http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/alqaida/ en-us Sun, 3 Jan 2010 22:23:59 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2420220/posts SNIPPET: "From today’s Times Online: “Suicide bomber kills 70 at Pakistan sports event” A suicide bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives on to a field during a volleyball tournament in northwest Pakistan today, killing at least 70 people. Police said that at least 65 people were wounded and some 20 houses destroyed in the attack." SNIPPET: "Now how does Adam Gadahn’s video earlier this month in, “The Mujahideen Do Not Target Muslims” at all fit with attacks on people watching volleyball games? Seems to me that al-Qaida is either suffering from “acute disconnected from reality syndrome” (a la Stalin... JARRET BRACHMAN.net http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2420220/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 22:23:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419881/posts SANAA (Reuters) - The United States embassy in Yemen has closed in response to threats by al Qaeda and has instructed its Yemeni employees to stay away until further notice, the embassy and foreign diplomats said on Sunday. Yemeni staff at the embassy told Reuters they had been asked to stay in their homes. "The U.S. Embassy in Sana'a is closed today, January 3, 2010, in response to ongoing threats by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to attack American interests in Yemen," said a statement on the embassy website. Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419881/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 09:20:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2419846/posts Less than two weeks ago, Obama ordered the Navy to fire missiles into Yemen at suspected Al Qaida targets. Now we can add Yemen to the list Islamic countries that we are funding in this so called war on terror. Others being Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan. Not only are things getting worse across the world, but part of Bin Laden’s plan was to break us financially and he is succeeding in that wish. What our leaders fail to understand is that this war is forever and if we do not end Muslim immigration, it is just a matter of time... Logan's Warning http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2419846/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 05:20:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2419842/posts The latest attempt by the Obama administration to hide their incompetence and deny their failed policies is to state the obvious as if it were new information. In his weekly radio address Saturday, President Obama said of the Flight 253 bomber, "We know that he traveled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies. It appears that he joined an affiliate of al-Qaida, and that this group - al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula - trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America." Great detective work, Mr. President. The... TalkingSides.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2419842/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 05:03:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419792/posts <p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top counterterrorism official is warning that al-Qaida and other extremists are working to test U.S. defenses and launch an attack on American soil.</p> <p>National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter says the failed Christmas Day attempt to bring down a U.S. airliner is the starkest reminder of that threat.</p> New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419792/posts#comment Sun, 3 Jan 2010 02:35:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419410/posts .S. President Barack Obama, for the first time, has publicly connected the suspect who tried to blow up a U.S.-bound passenger plane on Christmas Day, December 25, to al-Qaida...Mr. Obama said it appeared a Yemeni affiliate of al-Qaida trained the suspect, "equipped him with ... explosives, and directed him to attack" the plane "headed for America." Voice of America http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419410/posts#comment Sat, 2 Jan 2010 12:36:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419355/posts One of America's top military leaders says Yemen-based terrorists helped plan the Christmas Day, December 25, plot to blow up a U.S. bound airplane. General David Petraeus told reporters in Baghdad Friday that the U.S. and Yemen have been sharing information about al-Qaida in the country, including activity that "resulted in the failed attack on the airliner." The head of the U.S. Central Command said Yemen has carried out "very significant" operations against al-Qaida, some of which prevented a series of suicide bombings. General Petraeus said the United States is helping Yemen, but that its neighbors have also provided significant... Voice Of America http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419355/posts#comment Sat, 2 Jan 2010 05:49:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419168/posts On Christmas Day, a gentleman from Nigeria succeeded (effortlessly) in boarding a flight to Detroit with a bomb in his underwear. Pretty funny, huh? But the Pantybomber wasn't the big joke. The real laugh was the United States government. The global hyperpower spent the next week making itself a laughingstock to the entire planet. First, the bureaucrats at the TSA swung into action with a whole new range of restrictions. Against radical Yemen-trained Muslims wearing weaponized briefs? Of course not. That would be too obvious. So instead they imposed a slew of constraints against you. At Heathrow last week, they... The Orange County Register http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419168/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jan 2010 22:00:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419084/posts WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Thank God for wardrobe malfunctions. On Dec. 22, 2001, Richard Reid failed in an attempt to blow up American Airlines Flight 63 using 50 grams of the explosive PETN and became known as "the shoe-bomber." Since then, we have all had to remove our footwear prior to boarding commercial aircraft bound for U.S. airports. On Christmas Day eight years later, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, wearing a bomb made from 80 grams of the same explosive, attempted to bring down Northwest Flight 253 en route from Amsterdam to Detroit. Had this 23-year-old Nigerian-born, Yemini-trained al-Qaida terrorist succeeded, he might... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2419084/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jan 2010 19:30:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418586/posts SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – As a prisoner at Guantanamo, Said Ali al-Shihri said he wanted freedom so he could go home to Saudi Arabia and work at his family's furniture store. Instead, al-Shihri, who was released in 2007 under the Bush administration, is now deputy leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, a group that has claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day attempted bomb attack on a Detroit-bound airliner. His potential involvement in the terrorist plot has raised new opposition to releasing Guantanamo Bay inmates, complicating President Barack Obama's pledge to close the military prison in Cuba. It also... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418586/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:38:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417960/posts An otherwise fine Washington Post column about the attempted Christmas airplane bombing and the al-Qaida ties ended with this baffling passage: One of the top leaders of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is Said al-Shihri, 36, a Saudi national. He was captured in Pakistan in December 2001 and spent six years in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before being transferred to Saudi Arabia in November 2007. In Saudi Arabia, he entered a highly praised rehabilitation program that uses dialogue and art therapy to persuade former militants to renounce extremism. But after graduating, Shihri crossed the border into Yemen... IBD's Capital Hill http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417960/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:03:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417308/posts Security: Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the attempted destruction of Flight 253 were released from Guantanamo two years ago. The case for indefinite detention has been made once again, and not in Illinois. Sometimes America's chickens do come home to roost. In a statement released Monday, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which counts among its leadership two former Guantanamo detainees, claimed responsibility for the attempted destruction of Northwest Airlines Flight 253. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the crotch bomber, told FBI agents he was trained for his Christmas Day mission in Yemen by top leaders of the group who provided... Investors.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417308/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:44:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416535/posts Security officials in Yemen said today that 29 al-Qaida suspects had been arrested as part of a new crackdown on the terrorist group. "There is a steady stream of people travelling to Yemen and travel to Yemen is something that is of concern to us," said a UK security source. guardian.co.uk/ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416535/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:58:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416425/posts “Al Falojah” terrorist forum just posted ten minutes ago a press release form “Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” (Yemen and Saudi Arabia) where they adopted the terrorist attempt on the plane in Detroit on December 25 2009. The thread on "Al Falojah" terrorist forum is # 97593 the author of the thread is “Mourasel Al Fajr” who is the official Al Qaeda press representative on Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist forums. (Update at #51) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416425/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:05:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415981/posts COPS fear that 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb Western airliners. The fanatics, in five groups, are now training at secret terror camps in Yemen. It was there London-educated Umar Abdulmutallab, 23, prepared for his Christmas Day bid to blow up a US jet. The British extremists in Yemen are in their early 20s and from Bradford, Luton and Leytonstone, East London. They are due to return to the UK early in 2010 and will then await internet instructions from al-Qaeda on when to strike. A Scotland Yard source said: "The great fear is Abdulmutallab is the first of... The Sun http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415981/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:26:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415814/posts Account of failed terrorist attack. Additional details on the failed terrorist attack over the skies of Michigan on Christmas day. Federal authorities say Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian student was directly supported by al-Qaida in Yemen. He was not on the official no-fly list, but Abdulmutallab’s father had warned U.S. officials months ago concerning his son’s activity. He also had Internet communications with a radical imam in Yemen, who provided direction and was allowed to board an aircraft to the United States with 80 grams of PETN (similar to nitro-glycerin) – the same stuff failed shoe bomber Richard... http://www.radioviceonline.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415814/posts#comment Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:15:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415508/posts MIR ALI, Pakistan – A suspected U.S. missile strike killed three people Saturday in a northwest Pakistani tribal region where militants focused on fighting the West in Afghanistan are concentrated, two Pakistani intelligence officials said. The missile strike was apparently the latest in a lengthy campaign of such attacks by the U.S., which rarely discusses the covert program but has in the past said it has taken out several top al-Qaida operatives. Pakistan publicly opposes the strikes but is believed to secretly aid them. Saturday's strike occurred in the Babar Raghzai area of North Waziristan and also wounded two people,... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415508/posts#comment Sat, 26 Dec 2009 23:38:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415182/posts An al Qaida-linked suspect who allegedly tried to blow up a transatlantic plane is studying at a UK university, it has been reported. The Nigerian is accused of trying to detonate a powdery substance on a plane from Amsterdam as it prepared to land at Detroit with 278 people on board. US sources said he was subdued by passengers and has since claimed to have been acting for al Qaida. He has been named by ABC News as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, an engineering student at University College London, with the broadcaster citing US government documents. The suspect, who has... This is London http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415182/posts#comment Sat, 26 Dec 2009 03:17:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414818/posts SAN'A, Yemen – Yemen's military hit suspected al-Qaida hideouts Thursday and targeted a gathering of top militant leaders, possibly killing a radical cleric linked to the U.S. Army major accused of the Fort Hood mass shooting, in strikes carried out with U.S. intelligence help, officials said. At least 30 militants were believed to be killed in the second such strike in a week. Pentagon officials could not confirm Thursday whether U.S.-born radical cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki was killed in the strike. Al-Awlaki was born in New Mexico and attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, before moving in 2002 to... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414818/posts#comment Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:52:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414242/posts The secretive U.S. air strike against suspected al-Qaida in Yemen last week is the latest in what has been a fast-growing campaign to better equip and fund Yemeni forces so they can eliminate the expanding al-Qaida safe havens there. The Pentagon has poured nearly $70 million in military aid to Yemen this year, a massive financial infusion compared to nothing in 2008. Much like the effort with Pakistan's Frontier Corps, the military has boosted its counterterrorism training for Yemeni forces, and is providing more intelligence, which probably includes surveillance by unmanned drones, according to U.S.. officials and analysts. The heightened... Associated Press via Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414242/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:42:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412855/posts Mauritania government has increased security for tourists in the country following the abductions last week of two Italian tourists near the border with Mali. Sergio Cicala and his wife Philomene Kabouree were kidnapped in an area of Mauritania where armed groups with links to Al-Qaeda are known to operate, diplomats said. There are suspicions the couple may have been smuggled into neighbouring Mali. "After these new kidnappings, it has been decided to adopt all necessary measures to ensure the personal security of foreigners in our country," the government said, quoted on Monday by pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi. It was the... ADNKRONOS.com - AKI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412855/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:05:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/848112/posts "I was close to Chavez, but now he wants me dead." The million dollars from Chavez to Al Qaeda is just the tip of the iceberg in a long series of connections between worldwide terrorist organizations and the Venezuelan strongman, according to one of those who knows most about Chavez and the inside of his presidential palace: His former personal pilot. Major Juan Diaz Castillo is the man who flew the equivalent of Air Force One. In this interview with Venezuela's weekly news-magazine Zeta, he reveals formerly unpublished details of the operations that Chavez had him organize. By Maria Angelica... Militares Democraticos http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/848112/posts#comment Fri, 21 Feb 2003 00:17:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411357/posts On orders from President Barack Obama, the U.S. military launched cruise missiles early Thursday against two suspected al-Qaeda sites in Yemen, administration officials told ABC News in a report broadcast on ABC World News with Charles Gibson. Share ABC's Brian Ross details missile strike on al-Qaeda militants in Afghanistan. One of the targeted sites was a suspected al Qaeda training camp north of the capitol, Sanaa, and the second target was a location where officials said "an imminent attack against a U.S. asset was being planned." The Yemen attacks by the U.S. military represent a major escalation of the Obama... ABC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411357/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:20:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411130/posts Osama Bin Laden's terrorist organization has become increasingly reliant on organized crime, including cocaine smuggling, human trafficking and kidnapping, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday in Manhattan's federal court. The charges filed against three alleged al-Qaeda associates by the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan is the latest chilling evidence of a convergence between terrorism and organized crime. Oumar Issa, Harouna Touré and Idriss Abelrahman were snatched in Ghana on Wednesday by a Drug Enforcement Administration sting and shipped to New York, where they arrived on Friday to face charges of conspiracy to commit acts of narco-terrorism and providing material support... Forbes Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411130/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:56:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2411158/posts In an editorial column published on 18 December, the editors of The Toledo Blade point out that capturing or killing Osama Bin Laden would not defeat Al Qaeda and capturing or killing Mullah Omar would not defeat the Taliban. They are correct in this but their notions do not go far enough. The fact of the matter is, Al Qaeda and the Taliban could cease to exist tomorrow and the U.S. and Western civilization would still face a Jihadist threat... Terror Trends Bulletin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2411158/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:54:42 GMT