Al Qaeda
Posted at 11:00pm on Jun. 10, 2008 The peace agreements between Pakistan and the Taliban (that you probably haven't heard of)
By Jeff Emanuel
An Erstwhile "Ally" in the War on Terror Sells its Soul for Thirty Pieces of Silver and an Agreement its Enemies will Never Live up to
On February 17, the Pakistani government and the Taliban jointly signed a peace treaty dealing with the North Waziristan region of the Afghan/Pakistani border area (see graphic at right, and click for more detailed map). The agreement was shrouded in secrecy, with its terms being kept under wraps by both parties.
This weekend, a Pakistani news organization, the Daily Times, managed to obtain a copy of the agreement, which they roughly outlined on their web site.
They report that the agreement, "inked between the government and the Utmanzai tribes on February 17 to fight Taliban-linked militancy through support from the local population," contains the following terms:
- • Sharing the agreement’s contents with the media violates the terms laid down in the document [Auth. note: There is no information available yet as to how this leaking of the peace agreement to the Daily Times will affect the overall agreement, given this requirement]
- • "Al Qaeda-linked militants" are allowed to live in North Waziristan "as long as they pledge to remain peaceful"
- • "All foreigners" are required to "leave the area"
- • No "parallel government of suspected Taliban militants" will be tolerated
- • There will be "no attacks on security personnel or government employees" and no "target killings" will be "initiated" [Auth. note: The Daily Times points out that "suspected Taliban militants continue to blow up CD shops in Miranshah and target killings have continued despite the February 17 peace deal"]
- • Any violator of the peace accord will be fined 50 million Pakistani Rupees [Auth. note: Approximately U.S. $742,000]
Posted in Al Qaeda | appeasement | Foreign Affairs | foreign policy | GWOT | Pakistan | Taliban | War — Comments (19) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 6:55pm on May 26, 2008 The Unraveling.
No, not quite a metaphor for the Obama campaign.
By Moe Lane
Yet. But the Senator's going to have to address the details of this TNR piece (via Glenn Reynolds) on the way that Al Qaeda's name is rapidly taking on the characteristics of mud among the very groups and cultures that they were hoping to impress with 9/11. Particularly since, as a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senator Obama is theoretically in a perfect position to either confirm or deny the arguments made by TNR. Although that doesn't explain why he hasn't talked about it before now: well, one more thing for him to clear up.
Senator Obama is welcome to take his time, of course. Every day that he sticks to his current narrative that the war is lost, and we must flee is one more day where he becomes ever more inextricably attached to that narrative - for good, or for ill. Probably ill, in his case... given that reality is showing a distressing tendency to not care about Senator Obama's election prospects. None the less, he can still get out of this.
All Senator Obama has to do is go on the air and admit that he was wrong.
Posted in Al Qaeda | Barack Obama | Iraq | Pakistan | War — Comments (12)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:33am on May 21, 2008 Al Qaeda Preparing For Strategic Failure In Iraq
By California Yankee
Paul Reynolds asks whether Osama Bin Laden is moving on from Iraq. Read on...
In his two most recent internet releases Bin Laden has focused on the Palestinian question. This raises the question as to why he did not concentrate on Iraq. One answer, a theory among some western intelligence analysts, is that al-Qaeda accepts that it is in trouble in Iraq.
According to Nigel Inkster, Director of Transnational Threats and Political Risk at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, al-Qaeda hoped to attack Israel after establishing a base in Iraq, but the hope of establishing that base has probably failed:
"Al Qaeda could now be preparing its followers for a strategic failure in Iraq. It therefore needs a rallying cry and Palestine is a no-brainer."
Mr. Inkster, formerly deputy head of Britain's foreign intelligence agency MI6, adds that one reason for this possible shift is the number of complaints about Muslims killed in Iraq and elsewhere.
Read the whole thing.
Posted at 8:01pm on May 13, 2008 Deadly bombings in India have "hallmarks of an al Qaeda operation"
It truly is a *global* war on terror
By Jeff Emanuel
Eight bombs were detonated today in Jaipur, India, killing at least 60 people and injuring at least 200. A ninth bomb was found and disarmed by Indian authorities.
The blasts occurred within a dozen minutes of each other, according to the Times of India. Indian authorities have said that early evidence points to the terrorist attacks being the work of the Bangladesh-based al Qaeda affiliate Harkat ul Jihad al Islami, or "HuJI-B."
The Long War Journal is reporting that "some officials believe the Pakistani-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group assisted in the attacks," as well.
Read on.
Posted in Al Qaeda | Bangladesh | GWOT | India | Long War Journal | Pakistan | terrorism | War — Comments (4)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 5:11pm on Apr. 15, 2008 On Taking Things A Bit Too Far
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
This is going to be rather inside-baseballish but James Ho, the future Solicitor General of Texas, is under attack because he wrote a memo along with John Yoo, stating that unlawful enemy combatants are owed neither the status of POWs nor the status of criminal defendants. This has attracted some criticism, with Charles Kuffner writing that "One could very reasonably argue that an administration that had already shown a willingness to embrace torture would clearly not take the measured path, and thus any assistance given to them on the issue, no matter how defensible on its own merits, is at best questionable."
Posted in Al Qaeda | Enemy Combatants | Law | Torture--Or The Lack Thereof — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:54am on Mar. 24, 2008 Don't Know Much About (Recent) History
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
In what is a full-time effort on a number of fronts, Patterico corrects the L.A. Times on what precisely it is that the Bush Administration has said concerning a relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.
You know, this entire controversy would come to a dead-bang halt if people just came to grips with the fact that the 9/11 Commission confirmed the existence of a "collaborative relationship" between Saddam Hussein's regime and al Qaeda. That doesn't mean that Saddam was behind the 9/11 attacks. But what the 9/11 Commission said should not be so casually dismissed either.
But of course, we don't live in a perfect world. And thus, some basic, commonsense guidelines get tossed to the side. Leading the charge, unfortunately, are outlets like the L.A. Times, which owe their readership better and which never seem to want to deliver.
Posted in Al Qaeda | History | Iraq | The 9/11 Commission — Comments (3)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 2:23pm on Dec. 21, 2007 There's Still A War On. But For Now, It's Going Pretty Well.
This Should Be Good News.
By Dan McLaughlin
The good guys aren't the only ones who have problems with former supporters turning on them:
One of Al Qaeda's senior theologians is calling on his followers to end their military jihad and saying the attacks of September 11, 2001, were a "catastrophe for all Muslims."
In a serialized manifesto written from prison in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif is blasting Osama bin Laden for deceiving the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and for insulting the Prophet Muhammad by comparing the September 11 attacks to the early raids of the Ansar warriors. The lapsed jihadist even calls for the formation of a special Islamic court to try Osama bin Laden and his old comrade Ayman al-Zawahri.
The disclosures from Mr. Sharif, also known as Dr. Fadl and Abd al-Qadir ibn Abd al-Aziz, have already opened a rift at the highest levels of Al Qaeda. The group's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, a former associate of the defecting theologian in Egypt, personally mocked him last month in a video, remarking that he was unaware Egyptian prisons had fax machines. Meanwhile, leading Western analysts are saying the defection of Mr. Sharif indicates the beginning of the end for Al Qaeda.
Read On...
Posted in Al Qaeda | terrorism | War | War | War on Terror — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 8:56pm on Dec. 20, 2007 Our Word For The Day Is . . .
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
One of Al Qaeda's senior theologians is calling on his followers to end their military jihad and saying the attacks of September 11, 2001, were a "catastrophe for all Muslims."
In a serialized manifesto written from prison in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif is blasting Osama bin Laden for deceiving the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and for insulting the Prophet Muhammad by comparing the September 11 attacks to the early raids of the Ansar warriors. The lapsed jihadist even calls for the formation of a special Islamic court to try Osama bin Laden and his old comrade Ayman al-Zawahri.
The disclosures from Mr. Sharif, also known as Dr. Fadl and Abd al-Qadir ibn Abd al-Aziz, have already opened a rift at the highest levels of Al Qaeda. The group's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, a former associate of the defecting theologian in Egypt, personally mocked him last month in a video, remarking that he was unaware Egyptian prisons had fax machines. Meanwhile, leading Western analysts are saying the defection of Mr. Sharif indicates the beginning of the end for Al Qaeda.
"Beginning of the end," eh? Let's hope so. At the very least, this news points the way to exploit various fissures that might exist in the organization. I doubt that Sharif is any kind of silver bullet and there are people who are casting doubts on his comments by claiming that they are the result of torture and therefore, not genuine. But in this case, perception may outstrip reality and if the perception that al Qaeda is undergoing some kind of theological civil war spreads, the organization and the message that it spreads may well lose appeal. People don't like backing losers and terrorist organizations that are riven with deep and serious disagreements look like losers to just about anyone.
Posted in Al Qaeda | terrorism | War — Comments (5)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:56am on Dec. 4, 2007 The War on Terror in a few sentences
Terrorists jumping from the frying pan to the fire
By Neil Stevens
Radio Netherlands reports (link via The Corner) some pretty good news in Afghanistan, complete with hidden bonuses of related news elsewhere in the War on Terror:
The International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan says the Taliban is in control of no more than five of the country's 59 districts. The statement comes during the surprise visit of US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to Afghanistan.
ISAF spokesman Carlos Branco says the Taliban has failed as a resistance movement. However, the Portuguese general admits that an increasing number of fighters from the terrorist network al-Qaeda are entering the country from Iraq where they are suffering defeats.
The many-fold implications of this report are just delicious for those of us who have been banging our heads against the brick walls of the Democratic left's arguments against the War on Terror.
Read on...
Posted in Afghanistan | Al Qaeda | Iran | Iraq | Victory | War | War on Terror — Comments (3)/ Email this page » / Read More »
