Even though it has been several years since any new detainees have been transferred to Guantanamo Bay, the intelligence extracted from them is still proving its worth—in major and surprising ways. Buried in the flood of information on the extraordinary operation to locate and kill Osama bin Laden is the critical role of strategic interrogations of detainees, including those at Guantanamo. According to a number of published reports, Gitmo detainees provided key pieces of information that ultimately lead to the location and death of Osama bin Laden. Those reports are …
The elimination of Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden vindicates U.S. strategy in the region. It will be seen as a major success for the U.S. and show the world that America will remain committed to hunting down its enemies for as long it takes. The operation also highlights that Pakistan is truly at the epicenter of global terrorism. The fact that the world’s most wanted terrorist was captured in a major Pakistani city 60 miles from the nation’s capital should silence those Pakistanis who rejected the idea of bin Laden being in the country as a western conspiracy. It …
Justice has been done. Nearly 10 years since the 9/11 attacks that left more than 3,000 Americans dead, Osama bin Laden was killed by a small team of U.S. military personnel operating under the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency. We first want to congratulate the men and women of our military and intelligence communities, past and present, who worked tirelessly across three Administrations to bring ultimate justice to the man who killed so many. The war on terror, though, is not over. Bin Laden’s death is the most significant victory in …
Last November, President Obama made Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir an offer: Allow southern Sudan to secede peacefully in the upcoming referendum and the United States will remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terror. Ironically enough, President Obama admonished President Bush when he made a similar offer two years ago. The Obama Administration gave Bashir, a man responsible for mass genocide, an opportunity to save face. While this offer will be rescinded should Bashir fail to live up to his promise, the label “state sponsor of terror” should …
Danish authorities have just sunk another plot to strike the West. According to press reports, “Denmark’s intelligence service says it has arrested four people plotting what it called an ‘imminent’ terrorist attack against the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which printed controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The head of the agency, Jakob Scharf, described some of the suspects as ‘militant Islamists.’ He said the group had been planning to enter the newspaper’s building and kill as many people as possible.” It sounds like another “homegrown” plot. We have seen all too many …
Since running away at Tora-Bora, Bin Laden has mainly served as al Qaeda “propagandist in chief.” His main task is to make al Qaeda appear relevant. Osama spin is reflected through his video and audio tapes in two ways. First, al Qaeda’s chief makes veiled and vague threats; that way if something happens he can take credit for it. If nothing happens, he doesn’t lose credibility. Second, Bin Laden stays topical. He links al Qaeda’s goals and aspirations to events in the news. So, for example, when violence spiraled out …
Days before President Obama plans to present his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, Osama Bin Laden sent his own message to the American people. According to CNN “A new audio tape allegedly from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden claims responsibility for an attempt to blow up a plane en route to Michigan on Christmas Day and warns the United States of more attacks.” The report added, “The tape, which aired on Al Jazeera on Sunday, says ‘the United States will not dream of …
In today’s Morning Bell, we wrote about the historically bad decision Attorney General Eric Holder made in announcing that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other terrorists would be tried in a civilian court in New York City rather than before a military tribunal. Edwin Meese III, the Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy and Chairman of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation as well as the United States Attorney General between 1985 and 1988, called Holder’s decisions a “a tragic mistake.” In the video …
Defending Attorney General Eric Holder’s historically bad decision to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other terrorists in civilian court, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) told CSPAN this morning: “For one thing, capturing Osama bin Laden, we’ve got enough on him we don’t need to interrogate him.” Watch: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUGmASf-ql0[/youtube] This statement goes to the heart of why the Obama administration’s decision to use civilian criminal courts to deal with terrorists is a grave danger to the American people. If we caught him. it would be irresponsible NOT to interrogate Osama bin …
Today is the 26th anniversary of the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, by Lebanese terrorists supported and directed by Iran. The attack, which killed 241 American servicemen (220 Marines, 16 Navy personnel, and 3 Army soldiers), was the deadliest single-day death toll for the Marines since the World War II battle of Iwo Jima and the deadliest for the U.S. military since the 1968 Tet offensive in Vietnam. The suicide truck bombing, along with a similar bombing that day that killed 58 French paratroopers, was perpetrated …
