Additionally, Obama is worried about new sanctions that the bill mandates on Iran”s Central Bank.  The sanctions were included to punish Iran for its continued drive to develop a nuclear weapon.  Obama is worried that if implemented quickly or harshly the sanctions will cause a spike in world oil prices and cause disastrous hardship on US allies who import oil from Iran.

Obama had originally threatened to veto the bill due to the way it treated American citizens suspected of terrorist involvement.  The original bill contained a provision which would have allowed the government to hold US citizens accused of terrorist activity indefinitely, without trial.  The current bill got rid of that section.

In addition the original bill took away the right of the government to use civilian courts to try members of Al-Queda or associated groups.  The current bill allows the Executive branch the right to use a civilian court if they justify to Congress that National Security is at risk by using a military tribunal.

The bill’s sanctions on Iran are to be implemented over the course of the next six months.  Iran’s military has already declared that they would consider the bill’s signing to be an act of war.  They threatened to shut down the Straight of Hormmuz, a waterway through which 1/6th of the world’s oil travels through.  Since then Iran has backed off the statement, stating that they have have other “unspecified” ways of retaliating.

The bill’s price tag stands at $664 Billion dollars and authorizes the purchase of weapons systems, pay for service members, national security programs and other similar projects.

Do you think Obama should have signed the bill?

With Reservations, Obama Signs Defense Bill is a post from: The Inquisitr

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi may no longer be bringing his reign of terror to the people of Libya but now they have a new enemy to confront, the emergence of al-Qaeda in the region.

According to a Libyan source who spoke with CNN al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri sent a veteran jihadist to Libya in early 2011 along with a force of al-Qaeda fighters in order to establish a general force in the area.

The report says the veteran known simply as “AA” has been able to build up a 200-strong cell in the country’s east, right near the border of Egypt.

The CNN source is said to have known Zawahiri since the 1980s. The man says after fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan he moved to the UK to recruit Muslims to al-Qaeda.

After being detained in July 2005 following the London terror attacks “AA” moved back  to the Afghan-Pakistan border area in 2009 when his arrest order eventually lapsed.

If the report is correct it wouldn’t be the first time news of al-Qaeda support was found in the area, documents uncovered in Iraq five years ago revealed that al-Qaeda fighters had arrived from eastern Libya as early as 2006.  In a cable from WikiLeaks the area was also described as a “wellspring of Libyan foreign fighters” in the eastern town of Derna.

In a video released by al-Qaeda earlier in December they noted:

“At this crossroads you have found yourselves, you either choose a secular regime that pleases the greedy crocodiles of the West and for them to use it as a means to fulfill their goals, or you take a strong position and establish the religion of Allah.”

In the meantime Libya must not attempt to suppress the group before they grow, while militant groups existed in the country under Gadhafi’s reign he was able to suppress those groups with authoritarian rule, something the new governmental leaders much work diligently to succeed at.

al-Qaeda Looks To Target Libya Following Gadhafi’s Death is a post from: The Inquisitr

With Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries slowly turning away members of terrorist group Al-Qaeda the agency has begun to move their efforts towards a new region, Africa’s Sahara Desert.

Growing their numbers in the region since early 2006 the group has won over much of the Saharan community by handing out medical aid, cash, food and even candy to small children.

According to the AP the group is growing fastest in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), having raised $130 million from the kidnapping of 50 Western citizens in the region.

Reports state that the group has spread almost all the way across the Sahara and continues to develop new ties with local officials and other sympathizers and groups in need of their resources as extreme poverty continues to be a major factor in Saharan Africa.

In reports about their activities it’s believed that Al-Qaeda members have become “model citizens” for traders since they never haggle and pay full price for goods and they don’t get involved in local politics.

One official says of the groups presence in the area:

“The situation in Mali is they have become locals—they are not foreigners,” and “This is really, really very, very difficult to do, and it makes it very hard to get rid of them.”

It’s not that the group has made new allies, but rather that they may finally have a home where locals are less willing to provide intelligence reports to allied fighters.

Do you think Al-Qaeda’s new approach with a more friendly local appeal posses a great threat in attempting to take down the terrorist organization?

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

Al-Qaeda Thrives In Sahara Desert, Hands Out Candy And Medical Aid is a post from: The Inquisitr

Officials say that the same counter-terrorism unit that killed Osama bin Laden used a drone and jet strike in Yemen to kill al-Awlaki.

The strike, which hit al-Awlaki’s convoy and reportedly also killed Al-Qaeda propoganda chief Samir Khan, was coordinated across three weeks by the CIA and carried out with the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command’s military assets.

“They were waiting for the right opportunity to get him away from any civilians,” a senior administration official told ABC News.

Born in New Mexico and educated in Colorado, al-Awlaki rose to prominence with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the network’s most active branch, and was a vocal preacher of jihad.

His online teachings have been cited as part of the motivation behind several attacks on the U.S. homeland — the Fort Hood attacks, the attempted bombing in New York’s Times Square, and the failed attempt to bring down an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009 all bore al-Awlaki’s fingerprints.

Al-Awlaki was also suspected of a role in the unsuccessful attempt to send mail bombs on planes from Yemen to Chicago-area synagogues last October.

Following news of Anwar’s takedown, Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, offered rare praise for President Obama (who authorized al-Awlaki’s killing last year), calling it a “great success in our fight against Al Qaeda.”

via Bloomberg

Anwar al-Awlaki, Al-Qaeda Cleric, Killed in Airstrike is a post from: The Inquisitr

15 members of terrorist group al-Qaeda were sentenced to death by an Iraqi court this week. The group was suspected of a 2006 wedding party massacre that killed 70 people.

The court ruled that the group had planned and carried out the attack in the Shiite town of Dujail.

The defendants were arrested in May and Iraqi TV had been airing their confessions to show that Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was protecting his country from terrorist activities. According to the defendant the massacre occurred because the groom was a Shiite and the bride a Sunni.

In what can only be described as one of the most brutal attacks in the area the group through 15 children into the Tigris River with concrete blocks around their necks, while the men were blindfolded and shot in the back of the head while their hands were tied behind their backs while the women were raped and then murdered.

Iraq Court Sentences 15 al-Qaeda Members To Death is a post from: The Inquisitr

al-Qaeda Takes Over Yemen Coastal Town is a post from: The Inquisitr

Kuma\War is a free-to-play tactical shooter developed by Kuma Games. It already offers 106 ‘episodes,’ each a reenactment of some famous real-life military operation. These mostly focus on Iraq, though there are missions based in a virtual Afghanistan, Iran, Mexico, Sierra Leone, and others. Existing episodes depict John Kerry’s Silver Star mission and the capture of Saddam Hussein.

Kuma Games CEO Keith Halper revealed to Kotaku today that Kuma\War Episode #107: The Death of Osama Bin Laden would be released on May 7th:

“I looked back at 106 episodes of Kuma\War and understood it was a story without an end and so it was a matter of personal decision between myself and the development and writing staff to say we can’t close the door on Kuma\War until we’ve told this absolutely critical last story.”

Is this rampant and tasteless exploitation at its worst? That was certainly my first reaction – disgust is an easy first emotion in this case.

Yet according to Kotaku, Halper has previously compared what his company does to the work of news organizations, while Kuma\War is endorsed by the History Channel. It also seems to strive for accuracy, with extensive background information for each mission, including satellite photos, Department of Defense records, and a multimedia library.

I guess what this boils down to is: are videogames a viable way of documenting history? As I sincerely believe they are, I don’t feel I can fairly criticize Kuma\War, however current it may be.

[Via Kotaku]

Videogame lets users reenact Osama bin Laden killing is a post from: The Inquisitr

President Barack Obama is expected to make a statement at approximately 11:10 PM EST tonight, and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer has confirmed that the statement is believed to be that alleged September 11th mastermind and head of Al Qaeda Osama bin Laden has died.

Ahead of the statement, CNN has disclosed that bin Laden may had died in an airstrike in a mansion outside Islamabad, and that some bin Laden family members may have been killed. It was disclosed that bin Laden’s death was due to “actionable intelligence” received by the US.

11:35, statement begins. President Obama begins discussing the impact of September 11th on Americans.

11:39 Bin Laden was located in a compound outside in Pakistan. A “small team of Americans… took care to avoid civilian casualties,” and engaged in a firefight, ending in said Americans taking custody of bin Laden’s body.

11:42 Obama: “Justice has been done.”

11:44: Obama: “America can do whatever we put our mind to.”

11:45 The speech is over, after Obama thanks Pakistan for its cooperation.

Updated: Osama bin Laden killed in ground operation in Pakistan is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Department of Homeland security has confirmed that they are looking into a “credible threat” that terrorists may be planning to strike buffets and salad bars with poisons including ricin and cyanide en masse over a brief period in the United States.

The DHS’ Janet Napolitano said “individuals are prepared to carry out” the trough-dining attacks, and CBS elaborates:

A key Intelligence source has confirmed the threat as “credible.” Department of Homeland Security officials, along with members of the Department of Agriculture and the FDA, have briefed a small group of corporate security officers from the hotel and restaurant industries about it.

The group who is thought to be behind the threat are the same ones linked with the October plot to sabotage cargo planes, part of a larger terrorist scheme called “Operation Hemorrhage.” CBS spoke with a pharmaceutical professor who demonstrated how the attack could be carried out in a terrifyingly simple way:

“Initially it would look very much like food poisoning,” said St. John’s University professor of pharmaceutical sciences Dr. Susan Ford… She showed how little of each poison could be fatal by putting a small amount of poison in cups.

Experts also say the attacks could initially appear to be food poisoning, and that government and hospitality industry leaders are “on alert.”

[Image]

DHS probes ‘credible’ threat that terrorists could strike salad bars with ricin, cyanide is a post from: The Inquisitr

According to a story in the Washington Post the CIA was in the process of developing teams of anti-terrorist assassination squads that ended up being shut down when CIA head Leon Panetta found out about them.

While there were apparently plans at the agency to develop these squads for a number of years with the idea of using them to hunt al-Qaeda leaders it wasn’t until recently that the plans were upgraded to a “somewhat more operational phase”.

Once he learned of the plans and shut them down Panetta appeared at Capital Hill to brief lawmakers about the whole deal since they had been kept in the dark about it.

The Obama administration’s top intelligence official, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair, yesterday defended Panetta’s decision to cancel the program, which he said had raised serious questions among intelligence officials about its “effectiveness, maturity and the level of control.”

But Blair broke with some Democrats in Congress by asserting that the CIA did not violate the law when it failed to inform lawmakers about the secret program until last month. Blair said agency officials may not have been required to notify Congress about the program, though he believes they should have done so.

Source: The Washington Post

The Democrat lawmakers however feel that the CIA intentionally misled Congress by failing to disclose the program. It was a program that came out of “presidential finding” signed by President George W. Bush shortly after September 11, 2001 that granted the agency broad authority to use deadly force when hunting down bin Laden and other high ranking al-Qaeda members.

CIA head nixed secret plan for assassination squad is a post from: The Inquisitr

Assistant Commisioner Bob Quick’s error could have been potentially disastrous. As he arrived at 10 Downing Street (where the British Prime Minister lives) to brief Gordon Brown on the operation, he was carrying a document marked “Secret” under his arm.

The document was only visible for a second, but it was enough for the photographers. The powerful telephoto lenses made the text on the document readable in the pictures.

It revealed how many terrorist suspects were to be arrested and the operation’s secret codename – “Pathway.”

As soon as the photograph was published the operation was forced to start before planned. It involved several hundred police officers raiding 10 homes in Northen England.

Bob Quick will be replaced by Assistant Commisioner John Yates.

Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism chief resigns after blunder is a post from: The Inquisitr

40 members of AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest Al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East have died by the Black Death.

The plague, responsible for the deaths of an estimated 75 million people world wide during the 14th century, swept through the AQLIM training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa, and was only discovered when security forces found a body by a roadside.

According to The Sun, Al-Qaeda chiefs fear the plague may have been passed to other terror cells, and even Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. One security source quoted by the paper said “This is the deadliest weapon yet in the war against terror. Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease. It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda.”

There is believed to be 1,000 terrorists attached to the camp where the outbreak took place, with many reported fleeing to other camps, potentially spreading the disease.

40 Al-Qaeda Terrorists Killed….by The Black Death is a post from: The Inquisitr

Al-Qaeda is using pedophile websites to plot terror attacks on Britain according to British Security Services.

Al-Qaeda is using the sites due to the levels of security employed: paedophile sites are said to be password-protected and encrypted to avoid detection from police, which apparently makes them great for secretly plotting terrorist attacks as well.

A security source quoted in The Mirror said “Using child pornography sites appears to be al-Qaeda’s latest desperate attempt to avoid detection. Sadly, the high levels of secrecy, passwords and encryption demanded by paedophiles means their websites can offer good cover for terrorists.”

Pedophiles and terrorists: a snappy headline waiting to be had, but not really surprising either.

Al-Qaeda Hiding Behind Pedobear for British terror attacks is a post from: The Inquisitr