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Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

The Minneapolis student arrested as a material witness in a terrorism investigation last month has been charged by a Minneapolis federal grand jury with conspiracy to provide material support to Al-Qaida. A one-page indictment unsealed Wednesday gives no details about what the government suspects Mohammed Warsame of doing except to say that Warsame, who also went by the names Abu Maryam and Abu Zaynab, conspired starting no later than March 2000 through December 8, 2003. An affidavit released in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York says Warsame told FBI agents on Dec. 8 that he...

Israel’s largest daily newspaper on Tuesday published photographs of a synagogue in a former Jewish town in Gaza that has now been transformed into a Hamas training center. Where Jews once worshipped God, Islamic terrorists now rehearse the murder and abduction of Israelis, reported Yediot Ahronot. In the run-up to the 2005 forced evacuation of Gaza’s Jewish population, Israel wrestled over what to do with synagogues and other public buildings in the 21 Jewish communities across the coastal territory.

US intelligence officials fear al-Qaeda currently training white Europeans in Pakistani camps to carry out terror attacks in Europe, North America. Intelligence director: Europeans can enter US without passport, blend in more easily

At least 20 Hizbullah fighters have been killed during military training in Iran, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Watan reported Thursday evening, quoting the Director General of the Islamic Union in Lebanon, Muhammad Ali Husseini The Lebanese official did not say exactly how the fighters were killed, but he made clear that "Hizbullah regards those killed while training in Iran as holy ones who died fulfilling their duties, and this concerns not only Shi'ites, but also Sunnis who are loyal to Hizbullah." "The training in Iran lies at the heart of our connections with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard", said Husseini, who added...

March 31, 2008 Group Tied to Pakistani Terrorist to Parade in Binghamton, NY Instead of those plastic toy swords sold at normal parades, they will be selling replicas of the one used by Mohammed to behead infidels.... The city of Binghamton, New York granted a group with ties to Islamic terrorist Sheikh Mubarek Ali Gilani a permit to publicly celebrate Milad-un-Nabi, or Muhammed’s birthday, in the streets of Binghamton this Saturday. The Muslims of the Americas (MOA), the name used by Jamaat ul Fuqra, or “Community of the Impoverished,” was issued a permit for a public celebration that includes a...

A controversy that shouldn't exist. McCain was mocked by Democrats when he said Iran is supporting Al-Qaeda, that Iran would not as Iran is shia and Al-Qaeda sunni. That's a nonsense. Terrorist groups and states don't care about those things. They primarily gather to survive. The US used jihadists. The Sunni Syria is supporting Shia Hezbullah. Here is an excerpt of the arabic press, reported by Iraqi Omar on his blog Iraq the model, showing ties between Iran and Al-Qaeda : According to this report from Azzaman, Iran's revolutionary guard corps is supplying Zarqawi's al-Qaeda in Iraq with Russian-made anti-aircraft...

Some bloggers are jumping all over Senator John McCain for his supposed "gaffe" today. According to The Trail, a blog over at the Washington Post, McCain said that Iranian operatives were "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back." He elaborated by saying it was "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate." Senator John Lieberman apparently then whispered something in McCain’s ear, prompting McCain to take it back: "I'm sorry, the Iranians...

AMMAN, Jordan - Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting, mistakenly said Tuesday that Iran was allowing al-Qaida fighters into the country to be trained and returned to Iraq. McCain, expressing concern about Iran's rising sway in the Mideast, said, "Al-Qaida is going back into Iran and is receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran." He made the comments Tuesday at a news conference in Jordan; he made similar comments earlier to radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt. Iran is a predominantly Shiite Muslim country and has been at pains to close its borders to al-Qaida fighters...

Hamas says its fighters train in Iran Senior Hamas commander admits in interview to Sunday Times some 300 men have already been trained by Revolutionary Guards Ynetnews Published: 03.09.08 Israel News A senior Hamas commander has admitted in an interview to the British Sunday Times that the group's operatives have been training in Iran alongside Revolutionary Guard forces. The commander told the Times that 300 of Hamas' fighters have been sent to Iran, and that about half are still being trained there. An overall of seven separate groups of militants have spent time there since 2005, he added. The commander...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Most terrorist trails lead back to Pakistan, Britain's MI5 (internal intelligence service) concluded a year ago. An average of some 400,000 Pakistani Brits a year fly back to the old country for vacation or to visit their relatives. From the airports in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, where they land, side trips to the madrasas -- Koranic schools -- where they were originally radicalized, or to a terrorist training camp in the tribal areas that straddle the Pakistani-Afghan border, go undetected. There is no way to keep track of thousands of passengers arriving from the United...

In a small windowless cell lit by a single light bulb, Louai al-Sakka sits isolated from the world and fellow inmates for 24 hours a day. His concrete box is in the bowels of Kandira, a high-security F-type prison 60 miles east of Istanbul, which was built to house Turkey's most dangerous criminals. The prison has been criticised by human right groups such as Amnesty International. The guards control everything, including the cell's light switch. Sakka's only visitor is Osman Karahan, a lawyer who shares his fervent support for militant Islamic jihad. Since being convicted as an Al-Qaeda bomb plotter...

See the disturbing video that shows Muslim extremists training at al Qaeda camp in the Lake DistrictBy JAYA NARAIN - More by this author » Last updated at 21:50pm on 21st November 2007A Muslim extremist took part in a campaign to recruit and train "jihadists" after flying to Britain posing as a student. Pakistani-born Abdul Rahman, 25, arrived in the UK on a student visa, but spent just one day at university before dropping out. He then joined up with a gang of radical young Muslims who aimed to scout, recruit and encourage others to take up arms in...

It was an occasion for tears and celebration as the Knights of Martyrdom proclaimed on video: “Our brother Turki fell during the rays of dawn, covered in blood after he was hit by the bullets of the infidels, following in the path of his brother.” The flowery language could not disguise the brutal truth that a Saudi family had lost two sons fighting for Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The elder brother, Khaled, had been a deputy commander of a crack jihadist “special forces” unit. After his “glorious” death, Turki took his place. “He was deeply affected by the martyrdom of his...

LAHORE: An increasing number of militants from Europe are travelling to Pakistan to train and plot attacks on the West, European and US anti-terrorism officials say, according to a report in the LA Times. “There have always been people going to Pakistan, but it is more frequent now,” said a senior French intelligence official who, like others interviewed for the report, spoke on condition of anonymity. “There is a return. It is a cycle ... And you have the attractive phenomenon that all the big chiefs of Al Qaeda are there.” “The emerging route, illuminated by alleged bomb plots dismantled...

Man admits encouraging terror attacksA man today admitted soliciting murder in connection with an alleged plot to organise terrorist training camps across the UK.

Second N.Y. Terror Suspect Pleads Guilty By CAROLYN THOMPSON .c The Associated Press BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - A second of six Yemeni-American men accused of training at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks pleaded guilty Monday to charges he supported al-Qaida. Shafal Mosed, 24, entered the plea to a charge of knowingly and unlawfully providing and attempting to provide material resources to a foreign terrorist organization, namely al-Qaida. Under a plea deal, he agreed to cooperate with investigators. In exchange, prosecutors dropped one charge and agreed to seek a lighter sentence of eight years....

KABUL (AP) - More than 80 per cent of suicide bombers in Afghanistan are recruited and trained in neighbouring Pakistan, the United Nations said in a report Sunday that showed attacks running at record levels this year. Most of the suicide bombers carrying out attacks are poor, young and uneducated, and many are Afghan nationals, according to the report, which was based on interviews with failed attackers, other militants and security officials. But the report also stressed the role of refugee camps and Islamic schools in the tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan in the recruitment and training of the bombers....

Lebanon's Hizbullah has trained Shiite fighters from Iraq in advanced guerrilla warfare tactics, according to Mehdi army fighters who have been confronting British forces in the south of the country. Members of Muqtada al-Sadr's militia told The Independent they had received instruction from from Hizbullah. One Iraqi militiaman, named only as Abu Muhannad, said he had spent a month in Southern Lebanon. "I was one of the experienced fighters from the Mehdi army to go for training there," he said. "We learned how to take advantage of an armoured vehicle's weakness, and how to wait and kill the soldiers who...

For those counting, this is at least the sixth confirmation of this. ABC News led the way with three reports from captured AQ and captured IIS guys immediately after the invasion. (h/t Amy Proctor) The political rhetoric says that these camps were not in Saddam's Iraq but in the Kurdish north. What that ignores is that the camps were certainly not at all allied with the Kurds, but against them, and were acting with Saddam's help. Politicians often try to point to Senate Intelligence Committee reports claiming there were no ties etc., but these reports are: 1. Political reports not...

Situated within a dense forest at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains on the outskirts of Hancock, New York, Islamberg is not an ideal place for a summer vacation unless, of course, you are an exponent of the Jihad or a fan of Osama bin Laden. The 70 acre complex is surrounded with “No trespassing” signs; the rocky terrain is infested with rattlesnakes; and the woods are home to black bears, coyotes, wolves, and a few bobcats. The entrance to the community is at the bottom of a very steep hill that is difficult to navigate even on a bright...

HOUSTON --A U.S. citizen accused of working alongside al-Qaida members pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge of receiving training from a foreign terrorist organization, authorities said. During a court hearing, Daniel Joseph Maldonado, 28, a Muslim convert who grew up in New Hampshire and was also known as Daniel Aljughaifi and Abu Mohammed, admitted to traveling in December to a terrorist camp in Somalia, where he was trained to use firearms and explosives in an effort to help the Islamic Courts Union topple the government and install an Islamic state. Members of al-Qaida were present at the camp.

"A 39-year-old Swede accused of terrorism by the United States has been arrested in Prague, Swedish tabloid Expressen reported on Tuesday. The man, who was not identified, is wanted by the US CIA spy agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which accuse him of being terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden's "man in Sweden", Expressen wrote. The US has tried to obtain his extradition for several years, accusing him of setting up Al Qaeda training camps in the US state of Oregon in 1999, but Sweden has refused to hand him over, the paper said. The man was on a...

LONDON - Four men arrested on suspicion of organizing terrorist training camps in Britain were tracked by Spanish investigators earlier this year as they traveled through Spain from France en route to North Africa, officials said Monday. The statement from Spain's interior ministry was the first public indication of an international link to the probe, which led to the arrests late Friday and early Saturday of 14 people suspected of training and recruiting for terror attacks. British prosecutors, meanwhile, said eight other people allegedly involved in a separate plot to blow up U.S.-bound aircraft are unlikely to be brought to...

Abu Hamza, the militant, London-based Muslim cleric, maintained close contact with the leadership of al-Qa'eda during the years when it operated a worldwide terrorist network from Afghanistan, according to FBI files. Documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph state that Hamza, the former imam of Finsbury Park mosque, north London, dealt personally with Abu Zubeidah, Osama bin Laden's director of operations. Zubeidah, a Palestinian who is now in US custody, communicated bin Laden's instructions and messages from his hideout in Afghanistan to al-Qa'eda cells around the world. Hamza had the power to refer recruits to Zubeidah for "leadership training" in Afghan...

By now you have probably heard of how Al Qaeda is celebrating the fifth anniversary of 9/11 by releasing previously unaired video of Bin Laden's meeting and preparations with some of the hijackers.Here Aljazeera, which has aired some of the footage, provides some more information about the video's contents -- including some surprising details which our one party media will surely ignore: Al-Qaeda video takes credit for 9/11 Friday 08 September 2006A new videotape aired on Aljazeera television has shown Osama bin Laden and senior al-Qaeda members meeting some of the men who carried out the September 11 attacks against the...

A Muslim school in the Sussex countryside being searched by more than 100 police officers was first reported to the Government as being a suspected training camp for terrorists more than seven years ago. Police in East Sussex Police officers search the 54 acres of grounds surrounding the Jameah Islamiyah school in Mark Cross, East Sussex Police descended on Jameah Islamiyah at Mark Cross over the weekend and their searches are expected to last days, if not weeks. Although there is no suggestion that either the owner or his staff knew of any illegal activities going on at the 54-acre...

Witnesses in Somalia say the country's Islamist movement has begun training some 600 newly-recruited fighters. The training course began Tuesday at a camp in Hiilweyne, north of the capital, Mogadishu. Somali news outlets say the recruits will receive instruction in combat and Islamic teachings. Most of the recruits are said to be militiamen who recently left various Somali factions and warlords to join the increasingly-powerful Islamists. The camp opened amid reports that more Ethiopian troops have entered Somali territory. Witnesses say an Ethiopian convoy arrived Monday in the central Somali town of Galkayo. Ethiopia denies its troops are in Somalia...

Al Qaeda's training camps are back in business - and the terrorists are advertising them with slick new videos. The imagery is familiar to anyone who has seen grainy footage of masked Al Qaeda recruits in Afghan terror camps learning how to maim and assassinate. A gunman aiming at a paper target squeezes the trigger of an AK-47. Thugs in black ski masks and woodland camouflage take turns charging into a concrete building. An Arab in a kaffiyeh adjusts a crouching shooter's aim as he fires a pistol. "A Muslim should prepare himself ... until he reaches the highest knowledge...

Once again, the road to terror runs through Pakistan. Despite Islamabad's claims to have played a crucial role helping Britain uncover a plan to blow up airliners flying to the United States, Pakistan remains a breeding ground for terror and is the most likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden. Terror groups operating out of Pakistan may already have taken over al-Qaeda's functions in a global terror network. Operating virtually unmolested under dozens of different identities, they are recruiting, radicalizing and training young militants for future attacks on Western targets. As details of a plot to blow up as many...

Those among you who like your skies darkened by black helicopters are invited to mosey on down to the remote Chinese village of Huangyangtan which hosts what must be the strangest military installation ever spotted (http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/484568/page/vc) by the Google Earth Community:Zooming in for a closer look, we have what appears to be a 900x700m scale model of a mountainous landscape......complete with lakes, valleys and snow-capped peaks:Truly bizarre. Google Earth aficionados can examine the evidence for themselves here (http://regmedia.co.uk/2006/07/19/huangyangtan.kmz) (.kmz) while wondering what on Earth, or where on Earth for that matter, this remarkable landscaping project is. Don't, however, spend...

Terror suspect linked to Afghan assassination October 28, 2003 - 9:11AM A Frenchman under investigation in Australia and France for possible terrorist activities was also suspected of links to the assassination of an Afghan leader, authorities said. Willie Virgile Brigitte, 35, is in custody in a Paris area jail where he is being held on suspicion of association with a terror group, French police and justice officials said. Investigations are under way in France and Australia into Brigitte's alleged links to the al-Qaeda terror network, French officials said today. A judicial official said that Brigitte was also suspected of running...

Assem Hammoud, 31, the architect of a plan to bomb New York tunnels, was trained and directed by Al Qaida to strike by the end of this year, U.S. and Lebanese officials said. "Security forces were able to track e-mails and conversations on an extremist Islamic website used to recruit terrorists," the Lebanese Internal Security Forces said in a statement. Hammoud, nicknamed the "Andalusian prince" in an apparent reference to Islamic emirs who once ruled Spain, was trained in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein Hilwe near Sidon, the ISF statement said. Ein Hilwe has long been a hotbed of...

Federal law enforcement officials tell ABC News a plot designed to use 15 to 20 suicide bombers on one commuter train as close to Sept. 11 as possible was well underway. The specific target was the PATH commuter trains that run in a tunnel under the Hudson River into New York City. "This is a plot that would have involved martyrdom, explosives and certain of the tubes that connect New Jersey with lower Manhattan," said Mark Mershon, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI New York Field Office. "We're not discussing the modality behind, beyond that." But law enforcement officials say the...

The value of Ray Robinson's recent piece for FOXNews.com can be understood better by reviewing other events from the same time period that are available through public relevant sources. Much is known about Iraq’s motives and position at the time. Particularly, in 1998-99, Iraq was the subject of ongoing international attempts to inspect the country for WMD’s and the U.S. State Dept. and others revealed that internal and external pressures had laid the foundation for Iraq’s desire to rebuild its international terrorist infrastructure. The topic of Iraq’s motivations is a topic and article unto itself, so for now I will...

A group of Canadian teenagers and young men in their 20s, accused by police of being members of a suspected homegrown terrorist cell, will appear in court this morning to face accusations that they plotted to attack Canadian targets, the Toronto Star has learned. Some members of the group allegedly attended a "training camp" north of the city where they made a video imitating military warfare, and the suspects allegedly had acquired weapons and listed targets in Ontario, sources told the Star. Led by the RCMP's anti-terrorism task force, more than 400 police officers from across Ontario made the series...

Do we have hard evidence that Salman Pak was used for terrorist training?

A mistrial was declared Tuesday in the federal terrorism trial of a Lodi man charged with lying to protect his son, who authorities say attended an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan. The announcement came one day after the jury told U.S. District Court Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. that it could not reach a unanimous decision. "Their jury declared that it was hopelessly deadlocked this morning," deputy court clerk Carol Davis said. Burrell questioned each member of the jury and then discharged them, she said. Umer Hayat, a 48-year-old ice cream vendor, is charged with lying to FBI agents about...

Document ISGQ-2004-00060580 is a memo that contains a direct order form Saddam Hussein in the middle of the war asking to treat the Arab Feedayeen i.e. the non Iraqi Foreign Arab Terrorists as equal as the Iraqi soldier in salary and benefits and not just any soldier but like those in the Special Forces. These are the same Arab terrorists who stayed in Iraq after the removal of the regime and caused those horrible attacks mostly on innocent civilians. This document is a follow on another document where the Iraqi were training Foreign Arab terrorist since the year 2000 (please...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A lead FBI agent on Tuesday linked two local Muslim clerics to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, contending the two were planning to set up a school near Lodi that would breed anti-American terrorism. The agent testified that Lodi clerics Shabbir Ahmed and Mohammed Adil Khan were prepared to relay information on terrorist plots from sources close to bin Laden. The allegations were dismissed by Ahmed's lawyer, who said the FBI and federal prosecutors have "made the whole thing up." The striking allegations came during an immigration hearing for Ahmed at which Immigration Judge Anthony Murry...

NEW DELHI: US President George W Bush has said he would raise the issue of dismantling terrorist training camps during his talks with President Pervez Musharraf when he travels to Pakistan from India next week. "On my trip to Pakistan, I will of course talk about terrorist activities, the need to dismantle terrorist training camps and the need to protect innocent human lives," Bush, who arrives here on March one on a three-day visit to India, told Doordarshan. Noting that US relations with India and Pakistan were at an 'interesting moment', he said "there was a (time) when America was...

Probe finds terrorists in U.S. 'training for war' Neighbors of Muslim encampment fear retaliation if they report to police The Pakistani terrorist group Jamaat ul Fuqra is using Islamic schools in the United States as training facilities, confirms a joint investigative report by an intelligence think tank and an independent reporter. A covert visit to an encampment in the Catskill Mountains near Hancock, N.Y., called "Islamberg" found neighboring residents deeply concerned about military-style training taking place there but frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities, said the report by the Northeast Intelligence Network, which worked with an Internet...

Camps and operations of Kashmiri terrorist outfits working out of Pakistan "will have to be closed down," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia designate Richard Boucher said on Thursday, asserting that President Pervez Musharraf should change the course of his country as he had decided following 9/11 attacks on US. Asked during his Senate confirmation hearing about Kashmiri terror outfits operating out of Pakistan, Boucher said Washington had "again and again made clear that the Line of Control has to be respected and camps and operations will have to be closed down." Boucher was responding to questions...

http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/site/modules/news/article.php?storyid=88 13 February 2006: “We see children – small children run around over there when they should be in school. We hear bursts of gunfire all of the time, and we know that there is military like training going on there. Those people are armed and dangerous. We get nothing but menacing looks from the people who go in and out of the camp, and sometime they yell at us to mind our own business when we are just driving by. We don’t even dare to slow down when we drive by. They own this mountain and they know it,...

A Malaysian pilot recruited by al-Qaeda to fly a hijacked airliner into the tallest building on the US West Coast pulled out of the plot when he realised it was a suicide mission, security officials in South-East Asia said today. Further details emerged of the plan to target the iconic 73-storey US Bank Building in Los Angeles, revealed by President Bush yesterday in an address to rally support for the War on Terror. Terrorism experts in Malaysia said that Zaini Zakaria, an engineer, was among three men being trained to launch the planned second-wave of Osama bin Laden's assault on...

January 20, 2006: American troops in Iraq are seeing increasing evidence of professional training being provided to the terrorists and anti-government forces they face. Some ambushes are carried out with precision and planning that is very uncharacteristic of the Iraqis, even the elite professional troops that used to serve Saddam. Enemy snipers are becoming more effective, by using discipline and professional techniques. For over a year, there have been rumors of secret al Qaeda training camps in Iraq. Some evidence of this was found during the sweeps of western Iraq over the last six months. But interrogations of thousands of...

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend Version January 13, 2006, 8:11 a.m. The Butcher with the Terror Ties The evidence mounts. Drip, drip, drip. Drop by drop, isolated news stories and emerging documents are eroding the popular myth that Saddam Hussein had no connections to Islamofascist terrorists. These revelations undermine war critics’ efforts to whitewash Baghdad’s ancien regime — such as when Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid declared: “There was [sic] no terrorists in Iraq.” Likewise, Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.) describes a “nonexistent relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.” Reid, Levin, and others who dismiss...

Brescia and Naples, 18 Nov. (AKI) - The three Algerians detained on Tuesday in the Italian cities of Brescia and Naples were planning a massive terror attack - "on a ship as big as the Titanic, packed with explosives" - that aimed to kill "at least 10,000 people", as well as an attack on "Italian citizens and interests" in Tunisia, according phone conversations between the three men, which Italian anti-terror police say they intercepted after al-Qaeda's deadly 7 July attacks on London and on the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. In their tapped phone conversations, Yamine Bouhrama, Mohamed...

THE FORMER IRAQI REGIME OF Saddam Hussein trained thousands of radical Islamic terrorists from the region at camps in Iraq over the four years immediately preceding the U.S. invasion, according to documents and photographs recovered by the U.S. military in postwar Iraq. The existence and character of these documents has been confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD by eleven U.S. government officials. The secret training took place primarily at three camps--in Samarra, Ramadi, and Salman Pak--and was directed by elite Iraqi military units. Interviews by U.S. government interrogators with Iraqi regime officials and military leaders corroborate the documentary evidence. Many of...