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June 13, 2010 Reflections on Brian Michael Jenkins’ ‘Would-Be Warriors’ Recently RAND released a new paper by Brian Michael Jenkins entitled Would-Be Warriors: Incidents of Terrorist Radicalization in the United States Since September 11, 2001. The paper constitutes... June 12, 2010 Please, No More ‘Arc of History’ When Barack Obama finally piped up last year about the massive protests following the rigged June 12 presidential election in Iran, he quoted Martin Luther King Jr.: “The arc of the moral u... June 12, 2010 Iran’s Revolution Has Only Just Begun Today is the first anniversary of the fraudulent election that kept President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power, igniting huge demonstrations all over Iran. At the time, very few outside observers bel... June 11, 2010 US kills 14 in 2 strikes in North Waziristan The US struck Taliban targets in two separate villages in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency late Thursday night and Friday. The US has carried out three airstrikes in Pakistan in the past 24 hours. Unmanned Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired missiles at Taliban safe houses in the villages of Bahadar Khel and Khaddi, killing 14 terrorists. Eleven were killed in the attack on Bahadar Khel and three more in the strike in Khaddi, according to a report published in Dawn. Three "foreigners," a term used by Pakistani officials to describe Arab or Central Asian al Qaeda fighters, were killed in Bahadar Khel and two more were killed in Khaddi. The identity of those killed is not yet known, and no senior al Qaeda or Taliban leaders have been reported killed at this time. The strikes took place in a region administered by North Waziristan Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadar. Al Qaeda and allied Pakistani and Central Asian jihadist groups shelter in Bahadar's tribal areas, and they also run training camps and safe houses in the region. Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on Bahadar or the Haqqani Network, a deadly Taliban group that is closely allied with al Qaeda. Bahadar and the Haqqanis are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan. Some of al Qaeda's most senior leaders have been killed in Bahadar's tribal areas. Most recently, on May 21, a US strike in North Waziristan killed Mustafa Abu Yazid, one of al Qaeda's top leaders, and the most senior al Qaeda leader to have been killed in the US air campaign in Pakistan to date. Yazid served as the leader of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and the wider Khorasan, and more importantly, as al Qaeda's top financier, which put him in charge of the terror group's purse strings. He served on al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or top decision-making council. Yazid also was closely allied with the Taliban and advocated the program of embedding small al Qaeda teams with Taliban forces in Afghanistan. Background on US strikes in Pakistan The latest two strikes are the second and third reported inside Pakistan this month. All three strikes have taken place over the past 24 hours. Yesterday, the US hit a Taliban compound in the town of Norak in North Waziristan, killing three terrorists. So far this year, the US has carried out 41 strikes in Pakistan; all but two of them have taken place in North Waziristan. The US is well on its way to exceeding last year' s strike total in Pakistan. In 2009, the US carried out 53 strikes in Pakistan; and in 2008, the US carried out 36 strikes in the country. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, "Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010."] Over the past several months, unmanned US Predator and Reaper strike aircraft have been pounding Taliban and al Qaeda hideouts in North Waziristan, and have also struck at targets in South Waziristan and Khyber, in an effort to kill senior terror leaders and disrupt the networks that threaten Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the West. [For more information, see LWJ report, "Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010."] A top terrorist leader claimed that the US program had been crippled. In early April, Siraj Haqqani, the leader of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network, said that the effectiveness of US airstrikes in killing senior Taliban and al Qaeda leaders had 'decreased 90 percent" since the suicide attack on Combat Outpost Chapman. While other factors may be involved in the decreased effectiveness in killing the top-tier leaders, an analysis of the data shows that only three top-tier commanders have been killed since Jan 1, 2010, but seven top-tier leaders were killed between Aug. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2009. [See LWJ report, "Effectiveness of US strikes in Pakistan 'decreased 90 percent' since suicide strike on CIA - Siraj Haqqani," for more information.] For the past few months, most US and Pakistani officials believed that Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, had been killed in a Jan. 14 strike in Pasalkot in North Waziristan. But recently, after four months of silence on the subject, the Taliban released two tapes to prove that Hakeemullah is alive. On the tapes, Hakeemullah said the Taliban will carry out attacks inside the US. US strikes in Pakistan in 2010: ' US kills 14 in 2 strikes in North Waziristan June 11, 2010 ' US Predator strike kills 3 in North Waziristan June 10, 2010 ' US kills 11 in Predator strike in South Waziristan May 28, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 6 in North Waziristan May 21, 2010 ' US Predators carry out first strike in Khyber May 15, 2010 ' US pounds Taliban in pair of strikes in North Waziristan May 11, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 10 'rebels' in North Waziristan May 9, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 4 'militants' in North Waziristan May 3, 2010 ' US strike kills 8 Taliban in North Waziristan April 26, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 7 Taliban in North Waziristan April 24, 2010 ' US strikes kill 6 in North Waziristan April 16, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan April 14, 2010 ' US strike kills 5 Taliban in North Waziristan April 12, 2010 ' US strikes kill 6 in North Waziristan March 30, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan March 27, 2010 ' US kills 6 in strike against Haqqani Network March 23, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan March 21, 2010 ' US kills 8 terrorists in 2 new airstrikes in North Waziristan March 17, 2010 ' US Predator strike in North Waziristan kills 11 Taliban, al Qaeda March 16, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 12 in North Waziristan March 10, 2010 ' US airstrike in North Waziristan kills 5 Taliban fighters March 8, 2010 ' US hits Haqqani Network in North Waziristan, kills 8 Feb. 24, 2010 ' US airstrikes target Haqqani Network in North Waziristan Feb. 18, 2010 ' Latest US airstrike kills 3 in North Waziristan Feb. 17, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan Feb. 15, 2010 ' US strikes training camp in North Waziristan Feb. 14, 2010 ' Predators pound terrorist camp in North Waziristan Feb. 2, 2010 ' US airstrike targets Haqqani Network in North Waziristan Jan. 29, 2010 ' US airstrike in North Waziristan kills 6 Jan. 19, 2010 ' Latest US airstrike in Pakistan kills 20 Jan. 17, 2010 ' US strikes kill 11 in North Waziristan Jan. 15, 2010 ' US airstrike hits Taliban camp in North Waziristan Jan. 14, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 4 Taliban fighters in North Waziristan Jan. 9, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 5 in North Waziristan Jan. 8, 2010 ' US kills 17 in latest North Waziristan strike Jan. 6, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 2 Taliban fighters in Mir Ali in Pakistan Jan. 3, 2010 ' US kills 3 Taliban in second strike in North Waziristan Jan. 1, 2010 June 11, 2010 The Grand Jihad — New York Times Bestseller We learned yesterday that The Grand Jihad is a New York Times bestseller. It is no. 18 on the nonfiction list for the week ending June 5 (meaning the list dated June 20). I'm very grateful f... June 11, 2010 White House Works to Ease Iran Proposal in Congress The Obama administration, which labored for months to impose tough new United Nations sanctions against Iran, now is pushing in the opposite direction against Congress as it crafts U.S. sanctions t... June 11, 2010 Next for the Iran Sanctions: Making Them Actually Bite The Obama administration scored a significant diplomatic success Wednesday when it persuaded the United Nations Security Council to approve new economic sanctions on Iran for failing to curb its nu... June 11, 2010 France Leads Europe With Ban on Hamas TV France became the first European government on Wednesday to order the French-owned satellite station Eutelsat to stop its broadcast of the Hamas Al-Aksa program because of violations against Euro... June 11, 2010 Iran’s Arc Of Injustice When huge protests broke out in Iran over last year's rigged reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, U.S. President Barack Obama had some cool, calm answers. The brutality of Iran'... June 10, 2010 Suicide bomber kills 40 at wedding in Kandahar A Taliban suicide bomber struck at a wedding in a strategic district in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. The suicide bomber detonated as "massive bomb" in the midst of a wedding party. It is unclear if the bomber used a vest or a vehicle to carry out the attack. "Right now I can say that dozens of people were killed and injured in the blast," a senior police official in Kandahar told The Hindu. "It was a suicide bomber that targeted the wedding party." The suicide bomber killed 40 people and wounded 77, according to Xinhua. The groom and several children were among those wounded. The target of the attack is not yet known. According to AFP, the families in attendance support neither the Taliban or the government. Taliban suicide bombers are often recruited and trained in Taliban and al Qaeda camps in Pakistan's lawless tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan. The Taliban have carried out a campaign of assassination and intimidation against tribal leaders and politicians who back the government and Coalition forces. More than 20 senior officials, including the deputy mayor of Kandahar, have been killed by Taliban assassins over the past several months. The attack may be revenge for the killing of two senior Taliban leaders in Kandahar since late May. On May 30, Afghan and Coalition special operations forces killed Mullah Zergay, who led the Taliban in Kandahar City, as well as in the vital districts of Zhari and Arghandab. On May 29, Afghan and Coalition forces killed Haji Amir, who was described as one of the top two Taliban leaders in all of Kandahar province. Kandahar is considered to be the center of the Taliban's power base in Afghanistan. The International Security Assistance Force has placed great emphasis on Kandahar and is deploying the bulk of its forces en route to Afghanistan to the province. President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have said progress in Kandahar and in other key areas in the south, east, and north, must be made by December in order for Western nations to continue flagging support for the war. June 10, 2010 US Predator strike kills 3 in North Waziristan Click to view slide show of the Haqqani Network. Pictured is a composite image of Siraj Haqqani. The US killed three suspected terrorists in the first airstrike in Pakistan's lawless tribal agencies this month. The strike, which was carried out by unmanned Predators or the more deadly Reapers, targeted "a sprawling compound" in the village of Norak in North Waziristan, according to Reuters. It is unclear if the strike targeted al Qaeda, the Taliban, or allied Central Asian terror groups known to operate in the tribal agency. The compound is known to be used by the Taliban. The Taliban have reportedly cordoned off the scene of the attack and are preventing outsiders from observing recovery operations. No senior al Qaeda or Taliban leaders have been reported killed at this time. The town of Norak is in the sphere of influence of the Haqqani Network, a Taliban group led by mujahedeen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj. The Haqqanis are closely allied to al Qaeda and to the Taliban, led by Mullah Omar. The Haqqanis are based on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border. Siraj is the leader the Miramshah Regional Military Shura, one of the Taliban's top four commands; he sits on the Taliban's Quetta Shura; and he is also is a member of al Qaeda's Shura Majlis. The US killed Mohammed Haqqani, one of 12 sons of Jalaluddin Haqqani, in the Feb. 18 airstrike in Danda Darpa Khel just outside of Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan. Mohammed served as a military commander for the Haqqani Network. Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on the Haqqani Network or allied Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadar. The Haqqanis and Bahadar are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan. Today's strike is just the second since Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, called for the CIA to end the attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas. Alston claimed the program is not subject to accountability that would exist under a program run by the US military. Alston's comments follow criticisms of the CIA program earlier this year by the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed a lawsuit against the the Defense Department, the State Department, and the Justice Department, demanding enforcement of its January request for information on the program. The US government has defended the air campaign in Pakistan, and insisted the program is in line with international laws of war and remains accountable to the US Congress. Background on US strikes in Pakistan Today's strike is the first reported inside Pakistan this month. So far this year, the US has carried out 39 strikes in Pakistan; all but two of them have taken place in North Waziristan. An airstrike on May 28 occurred in South Waziristan. Al Qaeda later announced that Osama bin Ali bin Abdullah bin Damjan al Dawsari, a wanted Saudi terrorist, was killed in the strike. The US is well on its way to exceeding last year' s strike total in Pakistan. In 2009, the US carried out 53 strikes in Pakistan; and in 2008, the US carried out 36 strikes in the country. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, "Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010."] Over the past several months, unmanned US Predator and Reaper strike aircraft have been pounding Taliban and al Qaeda hideouts in North Waziristan, and have also struck at targets in South Waziristan and Khyber, in an effort to kill senior terror leaders and disrupt the networks that threaten Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the West. [For more information, see LWJ report, "Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010."] Most recently, on May 21, a US strike in North Waziristan killed Mustafa Abu Yazid, one of al Qaeda's most senior leaders. Yazid served as the leader of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and the wider Khorasan, and more importantly, as al Qaeda's top financier, which put him in charge of the terror group's purse strings. Yazid also was closely allied with the Taliban and advocated the program of embedding small al Qaeda teams with Taliban forces in Afghanistan. Yazid is the most senior al Qaeda leader to have been killed in the US air campaign in Pakistan to date. His death came more than a month after a top terrorist leader claimed that the US program had been crippled. In early April, Siraj Haqqani, the leader of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network, said that the effectiveness of US airstrikes in killing senior Taliban and al Qaeda leaders had 'decreased 90 percent" since the suicide attack on Combat Outpost Chapman. While other factors may be involved in the decreased effectiveness in killing the top-tier leaders, an analysis of the data shows that only three top-tier commanders have been killed since Jan 1, 2010, but seven top-tier leaders were killed between Aug. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2009. [See LWJ report, "Effectiveness of US strikes in Pakistan 'decreased 90 percent' since suicide strike on CIA - Siraj Haqqani," for more information.] For the past few months, most US and Pakistani officials believed that Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, had been killed in a Jan. 14 strike in Pasalkot in North Waziristan. But recently, after four months of silence on the subject, the Taliban released two tapes to prove that Hakeemullah is alive. On the tapes, Hakeemullah said the Taliban will carry out attacks inside the US. US strikes in Pakistan in 2010: ' US Predator strike kills 3 in North Waziristan June 10, 2010 ' US kills 11 in Predator strike in South Waziristan May 28, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 6 in North Waziristan May 21, 2010 ' US Predators carry out first strike in Khyber May 15, 2010 ' US pounds Taliban in pair of strikes in North Waziristan May 11, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 10 'rebels' in North Waziristan May 9, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 4 'militants' in North Waziristan May 3, 2010 ' US strike kills 8 Taliban in North Waziristan April 26, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 7 Taliban in North Waziristan April 24, 2010 ' US strikes kill 6 in North Waziristan April 16, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan April 14, 2010 ' US strike kills 5 Taliban in North Waziristan April 12, 2010 ' US strikes kill 6 in North Waziristan March 30, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan March 27, 2010 ' US kills 6 in strike against Haqqani Network March 23, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan March 21, 2010 ' US kills 8 terrorists in 2 new airstrikes in North Waziristan March 17, 2010 ' US Predator strike in North Waziristan kills 11 Taliban, al Qaeda March 16, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 12 in North Waziristan March 10, 2010 ' US airstrike in North Waziristan kills 5 Taliban fighters March 8, 2010 ' US hits Haqqani Network in North Waziristan, kills 8 Feb. 24, 2010 ' US airstrikes target Haqqani Network in North Waziristan Feb. 18, 2010 ' Latest US airstrike kills 3 in North Waziristan Feb. 17, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan Feb. 15, 2010 ' US strikes training camp in North Waziristan Feb. 14, 2010 ' Predators pound terrorist camp in North Waziristan Feb. 2, 2010 ' US airstrike targets Haqqani Network in North Waziristan Jan. 29, 2010 ' US airstrike in North Waziristan kills 6 Jan. 19, 2010 ' Latest US airstrike in Pakistan kills 20 Jan. 17, 2010 ' US strikes kill 11 in North Waziristan Jan. 15, 2010 ' US airstrike hits Taliban camp in North Waziristan Jan. 14, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 4 Taliban fighters in North Waziristan Jan. 9, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 5 in North Waziristan Jan. 8, 2010 ' US kills 17 in latest North Waziristan strike Jan. 6, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 2 Taliban fighters in Mir Ali in Pakistan Jan. 3, 2010 ' US kills 3 Taliban in second strike in North Waziristan Jan. 1, 2010 June 10, 2010 Re: Coulda Fooled Me Yes, Mark, it is improbable for Erdogan to say "It is not possible for those who belong to the... June 10, 2010 Plug the Sanctions Hole on Iran With a short time left before the U.S. Congress finalizes an energy sanctions bill on Iran, the Iranian regime is already exploiting what could be a gaping loophole in Iran sanctions laws.... June 10, 2010 Disrupt Iran’s Oil Trade, Aid the Green Movement Conventional wisdom has it that imposing harsher energy sanctions on the Iranian regime will have little effect on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ent... June 10, 2010 Beyond Bigotry Israel is at war and were Israel to be defeated much of the world would not shed wet tears. What would happen after such a defeat? No one can seriously doubt that Hamas has genocidal intentions.... June 10, 2010 How Political Artists Do Away With Nations There is nothing more dreary than contemporary art that sets out merely to be provocative when it is in fact conventional and reactionary. A case in point is the Danish artistic group Surrend&#03... June 10, 2010 The Islamic Republic of Sudan? The Sudanese newspaper Rai al-Shaab (Opinion of the People), owned and controlled by Sudanese opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, recently published an article that potentially provides new and i... June 10, 2010 German Jews: Break Gaza Blockade Edith Lutz, a member of a fringe group of anti-Israeli German Jews, announced on Thursday in German radio (Deutschlandradio) that members plan to deliver musical instruments and other goods aboar... June 9, 2010 Hamas Has Been Dealt Blow to its Terrorist TV Station Press Release June 9, 2010 CONTACT: Judy Mayka 202-621-3948 judy@defenddemocracy.org Hamas Has Been Dealt Blow to its Terrorist TV Station Coalition... June 9, 2010 Security Council Approves New Iran Sanctions Press Release June 9, 2010 CONTACT: Judy Mayka 202-621-3948 judy@defenddemocracy.org Security Council Approves New Iran Sanctions Congress Set... June 9, 2010 Well, That Just Bought Iran Another 2 Hours and 54 Minutes’ and Counting At least that’s my rough count of the time elapsed for the meeting at which the United Nations Security Council just passed its fourth sanctions resolution against Iran’s rogue nuclea... June 9, 2010 Taliban destroy NATO supply convoy outside Islamabad View Larger Map The Taliban launched a nighttime attack against a NATO fuel and supply convoy at a terminal just west of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad and its sister garrison city of Rawalpindi. At around midnight last night, a team of heavily armed Taliban fighters, estimated at 15 men, rolled up to the terminal at Tarnol on motorcycles and trucks, then fired RPGs and threw hand grenades and petrol bombs at the parked fuel and supply trucks. The Taliban then laid down fire as rescue teams attempted to put out the blaze at the terminal. "After attacking the convoy and setting the vehicles on fire these terrorists continued to fire indiscriminately to prevent any rescue and relief operation," Inspector General of Islamabad Police Syed Kaleem Imam told Geo News. The firefight was said to have lasted for more than an hour. Eight people, including two drivers, were killed in the attack, while more than 30 NATO fuel and supply trucks were destroyed. Last night's attack comes just five days after warnings emerged that the Taliban would hit NATO terminals in Punjab. On June 4, the government shut down all "unauthorized" NATO terminals in the districts of Mianwali and Attock after intelligence sources warned that the Taliban were actively plotting attack. The proximity of the attack to the capital has sent shockwaves through the Pakistani government; Tarnol is just two miles from the main entrance to Islamabad. Immediately after the attack, security was placed on high alert in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The Taliban attack against the NATO convoy in Tarnol is the latest attack on NATO trucking to occur outside the tribal areas. In 2007 and 2008, the Taliban continually hit NATO supply convoys as they moved through the Khyber Pass in the remote tribal agency of Khyber. More than 700 NATO trucks were destroyed in the fall of 2007 and winter of 2008, and the Khyber Pass was shut down six times during that period. The Khyber Pass is NATO's main conduit for supplies into Afghanistan; more than 70 percent of the supplies move through this strategic crossing point. Since 2008, while the Taliban have continued to attack convoys in Khyber, they have diverted resources to attack NATO convoys in the provinces of Punjab and Baluchistan. Multiple attacks have been recorded in these two provinces since the beginning of 2009. In February 2009, the Punjab government was forced to order the closure of two facilities used by truckers transporting supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan, due to the rising violence. The bold Taliban attack just outside Islamabad and Rawalpindi comes as the central Pakistani government and the provincial government of Punjab have been feuding over the extent of jihadist penetration of the province. Senior Punjabi politicians and clerics have denied that the Taliban and other terror groups are a threat, and some have even stated there is no extremist problem in Punjab. Interior Minister Rehman Malik has backtracked on statements in which he said there was a need to conduct a military operation in Punjab; he later said the problem was one for the police to deal with. Punjab province is the home to tens of thousands of trained terrorists. According to a September 2009 report in Newsline, the district of Bahawalpur, just one of many in Punjab province, "alone could boast of approximately 15,000-20,000 trained militants" from the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and Lashkar-e-Taiba. These terror groups, which have been created and supported by Pakistan's military and religious establishment over the past four decades, are entrenched in Punjab. Many of the members and leaders of these groups now support the Taliban and have organized under the banner of the Movement of the Taliban in Punjab. These so-called Punjabi Taliban train in Pakistan's tribal areas and fight the military there; they also conduct terror attacks and armed assaults against military, police, government, and civilian installations in Pakistan's major cities. In addition, the Punjabi Taliban are closely allied with al Qaeda, as well as with the so-called 'good Taliban' leaders such as Mullah Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadar. The Pakistani government refuses to move against the 'good Taliban' as they do not openly advocate attacking the Pakistani state. June 9, 2010 Re: Hezbollah Stands with Helen Thomas Dan, any word from the Obama administration’s counterterrorism czar, John Brennan, about whether Mr. Moussawi (“Israel is a racist state of murderers and thugs”) is one of those... June 9, 2010 German Nuke Tech Reaching Iran via Dubai BERLIN – Dubai's free trade zones continues to be used to smuggle sophisticated German technology that can be used for Teheran's nuclear program, according to a report in the Sund... June 9, 2010 Security Council Approves New Iran Sanctions Washington, D.C. (June 9, 2010) – The Foundation for Defense of Democracies today applauded the Obama Administration for securing a UN Security Council resolution for a new round of sanctions targeting the Iranian regime's nuclear program. The measure, June 9, 2010 Mr. Obama, Mr. Abbas Does Want the Siege of Gaza to End President Mahmoud Abbas will ask President Obama to convince Israel to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip when the two men meet Wednesday, the Maan News Agency reports. Notwithstanding t... June 8, 2010 Afghan commandos strike at the Taliban in the northwest Map of Afghanistan's provinces. Click map to view larger image. Afghan commandos killed 23 Taliban fighters and captured seven more during a raid last night in a terrorist stronghold in the northwest. The Afghan commandos, backed by Coalition special operations forces, battled the Taliban for 12 hours in the village of Darai Bom in the Balamurghab district in Badghis province. "We received some reports about the presence of Taliban in the area planning to attack government locations, and yesterday night we launched a joint operation with the NATO forces which was a success," Zainuddin Sharifi, a senior Afghan Army commander, told Quqnoos. The Afghan Army commander claimed the Taliban left 23 Taliban bodies on the battlefield. Among them were Mullah Sulaiman and two other local Taliban commanders. Twenty-one Taliban fighters were said to have been wounded during the clash. An unnamed provincial official claimed four Afghan soldiers were killed, but Zainuddin denied the report. The Balamurghab district serves as the Taliban's main operations hub for northwestern Afghanistan. Taliban commanders in Badghis have claimed to have 74 bases scattered throughout the Balamurghab district alone. Both Balamurghab and the neighboring district of Ghormach are considered to be under Taliban control. US, Spanish, and Afghan forces now maintain a presence in the Balamurghab district at Forward Operating Base Columbus. Badghis is critical to the Taliban's northern front. The Taliban are attempting to isolate the province by keeping the instability high so the paved section of the northern ring road cannot be completed. The Taliban want to use their safe havens in Badghis to launch attacks against neighboring Faryab province and eventually Mazar-i-Sharif. Coalition and Afghan forces have been targeting the Taliban in Badghis for years. In February 2009, Mullah Dastagir, the Taliban's shadow governor for Badghis, was killed in an airstrike along with several aides and fighters. Coalition and Afghan forces battled the Taliban through 2008 and early 2009 but have been unable to dislodge them from strongholds in the two districts. An al Qaeda affiliate also operates in Badghis The al Qaeda-linked Turkistan Islamic Party is also known to operate in Badghis province. In January 2010, a US airstrike in the village of Khatawaran in Balamurghab killed 13 Uighurs and two Turkish members of the Turkistan Islamic Party. The Turkistan Islamic Party, which is also known as the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party or Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, operates primarily in China' s western province of Xinjiang as well as in the Central Asian republics. The group seeks to establish an Islamic state in the region. The Turkistan Islamic Party has training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan and is known to operate in both countries. The Turkistan Islamic Party has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, the United States, China, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan. Abdul Haq al Turkistani, the leader of the Turkistan Islamic Party, is closely linked to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Haq, who is also known as Maimaitiming Maimaiti, became the leader of the terror group in late 2003 after Hassan Mahsum, the group' s previous leader, was killed in Waziristan, Pakistan. Haq was appointed a member of al Qaeda' s Shura Majlis, or executive council, in 2005, according to the US Treasury Department, which designated him as a global terrorist in April 2009. The United Nations also designated Haq as a terrorist leader. In May, Pakistan's Interior Minister claimed that Haq was killed in Pakistan, but Pakistan has not provided any evidence to back up the assertion. The Turkistan Islamic Party has not issued a martyrdom statement announcing Haq's death, nor has it named a replacement leader. US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not confirm Haq's death. Haq was rumored to have been killed in a US Predator airstrike in North Waziristan on Feb. 15, but the report was never confirmed. June 8, 2010 Mozart, Marshall and Me Basic Books has sent me a long but highly readable and at times scintillating book by an old friend, Norman Stone. The Atlantic and its Enemies is quite long–well over six hundred pages–and although Norman calls it “a history of the Cold War” it’s much more than that, and it’s full of useful information, witty [...] June 8, 2010 Taliban overrun Frontier Corps outpost in northwest Pakistan The Taliban overran a Frontier Corps outpost during an assault today in the Arakzai tribal agency. The attack took place just seven days after the top Pakistani military commander declared an end... June 8, 2010 Erdogan Makes Turkeys of The Arabs As the dust begins settling after the Gaza flotilla affair, it has become increasingly clear that Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) resorted in a premeditated way to popul... June 8, 2010 The German-Israeli Special Relationship German Chancellor Angela Merkel's administration is widely considered to be Israel's most reliable and stalwart ally on the European continent. Israeli-German relations-as enshrined by... June 7, 2010 FDD Releases The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theater: Militant Islam, Security and Stability Press Release June 7, 2010 CONTACT: Judy Mayka 202-621-3948 judy@defenddemocracy.org FDD Releases The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theater: Militant Islam,... June 7, 2010 About Those Somali Terrorist Arrests in New Jersey On Sunday, Dan noted this New York Times report by Will Rashbaum about two men arrested in New Jersey on terrorism... June 7, 2010 My Letter to Hearst Dear Mr. Swartz, More than 30 years ago I cut my teeth as a foreign correspondent for Hearst Newspapers. Indeed, I believe I was the last "roving foreign correspondent" Hearst w... June 7, 2010 Al Qaeda Cleric Encourages Arab Cooperation with Turkey, Iran There have been pro-flotilla rallies throughout the Muslim world and some of them have been attended by especially notorious figures. Consider the rallies in Yemen. On June 1, thousands gathered... June 7, 2010 Evidence presented of US involvement in 2009 airstrike in Yemen A December 2009 airstrike on insurgents in a known safe haven for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen that resulted in the deaths of both terrorists and civilians has been linked by to the US, according to photographic evidence produced by Amnesty International. The photographs, released on Amnesty' s website today, show parts of a broken up, US-made, BGM-109D Tomahawk cruise missile, as well as an unexploded BLU 97 cluster bomblet, munitions used in the warhead of the Tomahawk. The Dec. 17, 2009, strike targeted what was thought to be a training camp run by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the town of Ma'jalah in the province Abyan. A separate strike also took place the same day in the province of Sana'a. The Yemeni government initially claimed it carried out the strikes in Abyan and Sana' a, and said that 34 al Qaeda fighters were killed and an additional 17 fighters were later captured in ground operations. Independent reports indicated that between 60 and 90 civilians, mostly nomads living in a tent city, were killed. Amnesty claims, based on a Yemeni government investigation, that 14 al Qaeda fighters, along with 41 civilians, including 14 women and 21 children, were killed in the Abyan attack. But within two days of the strikes, unnamed US intelligence officials acknowledged that the US participated in the strikes and used cruise missiles in the attacks. No official from the US Department of Defense publicly acknowledged involvement in the airstrikes. US intelligence officials have since denied any direct role in subsequent airstrikes against al Qaeda in Yemen, but do say that the US is providing logistical and intelligence support to the Yemeni military. But the US is believed to have carried out some of the strikes in Yemen, including an attack on May 25 that killed a deputy governor of Marib province as he was meeting with al Qaeda. An unmanned US Predator, or the more deadly Reaper, was spotted in the region before the strike. Amnesty has characterized the Dec. 17, 2009, airstrike in Abyan as the extrajudicial targeting of terrorists and said an effort should be made to 'detain them.' 'A military strike of this kind against alleged militants without an attempt to detain them is at the very least unlawful,' Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Program, said in the organization' s press release. Amnesty' s criticism of the Abyan attack comes just days after the United Nation' s special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions called for an end to the CIA-run program that is targeting al Qaeda' s top leaders and external operations network in Pakistan' s tribal areas. Amnesty' s recommendation that the US should first attempt to detain terrorists in Yemen before launching strikes demonstrates a lack of understanding of al Qaeda' s control of regions in the country and the central government' s inability and unwillingness to tackle the terror network. Top members of the Yemeni government support al Qaeda, while the Yemeni security forces do not have the capacity to take on the terror group and its allied tribes head on. Yemen has become one of al Qaeda's most secure bases and a hub for its activities on the Arabian Peninsula and on the Horn of Africa. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula maintains safe havens in various parts of the country and is also known to operate terror camps in Aden, Marib, Abyan, and in the Alehimp and Sanhan regions in Sana'a. The terror group has conducted attacks on oil facilities, tourists, the US embassy in Sana'a, and Yemeni security forces. Yemen serves as a command and control center, a logistics hub, a transit point from Asia and the Peninsula, and a source of weapons and munitions for the al Qaeda-backed Shabaab and Hizbul Islam in Somalia. "Yemen is Pakistan in the heart of the Arab world," a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal in 2009. "You have military and government collusion with al Qaeda, peace agreements, budding terror camps, and the export of jihad to neighboring countries." Some of the top leaders of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have been targeted in airstrikes since December 2009, including Abu Basir al Wuhayshi, the group's leader; Said Ali al Shihri, the second in command; Abu Hurayrah Qasim al Raymi, the military commander; Ibrahim Suleiman al Rubaish, the top ideologue; and Anwar al Awlaki, a recruiter and ideologue. Airstrikes in Yemen targeting Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula: ' Yemeni airstrike kills deputy governor, al Qaeda operatives May 25, 2010 ' Yemeni airstrike hits al Qaeda camp Mar. 14, 2010 ' Airstrikes target home of Yemeni al Qaeda leader Jan. 20, 2010 ' Al Qaeda's military commander in Yemen reported killed Jan. 15, 2010 ' Yemeni airstrike targets top al Qaeda leaders Dec. 24, 2009 ' US launches cruise missile strikes against al Qaeda in Yemen Dec. 17, 2009 A look at 10 of the most dangerous Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leaders: June 7, 2010 German Members of Parliament Were Aboard Mavi Marmara Two members of Germany's "post-communist" Left party, Inge Höger and Annette Groth, were on the Mavi Marmara... June 7, 2010 Israeli Envoys Slam German Pols for Joining Flotilla Israeli Ambassador to Germany Yoram Ben-Zeev and Emmanuel Nahshon, the chargé d'affaires at the embassy, took the unusual step last week of publicly criticizing Left Party members of... June 6, 2010 Al Qaeda-linked Taliban commander killed in Western Afghanistan Map of the Afghanistan's 121 "key districts" and the measure of public support for the government and the Taliban, from the US Department of Defense. Click map for full view. Coalition forces killed a Taliban commander with links to al Qaeda and the training of fighters in Iran during an airstrike in the southwestern Afghan province of Farah. Mullah Akhtar and an undisclosed number of Taliban fighters were killed during a series of airstrikes and a ground raid in the district of Gulistan in Farah. The operation took place in "a known insurgent safe haven," the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release. Akhtar coordinated the training of Taliban fighters in Iran and is linked to top al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. Farah province borders Iran to the west. "Mullah Akhtar had close ties with Taliban and al Qaeda senior leaders," ISAF stated. "He was responsible for arranging training for foreign fighters from Iran and helped resolve disputes between militant networks." For years, ISAF has stated that Taliban fighters have conducted training inside Iran, with the aid of Qods Force, the special operations branch of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. As recently as May 30, ISAF commander General Stanley McChrystal said Iran is training Taliban fighters and providing them with weapons. "The training that we have seen occurs inside Iran with fighters moving inside Iran," McChrystal said as a press conference. "The weapons that we have received come from Iran into Afghanistan." In March 2010, a Taliban commander admitted that Iran has been training teams of Taliban fighters in small unit tactics. "Our religions and our histories are different, but our target is the same ' we both want to kill Americans," the commander told The Sunday Times, rebutting the common analysis that Shia Iran and Sunni al Qaeda could not cooperate due to ideological differences. Mullah Hayatullah serves as the Taliban's military commander in Farah province. He runs suicide training camps and also serves as a spokesman for the group. Hayatullah is also thought to be closely linked to al Qaeda. Southwestern Afghanistan a fallback position for the Taliban The Taliban have used Farah and neighboring Nimroz province as fallback havens after the US military launched three operations to clear the Taliban from different regions in Helmand province since the summer of 2009. Taliban support in the southwest remains a major problem for the Coalition and Afghan governments as they attempt to wrest control of the region from the Taliban. A survey of the local population's support for the Taliban and the government that was conducted by the Department of Defense and released as part of a report on Afghanistan shows a difficult task lies ahead for the Coalition. The report identified 121 "key districts" which are vital to both the Taliban and the government. The majority of these district are either neutral, sympathetic to the Taliban, or support the Taliban. The picture in the South and Southwest is particularly grim. Only three of the 27 districts assessed are sympathetic to the government; 12 districts are neutral; nine districts are sympathetic to the Taliban; and three districts support the Taliban. Of the four of Farah's eleven districts assessed by the US military as key districts, two (Farah and Bala Buluk) are considered sympathetic to the government, and two (Pusht Rod and Bakra) are considered sympathetic to the Taliban. The district of Gulistan was not assessed, but is considered to be under Taliban control. Only one district in Nimroz, Khash Rod, is assessed, and is considered to be sympathetic to the Taliban. In Kandahar and Helmand, the two provinces considered to be the key to the Taliban's power in the south, the majority is considered to be ambivalent toward the Afghan government and the Coalition, or sympathetic to or supportive of the Taliban. Of the 11 of Helmand's 13 districts assessed, eight of the districts are considered neutral, one is sympathetic to the Taliban, and two support the Taliban. Of the 11 of Kandahar's 13 districts assessed, one district (Kandahar City) supports the government, three districts are considered neutral, six are sympathetic to the Taliban, and one supports the Taliban. June 6, 2010 Iran Joins the Flotilla’NOT The Iranians have announced that “if the Supreme Leader gives the word,” the Iranian Navy will accompany future flotillas to Gaza. You can be quite certain that the Leader is not about to give th... June 6, 2010 And Now, Ahmadinejad Goes to Istanbul Yes, on Monday Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to touch down in Turkey. Seems like the Turkish and Iranian governments just can’t get enough of each other these days. This visi... June 6, 2010 A Year of Lost Chances by Obama in Iran Saturday will mark one year since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole a second presidential term in a rigged Iranian election. The response last year was shocking: Hundreds of thousands of angry Iranians f... June 5, 2010 Al Qaeda in Iraq is ‘broken,’ cut off from leaders in Paksitan, says top US general Iraqi and US forces have hit al Qaeda in Iraq hard over the last several months, crippling the terror group's senior leadership and disrupting its communications with al Qaeda's top lea... June 4, 2010 Flotilla Organizer has “Clear, Long-Standing Ties to Terrorism and Jihad” The Associated Press has published its account of an interview with France&#039... June 4, 2010 The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theater: Militant Islam, Security & Stability What is the optimal strategy for the United States and its allies to pursue in Afghanistan? Observers across the political spectrum agree that military operations alone are not enough to secure A... June 4, 2010 Turkey’s Two-Faced Aid For Gaza From the fury with which Turkey's leaders are demanding carte blanche access for aid to Gaza, you might suppose the Turkish government had exhausted every available route for pouring its own... June 3, 2010 Al Qaeda operative killed in South Waziristan strike A senior al Qaeda operative and a Taliban commander were killed in last week's airstrike in Pakistan's lawless tribal agency of South Waziristan. The Al Fajr Media Center, a ji... June 3, 2010 The Muslim Brotherhood’s Flotilla Western press accounts have enumerated the many left-wing human rights activists who were... June 3, 2010 Inside Shell’s Iran Game Royal Dutch Shell resumed its gasoline shipments to Iran, International Oil Dailyreported this morning. The company got back into business with the Iranian regime after a six-month hiatus.... June 3, 2010 Beyond Strategery Is it possible to defeat an enemy we don't understand? That is only one of the questions that ought to occur to anyone reading President Obama's new National Security Strategy (NSS). Ad...

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