Mogadishu, Somalia – National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) welcomes Ahlu Sunna waljama release of the two journalists arrested in the Somalia’s central town of Dhusomareb two days ago were illegally sentenced to three months in jail by the Sufi militia run local court. They were submitted to the central prison in the town but later released with the help of The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) on Thursday.

But after much contact with the Sufi Ahlu-Suna rulers in Dhusomareb, the NUSOJ officials succeeded in convincing the court judge that the charges against the journalists were baseless. They were released on Wednesday at 06:00 PM local time.

The journalists were arrested with false charges accusing them of a news coverage describing the Ahlu-Suna fighters as clan based militia bandits, but the case lacked any evidence.

The chairman of Ahlu-Suna Sheik Ibrahim Sheik Hassan Guureeye told NUSOJ that he will intervene in the case and correct the faults within the administration. Ibrahim has apologized over the journalists’ arrests and pledged for NUSOJ that this won’t happen. He also stated that those who were behind it will be brought before justice.

The man behind the reporters’ arrests – the chairman of the security board in Dhusomareb town -Farhan Sheik Ali has himself given an excuse over this order stating it was a mistake which became a misunderstanding.

Journalist Abdirahman Moalim Ahmed described their arrest as a violation of their freedom. They were beaten and tortured to confess to crimes that did not exist or with which they were not involved.

Militias loyal to the local Sufi militias, Ahlu Suna Wal-Jama raided the offices of the Radio Voice of Central Dhusamareb (Idaacadda Codka Bartamaha Dhusamareb) based in Dhusamareb on Tuesday morning around 6:20am local time, where they have seriously beaten and arrested Bashir Mohamed Salad Aka Bashir Sanka. Sanka contributes to both Dalsan Radio, a privately owned independent radio station based in Mogadishu, and Idacada Codka Bartamaha, an independent radio station based Dhusamareb. Abdi Jamal Moalim Ahmed, who is the correspondent of Radio Bar-Kulan, a UN Funded radio, was also beaten.

The Shabab, which is affiliated to Al-Qaeda, looted the Radio equipment twice after raiding the town and briefly taking it over. There have been similar fears within the residents after the Ahlu Sunna Waljama militias supported by the Ethiopian troops abandoned the town of Elbur, a strategic town in central Somalia this weekend.

On 5th June, 2012, The Deputy Security Chief of the town’s Security Committee, Mr. Nor Elmi Hoosagale threatened the journalists after the town’s people evacuated the town.

On June 8, 2012 Two unknown assailants armed with pistols shot Mohamed Noor Mohamed better known as Mohamed Sharif – reporter for the Bar-Kulan Radio – twice below the heart which penetrated the back and the stomach. The shooting occurred on Friday evening June 8, 2012 around 7:30pm local time near Horn Cable Television office in Hamarjajab neighborhood as he was returning from work. The attackers fled the area immediately, according to witnesses.

Image Courtesy of  homeros / Shutterstock.com

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Yemenis troops took two of al-Qaeda’s southern strongholds 12 June 2012 in an operation known as Golden Swords. The offensive, which began 12 May 2012, took over ninety percent of the provincial capital of Abyan, Zinjibar, and the city of Jaar. The troops also took the highway linking Jaar to the port of Aden, the area through which sixty percent of Yemen’s oil passes.

The Yemeni military was backed by dozens of US troops who remained in a command center at a nearby air base.

The Yemeni troops have been shelling the strongholds for about the past two months. The troops took Jaar in a surprise dawn attack, driving the al-Qaeda group out. The residents of the town celebrated the victory of the operation. One Jaar resident, Khaled Mohsen stated, “we thought it would take a year in order for the army to get rid of al-Qaeda, but we were surprised when they swept into the town in no time. I have been hearing constant exchange of gunfire all night, then suddenly everything was quiet. I looked from the windows, and I saw soldiers in uniform in the center of the town.”

The fighting in Zanjibar was much lighter than in Jaar since most of the city was already taken and many of the militants left for Jaar to defend that city.

Twenty militants and forty troops were killed in the fighting. The al-Qaeda militants fled from the town to the mountains and small towns in the region; most are now in the coastal town of Shaqra, the last remaining stronghold of al-Qaeda in the Abyan region. The group claims that they left the city to “spare bloodshed” and threatened to attack the capital of Sanaa in retaliation, according to CP24, a Canadian news agency. As they left Jaar the militants wrote “Al-Qaeda has withdrawn. Al-Qaeda was not defeated” on shutters and walls.

Al-Qaeda has been in possession of most of the southern province of Abyan for over a year. Although the Yemeni military has tried to take the region back, past attempts have failed because they are ill-equipped, badly trained, have no developed intelligence system, and there are still some conflicted loyalties to former President Saleh.

Newly elected President, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, has promised to purge Yemen of al-Qaeda; so far his efforts seem to be successful. According to Gamal al-Aqil, governor of the Abyan province, the Yemeni government has succeeded in dealing al-Qaeda “painful blows.”

The United States views al-Qaeda in Yemen as the greatest threat to its national security. They have been aiding the Yemeni government as it tries to overthrow the group. The United States has also sent many drone attacks to the area over the past several years, although many in Yemen oppose the strikes. According to the BBC around forty people, including Yemeni citizens, were killed in US drone strikes in 2009.

Although al-Qaeda seems to be on the run in Yemen, the government is still worried about sleeper cells that may remain elsewhere in Yemen. The group has also retaliated recently with a suicide bomber in Sanaa in response to the foiling of a bombing attack on a US airliner.

Image Courtesy of  Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com

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Washington, U.S.A. – An experts panel hosted by the Carnegie Endowment and Atlantic Council warned that al-Qaeda terrorists are consolidating their position in northern Mali — buoyed by drug-trafficking, kidnapping ransoms, Libyan arms, and an influx of extremists. As the international community deliberates next steps on the Mali ”meltdown,” analysts worry about the spread of an Arc of Instability across Africa’s Sahel.

“Terrorists are consolidating their position by the day in northern Mali and the international community just talks,” said Maman Sidikou, Niger’s Ambassador to the US. He cited the influx of Libyan arms, kidnappings, and control by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) of drug-smuggling routes. “Al-Qaeda has the resources, arms, and ideology to turn young people’s minds. They are the driving force.” Why would international leaders “wait while this turns into another Afghanistan?”

For Western aid-workers, Rossella Urru of Italy and Ainhoa Fernandez de Rincon and Enric Gonyacons of Spain, it was day 222 of captivity since their Oct. 23 kidnapping from a Polisario-run refugee camp near Tindouf in Algeria, reportedly assisted by camp-insiders. They are believed held in northern Mali by an al-Qaeda offshoot, Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), that threatens to kill one of them if its ransom demands aren’t met. More than half of Westerners kidnapped in Africa are now held in northern Mali, news reports indicate.

“Northern Mali is turning into a Star Wars bar of extremists from across the region,” said Dr. J. Peter Pham, Director, Atlantic Council’s Ansari Africa Center. “The last thing Africa needs right now is another Failed State” attracting bad actors.”  He added that “pragmatism” holds together the ideologically diverse groups now in control — Tuareg-led separatists, Ansar Dine Islamists, AQIM, and MUJAO.

“The meltdown in the north came in conjunction with the coup in the south,” said Anouar Boukhars, co-leader of Carnegie’s Mauritania working group and assistant professor, McDaniel College. He and panelist Rudolph Atallah, senior fellow, Atlantic Council, outlined the complex history that provided the “ingredients for the conflagration.”

Al-Qaeda’s consolidation in northern Mali underscores growing volatility across Africa’s Sahel.Multiple reports are linking instability in the region to other militants and groups in the Maghreb and Sahel, including members from the Polisario-run camps.

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May 21, 2012 saw one of the most brutal suicide bombings ever in Yemen. At least 90 soldiers were killed and 222 injured during a parade rehearsal. The attack happened around 10 AM in the al-Sabeen square in Sanaa when the troops were listening to the national anthem, just minutes before the defense minister was due to give a speech. The suicide bomber is believed to be either a soldier or a man dressed in a soldier’s uniform.

The parade rehearsal was to commemorate Yemen’s National Day, the day in 1990 when the north and south of Yemen were united.

Most of the soldiers killed were from the Central Security Organization, a paramilitary force led by Yahya Saleh, nephew of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Yahya Saleh was dismissed only hours after the attack. One of the security officers was fired by presidential decree as well.

The al-Qaeda group in Yemen, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), claimed responsibility for the attack. The AQAP declared that the attack was revenge for the US war on followers from southern Yemen. In the same announcement AQAP warned that there would be more attacks stating, “We will take revenge, God willing, and the flames of war will reach you everywhere, and what happened is but the start of a jihad project in defense of honor and sanctities.”

The AQAP is considered a key threat to US security by the US government. This is the same group that tried to bomb an airplane flying over Detroit and plotted to send mail bombs to Chicago via cargo planes in 2010. Most recently, the AQAP is also responsible for the failed attempt to get a suicide bomber onto a US bound plane in April 2012. The US has sent twenty-one missile attacks to AQAP territory since January 2012.

No top officials were harmed during the bombing, although they were present; instead, most of the victims were Yemeni soldiers. In the past soldiers have been off-limits for the AQAP because they believed that it would make them unpopular with the Yemeni people. Previously the AQAP has gone so far as to release 75 soldiers that they captured in southern Yemen.

This attack seems to demonstrate that the AQAP has expanded influence since most of its operations have taken place only in Southern Yemen. It is possible that the group has grown because of pressures on the al-Qaeda group in the Federall Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan now that Pakistan is cooperating more with the US.

The bombing came 10 days after the Yemeni military started airstrikes and ground assaults near the outskirts of Jaar, the most important militant-controlled town in Yemen. Although the US military is advising the Yemeni government it is not getting involved militarily. Obama stated, “I think one of the things that we’ve learned from the Afghanistan experience is for us to stay focused on the counter-terrorism issue, to work with the government, to not overextend ourselves.”

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Somali politicians and world leaders met in Istanbul May 31, 2012, initiating a two day conference that attempts to end the two decades of anarchy in Somalia. The conference is to discuss the end of the transitional/interim, UN-backed government that is due to end in August 2012. This is the second of two conferences held this year about Somalia’s instability, the first being held in London.

The conference is being held in Istanbul, Turkey because of the aid and influence Turkey has given to Somalia in the past year. However, some Somali politicians are unhappy with how Turkey has handled the conference because the Somali officials were not consulted about who to invite to the conference.

Turkey’s influence in Somalia began after the devastating drought in Somalia in 2010 when Turkey first increased its aid to the country. According to the BBC, where other countries tried and failed to help Somalia, Turkey has actually brought about significant change; they have built roads, schools, and hospitals. Turkey was also one of the first countries to begin having commercial flights to Mogadishu again, starting last year. During the famine and drought in 2010 Prime Minister Erdogan was the first leader from outside of Africa to visit Somalia in almost 20 years.

On 23 May 2012, Somali officials from many disparate groups signed a document that will enable the transition from the interim government of Somalia to a stable and lasting one. The transition period is three months, meaning that the new government will be elected on 20 August 2012. Because of this early deadline and upcoming significant change, the peace conference is occurring at a perfect time to discuss Somalia’s future.

The main topic of discussion for this conference is the upcoming elections and the incoming government. Other issues discussed are a common international policy toward Somalia and economic issues such as energy, water, and roads. This conference agenda differs slightly from that of the one held earlier in the year in London which discussed terrorism and piracy more than Somalia’s future. This change in topics gives some hope for the possible stability of the Republic of Somalia.

Somalia is still plagued by the existence of al-Shabab, the al-Qaeda backed terrorist group which controls most of the Southern region of Somalia. In fact, the Somali government until very recently only had control of the capital, Mogadishu. However, very recent activity from Somali and African Union troops has allowed for the liberation of two strategic cities, Afgoye and Afmadow, from al-Shabab.

The last stronghold for al-Shabab is the port city of Kismayo where much of Somalia’s piracy calls home. The hope is that the port city will be taken by 20 August 2012 for the incoming government and to widen the electorate.

Image Courtesy of  Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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The interim president of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, was attacked in his armored convoy on May 28 by the al-Qeada associated group al-Shabab. The attack lasted about thirty minutes, until the African Union troops accompanying the president were forced to fire shells. According to the BBC, one Somali government soldier was killed and four were wounded in the attack. The president arrived at his destination unscathed.

The president was attacked on the Afgoye corridor near Elashu while taking a rare trip out of the capital city Mogadishu. This corridor has nearly 400,000 refugees, the world’s largest concentration of displaced people, who were forced to flee from violence attributed to criminal gangs and militia in 2007 and 2008. The president’s visit was prompted by the victory of African Union and interim governmental forces on May 25 over the al-Shabab stronghold of Afgoye.

The battle for Afgoye lasted four days and is largely considered a great victory for the Somali government and the African Union. Al-Shabab often used Afgoye as a place to launch attacks at Mogadishu, because of its proximity. The town is on a strategic crossroads that allows access to the north, west, and south of Somalia, making this particular loss a huge blow to al-Shabab. It is now likely that the members of al-Shabab are hiding in the nearby villages and farmlands. Al-Shabab has been terrorizing Somalia since 1991, when the last central government failed.

The relative instability of Somalia after the fall of its last government is what has allowed for the presence of piracy and al-Shabab control. Until the election of August 2000, Somalia was without an established government. Since then there have been several presidents who have all tried to regain control of the country from al-Shabab and have succeeded at varying degrees. Recently, President Ahmed has had great success with the removal of al-Shabab from Afgoye and the reconstruction going on in Mogadishu.

However, there are still other groups in northern Somalia that have added to the instability. Somaliland and Puntland are two areas that claim they are independent of the Republic of Somalia and have tried several times to create their own representational government or constitutional democracy. Although Somaliland has remained relatively stable it still has border disputes with Puntland and neither country is recognized by the global community.

Although al-Shabab has been defeated twice now in only a week’s time, it still maintains its hope for the end of the Somali government. A pro-Shabab website claimed that the attack was against “the head of the enemy” and that Sharif had taken refuge behind “African Union troops and white gunmen for safety.” The group also claims that the retreat from Afgoye was a strategic one and that they will be back.

African Union troops have been essential to maintaining the stability and protection of the government in Somalia. Other entities have also aided at certain times, such as the United Nations and the United States. The intervention by the United States resulted in the loss of several soldiers, most widely known from the film “Black Hawk Down.” After this failure, the US was reluctant to engage in other African affairs, such as the genocide in Rwanda.

The African Union has been the most involved in the stability of Somalia and seems to be making progress. Last year the AU, in tandem with Somali government troops, was responsible for ejecting al-Shabab fighters from Mogadishu. These same troops are those who took Afgoye and protected the president from this most recent attack. African Union forces are stationed in the capital city of Mogadishu, Ethiopian soldiers are in the south and west of the country, and Kenyan and AU soldiers also patrol the south of the nation.

There has been a presence of at least 12,000 Kenyan soldiers in the south of Somalia since October 2011. Al-Shabab has promised to exact revenge against Kenya for its presence in its country. Some believe that the group is responsible for the bombing at a busy shopping complex in Nairobi, Kenya on May 28 that injured 33 people. The Prime Minister of Kenya called this attack a “heinous act of terrorism.” Additionally, Kenya blames al-Shabab for several kidnappings and for the destabilizing of its border region.

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Tuesday night, President Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The key agreement signed in Kabul by the two presidents defines the relations between United States and Afghanistan and the US military presence in the country after 2014, when the last NATO-led troops are due to leave.

Obama’s surprise visit comes exactly on the one-year anniversary of the raid that led to the killing of Al Qaeda’s leader Osama bin Laden in the city of Abbottabad, Pakistan.

“Together, we’re now committed to replacing war with peace,” Obama said after signing the agreement. “With this agreement I am confident that the Afghan people will understand that the United States will stand by them,” he added.

“I’m here to affirm the bond between our two countries and to thank Americans and Afghans who have sacrificed so much over these last ten years,” the U.S. President stated after the signing ceremony. “Neither Americans nor the Afghan people asked for this war yet for a decade we’ve stood together.”

The occasion was called as “a historic moment for our two nations”.

By signing the agreement after months of negotiations, the United States guarantees to Afghanistan its sovereignty, assuring also their support after the withdrawal of the military force from the country.

During his visit to Bagram Air Field, addressing to U.S. troops President Obama said, “I know the battle’s not yet over. Some of your buddies are going to get injured. And some of your buddies may get killed. And there’s going to be heartbreak and pain and difficulty ahead. But there is a light on the horizon because of the sacrifices you made.”

At 7.30 p.m. EST, 4 a.m. in Afghanistan, Obama delivered a live address to the Nation.

“My fellow Americans, we have traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war. Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon.” he said in speech excerpts released in advance of his televised delivery by the White House.

“The Iraq War is over,” he added. “We have a clear path to fulfill our mission in Afghanistan, while delivering justice to al-Qaida.”

“Last year, we removed 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Another 23,000 will leave by the end of the summer. After that, reductions will continue at a steady pace, with more of our troops coming home. And as our coalition agreed, by the end of 2014 the Afghans will be fully responsible for the security of their country.”

Referring to the destruction of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, he added, “As we emerge from a decade of conflict abroad and economic crisis at home, it is time to renew America … a united America of grit and resilience, where sunlight glistens off soaring new towers in downtown Manhattan, and we build our future as one people, as one nation.”

This visit to Afghanistan and the signature of the U.S. Afghanistan agreement, emphasized by the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, are aimed to underline the commitment  of the Obama administration for ending the war and supporting democracy in Afghanistan. Just the right move at a crucial time for a president who wishes to be re-elected, but how this event might affect the voters is yet to be seen.

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On January 16, Al-Qaida forces took over Radda, a Yemeni town 100 miles south of the capital, and captured the local prison, setting at least 150 convicts free. According to an Associated Press photographer, the al-Qaida militants who attacked Radda were equipped with rocket-propelled grenades, automatic rifles, and other arms.

Residents said that a black al-Qaida banner was flown at the top of a captured mosque. Around 200 militants invaded Radda from already captured points, according to security officials. These points included an ancient castle, mosque, and school. Some of the freed criminals were given arms and joined in the fighting, according to anonymous officials who were not allowed to speak to the media.

The officials divulged that the leader of the al-Qaida fighters was Tariq Al-Zahab, whose sister was married to Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaida cleric and recruiter who was killed in a U.S. airstrike. The fighters maintained a security ring around Radda, so nobody could enter or leave.

Al-Qaida militants are taking advantage of the fact that the Yemeni government has been weakened due to an anti-regime uprising which was influenced by the Arab Spring revolts. This takeover has added to the number of towns that al-Qaida has already conquered in the mostly lawless south. After months of opposing protests, President Ali Abdullah Saleh finally ended his 33-year rule. The capture of Radda gives al-Qaida a foothold close to the capital, which is believed to contain many terrorist sleeper cells.

Thousands protested the security officials’ failure to protect the town in the provincial capital of Bayda. They blamed Saleh for the attack, as did some tribal leaders. “We are surprised by the silence of the security forces,” said one protester, Abdel-Rahman al-Rashid, who lives in Radda. “They have not moved, which only means that this is all arranged to spark chaos.”

Yemen, being the poorest nation in the Arab world, has long been in danger of splitting up along regional lines, with al-Qaida in possession of remote, guarded areas in the country’s mountainous areas. If this happens, Yemen could turn into something similar to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and become a power base for militants to plot terrorist attacks against the US and its allies.

The active al-Qaida branch in Yemen has previously been connected to terror attacks on the United States and Saudi Arabia and is considered one of the most formidable franchises of the international terror organization. The US once viewed Saleh as an ally in the fight against al-Qaida. However, the US stopped its support last summer and encouraged Saleh to resign.

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According to award-winning novelist and relative of Columbine shooting victim, Daniel Rohrbough, there is a direct link to school shootings and Al-Qaeda. “When I researched school shootings, more and more evidence pointed to how the Internet is being used to infiltrate, deceive, and recruit boys into the dark world of terrorism,” says Linda Rohrbough.

Formerly a computer book author, Rohrbough discovered a link between school shootings and Al-Qaeda while searching for answers after her nephew was gunned down at Columbine. “My first inkling of the connection to Al-Qaeda was when I attended the Columbine memorial service. I recognized General Colin Powell at the center of the platform in full military dress. He was never mentioned or introduced, and he never spoke. He was just there.”

Powell is an expert on the Middle East, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and credited for successful execution of Operation Desert Storm, which expelled the Iraqi army from Kuwait.

Further reports unveiled the Columbine shooters bragged theirs would be the first of many shootings. Also, the teenage shooters low-level formatted the hard disk drives of their computers before heading out to kill. Rohrbough wanted to know, “How could they know other shootings would follow? And why erase their hard disk drives? What were they trying to hide?”

Fortunately, in two cases, the authorities got to computers before the low-level format was complete. First, in a school shooting in Paris, and second, when a teenager in Florida flew his dad’s plane into a building. In both cases, e-mails traced back to Al-Qaeda operatives. Most recently, three teens in Louisiana were caught before shooting and are being held on conspiracy to commit terrorism charges.

Rohrbough’s extensive research resulted in her new novel, The Prophetess One: At Risk, published on April 20th, 2011, the 12th anniversary of the Columbine shooting.

Image Courtesy of  Randy Miramontez / Shutterstock.com

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Officials in Pakistan received a letter stating the Taliban’s plot to kidnap a high-ranking government official with the intention of exchanging him or her for bin Laden’s family. U.S. Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden, former terror chief, in May during a helicopter-borne raid in north-western Pakistan. The raid took place in one of bin Laden’s homes where he was hiding.

Focused on killing bin Laden, the U.S. Seals took his dead body from the compound but left at least two of his wives and several children in the home. Soon after the family members were detained by the Pakistani authorities, according to the Associated Press. Pakistan’s interior ministry received the letter, which warned of the kidnapping plot, on August 23.

An AP reporter obtained a copy of the letter, stamped “secret” on Friday. The letter said that the kidnapping warning was reliable. No information on specifically which Pakistani official the Taliban plans to kidnap was given. The letter did say that the kidnapping plot would most likely take place in one of Pakistan’s four provincial capitals – Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta.

The letter was received by Pakistan just three days before Shahbaz Taseer, the son of a weathly provincial governor, was killed by Islamist militant on August 26.

The New York Times reported that Shahbaz’s father and former governor of Punjab Province, Salman Taseer, was killed in January in Islamabad. The assassin, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, who was one of Salman’s security guard, later said the killing of Salman was because of the governor’s opposition to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.

The deaths of Taseer father and son are not the only recent high-profile kidnappings that have taken place. Another abduction occurred in Lahore in August. The AP reported that on August 15, gunmen seized 70-year-old American aid expert, Warren Weinstein, from his house. Weinstein remains missing. The police declined to speculate on who may be holding the man.

Minister Rehman Malik said that there is no clear connention between the recent kidnapping of Shahbaz Taseer’s and the plot on to free bin Laden’s family. This is not the first time Pakistan has dealt with serious kidnapping plots by the Taliban. Pakistan has reportedly released Taliban prisoners before in exchange for kidnapped government officials as well as army officers, according to the AP.

Meanwhile, The Huffington Post reported that Pakistani police are preventing foreign journalists and other visitors from getting close to the house of bin Laden ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Danish Ambassador to Pakistan and his wife as well as two French journalists, were among several people detained this week in Abbottabad – the town where bin Laden’s last hideout was located.

They were held briefly before being allowed to leave.  Ambassador Uffe Wolffhechel said he asked security officers at a checkpoint on the road to bin Laden’s house whether he and his wife could get in viewing range of the compound and “they said ‘we are sorry, no,’ and we shook hands and said ‘have a nice day’.”

The Huffington Post reported that Wolffhechel and his wife were held for around two hours while officers checked their papers. Karim Khan, Abbottabad police officer, said the authorities were preventing journalists and foreigners from visiting the compound because it is regarded as evidence in investigations into how bin Laden lived there and how the CIA found him.
Asianet-Pakistan / Shutterstock.com

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The US Homeland Security Department has acknowledged a ‘credible and specific’ report that al Qaeda is planning to blow up infrastructure in New York on the anniversary of the national tragedy that struck the United States 10 years ago on September 11.

New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg told the press that the intelligence of the threat was uncorroborated but because of the nature of the situation, nobody was willing to take chances. “We know the terrorists regard the anniversary as an opportunity to strike again. We do live in a world where we must take these threats seriously,” Bloomberg said according to British newspaper The Guardian.

Intelligence agencies are behind the warning. To the Huffington Post, a US intelligence official said, “US counterterrorism entities have been alert for any leads, and for the first time we’ve received specific and credible – but unconfirmed – threat information linked to the 9/11 anniversary.

Any and all leads related to possible plots are of course being run to ground, and the US will bring every resource to bear to ensure the security of the American people.” The assistant director of the FBI in New York, Janice Fedarcyk, told The Guardian that initial suspicion was raised during the raid at Abbottabad, Pakistan that killed Osama Bin Laden.

The obtained intelligence showed that al-Qaida had an interest in several important dates – including 9/11. President Barack Obama has requested redoubled effort from the counter-terrorism forces in order to clarify the nature of the threat and Fedarcyk was sure to stress that “sometimes this reporting is credible and warrants intense focus, other times it lacks credibility and is highly unlikely to relate to real plots that are underway.”

Citizens of New York will have to deal with tightened security around the city. Sky News reports that extra police will carry out checks on cars around tunnels and bridges while there will be more bag inspections on the subway and more resources put into radiation and bomb monitoring.

Mayor Bloomberg said that while the authorities are taking additional measures to protect the city in anticipation of the weekend, he would like New Yorkers to go about their business as usual. “The best thing we can do to fight terror is to refuse to be intimidated by it.

For the past 10 years we have not allowed terrorists to intimidate us, we have lived out lives without fear and we will continue to do so,” said Bloomberg.
Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com

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The tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks went as planned this past sunday. There was much to remember about that day. The lives lost and thousands of families upended, the lifesaving first responders at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the heroes of United Airlines flight 93.

Unfortunately, this event also reminded American citizens that there’s still insecurity and terrorist threats. The memories remain intact. After ten years, the story is so precise, so detailed, it seems that the attack on the Twin Towers in New York was in fact just last week. And just like the memories of that day, some are still assailed by the fear and insecurity left behind after the tragedy of September 11.

The State Department told that it had not received specific threats from Al-Qaeda or similar groups, but explains that people who were traveling or living outside America should take extra care. The State Department warned that anyone who wanted to leave the country had to register on the website of the State Office, embassy or consulate.

Alert notes were published, stating that previous attacks have been planned for important dates and that Americans abroad should keep alert. The tenth anniversary of the twin towers was remembered around the world. Ceremonies were held in several countries to commemorate the lives lost or destroyed and Obama encourages all U.S. citizens to participate in the event.

Some people do not accept the government’s version of the status quo. They believe that the government continues to play with people’s fear, to get American citizens to cooperate with the government. In the past, the government used Communism to scare the population and today the focus has moved to Al-Qaeda.

Conspiracists think that they are playing a game to get what they want: have everybody in USA united. The United State government insists that they are cautious, and they alert people only for public safety. Their responsibility is to make precautions and give people all the necessary information to be sure that everything is going to be normal.

For last Sunday’s event, the government and the city of New York was anxious that people’s lives were safe as they went to Ground Zero. John Coburn, EJay Weiss and Todd Stone, three artists who took on the task of expressing 9/11 in different art forms, showed their works in commemoration.

At least two dozen other September 11-related museum and gallery exhibitions were also being presented throughout the city. The Alice Austen House Museum and the Fire Department Retirees of Staten Island hosted the annual Remembrance of September 11 in honor of the 343 colleagues who lost their lives. The ceremony was held on the front lawn, overlooking the Manhattan skyline.

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After economical crisis, natural catastrophes, old and new wars, rebellions and violence explosions the news of the death of the number one world’s terrorist is just what we needed.

Meanwhile the people all over the world question on which is the true reality about this unclear story, the news of Al Qaeda leader’s death is spreading on all newspapers and TV news.

The images of American people gathered on the streets around US jumping, singing joy’s choruses and crying after receiving the announcement from President Obama of the murder of the West’s greatest enemy, is the demonstration of how it could be strong the effects of news like that.

Osama Bin Laden, called also the “terror shaykh”, has been for decades the most wanted terrorist of the world and the most feared man for the western world.

His mysterious figure frightened and fascinated at the same time. He was the icon of the evil, he embodied fear and terror, he was the perfect enemy dangerous and elusive.

The world knows his face and voice only thanks to the various videos which appeared systematically on TV. He has always been untraceable but his presence could be perceived anywhere.

Maybe his greatest weapon was the speech, a speech with the power of killing thousands of people in name of the Jihad against the West. His disciples following his speech sacrificed themselves to accomplish the mission of eliminating American and western enemies.

He is a negative hero who skilfully constructed a self image of legendary man, feared by his enemies, adored and esteemed by his followers. He presented himself as the warlord and the spiritual guide to Islamic world in the struggle against the western countries, succeeding in putting together an “evil army” ready to obey and execute his orders blindly.

He understood well how to take advantage of the modern mass media to nourish the greatness of his figure. Osama has always been a clever man and an able communicator, being good at uniting archaic symbols and media modernity.

Some expert analysts defined him a borderline character, who constructed a double self image of ancient and modern, elitist and popular, of an expert Jihad’s strategist and of an expert communicator at the same time.

His war against the West was essentially a psychological war, made by terror and fear’s spreading and virtual treats that in some terrible occasion turned into crude facts.

Osama Bin Laden was more than a man, he was a powerful double sided symbol. His death is still a bit unclear, some people believe it is real and it represents the victory of good against evil, some others think it is maybe the result of a conspiracy or a real hoax. At the moment nobody knows the truth.

The only certain thing is that his death, real or not, is a symbolic death. It could nourish hope for a better future and a better world, or it could nourish hatred and a strong push for “fundamentalisms” – not only the Islamic one -. It remains just one question: can a symbol be defeated with a man’s death?

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President Obama announced on Sunday May 2nd at 11.00 PM EDT that Osama Bin Laden [1957-2011] the face of Al-Qaeda and mastermind of 911 has been killed. Osama Bin Laden has been the Central leader of Al-Qaeda and a lead figure of world terrorism.

U.S. and Pakistani Intelligence operations killed the Al-Qaida leader outside of Islamabad the capital of Pakistan during an on the ground firefight that was directly authorized by President Obama.

During the speech crowds gathered in front of the White House, celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden, a picture that we usually do not see in the western world.

It is expected that loyal followers of Osama Bin Laden will answer this announcement with retaliation triggering an increase in security around the world.

The hunt of Osama Bin Laden is officially over but will this stop global terrorism and when will his followers strike back?

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A decade after the tragic events of 9/11, the backwash of US effort to prevent any future terrorist attacks keeps turning up new revelations about questionable practices and unpleasant realities. Recently, a former Guantanamo inmate gave an interview to the BBC, describing some of the things he endured during his captivity between early 2002 and 2008. Saad Iqbal Madni was known as an Islamic scholar and prize-winning reciter of the Quran when he, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, was bundled into a plane during a visit to Indonesia and flown to Egypt. In Cairo, Egyptian intelligence agents were allegedly waiting to extract information under the auspice of US agents. “The place they put me was smaller than a grave,” Mr Madni told the BBC, “They asked me questions about [shoe bomber] Richard Reid, and if I had any information about 9/11. When I denied it, they gave me electric shocks in my knees. A few times I passed out.”

After Cairo, Mr. Madni explains he was taken to Bagram Air base in Afghanistan where they deprived him of food and kept him in isolation for 10 months. By March 2003, he was transferred to Guantanamo as classified as an enemy combatant. The main accusation was connections to al-Qaeda and planning terrorist acts – charges he denies.

During an interview with BBC’s Pakistan correspondent Orla Guerin, Mr Madni gave a detailed description of some of the traumatizing experiences he was forced to make while carrying the number 746 in Guantanamo Bay. “Since they arrest me, up to today, every second night I wake up screaming, yelling and crying,” he confessed, breaking into tears. “I can’t forget what they did to me. No one can do that with the animals. I don’t know how they can do that with human beings.”

Among other things, Mr Madni was exposed to a practice called ‘frequent flier status’. “That means the detainee is not allowed to sleep,” he said. “Every 20 minutes, every half an hour, the guards come and wake up the detainee, they handcuff him, they leg shackle him, and move him from block to block, cell to cell. If we try to get a nap the guards come and kick the doors, yelling, screaming and cursing.” The BBC report acknowledges that much of Mr. Madni’s chronicle of imprisonment cannot be independently verified, but his account echoes those of other former detainees.

Within the first year at Guantanamo, Mr Madni attempted suicide but his actions were punished with increased torture and intimidation. When contracting an ear infection, he claims that he was refused treatment and told to cooperate with interrogators if he wanted medical help. He cites doctors for telling him that he was an enemy, not a patient.

Mr Madni denies having links with extremists groups in Pakistan, though admits having met members of a hardline Indonesian Islamic group – the Islamic Defenders Front – with a scholarly purpose. He claims not to have known the US considered them terrorists. When asking the interrogation personnel about his status during the five years in Guantanamo, he explained “they just said that Washington D.C. need to keep you in here. When they decide to let you free then all the charges will be dropped”. True to word, a US court ordered his release in August 2008 where he returned to Pakistan.

However, the government of Pakistan has placed him under house arrest, listing him under the country’s anti-terror watch. “I am suffering more that I was in Guantanamo Bay,” he says, “I can’t work. I can’t see my family members. I can’t leave the city.” Mr Madni says the situation has left him suicidal. “Over there is a small cage,” he told the BBC, “and Pakistan is the bigger cage. That’s it.”

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2011 March 2nd  in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan the Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti died.

He was driving through a residential district in broad daylight going to a work meeting after leaving his mother’s home, when suddenly his vehicle was surrounded by several armed men and sprayed with bullets. Witnesses said that before to open fire they asked the minister’s driver to get out of the car sparing his life.

“The initial reports are that there were three men who attacked him. He was probably shot using a kalashnikov, but we are trying to ascertain what exactly happened”, said Wajid Durrani, Islamabad police chief. At the arrival to the capital’s Shifa Hospital his corpse was already lifeless.

The Minister Bhatti was traveling with no security escort when the attack happened .It is not clear yet the reason why he was not accompanied by his guards and did not have the standard ministers’ security vehicle.

In recent weeks he expressed his concern about security after he received death threats from some Islamist militants for his efforts to reform the blasphemy law. He explicitly requested extra security when some shots were fired at his residence in Islamabad by some unknown aggressors and the capital’s police chief insisted that proper security had been provided to him, but inexplicably that fateful day no escort was accompanying him.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Punjab,a branch of the Taliban in the most populous province of Pakistan, claimed the responsibility of the attack. “This man was a known blasphemer of the Prophet [Muhammad]. We will continue to target all those who speak against the law which punishes those who insult the prophet. Their fate will be the same”, said Ahsanullah Ahsan, the group’s deputy spokesman. At the scene of the killing were found pamphlets by the Tehrik-i-Taliban and Al-Qaeda warning anyone opposing the blasphemy laws of the same fate of Shahbaz Bhatti.

The blasphemy laws in Pakistan are the strictest among all the Muslim-majority countries. The religious feelings’ outrage is forbidden, the defilement of the Quran is punished with life imprisonment, and the death penalty is prescribed for the “use of derogatory remarks in respect of the Holy Prophet”.

Bhatti had always criticized the Pakistan’s blasphemy law and had struggled for the support and the saving of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman mother of four children, sentenced to hang in Punjab in November 2010. She was charged with blasphemy for having insulted the Prophet Muhammad during a row with Muslim women villagers about sharing water. She denied the charges and although the minister Bhatti supported her nothing could be done to save her.

Also the governor of the province of Punjab, Salman Taseer, had strongly opposed the blasphemy law and had fought for the presidential pardon for Bibi. On January he was shot and killed in Islamabad by one of his bodyguards,who has been acclaimed as a hero by many people in the country. For both Tasser and Bhatti their involvement in the recommendation to amendments to the blasphemy law has been the cause of their death.

The event was condemned by the government and by the Christians,that in Pakistan are the 1,5% of the Pakistan’s population.

“We have been orphaned today!Now who will fight for our rights?”, told Rehman Masih, a Christian resident of Islamabad.

Shahbaz Bhatti in all his political career had always supported the religious minorities and he dedicated his life to struggle for human equality, social justice, religious freedom, and to uplift and empower the religious minorities’ communities.

With his death Pakistan lost a fundamental figure that represented a gleam of hope for the minorities for equality and freedom in a country where the civilization and the essential human rights are just an utopia.

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This year marks the ten year anniversary of the horrific events that have come to be known collectively as “9-11.”  On September 11, 2001- the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil was carried out.  The official story, which emerged rather quickly, was that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda were the masterminds behind the attacks.  It seemed to make sense and the explanation allowed Americans to have someone to blame.

In the months following the attacks, more questions about the official explanation began to appear.  The 9-11 “truthers,” as they are often called, range from those that believe the government knew about the impending attacks and chose to ignore it to those that believe the attacks were an inside job, with the U.S. government carrying out the attacks in order to justify a war in the Middle East.  The attacks also allowed the Bush administration to decrease civil liberties by passing legislation such as “The Patriot Act” and, more than likely, helped Bush win a second term.

Truthers point to a variety of different events on that day that they believe is reason to be skeptical about the official story.  They note that the Pentagon attack happened over an hour after the attack on New York City and point out that there was no response from Andrews Air Force Base, just 10 miles away.  Hani Hanjour, the supposed pilot of that plane, failed as a Cessna pilot on his first flight in a Boeing but was somehow able to execute a difficult aerobatic maneuver to strike the Pentagon.  The attack on the Pentagon hit the just-renovated side, which was largely empty and opposite from the high command. There is also considerable debate on the famed flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania.  Many family members and loved ones received last minute phone calls from passengers on that plane.  Did cell phones work on planes in 2001?  I tried to turn on my cell phone many years later on a plane and it did not work.  The scattering of debris found over the field has always suggested that the plane was shot down, not driven into the ground.  Truthers maintain that the buildings in New York City were brought down by controlled demolition and not by the planes that crashed into the buildings.  Even the staunchest believer in the official story questions why building #7 was destroyed, even though it was not hit by a plane that fateful day.

Although, there are plenty of other questions and inconsistencies that truthers point out when debating 9-11, those are the major arguments.  The government has attempted to define the 9-11 truthers as part of a fringe movement, but a large part of Americans have some doubt of the official story.  The truth movement has websites devoted to the conspiracy, books, and movies.  One famous documentary about 9-11, Loose Change , is highly critical of the official explanation and offers a thorough critique of the official explanation.  The movie, in its entirety, can be viewed on YouTube.

Whether you believe that bin Laden was responsible or not, questions surrounding the tragedy should not be dismissed or taken lightly.  Our country often attempts to vilify anyone who questions the government or official explanations.  But, it shouldn’t be that way.  We should not blindly follow any person or any explanation, because we are not sheep.  And if history has taught us anything, government is not infallible and has committed much more evil acts than what 9-11 truthers believer.

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