» Military leaders targeted: The rehearsal for Tuesday’s National Day parade, in Sanaa, was not interrupted until an explosion during final salutes. Several army commanders and a defense minister were beleived to be the target of the attack. Officials say that the parade will take place as scheduled. The bombing is the most serious attack orchestrated by the al-Qaeda affiliated group, who also warned of further violence should the U.S. not withdraw its military from the region.
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» Molotov cocktails, or home brew supplies? That’s at question in the case of three activists arrested on terrorism charges, days prior to the NATO summit in Chicago. They’re charged with constructing explosive devices, which they intended to use against very high-profile targets — the Obama reelection headquarters, and the home address of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The attorney for the three men (identified as Brian Church of Florida, Jared Chase of New Hampshire, and Brent Betterly of Massachusetts) claims the police planted weapons at the scene of the arrest, and supporters have claimed what the police called “molotov cocktails” were actually equipment for personal beer brewing. The National Lawyer’s Guild, which has volunteers representing the men, also asserts the police “broke down doors with guns drawn and searched residences without a warrant or consent.”
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» Those missiles could most definitely be in the wrong hands: After the downfall of the Gaddafi regime, the U.S. started up a $40 million missile recovery program to help get back some of these missiles — estimated to be 20,000 total — but have only managed to recover 5,000 of them. And there are rumblings that terror groups such as Nigeria’s Boko Haram could have some of these missiles, which (though fired from the shoulder) are big enough to, say, take down a plane. The “War on Terror” changes quickly, it seems.
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My life is in your hands, Mr. President. If you accept the demands, I live; if you don’t accept the demands, then I die.American al-Qaeda hostage Warren Weinstein • Speaking in a video directed towards President Obama, in which the terror group demands a halt to airstrikes in multiple countries and al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoner releases. ”It’s important you accept the demands and act quickly and don’t delay,” Weinstein claims. “There’ll be no benefit in delaying, it will just make things more difficult for me.” It seems likely that Weinstein didn’t write these words.
Based on this above article, you might expect the threat from al-Qaeda is basically gone, right? Well, perhaps you should read these other articles first. As we pointed out in our analysis on Sunday, media outlets left and right are saying al-Qaeda’s threat is basically gone a year after Osama bin Laden’s death. Or it isn’t.
So, when looking up stories on the upcoming one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, we noticed a bizarre trend: None of the stories seemed to agree with one another. Some seemed to suggest al-Qaeda was basically gone. Others suggested that they were still planning major terror attacks. Seeing this, we got an idea: What if we scored the stories based on the done-ness of al-Qaeda, from 1 to 10? Because one wire service’s “in ruins” is another national newspaper’s “far from defeated.” Check the results above, and take one major point from this: Not every story has an agreed-upon answer.
I am here, I am visible. America should give that reward money to me. I will be in Lahore tomorrow. America can contact me whenever it wants to.Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed • Holding a press conference near the military headquarters in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, only twenty-four hours after the United States offered a $10 million bounty for the Pakistani militant’s capture. US officials have accused Saeed of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead, though the militia leader maintained his innocence during the conference. ”I want to tell America we will continue our peaceful struggle,” Saeed said, continuing, “life and death is in the hands of God, not in the hands of America.”source (via • follow)
» A very deadly day: The above figure, in addition to roughly 200 people injured, was the human cost of a seemingly coordinated series of bombings at 13 different sites across Iraq. Two car bombs near the fortified, so-called “Green Zone” also went off, an overtly threatening message just one week ahead of a planned Arab League summit Iraq is to host there. The summit was, and is, meant to be a show by the Iraqi government of their state’s stability and security. Today’s bombings are widely believed to have been timed to undermine all that – a similar plan last year was cancelled due to security fears. Nobody explicit has yet been linked to the bombings, but some Iraqi authorities have launched accusations towards Sunni militant groups, speaking to deepening sectarian strife.
Video of the day: In which the terrorists win by convincing the U.S. government to terrorize a three-year-old boy in a wheelchair, all in the name of counterterrorism.
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Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
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Osama bin Laden’s compound currently getting destroyed: The place where the al-Qaeda leader spent his final days is getting razed in what appears to be a surprise demolition. Not that locals are complaining: “We were searched and questioned every time we wanted to reach our homes,” said 22-year-old college student Shabbir Ahmed, who lives in Abbottabad. “When this symbol of evil is finally gone, people in the area will be able to rest.” Last year’s raid angered the Pakistani government, who were not told that it was going to take place by the U.S. government, who feared that an official would tip off the figurehead. (ht idroolinmysleep; photo by Anjum Naveed/AP)
With fragmentation, core al-Qaeda will likely be of largely symbolic importance to the movement. Regional groups, and to a lesser extent small cells and individuals, will drive the global jihad agenda both within the United States and abroad.Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper • Suggesting that the days of al-Qaeda being a relevant centralized group are over, while emphasizing their long-term relevance. Clapper also had some tough words about Iran worth heeding: Citing an attack on a Saudi ambassador to the U.S. last year, he says that “some Iranian officials — probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime.” He’s suggesting that Iran’s not afraid of attacking inside the U.S. That’s a big deal, guys.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has repeatedly betrayed the trust conferred on it by the local population and, in the recent weeks, falsely accused the Mujahideen (Shabaab fighters) of hindering food distribution.A statement from al-Shabaab • Discussing its decision to bar the Red Cross from the parts of Somalia it controls. That’s right: al-Shabaab is blocking humanitarian aid from being distributed over accusations by the Red Cross that they’re already blocking humanitarian aid from getting distributed. You can’t make this stuff up.
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