According to a recent WikiLeaks dump, if harm came to bin Laden, the West would be subjected to a “nuclear hellstorm.”
Bin Laden: If Ever We Wanted to Bring ‘Em Back Alive
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Terrorism
WikiLeaks: Double Agent Bin Hamlili Double-Crossed the Taliban and the West
WikiLeaks reveals that not only was the murderous Adil Bin Hamlili a double agent for the Taliban and the West, but he double-crossed them.
Review: After 9/11
In After 9/11: Leading Political Thinkers about the World, the U.S. and Themselves, researcher Tobias Endler explores the role and aspirations of public intellectuals and how they reach out to their preferred audiences.
WikiLeaks: Zubaydah Not Certified al Qaeda, Just Plain “Certifiable”
Though Abu Zubaydah was rejected by al Qaeda and is mentally ill, he’s been detained at Guantanamo for nine years with no plans to review his case.
Time to Sever the Saudi Ties That Bind
It would be nice to see America expand its cache of good will cache to enhance our diplomatic — as opposed to military — capital.
The Undead Chicken
Muammar Gaddafi is the undead chicken. Bashar al-Assad of Syria and King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain are the unscared monkeys. The United States has shaped its policy toward the evolving situation in the Middle East according to the Chinese proverb of “killing the chicken to scare the monkey.” The Obama administration has intervened in the conflict in Libya with the apparent goal of punishing Gaddafi for cracking down on the emerging protest movement back in February. This intervention was designed to send a message to other autocrats in the region: don’t fire on your unarmed opposition — or else. But the United States and its allies are having problems with the “or else” part of the equation.
Al Qaeda Has Its Own “Superusers” and “Badges”
Al Qaeda uses the same web gimmicks as games and social networks to rally its base.
Letter from Maguindanao
Outside the old municipal hall of Datu Piang, in the conflict-torn province of Maguindanao in southern Philippines, Lieutenant Colonel Benedict Arevalo stood on the riverbank and pointed to the marshland and hills. There, he said, was the Muslim rebels’ stronghold. In late October, the monsoon rains had swollen the river, cutting off Datu Piang’s bridge from the road on the other side. A marshy field with a lone hut, banana shrubs, and a derelict mosque lay directly across from where Arevalo stood briefing journalists on developments on the Philippine Army’s battle with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. “This is lawlessness,” he said.
Rights Groups Deplore Order to Try 9/11 Suspects at Guantanamo
U.S. human rights groups reacted angrily to the Justice Department’s announcement Monday that the self-acclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on Lower Manhattan and the Pentagon will be tried before a military commission at the Guantanamo detention facility in Cuba.
U.S.-Algeria Counterterrorism Partnership a Marriage of Convenience
Algeria was able to extend its influence over its southern neighbors. The U.S. was able to “piggyback” on Algeria’s concerns, real and imagined, to create a security network extending from Algeria to Nigeria.