Fudge. AQ's Number 2 NOT captured in Yemen.

You think I'd learn! The Yemeni media continue to carry Al Qaeda's water on the Arabian Peninsula. And the Yemeni government is just jerking us around.

Yesterday, we reported Said al-Shihri's capture following an auto accident here.

That is not the case.

Today, the Yemen Observer has been caught playing loose and fast with the facts AGAIN by Miss Jane over at the Jawa Report.

The erroneous "exclusive" report announcing Saed al Shihri's capture was not some typo by the Yemen Observer. They pulled the first story that correctly identified the person arrested as Yousef al Shehri, deleted it not corrected it, and replaced it with an article announcing Saed was captured.

Now, after the news is spinning all over the web, they issued a correction. The Yemen Observer is a propaganda front for the Yemeni government and a component of its efforts to delude the world into believing there has been any progress in the battle to diminish the threat from al Qaeda.

So far Yemen's "All Out War" on al Qaeda yielded zero among the top leadership but lots and lots of propaganda to the contrary. Its been like this all along.

Note to self: Delete the Yemen Observer from my bookmarks.

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Remember that 1/7/10 "shocker" report on the Pantybomber?

If you will recall the only shock to come out of the report was Obama semi-shouldering the blame before he turned around and blamed the intelligence community. Other than that, it all ended up being a dud.

Well, as it turns out that's because the Obama administration apparently covered up redacted all the juicy bits involving the administration's laissez faire attitude towards Islamic terror.

From The New York Times:

Mr. Obama this month presented his government’s findings on how the plot went undetected. But a detailed review of the episode by The New York Times, including more than two dozen interviews with White House and American intelligence officials and with counterterrorism officials in Europe and Yemen, shows that there were far more warning signs than the administration has acknowledged.

The officials also cited lapses and misjudgments that were not disclosed in the declassified government report released Jan. 7 about what went wrong inside the nation’s counterterrorism network.

Several high level meetings were held in the White House on December 22 to discuss the escalating threats and the multiple sources of intelligence pointing to threats from the Arabian peninsula. Among them:

A warning from the UN Nations that a similar device used in a prior attack in Saudi Arabia could be smuggled onto airplanes.

Multiple phone intercepts mentioning a 'significant event' on Christmas day.

A phone intercept identifying Umar Farouk as a volunteer for a coming operation.

More phone intercepts from al Qaeda in Yemen looking for ways to get people into the west.

An al Jazeera televised warning from an al Qaeda fighter in Yemen on the actual date of the WH meetings.

And most telling of all:

Counterterrorism officials assumed that the militants were not sophisticated or ambitious enough to send operatives into the United States. And no one shifted more intelligence analysts to the task, so that they could have supported the military assaults by Yemen while also scrutinizing all incoming tips for hints about future attacks against Americans, one administration official said.

So, though intelligence analysts had enough information in those days before Christmas to block the suicide bomber on the Northwest flight, they did not act.

In my opinion this wasn't so much a failure of intelligence or imagination as it was a failure of INTEREST on the part of the Obama administration officials.

Exhibit A

"We have agreements with a number of different countries that work with us cooperatively on intelligence matters," says the State Department employee. "A number of the treaties work through our justice departments or foreign offices or intelligence and interior or homeland security agencies. Several departments here in Washington got the information from London and it didn't trigger anything within our own system.

This employee says that despite statements from the Obama Administration, such information was flagged and given higher priority during the Bush Administration, but that since the changeover "we are encouraged to not create the appearance that we are profiling or targeting Muslims. I think career employees were uncomfortable with the Bush procedures and policies and were relieved to not have to live under them any longer."

Shocking indeed.

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Saudi Arabia: Bin Laden daughter should be allowed to leave Iran

Remember reading about the bin Laden daughter held under house arrest in Iran? Well, the Saudis have finally spoken about her status.

From Reuters:

Iman bin Laden and five siblings had been held in Tehran since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported last month. Iman, 17, escaped during a rare trip outside in November and made her way to the embassy, the paper said.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a news conference in Riyadh that Iman should be allowed to leave Iran.

"We consider this to be a purely humanitarian issue and we are in talks with the Iranian government to treat it as such and leave the choice of leaving to the girl," he said.

Asharq al-Awsat, owned by a cousin of Prince Saud, has reported that the Saudi embassy has issued Iman with a temporary travel permit to allow her to return to Saudi Arabia.

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Ft. Hood Jihadi's favorite Imam - Anwar al Awlaki - dead?

The thought of this makes me so happy I could ululate.

From Fox News:

The radical Muslim imam linked to the rampage at Fort Hood reportedly is believed to have been killed in a Yemen airstrike that may have also taken out the region's top Al Qaeda leader and 30 other militants.

The raid in Yemen's east targeted an Al Qaeda leadership meeting held to organize terror attacks. U.S. officials believe radical cleric Anwar Awlaki was "probably" one of dozens of militants killed in the strike, a source confirmed to FOX News.

"Awlaki is suspected to be dead [in the air raid]," Reuters quoted an unnamed Yemeni official as saying.

The head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Nasser al-Wahishi and his deputy, Saeed al-Saudi Shahrani, were present at the meeting and are believed to have died, but their deaths could not immediately be confirmed.

"The raid was carried out as dozens of members of Al Qaeda were meeting in Wadi Rafadh," a source told AFP, referring to a rugged location about 400 miles east of the capital.

"Members of the group's leadership, including Saad al-Fathani and Mohammad Ahmed Saleh al-Omir, were among those killed," he was quoted as saying.

Merry Christmas, Major Hasan.

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Dude. OBL came within minutes of killing Bill Clinton?

That's what is being alleged in a new book

From The Telegraph:

The US leader was saved shortly before his car was due to drive over a bridge in Manila where a bomb had been planted. The foiled attack came during Mr Clinton's visit to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the city in 1996.

At one point during his stay, he was scheduled to visit a local politician, his route taking him across a bridge in central Manila. But as the presidential motorcade was about to set off, secret service officers received a "crackly message in one earpiece" saying intelligence agents had picked up a message suggesting an attack was imminent.

The transmission used the words "bridge" and "wedding" – a terrorists code word for assassination.

The motorcade was quickly re-routed and American agents later discovered a bomb had been planted under the bridge.

Hmmm. If you say so. Sounds a little fugazy to me. Read it all and you tell me. Developing...

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More al Qaeda family members: Zawahiri's mother

And he is definitely the kind of son only a mother could love...

From AKI:

Jihadist websites were flooded with messages of condolences to Al-Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri over his mother's death. Umayma Azzam, died from a heart complaint in the Egyptian capital, Cairo on Sunday, at the age of 75. She died at Cairo's al-Salam hospital, where she was admitted earlier last week.

In a message posted to the Arabic news website Moheet, Azzam's brother Mahfouz al-Azzam said he was proud of his nephew al-Zawahiri who he said "defends the principles of Islam". (ed. note: I'd be investigating the uncle and the whole damn family)

Al-Azzam announced his sister's death and said she was buried on Sunday in a high-security ceremony at a local mosque in the Cairo suburb of Halwan. Almost everyone in the town attended the funeral, according to witnesses. (ed. note: And I'd be putting "everyone in the town" under the microscope, too. But that's just me.)

The Azzam family is one of the most prominent in Cairo. Mahfouz al-Azzam, a retired judge, was recently appointed the leader of the local Socialist party. Al-Zawahiri's maternal grandfather, Abdel Wahab Azzam, was rector of the University of Cairo and Egypt's ambassador to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. (ed. note: How convenient - both hotbeds of terror.)

The current whereabouts of 58-year-old al-Zawahiri are unknown. A qualified surgeon, he and Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the top leadership of the terror network are believed to be hiding in Pakistan.

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Iran holding Osama bin Laden family members?

From al Jazeera:

Iranian authorities are holding several family members of Osama bin Laden, according to Abdul Rahman bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader's second son.

In an interview published on Al Jazeera Arabic's website on Monday, Abdul Rahman bin Laden said that Eman, his sister, one of his stepmothers and five of his brothers have been detained in Tehran since 1997

He alleged that his sister had managed to escape several weeks ago while on a shopping tour permitted by authorities every six months. She has since taken refuge in the Saudi Arabian embassy.

Abdul Rahman bin Laden said that he had been unaware whether his relatives were alive until Eman contacted him a month ago. He then told her to go to the Saudi embassy. He told Al Jazeera that he was concerned for his sister's health and he called on Tehran to release his relatives. He also called for the Saudi government to ensure his sister's departure from the country.

Hussein Shobokshi, a columnist for the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Alawsat, told Al Jazeera that the discovery Iran was holding members of bin Laden's family was consistent with reports "that Iran has been able to infiltrate al-Qaeda operations".

"They have been hosting key figures in the leadership structure of al-Qaeda for some time and they have been co-operating visibly with them in Iraq, Yemen and Somalia amongst other places," he said. (Ed. note: Meanwhile, the world turns a blind eye to this soon to go nuclear state sponsor of terror.)

But Abdul Rahman bin Laden cited poor relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran for the reason no agreement had been reached over freeing his relatives. "My siblings are innocent and have nothing to do with other people's disputes with our father," he said.

Abdul Rahman bin Laden and his siblings are the children of the al-Qaeda leader's first wife.

Happier times --->

"Fatima, Sa'ad, Omar, Mohammed, Osman and Abdul Rahman Osama arranged for his first daughter, Fatima, to be married to a Saudi fighter at age 12. Her husband died in the American attacks on Afghanistan two years later."

According to this report, Abdul Rahman bin Laden "found it difficult to regain Saudi nationality after it was revoked and now lives quietly in Syria".

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CIA, USAF duped by con artist in al Jazeera TV scam?

Ai-yi-yi.

A con artist convinced the CIA and other US agencies in 2003 that he could decode secret messages sent by al-Qaeda through al-Jazeera broadcasts, Playboy magazine reports.

Duped by claims that "barcodes" on al-Jazeera television contained targeting information for al-Qaeda attacks, former president George W Bush's administration raised the terror alert and cancelled several transatlantic flights in December 2003, the report says, citing former CIA officials.

The swindler at the centre of the scam was Dennis Montgomery, head of a small software company in Reno, Nevada. He persuaded the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Homeland Security his technology could decipher messages with flight numbers and longitudes and latitudes meant for al-Qaeda operatives.

With assistance from French intelligence, CIA officials eventually concluded there were no secret messages in al-Jazeera television broadcasts, the report, published in the magazine's latest edition, says. "A branch of the French intelligence services helped convince the Americans that the bar codes were fake," it said on Monday.

CIA and French officials asked another technology company to find or recreate codes from al-Jazeera transmissions and "found definitively that what Montgomery claimed was there was not", it said. But even after the CIA stopped cooperating with Montgomery, he succeeded in convincing other government agencies he had valuable code-breaking technology.

In January this year, he signed a $US3-million (about $A3.4 million) research contract with the US Air Force, Playboy said. "We were testing some of the software. We were just looking at it to see if there was anything there," Joseph Liberatore, an Air Force program manager, told the magazine.

Montgomery has faced a number of lawsuits and last year was charged with bouncing nine checks worth a total of $US1 million in Las Vegas.

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Released Gitmo alumni returning to terror at increasing rate

but the Obama administration doesn't want you to know that. Musn't alarm the sheeple when we're getting ready to move the 'worst of the worst' to America's heartland.

From the dishy Steve Hayes at the Weekly Standard:

A total of 31 Guantánamo detainees have been transferred or released since Obama took office.

Among them are several men who acknowledged -receiving training in al Qaeda's notorious "al Farouq" camp. One, Binyam Mohamed, was slated to participate in the next wave of al Qaeda attacks on American soil in 2002. Another, Ahmed Zuhair, was convicted in absentia of participating in terrorist attacks in Bosnia in the late 1990s and almost certainly participated in the assassination of William Jefferson, an American working for the United Nations. Several -others that have been released have admitted to training at a camp at Tora Bora under Abdul Haq, a member of al Qaeda's shura council and a senior al Qaeda leader the Treasury Department has designated as a terrorist. And dozens more are coming.

And it's all according to the Obama administration plan - there's one problem. These detainees are returning to terror in alarming numbers.

The Defense Department has now produced an updated version of Return to the Battlefield. According to four separate sources familiar with the study, the rate of recidivism is increasing. One source said there has been a "spike" in the number of former detainees involved in jihad against the United States and its allies. Another called the increase "significant" and "deeply troubling."

But the Obama administration--despite its -self-congratulatory claims of transparency--is refusing to release it. A Pentagon spokesman tells us the latest report is classified and there are no plans to release it.

Republicans in Congress want it out. On December 18, Senator Kit Bond of Missouri, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair asking for release of the report:

"As the administration moves forward with plans to release or transfer detainees from the secure facility at Guantánamo Bay to third countries, it is important for the American people to understand fully the dangers previously-released detainees continue to pose to our national security. Moreover, because the administration has decided to import terrorist detainees into the U.S.--including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and future residents of Thomson prison--their ultimate fate will be determined by U.S. judges and juries. The American people should be aware of the likely threat these terrorists would pose if a court decided to release any one of them into our nation's communities."

And Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, has also asked, according to his spokesman, that "the recidivism rate be made available to the American people." It has been in the past.

The Bush administration released the first recidivism study in June 2008. President Obama has promised to run "the most transparent administration in history." But when it comes to the DIA recidivist study, it is not even as transparent as its predecessor. Many of the recidivists, moreover, are already known--there is no reason that the government should classify those details that can be sourced to newspaper accounts.

Like so many of the plans the Obama administration have in store for the American people (health care, cap and trade, immigration, etc.), they're hoping we just won't notice.

Perhaps Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee should be informed that we have noticed. It won't take long - you can cut and paste the letter found here (modify as desired) and use Dinah's old California zip code 94104 to make sure the Senator's constituent services pay attention. Email her here.

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MIA DC Muslims used Facebook and Youtube to start their careers in terror.

More details on the MIA DC Muslims keep on coming in.

We read here how the MIA DC 5 were rebuffed by al Qaeda because they lacked the right terror resumes and recommendations. Now we learn they had used Facebook and Youtube to try and make the right contacts.

Per the AP:

The men used the social networking site Facebook and the Internet video site YouTube to try to connect with extremist groups in Pakistan, said S.M. Imran Gardezi, the press minister at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington. When they arrived in Pakistan, they took that effort to the street.

"They were trying to link up to some groups, but there is no evidence for now that there was a definite plan," Gardezi said.

Local Pakistanis became suspicious of the young men and tipped off police, he said. Police arrested the group in a home belonging to the uncle of one of the men. Gardezi said the uncle had past ties to extremist groups.

Gardezi said the men have not been turned over to the FBI and said Pakistan intended to carry out its own legal process.

I'm sure you'll be happy to know that the MIA DC 5 have been in touch with the US State Dept.

"We have had access to the five detainees," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters Thursday at an unrelated news conference. She called the move "part of the usual outreach" of the U.S. government and declined further comment.

For his part President Obama had this to say about the matter. And no, he did not say they 'acted stupidly'. (evidently only white American cops do that.)

President Barack Obama declined to talk specifically about the case Thursday, but said, "We have to constantly be mindful that some of these twisted ideologies are available over the Internet."

Obama, in Oslo, Norway, to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, also praised "the extraordinary contributions of the Muslim-American community, and how they have been woven into the fabric of our nation in a seamless fashion."

(I wonder if by 'seamless fashion' he means arranged marriages, honor killings and terror attacks?)

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About those 5 missing DC Muslim men... links to al Qaeda and Ft. Hood Jihadi?

Connecting the dots...

Apparently the group was turned down by al-Qaeda because they lacked references from 'trusted militants'? Hmm. Is there such a thing as a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for terrorists? And does that mean you now have to prepare a resume for an al Qaeda job?

From the AP:

Five young American Muslims arrested in Pakistan met with representatives of an al-Qaida linked group and asked for training but were turned down because they lacked references from trusted militants, a Pakistani law enforcement official said Thursday.

Regional police chief Javed Islam said the men wanted to join militants in Pakistan's tribal area before crossing into Afghanistan and said they met with a banned military organization, Jaish-e-Mohammed in Hyderabad, and with representatives of a related group, Jamat-ud-Dawa, in Lahore.

Another law enforcement official, Usman Anwar, the local police chief in the eastern city of Sargodha, told The Associated Press that the five are "directly connected" to the al-Qaida terrorist network.

"They are proudly saying they are here for jihad" or holy war, Anwar said.

From Newsweek:

According to one of the sources, the family of at least one of the detained men attends the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque, located in a Virginia suburb of Washington; the mosque was also once attended by Maj. Nidal Hasan, the accused Fort Hood shooter.

Please note:

NEWSWEEK correspondent Yousafzai reports that police said all the arrested men were being held on terrorism charges. Taliban sources told Yousafzai that more than one of of the suspects originally spent time in Al Qaeda's camps but quit the Afghan-Pakistan border area after Pakistan's Army began its recent offensive against the Taliban.

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El Marco strikes again: 9/11 Families blast Obama's show trial travesty

Must see El Marco:

Check out El Marco's latest photo-essay with details from today's 9/11 Families NYC protest and bonus flashback photos of some potential members of Khalid Sheik Mohammed's future jury pool - just in case you needed reminded why Eric Holder's decision to try the 9/11 scumbags in NYC was such a dumb a** idea.

Exhibit A:

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Aafia Siddiqui aka The Grey Lady of al Qaeda's latest stunt.

Looks like there's been more court room shenanigans from al Qaeda's gun moll. Following her al Qaeda training manual to a tee, she continues to disrupt her trial at every turn. Just imagine what it's going to be like when KSM hits town:

From the AP:

A U.S.-trained scientist accused of shooting at FBI agents and helping al-Qaida vowed Thursday to boycott her January trial.

Aafia Siddiqui interrupted lawyers at her pretrial hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to announce that she did not plan to participate in her trial, scheduled for Jan. 19.

"I am boycotting this trial," she said. "I am innocent of all the charges and I can prove it, but I will not do it in this court."

...

Before he (Judge Berman) ruled on the request, Siddiqui said visits by her lawyers were "torture for me" and it was a waste of money for lawyers to go to Afghanistan to interview witnesses because she was not participating in the trial.

"I'm not dealing with them anymore," Siddiqui said of her lawyers. "They're just people coming to my door and talking, talking, talking."

During a break, Siddiqui was led out of the courtroom by U.S. marshals when she would not stop talking loudly. "Take me out," she said. "I'm not coming back."

And speaking of court room shenanigans - check out the stunts the motions her defense team put forward and then just imagine all the legal machinations and maneuvering that will toccur at the KSM trial. It's going to be a freaking zoo:

From Dawn.com:

A US Federal Court has rejected Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s defence team’s appeal to dismiss the case against her as the alleged crime was not committed on the American soil. At a pre-trial hearing Judge Richard Berman cited a congressional statute as well as past precedent to rule that the court had jurisdiction in Dr. Siddiqui's case. Siddiqui, is in a New York jail charged with attacking US interrogators in Afghanistan in July 2008 and was brought to New York in US custody the following month.

The defence argued that it was against the Geneva conventions to try Dr. Aafia Siddiqui for attempted murder in the US when the crime was allegedly committed in Afghanistan.

Siddiqui on her part protested the proceedings and was sent to another room to watch the proceedings on a closed circuit TV.

In another motion, the defence asked the court to throw out the first count of the indictment against Dr. Siddiqui on technical grounds but that motion was also dismissed

More posts detailing The Grey Lady of al Qaeda's courtroom antics can be found here.

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Could KSM seek asylum if 'that trial thing' doesn't work out for some reason?

(You mean like a single moonbat juror holdout or maybe an anti-death penalty nut or something like that?)

That's what several US Senators want to know. Dinah would too.

From the NY Daily News

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee today are demanding to know the immigration status of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other 9/11 plotters, should they be brought to the United States to stand trial.

Their fear is that KSM and his henchmen might seek asylum under immigration laws, setting all kinds of worrisome precedents.

“As you can imagine, even if they are not ultimately eligible for relief, terrorist detainees may seek legal rights under our immigration laws or assert such rights in federal court, thereby setting a precedent that could have grave consequences for the American public,” they write in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. “These consequences should weigh heavily in any decision President Obama and the administration make about transfer of these detainees to the United States.”

So, in this scenario, these characters who would be brought here to face a death penalty trial, also would ask the United States for asylum here. Uh oh. What if they can buy insurance under the Senate health reform bill? Hmmm…

The letter can be found here.

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Pakistani forces say enter a main Taliban base

I can't get over the fact that Pakistan is saying that they are right in the heart of the Taliban Stronghold , Yet only 33 or so Taliban have been killed in the past couple of days !
Something just is not making sense here !

....
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani soldiers have entered a main Taliban stronghold in South Waziristan near the Afghan border and are searching the area, the military said on Tuesday.

The army launched an offensive on October 17 aimed at rooting out and defeating Pakistani Taliban militants in their South Waziristan bastions.

Soldiers are advancing from three directions toward main bases, including the town of Sararogha, which the army said soldiers had entered.

"A search and clearance operation is on," the army said in a statement.

South Waziristan' rugged landscape of barren mountains and hidden ravines has become a global center of Islamist militancy and many foreign al Qaeda fighters are believed to be based there along with thousands of Pakistani insurgents.

The militants are being squeezed out of their strongholds but have retaliated by stepping up bomb attacks on urban targets.

Earlier Tuesday, the army said 21 militants and a soldier had been killed in South Waziristan over the previous 24 hours.

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Al-Qaida Claims Iraq Bombings That Killed 155

Who did not see this coming ? Al Qaida Laying claim to the Big suicide bombings last sunday !
Al Qaida killing Muslims in the name of Islam ! why are the Iraqi people not so outraged that they don't go on a Rampage and hunt these Douchbags down and Beat the living crap out of em ?
I guess when you kill for Allah , it is just Accepted !

....
An al-Qaida-linked group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for Sunday's devastating car bombings in Baghdad that killed at least 155 people and wounded more than 500 others.

The militant group named the Islamic State in Iraq announced it was behind the twin suicide bombings in a statement posted on a militant Web site.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had blamed the attacks on al-Qaida and members of the former Baathist party. He said the bombers intended to create instability and stop the country from holding elections in January.

The near-simultaneous attacks occurred close to the capital's heavily-guarded Green Zone and seemed to target a provincial government building and the Ministry of Justice.
Iraq's Interior Ministry said authorities have arrested at least 70 people, but the ministry has not elaborated on the arrests.

The Islamic State in Iraq also had claimed responsibility for the attacks near government ministries in Baghdad that killed about 100 people in August.

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Suicide bombs kill 132 in Baghdad

Iraq Is now like so many other muslim countries , under siege by a few , trying to impose their will upon the many !
Most people in Iraq want to be left alone to work and raise their family , but they have also become like sheep , they stand around and never do anything about their situation , Always waiting for someone else to take care of it for them !
And ultimately blaming someone else for it !

....
BAGHDAD (Reutersir) - Two suicide bombs tore through Baghdad on Sunday, killing 132 people, wounding more than 500 and leaving mangled bodies and cars on the streets in one of Iraq's deadliest days this year, police said.

Violence has fallen in Iraq since U.S.-backed tribal sheikhs helped wrest control from al Qaeda militants and Washington sent extra troops but attacks are still common in a nation trying to rebuild from years of conflict, sanctions and strife.

The two blasts shredded buildings and smoke billowed from the area near the Tigris River. The first bomb targeted the Justice Ministry and the second, minutes later, was aimed at the nearby provincial government building, police said.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office said that the bombs were meant to sow chaos in Iraq similar to attacks on August 19 against the finance and foreign ministries, and were aimed at stopping a parliamentary election in January.

"It is the same black hands (as the August 19 attack) who are covered in the blood of the Iraqi people," said the statement from the prime minister's office.

"They want to cause chaos in the nation, hinder the political process and prevent the parliamentary election."

Maliki, who went to the bomb site, is widely expected to run on improved security. The attacks were launched as his government tries to sign multi-billion dollar oil deals, expected to turn Iraq into the world's third largest crude producer.

Government officials said the bombings were likely the work of al Qaeda or remnants of Saddam Hussein's former Baath party.

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Pakistani forces pound Taliban in South Waziristan

Oh how it is music to my ears to hear of the Taliban being pounded !
I think the first field use of the "MOP" bomb should be in south waziristan !
Talk about a pounding ! that would be awesome !

....
TANK, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani forces backed by artillery attacked Taliban insurgents on Monday as the army moved to wrest control of militant strongholds in a lawless region on the Afghan border.

The fighting is a new test of the government's determination to tackle an increasingly brazen insurgency that has seen a string of attacks in different parts of the country, including an assault on army headquarters, in which more than 150 people were killed.

The army said on Monday afternoon 18 militants and two soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours, taking the militant toll to 78, while nine soldiers had been killed since the long-awaited offensive began early on Saturday.

There was no independent verification of the tolls.

The conflict in a global hub for Islamic militants is being closely followed by the United States and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan, and on Monday General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in the region, was in Pakistan for talks.

About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al Qaeda members.

The army says it has surrounded the militants in their main zone and soldiers were attacking from the north, southwest and southeast.

Maybe in this offensive , they will not hold back !

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Report: Al Qaeda in Weak Financial State

Maybe Al Qaida is starting to fall out of favor in the terrorist community ?
But then again maybe they are laying back and waiting for the perfect moment to strike !
Either way , sounds like no better time to hunt them down and Help them get there prize of 72 Male goat virgins !

....Foxnews
The tough economic times are being felt across the globe — even by some terror groups, according to a new report that Al Qaeda is struggling with weak finances. The Taliban, on the other hand, has seen funding soar through the roof, according to a report by BBC News.

Al Qaeda has lobbied its network for financial support, U.S. Treasury Official David Cohen told BBC News. Cohen told the news organization that the drop in funding has affected Al-Qaeda’s training and recruitment.

“We assess that Al Qaeda is in its weakest financial condition in several years and that, as a result, its influence is waning,” said Cohen, according to BBC News.

While Al Qaeda’s influence wanes, the Taliban’s financial portfolio is strengthening, due in part to the flourishing drug trade in Afghanistan.

It is more challenging for the U.S. to stop cash from entering the hands of the Taliban because the terror group’s network is so widespread and diverse, according to BBC News.

Cohen stressed to BBC News that despite its current situation, Al Qaeda does continue to have solid benefactors who are "ready, willing and able to contribute" and could quickly improve Al Qaeda’s financial state.

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‘All roads are leading to South Waziristan’

You don't say ? , What a amazing conclusion !
These Pakistanis are so smart , they now Know where they must go ! they have been Planning an assault on south Waziristan for awhile , then they wanted to back off ( Because the Taliban seemed to !) but now after a couple of serious suicide bombings , things are a little different now !

Dawn.com
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the nation has ‘no option’ but to attack militant strongholds in South Waziristan.

‘We have no other option but to carry out an operation in South Waziristan,’ Malik told a local television station after a deadly suicide car bombing in Peshawar that killed at least 45 people.

‘All roads are leading to South Waziristan. We will have to proceed.’

Rehman Malik told reporters Friday that the country has to launch an operation in the area militants are using as a base to launch deadly strikes. He said such an offensive was expected ‘soon.’

The government has been threatening to launch an offensive against militants in the South Waziristan region along the border with Afghanistan.

The US has pushed Pakistan to clear militant strongholds, saying many of those insurgents are involved in attacks on American and Nato troops across the border in Afghanistan.

US missile strikes have frequently targeted hideouts in Pakistan. One in August killed Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud. The group has since named a new leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, and threatened suicide attacks if the army doesn't back off.

Malik also said a suspect had been arrested in Monday's suicide attack at the office of the UN's World Food Program in Islamabad. He said the man was alleged to have given the attacker shelter, but gave few details.

....

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