Salon.com > al qaeda

Drone victim: U.S. strikes boost al-Qaida recruitment

Thu, 02 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

On April 17, a 23-year-old Yemeni activist and journalist named Farea Al-Muslimi tweeted about a U.S. drone strike on his village, Wessab, which he describes as “the Yemen capital of misery with its beautiful mountains no one from outside remembers.” In the strike, five alleged members of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were killed. The U.S. droned Yemen 53 times last year, tripling the number of attacks from 2011, and incurring a civilian casualty rate between 4 to 8.5 percent. On April 23, Al-Muslimi gave stirring testimony at the first U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the legality of drone wars.

In the exclusive conversation below, Al-Muslimi tells Salon about the drone strikes’ devastating toll on Yemeni civilians and how the current U.S. counterterrorism policy in Yemen is like “reading from a manual '10 Steps on How to Lose a War.'”

The world is actually more peaceful than ever

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:45:00 +0000

In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, it is important to keep things in perspective, by emphasizing what the mass media tend to neglect — namely, the fact that the world has become much more peaceful in recent decades and is getting more peaceful all the time.

It does not diminish the horror of mass casualty attacks on civilians, in this and other countries, to point out that today’s terrorist incidents provide a counterpoint to a declining arc of political violence worldwide. Both violence among states and violence within states have diminished dramatically in the last few generations.

If we look at battle deaths in the last century, the spurts in the Cold War, associated with the Korean, Indochina and Soviet-Afghan wars, were dwarfed by the huge spikes of slaughter associated with the world wars. And with the end of the Cold War came a steep decline in political violence worldwide — mainly because the two sides no longer kept local conflicts going by arming and supplying opposing sides from Latin America to Africa to Asia and the Middle East.

Are the Tsarnaev brothers white?

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:45:00 +0000

In the wake of David Sirota’s hot-button essay last week, “Let’s Hope the Boston Marathon Bomber Is a White American,” conservatives swarmed to trash Sirota and Salon. I’m not here to defend or criticize Sirota’s piece – I get in enough trouble on these issues myself -- but the storm it provoked was revealing, especially once we learned the identity of the two suspects: Tamarlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechens who grew up in Russia and came legally to the U.S., who were also Muslim.

Telegraph op-ed: Obama “lulled America into false confidence” on terrorism

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 17:08:00 +0000

Peter Foster, the U.S. Editor for the British newspaper the Telegraph, argued on Friday that President Obama chose to "downplay" the threat of terrorism to the American public, but "The Boston bombings would appear to present a fundamental challenge to that assessment and once again bring the nagging uncertainty of terrorism back on to the American main street."

In a piece called "Boston bombs: Obama lulled America into false confidence over terror threat," Foster argues that the attacks "bring home the complexity of the global Islamist threat and the fact that it cannot be confined to wars in distant lands, or fought at arm's length using drones, as the Obama administration has quietly yet insistently led America to believe."

He continued: "Mr Obama and his intelligence community know the threat from al-Qaeda affiliates, but have chosen to downplay it to the US public," and that the confidence "of the American public – is likely to be badly shaken by what is emerging from Boston."

Read the op-ed here.

What really goes on in the CIA’s “black-site” prisons?

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn unsealed an indictment Wednesday charging Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun with six terrorism-related counts.

The announcement that Harun is in U.S. custody in New York may also shed light on a small part of one of the most secretive aspects of U.S. counterterrorism operations during the Bush administration: What became of terror suspects held by the CIA in its network of “black-site” prisons around the world? Or disappeared into foreign cells in extraordinary renditions?
With their indictment of Harun, prosecutors offered a basic account of how the 43-year-old Nigerian – described as “a prototype al-Qaida Operative” – spent the last decade. He fought U.S. forces in Afghanistan, prosecutors said, before leaving for Africa, where he allegedly conspired to bomb U.S. diplomatic facilities. Harun, also known by his alias Spin Ghul, eventually wound up in Libyan prison for six years before he was released amid the turmoil of the uprising against Muammar Qaddafi.

Al-Qaida is very disappointed in Obama for supporting marriage equality

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:18:00 +0000

Not content to let the National Organization for Marriage and congressional Republicans have all the fun, terrorist outfit Al Qaeda has jumped into the anti-marriage equality fray.

In the latest issue of Inspire, the Al Qaeda-produced English-language magazine, the militant group denounces Obama's 180 on gay marriage -- with a hard-hitting infographic.

Titled, "The Nation Standing on 'No Values,'" the spread also goes after "gay congressman" Barney Frank, calling him a "symbol of the American dream."

Two quick things: First, Frank is no longer a congressman. Second, I am not sure why Al Qaeda thinks the former Democratic Rep. from Massachusetts is the symbol of the American dream. Did they not watch the Oscars? Have they never heard of Jennifer Lawrence? Don't they know that she is our newly chosen queen?

Al Qaeda may have taken a public stand against marriage equality, but it remains to be seen if they will be joining other likeminded folks at the National March for Marriage in Washington, D.C. later this month.

Drones are on the “wrong side of history”

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:26:00 +0000

Last week, the New York Times published a chilling account of how indiscriminate killing in war remains bad policy even today. This time, it’s done not by young GIs in the field but by anonymous puppeteers guiding drones that hover and attack by remote control against targets thousands of miles away, often killing the innocent and driving their enraged and grieving families and friends straight into the arms of the very terrorists we’re trying to eradicate.

The Times told of a Muslim cleric in Yemen named Salem Ahmed bin Ali Jaber, standing in a village mosque denouncing al-Qaida. It was a brave thing to do — a respected tribal figure, arguing against terrorism. But two days later, when he and a police officer cousin agreed to meet with three al-Qaida members to continue the argument, all five men — friend and foe — were incinerated by an American drone attack. The killings infuriated the village and prompted rumors of an upwelling of support in the town for al-Qaida, because, the Times reported, “such a move is seen as the only way to retaliate against the United States.”

Afghanistan: Where stalemate means defeat

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:54:00 +0000

Kabul, Afghanistan -- Compromise, conflict, or collapse: ask an Afghan what to expect in 2014 and you’re likely to get a scenario that falls under one of those three headings. 2014, of course, is the year of the double whammy in Afghanistan: the next presidential election coupled with the departure of most American and other foreign forces. Many Afghans fear a turn for the worse, while others are no less afraid that everything will stay the same. Some even think things will get better when the occupying forces leave. Most predict a more conservative climate, but everyone is quick to say that it’s anybody’s guess.

Militants in Mali have destroyed a strategic bridge to Niger

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:22:00 +0000

BAMAKO, Mali — Islamists have destroyed a strategic bridge leading to the Malian city of Gao, which is occupied by militants battling French forces attempting to stabilize the region.

GlobalPost Senior Correspondent Tristan McConnell, who is in Bamako, Mali's capital, said the bridge attack comes amid a powerful display of military might by the French. McConnell said convoys of French troops in dozens of trucks, armored cars, 4x4s, armored personnel carriers and light tanks are heading north through the country.

"Local people waved, some brandishing homemade French flags, and cheered as the convoys snaked through towns," he said.

French air strikes, which began on Jan. 11, have halted a southward advance by Islamist militants, forcing them to retreat from the towns of Diabaly, Konna and Douentza. Now French and Malian forces are pushing forward, seeking to retake territory lost to the coalition of jihadist groups over the last 10 months.

American dead in Algerian hostage crisis

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:41:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — One American worker at a natural gas complex in Algeria has been found dead, U.S. officials said Friday as the Obama administration sought to secure the release of Americans still being held by militants on the third day of the hostage standoff at a natural gas complex in the Sahara.

The officials identified the dead American as Frederick Buttaccio, a Texas resident, but said it was unclear how he died. They said U.S. officials recovered Buttaccio’s remains on Friday and notified his family. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she spoke by telephone with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal to get an update on Americans and others in danger at the sprawling Ain Amenas refinery 800 miles south of Algiers. She said the “utmost care must be taken to preserve innocent life.”

MI6 allegedly refused to kill al-Qaida leader

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:47:00 +0000

A Danish informant said that the British spy agency MI6 allegedly refused to kill Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki because it was against the law.

Morten Storm, a former biker who was hired by MI6 to infiltrate Al Qaeda, converted to Islam and dabbled with radical Islamism before turning into a spy for Western governments.

Storm, 36, says that after telling MI6 of al-Awlaki's whereabouts they refused to kill him, stating that they were an intelligence agency that does not involve itself with killings abroad, said the Daily Mail.

UPI reported that Storm was told that al-Awlaki did not threaten British lives and therefore Britain could not kill him.

Suspect in Benghazi attack killed in Cairo

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:45:00 +0000

A suspect in the September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was killed Wednesday in a Cairo suburb.

The attack against the US Consulate in Benghazi last month claimed the lives of four US diplomatic officials, among them Chris Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya.

According to Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram:

"The independent Al-Masry al-Youm newspaper, quoting interior ministry official General Mohieddin al-Sayyed, said the suspect killed on Wednesday could be an Al-Qaeda militant.

"The Madinat Nasr police department received information indicating that a terrorist, a member of Al-Qaeda, was present in an apartment in Madinat Nasr," Sayyed is quoted as saying."

As the police raided the apartment, the suspect allegedly attempted to throw a bomb at the security forces, which landed back in the apartment and killed him.

Security sources claim to have found as many as 17 explosives, several automatic weapons and large amounts of ammunition inside.

America’s unwinnable war games

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 14:03:00 +0000

They looked like a gang of geriatric giants. Clad in smart casual attire -- dress shirts, sweaters, and jeans -- and incongruous blue hospital booties, they strode around “the world,” stopping to stroke their chins and ponder this or that potential crisis. Among them was General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a button-down shirt and jeans, without a medal or a ribbon in sight, his arms crossed, his gaze fixed. He had one foot planted firmly in Russia, the other partly in Kazakhstan, and yet the general hadn’t left the friendly confines of Virginia.