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15 Aug 2011 10:39

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U.S., World: Did China get a good look at the downed Bin Laden stealth copter?

The Pentagon thinks Pakistan let the uber-powerful communist nation take a look at this stealth Blackhawk copter, which crashed just before a bunch of Seal Team 6 members killed Osama bin Laden. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jun 2011 11:17

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World: Osama bin Laden seriously considered changing al-Qaeda’s name

  • what In the months before his death, the leader of the terrorist group considered giving al-Qaeda a different name, according to a letter retrieved by special forces officials after he was killed back in May. It was a sign of Bin Laden attempting to keep the group relevant.
  • why The  name “al-Qaeda” stands for “the base,” which Bin Laden thought didn’t strike a religious pose. He wanted a name that emphasized that they were going to holy war with the enemies of Islam. He had nothing to worry about; “al-Qaeda” did the trick. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jun 2011 17:51

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World: Counter-terrorism experts fear intro attack by Zawahiri

  • relief? Ayman al-Zawahiri’s rise to the top spot in the al-Qaeda organization bears some positive realities for the United States. Namely, he is nowhere near as charismatic or effective a leader as Osama bin Laden was.
  • danger One big risk with having a new leader uncertain of how loyal his people are, is that he might feel the need to assert himself with a splash. As such, counter-terrorism experts fear a possible “big” attack in the near term. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Jun 2011 11:39

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World: Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri eulogizes Osama bin Laden

  • The sheikh has departed, may God have mercy on him, to his God as a martyr and we must continue on his path of jihad to expel the invaders from the land of Muslims and to purify it from injustice.
  • Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri • Eulogizing the death of Osama bin Laden in a recently-released 28-minute recording. He had some rough words for the U.S., too, obviously: “Today, and thanks be to God, America is not facing an individual or a group … but a rebelling nation which has awoken from its sleep in a jihadist renaissance.” Al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda’s longtime number two, was reportedly passed up for the top job after Bin Laden’s death. In other news, a recent poll suggests widespread global support for the killing of Bin Laden, though most people think it won’t change things. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 May 2011 12:23

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Culture: Front page of the day features headline “Osama bin Wankin’!”

  • Today in newspaper front pages that remind you of the importance of tabloid journalism sometimes. The New York Daily News had a similar idea but with worse execution. (On a side note, Newseum, where we grabbed this page from, finally took the watermarks off their front pages — hopefully for good. We hope our campaign helped change their minds. We’d still like to see newspapers consider releasing their front pages under a Creative Commons license.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 May 2011 12:57

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World: Was Pakistan suicide bombing in response to Bin Laden’s death?

  • claim The Taliban claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings in northwest Pakistan that killed at least 80, saying the attack avenged Osama bin Laden’s death.
  • skepticism Local police say they don’t even think the Taliban are responsible. Instead, they’re pinning the blame on a splinter group upset over an attack by the Pakistani Army. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 May 2011 21:25

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World: U.S. government: “Real intelligence” found durin Bin Laden raid

  • We expect to learn more how bin Laden communicated, who he communicated with and how often he did it, what guidance did he pass on, what questions were passed on, how he operated, how he ran al Qaeda and what did other people expect from bin Laden.
  • A U.S. intelligence official • Discussing what they’ve learned from the death of Osama bin Laden. Rather than devolving into a mere symbol of al-Qaeda, the official suggested that the U.S. gained “real intelligence” from the raid, though much of that intelligence shows that planned attacks were merely “aspirational” in nature. Still, knowing the inner-workings of an organization known for its coordinated attacks is a huge deal. Other notable news from the raid: The group of Navy SEALS were prepped for a possible fight with Pakistani military and police — which is why the group was fairly large. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

09 May 2011 10:08

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U.S.: POLL: Should Obama release the photos of Bin Laden’s death?

  • The nays have it: Though some might find reason for disagreeing with Obama on whether or not to release death photos of the al-Qaeda leader, a NBC News poll puts that number strongly in Obama’s favor, though some of the people polled weren’t super-passionate about the issue. When we posed this question to our readers last week, we got a lot of passionate response on both sides. Which suggests that people passionate about this are really passionate. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 May 2011 19:55

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Politics: Barack Obama explains the Bin Laden thang to “60 Minutes”

Know how sure Obama was that Osama bin Laden was in that Pakistani compound? 55 percent. But he went for it anyway. Like a boss. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 May 2011 14:33

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World: U.S.-leaked Osama bin Laden video proves he was apparently vain

  • Bin Laden watching himself on TV: In case you were wondering, the leader of al-Qaeda could be incredibly meta at times, according to this clip just released by the U.S. government. It’s one of five the government released, and this one seems to scream more than any other video ever made, “parody me, citizens of YouTube!” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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