 Here's the full text of the letter from Abdul Hakim Muhammad, the man who murdered an Army recruiter in Little Rock and tried to kill a second, to the judge presiding over his trial. I've transcribed it as written, hence all the mispelling, capital letters, and lack of paragraphs. Emphasis, though, is mine: To Judge Wright Jr.
From Abdul Hakim Muhammad I'm writing this because I wish to plead guilty. To all charges I'm facing. Without deals without respite. I wrote the prosecutor and Federal Buerau of Investigations and TBI (Tenn. Buerau of Investigation. Informing them of all of the acts I was involved in around or about May 29 - June 1 2009. I do not wish to recieve funds for my defense. I don't wish to have a trial. I'm affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Member of the Abu Basir's Army. This was a Jihadi Attack on infidel forces. That didn't go as plan. Flat out Truth. I plead to capital Murder, Attempt capital Murder and The other 19 counts without compulsion without Deals. My lawyer and prosecutors have fail to comply. I wrote John Johnson informing him of this. He responded I couldn't plead guilty to capital Murder Case. Which I think is a lie. That's why I'm writing you my lawyer has no defense. I wasn't insane or post traumatic nor was I forced to do this Act. Which I believe and it is justified according to Islamic Laws and the Islamic Religious Jihad To fight Those who wage war on Islam and Muslims. At the next hearing I look forward to pleading guilty and Await sentencing. Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad
11 pm 1/12/2010 I really have nothing to add. This was an act of individual jihad. The Abu Basir mentioned in the letter who's army Mr. Muhammad claims to be a member of is Abu Basir al-Wahishi, the Yemeni head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Even if he never received training from AQAP, just knowing who leads the group seems to me an indication that he traveled in jihadi circles (probably online0. I would direct you to read Ace's thoughts on the matter and I'll just echo his sentiment.
As Nidial Hassan taught us: one does not need to formally belong to a terrorist organization to inflict a lot of death and suffering in their name. Thanks to John in Little Rock for the copy of the letter. With thanks to the Jawa Report
 AN American company says it will stop adding biblical references to the so-called Jesus sights for rifles used by Australian soldiers. Trijicon triggered an international uproar when US soldiers in Afghanistan discovered that letters and figures they thought were simply stock or model numbers referred to passages from the Bible. One example was JN8:12 which turned out to be a reference to chapter eight, verse 12 in the Book of John: “When Jesus spoke again to the people he said ‘I am the light of the world’.” The company has now issued a statement saying it had stopped putting the inscriptions on its sights. It said it would also give the Pentagon, free of charge, 100 free kits which could be used to remove the references from sights that had already been issued to troops. The ADF has several hundred of the sights, which are prized by elite troops for their accuracy over long range, and it is now working out how to remove the scriptural links from them with wrecking the equipment. The Michigan-based family-owned company said it had for two generations been working to provide America's military men and women with high quality, and innovative sighting systems. “Our effort is simple and straightforward: to help our servicemen and women win the war on terror and come home safe to their families. “As part of our faith and our belief in service to our country, Trijicon has put scripture references on our products for more than two decades. “As long as we have men and women in danger, we will continue to do everything we can to provide them with both state-of-the-art technology and the never-ending support and prayers of a grateful nation.” The ADF confirmed yesterday it had been unaware of the meaning of the inscription when the sights were issued to troops. “The Department of Defence was unaware of the significance of the manufacturer's serial number,” the spokesman said. “The sights were procured because they provide mature technology which is highly reliable, in wide use by our allies and best meet Defence requirements. Soldiers are confident in the utility of the sight and the positive and proven effect which it is having on operations.” The spokesman said Defence was conscious of the sensitivities over this issue and was assessing how to address them. Another inscription was 2COR4:6, which is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament. The passage reads: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The Australian 
 The Defense Department released its report Friday on the jihad massacre at Fort Hood, and it is hard to imagine a document more full of denial and deception. Above all, the Pentagon seems intent on ignoring and obfuscating the reasons why Nidal Hasan murdered thirteen people at Fort Hood in November. Although there were numerous signs that Nidal Hasan was an Islamic jihadist who believed it part of his religious responsibility as a Muslim to wage war against Infidels, the words “jihad,” “Muslim,” “Islam” and even “Islamist” never appear in the 86-page mélange of droning bureaucratese. Echoing hapless Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s reaction to the Christmas Day attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253, the report claims that, despite the thirteen murders, the system worked well at Fort Hood: “Leaders at Fort Hood had anticipated mass casualty events in their emergency response plans and exercises. Base personnel were prepared and trained to take appropriate and decisive action to secure the situation. The prompt and courageous acts of Soldiers, first responders, local law enforcement personnel, DoD civilians, and health care providers prevented greater losses.” The only negative note in the report is the delicately stated idea that the military could be better prepared for the next jihad attack -- uh, that is, the next “tragedy”: “The tragedy, however, raised questions about the degree to which the entire Department is prepared for similar incidents in the future -- especially multiple, simultaneous incidents.” And how does the report propose to make sure that the military is prepared for “similar incidents in the future”? By acting upon a series of empty, platitudinous recommendations: “identifying and monitoring potential threats;” “providing time-critical information to the right people;” “employing force protection measures;” and “planning for and responding to incidents.” That’s right: the Pentagon is recommending that the military could be more prepared for the next terror attack by “planning for” it. And the irony is thick when the report recommends that the military improve its ability to identify and monitor “potential threats” -- this from a report that steadfastly refuses even to acknowledge the existence of the Islamic jihad doctrine that motivated Nidal Hasan to murder in the first place. Could belief in that doctrine be a “potential threat”? Of course not. At least not in a military which permits the Chief of Staff of the Army -- Gen. George Casey -- to say that as bad as the Fort Hood shootings were, it would be an even greater tragedy if the Army’s diversity were damaged. A glimmer of reality threatens to break through when the report suggests that “DoD standards for denying requests for recognition as an ecclesiastical endorser of chaplains may be inadequate” -- in other words, the Pentagon has no efficient way to screen the groups that endorse chaplains for the military. And that is certainly true: for a considerable period only two Islamic groups, both Saudi-funded, had the authority to train and approve Muslim chaplains for the military: the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences and the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council. Both of these were linked to the Islamic activist Abdurrahman Alamoudi, who is now serving a 23-year prison sentence for financing jihad terrorism. If the Pentagon increased scrutiny of such “moderate” organizations, well and good. But by what criteria will it do so, since it doesn’t seem to have noticed that there is any problem of supremacism or violence in Islam in the first place? Political correctness was responsible for the murders of thirteen people at Fort Hood. If it had not held the political and military establishments in a stranglehold, Nidal Hasan would never have remained in the U.S. military, much less risen to the rank of major. He would have been removed from the ranks long before he had had a chance to murder anyone at Fort Hood. Political correctness was responsible for the fear among his superior officers -- they knew that if they disciplined or removed Hasan, they would have faced charges of “discrimination” and “bigotry.” And such charges can ruin careers these days. But that same political correctness is still very much in place, as the Fort Hood report abundantly indicates. And so for all its bluster about preventing the next attack, it will stand -- after the next jihad attack, and the one after that -- as a monument to the cowardice and myopia that held sway at the highest levels in Washington during the first year of the Obama Administration.
 A fine article by Bertram Wyatt-Brown, "Lawrence of Arabia: Image and Reality," in The Journal of the Historical Society, December 2009, pp, 515-48, traces the reputation of T. E. Lawrence (1888-1935) through the near-century since his remarkable exploits during World War I and his famed recounting of those events in Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926). Wyatt-Brown's account of Lawrence's role since 2006, when he had a deep impact on the American expeditionary force in Iraq, came as news to me. He focuses on Lawrence's 2,800-word summary of lessons learned in war, published in The Arab Bulletin, August 20, 1917, and bearing the supremely modest title, "Twenty-Seven Articles."
In it, Lawrence offers his "personal conclusions, arrived at gradually while [he] worked in the Hejaz and now put on paper as stalking horses for beginners in the Arab armies." He adds that the rules "are meant to apply only to Bedu [Bedouin]; townspeople or Syrians require totally different treatment." His advice includes such insights as "Win and keep the confidence of your leader," "Be shy of too close relations with the subordinates," and "Cling tight to your sense of humour." Wyatt-Brown explains the recent role of this slight, archaic document: A renewed attention to Lawrence's military understanding of Middle Eastern insurgency may have been helpful in the reform of U.S. policy in Iraq, once General David Howell Petraeus took charge. According to journalist Linda Robinson, before assuming that command, the general had studied Lawrence's writings at night.
He took special notice of the difficulties Lawrence had faced in organizing the Bedouins. Petraeus had his senior officers read "The Twenty-Seven Articles" and Seven Pillars of Wisdom. … The chief reform under Petraeus's orders was in the conduct of officers and soldiers toward Iraqi leaders and civilians and in making armed alliances with Sunnis willing to break with Al Qaeda. …
Petraeus soon recognized that the Iraqi power structure was rooted in tribal politics. Policies had to accommodate that Middle Eastern arrangement. … He adopted a major cornerstone of Lawrence's understanding of guerilla warfare. In the Army War College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Petraeus, David Kilcullen, and other strategists tirelessly worked out the new strategy, with Lawrence's observations providing a helpful point of departure. Like Lawrence himself, Petraeus used lavish distributions of money as the lubricant of good relations with the Iraqi tribesmen. He also adhered to Lawrence's dictum, "Do not try to do too much with your own hands" even if you can perform the mission better than the native forces. The general recast it as "the host nation doing something tolerably is normally better than us doing it well. "Twenty-Seven Articles," writes Wyatt-Brown, "has become something of a bible for current American military experts dealing with the problems of occupying and controlling" Iraq. Indeed, Lawrence earned the compliment of being almost plagiarized without a line of acknowledgment in the U.S. Army field manual for counterinsurgency. With Petraeus offering the Foreword, the document was compiled at Fort Leavenworth in 2005. Conrad Crane, a War College historian, and Lt. Col. John A. Nagl led a team of experts. When the University of Chicago Press published an edition, it received wide coverage that nearly made it a bestseller. A considerable number of passages, however, were paraphrasings of Lawrence's work, according to anthropologist Roberto Gonzalez. Petraeus himself was willing to credit Lawrence for helping him develop his counterinsurgency ideas. The general pointed out in an article in Military Review that Lawrence had given this advice: "It is their war, and you are to help them, not win it for them," a notion, Petraeus declared, as "relevant in the 21st century as it was in his own time in the Middle East during World War I." Wyatt-Brown sees the Lawrence-inspired shift as hugely consequential, perhaps saving "an enormous number of American and Iraqi lives." Ironically, "Lawrence's insights, though far less prominent, were more significant in [the American] Middle Eastern engagement than they had been in his own day." He credits Lawrence's deep insights into tribal culture to several factors: "years of training in the study of the Near East, its history, and its traditions," learning colloquial Arabic, visiting the region in 1909 and traveling over 1,100 miles mostly by foot. These interests, Wyatt-Brown concludes, "grew out of his unconventional love of the Bedouins and their habitat." Comments: (1) Traveling "over 1,100 miles, mostly by foot" in the Middle East constitutes an enviable education in itself. (2) Great strategists sometimes have unusual, even eccentric backgrounds. (3) The most difficult thing for a Westerner to learn about the Middle East – even more so than the Arabic language – is the abiding role of tribal culture. For a recent study, see Culture and Conflict in the Middle East (Prometheus) by Philip Carl Salzman, a book I have highly recommended. (4) Military technology changed so much over the past century that contemporary warfare appears completely unlike World War I. But the human dimension hardly changed; thus does a Clausewitz or a Lawrence retain his importance. Daniel Pipes (See also this piece previously posted )
 A raid by a US drone in northwest Pakistan has killed at least 12 suspected opposition fighters, Pakistani officials have said. The attack took place on Sunday in the Shaktoi area of South Waziristan, close to the Afghanistan border. "The target was a militant compound," a senior military official said of the raid, which occurred about 40km southeast of Miranshah, the primary town in North Waziristan. Another official added: "The drones are apparently tracking and targeting Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, whose presence is frequently reported in the area." Conflicting reports have emerged over the past few days of Mehsud's death. On Saturday, the Pakistani Taliban released an audio recording in which a voice purporting to be that of Mehsud said that he had not been killed in a US bomb attack last Thursday. About 40 opposition fighters are said to have been killed by drone strikes since last Thursday, as Washington steps up its campaign to counter the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Pakistan. The latest attack is the 10th US drone strike this year. The use of the pilotless aircraft has been criticised by Pakistani officials for causing civilian casualties, as well as for breaching the country's sovereignty. Barack Obama, the US president, has put Pakistan at the centre of his policy to target the Taliban and al-Qaeda, seeing lawless tribal areas of western Pakistan as a safe haven for such fighters. Al Jazeera
 What? "Terrorism," you say? I thought the "war on terror" was over! Wasn't this a "man-caused disaster"? I thought it was vicarious Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder! Anyway, that Tim McVeigh is incorrigible! He must be stopped! "Fort Hood shooting was terrorism, U.S. says," by Phil Stewart for Reuters, January 15 (thanks to Weasel Zippers): WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The shooting rampage at a U.S. Army base in November was "an act of terrorism," an Obama administration official said on Friday, as the Pentagon ordered an overhaul of protocols to spot threats within the military. Reviews ordered on Friday by the Pentagon and White House exposed shortcomings in both intelligence and oversight before the November 5 shooting, which authorities blame on a military psychiatrist. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said his department was still "burdened by 20th century processes and attitudes mostly rooted in the Cold War," and needed to do more to combat self-radicalization. "Our counterintelligence procedures are mostly designed to combat an external threat such as a foreign intelligence service," Gates told reporters at the Pentagon, adding there was not enough focus "on internal threats."... Watch for the new emphasis on "internal threats" to focus not on Islamic jihadists, at least after the Hasan heat is off, but on "right-wing extremists." With thanks to JihadWatch
 What red flags? They still don't know why the military promoted Hasan and didn't act on "concerns". What concerns? His devotion to Islam? What would have been done had he been reported for his pious and devout love and devotion to Islam? Not only would he still have been promoted, anybody who reported him would have been demoted, a racist! An Islamophobe! An anti-Muslim bigot! The military gives korans to GITMO killers. Soldiers get their asses kicked, court martialed or worse if they diss jihadis' korans here or abroad. Obama gives jihadis constitutional rights! Who can anyone in the military go to if a Muslim soldier is devout without getting ruined? Who would anyone go to? Gates? Diversity Casey? Better yet, Hesham Islam? Has any military spokesman spoken openly about jihad in the Fort Hood Islamic attack? Steve Coughlin, call your office. Uh, never mind. Pentagon Review Doesn’t Explain Fort Hood Gunman’s Promotions A Defense Department review of the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood fails to determine why accused gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan advanced in rank despite concerns about his competence. WASHINGTON (January 11, 2010)—A Pentagon review of the deadly Nov. 5 shooting rampage at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Center that left 13 dead and 29 wounded fails to determine why accused gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was promoted in spite of worries over his competence, The Associated Press reported Monday. While the doctors who oversaw Hasan's medical training voiced concerns about his strident views on Islam, he continued to get positive performance evaluations. The review, obtained by The Associated Press, found that no one challenged his eligibility to hold a secret security clearance, even though his views raised doubt about his loyalty to the United States. The report is to be delivered to Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week. A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the review because it's not complete.
Nothing has changed. Keep scratching your heads, asshats. With thanks Atlas
 Less than a month after major Nidal Hasan allegedly killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, the Pentagon's top intelligence officer sent the White House a report detailing an earlier failure to connect the dots.
It reads like a dress rehearsal for the Detroit bomber case, reports CBS News chief national security correspondent David Martin.
According to that still-classified report, the terrorism task force responsible for determining whether Hasan posed a threat never saw all 18 e-mails he exchanged with that radical Yemeni cleric Awlaki whose communications were being monitored under a court ordered wiretap.
After the Washington task force decided Hasan was not dangerous, it never asked to see his subsequent communications with Alwaki.
"I think it's a real problem that you didn't have in one place at one time all of the communications being evaluated," said CBS News security analyst Juan Zarate.
None of the e-mails specifically mentioned Hasan's plans for a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, but because he was a member of the military the FBI showed them to a Pentagon investigator with the note "comm" written on it. To the FBI that meant "commissioned officer." The Pentagon investigator thought it meant "communication."
As a result, there were no red flags that an army officer was e-mailing a radical cleric suspected of being a talent spotter for al Qaeda.
Bottom line: the lessons of the Fort Hood shootings were not learned in time to avert the near disaster on Christmas day.
 The Iraqi government will push to appeal a US court ruling dismissing charges of murder against five security guards of the private Blackwater firm, an official has told Al Jazeera. Saad al-Muttalibi, an adviser to the Iraqi council of ministers, said on Friday that if the guards did not receive a just sentence for the killing of 14 Iraqis in 2007, the issue would complicate relations between Iraq and the United States. "This matter will be appealed in the American court and if not resolved correctly, this will definitely add another strain on the relationship between Iraq and the United States," he said. "The legality or the procedures of the court case should not stop the criminals from facing justice and receiving a just sentence. "This is very bad ... for the overall look of the United States outside its borders. It's very important for the Americans to realise that this will work against their interests in Iraq and other places." Ali al-Dabbagh, the Iraqi government spokesman, said in a statement: "The Iraqi government will follow up on this issue in strength and resolution to bring those murderers of Blackwater to accountability in order to return the rights of iraqi people who are the victims of this crime."
He said "the investigations carried out by the specialised Iraqi authorities confirmed with no doubt that the guards of Blackwater company have committed a criminal murder act and they have violated the combat environment rule to use force while there was no threat against them". Ricardo Urbina, a district judge, dismissed the charges against the five men on Thursday, saying US justice department prosecutors improperly built their case on sworn statements that had been given under a promise of immunity. Urbina said the government's explanations were "contradictory, unbelievable and lacking in credibility". The September 2007 shooting in Baghdad's busy Nisour Square left at least 14 Iraqis dead and inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad. The Iraqi government wanted the guards to stand trial in Iraq and officials there said they would closely watch how the US judicial system handled the case. Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the US justice department, said the department was "obviously disappointed by the decision".
Prosecutors can appeal the 90-page ruling and Boyd said the department was "still in the process of reviewing the opinion and considering our options". Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan explained that the judge did say that the case can be brought back to court without prejudice but it was going to be difficult for the justice department to build the case from scratch without using the defendants' statements. Blackwater Worldwide, which had been hired to guard US diplomats in Iraq at the time, has since changed its management and name to Xe Services. Despite a string of investigations following the deadly shooting and in spite of an Iraqi government ban on the company, the US state department extended a contract with a subsidiary of the firm in September to continue providing security to US diplomats in the country. The five guards, Donald Ball, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nick Slatten and Paul Slough, all formerly in the US military, had been charged with manslaughter and weapons charges, which carried mandatory 30-year prison terms. More at Al Jazeera
 CRIMINAL charges against five Blackwater security guards accused of fatally shooting 14 people in Baghdad in September 2007 have been dismissed. Judge Ricardo Urbina said prosecutors violated the defendants' rights by using incriminating statements they had made under immunity during a State Department investigation to build their case. “The government used the defendants' compelled statements to guide its charging decisions, to formulate its theory of the case, to develop investigatory leads, and ultimately to obtain the indictment in the case,” Judge Urbina ruled. “In short, the government had utterly failed to prove that it made no impermissible use of the defendants' statment or that such use was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.” The guards had been charged with killing 14 Iraqi civilians and wounding 18 others using gunfire and grenades during an unprovoked attack at a busy Baghdad intersection. Judge Urbina explained in his opinion that federal prosecutors were offered an opportunity during a three-week hearing that began in mid-October 2009 to prove that they had not made use of the defendants' statements. “The explanations offered by the prosecutors and investigators in an attempt to justify their actions... were all too often contradictory, unbelievable and lacking in credibility,” Judge Urbina wrote. He added: “The court must dismiss the indictments against all of the defendants.” The five defendants were security guards employed by Blackwater Worldwide, which since has been renamed a Xe Corporation. Blackwater has insisted its personnel were acting in self-defence, but critics repeatedly have accused the company of a “shoot first, ask questions later” approach when carrying out security duties in Iraq. A State Department review panel in 2007 concluded that there had been insufficient US government oversight of private security firms hired in Iraq to protect diplomats and to guard facilities. The panel found that as a result there was an “undermined confidence” in those contractors, both among Iraqis and US military commanders. The Australian
 By: Steve Emerson Given the raw number of terrorist plots this year, it shouldn't come as a surprise that 2009 is ending with an attempt to blow a commercial airliner out of the sky.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed bombing plot stands out in part because it appears to have been designed and launched from abroad.
Homegrown American Islamist terror became impossible to ignore this year: Two fatal attacks on the U.S. military — one killing an Army recruiter, the other a mass murder of soldiers; an intercepted plot considered the biggest domestic threat since 9/11; and a series of conspiracies to blow up synagogues, office buildings, and other targets made 2009 the year homegrown American Islamist terror became a clear, serious threat.
An American stands accused of playing a key role in scouting targets in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed more than 170 people. Five college students gave up promising futures to try to join the jihad against American soldiers in Afghanistan. And two young men were convicted for working with Pakistani militants in plots at home and abroad.
The Nov. 5 Fort Hood massacre was the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States since 9/11. Six months earlier, Muslim convert Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad shot and killed Army recruiter William Long in Little Rock, Ark. Muhammad told police "he was mad at the U.S. military because of what they had done to Muslims in the past," and that he would have shot more people if he had seen them outside the recruiting office.
This spike in violence and planned attacks got the White House's attention. President Obama noted in his speech at West Point explaining the U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan: "In the past few months alone, we have apprehended extremists within our borders who were sent here from the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan to commit new acts of terror."
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano cited the case of Najibullah Zazi (a U.S. resident charged with planning to detonate a weapon of mass destruction who allegedly trained with al-Qaida): "We are seeing young Americans who are inspired by al-Qaida and radical ideology. We are seeing increasing links" between al-Qaida and American citizens "for purposes of planning terrorist attacks."
These and other recent arrests of Islamist terror suspects on U.S. soil should debunk a popular illusion: that the United States has been so successful at integrating Muslims into American life that it need not worry about homegrown radicalization, said Zeyno Baran, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Eurasian Policy.
"I think there was always a little bit of denial here," Baran told the Investigative Project on Terrorism. "People have been repeating the mantra that 'America is different' " from Europe.
Baran warned against exaggerating the potential benefits of integrating Muslims better into American culture to prevent radicalization. She noted, for example, that the British doctors who attempted to carry out a series of car bombings in London and Glasgow two years ago appeared to be well-integrated medical professionals. But the outward signs of professional and social success masked the reality that they had become devoted jihadists.
And FBI counterterrorism chief Steve Pomerantz expressed skepticism about the idea that better integration of Muslims would reduce the jihadist threat. "You only become integrated if you want to," he said during an interview.
Noting that many of the Muslims who immigrated to Europe in recent decades showed little interest in integrating themselves, Pomerantz said the United States needs to accept the possibility that American Muslims may follow the European model.
He believes the jihadist danger in the United States is likely to worsen. More at Newsmax
 With the FBI cutting off ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and now subpoenaing some 12,000 internal CAIR documents under temporary restraining order as part of the bureau’s ongoing criminal investigation of CAIR, the terrorist front group is suddenly cooperating with the FBI — or at least making a show of it. Suddenly CAIR, an unindicted terrorist co-conspirator, is acting like a good citizen.
Suddenly it’s concerned about young Muslim-American men going on jihad. Suddenly it’s concerned about “certain” passages of the Quran inspiring jihadists. It’s all too little, too late. Thanks to CAIR, 42 brave American soldiers were gunned down by an Islamic nut in Texas. That’s right, thanks to CAIR. How so? For starters, it was the intimidating and ruthless CAIR that almost single-handedly created a climate of fear of reporting any suspicious anti-American behavior on the part of Muslim soldiers like Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, accused of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. The CAIR-induced mass silence led to mass murder. Fear in the military of being seen as anti-Muslim also blocked intellectually honest discussion of violent Islamic ideology in the ranks. Thanks to CAIR, the military along with everyone else in government is terrified of associating terrorism with Islam. No one dares utter the M word, lest they be sued for discrimination or branded an “anti-Muslim bigot” or “Islamophobe” by CAIR’s smear merchants. “There were definitely clear indications that Hasan’s loyalties were not with America,” said Lt. Col. Val Finnell, one of the Army doctors who served with Hasan. But nobody said anything because “there’s a political correctness climate in the military,” and everybody’s “afraid of an equal opportunity lawsuit.” CAIR’s lawyers have filed thousands of EEOC complaints and lawsuits since 9/11. They’ve even gone after John Doe citizens who alerted airline crew to Muslim men behaving as menacingly and suspiciously as the 9/11 hijackers. CAIR’s “Flying While Muslim” anti-profiling campaign has had a chilling effect throughout the aviation security industry. CAIR gulled non-Muslims into the kind of see-no-evil dhimmitude that allowed Hasan to carry out his alleged terror. Had anyone dared officially protest Hasan’s extremist views, they would have not only risked their military careers but potentially faced a lawsuit sponsored by CAIR. Hasan was treated with kid gloves because CAIR demanded it. Thanks to CAIR, a dozen soldiers lay dead, along with 29 wounded, some so severely they’ll never be deployed in the war on terror again, which is just fine by CAIR. Since 9/11, the Saudi-funded front group has consistently and vehemently protested the war, even in Afghanistan, while defending the Taliban and other terrorists. More at FPM
 KABUL — In a Christmas Day move, the Taliban on Friday released a video of an American soldier captured in Afghanistan, showing him apparently healthy but spouting criticism about the U.S. military operation. In Idaho, Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl's family pleaded for his release and urged him to "stay strong." Bergdahl disappeared June 30 while based in eastern Afghanistan and is the only known American serviceman in captivity. The Taliban claimed his capture in a video released in mid-July that showed the young Idaho soldier appearing downcast and frightened. He hadn't been heard from until Friday's video, in which he looks well and speaks clearly. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed hours later that the man in the video was Bergdahl, but denounced both its timing and content. "This is a horrible act which exploits a young soldier, who was clearly compelled to read a prepared statement," said a statement from U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, ISAF's spokesman. "To release this video on Christmas Day is an affront to the deeply concerned family and friends of Bowe Bergdahl, demonstrating contempt for religious traditions and the teachings of Islam." Lt. Col. Tim Marsano of the Idaho National Guard issued a statement Friday from the family of Bergdahl, who live outside Hailey, Idaho. In their statement, the family urged the captors "to let our only son come home." And to their son, the family said, "We love you and we believe in you. Stay strong." Marsano met with the family Friday morning at their home. He told the AP that the family had not seen the video but had talked to other relatives who had seen it. In the video, Bergdahl is shown seated, facing the camera, wearing sunglasses and what appears to be a U.S. military helmet and uniform. On one side of the image, it says: "An American soldier imprisoned by the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan." It also shows him eating while wearing garb characteristic of Afghanistan's Kandahar province, an area where the Taliban emerged in the 1990s. He identifies himself as Bergdahl, born in Sun Valley, Idaho, and gives his rank, birth date, blood type, his unit and mother's maiden name before beginning a lengthy verbal attack on the U.S. conduct of the war in Afghanistan and its relations with Muslims. In the video, Bergdahl says "It's our arrogance and, and our stupidity that has made us so blind that we simply refuse to see the blunders and mistakes that we continue to make over and over again. " "This is just going to be the next Vietnam unless the American people stand up and stop all this nonsense," he said. Although it is unclear where Bergdahl was being held when the video was recorded, he said he had not been abused by his captors and drew a sharp contrast with his own country's treatment of war prisoners. In light of "the brutality and inhumane way my country has ravaged the lands and the people of my captures (sic), the Taliban, one would expect that they would justly treat me as my country's Army has treated their Muslim prisoners in Bagram, in Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and many other secret prisons hidden around the world," he said. "But I bear witness. I was continuously treated as a human being with dignity," he said. The video, which has an English-language narration in parts, also shows images of prisoners in U.S. custody being abused. The speaker says he did not suffer such ill treatment. A statement read by a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, appears at the end of the video and renews demands for a "limited number of prisoners" to be exchanged for Bergdahl. The statement says that more American troops could be captured. The Geneva Conventions, which regulate the conduct of war between regular armies, bar the use of detainees for propaganda purposes and prohibit signatories from putting captured military personnel on display. As an insurgent organization, the Taliban are not party to the treaty. Statements from captives are typically viewed as being made under duress. Bergdahl, who was serving with a unit based in Fort Richardson, Alaska, was 23 when he vanished just five months after arriving in Afghanistan. He was serving at a base in Paktika province near the border with Pakistan in an area known to be a Taliban stronghold. On Friday, NATO said a joint Afghan-international force killed several militants in Paktika while searching for a commander of the Jalaluddin Haqqani militant network that is linked to al-Qaida. U.S. military officials have searched for Bergdahl, but it is not publicly known whether he is even being held in Afghanistan or neighboring Pakistan. FoxNews
 By Bill Roggio The Afghan military claimed to have captured a dangerous Taliban commander who orders suicide and roadside bomb attacks in the southwestern province of Nimroz. Mullah Sher Malang was captured in a raid in the Khashrod district in Nimroz after a major clash with Taliban forces in the region. The initial clash took place after Taliban forces under the command of Mullah Ewaz ambushed an Afghan and Coalition convoy in the district. Ewaz and an estimated 20 of his fighters were reported killed during the battle, which took place on Dec. 18, Nimroz's governor and police chief told Pajhwok Afghan News. Afghan forces captured Malang during a follow-up raid that resulted in one Taliban fighter killed and five more wounded. Malang is known to organize suicide attacks and roadside bombings in the region, and is a close ally to Mullah Abdullah Zakir, the Taliban's chief of military operations in southern Afghanistan. Zakir, whose real name is Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, is known to operate a forward command center in the Chaman district in Pakistan's Baluchistan province, US military intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal. Zakir is a former detainee at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba. Zakir operates from Chaman as it shields him from US and NATO operations, the officials said. According to Pajhwok Afghan News, Zakir has also been operating from Farah province, which is under the command of a dangerous Taliban commander known as Mullah Hayatullah. Farah borders Helmand province, where Coalition and Afghan forces have gone on the offensive to uproot the Taliban. "He's [Zakir is] untouchable in Pakistan," one official said, noting the covert US air campaign is limited to Pakistan's northwest. "Right now we're not striking in Baluchistan, and Pakistan won't move against them [the Taliban] there." The Taliban have based their Shura Majlis, or executive council, in nearby Quetta, according to US, British, and Afghan officials. But recent reports indicate that Mullah Omar and much of the Quetta Shura have relocated to Pakistan's port city of Karachi, with the aid of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency. The report broke as the US threatened to expand the covert air war against Omar's forces from the tribal areas into Quetta and greater Baluchistan. In the past, the Pakistani government denied that the Afghan Taliban is based in Quetta. However, on Dec. 10, Pakistan's defense minister admitted that Mullah Omar's Quetta Shura is indeed in Pakistan, but said it is no longer a threat. Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar claimed Pakistan's intelligence services have neutralized the Quetta Shura.
There is no evidence, however, that any senior member of Mullah Omar's cadre has been killed or captured. Long War Journal
 Nidal Hasan, who was shot in the chest by a police officer during the November 5 rampage at the sprawling Fort Hood military base in Texas, will likely never walk again and has no control over basic bodily functions. It will likely be some time before he is ready to face trial, said John Galligan, Hasan's civilian attorney. "He's permanently paralysed from the upper chest area down,'' Galligan told AFP. "He still has significant collateral issues... he's an invalid.'' Galligan has asked the army to move Hasan to a hospital closer to his office near Fort Hood so that he can more easily meet with his client. Hasan remains under guard at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, about 190 kilometres away from where the massacre took place. The Pentagon has launched an elaborate investigation into the shootings to determine whether warning signs were missed and to prevent such an assault from happening again. Hasan is being investigated for links to Islamic extremism, including his contacts with a radical cleric who blessed the killing spree. He faces 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. Twelve soldiers and one civilian were killed in the attack. Another 42 people were wounded. Galligan said he was worried that his client would not be given a fair trial at Fort Hood given the publicity surrounding the case and the way prosecutors are "rushing things.'' "My job is to make sure that Major Hasan gets a fair, free day in court. That's what our service members fight for,'' Galligan said. "When I defend Major Hasan, I feel like I'm defending every soldier in uniform. Too many Americans, from high level politicians on down to some people in my local community have forgotten the significance of that.'' Galligan said he was not given the opportunity to be present when investigators interviewed Hasan at the hospital or when he was formally charged and cannot get the company commander to return his phone calls. Hasan is also facing unusually heavy restrictions in hospital, Galligan said. He is being monitored by a video camera, he has been told that all communication must be in English, his correspondence is being monitored and copied, his visitors are strictly limited and Galligan cannot be present at the same time as Hasan's family. "I love the military justice system,'' Galligan said. "If it's done right you can get a better trial, sometimes a fairer trial than you can in state court or federal court. If it gets derailed there is nothing worse than having the army coming against you.'' The Australian
 As many as 56,000 private contractors could accompany the 30,000 additional U.S. troops being sent to Afghanistan, according to a congressional study. The Congressional Research Service report says that would bring the number of contractors in the country to about 160,000. Last December, contractors made up 69 percent of the Pentagon's personnel in Afghanistan, "the highest recorded percentage of contractors used by the Defense Department in any conflict in the history of the United States," according to the study, which was first reported by Talking Points Memo. The dramatic increase in contract work is changing the way military leaders wage war. "Prior to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, contracting was done on an ad-hoc basis and was not adequately incorporated into the doctrine -- or culture -- of the military," the CRS report said. Now "doctrine and strategy are being updated to incorporate the role of contractors in contingency operations."
 WASHINGTON: Iraqi militants have regularly used cheap and widely-available software to intercept the feeds of US-operated drones, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Citing senior defence and intelligence officials, the Journal said Iranian-backed Shi'ite insurgents used software programs such as SkyGrabber - available online for $US25.95 ($A28.81) - to capture drone feeds. The practice was uncovered in July 2009, when the US military found files of intercepted drone video feeds on the laptop of a captured militant. They discovered "days and days and hours and hours of proof", a person described as familiar with the situation told the Journal. "It is part of their kits now." Some of the most detailed examples of drone intercepts have been uncovered in Iraq, but the same technique is known to have been employed in Afghanistan and could easily be used in other areas where US drones operate. The US government has known about the flaw since the 1990s but assumed its adversaries would not be able to take advantage of it, the Journal said. US officials said there was no evidence that militants could control the drones or otherwise interfere with their flights, but the vulnerability would allow the unmanned craft to be monitored and tracked. Defence officials told the Journal efforts were being made to fix the flaw, but noted that adding encryption to a decade-old system is tricky and requires upgrading several components of the system linking drones to ground control. One of the developers of SkyGrabber, which is made by Russian company SkySoftware, told the Journal he had no idea the program could be used to intercept drone feeds. "It was developed to intercept music, photos, video, programs and other content that other users download from the Internet - no military data or other commercial data, only free legal content," Andrew Solonikov told the Journal. The Australian
 AMONG the army huts clustered on the bleak, windswept outskirts of Kabul is the Counterinsurgency Training Centre, Afghanistan. It is where 50-year-old US special forces colonel John F. Agoglia devises strategy and tactics to deal with a worsening Taliban crisis that by some estimates has put about half of the country at risk of insurgent attack. "We've done some stupid shit. We focused on terrorism, not governance, and probably realised that about three years ago," the blunt Brooklyn-born officer says. In 2007, the buzz phrase was "ink spots". It was used by NATO to describe the strategy of deploying combat troops into lawless Taliban-held regions of Afghanistan as a way of winning hearts and minds. The theory goes like this. Surge enough troops into the badlands, the insurgents disperse and the coalition spots eventually join to form a uniform shade. Four years later, the hope is still there although the language has changed. Ink spots have given way to constructivist theory. Depending on who you speak to, the conflict in Afghanistan is an equilateral triangle where war fighting is just one facet of counter-insurgency that is equally dependent on economic development and governance to achieve desired outcomes. The final shape emerging last week around the International Security Assistance Force headquarters was a hexagon following general agreement on the use of a new buzzword, partnering. That is the term for joint Afghan-coalition combat operations as US combat troops begin to leave by July 2011. The December 2 announcement of US President Barack Obama's Pakistan-Afghan review was welcomed by US commander of NATO forces Stanley McChrystal. "The clarity, commitment and resolve outlined in the President's address are critical steps towards bringing security to Afghanistan and eliminating terrorist safe havens that threaten regional and global security," McChrystal says. "The NATO-ISAF objective is equally clear. We will work towards improved security for Afghanistan and the transfer of responsibility to Afghan security forces as rapidly as conditions allow," he tells ISAF commanders. Two days after the unveiling of the new doctrine to send an extra 30,000 US combat troops into Afghanistan, nowhere were the challenges of achieving Obama's goals more keenly discussed than inside the US-run Counterinsurgency Training Centre, known as COIN. During the next 18 months, thousands of US combat troops will be deployed in the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan, notably the northeast frontier region and former no-go zones in southern Helmand. The first 1500 are due to arrive this week. Their mission will be to prise away from the Taliban districts under their control, re-establish security and buy time to fast-track training of Afghan security forces while aid and governance experts restore some desperately needed credibility to Hamid Karzai's graft-tainted government. Nobody, least all of the shadowy figures who inhabit the COIN centre, doubt the immense challenges of the assignment. More at the Australian
 There is a direct connection between the Islamic terrorist attack at Fort Hood to the members of the so-called “Toronto 18,” an Islamic terrorist cell broken up by counter-terrorism authorities in 2006. That nexus is Anwar Nasser al-Awlaki (a/k/a Aulaqi), the former Imam of the Dar al Hijrah Mosque in Falls Church, Virginia. Al Awlaki privately counseled at least three of the 9/11 terrorists in the months prior to 9/11, and was found to be in contact with Nidal Malik HASAN, the Muslim terrorist who murdered 14 Americans (including one unborn child) at Fort Hood on November 7, 2009 in the weeks and months leading up to that attack. The convoluted relationship of terror suspects also involves two Muslim Americans who embarked on a week-long trip to meet with Canadian terror suspects in a March 2005 “Islamic terror summit” in Toronto, Ontario. Both were sentenced last week to lengthy prison terms for their planning terrorist attacks, and the recruitment and training of others. On 20 July 2006, Canada Free Press & the Northeast Intelligence Network were the first to report that two terror suspects from the U.S., Syed Haris AHMED and Ehsanul SADEQUEE met with other subjects of ongoing counter-terrorism investigation in Toronto, Ontario “to engage in activities in support of violent jihad.”
They met with several members of the group subsequently dubbed the “Toronto 18” as first reported in this CFP June 4, 2006 exclusive.
The “Toronto 18” were originally charged with plotting to engage in various terrorism acts including the importation of weapons, plotting various bombings and assassinations, and other acts of terrorism against public officials and facilities in Ontario. Yesterday, the U.S. Justice Department announced that Syed Haris AHMED, convicted in June of conspiring to support terrorism in the US and abroad was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William S. Duffey, Jr. to 13 years in prison followed by 30 years of probation.
SADEQUEE, who was convicted on August 12, 2009, was sentenced to 17 years in prison followed by 30 years of supervised release. More…
CFP
 BAGHDAD — Car bombs and other explosions ripped through Iraq's capital and a major northern city on Tuesday, killing nine people and showing again the ease with which insurgents manage to slip past security. The explosions in Baghdad and Mosul came exactly a week after suicide bombers killed 127 people and wounded more than 500 in a series of five bombings in the Iraqi capital — three of which appeared to target government buildings. The blasts raise fresh questions about the government's ability to protect itself and its citizens as U.S. forces prepare to leave Iraq. "There were two military checkpoints using detectors at the beginning of the street, how can such car bombs manage to enter and explode?" said a Baghdad woman who identified herself as Um Ali, her cheeks smeared with blood as she screamed at reporters, echoing the frustrations voiced by many Iraqis. In Baghdad, three car bombs detonated within minutes of each other in different areas near the heavily guarded Green Zone, which houses the U.S. Embassy, the Iraqi parliament and other government buildings. One of the bombs went off near the Foreign Ministry, which was targeted in an August bombing; two others exploded near the Immigration Ministry and the Iranian Embassy. Five people were killed and at least 16 wounded, according to Iraqi officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Authorities quickly arrested owners of three parking lots where the bombs exploded, charging them with failing to carefully search the cars and check vehicle registration papers. Hours later and hundreds of miles away, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, two more car bombs an a roadside mine killed four people. A doctor at the Mosul general hospital said as many as 40 were wounded in the separate blasts that appeared to target a high-traffic neighborhood and a church. More at FoxNews
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Here's the full text of the letter from Abdul Hakim Muhammad, the man who murdered an Army recruiter in Little Rock and tried to kill a second, to the judge presiding over his trial. 
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