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Archive for the 'Terrorism' Category

Nov 27th, 2010

Summary: A Somali-born teenager, Mohamed Osman Mohamud, plotted to carry out a car bomb attack at a crowded Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in downtown Portland, Oregon, but the bomb turned out to be a dummy supplied by undercover agents as part of a counterterrorism sting operation. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 27, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Jeremy Greenstock, British ambassador to the United Nations from 1998 to 2003, testified before an inquiry into the Iraq war that the Bush administration was “hell bent” on the 2003 military invasion of Iraq and actively undermined efforts by Britain to win international authorization for the war.


Nov 16th, 2010

Summary: The new head of Britain’s armed forces, Gen. David Richards, says that the West cannot defeat al-Qaida but that defeating it is “unnecessary” because it can be contained. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 16, 2009, Aubrey Immelman featured excerpts from an article by Paul Harris, New York-based correspondent for The Observer and The Guardian, supplemented with annotated commentary of Rep. Michele Bachmann.


Nov 6th, 2010

Summary: The Yemeni branch of al-Qaida, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has claimed responsibility for the two mail bombs sent from Yemen last week and for the downing of a cargo plane in Dubai in September. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 6, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that two U.S. soldiers transporting supplies in Afghanistan were swept away by a river in Badghis province while trying to save two boxes that had fallen into the water while being airdropped during a resupply mission, and that the Taliban said they were holding their bodies.



Summary: Investigators believe the same al-Qaida-affiliated group responsible for the Christmas Day underwear bomb were behind the PETN-based devices hidden in packages sent from Yemen. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 30, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on her first official visit to Pakistan, faced sharp rebukes from Pakistani audiences brimming with resentment toward U.S. foreign policy, including one woman who accused the U.S. of conducting “executions without trial” in aerial drone strikes, equating it to terrorism.


Oct 20th, 2010

Summary: An internal investigation by the Central Intelligence Agency documents a litany of intelligence breakdowns leading to the Dec. 30, 2009 suicide attack in Afghanistan by Jordanian double agent Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi that killed seven CIA employees. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 20, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Oct 16th, 2010

Summary: There were two separate warnings to U.S. law enforcement authorities that an American businessman was plotting a terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, with the Pakistani extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, NBC News has confirmed. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 16, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported on a concert by Jacob Wetterling’s favorite singer, Red Grammer, to mark the 20th anniversary of Jacob’s abduction on October 22, 1989.


Oct 2nd, 2010

Summary: Responding to credible al-Qaida threats, the U.S. State Department is issuing a travel alert urging American citizens to be vigilant if they travel in Europe. Officials have not identified specific targets, but it’s likely terrorists might be considering Mumbai-style “swarm attacks.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 2, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, U.S. Fearmonger-in-Chief — as though vying for the title of “World’s Greatest Exaggerator” — made the histrionic claim that by fall 2010 “someone’s 13-year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back, and go home on the school bus that night … [with] Mom and Dad … never the wiser.”


Sep 22nd, 2010

Summary: As terror groups move away from planning complex 9/11-style attacks, involving months of planning and a large group of participants, it’s more difficult to detect and disrupt plots against the United States, according to three of the nation’s top counterterrorism officials. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on September 22, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan and reported that Al-Qaida marked the 8th anniversary of 9/11 with a new 106-minute video predicting President Barack Obama’s downfall.


Aug 7th, 2010

Summary: The Justice Department has announced the indictment of 14 people — 12 of them Minnesota Somalis, many of them U.S. citizens — accused of funneling “money, personnel, and services” to the Shabab, the Islamist terrorist group fighting an insurgency in Somalia. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 7, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that a suicide car bomb devastated a Shiite mosque in northern Iraq, one of a series of attacks that killed at least 40 and wounded about 100 Iraqis. He also reported that Pakistan’s Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud had been killed in a CIA missile strike.


Jun 2nd, 2010

Summary: Al-Qaida’s third in command, Mustafa al-Yazida (AKA Sheik Saeed al-Masri), has been killed in Pakistan’s border area with Afghanistan in one of the most severe blows to the terror movement since the U.S. campaign against al-Qaida began in 2001. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on June 2, 2009 Aubrey Immelman reported that two roadside bombs killed four more American troops in Afghanistan as violence continued to mount and U.S. casualties climbed to record levels.