All posts tagged: al-Qaeda

Madrid train bombings: An open wound, twenty years on

Madrid train bombings: An open wound, twenty years on

Published by Sam

Issued on: 08/03/2024 – 10:56 It was one of Spain’s deadliest terrorist attacks in history. On the morning of March 11, 2004, ten bombs exploded almost simultaneously at the Atocha train station in the Spanish capital Madrid. Nearly 200 people were killed and more than 1,500 wounded. Twenty years later, survivors of the incident are still waiting to know the truth behind the bombings. On the morning of March 11, 2004, a series of ten coordinated explosions on four commuter trains bound for Madrid’s Atocha station during rush hour, killing 191 people. José Maria Aznar, then prime minister, and his Popular Party (PP) immediately pointed the finger at the Basque separatists of the ETA who, since the late 1960s, had been responsible for the deaths of more than 800 people in the country. However, a branch of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Madrid attacks that same evening and called for the withdrawal of Spanish forces from the military intervention in Iraq. The PP’s blunder cost it the general elections held four days later and saw the victory of …

Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden says he heard him ‘take his last breath’ | US | News

Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden says he heard him ‘take his last breath’ | US | News

Published by skeptic

The Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden has claimed he heard him “take his last breath” after he shot the al-Qaeda man in the face three times. Operation Neptune Spear saw the revered SEAL Team 6 hunt down and kill the leader of the terrorist group at his compound in Pakistan. Rob O’Neill was on the mission to Abbottabad on May 2, 2011, and has previously opened up on bin Laden’s final moments. Speaking on The Shawn Ryan Show, Rob O’Neill said: “I can hear bin Laden taking his last breath. When I shot him he fell to the foot of the bed. “I shot him in the face three times. I moved Amal [bin Laden’s wife] and… his two-year-old son is now standing there, and this is the humanity of everything. “This kid has got nothing to do with this. I’m a father. I picked him up and I move them to the back of the bed.” He also previously said he feared the mission would be his last. Speaking on the Full …

Somali army searching for ‘hostages’ held by Al-Shabaab after UN chopper crash lands

Somali army searching for ‘hostages’ held by Al-Shabaab after UN chopper crash lands

Published by Sam

Somalia’s military said Thursday it was searching for a number of people “taken hostage” by the militant group Al-Shabaab after a UN helicopter made an emergency landing in hostile territory.  Issued on: 11/01/2024 – 16:04Modified: 11/01/2024 – 16:10 2 min The United Nations has confirmed one of its choppers was involved in an “aviation incident” in central Galmudug state on Wednesday but said nothing about the fate of the passengers and crew. Somali military officials said the search was focussing on Hindhere, an area 470 km (290 miles) north of Mogadishu where the chopper is believed to have landed following a technical fault. Somali National Army Captain Abdusalam Mohamed told AFP the exact location of the helicopter was not known. “But we have confirmed that Al-Shabaab has taken hostage several of the personnel aboard the aircraft. We believe they are being held in the Hindhere area,” he said from a military base in Galmudug. “There are already efforts underway to establish their whereabouts, and search operations are ongoing in the area where the aircraft vanished.” …

Somalia begins ‘efforts to rescue’ UN helicopter crew held by al-Shabab | United Nations News

Somalia begins ‘efforts to rescue’ UN helicopter crew held by al-Shabab | United Nations News

Published by Sam

The UN helicopter accidentally landed in al-Shabab territory on Wednesday, with at least six of the nine passengers taken hostage. Somalia’s government is working to rescue the passengers of a United Nations helicopter that was captured by al-Shabab fighters, a spokesperson said on Thursday, but military officers said it would be difficult to access the area where they were taken. The helicopter took off from the city of Beledweyne and landed close to Gadoon village in the Galgaduud region due to a technical glitch, an internal UN memo seen by Al Jazeera stated. “The government has been undertaking efforts to rescue the crew since yesterday when the accident happened, and efforts still go on,” Information Minister Daud Aweis told Reuters news agency. He did not provide any other details. According to the memo, there were nine passengers on the plane, including military personnel and a third-party contractor. At least six of the passengers were reportedly seized by al-Shabab. Colonel Abdullahi Isse, who is based in the town of Adado, about 100km (60 miles) north of …

The Women Who Saw 9/11 Coming

The Women Who Saw 9/11 Coming

Published by skeptic

One day toward the end of the 20th century, John Rizzo, a career lawyer at the Central Intelligence Agency, found himself chatting with Jack Downing—a former Marine and stalwart Cold Warrior who had been brought out of retirement to oversee the clandestine service. The two men were talking about an analyst named Michael Scheuer, the cerebral but polarizing leader of a team focused on a terrorist group called al-Qaeda. Skeptical that Scheuer was up to the job, Downing brought up a perceived weakness of his staff. “The only people who work for him are girls,” he scoffed. It was a small moment, but one Rizzo never forgot. “I remember him saying girls,” Rizzo told me in an interview before his death in 2021. Ironically, Downing, who also died in 2021, was seen as relatively supportive of women at the CIA. Back in 2018, I met with a group of CIA historians to talk about women’s roles and experiences at the agency. The historians pointed to the striking number of women engaged in several key missions, …

What Al-Qaeda Did to Fallujah, Hamas Did to Gaza

What Al-Qaeda Did to Fallujah, Hamas Did to Gaza

Published by skeptic

Twenty years ago, on what looked like a movie set built in the Quantico woods, I learned how to fight in a city. This faux city was called “MOUT Town.” MOUT—Military Operations in Urban Terrain—is U.S. military-speak for high-intensity urban combat, like what’s unfolding in Gaza. Tactically, MOUT was very different from the traditional combat we’d already studied in the Marine Corps. The urban battlefield was highly constricted; streets and buildings funneled us into close quarters with our enemy. Beyond every corner, window, or doorway lurked a potential ambush. Most notably, and adding a specific and complex layer to this type of warfare, civilians blended with adversaries, all played by instructors who ambushed us with paintball guns. Casualty rates in urban warfare far exceed those of other forms of combat, a fact reinforced by the dime-size paintball welts that covered my body by the end of MOUT week. Less than a year later, in November 2004, I found myself leading a 46-man rifle platoon into Fallujah, in Iraq. This battle pitted 13,000 Marines and soldiers …

We’re Lucky Biden’s in Charge

We’re Lucky Biden’s in Charge

Published by skeptic

President Joe Biden and his national-security team began their time in office in 2021 intending to concentrate on confronting China’s rise. The state of the world has not allowed such a singular focus. First came the American withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s return to power. Next was Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now Hamas has carried out its barbaric terrorist attack against Israeli citizens, triggering a forceful response from Israel and potentially a major interstate war in the Middle East. Americans are lucky to have President Biden and his foreign-policy team in charge of national security right now. Their experience and knowledge extends not just to China and Asia but to the world, and they have made smart moves in defense of American interests and values. From the start, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Biden both traveled to Israel to signal strong American support for a democratic ally. In times of crisis, allies need to show up; once there, Blinken and Biden delivered appropriate messages about shared values, Israel’s right to self-defense, …

What Israel Can Learn From America’s 9/11 Response

What Israel Can Learn From America’s 9/11 Response

Published by skeptic

“I hope Israel looks hard at what the U.S. does when provoked and does better,” one reader argues. Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Stringer / Reuters October 25, 2023, 3:45 PM ET Welcome to Up for Debate. Each week, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here. Last week, as observers characterized the recent attack on Israel as that country’s 9/11, I asked, “What did you learn from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and America’s responses to them?” Replies have been edited for length and clarity. R. writes: I learned that Al Qaeda was a horrifically evil group in a part of the world where evil is all too common. But I also learned that separating the world into good and evil is not a good way to conduct foreign policy. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, and our war in Iraq did more harm than good. My advice to Israel is to proceed …

Qatar Can’t Go On Like This

Qatar Can’t Go On Like This

Published by skeptic

As Israel and Hamas sink deeper into conflict, Doha finds itself in a delicate position. As a long-standing backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar has huge influence over the movement’s Palestinian affiliate, Hamas. That offers a significant opportunity in the short run. Doha’s deep connections with the Gaza-based Islamist group make Qatar a central player in the current diplomatic game. But for exactly the same reason, Doha faces the looming risk of being called to account over its record of support for such radical Islamist groups, and especially for Hamas. Doha has a long history of serving as a broker, and in the past, this has often worked well for the Gulf state. By allowing the Taliban to establish a Doha office, Qatar provided the U.S. with a channel for negotiations with the group. Doha thus facilitated the agreement to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan concluded under the Trump administration and carried out by President Joe Biden in 2021. Qatar hopes to play a similar role now. Doha has provided a home for much of …

Israel Must Not React Stupidly

Israel Must Not React Stupidly

Published by skeptic

If 10/7 was Israel’s 9/11, as many of the country’s leaders have said, the meaning of the comparison is not self-evident. Its implications still have to be worked out, and they might lead to unexpected places. The horror is comparable, but the scale isn’t. The 1,000 or more civilians butchered on Saturday by Hamas are, relative to Israel’s population, many more than the 3,000 killed in the United States by al-Qaeda; a proportionate number of dead on 9/11 would have been close to 40,000. Al-Qaeda, a transnational group based in the deserts and mountains of Afghanistan, had the ability and will to strike terror anywhere in the world, but it could not destroy the United States. Hamas threatens Israel’s very existence—both in principle, according to the genocidal goals set out in its founding manifesto and subsequent statements, and also in practice, as an arm or ally of the more powerful entities in the region that share its aims, Hezbollah, Syria, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Facts like these suggest that the analogy has no …