Obama Adviser Raps ‘Political Football’ on Terror

Partisan second-guessing of failed jet bombing is unfair, says John Brennan

Video

Brennan ‘tiring’ of ‘political football’ over terror (NBC Meet the Press, Feb. 7, 2010) — Deputy national security adviser John Brennan discusses the political dispute over the handling of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab with NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press.” (06:03)

Feb. 7, 2010

WASHINGTON  President Barack Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser said Sunday that lawmakers and others are using national security to score political points and defended the handling of the suspect in the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner.

Deputy national security adviser John Brennan complained that politicians, many of them Republicans, were unfairly criticizing the administration for partisan purposes and second-guessing the case with a “500-mile screwdriver” that reaches from Washington to the scene of the abortive attack in Detroit.

Brennan said he had personally briefed top Republican lawmakers on Christmas night about the arrest of accused bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and that none of them raised objections.

“There’s been quite a bit of an outcry after the fact, where again, I’m just very concerned on behalf of counterterrorism professionals throughout our government, that politicians continue to make this a political football and are using it for whatever political or partisan purposes,” he said. …

Republicans have been outspoken in criticizing the administration for treating Abdulmutallab as a civilian and reading him his rights to remain silent and retain a lawyer.

Brennan said that Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, was treated no differently than any other terror suspect arrested on U.S. soil and that the FBI and others involved in his arrest acted appropriately.

“I think those counterterrorism professionals deserve the support of our Congress,” he said. “And rather than second-guessing what they are doing on the ground with a 500-mile screwdriver from Washington to Detroit, I think they have to have confidence in the knowledge and the experience of these counterterrorism professionals.” …

Brennan spoke on NBC television’s “Meet the Press.”

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Related report 

Anti-Terrorism Chief Rebukes Politicians Who Use Cases as Talking Points

By Walter Pincus and Ed O’Keefe

February 8, 2010

Excerpts

President Obama’s senior counterterrorism adviser on Sunday criticized politicians for using terrorism situations such as the Detroit bombing case as a “political football.”

But leaders of the Republican Party, among the harshest critics of the handling of the Detroit incident, on Sunday disputed John O. Brennan’s remarks.

Republican House and Senate members have questioned why Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect in the Christmas Day bombing attempt, was not treated as an enemy combatant instead of being questioned for 50 minutes by the FBI and later given his Miranda rights.

Former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, in her speech Saturday night before the Tea Party convention, said the Obama administration sees “no downsides or upsides to treating terrorists like civilian criminal defendants. But a lot of us would beg to differ.”

Without citing individuals, Brennan, a longtime CIA official and now White House deputy national security adviser, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “Quite frankly, I am tiring of politicians using national security issues such as terrorism as a political football. They are going out there, they are unknowing of the facts, and they are making charges and allegations that are not anchored in reality.”

Brennan said that on Christmas night he had briefed four senior House and Senate Republicans about Abdulmutallab, who was “in FBI custody” and at that point “talking” and “cooperating.” He said that at no point did any of the four — Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate Republican minority leader; Sen. Christopher S. Bond (Mo.), ranking GOP member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), the House minority leader; and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), ranking minority member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence — raise concerns about Abdulmutallab being placed in military custody or being Mirandized.

Brennan said “quite a bit of an outcry after the fact” led him to be “concerned on behalf of the counterterrorism professionals” that politicians are using the issue for partisan purposes, whether they be Democrats or Republicans.

On Sunday, all four Republicans took issue with Brennan’s characterization of their Christmas night conversations. …

During the “Meet the Press” interview, Brennan said the right thing had been done on Christmas, but he made clear that the administration may be rethinking that decision. He said the president had ordered a new look at the processes “and whether or not we can enhance and strengthen them, and that’s what we’re looking at right now.”

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Related reports on this site

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is seen in this undated handout, distributed by IntelCenter on December 28, 2009, and attributed to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. (Photo credit: IntelCenter — Handout / Reuters)

Underwear Bomb: No Smoking Gun (Jan. 3, 2010)

Yemen Link in Airline Terror Plot (Dec. 26, 2009)

Christmas Terrorism Alert (Dec. 25, 2009)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 8, 2009

The Pentagon is reviewing 18 deaths in conjunction with a contractor’s electrical work, including that of Staff Sgt. Christopher Everett, seen in the photograph next to his mother, Larraine McGee of Huntsville, Texas. (Photo credit: Susan Walsh / AP)

Electric Sacrifice in Iraq

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that defense contractor KBR Inc. had been awarded a $35 million Pentagon contract involving major electrical work, even as it is under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of at least two U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Complete Super Bowl Coverage

Update: New Orleans Saints 31, Indianapolis Colts 17

FEATURE REPORT

Video: “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life”

Focus on the Family ad (MSNBC, Feb. 7, 2010) — The ad featuring the college football star and his mother aired during the super bowl. (00:30)

The Heisman Trophy Winner Who Almost Wasn’t

Opinion by Bobby Eberle
GOPUSA — The Loft
January 27, 2010

The career of University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is one of legend. Not only did he win the Heisman Trophy, college football’s highest honor, as a sophomore, he was in the running for it during his junior and senior years as well. He led the Gators to two national championships and has displayed honor and integrity at every turn.

But all of his accomplishments and all of his success could have been wiped out completely had Tim’s mother Pam Tebow not chosen life. During a mission trip, an infection led doctors to recommend that Pam Tebow have an abortion to avoid the risk of her own death during childbirth. She chose life, and now her story will be told in the form of a Super Bowl ad. Rather than celebrating the ad as a “success” story, some so-called women’s groups are blasting the ad and urging CBS to ban it.

As noted in a story on FOXNews.com college football great Tim Tebow and his mom Pam “will appear in a pro-life commercial that tells the story of his risky birth 22 years ago — an ad that critics suggest could lead to anti-abortion violence, even though none of them have seen it.”

It’s a happy story with an inspirational ending, but pro-choice critics say Focus on the Family should not be allowed to air the commercial because it advocates on behalf of a divisive issue and threatens to “throw women under the bus.”

“This organization is extremely intolerant and divisive and pushing an un-American agenda,” said Jehmu Greene, director of the Women’s Media Center, which is coordinating a campaign to force CBS to pull the ad before it airs on Feb. 7.

Extremely intolerant and divisive and pushing an un-American agenda? This is how this person describes Pam’s decision to give birth rather than ending a human life? Talk about intolerant! According to groups such as this, it’s perfectly fine to advocate for funds, literature, and media for ending human life. But when someone actually chooses to SAVE A LIFE that is intolerant and un-American? I see.

According to the web site NotUnderTheBus.com, which is sponsored by the Women’s Media Center, “The Women’s Media Center, and organizations dedicated to reproductive rights, tolerance, and social justice, are urging the network to immediately cancel this ad.”

First of all, I am pro-life. I think a human life should be protected and afforded basic human rights regardless of age. That’s where I stand. As the law is currently written, such protections do not completely exist and the “choice” now exists to give birth to a baby or end it’s life in the womb. So be it. What really burns me up is the fact that this organization and others like it claim to represent reproductive “rights,” but they scream and go into convulsions whenever a woman CHOOSES life over an abortion.

What’s pathetic is that groups such as this who claim to support “social justice” aren’t shouting at the tops of their lungs in SUPPORT of concepts such as adoption. Wouldn’t it be better to give the child to a loving family who wants it rather than simply advocating abortion.

I guess that’s what sums up my disdain for these groups. They don’t advocate choice as much as they advocate abortion. People choose life all the time, yet these groups treat supporters of life as the anti-Christ. They are pro-abortion … not pro-choice.

As noted in the Fox News story, Tim Tebow responded to the controversy while talking with reporters:

“I know some people won’t agree with it, but I think they can at least respect that I stand up for what I believe,” he said. ” [T]hat’s the reason I’m here, because my mom was a very courageous woman. So any way that I could help, I would do it.”

Because Pam Tebow chose life, she has a son who is an inspiration to all.

——

Related video

Related editorial

Super Bowl Censorship

January 31, 2010

The commercials during the Super Bowl, a showcase for the best (or worst) in TV advertising, often generate buzz and sometimes outrage. This year, viewers will see one ad that has already triggered a heated debate about abortion and censorship.

The 30-second spot, financed by the conservative religious group Focus on the Family, is said to recount the pregnancy of Pam Tebow, mother of the college football star Tim Tebow. After falling ill during a mission to the Philippines, she ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child, who became the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner.

The National Organization for Women, NARAL Pro-Choice America and other voices for protecting women’s reproductive freedom have called on CBS to yank it. Their protest is puzzling and dismaying.

A letter sent to CBS by the Women’s Media Center and other groups argues that the commercial “uses one family’s story to dictate morality to the American public, and encourages young women to disregard medical advice, putting their lives at risk” — a lame attempt to portray the ad as life-threatening. Others argue that even a mild discussion of such a divisive issue has no place in the marketing extravaganza known as the Super Bowl.

The would-be censors are on the wrong track. Instead of trying to silence an opponent, advocates for allowing women to make their own decisions about whether to have a child should be using the Super Bowl spotlight to convey what their movement is all about: protecting the right of women like Pam Tebow to make their private reproductive choices.

CBS was right to change its policy of rejecting paid advocacy commercials from groups other than political candidates. After the network screens ads for accuracy and taste, viewers can watch and judge for themselves. Or they can get up from the couch and get a sandwich.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 7, 2009

Video

Soldier suicides exceed combat deaths (NBC Nightly News, Feb. 6, 2009) — The fight to save soldiers’ lives has moved away from front lines as a shocking rise in military suicides has prompted U.S. Army officials to step up suicide prevention efforts. NBC’s Ron Mott reports. (02:19)

Army Ponders Suicide Prevention

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Gen. Martin Dempsey, commander of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, said that the Army, to battle a growing suicide rate, may have to start teaching soldiers how to handle stress from the first day they take their service oath.

Palin E-Mails Reveal a Powerful ‘First Dude’ 

In Sarah Palin administration, her spouse was active in state business

Nearly 3,000 pages of e-mails that the first gentleman, Todd Palin,  exchanged with state officials draw a picture of his influence on policy in the Sarah Palin administration. Other e-mails are still being withheld by the state of Alaska. (Photo credit: Robyn Beck / AFP — Getty Images file)

By Bill Dedman
Investigative reporter
Feb. 6, 2010

Bill Dedman Investigative reporter

Officially he was the first gentleman of Alaska. More people called him the “first dude.” But newly released e-mails show that Todd Palin was busy doing more than snow machine driving and salmon fishing during Sarah Palin’s two and a half years as governor and vice presidential candidate.

Nearly 3,000 pages of e-mails that Todd Palin exchanged with state officials, which were released to msnbc.com and NBC News by the state of Alaska under its public records law, draw a picture of a Palin administration where the governor’s husband got involved in a judicial appointment, monitored contract negotiations with public employee unions, received background checks on a corporate CEO, added his approval or disapproval to state board appointments and passed financial information marked “confidential” from his oil company employer to a state attorney.

You can read all those e-mails in msnbc.com’s searchable online archive, created in cooperation with a legal services company, Crivella West. We’re still going through the documents, and invite readers at msnbc.com to search for themselves, connect the dots with public issues, and send us an e-mail with your own analysis.

While 1,200 separate e-mails were released this week, 243 others were withheld by the state under a claim that executive privilege extends to Todd Palin as an unpaid adviser to the government. Still, just the subject lines of those e-mails provide a glimpse of the ways the Palins divvied up their responsibilities when she became governor in December 2006, less than two years before Republican Sen. John McCain pulled her onto the national political stage by nominating her as his vice presidential candidate.

The 243 still-secret e-mails between Todd Palin and senior officials reach into countless areas of state government and politics: potential board appointees, constituent complaints, use of the state jet, oil and gas production,  marine regulation, gas pipeline bids, postsecondary education, wildfires, native Alaskan issues, the state effort to save the Matanuska Maid dairy, budget planning, potential budget vetoes, oil shale leasing, “strategy for responding to media allegations,” staffing at the mansion, pier diem payments to the governor for travel, “strategy for responding to questions about pregnancy,” potential cuts to the governor’s staff, “confidentiality issues,” Bureau of Land Management land transfers and trespass issues and requests to the U.S. transportation secretary. Also withheld: a discussion of how to reply to “media questions about Todd Palin’s work and potential conflict of interests.”

‘That gossip crap bugs me’

 The e-mails that were released open a curtain on the behind-the-scenes preoccupations of the Palins, particularly the flash points of family and the media, personal finances and state finances.

• The governor coached her staff on how to disguise the amount of electrical work needed at the mansion to hook up her new tanning bed.
• Palin and her staff stewed over the refusal of the state Public Safety Department to provide a plane so the children could fly to Todd’s family’s home in Dillingham; after all, they were going to attend a bill signing, so the travel requests could be justified. Sarah Palin called the decision “outrageous,” and an aide said it provides “a great excuse to privatize” the governor’s jet service.
• The manager of the Palins’ travel schedule searched for a public event to use as justification (“I just need one”) to charge the state for an airplane flight for Palin’s daughter, Willow, who made the trip but had missed the event given as its justification.
• When Sarah Palin complained that the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner wrote a critical editorial after she did them the favor of meeting with the editorial board, Todd Palin advised the press chief to “take the news miner [sic] off the press release address list for a few days, see how long it takes them to realize their not on the list.”
• “Man, that gossip crap bugs me,” Sarah Palin wrote after the Anchorage Daily News wrote about mansion repairs in its Alaska Ear political column. “Any time it has anything to do with home or family, it’s irritating.” A press aide apologized, saying the columnist did not call to check out stories before publishing. The residence director added, “Reminds me of junior high school, where hormonal teenagers are always looking for the drama. … I’ll do my best to avoid giving them any news nuggets.”

The Palins did not respond to several requests by msnbc.com to discuss Todd Palin’s role in state government. After this article was published, an attorney for the Palins, Tom Van Flein, said in an e-mail Friday to NBC News that Todd Palin’s role as an “active advisor” to his wife should come as no surprise “to most Alaskans, and to the millions of people who read “Going Rogue,” Palin’s autobiography. …

Private e-mail accounts

Many of the e-mails on public policy issues that msnbc.com reviewed were written using private e-mail accounts on Yahoo and other services. The governor and her top aides set up accounts outside the state system, supposedly outside the reach of the public records laws. Outside accounts also helped avoid any violation of the state law against using public resources for campaigning.

Todd Palin’s e-mail address at that time was named for his hobby as a four-time champion driver in the 1,971-mile Iron Dog snow machine races: fek9wnr@yahoo.com, or Iron Dog winner.

The governor wrote mostly from gov.sarah@yahoo.com and sometimes from gov.palin@yahoo.com, until that account was cracked in September 2008 by an anonymous Internet user, who boasted that he figured out the answers to her Yahoo security questions by browsing her Wikipedia page. A 20-year-old student at the University of Tennessee, David C. Kernell, was indicted and is awaiting trial; he was an Obama supporter and the son of a Democratic state legislator. …

Of the e-mails released this week, dozens have information redacted, or blanked out, sometimes leaving little more than a subject line. …

Often the governor wasn’t included on Todd Palin’s e-mails at all. The staff went straight to him, or he went straight to the staff. …

Confidential information

Todd Palin also often served as a conduit for information to flow from one part of state government to another. When a friend or campaign aide’s spouse got a state job, he was often notified. At other times, he notified the governor’s office.

Sometimes information from outside flowed through him to the government. In one instance, the e-mails show, Todd Palin sent confidential financial information from his longtime employer, the oil and gas company BP, to a lawyer for the state, which does a lot of business with BP. …

The Palins did not reply to a message from msnbc.com sent to their spokeswoman and another to the company that manages Sarah Palin’s speaking engagements. Sarah Palin is scheduled to speak Saturday evening at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, where her bio describes her as a champion of “ethics reform and transparency in government,” themes of her campaign for governor. …

‘Shadow Governor’

Todd Palin’s frequent presence in the governor’s office led some in Juneau to call him the “Shadow Governor.” But it had never been clear, at least to the public, what roles he played.

He did receive scrutiny for his role in the so-called Troopergate case, in which he and the governor were accused of seeking to have her former brother-in-law fired from the state police force. …

When msnbc.com, other news organizations and citizens of Alaska sought Palin e-mail records after she was named the Republican vice presidential running mate in August 2008, the state initially quoted a cost as high as $15 million for state technicians to find the e-mails, for state interns to print out the e-mails one at a time, for state lawyers to read them to determine what information could be withheld, and for a print shop to photocopy them. 

That’s still the laborious approach the state has taken, at what it says is a cost of more than $500,000 in staff time, but the prices it is charging have come down considerably. The state charged msnbc.com only $323.58 for the records released this week. …

Video

‘First Dude’s’ influence exposed (NBC Nightly News, Feb. 5, 2010) – E-mails show former Governor Sarah Palin’s husband Todd played a major policy role behind the scenes. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports. (03:30)

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Related reports

‘Tea party’ movement faces uncertain future (AP, Feb. 5, 2010) — Tea parties” popped up last spring in small towns and big cities alike as disillusioned Americans — many never before involved in politics — protested the $787 billion economic stimulus measure, Wall Street bailouts and Obama’s health care plan. Since then, local leaders have struggled over the coalition’s direction. There’s even dispute over the name’s origin: It was drawn from the 1773 tax revolt, or it’s an acronym for “taxed enough already.” … Full story

Video: Sarah Palin’s Tea Party Speech at the Gaylord

Palin: America ready for ‘another revolution’ (MSNBC, Feb. 6, 2010) — Sarah Palin says, ‘America is ready for another revolution,’ during her speech at the ‘tea party’ convention. Watch her entire speech. (41:15)

Bachmann Heads Teabaggers

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) speaks at a Tea Party at Lake George in St. Cloud after a town hall meeting, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009. (Photo credit: Jason Wachter / St. Cloud Times)

Background report

The Personality Profile of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

Following is the abstract of an investigation of Sarah Palin’s personality characteristics and leadership style, conducted at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics, directed by Aubrey Immelman.

Sarah Palin’s most prominent personal attribute is a dominant, dauntless quality. Her profile also indicates ambitious, outgoing, and contentious tendencies. Palin’s constellation of personality patterns is congruent with several personal qualities associated with success in politics, including assertiveness, determination, ambition, and personal charisma. The combination of ambitious, dominant, dauntless, and outgoing patterns in Palin’s profile suggests an “ambitious competitor” personality composite.

Andrea Schiebe, Angela Rodgers, and David Wutchiett present their research on “The Personality Profile of Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin” at the 44th annual Minnesota Undergraduate Psychology Conference, College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, Minn., April 18, 2009 (Supervisor: Aubrey Immelman, Ph.D.)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 6, 2009

Video

Steep rise in soldier suicides (MSNBC, Feb. 5, 2009) — 24 soldiers committed suicide in January 2009, more than were killed in action in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. John Soltz of VoteVets.org discusses. (02:53)

Army: Stunning Spike in Suicides

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that the Army was investigating an unexplained and stunning spike in suicides during the month of January. The count was said to be likely to surpass the number of combat deaths during the same period reported by all branches of the armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the fight against terrorism.

Late update

U.S. Offensive Aims to Turn Page in Afghan War

British soldiers wait to be transported to a base in the provincial capital Lashkar Gar in Camp Bastion, Helmand, on Friday, Feb. 5, 2010. The U.S. and allied partners believe they have a better shot at blunting the growth of the Taliban. (Photo credit: Baris Atayman / Reuters)

Feb. 5, 2010

KABUL – A new and possibly decisive chapter of the Afghan war is unfolding. The U.S. is preparing a major attack on the Taliban, the militants are being squeezed in their Pakistani sanctuaries, and the Afghan government is trying to draw them into peace talks. …

Much could still go wrong. Even if all the cards fall in NATO’s favor, the conflict will likely persist for years.

But the U.S. and its partners now have a better shot at blunting the growth of the Taliban, the austere Islamic movement that rebounded four years ago after being driven from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion after it refused to severe links to al-Qaida.

If NATO recaptures the momentum, it could encourage the militants in time to seek a political settlement, which U.S. officials believe is the only way to end the conflict.

Deploying Obama’s mission

For now, attention is focused on what will be the first big test of President Barack Obama’s surge — an assault by thousands of U.S. Marines and soldiers on Marjah, a southern Afghan city of 80,000 people and the hub of Taliban logistics. Aid teams are supposed to follow the troops to re-establish public services and government control in hopes of winning public support.

It will be the first major combat operation since Obama last December ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, gambling on turning the tide of war. Other NATO countries added 7,000 more.

The Taliban, mindful that Obama also pledged to begin withdrawing U.S. forces in mid-2011, claim to be undaunted by the surge.

“The number of Taliban fighters is increasing day by day, not only in the south but in the north of Afghanistan as well,” says Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi. “It doesn’t matter if the Americans increase the number of soldiers, the Taliban will continue to pursue jihad,” he told The Associated Press.

Insurgent forces have grown steadily in Afghanistan — from fewer than 400 in 2004 to nearly 30,000, by NATO estimate. …

Uncertain future

For years, it has been hard to see any glimmer of hope amid rising casualties, roadside bombs and suicide attacks in a chaotic country with a centuries-old tradition of banishing foreign armies.

Last year, according to AP’s count, at least 499 U.S. and NATO service members died in Afghanistan, almost as many as in the previous two years combined, and U.S. officials warn of more bloodshed to come. …

Taliban shadow governments now operate in nearly all 34 provinces. Taliban courts mete out Islamic justice and settle village property disputes often faster — and many Afghans say more fairly — than the government’s own judiciary.

Related video

Video shows Taliban punishment (MSNBC, Feb. 5, 2010) — New video emerges from Pakistan’s tribal belt showing Taliban militants flogging two men and a teenage boy. MSNBC.com’s Dara Brown reports. (02:11)

Last month, Taliban suicide fighters stormed the center of Kabul [link added], paralyzing the capital for hours and sending government officials fleeing to bunkers before the attackers were all killed.

Mullah Mahmood, a village elder and former Taliban commander in Ghazni province, said his district has seen an influx of militants returning from Pakistan. They patrol on motorbikes in groups of 10 to 15, run Islamic courts and require families to contribute one man to their ranks, he told the AP.

“The pressure from the Pakistani army and drones is causing people to come here,” he said. “This year they have new Japanese motorcycles, weapons and bullets. Villagers are providing food.”

‘Demoralized’

However, the Taliban have had little success in recruiting outside the Pashtun community, the largest ethnic group with about 40 percent of the population. Although disenchantment with the Karzai government extends nationwide, so far the Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks have shown little enthusiasm for the Taliban, which massacred many of them in the 1990s.

Richard Barrett, chief of the U.N.’s al-Qaida and Taliban monitoring team, says the movement may be approaching the limits of its expansion, but there are signs it is becoming more cohesive. It is developing a command structure that extends from the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, to commanders in the field.

Previous attempts at reconciliation faltered, in part for lack of funding. The U.N. says only about 170 ex-militants left the insurgency last year under local peace plans.

“We’ve done a good job bringing them in,” said Sana Gul Kochai, the head of the reconciliation program for the eastern province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. “But of course they become disappointed and demoralized when they don’t get land or jobs.”

Are peace talks possible?

Qari Fazel Rahman Farouqi, who fled Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 and led a cell attacking NATO supply convoys in Pakistan, said he was willing to take a chance on reconciliation. …

Karzai also hopes to draw the Taliban into peace talks, but U.S. officials are skeptical because the insurgents are sure they are winning the war — a certainty the U.S. military hopes to change in the upcoming offensive.

Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations and an adviser to the U.S. military on Afghanistan, says one of the risks of robust peace overtures is that the Taliban will take them as a sign of desperation.

“One of the things the other side is trying to find out is how committed are we to succeeding,” Biddle said.

Related reports on this site

Afghanistan Fog of War (Jan. 31, 2010)

Deadly Day in AfPak War Zone (Jan. 23, 2010)

Taliban Attack Caught on Camera (Jan. 22, 2010)

Taliban Siege Rattles Kabul (Jan. 19, 2010)

Deadly Day in Afghanistan (Jan. 11, 2010)

Afghan Soldier Kills U.S. Troop (Dec. 29, 2009)

Outside the Box in Afghanistan (Dec. 20, 2009)

Public Opinion on Afghan Surge (Dec. 17, 2009)

Iraq, AfPak Have Little in Common (Dec. 5, 2009)

Obama Rolls Dice on AfPak War (Dec. 2, 2009)

Afghanistan Tougher Than Iraq (Nov. 28, 2009)

Escalating Afghanistan Violence (Nov. 20, 2009)

Iraq-AfPak War Update (Nov. 8, 2009)

Afghan War Closes in on Kabul (Oct. 28, 2009)

14 Americans Dead in Afghanistan (Oct. 26, 2009)

U.S. Troops ‘Sitting Ducks’ (Oct 19th, 2009)

Video

U.S. officers faulted in deadly Afghan attack (MSNBC, Feb. 5, 2010) — MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan and NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski discuss a Pentagon report on a recent Taliban assault in Afghanistan which faults outpost commanders for not doing enough to improve the base’s defenses or to analyze intelligence that the enemy was planning a major assault. (05:41)

Afghan War Expands to Region (Oct. 8, 2009)

Afghanistan: The 8-Year War (Oct. 7, 2009)

Deadly Day for U.S. in Afghanistan (Oct. 4, 2009)

Afghanistan War Strategy Review (Oct. 3, 2009)

‘Tiring’ of Afghanistan War (Sept. 25, 2009)

Afghanistan “Mission Failure” (Sept. 21, 2009)

9 Coalition Troops Killed (Sept. 19, 2009)

NATO HQ in Afghanistan Attacked (Aug. 15, 2009)

Mumbai-Like Strike in Kabul (Feb. 12, 2009)

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Earlier report

Suicide Bomb Kills 6 in Afghan South

Blast comes as coalition forces gear up for major offensive

Feb. 4, 2010

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near a hotel in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding nearly two dozen, officials said.

The blast in Kandahar happened as NATO and Afghan forces are preparing for a joint offensive against Taliban militants in the neighboring province of Helmand in a major bid to break the Taliban stranglehold on the south. …

The blast occurred in a busy commercial area near a major road that is frequently used by U.S. officials and other dignitaries in Kandahar, the main commercial center of the south. …

NATO has sent reinforcements into Kandahar, 260 miles southwest of Kabul, fearing the Taliban were encroaching on the city of 800,000 people. At the same time, the international community launched a program of economic aid and development projects. …

New offensive

A start date for the Marjah offensive has not been released for security reasons. But U.S. and Afghan commanders have said it will be soon.

The operation will be the first major offensive since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, and many of the Marines set to participate arrived as part of the surge. Marjah is the largest city in the south under Taliban control.

Unlike past operations, the plans for Marjah have been widely publicized by U.S. and Afghan commanders in hopes that many civilians and Taliban fighters not deeply committed to the insurgency will leave the town.

Joint forces raided Taliban compounds in the village of Khushan in Helmand’s Nad Ali district on Wednesday morning, killing 32 militants, according to provincial government spokesman Daoud Ahmadi. …

McChrystal: Making progress

Meanwhile, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said Thursday the security conditions there are no longer “deteriorating.”

Gen. Stanley McChrystal acknowledged the Taliban has made strides and said he is “not prepared to say we’ve turned a corner.” Yet he said the Afghan government and U.S. forces are making progress that leaves him feeling more optimistic about than he did last summer, when he said conditions were backsliding.

“I feel differently now,” he told reporters in Istanbul.

McChrystal’s comments stand in contrast to those of officials in Afghanistan and other countries who say the Taliban’s influence is expanding and that the situation there has worsened.

Nikolai Bordyuzha, secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization — a federation of Central Asian states created by Moscow — said on Thursday that Afghanistan was “explosive” and “catastrophically deteriorating.” His comments were reported by Itar-Tass, the Russian news agency. …

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Late update

Bombs Hit Pakistan Bus, Hospital; 25 Dead

Two bombs exploded in Pakistan’s largest city Friday, Feb. 5, 2010, one outside the hospital treating victims from an earlier attack on Shiite Muslim worshippers. (Photo credit: Shakil Adil / AP)

Feb. 5, 2010

KARACHI, Pakistan – Suspected Sunni militants bombed a bus carrying Shiite worshippers and two hours later attacked a hospital treating the victims, killing 25 people and wounded 100 on Friday in a strike on Pakistan’s largest city.

The blasts in the southern city of Karachi were the latest sign of the instability tearing at the nuclear-armed nation, which the United States regards as key to its hopes of defeating a related Taliban insurgency across the border in Afghanistan. …

Full story

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IRAQ UPDATE

Motorbike Bomber Kills 20 in Iraq Holy City

The Associated Press and Reuters via MSNBC.com
Feb. 3, 2010

KARBALA, Iraq – A bomb on a parked motorcycle exploded early Wednesday on the outskirts of the holy city of Karbala, killing at least 20 Shiite pilgrims and wounding 110 others, officials said.

The blast was the latest in a string of attacks this week that have targeted pilgrims making their way to an important Shiite religious observance in Karbala, raising fears of a spike in attacks when the pilgrimage culminates Friday.

The bomb exploded at about 11 a.m. in an area known as Ibrahimia, near the east entrance — one of three — into Karbala, the official said. The city is located 50 miles south of Baghdad. …

Two other bombings

Earlier Wednesday, two separate roadside bombs targeting Shiite pilgrims exploded in Baghdad, killing one and wounding seven others, a security official in the capital said. …

Wednesday’s attacks follow a suicide bombing two days earlier north of Baghdad that killed 54 Shiite pilgrims.

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Sectarian pilgrimage violence continues

Blast Kills 40 at Height of Iraq Shiite Pilgrimage

Residents gather near a damaged vehicle at the site of a bomb attack in the holy city of Kerbala. (Photo credit: Mushtaq Muhammed / Reuters)

Feb. 5, 2010

BAGHDAD – Twin car bombs tore through a crowd of Shiite pilgrims packing a highway as they walked to a holy city south of Baghdad on Friday for a major religious observance, killing at least 40 people and wounding more than 150, Iraqi officials said.

It was the third deadly bombing this week hitting the ceremony in which hundreds of thousands of Shiites have been converging on the city of Karbala. Friday’s attack struck during the culmination of the pilgrimage. …

Full story

Related report on this site

Iraq Mass Casualty Bombing (Feb. 1, 2010)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 5, 2009 (#1)

 
Pakistani drivers gather next to burned trucks, torched by militants on the outskirts of Landi Kotal, a town close to the Pakistani tribal area of Khyber, after being stranded in Pakistan by the bombing of a key bridge on the main supply route for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. (Photo credit: Qazi Tariq / AP)

Iraq Fighters Flood Afghanistan

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that with the reduction of violence in Iraq following a U.S. troop “surge” and other measures, foreign militants were flooding into Afghanistan to join Taliban insurgents battling Afghan and international troops.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 5, 2009 (#2)

Obituary: Bruce Wollmering, OSB

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Father Bruce Wollmering OSB, monk and priest, died suddenly on February 4, 2009 at Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn.

Pakistan Blast Draws Attention to U.S. Mission

3 Special forces soldiers, school girls die in attack; Taliban claims bombing

A resident attempts to rescue female students from the rubble following a bomb attack near a school in Pakistan’s Lower Dir district on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010. (Photo credit: Ali Shah / Reuters)

Feb. 3, 2010

SHAHI KOTO, Pakistan – The deaths of three American special operations soldiers in a roadside bombing in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday drew unwanted attention to a U.S. program of training local forces to fight the Taliban and al-Qaida — a little-publicized mission because of opposition here to American boots on Pakistani soil.

The killings were the first known U.S. military fatalities in nearly three years in Pakistan’s Afghan border region, where militants are being pummeled by U.S. missile strikes and struggling to regroup following the loss of a key stronghold in a recent Pakistani army offensive.

The blast also killed three girls at a nearby school and a Pakistani paramilitary soldier traveling with the Americans. Two more U.S. soldiers were wounded, along with about 100 other people, mostly students at the school. Several were left trapped, bloodied and screaming in the rubble.

The U.S. special envoy to Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said it did not appear the Americans were directly targeted by the blast, which he said was caused by a roadside bomb. Local officials said the device was detonated by remote control, but at least one police officer said it was a suicide attack.

Brunt of blast

Witnesses said the vehicle carrying the Americans took most of the explosion as their five-car convoy traveled along the road in Lower Dir, indicating it may in fact have been directed at the Americans. That would raise the specter of a militant informant close to the training mission.

Lower Dir is a base for militants belonging to the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani army claimed to have retaken the area from the militants last June in a widely praised offensive that also cleared the insurgents from the nearby Swat Valley.

The soldiers were part of a small group of American soldiers training members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, Pakistan’s army and the U.S. Embassy said. The mission is trying to strengthen the ill-equipped and poorly trained outfit’s ability to fight militants.

Unlike Afghanistan and Iraq, Pakistan does not allow U.S. combat troops on its territory, making training local security forces an important part of ensuring that militants are not able to use the area as a sanctuary from which to attack American and NATO troops across the border in Afghanistan.

While not a secret, neither the Pakistanis or the Americans have talked much about the program because of the political sensitivity in Pakistan of accepting American assistance. While the government in Islamabad is closely allied with Washington, America is deeply unpopular among many Pakistanis, even those who recognize that fighting militants is in their country’s interest. …

An opinion poll by the International Republican Institute conducted last July and August found that 80 percent of Pakistanis believed the country should not cooperate with America in the war on terror. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.41 percentage points. …

Special forces mission

The Corps training program was never officially announced, but Pakistan and U.S. officials have said it began in 2008 and that U.S. special forces were carrying it out. Officials then said it involved just 32 Americans. There have been no announcements saying it has grown in size. …

Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the incident was still under review, said at least one of the three American soldiers was a member of a unit designed to help local authorities publicize positive news — in this case, apparently, the opening of a girls school, which the embassy said had been renovated with U.S. humanitarian assistance. …

In Swat last year, a member of the Frontier Corps taking part in the anti-militant offensive told an Associated Press reporter that he had been trained by the Americans, but that he — like all those who take part in the course — was sworn to secrecy about it. …

Two local journalists in the convoy were under the impression that the soldiers, who were in civilian clothes, were American journalists because of comments from a Pakistani soldier suggesting that was the case. That could explain why initial reports of the incident on Pakistani television said the dead were foreign journalists.

The last known death of a U.S. soldier in the Pakistani border region took place on May 14, 2007, when Army Maj. Larry J. Bauguess Jr., 36, of Moravian Falls, N.C., was killed by small-arms fire in the frontier town of Teri Mengel.

Militants apparently killed Bauguess and a Pakistani soldier after a meeting intended to calm tensions between Afghan and Pakistani soldiers following a round of border fighting.

Video

U.S. soldiers killed in Pakistan blast (NBC Nightly News, Feb. 3, 2010) – Three U.S. military advisers were killed on their way to the inauguration of a girls’ school in an attack in Pakistan Wednesday. (00:20)

Related report

Soldier deaths draw focus to U.S. in Pakistan (Jane Perlez, New York Times, Feb. 4, 2010) — The presence of U.S. soldiers, mainly for intelligence and training, has been handled with discretion.

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2/5/10 Update

U.S. Military Deaths in Pakistan

Sgt. 1st Class David J. Hartman, 27, Okinawa, Japan, died Feb. 3, 2010 in Timagara, Pakistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne), 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.

Sgt. 1st Class Matthew S. Sluss-Tiller, 35, Callettsburg, Ky., died Feb. 3, 2010 in Timagara, Pakistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne), 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.

Staff Sgt. Mark A. Stets, 39, El Cajon, Calif., died Feb. 3, 2010 in Timagara, Pakistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 8th Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne), 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.

Remember Their Sacrifice

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War on Terror Update

Video

Top officials ‘certain’ of terror attack (NBC Today, Feb. 3, 2010) — Director of National Intelligence Robert Blair, FBI Director Robert Mueller and CIA Director Leon Panetta tell a Senate panel they are certain terrorists will attempt an attack on U.S. soil in the next three to six months. NBC’s Pete Williams reports. (04:37)

Related reports on this site

Al-Qaida Aims to Hit U.S. with WMD (Jan. 26, 2010)

Al-Qaida’s Next High-Value Target (Jan. 18, 2010)

Where is Osama Bin Laden? (Dec. 10, 2009)

Osama bin Laden Personality Profile (Dec. 6, 2009)

Bin Laden Attacks Obama (Sept. 14, 2009)

Bin Laden Rails Against Obama (June 4, 2009)

Al-Qaida Lashes Out At Obama (June 3, 2009)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 4, 2009

Afghan demonstrators gather after a U.S. operation in their village in Qarabagh district of Ghazni, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Feb. 2, 2009. (Photo credit: Rahmatullah Naikzad / AP)

Change Course in Afghanistan

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that a classified Pentagon report urged President Barack Obama to shift U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan, de-emphasizing democracy-building and concentrating more on targeting Taliban and al-Qaida sanctuaries inside Pakistan with the aid of Pakistani military forces.

Michele Bachmann, Nuts, Peddles New Conspiracy Theory

The Rochester Post-Bulletin reports that U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, at an event in Rochester, Minn., sponsored by fellow Republican Allen Quist who is running for the 1st Congressional District seat held by Democrat Tim Walz, blasted the Democrats’ health-care proposals, saying, “We aren’t going to give up. We’re not going to quit fighting because a government takeover of health care is the crown jewel of socialism, and I will fight it until my last breath.” (Bachmann stirs crowd as she slams Dems’ health care plans, Heather J. Carlson, Post-Bulletin, Feb. 1, 2010)

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann speaks to a crowd of more than 200 people during a health care town hall meeting at the Ramada Inn in Rochester, Minn., Monday, Feb. 1, 2010. (Photo credit: Michele Jokinen / Post-Bulletin)

Bachmann has frequently made the “crown jewel of socialism” comment of late with reference to Democratic health care proposals and, while wildly exaggerated, the contention is defensible — or at least debatable.

And the “I will fight it until my last breath” remark, while a little breathless, is not as overtly dramatic as Bachmann’s “slit our wrists” histrionics in Colorado last summer.

But it’s at that point in her speech where Bachmann ambles right to the edge of the abyss of insanity, staring wild-eyed into the farther reaches of irrationality. In the realm of crazy, it surely rivals her census paranoia and AmeriCorps reeducation camp brainwashing paranoia.

At a political forum in Rochester, Minn., U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, the “Empress of Exaggeration,” makes the wild claim that the president’s health reform proposals, beyond being “the crown jewel of socialism,” could lead to “gangster government” and “absolute abject corruption,” with people terrified to speak out against the government for fear of being blacklisted for denial of health care.

Not reported in the Post-Bulletin account cited above, Bachmann continued by saying:

“[A man] ran into me in the hall in Washington, D.C. And he said, he pulled out of his wallet, he said, ‘Michele, I want to show you something.’ … And he showed me a little card. … And he said, ‘This is my card from when I lived in Japan. And Japan had the government takeover of health care. … And in Japan you sure have a card alright, but to wait in and get health care is almost impossible. You get on a list and you wait and you wait and you wait.’

But he said, ‘This is something that people don’t know: in Japan, people have stopped voicing their opinion on health care. There’s things that are wrong with Japanese health care, but people started voicing.’

‘Well why is that?’ I asked.

He said, ‘It’s because they know that they would get on a list and they wouldn’t get health care. They wouldn’t get in. They wouldn’t get seen. And so people are afraid. They’re afraid to speak back to government. They’re afraid to say anything.’

Is that what we want for our future? That takes us to gangster government at that point! And absolute abject corruption. We’re not that kind of country! That’s not who we are! Our country’s money is not in the cookie jar to pay for it.”

Video

Related reports

Michele Bachmann: Gov’t will create an enemies list and deny coverage to political opponents (Matt Snyders, City Pages, Feb. 2, 2010)

Bachmann: Those who criticize gov’t to be denied health care (Andy Birkey, Minnesota Independent, Feb. 2, 2010)

Bachmann: Criticize health care plan and forget about being treated (Eric Roper, Star Tribune Hot Dish Politics blog, Feb. 2, 2010) — “Hot Dish could not find evidence to back up the claim that Japan withholds health care from government critics. A recent Washington Post article describing the pros and cons of the Japanese health system makes no mention of it.”

Video

Bachmann on the offensive (MSNBC Hardball, Feb. 2, 2010) — Sideshow: At a Minnesota townhall, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., predicted that the government could eventually use health care to limit free speech, to punish those who disagree with it. (02:11)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 3, 2009

Militants blew up a bridge in northwestern Pakistan, severing a key NATO supply route on the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan, Feb. 3, 2009. (Photo credit: Mohammad Sajjad / AP)

Afghanistan — Obama’s Vietnam?

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I highlighted some Afghanistan-Vietnam parallels: A president, eager to show his toughness, vows to do what it takes to “win”; the nation we’re supposedly rescuing is no nation at all but rather a deeply divided, semi-failed state with an incompetent, corrupt government held to be illegitimate by a significant portion of its population; the enemy is well accustomed to resisting foreign invaders and can escape into convenient refuges across the border; there are constraints on America striking those sanctuaries; neighboring countries may see a chance to bog America down in a costly war; and there is no easy way out.

U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010, at least 4,375 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,648 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identification:

• Army Pfc. Scott G. Barnett, 24, Concord, Calif., died Jan. 28, 2010 in Tallil, Iraq, of injuries sustained while supporting combat operations.  He was assigned to the 412th Aviation Support Battalion, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, Katterbach, Germany.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan and Pakistan

As of Friday, Jan. 29, 2010, at least 893 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.

Latest identifications:

• Army Sgt. Carlos E. Gill, 25, Fayetteville, N.C., died Jan. 26, 2010 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center of an illness. He was evacuated from Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, Dec. 19, 2009, where he was supporting combat operations. Gill was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
• Marine Sgt. David J. Smith, 25, Frederick, Md., died Jan. 26, 2010 from wounds received Jan. 23 while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.
• 1/29/10 update: Army Sgt. Carlos E. Gill, 25, Fayetteville, N.C., died Jan. 26, 2010 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center of an illness. He was evacuated from Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, Dec. 19, 2009, where he was supporting combat operations. Gill was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
• 2/1/10 update: Marine Sgt. David J. Smith, 25, Frederick, Md., died Jan. 26, 2010 from wounds received Jan. 23 while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.
• 2/3/10 update: Army Spc. Marc P. Decoteau, 19, Waterville Valley, N.H., died Jan. 29, 2010 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained while supporting combat operations. He was assigned to the 6th Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne), 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.
• 2/3/10 update: Army Capt. David J. Thompson, 39, Hooker, Okla., died Jan. 29, 2010 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained while supporting combat operations. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• 2/3/10 update: Marine Lance Cpl. Michael L. Freeman Jr., 21, Fayetteville, Pa., died Feb. 1, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.  He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• 2/4/10 update: Army Staff Sgt. Rusty H. Christian, 24, Greenville, Tenn., died Jan. 28, 2010 in Oruzgan province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
• 2/4/10 update: Army Pfc. Zachary G. Lovejoy, 20, Albuquerque, N.M., died Feb. 2, 2010 of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device in Zabul province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• 2/4/10 update: Army Capt. Daniel Whitten, 28, Grimes, Iowa, died Feb. 2, 2010 of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device in Zabul province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• 2/5/10 update: Army Sgt. 1st Class David J. Hartman, 27, Okinawa, Japan, died Feb. 3, 2010 in Timagara, Pakistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne), 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.
• 2/5/10 update: Army Sgt. 1st Class Matthew S. Sluss-Tiller, 35, Callettsburg, Ky., died Feb. 3, 2010 in Timagara, Pakistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne), 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.
• 2/5/10 update: Army Staff Sgt. Mark A. Stets, 39, El Cajon, Calif., died Feb. 3, 2010 in Timagara, Pakistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 8th Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne), 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.
• 2/7/10 update: Army Sgt. Dillon B. Foxx, 22, Traverse City, Mich., died Feb. 5, 2010 in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 2, 2009

Sunni Muslim Iraqis and members of the Sahwa, or Sons of Iraq, celebrate as they hold up an image of murdered tribal leader Abdul Sattar Abu Risha following provincial elections in the western Anbar town of Ramadi, Feb. 1, 2009. In Mosul’s Ninevah province, a Sunni party led by former Saddam Hussein loyalists with strong anti-Kurdish views appears the likely winner. (Photo credit: Azhar Shallal / AFP — Getty Images)

Election Sets Stage for Conflict

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that provincial election results in northern Iraq could heighten ethnic tensions between Sunnis and Kurds.

Suicide Bomber Kills 54 During Iraq Pilgrimage

Attacker hid explosives underneath black head-to-toe cloak

Video

Female suicide bomber strikes pilgrims in Iraq (MSNBC, Feb. 1, 2010) — More than 50 people are dead and another 100 are wounded after a female suicide bomber detonates among a group of Shiite pilgrims in Iraq. MSNBC.com’s Dara Brown reports. (00:44)

Feb. 1, 2010

BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber walking among Shiite pilgrims in northern Baghdad detonated an explosives belt on Monday, killing at least 54 people and wounding around 117, Iraqi officials said.

A police official said 18 women and 12 children were among the dead. A hospital official also confirmed the casualties. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media. …

The bombing raises fears of an escalation of attacks as hundreds of thousands of Shiites head by Friday to the southern holy city of Karbala. They will mark the end of 40 days of mourning following the anniversary of the death Imam Hussein, a revered Shiite figure.

The bomber hid the explosives underneath an abaya — a black cloak worn from head to toe by women — as she joined a group of pilgrims on the outskirts of Baghdad’s Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Shaab, said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad’s top military spokesman.

The bomber set off the blast as she lined up with other women to be searched by female security guards at a security checkpoint just inside a rest tent, al-Moussawi said. …

Related reports on this site

Female Suicide Strike in Iraq (Feb. 14, 2009)

Iraq: Female Bomber Strikes Again (Jan. 4, 2009)

Three Baghdad blasts kill at least 20 (Nov. 24, 2008)

Three Female Suicide Bombers Kill 32, Wound 100 (July 28, 2008)

Iraqi Mujahidaat Becoming Norm (Aug. 12, 2008)

Woman Suicide Bomber Kills 26 in Iraq (Aug. 14, 2008)

Iraq — An Emerging Threat (Aug. 12, 2008)

Farhana Ali (RAND Corporation) and Jerrold M. Post, M.D. (George Washington University) at a counterterrorism panel. (Photo: Aubrey Immelman)

One of the emerging threats in Iraq is the mujahidaat — female suicide bombers motivated by revenge for family members killed by U.S. and Iraqi forces. As a result of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, the 1991 Gulf War, and the 2003 U.S. invasion and subsequent sectarian war, Iraq today has an estimated one million widows — not counting the thousands of women who have lost sons, brothers, fathers, and other family members in the current conflict. Some of the most lethal suicide attacks in Iraq this summer have been carried out by female bombers.

Here’s an excerpt from an article terrorism expert Farhana Ali wrote for the July 30, 2008 issue of Newsweek:

Muslim female suicide bombers are on the rise. Even before women attackers claimed dozens of lives in Monday’s coordinated attacks on Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and political protesters in Kirkuk, women had carried out more than 20 missions in Iraq this year — the most violent one yet for the women of Al Qaeda. But for those of us who have studied the phenomenon, the assaults should not come as a surprise. … If conditions of Iraqi women fail to improve in the coming months … the bomber behind the veil will be nearly impossible to defeat. … Full story.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 1, 2009

An Afghan villager elder holds his walking stick as he talks with U.S. soldiers who have come to pay money for repairing homes destroyed during the recent U.S. raids in Inzeri village in the Tagab Valley of Kapisa province north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009. (Photo credit: Jason Straziuso / AP)

Afghan Villagers Protest Raids

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that three recent U.S. Special Forces operations in Afghanistan killed 50 people — the vast majority civilians, according to Afghan officials — raising the ire of villagers and President Hamid Karzai. The problem, Afghan officials say, comes when ordinary villagers hear the commotion of Special Forces nighttime raids and, fearing robbers or an attack from a hostile tribe, grab their guns and run outside or fire from their homes. U.S. forces then fire back and end up killing civilians.

NATO Friendly Fire Kills 4 in Afghan Unit

An Afghan National Army soldier stands guard near the scene of a friendly fire incident. (Photo credit: Rahmat Nikzad / AP)

Jan. 30, 2010

GHAZNI – A joint U.S.-Afghan force clashed with Afghan troops manning a snow-covered outpost and called in an airstrike early Saturday, killing four Afghan soldiers, U.S. and Afghan officials said. Both sides called the clash a case of mistaken identity.

Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry condemned the killings in the eastern Wardak province and demanded punishment for those responsible. NATO called the deaths “regrettable” and announced an investigation.

The deaths are likely to strain relations between NATO and Afghan forces at a time both are calling for a closer partnership in the fight against the Taliban.

Underscoring those tensions, an Afghan interpreter killed two U.S. service members Friday at a combat outpost elsewhere in Wardak province, a NATO official said.

A U.S. soldier then killed the interpreter, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information. It wasn’t clear why the interpreter had opened fire on the Americans. …

Associated Press Television News footage of the aftermath showed American armored vehicles on the highway, about a half mile from the hilltop outpost. The snow outside the fortified compound was blackened by the airstrike. …

It was believed to be the first fatal friendly fire incident since November, when eight Afghans — four soldiers, three policemen and an interpreter — were killed during close combat amid a search for a missing U.S. paratrooper. …

Saturday’s incident followed the deaths Friday of two U.S. service members and one U.S. employee who were killed in eastern Afghanistan. In a statement announcing the deaths, NATO did not specify the circumstances or give further details pending an investigation.

That suggested the deaths may not have been due to hostile fire.

Also Saturday, NATO said its troops opened fire on a taxi the day before as it sped toward a patrol, ignoring warning shots. Two civilians were killed and one was wounded in the shooting, which occurred in the Muqor district of Ghazni province.

U.S. soldiers shot and killed an Afghan imam Thursday when his car approached a convoy on the eastern outskirts of Kabul. …

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Related reports on this site

“Death to America” (Jan. 7, 2010)

“Death to Obama” (Dec. 31, 2009)

Afghan Soldier Kills U.S. Troop (Dec. 29, 2009)

One Informant, Many Dead (Sept. 5, 2009)

Afghan Villagers Protest Raids (Feb. 1, 2009)

Karzai: Stop Air-Raiding Civilians (Nov. 5, 2008)

Karzai Warns of Afghan Backlash (Sept. 25, 2008)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — January 31, 2009

Mourners gather around the coffin of Omer Farooq al-Ani, a Sunni candidate for provincial council killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad on Friday, Jan. 30, 2009. Gunmen apparently targeting political candidates staged attacks around Iraq. (Photo credit: Khalid Mohammed / AP)

Election Day in Iraq

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Iraq imposed a nationwide security lockdown before key regional elections with blanket measures not seen since the deadliest years of the insurgency, underscoring the high stakes for Iraqi leaders desperate to portray stability after nearly six years of conflict prompted by the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Bin Laden Blames U.S. for Climate Change

The Associated Press via NBC News
Jan. 29, 2010

CAIRO – Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has called for the world to boycott American goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States and other industrialized countries for global warming, according to a new audiotape released Friday.

In the tape, broadcast in part on Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden warned of the dangers of climate change and said that the way to stop it is to bring “the wheels of the American economy” to a halt.

He blamed Western industrialized nations for hunger, desertification and floods across the globe, and called for “drastic solutions” to global warming, and “not solutions that partially reduce the effect of climate change.”

Bin Laden has mentioned climate change and global warning in past messages, but the latest tape was his first dedicated to the topic.

Climate change an ‘actual fact’

The speech, which included almost no religious rhetoric, could be an attempt by the terror leader to give his message an appeal beyond Islamic militants. …

“Speaking about climate change is not an intellectual luxury, the phenomenon is actual fact.”

He pointed out that former President George W. Bush had not signed the Kyoto emissions agreement although most industrialized countries did.

Grave ramifications

Bin Laden targeted the U.S. economy in particular in the recording, calling for a boycott of American products and an end to the dollar’s domination as a world currency.

“We should stop dealings with the dollar and get rid of it as soon as possible,” he said.

“I know that this has great consequences and grave ramifications, but it is the only means to liberate humanity from slavery and dependence on America.” …

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Related reports on this site

Al-Qaida Aims to Hit U.S. with WMD (Jan. 26, 2010)

Al-Qaida’s Next High-Value Target (Jan. 18, 2010)

Where is Osama Bin Laden? (Dec. 10, 2009)

Osama bin Laden Personality Profile (Dec. 6, 2009)

Adapting to Climate Change (Dec. 3, 2009)

Bin Laden Attacks Obama (Sept. 14, 2009)

Bin Laden Rails Against Obama (June 4, 2009)

Al-Qaida Lashes Out At Obama (June 3, 2009)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — January 30, 2009

Blackwater contractors secure the site of a roadside bomb attack near the Iranian embassy in central Baghdad in 2005. (Photo credit: Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP – Getty Images)

Blackwater Booted from Iraq

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Iraq denied North Carolina-based Blackwater Worldwide (Xe), which guards American diplomats in Iraq, an operating license because of a deadly shooting spree in Baghdad. Iraqi officials said the lingering outrage over a September 2007 shooting in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead led to its decision. The shooting strained relations between Washington and Baghdad and fueled the anti-American insurgency in Iraq, where many Iraqis saw the bloodshed as a demonstration of American brutality and arrogance.