Tag: the war of terror

SPLC Indictment Shows Partisan Activists Were Running The FBI Domestic Terror Program

The real Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) scandal isn’t just the indictment. The deeper scandal is that the FBI used a highly partisan activist group as an unelected, unvetted intelligence wing of the federal bureaucracy. For years, the bureau didn’t just consult the SPLC. It folded the group’s ideology into its threat assessments and other work products, then used those products to brand Americans as hateful or flag them as potential domestic violent extremists. 

I warned in June 2021 that the Biden administration’s “National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism” provided the blueprint for this institutional capture. Specifically, Pillar 1 of the strategy formalized public-private partnerships and relied on “non-governmental analysis” to identify threats. That framework greenlit a backdoor around the Constitution. By treating the SPLC’s partisan analysis as a substitute for sworn evidence, the government laundered ideological narratives into official federal threat assessments. This shadow intelligence partnership was not an accident. 

The FBI’s Richmond memo, better known as the anti-Catholic memo, showed exactly what that pipeline looked like in practice. The FBI used the SPLC’s analysis to define so-called “radical-traditionalist Catholics” by their opposition to abortion, LGBT ideology, and adherence to traditional family values. Sen Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed that one Richmond analyst produced a slide presentation that equated Catholic beliefs in “[c]onservative family values/roles” with ideas “[c]omparable to Islamist ideology.” 

Despite former FBI Director Christopher Wray’s claim that the anti-Catholic memo was the work of “a single field office” with limited distribution, the records tell a different story. Multiple field offices were involved, the memo was distributed to more than 1,000 agents and employees, and congressional investigators uncovered at least 13 more documents using similar SPLC-driven “anti-Catholic terminology.” Ideological narrative laundering became the FBI’s standard practice.

FBI officials themselves recognized the problem. In an internal FBI email exchange, one official asked, “Is anyone really asking for a product like this?” and complained that “[a]pparently we are at the behest of the SPLC.” Another FBI official admitted the FBI’s “overreliance on the SPLC hate designations is … problematic.”

The declassified Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) confirms that the Biden administration didn’t just tolerate outside ideological input from partisan organizations. It established a formal mechanism to solicit “non-governmental” analysis. Under Action 1.1.1c, the plan directs DHS to: “Develop and implement a mechanism for receiving relevant [domestic terrorism]-related analysis and information from non-governmental experts and share that information appropriately and consistently across the U.S. Government.”

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US Launches 56th Airstrike of the Year in Somalia

US Africa Command said in a press release on Saturday that its forces launched an airstrike in Somalia on April 17, as the pace of US bombings in the country has escalated amid the very fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran.

AFRICOM said that the strike targeted the ISIS affiliate in Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region and that it was launched in a remote mountain region about 30 miles southeast of the Gulf of Aden port city of Bosaso.

AFRICOM offered no other details about the attack, as it hasn’t been sharing casualty estimates and assessments on potential civilian harm since last year. US-backed forces in Puntland also rarely share any details about the war, and only occasionally release photos that it claims show captured ISIS fighters, who are based in caves.

“The army has captured one of the ISIS terrorists, and has also recovered livestock from the militants that they had taken from the local population,” The Puntland Counterterrorism Operations said in a post on Telegram on April 12 that included a photo of an alleged ISIS member. “The army’s operations to hunt down the militants are ongoing.”

The US has also been launching airstrikes against al-Shabaab in southern Somalia, where major battles between US-backed government forces and al-Shabaab fighters have taken place in recent weeks.

While the pace of US airstrikes in Somalia slowed slightly at the height of the US-Israeli war against Iran, AFRICOM is still on track to break its annual record of bombings in the country, which President Trump set at 124 last year, breaking a previous record of 63, which he set in 2019.

The US has been involved in Somalia for decades and has been fighting al-Shabaab since the George W. Bush administration backed an Ethiopian invasion in 2006 that ousted the Islamic Courts Union, a Muslim coalition that briefly held power in Mogadishu after taking the city from CIA-backed warlords.

Al-Shabaab was the radical offshoot of the Islamic Courts Union, and its first recorded attack was a suicide bombing in 2007 that targeted Ethiopian troops occupying Mogadishu. It wasn’t until 2012 that the group pledged loyalty to al-Qaeda. The ISIS affiliate in Puntland started as an offshoot of al-Shabaab and first emerged in 2015.

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US Carries Out Large-Scale Strikes Against ISIS in Syria

US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that they have carried out “large-scale” airstrikes against ISIS in Syria, saying the hit multiple sites belonging to the terror group as part of their commitment to “pursuing terrorists” and in retaliation for the mid-December incident in which an ISIS infiltrator attacked and killed two US troops and an American civilian translator in Palmyra.

The strikes began Saturday evening, and CENTCOM claimed multiple coalition partners participated, though only Jordan has actually confirmed being involved so far. 35 sites were reportedly hit in the strikes, involving 90 “precision munitions.”

Details of what exactly was hit are unclear, though the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported three checkpoints within the Deir Ezzor Governorate were attacked by coalition strikes, though they noted that no damage was done and no casualties were reported in those cases.

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Britain Has Officially Criminalized Journalism

The moment the British government began proscribing political movements as terrorist organisations, rather than just militant groups, it was inevitable that saying factual things, making truthful statements, would become a crime.

And lo behold, here we are.

The Terrorism Act 2000 has a series of provisions that make it difficult to voice or show any kind of support for an organisation proscribed under the legislation, whether it is writing an article or wearing a T-shirt.

Recent attention has focused on Section 13, which is being used to hound thousands of mostly elderly people who have held signs saying: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” They now face a terrorism conviction and up to six months in jail.

But an amendment introduced in 2019 to Section 12 of the act has been largely overlooked, even though it is even more repressive. It makes it a terrorism offence for a person to express “an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation” and in doing so be “reckless” about whether anyone else might be “encouraged to support” the organisation.

It is hard to believe this clause was not inserted specifically to target the watchdog professions: journalists, human rights groups and lawyers. They now face up to 14 years in jail for contravening this provision.

When it was introduced, six years ago, Section 12 made it impossible to write or speak in ways that might encourage support for groups whose central aim was using violence against people to achieve their aims.

The law effectively required journalists and others to adopt a blanket condemnatory approach to proscribed militant groups. That had its own drawbacks. It made it difficult, and possibly a terrorist offence, to discuss or analyse these organisations and their goals in relation to international law, which, for example, allows armed resistance — violence — against an occupying army.

But these problems have grown exponentially since the Conservatives proscribed Hamas’ political wing in 2021 and the government of Keir Starmer proscribed Palestine Action in 2025, the first time in British history a direction-action group targeting property had been declared a terrorist group.

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Treasury to probe whether Somali terror group al Shabaab receiving Minnesota welfare money: Bessent

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced an investigation into Somali terror group al Shabaab allegedly receiving Minnesota welfare money,

“At my direction, @USTreasury is investigating allegations that under the feckless mismanagement of the Biden Administration and Governor Tim Walz, hardworking Minnesotans’ tax dollars may have been diverted to the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab,” Bessent posted on X on Monday.

“Thanks to the leadership of @POTUS @realDonaldTrump, we are acting fast to ensure Americans’ taxes are not funding acts of global terror. We will share our findings as our investigation continues.”

Bessent reposted a City Journal article from last month that alleged millions of dollars from Minnesota state welfare programs had “ultimately landed in the hands of the terror group Al-Shabaab,” citing law enforcement sources, CBS News reported.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s (D) office directed the news outlet to remarks last week in which the governor said he welcomes an investigation into where defrauded welfare money went and would work with investigators.

In 2019, a report by Minnesota’s Office of the Legislative Auditor said it was “unable to substantiate” allegations that Child Care Assistance Program funding is going to terrorist groups, but it didn’t rule it out, saying it’s “possible” that state funds may have been sent overseas and eventually found its way to terrorists.

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ICE Deports Dallas Muslim ‘Leader’ Over Hamas-Linked ‘Donations’

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported a prominent Dallas Muslim leader for funneling donations to a Hamas-linked nonprofit, marking another strike in the Trump administration’s war on terror financing amid broader immigration overhauls. 

The move targets Jordanian national Marwan Marouf, a well-known community leader at the Muslim American Society (MAS) of Dallas-Fort Worth, believed to have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, who allegedly solicited funds for terror groups.

Marouf, who entered the U.S. 30 years ago, was charged with lack of a valid entry document and providing ‘material support’ for terrorism, was ordered deported after a federal judge revoked his green card for immigration violations and ties to Hamas-linked entities.

The DHS notes that “this individual presented a threat to public safety and national security,” citing Marouf’s donations to the Holy Land Foundation, a group that was designated as a “terrorist organization” by the Bush Administration in 2001.

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US Designates Non-Existent Cartel as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization’ To Justify Attacks on Venezuela

The US State Department on Monday formally designated the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, a group that doesn’t actually exist, as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization,” providing a pretext for a potential attack on Venezuela.

The term “Cartel of the Suns” was first used in the 1990s to describe two Venezuelan military generals with sun insignias on their uniforms who were involved in cocaine trafficking. According to a 60 Minutes report that aired in 1993, one of the generals was working with the CIA at the time.

Today, the term is used to describe a loose network of Venezuelan military and government officials allegedly involved in drug trafficking, but the Cartel of the Suns doesn’t actually exist as a structured organization.

According to InSight Crime, a think tank that receives grants from the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, recent US sanctions mischaracterized the Cartel of the Suns, which InSight described as “a system of corruption wherein military and political officials profit by working with drug traffickers.”

Despite the reality, the US is now calling the Cartel of the Suns a terrorist organization and claims that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is its leader, a push being led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has long sought regime change in Caracas.

President Trump has claimed that the terror designation would allow him to target Maduro or his assets, but any US attack on Venezuela would be illegal without congressional authorization. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in an interview last week that the designation gives the Pentagon “new options” to go after the “cartel,” meaning the Venezuelan government.

The real allegation against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, according to InSight Crime, is that he allows lower-level officials to profit from the drug trade to keep them content. InSight said that the Venezuelan officials aren’t necessarily directing drug shipments but rather use their “positions to protect traffickers from arrest and ensure that shipments pass through a territory.”

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US Bombs Somalia for 100th Time This Year

US Africa Command announced on Sunday that its forces have launched two more airstrikes in Somalia, bringing the total number of US bombings in the country this year to at least 100, an unprecedented number.

AFRICOM said that the airstrikes were launched on November 21 and November 22 about 37 miles southeast of the Gulf of Aden port city of Bosaso, where US-backed forces have been fighting against an ISIS affiliate in the Caal-Miskaad Mountains.

The command offered no other details about the strikes as it stopped sharing casualty estimates and assessments on civilian harm earlier this year. “Specific details about units and assets will not be released to ensure continued operations security,” AFRICOM said.

The Puntland Counter-Terrorism Operations claimed on Saturday that a US airstrike killed “five fleeing ISIS terrorists” and also said its forces detained a Moroccan national, who it said was the “head of GPS navigation systems” for the ISIS affiliate. The US supports local Puntland forces in the region because the US-backed Federal Government, based in Mogadishu, doesn’t control the region.

Garowe Online, a media outlet based in Puntland, reported that Puntland officials said their forces took control of one of the last known ISIS positions in the Balade Valley, the area of the Caal-Miskaad mountains where recent fighting has been focused.

The Puntland government has come under criticism recently over reports that the UAE has been shipping weapons to Sudan to arm the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been accused of committing genocide and recently committed massacres against civilians after it took the city of El Fasher in Sudan’s western Darfur region. According to a report from Middle East Eye, the US has also been using the airbase in Bosaso to support its military operations in Somalia.

The Trump administration has continued to provide support for the Federal Government’s fight against al-Shabaab in southern Somalia and provided heavy air support for an offensive in Somalia’s southern Jubaland region earlier this month. According to local media reports, a suspected US airstrike on the town of Jamame in Jubaland over the weekend killed 12 civilians, including eight children.

AFRICOM told Antiwar.com on Friday that its forces launched a total of 98 airstrikes in Somalia so far in 2025, making the two latest airstrikes the 99th and 100th of the year.

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Trump’s New Islamic Extremist “Allies” — Syrian and Qatari Regimes

Is the ghost of Dick Cheney (CFR) haunting the Trump administration? During the George W. Bush administration, Vice President Cheney and a coterie of CFR neocon war hawks known as “The Vulcans” (Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Stephen Hadley, Robert Gates, and Paul Wolfowitz) dragged America into a series of “forever wars” and “regime change” interventions. Accompanying these misadventures was the continuation of the policies of previous Democratic and Republican administrations’ musical-chair alliances, in which yesterday’s “terrorist” becomes today’s “noble ally” (and then tomorrow turns on us and is again designated a terrorist).

Donald Trump pledged that he would cease these disastrous policies. However, his recent policies with regard to Syria and Qatar call that pledge into question. Are Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth channeling the Cheney/Vulcan spirit? It seems so.

The recent White House reception for Syrian “President” Ahmed al-Sharaa was odd, to say the least. Our government had previously designated him as a terrorist, with a $10 million bounty on his head.

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Texas governor declares Muslim civil rights group a terrorist organization

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday declared one of the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy groups in the U.S. a “foreign terrorist organization” under a proclamation that he said allows the state to try shutting them down.

He also designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations “a transnational criminal organization” and said it would not be allowed to buy land in the state. The proclamation also included the Muslim Brotherhood.

Neither the CAIR nor the Muslim Brotherhood are designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.

CAIR told Abbott in a letter that his announcement had no basis “in law or fact.” The group accused his office of stoking “anti-Muslim hysteria.”

“You do not have the authority to unilaterally declare any Americans or American institutions terrorist groups, nor is there any basis to level this smear against our organization,” wrote Robert S. McCaw, CAIR’s government affairs director.

Months ago, Texas Republicans moved aggressively to try to stop a Muslim-centered planned community around one of the state’s largest mosques near Dallas. Abbott and other GOP state officials launched investigations into the development tied to the East Plano Islamic Center, saying the group is trying to create a Muslim-exclusive community that would impose Islamic law.

EPIC City representatives called the attacks about Islamic law and other assertions misleading, dangerous and without merit. Earlier this year, the Justice Department closed a federal civil rights investigation into the planned community without filing any charges or lawsuits.

In his proclamation, Abbott cited a law he signed this year that he said prohibits “foreign adversaries” from purchasing or acquiring land. The Republican author of that bill praised the governor’s declaration.

“Today proves exactly why that law was needed,” Republican state Rep. Cole Hefner posted on X.

The Muslim Brotherhood was established in Egypt nearly a century ago and has branches across the world. Its leaders say it renounced violence decades ago and seeks to set up Islamic rule through elections and other peaceful means. Critics, including autocratic governments across the Mideast region, view it as a threat.

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