World Threats

On September 25, the 23rd Arab-American Candidates’ Night Dinner was held in Virginia, attended by 46 Democrats and Republicans seeking office, with former governor and current Democratic Senate candidate, Tim Kaine, as a major speaker. The dinner honored a top Muslim Brotherhood official affiliated with Hamas named Jamal Barzinji, an inconvenient and overlooked fact for Kaine’s campaign team.

Tim Kaine was the governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010 and then was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He was on the short-list to become President Obama’s running mate. He is now running for Senate and will likely face off against former Senator George Allen, who narrowly lost his seat in 2006 to Senator Jim Webb. Democratic Senator Mark Warner also sent a videotaped message to the conference.

Kaine thanked the audience for their help with his gubernatorial campaign and asked for them to again support him in his quest to become a senator. This is troubling when you consider what else happened that night: A Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed upon Jamal Barzinji, called a “founding father” of the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S. and an associate of Hamas. His Wikipedia page has been altered to boast of the award and Kaine’s attendance.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

President Obama has announced that all U.S. troops will leave Iraq by the end of the year, with the exception of 160 soldiers to guard the embassy. The premature withdrawal will force the Iraqi leadership into Iran’s arms, bringing the regime closer to its dream of creating a Shiite crescent to destroy Israel. And in a shrewd political maneuver, President Obama took credit for the “success” and left out the inconvenient fact that the timeline he followed was signed under President Bush.

The administration is deceitfully saying that this was the plan all along when that is demonstrably false. The U.S. pressured the Iraqis to come to an agreement on extending the U.S. stay into 2012, and almost every Iraqi political party approved. General Lloyd Austin asked that 14-18,000 troops remain; a number that did not make President Obama happy. The number was reduced to 10,000, earning the support of Secretary of State Clinton. That, too, was too much for President Obama. It fell to 3-4,000, raising significant concern about whether it’d be enough. Now, it has been announced that all of the remaining 39,000 troops will come home by Christmas, except for 160 attached to the embassy in Baghdad.

Left behind will be 5,000 security contractors for the State Department and 9,500 for the Defense Department. Thousands of more American contractors will stay for logistical support. Also staying in Iraq will be Iran’s proxies like Moqtada al-Sadr, who vowed to target every single U.S. soldier remaining in Iraq next year. Let’s hope he doesn’t view the contractors as legitimate targets, because the U.S. won’t have the forces on the ground to fight his forces. Other Iranian-backed militias like Kaitab Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq and the Promised Day Brigade will also still be around, and will outnumber the Americans.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

The Free Syria Army may be small, but it sure is becoming quite the headache for the Assad regime’s forces. With each attack, the people are emboldened and Assad’s soldiers become more fearful. Protests spiked up after the death of Qaddafi, giving the opposition some momentum.

Last Sunday, 5 to 7 soldiers were killed in Homs Province and 20 fled into an orchard. Another 17 were wounded in Idlib Province. Then on Monday, the Free Syria Army killed 11 soldiers, including four who died in a remote-detonated bombing in Idlib Province.

On Tuesday, the FSA claimed 10 of its soldiers killed 40 loyalists in an RPG attack near the Central Prison in Hama City, according to Ammar Abdulhamid.  Then on Wednesday, the regime killed 8 defectors in a cross-border raid into Lebanon. The Lebanese Army, under the command of Hezbollah, predictably claimed the fighting occurred in Syria. The FSA also claimed it killed 5 officers in Darra Province.

On Thursday, clashes happened near Qseir on the Lebanese border and at Deraa. On Friday, the FSA announced the formation of a new brigade. Also on Friday, the theme of the protests was “Friday of the Free Army” to honor the defectors who are now trying to protect the protesters. The Free Syria Army is, by far, the component of the opposition with the most popular support within Syria.

Check out my previous post about today’s vote in Tunisia. We’ll soon know how the Islamists fare there. Meanwhile, there’s some bad news coming out of Egypt and Libya.

In Libya, Mahmoud Jibril, the NTC Prime Minister, plans to step down tomorrow after victory is declared. The Islamists have made him their top target because of his secularist orientation. The NTC Chairman, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, is an Islamist who just declared that the new constitution would make Sharia the “basic source” of all law and will overrule laws contradicting Islam. In line with this, he has already limited interests on loans and is allowing men to have multiple wives (Islam permits men to have up to four).

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Justice & Development Party has again revised how many seats it will compete for, saying it is competing for over half of them. The leader of the party claimed that 65% of the population supports the Brotherhood, contradicting the estimates of most experts who put it at 20-30%.

He also lashed out at the Salafists who have locked horns with the Brotherhood since leaving its bloc. Two Salafist parties, the Nour and Asala, have allied with the Construction and Development Party run by Jamaat Islamiyya, to form the Islamic Alliance bloc. It is aiming for 30% of seats in parliament.

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Tunisia is seeing huge turnout (nearly 70 percent) in its first elections since the overthrow of President Ben Ali.  The West and Arab non-Islamists are, understandably, very worried. The Ennahda Party of Rachid Ghannouchi is posed to get the biggest share of the vote. However, this will still be a minority of the overall parliament and so Ennahda will have to win the support of other parties to form a majority. It is quite possible that non-Islamists will win the majority, and Ennahda will be in the minority.

This will put significant limitations on what the Islamists can do and hopefully, over time, the secularists can insert themselves into the debate and provide a counter to the Islamist ideology. Don’t underestimate opposition to the Islamists in Tunisia. For example, when Ghannouchi went to vote, non-Islamists heckled him as a “terrorist.”

In addition, Ennahda’s support depends upon characterizing itself as a “moderate Islamist” party that won’t go too far in imposing Sharia-based governance. An insightful quote in the above Reuters article is below:

“This morning I voted for Ennahda and this evening I am going to drink a few beers,” said Makram, a young man from the working class Ettadamen neighbourhood of Tunis.

The second Ennahda goes too far, people like Makram will vote for someone else. At the same time, if Ennahda restrains itself, it will lose the support of more hardline Islamists like Salafists.

This election will decide the formation of an interim government, which will draft a new constitution that will then lead to new elections for president and parliament.

The military regime, just as Mubarak did before it, has banned Ayman Nour, a secularist, from participating in the presidential elections. Secular voices like that of Nour are precisely what is needed in Egypt to combat the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is his beliefs that must be allowed to be aired if a successful democratic transition is to ever take place.

Of course, there is good reason to doubt that the military regime really plans on giving up power. The military council is threatened by both the secularists and the Islamists, and so it isn’t terribly surprising that Nour is being targeted, just as he was by the council’s former leader.

In 2005, an Egyptian court ruled that Nour was corrupt and guilty of forging the signatures used to justify the creation of his political party. Pretty much everyone agrees that it was politically-motivated, as it prevented him from running against Mubarak for the presidency.

The West may have an interest in an incremental transition to democracy that includes postponing elections so that the non-Islamists have time to organize, but it has no interest in having secular voices shut out. The military council needs to be put on notice and encouraged/pushed to let these voices be heard.

The Stuxnet cyber attack on Iran’s nuclear program was a defining moment in the history of war, and now, the “Son of Stuxnet” has been discovered. Cyber security experts say the creator of the original worm, widely believed to be Israel and probably the U.S., also designed this one and “there is nothing out there available to stop it.”

The Stuxnet cyber attack rendered thousands of Iran’s centrifuges, around a fifth of all of them, useless. Over 1,000 damaged units were replaced at the Natanz centrifuge farm, and damaged the steam turbine at the Bushehr nuclear reactor. In 2009, only half of Iran’s centrifuges were being used and some of those operating were only enriching half as much uranium as they should. The Iranians have to replace all of the computers at Natanz, and it may take up to two years. It was later found out that Israel tested Stuxnet on centrifuges identical to those used by Iran at its nuclear site in Dimona.

The Iranians later announced in April 2011 that a second cyber attack was discovered, which they called “Stars.” All that the regime said was that it was found on government computers and caused little damage. Iran soon replaced its centrifuges at Natanz and began manufacturing more sophisticated centrifuges that can significantly speed up the nuclear program. The centrifuges were moved to an underground site in the mountains near Qom. In February, experts determined that Iran had recovered from the damage wrought by Stuxnet. And now, the “Son of Stuxnet” has emerged.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

The United States Senate voted late last night on whether to prohibit civilian trials of enemy combatants (the Ayotte Amendment) and the results followed typically along party lines, with few exceptions: it was rejected 52-47 with Democrats Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson siding with Ayotte and with Republicans Mark Kirk and Rand Paul siding against her.

The vote is disappointing, considering we have seen numerous civilian trials of terrorists quickly deteriorate, but what is more saddening from a political standpoint is the opposition of Rand Paul, who was supposed to be saner than his father on foreign affairs, oppose this commonsense amendment in a time of authorized war.

But don’t worry – the Obama Administration cannot use this to hold civilian trials for Gitmo detainees, due to Congress prohibiting any funds being spent to house them on U.S. soil last year. It just means if there’s a plot by al-Qaida terrorists on education visa’s to bring down the Sears Tower and we stop them in time, we can’t stop Eric Holder from treating them like common thieves.

What say you?

P.S. – What do you say to the Republicans trading Rand Paul for Joe Lieberman? I’m game.

The death of former dictator Muammar Qaddafi certainly is good news. It’s also been a long time coming. Qaddafi had killed hundreds of Americans and Britons, and plotted terrorist plots on different continents. His demise was one that he would have been ashamed of, and his corpse being dragged by the former oppressed is a fitting tribute.

But the job’s not done. In Libya, there are serious doubts whether or not the major factions that overthrew the Colonel can build a pluralistic democracy. It’s up in the air right now and may not be settled for a decade.

And then there’s Syria. Bashar al-Assad, Ba’athist coutnerpart to Saddam Hussein, is still clinging to power. Assad is responsible for mass killings of civilians on a much higher number than Qaddafi’s response to the Libyan revolution. Qaddafi killed hundreds and threatened to kills thousands. Assad killed thousands and will likely kill tens of thousands if not checked.

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Assad is a monster. He has killed American troops and Israeli civilians. He has played host to Hezbollah and aided Hamas and other groups. He is the key ally of Iran and even built its own plutonium reactor (for peaceful purposes, I’m sure). His intelligence services prolonged the Iraq War and aided terror groups in the murder of not only American and international troops, but thousands of Iraqi civilians.

Now is Assad’s time to go. He won’t go willingly, although it may be better in a way if he did. But it’s time to throw down the gauntlet. Assad and his family must leave Syria or face NATO’s firepower. The Sunnis and Kurds of Syria are calling for his head. Protests are giving way to armed struggle.

We rightfully punished Qaddafi for his crimes against humanity. It’s time to finish the job, this time in Damascus.

Cross-posted at Pundit Press.

After seven long months of hard fighting by Rebels on the ground and NATO in the air, with the liberation of Libya from the dictatorship of a “mad dog”, the ultimate victory has been accomplished in Libya this morning: Muammar Qaddafi was killed during the fall of his hometown Sirte.

As someone who has closely followed this military uprising since March, I am left without words to describe the emotions of victory welling up inside of me. To think that the Rebels were at the point of massacre before NATO intervened in Benghazi and destroyed Qaddafi’s air force, and now they have won their country back is amazing.

Obviously, the Rebels have lots of work to do when it comes to instituting a new government – one I hope is reflective of liberal, pluralistic values and not dogmatic, islamic morals – but they have aided the world in one way that we should always be thankful for: ending the four decade reign of Qaddafi, who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans and Britons.

This video has leaked from Libya:

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At long last, Muammar Qaddafi has suffered the same fate that he dealt to countless Libyans in his bloodthirsty quest to remain in power. The National Transitional Council has confirmed that Qaddafi died from his wounds, and a picture from a cell phone showing his wounded body at the time of his arrest.

The details are sketchy. The information available says that Qaddafi was in a convoy trying to leave Sirte that came under attack from NATO aircraft and NTC gunfire. He suffered serious wounds to his head and both legs and was found in a hole in District 2 of the city, which is his hometown. He is reported to have pled, “Don’t shoot, Don’t shoot!” A soldier present at the arrest claims that he struck Qaddafi with his shoe, and another claims to have confiscated his legendary golden pistol.

Qaddafi’s top military official, Abu Bakr Younus Jabr, was also killed. There are contradictory reports about the fate of Mutassim Qaddafi. Saif al-Islam remains at large.

At around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 19, five foreign Muslims werearrested at a historic courthouse in San Antonio. They were found with pictures of “infrastructure” around the country including malls, government buildings and water systems. After the media reported on the bomb scare, officials reacted quickly to downplay a possible link to terrorism and the media followed suit. Now, the group of five is being depicted as a harmless group of pranksters.

Law enforcement arrived at the Bexar County Courthouse after an alarm went off. The police found that two individuals had entered the 120-year-old facility through a fire escape, while three others were inside a rented RV in front of the building. The five suspects are French-Moroccans, all in their early 20s. Their names are being withheld. The group’s photographs showed they had traveled around the country, snapping photos of sites including shopping malls and public buildings, as well as water systems, which are not exactly a typical tourist attraction.

The group had legal 90-day visas and told the authorities they arrived in New York on September 11 from London. At least three of the suspects are on an FBI watch list. The four that arrived in New York then went to New Jersey and rented an RV. They then met with the other that flew into Miami. The RV had plates from California at the time of the incident.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

In what some are calling a strategic move to strengthen its alliance with Tehran, Arutz Sheva has reported that Moscow extended an invitation to Hezbollah to visit the Kremlin. The Hezbollah delegation arrived in Moscow on Wednesday.

During the visit, Hezbollah is expected to visit the Lower House of Parliament, the Council of Muslims in European Russia and the Foreign Ministry.   The notorious terrorist organization will also descend upon the Moscow university lecture circuit.

The delegation is headed by Hezbollah MP, Mohammad Raad, and while developments in Lebanon are expected to be discussed, a source from Lebanon’s The Daily Star has noted that bilateral ties and “issues of common interest” are also on the agenda.

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Last night’s Republican presidential debate was the most substantive and the most confrontational. Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan was attacked by every one of his competitors, and aggressive attacks on Mitt Romney by Rick Perry and Rick Santorum were not received well by the audience. The polls will probably change significantly in the coming days as a result of the event.

Herman Cain was target number one. Every single person on stage ridiculed his 9-9-9 plan in a pile-on that must take a toll on his poll numbers. He repeatedly told viewers to go to his website and evaluate the math themselves. Rick Santorum claimed that 9-9-9 would raise taxes on 84% of taxpayers and criticized its elimination of tax breaks for families. Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney said it would raise taxes, hurt the middle class, and unwisely give the government the power to enforce a national sales tax. Ron Paul called 9-9-9 “dangerous” and “regressive.” Newt Gingrich said it isn’t as simple as portrayed.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.