Was the Afghan Bomb Attack an Inside Job? Possibility Arises that Someone Working with U.S. Forces was on the Side of the Terrorists 30 Dec 2009 It all happened at a well-fortified combat outpost in Eastern Afghanistan. Somehow a suicide bomber was able to bring his explosives on the base, walk up to a group of American civilians and blow himself up... The outpost is located in the middle of a notorious stronghold for Afghan insurgents near the border with Pakistan, reports CBS News. Afghan soldiers and civilians are present at almost every American outpost since one of the chief principals of the U.S. strategy is to partner with the Afghans. According to Christine Fair of Georgetown University, some of them may actually be working for the Taliban.
CIA workers killed by 'Afghan soldier' 31 Dec 2009 Eight Americans working for the CIA have died in a bomb attack in Afghanistan, the worst against US intelligence officials since 1983. A bomber wearing an explosive vest entered Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost Province, near Pakistan. A Taliban spokesman said a member of the group working for the Afghan army had carried out the attack.
Intelligence official vows revenge for CIA deaths 31 Dec 2009 A U.S. intelligence official vowed Thursday to avenge a suspected terrorist attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of seven CIA employees. Another six CIA employees were wounded, another official said.
CIA caught in dirty and secretive war against al-Qaeda on Afghan border 01 Jan 2010 The deaths of seven CIA agents in Khost province have brought into the limelight the secretive and dirty war being fought by America’s intelligence agencies -- and the Taleban and al-Qaeda -- in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Forward Operating Base Chapman, and others like it along the border, are the forward edge of American military and intelligence counter-terrorism operations, aimed principally at hunting down senior figures in 'al-Qaeda' and their allies in the Taleban hiding in the lawless tribal belt. The CIA’s main strike weapons are the drones that loiter over the border areas 24 hours a day, watching and listening to telephone networks.
Western troops accused of executing 10 Afghan civilians, including children 31 Dec 2009 American-led troops were accused yesterday of dragging innocent children from their beds and shooting them during a night raid that left ten people dead. Afghan government investigators said that eight schoolchildren were killed, all but one of them from the same family. Locals said that some victims were handcuffed before being killed. Western military sources said that the dead were all part of an Afghan terrorist cell [yeah, the eight-year-olds] responsible for manufacturing improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which have claimed the lives of countless soldiers and civilians. [They don't "hate us for our freedoms." They hate us for our war crimes. --Lori Price]
'I'm Alive,' Says Yemen Radical Anwar Awlaki Despite U.S. Attack --Denies Ties to al Qaeda As U.S. Officials Probe His [Alleged] Ties to Christmas Day Bomb Attempt and Fort Hood Shooting 31 Dec 2009 A week after U.S. and Yemeni officials said the radical Yemen cleric Anwar Awlaki may have been killed in a U.S.-backed Christmas eve air strike, a Yemeni journalist says Awlaki has surfaced to proclaim, "I'm alive." "He said the house that was attacked was two or three kilometers away from him and he was not there," the journalist, Abdulelah Hider Shaea, told ABC News. He said he talked to Awlaki on the phone and recognized his voice from previous interviews. [Abdulelah Shaea needs to watch his back. The US target is *journalists,* not their al-CIAduh hirelings. --LRP]
US pledges $16 bn for training Afghan security forces [so they can kill more US soldiers] 31 Dec 2009 The United States has pledged $16 billion to spend on training and equipping Afghanistan’s army and air force, but the country needs more to build a force that can guarantee stability, an Afghan army official said on Wednesday... Part of the US cash is likely to cover planned spending on over 150 aircraft -- including helicopters, and reconnaissance, combat and transport planes. [See: Soldier killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan 21 Dec 2009.]
Two French journalists kidnapped in Afghanistan 31 Dec 2009 Two French reporters have been kidnapped north-east of the Afghan capital Kabul, Afghan officials say. They say the journalists were seized in Kapisa province, along with three Afghans travelling with them. French Defence minister Herve Morin, who is visiting Afghanistan, said he had had no news of two journalists since Wednesday. Media sources in Paris said they work for the French TV Channel FR3.
5 Canadians killed in Afghanistan, including 1 journalist 31 Dec 2009 Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang and four Canadian soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan on Wednesday. She was covering the war for the Canwest News Service.
Explosion blasts against NATO troops in S Afghanistan 30 Dec 2009 A powerful explosion blasted against NATO-led forces in Dand district of Kandahar province, south Afghanistan on Wednesday evening, causing panic among the locals, Xinhua's scribe in Kandahar said. The blast took place 10 km south of Kandahar city, the capital of Kandahar province, at 05:00 p.m. local time. Security personnel cordoned off the area and did not allow journalists to get access to the site.
The Pre-Ball-Dropping-New Year's Eve Bad News Dump begins: Judge Dismisses Charges in Blackwater Shooting 31 Dec 2009 3:49 P.M. ET A federal judge dismissed all charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a deadly Baghdad shooting. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina said Thursday that the Justice Department overstepped its bounds and wrongly used evidence it wasn't allowed to see. He said the government's explanations have been contradictory, unbelievable and not credible. Blackwater contractors were hired to guard State Department diplomats in Iraq. Prosecutors say the guards fired on unarmed civilians in a busy intersection in 2007, killing innocent people.
Allegation: Blackwater hiring youths in Peshawar to carry out attacks and suicide bombings --Just as the CLG has asserted from the get-go. Wait until Blackwater gets hold of one of Pakistan's nukes, detonates it, blames 'al-Qaeda' and plunges the US into WWIII. I am thinking the lucrative contract for Xe to 'clean up' in the aftermath of the nuclear explosion has already been drafted. Blackwater needs to be eliminated before they become as big as Goldman Sachs and Citi - 'too big' to destroy. --Lori Price
Mufti Usmani holds Blackwater responsible for blast 31 Dec 2009 Contrary to the claim and media reports by the media about Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan taking responsibility of the Ashura bomb blast, Mufti Mohammed Rafi Usmani held US agency Blackwater responsible for the gory incident that claimed more than 40 lives. Addressing a news conference along with Muhammed Taqi, Mufti Muhammed Naeem, Maulana Tanver-ul-Haq and others on Wednesday, Mufti Usmani said that Blackwater was involved in the killing of innocent people in the Muharram procession. He said that soon after the blast, shops in the city’s economic hub were set ablaze which proved that the attack was "pre-planned and organized". Mufti Usmani said that the incident was a conspiracy against Islam and the government totally failed to control the situation, as it was the responsibility of the government to provide security to the citizens and to protect the property... He alleged that Blackwater was hiring youths in Peshawar to carry out attacks and suicide bombings.
Pakistani police seek terror charges for US men 31 Dec 2009 Pakistan police are seeking to charge five Americans arrested in the country in early December with terrorism. Investigator Tahir Gujar said the men, who are suspected of having links to Islamic militants, will appear in court in Sargodha on 4 January. Police also want the young Muslims to face life sentences for allegedly plotting to carry out attacks.
Pakistan to seek terror charges for five Americans 31 Dec 2009 Pakistan police said Thursday they would seek terror charges and life imprisonment for five Americans accused of coming to the Muslim country to carry out attacks. A Pakistani court last Friday remanded the five Americans in custody for another 10 days after police sought more time to complete their investigations.
Iraqi governor seriously injured in double suicide attack 30 Dec 2009 The governor of the Iraqi province that was the battleground of a lethal three-year insurgency was seriously injured today in a double suicide bombing that killed 23 people and wounded more than 100, prompting fresh fears that public order across the country is again decaying. Qassim Mohamed was caught up in a second bomb attack at the scene of an explosion that he had just left his office in Ramadi to inspect. Officials were trying to verify reports that the suicide bomber had been part of the Anbar province governor's security detail.
Iraq blasts kill at least 27 31 Dec 2009 A car bomb and a suicide bomber struck a government building in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, yesterday, killing at least 27 people and wounding the governor of Anbar province, police officials and witnesses said. The bombs, detonated outside the provincial government building, exploded after the release of a British hostage who had been held in Iraq since 2007.
Lawyers lose effort to force US to reveal who was targeted by anti-terrorism program 30 Dec 2009 A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that law professors and attorneys who represent Guantanamo Bay detainees prisoners cannot force the government to reveal whether an anti-terrorism program eavesdropped on their conversations. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling supported the findings of a lower court judge in Manhattan who also rejected the attempt to uncloak the warrantless electronic surveillance system's targets. The National Security Agency and the Department of Justice had refused to comply with a 2006 Freedom of Information Act request by the lawsuit's plaintiffs.
Court: Feds Can Hide Alleged Spying on Gitmo Lawyers By David Kravets 30 Dec 2009 A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the government’s refusal to admit or deny it has documents related to warrantless eavesdropping on Guantanamo Bay detainees and their lawyers. In doing so, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals accepted a little-known defense called the Glomar doctrine. The doctrine, the court ruled, allows the National Security Agency to refuse to acknowledge to the lawyers suing under the Freedom of Information Act that there are any documents responsive to allegations their clients had been or are being targeted under the Terrorist Surveillance Program adopted following the 2001 terror attacks.
New: Airline bomber suspect studied in Houston 31 Dec 2009 The Nigerian man accused of trying to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day over Detroit attended an intensive, Islamic education seminar in Houston last year designed for top student scholars, an organization confirmed Wednesday. Shaykh Waleed Basyouni, vice president for the AlMaghrib Institute in Houston, said 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was living in London in the summer of 2008 when he attended the nonprofit institute's annual "IlmSummit" with about 150 other students.
US aware 'Nigerian' prepared for terror attack 30 Dec 2009 The US was aware that "a Nigerian" in Yemen was being prepared for a terrorist attack - weeks before an attempted bombing on a US plane. ABC News and the New York Times say there was intelligence to this effect, but its source is unclear. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab flew from Lagos to Amsterdam before changing planes for a flight to Detroit on which he allegedly tried to detonate a bomb.
Obama summons intelligence chiefs to White House meeting 31 Dec 2009 President Barack Obama has summoned the heads of U.S. intelligence agencies for a meeting on Tuesday to discuss ways of preventing a repeat of the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on December 25. ...Obama on Thursday said he expected to receive assessments from several intelligence agencies Thursday evening and would review them during the weekend.
TSA maintains high security at airports 31 Dec 2009 The Transportation Security Administration on Thursday extended through at least the weekend heightened security measures in the aftermath of a failed attempt to blow up a U.S. jetliner, the agency said. The current security directive requires airlines to physically pat down all passengers boarding planes bound for the United States and inspect their carry-on bags. It also gives airlines the discretion to take other measures to prevent people from secretly assembling or igniting bombs on aircraft.
TSA Threatens Blogger Who Posted New Screening Directive 30 Dec 2009 Two bloggers received home visits from Transportation Security Administration agents Tuesday after they published a new TSA directive that revises screening procedures and puts new restrictions on passengers in the wake of a recent bombing attempt by the so-called underwear bomber. Special agents from the TSA’s Office of Inspection interrogated two U.S. bloggers, one of them an established travel columnist, and served them each with a civil subpoena demanding information on the anonymous source that provided the TSA document.
Delta offers vouchers to fliers on Christmas terror flight 30 Dec 2009 Delta Air Lines Inc. is offering travel credits to passengers on the Amsterstam-to-Detroit flight that a suspected terrorist tried and failed to blow up on Christmas. Spokeswoman Susan Elliott told The Associated Press on Wednesday the world's biggest carrier is notifying passengers about the vouchers. The amount wasn't disclosed.
'We assume here that New York is the No. 1 terrorist target in America.' Extra Security in Times Square for New Year's Eve 01 Jan 2010 For two hours on Wednesday, Times Square morphed into a militarized zone as the police swarmed an unoccupied van with blacked out windows and no license plates parked in an area set aside for Thursday’s New Year’s Eve celebration... Officers with rifles will patrol on rooftops. Others, in plainclothes, will mingle with the crowds to search for pickpockets or would-be terrorists. Meanwhile, in an out-of-sight command center staffed by the F.B.I., information and intelligence will be shared among the New York Police Department, the police of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and "numerous other agencies," said Special Agent Richard Kolko, an F.B.I. spokesman in New York.
Democrats Accuse GOP of Exploiting Terror Plot for Electoral Gain 31 Dec 2009 Democrats are accusing Republicans of going too far in their criticism of the Obama administration's handling of the attempted Christmas Day terror attack, saying the GOP is blatantly exploiting the failed bombing of an airliner to gain the upper hand in the 2010 midterm elections. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., referred to the incident in a fundraising pitch for his gubernatorial campaign. Other GOP lawmakers have blanketed the airwaves to criticize the administration's response to the incident and the failure to identify the suspect as a terror suspect in advance. Former Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney accused President Obama of pretending the United States is not at war... Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J., who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that now is not the time for politics.
Federal Court Limits the Use of Tasers 01 Jan 2010 In a case that could set the first broad judicial standards for the use of Tasers, a federal appeals court in California has ruled that the police can be held liable for using one of the devices against an unarmed person during a traffic stop. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco, said the electrically disabling device constituted excessive force when used against an unarmed man who did not pose a threat, and it refused to allow a police officer immunity for its use.
NY Governor: Get a Flu Shot For New Year's! 31 Dec 2009 Governor David Paterson is urging New Yorkers to protect themselves and their families against the H1N1 virus and ensure a safe and healthy new year by getting the H1N1 vaccine, which is now available to the general public in New York State. Capital District Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports. With ample vaccine available in the State at more locations where New Yorkers can be vaccinated, the Governor suggests starting the new year with a shot. [Pharmaterrorists are desperate to dump their squalene-laden, mercury-filled, Polysorbate 80-laced vaccines on us.]
Oil headed for biggest annual gain since '99 31 Dec 2009 Crude oil rose in New York, heading for its biggest annual gain since 1999, as cold weather in the U.S. sent heating oil costs higher. Oil touched a six-week high of $80 a barrel, extending its rally to a seventh day, the longest since October. Heating oil climbed to the highest in almost 14 months amid forecasts for below-normal temperatures in the U.S. through mid-January.
GMAC to Receive $3.8 Billion More in Government Aid --Financing Arm of General Motors Poised to Get Third Infusion of Taxpayer Support 30 Dec 2009 GMAC, the ailing financing arm of General Motors, is set to receive $3.8 billion in government aid, ABC News has learned. The funds will be the third infusion of federal support for the troubled lender. The Treasury Department said that the latest injection of $3.8 billion was actually less than the $5.6 billion that it had expected to loan GMAC to keep the finance giant from collapsing.
Britain: Record fall in pay levels By Julie Hyland 31 Dec 2009 The Office of National Statistics has recorded the largest fall in wages in the United Kingdom since it began collecting data in 1995. The ONS figures show that wages fell by 1.3 percent during July-September 2009 compared with the same period in 2008. The total paid out in earnings stood at £161.6 billion, down from £163.7 billion the previous year.
Rush Limbaugh is in 'good, stable condition' in hospital after chest pains 31 Dec 2009 Conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh will undergo a complete medical examination Thursday but remains in "good, stable condition" after he was admitted to a Hawaii hospital for chest pains... On Wednesday, paramedics took the vacationing Limbaugh to The Queen's Medical Center after he experienced chest pains.
Previous lead stories: 'Hundreds of al-Qaeda militants planning attacks from Yemen' 29 Dec 2009 Hundreds of al-Qaeda militants are planning terror attacks from Yemen, the country’s Foreign Minister said today. Abu Bakr al-Qirbi appealed for more help from the international community to help to train and equip counter-terrorist forces. His plea came after an al-Qaeda group based in Yemen claimed responsibility for the failed Christmas Day airliner bomb plot. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, alleged to be behind the attempt to blow up an American-bound aircraft, spent time in Yemen with al-Qaeda and was in the country only days before the failed attack.
Man videotaped entire false flag, including detonation: Oconomowoc Family Survives Terrorist Attempt 28 Dec 2009 (WI) Patricia "Scotty" Keepman still has a sense of humor after the harrowing experience she, her husband, daughter and two new adopted children from Ethiopia had as a man tried to detonate an explosive device while their plane was getting ready to land in Detroit on Christmas Day. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria was charged Saturday in the Christmas Day attempt that only sparked a fire on the flight from Amsterdam. They were sitting about 20 rows behind Abdulmutallab, in a center aisle... Her daughter said that ahead of them was a man who videotaped the entire flight, including the attempted detonation. "He sat up and videotaped the entire thing, very calmly," said Patricia. "We do know that the FBI is looking for him intensely. Since then, we've heard nothing about it."
CLG: Northwest Bomb Plot 'Oddities' By Lori Price, www.legitgov.org 28 Dec 2009 Bogosity reaches critical mass! In 2008, the ACLU estimated the US 'No Fly List' to have grown to over 1,000,000 names --heck, even Cat Stevens and the late Senator Ted Kennedy were on it --and it continues to expand. But, suspected terrorist Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was curiously able to obtain military-grade high explosives -- 80 grams of PETN (gee, where'd he get that?) -- managed to escape airport security and detonate his underwear bomb! In April 2009, American authorities reportedly refused an Air France flight from Paris to Mexico entry into US airspace because a left-wing journalist writing a book on the CIA was on board. Got it? Write a book critical of the CIA -- you cannot fly. Carry explosives (allegedly from Yemen) on board when the US is trolling for an excuse to invade and occupy Yemen for its oil -- yes you can! (Updated)
