COUNTERCOLUMN: All Your Bias Are Belong to Us

The Obama administration, parting with years of practice under Bush, folds like a cheap tent.

Labels: Al Qaeda, law, Obama, stupid, War on Terror

Cedarford, a racist, bigoted, Jew-hating jerk who comments on Althouse, nails the recent escape of a NYT reporter from Taliban captivity:

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall during the NYTimes hostage negotiation for their reporter.

"Look, we gave you info on the Afghan Predator program, America tapping into SPRINT to find Islamoid financiers. We regularly give page 1 to any "wedding party atrocity" you alledge. We helped kill hundreds of American soldiers by working hard to inflame Muslims with endless stories of Abu Ghraib, GITMO torture, Haditha, Koran desecration..Details on jammer devices the military was trying against IEDs. Endless advocacy of terrorist's precious rights and civil liberties."

"Frankly, you Taliban and Al Qaeda owe us! Release our guy!"

Labels: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, journalism, New York Times, War on Terror

Nuts.

Labels: Al Qaeda, War on Terror

So says at least one source:

An al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday.

The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria.

He said authorities in the first week of January intercepted an urgent communication between the leadership of al Qaeda in the Land of the Maghreb (AQIM) and al Qaeda's leadership in the tribal region of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan. The communication suggested that an area sealed to prevent leakage of a biological or chemical substance had been breached, according to the official.

That's the Washington Times.

I haven't seen anything in the mainstream media sources on it yet - probably because the mainstream media can't bring itself to admit that anyone whose not a neocon or anyone whose name isn't Rupert Murdoch could possibly be up to anything bad.

Labels: Al Qaeda, Media, terrorism, War on Terror

So it seems Al Qaeda has been faced with an outbreak of bubonic plague in their training camps.
The obvious question: Why are so many Al Qaeda all of a sudden exposed to the bubonic plague?

Answer: Because, very likely, they were screwing around trying to weaponize it. And to some extent, seem to have succeeded - though their targeting was a little off.

Dust off those bio attack response procedures.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Al Qaeda, terrorism, War on Terror

This is the time on Countercolumn when we try to guess the Ass. Press headline from the text in the news story.

Are you ready? Ok, here's the text from the story:

The al-Qaida in Iraq leader was killed Friday elsewhere in northern Baghdad. American troops also killed the man's wife in a firefight as they tried to capture him, the military said.

Mahir Ahmad Mahmud al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami, was accused of directing an insurgent cell believed to be responsible for nearly simultaneous car bomb and suicide attacks Thursday, according to the statement.

Iraqi police and hospital officials have said some two dozen people were killed in Thursday's attacks targeting two Shiite mosques in Baghdad.

Those attacks and others that struck during Ramadan have raised fears that al-Qaida in Iraq is trying to provoke Sunni-Shiite reprisal killings as U.S.-led forces begin to draw down.

Al-Zubaydi was among the most senior insurgents killed by U.S. forces as they seek to shore up security gains that have driven the level of violence to its lowest point in more than four years.

Sooooo.... can you guess the headline?

If you guessed "U.S. Military: Iraqi Killed in Helicopter Collision," you'd be right.

Ratfucks.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Al Qaeda, Iraq, The media

So the libtards and other apologists for Islamofascism have their miserable knickers in a twist over John McCain's linking Iran to Al Qaeda in a couple of recent appearances.

The thing is, they're wrong. McCain is right. There have been a number of documented connections between Iran and other extremist groups, both Sunni and Shia, to include, specifically, Al Qaeda, as they make common cause to undermine American power and attempt to drive us out of the region.

From the Washington Post, in 2004:

On Iran, by contrast, the report concludes that al Qaeda's relationship with Tehran and its client, the Hezbollah militant group, was long-standing and included cooperation on operations, the officials said. It also details previously unknown links between the two, including the revelation that as many as 10 of the Sept. 11 hijackers may have passed through Iran in late 2000 and early 2001 because Iranian border guards were instructed to let al Qaeda associates travel freely, sources familiar with the report have said.

[9/11] Commission and government officials emphasize that they have found no indication that Tehran knowingly helped in the plot. But the commission report will cite evidence that Iran allowed al Qaeda members into the country even after the attacks.

The Sept. 11 panel has also raised the possibility that al Qaeda may have had a "yet unproven" role in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, which killed 19 U.S. servicemen and has been blamed on a Saudi Hezbollah group. Iran is a primary sponsor of Hezbollah, or Party of God, which the United States considers a terrorist group.

Many of the commission's findings about Iran were discovered only in recent weeks from, among other sources, electronic intercepts and interrogations of al Qaeda suspects in U.S. custody, sources familiar with the commission's findings said. Even before then, Chairman Thomas H. Kean (R), a former New Jersey governor, said, "There were a lot more active contacts, frankly, with Iran and with Pakistan than there were with Iraq."

See this, also, from Time Magazine: 9/11 Commission Finds Ties Between Al Qaeda, Iran

And this, too, from Peter Brooks

Shockingly, it's been long forgotten that Iran became home to some of al Qaeda's most wanted after the fall 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Tehran admitted as much, claiming that al Qaeda operatives were under "house arrest" and would be tried.

Of course, nothing of the sort happened . . .

So al Qaeda "refugees" from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, North Africa and Europe — including senior military commander Saif al Adel, three of Osama's sons and spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith — now operate freely from Iran.

In fact, just last week, the German monthly magazine Cicero, citing Western intelligence sources, claimed that as many as 25 al Qaeda thugs are living in Iran under the protection of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Cicero cites a "top-ranking" Western intelligence official saying, "This is not incarceration or house arrest. They [al Qaeda members] can move around as they please." The IRGC even provides logistics help and training to al Qaeda.

Cicero doesn't mention which al Qaeda operations Iran is supporting, but there's little doubt that Tehran is aiding the terror in Iraq, where there are more and more Iranian "fingerprints" on insurgent/terrorist attacks.

These ignoramuses have been taking it as an article of faith that Sunnis and Shias will never make common cause against a Western enemy. But you have to look no further than the cooperation of the Sunni Hamas and the Shia Hezbollah against Israel to disprove their stupidity.

Iran and Al Qaeda will befriend any friend and oppose any foe in order to ensure the survival and success of tyrrany. In the short term, they will even befriend each other.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Al Qaeda, Iran, Iraq, McCain

The Long War Journal is reporting a significant engagement in Iraq:

The battle was initiated after soldiers spotted fighters and called in close air support to attack. The al Qaeda teams engaged the Coalition aircraft with anti-aircraft weapons before moving to a secondary fighting position and then other buildings. Also uncovered at one of the sites was “two substantially large weapons caches” which “included numerous anti-aircraft machine guns, surface-to-surface missiles, rifles, pistols, grenades, mortar rounds and artillery shells. Coalition forces also found a large quantity of ammunition and components used to manufacture improvised explosive devices.” No Coalition casualties were reported.

This is the real deal, folks. Run-of-the-mill loser insurgents don't normally have anti-aircraft weapons and surface-to-surface munitions to pop off.


The superb Bill Roggio tries to read the tea leaves:

During the hunt for Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the Task Force fought frequent, large-scale engagements in the Yusafiyah, Samarra, and Baqubah regions before Zarqawi was finally found in Baqubah and killed in an airstrike. One of the features of these engagements was encountering al Qaeda anti-aircraft teams, which were assigned to protect the senior leaders from Coalition air support. Another feature was the steady stream of al Qaeda leaders and operatives close to Zarqawi who were killed or captured during a short period of time.

Along with the killing of Tha’ir Malik, the Task Force captured Yasin Turki Mahmud Slaih and Marwan ‘Abdullah Ahmad ‘Abd, two members of al Masri’s personal security detachment. Both of al Masri’s bodyguards were captured near Tarmiyah. Forty-five senior al Qaeda in Iraq leaders were killed or captured in October alone.

Seems like someone staged a narrow escape.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Al Qaeda, Iraq

An analysis from a very sharp longtime correspondent of mine, a LTC now serving in Iraq:

I don't know how this is being breathlessly covered by our MSM, but what
they ought to be saying is that this is an indicator that AQ leadership
is shattered. This is UBL trying to salvage what amounts to a failed
strategy by going 'over the heads' of the AQ in Iraq leadership to
appeal directly to the troops, telling them their leaders have failed.
He's even appealing to the 'extremists on the other side of the aisle' -
the Shia thugs of JAM & BADR to stop the in-fighting to unite against
us. He's asking a very family/tribal oriented people to reject family,
tribe, and country to unite with him instead: the AQ leader appealed to
his followers to be loyal to the "Islamic nation," not to individual
leaders, groups, tribes, or countries. It's an uphill battle on a slope
where he's got downhill momentum.

Here's a passage from an analysis of the tape: Many articles on Monday
noted bin Laden's frequent use of the word "mistake," when he said,
"Everybody can make a mistake, but the best of them are those who admit
their mistakes. Mistakes have been made during holy wars but mujahedeen
have to correct their mistakes." For crying out loud, if Donald
Rumsfeld had said something like this our press and congress would have
lept on the opportunity to cry for his head because he'd have been
admitting failure. The difference is that in this case Bin Laden really
is (Rummy would never admit to failure and it's a good thing because we
haven't failed and are moving toward success every day). Are our media
treating this tape like they would Rummy or are they treating this like
some grand expression of UBL's leadership?

Nobody in the MSM wants to believe us when we say it, but now we've even
got UBL tacitly admitting that the AQI strategy of blowing up
infrastructure and killing women and children was a disaster. We would
never have achieved the successes with reconciliation that we have with
the Sunni (and now some Shia) had it not been for AQI committing
atrocities that are deemed pathological even in this part of the world
where individual human life & freedoms have lower priority than in our
culture.

In the tape UBL is calling for unity between Sunni & Shia to attack us.
He's calling for the Arabic Muslims of Iraq to come together to bring
even more war to this country that is finally seeing a modicum of peace
after nearly 5 years of war. WE are calling on ALL Iraqis to come
together to build the peace and prosperity that has begun to emerge.
Which message do you think the Iraqis will heed as they grow weary of
extremists destroying their communities and murdering their families?
I'm pretty sure our message is beginning to resonate much more than
UBL's.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Al Qaeda, Iraq, The media

The Iraqi Interior Ministry - not the most reliable bunch of dolts in the world - is claiming that the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyab al-Masri, has been killed.

Good riddance to another cockroach, if true. Sorry we didn't get a chance to pick him up alive after the Shia-led Interior Ministry's pipe-hitting goons got a chance to dispense some rough justice for a few hours.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Al Qaeda