Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs
The New Yorker has a great piece out today by Nicholas Schmidle detailing the behind the scenes details of the mission that ended the life of Osama bin Laden: The Americans hurried toward the bedroom door. The first SEAL pushed it open. Two of bin Laden’s wives had placed themselves in front of him. Amal [...]
I’ve begun to wonder about the future of U. S. security policy. This isn’t a serious analytical post; it’s just what I call “musing”—committing disorganized thoughts to writing.
Pakistan is trying to explain how the world’s most wanted man was able to hide in plain sight for six years, and failing badly.
In a move sure to satisfy Deathers as much as a contemporaneous newspaper story satisfied Birthers, al Qaeda has released a statement confirming that Osama bin Laden is dead.
The free world rallied around the United States after the 9/11 attacks–but not all back the killing of the man who ordered it.
Safia bin Laden says that her infamous father was caught alive by U.S. forces and murdered in cold blood.
Congress is getting complaints that calling the Osama raid “Geronimo” is offensive to Indians.
There has been some buzz on the national security backchannels that a heretofore secret “stealth” helicopter was used in the SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan hideout.
Cartoonist John Cole of the Scranton Times-Tribune offers this take on yesterday’s big news: His blog commentary: Abottabad, the Pakistani city wherein justice finally caught up with Osama bin Laden, reportedly crawls with that country’s military. A major army base and military academy are located in the city of 100,000, which begs the question: How [...]
How exactly was the most wanted man in the world able to hide in this house without anyone in Pakistan knowing about it?
Keith Urbahn, chief of staff of former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, broke the news.
Late tonight, President Obama addressed the nation to confirm that Osama bin Laden had been killed today in Pakistan in a raid by United States Special Forces. Here’s his statement from the East Room: REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON OSAMA BIN LADEN East Room 11:35 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Tonight, I can report [...]
I was a bit startled to see the headline “If bin Laden is found, he’ll be killed, Holder says” appearing at the Washington Post (via Memeorandum). It appears to be sensationalistic, however: Osama bin Laden “will never appear in an American courtroom,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told House members at a hearing Tuesday. [...]
American special operators and intel types are teaming up with Yemeni forces to kill bad guys there, Dana Priest reports. But Glenn Greenwald is most interested in the third paragraph: As part of the operations, Obama approved a Dec. 24 strike against a compound where a U.S. citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, was thought to be meeting [...]
Someone claiming to be the reclusive terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, who for all we know now looks like a Spanish Communist, has released a tape claiming credit for the botched Detroit terror plot. Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt in Detroit, in a audio message released [...]
On Friday, the FBI released some “digitally enhanced” photographs to help people visualize what Osama bin Laden might look like today. They both aged his “standard” photo and showed another image of what he might look like if he’s adopted a more Western look to blend in. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to [...]
The botched attempt by one Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, allegedly somehow connected to al Qaeda, attempting to blow up a passenger jet as it made its descent into Detroit quite naturally has the blogosphere buzzing. Richard Fernandez and Josh Marshall have good roundups of the news as it was developing throughout the evening, along with the [...]
An air strike in Yemen may have killed the top leaders of al Qaead’s branch in that country, along with an American-born cleric linked to the Fort Hood massacre. A Yemeni air raid may have killed the top two leaders of al Qaeda’s regional branch on Thursday, and an American Muslim preacher linked to the [...]
The Washington Post has been having one of those silly polls the last several days, asking “Which of these nominees had the greatest influence in shaping the past decade, either by changing how we live or by making the greatest impact on our culture?” Kevin Drum can’t believe they didn’t include Alan Greenspan, which is [...]
Hilzoy pronounces herself “happy as a clam” with President Obama’s speech yesterday on national security issues, with one glaring exception: But even when this process is complete, there may be a number of people who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, in some cases because evidence may be tainted, but who nonetheless pose a threat [...]
Rusty Shackleford is hot on the trail of an Afghani arrested in California for lying about his lack of association with terrorists. The indictment, unsealed this morning, alleges [34 year old Ahmadullah Sais] Niazi hid associations with “Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” groups including Al Qaeda, Hizb-i-Islami and the Taliban, when he completed nationalization papers five [...]
A team of UCLA geographers have found Osama bin Laden. They’ve published an article in the MIT International Review scientifically narrowing his locations to one of three houses in North West Pakistan! Amazingly, this was not the journal’s cover story.
Over at New Atlanticist, I discuss “Obama’s Afghanistan Plan,” noting that actually achieving results will prove far more difficult than criticizing the Bush administration. My main criticism is of his continued harping on catching Osama bin Laden: [I]t would be ironic indeed if a Democratic successor to Bush seriously made tracking down a single terrorist a [...]
Salim Hamdan, the former driver and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden convicted by a U.S. military tribunal Wednesday, could be released from prison before President Bush leaves office. The U.S. military jury sentenced the Yemeni prisoner Thursday to just 5 1/2 years in prison, including five years and a month already served at Guantanamo Bay. [...]
The most outrageous headline I’ve seen in quite some time, at least from a legitimate media outlet, is the one that accompanies this morning’s NYT editorial on yesterday’s verdict in the Hamdan case: “Guilty as Ordered.” Now that was a real nail-biter. The court designed by the White House and its Congressional enablers to guarantee [...]
Al Qaeda number 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri was severely wounded in a US predator strike earlier this week, CBS is reporting. Ayman al-Zawahiri – the second most powerful leader in al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden’s No. 2 – may be critically wounded and possibly dead, CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan reports exclusively. [...]
Readers may be familiar with the Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics (short version: the US can do whatever it wants if it just has even willpower). Now, it appears we can add another member of the Justice League to our understanding of foreign policy. On Friday, author Andrew Klavan had a piece in the WSJ [...]
Dean Barnett wins my Head Scratcher of the Day award for this: If we had a “Most Offensive Quote of the Day” every day, Joe Biden would probably come to own the prize. But even by the senator’s lofty standards of chronic obtuseness, he outdid himself this afternoon: “If John (McCain) wants to know where [...]
The liberal blogs are in a tizzy about the cover of the July 21 New Yorker, an illustration by Barry Blitt which shows the Obamas in terrorist outfits, doing a fist bump with a big portrait of Osama bin Laden over their mantle with an American flag burning in the fireplace: Given that this is [...]
Terrorist suspects detained at Guantánamo Bay (and presumably, anyplace else under American jurisdiction) have the right to file habeus corpus petitions in U.S. civilian courts the Supreme Court ruled today in a 5-4 decision. Further, Congress could not pass a law waiving these protections absent rebellion or invasion. Justices Rule Terror Suspects Can Appeal in [...]
Al Qaeda is getting stronger, mostly in Pakistan, a new State Department report states. Al-Qaida has rebuilt some of its pre-Sept. 11 capabilities from remote hiding places in Pakistan, leading to a jump in attacks last year in that country and neighboring Afghanistan, the Bush administration said Wednesday. Attacks in Pakistan doubled between 2006 and [...]
Air Force Colonel Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor for Guantanamo Bay, recently testifed for the defense on behalf of a terror suspect. Specifically, he testified to the unwillingness of the Pentagon to hold fair hearings for detainees. Sitting just feet from the courtroom table where he had once planned to make cases against military [...]
The war against Jihadists and Islamo-Fascists has been won; each and every last one of these vermin has been eradicated courtesy of the United States Government. Unfortunately, the victory is quite literally in name only. The Bush administration has launched a new front in the war on terrorism, this time targeting language. Federal agencies, including [...]
Joe Biden is getting plaudits from the Leftosphere for asking Ryan Crocker a really dumb question in yesterday’s hearings. Here’s the video: The transcript: BIDEN: Mr. Ambassador, is Al Qaeda a greater threat to US interests in Iraq, or in the Afghan-Pakistan border region? CROCKER: Mr. Chairman, al Qaeda is a strategic threat to the [...]
The United States is stepping up its attacks on al Qaeda targets in Pakistan, largely without coordination with that country’s government. The United States has escalated its unilateral strikes against al-Qaeda members and fighters operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas, partly because of anxieties that Pakistan’s new leaders will insist on scaling back military operations in [...]
Mitt Romney is formally endorsing John McCain this afternoon, releasing his delegates to him. Former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., is planning on endorsing his former Republican rival Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. A source familiar with the decision said the endorsement will take place this afternoon at Romney for President headquarters in Boston at 3:30pmET. Romney [...]
Just got signed in at CPAC and the big news is that Mitt Romney is dropping out of the race. He’s using his speech here to announce his withdrawal. His spokesman, Kevin Madden, has confirmed the rumor. Laura Ingraham is introducing him now, using the speech to bash McCain. One wonders if all of CPAC [...]
Apparently, John McCain has confided to reporters that he has a secret plan to capture Osama bin Laden. So Washington Wire was wondering, what does McCain know that President Bush and the Pentagon don’t about how to sweep up America’s most elusive enemy. “One thing I will not do is telegraph my punches. Osama bin [...]
As I promised on OTB Radio tonight, here are my predictions for 2008 to go along with James’ and Dave’s, some of which may actually come true, though I’m not sure I’d bet on that. U.S. Politics: Barack Obama will win the Democratic nomination, and proceed to defeat John McCain in the general election. Prominent [...]
Former Pakistani prime minister and present opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated in Pakistan: RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (CNN) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday outside a large gathering of her supporters where a suicide bomber also killed at least 14, doctors and a spokesman for her party said. While Bhutto appeared [...]
A recent survey of Saudi Arabian adults finds a complicated view of America, terrorism, and freedom. Most Saudi Arabia citizens interviewed in a poll oppose terrorism and want closer ties with the United States. But many Saudis remain opposed to making peace with Israel, according to what researchers call an unprecedented survey of the kingdom. [...]
Some minor blog buzz over a two-day-old (ancient in Internet terms) MSNBC report that Morgan Spurlock may (or may not) have found Osama bin Laden. Rumors are flying that filmmaker Morgan Spurlock of “Super Size Me” fame may have done what the United States government has failed to do for the last six years — [...]
Karl Rove is swimming against the currents of conventional wisdom, warning candidates that running against President Bush is a losing strategy, Joe Curl reports: The president had been pummeled ever since Democrats retook control of Congress in January, but he has pushed ahead with his second-term agenda on issues ranging from opposing federal funding of [...]
New York has retroactively decided that a man’s GET OSAMA vanity tags are offensive and can not be displayed on his vehicle. The federal government may have a $25 million reward for fugitive terrorist Osama bin Laden, but a retired city cop says the Department of Motor Vehicles has banned his “GETOSAMA” vanity license plates [...]
