NewsRack: newstrust/World/Terrorism/International-Islamic-Terrorism

Nigeria: 17 killed in military crackdown - CNN-IBN: World

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

At least 14 Islamist insurgents and three soldiers have been killed in Nigerian military crackdown on terrorists, as the restive Maiduguri city in northern state of Borno was placed under a 24-hour curfew.

Breaking Bread Karen J. Greenberg: Vexed by Terrorism, Trials and Guantánamo, and Bearing Witness - NY Times: NY Region

By CLYDE HABERMAN — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Breaking Bread Karen J. Greenberg: Vexed by Terrorism, Trials and Guantánamo, and Bearing Witness

Welcome to the Darrell Issa Hall of Shame - Daily Kos

rss@dailykos.com (Jon Perr) — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

With Washington engulfed in scandals real and imagined over the Benghazi tragedy, the IRS' handling of applications by political groups for tax exempt status and the Justice Department's seizure of AP phone records, California Congressman Darrell Issa is enjoying his moment in the sun. For Republicans " energized " by the prospect of bludgeoning President Obama over his supposed misdeeds, Issa is the perfect hatchet man. After all, given his own past troubles including "the gun conviction, the three allegations of car theft, the arson allegation, the allegation that he dismissed an employee while brandishing a gun, and the mysteries about his finances," Darrell Issa is well acquainted with wrong-doing. Before becoming chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in January 2011, Issa served as the Bush administration's attack dog in Congress. (That explains why in June 2010 he was already planning to double his committee staff and planning to issue subpoenas to "get the very ...

Hezbollah steps up Syria battle, Israel threatens more strikes - Chicago Tribune: Nation

Khaled Yacoub Oweis — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Hezbollah steps up Syria battle, Israel threatens more strikes

Crowley to Obama Advisor: 'Why Didn't the President Just Say, Yeah, Benghazi Was a Terrorist Attack?' - NewsBusters

Noel Sheppard — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Do you remember Candy Crowley back in October, while acting as a presidential debate moderator, defending Barack Obama's claim that he had called the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, an act of terror the day after the attack? Crowley apparently doesn't, for on CNN's State of the Union Sunday, she actually challenged Obama advisor Dan Pfeiffer about this asking, "Why didn't the president just say, yeah, it was a terrorist attack?" (video follows with transcript and commentary): read ...

Mohsin Hamid: 'Islam is not a monolith' - The Guardian -- World Latest

Mohsin Hamid — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

There are more than a billion Muslims in the world, each with an individual view of life. So why are they viewed as a unified group, asks Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist In 2007, six years after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, I was travelling through Europe and North America. I had just published a novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and as I travelled I was struck by the large number of interviewers and of audience members at Q&As who spoke of Islam as a monolithic thing, as if Islam referred to a self-contained and clearly defined world, a sort of Microsoft Windows, obviously different from, and considerably incompatible with, the Apple OS X-like operating system of "the west". I recall one reading in Germany in particular. Again and again, people posed queries relating to how "we Europeans" see things, in contrast to how "you Muslims" do. Eventually I was so exasperated that I pulled my British passport out of my jacket and started waving it around my ...

McConnell: White House ‘made up a tale’ about Benghazi - The Hill

Jordy Yager — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

The Senate minority leader said it was "inconvenient" for the administration to admit a terrorist attack before the election.

Hey British moaners: Germans want to be more like us | Stephen Evans - The Guardian -- World Latest

Stephen Evans — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

The view from Berlin, where I now work, is that the UK has lots to envy – but probably not our self-destructive streak I remember the moment I realised I really liked Britain. It was in New York, where I was living at the time. The news came through that a man dressed as Osama bin Laden had broken into the birthday party of the heir to the throne. Aaron Barschak had not only walked through security but he had climbed on stage next to the prince. The accounts got ever more colourful (and perhaps fanciful). It was said that the "comedy terrorist" had been directed by a policeman through Windsor Castle: It's just down there, Sir, first on the left. In America, this would have been a matter of great seriousness. The news anchors would have pulled on their "nation in crisis" masks. The newspapers would have pontificated, and reached for the pompous font. A national debate about the security of the nation would have ensued. Barschak would have been banged up for life, if he hadn't been shot in ...

Obama to Discuss Al Qaeda, Drones, Guantanamo Bay in Thursday Speech - International Herald Tribune: Americas

By REUTERS — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Obama to Discuss Al Qaeda, Drones, Guantanamo Bay in Thursday Speech

Obama to discuss al Qaeda, drones, Guantanamo Bay in Thursday speech - Chicago Tribune: Nation

Steve Holland — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Obama to discuss al Qaeda, drones, Guantanamo Bay in Thursday speech

Romney: Benghazi Didn’t Decide The Election - Outside the Beltway

Doug Mataconis — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Mitt Romney doesn’t think that the attack in Benghazi played a large role in deciding the 2012 election: The Obama administration’s talking points on the terror attack in Benghazi had no bearing on Mitt Romney’s defeat last year, the former Republican presidential nominee told Jay Leno. The issue of the administration’s talking points has been [...]

Tunisian police clash with al Qaeda supporters over banned rally - MSNBC

Reuters' Zoubier Souissi, Tarek Amara and Mohamed Argoubi — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Tunisian police clash with al Qaeda supporters over banned rally

Report: Syria's Assad vows 'no dialogue with terrorists' - MSNBC

Maximiliano Rizzi, Reuters — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Report: Syria's Assad vows 'no dialogue with terrorists'

Nigeria army says crackdown to go on - BBC: World

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Nigeria's army vows to continue its offensive against militants in the north-east "as long as it takes", as a 24-hour curfew is imposed in Maiduguri.

Nigeria army imposes curfew on city - BBC: World

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Nigeria's military announces a 24-hour curfew in parts of the city of Maiduguri and says it has arrested 65 militants as it fights Boko Haram rebels.

Cause for hope -- and fear -- in Pakistan - LA Times: Opinion

By Peter Tomsen — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Can new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif succeed? That will depend largely on whether he has the strength of will to resist the military and to confront radical Islamists.

Can new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif succeed? That will depend largely on whether he has the strength of will to resist the military and to confront radical Islamists.

Iraq: Two blasts outside Sunni Muslim mosque kill 43 - CNN-IBN: World

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Two bombs exploded outside a Sunni Muslim mosque in the Iraqi city of Baquba as worshippers left Friday prayers, killing at least 43 people in one of the deadliest attacks in a month-long surge in sectarian violence.

The Torturers And The Tortured: How Will ’24′ Return In A World Of ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Scandal,’ And ‘Zero Dark Thirty’? - Think Progres

Alyssa Rosenberg — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

The Torturers And The Tortured: How Will ’24′ Return In A World Of ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Scandal,’ And ‘Zero Dark Thirty’?

Nigeria Steps Up Assaults on Militants in Northeast - NYT > World

By ADAM NOSSITER — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Nigeria Steps Up Assaults on Militants in Northeast

And in other news, Bob Woodward compares Benghazi to Watergate - NewsTrust Yahoo Pipes Feed

rss@dailykos.com (Jed Lewison) — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

If you read through all these emails, you see that everyone in the government is saying "Oh, let's not tell the public that terrorists were involved, people connected to al Qaeda. Let's not tell the public that there were warnings." And I hate to show [holds up document] — this is one of the documents with the editing that one of the people in the State Department said oh let's not let these things out — and I have to go back 40 years to Watergate when Nixon put out his edited transcripts of the conversations. And he personally went through them and said "Let's not tell this, let's not show this." I would not dismiss Benghazi. It's a very serious issue. To compare transcripts of secret tape recordings personally edited by the president in middle of a scandal to the editing process for talking points being written for a Democratic congressman and a cabinet official about to go on a Sunday talk show is just completely insane. There is no comparison. It's not even close. Woodward's comparison ...

In Syria, terrorist designation means more go hungry - Washington Post: Politics

Tom A. Peter — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Members of Abu Sayeed’s grassroots aid group were en route to the Turkish border to pick up a shipment of food when the leader of Jabhat al-Nusra announced that his group was loyal to Al Qaeda . Immediately the Gulf donors who’d sent the food withdrew their support. Mr. Sayeed says his organization has no ties to Jabhat al-Nusra or any group on either side of the conflict. However the presence of Al Qaeda-linked fighters among the Syrian rebels has scared off a number of donors, unwilling to risk inadvertently supporting the group and suffering repercussions, like financial sanctions from the US. “There are so many Islamic organizations that stopped supporting us after Nusra’s statement,” he says, adding that he’s sent representatives to reassure donors and get support flowing once more. “They were worried about getting blacklisted.” 'Strong warning' Syria 's civil war has claimed well in excess of 70,000 lives and dislocated millions. The need for aid has far outpaced the ...

CBS: Republicans were source of inaccurate Benghazi emails - NewsTrust Yahoo Pipes Feed

rss@dailykos.com (Jed Lewison) — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Now, thanks to Major Garrett of CBS News, we have explicit confirmation that Republicans were behind the false leaks. Garrett reports (my emphasis): Republicans have charged that the State Department under Hillary Clinton was trying to protect itself from criticism. The White House released the real emails late Wednesday. Here's what we found when we compared them to the quotes that had been provided by Republicans . The reality is that even if the Republicans transcript of the emails had been accurate, it wouldn't have been a smoking gun to prove their claim that Benghazi is a bona fide scandal. Ironically, now that we know Republicans fabricated the emails, there actually is a scandal worth pursuing: the story of how Republicans dishonestly exploited a national security tragedy to score political points. ...

New Hope from Pakistan’s Vote - ConsortiumNews.com

Consortiumnews.com — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

New Hope from Pakistan’s Vote

New issue of al Qaeda magazine out, contents hacked - CNN-IBN: World

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

A purported new issue of an English-language al-Qaeda magazine, linked to the Boston terrorist attacks, has been posted on the web but its contents were hacked. The "Inspire" magazine, produced by al-Qaeda's Yemeni affiliate - al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which regularly includes how-to instructions for followers to carry out terrorist attacks in the West - has received significant scrutiny in recent weeks.

Nigeria air raids on militant camps - BBC: World

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

An unknown number of militants are killed during air raids on their training camps in north-eastern Nigeria, while a military plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire, officials say.