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18 May 2011 10:17

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World: Reported al-Qaeda leadership change suggests a major rift

  • appointment According to many independent but unconfirmed reports, al-Qaeda’s new interim leader is Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian militant wanted in the bombings of two U.S. embassies in 1998 — al-Qaeda’s best-known attacks before 9/11.
  • slight If this is the case, it would be a major slight for Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s longtime right-hand man. Both men, however, are longtime senior members of the group, and a permanent change in structure is still forthcoming. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 May 2011 15:11

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Politics: Bin Laden conspiracy theories predictably rampant in U.S.

  • 19% of Americans think Osama might be alive, poll says source
  • » Distrusting against all odds: The penchant for some of the population to prefer any explanation, even a bad one, that makes a chaotic world make sense to them is nothing new. That said, there’s one very salient reality behind this story that makes the doubts notably, patently absurd. Let’s imagine, for a moment, that Osama bin Laden is alive. Why then has al-Qaeda conceded that he’s dead? All they’d need to do to deal a complete and utter deathblow to America’s credibility, domestically and internationally, would be to produce a live bin Laden. It would be catastrophic, and would cast Barack Obama as a liar and fraud of the highest order, a win which they’d never in a million years pass up. But they won’t, and can’t — the guy is dead as dirt.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 May 2011 14:56

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Politics: John McCain is having none of this torture talk

  • I have sought further information from the staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and they confirm for me that, in fact, the best intelligence gained from a CIA detainee… was obtained through standard, non-coercive means. … it was not torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees that got us the major leads that ultimately enabled our intelligence community to find Osama bin Laden. I hope former Attorney General Mukasey will correct his misstatement.
  • Senator John McCain • Speaking on the effort made by some — former Bush administration Attorney General Michael Mukasey among them — to claim that “enhanced interrogation” (or torture, as it was unabashedly known and is in many quarters still known today) was vital to gaining knowledge of Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts. This is the sort of non-partisan candor that made him popular from the start, and it’s well-founded; the effort by some to cast torture as key to the bin Laden raid, a claim made absurdly quickly after his death, when reports of what had happened in the compound were changing by the moment, was as clear and crass an attempt at hijacking a national narrative as you can get. (note: Mukasey has responded) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 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

14 May 2011 12:07

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World: Osama bin Laden’s “herbal viagra” remedy doesn’t actually work

  • It’s oats. Green young oat greens are thought to be an aphrodisiac. No evidence supports its use (although libido is the most placebo-responsive condition there is). Anything claimed to boost libido, even if it’s a placebo, will work in some people.
  • Georgetown Professor and (herbal remedy expert) Andriane J. Fugh-Berman • Dispelling the notion that the Avena Sativa, the “natural Viagra” syrup that Osama bin Laden had on his property (with the porn), is an aphrodisiac. To put it simply, “avena sativa” is the scientific name for the common oat. Now whether Osama knew this … we’ll never know. Let’s joke some more about how much he likes porn, OK? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2011 10:31

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World: Osama bin Laden’s family wants an investigation into his death

  • Without agreeing to the ways of OBL as to how he professed, believed and operated, We Omar Ossama Binladin, and my brothers, the lawful children of the Ossama Binladin (OBL) herewith demand an inquiry under UNO to reach to the accuracy of the facts as stated by United States into the fundamental question as to why our father was not arrested and tried but summarily executed without a court of law.
  • A statement from Osama Bin Laden’s family • Expressing anger with the decision to kill the al-Qaeda leader without giving him the respect of a court of law. The family also is greatly upset about his burial (“His sudden and un witnessed burial at sea has deprived the family of performing religious rights of a Muslim man,” they write.) and claim not to believe that he was actually killed. “We are not convinced on the available evidence in the absence of dead body, photographs, and video evidence that our natural father is dead,” they say, while appealing for a wider investigation of what happened. No matter the nature of the man, we think the family deserves the U.S. government to respect these wishes. (via newsflick) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 May 2011 22:38

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U.S.: If you’ve ever wondered what Obama’s National Security team would look like as superheroes, you’re in luck

  • We like that they didn’t go with the obvious choice of making President Obama Superman. We also like the visual of Joe Biden dressed as the Flash, as he looks reluctant to even stand up and stretch, let alone go somewhere quickly. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 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 17:27

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World: Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s new top dog

  • Meet the new boss, not like the old boss: Ayman al-Zawahiri is now broadly considered to be al-Qaeda’s new top man. The 59-year-old has been within the organization for years, working as a strategist from the days of the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole until today — in recent years he’d been more vocal, through audio and video releases, than even the vastly more popular Osama bin Laden. His ascension is generally viewed as good news for the opponents of al-Qaeda; Zawahiri is Egyptian, which is a distinct area of racial tension within al-Qaeda, and while he’s a successful strategist, most consider him utterly lacking in the charisma or leadership ability that made bin Laden such a dangerous figure. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 May 2011 14:03

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World: Pakistan pushes back against bin Laden insinuations

  • We didn’t know! In the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s killing in Pakistan last week, one pressing question has been this: how on earth could a U.S. ally (made so by the billions in aid America gives them each year) acting in competent good faith not have known that bin Laden was living less than a mile from a huge military academy? In a town swarming with retired military officials? Pakistan denies any knowledge or wrongdoing here, but that’s just it — this is a situation in which any admission of wrongdoing is so diplomatically catastrophic that no government would ever cop to it, regardless of how it would make them look. What do y’all think? source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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