Member of Israel’s Communications Ministry praying in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 3, 2023.
February 10, 2024 was four months since Hamas invaded Israel from Gaza, killing 1200 people, raping and brutalizing women, beheading babies, kidnapping 240 people. We know that Hamas tortured some, probably all of the hostages they freed. We know that they killed some of the hostages; we don’t know how many.
HAMAS IS ATTEMPTING GENOCIDE.
This picture, an Israeli Jew praying, holding a Torah scroll in his hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is believed to have been the trigger, the provocation, but not the cause.
“For Hamas, Israel’s mere existence is a provocation,” – Avi Shavit.
The BBC has reported that a Taliban attack on a British compound in Kabul has killed at least a dozen people. Attack on British Council compound in Kabul kills 12 . What’s particularly disturbing is the coordinated nature of the attack, which involved at least three elements: one force which staged a diversionary attack nearby, a suicide car bomb attack which breached the compound perimeter wall, and a third force of armed attackers, which entered through the breach created by the car bomb.
Gunmen have stormed the British Council office in the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing at least 12 people and taking over the compound for hours. A suicide car bomb destroyed the compound wall and a number of heavily armed men forced their way inside. After several hours of gunfire and blasts, the UK’s ambassador in Kabul said all the gunmen had been killed. The Taliban said the attack marked the anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence from the UK in 1919. There has been some confusion about the number of people killed in the Kabul attacks.
At least eight Afghan policemen and a New Zealand special forces soldier were killed, officials from both countries said. Three security guards also died, the Afghan interior ministry told the BBC. UK Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the “cowardly attack”, saying he had spoken to New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to thank him for the role the country’s special forces had played in defending the compound.
Friday’s strike was a three-phase attack, intelligence sources told the BBC. First, a suicide attacker detonated his explosive vest at a square in western Kabul where police were guarding a key intersection shortly after 05:30 (01:30 GMT). Ten minutes later, a suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle outside the front gate of the British Council, destroying a wall, which allowed the attackers into the compound. A number of Afghan policemen were feared to have been buried in the rubble.
As the area was evacuated, local shopkeepers said as many as nine insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and AK-47s started firing as they ran towards the British Council building. Afghan and Nepalese guards fought the attackers until help arrived in the form of Afghan commandos and New Zealand special forces. A lone injured gunman managed to hold out in an area protected by armoured doors and glass before was he killed eight hours after the attack began, Afghan intelligence officials said.
Several aspects of this attack are worth noting.
The coordination and sophistication of the attacks suggest substantial training – and possibly sophisticated facilities, such as live-fire ranges (shooting houses).
If the Taliban are increasing the sophistication and variety of their attacks and techniques, we’re going to have up our game as well – but by being smarter, more flexible and make as many allies as possible.
The increased sophistication of the attacks – using diversions – suggests the use of some sort of communications equipment perhaps mobile phones – which might provide investigative and intelligence leads.
The use of a car bomb not merely as an end in itself, but to breach a perimeter, underscores the difficulty of defending a static position against a sophisticated attack by skilled attackers.
TweetThe Mobley Factor. Suppose a terrorist or one sympathetic to their cause works at a solar power plant or a wind farm. The damage that he or she can do – knock out a wind turbine, a string of solar modules, even kill a few co-workers, while serious, is minimal. But suppose a terrorist or one sympathetic to their cause works at a nuclear power plant. Even if he or she can’t trigger a disaster along the lines of the Three Mile Island or Chernobyl, he or she can provide “Actionable Intelligence.”
Sharif Mobley, 26, an American citizen of Somali descent, is suspected of ties to Al Queda. Mobley was arrested and is being held in a jail in Yemen after he allegedly killed a police guard and seriously injured another during a shootout at a hospital on Monday. Mobley has worked as a laborer in six nuclear power plants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, including the Salem and Hope Creek plants in New Jersey, the Peach Bottom, Limerick and Three Mile Island plants in Pennsylvania, and the Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland.
According to the AP Report, “Authorities are investigating whether he had access to sensitive information that would be useful to terrorists.” He was a laborer who worked in the plants when they were shut down for refueling and maintenance. He had “Vital Access” which allowed him into any area of the plants. He could have taken pictures. Lots of pictures. . . . with a cellphone.
President Obama’s counterterrorism advisor, John Brennan, argued that 9/11 and other attacks are not, in fact, jihad.
“They are not jihadists, for jihad is a holy struggle an effort to purify for a legitimate purpose and there is nothing—absolutely nothing—holy or pure or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children. We are not waging a war against terrorism because terrorism is but a tactic that will never be defeated any more than a tactics of war will. Rather such thinking is a recipe for endless conflict….We are at war with al Qaeda and its extremist allies and any comment to the contrary is just inaccurate. We will destroy that organization.”
President Barack Obama’s embattled counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, delivered an emphatic defense Saturday of the Obama administration’s rhetorical approach to terrorism–and also slipped in a few criticisms of Bush administration policies he suggested alienated Muslims at home and abroad.
In a speech at New York University’s law school, Brennan gave no nod to the calls for his resignation last week from the top Republicans on the House and Senate intelligence committees. (Sen. Lindsey Graham R-S.C. also joined that bandwagon Sunday.)
Brennan seemed at ease speaking to the largely Muslim audience, which included Islamic law students. In fact, he broke out his Arabic at some length, drawing a warm reaction from the crowd. (Scroll to 5:43 in the first video below for that chunk. I think I hear the words youth and student in there.)
Is Brennan the highest-ranking American official who speaks Arabic? If so, is he the highest-ranking American official ever ro speak Arabic? By refusing to cede to al-Qaeda and its ilk the question of their moral legitimacy in their so-called “jihad,” and by being frank about Amerucab misconduct, the Administration has taken a firm step towards increasing U.S. credibility – and started to cut off Al Gaeda’s air supply: implicit or material support for al-Qaeda, and the logical corollary, opposition to the United States.
Brennan also charged that some actions by the U.S. government, presumably the Bush Administration, underscored perceptions that the U.S. was in conflict with Islam. He cited as examples of overreach: “Violations of the Patriot Act. Surveillance that has been excessive. Policies perceived as profiling. Overinclusive no-fly lists subjecting law abiding individuals to unnecessary searches and inconvenience. Creating an unhelpful atmosphere around many Muslim charities that made many Muslims hesitant to fulfill their sacred obligation of Zakat.”
Brennan’s statement that some individuals, presumably Muslims, were subjected to “excessive” surveillance is one I have not heard before from government officials and one which will hearten civil liberties advocates who have claimed that mosques were subjected to unwarranted scrutiny. – Josh Gerstein
Brennan, who mentioned that he is Catholic, blamed religious leaders for spreading myths about Islam being a religion of violence. “Those who purport to be religious are frequently the most egregious purveyors of ignorance, prejudice and discrimination and it must stop,” he said. He did not single out any particular denominations or faith leaders.
Brennan disappointed some in the audience by saying that Obama has no plans to back away from support for the Israel. “It’s tough, but we’re not going to separate ourselves from Israel,” Brennan said, according to Fox News.
At times, Brennan suggested that the entirety of the American Muslim community has always stood 100% behind U.S. anti-terrorism efforts. “America has rarely noticed that American Muslims, such as yourself, have always denounced violent extremism,” Brennan said, citing the head of the NYU center.
That blanket statement may overstate the case somewhat, since some prominent Muslims have been unwilling to endorse U.S. designations of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorists.
Another moment that was less than crystal clear was Brennan’s insistence that “we do not believe we need to make a choice between” national security and civil liberties, which came moments after he declared: “At times, we are unfortunately forced to make some painful decisions that we would not make under ordinary circumstances.”
In response to the Christmas Day attempted terror attack, President Obama’s actions and former Vice President Cheney’s comments highlight the differences between the two administrations: The Bush Administration was famous for not being “Reality Based” (NY Times). The Obama Administration investigates first, thinks, and ACTS(Reuters), while accepting responsibility for any failures. “Ultimately, the buck stops with me,” Obama said. “As president, I have a solemn responsibility to protect our nation and our people.” (CS Monitor)
On 12/29/9, President Obama said it was a systemic failure (Christian Science Monitor). On 1/3/10, he said the attack was planned in Yemen (NY Times). We also know he approved US counter-terror strikes in Yemen, which occurred on 12/24/09 (NPR / NYTimes) and which killed Al Queda Terrorists. Continue reading →
Our most immediate association of an assassination committed in a church is that of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Dr. George Tiller, 67, a physician, was killed standing in the foyer of his church; he was serving as an usher, greeting parishioners and visitors. From George Tiller Suspect May Be Charged Monday,
by Joe Rodriguez, Tim Potter and Stan Finger of the Wichita Eagle:
Monday, a 51-year-old Johnson County man could be charged with murder and aggravated assault in the shooting of Tiller, who had been shot before by an anti-abortion foe. The crime has drawn condemnation and outrage from the president and stirred strong emotions across the nation. Tiller, 67, was shot once just after 10 a.m. Sunday as he stood in the lobby of Reformation Lutheran Church, 7601 E. 13th St., where he was serving as an usher. The gunman threatened to shoot two men who tried to apprehend him.
moments after services had begun at Reformation Lutheran Church, Dr. Tiller, who was acting as an usher, was shot once with a handgun, the authorities said. The gunman pointed the weapon at two people who tried to stop him, the police said, then drove off in a powder-blue Taurus. Dr. Tiller’s wife, Jeanne, a member of the church choir, was inside the sanctuary at the time of the shooting. The police in Wichita described the man who was detained as a 51-year-old from Merriam, a Kansas City suburb, but declined to give his name until he was charged. The Associated Press reported that a sheriff’s official from Johnson County, Kan., where the man was taken into custody, identified him as Scott Roeder.
