AMERICA'S WAR ON TERROR

THANKS OBAMA: AFGHAN ATTACKS ON THE RISE

2009-03-26T19:43:00.001-04:00

KABUL, March 26 (Reuters) - A would-be suicide bomber accidentally blew himself up on Thursday, killing six other militants as he was bidding them farewell to leave for his intended target, the Interior Ministry said.

"The terrorist was on his way to his destination and saying good-bye to his associates and then his suicide vest exploded," a statement from the ministry said.

Taliban-led attacks in Afghanistan have escalated in the past year with suicide and roadside bombings insurgents' weapons of choice.

The incident happened in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan where mainly British troops are struggling against a growing Taliban-led insurgency.

In a separate incident in Helmand, nine policemen were killed when Taliban insurgents attacked a police post in Nari Sarraj district, the Interior Ministry said.

Elsewhere, four Taliban insurgents were killed and seven policemen and two civilians wounded during a battle just outside Ghazni city, about 200 km (125 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul, a spokesman for the provincial governor said.

On Friday, Washington is set to unveil a review of its strategy in Afghanistan, which is expected to emphasise the need to expand Afghan security forces and strengthen the country's heavily aid-dependent economy. (Reporting by Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Valerie Lee)

OBAMA FULLFILLING CAMPAIGN PROMISE TO LOSE WAR ON TERROR

2009-03-13T19:40:00.003-04:00

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration said Friday that it is abandoning one of President George W. Bush's key phrases in the war on terrorism: enemy combatant. The Justice Department said in legal filings that it will no longer use the term to justify holding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

But that won't change much for the detainees at the U.S. naval base in Cuba — Obama still asserts the military's authority to hold them. Human rights attorneys said they were disappointed that Obama didn't take a new stance.

"This is really a case of old wine in new bottles," the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has been fighting the detainees' detention, said in a statement. "It is still unlawful to hold people indefinitely without charge. The men who have been held for more than seven years by our government must be charged or released."

In another court filing Thursday criticized by human rights advocates, the Obama administration tried to protect top Bush administration military officials from lawsuits brought by prisoners who say they were tortured while being held at Guantanamo Bay.

The Obama administration's position on use of the phrase "enemy combatants" came in response to a deadline by U.S. District Judge John Bates, who is overseeing lawsuits of detainees challenging their detention. Bates asked the administration to give its definition of whom the United States may hold as an "enemy combatant."

The filing back's Bush's stance on the authority to hold detainees, even if they were not captured on the battlefield in the course of hostilities. In their lawsuits, detainees have argued that only those who directly participated in hostilities should be held.

"The argument should be rejected," the Justice Department said in its filing. "Law-of-war principles do not limit the United States' detention authority to this limited category of individuals. A contrary conclusion would improperly reward an enemy that violates the laws of war by operating as a loose network and camouflaging its forces as civilians."

Attorney General Eric Holder also submitted a declaration to the court outlining President Barack Obama's efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within a year and determine where to place the 240 people held there. He said there could be "further refinements" to the administration's position as that process goes on.

"Promptly determining the appropriate disposition of those detained at Guantanamo Bay is a high priority for the president," Holder wrote.

Elisa Massimino, CEO and Executive Director of Human Rights First, urged the administration to use that opening. "We certainly hope it will use that opportunity to narrow the authority and make a clean break from the policies of the past," she said.

There are some changes in legal principles in Obama's stance. The Justice Department said authority to hold detainees comes from Congress and the international laws of war, not from the president's own wartime power as Bush had argued.

The Justice Department says prisoners can only be detained if their support for al-Qaida, the Taliban or "associated forces" was "substantial." But it does not define the terms and says "circumstances justifying detention will vary from case to case."

Retired Army Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, a former Guantanamo official who has since become critical of the legal process, said it's a change in nothing but semantics.

"There's absolutely no change in the definition," Abraham said in a telephone interview. "To say this is a kinder more benevolent sense of justice is absolutely false. ... I think the only thing they've done is try to separate themselves from the energy of the debate" by eliminating Bush's phrasing.

On the topic of former administration officials, the Justice Department argued in a filing with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that holding military officials liable for their treatment of prisoners could cause them to make future decisions based on fear of litigation rather than appropriate military policy.

The suit before the appeals court was brought by four British citizens — Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Jamal Al-Harith — who were sent back to Great Britain in 2004. The defendants in the case include former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and retired Gen. Richard Myers, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The men say they were beaten, shackled in painful stress positions and threatened by dogs during their time at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. They also say they were harassed while practicing their religion, including forced shaving of their beards, banning or interrupting their prayers, denying them copies of the Koran and prayer mats and throwing a copy of the Koran in a toilet.

They contend in their lawsuit that the treatment violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which provides that the "government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion."

The appeals court ruled against them early last year, saying because the men were foreigners held outside the United States, they do not fall within the definition of a "person" protected by the act.

But later in the year, the Supreme Court ruled that Guantanamo detainees have some rights under the Constitution. So the Supreme Court instructed the appeals court to reconsider the lawsuit in light of their decision.

Eric Lewis, attorney for the four, said Friday that military officials should be subject to liability when they order torture.

"The upshot of the Justice Department's position is that there is no right of detainees not to be tortured and that officials who order torture should be protected," Lewis said.

Last month in another court filing, the Justice Department sided with the Bush White House by arguing that detainees at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights.

OBAMA: BUSH WAS RIGHT !

2009-03-01T12:43:00.001-05:00

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Pakistani intelligence officials say suspected U.S. missiles have hit an alleged Taliban compound near the border with Afghanistan.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

The U.S. has escalated its missile strikes on Al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan's northwest in recent months, despite official Pakistani protests.

The strike Sunday occurred in South Waziristan, the stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

Two intelligence officials confirmed the strike on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

AL-QAEDA RUN TO GROUND IN PAKISTAN

2009-02-28T17:43:00.000-05:00

KHAR, Pakistan – Pakistan has beaten the Taliban in a major stronghold close to the Afghan border, is close to victory in another and expects to pacify most of the remaining tribal areas before the end of the year, commanders said Saturday.

The upbeat assessment of conditions in the arid, mountainous regions of Bajur and Mohmand follows international criticism of Pakistan for accepting a cease-fire with militants behind a bloody campaign in Swat Valley, just next to the tribal regions.

Many analysts also fear that growing political turmoil between the government and opposition could distract attention from the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban just as Washington wants more concerted action.

The United States and independent analysts have praised the offensive in Bajur, saying it has helped stem the passage of militants from Pakistan into Afghanistan, where violence against American and NATO troops is running at its highest level since the U.S. invasion in 2001.

Pakistan's tribal regions are believed to be a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders. Foreign governments fear extremists there could be plotting attacks on the West.

Maj. Gen. Tariq Khan, commander of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, said the insurgency had been "dismantled" in Bajur after six months of battles between well-armed militants and soldiers backed by tanks and helicopter gunships.

He said 1,600 militants had been killed and 150 civilians had died. Both figures were impossible to verify independently.

"Their resistance has broken down. We control the roads," he told reporters flown to the northwestern region by helicopter. "They have lost."

Col. Saif Ullah, commander in the neighboring region of Mohmand, said troops had repelled insurgents from most of the territory and it would soon be cleared.

"There are no more no-go areas. The militants are running away," he said.

The army took reporters to witness a ceremony marking the victory over the militants conducted by tribal elders and military commanders close to a Bajur town that was the site of a major battle last week. Rows of shops selling household goods and furniture were destroyed, and tanks were parked amid the debris. Residents — most of whom fled before the battle — had not returned to the town in a valley leading to Afghanistan.

American commanders say the Afghan province of Kunar which borders Bajur is still one of the most treacherous areas for their soldiers. The U.S. has earmarked it for some of the thousands of reinforcements being deployed to Afghanistan this year.

Khan said the defeated insurgents were mostly Afghans and Pakistanis, with some Uzbeks and a few Arabs caught in the early days of the offensive.

He said the army had failed to capture any insurgent leaders and that they had most likely fled into Afghanistan. Asked why, he said it was the job of special forces or intelligence agencies — not the army — to capture individual suspects.

Khan said the army had done its job of restoring government rule to the region, predicting military operations in the five of the seven tribal areas under his command "would be over by the end of the year."

He did not discuss conditions in the North and South Wazirstan regions which are not under his command. Both areas are considered major al-Qaida and Taliban strongholds and are frequently hit by missiles fired by unmanned U.S. aircraft.

The display of Pakistan's military gains in the area came as it faces criticism for failing to dislodge militants from the nearby Swat region, where troops and insurgents are observing a cease-fire while the commander of the Taliban considers a proposed peace deal. The United States and NATO worry a deal could turn the scenic region into a militant haven.

Political developments in the desperately poor country of 170 million people have also concerned the West.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court banned opposition leader Nawaz Sharif from elected office, triggering violent protests by his supporters. Sharif says he will join demonstrations later this month by lawyers who helped bring down former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Aside from fears the confrontation will undermine the anti-terror fight, it is also raising worries about possible military intervention, a frequent result of political turmoil between civilian leaders in Pakistan.

ISRAELIS KILL TOP HAMAS LEADER

2009-01-04T17:00:00.001-05:00

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel assassinated a Hamas strongman Thursday in its first assault on the top leadership of Gaza's rulers, escalating a crushing aerial offensive even as it declared it was ready to launch a ground invasion. The airstrike targeted the four-story apartment building that was home to 52-year-old Nizar Rayan, ranked among Hamas' top five decision-makers in Gaza. It also killed 12 other people including two of Rayan's four wives and four of his 12 children, Palestinian health officials said. The Muslim faith allows men to have up to four wives.

While intensifying its 6-day-old military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, Israel also appeared to be sounding out a possible diplomatic exit by demanding international monitors as a key term of any future truce.

Israel launched the offensive Saturday to crush militants who have been terrorizing southern Israel with rocket fire from Gaza.

The campaign began after more than a week of intense Palestinian rocket fire that followed the expiration of a six-month truce. Israeli warplanes have carried out some 500 sorties against Hamas targets, and helicopters have flown hundreds more combat missions, a senior Israeli military officer said Wednesday.

More than 400 Gazans have been killed and some 1,700 have been wounded, Gaza health officials said. The U.N. says the death toll includes more than 60 civilians, 34 of them children.

Three Israeli civilians and one soldier have also died in rocket attacks that have reached deeper into Israel than ever before, bringing one-eighth of the population within rocket range.

Israel has made clear that no one in Hamas is immune from attack and Thursday's strike drove that point home. It flattened Rayan's apartment building, sending a thick plume of smoke into the air and heavily damaged several neighboring buildings.

Hamas leaders went into hiding before Israel launched its operation, but Rayan was known for openly defying Israel.

A professor of Islamic law, Rayan was closely tied to Hamas' military wing and was respected in Gaza for donning combat fatigues and personally participating in clashes against Israeli forces. He sent one of his sons on an October 2001 suicide mission that killed two Israeli settlers in Gaza.

Throughout the day, huge blasts had rocked cities and towns across Gaza as Israeli warplanes went after Gaza's parliament building, militant field operatives, police and cars. The military said aircraft also bombed smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border, part of an ongoing attempt to cut off Hamas' last lifeline to the world outside the embattled Palestinian territory.

So far, the campaign to crush rocket fire on southern Israel has been conducted largely from the air. But military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich said preparations for a ground operation were complete.

"The infantry, the artillery and other forces are ready. They're around the Gaza Strip, waiting for any calls to go inside," Leibovich said.

Hamas threatened to take revenge against Israeli soldiers who were massed along the border with Gaza, waiting for a signal to invade.

"We are waiting for you to enter Gaza to kill you or make you into Schalits," it said, referring to Sgt. Gilad Schalit who was seized by Hamas-affiliated militants 2- 1/2 years ago and remains in captivity.

Israeli Cabinet ministers have been unswayed by international calls to end the violence, which is to include a whirlwind trip around the region next week by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Instead, they authorized the military to push ahead with its campaign against militants, who fired more than 30 rockets into Israel by late Thursday afternoon, according to the military. No injuries were reported, but an eight-story house in Ashdod, 23 miles from Gaza, was hit by a rocket that pierced through two floors.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a meeting of mayors of southern communities Thursday that Israel would not shy from using its vaunted military power.

"We have no interest in a long war. We do not desire a broad campaign. We want quiet," Olmert said. "We don't want to display our might, but we will employ it if necessary."

Ordinary Israelis are not eager to see the operation expand beyond the air-based campaign, a poll Thursday showed.

Earlier this week, Olmert rebuffed a French proposal for a two-day suspension of hostilities. But at the same time, he seemed to be looking for a diplomatic way out, telling Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other world leaders that Israel wouldn't agree to a truce unless international monitors took responsibility for enforcing it, government officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential.

International intervention helped Israel to accept a truce that ended its 2006 war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, when the U.N. agreed to station peacekeepers to enforce the terms. This time, Israel isn't seeking a peacekeeping force, but a monitoring body that would judge compliance on both sides.

The idea was floated before the offensive but did not gain traction because of the complications created by the existence of rival Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza, defense officials said.

Gaza has been under Hamas rule since the militant group overran it in June 2007; the West Bank has remained under the control of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been negotiating peace with Israel for more than a year but has no influence over Hamas. Bringing in monitors would require cooperation between the fierce rivals.

An Abbas confidant said the Palestinian president supports international involvement.

"We are asking for a cease-fire and an international presence to monitor Israel's commitment to it," Nabil Abu Rdeneh said.

Amy Teibel reported from Jerusalem.

U.S. Hands Over Security To Iraqis

2009-01-04T16:56:00.001-05:00

BAGHDAD (AFP) — The United States handed over security control of the Green Zone, a potent symbol of the American occupation, to Iraq on Thursday as a UN mandate for foreign troops ran out and bilateral military accords took effect.

In another step towards full sovereignty, Iraq was also handed control of Basra airport by British forces, who have been using the facility as their main base in southern Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

The formal transfer of control of the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad, during an emotional ceremony at the former palace of executed dictator Saddam Hussein, was hailed by Iraqi government and military officials.

"A year before it was just a dream to think about foreign troops withdrawing from Iraq but today that dream has become a reality," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in an impassioned speech in one of halls of the sprawling palace.

"It is our right to consider this day the day of sovereignty and the beginning of the process of retrieving every inch of our nation's soil," Maliki said as the Iraqi flag was hoisted at the sandstone palace entrance.

"The palace is the sign of Iraqi sovereignty and it is a message to all Iraqis that our sovereignty has returned."

Maliki also declared the day a national holiday.

"I ask the Council of Ministers and the Presidency Council to announce this day as a national holiday."

Under the terms of an agreement signed in November, the US has officially decamped from the 14.5 square kilometre (5.6 square mile) Green Zone located on the west bank of the Tigris in central Baghdad.

However, US troops will continue to play an advisory role to the Iraqi military and the huge new US embassy complex lies within the fortified zone although many other buildings have already been handed back to the Iraqis.

The expiry of the UN mandate put in place on October 16, 2003 allowing foreign troops to operate on Iraqi soil, means Iraq takes greater control of its own security and marks a further step towards full sovereignty.

Saddam's former palace served as a US embassy American military headquarters after being taken over by US forces in April 2003.

Surrounded by kilometres of barbed wire, four-metre high concrete walls and multiple armed checkpoints, the area came to symbolise for many Iraqis the unwanted American occupation. It came under frequent attack by Shiite and Sunni insurgents.

Soldiers from the Baghdad Brigade, who take orders from Maliki, have now taken over although American forces will help man checkpoints and play an advisory role.

"The American withdrawal from the Green Zone will be gradual," Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad, Major General Qassim Atta, told AFP.

"US checkpoint equipment remains in place and the checkpoints will be coordinated with the American forces but the zone will be run by the Baghdad Brigade."

The handover of Basra airport was also hailed by Iraqi officials.

"This is a great and important day during which Basra airport control tower and the entire airport was turned over by the British to us," Basra provincial governor Mohammed Masbah al-Waeli said in a ceremony at the airport.

Iraqi transport ministry representative Sabih al-Sheybani said the airport would still be used by foreign troops.

"The American and the British forces will use the airport but under Iraqi supervision," he said.

British troops had already withdrawn from the city of Basra in September last year and handed over security control for the key oil-producing province some three months later.

The US military has also handed back to the Iraqis control of part of its airspace and Baghdad airport, although the adjacent US military base, Camp Victory, will remain a key headquarters for the Americans.

The foreign troops will stay on Iraqi soil for some time.

Washington, which has 146,000 soldiers in Iraq, signed a bilateral agreement with Baghdad in November which allows its combat forces to remain in the country until the end of 2011.

Britain and Australia -- which have the second and third largest contingents respectively -- have signed their own separate bilateral agreements with Iraq and will stay on until the end of July.

MARINES MAKE INSUGENTS PAY THE PRICE

2008-11-26T18:08:00.001-05:00

November 18, 2008
Marine Corps News|by Cpl. James M. Mercure

FARAH PROVINCE, Afghanistan — In the city of Shewan, approximately 250 insurgents ambushed 30 Marines and paid a heavy price for it.

Shewan has historically been a safe haven for insurgents, who used to plan and stage attacks against Coalition Forces in the Bala Baluk district.

The city is home to several major insurgent leaders. Reports indicate that more than 250 full time fighters reside in the city and in the surrounding villages.

Shewan had been a thorn in the side of Task Force 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Afghanistan throughout the Marines’ deployment here in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, because it controls an important supply route into the Bala Baluk district. Opening the route was key to continuing combat operations in the area.

“The day started out with a 10-kilometer patrol with elements mounted and dismounted, so by the time we got to Shewan, we were pretty beat,” said a designated marksman who requested to remain unidentified. “Our vehicles came under a barrage of enemy RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and machine gun fire. One of our ‘humvees’ was disabled from RPG fire, and the Marines inside dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast.”

The vicious attack that left the humvee destroyed and several of the Marines pinned down in the kill zone sparked an intense eight-hour battle as the platoon desperately fought to recover their comrades. After recovering the Marines trapped in the kill zone, another platoon sergeant personally led numerous attacks on enemy fortified positions while the platoon fought house to house and trench to trench in order to clear through the enemy ambush site.

“The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish when they’re given the opportunity to fight,” the sniper said. “A small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they were wrong.”

During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a company-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the eight-hour battle for Shewan in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn’t miss any shots, despite the enemies’ rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position.

“I was in my own little world,” the young corporal said. “I wasn’t even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target.”

After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed forward and broke the enemies’ spirit as many of them dropped their weapons and fled the battlefield. At the end of the battle, the Marines had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and wounded several more.

“I didn’t realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken through the enemies’ lines and forced them to retreat. It was roughly 250 insurgents against 30 of us,” the corporal said. “It was a good day for the Marine Corps. We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our guys were seriously injured.”

© Copyright 2008 Marine Corps News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AL-QAEDA COMMUNICATIONS DISRUPTED ACROSS THE WORLD

2008-10-18T20:04:00.005-04:00

OCTOBER 16, 2008 - Al Qaeda's leadership is suffering from a communication breakdown and struggling to issue directives after its computer network was hobbled in September.

Four of the five main online forums that the terrorist group uses to communicate with followers were disabled on Sept. 10, monitors of the Web sites report.

The loss to Al Qaeda is the equivalent of the Pentagon's and the White House's Web sites suddenly going offline, expert Evan Kohlmann told the Post, and it has left the propaganda strategy that Usama bin Laden and his followers rely on "hanging by a narrow thread."

Al Fajr Media Center, a support group created by Al Qaeda and other Sunni extremist groups, issued a statement Sept. 29 saying that the forums were down for "technical reasons" and that Al Qaeda's followers shouldn't trust look-alike sites.

The report noted there have been several examples in recent years of extremist Web sites being attacked by hackers, though it isn't clear who the hackers are nor whether the United States is involved in the attempts to disable the terrorist communication network.

MARINES BEGIN VICTORY LAP

2008-10-17T17:35:00.002-04:00

WASHINGTON - When Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly deployed to Iraq in February, the violence had fallen so low in Anbar province that he began figuring out how to start closing bases and prepare to go home.

In the last 10 months the Marines in Fallujah have done what was unthinkable before the surge began — they have quietly transferred out of one of Anbar province's largest cities.

ALIEN NATION REPORT has learned in an exclusive interview with Kelly from Fallujah that 80 percent of the move is complete. In February there were 8,000 Marines living at Fallujah base. Now there are about 3,000 left. By Nov. 14 there will be none.

BOMB MASTERMIND DEAD IN IRAQ

2008-10-05T16:48:00.002-04:00

SKY NEWS
3:08pm UK, Saturday October 04, 2008

An al Qaeda leader suspected of masterminding a series of deadly attacks in Baghdad has been killed, the US military says.

Al Zubaydi is thought be behind Thursday's Baghdad bomb attacks

Mahir Ahmad Mahmud Judu' al Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami, was killed by coalition troops during a firefight in the capital.

"Acting in self-defence, coalition forces returned fire, killing Abu Rami and a female," a US military statement said.

The woman was al Zubaydi's wife, the military added.

Al Zubaydi is thought to have been one of Iraq's most senior al Qaeda insurgents.

He is alleged to have directed the insurgent cell believed to be responsible for the Baghdad mosque bomb attacks that killed dozens of Shi'ite muslims on Thursday.

The military also blames him for several car bombings and mortar attacks in Baghdad's main Shi'ite district of Sadr City in 2006 and 2007, killing hundreds of people.

He is also believed to have planned and participated in abductions and videotaped executions, including one in which he was seen shooting one of four kidnapped Russians.

Al Zubaydi's death is expected to be a major blow to al Qaeda in Iraq.

US military spokesman Rear Admiral Patrick Driscoll said: "His removal from the AQI network will send shockwaves through Baghdad's terrorist bombing networks."

Al Zubaydi is believed to have originally been a member of the Sunni insurgent group Ansar al Islam and joined al Qaeda in Iraq in 2004.

He was the terror network's military "emir" in eastern Baghdad "before taking over responsibility for all terrorist operations there this year," the military said in the statement.

OBAMA'S REAL NAME ?

2008-10-05T16:39:00.001-04:00

Status: Phillip Berg vs. Barack Hussein Obama

By Douglas J. Hagmann, Director
Northeast Intelligence Network

3 October 2008 To discredit the merits of the lawsuit and have it summarily dismissed, all Barack Hussein Obama (a/k/a Barry SOETORO)has to do is provide a legitimate copy of his birth certificate. The lawsuit was filed by Philadelphia lawyer Phillip Berg in late August.

Instead, Obama has opted to fight the lawsuit as illustrated in the federal court documents which can be viewed online HERE.

As they say, however, the devil is in the details...

First, it is notable that Barack Hussein Obama retained Washington lawyer Joseph SANDLER of the Washington law firm Sandler, Reiff, and Young to fight the lawsuit. Who is Joseph SANDLER? He is a lawyer who has represented CAIR - the Council on American Islamic Relations and MoveOn.org.

Last week, Obama and the Democratic National Committee filed a Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit. On Monday, Attorney berg filed a response to that motion, requesting (1) that the suit not be dismissed, and (2) that the Court order the production of documents that would validate Obama's constitutional qualifications as a legitimate candidate for president.

As mentioned - the devil is in the details - well beyond the obvious (the obvious being a CAIR lawyer responding on behalf of Obama).

Over the last few days, there have been relentless Internet rumors that the court has dismissed the Berg lawsuit. As of this writing, that is untrue, and Attorney Berg claims that he is confident that the defendant's Motion to Dismiss will be defeated.

Based on information I obtained confidentially from sources close to this case within the last 48 hours, it appears that the court will, in fact, dismiss this complaint. Unfortunately, the dismissal will be based on a series of obscure technicalities and citations, thus setting the stage for a larger constitutional crisis in the months ahead.

Count on it.

ONGOING U.S. VICTORY IGNORED

2008-09-01T18:19:00.003-04:00

U.S. HANDS BACK SECURITY IN ANBAR
By Dexter Filkins Published: September 1, 2008

RAMADI, Iraq: Two years ago, Anbar Province was the most lethal place for American forces in Iraq. A U.S. marine or soldier died in the province nearly every day, and the provincial capital, Ramadi, was a moonscape of rubble and ruins. Islamic extremists controlled large pieces of territory, with some so ferocious in their views that they did not even allow the baking of bread.

On Monday, U.S. commanders formally returned responsibility for keeping order in Anbar Province, once the heartland of the Sunni insurgency, to the Iraqi Army and police. The ceremony, including a parade on a freshly paved street, capped one of the most significant turnabouts in the country since the war began five and a half years ago.

Over the past two years, the number of insurgent attacks against Iraqis and Americans has dropped by more than 90 percent. Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has been severely degraded, if not crushed altogether, in large part because many local Sunnis, including former insurgents, have taken up arms against it.

Since February, as the security situation improved, U.S. commanders have cut the number of marines and soldiers operating in the province by 40 percent.

The transfer of authority codified a situation that Iraqi and American officers say has been in effect since April: The Iraqi Army and police operate independently and retain primary responsibility for battling the insurgency and crime in Anbar. The United States, which had long done the bulk of the fighting, has stepped into a backup role, going into the streets only when accompanied by Iraqi forces.

But with most of the Sunni population having abstained from voting in 2005, many are now claiming that the present arrangement leaves them unrepresented. Local Sunni leaders have warned that provincial elections must go forward if violence is to be averted.

Still, as the parade marched along Ramadi's Main Street on Monday, the signs were mostly good. The ceremony was a primarily Iraqi affair, with the U.S. marines wearing neither helmets nor body armor, nor carrying guns. The festive scene became an occasion for celebration by Iraqis and Americans, who at several moments wondered aloud in the sweltering heat how things had gone from so grim to so much better, so fast.

"Not in our wildest dreams could we have imagined this," said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the Iraqi national security adviser, who flew in from Baghdad. "Two or three years ago, had we suggested that the Iraqis could take responsibility, we would have been ridiculed, we would have been laughed at. This was the cradle of the Sunni insurgency."

Indeed it was. Anbar Province became the most intractable region after the toppling of Saddam Hussein in April 2003. More than 1,000 American marines and soldiers have died in the province, a quarter of the total U.S. toll.

Anbar's second city, Falluja, was the scene of the biggest battle of the war, in which nearly 100 Americans died and more than 500 were wounded.

Bordering on three countries, Anbar was also considered the primary transit point for foreigners entering Iraq.

The fighting devastated much of Anbar. Falluja, a city of 250,000, was razed, and large parts of Ramadi, a city of 500,000, were reduced to ruins.

By the summer of 2006, insurgents had tried to kill Anbar's governor, Mamoon Sami al-Rashid, 29 times. They failed with Rashid, but that was an exception. Rashid's immediate predecessor, Raja Nawaf, was kidnapped and murdered. His deputy, Talib al-Dulaimi, was shot and killed. The chairman of the Anbar provincial council was also murdered. Rashid's personal secretary was beheaded and most of his ministers went into hiding.

What finally broke the stalemate, according to former insurgents and local leaders, was a local revolt against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the radical insurgent group believed to be led primarily by foreigners. As the group began to expand its goals beyond killing Americans to include sectarian assassinations and imposing a fundamentalist Islam, local tribal leaders struck back and reached out for help to U.S. forces. The "Sunni Awakening" was born, and it soon spread across the Sunni areas of Iraq.

Saadi al-Faraji used to be a gunman for a local group called the Islamic Movement of Holy Warriors, which focused mainly on attacking Americans. Then, in 2006, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia tried to take over his group and force them to kill Iraqis who worked for the government, including police officers.

Media FINALLY Admits Stunning U.S. Coalition Victory In Iraq

2008-07-27T18:52:00.004-04:00

Barack Hussein Obama spends 8 hours in a secured area of Iraq, ignores the troops, refuses to admit the SURGE has worked but then takes credit for a hard-fought victory in the War On Terror. To insure he is credited with the victory, the mainstream media is now finally admitting what has been well known by REAL Americans for five years.

ANALYSIS: U.S. now winning Iraq war that seemed lost
By ROBERT BURNS and ROBERT H. REID – 23 hours ago

BAGHDAD (AP) — The United States is now winning the war that two years ago seemed lost. Limited, sometimes sharp fighting and periodic terrorist bombings in Iraq are likely to continue, possibly for years. But the Iraqi government and the U.S. now are able to shift focus from mainly combat to mainly building the fragile beginnings of peace — a transition that many found almost unthinkable as recently as one year ago.

Despite the occasional bursts of violence, Iraq has reached the point where the insurgents, who once controlled whole cities, no longer have the clout to threaten the viability of the central government.

That does not mean the war has ended or that U.S. troops have no role in Iraq. It means the combat phase finally is ending, years past the time when President Bush optimistically declared it had. The new phase focuses on training the Iraqi army and police, restraining the flow of illicit weaponry from Iran, supporting closer links between Baghdad and local governments, pushing the integration of former insurgents into legitimate government jobs and assisting in rebuilding the economy.

Scattered battles go on, especially against al-Qaida holdouts north of Baghdad. But organized resistance, with the steady drumbeat of bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and ambushes that once rocked the capital daily, has all but ceased.

This amounts to more than a lull in the violence. It reflects a fundamental shift in the outlook for the Sunni minority, which held power under Saddam Hussein. They launched the insurgency five years ago. They now are either sidelined or have switched sides to cooperate with the Americans in return for money and political support.

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told The Associated Press this past week there are early indications that senior leaders of al-Qaida may be considering shifting their main focus from Iraq to the war in Afghanistan.

Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told the AP on Thursday that the insurgency as a whole has withered to the point where it is no longer a threat to Iraq's future.

"Very clearly, the insurgency is in no position to overthrow the government or, really, even to challenge it," Crocker said. "It's actually almost in no position to try to confront it. By and large, what's left of the insurgency is just trying to hang on."

Shiite militias, notably the Mahdi Army of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, have lost their power bases in Baghdad, Basra and other major cities. An important step was the routing of Shiite extremists in the Sadr City slums of eastern Baghdad this spring — now a quiet though not fully secure district.

Al-Sadr and top lieutenants are now in Iran. Still talking of a comeback, they are facing major obstacles, including a loss of support among a Shiite population weary of war and no longer as terrified of Sunni extremists as they were two years ago.

Despite the favorable signs, U.S. commanders are leery of proclaiming victory or promising that the calm will last.

The premature declaration by the Bush administration of "Mission Accomplished" in May 2003 convinced commanders that the best public relations strategy is to promise little, and couple all good news with the warning that "security is fragile" and that the improvements, while encouraging, are "not irreversible."

Iraq still faces a mountain of problems: sectarian rivalries, power struggles within the Sunni and Shiite communities, Kurdish-Arab tensions, corruption. Any one of those could rekindle widespread fighting.

But the underlying dynamics in Iraqi society that blew up the U.S. military's hopes for an early exit, shortly after the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, have changed in important ways in recent months.

Systematic sectarian killings have all but ended in the capital, in large part because of tight security and a strategy of walling off neighborhoods purged of minorities in 2006.

That has helped establish a sense of normalcy in the streets of the capital. People are expressing a new confidence in their own security forces, which in turn are exhibiting a newfound assertiveness with the insurgency largely in retreat.

Statistics show violence at a four-year low. The monthly American death toll appears to be at its lowest of the war — four killed in action so far this month as of Friday, compared with 66 in July a year ago. From a daily average of 160 insurgent attacks in July 2007, the average has plummeted to about two dozen a day this month. On Wednesday the nationwide total was 13.

Beyond that, there is something in the air in Iraq this summer.

In Baghdad, parks are filled every weekend with families playing and picnicking with their children. That was unthinkable only a year ago, when the first, barely visible signs of a turnaround emerged.

Now a moment has arrived for the Iraqis to try to take those positive threads and weave them into a lasting stability.

The questions facing both Americans and Iraqis are: What kinds of help will the country need from the U.S. military, and for how long? The questions will take on greater importance as the U.S. presidential election nears, with one candidate pledging a troop withdrawal and the other insisting on staying.

Iraqi authorities have grown dependent on the U.S. military after more than five years of war. While they are aiming for full sovereignty with no foreign troops on their soil, they do not want to rush. In a similar sense, the Americans fear that after losing more than 4,100 troops, the sacrifice could be squandered.

U.S. commanders say a substantial American military presence will be needed beyond 2009. But judging from the security gains that have been sustained over the first half of this year — as the Pentagon withdrew five Army brigades sent as reinforcements in 2007 — the remaining troops could be used as peacekeepers more than combatants.

As a measure of the transitioning U.S. role, Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond says that when he took command of American forces in the Baghdad area about seven months ago he was spending 80 percent of his time working on combat-related matters and about 20 percent on what the military calls "nonkinetic" issues, such as supporting the development of Iraqi government institutions and humanitarian aid.

Now Hammond estimates those percentage have been almost reversed. For several hours one recent day, for example, Hammond consulted on water projects with a Sunni sheik in the Radwaniyah area of southwest Baghdad, then spent time with an Iraqi physician/entrepreneur in the Dora district of southern Baghdad — an area, now calm, that in early 2007 was one of the capital's most violent zones.

"We're getting close to something that looks like an end to mass violence in Iraq," says Stephen Biddle, an analyst at the Council of Foreign Relations who has advised Petraeus on war strategy. Biddle is not ready to say it's over, but he sees the U.S. mission shifting from fighting the insurgents to keeping the peace.

Although Sunni and Shiite extremists are still around, they have surrendered the initiative and have lost the support of many ordinary Iraqis. That can be traced to an altered U.S. approach to countering the insurgency — a Petraeus-driven move to take more U.S. troops off their big bases and put them in Baghdad neighborhoods where they mixed with ordinary Iraqis and built a new level of trust.

Army Col. Tom James, a brigade commander who is on his third combat tour in Iraq, explains the new calm this way:

"We've put out the forest fire. Now we're dealing with pop-up fires."

It's not the end of fighting. It looks like the beginning of a perilous peace.

Maj. Gen. Ali Hadi Hussein al-Yaseri, the chief of patrol police in the capital, sees the changes.

"Even eight months ago, Baghdad was not today's Baghdad," he says.

IRAQI FORCES PREVAIL

2008-07-05T20:49:00.003-04:00

From The Sunday Times July 6, 2008

Iraqis lead final purge of Al-Qaeda

SUNDAY TIMES
Marie Colvin in Mosul:

American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.

After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul.

A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.

Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.

The group has been reduced to hit-and-run attacks, including one that killed two off-duty policemen yesterday, and sporadic bombings aimed at killing large numbers of officials and civilians.

Last Friday I joined the 2nd Iraqi Division as it supported local police in a house-to-house search for one such bomb after intelligence pointed to a large explosion today.

Even in the district of Zanjali, previously a hotbed of the insurgency, it was possible to accompany an Iraqi colonel on foot through streets of breeze-block houses studded with bullet holes. Hundreds of houses were searched without resistance but no bomb was found, only 60kg of explosives.

American and Iraqi leaders believe that while it would be premature to write off Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni group has lost control of its last urban base in Mosul and its remnants have been largely driven into the countryside to the south.

Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, who has also led a crackdown on the Shi’ite Mahdi Army in Basra and Baghdad in recent months, claimed yesterday that his government had “defeated” terrorism.

“They were intending to besiege Baghdad and control it,” Maliki said. “But thanks to the will of the tribes, security forces, army and all Iraqis, we defeated them.”

The number of foreign fighters coming over the border from Syria to bolster Al-Qaeda’s numbers is thought to have declined to as few as 20 a month, compared with 120 a month at its peak.

Brigadier General Abdullah Abdul, a senior Iraqi commander, said: “We’ve limited their movements with check-points. They are doing small attacks and trying big ones, but they’re mostly not succeeding.”

Major-General Mark Hertling, American commander in the north, said: “I think we’re at the irreversible point.”

WORLDWIDE TERRORISM DOWN

2008-05-25T21:11:00.004-04:00

Deaths directly from worldwide terrorism - especialy by Al-Qaeda - have fallen off sharply since 2002. The implication is clear that America's War On Terror has thus far been a stunning success.

But the truth will NOT be reported by the U.S. mainstream media . Read below:

B.C. Researchers Find Decline in Global Terrorism
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER - A group of researchers from Simon Fraser University says global terrorism is on the decline, despite previous data and public perceptions that suggest otherwise.

The university's Human Security Report Project says fatalities from terrorist attacks around the world have, in fact, decreased by 40 per cent since 2001.

Researcher Andrew Mack says previous data showing increases in terrorism have included civilian deaths in Iraq.

But he says such deaths in civil wars have traditionally been treated as war crimes, not terrorism, and it makes sense to remove them from the data entirely.

Mack says even in Iraq recently there has been a sharp decline in attacks after several years of increased violence.

He says part of the reason is that global support for Islamic terrorist groups, such as al-Qaida has declined.

LATEST AL-QAEDA LEADER CAUGHT

2008-05-08T18:59:00.003-04:00

BAGHDAD - The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was arrested in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

Mohammed al-Askari said the arrest of al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, was confirmed to him by the Iraqi commander of the province. There was no immediate confirmation or comment from U.S. forces on the arrest.

The U.S. military in Baghdad said "we are currently checking with Iraqi authorities to confirm the accuracy of this information."

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said that Mosul police "arrested one of al-Qaida's leaders at midnight and during the primary investigations he admitted that he is Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir."

News of the arrest was also reported by Iraqi state television and Arab satellite TV stations.

The state channel, Iraqiya, said that Minister of Interior Jawad al-Bolani would reward Mosul police for the capture.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khalaf told the station by phone that a source close to the al-Qaida leader informed Mosul police that al-Masri would be at a house in the city's Wadi Hajar area at midnight Wednesday.

"The police raided this house and arrested him. During the primary investigation, he confessed that he is Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir, the leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq. Now a broader investigation of him is being conducted," he said to Iraqiya.

If confirmed, the arrest would represent a major blow to al-Qaida in Iraq, which has been on the run for the past year following a shift in alliances by Sunni tribesmen in western Anbar province, and elsewhere, and an influx of thousands of U.S. troops.

The U.S. military considers the organization its number one enemy in Iraq.

"The commander of Ninevah military operations informed me that Iraqi troops captured Abu Hamza al-Muhajir the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq," al-Askari told The Associated Press by telephone.

He did not have any further details nor did he say when the al-Qaida leader was arrested.

Mosul is currently a major battleground for U.S. forces and al-Qaida.

Ninevah governor Duraid Kashmola also said by phone that al-Masri had been arrested.

Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant, took over al-Qaida in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed June 7, 2006 in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad.

Al-SADR BUTTBUDDY KILLED

2008-04-11T15:23:00.002-04:00

Police have imposed a curfew in the Iraqi city of Najaf after a senior aide to Muqtada MOOKIE al-Sadr, an Shia leader, was shot dead near his home, Iraqi officials said.

Riyadh al-Nouri, who was the director of al-Sadr's office in Najaf, was killed as he drove home from Friday prayers in the nearby city of Kufa.

Police set up blockades, ordered people off the streets and closed shops after the incident, a Reuters news agency reporter said.

Haider al-Turfi, another Sadr official in Njafa, said that armed men were waiting for al-Nouri near his home in the city's eastern neighbourhood of al-Adala.

"When he arrived from the prayers, they opened fire on him, killing him instantly," Turfi said.

TOP AL-QAEDA LEADER DEAD

2008-04-09T18:23:00.005-04:00

WASHINGTON -- An Egyptian al-Qaida boss believed to be the planner behind the foiled 2006 terrorist plot to blow up airliners over the Atlantic is dead of natural causes, U.S. counterterrorism officials said Wednesday.

One official said the strategist, Abu Obeida al-Masri, was also responsible for attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan and is linked to the July 7, 2005 attacks on the London transit system, one official said Wednesday.

Al-Masri is believed to have died of hepatitis in late 2007 in Pakistan's lawless tribal area bordering Afghanistan, a second counterterrorism official said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

He was "a senior external operations planner" for al-Qaida, which U.S. intelligence says has reconstituted its headquarters in western Pakistan, one official said.

Al-Masri planned the disrupted 2006 attacks in which as many as 10 passenger jets bound for the United States were meant to be blown up over the Atlantic simultaneously with liquid explosives. British authorities arrested 24 suspects in August 2006 after nearly a year of surveillance. The suspects planned to smuggle bombs and detonators disguised as drinks and electronic devices onto the planes in their carry-on baggage.

The plot caused the United States and Britain to adopt tougher security measures for airline passengers. The United States limited the amount of liquids and gels that could be carried on board. The British for a time banned nearly all carry-ons.

Al-Masri is also believed to have been behind the successful London transit attacks. That attack occurred during the morning rush hour in London, when three bombs on the London Underground exploded simultaneously. A fourth bomb exploded an hour later on a bus. The attack killed 52 and injured 700. Four suicide bombers also died.

Little else is publicly known about Al-Masri. The U.S. National Counterterrorism Center does not even list him in its profiles of known and most-wanted terrorists.

The Los Angeles Times reported April 2 that, according to European documents, al-Masri is in his mid-40s. He fought in Bosnia in the early 1990 and was wounded in Chechnya before going to Afghanistan in 2000. He fled into Pakistan in late 2001 with other al-Qaida leaders, including Osama bin Laden.

In Pakistan, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said he had no information about the death of al-Masri. Several Pakistani intelligence officials contacted by The Associated Press had no immediate comment.

Based in the mountainous Afghan province of Kunar, al-Masri was believed to have been in charge of planning attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces in the volatile east region of the country. Violence in southern and eastern Afghanistan spiked last year, leaving about 1,600 people dead, including a surge in suicide attacks - a change of tactics by the militants.

LAST AL-QAEDA LEADER IN IRAQ

2008-03-02T19:23:00.003-05:00

BAGHDAD — A U.S. military helicopter fired a guided missile to kill a wanted Al Qaeda in Iraq leader from Saudi Arabia who was responsible for the bombing deaths of five American soldiers, a spokesman said Sunday.

U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said Jar Allah, also known as Abu Yasir al-Saudi, and another Saudi known only as Hamdan, were both killed Wednesday in Mosul.

According to the military, al-Saudi conducted numerous attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces, including a Jan. 28 bomb attack that killed the five U.S. soldiers.

In that attack, insurgents blasted a U.S. patrol with a roadside bomb and showered survivors with gunfire from a mosque. The soldiers died in the explosion, the deadliest on American forces since six soldiers perished Jan. 9 in a booby-trapped house north of Baghdad.

Intelligence gathered in the Mosul area led the U.S. military to al-Saudi, who was in a car with Hamdan. A precision helicopter strike killed both and destroyed their vehicle. U.S. forces then confirmed the men's identities.

Smith said their deaths brought to 142 the number of Al Qaeda insurgents killed or captured in Mosul since the beginning of the year.

Al-Saudi was the man who headed up the Al Qaeda network in southeast Mosul, an insurgent hotbed where U.S. forces wage daily battles against the group.

"Mosul is the center of Al Qaeda's terrorist activities today. Mosul is a critical crossroads for Al Qaeda in Iraq. Baghdad has always been Al Qaeda's operational center of gravity, but Mosul remains their strategic center of gravity as it provides access to the flow of foreign fighters," Smith said.

Mosul is located at the locus of roads that connect Iraq with Syria to the west, Turkey to the north and Iran to the east. Many fighters smuggled in from Syria make their way through Mosul, where they can easily blend in with city's ethnically and religiously diverse population.

"It is their strategic center of gravity. One-half to two-thirds of attacks in Iraq today are in and around Mosul," Smith said.

A successful program to recruit and fund Sunni tribesmen has also slashed Al Qaeda's influence in Baghdad and western Anbar province, pushing the group into Diyala province and up toward Mosul — fighting as they retreat north.

ANGELINA GETS IT: DEMS DON'T

2008-02-29T20:19:00.003-05:00

Jolie Sees Benefit in US Surge in Iraq
By LINDSAY HOLMWOOD – 1 day ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Actress and humanitarian activist Angelina Jolie said Thursday that the reinforcement of U.S. troops in Iraq has created an opportunity for humanitarian programs to boost assistance for Iraqi refugees.

In an op-ed piece published by the Washington Post, titled "A Reason to Stay in Iraq," Jolie details the plight of refugees and says their conditions have not improved since she visited the country last August to urge governments to provide more support.

Jolie, who has been a U.N. goodwill ambassador since 2001, was in Baghdad earlier this month to again highlight the refugee problem. She talked with Gen. David Petraeus, the American military commander in Iraq, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the U.S. Embassy said.

Petraeus "told me he would support new efforts to address the humanitarian crisis" as much as possible, "which leaves me hopeful that more progress can be made," the actress wrote.

She said she stressed to Iraqi officials there must be a coherent plan for helping some 2 million Iraqis who are taking advantage of the downturn in violence to begin trickling back to abandoned homes from havens elsewhere in the country. A similar number fled Iraq to escape the bloodshed.

"It will be quite a while before Iraq is ready to absorb more than 4 million refugees and displaced people," Jolie wrote. "But it is not too early to start working on solutions."

The actress, who works on behalf of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, urged America's presidential candidates and congressional leaders to step up financing for aid to displaced Iraqis. UNHCR has asked for $261 million this year — "less than the U.S. spends each day to fight the war in Iraq," she wrote.

Addressing the question of whether the "troop surge" has worked, Jolie said that "I can only state what I witnessed."

"When I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq," she wrote. "They have lost many friends and want to be a part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible."

FBI TOP 10 TERRORIST KILLED

2008-02-13T17:59:00.003-05:00

Thanks to U.S. ally Israel, the FBI's MOST WANTED terrorist second only to Osama Bin-Laden has been killed in a blistering, targeted attack. Justice has finally come to over 220 Marines murdered in Lebanon twenty-four years ago.

Imad Mughniyeh, killed by a car bomb in Damascus on Tuesday night, was a top military leader of the Lebanese Hizbullah organisation, which is mourning him today as a "martyred" hero of its 20-year campaign against Israel and the US.

Mughniyeh has been on the FBI's most wanted list since the 1980s, long before al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden became bywords for terrorism. Working with a shadowy Shia group known as Islamic Jihad, he was blamed for the kidnapping of western hostages in Beirut – including the Briton Terry Waite – and a 1983 bombing that killed 240 US marines in the Lebanese capital.

In 1984, Mughniyeh was said to have been behind the kidnapping and killing of the CIA station chief in Beirut, William Buckley. From the start he was linked closely to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, still Hizbullah's strategic partner. He spent much of the 1990s in Tehran. He was indicted in the US for the 1985 hijacking to Beirut of a TWA airliner in which a US navy diver was killed.

Western intelligence agencies have described Mughniyeh as head of the jihad council within Hizbullah's ruling shura council.

Israel saw him as the terrorist "mastermind" behind the planning for Hizbullah's July 2006 war with the Jewish state, which began with the audacious cross-border kidnapping of Israeli soldiers the organisation hoped to swap for Lebanese prisoners.

AL-AQAEDA CAN RUN BUT NOT HIDE

2008-02-13T16:07:00.004-05:00

-- Abu Laith al-Libi, a wanted al Qaeda terrorist, was killed in Pakistan by a CIA airstrike, three U.S. officials told CNN Thursday.

Al-Libi was described as a senior al Qaeda leader believed to have plotted and executed attacks against U.S. and coalition forces, including a February 2007 bombing at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney.

He was on a "most wanted" list of 12 accused terrorists which was issued in October by the Combined Joint Task Force-82 -- an anti-terror unit in Afghanistan.

Earlier, a knowledgeable Western official and a military source confirmed al-Libi's death to CNN. The same official said al-Libi is "not far below the importance of the top two al Qaeda leaders" -- Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The officials said al-Libi was killed by a missile from an airplane.

Radical Islamist Web sites announced al-Libi's death.

"May God have mercy on Sheikh Abu Laith al-Libi and accept him with his brothers, with the martyrs," said a eulogy posted on a main Islamist site, Al-Ekhlaas.

Al-Libi, 41, was of Libyan descent and was believed to have been in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region, according to the U.S. military

A U.S. counterterrorism official told CNN he was a significant, senior al Qaeda figure who had taken on a more prominent role in the organization in recent years. This official also confirmed that al-Libi was responsible for plotting attacks targeting U.S. and coalition forces as well as Afghan officials. Watch senior Arab affairs editor Octavia Nasr detail al-Libi's significance »

In an earlier role, he was a leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which eventually merged with al Qaeda, the counterterrorism official said, and was responsible for planning attacks throughout North Africa and the Middle East. The official described al-Libi as part of al Qaeda's inner circle, who helped fill the void created by the capture or death of other senior people in the organization.

A U.S. military official with Combined Joint Task Force-82 said they have no information on al-Libi's death. But he added that CJTF-82 does not collect information from outside of Afghanistan, and would be informed of targeted operations only "if the Pakistani military share(s) that with us."

The Pakistani military said an explosion occurred in North Waziristan on Tuesday, and 12 people were killed. However, it was unclear whether this was the incident in which al-Libi was killed. Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told CNN it was not clear who attacked whom and that he could not comment on the identities of the dead since local al Qaeda and Taliban affiliates removed the bodies and buried them.

The U.S. military placed al-Libi on its most wanted list in 2006, behind bin Laden, al-Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar. In October, they announced rewards ranging from $20,000 to $200,000 for al-Libi and 11 other mid-level Taliban and al Qaeda leaders.

At that time, the military distributed posters and billboards with pictures and names of the insurgents around eastern Afghanistan.

Al-Libi and the others were described at the time by CJTF-82 spokesman Maj. Chris Belcher as "mid-level bad guys."

He appeared in a 2002 audio recording posted on an Islamist Web site, saying al Qaeda had regrouped and intended to expand its war to include assassinations and attacks against infrastructure.

He also appeared in a 2004 video that showed him participating in an attack on an Afghan army base.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, issued a statement saying al-Libi's reported death would be "a positive development" in efforts against terrorism.

"Intelligence points to, and his [al-Libi's] increasing role in al Qaeda propaganda suggests, that he would have been a top field commander and planner for al Qaeda," Hoekstra said. "His death, if confirmed, clearly will have an impact on the radical jihadist movement."

He said that through the committee, he would monitor the effects on al Qaeda operations. E-mail to a friend

CNN

IRAQI DEFENSE FORCES TAKE OVER

2008-01-28T18:45:00.000-05:00

FALLUJAH, Iraq — Michael J. Totten is an independent journalist reporting on the war in Iraq.

At the end of 2006 there were 3,000 Marines in Fallujah. Despite what you might expect during a surge of troops to Iraq, that number has been reduced by 90 percent. All Iraqi Army soldiers have likewise redeployed from the city. A skeleton crew of a mere 250 Marines is all that remains as the United States wraps up its final mission in what was once Iraq's most violent city.

“The Iraqi Police could almost take over now,” Second Lieutenant Gary Laughlin told me. “Most logistics problems are slowly being resolved. My platoon will probably be the last one out here in the Jolan neighborhood.”

DEMOCRATS CAN'T STAND IT !

2008-01-24T18:37:00.000-05:00

In a pathetic attempt to salvage some form of credibility and possibly raise their approval rating above 11% the democrat controlled Congress today agreed to a bipartisan tax-rebate.

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Harry Reid (D-NV) obviously are willing to do anything to keep America's victory in Iraq and Afghanistan off the front pages.

WHY THE SURGE WORKED
by Jonathan Henry
January 21, 2008

Over a year ago, a new plan was announced for improving security in Iraq. The plan was simply to increase U.S. presence in the country by 30,000 personnel with a three-fold contribution by Iraqi forces. Other Coalition nations provided additional personnel for the plan. The center of this plan would be Iraq's center of gravity, Baghdad, which is the political center and largest city in the country. The sectarian "fault line" runs throughout out the city.

Now, over a year later, the Surge plan has been successful. Violence is down 60 percent nationwide. Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) has been expelled from Baghdad and Anbar Province and is currently on the run. Iraqi Ministry of the Interior (Waziriat al Dakhaliyah) has recently stated that AQI is 75 percent destroyed. Both the reduction in violence levels and AQI losses can be reinforced through Open Source Intelligence (OSINT).

Critics insisted that the plan would fail. They declared that U.S. forces in Iraq were already ineffective because the situation was beyond repair. The increase of U.S. forces would be seen as more as "occupiers" and would "create more insurgents". Critics also insisted that the Surge would destroy the already strained US military. Predictions by critics were a bust.

The question then becomes, "Why did the Surge work?" There are numerous factors that contributed to the success of Gen. Petreaus' Surge plan. The quick and simple answer is that it was the right plan at the right time. The new 2006 Counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine was a key piece to the success of the Surge. The COIN doctrine showed a well-developed understanding of the causes of insurgencies, their make-up, and the best method for defeating them. The plan used an effective "clear, hold, build" tactic for improving local conditions. The net result of this has been reconciliation through most of the country.

Another contributing factor was that Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) were ready. The majority of the Iraqi military is under the control of Iraqi elected leadership and is nearly fully manned and equipped. With additional forces in the area, it was possible to remove corrupt elements from the Iraqi Police in Baghdad. Without the three-fold contribution of ISF, cleared areas would have again fallen back into instability.

The people of Iraq were significant factor in stabilizing Iraq. They had become tired of both Al Qaeda and Jaysh al Mahdi (JAM) and the violence that came with both of them. The Iraqi people developed trust in security forces and began providing tips. The tips then led to the discovery of caches and arrests of insurgents. Again, without the support of the Iraqi people, the plan would have failed.

Iraq is also a democratic nation. The local citizens turned out in 2005 to elect their government with 80 percent voter turnout. This makes the government in Baghdad more accountable. The citizens expected and will continue to expect results from their leaders.

AQI had also seriously blundered in Iraq. In areas they controlled, they imposed their strict version of Islamic law. Within months, the local populations turned against them. These locals, and the support of Coalition Forces, gave rise to the Awakening (Sahawa) Movements and Concerned Local Citizens programs. AQI had gone so far as to help create their own undoing.

With the failure of al Qaeda and increasing stability, steps toward reconciliation continued. The two largest insurgent groups, the 1920 Revolutionary Brigades and Jaysh al Mahdi (JAM), ceased their attacks on security forces and began working toward stabilizing the country. Before reconciliation, the 1920 Revolutionary Brigade was in discussions with the Iraqi government. The assassination of a key leader by AQI resulted in the group turning on and attacking AQI. During the Battle of Baqoubah, the first initial cooperation between 1920 and Coalition Forces exploded into full-scale reconciliation and the creation of Fursan al Rifadayn (FAR- Knights between the Two Rivers). JAM also reconciled after it came under severe criticism for fighting in Karbala. By August, Muqtada al Sadr called for a ceasefire and has continued to call for longer extensions and increased cooperation.

As stability increases and violence drops, U.S. forces are returning victorious. They have tamed the streets of Baghdad and Anbar, put AQI on the run, and reconciled the largest insurgent groups. Lessons learned from the Surge include having a well-developed and evaluated plan, a understanding of the battlespace, and political trust in military leadership. As violence continues in Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Palestine, and elsewhere, allies and other key players worldwide should adopt this doctrine to defeat the global Islamist movement.

LAST OF AL-QAEDA IN IRAQ ROUTED

2008-01-13T15:20:00.000-05:00

While the Lapdog Media ponders the Clinton Crying Game and whether the fake tears gave her a bump in New Hampshire, U.S. troops and Iraqi Defense Forces removed the last remaining Al-Qaeda.

President Bush hailed the operation as one of the finest moments in America's successful and ongoing War On Terror.

Meanwhile back home, Clinton attacks Obama, Edwards attacks Clinton and the Lapdog Media is attempting to focus the America public's attention on a so-called faltering economy. Their efforts are as contrived and fake as Hillary's Lizard Tears.

ZAMBARANIYAH, Iraq — U.S. bombers and jet fighters unleashed 40,000 pounds of explosives on the southern outskirts of Baghdad within 10 minutes Thursday in one of the biggest airstrikes of the war, flattening what the military called safe havens for al-Qaida in Iraq.

The massive attack, carried out above approaching U.S. and Iraqi troops, was part of Operation Phantom Phoenix, a nationwide campaign launched Tuesday against al-Qaida in Iraq.

Maj. Alayne Conway, a spokeswoman for troops in the Multi-National Division-Center, which controls the broad swath of territory south of Baghdad, said the amount of ordnance dropped in 10 minutes nearly exceeded what had been dropped in that region in any month since the U.S. military surge began in earnest in June 2007. Conway said the air attack ‘‘was one of the largest airstrikes since the onset of the war’’ in March 2003.

The air raid was followed by a ground attack that led to 12 arrests and the discovery of two houses used to torture kidnap victims, according to an Iraqi army officer. He said the troops faced no resistance.

CIA INTERROGATION TAPES SCARE DEMOCRATS INTO FOOLISHNESS

2007-12-20T14:58:00.000-05:00

In what has become just another attempt on the part of a democrat led Congress to belittle our troops, the so-called torture tapes will come back and bite them once again.

Since the war in Iraq was effectively won six months ago, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Harry Reid (D-NV) have done everything possible to distract the American people from the stunning victory and stellar leadership of George W. Bush.

Interrogation techniques such as waterboarding have led to information that prevented further attacks on the Homeland. Hundreds if not thousands of lives have been saved without firing a shot.

The terrorists have repeatedly given up names, dates, targets and planned operations through the use of harsh questioning.

The current faux furor will stop as suddenly as it began and the democrats will be forced to swallow another loss and just moveon.org!

U.S. SOLDIERS DISCOVER MASS GRAVES NEXT TO TORTURE CENTER IN NORTHERN IRAQ

(AP) - Thursday, December 20, 2007

BAGHDAD — U.S. soldiers found mass graves north of Baghdad next to a torture center where chains were attached to blood-spattered walls and a metal bed frame was still connected to an electrical shock system, the military said Thursday.

The grisly discoveries of the mass graves and torture center near Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, came during a Dec. 8-11 operation that also saw multiple battles between American troops and militants. The military said it killed 24 insurgents and detained 37 others during the operation.

The torture center, which the military said it thinks was run by al-Qaida in Iraq, was found based on tips from local Iraqis. Graves containing 26 bodies were found nearby.

"We discovered several (weapons) caches, a torture facility that had chains, a bed — an iron bed that was still connected to a battery — knives and swords that were still covered in blood as we went in to go after the terrorists in that area," said Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling, the top U.S. commander in northern Iraq.

WAR IN IRAQ STOPPED IRANIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM

2007-12-07T18:53:00.000-05:00

What the Lapdog Media will not dare mention is the immutable fact that the U.S. invasion and stunning military victory in Iraq forced Iran to cease their developement of nuclear weapons.

And it wasn't just Iran in the region that trembled when President George W. Bush ordered the twenty-three day victory over the World's fifth largest standing army. Libya's strongman Muamar al-Kaddafi, without prodding, immediately surrendered his entire arsenal of WMD's. The leftist media in America and their handlers in the Democrat Party have not and will not recall the Libyan collapse.

President Bush is not concerned with Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, et al furthering their anti-American agenda. His policy towards Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remains as fixed and focused today as it was four years ago. The victory goes to Bush and America.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 has had no effect on Pentagon planning, a senior U.S. military officer said on Friday.

Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John Sattler, director for strategic plans and policy on the U.S. military's Joint Staff, said officials were still digesting the National Intelligence Estimate released on Monday.

Sattler told reporters at the Pentagon he would not talk publicly about any U.S. military contingency plans but he said: "There has been no course correction, slowdown, speedup given to us inside the Joint Staff based on the NIE."

The Bush administration has insisted that it wants to resolve its dispute with Tehran over Iran's nuclear program through diplomacy but will not rule out military action.

Analysts have said the intelligence estimate, which reversed previous assessments, makes it much less likely that the United States would attack Iran.

Following the release of the estimate, President George W. Bush said Iran remained dangerous and would be dangerous in the future if it had the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon. Iran say its nuclear program is purely for energy generation.

JACK MURTHA SAYS SURGE WORKING

2007-11-30T17:39:00.000-05:00

Baghdad Jack Murtha (D-PA) who has for months railed against the troops in Iraq, the War On Terror and President Bush told reporters today he thinks 'the Surge is working'. His admission has outraged Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

Reid has said repeatedly that the Surge failed - even before it began. Pelosi refuses to bring a war-funding bill to the floor of the House for debate. The democrats have done everything possible to ensure defeat of U.S. Forces in Iraq and elsewhere. Murtha has been their primary mouthpiece before the media. He has, without apology, called our troops murderers, rapists and cowards.

Murtha will be forced to recant his statements when he returns to Washington from his trip to the Middle East.

Thursday, November 29, 2007
By Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. John Murtha today said he saw signs of military progress during a brief trip to Iraq last week, but he warned that Iraqis need to play a larger role in providing their own security and the Bush administration still must develop an exit strategy.

"I think the 'surge' is working," the Democrat said in a videoconference from his Johnstown office, describing the president's decision to commit more than 20,000 additional combat troops this year. But the Iraqis "have got to take care of themselves."

Violence has dropped significantly in recent months, but Mr. Murtha said he was most encouraged by changes in the once-volatile Anbar province, where locals have started working closely with U.S. forces to isolate insurgents linked to Al Qaeda.

VICTORY IN IRAQ

2007-11-22T08:56:00.000-05:00

The Lapdog Media is slowly, grudgingly coming to grips with the reality that American Forces have won a second war in Iraq. U.S. troops along with their allies defeated the fifth largest standing army in just 23 days.

That was four years ago. Since that stunning victory our dedicated volunteers have steadily defended the new democratic nation that replaced Saddam Hussein's rein of terror. Many lives were lost. Freedom is NEVER free.

It is my pleasure today to announce that the second war in Iraq is won, the Iraqi people are truly free, the world is safer, the Middle East now MUST deal with democracy and it is all due to the courage of the BIG CATS that stand at the gate of Freedom's Wall.

The BIG CAT'S name is: United States Marines, United States Army, United States Navy, United States Air Force, United States National Guard, United States Coast Guard and the thousands of your neighbors who walked willingly and without fear into hell to secure your right to be fat, over-indulged and stupid.

So go ahead and vote for Hillary Clinton. Just be aware of the damage your lazy life choice will do to all that has thus far been achieved.

Do you stand with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Jack Murtha, Hillary Clinton, Barack Osama Obama, Michael Moore, et al? Are you the one who will take the BIG CATS off the wall? If so, BRING IT ON!

THE FAILURE OF TERROR IN IRAQ

2007-11-15T21:32:00.000-05:00

The truth behind the Pearl murder may never be known. It is clear, however, that the subsequent beheadings in Iraq were not related in any way.

Al-Qaeda clearly used the beheadings of innocent bystanders for terror’s sake. A classic Islamafacist tactic that failed. If anything the beheadings in Iraq only served to further the resolve of Coalition forces in that theatre of operations.

With the stunning U.S. attack on and subsequent death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi earlier this year the beheadings stopped. The struggling terror units continuing to operate after al-Zarqawi’s death managed only to fight a futile retreat.

Their finish came just days ago when U.S. Forces operating under the SURGE ordered by President George W. Bush routed the remaining Al-Qaeda fighters from Baghdad.

The media will not use the V-word, but I certainly can. The SURGE worked and the second smaller war in Iraq is won. Slowly American troops can now begin returning home with a well earned VICTORY. America should welcome them with open arms.

http://www.aliennationreport.com/WAR.html