The Wall Street Journal asks some pointed questions about the NIE that was released this week. The US intelligence community declared that Iran was developing nuclear weapons before they declared that it wasn't. Ed Morrissey thinks that the facts fit the "Iran continues to develop nukes" scenario.
Turns out that the Iran NIE was not a consensus finding.
As I noted last week, it had been reported that Jamal al-Badawi, had been released from prison in Aden, Yemen. Badawi is a suspect in the USS Cole Bombing, an al-Qaeda terrorist attack on our country.
As to waging war against al-Qaeda in Iraq, Michael Ledeen writes that we could actually be winning the war In Iraq-in real terms. This is notable, because Mr. Ledeen expressed reservations about invading Iraq in the run up to the invasion there. It's notable also because Ledeen is an expert on the Middle East, especially Iran:
Should we declare victory over al Qaeda in the battle of Iraq?
The very question would have seemed proof of dementia only a few months ago,
yet now some highly respected military officers, including the commander of
Special Forces in Iraq, Gen. Stanley McCrystal, reportedly feel it is justified
by the facts on the ground.
This could prove to be the turning point in the war against the Taliban in
Afghanistan while setting al-Qaeda’s operations back to where they were in 2003
after the Taliban was defeated. A “qualified” intelligence estimate is that
pacification of the Waziristans would reduce the capability of the Afghan
resistance by 85% as well as “deliver a serious setback to the Iraqi resistance”
who depend on the bases in Waziristan for money, weapons, and logistical
support.
Al-Qaeda terrorist Jamal al-Badawi, who particpated in the attack on the USS
Cole and has a bounty on his head from the United States, surrendered to
authorities in Yemen—and was promptly released after making a promise not to do
any more nasty terror stuff.
The Associated Press is reporting that U.S. forces in Iraq will begin leaving
in December and that the first out will be the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry
Division in Diyala province. That move would cut Army ground brigades to 19.
Soldiers from a brigade in adjacent Salahuddin province will expand their
coverage into Diyala when III Corps returns to its home base at Fort Hood,
Texas.
12 former captains in the Army wrote a piece this week critical of the Iraq War. But none of these retired captains have served in Iraq since The Surge began.
September 17, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — Members of a secret Pentagon intelligence
unit known as Able Danger warned top military generals that it had uncovered
information of increased al Qaeda "activity" in Aden harbor less than three
weeks before the attack on the USS Cole, The Post has learned.
In the
latest explosive revelation in the Able Danger saga, two former members of the
data-mining team are expected to testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee next
week that they uncovered alarming terrorist activity and associations in Aden
weeks before the Oct. 12, 2000, suicide bombing of the U.S. warship that killed
17 sailors.
Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, the Defense Intelligence Agency's
former liaison to Able Danger, told The Post that Capt. Scott Phillpott, Able
Danger's leader, briefed Gen. Peter Schoomaker, former head of Special
Operations Command and now Army chief of staff, about the findings on Yemen "two
or three weeks" before the Cole attack.
"Yemen was elevated by Able
Danger to be one of the top three hot spots for al Qaeda in the entire world,"
Shaffer recalled.
Shaffer and two other officials familiar with Able
Danger said contractors uncovered al Qaeda activities in Yemen through a search
of Osama bin Laden's business ties.
On October 12, 200, two Yemeni suicide bombers rammed an American destroyer, the USS Cole with a dingy that was full of explosives. The explosion killed 17 US sailors and injured 49. The Jawa Report has a fine summary post up today:
Lawrence Wright in The Looming Tower notes, “The FBI was convinced that the
bombers had been tipped off about the arrival of the Cole, and they wanted to
expand the investigation to include a member of the president’s own family and a
colonel in the PSO.”
The Cole Bombing was often mentioned in connection to the Able Danger story:
The New York Post reported that Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, the Defense
Intelligence Agency’s former liaison to Able Danger said Capt. Scott Phillpott,
Able Danger’s leader, briefed Gen. Peter Schoomaker, former head of Special
Operations Command about the findings on Yemen “two or three weeks” before the
Cole attack. “Yemen was elevated by Able Danger to be one of the top three hot
spots for al Qaeda in the entire world,” Shaffer said. (Me: Here's an Able Danger news article list on this blog.)
Here is a moving tribute to those sailors we lost in this terrorist attack:
The heroes who died in this monstrous al-Qaeda terrorist attack are:
Monique Francis, 19 Seaman Tim Gauna, 21 Signalman Seaman Recruit: Louis Gunn, 22 Ensign Andrew Triplett, 30 Petty Officer 3rd Class Ronchester Santiago, 22 Seaman Craig Wibberley, 19 Electronics Warfare Technician First Class, Kevin Shawn Rux, 30 Seaman Recruit Lakiba Nicole Palmer, 22 Hull Maintenance Technician 3rd Class, Kenneth Eugene Clodfelter, 21 Engineman 2nd Class Marc Nieto, 24 Electronics Warfare Technician 3rd Class, Ronald Scott Owens, 24 Electronics Technician 1st Class, Richard Costelow, 35 Fireman Apprentice Patrick Roy, 19 Engineman Fireman Joshua Parlett, 19 Fireman Gary Graham Swenchonis, 26 Seaman James Rodrick McDaniels, 19 Operations Specialist 2nd Class Timothy Lamont Saunders, 32
