Abu Yahya al-Libi Killed By A Drone Strike In Pakistan: Destroying Al-Qaeda's Network

U.S. official: Al Qaeda leader killed in CIA drone strike in Pakistan

Abu Yahya al-Libi, the No. 2 man in al Qaeda and a longtime public face of the terror network, has been killed by a CIA drone strike in Pakistan launched Monday, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

One of the officials said multiples sources confirmed al-Libi's killing to the United States, but the official declined to provide details.

Al-Libi's death marks one of the most significant blows to al Qaeda since the U.S. military killed Osama bin Laden in a daring nighttime raid in Pakistan a year ago.
Al-Libi was second-in-command behind al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who took the helm after bin Laden's death.

"There is no one who even comes close in terms of replacing the expertise (al Qaeda) has just lost," said the U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Al-Libi "played a critical role in the group's planning against the West, providing oversight of the external operations efforts," the official said.

"Zawahiri will be hard-pressed to find any one person who can readily step into Abu Yahya's shoes," the official said. "In addition to his gravitas as a longstanding member of AQ's leadership, Abu Yahya's religious credentials gave him the authority to issue fatwas, operational approvals and guidance to the core group in Pakistan and regional affiliates."

The Monday strike was the third such deadly attack in as many days and the 21st suspected U.S. drone strike in Pakistan this year. At least six missiles were fired at a militant compound near the town of Mir Ali in the North Waziristan region near the Afghanistan border.

Reports emerged a couple of years ago that al-Libi was slain, but they proved to be incorrect.
Al Qaeda's leadership has been so thinned by the U.S. drone campaign in Pakistan that these men were the only two real leaders of the organization left, U.S.

counterterrorism officials said, according to CNN Security Analyst Peter Bergen. Al Qaeda offshoots in other parts of the world, such as the group's affiliate in Yemen, have meanwhile become more potent and worrisome to the United States.

An Islamic scholar and high-ranking member of the group, al-Libi frequently appeared in Internet videos. He gave many videotaped speeches praising al Qaeda leaders, urging resistance and trying to recruit new members.

"Al-Libi is a key motivator in the global jihadi movement and his messages convey a clear threat to U.S. persons or property worldwide," said a "Wanted" statement posted on the website of the U.S. State Department's "Rewards for Justice" program, which offers rewards for information about suspected terrorists.

"Al-Libi is believed to be in hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan," said the website, which offered a reward of up to $1 million for the 49-year-old Libyan.
Al-Libi purportedly was among al Qaeda leaders working in Libya since last year to establish a presence there.

In a video message to fellow Libyans distributed on jihadist forums in December, al-Libi said, "At this crossroads you have found yourselves: You either choose a secular regime that pleases the greedy crocodiles of the West and for them to use it as a means to fulfill their goals, or you take a strong position and establish the religion of Allah."

Al-Libi was captured in 2002 and imprisoned at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. government, but he escaped in 2005.

In 2008, a statement posted on radical Islamic websites known to carry messages from al Qaeda described how four "military leaders" including al-Libi escaped from the prison, but the statement said then that one of the escapees, Abu Abdallah al-Shami, had been killed in a U.S. airstrike.

The statement said that among those escaping with al-Shami was key al Qaeda figure Omar al-Faruq, who died in a British airstrike after the escape.

Another escapee, Abu Nasir al-Qahtani, was captured in Afghanistan in 2006. Al-Shami's death left al-Libi as the only remaining member of that escape who had not been killed or captured.

President Barack Obama's administration recently justified its use of unmanned drones to target suspected terrorists overseas in a rare public statement, with John Brennan, the president's top counterterrorism adviser, saying the strikes are conducted "in full accordance with the law."

The program uses unmanned aerial vehicles, often equipped with Hellfire missiles, to target suspected terrorists in remote locations overseas, with many such strikes occurring in Yemen and Pakistan, despite some internal opposition within the latter country.

Brennan said the United States "respects national sovereignty and international law" and is guided by the laws of war in ordering those attacks.
The Pakistani border area is widely believed to be the operating base for the Haqqani network and other militant groups that have attacked international troops in neighboring Afghanistan.


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Obama's "Kill List" Great Foreign Policy Move For Re-election; Long Term? Not So Much

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Obama's ‘secret kill list' shows president is final word on terrorist killing missions

When it comes to the "secret kill list"--a regularly updated chart showing the world's most wanted terrorists--President Obama is the "final moral calculation" in the kill or capture debate, according to the third in a series of New York Times articles assessing his record.

And despite his liberal background, Obama has taken an aggressive approach to counterterrorism.

The Times said it interviewed three dozen current and former advisers to Obama for the article, who described his "evolution since taking on the role, without precedent in presidential history, of personally overseeing the shadow war with Al Qaeda":

They describe a paradoxical leader who shunned the legislative deal-making required to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, but approves lethal action without hand-wringing. While he was adamant about narrowing the fight and improving relations with the Muslim world, he has followed the metastasizing enemy into new and dangerous lands.

When he applies his lawyering skills to counterterrorism, it is usually to enable, not constrain, his ferocious campaign against Al Qaeda—even when it comes to killing an American cleric in Yemen, a decision that Mr. Obama told colleagues was "an easy one."

Part of Obama's "evolution" on terror apparently began early in his term, when a drone strike resulted in civilian casualties:

Just days after taking office, the president got word that the first strike under his administration had killed a number of innocent Pakistanis. "The president was very sharp on the thing, and said, 'I want to know how this happened,'" a top White House adviser recounted.

In response to his concern, the C.I.A. downsized its munitions for more pinpoint strikes. In addition, the president tightened standards, aides say: If the agency did not have a "near certainty" that a strike would result in zero civilian deaths, Mr. Obama wanted to decide personally whether to go ahead.

"The care that Mr. Obama and his counterterrorism chief take in choosing targets," the Times said, "and their reliance on a precision weapon, the drone, reflect his pledge at the outset of his presidency to reject what he called the Bush administration's 'false choice between our safety and our ideals.'"

And Obama's success limiting civilian deaths in drone strikes is, in part, due to "a disputed method for counting civilian casualties" embraced by Obama. According to the Times, the White House considers "all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants ... unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent."

Obama's personal involvement in counterterrorism operations can be seen in his study of the "baseball card"-like "kill list." For example, in January 2010--four months before he ordered the operation that killed Osama bin Laden--President Obama questioned the ages of some of the al-Qaeda suspects on it.

"How old are these people?" Obama asked during his regular Tuesday briefing with intelligence officials--dubbed the "Terror Tuesday" meeting--in the White House Situation Room. "If they are starting to use children, we are moving into a whole different phase."

The White House has also struggled with the so-called "Whac-A-Mole" approach to counterterrorism--an al-Qaida leader killed in, say, a drone strike is simply replaced with another.

"One guy gets knocked off, and the guy's driver, who's No. 21, becomes 20?" William M. Daley, Obama's chief of staff in 2011, told the Times. "At what point are you just filling the bucket with numbers?"


Joe Scarborough On Obama 'Kill List': 'I Wonder How This Is Going To Look Ten Years From Now'

Joe Scarborough expressed discomfort on Tuesday with President Obama's newly revealed "kill list" of alleged Al Qaeda suspects.

The New York Times ran a lengthy story about Obama's intimate involvement in personally deciding which people should go on the list of targets for drone strikes. The opening scene of the story showed Obama choosing whether or not to target two teenagers, "including a girl who looked even younger than her 17 years."

On Tuesday's "Morning Joe," Scarborough said that the story made him "flinch." He wondered whether it was right for the president to be so personally implicated in such choices. "Something to me is just not right about taking that into the Oval Office," he said.

The other panelists all seemed to be fine with Obama's participation, saying that it showed a willingness to confront the realities of his decisions.

Scarborough still seemed uneasy:

I just wonder, ten years from now, what we're going to be saying about a president lining up pictures of teenagers in the Oval Office and picking.

I'm not talking the morality of doing it or not doing it, I'm just talking about whether it should be kept away from the president, away from the White House.

And you stack that on top of us launching drone attacks in countries where we haven't even declared war? There are going to be some searing critiques a decade from now about our overreach.

"There could be critiques of a president who was disconnected as well and did not choose to look and did not choose think about every angle, including the moral choice," Brzezinski said. "Don't you think?"

"No," Scarborough replied. "I don't. I think there are a lot of people that are going to spin for Barack Obama ... I think you're going to have a lot of liberal hand-wringing."


Sources: AP, ABC News, AOL, Huffington Post, NY Times, The Daily Beast, Yahoo, White House

Obama Visits Afghanistan To Sign 10-Yr Agreement; Romney & McCain Approve

Transcript: Obama hails 'light of a new day' in Afghanistan

Good evening from Bagram Air Base. This outpost is more than 7,000 miles from home, but for over a decade it has been close to our hearts. Because here, in Afghanistan, more than half a million of our sons and daughters have sacrificed to protect our country.

Today, I signed an historic agreement between the United States and Afghanistan that defines a new kind of relationship between our countries -- a future in which Afghans are responsible for the security of their nation, and we build an equal partnership between two sovereign states; a future in which the war ends, and a new chapter begins.

Tonight, I'd like to speak to you about this transition. But first, let us remember why we came here. It was here, in Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden established a safe-haven for his terrorist organization. It was here, in Afghanistan, where al Qaeda brought new recruits, trained them, and plotted acts of terror. It was here, from within these borders, that al Qaeda launched the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 innocent men, women and children.

And so, ten years ago, the United States and our allies went to war to make sure that al Qaeda could never again use this country to launch attacks against us. Despite initial success, for a number of reasons, this war has taken longer than most anticipated. In 2002, bin Laden and his lieutenants escaped across the border and established safe havens in Pakistan. America spent nearly eight years fighting a different war in Iraq. And al Qaeda's extremist allies within the Taliban have waged a brutal insurgency.

But over the last three years, the tide has turned. We broke the Taliban's momentum. We've built strong Afghan security forces. We devastated al Qaeda's leadership, taking out over 20 of their top 30 leaders. And one year ago, from a base here in Afghanistan, our troops launched the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.

The goal that I set -- to defeat al Qaeda, and deny it a chance to rebuild -- is within reach.

Still, there will be difficult days ahead. The enormous sacrifices of our men and women are not over. But tonight, I'd like to tell you how we will complete our mission and end the war in Afghanistan.

First, we have begun a transition to Afghan responsibility for security. Already, nearly half the Afghan people live in places where Afghan security forces are moving into the lead. This month, at a NATO Summit in Chicago, our coalition will set a goal for Afghan forces to be in the lead for combat operations across the country next year. International troops will continue to train, advise and assist the Afghans and fight alongside them when needed. But we will shift into a support role as Afghans step forward.

As we do, our troops will be coming home. Last year, we removed 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Another 23,000 will leave by the end of the summer. After that, reductions will continue at a steady pace, with more of our troops coming home. And as our coalition agreed, by the end of 2014 the Afghans will be fully responsible for the security of their country.

Second, we are training Afghan security forces to get the job done. Those forces have surged, and will peak at 352,000 this year. The Afghans will sustain that level for three years and then reduce the size of their military. And in Chicago, we will endorse a proposal to support a strong and sustainable long-term Afghan force.

Third, we are building an enduring partnership. The agreement we signed today sends a clear message to the Afghan people: as you stand up, you will not stand alone. It establishes the basis of our cooperation over the next decade, including shared commitments to combat terrorism and strengthen democratic institutions.

It supports Afghan efforts to advance development and dignity for their people. And it includes Afghan commitments to transparency and accountability, and to protect the human rights of all Afghans -- men and women, boys and girls.

Within this framework, we will work with the Afghans to determine what support they need to accomplish two narrow security missions beyond 2014: counter-terrorism and continued training. But we will not build permanent bases in this country, nor will we be patrolling its cities and mountains. That will be the job of the Afghan people.

Fourth, we are pursuing a negotiated peace. In coordination with the Afghan government, my administration has been in direct discussions with the Taliban.

We have made it clear that they can be a part of this future if they break with al Qaeda, renounce violence, and abide by Afghan laws. Many members of the Taliban -- from foot soldiers to leaders -- have indicated an interest in reconciliation. A path to peace is now set before them. Those who refuse to walk it will face strong Afghan security forces, backed by the United States and our allies.

Fifth, we are building a global consensus to support peace and stability in South Asia. In Chicago, the international community will express support for this plan, and for Afghanistan's future. I have made it clear to Afghanistan's neighbor -- Pakistan -- that it can and should be an equal partner in this process in a way that respects Pakistan's sovereignty, interests and democratic institutions.

In pursuit of a durable peace, America has no designs beyond an end to al Qaeda safe-havens, and respect for Afghan sovereignty.

As we move forward, some people will ask why we need a firm time line. The answer is clear: our goal is not to build a country in America's image, or to eradicate every vestige of the Taliban. These objectives would require many more years, many more dollars, and many more American lives. Our goal is to destroy al Qaeda, and we are on a path to do exactly that. Afghans want to fully assert their sovereignty and build a lasting peace. That requires a clear time line to wind down the war.

Others will ask why we don't leave immediately. That answer is also clear: we must give Afghanistan the opportunity to stabilize. Otherwise, our gains could be lost, and al Qaeda could establish itself once more. And as commander in chief, I refuse to let that happen.

I recognize that many Americans are tired of war. As president, nothing is more wrenching than signing a letter to a family of the fallen, or looking in the eyes of a child who will grow up without a mother or father. I will not keep Americans in harm's way a single day longer than is absolutely required for our national security. But we must finish the job we started in Afghanistan and end this war responsibly.

My fellow Americans, we have traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war. Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon. The Iraq War is over. The number of our troops in harm's way has been cut in half, and more will be coming home soon. We have a clear path to fulfill our mission in Afghanistan, while delivering justice to al Qaeda.

This future is only within reach because of our men and women in uniform. Time and again, they have answered the call to serve in distant and dangerous places. In an age when so many institutions have come up short, these Americans stood tall. They met their responsibilities to one another, and the flag they serve under. I just met with some of them, and told them that as commander in chief, I could not be prouder. In their faces, we see what is best in ourselves and our country.

Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and civilians in Afghanistan have done their duty. Now, we must summon that same sense of common purpose. We must give our veterans and military families the support they deserve, and the opportunities they have earned. And we must redouble our efforts to build a nation worthy of their sacrifice.

As we emerge from a decade of conflict abroad and economic crisis at home, it is time to renew America. An America where our children live free from fear and have the skills to claim their dreams. A united America of grit and resilience, where sunlight glistens off soaring new towers in downtown Manhattan, and we build our future as one people, as one nation.

Here, in Afghanistan, Americans answered the call to defend their fellow citizens and uphold human dignity. Today, we recall the fallen, and those who suffer wounds seen and unseen. But through dark days we have drawn strength from their example, and the ideals that have guided our nation and lit the world: a belief that all people are created equal, and deserve the freedom to determine their destiny.

That is the light that guides us still. This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end. With faith in each other and our eyes fixed on the future, let us finish the work at hand, and forge a just and lasting peace. May God bless our troops. And may God bless the United States of America.


Romney Praises Obama’s Afghanistan Visit

Putting aside recent political battles over last year’s Osama Bin Laden raid, Mitt Romney issued a statement praising President Obama’s visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday and echoed his commitment to preventing Al Qaeda from re-establishing a foothold in the wartorn nation.

His statement, in full:

“I am pleased that President Obama has returned to Afghanistan. Our troops and the American people deserve to hear from our President about what is at stake in this war. Success in Afghanistan is vital to our nation’s security. It would be a tragedy for Afghanistan and a strategic setback for America if the Taliban returned to power and once again created a sanctuary for terrorists. We tolerated such a sanctuary until we lost thousands on September 11, 2001. Many brave Americans have sacrificed everything so that we could win this fight for a more secure future. Let us honor the memory of the fallen, not only by keeping them in our daily thoughts but also by staying true to their commitment. We are united as one nation in our gratitude to our country’s heroes.”


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Mohammed Merah Shot Dead By French Police! Was On U.S. "No-Fly" List

Suspect in French Killings Slain as Police Storm Apartment After 30-Hour Siege

Mohammed Merah, a 23-year-old former garage mechanic who claimed responsibility for the brutal slayings of four men and three children, was shot dead on Thursday when security forces stormed the apartment where he had barricaded himself for more than 30 hours.

The death of Mr. Merah brought a violent end to a series of events that transfixed France, but also left unsettling questions about potential lapses by intelligence services, and the lives they may have cost.

Mr. Merah, a Frenchman of Algerian descent who claimed ties to Al Qaeda but apparently acted alone, was struck in the head by a bullet in the final moments of a fierce firefight, said François Molins, the prosecutor who led the investigation into the killings. Mr. Merah was found dead on the ground after leaping from the apartment through a low window, still firing, according to the interior minister, Claude Guéant. A Colt .45 pistol was found near him, with just two rounds remaining and an empty magazine nearby.

The authorities said they had hoped to take Mr. Merah alive, seeking information about homegrown terrorists and his shadowy path to Islamic radicalism. While the difficulty in preventing attacks by such “lone wolf” killers is widely acknowledged, Mr. Merah, who had traveled to both Pakistan and Afghanistan, was in fact well known to the French police and intelligence services.

The foreign minister, Alain Juppé, told French radio before the raid on Thursday morning: “I can understand that one might wonder if there was a lapse or not. We need to bring clarity to this.”

Mr. Molins and other officials seemed at pains to explain why Mr. Merah had failed to attract the attention of investigators earlier, especially before he killed his final four victims, including three children, at a Jewish school on Monday.

“He’s not an individual who went to Afghanistan and Pakistan by taking the usual paths, which are obtained by certain facilitators and monitored by specialized services,” Mr. Molins said. “He figured it out all on his own.”

Yet, Mr. Molins said on Wednesday that Mr. Merah was arrested some years ago in Afghanistan by the Afghan police and turned over to the American military, which transferred him to the French authorities. He had also been on the United States government’s no-fly list for “some time,” an American law enforcement official said on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be identified discussing national security matters. It is not clear whether the United States authorities shared that information with their French counterparts.

Asked why Mr. Merah had not been under closer scrutiny in France, Mr. Molins said that “thousands” of French people travel to Afghanistan and Pakistan, explaining that France does not have the resources to monitor all of them.

Several terrorism experts disagreed, saying that Mr. Merah appeared to have been overlooked or underestimated, and adding that only about 15 to 30 men with a similar profile travel from France to the region each year.

“We’re not good enough at detecting them,” said Laurent Montet, a director and instructor at the Institute of High Studies in Criminology.

Mr. Molins also acknowledged that Mr. Merah was known to have “jihadist sympathies,” and had been questioned by intelligence services as recently as November, after returning from two months in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The officials apparently accepted his explanation that he had been there as a tourist.

Mr. Merah procured a prodigious stock of firearms and ammunition — including several automatic weapons, which are rare in France — activity that is most likely to have involved contact with criminal groups and ought to have drawn the attention of French intelligence, said Mr. Montet, the criminologist.

There were also suggestions that more effective data analysis might have led the police to Mr. Merah in time to prevent his last murders. He was identified as a suspect only Monday afternoon, after the final four killings, according to Mr. Molins. Yet investigators had been in possession of the evidence that led them to him — an Internet trail that connected him to the first killing — since Saturday.

“Something might have been possible, here one can wonder a bit, in effect,” said Alain Bauer, a criminologist with the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers.

French law is highly protective of personal privacy, Mr. Bauer noted, and French intelligence services are restricted in their ability to mine databases for potential threats, and take a more qualitative approach.

“In the United States, it’s the system that counts,” the antiterrorism magistrate Marc Trévidic said in an interview last year. “In France, it’s the men.”

Mr. Merah killed with shocking coldness, witnesses said, shooting each of his seven victims with a round to the head at point-blank range and filming his exploits, Mr. Molins said. According to the prosecutor, in the first recording Mr. Merah can be heard telling his victim, a soldier, “You kill my brothers; I’m killing you.”

In a video from the second shooting, which left two paratroopers dead and one critically wounded, Mr. Merah departs from the scene on a powerful motor scooter shouting, “God is great!”

Just before noon on Thursday, officers entered Mr. Merah’s apartment through a front door and windows, said Mr. Guéant, the interior minister. As the police reached the bathroom, Mr. Merah surged out “firing with extreme violence,” Mr. Guéant said.

More than 300 rounds reportedly were discharged in the firefight. One officer was slightly wounded, and two others were in shock.

Over the course of the siege, which began in the predawn darkness, Mr. Merah made a series of disclosures, officials said, claiming the seven killings and saying he had planned at least three more. The killings, he said, were meant to avenge the suffering of Palestinian children and to protest French intervention abroad as well as the banning of the full Islamic veil in France.

While he had earlier indicated that he hoped to live, just before 11 p.m. on Wednesday, Mr. Merah told the police he did not fear death. “I will go to paradise,” he said, according to Mr. Molins. At that point, he ceased communicating with negotiators. The raid began just under 12 hours later.

The authorities found ammunition of various calibers in the apartment, along with materials for gasoline bombs and several empty bullet clips. At his death, he wore a bullet-proof vest, a black djellaba, or traditional robe, and jeans, Mr. Molins said.

Investigators will now seek to determine if Mr. Merah indeed acted alone, as he insisted. Mr. Merah’s brother Abdelkader, 29, whom the authorities have described as a known Islamist radical with connections to jihadi networks, remains in police custody, along with his mother and a friend. Explosives were found in a car belonging to Abdelkader.

Earlier in the investigation, the authorities suspected both Merah brothers of potential involvement.

On Tuesday, the two were identified as primary suspects in the case, Mr. Molins said.

Plans were made late that night to arrest them, along with their mother. Even then, however, investigators had been unable to determine which of the two brothers was the man they were seeking.

It was not until Mr.Merah opened fired on the police agents sent to capture him that he became the prime suspect.


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Mohammed Merah: Lead Suspect In France-Based Jewish School Assassins (Al Qaeda Jihadist)

Who is French shootings suspect Mohammed Merah?

Mohammed Merah, a 23-year-old man described by French authorities as a self-styled al Qaeda jihadist, has been named as the chief suspect in a series of shootings that have left seven people dead.

As a standoff with security forces in Toulouse continued Wednesday, a picture emerged of a man who was already known to the police and had apparently sought out Islamist jihadists in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"He claims to be a jihadist and says he belongs to al Qaeda," Interior Minister Claude Gueant told reporters in Toulouse. "He wanted to avenge the Palestinian children and take revenge on the French army because of its foreign interventions."

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the suspect told the officers surrounding his apartment that he had acted alone -- and that he had intended to carry out more attacks on police and a soldier Wednesday.

His only regret was that he was not able to kill more people, the prosecutor said.

But, Molins added, Merah indicated he was not on a suicide mission. He "does not have the soul of someone who would commit suicide, does not have the soul of a martyr. He would prefer to kill and to live," the prosecutor said.

A French national of Algerian origin, Merah had been under surveillance by French intelligence for a couple of years, having "already committed certain infractions, some with violence," Gueant told CNN affiliate BFM-TV.

Merah has spent considerable time in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the minister added.

Lawyer Christian Etelin, who represented Merah in connection with previous minor offenses, said his client went to Afghanistan two years ago.

He had become suddenly radicalized, Etelin told CNN affiliate BFM-TV, and wanted to become more involved politically.

Etelin last saw Merah, whom he described as having a "complex" personality, on February 24, when he appeared in court accused of driving without a license and causing an accident with injuries.

Merah was sentenced to a month in prison and was to appear before the judge again in early April to determine where he would serve that sentence, the attorney said.

But a series of clues, some relating to a scooter used in the attacks, instead led investigators to the apartment in Toulouse where he holed up under siege for hours, Molins said.

The shootings have revealed a ruthless and determined killer.

All seven victims were shot in the head, most at point-blank range, and authorities said they were carefully targeted because of their religious and ethnic backgrounds.

The gunman's first victims were three soldiers of North African origin who had recently returned from Afghanistan, who were shot dead in two separate incidents.

Days later, the killer struck again, killing a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school Monday.

Merah claims to want to bring France "to its knees," Molins said.

He told police he had trained with al Qaeda in Pakistan's Waziristan region, bordering Afghanistan, Molins said.

He was sent back to France after being picked up at a traffic stop by Afghan police who reported his presence to international forces, the prosecutor said.

Although his neighbors describe him as being a quiet man, at home Merah had watched violent jihadist videos online, including footage of decapitations, Molins said.

He was sentenced 15 times by a Toulouse juvenile court when he was a minor, the prosecutor added.

The French defense ministry said Merah had twice tried to join the country's armed forces.
The first time, in the northern city of Lille, he was turned down because of his prior convictions.

The second time, in July 2010, he attempted to sign up for the Foreign Legion in Toulouse but left during the first round of testing, the ministry said.

As the net closed on the suspect early Wednesday, two police officers were wounded as shots were fired from the apartment where he is holed up.

Gueant said authorities found weapons in the suspect's car, which was parked near the building.

Police tracked Merah down via his brother's computer IP address, which was apparently used to respond to an advertisement posted by the first victim, Gueant said.

His brother Abdelkader Merah has been detained, and police are questioning other family members, including his mother, Zoulika Aziri, Molins said.

She lives in the Toulouse suburb of Mirail, BFM-TV reported.

Merah's activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan led to him being placed under surveillance by France's domestic intelligence agency, the Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence, for suspected involvement as a radical Salafist, Gueant said.

But little is known about what might have triggered a radicalization.

He was born in Toulouse in October 1988, according to Elisabeth Allanic, magistrate at the prosecutor's office in Paris, and at one time he worked in a garage in a Toulouse suburb.

Lawyer Etelin told BFM-TV he had represented Merah since 2004 or 2005, when his client was a minor, mostly over accusations of theft.

He said Merah had been "polite and courteous" and had shown no signs then of a tendency toward radicalization.

That might have changed after his trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan, but Etelin said he didn't notice a big difference.

"I never discussed his political ideas with him. I knew he was politically active but he never spoke to me about this. He didn't want to talk about this," Etelin said.

"He was very discreet on this. But I never had the impression that he was an individual radically different from the one I knew in the beginning. I always knew him as being someone very flexible in his behavior, courteous, polite, soft and certainly not rigid to the point of being led by a certain fanaticism."

Etelin has mainly been in contact with Merah's older sister, who, along with their mother, he recounted, was "exasperated" with Merah's minor crimes and said "it was not possible to see him being serious."

Merah grew up in a northern suburb of Toulouse called Les Izards, which Etelin described as an area with some drug-related activity.

Merah was never mixed up in drug-related incidents but rather with robbery, he said.
Etelin has not spoken to Merah since he was named as the suspect in the killings in Toulouse and Montauban but fears the siege of his apartment will end in further violence.

"There is no situation more terrible than the one he is in now, where he will die or will commit suicide," Etelin said.

French authorities continue to negotiate with the suspect as they seek to take him into custody alive.


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French Jewish School Assassin Is Islamic Extremist Linked To Jihadist Group

French Police Say They Have Cornered Suspect in School Shooting

A 23-year-old man suspected in the methodical killings of four men and three children in this region over the past 10 days barricaded himself in a small apartment building in Toulouse early Wednesday as negotiators tried to secure his surrender.

In a standoff that stretched past 12 hours, he fired several heavy volleys at the hundreds of police officers ringing the building, injuring two, though neither seriously. At one point the suspect threw a .45-caliber pistol from the window, the same kind used in each of the three attacks.

Officials identified the man in French media reports as Mohammed Merah, a French national of Algerian descent. Interior Minister Claude Guéant, speaking at the site, said the man told negotiators that he belonged to Al Qaeda and that the attacks were meant to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children and to protest French military deployments abroad.

Investigators believe the suspect was the motorcyclist behind the killings of three paratroopers in Toulouse and the nearby city of Montauben, all three of Arab descent, over the past 10 days ago. They also believe he conducted an attack on Monday outside a Jewish school that killed a rabbi, two of his young children, and an 8-year-old girl. The gunman held the girl by the hair to execute, pausing to switch to a 9-millimeter gun when his .45 jammed. Investigators believe he was wearing a camera around his neck at the school to record his murders.

The chief editor of France 24 said in a televised interview that she had spoken by telephone to a man who claimed to be the shooter in the hours before the police surrounded his building. “He was calm, was speaking in very good French and punctuated by Arabic expressions,” said the editor, Ebba Kalondo. She said he spoke of planning more attacks and that he intended to post video of his killings online.

The suspect had traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan and called himself a mujahedeen, or freedom fighter, and had been under surveillance by the French domestic intelligence service for several years, Mr. Guéant said, “though nothing whatsoever allowed us to think he was at the point of committing a criminal act.” He became a suspect on Monday afternoon, after investigators traced an IP address, used in connection with the killing of the first paratrooper 10 days ago, to the suspect’s mother, according to Pierre-Henry Brandet, a spokesman for Mr. Guéant.

Aviv Zonabend, the vice president of the local branch of the Crif, France’s most prominent Jewish organization, who met with Mr. Guéant on Wednesday morning, gave a slightly different account, saying that investigators apparently had been unable to locate the suspect before the shootings on Monday.

The police action started shortly after 3 a.m. on Wednesday after lengthy planning late Tuesday night, officials said.

The suspect’s mother was taken to the building by police in the hope that she would help persuade the man to surrender, Mr. Guéant said, but she declined to speak to him, saying that he had refused to listen to her in the past. The suspect’s brother, who was known locally for his radical religious ideology, was detained with a friend outside Toulouse for questioning on Monday, Mr. Guéant said, without giving details. The mother was also being questioned Wednesday afternoon, according to the prosecutor leading the investigation.

President Nicolas Sarkozy presided over a funeral service for the three paratroopers in nearby Montauban on Wednesday. A fourth paratrooper was critically wounded in the attacks in that city; he was black.

The bodies of those killed at the school were flown overnight to Israel for burial. They were Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, 30, a religious instructor; his two sons, Arye, 6, and Gabriel, 3; and Miriam Monsonego, 8, the daughter of the school’s principal. Rabbi Sandler was a French citizen; the three children had dual French-Israeli nationality.

Mr. Sarkozy had ordered the region’s security alert to the high level of “scarlet,” giving security forces wide powers that include the authority to close some public places, halt and search buses and trains and deploy combined patrols of police officers and soldiers. Police officers were ordered to guard Muslim and Jewish schools and places of worship across the region.

A French lawyer in Toulouse told the BFMTV broadcaster that he had represented a teenage Mr. Merah multiple times for relatively petty crimes. The lawyer, Christian Etelin, said, “I defended him multiple times in juvenile court for thefts and for violence, for the kinds of delinquency that is common in these neighborhoods.”

Before the authorities said on Wednesday that their prime suspect claimed ties to Al Qaeda, many analysts had speculated that he might have been motivated by extreme right-wing passions coinciding with the presidential elections.

After the shootings on Monday, the main candidates in the French presidential campaign, including Mr. Sarkozy, suspended their campaigns as political debate swirled around whether the killings were somehow inspired by anti-immigrant rhetoric. The campaign has been long and heated, and Mr. Sarkozy has been trying to win back voters who drifted to the far-right National Front party.

It remained unclear what the effect of the killings would be on the election, which is only a few weeks away. Nor was it clear whether they would further stoke anti-Muslim rhetoric in the country. Muslims complain widely of feeling vilified by some political elements, on the right in particular, and the anti-immigration far right has been gaining unprecedented popularity in recent months. Some analysts have suggested that the deaths could cause a calming of the political discourse.

In Paris on Wednesday morning, Mr. Sarkozy met with Jewish and Muslim leaders and called for restraint and solidarity among the populace. “We must be united,” he said in a brief address. “We must yield neither to easy falsehoods nor to vengeance.”

Before meeting with Mr. Sarkozy, Richard Prasquier, the national head of Crif, the Jewish organization, said: “It is absolutely excluded that we confuse this character — and the Islamist, jihadist, Al -Qaeda-linked movement he represents — and the Islam of France, which is a religion like all other religions.”

“These acts are in total contradiction with the foundations of this religion,” said Mohammed Moussaoui, the president of the French Council for the Muslim Faith, who also met with Mr. Sarkozy.


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Sources: CNN, NY Times, Youtube, Google Maps

John McCain Wants Afghanistan War To Continue Even After Bin Laden's Death; War Profiteering!

As long as some members of Congress such as John McCain & Mitch McConnell, have a Vested Financial Interest in War i.e., Government Contractors, our Men & Women in Uniform will continue engaging in Tribal Conflicts we can NOT Win.

The Afghan War is a Tribal War.

It has NOTHING to do with Al-Qaeda because even after Bin Laden's Death, the Taliban's presence still rules that region of the Middle East.

And since President Karzai is a Willing Partner in that Scheme, why are we Wasting Billion$ of U.S. Dollars annually in Resources & Human Lives?

Remaining in Afghanistan for another 3 mos, 6 mos or 12 mos will NOT make a difference!

We've killed Osama Bin Laden so the U.S. Mission in Afghanistan is Complete!

Let's just get out & let Karzai govern his Own Country!


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Sources: CNN, White House.gov, Youtube, Google Maps

Afghanistan War To Continue! Gen. John Allen, John McCain & Condi Rice Say No Early Withdrawal

As long as some members of Congress such as John McCain & Mitch McConnell, have a Vested Financial Interest in War i.e., Government Contractors, our Men & Women in Uniform will continue engaging in Tribal Conflicts we can NOT Win.

The Afghan War is a Tribal War.

It has NOTHING to do with Al-Qaeda because even after Bin Laden's Death, the Taliban's presence still rules that region of the Middle East.

And since President Karzai is a Willing Partner in that Scheme, why are we Wasting Billion$ of U.S. Dollars annually in Resources & Human Lives?

Remaining in Afghanistan for another 3 mos, 6 mos or 12 mos will NOT make a difference!

We've killed Osama Bin Laden so the U.S. Mission is Complete!

Let's just get out & let Karzai govern his Own Country!






U.S. General Sees No Sudden Afghan Drawdown


The top allied commander in Afghanistan told Congress on Tuesday that he had no intention of recommending further American troop reductions until late this year, after the departure of the current “surge” forces and the end of the summer fighting season.

That timetable would defer one of the thorniest military decisions facing President Obama — how quickly to get out of Afghanistan — until after the November elections.

Gen. John R. Allen, a Marine who commands the American-led allied force in Afghanistan, said that he remained optimistic about eventual success there but that it was too early to begin shifting forces. He also acknowledged the deep sensitivities, especially given the current diplomatic crisis with Afghanistan, of handing over complete security control to Afghan forces — including over the commando night raids that American commanders say are critical to the war effort. These are the subject of intense negotiation, he testified.

General Allen said that only after reviewing the results of the next six months of fighting — at the end of which there will be 68,000 American troops remaining there — would he turn his attention to the pace of further reductions in the force.

But he repeatedly said that by the end of next year, Afghan forces would have taken over full responsibility for the fight, allowing NATO’s combat role to be finished by the end of 2014, as currently scheduled.

His testimony came after a troubling, violent period on the ground, beginning with public protests — and a series of murders of American troops by Afghan security forces — following the burning of Islamic holy books by United States military personnel. That was followed by an American soldier’s rampage that left 16 civilians dead, most of them children.

General Allen said that in addition to the criminal inquiry into the massacre, there would be an administrative investigation into the command climate and headquarters organization of the soldier’s unit.

In his opening statement, he did not stray from the line taken by the White House and the Pentagon in recent weeks: that the progress toward what the Obama administration calls and “orderly and responsible” transfer of the fight against insurgents from the American-led alliance to the fledgling Afghan Army is going smoothly and that the schedule should not be altered.

He said he recognized the challenges, and deplored the Koran-burnings and the massacre. But he and members of the committee both described those events as isolated, if unfortunate, and there was little discussion of them at the hearing.

Instead, it focused on the schedule and the mechanics of the withdrawal that lies ahead, a subject that is being reviewed by NATO, whose member states are assembling their leadership in May in Chicago, and in talks between the Karzai government and Washington.

On one sensitive subject, the night raids carried out by Special Operations forces that have unsettled the Afghans but are credited with weakening the Taliban’s command structure, General Allen said the Afghans would be taking over control of them, too, eventually. Twelve Afghan teams are being trained for that purpose, he testified.

But he refused to discuss, when asked, a report in the Wall Street Journal that in negotiations with the Kabul government, the United States was considering subjecting American operations to review by some kind of Afghan tribunal.

He said it was important not to rob the surprise raids of “their momentum, which gives them their effectiveness.” And he said it was “very premature” to say what would be the outcome of the talks.

Ultimately, he said, as the Afghans take control of operations, the requirements of the Afghan constitution would need to be respected.

“Throughout history, insurgencies have seldom been defeated by foreign forces,” General Allen said. “Instead, they have been ultimately beaten by indigenous forces. In the long run, our goals can only be achieved and then secured by Afghan forces. Transition, then, is the linchpin of our strategy, not merely the ‘way out.’ ”

The possibility of an accelerated withdrawal order by President Obama has angered senior Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee. The chairman, Rep. Howard McKeon of California, said, “With our eyes at the exits, I am uncertain whether we will be able to achieve the key tenets of president’s own strategy, due to the constraints that the president, himself, has put in place.”

He made the case that “with friend and foe alike knowing that the U.S. is heading for the exits, our silence is likely viewed as a preamble to retreat. And, in warfare, when the mission becomes redeployment, rather than mission success, the outcome can quickly become disorderly.”

But General Allen emphasized that Afghan security forces are growing stronger, having reached 330,000, and that their buildup remains on track. And James N. Miller, Jr., the acting under secretary of defense for policy, testified that attacks initiated by the enemy continued to fall. They were down 22 percent in the first two months of this year compared with last year, he said, after falling 9 percent in 2011.

“We have seriously degraded the Taliban’s ability to mount a spring offensive of their own,” General Allen asserted. “This spring, they will come back to find many of their caches empty, their former strongholds untenable, and a good many of their foot soldiers absent or unwilling to join the fight.”


Sources: CBS News, CNN, NY Times, Youtube, PBS

Obama Administration Calls For Unity & Prayer On 10th Anniversary Of 9-11 Attacks

Obama proclaims National Days of Prayer and Remembrance

Commemorating the 10th anniversary of 9/11, President Barack Obama proclaimed this weekend, Friday though Sunday, as National Days of Prayer and Remembrance.

“Today, our nation still faces great challenges, but this last decade has proven once more that, as a people, we emerge from our trials stronger than before,” Obama said in a statement Friday.

The president called on Americans to honor the victims of the terrorist attacks through activities such as prayer, memorial services, the ringing of bells, and evening candlelight remembrance vigils.

Obama also urged citizens to remember those among “the 9/11 generation” of service members who have “come of age bearing the burden of war,” with some paying the ultimate sacrifice.

“During these days of prayer and remembrance, a grateful nation gives thanks to all those who have given of themselves to make us safer,” Obama said.

Obama will attend memorial services at all three attack sites – New York, Washington and Pennsylvania – this weekend.

The proclamation comes in the wake of faith-based groups expressing opposition toward New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who stirred controversy when deciding to exclude religious leaders from the World Trade Center memorial service on Sunday.

Prominent politicians have also come out against the decision. On Tuesday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said religion played a key role in the days following the attacks by offering people some “strength to move on.”

“Just get them up. Say a little prayer,” Giuliani said at the National Press Club in Washington Tuesday. “The microphone will not melt if you say a prayer.”

In his statement Friday, Obama did not address the clergy issue, but focused on the memory of those who lost their lives 10 years ago.

“We continue to stand with their families and loved ones, while striving to ensure the legacy of those we lost is a safer, stronger, and more resilient nation,” Obama said.


Sources: CNN, Youtube