Posts in "Al Qaeda"

By Brian Beyer at 7:30AM

Jan 7, 2010

To All Neocons and Obama, Too

Al-Qaeda said the suicide bombing at a US base in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA agents was "revenge" for the deaths of militants in US drone strikes in Pakistan, the US monitoring group SITE said on Thursday.

Notice how they didn't cite the Constitution and our freedoms as a reason for attacking us.

Posted in:

3 comments

By Jihan Huq at 11:09PM

Jan 5, 2010

Clinton: Yemen War A Global Threat

hill2 Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said the ongoing war in Yemen poses a grave threat to the entire world. Clinton also mentioned that the various civil wars in Yemen "seem to get worse and worse with more players involved," adding that it is now the time for the entire international community to lay out many "expectations" to the Yemeni government.

Yemen has recently been a been a much more scrutinized target since the Lap Bomber incident in Decemeber of 2009. Yemen insists that it can handle the threat imposed by Al Qaida, while at the same time is relying on the U.S government for major assistance on weaponry and training.

Posted in:

3 comments

By Brian Beyer at 6:41AM

Dec 29, 2009

A Tragic Monologue

Two wars is not enough. We need three. Why? Because warhawks now run the show. The antiwar right has been dead for a while and no one is surprised about that. However, the left's abandonment of their antiwar principles is even more discouraging. They can no longer be counted on to protest unjust wars and occupations. Just as the right lost its principled stance against nonsensical wars, so did the left. The two party system is more like a one party system. The dominant party is the War Party and it's here to stay.

Because of this unique scenario, the lack of any meaningful dialogue on war, covert wars in Yemen will continue to go on unchallenged because an Al Qaeda sect calls those mountains their home. And no one will do a single thing about it because it has turned into a tragic monologue. War, war, war. The mantra will be repeated. For 18 months, the American taxpayer will throw $70 million at the failed state of Yemen to nation build. Of course, they make nation-building sound like it is actually making a difference by "equipping and training Yemeni military." No good will come out of it. The US is using conventional methods to combat an unconventional enemy. With three fruitless wars now in progress and countless other “operations,” when will we learn that enough is enough?

Posted in:

2 comments

By Jihan Huq at 7:03AM

Dec 14, 2009

Al Qaeda Offers "Condolences" To Victims

**Literally puts her surprise face on**

It's not every day that your average jihadist apologizes for mass murder. Of course, Adam Gadahn (Azzam the American) was quick to console the vast Muslim innocents lost, not the nonmuslims (since according to him, nonmuslim blood does not equate to Muslim blood):

Adam G

"We express our condolences to the families of the Muslim men, women and children killed in these criminal acts," he said in the video. "And we ask Allah to have mercy on those killed and accept them as shohadaa (martyrs)."
We also express the same in regard to the unintended Muslim victims of the mujahedeen's operations against the crusaders and their allies and puppets, and to the countless faceless and nameless Muslim victims of the murderous crusades" in Afghanistan, Pakistan's Waziristan regions and Swat Valley, and elsewhere."

Gadahn, who is an American citizen is not only a member of the terrorist group but also one of it's spokepersons is on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list. I guess this would indicate that Al Qaeda is looking out for racial/ethnic diversity? Maybe the terror group is insinuating that Al Qaeda may after all be 'tolerant' of some sort? We can conclude this: to Al Qaeda anyone who is a Muslim jihadist is tolerable and anyone who is not is an imperialist infidel.

Posted in:

8 comments

By Brian Beyer at 10:55PM

Nov 30, 2009

Make the Right Choice, Mr. President

As more and more young Americans are killed in Afghanistan each and every day, President Obama faces a decision that could decide his presidency: to stay or not to stay. American soldiers are presented with the enormous, probably impossible task of eradicating the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and building a nation of literal sticks and stones in to a “stable democracy.” If President Obama does choose to stay, he seriously needs to consider how he is going to justify such a war.

The morality of this war has hardly been talked about by anyone. Discussion of this war is largely limited to tactics and numbers with little, if any, talk about the skewed moral compass this war is being fought with. Just at cursory glance at the war thus far reveals something a bit distressing. While this may be something hard to comprehend for the many who believe that the US has done no harm, America does in fact kill civilians. And lots of them. The debate over whether these attacks are intentional or unintentional is besides the point: thousands of Afghan civilians have died as a result of the war, many more than 9/11, the justification for entering the war in the first place. Disproportionate force has been used and is consequentially immoral, all American Exceptionalism aside. Speaking of exceptional, does this apply to our morals or just our military?

Another War?

It appears as though the war in Afghanistan will now be spilling over into Pakistan. This is very disheartening since 59% of Pakistanis consider the US their greatest threat. The supposed justification for this terrible move is to eliminate Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan. As we are seeing right now, it is nearly impossible to eradicate these two groups. They are ingrained in the tribal structure of the region and "eradicating" would mean the genocide of a sizable portion of Afghanistan's Pashtun tribe. This would only fuel hatred towards the US and serve as a rallying cry for the two groups.

Pakistan is large enough to take care of itself. The US is now giving them $1.5 billion in aid despite being considered its biggest threat. It would greatly help the US to cut off aid to India and Pakistan (and all other countries, for that matter) in order to eliminate this conflict of interest. More money and more blood are not remedies for this situation. Withdrawal and minding our own business are.