Osama bin Laden

And widely misunderstood.

Twenty years ago today al Qaeda bombed two U.S. embassies and killed 224 people. Iran helped them do it.

A review of The Dawn Prayer, by Matthew Schrier.

A top foreign correspondent at the New York Times said Friday that the Obama administration deliberately downplayed al Qaeda’s strength in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election.

Ned Price is not happy.

More than 16 years after the September 11, 2001, hijackings, America remains at war with jihadist groups around the globe. From South Asia through the heart of the Middle East and into West Africa, American forces are battling terrorist organizations that seek to control territory while threatening…

On the penultimate day of the Obama administration, less than 24 hours before the president would vacate the White House, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued a press release meant to put to rest what had been a pesky issue for his office. “Closing the Book on Bin Laden:…

We don't use the word “lie” with abandon in these pages. It’s used far too often in public life, to the point at which nearly every statement someone disagrees with is characterized as a “lie.” The L-word is tightly regulated in parliamentary bodies—in Congress, for example—and rightly so. Once you…

Over at the Long War Journal, Thomas Joscelyn and Bill Roggio have the first analysis of the massive trove of documents, files, and images which were recovered at Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, during the raid in which bin Laden was killed.

The cache of al-Qaeda documents captured in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin-Laden will soon be released to the public, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Monday.

Secret intelligence captured during the 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden's compound and withheld from the public by the Obama administration must be released, the House intelligence chairman told THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

Less than 24 hours before the official end of the Obama presidency, while White House staffers were pulling pictures off the walls and cleaning out their desks, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) posted without fanfare another installment of the documents captured in Osama…

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released 98 additional items from Osama bin Laden's compound today. If the ODNI has its way, then these files will be the last the American people see for some time. The accompanying announcement is titled, "Closing the Book on bin Laden:…

On the eve of President Obama’s final state visit to Saudi Arabia, 60 Minutes produced a story suggesting that 28 classified pages from the 9/11 Commission report point to direct Saudi government involvement in the attacks. There has been a lively debate over those pages since the report was first…

On the eve of President Obama’s final state visit to Saudi Arabia, 60 Minutes produced a story suggesting that 28 classified pages from the 9/11 Commission report point to direct Saudi government involvement in the attacks. There has been a lively debate over those pages since the report was first…

In May, the London Review of Books published a 10,000-word exposé by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh on the killing of Osama bin Laden. It was widely read online, receiving “more than two million page-views,” according to an editor’s note inserted at the bottom. While Hersh’s account…

In 2012, Vice President Joe Biden told the story of President Obama deciding to send a Navy SEAL team to kill Osama bin Laden. Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state at the time, "hedged" her bet, according to Biden's telling of the story.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer Stephen F. Hayes on the Republican Congress and why it's failing to get the Osama Bin Laden documents.

After four years of fierce internecine battles and inexplicable delays, the intelligence community last week started the process of releasing more documents captured in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) posted on its website…

Republican members of the House intelligence committee say the Obama administration should release more of the one million-plus documents found after the 2011 raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The U.S. government released Wednesday morning an additional 86 documents from the vast collection of documents captured during the 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The new disclosures bring the total number of documents released to 120 – a tiny fraction of the more…

Stephen F. Hayes and Thomas Joscelyn report in the Wall Street Journal on the latest developments in uncovering how the Obama administration actively played down the threat of al Qaeda during President Obama's reelection campaign.

Derek Harvey appeared on Fox News to talk about his latest piece ("Obama's ISIS Strategy Empowers Iran") and the Osama bin Laden documents:

Steve Hayes and Tom Joscelyn joined Bret Baier over the weekend to discuss the newly released Osama bin Laden documents:

Thomas Joscelyn talked on Fox News today about newly uncovered documents from the Osama bin Laden compound in Pakistan that reveal a direct connection between al Qaeda and Iran:

This week, prosecutors in New York introduced eight documents recovered in Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan as evidence in the trial of a terrorism suspect. The U.S. government accuses Abid Naseer of taking part in al Qaeda’s scheme to attack targets in Europe and New York City. And…

In the early morning hours of May 2, 2011, an elite team of 25 American military and intelligence professionals landed inside the walls of a compound just outside the Pakistani city of Abbottabad. CIA analysts had painstakingly tracked a courier to the compound and spent months monitoring the…

Reggie Love says he and President Obama played cards during the Osama bin Laden raid, and that the president told him, "I can't watch this entire thing."

Are we watching the demise of al Qaeda or its rebirth?

The Associated Press reports:

Prosecutors in Army Pfc. Bradley Manning’s case have introduced an intriguing piece of evidence: Osama bin Laden’s documents, or at least a description of them. The Associated Press reports (emphasis added):

The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it was moving forward with its attempt to negotiate with the Taliban, which has opened a long-awaited political office in Doha, Qatar. The Taliban released a statement trumpeting its new political front. Within hours, Afghan president Hamid Karzai…

Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, added his rather important voice to the growing number of current and former officials who believe the Obama administration should expedite the release of some documents captured during the raid that killed Osama bin…

During his counterterrorism speech on Thursday, President Obama defended the use of drones by saying the following:

The special election campaign for Senate in Massachusetts is only a few days old, but it's already looking close. A new PPP poll shows Democrat Ed Markey leading his Republican opponent, Gabriel Gomez, by only four points. Here's more from PPP:

Top U.S. intelligence officials revealed new details about the exploitation of Osama bin Laden’s extensive archive during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday. The officials revealed that at least several hundred intelligence reports have been generated based on an analysis of bin…

During the House Intelligence Committee hearing today on “Worldwide Threats,” Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper said that he has recently had conversations about releasing more of the documents captured in Osama bin Laden’s compound. More of the documents should be released,…

The House Intelligence Committee will be holding a hearing on “Worldwide Threats” today. The most senior U.S. intelligence officials are scheduled to testify.

CNN reports:

Director Kathryn Bigelow, who won an Oscar for The Hurt Locker after a career of making worse-to-middling action pictures, is a visionary of the grubby. In that 2009 Iraq war movie, and in her new one about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty, sand and dirt and grime and mold and mildew…

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta kept his pet dog by his side when he discussed details taking out Osama bin Laden at his CIA office.

In response to a report that classified information had been leaked to the makers of the Hollywood movie Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, Congressman Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, says he's concerned.

Mark Bowden, the author of Black Hawk Down and, most recently, of The Finish: The Killing Of Osama Bin Laden (for which he interviewed President Barack Obama), claimed on CNN last night that Obama and his political team are actively playing down al Qaeda for political gain:

Over the weekend, an Obama campaign supporter knocked on Ricochet writer Vance Richards's door and dropped off this flyer:

Last night, President Obama defiantly declared that "al Qaeda is on its heels." The president made this claim at a fundraiser at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California.

On and around September 11, 2012, al Qaeda attacked multiple American assets around the world. The attack that has received the most attention is the deadly attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. But the U.S.…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD has obtained this new political ad that knocks President Obama for saying the al Qaeda terrorist attack in Libya is a bump in the road:

A central tenet of President Obama’s foreign policy platform is that al Qaeda is “on the path to defeat.” The death of Osama bin Laden, drone strikes in northern Pakistan and elsewhere, the Arab Spring, and Obama’s more conciliatory approach to the Muslim world have all supposedly come together to…

During his acceptance speech last night, President Obama claimed, “I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and we have.”

Yesterday, when introducing President Obama at a campaign event in New Hampshire, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, said that the president "led the mission that brought Osama bin Laden to justice":

Pakistani officials have reportedly captured Naamen Meziche, an al Qaeda operative with an extensive dossier. Meziche plays a significant role in an article (“Al Qaeda’s Network in Iran”) that I co-authored with my colleague Benjamin Weinthal earlier this year. Reading through the articles…

At the Washington Free Beacon, Bill Gertz has a piece about Jose Rodriguez, the former chief of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center. Rodriguez warns that the CIA is “out of the business” of interrogating senior al Qaeda terrorists and this will eventually lead to a hole in America’s counterterrorism…

Robert Gates, the former defense secretary, reportedly blasted the national security team in the Obama White House for blabbing about the raid to kill Osama bin Laden. "Shut the f--- up," Gates told Tom Donilon, who is now Obama's national security adviser, according to a book by New York Times…

Even before the celebrations a year ago had ended, terrorism experts were debating the strategic significance of Osama bin Laden’s death at the hands of U.S. Navy SEALs. Some argued that bin Laden would prove irreplaceable to al Qaeda; others claimed he had been in hiding so long he was…

We have been anxiously awaiting the release of the documents captured in Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad, Pakistan compound. According to informed U.S. intelligence officials, thousands of documents were captured in bin Laden’s lair, as was video and other types of media.

Jose Rodriguez, a former National Clandestine Service chief at the CIA, recently made the case that the search for Osama bin Laden was long, hard, and full of twists and turns.

A 101st Airborne Vietnam vet writes to me about the controversy over the Obama campaign ad which suggested that Mitt Romney wouldn't have gone after Osama bin Laden:

Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen tells NBC that he's worried the killing of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden will now be "spun into election politics" this "political season."

Best email of the day:

At a press conference with the prime minister of Japan this afternoon, President Obama said that Americans haven't excessively celebrated the death of Osama bin Laden, and suggested that Mitt Romney would not have made the decision to kill the terrorist mastermind.

Osama bin Laden was killed by an elite group of Navy Seals one year ago this week. And bin Laden’s files, a massive trove captured in his Abbottabad, Pakistan safe house, have been the subject of various articles since. Now, the Obama administration has reportedly decided to release “some” of the…

Arizona senator John McCain just released the following statement on the Obama campaign's Osama bin Laden campaign ad: 

Barack Obama's reelection campaign has released a new ad that focuses on the president's decision to go after Osama bin Laden: 

Last week, foreign press outlets ran a story that deserves to receive a lot more attention in America. Documents captured in Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad, Pakistan compound reportedly show that the terror master helped plan the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.

Perhaps someday we will learn the real extent of Osama bin Laden’s support network inside Pakistan. A truly independent investigation would begin with bin Laden’s ties to various Pakistani military and intelligence officials in the 1980s and walk forward from there. Or, if one prefers,…

Politico: "Worry over Mitt Romney sparks talk of Tampa"

At a campaign event this evening at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., President Obama indicated that he had successfully brought about "change"--an ambiguous 2008 campaign promise--by killing terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. From the official White House transcript:

Marc A. Thiessen, writing in the Washington Post:

President Obama’s speech to the United Nations, which he delivered this morning in New York, is filled with lots of little surprises. (For instance, “the United Nations helped avert a third World War.” Really?) But the big surprise is that he’s made his address to the General Assembly into a…

Al Qaeda has released a tape commemorating the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. According to the invaluable SITE Intelligence Group, the tape includes a speech given by Osama bin Laden that appears to be the same one found in the terror master’s Abbottabad, Pakistan…

Talking Points Memo: Elizabeth Warren will announce her run for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts--against Scott Brown--tomorrow.

This tenth anniversary of that grim September day when so many innocent people died in the most horrible fashion is a time to mourn their loss, as well as the thousands who have been lost in the past 10 years of the war against global terrorists, and to share in the grief of the loved ones they…

There has been no shortage of articles written from the perspective of the Guantanamo detainees’ lawyers and advocates. The result, more often than not, is a wildly inaccurate picture. A CNN.com piece (“Ten years on, Kuwaiti inmates fear indefinite Guantanamo detention”) published by Jenifer Fenton…

There may be an overtly political reason that moviegoers will be seeing the story of the Osama bin Laden raid just before they vote for president. Sony Pictures, the company distributing next year's film, hosted a fundraiser for Barack Obama on their studio's premises in California last April. So…

Did the Obama administration compromise intelligence and sensitive military information by giving a Hollywood director high level access to details of the killing of Osama bin Laden? That’s what Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, wants to investigate.

New York Times: "Second Recession in U.S. Could Be Worse Than First"

Politico: "Biden: Tea partiers like 'terrorists'"

Keith Hennessey: "Why I support the Boehner bill"

UPDATE: The initial media reporting on the terrorist attack in Oslo focused on possible connections to jihadist terrorist groups. This story was updated the same day, see here, to reflect new information about the terrorist responsible. It was also updated that same dayhere. Another updated story…

The American Islamic Leadership Coalition is a gathering of more than 25 organizations and leaders (including C. Holland Taylor’s LibForAll) that is broadly representative of moderate Islam here in the United States. Now the outfit has just released its response to the Obama administration’s…

WSJ: "Bin Laden Plotted new Attack"

Speaking in Iraq, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reportedly told U.S. troops: “The reason you guys are here is because on 9/11 the United States got attacked. And 3,000 Americans — 3,000 not just Americans, 3,000 human beings, innocent human beings — got killed because of al-Qaeda. And we’ve been…

Today's New York Times has a blockbuster story about how the cellphone of Bin Laden's courier, which was seized in the raid that killed the terrorist mastermind, contained "contacts to a militant group that is a longtime asset of Pakistan’s intelligence agency." That group is Harakat ul Mujahedin…

Karl Rove: "Why Obama Is Likely to Lose in 2012"

The AP reports that the new boss of al Qaeda is Ayman al Zawahiri, replacing Osama bin Laden who was killed last month by American SEALs in Pakistan.

The New York Times reports: 

The AP reports that the Navy SEALs' raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan has resulted in a "trove" of actionable intelligence:

Even before the successful raid against Osama bin Laden was announced, news that America’s most admired general, David Petraeus, would take the helm at the CIA while CIA director Leon Panetta would become secretary of defense had induced much discussion about the intertwining of the CIA and…

On Friday, President Barack Obama will visit the CIA’s headquarters in Virginia to thank intelligence professionals for helping to kill Osama bin Laden. According to practically all news reports detailing the operation earlier this month in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the CIA was integral in providing…

Adult stem cells cure AIDS?

Here’s what we posted on our website shortly after President Obama finished speaking Sunday night, May 1:

In May 2010, in the aftermath of the attempted bombing of Times Square by a jihadist with ties to the Pakistani Taliban, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave an interview to 60 Minutes and made a startling claim about the government in Pakistan. “I’m not saying that they’re at the highest…

Before Osama bin Laden’s body was even cold—or wet, depending upon how quickly it was committed to the Arabian Sea—the debate over the significance of his demise at the hands of U.S. Navy SEALs was underway. Some suggest he will prove irreplaceable to al Qaeda, a uniquely inspiring leader and…

The killing of Osama bin Laden says a lot about the United States at war. It occurred almost a decade after 9/11, contradicting the notion that a democracy can’t fight a long war. It demonstrates that our presence in Afghanistan, without which the raid would have been impossible, is our main point…

CNN reports that Defense Secretary Robert Gates is concerned about the security of the Navy SEALs, after the Obama administration credited the elite force with killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan:

Reuters has published its account of the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Like other versions of the story that have come out, this one says that the key information about the courier who unwittingly led authorities to bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound came from Hassan Ghul – an al Qaeda operative who was…

A recently leaked threat assessment prepared at Guantanamo draws into question the Obama administration’s analysis of a detainee who was transferred to Yemen shortly before all future transfers to the unstable nation were suspended.

"Why Don't We Hear About Soros' Ties to Over 30 Major News Organizations?"

Thirty-four Republican senators will send a letter to Barack Obama, calling on the president "to finally end the DOJ’s unwarranted investigations of CIA interrogators, whose work led to one of the most defining moments of the Global War on Terror."

In the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s death, the Washington Post ran a four-part series by men and women who had their “lives shattered and transformed by” the terror master. One of the contributors was especially curious: former Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg.

Max Boot writes in the Wall Street Journal: 

In an interview with President Obama on Sunday night’s 60 Minutes, Steve Kroft asked:

"JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR"

I know you were all waiting with bated breath to see when America's Greatest Living Public Intellectual™ would weigh in on the Osama bin Laden killing, so good news! Chomsky's dutiful stenographers have seen fit to wipe the cerebral-spinal fluid dripping out the corner of his mouth, and splatter it…

At Politico, Carrie Budoff Brown reports Dick Cheney isn't objecting to Obama's decision not to release photos Osama bin Laden's body:

It appears that Pakistan is now putting on a tough face, trying to send the message that the country that harbored Osama bin Laden can in fact control its terrorism problem. CBS reports:

Tariq Ramadan is the latest in a long chorus to criticize the Obama administration for killing Osama bin Laden. The organization that his grandfather Hassan al-Banna started, the Muslim Brotherhood, along with its Palestinian branch Hamas, mourned the death of the holy warrior, while more moderate…

Sky News reports:

Charles Krauthammer writes in the Washington Post:

Mark Halperin: "Five Mistakes the Obama Administration Has Made in the Aftermath of Bin Laden Killing"

"In Bin Laden’s Compound, Seals’ All-Star Team"

Obama's not one to "spike the football" after a victory (or after killing Osama bin Laden), but it seems his campaign team (or some of his ardent supporters) doesn't feel the same way. Check out www.gutsycall.com -- it redirects users to Obama's campaign website, www.barackobama.com. Could it be…

On talk radio and TV, there seems to be a rising chorus of voices calling for the White House to release photos of the deceased and bloodied Osama bid Laden. At least two potential GOP presidential candidates have joined the chorus. But the Obama administration should be commended for deciding not…

It's official -- we've reached a point where most of America pays no federal income tax.

Bill Roggio on "who will lead al Qaeda?"

The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza, who a week ago gave us the “lead from behind” version of the Obama Doctrine, now suggests that in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden, there may be yet another “new” direction for administration policy.

With the news of Osama bin Laden’s death sating much of the world’s appetite for reports from the Middle East, the Syrian regime has used what is essentially a media blackout to move against the opposition. As the London-based pan-Arab daily Al Hayat reports:

Mitch Daniels, the Republican governor of Indiana and a possible presidential candidate in 2012, still hasn't fleshed out his ideas on foreign policy in general or the war in Afghanistan in particular.

Dave Weigel looks at the internals of the latest New York Times poll and notices something that should be rather disconcerting for the president:

Guess he thinks this beats a bullet to the head from a Navy SEAL:

The Hill:

Those who actually know what information was gathered from the use of enhanced interrogation techniques by CIA officers are now feeling vindicated. After years of being widely criticized for the program, information that these CIA interrogators learned from their use of enhanced interrogation…

Fred Kagan writes:

"Senate Republicans Release Jobs Plan"

In the wake of Osama bin Laden's death at the hands of a covert U.S. assault force, there has been plenty of specualtion in the U.S. press about Pakistan's involvement in sheltering the terror chief, followed by denials from Pakistan. But in an interview with Time magazine, CIA director Leon…

"How anti-war members of Congress hope to capitalize on Bin Laden's death."

Several weeks ago, I had the honor of visiting a Navy SEAL training facility in Virginia and spending a day with a SEAL team commanded by a former colleague from my time in government. I left that experience impressed by the bravery and commitment of these young men, who were preparing for a future…

Will the killing of Osama bin Laden boost President Obama’s chances of reelection? That’s unknowable at this point. But what is clear as a result of the terrorist leader’s death is that things will get easier for Obama’s foreign policy over the next few months.

Yet another version of how U.S. intelligence officials identified Osama bin Laden’s courier has been published. Again, we need confirmation from intelligence officials to determine which details are true. It is not at all clear at this point how this went down.

In the judgment of one of my most knowledgeable colleagues, this is the best Taiwan news animation ever:

The Fatah group the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades has released the following statement, condemning the U.S. for killing Osama bin Laden:

The Washington Post provides a look at the anonymous (so far) Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden, based on descriptions of the elite special ops unit from retired members:

WEEKLY STANDARD contributing editor Reuel Marc Gerecht weighs in this morning with a piece in the Wall Street Journal on how "killing of Shiites in Iraq was Bin Laden's undoing in the eyes of many Muslims":

The exact identity of Osama bin Laden’s courier, who unwittingly led to his boss’s demise, remains to be confirmed, but CNN reports that it was a Kuwaiti known as Abu Ahmad al Kuwaiti. If that’s true, then obviously it wasn’t the courier mentioned in the leaked Gitmo file written for Abu Faraj al…

Hitchens: "Death of a Madman"

"Limbaugh: ‘We Need To Open The Program Today By Congratulating President Obama’"

So Osama bin Laden has not been hiding in Karachi or somewhere in the mountains of Waziristan; rather, he’s been in Abbottabad. Oh dear. There might be a place more embarrassing for Pakistan but it is hard to think of one. It is yet further evidence that Pakistan, supposedly a key ally of the…

An official White House photo taken yesterday, in the Situation Room:

While most of the world celebrates the U.S. military operation that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, the sentiment is not unanimous. In the Gaza Strip, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has condemned the United States, accusing Washington of assassinating a “Muslim and Arabic warrior”…

Charles Krauthammer has it right: the number one take-away from Osama bin Laden’s killing is the “reach, power and efficiency” of the American military. The reach is global, the power is both immense and immensely precise (President Obama was able to reject the bomb-it-to-smithereens option on…

Reuters reports:

Keep America Safe just released this statement, following the death of Osama bin Laden: 

A recently leaked Guantanamo file names Osama bin Laden’s “designated courier.” The file, which summarizes the available intelligence on top al Qaeda operative Abu Faraj al Libbi, reads: 

First reports from the battlefield are notoriously inaccurate, and it’s to be expected that they will be confusing and contradictory – and, considering that “sources and methods” and Pakistani sensibilities are fairly important in this case, probably intentionally misleading. The initial stories…

Following the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of Navy Seals, U.S. Naval Academy Commandant Captain Robert E. Clark II addressed midshipmen in Annapolis last night:

The death of Osama bin Laden is a major symbolic victory in the war on terror. Not since the defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq has the U.S. been able to celebrate such a clear success against the terrorist enemy. This achievement will provide closure for the many lives lost on (and tremendous sacrifices…

The FBI updated its list of most wanted terrorists:

Reuters reports that the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has taken Osama bin Laden's side: 

ABC News provides this exclusive footage from inside Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan:

A lot of parties inside the American government, from President Obama on down, will rightly claim credit for the demise of Osama bin Laden. But one party, in particular, deserves mention because its members have been repeatedly demonized in the press: the Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO). 

President George W. Bush:

Congratulations to all those, from the president on down, who are responsible for the achievement of tracking down and killing Osama bin Laden. The wheels of justice may sometimes turn slowly, but turn they do—with the help of the United States armed forces and intelligence personnel. Justice has…

Osama bin Laden was killed today by American forces in Pakistan, President Obama just announced. The AP reports:

A two-page assessment of Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr is among the newly leaked WikiLeaks files. Khadr, of course, killed American serviceman Christopher Speer during a shootout in Afghanistan. His many advocates have turned him into something of a false martyr, however, claiming that Khadr is…

A former Guantanamo detainee “was identified as an Iraqi intelligence officer who relocated to Afghanistan (AF) in 1998 where he served as a senior Taliban Intelligence Directorate officer in Mazar-E-Sharif,” according to a recently leaked assessment written by American intelligence analysts. The…

Writing for the Daily Beast, Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and adviser to the Obama administration, argues that the U.S. can coexist with a Muslim Brotherhood-dominated Egypt. The Obama administration “should not be afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Riedel writes. “Living with it won’t be…

On December 1, Undersecretary of State William Burns appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee to brief members of Congress on Iran. He touted the effectiveness of the latest round of sanctions and then listed some “wider actions of the Iranian leadership” that cause concern. He cited the…

A State Department cable released by WikiLeaks earlier this week contains a stunning new detail about the relationship between Iran and al Qaeda. The Saudis have privately complained to the Obama administration that Iran harbors a dangerous network of al Qaeda operatives who are targeting the…

Before there was 9/11, there was 10/12. A decade ago this week, al Qaeda operatives staged a spectacular suicide attack on the USS Cole while it was refueling in Aden, Yemen. The terrorists puttered up to the destroyer’s port side, waving at the U.S. sailors working on deck. Once aside the Cole,…

Today is the tenth anniversary of al Qaeda’s October 12, 2000 attack on the USS Cole. Three thoughts come immediately to mind.

Ever since the September 11 attacks, some in counterterrorism and intelligence circles have tried to define al Qaeda narrowly, thereby limiting the scope of the organization’s threat. We’ve seen this in the recent debate over the number of al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan, for instance. CIA…