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The cellphone of Osama bin Laden’s trusted courier, which was recovered in the raid that killed both men in Pakistan last month, contained contacts to a militant group that is a longtime asset of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, senior American officials who have been briefed on the findings say. The discovery indicates that Bin Laden used the group, Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, as part of his support network inside the country, the officials and others said. But it also raised tantalizing questions about whether the group and others like it helped shelter and support Bin Laden on behalf of Pakistan’s spy agency, given that...

~2003~THREAT MATRIX~2011~ LAST 71 SEVENTY 69 68 67 66 65 64 63 62 61 SIXTY 59 58 57 56 55 54 53 52 51 FIFTY 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 FORTY 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 THIRTY 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 TWENTY 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 TEN 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 ONE MM THE OBAMA SUNDAY SPEECH To start off this new thread, it has been brought to my attention that FReeper, Dengar1, has spotted "suspicious" and...

I have always believed in the power of giving credit where it is due. This rule is tested when the credit may be due to President Obama, and you disagree with almost everything that he has done in office. It is further tested when one notices how stingy President Obama has himself been with the credit due to President Bush's War on Terror policies. However, President Obama deserves great credit for breaking from his liberal roots and taking a risk to kill terrorist mastermind Osama bin Ladin. President Obama is a professorial liberal who neither understands nor likes what America...

ISLAMABAD - Photographs acquired by Reuters and taken about an hour after the U.S. assault on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan show three dead men lying in pools of blood, but no weapons. The photos, taken by a Pakistani security official who entered the compound after the early morning raid on Monday, show two men dressed in traditional Pakistani garb and one in a t-shirt, with blood streaming from their ears, noses and mouths. The official, who wished to remain anonymous, sold the pictures to Reuters. None of the men looked like bin Laden. U.S. President Barack...

The Muslim Brotherhood, a dominant political force in Egypt and around the Arab world, is notorious for saying one thing to Western media and something else to local media. That was the case today, when leading member Essam al-Erian gave Reuters a strong but measured statement on the killing of Osama bin Laden — but left out key details from the group’s reaction on its Arabic-language website. “With Bin Laden’s death, one of the reasons for which violence has been practised in the world has been removed,” Essam al-Erian, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s governing body, told Reuters. “It...

Here is a breakdown of the instantly iconic image of Barack Obama and his security team watching the Osama Bin Laden mission unfold. We zoomed in on each of the participants here and named them. The look on each person's face is striking.

The military team that killed Osama Bin Laden is an elite special forces group unofficially called Seal Team 6. Officially, the team's name is classified and not available to the public, technically there is no team 6. A Tier-One counter-terrorism force similar to the Army's elusive Delta group, Team 6's mission rarely make it to paper much less the newspaper. It shows how important the publicity about Bin Laden's killing is to the U.S. that this morning, Team 6 is front pages news. The members of Team 6 are all "black" operatives. They exist outside military protocol, engage in operations...

WASHINGTON - Officials say CIA interrogators in secret overseas prisons developed the first strands of information that ultimately led to the killing of Osama bin Laden. Current and former U.S. officials say that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, provided the nom de guerre of one of bin Laden's most trusted aides. The CIA got similar information from Mohammed's successor, Abu Faraj al-Libi. Both were subjected to harsh interrogation tactics inside CIA prisons in Poland and Romania. The news is sure to reignite debate over whether the now-closed interrogation and detention program was successful....

On InTrade -- the prediction market site where people bet on various outcomes -- the odds Obama is re-elected exploded higher last night after the news of Osama Bin Laden's capture and death. Check it out. And this is the point where serious political analysts say things like: Well, it's a long way until the election and that it's ultimately the economy that will decide things. And there's probably some validity to that. But obviously this was a huge moment for the President, and the contrast he can draw -- working on this plan for months -- compared to the...

Where has Osama bin Laden been for the last 10 years? That is a question that most of us want answered because of where he was found; living comfortably in a huge mansion in a city with a large Pakistani military base and in an area where there were many retired Pakistani officers. Abbotabad is about 80 miles from Islamabad and is hardly "remote." It is considered a suburb of the city and has a population of 80,000. It is very possible that sometime in the last couple of years, bin Laden fled from the rugged Northwest Frontier Provinces because...

As someone who lost friends on 9/11 (my office was then on the 82nd floor of Tower Two), knowing that the man responsible for the brutal murder of nearly 3,000 Americans is dead is deeply satisfying. It is even more gratifying knowing his death came as a result of American military action. In the long term, I believe there is tremendous value in announcing to all those planning to do us harm that we will never stop coming after them. In a very Roman manner, the United States proved to the world that we will never stop searching and that...

Upon waking up this morning, and being told by a family member that the master-mind of the horrific September 11, 2001, attacks, Osama Bin Ladin has been killed in an American military operation in Abbottabad in northwestern Pakistan. Truly today in the United States of America, this is a very good day, at last, JUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE. JUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE by having Osama Bin Ladin hunted down and killed for the families and friends of the 3,000 people who were killed on September 11, 2001, ten years ago this coming September 11, 2011.

Repeatedly, the cable news stations say OBL, his son and two courriers were the only people killed. Did his vaunted guards cut and run? BTW, a 40 minute fire fight is long time sitting in OBL's box. Seals are exceedingly well trained and can shoot the eye out of a mosquito - surely there have been a much higher body count.

RIYADH – Saudi Arabia is holding talks with Iran to repatriate Osama Bin Laden’s daughter to the Kingdom after she took refuge in the Saudi embassy in Tehran, said Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs. “We consider this to be a humanitarian issue,” he told a news conference. “We are negotiating with the Iranian government on this basis,” he said.He was speaking at a joint conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu here Saturday. Iman Bin Laden, 17, recently fled from a family compound near Tehran to the embassy in hopes of leaving Iran, where she, several siblings and...

During Wednesday's Justice Department oversight hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) stumped Attorney General Eric Holder on what should have been a fairly routine question for America's top law enforcement official. Maybe more surprisingly, NPR reported it at its website. As NPR's Frank James noted, "The exchange started with Graham stumping Holder with a question one would have thought the attorney general would have been prepared for." I quite agree (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript, h/t Steve Malzberg): --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R-S.C): Can you give me a case in United States history...

Just 23 days before a crooked fundraiser helped Sen. Barack Obama buy his Chicago mansion, a billionaire bagman for Saddam Hussein wired millions into the crook's account. "Barack Obama appears to have personally benefited from . . .

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — A panel of six military officers convicted a former driver for Osama bin Laden of one of two war crimes charges on Wednesday but acquitted him of the other, completing the first military commission trial here and the first conducted by the United States since the aftermath of World War II.

Excerpt from book: “The anthrax spores in the letter to Daschle were so professionally refined, the Central Intelligence Agency believed the powder must have been sent by an experienced terrorist organization, most probably Al Qaeda, as a sequel to the group’s September 11 attacks. During a [October 17] meeting of the White House’s National Security Council that day, Cheney, who was sitting in for the President because Bush was traveling abroad, urged everyone to keep this inflammatory speculation secret. ... They thought Cheney had already been lethally infected. ... *** Cheney in particular was so stricken by the potential for...

"I say there are two sides in the struggle:" wrote Osama bin Laden in one of the bombastic manifestoes that have so signally failed to unite the Islamic masses under his leadership. "One side is the global Crusader alliance with the Zionist Jews, led by America, Britain and Israel, and the other side is the Islamic world." President Ahmadinejad sees it the same way: America, Britain, and Israel are out to destroy everything that gives meaning and decency to the world. This isn't just about power. The United States, says bin Laden, has "the worst civilization witnessed in the history...

Sunni Muslims Standing in Unity with Shiite Hezbollah By Chris Zambelis The latest crisis in the Middle East involving Hezbollah and Israel and ongoing sectarian violence in Iraq has focused attention on an emerging divide between Sunnis and Shiites. The positions of heads of state in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan, among others, who represent predominantly Sunni populations, in not taking a stronger stance in opposing Israel lends credence to the theory that Sunnis are tacitly siding with Israel against Hezbollah in order to check Shiite and, by extension, Iranian influence. In reality, the opposite is the case. Regional...

Islamic Radicalism in Mexico: The Threat from South of the Border By Chris Zambelis The ongoing controversy surrounding the debate over illegal immigration and border security issues in the United States, specifically as it applies to the porous U.S.-Mexico frontier and the status of millions of undocumented workers and other migrants that enter the country each year from Mexico, continues to dominate headlines. Although the overwhelming majority of those entering the United States from Mexico each day are in search of opportunity, many observers worry that it is only a matter of time before al-Qaeda exploits this vulnerability for its...

organized islamic radical assassins working alone? this is a real threat we need to contemplate more seriously.

Egypt Attacks May Indicate Emerging Sinai Bedouin Insurgency By Chris Zambelis Egypt appears to have scored a number of successes in recent weeks in its war against Islamist militants. Counter-terrorist units and police converged on an olive grove in the mountainous area known as Gabal al-Arish on the outskirts of the northern Sinai coastal town of al-Arish last week after receiving a tip that members of the obscure Tawhid wal-Jihad (Monotheism and Struggle)—one of the main groups implicated in the deadly April attacks in Dahab and other strikes in Sinai—were hiding from the authorities (al-Sharq al-Awsat, May 9). After a...

U.S. Places Two Pakistani Charities on Terrorism Watch List By Chris Zambelis On April 27, Washington announced a decision to place two Pakistan-based Islamic charities operating in the United States on its terrorism watch list. The organizations implicated are the Jamaat ud-Dawa (JUD, the Call Group) and its public services branch Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq (IKK—People's Services Administration). Both groups are accused of having links to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT, Army of the Pure), one of Pakistan's largest and most well-organized radical Islamist groups operating in Kashmir with alleged ties to al-Qaeda in South Asia (Daily Times, April 28). The move will authorize U.S....

Radical Networks in Middle East Prisons By Chris Zambelis Prisons have traditionally been breeding grounds for some of the world's most violent street gangs and organized criminal organizations. The hostile and dangerous environment of prison life inspired the creation of a diverse array of well-organized gangs and networks that thrived behind prison walls in everything from extortion, drug and weapons trafficking, smuggling, gambling and other illicit activities. In a testament to their organizational capacity and reach, many gangs spread to prisons outside of their place of origin and continue to flourish among seasoned members released into the general public. Originally,...

Sinai Bombings Mark Latest in Pattern of Symbolic Attacks in Egypt By Chris Zambelis Last week's deadly explosions at a popular restaurant, café and supermarket frequented by tourists in the Egyptian city of Dahab in the Sinai Peninsula appear to fit the pattern of terrorist attacks targeting Cairo's lucrative tourism infrastructure. As a critical source of income for the country's fledgling economy, radical Islamists have often targeted Egypt's tourist industry in an effort to sow domestic unrest and to undermine the Hosni Mubarak regime. As of now, no individual or organization has claimed responsibility for the bombings, which killed over...

Dr. Paul L. Williams is a former consultant to the FBI on organized crime and terrorism. Since then, he has become an award-winning investigative journalist and written several books. A central point of his latest book, “The Al Qaeda Connection”, is that Osama Bin Laden has obtained nuclear weapons and smuggled them into the US through Mexico with the help of the MS-13 criminal group for use in a plot known as “American Hiroshima.” RM: Much has been written about the "American Hiroshima " report. How did you first learn about the plot? PW: I have a unique background. I...

Remember that day. Remember our fellow Americans who suffered. Remember our resolve as a nation. Remember who did this to us. Remember to cherish your freedom and those who fought to keep us free.

DEBUNKING CINDY SHEEHANHEAR ABE LINCOLN/JOHNNY CASH + PBS' NEIL CONANby Mia T, 8.31.05 (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE)   "You tell me the truth. You tell me that my son died for oil. You tell me that my son died to make your friends rich. You tell me my son died to spread the cancer of Pax Americana, imperialism in the Middle East."--Cindy Sheehan "And if you think I won't say bulls**t to the President, I say move on, cause I'll say what's on my mind."--Cindy Sheehan   The trusty triad's half-truths, exaggerations and outright lies,...

Sami al-Arian, the Florida professor accused of leading a Palestinian terrorist group, will try to embarrass the U.S. government at his trial by revealing his numerous White House meetings with high-level figures in both the Clinton and Bush administrations, according to court records reported by Newsweek. Al-Arian, a former computer science professor at the University of South Florida, goes on trial next month on charges that he served as a secret leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group in the State Department's list of terrorist organizations. U.S. officials say PIJ is responsible for numerous deadly suicide attacks against Israelis and...

Cover UpBy Jamie GlazovFrontPageMagazine.com | January 27, 2005 Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Peter Lance, a five-time Emmy-winning investigative reporter and author of the bestselling 1000 Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI -- The Untold Story. He is the author of the new book Cover Up: What the Government Is Still Hiding About the War on Terror. FP: Mr. Lance, welcome to Frontpage Interview Lance: Great to be talking with you.FP: What motivated you to write this book? Lance: Cover Up began as an effort to answer the two big unanswered questions left after I had finished 1000...

Interesting article. Only 6 minutes of the video was played on Al Jazeera. They left out the parts where Osama cries in his beer about how they're getting smacked around. http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/33063.htm

NewsMax.com's Fr. Michael Reilly says federal election records show a suspicious link between the Kerry campaign and a controversial fund-raiser for an organization with terrorist ties. As this bitter and partisan election draws to a close, a new bombshell may spell trouble for Senator Kerry. Evidently, he has accepted campaign contributions from the chief fund-raiser for an Albanian terrorist organization known as the Kosovo Liberation Army [KLA, or UCK in Albania]. Story Continues Below According to federal election records, Florin Krasniqi, a KLA fund-raiser who had raised over $30 million for the group, contributed $2,000 to the Kerry campaign this...

NEW YORK - President Bill Clinton has claimed that he can find no connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda. The former President made this assertion despite his own Justice Department citing just such a connection. Clinton made the comments on the 'Today' show with Katie Couric. He asserted "All I can tell you is...I never saw it (the connection between Al Qaeda in Iraq)". But according to a report filed by his own justice department dating back to 1998 just such a connection was cited. And it was cited in an actual indictment of Osama bin Ladin. From the indictment's...

NEW YORK - CBS News has "ratcheted up" the claim that President Clinton had never had the opportunity to capture Osama bin Ladin. In a portion of the taped interview with CBS anchor Dan Rather for Sunday's 60 Minutes telecast the former President supposedly referred to the idea of having had a chance to have Osama bin Ladin turned over to him from the Sudanese as "total bull." This statement was then edited out of the Sunday night broadcast. On Monday evening Dan Rather aired some of the additional footage where Clinton further denied any opportunity to have detained or...

Mar 20, 20031,000 U.S. Troops Sweep Into Southern Afghanistan in New Hunt for Al-Qaida SuspectsBy Jamey KeatenAssociated Press Writer BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) - About 1,000 U.S. troops and attack helicopters swept into villages in southern Afghanistan Thursday in a new military operation to flush out remaining al-Qaida terrorists and their allies, an Army spokesman said. The operation, code-named "Valiant Strike," began with an early morning air assault assisted by a ground convoy in the remote, mountainous area of southern Kandahar province, Col. Roger King told reporters. It was a coincidence that the operation began at the same time as...

Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in contributing. Osama Bin Laden must be elated, even if he is on the run. Al-Qaeda, his brainchild, was created with a rather simple goal in mind - to expel American forces from his former homeland, Saudi Arabia, stationed there since the end of the first Gulf War in 1991. In that quest, al-Qaeda gained notoriety by taking on the United States with the epic attacks on US soil, galvanizing radical and extremist elements in many parts...

Bin Laden Sends Greetings to D.C. Protesters? A representative from a Muslim advocacy group offered greetings to tens of thousands of anti-war protesters gathered in Washington, D.C. on Saturday in the name of the "Mujahadeen," a term that has come to be closely associated with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network. Dr. Ghazi Khaksan, of the Council on American Islamic Relations, took to the podium near the end of the rally to read a poem packed with criticism of the Bush administration. "Tell Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Tony Blair to stop colonizing Middle East oil through blood and warfare,"...

Middle East THE ROVING EYE Part 1: The Saudi equation DUBAI - There are few more privileged places to gauge popular opinion on the American jihad against Iraq than this gargantuan emporium - one of the world's definitive crossroads. Lebanese still dream of their golden days, but after the devastating Lebanese civil war, it was Dubai that eventually prevailed as the late 20th century, and now 21st century, high-tech equivalent of Venice in the 15th, or Amsterdam in the 17th. Fly and buy. Anything. Universal commerce. A WTO dream come true. This is a vortex that feeds a much larger...

Tuesday July 2, 2002; 11:12 p.m. EDT U.S. Sudan Ambassador Confirms Clinton Snubbed Bin Laden Deal Former ambassador to the Sudan Tim Carney confirmed Tuesday night that the Clinton administration refused an offer from the Sudanese government to hand over terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden in the late 1990's - directly contradicting former Clinton administration officials who have attacked the story as baseless. "In fact, what was offered (by the Sudanese) was to expel bin Laden to Saudi Arabia and the Saudis, because he was such a hot potato, simply refused to handle him," Carney told Fox News Channel's...

Do you remember those $3.5 million government ads that ran during the Super Bowl-the ones linking drug use with terrorism? "Timmy," a somber-looking teenager, stared at the camera and said: "I killed mothers. I killed fathers. I killed grandmas. I killed grandpas. I killed sons. I killed daughters. I killed firemen. I killed policemen." A stark, guilt-laden message from the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy flashed during a brief pause: "DRUG MONEY SUPPORTS TERRORISM. IF YOU BUY DRUGS, YOU MIGHT TOO." Then, Timmy added: "Technically, I didn't kill these people. I just kind of helped." Well, now it's...