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Terrorism Tag

Since the Taliban rose to power in 1996, the people of Afghanistan have lived a live of fear and deprivation. A cursory search for ground footage in preparation for this article offered little in the way of troop movement or news spots, but much in terms of brutal executions; the western world is still reeling in the wake of the horror that is ISIS, but for people living in Afghanistan and the surrounding areas, the violence isn't a new trend---it's a way of life. As a rule, Taliban leadership has roundly refused to meet with leaders of the Afghan leadership; that, coupled with the brutality and absolute polarity of the ideological conflict itself, has made the Afghan war less easy to comprehend than other conflicts in the region. Recent developments, however, could signal the beginning of the end of outright hostilities. This evening (local time,) leaders from both the Taliban and the Afghan government are meeting in Islamabad to continue to discuss peace terms. Parties have been meeting for several months at various locations around the world---a fact that Taliban ground forces have roundly tried to cover up---but this meeting is being touted as having greater significance than the previously-disavowed discussions. More from the Wall Street Journal:
A senior Afghan official said U.S. and Chinese officials took part in Tuesday’s meeting as observers. Their attendance, together with Pakistan’s willingness to play host, is significant as it points to a broadening involvement of key players in a possible peace process. But it was unclear whether the meeting in Islamabad was fully backed by Taliban leadership. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the militant group, said he wasn’t able to confirm whether the Islamabad talks took place at all.

Today marks not only United States' independence but also the anniversary of the 1976 Israeli special forces raid that freed more than 100 Israeli hostages held by the PLO in Entebbe, Uganda. As Professor Jacobson noted in 2010, it was in this raid that Prime Minister Netanyhu, then a graduate student studying in the US, lost his brother Yonatan who had led the raid and secured the safety of all but three of the hostages and all of the Israeli operatives under his command.  A truly astonishing accomplishment.  Be sure to check out the video of the heroes of Entebbe 35 years later included in the prof's 2011 post. Following is the Military Channel's documentary on the Entebbe raid and is well worth watching all the way through:

Early this morning, we reported on the brutal terror attacks near Lyon, France that left one person decapitated and at least two others wounded. An ISIS flag was spotted over the scene of the attack---but the extremists didn't stop there. Terrorists went on a three continent killing spree today, also attacking sites in Tunisia and Kuwait. Popular Tunisian coastal town Sousse was soaked in blood earlier today after terrorists opened fire on a beach. 37 were killed and 36 injured, some of them tourists. Meanwhile in Kuwait, 25 people are dead and 200 are injured after a mosque bombing:
ISIS claimed responsibility for what it called a suicide bombing at the Shiite-affiliated Al-Sadiq mosque. The group put the number of dead and injured in the dozens. Cell phone video posted to social media and apparently shot at the mosque showed worshippers walking and stumbling through a dust- and rubble-filled interior, many with their white robes splattered in what appeared to be blood.

The details are just coming in, but there has been a terror attack at a gas factory near Lyon, France. At least one, possibly two, attackers beheaded a man and posted his head on a fence, and tried (unsuccessfully) to blow up the factory. We will update as more details are confirmed. CBS News reports:
One person was found decapitated and two others injured Friday after an assailant -- with a possible accomplice -- drove a vehicle onto an industrial complex near the eastern city of Lyon and tried to blow up a gas factory. "The intent was without doubt to cause an explosion. It was a terrorist attack," President Francois Hollande said at a news conference in Belgium. The attack targeted a chemical factory in the town of Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, about 20 miles southeast of Lyon. The plant is owned by the U.S. firm Air Products. The slain victim's head was found yards away from the body, stuck on a permiter fence, with Arabic writing on or near it. There were also flags or banners bearing Arabic writing found at the scene.

Earlier this year, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death after a jury found him guilty on 30 counts including conspiracy and murder. 10 of those counts carried a capital sentence, and just one month after the verdict was read, the same jury sentenced Tsarnaev to death. Today, a judge formally handed down that verdict, and allowed victims and their families to speak directly to Tsarnaev. About 30 people stepped up to speak, and the mood in the courtroom was emotional: CNN listened in:
"I know life is hard, but the choices that you made were despicable," said the mother of victim Krystle Campbell, Patricia, who stood with her husband William and her son and brother. "You will never know why she is so desperately missed by those of us who loved her," Karen McWatters, a friend of Campbell's, told Tsarnaev, who was facing in the direction of the speakers but not directly looking at them. Tsarnaev instead often looked down, as he did during most of his long trial.

Since last year, Obama Administration officials have been internally debating whether or not to continue with their existing policy banning the payment of ransom to terrorists in exchange for hostages. In the United States, the law specifically bans the aiding of a terror organization; however, debate over the diplomatic effects of this policy rose to the forefront last year, when ISIS terrorists demanded ransom in exchange for the life of a 25 year-old American woman. The US policy of denying ransom---either paid by the government, or private parties---caused tension in the international community. Switzerland, Spain, and France, among others, all permit negotiations with terror organizations, with all of Europe contributing at least $125 million to Al Qaeda and its affiliates in the last 5 years. Last month, the Administration signaled that it was ready for a shift in policy by discussing the possibility of creating a "Hostage Czar," who would be responsible for guiding families through the ransom payment process; and now, the White House is ready to announce an official change in policy that would allow families to pay ransoms to terror organizations without fear of prosecution.

Another day, another opportunity for domestic terrorists to begin their work on US soil. Today, the FBI arrested 19 year-old Justin Nojan Sullivan after an extended investigation revealed he may have been plotting ISIS-style attack here in the US. Officials aren't yet sure (or haven't yet revealed) exactly how large of a safety threat Sullivan posed; he was arrested after law enforcement discovered a silencer in the North Carolina home where he lived with his parents. Sullivan had asked a private dealer---in reality an FBI agent working undercover---to build the silencer for him, and bragged to the agent about what he planned to do with it:
...an undercover operative made contact with Sullivan, who allegedly told him, "I liked IS from the beginning, then I started thinking about death and stuff so I became a Muslim." The FBI says Sullivan talked about buying an assault rifle from a gun show in North Carolina and shoot people last weekend "because his parents would be out of town at the time." He did not buy a rifle before he was arrested Friday but allegedly planned to purchase one at the Hickory Gun Show last weekend.

The question of whether or not the Charleston shooting was an act of terrorism is an intriguing one.  Typically, we think of terrorism as it relates to clear terrorist attacks perpetrated by known terrorist groups like al Qaeda:  9/11, the Boston bombing, and the Fort Hood terrorist attack.  Or we think of it as it relates to nationalist groups who have engaged in violent acts against civilians such as the IRA, PLO, or FALN. When mass violent acts occur on our own soil by our own citizens—those unaffiliated with accepted terrorist groups, we don't tend to label them terrorism.  I'm thinking here of school shootings, abortion bombings, movie theater shootings, and the like.  Only when homegrown terrorists engage in acts against the government do most of us agree that it's terrorism (I'm thinking here of Timothy McVeigh and the Weather Underground). So why are we now considering whether or not the Charleston shooter was a terrorist?  If we don't think of the Sandy Hook shooter as a terrorist, why would we think of this shooter as a terrorist?  Does it become terrorism because of the race of the shooter and his victims?  That seems to be the argument.

This week's attack on a historical black church in Charleston has sent the liberal political and media classes into a political feeding frenzy. The families of the dead, by contrast, has defied the odds embraced love and forgiveness. Here are five examples how some people sought to exploit the murders for political gain:

1. When in doubt, blame Fox News

The left has always had an abusive relationship with the journalists at Fox News, and never waits long before trying to tie the latest domestic tragedy to the "hate filled rhetoric" "spewing" from the conservative network. South Carolina Democratic Representative Todd Rutherford all but blamed the Charleston massacre on "things like Fox News," and when confronted by Bill O'Reilly, doubled down. Watch: Newsbusters has the breakdown:

You may recall the horrific story of Colleen Hufford, a 54 year-old Oklahoma woman who was beheaded in 2014 by a co-worker who was a recent convert to Islam. The story shocked the nation and reminded many of the Fort Hood attack; some people insisted it wasn't terrorism but just an act of workplace violence. Holly Bailey of Yahoo News reported at the time:
A beheading in Oklahoma: Was it terrorism or workplace violence? She never saw him coming, according to police. Just after 4 p.m. on Sept. 25, Colleen Hufford, a 54-year-old grandmother and worker at Vaughan Foods in Moore, Okla., was standing in the doorway of the front office in the food processing facility's main building when Alton Nolen, a co-worker who had just been suspended over an argument with another colleague, violently grabbed her from behind. As horrified employees watched, Nolen, a 30-year-old production line worker with a criminal history, savagely sawed at Hufford's throat with a large kitchen knife he had gone home to retrieve, severing her head.

AP reports on the church shooting last night in Charleston, South Carolina:
A white man opened fire during a prayer meeting inside a historic black church in downtown Charleston, killing nine people, including the pastor, in an assault authorities described as a hate crime. The suspect attended the meeting at the church Wednesday night and stayed for nearly an hour before the deaths, police Chief Greg Mullen said. The shooter remained at large Thursday morning and police released photographs from surveillance video of a suspect and a possible getaway vehicle. Mullen said he could not offer a make and model on the dark colored sedan because investigators were not certain about what is shown in the video. The victims were six females and three males, Mullen said Thursday morning. He did not give other details and said names would be released after families were notified. But State House Minority leader Todd Rutherford told The Associated Press that the Emanuel AME Church's pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, was among those killed.

On a windswept hillside terrace in the massive Har HaMenuchot Cemetery on the western edge of Jerusalem, 1969 terror victims Edward Joffe and Leon ("Arie") Kanner are buried together, next to Edward's parents Roslyn and Hyman Joffe. The cemetery itself reflects the history of the conflict. Har HaMenuchot was opened in 1951, after Jordanian troops seized "East" Jerusalem after Israel declared Independence in 1948. Jordan's conquest included not only the Jewish Quarter of the Old City but also the Mount of Olives Cemetery, the traditional Jewish burial ground. The Jewish Quarter was ethnically cleansed of Jews and its Jewish landmarks, while Mount of Olives Cemetery was ransacked, its tombstones used for building projects and many of its graves paved over for roads. Har HaMenuchot was built in response. [caption id="attachment_130311" align="alignnone" width="600"]Har HaMenuchot Cemetery Jerusalem [Har HaMenuchot Cemetery, Jerusalem][/caption]  My wife and I visited the Joffe and Kanner graves at Har HaMenuchot on June 1, 2015. [Featured Image] The cemetery is so huge, so seemingly discombobulated, so logistically impenetrable even when armed with plot and section numbers, that it took us almost an hour to find the graves.  We were accompanied by a local Rabbi who helped us say prayers. We placed small stones on the graves, in the Jewish tradition. And we were overcome with emotion. The inscriptions on the graves are simple, and nearly identical. Edward's brother Harold provided the translation: [caption id="attachment_130324" align="alignnone" width="600"][Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner Headstones] [Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner Headstones][/caption]

After being maligned by the press for "inviting" violence by taking a stand for free speech at her Garland, Texas "Draw Mohammad" event, Pamela Gellar was target of a beheading plot. Usaamah Rahim, who was being investigated by the FBI, was shot and killed by Boston police Tuesday. Rahim and an alleged co-conspirator, planned to behead Pamela Gellar.

On Friday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security and National Counterterrorism Center sent out a joint bulletin informing law enforcement and military personnel that, although there were no credible threats hovering over holiday weekend events, officials are "aware of recent information suggesting US military bases, locations, and events could be targeted in the near-term." Happy Memorial Day! This information isn't really news to anyone following national security and foreign policy news, but the reason for the concern is novel: the dramatic uptick in social media activity by groups like ISIS has led to new sources of "insider threats" and chatter about security and maintenance procedures at sites that officials now believe are being considered as potential targets. Fox News has the exclusive:
Importantly, it speaks to the sheer volume of social media activity by pro-ISIS users, and the challenge that poses for analysts and investigators. "The large number of social media postings by US-based ISIL supporters is challenging for investigators in differentiating those supporters focused only on promoting pro-ISIL rhetoric, which may be protected speech, vice [versus] detecting those prepared to engage in violence on the group's behalf," the bulletin said.

In Israel, you are never far away from terror or the memory of terror. I learned that by chance tonight. We arrived in Israel late afternoon yesterday, May 23, 2015.  Today was planned as a rest day to try to adjust to the 7-hour time difference. From the airport we headed directly for Haifa, the northernmost big city in Israel, with a population just under 300,000.  It is a very mixed city, both ethnically and religiously. Haifa Country Satellite Map We started the day with the classic Israeli Shakshuka breakfast at the Villa Carmel, where we are staying:

I'm struggling to concoct a scenario more damning than this. After filing a FOIA suit, thanks to a court order Judicial Watch obtained documents from the Department of Defense and Department of State which indicate the Obama administration knew al Qaeda was planning the attack in Benghazi ten days before it happened. TEN DAYS. hillary gif benghazi FOI dept state scandal judicial watch Immediately following the 9/11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in 2012, the DOD had identified the culprits and indicated the attack had been planned "ten days or more" prior.
A Defense Department document from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), dated September 12, 2012, the day after the Benghazi attack, details that the attack on the compound had been carefully planned by the BOCAR terrorist group “to kill as many Americans as possible.” The document was sent to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Obama White House National Security Council. The heavily redacted Defense Department “information report” says that the attack on the Benghazi facility “was planned and executed by The Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman (BCOAR).” The group subscribes to “AQ ideologies:”
The attack was planned ten or more days prior on approximately 01 September 2012. The intention was to attack the consulate and to kill as many Americans as possible to seek revenge for U.S. killing of Aboyahiye ((ALALIBY)) in Pakistan and in memorial of the 11 September 2001 atacks on the World Trade Center buildings.

Jurors finally reached consensus in the sentencing of Boston Marathon Bomber Jahar Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev was sentenced to death. According to the Associated Press:
BOSTON (AP) — A jury sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death Friday for the Boston Marathon bombing, sweeping aside pleas that he was just a "kid" who fell under the influence of his fanatical older brother. Tsarnaev, 21, stood with his hands folded upon learning his fate, decided after 14 hours of deliberations over three days in the nation's most closely watched terrorism trial since the Oklahoma City bombing case two decades ago. The decision sets the stage for what could be the nation's first execution of a terrorist in the post-9/11 era, though the case is likely to go through years of appeals. The execution would be carried out by lethal injection. The 12-member jury had to be unanimous for Tsarnaev to get the death penalty. Otherwise, he would have automatically received a sentence of life in prison without parole. Three people were killed and more than 260 wounded when two pressure-cooker bombs packed with shrapnel exploded near the finish line on April 15, 2013. Tsarnaev was convicted last month of all 30 federal charges against him, including use of a weapon of mass destruction and the killing of an MIT police officer during the Tsarnaev brothers' getaway attempt. Seventeen of those charges carried the possibility of the death penalty.

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