The Political Conundrum!

Please tune in tonight at 10pm to Dateline NBC with Chris Hansen for a one hour documentary, which I co-produced with Richard Greenberg, that sheds new light on the Al Qaeda connection in the 2006 Airline Plot.

The convergence between Jihadi Khomeinists and Jihadi Salafists seems to be developing as strategists and terrorism analysts are debating the near future of the global jihadi movement.

Moving fast to reach out to the Islamist regime in Khartoum, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organization openly declared its backing of Omar Bashir's government as the latter in turn solidified its alliance with Hezbollah. This development, which surfaced as of the end of July, comes in parallel of an attempt by the Khomeinist-inspired organization to sign a collaboration agreement with Salafist factions in Beirut a few weeks ago. But the Hezbollah-Sudan exchange of declarations of support is by far the most significant convergence of Jihadi forces from the two branches of Islamism since Iran began funding Hamas and Islamic Jihad more than a decade ago.

On July 31, Lebanon Now reported that as he was welcoming the Sudanese presidential envoy Qutub al-Mahdi, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's secretary general, called the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment of President Bashir for genocide as "part of the international conspiracy to strike elements of force in the Arab and Islamic nations, and to destabilize internal stability."

The following book review on the theme of Islamic charity apears in the Fall 2008 volume of Middle East Quarterly

The Price of Fear: The Truth behind the Financial War on Terror by Ibrahim Warde (University of California Press, 2007); Understanding Islamic Charities, edited by Jon B. Alterman and Karin von Hippel (CSIS 2007).

"Terror networks often use compromised or complicit charities and businesses to support their objectives."[1] Such were the findings of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) -- the 34-member multilateral body that aims to set global standards for preventing money laundering and counterterror financing regimes -- in its recent report on terrorist financing. In fact, FATF warned that "the misuse of nonprofit organizations for the financing of terrorism is coming to be recognized as a crucial weak point in the global struggle to stop such funding at its source."[2]

The CV-22 Osprey got its first encounter with a massive storm on September 11th when it joined several other Air Force planes in an effort to rescue crewmen from a freighter ship in the path of the Hurricane Ike in the Gulf of Mexico.

Pakistani security forces and armed tribesmen on Monday foiled an attempt by US troops to enter Pakistani territory by firing shots at them, security officials said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday he foresees a shrinking U.S. combat role in Iraq in coming months, while the No. 2 U.S. commander here cautioned that it would be a mistake to push the U.S.-trained Iraqi army and police into a leading security role before they are ready.

The U.S. Department of Defense is beefing up funding for "bunker busting" bombs designed for use against nuclear production facilities, documents show.

Britain's Prince William plans to become a full-time search-and-rescue pilot in the Royal Air Force, royal officials said Monday.

Two highly decorated Navy SEALs died from injuries suffered in fierce fighting against insurgents in Afghanistan, according to the Navy. Senior Chief Petty Officer John Marcum and Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Freiwald died from injuries sustained in a battle with heavily militants.

The U.S. Coast Guard has seized seven tons of cocaine and arrested four men after boarding their high-tech, semi-submersible vessel in the eastern Pacific.