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Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

Rome, Apr. 15, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Representatives of the Al Qaida network have renewed their attacks on Pope Benedict XVI, in a message posted on the Islamic miliant web site al Hesbah. The latest message from Al Qaida expresses continuing anger at Pope Benedict, who was denounced by the terrorist network in March for leading a worldwide "crusade" against Islam. The message from Al Qaida also decried the electoral victory of Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose People of Liberty party won a solid victory in national elections. (In a bid to end Italy's "birth dearth," Berlusconi's coalition has...

Online Islamist Forum Hosted in Texas Posts Guide for Kidnapping Americans The popular Islamist-jihadist forum www.alhesbah.org, hosted by RealWebHost in Texas, U.S., recently posted an anonymously written document from 2003 titled "The Excellent Summary of the Rules of the Art of Kidnapping Americans." The 60-page guide describes each stage of the kidnapping, explaining how to select the target and then how to follow him, seize him, transport him to a safe location, and hold him there, as well as how to conduct negotiations. The guide also explains how to execute the hostage should negotiations fail. The following are the details:...

Is it true that a capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him? That question now hits cyberspace with a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute. According to MEMRI, RealWebHost is hosting on servers in Texas an Islamist site, Alhesbah Forum, which has apparently posted a report titled “The Excellent Summary of the Rules of the Art of Kidnapping Americans.” MEMRI states that if negotiations fail, the guide recommends hanging or poisoning the hostages in order to (a) prevent an honorable death and (b) avoid those messy bloodstains. Who knew there was terrorist etiquette? Perhaps they’re trying...