al-Qaeda

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Bin Laden's a Loser, 9/11 Failed
 Bin Laden's a Loser, 9/11 Failed 
OPINION

Bin Laden's a Loser, 9/11 Failed

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden may still be alive out there, but history long ago closed the book on him: He’s a failure, writes Tony Karon in Time. The 9/11 attacks were a tactical victory for al-Qaeda, striking fear into Western hearts. But the strategy behind them “has proven to...

Obama: 'We Will Never Falter' in Terror Fight

(Newser) - Eight years after the 9/11 attacks, President Obama said the nation "will never falter" in its pursuit of al-Qaeda and its allies. Obama placed a wreath under rainy skies at the Pentagon today in memory of those who died there on Sept. 11, 2001. The president said the nation...

NYC Observes Moment of Silence
 NYC Observes 
 Moment of Silence 
9/11 memorials

NYC Observes Moment of Silence

(Newser) - New Yorkers observed a moment of silence this morning to mark the minute the first jet hit the World Trade Center eight years ago. Three more were planned to mark the second strike and the moments each tower collapsed. Similar ceremonies will take place at the Pentagon and crash site...

New Photo of 9/11 Mastermind Used to Spur Jihad

Red Cross photo of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed hits net

(Newser) - The family of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed released new photos of the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and they've been showing up on sites used by al-Qaeda sympathizers to recruit terrorists. The images, taken by the Red Cross as part of its monitoring of Guantanamo Bay prisoners, are the...

Surge May Be Only Way to Keep US Safe From al-Qaeda

Remote-controlled strikes won't be enough to stop terrorists, say experts

(Newser) - The idea that al-Qaeda could be prevented from regaining a haven in Afghanistan without having American troops in the country is gaining support as the war drags on, but it's unlikely to work, many counterterrorism experts tell the New York Times. Terrorism can't be destroyed by airstrikes or Special Forces...

Kristol: George Will Is Wrong on Afghanistan

(Newser) - George Will’s call today to pull US troops out of Afghanistan is tantamount to “urging retreat and accepting defeat,” fellow conservative William Kristol blogs in the Washington Post. Will’s idea to focus mostly on offshore operations and airstrikes "doesn't sound much more engaged than US...

Time to Quit Afghanistan
 Time to Quit Afghanistan 
OPINION

Time to Quit Afghanistan

Nation-building in one of the world's weakest states is a lost cause

(Newser) - America needs to abandon its idea of nation-building in Afghanistan before the lives of yet more troops are squandered trying to establish an effective central government in a country that has never had one, George F. Will warns in the Washington Post. Even with America's troop-intensive efforts, experts say Kabul...

Agents Say Waterboarding Turned Around Terrorist

(Newser) - After being waterboarded 183 times and deprived of sleep for a week, self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Kalid Sheikh Mohammed transformed from an avowed enemy of the US into a sort of CIA guest lecturer, the Washington Post reports. Two anonymous sources, looking to build the case that harsh interrogation worked, say...

Where's the Lefty Outrage Over Outing CIA Ops Now?

(Newser) - During the Valerie Plame scandal, the left acted as if there was no greater sin than disclosing the name of a CIA operative. But there is no such outrage at current initiatives that could potentially disclose the names of several agency officers, writes Bret Stephens in the Wall Street Journal....

CIA Hired Blackwater to Help Plan al-Qaeda Killings

(Newser) - We knew the US outsourced a lot of its work in Iraq to Blackwater, but this takes the cake: The CIA hired the infamous military contractor in 2004 to help it figure out how to track down and kill al-Qaeda operatives, reports the New York Times. The move to hire...

Al Qaeda Leader Dies in Battle With Hamas

(Newser) - Hamas launched a raid on an al-Qaeda splinter group's mosque stronghold today, leaving at least 22 dead, including the group’s leader, and around 120 people injured, Reuters reports. The extremist Jund Ansar Allah, or Warriors of God, had provoked Hamas by declaring the establishment of an Islamic “emirate”...

Top Militant Denies Taliban Shootout

Pakistan insists dead leader's aide killed in power struggle

(Newser) - Days after Pakistan's Taliban leader reportedly died in a US airstrike, conflicting stories are emerging about a power struggle in the militant group, the New York Times reports. Waliur Rehman, a commander who had wanted to lead the Taliban, denies killing a young aide to the former leader in a...

Mehsud Is Alive, Says Fellow Commander

(Newser) - US and Pakistani officials say they're all but certain they killed Baitullah Mehsud, yet one of his fellow Taliban commanders says that's just a bunch of "ridiculous" propaganda. Mehsud, he insists to the BBC, is alive and will stay underground for a few days before issuing a public statement....

US Drone May Have Killed Taliban Leader Mehsud

(Newser) - Potentially big news out of Pakistan: A US drone may have killed Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, reports Reuters. "There is reason to believe that reports of his death may be true, but it can't be confirmed at this time," said an anonymous US official. Mehsud is an...

How a Queens Kid Became an al-Qaeda Fighter

'Impressionable' punk fan radicalized himself in search for structure

(Newser) - Just before he left to become an al-Qaeda fighter 2 years ago, Long Island native Bryant Neal Vinas left a box of mementos. Inside were all-American keepsakes like Yankee caps, alongside dog tags and a copy of Inside the Jihad, a book by a spy who infiltrated al-Qaeda. That was...

New Yorker Was 'Ready to Deliver Suicide Bomb'

His terrorist handler told him he needed more religious instruction

(Newser) - A Queens man who pleaded guilty to aiding al-Qaeda was ready and willing to deliver a suicide bomb for the terrorist organization, he revealed to investigators. His handlers told 26-year-old Bryant Neal Vinas, however, that he needed more "religious" training before he could carry out such a mission, he...

US Missile Kills Son of Bin Laden
US Missile
Kills Son of
Bin Laden

US Missile Kills Son of Bin Laden

Officials think drone strike hit him in Pakistan

(Newser) - The US is pretty sure that an American missile killed Osama bin Laden's son in Pakistan, reports NPR. Spy agencies are "80 to 85%" certain that a missile from a US drone killed Saad bin Laden, thought to be in his late 20s, sometime in the last year. Saad...

Inside the CIA Torturers' Heads
Inside the CIA Torturers' Heads

Inside the CIA Torturers' Heads

Post: Higher-ups pushed interrogators for harsher methods than they wanted

(Newser) - The FBI was already getting information out of a suspected terrorist in a series of relatively friendly interrogations in 2002 when the CIA stepped in, a former US official tells the Washington Post. Agency contract psychologists escalated the techniques to sleep deprivation, extreme cold, and waterboarding, which the FBI interrogators...

Mastermind of Bali Attacks Suspected in Jakarta Blasts

(Newser) - Indonesian officials are fairly certain the wanted terrorist who masterminded the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings is also responsible for yesterday's attacks in Jakarta, the BBC reports. There are “strong indications” that Noordin Mohamed Top—a financier for al Qaeda-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiah who is thought to have...

'Strategic Patience' Will Neuter Al Qaeda
 'Strategic Patience' 
 Will Neuter Al Qaeda 
ANALYSIS

'Strategic Patience' Will Neuter Al Qaeda

(Newser) - Al Qaeda is weak militarily and “has been rejected by a great majority of Muslims,” Steve Coll writes in the New Yorker, but the terrorist organization and its affiliates can still create a “shock” like today's bombings in Jakarta. Despite the group's apparent inability to pull off...

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