much of the Islamic world because it demonstrates America’s renewed commitment to multiculturalism, human rights and international law,” former National Security Council staffer Richard Clarke said. “It also proves to many that democracy can work and overcome ethnic, sectarian or racial barriers.” Read the rest

Al Qaeda Uses Race To Taunt Obama

Ha! Is this the best that they could come up with?

CNN: Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2, castigated Obama, saying "in you and in Colin Powell, (Condoleezza) Rice and your likes, the words of Malcolm X (may Allah have mercy on him) concerning 'House Negroes' are confirmed."

Read the transcript

Petraeus Says Al Qaeda Moving to Afghanistan

I would say things are lining up with what Obama has been saying for months now. George Bush is trying to save face and let's let him. No sense in wasting any more time knocking him.
Gen. Petraeus says Al Qaeda may be moving from Iraq to Pakistan to fight in Afghanistan.

CBS: Senior leaders of al-Qaida may be diverting fighters from the war in Iraq to the Afghan frontier area, the top American commander in Iraq told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Gen. David Petraeus also said al-Qaida may be reconsidering Iraq as its highest priority war front.

"There is some intelligence that has picked this up," he said in the interview in his office at the U.S. Embassy along the Tigris River. "It's not solid gold intelligence," he added, stressing that the reliability of the information has not been confirmed.

Nonetheless, he cited the signs as part of a broadly positive review of conditions in Iraq, where al-Qaida fighters have been driven almost entirely from Baghdad and pummeled in other urban areas.

Petraeus said the information was based on human intelligence, meaning informants.

"There are unsubstantiated rumors and reflections that perhaps some foreign fighters originally intended for Iraq may have gone to the FATA," he said, referring to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, where militants have a secure staging ground for movements into neighboring Afghanistan.

Florida Man Embarrasses Himself With Billboard

A Florida man decided to spend his money on a billboard that insinuated that democrats caused, or will cause, terrorist attacks. 

Fellow republicans did not approve of his message. He could've donated the money to his local food bank. Oh, but I don't think this man is about charity. He's a bootstrapping republican, the kind of guy that paves the way for mankind, only to get knocked down again and again and again. 

"Please Don't Vote for a Democrat" reads the type over the picture of the twin towers after hijacked airliners hit them on September, 11, 2001.

Mike Meehan, a St. Cloud, Florida, businessman who paid to post the billboards in the Orlando area, said former President Clinton should have put a stop to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda before 9/11. He said a Republican president would have done so.

"I believe 9/11 could have been prevented if we'd had a Republican president at the time," Meehan said Wednesday on CNN's "American Morning."

But Democrats and Republicans are saying Meehan shouldn't be using a 9/11 image to make a political point.

"This is a blatant exploitation of that terrible tragedy for political and, perhaps even worse, personal gain," Bill Robinson, the Orange County, Florida, Democratic Party chairman told CNN affiliate WFTV-TV in Orlando.

The local Republican Party called the billboard "inappropriate," according to WFTV.

He's selling a song? and here's his email.
Here's the lyrics to the song. Apparently, he blames liberals and democrats for holding him back. He probably needs to learn how to mix and play well with others. Sounds like he's whining. Call Dr. Phil!

The Democrat secular progressive move,
political correctness is killing us too.
They want to take the money from the hard workin man,
and give it to the lazy folks that don't give a damn.

Chorus

Democrats and Liberals, shame on you,
don't punish us all just to please a few,
Your holdin people back while we're pickin up the slack,
and that's why we can't vote for a Democrat.
Oh no, a no, no, no, no, no, no...
Oh no, a no, no, no, no, no, nooo...
Yeah, your holding people back, while we're pickin up the tax,
Oh no, no please don't vote for a Democrat.

Now we're trying to win a war and wipe out the terrorists,
We're not fightin for oil we got plenty if we drill it.
But the liberals and the media are spreading their lies,
Get the hell out of our way and let our soldiers fight.

Chorus

Democrats and Liberals shame on you,
don't punish us all just to please a few.
No we can't afford to have another attack,
and that's why we can't vote for a Democrat.
Oh no, a no, no, no, no, no ,no...
Oh no, a no, no, no, no, no, no..
No we can't afford to have another attack,
Oh no, please don't vote for a Democrat.

Republicans, we're not perfect but we know the truth
We uphold the Constitution and the Golden Rule.
We believe a mans freedom is a God given right,
the USA is the beacon to the whole world in sight.

Chorus

Democrats and Liberals shame on you,
don't punish us all just to please a few.
our Constitution, Nation and God are under attack,
and that's why we can't vote for a Democrat.
Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, no...
oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, no...
Our Constitution, Nation and God are under attack,
Oh no, please, oh no please, don't vote for a Democrat.

Our Constitution, Nation and God are under attack,
Oh no, please, oh no please, don't vote for a Democrat