january 30, 2006

New al-Zawahiri Tape, Same Old Rhetoric

Al-Qaeda’s number two man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has released a videotape containing new threats against America and ridiculing President Bush for the January 13 U.S. airstrike in Pakistan, which apparently killed four of al-Zawahiri’s top deputies. Here’s some of the tape’s content, courtesy of foxnews.com...

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january 26, 2006

Palestinians Elect Hamas by Wide Margin

In what can only be seen as a catastrophic development for the so-called Middle East peace process, the terrorist group Hamas has won the Palestinian parliamentary elections by an overwhelming margin. President Bush said today that America's stance on Hamas hasn't changed--as long as the group continues to seek the destruction of Israel, the U.S. will not deal with it. That's obviously sound policy: Hamas is an inherently evil organization that has the blood of countless innocent Israelis (and some Americans) on its hands. As I show here, its hatred for Americais well-documented. Why, then, did the Bush administration push to have the elections now. rather than postpone them? Indeed, all indications pointed to Hamas possibly winning the elections, yet the U.S. insisted on them going on as planned.

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january 24, 2006

Radical Iraqi Imam Vows to Stand Behind Iran

Over the weekend, the radical young Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr left his base in Najaf to visit with Iranian government officials in Tehran. You may remember Al-Sadr from the April 2004 Shiite uprising against Coalition forces in southern Iraq, which he led via his Al-Madhi army.  That rebellion was decisively crushed by U.S. troops. Yet Al-Sadr, who, despite being charged with the April 2003 murder of Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah Abd al-Majid al-Khoi at a mosque in Najaf--a crime for which he has yet to be arrested--began rearing his head once again last summer, vowing to participate in Iraq’s political process.

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january 20, 2006

New bin Laden Audiotape Airs on Al-Jazeera

It looks like the rumors of Osama bin Laden’s death were premature. Just last week, National Review Online columnist Michael Ledeen-whose work on Iran and the War on Terror is simply outstanding- reported the following: “according to Iranians I trust, Osama bin Laden finally departed this world in mid-December. The al Qaeda leader died of kidney failure and was buried in Iran, where he had spent most of his time since the destruction of al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The Iranians who reported this note that this year's message in conjunction with the Muslim Haj came from his number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for the first time.”

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january 16, 2006

Mexican Drug Cartels Helping 'Osama's People' Enter U.S.?

Over the past year, I've often wrote about America's porous border with Mexico and the possibility of Islamist terrorists using it to their advantage. Although a number of outstanding terrorism analysts believe that the weakly-guarded, expansive Canadian border is actually at greater risk, the steady barrage of disturbing reports emanating from America's southern boundary cannot be ignored. The latest comes out of Brownsville, TX, where, according to the Brownsville Herald, "Officials are pointing to records in a South Texas drug case with alleged terrorist ties that they say underscores the lack of preparedness [along the souther border]."

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january 13, 2006

Disposable Phone Buys Reveal Texas Terror Cell?

Disposable cell phones--which don't require purchasers to sign a contract or have a credit card--have grown in popularity lately. They're particularly popular with people who have bad credit, and are convenient to have on hand in case of an emergency. Even the CIA has used them, because they are nearly impossible to track. Unfortunately, there's a downside: just as they have with the Internet, camera phones, and countless other technological advances, terrorists have utilized these disposable phones as well.

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january 12, 2006

Imam Elahi: Loyal U.S. Citizen or Friend of Radical Islam?

My story describing my December trip to Dearborn, Michigan--a heavily Arab and Muslim suburb of Detroit--aired yesterday on the 700 Club. My apologies for not promoting it on the blog--I was so wrapped it up in putting it all together (the story run over nine minutes) that I simply forgot. But judging from the feedback I've gotten thus far in counterterrorism circles, my description of the radicalism and anti-Semitism I found among prominent Dearborn Muslims is making some waves.

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january 11, 2006

Annual Muslim Pilgrimage Turns into Mecca of Hate

The annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca took place this week. Here is a taste of what to expect, from the Times of India :

West scaring away people from Islam: Saudi cleric

MECCA (Saudi Arabia): A top Saudi cleric told Muslim pilgrims marking the climax of Haj on Tuesday that the West was using the global phenomenon of terrorism to scare people away from Islam and discredit legitimate Muslim causes.

Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Sudeis, the state-appointed preacher at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, also called for stability in Iraq and said Islam was innocent of the charge of "terrorism".

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january 9, 2006

Al-Qaeda's Latest Recruits: HIV Bombers

Throughout its bloody history, al-Qaeda has often employed a kind of evil genius. 9/11 for example, took five years to plan, and would have been carried out without a wrinkle if not for the brave passengers aboard Flight 93 (which crashed in a remote field in Pennsylvania rather than the hijackers' intended destination: either the White House or the U. S Capitol). But a new report from London's Sunday Mirror describes what may be the ultimate depraved terrorist scheme: the HIV bomber.

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january 5, 2006

Have the Rules of the Game Really Changed in Britain?

Sadly, not according to this piece from the UK Sun:

Englanders need our prayers now more than at any time since the Battle of Britain. If only Britain's current political class had the backbone of Winston Churchill. Alas, the slow, painful march towards Britainistan continues virtually unabated...

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january 3, 2006

Germany's Challenge to Islamists

Perhaps this bold move by Germany will start a trend in the West. We can only hope. Essential reading here from Daniel Pipes at Frontpage:

Because survey research finds that 21 percent of Muslims living in Germany believe the German constitution irreconcilable with the Koran, the written yes-no questions of yesteryear are history for Muslim applicants for citizenship. As of January 1, 2006, immigration officers who suspect Islamist leanings are instructed to probe further. Personal interviews will now last an hour or two and will be given to an estimated half of naturalization applicants.

The questions amount to a summary of Western values. What do you think of democracy, political parties, religious freedom? What would you do if you learned about a terrorist operation underway? Views of 9/11 are a “key issue,” says Dieter Biller, director of the alien registration office in Stuttgart: Were Jews responsible for it? Were the 19 hijackers terrorists or freedom fighters? Finally, nearly two-thirds of the questions concern gender issues such as women’s rights, husbands beating wives, “honor killings,” female attire, arranged marriages, polygamy, and homosexuality.

Read it all. You won't be disappointed.