OWOSSO, Michigan -- State police at the Corunna post have confirmed a well-known anti-abortion activist was shot multiple times and killed this morning in front of Owosso High School.
The victim's identity has not yet been released but the shooting occurred around 7:30 a.m., after most students were off the buses and safely inside the building, said Owosso schools transportation supervisor Jayne Campbell.
State police also confirmed that a suspect was taken into custody about 8:15 a.m. at the suspect's home.
Owosso High School secretary Wendy Smith said the students remain in lockdown this morning and confirmed that no students were involved and all are safe with classes going on as normal. The shooting did not occur on school property, Smith said.
Meanwhile, police have completely ringed with police tape a section of North Street in front of the school.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Let's see if the MSM gives this story the same attention and detail it gave to the Dr. Tiller murder.
#2
DrudgeReport is following this. The murderer drove to a second site afterward, and shot dead an unrelated man there. It seems he had a third target in mind, but was picked up by police before he acted on it. All three targets were people he knew, unrelated to the anti-abortion activism.
I do not like the idea of picketing a school. I've no objections to picketing school board meetings, but schools should be different.
The father of terrorist Ali Al-Faqa'si who handed himself in to the authorities has condemned the recent attempt to kill Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, Assistant Minister for Security Affairs, and spoke of his personal gratitude to the Prince for his help since his son's return to the fold. "After my son got involved in all this and then handed himself in, Prince Muhammad Bin Naif has been in constant touch with us to make sure we are alright and given us large amounts of money," Abdul Rahman Al-Faqa'si told Al-Watan daily Thursday.
Abdul Rahman's son, full name Ali Abdul Rahman Al-Faqa'si Al-Ghamdi, handed himself in personally to Prince Muhammad Bin Naif in June 2003. Known by the alias "Abu Bakr Al-Azdi", Al-Ghamdi was considered by authorities to be a senior figure in Al-Qaeda in the Kingdom and to be involved in the May 2003 bombings in Riyadh.
"When the Prince came to know about the illness of Ali's wife, he paid for her medical treatment and also for a suitable place for her to live," Abdul Rahman said. "Not just that, but he paid for first class tickets to Riyadh and put us up in five-star hotels. He still contacts us almost every day to see if we're alright, saying 'our son is their son'."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] A leading figure in Yemen's ruling General People's Congress[GPC] has asserted that the clashes and war were continuing and will continue until the Huthists in Sa'dah Governorate whom he called "the insurgent group" are crushed, stressing that many of their positions were falling into the government troops' hands one after the other.
Commenting on the claim by the Huthists' leader they had seized Al-Jabal al-Ahmar and cut off military communications from the army, Iskandar al-Asbahi, head of the GPC's information department, said instatements to Asharq Al-Awsat that "these words are of the propaganda or war media kind" and "they want an endless war but their end is soon, God willing. Despite their continued attacks on villages and houses, they are calling for ceasefire and pleading with Iran and Muqtada al-Sadr, the sides which are helping and financing them, to stop the war on them. No state can accept an armed insurgency that carries out such terrorist and sabotage acts." He added that the expressed desire of Iran and Muqtada al-Sadr to mediate between the Yemeni Government and Huthists "is evidence that the insurgents are agents and serving foreign agendas" and said: "Why should we accept mediation when this is an insurgent group? They are digging their own graves and there must be a final and decisive end to them so that their sedition does not spread, as they were unfortunately able to do because the state leant toward peace in the past. These did not want peace or security but were spreading more and more. They think they can stop the war like they did in the past but the war cannot stop until they comply with the six conditions drawn up by the Higher Security Committee."
Al-Asbahi went on to say that the Huthists' accusations of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's military participation on the side of the Yemeni forces in the war against them "is some kind of deception reiterated by the Iranian media, their teacher, and like what we hear from (Al-Alam) channel, Tehran radio, and other internet websites. We heard this entire baseless dissonant tune" and the Huthists cannot prove these allegations, adding that "Yemen is capable of confronting this deviant group which wants to rip apart the homeland and destroy everything beautiful in it."
On his part, Muhammad Abdul-Salam, the spokesman for Abdul-Malik al-Huthi, the Huthists' field commander in Sa'dah Governorate, said their gunmen seized the military positions in Al-Jabal al-Ahmar in Sa'dah and cut off completely the military communications from the army in the area. He added in statements to "Asharq Al-Awsat" that "cutting off communications poses a big problem for the authority and its military command in the area."
Responding to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Selah's statements in which he said Iran and Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq had proposed to the Yemeni Government to mediate with the Huthists, Abdul-Salam said "these remarks are not new for us and the same was said during the previous wars. They are lies by the state. We challenge him to prove what he says."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Amid tense relations with Israel, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he recognizes Israel's right to live within secure and recognized borders. In an interview with Le Figaro, Chavez accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinians, rejecting that the Israeli offensive in Gaza early this year was provoked by rocket attacks from Hamas, a Palestinian movement in charge of the tiny strip.
"The question is not whether the Israelis want to exterminate the Palestinians. They're doing it openly," Chavez told the French paper. "What was it, if not genocide?"
"The Israelis were looking for an excuse to exterminate the Palestinians," he added.
However, when asked if he recognized the rights of Israel to live within secure and recognized borders, the Venezuelan president made a controversial acknowledgement, admitting that he recognized such rights for Israelis.
"I recognize the right of Israel to live, like those in every other country. They all have the same rights, and that includes the future Palestinian state. But Israel must respect this principle of self-determination for Palestinians," Chavez said.
The controversial comment comes as Venezuela ordered the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and some embassy staff from Caracas earlier in 2009 to protest the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Following the expulsion, Israel declared Venezuela's ambassador to Tel Aviv and two other embassy staffers persona non grata.
The Latin American leader made the controversial remark about Israel while admitting his close alliance with the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "I am actually friends with President Ahmadinejad. I am his ally," Chavez said.
President Ahmadinejad has in many of his tirades against Tel Aviv stated firmly that he does not recognize Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
They have self-determination, Hugo. They just determined that they wanna kill all the Jews.
The Jews, naturally enough, object to this plan. Hence the current 60-year deadlock.
China already seems to have an intervention plan in case of any sudden changes in North Korea.
According to a source within the foreign relations department in China, Chinese military has created a special force a few years ago, and has conducted regular trainings. According to the source, Shenyang and Jangchoon districts have special force with a size of a brigade. There is also a force composed only of Korean-Chinese, while the size of this force has not been confirmed. These forces were created in order to respond to any sudden eruption on the Korean peninsula, and have been receiving trainings.
A couple of brigades? That might let them control a border district or two if the Norks imploded, nothing more.
According to a South Korean security expert, brigades #190 with 3,000 soldiers near Shenyang, and it is likely to be dispatched in case of any disruption in North Korea. In fact, brigade #190 has done a training in inner Mongolia.
Additionally, the security expert said the role of special force composed of Korean-Chinese will conduct pacification work to stabilize the North Koreans within North Korea. In Jangchoon district, there is a brigade of armed police #117, and this brigade will work for internal security and control refugees.
Sounds like all they'd do is keep Nork refugees out of China.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Ethnic Koreans are one of the 55 minority races recognized by the PRC.
#2
I suspect their primary duty involves acting as translators for the regular PRC, who would quickly move to occupy Nork, secure its nuclear facilities, and stop its high command from doing anything reckless.
#3
I don't think that China wants the role of stabilizing and rebuilding North Korea any more than the South does. I see these divisions as primarily designed to 1) seize the Nork's nuke facilities, and 2) control the border to keep 24 million North Koreans from flooding into China. Forcing the South to handle the North would be in China's best interest, as it would reduce the pressure from Korean productivity, ease the pressure of political refugees into China, and disrupt the South's military for 10-20 years. I doubt China will continue to support the constant drain on its resources necessary to prop up the North forever. It would be much better to "allow" the South to take control of the North, and be forced to divert 90% of its government funding to rebuilding, instead of continuing to build a strong and prosperous South.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/12/2009 14:42 Comments ||
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North Korea has withdrawn its insistence on massive wage increases from South Korea at a jointly-run factory zone in the North. The move is widely seen as part of a broader charm offensive by Pyongyang, but comes as South Korea remains angry at a flood the North caused.
South Korean Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo says North Korea has stepped back from a strident demand it made earlier this year. She says North Korea has proposed the South raise wages at a jointly run industrial facility by five percent, to just under $58 a month. She adds that is in line with previous years.
South Korean companies employ nearly 40,000 North Koreans slaves to produce basic manufactured goods at a special cooperative zone in the North Korean city of Kaesong. The project was a conceived as a practical laboratory for cooperation between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war.
However, the zone encountered problems when North Korea became upset with the conservative policies of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. Pyongyang announced in May it was canceling all wage and rent agreements for the zone, and demanded that the South Korean companies sharply raise their payments.
Many North Korea experts see Friday's far more modest wage proposal in the context of a recent thaw Pyongyang's attitude toward the South - possibly aimed at boosting economic assistance as the North feels the pinch of international sanctions. However, it also comes just days after North Korea enraged many South Koreans by releasing water from a hydroelectric dam. The resulting flood in the South left six people dead.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned the North's action. Moon Tae-young, a ministry spokesman, says North Korea's actions on this occasion can be seen as having violated customary international law. South Korean officials have demanded a formal apology from the North and say they have not yet decided whether and how to pursue the matter further.
Choi Jong-kun, an international relations professor at Seoul's Yonsei University, thinks the declaration that Pyongyang violated international law is mainly for the consumption of angry South Koreans. "Basically, who are we trying to soothe, you know? We might release statements and whatnot, but are we going to sue them? I don't think so," he said.
Lim Eul-chul is a North Korea scholar at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies. He sees a connection between the flooding incident and North's conciliatory proposal on Kaesong zone wages. He says the North probably feels uncomfortable about worsening public opinion over the flooding, and does not want it to get in the way of improving relations with South Korea and the United States.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] The United States is ready to engage directly with North Korea in a bid to help resume the stalled six-party talks on scrapping Pyongyang"s nuclear arsenal, the State Department said Friday. ""We are prepared to enter into a bilateral discussion with North Korea,"" chief department spokesman Phillip Crowley said in a briefing to reporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] Japan and North Korea need a new agreement to improve bilateral relations, and Pyongyang is ready to hold talks with the incoming Japanese administration of Yukio Hatoyama, who advocates closer ties with other Asian nations, a senior North Korean official said Friday. Song Il Ho, ambassador for normalization talks with Japan, said in an interview with Kyodo News in Pyongyang that an agreement the two countries struck in August last year in Shenyang, China, has become ""invalid"" due to outgoing Prime Minister Taro Aso"s ""hostile"" policy toward North Korea.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
guess kimmie thinks that since Japan just elected an 0bama clone, he can get his apology and the tribute can start flowing.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
09/12/2009 2:56 Comments ||
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[Dawn] DG ISPR Major General Athar Abbas underlined that no talks will be held with the Taliban and reports of negotiations with the militants are totally false and fabricated.
While talking to host of journalists, Major General Athar Abbas made it clear that the operation against terrorists and militants is continuing in Malakand and its surrounding areas.
We have given ample opportunity to militants but they have challenged the writ of the state thus they have no option left now, he held.
He said that without the cooperation and support of the masses, the operation could never have been successful.
Undoubtedly, terrorists and militants are enemies of Islam and Pakistan, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The Peshawar High Court on Thursday sought explanation from the political agent of South Waziristan Agency for issuing a general order for arresting all Mehsud tribesmen and confiscating their properties.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan and Justice Attaullah Khan enquired when there were a number of Mehsud tribesmen serving on key posts like army officer, police, judges, doctors and lawyers why they had not been arrested when the political agent had issued the impugned order. It asked how the political agent could issue such an order for arresting all the members of the tribe and confiscating their properties.
The chief justice observed that such orders were often issued by the viceroys. It was observed that if this order was implemented it would affect hundreds of thousands of people.
The court was hearing a writ petition filed by two residents of the Tank district, Mohammad Nawaz and Tawkal Din, challenging their detention under section 21 of the Frontier Crimes Regulation.
NWFP Advocate-General Ziaur Rehman Khan told the court that he would contact the political agent and try to convince him for withdrawing the order. The court fixed September 15 for next hearing.
Advocates Aminur Rehman and Kareem Mehsud appeared for the petitioners. They contended that their clients were residents of a settled district and the authorities had detained them in an illegal manner, adding the impugned order was illegal and unconstitutional.
The political agent in his capacity as district magistrate had issued an order on June 14, 2009, wherein he stated that the Mehsud tribal elders had failed to discharge their responsibilities in handing over militants of their tribe involved in terrorist activities across the country and those terrorists other than Mehsuds, including foreign elements who had taken refugee in the Mehsud area.
The order states: 'I, the political agent/district magistrate, South Waziristan Agency in exercise of the power conferred upon me under section 21-FCR, do hereby order the seizure where they may be found of all members of Mehsud Tribe and confiscation of moveable/immovable property belonging to them in NWFP and their arrest and taking into custody any person of the tribe wherever he is found.'
The petitioners stated that on June 15 the political agent of South Waziristan based at Tank summoned Malik Palam Khan, father of Mohammad Nawaz, and Malik Taulab Khan, father of Tawkal Din, in connection with a jirga regarding law and order situation in the agency.
They said Malik Taulab appeared in person and since Malik Palam was not available, his son Mohammad Nawaz appeared before the political agent. They claimed that instead of holding jirga, the political agent arrested both of them without any reason and kept them in the political prison in Tank. After 15 days, the two were sent to the Dera Ismail Khan Central Prison.
Later, on a request of Tawkal Din for release of his father as he was old and ill, the political agent released Malik Taulab on July 14, but Tawkal Din was arrested and sent to prison.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Home Minister P Chidambaram has given to US officials three lists of terrorists, including that of 60 Pakistanis allegedly killed by Indian security forces in various encounters in different parts of the country and another of 10 arrested in the past yea, the Indian media reported.
A top government official on Friday said Chidambaram had compiled the lists before leaving for the US for a four-day visit and shared it with American officials. "Their names and addresses in Pakistan were given in the list," the official said.
The first list had names of 60 Pakistani "terrorists" killed by Indian forces. There were also names of another 10 arrested and lodged in jails. The second list consists names of those terrorists who are operating from Pakistan against India including Maulana Masood Azhar and 26/11 mastermind Hafeez Saeed. The third list has the names of those "terrorists" who have been operating from Azad Kashmir and their activities are concentrated in Kashmir.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Following the arrest of his five important Shura members, the Swat Taliban head, Maulana Fazlullah, on Friday conceded that his organisation had been weakened.
In a recorded message conveyed by his spokesman Salman to The News late Friday evening from an undisclosed place in Swat, he said: "The Taliban movement is presently in a state of illness. When you are ill, your activities are curtailed. That is what has happened to Taliban organisation, but it would bounce back."
In his recorded message, Maulana Fazlullah spoke hurriedly in Pashto. At times, it was difficult to understand his words. It wasn't easy to tell that the voice indeed was of Maulana Fazlullah even though it generally sounded familiar.
Salman, who has taken over as the spokesman for the Swat Taliban after the arrest of Muslim Khan, said the brief recording was delivered to him on Friday. Maulana Fazlullah mentioned the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) founder Baitullah Mehsud in his message and stressed that all Pakistani Taliban wished to die like him. "Like Baitullah Mehsud, all Taliban fighters want to embrace martyrdom. Getting arrested while fighting for a cause is no big deal for the Taliban," he maintained. He said the Taliban in Swat and Malakand would continue their struggle for the enforcement of real Shariah and offer every sacrifice to achieve this goal.
According to Maulana Fazlullah, the Taliban possessed "Fidayee" power and those in doubt should ask Russia, the US and Nato about the Taliban prowess.
The whereabouts of Maulana Fazlullah, who is the son-in-law of the detained Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) leader Maulana Sufi Muhammad, is unknown. The government has been claiming that he was wounded in an earlier military action. There have also been reports backed by government officials that he was under siege in a mountainous area in Swat and could no longer move to some other place.
Maulana Fazlullah made it clear that he and his men had lost trust in the Pakistan Army after it allegedly invited his organisation for peace talks and arrested the five negotiators. He said a need may arise again for the government and the military to talk to the Taliban, but the Swat Taliban had decided once and for all not to hold any negotiations with the rulers.
His message came on the day the Pakistan Army Spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas announced that Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan and commander Mahmood Khan, both carrying head-money of Rs 10 million each, had been captured along with three other Shura members Fazle Ghaffar, Abdur Rahman and Sartaj in a military operation in the suburbs of Mingora in Swat.
The previous night, the Swat Taliban had alleged that their five Shura members were invited for peace talks by the military authorities in Mingora eight days ago and then taken into custody. Acting Swat Taliban spokesman, Salman, insisted that the Taliban negotiators were tricked and made prisoner after being shifted first to Peshawar and then Islamabad. He disclosed that Major Abdullah, an official of the Military Intelligence (MI), had contacted the Taliban to offer talks and that Kamal Khan, a Swat resident belonging to Deolai village and living in the US, had played the role of mediator.
Meanwhile, the acting Swat Taliban spokesman, Salman, added that for three days the talks proceeded well between the five-member Taliban delegation and the military authorities. "The talks reached a stalemate when the Army officers demanded that the Taliban must surrender their commanders who sabotaged the previous peace agreements by refusing to dismantle roadside checkpoints and by sending fighters to Buner. The Taliban negotiators pinpointed violations of the peace accord by security forces and the government," he explained.
Maj Gen Athar Abbas rejected reports of any peace negotiations with the Taliban. He said there could be no talks with terrorists. He added that those wanting to surrender should lay down arms before security forces or law-enforcement agencies.
In reply to a question, Taliban spokesman denied that their deputy leader Maulana Shah Dauran had been killed in military operation. When told that no audio recording of Shah Dauran had been heard for some weeks now, he pointed out that audiotape of Maulana Fazlullah too had been made available after a long time for "strategic reasons". Salman accused the government of executing Taliban prisoners and said footage and other evidences would be made available to the media to substantiate the charges against security forces and the police. He claimed up to 200 prisoners, including 30 Taliban, had been executed and their bodies dumped in different parts of Swat.
Security forces and the government, it may be added, have already rejected the allegations of killings of militants who were taken prisoners. The military spokesman had also rejected a report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in which allegations of extrajudicial killings were made.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Steve White ||
09/12/2009 10:05 Comments ||
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#3
Yeah, Doc, there's always the "hellfire" option, but would O'bumble allow it? Maybe it would be a good thing to "give" India a half-dozen Predators and a gross of Hellfire missiles...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/12/2009 14:56 Comments ||
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Ma'an -- Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council Ahmad Bahar said he is for dialogue, unity and the reorganization of security forces so they can "protect our homeland and not Israel."
Speaking during a Friday prayer in Gaza, Bahar said Palestinian political prisoners in the West Bank must be released so sides can get down to dialogue. His comments come following the release of an Egyptian conciliation plan to leaders of all Palestinian factions. Talks are set to start again in October.
One element of the Egyptian plan addresses the reform and reunification of Palestinian security forces under Egyptian and Arab training and observation. Addressing the issue the Hamas leader said he supported strong security forces able to protect the country, and not ones focused on "Israel and chasing the resistance fighters," principally Hamas affiliates in the West Bank.
Bahar also cautioned that "we do not want a dialogue based on an American Zionest agenda or on the vision of US President Barak Obama," but rather a dialogue that served the Palestinians.
Commenting on the last dictate from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the issue of peace talks - that Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state - Bahar said "recognizing Israel as a Jewish state means the Palestinians from inside Israel do not exist." He went further saying any side that bowed to Netanyahu's request "is a betrayer."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Iran's supreme leader told the opposition on Friday they would face a harsh response if they drew their "swords" against the ruling establishment. The warning from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivered at Friday prayers three months after a disputed poll that led to widespread unrest, was a clear message he would not tolerate any threat to Iran's clerical system of government.
"Resisting the system and taking out the sword against the system will be followed by a harsh response," he told worshippers in a sermon broadcast live on state television. "If somebody stands against the basis of the (Islamic) system and violates people's security, the system is forced to stand against it," he said.
But in his lengthy sermon Khamenei did not address proposals that Tehran on Wednesday delivered to world powers involved in efforts to resolve the issue diplomatically, but reiterated that the Islamic state should not back down on its "nuclear rights." "It is a sign of deviation to give up one's rights, nuclear rights or non-nuclear rights, instead of insisting on them," he said.
But Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, added criticism and differences among officials were acceptable.
It was Khamenei's first Friday prayers sermon since the June poll, when he endorsed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election, blamed the opposition for bloodshed and accused Western powers of interfering in Iran's affairs.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Latest] An Iranian lawmaker says that Iran plans to buy the latest Russian airliner, the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ).
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
They can create a fearsom world-beating fighter jet, all kinds of advanced weaponry that has never been seen before (and probably will never be) but they can't create their own indiginously produced jetliner? How strange.
#2
Sukhoi is building this regional jet in partnership with Alenia Aeronautica, an Italian firm. Boeing is 'consulting' on the project (?).
Apparently the Iranians decided not to trust their airline passengers to Iran's own 'vapor-ware'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/12/2009 8:26 Comments ||
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#3
How nice the regime is showing concern for its citizens now.
As for the Sus, high tech is groovy, but as Manfred von Ricthoven said "The quality of the crate matters little. It is the quality of the man sitting in the crate that counts".
#4
And maintenance. Don't forget maintenance. Ins'Allah maintenance does not cut it, even for the most technically sophisticated aircraft. Good luck with your aircraft, Iran. Better hire expat mechanics, if you can find enough willing to put up with your insanity.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/12/2009 16:27 Comments ||
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#5
Insh'allah lawndarts
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/12/2009 16:31 Comments ||
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Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida is under heavy pressure in its strongholds in Pakistan's remote tribal areas and is finding it difficult to attract recruits or carry out spectacular operations in western countries, according to government and independent experts monitoring the organisation.
Speaking to the Guardian in advance of tomorrow's eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, western counter-terrorism officials and specialists in the Muslim world said the organisation faced a crisis that was severely affecting its ability to find, inspire and train willing fighters. Its activity is increasingly dispersed to "affiliates" or "franchises" in Yemen and North Africa, but the links of local or regional jihadi groups to the centre are tenuous; they enjoy little popular support and successes have been limited. Lethal strikes by CIA drones -- including two this week alone -- have combined with the monitoring and disruption of electronic communications, suspicion and low morale to take their toll on al-Qaida's Pakistani "core", in the jargon of western intelligence agencies.
Interrogation documents seen by the Guardian show that European Muslim volunteers faced a chaotic reception, a low level of training, poor conditions and eventual disillusionment after arriving in Waziristan last year.
"Core" al-Qaida is now reduced to a senior leadership of six to eight men, including Bin Laden and his Egyptian deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, according to most informed estimates. Several other Egyptians, a Libyan and a Mauritanian occupy the other top positions. In all, there are perhaps 200 operatives who count.
The most significant recent development is evidence that al-Qaida's alliance with the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan is fraying, boosting the prospect of acquiring intelligence that will lead to Bin Laden's capture or death. Despite an intensive US-led manhunt, there has not been a credible lead on the Saudi-born al-Qaida leader in years. Bin Laden's nickname among some CIA hunters is "Elvis" because there have been so many false sightings of him. "Al-Qaida has become a liability for the Taliban," said Mustafa Alani, a terrorism expert at the Gulf research centre in Dubai who visited Waziristan in July. "There is a good possibility that the Pakistanis or the Americans will be able to get good intelligence on the ground and kill Bin Laden."
Intelligence agencies are watching closely to see if Bin Laden issues a message marking tomorrow's 9/11 anniversary, as he has in the past, or leaves it to Zawahiri. Last week one Islamist website promised a "Ramadan gift" from the al-Qaida leader but removed the posting without explanation.
Is that one of the websites that was attacked by anti-jihadi forces? We had an article yesterday.
Amid a mood of cautious optimism, some experts talk of a "tipping point" in the fight against al-Qaida. Others argue that only Bin Laden's death will bring significant change. But most agree that the failure to carry out spectacular mass attacks in the west since the 2005 London bombings has weakened the group's "brand appeal" and power to recruit. "In order to stay relevant al-Qaida have to prove themselves capable and they haven't been able to do that," said Norwegian scholar Brynjar Lia. Popular sympathy, which drained away because of sectarian killings in Iraq, has dwindled further this year. In Saudi Arabia, according to a recent intelligence report, 60-70% of information about al-Qaida suspects now comes from relatives, friends and neighbours, not from security agencies or surveillance.
Another weakness is in the so-called "war of ideas". This week imprisoned leaders of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group began publishing a "revision" of their previous understanding of jihad. "The text in itself is probably not a landmark work of Islamic jurisprudence, but it is important because it adds to ... a corpus of treatises by former militants challenging al-Qaida on theological grounds," Thomas Hegghammer of Harvard University said on the Jihadica website. "Of course, no one text is going to change the world, but put together, these treatises will constrain al-Qaida's recruitment pool somewhat."
Despite a largely positive balance sheet, no one claims the fight against al-Qaida is over or that "victory" can be declared. Robert Mueller, the director of the FBI, said in an interview with USA Today this week: "Yes, they retain the capability of striking overseas. They are still lethal." Intelligence experts say the trends are favourable but point to the IRA maxim that "you only need to get lucky once".
Jonathan Evans, the head of MI5, warned this year that Somalia could become a safe haven for al-Qaida in the way Afghanistan was in 2001. Analysts speak of worries that al-Qaida activity in North Africa and the Sahel could spread to northern Nigeria and affect the UK.
"You haven't lost all those people who were susceptible to the al-Qaida message, ideology or recruitment," said Richard Barrett, co-ordinator of the UN's al-Qaida and Taliban Monitoring Team. "The [al-Qaida leadership] are really under pressure now but could regroup. The conditions remain there, the social factors are all still in place."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
OWOSSO, Michigan -- State police at the Corunna post have confirmed a well-known anti-abortion activist was shot multiple times and killed this morning in front of Owosso High School.
The father of terrorist Ali Al-Faqa'si who handed himself in to the authorities has condemned the recent attempt to kill Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, Assistant Minister for Security Affairs, and spoke of his personal gratitude to the Prince for his help since his son's return to the fold. "After my son got involved in all this and then handed himself in, Prince Muhammad Bin Naif has been in constant touch with us to make sure we are alright and given us large amounts of money," Abdul Rahman Al-Faqa'si told Al-Watan daily Thursday.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Amid tense relations with Israel, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he recognizes Israel's right to live within secure and recognized borders. In an interview with Le Figaro, Chavez accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinians, rejecting that the Israeli offensive in Gaza early this year was provoked by rocket attacks from Hamas, a Palestinian movement in charge of the tiny strip. 
[Kyodo: Korea] The United States is ready to engage directly with North Korea in a bid to help resume the stalled six-party talks on scrapping Pyongyang"s nuclear arsenal, the State Department said Friday. ""We are prepared to enter into a bilateral discussion with North Korea,"" chief department spokesman Phillip Crowley said in a briefing to reporters.
