British Teen Was Suicide Bomber In Iraq, Another British Person Killed In Kenya

A British teenager is among four suicide bombers alleged to be behind an attack in Iraq on Saturday that killed at least 11 people, illustrating the front-line role foreign fighters from the West are playing in the conflict in Iraq and Syria.

Saturday, the family of 17-year-old Talha Asmal, from Yorkshire in North England, said their son was one of four men that Islamic State supporters alleged were responsible, writes the Wall Street Journal.

In separate news, a senior Kenyan official told The Wall Street Journal on Monday that Kenyan authorities believe another British man, Thomas Evans, had died while fighting for the Somali militant group al-Shabaab.

Authorities are waiting for forensic confirmation that Mr. Evans was among 11 militants and two Kenyan soldiers killed in an al-Shabaab raid on an army base close to the country’s northern border with Somalia, the official said.

(Updated article)

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/15/dewsbury-in-utter-shock-at-over-talha-asmals-death-in-iraq-suicide-bombing

http://www.wsj.com/articles/british-teenager-among-four-suicide-bombers-in-iraq-1434382079

New ‘Half-Scandal?’ There May Be New Details Of Bin Laden’s Death

Does this mean that bin Laden isn’t dead? No, it just means there is a new report about the circumstances behind his death.

According to Democracy Now!, the new report written by Seymour Hersh for the London Review of Books says the Obama administration gave a false account of the hunting and killing of Osama bin Laden. It is normally claimed that bin Laden was shot dead four years ago this month in a U.S. raid on his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.

Hersh is an American investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. According to Wikipedia, he is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine. He has also won two National Magazine Awards and is a five-time Polk winner and recipient of the 2004 George Orwell Award.

He first gained worldwide recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War.

In his article, Hersh cites interviews with “a retired senior intelligence official” and American sources who “had access to corroborating information,” writes Slate magazine.

Hersh says top Pakistani military leaders knew about the operation and provided key assistance. The U.S. also claimed it helped locate bin Laden by tracking his personal messenger. But Hersh reports a former Pakistani intelligence officer identified his whereabouts in return for the bulk of a $25 million U.S. bounty. Pakistani intelligence was reportedly aware of bin Laden’s location and held him “prisoner” at the Abbottabad compound since 2006.

The White House claimed at the time the U.S. operatives entered from Afghanistan without Pakistan’s knowledge.

Hersh’s article also questions the U.S. account of bin Laden’s shooting, saying there was never a firefight inside the compound and that bin Laden himself wasn’t armed.

A retired American official says U.S. claims of finding information from bin Laden’s computers and documents was a “hoax” to give the false impression he was still operationally important.

Questions were also raised about whether bin Laden was actually buried at sea, as the U.S. claimed.

The White House has denied the accounts given by Seymour Hersh, and the CIA has called the Hersh article “nonsense.”

(Updated article)

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/5/11/headlines

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/05/10/seymour_hersh_in_london_review_of_books_obama_lied_about_bin_laden_raid.html

War In Afghanistan Not Really Over For U.S.

The United States and NATO formally ended their war in Afghanistan on Sunday, December 28th, with a ceremony at their military headquarters in Kabul,  according to the New York Post.

Most of the Marine Corps left Afghanistan months ago, but a small group of Marines stayed behind, continuing the fight in the country, according to The Marine Corps Times.

“Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan exited Helmand Province in October, turning Camp Leatherneck over to local troops and departing for the States. The highly-publicized transition marked an end to the Corps’ major role in Afghanistan. Two months later, U.S. officials declared the end of combat operations in the 13-year-old conflict,” according to the Marine Corps Times.

The Marine Corps Times claims that “an unidentified number of Marines stayed on to help defend Bagram Airfield while remaining coalition troops train and assist Afghan troops and police officers.”

The Marines are part of the Georgian Deployment Program, and arrived with that nation’s 51st Light Infantry Battalion, said Marine Lt. Col. Peter Lang, the team’s officer in charge, in an email describing the rotation.

The Marines are embedded with soldiers from the ex-Soviet country of Georgia.

“In May, the Marines departed for Georgia where they embedded with the light infantry battalion, offering infantry advisers as well as experts in intelligence, communications, logistics, operations and medical aid,” states the Marine Corps Times.

The Marine liaison team was in Georgia until September.  They are reportedly now in Afghanistan.

“We are proud to be partnered with the Georgians,” wrote Lang, “there is a mutual respect and shared understanding that allows us to function as a cohesive team.”

More here

Gunmen Kidnap 30 Men In Afghanistan

Gunmen in southern Afghanistan kidnapped 30 men from the Hazara ethnic community, authorities said Tuesday, in what appeared to be the latest in a series of attacks on Shiites in the predominantly Sunni country.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack Monday afternoon, police and officials said, according to U.S. News and World Report.

The gunmen kidnapped the 30 people, all men, from two buses on a major road in Zabul province, provincial Gov. Mohammad Ashraf said. He said all women, children and non-Hazaras were left behind.

Abdul Khaliq Ayubi, a local government official, said the gunmen all wore black clothing and black masks.  Others claimed they had “military clothes.”

“Their faces were covered and they were wearing military clothes,” said a witness, according to the BBC.

The Interior Ministry said the buses were driving from the southern city of Kandahar to Kabul when the kidnapping was done by “unknown armed individuals.”

Authorities were searching for the people who were kidnapped.  It is unknown whether they are still alive. Some of whom may be government officials, Ashraf said.

Pakistan Authorities Arrest Taliban Militants Involved In School Massacre, Give Credit To Afghanistan For Help

A Pakistani army spokesperson said Thursday that 12 local Taliban militants have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the deadly school attack last year that killed at least 148 people.

The militants were part of what is believed to be a 27-member cell, of which nine others have been killed, according to jurist.org.

Pakistan credited the cooperation of Afghanistan, where six of the militants were arrested.

The spokesperson said that Pakistan has been working closely with the Afghan government to search for the Pakistani Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah, who allegedly ordered the school attack and assigned commanders.

The Pakistani Taliban have a history of fighting against the Pakistani government and have tried to overthrow the authorities and impose Sharia. Since it is the main place of operations of the Taliban, Pakistan has been a focal point of global anti-terrorism efforts.

The Washington Post states that NATO played a role:  “At a news conference on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, the chief spokesman for the Pakistani military announced that six Taliban militants were arrested recently during a joint mission by NATO and Afghan troops in eastern Afghanistan.”

More:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/02/12/u-s-forces-afghan-troops-arrest-taliban-militants-wanted-for-school-massacre/

In Syrian Town Of Kobani, Islamic State Fighters Admit Defeat: Score For Obama?

According to the AP, the Islamic State has acknowledged for the first time that its fighters have been defeated in the Syrian town of Kobani.  They also vowed to attack the town again.

In a video released by the pro-IS Aamaq News Agency late Friday, two fighters said the airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition were the main reason why IS fighters were forced to withdraw from Kobani.

Maddow: Waste In The Military? Why Is So Much Budget Information Classified?

MSNBC

Senator Claire McCaskill talks with Rachel Maddow about a new U.S. policy to classify information about how (and how much) money is spent in support of the Afghan security force.

They also talk about the new nominee for Secretary of Defense.

Strange: New Republican Chair Of Senate Intelligence Committee Wants Torture Report Returned

In a bizarre attempt to rewrite history, the new chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, wrote to President Obama with an odd request: He wants the Dianne Feinstein Senate Intelligence Committee torture report back.

“Mr. Burr sent a letter last week to the White House saying that his Democratic predecessor, Senator Dianne Feinstein, should never have transmitted the entire 6,700-page report to numerous departments and agencies within the executive branch — and requested that all copies of the report be ‘returned immediately,’ according to people who have seen the letter.

“The Intelligence Committee publicly released only the report’s executive summary. But Congress has since changed hands, and the committee is now controlled by Republican lawmakers like Mr. Burr who have long opposed the committee’s detention investigation, which they said was a partisan effort to discredit the C.I.A. and the Bush administration.

It is a bizarre episode in which the right-wing senator is attempting to rewrite history by asking for the torture reports back to supposedly “bury” them.

New York Times:

“Mr. Burr’s unusual letter to Mr. Obama might have been written with an eye toward future Freedom of Information Act lawsuits.

“Congress is not subject to such requests, and any success he has in getting the Obama administration to return all copies of the Senate report to the Intelligence Committee could hinder attempts to someday have the report declassified and released publicly.

The Times stated, “A spokeswoman for Mr. Burr did not return a request seeking comment on the letter. A White House spokesman declined to comment on how the Obama administration planned to respond.”

According to the New York Times, the director of the Federation of American Scientists project on government secrecy, Steven Aftergood, said he could recall no analogous case of the Senate’s trying to get the executive branch to return a document.

WikiLeaks Uploads CIA Review Of Assassination Programs

WikiLeaks claims to have obtained a CIA document that assesses high-value targeting (HVT) assassination programs world-wide for their impact on insurgencies.

The CIA document is supposedly classified and is for internal use to review the impact of targeted assassinations on relevant groups.

At first glance, the document comes across as a dry business review, but in truth it is about the assassination of political leaders.

It assesses assassination attacks on insurgent groups by the United States – and other countries – within Afghanistan, Algeria, Colombia, Iraq, Israel,Peru, Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, Chechnya, Libya, Pakistan and Thailand.

According to WikiLeaks, the document – which seems to be “pro-assassination” – was completed in July 2009 and coincides with the first year of the Obama administration and Leon Panetta’s directorship of the CIA during which the United States significantly increased its CIA assassination program at the expense of capture operations.

It produces a chart for US officials to use in strategically assessing future operations and methods in High Value Targeting assassinations.

The Washington Post looked at the CIA document and the document seems to conclude that raids, drone strikes and other military operations designed to capture or kill “high-value targets” in the Taliban have had little overall effect.  This is in part because of the militant group’s ability to replace leaders.

The Washington Post’s look at the WikiLeaks document is here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/12/18/cia-analysis-high-value-targeting-had-limited-effect-against-taliban/

You can view the WikiLeaks CIA document here:

Click to access WikiLeaks_Secret_CIA_review_of_HVT_Operations.pdf

NYT Letter Emphasizes Role Of Pakistan In Helping Afghanistan

A letter to the International New York Times emphasizes the importance of Pakistan in helping Afghanistan. It also mentions the low volume of trade between Iran and Afghanistan due to the American sanctions on Iran.

“America has finally ended its prolonged war in Afghanistan. The American withdrawal from Afghanistan, however, does not mean that US interests in the region will wane. America wants a prosperous, peaceful and stable Afghanistan and knows that after its withdrawal from the region, a war of influence will break out among Pakistan, Iran and India.

“The Afghan state is seeking the holistic support of neighbours to fight terrorist elements, to ensure the continuity of democracy in the country and the stability of its economy. America wants to give a special role to Pakistan to carry out counterterrorism exercises in the region, as it appreciates serious efforts made by Pakistan against terrorism. Americans also know that the presence of India in Afghanistan will damage peace efforts, something which the Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani, also made clear during the Saarc summit and other forums when he said that ‘Afghanistan will not let its lands be used for proxy war.’

“Pakistan and Iran can play important role in post-Nato Afghanistan for peace and stability of the country as Pakistan has great influence in the Pashtun-dominated areas of southern Afghanistan while Iran enjoys influence in the Tajik and Uzbek populated areas in western Afghanistan.

“But Pakistan-Iran bilateral relations are not ideal due to certain factors, such as the suspended Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project, activities of drug mafia near the Pakistan-Iran border, cross-border raids by militants near the Balochistan border and the low trade volume due to American sanctions on Iran. Without resolving these issues, Pakistan and Iran cannot work on mutual defence practices in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s armed forces are making serious efforts to defeat and eradicate terrorism and extremism from the country, their endeavours backed by Afghanistan’s intelligence.

“The new Afghan president aimed to confront security dilemmas faced by Pakistan and Afghanistan during his recent visit to Islamabad. President Ghani wants to bolster security and defence ties with Pakistan, including cooperation in training and border management.

“He is also seeking Pakistan’s help in talks with the Taliban to avoid any instability in post-Nato Afghanistan. Improved bilateral ties with Afghanistan will help Pakistan defeat the TTP and other terrorists who have shelters in Afghan territory. Afghanistan’s recent handover of prominent senior commander of the TTP, Latif Mehsud to the Pakistan government and Afghan military’s operation against the TTP in Kunar are the initial benefits enjoyed by Pakistan which is the result of improving relations between the neighbours.”

http://tribune.com.pk/story/815766/afghanistan-after-us-withdrawal/