Tag: the war of terror

Peace Through Strength: U.S. Forces Eliminate ISIS Global Operations Chief and Second-in-Command in Precision Airstrike

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), in cooperation with Iraqi Intelligence and Security Forces, executed a precision airstrike on Thursday that eliminated one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists—ISIS Global Operations Chief and second-in-command, Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, known as “Abu Khadijah.”

The strike, carried out in Iraq’s Al Anbar Province, not only neutralized Abu Khadijah but also took down another high-level ISIS operative.

Abu Khadijah, the Emir of ISIS’s senior decision-making body, was instrumental in coordinating global terror attacks, overseeing logistics, and funneling finances to sustain the radical Islamist network. His elimination is a crippling blow to the remnants of ISIS.

“Abu Khadijah was one of the most important ISIS members in the entire global ISIS organization. We will continue to kill terrorists and dismantle their organizations that threaten our homeland and U.S., allied and partner personnel in the region and beyond,” said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander, U.S. Central Command.

Following the strike, CENTCOM and Iraqi forces confirmed the successful elimination of both terrorists.

“Both terrorists were wearing unexploded “suicide vests” and had multiple weapons,” according to the press release.

“CENTCOM and Iraqi forces were able to identify Abu Khadijah through a DNA match from DNA collected on a previous raid where Abu Khadijah narrowly escaped.”

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The unusual psychic technique used by the MoD to try and find Osama bin Laden

An expert on UFOs has lifted the lid on an unusual ‘psychic spying’ technique used by the Ministry of Defence in the wake of 9/11.

Remote viewers claim to be able to view distant objects, people or events they have never seen before using the powers of their mind – and the technique was used by US Army Intelligence for decades.

Joe McMoneagle, known as ‘Remote Viewer Number 1’ by the CIA, took part in remote viewing between 1978 and 1995 – and he recently appeared on a podcast where he said he had seen evidence of an ancient civilisation living on Mars.

 Speaking to the American Alchemy podcast he said he saw ‘very tall, thin’ people wearing ‘strange clothing’, hiding in chambers in a huge pyramid structure from a storm raging on the planet’s surface.

He theorised a ‘big object passed through our solar system’ that stripped the atmosphere from Mars, which caused alien life on the planet to go extinct.

The CIA’s remote viewing project was cancelled and declassified in 1995 after a report concluded it had ‘failed to produce actionable intelligence’.

But despite this, the British military has also tried to use remote viewing – likely with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda as the intended targets.

Nick Pope, who investigated UFOs for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), told Metro that Joe McMoneagle’s claims would be ‘interesting if true’.

And he discussed the use of remote viewing, described as a ‘low probability high consequence situation’, in modern times.

‘While some scientists believe there was – and may still be – microbial life on Mars, it’s much less likely that there was ever a civilization there,’ Nick told Metro.

‘But I can’t rule it out, and I’d love it to be true. It would be the greatest discovery of all time, and would fundamentally change our view of the universe.’

Giving some insight into the US military’s use of remote viewing, he explained: ‘It’s a proven fact that some parts of the US military and the intelligence community ran so-called remote viewing programmes.

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Osama bin Laden’s Secret Weapon: Economic Literacy

While acknowledging his great evils, future strategists and historians will one day likely recognize Osama bin Laden’s strategic acumen. With minimal resources or technology, Osama bin Laden managed to create immense socioeconomic damage and nearly destroy both of his main enemies—the “godless” Communist Soviet Union and the Zionism-supporting United States. Bin Laden achieved this using only one simple weapon, a basic understanding of economics, and thus, the immense harm that military spending does.

A simple economic concept is all we need to understand why most military spending is so detrimental. Every living order—whether it’d be a single cell, or a collection of them like a human being, or a collection of humans like a community or a company—is in a constant cycle of the production and consumption of wealth. A surgeon produces wealth in terms of surgeries, which he exchanges for money, which he then exchanges for the wealth he consumes in terms of housing, energy, food, and so on.

Production increases the world’s economic pie of wealth and order, while consumption reduces it. If the government taxes people and uses the money to hire 100 laborers to work on digging holes, only to then refill them, the laborers have not produced or increased the economic pie in terms of useful wealth, yet they trade their wages for—and then consume—goods and services (civilian goods that lead to life, enjoyment, etc.). This leads to an overall net shrinking of the economic pie to the detriment of the taxpayers who were deprived of the wealth which they sacrificed a part of their lives to create. In order to realize overall economic growth, action and social cooperation must be coordinated to facilitate more production than consumption.

With the above in mind, let us now look at military spending. Every year, about $1.5 trillion—an amount similar to the entire yearly productive output of Spain, which has the world’s 15th-largest economy at $1.58 trillion GDP—is consumed by the millions of people employed by the national defense bureaucracy and its associated contractors as they produce push-ups, military drills, jets, nukes, and other weapons. There is a massive consumption of real wealth taxpayers were deprived of and production of goods which do not improve the lives of Americans. Should the US be invaded, the production of the aforementioned would have been well worth the $1.5 trillion dollars of wealth consumed. But, since there is no chance of anyone attempting this, and they themselves—not being completely bankrupted by the attempt—the materials created would all be virtually worthless.

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Thirty Years of Middle East Lies Just Keep Coming Back To Bite US

The story: Did you believe it 30 years ago when they told you that the Oslo Accords would bring peace to the Middle East? That Israel would finally withdraw from the Palestinian territories it had illegally occupied for decades, end its brutal repression of the Palestinian people, and allow a Palestinian state to be created there? That the longest running sore for the Arab and Muslim worlds would finally be brought to an end?

The reality: In fact, during the Oslo period, Israel stole more Palestinian land and expanded the building of illegal Jewish settlements at the fastest rate ever. Israel became even more repressive, building prison walls around Gaza and the West Bank while continuing to aggressively occupy both. Ehud Barak, Israeli prime minister of the time, “blew up” – in the words of one of his own main advisers – the US-backed negotiations at Camp David in 2000.

Weeks later, with the occupied Palestinian territories seething, opposition leader Ariel Sharon, backed by 1,000 armed Israeli troops, invaded occupied Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque – one of the holiest places for Muslims in the world. It was the final straw, triggering an uprising by Palestinians that Israel would crush with devastating military force and thereby tip the scales of popular support from the secular Fatah leadership to the Islamic resistance group Hamas.

Further afield, Israel’s ever-more abusive treatment of the Palestinians and its gradual takeover of al-Aqsa – backed by the West – served only to further radicalize the jihadist group al-Qaeda, providing the public rationale for attacking New York’s Twin Towers in 2001.

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Killing the Constitution at Guantánamo

When British kings wanted to dispose of troublesome enemies – real or imagined – they often had them or their colleagues arrested on pretextual charges and then brutally tortured until confessions were extracted. The confessions were then read aloud during so-called trials; and, of course, the defendant was convicted of whatever crime was the subject of the confession.

All this was done in order to satisfy the political, and in many cases the personal, desires of the monarch by creating the impression of due process.

Often the torture occurred in remote places, so remote that there was no government there, and the king and his counselors could argue that the protections of the British traditions of fair play – the British do not have a written Constitution, but rather a set of traditions – was not violated because the torture occurred in a place where the traditions did not apply.

When one of the victims of this practice was an official who had previously engaged in perpetrating it, the House of Commons, many of whose members feared becoming victims of the monarch’s desires, adopted the principle of habeas corpus. That ancient right compelled the jailer of any person anywhere to bring the jailed person before a neutral magistrate and justify the confinement.

Due process has numerous definitions and aspects, but for constitutional purposes it basically means that all charged persons are presumed innocent and entitled to a written notice of the charges, a speedy and fair hearing before a neutral fact finder, a right to appeal; and the entire process imbued with fairness and a profound recognition of personal innocence until guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Due process also explicitly prohibits the use of torture.

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U.S. Military Launched Airstrikes Against ISIS Operatives In Somalia

The U.S. military has conducted coordinated airstrikes that were ordered by President Donald Trump against ISIS operatives in Somalia, making it the first strikes carried out in the African nation under the new Trump administration. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that the strikes by U.S. Africa Command was directed by Trump and coordinated with Somalia’s government.

This morning I ordered precision Military air strikes on the Senior ISIS Attack Planner and other terrorists he recruited and led in Somalia. These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies. The strikes destroyed the caves they live in,…— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 1, 2025

“These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies,” Trump posted on social media.

“The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians.”

The president ended his post with: “The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that “WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!”

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The True Cost of Guantánamo

On January 10th, one day before the 23rd anniversary of its opening, a much-anticipated hearing was set to take place at the Guantánamo Bay Detention Facility on the island of Cuba. After nearly 17 years of pretrial litigation, the prosecution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the “mastermind” of the devastating attacks of September 11, 2001, seemed poised to achieve its ever-elusive goal of bringing his case to a conclusion.  After three years of negotiations, the Pentagon had finally arranged a plea deal in the most significant case at Guantánamo. Along with two others accused of conspiring in the attacks of 9/11, KSM had agreed to plead guilty in exchange for the government replacing the death penalty with a life sentence.

After more than 50 pre-trial hearings and other related proceedings, Americans – and the victims’ families – would finally see closure for those three individuals who stood at the center of this country’s attempt to reckon legally with the 9/11 attacks.

Because of the fact that the defendants had been tortured at notorious CIA “black sites” before arriving at Guantánamo, the case had long been endlessly stalled. After all, so much of the evidence against them came from torture confessions. As it happens, such evidence is not admissible in court under U.S. or international law, or even under the rules of Guantánamo’s military commissions. For obvious reasons, it’s considered tainted information, “the fruit of the poisonous tree,” and so inadmissible in court. Although military commission prosecutors tried repeatedly over the years to find ways to introduce that all too tainted evidence at trial, attempts to do so failed time and again, repeatedly pushing potential trial dates years into the future. As a recently compiled Center on National Security chart shows, the forever delays in those hearings led to calendars of such length as to defy comprehension. In Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s case, for example, such delays have so far amounted to 870.7 weeks.

With the plea deal now set to come before Judge Matthew McCall, who had agreed to delay his retirement in an effort to see this case to its conclusion, attorneys, journalists, and victims’ family members boarded planes, preparing to witness the longed-for conclusion to a case that had seemed endless. Perhaps you won’t be surprised to learn, however, that the hearing never took place. Delay was again the name of the game. As it turned out, from the moment the plea deal was announced, it became the centerpiece of an intense battle launched by then-Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

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FBI’s Warrantless Search Ruled Unconstitutional in a Blow to Government Spying

A case that started a decade ago with a New York City man’s arrest at John F. Kennedy Airport for allegedly trying to join a Pakistani terrorist group has now dealt a setback to government spying powers.

In a decision that could feed into a looming fight over government surveillance, a federal court ruled last month that FBI agents violated the man’s constitutional rights when they searched National Security Agency databases for information on him dozens of times without a warrant.

The decision gives a boost to the surveillance critics who have long asked Congress to impose a warrant requirement on “backdoor” searches of NSA data collected under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA.

Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, has called for “major reform” of Section 702. He faces a Thursday confirmation hearing where surveillance hawks on the Senate Intelligence Committee could grill him about that position. Trump’s other nominees, however, have lined up to back the law.

The parties to the New York City case have not signaled whether they intend to appeal the ruling in the case against Agron Hasbajrami, who remains imprisoned. But if it stands, the decision could play a role in thecongressional debate over the spying law when it expires in April 2026.

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New York Times Complains Labeling Mexican Cartels Terrorist Organizations Will ‘Hurt The U.S. Economy’

As Donald Trump gets to work on his agenda, left-wing media organizations like The New York Times are already making fools of themselves.

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terror organizations.

His order stated:

The Cartels have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere that has not only destabilized countries with significant importance for our national interests but also flooded the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs.

The Cartels functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and brute force nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border of the United States.

In certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities, controlling nearly all aspects of society.

The Cartels’ activities threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.

Their activities, proximity to, and incursions into the physical territory of the United States pose an unacceptable national security risk to the United States.

However, The New York Times is now arguing that this move will damage the U.S. economy because of the risk of businesses in both countries violating sanctions against terrorist groups.

Their article states.

The foreign terrorist designation could lead to severe penalties — including substantial fines, asset seizures and criminal charges — on companies and individuals found to be paying ransom or extortion payments.

U.S. companies could also be ensnared by standard payments made to Mexican companies that a cartel controls without the American companies’ knowledge.

As a result, companies in the risk-averse American financial sector may simply refuse to wire money to a Mexican factory, for example, to facilitate cross-border production and trade, or to wire money between personal accounts.

…

If money transfer companies like Western Union also stop transactions to Mexico over worries about properly vetting Mexican clients, it could affect the remittances the country relies on.

That would be devastating for the Mexican economy, which received $63.3 billion in remittances in 2023, nearly 5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

The Mexican peso has suffered as a result of the designation, as well as the looming threat of tariffs and trade barriers.

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US Launches Airstrike in Somalia, Claims 10 al-Shabaab Fighters Killed

US Africa Command said on Tuesday that its forces launched an airstrike in southern Somalia on December 31, which it claimed killed 10 al-Shabaab militants.

The command said the strike was launched on a town about 35 kilometers southwest of the southern port city of Kismaayo. AFRICOM claimed that its “initial post-strike assessment” found no civilians were harmed, though the Pentagon is notorious for hiding civilian casualties in Somalia.

AFRICOM framed the attack as a “collective self-defense airstrike” since it was launched in support of the Mogadishu-based government’s forces fighting on the ground.

“In addition to the airstrike, US forces provided support to Somali forces by evacuating Soldiers that were attacked while fighting the terrorist group,” AFRICOM said.

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