Al Qaeda Very Capable Of Terror Attack On US

Al Qaeda is still “very capable” of carrying out a terrorist attack on US soil, according to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mike Mullen said the war in Afghanistan is still vital because al Qaeda is benefiting from the support of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“I think it (the situation in Afghanistan) is serious and deteriorating and I’ve said that over the last couple of years, that the Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated,” he said.

His warning comes at a time when support for the war in Afghanistan is low in the US.

A recent survey by the Washington Post suggested 51% of Americans do not feel the war is worth fighting.

Barack Obama has supported the conflict since becoming president and has pledged to deploy an extra 21,000 US troops to Afghanistan by the end of the year.

I think the president really has to face the fact that his own leadership here is critical. He really can’t just leave this to Congress, to General McChrystal and say, folks, sort of, discuss this after the report comes in.

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Taliban Kidnap Hundreds Of Cadets in Waziristan

The Taliban in North Waziristan carried out a brazen daylight operation that resulted in the kidnapping of hundreds of military cadets and their teachers as they traveled from a college in North Waziristan.

A large Taliban force armed with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, and assault rifles halted the convoy of 29 minibuses traveling from the Ramzak Cadet College to the settled district of Bannu. The cadets were traveling under the protection of Pakistani security forces, however there are no reports of fighting.

Between 300 to 400 cadets, teachers, and college staffers were kidnapped and taken to an undisclosed location. One bus driver and more than 40 students are reported to have escaped the Taliban hijacking.

“[A] Driver of one of the vehicles managed to escape and students reported to us that their colleagues have been kidnapped by Taliban,” a police official in Bakka Khel told Reuters. The convoy is said to have been ambushed near Bakka Khel.

The cadets and staff left the college after being threatened by the Taliban, according to reports.

via Taliban kidnap hundreds of cadets in Waziristan – The Long War Journal.

Taliban Target Britain On Orders From al-Qaeda

The terrorist informant has told prosecutors he was trained by Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistan Taliban, and was planning a series of suicide attacks with 11 other men.

The informant, known as “Ahmed”, told investigators the bombers were to work in pairs using a “device carried in a backpack with a third person to detonate a remote control” in order to ensure the bombers went through with their mission.

Details of the attempted attacks emerged in papers submitted to the Spanish authorities in a case against the alleged bombers, who were arrested in raids in the Raval district of Barcelona in January last year.

It is claimed the attacks were to begin on the Barcelona underground system and then spread to the other European countries with a presence in Afghanistan, thought to include Britain, according to new documents.

The information echoed claims made by British security services that a terrorist cell was sent to Manchester from the Taliban heartland in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas.

British investigators believe that the cell, which was allegedly planning attacks on the Trafford and Arndale shopping centres over the Easter holidays, had connections with al-Qaeda, and Spanish prosecutors say their cell may also have had links with al-Qaeda.

The terrorist group is believed to have formed a “holy alliance” with the Taliban to launch terrorist attacks on foreign soil.

Instead of relying on British-born men travelling to Pakistan for training, al-Qaeda is now recruiting “ready made” terrorists from among the Taliban, investigators believe.

The 10 men arrested in the north west are fighting deportation on national security grounds after Government lawyers accused them of being members of a “UK-based network linked to al-Qaeda involved in attack planning”.

Spanish police found chemicals including nitrocellulose and potassium perchlorate along with batteries, timers and cables in the raids.

They also found “materials for indoctrination” relating to attacks against Nato forces in Afghanistan and books and DVDs.

Spanish prosecutors submitted documents laying out their case earlier this month and Dolores Delgado Garcia, a prosecutor at Spain’s National Court, told the Daily Telegraph she believed the Barcelona cell was inspired by speeches by Osama bin Laden about the “loss of Andalucia” once part of the Muslim Ottoman empire.

“Al-Qaeda has been targeting Spain because of its historic associations with Andalucia,” she said. “But other cities in Europe where countries have troops in Afghanistan were also targets.”

Explaining her case at a top-level conference organised by New York University’s Centre for Law and Security, she said “Ahmed” had become a “protected witness” and had told them that “Baitullah Mehsud would make demands and when they were not complied with, they would launch their attacks”.

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Al-Qaeda Used Hotmail and Simple Codes to Plan Terror Attacks

In the days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, alleged al-Qaida operations mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed intended to use his free Hotmail account to direct a U.S.-based operative to carry out an attack, according to a guilty plea agreement filed by Al Saleh Kahlah al-Marri in federal court.

The document shows how al-Qaida, at least in 2001, embraced prosaic technologies like pre-paid calling cards, public phones, computer search engines and simplistic codes to communicate, plan and carry out its operations.

Al-Marri also surfed the Internet to research cyanide gas, using software to cover his tracks, according to the document filed Thursday in federal court in Peoria, Ill. He marked the locations of dams, waterways and tunnels in the United States in an almanac. The government claims this reflects intelligence that al-Qaida was planning to use cyanide gas to attack those sites.

As a result of his guilty plea, al-Marri could be sentenced up to a maximum 15-year term in federal prison.

In a stipulation of facts filed as part of the plea agreement, al-Marri admitted that he trained in al-Qaida camps and stayed in terrorist safe houses in Pakistan between 1998 and 2001. There, he learned how to handle weapons and how to communicate by phone and e-mail using a code.

After arriving in the U.S. on Sept. 10, 2001 — a day before al-Qaida’s long-plotted terror strikes in New York and Washington — Al-Marri stored phone numbers of al-Qaida associates in a personal electronic device.

He used a “10-code” to protect the numbers — subtracting the actual digits in the phone numbers from 10 to arrive at a coded number, according to a person close to the investigation.

In a 10-code, eight becomes a two, for example. Other al-Qaida members used the same code, according to the plea agreement.

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Alleged Al Qaeda Sleeper Agent Pleads Guilty to Terror Charges

A man held since 2001 as an alleged Al Qaeda sleeper agent has pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism.

Ali al-Marri entered his plea Thursday before U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm in Peoria. He admitted to one count of conspiring to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.

The Bush administration declared al-Marri, a legal U.S. resident, an “enemy combatant” in late 2001 and held him without charges for more than five years at a Navy brig in South Carolina.

The designation was dropped when a federal grand jury in Illinois indicted him on charges of conspiracy and providing material support to terror.

Sentencing is set for July 30.

Are Terrorists Plotting New Attacks On US and Europe?

UPDATE: There’s been a number of rumors over the past several months that terrorists may use the ‘lull’ between the election and the new President entering office to launch an attack either on US soil or against US interests.

In course with a number of al Qaeda’s manifests of targeting the west, the current financial crisis may instigate attacks that will target some aspect of financial importance whether it be maritime shipping lines, any one of the world-wide stock exchanges, physical financial institutions, energy sources (oil) or other infrastructure. Read more