Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula on Monday claimed responsibility for the attack on a U.S. airliner bound for Detroit on Christmas Day, saying it was retaliation for a U.S. operation against the group in Yemen.
19 detainees currently being held at Gitmo are from Yemen and could be returned to this new hotbed of jihad when Obama closes the prison.
Bin Laden's deputy, Al Zawahri, turns Pakistanis against U.S. in new tape.
Weren't the terrorists supposed to turn over a new leaf with all the "change" that has come to Washington?
U.S. Central Command commander Gen. David Petraeus appeared on "Fox News Sunday" to discuss the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.
From Fox News:
The head of U.S. Central Command said Sunday that Al Qaeda is no longer operating in Afghanistan, with its senior leadership having moved to the western region of Pakistan.
Gen. David Petraeus said affiliated groups have "enclaves and sanctuaries" in Afghanistan and that "tentacles of Al Qaeda" have touched countries throughout the Middle East and northern Africa. But he said the terrorist group has suffered" very significant losses" in recent months, and agreed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's recent assessment that there is no Al Qaeda based in his country.
Still, he said he believes Usama bin Laden and his No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri remain in charge of the terrorist network.
"They surface periodically. We see communications that they send out," Petraeus said.
Though Petraeus said nobody can provide an accurate location for either terrorist, he said Al Qaeda senior leadership clearly is now rooted in the border region of western Pakistan.
"There's no question that Al Qaeda's senior leadership has been there and has been in operation for years," Petraeus said.
The head of U.S. Central Command, speaking on "FOX News Sunday," warned of the severe threat extremist groups now pose to Pakistan but praised the U.S. ally for what he described as a coordinated campaign to beat back an uprising of Taliban forces.
He said that the Taliban's effort to extend their territory beyond the northern Swat valley seems to have "galvanized all of Pakistan" against the group.
"There is a degree of unanimity that there must be swift and effective action taken against the Taliban in Pakistan," Petraeus said, warning of the dire consequences of a Pakistan defeat.
"This is not a U.S. fight that Pakistan is carrying out at this point ... This is a Pakistani fight, a Pakistani battle, with elements that as we've mentioned threaten the very existence of the Pakistani state."
Petraeus spoke Sunday on "FOX News Sunday" and CNN's "State of the Union."
I thought Team "0" was supposed to cozy up to the "moderate Taliban" despite being an illogical oxymoron?
Tough words, but we all know how little faith we can place on the TOTUS.
President Barack Obama on Friday ordered 4,000 more military troops into Afghanistan, vowing to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" the Taliban and al-Qaida.
"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." President Barack Obama 1/20/2009
So you are sure you want to do this, Mr. Obama?
Just 10 days ago, The Pentagon confirmed that at least 61 former detainees have returned to the war against America.
Make that 62.
A Saudi man who was released from Guantanamo after spending six years inside the U.S. prison camp has joined al Qaeda's branch in Yemen and is now the terror group's No. 2 in the country, according to a purported Internet statement from al Qaeda.Your own hero, Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War because he wanted Confederate "detainees" to spill the beans. He wanted to win the war. He wanted to preserve America.
The announcement, made this week on a Web site commonly used by militants, came as President Barack Obama ordered the detention facility closed within a year.
The Yemen branch - known as "al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula" -said the man, identified as Said Ali al-Shihri, returned to his home in Saudi Arabia after his release from Guantanamo about a year ago and from there went to Yemen. The Internet statement, which could not immediately be verified, said al-Shihri was the group's second-in-command in Yemen and his prisoner number at Guantanamo was 372.
On April 19, 20,000 Confederate sympathizers in Baltimore tried to stop Union troops from traveling from one train station to another en route to Washington, causing a riot. So on April 27 Lincoln suspended the habeas corpus privilege on points along the Philadelphia-Washington route. That meant Union generals could arrest and detain without trial anyone in the area who threatened "public safety."
Habeas corpus is the only common-law tradition enshrined in the Constitution, which also explicitly defines when it can be overridden. Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution says, "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it."
