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Authorities say a drunken driver injured two women in a head-on collision in Metairie on Saturday, then fled the scene. Deputies later arrested Jesus Guzman-Gomez, 22, of Metairie, an arrest report said. . . Guzman-Gomez was headed westbound in a maroon Jeep Cherokee when he veered inexplicably into the eastbound lanes, an arrest report said. Guzman-Gomez's vehicle crashed head-on into a red Jeep Cherokee being driven by an unidentified 49-year-old woman, Fortunato said. He then drove off without stopping or identifying himself, the report said. The driver of the red Jeep Cherokee suffered head, neck and back injuries, the...

The United States has for several years been secretly releasing high-level detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups, a bold effort to quell violence but one that U.S. officials acknowledge poses substantial risks.

DENVER (AP) -- A bear that became famous after it was tranquilized and fell from a tree at the University of Colorado died when it was hit by two cars after returning to town, likely looking for food. A photograph captured an image of the 280-pound black bear in midair, its arms and legs spread, after it was tranquilized April 26.

SNIPPET: "Rabat — Morocco's security forces have broken up a five-member terrorist cell that used to operate in the cities of Salé (near Rabat) and Casablanca, National Police Department said on Saturday in a statement. The statement added that the dismantled cell includes a member linked to the former emir of al Qaeda network in northern Iraq. The cell, which pledged allegiance to Ayman Al-Zawahiri, used Internet to forge close ties with al Qaida, especially in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Yemen and Somalia, it said." SNIPPET: "To carry out their plans, the members of the cell contacted, via Internet, experts in...

The US has agreed in principle to release high-ranking Taliban officials from Guantánamo Bay in return for the Afghan insurgents' agreement to open a political office for peace negotiations in Qatar, the Guardian has learned. According to sources familiar with the talks in the US and in Afghanistan, the handful of Taliban figures will include Mullah Khair Khowa, a former interior minister, and Noorullah Noori, a former governor in northern Afghanistan. More controversially, the Taliban are demanding the release of the former army commander Mullah Fazl Akhund. Washington is reported to be considering formally handing him over to the custody...

Last June Vice Adm. William McRaven testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee that, “that contingency plans for detaining terrorism suspects are developed on an ad hoc basis and approved by the White House, but that there are no set rules.” He want further to tell the Senators “in many cases” suspects captured in secret are taken to a U.S. Navy ship until they can be tried in a U.S. court or transferred to the custody of an allied country, but if neither option is feasible, he said, the terrorist is let go. “If we can’t do either one of...

They don't have a clue where he is. Two Bangladeshis who were caught by Customs and Border Protection illegally crossing the border in June 2010 admitted under questioning that they were members of a designated terrorist organization that signed on to a fatwa by Osama bin Laden pledging to wage war against Americans. But amazingly, after one of the men requested asylum, he was released on bond. And now one Homeland Security official tells me, concerning the released terror operative, “We don’t have the slightest idea where he is now.” The two men, Muhammad Nazmul Hasan and Mirza Muhammad Saifuddin,...

Well, what do you know. Obama administration officials at the Department of Homeland Security deliberately misled Congress when they denied using “selective enforcement” to deport convicted criminals in the U.S. illegally. Their much-criticized “catch and release” policy was confirmed by documents obtained by Judicial Watch under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents “show that the Obama administration is implementing ‘stealth amnesty’ which is an end-run around the rule of law and Congress,” said Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton.

In a new video message released on the internet Friday, American-born al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn calls on Muslims living in America to carry out deadly one-man terrorist acts using fully automatic weapons purchased at gun shows, and to target major institutions and public figures. "What are you waiting for?" asks Gadahn in English, and then adds that jihadis shouldn't worry about getting caught, since so many have been released. "Over these past few years, I've seen the release of many, many Mujahideen whom I had never even dreamed would regain their freedom." The two-part, two hour video appeared on...

Complete title: Judicial Watch Obtains Bush Defense Department Documents Detailing Terrorist Threat Posed by Guantanamo Detainees “There is substantial risk that detainees at Guantanamo, upon release, would set out to kill Americans or other innocent civilians around the world.” White House Spokesman Jay Carney on February 17, 2011: “The president remains committed to closing Guantanamo.” Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it received documents from the Department of Defense (DOD) detailing the policies of the Bush administration related to the detention of “enemy combatants” at Guantanamo Bay, as well as the...

CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) -- A man with explosives hidden on his body blew himself up in an Internet cafe after the owners prevented him from looking at terror Web sites, the Interior Ministry said Monday. The man was killed and four people were injured in the Sunday night blast in a Casablanca slum, said ministry spokesman Abderrahman Achour. One of the wounded was the dead man's companion, who was hospitalized with burns and a throat injury. Both men were carrying explosives. But officials believe the cybercafe may not have been their target and that the explosion was an accident, Mokhtar...

MOSCOW (AP) - A Muslim cleric formerly held at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba said Tuesday U.S. guards there regularly desecrated the Qur'an by putting it into a toilet, although he added he never witnessed it himself. Airat Vakhitov, who described himself as a former imam of a mosque in Tatarstan, a majority Muslim republic in southern Russia, is one of seven men released from Guantanamo in 2004 and returned to Russia. He and the six others were held in Russia for three months, then released a year ago. Vakhitov said at a news conference organized by the state RIA-Novosti...

(MEMRI)- Following are excerpts from an interview with Walid Muhammad Hajj a Sudanese released from Guantanamo Prison, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on December 12, 2010: Walid Muhammad Hajj: Yes. The most common method to wear down the brothers was witchcraft. Interviewer: How did they do this? Walid Muhammad Hajj: There were, of course, Jews among the [staff of] the Guantanamo Base, and they would set traps for the guys. Interviewer: Give me an example of witchcraft. Walid Muhammad Hajj: Witchcraft was used on most of the guys. Interviewer: They would cast a spell on them? Walid Muhammad Hajj: Yes,...

      WASHINGTON — It's a tough time to be a member of the U.S. armed forces. Those serving in our all-volunteer military — and their families — are stretched and stressed by more than nine years of war. Unfortunately, our commander in chief — supposedly the champion of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardsmen and Marines — isn't doing anything to make serving in uniform any easier. President Barack Obama — fresh from his 3 1/2-hour "visit" to Afghanistan — continues to insist that the U.S. Senate act immediately to allow active homosexuals to serve in the military....

More than 500 suspected Taliban fighters detained by U.S. forces have been released from custody at the urging of Afghan government officials, angering both American troops and some Afghans who oppose the policy on the grounds that many of those released return to the battlefield to kill NATO soldiers and Afghan civilians.

The Daily Telegraph has learnt that concern over the release of a “significant” number of Islamic extremists has driven ministers to draw up rules for their supervision. Probation officers have been issued with a “menu” of restrictions that can be placed on terrorists freed on licence. The curbs are understood to include orders to have contact with only Government-approved imams, not to visit certain mosques, not to associate with anyone with a criminal record and not to use computers. According to Ministry of Justice figures, at least 20 convicted terrorists have been freed from jail this year after completing their...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — A military jury on Sunday gave teen terrorist Omar Khadr a 40-year prison sentence for killing an American commando in Afghanistan, but the sentence was merely symbolic — the United States already had agreed to limit Khadr's prison time to eight years, and Canada last week said it would allow Khadr to serve the bulk of his sentence there. That agreement will allow Khadr to be released from prison by age 32, if not earlier under Canadian parole provisions. The Toronto-born Khadr also admitted that, in the days ahead of his capture, he planted...

Note: Photo included. PHOTO CAPTION: "Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Othman Ahmed al Ghamdi, in a tape released by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula." SNIPPET: "A videotape released by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) earlier this week says that a former Guantanamo detainee is now a commander within the terrorist organization. The former detainee, Othman Ahmed al Ghamdi, has risen to the rank of operational commander within AQAP as other senior terrorists within the organization have been killed in recent strikes. The tape, which is titled “America and the Final Trap,” confirms that three AQAP leaders were killed...

(CNSNEWS.COM EXCLUSIVE) -- In the three fiscal years from 2007-2009, the Department of Homeland Security caught and released 481 illegal aliens from state sponsors of terrorism and “countries of interest” who are now fugitives, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement database obtained by CNSNews.com as the result of a Freedom of Information Act request. The four state sponsors of terrorism, as determined by the State Department, are Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba. The “countries of interest” are those additional countries whose citizens have been subjected to enhanced screening on U.S.-bound flights by the Transportation Security Administration as a result...

Ahmad Afzali, the Queens imam who pleaded guilty in March to lying to law enforcement officials about his relationship with Najibullah Zazi, the airport worker who planned to bomb New York's subways, was sentenced by a federal judge yesterday to time served. Mr. Afzali, who left his native Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion, also agreed to "self-execute" removal from the United States in the next 90 days in order to avoid a deportation hearing. Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Afzali warned Mr. Zazi and his father that they were under law-enforcement surveillance, then, as Assistant U.S. Attorney James P. Loonam told...

Four illegal immigrants who ran from police during a traffic stop were arrested Tuesday. But they were quickly released after federal immigration agents refused to pick them up for deportation.LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (WVLT) -- The jailhouse doors flew wide open Tuesday to four illegal aliens who ran from police during a traffic stop just one day earlier."It's frustrating to some degree, but there's also nothing we can really do about it," said Asst. Chief Jimmy Davis with Loudon County Sheriff's Office. The quad were among 10 suspected illegals enroute to Knoxville from Texas when their van was stopped along I-75...

A U.S. Navy ship has sunk a pirate "mother ship" in the Indian Ocean and captured 11 pirates, and then promptly let them go. It was the second time within 24 hours that U.S. forces captured Somali pirates. Earlier Thursday, five pirates were taken into custody after they attacked a U.S. warship. While those five pirates remain in custody, the 11 captured Thursday were allowed to leave in small skiffs after the mother ship was sunk. The action prompted a Pentagon spokesman to deny that the Navy had a "catch and release" policy regarding pirates. A Naval official told ABC...

Senior al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban leaders are reported to have met with Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud to advise him to move his group's operations into Afghanistan and halt attacks against the Pakistani state. Several meetings were said to have been held last week after an 11-man delegation of al Qaeda and Taliban heavy hitters arrived in Waziristan to deliver a request from Mullah Omar, the Amir al Mumineen, or the leader of the faithful in Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to a report in The Nation. The Taliban dispatched Sirajuddin Haqqani, the powerful military commander of the Haqqani Network,...

SANAA, 24 January 2006 — A Yemeni man repatriated last year from the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, appeared before a state security court in Sanaa yesterday charged with drug trafficking. Karama Saeed Khamsan, 33, was accused of traveling to Pakistan to secure the delivery of two tons of hashish for $533,000 for a Yemeni partner. The consignment was due to be smuggled across the Arabian Sea to the southern Yemeni province of Al-Mahra and then through the porous borders to Saudi Arabia. It was not clear from the court documents whether the shipment had been delivered. It...

The Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was linked to a Muslim extremist under surveillance by MI5 while he was living in Britain, it has emerged. The connection was discovered after record checks by MI5 following the attempted suicide bombing on Christmas Day by Abdulmutallab on a US-bound plane. It is feared he had been involved with other extremists while he was a student at University College, London between 2005 and 2008. It has also emerged that the bomber wrote of his desire for Muslims to “rule the whole world� by carrying out a “great jihad� in internet postings four years...

Keying off an article in the UK Times Online about Northwest Airlines flight 253 bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab organizing an antiwar seminar called "War on Terror Week", I did some quick research before the links get scrubbed.From the Times:According to isocnews.com, an online magazine for Muslim students, War on Terror Week at University College London was one of the events of the year in 2007. There was a slick video advertisement for the event, an eye-catching poster and packed lecture theatres for five days of discussions about Guantánamo Bay, allegations of torture and the subject of “Jihad v Terrorism”. The...

A wealthy British businessman was jailed for more than two years on Monday for attacking an intruder who was part of a three-man masked gang that broke into his home. Munir Hussain, who was threatened at knifepoint and tied up in his living room last year, was told he must go to prison for 30 months to preserve "civilized society." The man he attacked, Walid Salem, was allowed to go free and has since returned to a life of crime. Salem, who has 50 convictions, was unable to stand trial on a charge of false imprisonment apparently because of the...

Hundreds of defendants awaiting trial for violent crimes in Dallas County have been deported by federal immigration officials and then set free in their home countries. The practice goes back to at least 1991 and includes the release of murder, kidnapping and child rape suspects. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say they're required to deport illegal immigrants quickly but are now in talks with local agencies who are trying to resolve the problem. Across Texas and the nation, defendants post bail and are immediately taken to immigration facilities, where they volunteer to be deported. Just how often this happens...

A former U.S. Marine who survived several tours of duty in Iraq and a knife attack at his Phelan home a few months ago was violently beaten to death with a hammer while installing cable at a Victorville home, authorities said. A relative of the homeowners has been arrested in the attack. Trevor Neiman, 25, a Charter Communications Cable installer, was found beaten and bloody by San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies who responded to the home shortly after 4:30 p.m. Monday. While Neiman was working on the cable at the home in the 15200 block of San Jose Drive, a...

SPY THREAT: CATCH AND RELEASE -- A Veteran Counterintelligence Officer Warns America International News Analysis Today September 30, 2009 By Toby Westerman America is about to be forced into a dangerous game of catch and release with deadly spies, threatening both national security and the morale of the U.S. intelligence community, warns veteran counterintelligence officer Christopher Simmons in a exclusive interview with International News Analysis Today. Christopher Simmons is director and founder of the Cuban Intelligence Research Center. International coercion, attacks on national security, lies and misinformation spread in the media, and the murder of American citizens are part of...

District Court Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle Thursday morning granted Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Jawad, a writ of habeas corpus that could result in his being freed on August 21. Justice Department officials 22 more days to determine whether or not they can try Jawad in a criminal court in the U.S. Jawad was arrested by Afghan police in December 2002 for allegedly throwing a grenade into a vehicle containing two US troops and an Afghan interpreter. It's unclear how old Jawad was at the time, but he was almost certainly 17 years old or younger. Jawad confessed to Afghan police that...

A young mountain lion was trapped and relocated by the Colorado Division of Wildlife after eating a house cat Monday ... north Boulder. “He was just too close,” Churchill said. “We wanted to give him a spanking and move him out of town.” Wildlife officials previously tagged the same cougar in February when the kitten was stuck in a tree, Churchill said. He is part of the five-year Front Range Mountain Lion Study, which aims to track mountain lions between Lyons and Evergreen to better understand cougar movement trends and develop a way to mitigate aggressive behavior near human establishments,...

Juan Pedro Panuco said he and other immigrant inmates at Folsom State Prison have heard that California is so cash-strapped, some of them could get sprung early and then deported. "Some of them are excited," said Panuco. He's not. At 36, he's been in California since he was 18, is married to a legal U.S. resident and has three small children. He is nine months into a 13-month sentence he got for selling drugs. Panuco may not want it, but the Mexican inmate is likely a prime candidate for early release under a cost-cutting plan on the table now from...

A SCOTTISH Muslim convert, dubbed the "Tartan Taleban", has re-emerged in Pakistan where he has reportedly been arrested as a terror suspect. Pakistan television paraded images of a man said to be James Alexander McLintock, who had been detained in the north-west city of Peshawar in late February. The 44-year-old father of four, originally from Dundee, converted to Islam in his 20s but came to international attention in December 2001 when he was arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of being a foreign fighter. Mr McLintock was released five weeks later after strenuous denials of links to terror organisations and sent...

The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda's Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Obama signed Thursday that the detention center be shut down within a year. The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Yemen's capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen. His status was announced in an Internet statement by...

U.S. military to release 100 detainees in Iraq The U.S. military will release another 100 detainees Saturday, continuing a program timed to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. According to officials with Task Force 134, which oversees detainee operations in Iraq, the release ceremony will bring the number of detainees released under the Ramadan program to at least 1,300. "Prior to release, detainees also make a pledge to an Iraqi judge swearing to maintain peace and good conduct in the future," a task force news release read. This process is a direct representation of the policy of fair releases, not...

ERWIN — Two Hispanic men on their way to Knoxville as part of the deportation process were released Tuesday before they arrived, Unicoi County authorities said Thursday. County Jailer Rita Williams said superiors of two Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees ordered Gregorio Estala Rodriguez and Primitivo Estala Rodriguez to be let go because the New Orleans office, where the men eventually were headed, had been closed temporarily due to Hurricane Gustav. “It’s frustrating for us to know that we got illegal aliens that are breaking the law,” Sheriff Kent Harris said Thursday. “That’s a group we don’t want to have...

Witnesses ID three in Iraq detainee deaths VILSECK, Germany — At least four Iraqis detained by soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade during a patrol in April 2007 were killed, but none of the four Germany-based U.S. soldiers charged last month in the incident pulled the trigger, according to witnesses who testified at an Article 32 hearing Tuesday in Vilseck. During some seven hours of sworn testimony, soldiers who were on the patrol suggested that the four soldiers charged with conspiracy to commit premeditated murder — Staff Sgt. Jess Cunningham, Sgt. Charles Quigley, Spc. Stephen Ribordy and Spc....

2nd BCT unit had Europe’s deadliest deployment In April 2007, Baghdad was ramping up for what would become the city’s deadliest month for U.S. soldiers. Americans had flooded the city as part of the "surge." Insurgents, including Mahdi Army militia members, weren’t happy. The 51 American deaths during the ensuing fighting made April the worst month in the city up to that point, and more than twice as bad as just two months earlier. The casualties would keep climbing into May and June, when 59 soldiers died in each of those months. April was the same month that American soldiers...

Detainee rules frustrate Iraqis BAQOUBA, Iraq — Recently reinforced rules on detainees have made it difficult to prosecute suspects, according to Iraqi army commanders in this area. According to Iraqi law, a suspect can only be held for 24 hours. When that time ends and the suspect has not confessed, had two witnesses against him or was not found on a wanted list, the suspect goes free. "It’s not right," said an Iraqi army lieutenant colonel, who commands the 1st Battalion of 1st Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division. "One day is not enough. We need at least a week." The...

AURORA, Colo. -- Going 75 mph in a 55 mph zone seemed like a simple speeding ticket. Instead, the stop along Interstate 70 Wednesday morning would highlight an immigration system that is still full of holes. A red Dodge minivan was pulled over going eastbound near Tower Road at 9:19 a.m. According to the police report, the Aurora officer found a driver and 13 passengers in the van. Further investigation revealed that all 13 said they were picked up in Mexico two days prior by a man offering to get them work in Kansas. Valente Cantoral-Herrera, 33, faces 13 counts...

BALTIMORE - Twenty-four day laborers in the country illegally were arrested Tuesday when they asked for work from federal immigration agents who had gathered in a parking lot after an unsuccessful undercover operation, authorities said. The agents had regrouped at a 7-Eleven parking lot after a search for illegal immigrants who had been ordered to leave the country, said Marc Raimondi, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency spokesman. The day laborers admitted they were in the country illegally after they asked the ICE agents whether they needed workers and the agents responded by asking them, in Spanish, where they were...

Hit-and-run suspect was apprehended by area police at least 15 times. When United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents assigned to the agency's Washington, D.C. Fugitive Operations Team apprehended former Sterling resident Jose Sibrian on Nov. 30 of this year, they brought a man long listed as a federal fugitive immigrant finally into their custody. Originally ordered deported in absentia by a U.S. Department of Justice immigration judge on Aug. 13, 2001, Sibrian had been on the run from federal immigration officers in the United States for more than half a decade. In his time as a federal fugitive...

From yesterday's (9/21/2006) Press Briefing by Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff: Last November, we announced our moving forward on the Secure Border Initiative, and we laid down a number of milestones and a number of different elements to the strategy. The elements included additional personnel, additional tactical infrastructure, ending "catch and release," which was that pernicious policy that allowed people who got caught at the border to be released into the community, and very importantly using some of the proven tools that we have developed over the years for interdiction in the context of border control. And therefore, we...

WASHINGTON – Nearly all non-Mexican illegal immigrants caught sneaking into the United States are being held until they can be returned to their home countries, the Bush administration said Wednesday. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said this marks the end of the “catch-and-release” practice that for years helped many illegal immigrants stay in the United States unhindered. “There is a real deterrent effect to this policy,” Chertoff told reporters in Washington, pointing to a 20,000 drop in the number of illegal immigrants caught crossing the southwest border between this summer and the same period last year. “Although we're not ready...

WASHINGTON - Nearly all non-Mexican illegal immigrants caught sneaking into the United States are being held until they can be returned to their home countries, the Bush administration said Wednesday. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said this marks the end of the so-called "catch-and-release" policy that for years helped illegal immigrants remain in the United States unhindered. The new policy, dubbed "catch-and-detain" generally does not apply to Mexicans who are almost immediately returned to Mexico after being stopped by Border Patrol agents. "Although we're not ready to declare victory — we've got a lot more work to do — it...

Australia's top investigators claim Mamdouh Habib trained as a terrorist before the September 11 attacks. Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib trained as a terrorist in Pakistan before moving to Afghanistan to serve as a mercenary with al-Qaeda, Australia's top policeman has told a parliamentary inquiry. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said Mr Habib received firearms training in Pakistan in the days before September 11, 2001 to prepare him for a border crossing into Afghanistan to join Osama bin Laden's terrorist organisation. Habib was arrested by Pakistani police inside Pakistan on October 5, 2001. "The investigators formed the view...

Muslim freed by US issues terror threats By Julian Isherwood, Scandinavia Correspondent (Filed: 01/10/2004) Danish authorities said yesterday they might have to return a recently-released Guantanamo Bay prisoner to US custody after he said cabinet ministers were fair targets and vowed to travel to fight Russian forces in Chechnya. "I'm going to Chechnya to fight for the Muslims," Slimane Hadj Abderahmane said in a television interview. Earlier, Mr Abderahmane said the Danish prime minister and defence minister were targets. "Denmark is the only country that hasn't realised that a country's leaders are legitimate targets of war in a war situation....

The man thought he was going to die. Hungry, thirsty and unbelievably hot within the metal train car where he had hidden for the past two days, he knew he had to do something when the train crawled to a standstill. And it couldn't have stopped at a better place: the corner of Goldsmith and Garcia streets, in front of the Bexar County Sheriff's Department East Side substation. "Lucky for him," Sgt. Russell McWhorter said. The man, a Honduran citizen, had left his country several weeks ago, "fleeing the war," McWhorter said. He crisscrossed through Guatemala and Mexico before making...

Inmates convicted or cleared of human-smuggling charges and presumed to be Illegal were allowed to walk out of jail without being removed from the country because of a disagreement over jurisdiction between the Sheriff's Office and ICE. At least 17 have walked right out of the jail and into the community - including six who pleaded guilty to human-smuggling felonies - because the ICE refused to transport out of the country the Illegals who were under the controversial coyote law. "Why would they refuse to pick up the felons?" Sheriff Joe Arpaio asked. The reason, according to an ICE spokesman,...