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kbrisba

Tunisia: Flaws in Revised Counterterrorism Bill | Human Rights Watch - 0 views

www.hrw.org/...-revised-counterterrorism-bill

shared by kbrisba on 13 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • kbrisba on 13 Apr 15
     
    Tunisian government's new draft counterterrorism law would permit extended incommunicado detention, weaken due process guarantees for people charged with terrorism offenses, and allow the death penalty. This bill was sent to parliament on March 26, 2015.
jshnide

National Counterterrorism Center | Groups - 0 views

www.nctc.gov/...hamas.html

Hamas Israel anti-terrorism Gaza

shared by jshnide on 23 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • jshnide on 23 Feb 15
     
    National counterterrorism center
fcastro2

Foreign fighters still flowing to Syria, U.S. intelligence says - 0 views

www.reuters.com/...fighters-idUSKBN0LE2YX20150211

syria war foreign fighters

shared by fcastro2 on 23 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • fcastro2 on 23 Feb 15
     
    According to a U.S. counterterrorism official, it is estimated that more than 20,000 foreign fighters flocked to Syria, and Iraq, in order to join the Islamic State or rival militant groups in Syria. These fighters have come from more than 90 countries from all over the world with an estimate of at least 3,400 of the foreign fighters coming from Western countries.
  • fcastro2 on 23 Feb 15
     
    According to a U.S. counterterrorism official, it is estimated that more than 20,000 foreign fighters flocked to Syria, and Iraq, in order to join the Islamic State or rival militant groups in Syria. These fighters have come from more than 90 countries from all over the world with an estimate of at least 3,400 of the foreign fighters coming from Western countries.
cramos8

ISIS\'s Rise After al Qaeda\'s House of Cards - Part 4 of \"Smarter Counterterrorism\" - 0 views

www.fpri.org/...art-4-smarter-counterterrorism

ISIS Iraq syria politics war revolution libya POQWER

shared by cramos8 on 01 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • cramos8 on 01 Mar 15
     
    Ayman al-Zawahiri must have awoke to the news of Bin Laden's death on May 2, 2011 with the excitement of soon being al Qaeda's global leader followed shortly by the anxiety of leading an organization and associated jihadi movement in sharp decline.
katelynklug

President Sisi's Worldview - 0 views

www.washingtoninstitute.org/...president-sisis-worldview

Sisi washington institute Egpyt economy

shared by katelynklug on 21 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • katelynklug on 21 Nov 14
     
    A former senior official at the U.S. embassy in Cairo describes how Sisi's background is shaping his approach to domestic politics, counterterrorism, Israel, and other issues. From the way Sisi is described, his main priority is the domestic economy. He knows that without creating domestic stability through lowering unemployment and generating more capital, he cannot remain in power. In addition, it appears that Sisi is a strong believer of military influence. He has a strategic plan of cooperating with great powers to grow Egypt's reputation. Sisi's plan to create a strong state, while cooperating with other strong states and focusing on military power are all evidence of his political realist tendencies.
tdford333

US drone strike in southern Yemen kills 3 AQAP fighters | The Long War Journal - 1 views

www.longwarjournal.org/...yemen-kill-3-aqap-fighters.php

shared by tdford333 on 22 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • US drone strike in southern Yemen kills 3 AQAP fighters
  • The strike is the third in the province this year.
  • AQAP has re-established its presence in Shabwa as the Yemeni government has been weakened by the Houthi rebellion
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • The US has launched four drone strike in Yemen since the beginning of 2015.
  • The US lost its biggest partner in Yemen when the Houthis took control of Sana’a and forced President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the government to resign.
  • US officials have insisted that counterterrorism operations against AQAP will continue.
  • President Obama previously praised the US counterterrorism strategy in Yemen as “one that we have successfully pursued.”
  • tdford333 on 22 Feb 15
     
    This article is about the a recent US drone attack in Yemen which killed 3 AQAP fighters. Also mentioned are the reassurances of the US that drone attacks will continue.
tdford333

Chaos in Yemen Stymies U.S. Counterterror Operations - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...yemeni-city-of-taiz-1427026848

shared by tdford333 on 12 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • Chaos in Yemen Stymies U.S. Counterterror Operations
  • tdford333 on 12 Apr 15
     
    The upheaval in Yemen has made it harder for the US to monitor terrorist activities in the area, and is allowing AQAP and similar organizations to exert influence and mobilize itself. The UN security council has also placed concern that AQAP has benefited from the deterioration in Yemen's central government.
tdford333

US Drone Strikes in Yemen Likely to Continue - Former CIA Officer / Sputnik International - 0 views

sputniknews.com/...1020068431.html

shared by tdford333 on 12 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • US Drone Strikes in Yemen Likely to Continue - Former CIA Officer
  • tdford333 on 12 Apr 15
     
    Stability in Yemen has deteriorated in recent months as the government of US-backed President Hadi was driven out of power in September 2014. The United States has maintained a counterterrorism partnership with Yemen since the 2002, the early phase of the US war on terror.
allieggg

The U.S. Is Giving Up on Middle East Democracy-and That's a Mistake - The Atlantic - 0 views

www.theatlantic.com/...282890

middle east democracy institutions Bush Obama Congress

shared by allieggg on 29 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • democracy assistance to the region, which will drop from $459.2 million to $298.3 million
  • Today’s Middle East is a product, at least in part, of failed democratization, and one of the reasons it failed was the timid, half-hearted support of the Obama administration.
  • the significant impact Western leverage and “linkage” can have on democratic transitions.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • “it was an externally driven shift in the cost of suppression, not changes in domestic conditions, that contributed most centrally to the demise of authoritarianism in the 1980s and 1990s.” They find that “states’ vulnerability to Western democratization pressure… was often decisive.”
  • it is also worth noting that President Bush acknowledged the existence of a “tyranny-terror” link—the notion that the root causes of extremism and terrorism can be found in the region’s enduring lack of democracy.
  • the administration’s approach to the region is characterized almost entirely by ad-hoc crisis management and traditional counterterrorism approaches. Its one larger-scale reform initiative—a half-hearted proposal for a
  • We argue that the U.S. and its partners now need to consider a very different approach to Middle East democracy assistance.
  • Conventional democracy promotion activities tend to focus on the process and “retail” aspects of democratic politics—things like elections, political party training, get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaigns, and civil society enhancement. While these are undoubtedly important, they are insufficient to deliver lasting reforms. Authoritarianism in the Arab world has proven time and time again—even in supposedly post-revolutionary settings such as Egypt today—that it can weather the annoyances of elections and civil society.
  • What is needed are more systematic reforms focused on fundamental institutions. These include things like constraining the military’s role in civilian domains of governance, deep reform in the security and justice sectors including law enforcement and policing, and comprehensive “renovation” of the civil service sector. These are large-scale, long-term, and expensive undertakings that far transcend the modest parameters of most U.S. democracy promotion programs.
  • we make the case for a new Multilateral Endowment for Reform (MER) that would tie significant levels of financial assistance—in the billions of dollars—to reform commitments and benchmarked implementation performance by partner nations.
  • provide a real incentive for countries to embark down a path to deeper and more enduring political reforms while retaining the ability to pull back funding if they do not deliver.
  • allieggg on 29 Sep 14
     
    This article begins by illuminating the regional democracy assistance cuts that are dropping from $459.2 million to $298.3 million It explains that the Bush Administration began the quest for democracy in the Middle East, and the Obama administration has only continued in his footsteps. The author presents the viewpoint that the U.S. approach to Arab democratization has been in the form of "ad-hoc crisis management" rather than "large scale reform initiatives." Promoting democracy in the form of democratic politics are insufficient, elections and political parties have consistently proved to weather away and fester further civil strife. Consequently, the article proposes a new approach to the region conflict. This approach calls for "systematic reforms" focusing on basic institutions such as the civil service sector, justice and law enforcement, and the military's role in governance. The idea is that addressing these lacking departments in the arab world will eventually pave the way to a smoother democratic transition. 
mjumaia

Obama Meets New Saudi King, Balancing Human Rights, U.S. Interests - 0 views

www.npr.org/...ing-human-rights-u-s-interests

Saudi Human Rights Saudi King

shared by mjumaia on 28 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • mjumaia on 28 Apr 15
     
    President Obama arrived in Saudi Arabia today to meet newly crowned King Salman and said in an interview that the U.S. needs to balance its concerns about Saudi human rights with "immediate concerns" such as counterterrorism and regional stability.
tdford333

Everything you need to know about the drone debate, in one FAQ - The Washington Post - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...ut-the-drone-debate-in-one-faq

shared by tdford333 on 08 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • "drone" has come to refer to unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), which are UAVs equipped with combat capabilities, most commonly the ability to launch missiles.
  • Predators were deployed to Afghanistan almost immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and on Oct. 7, 2001 they conducted their first armed mission there.
  • The current program is jointly administered by the CIA and the Joint Special Operation Command (JSOC).
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • Predator drones can carry up to two Hellfire missiles. Those have warheads of about 20 pounds, which are designed to pierce tank armor;
  • Reapers are another story. They feature a maximum payload of 3,000 pounds, or 1.5 tons. That means they can carry a combination of Hellfires and larger 500 pound bombs like the GBU-12 Paveway II and GBD-38 JDAM. Those have an "effective casualty radius" of about 200 feet.
  • From 2008 through October 2012, there were 1,015 strikes in Afghanistan, 48 in Iraq, and at least 105 in Libya
  • Primarily al-Qaeda and its affiliates. That includes al-Shaabab in Somalia, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (which works in Yemen), and the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
  • Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born al-Qaeda operative in Yemen, was killed in a drone strike in 2011, as was his American-born 17-year-old son
  • Ahmed Hijazi, also an American citizen based in Yemen, was killed in 2002. 
  • The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) will prepare lists of potential targets, which will be reviewed every three months by a panel of intelligence analysts and military officials. They are then passed along to a panel at the National Security Council, currently helmed by CIA director nominee Brennan, and then to Obama for final approval.
  • There is, however, substantial evidence that the percentage of casualties borne by civilians is much lower with drone strikes than with just about any other kind of military intervention
  • It derives the authority for the strikes from the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed in the wake of 9/11, which grants the government broad powers against al-Qaeda.
  • allows states to make war in the interest of self-defense
  • Critics, like UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns, say that this defense is a stretch, and the killings plainly run afoul of the laws of war and international human rights treaties.
  • Only the United States and the United Kingdom (which assists in the Pakistan drone effort) currently use drones in combat
  • All told, the GAO estimates that 76 countries, at least, have drone technology.
  • The Yemeni government quietly agreed to the strikes
  • Citizens in both countries deplore the campaigns.
  • there are deeper doubts as to whether the strategy is recruiting more militants than it kills, by turning local populations against the United States.
nicolet1189

No LOL Matter: FBI Trolls Social Media for Would-Be Jihadis - NBC News.com - 1 views

www.nbcnews.com/...media-would-be-jihadis-n226841

FBI surveillance internet recruit jihad

shared by nicolet1189 on 19 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • conversation via Skype, a “trusted brother” who was actually an undercover FBI employee, “told Basit that he could help get him inside Al-Nusra. …
  • updating techniques it has used since the early days of the Internet to engage the enemy on services such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
  • arrested and charged the next day with supporting a foreign terrorist organization.
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • Sheikh’s case and several other recent terrorism prosecutions shed light on the growing importance of social media in the battles unfolding in Syria and Iraq -- both as a recruiting tool for Islamic terrorist groups like ISIS and the Al-Nusra Front, and as a means for the FBI to pre-emptively nab the would-be jihadis.
  • raises questions about the FBI’s conduct in attempting to head off terrorist recruits and whether they incited them to actions they wouldn’t have otherwise taken.
  • using fake social media identities to engage them
  • catfishing” by luring him into a personal relationship with a phony online persona.
  • During the investigation, the FBI published a webpage that purported to recruit individuals to travel to Syria and join Jabhat al-Nusra (
  • posed as a Syrian nurse and "used a Facebook page which promoted the ideology of Islamic extremism" to contact the suspect,
  • been able to expand their reach far beyond the traditional jihadi recruitment pool to a much wider audience -- including English-speaking Western nationals."
  • FBI at times goes too far to reel in American Muslims, most of them young, who are sympathetic to the Islamic extremist cause.
  • her client is “a lonely, mentally ill young man with a tremendous desire to be liked,” which made him susceptible to a paid FBI informant’s online encouragement.
  • Suspects began posting on Facebook or other social media expressing support for or seeking contact with one of the Islamic groups fighting in Iraq and Syria and were then engaged by informants or undercover FBI agents.
  • social media counterterrorism operations,
  • 'Don't go there in any way, don't go there in thought or expression, don't even toy with the idea of becoming foreign fighters.'"
  • eventually agreed to join Al-Nusra, purchased a plane ticket to Beirut and prepared for his journey to jihad
  • informant, however, suggested that Sheikh instead join the Al-Nusra Front, an al Qaeda affiliate t
  • provided Sheikh with contact information for a supposed Al-Nusra agent.
  • could help get him inside
  • face up to 15 years in prison and fines of $250,000 if they are convicted
  • sending a message to potential terrorist recruits is indeed important.
  • defense attorneys in all four cases may argue that the FBI actions amounted to entrapment -- the act of tricking someone into committing a crime so that they can be arrested
  • making examples of individuals
  • sought to make contact with al Qaeda officials on Facebook and other social media, but instead drew the attention of an undercover FBI agent who presented himself as a recruiter for the terrorist group.
  • "ISIS recruits are more likely to reach out in the online universe seeking advice on how to reach the land of jihad than to consult the guidance of a traditional cleric or local community leader
  • that universe and creating honeypots to draw in and capture potential ISIS recruits, they can help sow doubts in the minds of would-be jihadists in the overall reliability of the Internet as a medium for recruit
  • Justice Department plans to review federal law enforcement practices on creating fake Facebook pages in light of an incident,
  • nicolet1189 on 19 Nov 14
     
    This article discusses the strategies of the FBI in trying to arrest potential jihad recruits. The article discusses several cases of individuals arrested for attempting to join ISIS and the implications involving each case.
tdford333

Al-Qaeda franchise in Yemen exploits chaos to rebuild, officials say - The Washington Post - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...4-ba28-f2a685dc7f89_story.html

shared by tdford333 on 12 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • Al-Qaeda franchise in Yemen exploits chaos to rebuild, officials say
  • Elite Yemeni units that the United States trained to hunt al-Qaeda have been scrambled by the government’s collapse. And millions of dollars’ worth of U.S.-provided military equipment has been destroyed in a span of days by Saudi airstrikes aimed at rendering those arms useless to the Iran-backed rebels who control the capital.
  • The vacuum, U.S. officials say, appears to have allowed al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to focus on rebuilding its strength after years of U.S. drone strikes against its leaders.
  • tdford333 on 12 Apr 15
     
    Millions of dollars of US provided military equipment has been destroyed by saudi airstrikes against the Houthi rebels. The power vacuum in the area has allowed AQAP to rebuild itself. U.S. officials said that the CIA's armed drones are still flying over Yemen, prepared to launch strikes against AQAP members.
  • tdford333 on 12 Apr 15
     
    Millions of dollars of US provided military equipment has been destroyed by saudi airstrikes against the Houthi rebels. The power vacuum in the area has allowed AQAP to rebuild itself. U.S. officials said that the CIA's armed drones are still flying over Yemen, prepared to launch strikes against AQAP members.
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