Git’mo task force: hold 47 detainees without charges

CNN: according to two unauthorized government sources, the Guantanamo Detainee Review Task Force issued a recommendation to President Obama that around 47 detainees should indefinitely be held without charges or trial. The Task Force is under the direction of Atty. Gen. Eric Holder.

Quoting CNN:

The review proposes that 47 detainees be held without charges or trial because they are considered too dangerous to release, and because trials could jeopardize intelligence and harm national security, government sources said.

Pakistan: no new attacks on militants for six+ months

…this statement by Pakistani army spokesman Athar Abbas comes on the heels of the attack on the CIA station in Khost province – an attack “apparently planned and carried out by Taliban militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas.”

For more, here’s the NYT article.

U.K. Muslim group issues fatwa against terrorists

Times Online: Minhaj-ul-Quran, a top Muslim group in Britain, has issued awesomeness a fatwa against radical Islamists who resort to suicide bombings and terrorism, declaring them to be “un-Islamic.”

Shahid Mursaleen, a spokesperson for Minhaj-ul-Quran stated that “[e]xtremist groups start brainwashing the young students from British universities and eventually convince them to oppose integration in British society…[t]he fatwa would help fight extremist recruitment of young Muslims and was “one of the most comprehensive verdicts on this topic in the history of Islam.”

The religious verdict issued by Minhaj-ul-Quran  is a 600-page treatise written by Dr Muhammed Tahir-ul-Qadri, a former minister of Pakistan and friend of Benazir Bhutto. It was released in Pakistan last month and “uses texts from the Koran and other Islamic writings to argue that attacks against innocent citizens are “absolutely against the teachings of Islam and that Islam does not permit such acts on any excuse, reason or pretext.”

Minhaj-ul-Quran is a Sufi Muslim group “which advises the [U.K.] Government on how to combat radicalisation of Muslim youth” and is based in 80 countries that follows Sufi teachings of peace and moderation.

H/T: The Rhetorican

Militant attack in Kabul draws to a close

The NYT and Stratfor report that the Jan. 18th attack by militants on sites including the Justice Ministry and major shopping centers in Kabul is drawing to a close.  It is still unconfirmed that other government buildings, a cinema, and the Serena Hotel – frequented by government officials and foreign journalists – were also targeted.

The Taliban have taken credit for the attack and claim that it was perpetrated by twenty militants. The NYT reports that this was an exaggeration and that “all seven militants,” including two suicide bombers, were killed.

Afghan officials said that three soldiers and two civilians — including one child — were killed, and at least 71 people were wounded.”

STRATFOR reports that the attacks may have used vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDS), artillery rockets, as well as suicide bombs and guns.

USA Today: The attack unfolded on a day in which confirmed Cabinet members were sworn in by Karzai despite the rejection by parliament of the majority of his choices. Presidential spokesman, Waheed Omar, said the swearing-in had occurred as scheduled and everybody in the palace was safe.

H/T: The Rhetorican and The Considered Opinion.

U.S. terror suspects complain of torture in Pakistan

CNN: Ahmed Abdullah Minni, Umar Farooq, Aman Hassan Yemer, Waqar Hussain Khan and Ramy Zamzam, the five U.S. nationals who were arrested in Pakistan in December on charges of plotting terror attacks, are complaining to a special anti-terrorism court in Pakistan that they were tortured while in custody by “jail authorities.”

Their attorney stated that the court ordered medical check-ups for the five.

Aftab Hanif, the deputy superintendent of the district jail, told CNN that the allegations were false. He said nobody touched the suspects and added that they were even receiving better food than the other prisoners.

Abdulmutallab’s path to radicalism

NYT details the would-be underwear bomber’s path from isolated, lone “gifted student” to radical jihadi.

U.S. gathers intel on the cyberattacks, Google starts walkin’

After the attacks last month on various companies, including Google, Northop Grumman, Adobe, and even a Los Angeles law firm representing a company suing China for allegedly stealing its software code, Google is fighting back. Google has implied that the Chinese government is responsible for the attacks and stopped cooperating with Chinese government censors. Now rumors are swirling that Google might stop doing business in China.

Good for Google. Welcome to the free market, 同志! Click here to read about the far-ranging support for Google’s actions.

Now the U.S. government is attempting to gather evidence on the perpetrators of the attacks, with mixed results. The NYT reports:

[After gaining access to a computer in Taiwan that it suspected of being the source of the attacks,] Google company engineers actually saw evidence of the aftermath of the attacks, not only at Google, but also at at least 33 other companies, including Adobe Systems, Northrop Grumman and Juniper Networks…

[T]hey alerted American intelligence and law enforcement officials and worked with them to assemble powerful evidence that the masterminds of the attacks were not in Taiwan, but on the Chinese mainland.

But while much of the evidence, including the sophistication of the attacks, strongly suggested an operation run by Chinese government agencies, or at least approved by them, company engineers could not definitively prove their case. Today that uncertainty, along with concerns about confronting the Chinese without strong evidence, has frozen the Obama administration’s response to the intrusion…

Update: U.S. to issue formal protest to China concerning the cyberattacks against Google.

Click here to read more on the growing Chinese cybermilitia and why “the FBI ranks China as one of the greatest potential espionage threats over the next decade.”

Increased pressure leads to Yemeni takedown of top Al Qaeda brass

Following Umar Abdulmutallab’s failed mid-air attack on Christmas day, the focus is on Yemen, the country in which the would-be “underwear bomber” studied and spent unaccounted-for time.

The Saudi Gazette and Reuters report that Yemeni security forces have killed Abdullah Mehdar, a top member of Al-Qaeda in Shabwa province believed to be behind Abdulmutallab’s attempted attack.

Mehdar is also believed to be behind the recent threats to the U.S. embassy which prompted the U.S. and U.K. embassies in Yemen to shut their doors on January 3.

While Yemen has long been seen as a safe haven for terrorists (see my previous posts here), the increased pressure from both internal and international sources on Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has prompted him to take a tough stance against the same Islamic extremist constituency that he once courted “for political support.”

More from Reuters: “The West and Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda will take advantage of Yemen’s instability to spread its operations to the neighboring kingdom, the world’s biggest oil exporter, and beyond. Yemen itself produces a small amount of oil.”

Homegrown al Qaeda targeted Toronto

And failed. PRI’s The World reports:

An al Qaeda-inspired plot is making headlines in Canada. It involves a home-grown plot that allegedly targeted major landmarks in Toronto. This week, one of the alleged ringleaders went on trial.

Click above link to listen to MP3 report.

Military units overwhelmed with Afghan drone video intel

Or, “Why the USIC should hire me.”

Just days after the UK Telegraph reported that the U.S. military is starved of (valuable) Afghan intelligence, the NYT reports that drones deployed by USAF and other military units have collected three times as much video intel this past year than in 2007, so much, in fact, that analysts are scrambling to keep up. “A group of young analysts already watch every second of the footage live as it is streamed to Langley Air Force Base…and to other intelligence centers, and they quickly pass warnings about insurgents and roadside bombs to troops in the field.”

Military units are also “turning to the television industry to learn how to quickly share video clips, like the highlight plays in a football game, and display a mix of data in ways that make analysis faster and easier.” Viva the Madden telestrator!

Two more arrested & charged in Zazi bombing conspiracy investigation

NYT: Adis Medunjanin, 25, and Zarein Ahmedzay, 24, have been arrested by the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force and charged in connection with the Zazi terror investigation.

Reportedly, both Queens NY residents travelled together to Pakistan in 2008 with Zazi, the Denver airport shuttle bus driver charged in the al Qaeda bomb plot. Ahmedzay ” is accused of lying about the places he visited in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and conversations he had with another man about whether that man visited a terrorist training camp.” On Saturday, Medunjanin was charged with “conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country and receiving training from the group.”

Three held after Heathrow-Dubai flight alert

BBC: Three individuals have been detained at Heathrow airport following verbal threats made regarding flight EK004 bound for Dubai. The suspects were sitting in coach and are believed to have been British. One or more may have been inebriated.

Sounds like many a transatlantic flight I’ve been on, minus the idiot threats.

The rest of the terminal and airport remained open after authorities reportedly boarded a plane and took a man away in cuffs and bomb-sniffing dogs searched the plane.

The flight was rescheduled and departed on Saturday afternoon.

U.S. and U.K. shut down embassies in Yemen

NYT: Following Al Qaeda’s failed effort to blow up an airliner headed to Detroit, MI on Christmas Day, the United States and Uniked Kingdom both shut down their embassies based in the Yemeni capital. The U.S. cited as the reason  “ongoing threats by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.”

For more on the burgeoning growth in Islamic militancy in Yemen, click here.

Charity donor to Columbia and Rutgers a front for Iranian regime?

NY Post reports here and here that federal prosecutors have moved to seize assets of the Alavi Foundation on grounds that it is a front for the Iranian government. The Alavi Foundation has been known as a charitable Islamic organization that has assets in “considerable real-estate holdings around the country — including a 36-story Fifth Avenue office tower” and donated substantial amounts of money to Columbia and Rutgers Middle Eastern and Persian studies programs.

It has been noted that both Columbia and Rutgers “employ professors well-known for anti-Israeli views, as well as sympathies for the Iranian regime and for terrorist groups.”  In October 2009, The Post reported on the Alavi Foundation’s 100K donation to Columbia University “shortly before it agreed to host a controversial appearance by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and another $50,000 after.”

Let’s continue to support reform in Iran!

Bloomberg.com reports that Federal prosecutors filed a new complaint on Nov. 13 seeking to seize the “Alavi Foundation’s interest in 650 Fifth Avenue as well, along with accounts and property the Alavi Foundation owns in New York, Maryland, Virginia, Texas and California.” U.S. attorney Preet Bharara issued a statement that “[t]he Alavi Foundation has effectively been a front for the government of Iran.”

H/T: The Considered Opinion.

For related articles on connections between suspect charitable organizations and academic institutions, visit Campus Watch.

Somali pirates hijack the New Year…

..Sort of!  Pirates around the Gulf of Aden rang in the New Year by hijacking a total of four ships this week, according to CNN.

Pirates off Somalia have hijacked two more vessels in the Gulf of Aden, the European Union naval force said Saturday — the third and fourth vessels they have captured this week.The British-flagged Asian Glory was seized off Somalia late Friday, the naval force said. The nationality of the pirates was unclear, because the hijacking happened outside of the force’s operations area, it said.

Bomber not searched in CIA Afghan deaths

Associated Press: CIA chief Leon Panetta confirmed that seven CIA individuals were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan. Among the agents killed was the head of the CIA Khost Province base who was also a mother of three.

“The Taliban said one of their members wearing an explosive vest and an army uniform had carried out the attack.”

Bad News Update: Suicide bomber invited onto CIA base as a possible informant without being searched.

Mexico’s drug war deaths reach record highs

CNN: 2009 has been the deadliest yet in Mexico’s war on drugs, with an estimated 7,600 Mexican casualties. President Calderon stated repeatedly that the vast majority of the casualties were criminals, not civilians.

This Christmas, pray for this soldier…

…Idaho National Guard Private Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured this summer and whose image is on a video issued by the Taliban this Christmas (story courtesy of Reuters).

“‘This is a horrible act which exploits a young soldier, who was clearly compelled to read a prepared statement. It reflects nothing more than the violent, deceitful tactics of the Taliban insurgency,’ said U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, director of communication, with NATO-led forces in Afghanistan.

To this soldier and all the others who’ve been captured, along with their families: Merry Christmas, and stay strong.