War on Terror

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Report on Closing Gitmo Delayed 6 Months

(Newser) - President Obama's task forces on the detention and interrogation of terror suspects will miss today's deadline for reporting their findings, the Washington Post reports. The review on detention policy has been given a 6-month extension, raising fears that the Guantanamo Bay prison may not be closed in January next year...

'Strategic Patience' Will Neuter Al Qaeda
 'Strategic Patience' 
 Will Neuter Al Qaeda 
ANALYSIS
Jul 17, 2009 2:52 PM CDT

'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...

CIA Assassin Squads: Who Is It OK to Kill?
CIA Assassin Squads:
Who Is It OK to Kill?
OPINION
Jul 15, 2009 9:38 AM CDT

CIA Assassin Squads: Who Is It OK to Kill?

Cheney's secret killers likely to wind up on wrong side of history

(Newser) - It’s hard to imagine many Americans would object to their country assassinating Osama bin Laden, and Walter Shapiro of Politics Daily is no different. So why are he, and others, so queasy about the CIA hit squads that, we learned Monday, have been hunting terrorist leaders since 9/11? Because...

CIA Sought to Launch Paramilitary Assassin Units

(Newser) - The CIA program kept secret from lawmakers and canceled by Leon Panetta last month sought to establish paramilitary units to take out al-Qaeda leaders, former intelligence officials tell the Los Angeles Times. The officials say that while the program was never made operational, CIA chiefs continued to work on plans...

Secret Intel-Gathering Effort Behind New CIA Flap

(Newser) - So what's this secret program behind the latest feud between CIA and Congress? It's apparently an "on-again, off-again" effort created after 9/11 to collect intelligence about suspected terrorists, the Washington Post reports. It doesn't involve interrogation, but beyond that, details are murky. CIA chief Leon Panetta learned of it...

US-Built Bridge Supports Afghan Drug Trade

$37M project facilitates opium smuggling into Tajikistan

(Newser) - A US-built bridge linking Afghanistan and Tajikistan that cost taxpayers $37 million has greatly benefited exporters of Afghan opium, McClatchy reports. The bridge over the Panj river was supposed to facilitate commerce between the two nations, but the surging flow of opium across Afghanistan’s northern border threatens to turn...

Gitmo Prisoners: We Lied to CIA to Stop Torture

Khalid Mohammed 'made up stories' on bin Laden's whereabouts after torture

(Newser) - Guantanamo prisoners fabricated information to give CIA interrogators after being physically and mentally abused, they told a 2007 military tribunal in transcripts released yesterday under the Freedom of Information act. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and one of the prisoners who was repeatedly waterboarded, said he...

Cheney Hopes 'Old Friend' Panetta Was Misquoted

(Newser) - As the CIA scrambled to do damage control today in the wake of director Leon Panetta's New Yorker interview, Dick Cheney fired back. The former VP's office released a statement that reads in full: "I hope my old friend Leon was misquoted. The important thing is whether the Obama...

Cheney Almost Wants Attack on US Soil: CIA Head

(Newser) - CIA Director Leon Panetta says former Vice President Dick Cheney's criticism of the Obama administration's approach to terrorism almost suggests "he's wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point." Panetta told The New Yorker that Cheney "smells some blood in the...

Al-Qaeda Militants Leaving Pakistan for Yemen, Somalia

Dozens have left, US officials say

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda fighters from Pakistan have started leaving isolated tribal areas and moving far afield to Somalia and Yemen, the New York Times reports. Some US officials point to stepped up drone attacks against militants in Pakistan for the development, which involves relatively small numbers so far. But the growth of...

Obama, Tell W You're Sorry for Mocking His Policies

Prez slammed W's national security policy; now he's following it

(Newser) - President Obama’s national security policy has been surprisingly close to his predecessor’s—a policy he hammered on the campaign trail. For that, he “owes George W. Bush an apology,” writes Clive Crook in the Financial Times. But his supporters also deserve an apology. His election rhetoric...

Mouthy Cheney Gains Popularity: Poll

He and Bush more popular now than when leaving office

(Newser) - A new poll shows that Dick Cheney, currently making headlines for his stance on torture, is gaining popularity. 37% of those polled by CNN hold a favorable opinion of the former vice president, up 8% from when he left office; 55% still view him unfavorably. Former president Bush, who’s...

Pelosi Raises Stakes in Torture Debate

Speaker puts herself at center of storm over Bush policies

(Newser) - Whether by accident or design, Nancy Pelosi has turned the debate on the Bush administration's anti-terror program into a high-stakes game of brinksmanship, Dan Balz writes in the Washington Post. Pelosi's declaration yesterday that the CIA lied to Congress amounts to "a declaration of war," Balz writes, setting...

Obama Praises Afghan, Pakistan Commitments

Delicate diplomacy ends with unified resolve to fight militants

(Newser) - President Obama said he got the commitments he wanted today from the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan to more aggressively fight militants gaining power and sowing violence inside their countries' borders. The high-stakes diplomacy had Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai and Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardari meeting with officials separately and together. Looming...

Al-Qaeda Agent Pleads Guilty to Supporting Terrorism

Al-Marri entered US the day before 9/11

(Newser) - An al-Qaeda sleeper agent who entered the country the day before the 9/11 attacks pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism in federal court today and faces 15 years in prison, the Peoria Journal Star reports. The government says Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, who had been designated an "enemy combatant" and...

US Terror Reports Boost Jihadis' Radical Cred

Extremists elders complain youth give them less respect than Western analysts do

(Newser) - Prominent anti-Western cleric Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi says he isn't going soft in his old age—and he's got the Western intelligence reports to prove it. The Jordanian jihad theorist, under fire from more radical and violent younger extremists, proudly points to a report from West Point's counterterror center labeling him...

GOP Torture Stance Is All Politics, But Media Is Mum

(Newser) - Republican calls for the selective release of memos on torture techniques is a naked political ploy, Greg Sargent writes on the Plum Line. “The emerging official position of the GOP on torture is that the only classified information about torture that should be released is that which can bolster...

Pakistan President: Bin Laden 'May Be Dead'

(Newser) - Pakistan’s president suggested today that Osama bin Laden could be dead, an assertion the US strenuously objects to, the New York Daily News reports. “He may be dead. But that’s been said before,” Asif Ali Zardari said. “It’s still between fiction and fact.”...

Brown Talks Terrorism With Pakistani PM

Snubbed by Zardari, British PM focuses on tackling extremism

(Newser) - British PM Gordon Brown held talks with Pakistani leaders today, appearing at a joint press conference with his counterpart, Yusuf Raza Gilani, after President Asif Ali Zardari dropped out at the last minute. The BBC attributes the snub to unhappiness with the recent British arrest of 11 Pakistani nationals on...

US 'Close' on Fate of Gitmo Prisoners

First group may be released to Va.

(Newser) - The US is close to deciding whether to free an initial group of Guantanamo detainees, AP reports. Attorney General Eric Holder didn't specify how long it would be before Gitmo closes, but said he must first determine how many prisoners will be released or tried. "We're doing these all...

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