Terrorism

Iranians May Have Consulted Three Stooges Script in Terror Plot

How stupid are the Iranians? If the allegations by the United States are true, they hired a used car salesman in Texas to knock of the Saudi ambassador to the United States, and they also introduced the used car salesman to members of the Quds force like it was a cocktail party.

The main character in this drama is Manssor Arbabsiar, a …

al Qaeda’s al-Awlaki Reportedly Killed in Yemen

The top English-speaking member of al Qaeda — New Mexican-born Anwar al-Awlaki — was killed Friday, the Yemen government announced, a death quickly confirmed by U.S. officials. It’s yet another key indication that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s recent claim that the defeat of al Qaeda is “within reach” may be getting …

Gitmo.com

The Pentagon has set up a new website for its military commissions being held at Guantanamo Bay. It promises “fairness, transparency, justice.”

Poor Man’s Predator

 

It used to be the only bad thing associated with model airplanes was sniffing glue. But as Wednesday’s arrest of a Massachusetts man on charges that he wanted to fly model airplanes crammed with explosives into the Capitol and Pentagon makes clear, they also can be used as weapons. Over at CNN’s Security Clearance blog, Paul …

Tet 2.0?

Astute longtime DIA intelligence analyst John McCreary reviews what happened Tuesday in Kabul and doesn’t like what he sees:

Three major Taliban attacks have taken place in Kabul this summer…One such attack is a perhaps good fortune. A second might have been a coincidence, but three is a strategic trend. Violent instability is

Kidnapping the Dead in Afghanistan?

There are many horrific videos easily found on the web showing the Taliban or al Qaeda brutally killing their foes. It’s televised terrorism, and we don’t post such gratuitous gruesomeness on Battleland. But this story, about the apparent desecration of a corpse earlier this week, passes muster. First, it doesn’t involve killing. …

“Did the U.S. Overreact to 9/11?”

It’s a fair question as the 10th anniversary of the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon looms. After all, it was the most shocking macro-event most Americans alive have experienced. It changed our way of life, or at least our way of living. It also triggered two costly and continuing wars. If we did overreact, …

Defanging Those “Lone Wolves”



In this week of massive 9/11 coverage, it’s important to keep terror threats in perspective. The recent hot threat seems to be “lone wolves” who become jihadists over the Internet while living somewhere in America. To be sure, there are such animals; Exhibit A is Army Major Nidal Hassan, who killed 13 at Fort Hood in 2009. …

Taking Stock: The U.S. Military a Decade After 9/11

The 10th anniversary of 9/11 closes in on us this week. Try as you might, you will not be able to avoid it. Amid the pathos and bathos, it’s time to take a knee and conduct a map check.

Just to cut to the chase: you can’t argue with success, and on 9/12 most Americans were petrified a second wave of attacks was likely. It hasn’t …

Counterstrike: A Post-9/11 Report Card

There is a flood of 9/11 books now coming onto the market, but Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America’s Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda by Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker of the New York Times should be atop the list of anyone curious about how the U.S. government has grappled with the challenges posed by al Qaeda.

Both authors …

Who Is Terry A. Hogan?

Adam Zagorin, a former TIME correspondent who has covered the dark corners of the post-9/11 world, is asking that question because that’s the name behind more than a dozen U.S. extraordinary renditions — seizing suspected terrorists around the world and flying them where they could be encouraged to tell what they knew. Yet while the …

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