National Security Updates

By Ryan Mauro

Don't Underestimate the Power of Sanctions on Iran
Jonathan Schanzer and Mark Dubowitz of The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies argue in the New York Post that sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector will cause the regime some very substantial pain. Material and political support for the opposition is necessary as well, but the impact of tough sanctions could cause the regime to further loose its footing and force them to decide whether to fund their own survival or their nuclear program.

Media Matters Wimpy Attack on my Rashad Hussain Article
Media Matters has criticized my article on FrontPage Magazine about Rashad Hussain, the new envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Go here for my article and go here for the MM piece.

Debate Erupts in NC After Report on Muslims of the Americas Site
WSOC Channel 9 News in Charlotte, North Carolina has sparked controversy in the area after airing a report largely based on the Christian Action Network's accusations against the Muslims of the Americas organization, which has an isolated community in York County. CAN accuses MOA of being an extremist group that trains some of its members in how to carry out acts of violence.

Movement to Ban Face Veil in Europe Gains Momentum
Leading European political leaders and parties are openly talking about banning the Muslim face veil in public institutions like hospitals and trains. The moves come as concern over the lack of assimilation by Muslim immigrants rises, especially in the wake of terrorist plots in recent years in London and Madrid and foiled plots in other European countries.

CPAC 2010-Jihad: The Political Third Rail

By Joy Tiz

Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller will be offering a seminar at this year's CPAC addressing what has become the new third rail of politics: Islamic Jihad: "Our nation is at war, and yet our politicians pretend that that war isn't happening. Barack Obama is intent upon trying enemy combatants in that war in civilian courts and making concession after concession to our enemies as if those concessions will make them love us. The mainstream media, both liberal and conservative, and the entire government and law enforcement apparatus appear determined to obfuscate and deny the truth about the enemy’s ideology and belief system. This has the effect of minimizing in the minds of Americans the threat just as it is greater than ever and of rendering us blind to very real threats from people and groups that officials seem intent upon assuming to be innocuous." [more…]

National Security Updates
By Ryan Mauro

Breaking the Taliban

The war in Afghanistan may have reached a decisive tuning point this week. Just as a U.S. offensive into Helmand Province is making progress, a joint Pakistani-American raid has resulted in the capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the second-in-command of the Taliban. [more…]

The Mullahs Make the Green Revolution Invisible to the Media

On the 31st anniversary of the coming to power of the current Iranian regime, Khamenei and Ahmadinejad have successfully used unprecedented measures to make some Western media outlets lose faith in the opposition's fight for freedom and democracy. [more…]

Jihad Tactics From Elementary School

No one ever said that jihadists have to be mature. According to The Jerusalem Post, the police in Judea and Samaria are receiving 30-40,000 prank phone calls from Palestinians per month, forcing them to install screening software and to train their staff on how to distinguish fake calls from real ones. The police say that without the software, they'd receive between 90,000 and 100,000 "abusive" calls. [more…]

Obama The Hawk

Say what you will about President Obama's foreign policy, but he's sure no pacifist when it comes to Pakistan. He's dropping more bombs on Pakistan than his cowboy warmongering predecessor - in fact, three times as many. On average, the U.S. is launching three drone strikes on Pakistani territory per week, a dramatic increase from the once per week average before he came into office. [more…]

A Non-Violent Jihadi is Still a Jihadi

By Ryan Mauro

The British media is reporting that a teacher in the London School of Economics’ government department is a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HUT), an extremist group seeking to internally overthrow democracy and capitalism and replace it with Sharia Law. Unfortunately, the violence of groups like Al-Qaeda has caused HUT and groups like it to look less extreme by comparison and so they are not receiving the attention they deserve. The revelation that a HUT member teaches students in a London university and preaches at a mosque attended by students is exposing the reach of the group. The London Times reports that at least two teachers in London are members or supporters of HUT. This follows an earlier report that resulted in a political scuffle in November when David Cameron, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, alleged that the government had provided funds to fight extremism to two schools run by the Islamic Shakyhsiyah Foundation, which he said was linked to HUT. [more…]

Defense Secretary Gates Isn't Dumb

By Ryan Mauro

Iran’s game has been going on far too long, but it looks like the West finally isn’t buying it anymore. The regime has announced that they will accept a deal to have a large amount of their uranium shipped out of the country and will receive uranium enriched enough for medical purposes in return. This would theoretically stop Iran from expanding its capacity to enrich uranium to the 90% purity level needed to act as fuel in a nuclear bomb. [more…]

U.S. Chipping Away at Al-Qaeda

By Ryan Mauro

His attempt to take credit for the Christmas Day bomb attack indicates the arch-terrorist has lost his mojo.

Bin Laden’s taking credit for the attempted crotch bombing on Christmas Day is a sign of desperation, an attempt to preserve what little is left of his image of being divinely guided and powerful in an almost inhuman manner. There is no evidence that bin Laden had any role in the plot, aside from obviously setting up the original al-Qaeda network, but he has to take credit for something at this point. Bin Laden’s message is more than the product of a large ego. It is part of a strategy for survival. Al-Qaeda has been unable to repeat an attack on the scale of 9/11, and since those attacks, U.S. forces have overthrown the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, numerous Muslim countries have taken a harder line against it, and the group has suffered a dramatic drop in popularity as a result of its failures and its killing of eight times as many Muslims as non-Muslims. [more…]

Terrorist Attack Survivor: Try Them at Gitmo

By Joy Tiz

Louis Pepe was a federal prison guard at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. The savage attack on him by two of the African embassy bombers left him without his left eye and some brain damage. [Read his testimony here…]

Attorney General Eric Holder’s abominable plot to try self proclaimed 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) in a New York criminal court is an affront but not inscrutable. Team O is, as in all other policies, doing the bidding of Obama’s boss, unrepentant Nazi collaborator, George Soros; he’s been a rabid critic of the war on terror for years. [more…]

Mexico's Drug War

By Ryan Mauro

The media is barely covering the bloody situation in Mexico, but the war against the drug lords there should be of the utmost concern to Americans. As high levels of violence and corruption continue to plague Mexican society, the U.S. needs to brace for a flood of narcotics, arms, and people seeking refuge crossing the border. The drug war has resulted in about 17,000 deaths over the past three years, and Mexico has claimed the title of the country in the hemisphere with the highest number of journalists killed on its soil. To put that in perspective, about 1,000 American soldiers have died fighting the war in Afghanistan since 2001. About 4,400 Americans have died in Iraq since 2003. [more...]