Free Republic

update from February 18, 2011: Trial postponed for a second time.WBNG-TV Action News, February 18, 2011:The Broome County District Attorney's Office says the court has postponed the murder trial for Abdusalam al-Zahrani, 45, from Saudi Arabia.An examination by two Broome County psychologists this week determined he is incompetent to stand trial. [...]The DA's office says doctors concluded Al-Zahrani lacks the capacity to understand the proceedings against him or assist in his own defense.An order of examination has been issued, and he will be committed to a state mental health facility.He could be tried if and when he is found to...

U.S. officials late Wednesday confirmed the capture of another top Taliban leader in Pakistan, Fox News reported. "The capture of an Afghan Taliban 'shadow governor' is positive, good news," an official told Fox News. "This does not solve all of the problems, but going after the Afghan Taliban leadership has been important. Whenever the Pakistanis arrest somebody, that is a plus." News of the arrest was reported earlier by Newsweek, which cited Taliban sources and counter-terrorism officials in Washington who named the detained man as Mullah Abdul Salam.

SNIPPET: "Sudden jihad syndrome or just the crazy? I'll remind my readers that the two are not mutually exclusive categories. In fact, Aaron over at SOFIR has a pretty interesting typology of the "terrorist continuum" in which he posits that the more rational the terrorist the more likely they will be to need organizational help. At the other end of the spectrum are "lone wolves" who are characterized by a high degree of "internal disquiet". I've no idea if the grad student/murderer named Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani was motivated by Islamic extremism. I throw it out there because it can't be discounted...

Story here. The suspect is named Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani.Ironically, his victim, Professor Richard Antoun is described as "a caring and gentle man who spent his life trying to dispel stereotypes about different cultures, especially Middle Eastern cultures"

In recent weeks, the flow of commanders has increased. Most are exiting Afghanistan as the winter months make fighting more and more difficult. Supplies are running out as roads become impassable and littered with overturned trucks that have succumbed to the winter. "This is a major problem we are having right now," says Abdul Salam, one of the district commanders for Panjwai who recently arrived in Quetta from the front lines. "We've lost our flow of weapons because of winter. We only have our old Kalashnikovs, some RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] and a few small guns left."