There is a remarkable statistic in Jane Mayer’s superb piece [abstract] on the Predator war in The New Yorker: It appears to have taken sixteen missile strikes, and fourteen months, before the C.I.A. succeeded in killing [Baitullah Mehsud]. During this hunt, between two hundred and seven and three hundred and twenty-one additional people were killed, [...]
Archive for the ‘Al-Qaeda’ Category
Of Predators and Suicide Bombers
Posted in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Pakistan on October 27, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Afghanistan: Al-Qaeda ‘Involved in Insurgency Since 2002′
Posted in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda on June 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“Al-Qaida was involved in the insurgency in Afghanistan from the very beginning in 2002″, Anne Stenersen argues in a new FFI conference paper that will be a nice eye-opener to anyone under the illusion that the West is fighting a monolithic enemy in Afghanistan. Also: “When looking at biographies of militants who died in the [...]
Bin Laden Tape a Sign of Trouble?
Posted in Al-Qaeda on June 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
At Jihadica, which to my great relief is going strong despite Will McCants’s departure, Thomas Hegghammer decodes bin Laden’s latest audiotape and concludes all may not be well at the house of al-Qaeda: What we have here is a short, outdated tape delivered manually following a series of longer, up-to-date statements distributed online. This suggests [...]
Al-Qaeda. Plague. Gay. Rape.
Posted in Al-Qaeda, Terrorism on February 5, 2009 | 14 Comments »
Why don’t we lay this stuff to rest now, mmkay?
Gaza: And the Winner Is… Osama bin Laden
Posted in Al-Qaeda, tagged Middle East on January 8, 2009 | 1 Comment »
If you’re currently experiencing a terrible pain in your lower extremities, that’s because Israel has just shot us all collectively in the foot. Whatever happens in the next few days in the Israel-Hamas smackdown, the winner will be al-Qaeda. As Marc Lynch points out, AQ and the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Hamas evolved, are fierce [...]
Lashkar-e-Taiba: The Next al-Qaeda
Posted in Al-Qaeda, Terrorism on December 11, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Here’s a new brand name the next U.S. president will have to try and wrap his tongue around: Lashkar-e-Taiba. Not only did LeT apparently train the Mumbai attackers, but, according to a United Nations document scooped by McClatchy, the group has “sent operatives to attack U.S. troops in Iraq, established a branch in Saudi Arabia [...]
Kilcullen on Mumbai: Did U.S. Money Help Plan the Attack?
Posted in Al-Qaeda, India, Militancy, Pakistan, Terrorism on December 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In a panel hosted by Counterterrorism Blog, CNAS Fellow and COIN guru David Kilcullen offers good insight on the Mumbai attacks: On the tactics: ‘This was not some Islamic charity or some group working alone from the Deccan Mujahedeen: this has all the hallmarks of a Special Forces raid, closer to a commando or SBS [...]
Mumbai Attacks, the Grand Scheme and Shadows of 2001
Posted in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, India, Militancy, Pakistan, Terrorism on December 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I think this much is clear: Whoever the Mumbai attackers were, and whatever power they swore allegiance to, they weren’t acting on their own, and those who set things in motion had a larger strategic goal in mind: to relieve military pressure on the Taleban, al-Qaeda and other forces operating along the Afghan-Pakistani border, by [...]
Where Is Bin Laden Now That McCain Needs Him?
Posted in Al-Qaeda, Election 08 on October 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In Salon yesterday, Walter Shapiro listed four possible game-changers that could “still produce a long count on election night or even a McCain presidency”. One of them: Seven years after 9/11, it seems both alarmist and in bad taste to speculate about the political fallout from a pre-election terrorist incident. But al-Qaida surprises can come [...]
Also Sprach Bin Laden
Posted in Al-Qaeda on September 15, 2008 |
After a busy day at the office, what would be better than some light reading? Here’s a little something: a 289-page compilation of Osama bin Laden’s statements 1994-2004 by the CIA’s Foreign Broadcast Information Service. Even better, it’s not public yet.
