Washington Times

An al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday.

The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria.

He said authorities in the first week of January intercepted an urgent communication between the leadership of al Qaeda in the Land of the Maghreb (AQIM) and al Qaeda’s leadership in the tribal region of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan. The communication suggested that an area sealed to prevent leakage of a biological or chemical substance had been breached, according to the official.

“We don’t know if this is biological or chemical,” the official said.

I guess The Black Plague did not kill Al Qaeda terrorists.

Hat Tip: ACE OF SPADES HQ

UPDATE 1: Ed Morrissey at Hot Air writes:

No one will be surprised to hear that AQ has been playing with either biological or chemical weapons, or both. They have tried for at least ten years to develop some kind of WMD that would allow AQ cells to terrorize large populations with a minimum of personnel. Chemical weapons would probably work better, as they would be somewhat easier to contain and control, especially in the rough environments in which AQ works. Most of their efforts take place in areas where clean rooms and laboratory controls can’t exist.

I hope all of those terrorist bastards get chemical burns on their groins and die.

Yeah, I hate Al Qaeda.

The Sun

ANTI-TERROR bosses last night hailed their latest ally in the war on terror — the BLACK DEATH.

At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages.

The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside.

The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East.

It trains Muslim fighters to kill British and US troops.

Now al-Qaeda chiefs fear the plague has been passed to other terror cells — or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

One security source 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.”

Black Death comes in various forms.

Bubonic Plague is spread by bites from infected rat fleas. Symptoms include boils in the groin, neck and armpits. In Pneumonic Plague, airborn bacteria spread like flu.

It can be in the body for more than a week — highly contagious but not revealing tell-tale symptoms.

The al-Qaeda epidemic began in the cave hideouts of AQLIM in Tizi Ouzou province, 150km east of the capital Algiers. The group, led by wanted terror boss Abdelmalek Droudkal, was forced to turn its shelters in the Yakouren forest into mass graves and flee.

The extremists supporting madman Osama bin Laden went to Bejaia and Jijel provinces — hoping the plague did not go with them.

A source said: “The emirs (leaders) fear surviving terrorists will surrender to escape a horrible death.”

AQLIM boss Droudkal claims to command around 1,000 insurgents. Training camps are also based in Morocco, Tunisia and Nigeria.

AQLIM bombed the UN headquarters in Algiers in 2007, killing 41. Attacks across Algeria last year killed at least 70 people.

In an interview last July, Droudkal boasted his cell was in constant contact with other al-Qaeda “brothers”.

Boils on the groin?

Nasty.

I hope all of Al Qaeda members suffer this fate.

Hat Tip: Hot Air Headlines

WASHINGTON (AP) — In his farewell address to the nation, President George W. Bush is acknowledging that many of his decisions are unpopular with the American people. But he says there can be no debate about the results.

Indeed, a text of the speech comes with a laundry list of what Bush says are successes.

In the text, released by the White House in advance of the address Thursday night, the president says Afghanistan and Iraq have changed for the better.

Bush credits his administration for improving public schools, creating a new Medicare prescription drug benefit and finding more money for veterans.

What about the bad economy? Bush says his team took decisive measures to safeguard it.

The bottom line, Bush says, is there have been good days and tough days during his term.

On that, even his critics would agree.

(I just corrected two misspelled words in the Associated Press article. And these liberal idiots are considered “professional journalists”?)

President Bush made many socialist decisions to “safeguard” the economy.

Why are liberals complaining? Liberals should love President Bush when it comes to the economy.

Well, what goes around, comes around, and when President-elect Obama takes office, it will be my turn to disrespect Obama and give him an EPIC FAIL every time he screws up.

I cannot wait to be called a “racist”, too! (Will liberals dare call me, a Puerto Rican, a “minority”, a racist?)

Let us grade President Bush’s tenure:

Response after 9/11/01: A+

Afghanistan: B+ (The job is not done, yet. Victory is within our grasp, though.)

Iraq: B+ (Again, the job is not done, but victory is within our grasp. Our brave military will have to mop-up the terrorist bastards that are still hiding.)

Al Qaeda: B+ (They are still out there, however, they have been severely cut off from the outside world.)

Osama bin Laden: Grade pending. President Bush still has a few more days to find him and kill him.

AIDS in Africa: A+. Not even liberals can spin this as a “failure”.

Pro-Life: A+. Abortions have dropped during the past 8 years.

Economy: D-. President Bush inherited President Clinton’s recession, 9/11 and Enron screwed the economy, President Bush then cut taxes, the economy rebounded and the Dow Jones index went past 14,000 points. The economy tanked in September of 2008, especially with Bear Stearns becoming worthless, and John McCain lost the presidency due to the economy. More and more banks lost money, the auto manufacturers lost money, more businesses spanning several different sectors went out of business, Bernard Madoff ripped off the world (including his own sister) of $50 billion dollars, and now the nation is facing 7.2% unemployment.

Final Grade: B-

Those are the only issues I really care about.

Oh, wait. One more issue.

Pissing of liberals: A+++

Sweet.

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin

NEWSBSTERS.org

The exquisite moral sensibilities of the MSM . . .

Would you waterboard an al Qaeda member for three minutes to get information to save the lives of nine passenger-loads of innocent civilians? Chrystia Freeland wouldn’t. The US managing editor of the Financial Times made the stunning statement during the course of a classic Morning Joe dust-up today. Joe Scarborough, with help from tag-team partner Pat Buchanan, went after Freeland on her opposition to waterboarding and similar interrogation techniques. At one point Scarborough called Freeland “sophomoric.” Later, the exasperated MJ host gave his guest some of the same treatment to which he’d recently been subjected by Zbigniew Brzezinski, telling Freeland “you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Finally, under questioning from Buchanan, Freeland went so far as to disagree with the proposition that it would be moral to waterboard someone for three minutes to get information to foil a plot to simultaneously kill nine passenger planeloads of people.

Of course liberals believe that the lives of Al Qaeda terrorists are more valuable than innocent lives.

Remember, torture saves lives.

J-Post.com

United States Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday that while he would still like to see Osama bin Laden captured or killed, the al-Qaida kingpin is likely in hiding and is no longer an effective leader of his terrorist group.

Cheney told CNN television’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer” that the terrorist threat is bigger than one man.

“We would like very much to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, but my guess is at this point, he’s operating in an area that’s very difficult, very hard to get to, that he’s not an effective leader at this stage,” Cheney said in one of a series of exit interviews.

Bin Laden really cannot engage with his organization without leaving “whatever hole he’s hiding in,” Cheney said.

Drop some MOAB’s on Osama bin Laden’s general location on January 19th.

What is the United Nations going to do? Sanction America?

Fahid Mohammed Ali Msalam, left, and Sheikh Ahmed Salem Swedan, right, both on the FBI’s most wanted terrorist list, were reportedly killed in a drone attack in Pakistan on New Year’s day. They were wanted and indicted for the 1998 US embassy bombings in Africa. ABC News has confirmed this report according to U.S. officials and counter-terrorism sources.

ABC News

Two top al Qaeda officials are believed dead following a New Year’s Day drone attack in northern Pakistan, ABC News has confirmed. U.S. officials said Fahid Mohammed Ali Msalam and Sheikh Ahmed Salem Swedan, both on the FBI’s most wanted terrorists list, were killed in the CIA strike.

Msalam, who also went by the alias Usama al-Kini, and Swedan were both from Kenya and were indicted in the Aug. 7, 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and for conspiring to kill U.S. citizens.

“It’s amazing that it took 10 years to get these guys when they were on the FBI most wanted list all of this time,” said former national security advisor and ABC News consultant Richard Clarke.

U.S. counter-terrorism officials said that they believed the al Qaeda leaders were running operations for the terrorist group in Pakistan.

“Hopefully this provides some sense of justice for the 1998 bombings,” one official told ABC News.

The U.S. Department of State had offered rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to the capture or conviction of each of them.

John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer and ABC News consultant, described Msalam as “probably the single most prominent African member of al Qaeda” and a leader who known as a “logistics whiz.”

“He was very important in al Qaeda’s ability to coordinate and plan very complicated terrorist operations,” said Kiriakou, adding that the U.S. government had been looking for him “for a very long time.”

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said in statement late Thursday that Msalam was believed to be the operations chief for al Qaeda in Pakistan. While he could not confirm Msalam’s alleged involvement in the September 2008 attack on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, he said U.S. offficials reported Msalam was involved in attacks in Pakistan over the last year.

A CIA spokesman declined to comment on the matter.

Those are some ugly mofos.

Great job, CIA.

The FBI will send you a $10 million check tomorrow.

Hat Tip: InstaPundit

But not because Al Qaeda killed 3,000 people on September 11,2001, or thousands more around the world.

Nor did they denounce Al Qaeda for any of the countless atrocities committed by Osama Bin Laden’s henchmen these past 15+ years.

CNN.com

NEW YORK (CNN) — Spiritual leaders of New York’s African-American Muslim communities lashed out Friday at a purported al Qaeda message attacking President-elect Barack Obama and, using racist language, comparing him unfavorably to the late Malcolm X.

The imams called the recorded comments from al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri “an insult” from people who have “historically been disconnected from the African-American community generally and Muslim African-Americans in particular.”

“We find it insulting when anyone speaks for our community instead of giving us the dignity and the honor of speaking for ourselves,” they said in a statement read during a news conference at the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial, Educational and Cultural Center.

The al Qaeda statement, an 11-minute, 23-second audio message in Arabic with subtitles in English, appeared on the Internet on Wednesday. Its authenticity has not been confirmed.

The message said Obama represents the “direct opposite of honorable black Americans” like Malcolm X.

The outrage!

Do you feel it?

Hat Tip: JammieWearingFool

Ziad Jarrah liked to drink beer and attend discos while at college. Then five years later, he steered Flight 93 into the ground, killing everyone on board.

I would almost surmise from the video that he is not “down for the cause”, but his murderous actions on September 11, 2001 prove otherwise.

Burn in hell, Ziad.

Hat Tip: Hot Air

International Herald Tribune

WASHINGTON: A new study of the global future by U.S. intelligence agencies suggests that Al Qaeda may be on the decline, having alienated Muslim supporters with its indiscriminate killing and inattention to the practical problems of poverty, unemployment and education.

While not contradicting intelligence assessments suggesting that Al Qaeda remains a major threat with a strong presence in the tribal areas of Pakistan, the report says the group “may decay sooner” than many experts have assumed because of severe weaknesses: “unachievable strategic objectives, inability to attract broad-based support, and self-destructive actions.”

That is good news.

From an American point of view, the predicted decline of Al Qaeda is one of the few bright spots in the report, “Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World,” which predicts a significant relative decline in the world dominance of the United States as China, India and other powers assert themselves.

“Although the United States is likely to remain the single most powerful actor, the relative strength of the United States - even in the military realm - will decline and U.S. leverage will become more constrained,” the report says.

By 2025, the report predicts, “the U.S. will find itself as one of a number of important actors on the world stage,” playing “a prominent role in global events” but not a decisive one as in the past.

Hopefully those countries get their crap together and stop asking us for money.

It says the global shift from West to East in wealth and economic power “is without precedent in modern history.”

Well, drill baby drill! We can increase our nation’s collective wealth by drilling for more of our own oil.

The comments on Al Qaeda are based in part on the work of David Rapaport, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has studied the cycles of terrorist activity in the past, including those associated with anarchism, Marxism and nationalism.

The report says the global Islamic terrorist movement is likely to outlast Al Qaeda itself, with other groups likely to emerge and supplant it. But it foresees a future of frustration and attrition for the group that Osama bin Laden created 20 years ago and built up during the 1990s.

The intelligence agencies note that Al Qaeda has focused almost exclusively on terrorism, in contrast with groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, which have transformed themselves into political movements. “Al Qaeda has not achieved broad support in the Islamic world,” the report says. “Its harsh pan-Islamist ideology and policies appeal only to a tiny minority of Muslims.”

Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as Fatah, are still terrorist organizations. They should be scrutinized even more, especially since they have the means to gain political power.

Hat Tip: Hot Air Headlines

UPDATE 1: Breitbart.com

The 121-page report also says that the use of nuclear weapons is more likely in the future.

breitbart.com

A major Al-Qaeda operative of Arab origin was among six militants killed overnight in a suspected US missile strike in northwest Pakistan, a senior security official told AFP Wednesday.

Security sources identified the militant as Abdullah Azam al-Saudi, a senior member in Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.

“He was a senior commander of Al-Qaeda and was involved in recruiting and training of fighters,” the senior official said.

According to US intelligence shared with Pakistan, al-Saudi was the main link between Al-Qaeda’s senior command and Taliban networks in the Pakistani border region, an Islamabad-based senior security official said.

“He was the man coordinating between Al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders on this side of the border, and also involved in recruiting and training fighters,” the official told AFP.

He is the second high-profile Al-Qaeda operative killed in recent US missile strikes in Pakistan’s rugged tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Egyptian Al-Qaeda operative Abu Jihad al-Masri, described by the US as Al-Qaeda’s propaganda chief, was killed in a missile strike in Pakistan in the early hours of November 1.

He was among several rebels killed when two missiles fired by a suspected US spy drone hit a truck in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, security officials said.

I love Predator drones.

Also, according to Breitbart.com, Al Qaeda called Barack Obama a “house negro” and said that Obama “is not an honorable African-American”.

I guess Al Qaeda does not believe in Hope and Change.

UPDATE 1: Ed Morrissey on Hot Air says that Ayman al-Zawahiri received his cue to call Barack Obama a “house slave” and “house negro” from Harry Belafonte.

Funny stuff.

UPDATE 2: Michelle Malkin writes that Barack Obama’s call for “empathy” did not work.