Category Archives: Terrorism

Mughniyah’s Assassination

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Mughniyah’s Assassination
By Brett McCrea

When the news reported that Imad Mughniyah was assassinated I was stunned.

This is equivalent to killing Bin Laden. Except that locating and successfully executing an attack on “Mughsy” was a much more difficult task.

To say he had a heightened security posture would be the understatement of the year.

He is/was the mythological equivalent of the unicorn, something that has always been talked about but never actually seen. To illustrate this point, most of the pictures of Mughniyah were taken very early in his life (his late teens/early 20s… he is now roughly 45).

He was vital to Iranian interests in Lebanon because he was someone the Iranians could depend on to execute Tehran’s will. He demonstrated that back in 1983 when he orchestrated the Marine Corps Barracks bombing.

He was vital to Hezb’allah because of his trusted status with Tehran and the weapons, finance, and training they provided.

In essence, he was an important bridge between Iran and Hezb’allah.

He is someone the Iranians depended on for over 20 years and the kind of trust and stability he provided to the regime in Tehran and to Hezb’allah in Lebanon will be difficult to replace.

Given his senior position within Hezb’allah and the organization’s acting as Damascus’ proxy in fighting Israel, this would also be a significant set back for Syria as well (not to mention a huge embarrassment to the government, because it happened in their capital).

Read the rest here:

Cyber Blackout

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CIA: Cyber Attacks Turn Out the Lights
By Michael Tanji
h/t: ThreatsWatch

The importance of securing national resources that access cyberspace just got a shot in the arm.

On Wednesday, in New Orleans, US Central Intelligence Agency senior analyst Tom Donohue told a gathering of 300 US [and foreign] government officials, engineers and security managers from [critical infrastructure sectors] asset owners that

“We have information, from multiple regions outside the United States, of cyber intrusions into utilities, followed by extortion demands. We suspect, but cannot confirm, that some of these attackers had the benefit of inside knowledge. We have information that cyber attacks have been used to disrupt power equipment in several regions outside the United States. In at least one case, the disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities. We do not know who executed these attacks or why, but all involved intrusions through the Internet.”

Such an event would be problematic at any time, but timed to occur during high-stress periods like during heat waves or inclement weather, the impact could be devastating.

Most “cyber terrorism” noted to date is little more than miscreant mischief, but a concerted effort to conduct a serious attack in this sector could actually cost lives.

The volume may be minor, but the idea that services we take for granted are not under our control is one way to shake people’s confidence in the government’s ability to protect them.

Al-Qaida Taking Questions

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Al-Qaida invites journalists to send questions to Zawahri

Al-Qaida has invited journalists to send questions to its No. 2 figure Ayman al-Zawahri, the first time the terror network has offered an “interview” with one of its top leaders since the 9/11 attacks in the US.

The statement, first posted on Sunday, invites “individuals, agencies and all media” to submit written questions for Zawahri by sending them to the Islamic Web forums where Al-Sahab traditionally posts its messages.

It said it would take questions until January 16, then Zawahri would answer them “as much as he is able and at the soonest possible occasion.” It did not say whether his answers would come in a written, video or audio-tape form.

The authenticity of the invitation could not be independently confirmed.

Where’s Helen?

Continue reading →

Watching, Waiting, Listening

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The World Trade Center was attacked twice.

– The first time was on Friday, February 26, 1993.

– The second time was 3,119 days later, on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

They waited, for whatever reason, almost nine years to attack the second time.

There hasn’t been a successful attack since.

It’s been this many days since that second attack.

3,119 days from September 11, 2001 would stretch out to Saturday, March 27, 2010.

Are they willing to wait that long again?

Are we?

Yemeni authorities free a mastermind of USS Cole attack

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Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST Oct. 26, 2007

Yemen has set free one of the al-Qaida masterminds of the USS Cole bombing in 2000 that killed 17 American sailors, a senior security official said.

Jamal al-Badawi, who is wanted by the FBI, was convicted in 2004 of plotting, preparing and helping carry out the USS Cole bombing and received a death sentence that was commuted to 15 years in prison.

He and 22 others, mostly al-Qaida fighters, escaped from prison in 2004. But al-Badawi was granted his freedom after turning himself in 15 days ago and pledging loyalty to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the official said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The official said police were told by the government to “stop all previous orders concerning measures adopted against al-Badawi.” Witnesses told The Associated Press that al-Badawi was receiving well-wishers at his home in the al-Buraika district in Aden.

Following The Money, Slowly

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If the only trials you have seen were in movies or TV shows, the pace of this trial may surprise you.

The indictment was submitted in 2004. Closing arguments resume today.

Quoting from ADL:

The trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), a charity long suspected of supporting terrorists by funneling money to Hamas, and seven of its officials, has opened at a federal court in Dallas, Texas. The 42-count indictment, submitted by the U.S. Justice Department in 2004, accuses HLF and its top leaders of a conspiracy to provide aid to a terrorist organization and the families of suicide terrorists. The indictment also charges that HLF provided more than $12.4 million to individuals and organizations linked to Hamas between 1995 and 2001. The group raised a total of $57 million since its incorporation in 1992 but only reported $36.2 million to the IRS, according to the indictment. Two of the defendants were not present at the opening of the trial and are considered fugitives.

Read about the defendants ->.

Want more links? Click Google here.

Timing Is Everything

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That’s what some people think, anyway. Someone has decided that we need to skip the “off year” between election cycles and just start the 2008 Election season the day after the end of the 2006 Election. Which we did.

But forget about who actually came up with that sophomoric idea. Think instead of the time, energy and resources we are throwing into that bottomless pit we might well call the pre-2008 Election season. Most of us can probably think of other things that could have used the attention and resources.

To borrow a phrase, it is sucking the air out of everything else we should be attending to. Whatever the issue, “if it won’t get my side elected, it will have to wait until after 2008, and maybe 2010.”

And now there’s another player out there in the weeds.
Osama bin Laden, who has publicly claimed credit for the 9/11 attacks, likes to remind us that our behavior doesn’t meet his standards.

He is apt to use anniversary dates to reinforce his sermons.

We have now given him an extra 9/11 to work with this year, and he seems ready to use it.

After he speaks (and maybe acts), he can calibrate the effect he had on us.

He probably reads the polls too.

Then he can fine-tune his 9/11 plans for 2008.

How Much Tribute Is Enough?

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The Gray Lady is having some angst over how much ink the upcoming 911 anniversary should get.

Here’s a sample:

Each year, murmuring about Sept. 11 fatigue arises, a weariness of reliving a day that everyone wishes had never happened. It began before the first anniversary of the terrorist attack. By now, though, many people feel that the collective commemorations, publicly staged, are excessive and vacant, even annoying.

Want to read the rest? Read it here.

Here’s a suggestion to the Gray Lady:

You’re a big successful paper that knows “what’s fit to print” and what isn’t.

Take a deep breath and decide what is and what isn’t.

Your readers will probably come back.

What About Al Qaeda in Iraq?

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Al Qaeda In Iraq is part of the global al Qaeda movement. AQI, as the U.S. military calls it, is around 90 percent Iraqi.

Foreign fighters, however, predominate in the leadership and among the suicide bombers, of whom they comprise up to 90 percent, U.S. commanders say.

The leader of AQI is Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Egyptian. His predecessor, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, was a Jordanian.

Because the members of AQI are overwhelmingly Iraqis–often thugs and misfits recruited or dragooned into the organization (along with some clerics and more educated leaders)–it is argued that AQI is not really part of the global al Qaeda movement.

Therefore, it is said, the war in Iraq is not part of the global war on terror: The “real” al Qaeda–Osama bin Laden’s band, off in its safe havens in the Pakistani tribal areas of Waziristan and Baluchistan–is the group to fight.

Furthermore, argue critics of this persuasion, we should be doing this fighting through precise, intelligence-driven airstrikes or Special Forces attacks on key leaders, not the deployment of large conventional forces, which only stirs resentment in Muslim countries and creates more terrorists.

Over the past four years, the war in Iraq has provided abundant evidence to dispute these assertions.

So begins a thoughtful piece by Frederick W. Kagan:
Al Qaeda In Iraq
How to understand it. How to defeat it.

It’s worth reading, whatever your perspective. Start -> here.

U.S. Apologizes: Detention Was Wrong

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Abdulameer Habeeb, 41, had been in the United States for 10 months on April 1, 2003, when he stepped off an Amtrak train near the Canadian border in Havre, Mont., to stretch his legs, according to court papers.

Border Patrol agents stopped him to inquire whether he had registered under a “special registration” system mandatory for certain foreigners, which is now mostly suspended. It was not required for legal refugees, but the agents arrested Mr. Habeeb.

He spent three nights in the county jail, underwent a strip search and was mockingly called “Saddam” by other detainees, the A.C.L.U. said. He was taken through the airport in handcuffs and flown to Seattle, where he spent four more days in detention, the group said.

“I thought for a moment that this is it, my life is done, this is the end of my life in this country,” said Mr. Habeeb, who was a legal refugee because he had been jailed and tortured in Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

He turned to the courts. After his case was dismissed by the Federal District Court in Great Falls, Mont., the Justice Department lawyers reviewed what had happened and joined the A.C.L.U. in asking the court to nullify its decision. The case was removed from the record, and the negotiated settlement included both a written apology and an undisclosed financial sum.

The June 13 letter signed by Jeffrey C. Sullivan, the United States attorney for the Western District of Washington, said that the effort to deport Mr. Habeeb was wrong and that “the United States of America regrets the mistake.”

Mr. Habeeb declared himself happy. “My nightmare stopped,” he said. “It is not just a personal case; it is a human case. Everybody should be treated well.”

More ->

Informant was key to undoing of JFK plot

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According to court papers and investigators, the informant began working for the government in 2004, after his second drug-trafficking conviction in New York, and he quickly proved to be a credible source.

The insider, a twice-convicted drug dealer who agreed to help in exchange for a lighter sentence, was a government informant whose surreptitious work undermined a plot to destroy the Queens airport by exploding a jet fuel pipeline.

His help once again demonstrated the growing importance of informants in the war on terrorism, particularly as smaller radical groups become more aggressive.

“In most cases, you can’t get from A to B without an informant,” said Tom Corrigan, a former member of the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force. “Most times when an informant tells you what is going on, speculation becomes reality.”

They have been working this case for three years, and no leaks! That is amazing.

One might even say that the absence of leaks was also key to the undoing of the JFK plot.

Something to think about.

Movement, movement, movement

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Iran’s foreign minister says Tehran will begin direct talks with the United States about Iraqi security later this month. From Islamabad, VOA correspondent Benjamin Sand reports the high-level meeting is not expected to touch on the ongoing controversy over Iran’s nuclear program. More->



On North Korea, the U.S. Country Reports on Terrorism 2006 stood out Monday in what it did not say — and in the one sentence that technically did not need to be included but was. More->



Key senators in both parties announced agreement with the White House Thursday on an immigration overhaul that would grant quick legal status to millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S. and fortify the border. More ->

Bragging or Complaining?

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According to the Tehran Times, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that nowadays the Islamic world is the victim of organized terrorism and Iran is the symbol of this victimization. He said terrorism would not be possible without the support and influence of arrogant powers.