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October 2011

MINN. WOMAN ARRESTED ON SOMALI TERROR CASE…AMY FORLITI

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9Q53UUO2&show_article=1

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A Minnesota woman on trial for allegedly funneling money to a terrorist group in Somalia was found in contempt of court Monday when she refused to stand for the judge and jury, citing religious grounds.

Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis found Amina Farah Ali in contempt for failing to stand as court convened and recessed several times during the day, and later sentenced her to 50 days in jail.
He also ordered Ali to be detained for the duration of the trial because of her “behavior in this courtroom.” She had been released pending trial as long as she did not violate any laws, but in a written order on Monday, Davis said Ali violated the law when she failed to rise and he revoked her release.

Ali, 35, and her co-defendant, Hawo Mohamed Hassan, 64, are accused of being part of what prosecutors called a “deadly pipeline” that sent more than $8,600 and fighters from the U.S. to Somalia.

BOB OWENS: “GUNWALKER” IS HOLDER FAST, FURIOUS AND FINISHED?

Gunwalker: Holder Appears To Be Fast, Furious, and Finished

URL to article: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/gunwalker-holder-appears-to-be-fast-furious-and-finished/

News documents indicate that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder more than likely perjured himself in congressional testimony about Operation Fast and Furious earlier this year.

Sharyl Attkisson [1] of CBS News and William LaJeunesse [2] of Fox News have been the only mainstream media reporters diligently working on the most important scandal in White House history, and it is no surprise that they concurrently released information indicating that the attorney general, who claimed in direct testimony on May 3 of this year in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he first heard about Operation Fast and Furious “over the last few weeks,” had actually been briefed on the program in a memo by the director of the National Drug Intelligence Center almost a year earlier on July 5, 2010.

TUFAIL AHMAD AND YIGAL CARMON: THE FAILING U.S. STRATEGY IN AFGHANISTAN

http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5689.htm

October 3, 2011

Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No. 744

The Failing U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan

* Tufail Ahmad is Director of MEMRI’s South Asia Studies Project (www.memri.org/sasp); Y. Carmon is President of MEMRI.

Introduction

The U.S.’s Afghan strategy is based on two factors: firstly, military victory on the ground, or at least major military gains in areas under Taliban control; and secondly, a policy of engaging the militants by encouraging the Karzai government’s reconciliatory efforts to the Taliban and by holding direct U.S.-Taliban talks.

Reflecting this strategy, a series of American media reports over the past year created a public impression that the U.S. is making gradual progress in negotiations with the Taliban. The U.S. media reports regularly quoted unidentified officials in the government and intelligence establishment to buttress claims of progress. It was expected that these secret talks, along with the military gains in southern Afghanistan, would stabilize the country and propel the withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2014.

Contrary to the claims made in the U.S. media, there are question marks on both the military and political fronts.

First, the military gains in southern Afghanistan are minor, and it is unclear whether the U.S. troops can secure such areas for long where some progress against the Taliban has been seen. On their part, the Taliban – supported by the Pakistani military’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) – are escalating the war by mounting successful attacks in heavily secured areas of Kabul and other cities.

Second, there have been no negotiations with the Taliban on the future of Afghanistan. The U.S. media reports of secret talks on the future of Afghanistan were never true. In fact, it can be argued that the U.S. media, while claiming progress in negotiations with the Taliban, chose to completely ignore a series of statements issued by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban’s shadow government in the country.

THE EURO: A MONUMENT TO COLLECTIVE FOLLY: PETER MARTINO

http://www.hudson-ny.org/2470/euro-debt-folly “The European Union faces a huge crisis of confidence,” said Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, the EU’s unelected government, when he addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg last week during his so-called “State of the Union.” Rather than blaming the unaccountable, unelected EU bureaucracy which he is leading in Brussels, […]

ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES IN 2011: HERBERT LONDON

http://www.hudson-ny.org/2477/israel-us-2011 There is little doubt that Israel looks to the United States for support. It is somewhat like the picked on younger brother eager to have his older brother come to his aid. For the U.S. and Israel, that has usually been the case, albeit the 1956 war in the Suez was an exception. Now […]

MICHIGAN DRIVER SUSPECT IN SUPPORTING TERRORIST GROUPS TRIED TO CRASH INTO FBI SECURITY CAR

http://vinienco.com/2011/10/03/mi-terror-suspect-accused-of-trying-to-crash-car-into-fbi-agent/

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/02/2435051/terror-suspect-accused-of-trying.html#ixzz1Zh0ujWNL

A federal judge in Michigan has ordered a man suspected of supporting terrorist groups held on allegations he tried to crash into the car of an FBI agent who was following him as part of heightened security for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Reed S. Berry, 26, of St. Joseph was under surveillance because of his suspected terrorist links, according to an FBI affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.

The government has said the links include Internet communication with one or more groups involved in international terrorism.

Defense lawyer Elias Muawad said what the government has labeled terrorist links in court filings appear to be online speech protected by the First Amendment. He also said his client, Berry, has been upset about being under investigation for months, subject to searches and barred from air travel.

“He was feeling like a caged person,” Muawad told The Associated Press on Sunday.

FRANCO FRATTINI SHOULD BE HILLARY’S ROLE MODEL ON THE “APOSTATE” IRANIAN PASTOR

http://www.andrewbostom.org/blog/2011/10/03/italy%E2%80%99s-frattini-should-be-hillary%E2%80%99s-role-model-on-the-%E2%80%9Capostate%E2%80%9D-iranian-pastor/ Italy’s Frattini Should Be Hillary’s Role Model on the “Apostate” Iranian Pastor Posted By Andrew Bostom On October 3, 2011 [1] Franco Frattini: Upholding Western moral clarity on Pastor Nadarkhani’s “apostasy” conviction The fate of Iranian “apostate” pastor Youcef Nadarkani [2] still hangs in the balance. Contra Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s rather tepid […]

THE WAPO WACISM WAPPED: BRUCE KESLER

http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/18165-WaPo-Wacism-Wapped.html The Washington Post is usually a little more careful than the New York Times about blatant bias, but its racism hit-job on Governor Perry sinks to a low, at least so far for this election cycle. Perry is supposed to be responsible for the old slur on a rock at a hunting camp rented by […]

WHO’S AFRAID OF RICK PERRY? THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE LIBERAL ALLIES: HENRY PAYNE

http://www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/278971 Perry Gets Smeared By Henry Payne Detroit — The Obama White House has hardly concealed its preference for Mitt Romney as an opponent, given his Northeast base, his suitability as a class-warfare foil, and especially Romneycare. Rick Perry, by contrast, is a Democrat’s worst nightmare — a conservative southerner from hard-scrabble beginnings with a populist […]

WHO IS ISOLATED IN THE MIDDLE EAST? RAPHAEL ISRAELI

Who is isolated in the Middle East? by Raphael Israeli http://www.icjs-online.org/index.php?article=3359 Leon Panetta, the American Secretary of Defense has just stated on his way to the Middle East, that Israel has never been so isolated in the region and that the current changes in the area are not to its advantage and therefore, based on […]