TPMMuckraker Al Qaeda
Yemen
Obama Order Looks To Deter Disruptions In Yemen
Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour
An executive order issued by President Obama today authorizes sanctions against people and entities who "obstruct" Yemen's political transition, the latest sign of the administration's increased focus on the country.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Barack Obama, Treasury Department, Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Fallout From The Yemen Plot: Much Ado About Leaks
The operation that foiled Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's latest underwear bomb plot was a success, and everyone says so. But that consensus breaks down when the topic turns to how information about the plot became public. Last week, even while lauding the work that went in to breaking up the plan, government officials, lawmakers, and intelligence community observers were decrying the leaks related to the case.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Underwear Bomb
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
New Details Reported About Saudi Role In Foiled Bomb Plot
Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism chief. (Reuters)
CNN is reporting new details about the alleged double-agent credited with foiling Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula's latest underwear bomb plot. Some of the details square with what has previously been reported, while others complicate the picture.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
The Foiled Underwear Airline Bomb Plot: What Do We Know?
It's the latest underwear bomb plot that wasn't.
An Al Qaeda plan to blow up a passenger jetliner running right into the hands of U.S. and U.S.-friendly officials, giving the U.S. intelligence community another victory just days after the one-year anniversary of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Reports on Tuesday made clear this was not a plot disrupted, as had initially been suggested, but a remarkable infiltration of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula by a double agent thought to be working for Saudi Arabia.
Until Tuesday night, U.S. officials had only offered up very basic details. One official speaking on the condition of anonymity called the recovery of the device "a team sport" and "another example of outstanding international counterterrorism cooperation." They said the plot was disrupted before it was even a threat to the U.S. and placed the blame on al-Qaeda.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, underwear bomber
The Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point today released 17 declassified documents, totaling 197 pages in English translations, which were among the reportedly thousands of items seized from Osama bin Laden's compound after U.S. Special Forces killed the terrorist leader last year.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, al-Shabaab
Osama bin Laden
Judge Denies Request For Release Of Bin Laden Death Pictures
A federal judge has denied a request by the conservative government watchdog Judicial Watch for the government to release photographs or video of Osama bin Laden taken during or after the Special Forces raid that resulted in the death of the al Qaeda leader last year.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, FOIA, Osama bin Laden
August B. Kreis III
Aryan Nations Leader Sentenced For Fraud After Feds Investigated Al Qaeda Ties
Aryan Nations leader August B. Kreis III may be a white supremacist who appeared on Jerry Springer and was investigated for possible Al Qaeda connections, but this week he was sentenced for something much less colorful: fraud.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, Aryan Nations, August B. Kreis III, White Supremacist Groups
Anwar al-Awlaki
What Impact Will Anwar Al-Awlaki's Death Have In The West?
The death of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric linked to al Qaeda's operations in Yemen, is likely to impact American Arabs and Muslims in positive fashion, according to Dr. Hussein Ibish, former communications director for the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Commitee.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Anwar al-Awlaki, Islam, Islamophobia
August B. Kreis III
Feds Investigated Aryan Nations Leader For Making Pro-Al Qaeda Statements
Federal officials say they opened an investigation into the head of a faction of the Aryan Nations, who pleaded guilty to pension fraud this week, because he made statements in support of Al Qaeda.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, Aryan Nations, August B. Kreis III, Jerry Springer
Osama bin Laden
CIA Spied On Bin Laden From Safe House
The CIA had for months been spying on the compound where Osama bin Laden was found and killed by U.S. forces earlier this week, according to reports.
The agency maintained a rented safehouse near bin Laden's compound, where a small team of spies "relied on Pakistani informants and other sources to help assemble a 'pattern of life' portrait of the occupants and daily activities at the fortified compound where bin Laden was found," officials told The Washington Post.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan
Osama bin Laden
Al Qaeda 'Confirms' Osama Bin Laden's Death
Al Qaeda's leadership has issued a statement confirming the death of Osama bin Laden, the Associated Press reports.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: Al Qaeda, CIA, Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
New Satellite Photos Show Bin Laden Compound, Downed Helicopter
Images taken just hours after the special forces raid that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden capture the heavily fortified compound, as well as a downed U.S. helicopter.
The images, published by GeoEye, were collected by the IKONOS satellite while flying 423 miles above the ground.
Topics: Al Qaeda, Islamic Terrorism, Osama bin Laden
Ahmadullah Sais Niazi
CAIR: Feds Charged Muslim Man After He Refused To Cooperate
A group of men gather in prayer during the first day of Ramadan at the Masjid An-Noor Mosque.
On Monday, we told you about Craig Monteilh, the rogue FBI informant so enthusiastic about finding terrorists in a California mosque that community members reported him to the FBI. Monteilh went public and sued the FBI after the fiasco, and, more recently, terror-related charges were dropped against mosque member Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, who was indicted apparently in large part because of information supplied by Monteilh.
But there's another twist. Niazi claims he was charged only after refusing to become an informer himself.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, Al Qaeda, Counterterrorism, Craig Monteilh, FBI
Gary Brooks Faulkner
Bin Laden Hunter: 'I Put My Life On The Line' (VIDEO)
Gary Brooks Faulkner
Gary Faulkner, who was arrested this month in Pakistan while searching for Osama bin Laden, gave an interview to CNN yesterday after arriving back in the U.S.
Faulkner, who was found with a gun, a sword, night goggles, and Christian literature, was not charged by Pakistani authorities but instead returned to the U.S. It was his seventh trip to the country, he said, on a hunt for bin Laden.
"How does one go about trying to find Osama bin Laden?" asked the interviewer.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, Gary Brooks Faulkner, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan
Gary Brooks Faulkner
'Bin Laden Hunter' Has Criminal Record
Gary Brooks Faulkner
The man who was reportedly arrested in Pakistan with a gun, a sword, night goggles, and Christian literature on a mission to kill Osama bin Laden, has a substantial criminal record in his home state of Colorado.
The Denver Post reports on Gary Brooks Faulkner:
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Al Qaeda, Gary Brooks Faulkner, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan
Terrorism
Obama Administration Turns Focus To Homegrown Terrorism
Nidal Hasan and Faisal Shahzad
The White House last week declared a new focus on the threat of homegrown terrorism, warning that "several recent incidences of violent extremists in the United States who are committed to fighting here and abroad have underscored the threat to the United States and our interests posed by individuals radicalized at home."
That language is from the Obama Administration's new National Security Strategy, a document (.pdf) that comes out every few years (the last was in 2006) and serves as a broad statement of policy. The document continues: "Our best defenses against this threat are well informed and equipped families, local communities, and institutions."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: Al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Daniel Patrick Boyd, Faisal Shahzad, John Brennan, Najibullah Zazi, Nidal Malik Hasan, Obama Administration, Terrorism, al-Shabaab
Liz Cheney
Cheney: Ad That Calls DOJers Terrorist Sympathizers Does Not Question Their Loyalty
A shot from Keep America Safe's "Al Qaeda Seven" ad
Via Think Progress: Liz Cheney argued today that the attack ad put out by her group Keep America Safe, which dubs Justice Department lawyers who represented Gitmo detainees "the Al Qaeda Seven," does not "question anybody's loyalty."
The Cheney ad also asks of the DOJ lawyers, "Whose values do they share?" while flashing a picture of Osama bin Laden.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda Seven, Eric Holder, Justice Department, Keep America Safe, Liz Cheney
John Brennan
Obama Admin On Al Qaeda: Don't Panic!
Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan
Ramping up the push-back against GOP criticism of the handling of the attempted Christmas bombing suspect, a top Obama aide argues in a new op-ed that America's "system of justice" is fully capable of dealing with terrorists.
Writing in USA Today, Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan calls, essentially, for the United States to calm down.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Al Qaeda, John Brennan, Obama Administration, Terrorism, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
Laurie Mylroie
Bush Pentagon Hired Conspiracy Theorist As Al Qaeda Specialist
Terrorism analyst Laurie Mylroie
When the Pentagon's internal think tank decided in 2004 it needed a better understanding of Al Qaeda, it turned to an unlikely source: the terrorism analyst Laurie Mylroie, who was known as the chief purveyor of the discredited idea that Saddam Hussein was behind Sept. 11 and many other attacks carried out by Al Qaeda.
Mylroie was paid roughly $75,000 to produce a 300-page study, "The History of Al Qaida," for the Defense Department think tank, known as the Office of Net Assessment, a DOD spokesman tells us. The study, which is dated September 2005, was posted on an intelligence blog last month.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (7)Topics: Al Qaeda, Bush Administration, Defense Department, Iraq, Iraq War, Laurie Mylroie, Office Of Net Assessment, Paul Wolfowitz, Pentagon, Richard Perle, Terrorism, The History of Al Qaida
Mohammed al-Awfi
Ex-Gitmo Detainee Who Joined Al Qaeda Accuses U.S. Of Torture At Bagram
Mohammed al-Awfi
In a new interview with the BBC, a former Gitmo detainee and former member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula accused the United States of torturing him while at Bagram prison in Afghanistan.
The BBC interviewed Mohammed al-Awfi in the well-appointed apartment where he is being held by Saudi authorities. A Saudi national, al-Awfi's journey took him from Bagram to Guantanamo to the Saudi rehabilitation program to the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and finally back into the hands of Saudi authorities.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Guantanamo, Mohammed al-Awfi, Torture, Yemen
Guantanamo
The Gitmo-Yemen-Flight 253 Connection: What We Know And How We Know It
With the news Tuesday that the Obama Administration has decided to halt transfers of Gitmo detainees to Yemen, it's worth taking a closer look at what we do -- and do not -- know about the activity of former detainees in the group known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
That's the al Qaeda "affiliate" that claimed responsibility for the failed Christmas attack over Detroit, and that President Obama has fingered as training and equipping Umar Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man arrested in that incident.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (8)Topics: Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Center for American Progress, Christopher Boucek, Defense Department, Guantanamo, Hani Abdo Shaalan, Ken Gude, Obama Administration, Pete Hoekstra, Said al-Shihri, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Yemen
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
ABC's Inaccurate Gitmo-Abdulmutallab Story Got Major Pickup
ABC Correspondent Brian Ross
Just how far can one erroneous terrorism story travel?
By our very partial count, a since-corrected ABC report on the supposed role of ex-Gitmo detainees in planning the Detroit Christmas Day attack was picked up by at least 12 media outlets, and was cited by two members of Congress and legion right-wing bloggers.
Here's how the Dec. 28 story, which we've saved in its original form here, began:
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (11)Topics: ABC, Al Qaeda, Brian Ross, Media, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
Fort Hood Shootings
Who Is Nidal Malik Hasan? The Picture Becomes (Slightly) Clearer
Major Nidal Malik Hasan
The tentative picture emerging of Nidal Malik Hasan is of a man who likely subscribed to radical Islamic beliefs, but who was not acting on behalf of any group in allegedly carrying out the shootings in which 13 died at Fort Hood last week.
The leaks are coming fast and furious in the investigation of the shootings, so we thought we'd put together a digest of the recent coverage.
Bear in mind that what's missing from many of these reports are named sources, and that many of the initial stories about the case were totally wrong.
Here we go:
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (10)Topics: Al Qaeda, Anwar al-Awlaki, Fort Hood, Fort Hood Shootings, Joe Lieberman, Michael Mukasey, Nidal Malik Hasan, September 11
Fort Hood Shootings
Rep. Hoekstra Accuses Obama Admin Of Withholding Information On Hasan -- Sort Of
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and CIA Director Leon Panetta
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) is blasting President Obama for withholding from the Congressional intelligence committees information on the Fort Hood killings suspect, while at the same time acknowledging the leaders of those panels -- including Hoekstra himself -- have indeed been briefed on Nidal Malik Hasan.
"President Obama said people should not jump to conclusions about what happened at Fort Hood, but the administration is in possession of critical information related to the attack that they are refusing to release to Congress or the American people," Hoekstra said in a statement.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Al Qaeda, CIA, Central Intelligence Agency, Fort Hood, Fort Hood Shootings, Leon Panetta, Nidal Malik Hasan, Pete Hoekstra
