In a big antiwar piece, Mearsheimer dares to say why they hate us

Emerging role for Jordanians in al-Qaida
A prominent Jordanian-Palestinian Militant recently killed in Afghanistan was a medical school dropout, who joined al-Qaida after his heart was broken in an failed love affair, his friends and a Counterterrorism official said Wednesday. Haitham Mohammed al-Khayat, 26, better known in Extremist circles as Abu Kandahar al-Zarqawi, was an administrator of the online Jihadi forum, Al Hesbah, according to Islamist Militant websites. The sites announced that he was killed by U.S. forces Friday. He was...

What Would The Indefinite-Detention Executive Order Prevent?
There’s still a basic confusion about what question the ‘re-habeas’ review panels set up for prolonged detention of Terror Suspects is supposed to answer. How can a judge establish whether someone’s still a threat to the U.S. — a question that doesn’t have anything to do with the law? Ah, but maybe a judge won’t, according to Charlie Savage’s reporting: The Obama proposal, by contrast, would establish a “periodic review board” drawn from many...

Al Qaeda Threats Shut Down Christmas Festivities Across Iraq
KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi Christians on Wednesday called off Christmas festivities in three cities across the country as al-Qaida Insurgents threatened more attacks on a beleaguered community still terrified from a bloody siege on a Baghdad church. Church officials in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul along with the southern city of Basra said they will not put up Christmas decorations, have canceled evening Mass and urged worshippers to refrain from decorating their homes. Even an...

They Hate Us for Our Bloomin' Onions
Oh great. Now they'll install naked Body Scanners at Ruby Tuesday's. Al Qaeda Terrorists planned to poison food at multiple US hotels and restaurants over a single weekend, it has been revealed this morning. The ‘credible’ plot involved slipping the poisons cyanide and ricin into Salad Bars and buffets, according to CBS news. The terrorist group behind the failed ‘Ink Cartridge’ attacks on cargo planes in October were said to have hatched the plan. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula

US press should fear being targeted: Assange...
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Wednesday that a US government effort to prosecute him should serve as a warning to journalists in the United States. Assange, in an interview with the MSNBC television network, said there has been a "quite deliberate attempt to split off our organization from the First Amendment protections that are afforded to all publishers." The Wikileaks founder said he considers himself a journalist and "we all have to stick together to resist this sort of reinterpre...

Think tank plans study of how US treats detainees
Eleanor J. Hill is one of three chairpersons on The Constitution Project's new panel. (AP photo) NEW YORK — A nonpartisan legal Think Tank plans to study U.S. treatment of Terrorism Detainees, partly out of concern that the country's policies lack clarity and can be manipulated to permit abuse or Torture in dangerous times, members of a Task Force appointed to conduct the study said Friday. Eleanor J. Hill, one of three chairpersons on The Constitution Project's new panel, said events afte...

Video Report: American Christian Murdered by Palestinians in Israel
Another in a string of wonderful Christmas gifts given us by the Religion of Peace: Not all Palestinian Terrorists got off scot free. From American Power: Hamas Terrorist Attempts to Fire His AK-47. He didn't even get a shot off before his lights were turned off - permanently: ...

Muslim congressman Keith Ellison accuses GOPs Peter King of bigotry
Muslim congressman Keith Ellison accuses GOP’s Peter King of Bigotry. The very proud and very first Islamic congressman from Minnesota, Keith Ellison, does not like Peter King at all. In fact, he downright loathes him. That explains why his appearance on MSNBC’s low-rated "The Ed Show," hosted by constantly angry Ed Schultz, was highlighted by nothing more than one personal attack after another against New York’s Peter King, who has said he intends to hold hearings on radical A...

Pakistan, Iran jockey for influence after bombings
Islamabad (Reuters) – As tension grows between Pakistan and Iran after a Mosque bombing in Iran, Pakistan could find itself increasingly isolated as its western neighbor looks to increase its influence in the region, analysts say. Jundollah, a Sunni Muslim Militant group Iran says is based in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan, claimed responsibility for a December 15 double Suicide bombing in the Iranian town of Chabahar that killed 39 people and wounded more than 100. ...

Pakistan, Iran jockey for influence after bombings
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - As tension grows between Pakistan and Iran after a Mosque bombing in Iran, Pakistan could find itself increasingly isolated as its western neighbor looks to increase its influence in the region, analysts say. Jundollah, a Sunni Muslim Militant group Iran says is based in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan, claimed responsibility for a December 15 double Suicide bombing in the Iranian town of Chabahar that killed 39 people and wounded more than 100. Iran has dem...

911 Call Played In Jewish Federation Shooting Trial
SEATTLE -- Prosecutors opened their case against a man accused of opening fire on a Jewish Federation office by playing a tape of the gunman who called 911 as he held a pregnant woman hostage at gunpoint. "I have this gun pointed at her head," said the man, who identified himself as Naveed Haq. Haq told the person handling the call that "I just want to get us out of Iraq," and that he was upset by U.S. policies that left Muslims "repressed." Haq, 32, has pleaded Not Guilty by reason of insanity ...

The occupation testimonies: The brutalization of the IDF
“And my story is we and my story is that one time we grabbed a kid, not a big kid, a 10 or 12 year-old boy, something like that, we explained to him with the help of point with the barrel of the gun what he has to do, meaning waving the gun, showing him what do. The situation that was created was like…there is a little boy behind him, a patrol jeep, and three Soldiers aiming their weapon at him and he [the boy] has to go and remove, he has to remove the Blockade, these blockades. And...

Venturing Into Pakistan
by Conor Friedersdorf David Boaz passes along that chart, and remarks upon it: Now it’s true that when Candidate Barack Obama vowed, “I will bring this war to an end in 2009,” he was talking about Iraq. In July 2008 he suggested that he would send two more brigades — about 8000 Troops — to Afghanistan. He has far exceeded that, and we can only wonder whether the voters who responded to his antiwar message anticipated that he would increase the number of Troops in Afghanistan

Calling Cameron
Obama and British PM discuss Afghanistan, "ongoing Counterterrorism cooperation" in Tuesday phone conversation. President Obama and British Prime Minister Cameron talked again today by telephone. The Prime Minister reiterated his condolences on the death of Richard Holbrooke and they agreed on the importance of sustaining our joint efforts on Afghanistan. The President reviewed the conclusions of the Afghanistan Pakistan Annual Review and the Prime Minister reported on his observations from his ...

3 Iraqi cities cancel Christmas festivities
Source: Newsday/AP KIRKUK, Iraq - (AP) — Iraqi Christians on Wednesday called off Christmas festivities in three cities across the country as al-Qaida Insurgents threatened more attacks on a beleaguered community still terrified from a bloody siege on a Baghdad church. Church officials in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul along with the southern city of Basra said they will not put up Christmas decorations, have canceled evening Mass and urged worshippers to refrain from decorating their h...

Jewish refugees must not be neglected in peace talks | Danny Ayalon
For a long time now, we have been wanting and waiting to sit down and talk. After all, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not short of talking points that need to be urgently resolved. Unfortunately, however, instead of both sides discussing the problems, the Palestinians seem more comfortable issuing demands. One of the topics that we could discuss is Refugees, what some describe in the familiar mantra as the "right of return". The slogan itself is, of course, a misnomer - a right is a l...

Chief Palestinian negotiator: PA fears ramifications of an Israeli attack on Gaza
Saeb Erekat warns that IDF attack on the Hamas-ruled territory would only elevate anarchy, bloodshed in area; Deputy PM Meridor says Israel won't tolerate rocket fire from Gaza....

British move on Palestine
GAZA CITY: Britain is preparing to confer diplomatic status on the Palestinian delegation in London for the first time, renewing fears in Israel that Europe is moving closer to recognising an independent Palestinian state. The Foreign Office confirmed it was studying a proposal that would see Palestinian ''general delegations'' upgraded to ''diplomatic missions'' in a number of European capitals. Coming just weeks after the collapse of direct peace negotiations, following Israel's refusal to hal...

There are no '1967 borders'
So I'll post a little bit while I try to drink enough coffee to get rid of the Headache.... I try to be careful to refer to the June 4, 1967 borders as the "1949 armistice lines." For those who didn't understand why, you're about to find out (Hat Tip: Israel Project ). •The Palestinian leadership is fixated on attempting to press foreign governments and the UN to recognize a unilaterally declared Palestinian state within the "1967 borders." Indeed, this campaign appeared to have some initial...

Chief Palestinian negotiator: Israeli attacks on Gaza make region more volatile
Saeb Erekat warns that IDF attack on the Hamas-ruled territory would only elevate anarchy, bloodshed in area; Deputy PM Meridor says Israel won't tolerate rocket fire from Gaza....

Senate approves defense bill, sends it to House
WASHINGTON – The Senate has passed Legislation that authorizes the Pentagon to spend nearly $160 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this Budget year without major restrictions on the conduct of operations. The voice vote on the defense authorization bill came after House and Senate Democrats agreed to strip several provisions, including one that would have allowed gays to serve openly in the Military. The provision that would have overturned the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell...

Time honors AFP photographer for Afghan work
Time Magazine said Wednesday it had honored Agence France-Presse photographer Mauricio Lima with its "Wire Photographer of the Year" award, hailing his "remarkable body of work" from the Afghan war. Embedded for four weeks with US Marines in Helmand Province earlier this year, Lima also spent a month working alone, based in Kabul, capturing intimate portraits of Military forces in the conflict-scarred country, and civilians living in the war zone. Based in Sao Paulo, Lima has worked on assignme...

Senate approves defense bill, sends it to House
Source: The Boston Globe WASHINGTON—The Senate passed Legislation on Wednesday that authorizes the Pentagon to spend nearly $160 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this Budget year without major restrictions on the conduct of operations. The voice vote on the defense authorization bill came after House and Senate Democrats agreed to strip several provisions, including one that would have allowed gays to serve openly in the Military. "The Controversial aspects of this Legislation have be...

Time honors AFP photographer for Afghan work
Time Magazine said Wednesday it had honored Agence France-Presse photographer Mauricio Lima with its "Wire Photographer of the Year" award, hailing his "remarkable body of work" from the Afghan war. Embedded for four weeks with US Marines in Helmand Province earlier this year, Lima also spent a month working alone, based in Kabul, capturing intimate portraits of Military forces in the conflict-scarred country, and civilians living in the war zone. Based in Sao Paulo, Lima has worked on assignmen...

3 Iraqi towns cancel Christmas festivities
Date: Wednesday Dec. 22, 2010 8:29 AM ET KIRKUK, Iraq — Iraqi Christians on Wednesday called off Christmas festivities in three cities across the country as al Qaeda Insurgents threatened more attacks on a beleaguered community still terrified from a bloody siege on a Baghdad church. Church officials in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul along with the southern city of Basra said they will not put up Christmas decorations, have canceled evening Mass and urged worshippers to refrain fr...