CrossTalk: Pakistan Next Target for US?
Sep 1, 2010 Pakistan, war on terror
Tags: afghanistan, India, Karzai, Pakistan, US
Afghanistan bomb attacks kill twenty-one US soldiers in 48 hours
Sep 1, 2010 afghan war
Richard Gray
Telegraph
August 30, 2020
Twenty-one American troops have been killed in Afghanistan since Friday in one of the bloodiest periods of the summer.
A series of bomb attacks have badly hit US troops in eastern and southern Afghanistan in the past 48 hours.
The death toll among in the Nato-led coalition has reached 484 this year and is predicted to far surpass 2009’s total of 521.
Deaths have risen consistently each year since 2001. Afghan police and civilians have suffered far higher casualties.
The coalition blames the rise in troop deaths partly on the influx of reinforcements, which is allowing commanders to target previously untouched insurgent safe havens where rebels are mounting stiff resistance.
Gen David Petraeus, senior US and Nato commander in the country, warned last week fighting would “get harder before it gets easier”.
In two of the most deadly recent incidents, three Americans died in eastern Afghanistan on one bomb attack on Tuesday. Five died in a single bomb attack in the south on Monday.
Military spokesmen would not say if the bombs hit vehicles or foot patrols.
Homemade bombs using old shells or homemade explosives and hidden in roads, tracks, walls, streams and buildings have become the Taliban’s favoured weapon.
Their use has sparked an arms race with foreign troops evolving tactics, or relying on more heavily armed vehicles and mine detectors to try and avoid them.
Tags: 48 hours, afghanistan
Drone Attack on Schools
Jul 4, 2010 Pakistan, pakistan politics
Tags: afghanistan, cia, Drone Attack, Drones, ISI, Pakistan, USA, war on terror
Three Is the Loneliest Number
Jun 3, 2010 Uncategorized
FP
BY BRUCE RIEDEL | JUNE 2, 2010
What does the killing of al Qaeda’s No. 3, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, mean for Osama bin Laden?
The death of Mustafa Ahmed Mohammad Uthman Abu al-Yazid, also known as Sheikh Saeed al-Masri, al Qaeda’s operational commander in Afghanistan, in a drone attack in Pakistan last month is a significant but not fatal setback for the group — and another sign that the Obama administration’s stepped-up pressure is having a real impact and disrupting the group’s activities. Al Qaeda announced his death in a message released on May 31 — and though the terrorist group is hurting, it is likely far from being on the ropes.
A bit of background: Yazid was an Egyptian close to Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s “No. 2.” He was involved, like Zawahiri, in the plot to assassinate Anwar Sadat in 1981 and, following their release from prison in the mid-1980s, the two created the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. That group merged with al Qaeda in 1998, and since then Yazid has worked as a fundraiser and has appeared often as a spokesman and commentator. He was actively involved in planning the September 11, 2001, attacks.
According to some reports, he was also al Qaeda’s third-highest ranking officer. If so, then he is (by my count) the seventh individual identified by U.S. intelligence as al Qaeda’s “No. 3″ since 2001 who has been killed or captured. Being No. 3 is clearly a dangerous job. For its part, al Qaeda itself has never identified anyone as the third man in its chain of command, and most likely there is more than one individual, at any one time, who reports to Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden directly.
Whether or not he was No. 3, Yazid was a key al Qaeda operative. Yazid was likely involved in al Qaeda’s plot last year to attack the New York City metro system with three suicide bombers at rush hour on the Monday after the 9/11 anniversary. Two Afghan-Americans have pleaded guilty to that plot and have said they were being directed by al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan.
And, in his role as chief of operations in Afghanistan, Yazid would have been directly involved in the planning of the Dec. 30 suicide-bomber attack on the CIA’s forward operating base in Khost, which killed six officers and a senior Jordanian intelligence officer. In terms of loss of life, it was the second-worst day in CIA history, but as far as operational readiness was affected, it clearly did not interrupt drone strikes significantly.
But drones, like the one that killed Yazid, are only one part of Barack Obama’s strategy to “disrupt, dismantle, and defeat” al Qaeda — and the U.S. president is far from achieving that goal. At best, the new pressure is impacting the terrorists’ operational tempo, but has not stopped them from planning and staging attacks on U.S. targets.
One example is Zawahiri himself. Since December, he has appeared only once in al Qaeda’s propaganda output, a brief message last month eulogizing the death of two senior al Qaeda commanders in Iraq. Before this year, Zawahiri was a frequent commentator on al Qaeda audio and video messages, often appearing every other week. His absence is probably related to the Khost attack: He was the bait that al Qaeda dangled before the CIA operatives — a prize so tempting that routine procedures were overlooked, allowing a suicide bomber fatal access to the base. Zawahiri’s absence from the airwaves has been noted in the jihadi underworld, but his ability to direct attacks on U.S. and Western targets has likely been diminished only slightly.
As for bin Laden, the most wanted man in history and the target of the largest manhunt ever conducted, CIA drones have not yet been able to get close to him, either. The last time U.S. intelligence had eyes on al Qaeda’s No. 1 was in 2001. For almost nine years since then, he has been off the radar — avoiding telephones, using trusted couriers to send messages, and receiving protection from powerful interests. But he has appeared in four audio messages so far this year, so reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Thus, though Yazid’s death is a significant scalp, both bin Laden and Zawahiri are still very much active. The drones will not defeat al Qaeda by themselves. Nor are they intended to; Obama’s strategy uses them as one tool in a broader diplomatic and military offensive. But this campaign, which is showing signs of progress, has a long way to go yet.
Tags: afghanistan, al Qaeda's, AlQaida, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden, cia, FBI, Mustafa Ahmed Mohammad Uthman Abu al-Yazid, Sheikh Saeed al-Masri, USA, war, war on terror
Al-Qa’ida struggling to find recruits in Iraq: US general
Apr 29, 2010 war on terror
AFP
April 28, 2010
AL-QA’IDA in Iraq is struggling to recruit volunteers for suicide bombings and other attacks, the US army says, hours after the jihadist network confirmed the deaths of its top commanders.
Brigadier General Ralph Baker, a senior officer in Baghdad, said no one could deny that the killing of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayub al-Masri, who had direct links with Osama bin Laden, was a “decapitation” for its leadership.
The SITE Intelligence Group reported that the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), the al-Qa’ida front in the country, had in a statement posted on jihadist Internet forums announced for the first time the deaths of the two men.
But the insurgents also vowed in the message that other insurgents would take their place, under plans put in place ahead of the Iraqi-US military strike that killed them in a house north of Baghdad on April 18.
General Baker cautioned that the killing of AQI’s previous military leader, the much better known Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who died in a US airstrike in 2006, had shown the insurgents were capable of rebuilding.
But he said AQI was weaker now than then, and it would be harder for it to regenerate after hundreds of arrests in recent months.
“When Zarqawi was killed, someone stepped up and took his place,” General Baker said in Baghdad.
“This time we believe there are less charismatic and combat-proven leaders remaining in Al-Qa’ida that can step up and resume that leadership role as effectively as has been accomplished in the past.”
Since January, Iraqi intelligence and security services, with US support, have captured or arrested 404 Al-Qa’ida members, according to General Baker.
“Dozens of those AQI members have been mid- to upper-level leadership,” he said. “But it’s just not the leadership that Al-Qa’ida will have trouble finding replacements for.”
He said the US knew “they are having great difficulties recruiting suicide bombers” because of better security on Iraq’s border with Syria.
Although Iraq’s government, US forces and Washington trumpeted the success of the joint operation that killed Baghdadi and Masri, a series of car bomb attacks in Baghdad on Friday killed 54 people and wounded 201.
General Baker conceded that AQI was responsible, but argued that violence was falling overall, with security breaches down 40 per cent since American combat troops left Iraq’s cities, towns and villages last June.
“We do believe those (car bombs) are attributed to Al-Qa’ida,” he said. “It is very difficult to stop every attack in this city of seven million citizens.”
In the Internet statement monitored by SITE, the ISI sharia (Islamic law) minister, Abu al-Walid Abd al-Wahhab al-Mashadani, said Baghdadi and Masri were attending a meeting when “enemy forces” engaged them and launched an airstrike.
The joint operation that targeted the main Al-Qa’ida leaders in Iraq took place 10km from Tikrit, the home city of executed dictator Saddam Hussein.
Mr Mashadani praised Baghdadi and Masri and announced that other Islamist groups in Iraq had joined the ISI.
“Discussions had already begun with them before and after the initiative of Sheikh Abu Omar (al-Baghdadi),” he said.
“If Allah fated that the two sheikhs be killed at this particular time, know that they left a unique generation behind, one that was raised before their eyes.”
Baghdadi had been reported killed or captured at least three times before, and on those occasions Al-Qa’ida issued denials, insisting he was still alive and free, making Saturday’s confirmation all the more significant.
A close aide of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told state television the discovery of Baghdadi and Masri’s hideout was a greater military achievement than the capture of Saddam by American forces in December 2003.
Yassin Majeed said an intelligence cell created by Mr Maliki which last month caught Munaf Abdul Rahim al-Rawi, AQI’s so-called “governor of Baghdad,” led to the detention of a “postman” who carried messages to Baghdadi. This eventually culminated in the operation that killed the top two AQI leaders.
“The next days will witness a new strike against al-Qa’ida,” Majeed added.
Tags: afghanistan, Al qaida, Baghdad, Iraq, US, war on terror
Over 700 killed in 44 drone strikes in 2009
Apr 28, 2010 Pakistan
PESHAWAR: Of the 44 predator strikes carried out by US drones in the tribal areas of Pakistan over the past 12 months, only five were able to hit their actual targets, killing five key Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, but at the cost of over 700 innocent civilians.
According to the statistics compiled by Pakistani authorities, the Afghanistan-based US drones killed 708 people in 44 predator attacks targeting the tribal areas between January 1 and December 31, 2009.
For each Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist killed by US drones, 140 innocent Pakistanis also had to die. Over 90 per cent of those killed in the deadly missile strikes were civilians, claim authorities.
The success percentage for the drone hits during 2009 was hardly 11 per cent. On average, 58 civilians were killed in these attacks every month, 12 persons every week and almost two people every day. Most of the attacks were carried out on the basis of human intelligence, reportedly provided by the Pakistani and Afghan tribesmen, who are spying for the US-led allied forces in Afghanistan.
Of the five successful predator attacks carried out in 2009, the first one came on January 1, which reportedly killed two senior al-Qaeda leaders – Usama al-Kin and Sheikh Ahmed Salim – both wanted by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Kin was the chief operational commander of Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and had replaced Abu Faraj Al Libi after his arrest in 2004.
The second successful drone attack was conducted on August 5 in South Waziristan that killed the most wanted fugitive chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Baitullah Mehsud along with his wife.
The US State Department had announces a $5million head money for information leading to Baitullah, making him the only Pakistani fugitive with the head money separately announced by Islamabad and Washington. –DawnNews
Tags: afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Baitullah Mehsud, taliban, Tehrik-e-Taliban, US drones
VIDEO: “Nuclear Terrorism”: Al Qaeda is an Upcoming Nuclear Power according to president Obama
Apr 28, 2010 World News, war on terror
Obama is masking the real issues over nuclear weapons by presenting the idea that nuclear terrorism is a major threat, shared Michel Chossudovsky, Director of the Canadian Centre for Research on Globalization.
“What is disturbing about this summit in Washington is the fact that the real threat to global security is nuclear war between countries. It is not Al-Qaeda which in any event is an intelligence asset of the CIA, which is the threat, ”Chossudovsky acknowledged. “It is an elusive network of organizations. The real threat is the threat of nuclear war and particularly the threat of a nuclear attack by the United States and Israel directed against Iran.”
In addition, the summit was useful for the US to establish dialogue with China and Russia regarding the nuclear program of Iran, thinks Chossudovsky. Both China and Russia are strictly against military actions against Iran and do not support economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic, while Obama recently issued a new military nuclear doctrine that admits using nuclear weapons against “rogue states” – implying Iran to be one of them.
“All the NATO countries, headed by the US and including Israel, they have nuclear weapons targeted at Iran,”noted Chossudovsky.
He stated that “The nuclear summit is in fact a smokescreen, a camouflage of the real dangers of nuclear war.”
America’s demand to transfer nuclear materials to some safe place in the US is an absurd operation, believes Chossudovsky.
Michel Chossudovsky told RT that: “As far as it goes, in the present context, the US is the most dangerous threat to global security and what this conference aims at achieving is to diffuse this understanding. It’s a PR campaign which seeks to present the nuclear threat in some distorted way, so that people who listen to the media report will believe that Al-Qaeda, Bin Laden and global terrorism is the issue, rather than the strategic objectives of the US which include now the preemptive use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states.”
“At this stage the US administration is not interested in negotiating, it is interested in creating an environment which will justify a possible nuclear attack on Iran,” concluded Chossudovsky.
Tags: afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, iran, Iraq, nukes, obama, USA, war, war on terror
