The Political Conundrum!

Republicans failed Tuesday to block a major defense bill that included a pay raise for military personnel when one of their own, retiring Sen. John Warner, rallied senators to advance the legislation out of respect for U.S. troops at war.

The NEFA Foundation has obtained exclusive footage of a would-be "terrorist training camp" that took place in a rural section of Canada in 2006. The camp, directed by CSIS confidential informant Mubin Shaikh, included members of the alleged “Toronto 18” terror cell, who are accused of conspiring to carry out a large-scale terrorist attack in southern Ontario, including plans for truck bombings and storming local buildings such as the Canadian Parliament and the headquarters of the CSIS. The video features footage of the men receiving instruction on the use of handguns, sniper tactics, and basic calisthenics. Crudely edited by its creators to include nasheed music, the video also shows the men practicing evasive driving maneuvers at night in an abandoned parking lot.

Today FDD's Center for Terrorism Research brings you the third installment of our Voices of the Awakening project, authored by Sterling Jensen, which is designed to provide Westerners a better understanding of ongoing developments in Iraq's Awakening movement. This regular feature includes critical translations of Awakening news and documents, Jensen's observations and analysis, and occasional interviews with the movement's leaders.

The most significant news this week was the commemoration of the one-year anniversary of Sheikh Abdul Sattar's death, and Sheikh Ahmad Bezia's trip to Baghdad to visit such national leaders as prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, Sayed Ammar al-Hakim, and national security adviser Muafaq Rubaie. An excerpt:

In three separate articles, the Awakening reported the one-year anniversary of the martyrdom of Sheikh Abdul Sattar Bezia Abu Risha. Commemoration of the event included a eulogy of Sheikh Abdul Sattar, interviews with his brothers Sheikh Ahmad Bezia and Abdul Jabbar Bezia, videos of him, a visit to the site of his assassination by locals and the General Secretariat of the Iraqi Awakening, a ceremony in honor of Sheikh Abdul Sattar and all other victims of terror, and an iftar feast (breaking the Ramadan fast) in their honor. Among the many things mentioned about Sheikh Abdul Sattar's life and impact on Iraq was the fact that his memory is recorded in Iraq's national history. His name is mentioned whenever the Iraqi, Arab and Western media talk about the end of terrorism in Iraq, or reconciliation and national unity. In Anbar, his name is honored at every provincial dedication and ceremony. Sheikh Abdul Sattar will be remembered as a national hero.

INSIDER'S PERSPECTIVE: The content's focus in remembering Sheikh Abdul Sattar was positive: he was an inspiration, and the Awakening will continue his legacy. In an area of the Middle East where it is common to wail and weep in memory of the dead for centuries, this commemoration of Abdul Sattar's martyrdom is being presented in a way to lift Anbaris and Iraqis to a better future. Abdul Sattar's brother, Sheikh Abdul Jabbar, gave a speech about national unity saying that only by working together with national government institutions in the spirit of unity would Iraq awake to a better, more secure future. The lack of pessimism and divisiveness in the ceremonies, interviews, and reporting is projecting the Awakening's goal of an optimistic era for the new Iraq.

For the entire Voices of the Awakening update, click here.

Last night NBC aired a one hour documentary on the 2006 'Airline Plot', widely regarded as Al Qaeda's most ambitious plot since 9/11.

Following on from the documentary, Richard Greenberg and Chris Hansen of Dateline NBC and myself have just published this in-depth report on the genesis of the plot and the unprecedented international investigation that thwarted it.

The article is part of a special web extra section on the plot on the MSNBC website, which includes a video profile of a former jihadist recruit, who knew several of the alleged airline plotters, and now works to combat Al Qaeda's recruiting efforts in east London.

The article contains new information on Al Qaeda's alleged role in the 'airline' plot and new detail on the links between the 'airline plot' ringleaders and the leaders of several other Al Qaeda-linked terrorist conspiracies in the UK.

A senior Bush administration official and two U.S. intelligence officials told Dateline that intelligence shows that some of the men convicted in this case - though the officials did not identify them by name - traveled to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, widely believed to be home to al-Qaida’s leaders, where they received explosives training “from al-Qaida specialists.”

The revelation comes at a time when there is mounting concern in Western capitals over Al Qaeda's safe-haven in the tribal areas of north-western Pakistan. It is widely recognized that Al Qaeda's foothold along this part of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has grown stronger since the 2006 'Airline plot' was broken up.

Iran announced Tuesday that it has put the elite Revolutionary Guards in charge of defending the country's territorial Persian Gulf waters in what appeared to be a hardening of its stance in the vital oil route.

Top U.S. counterterrorism officials said al-Qaida is "imploding" and that its violent tactics have turned Muslims worldwide against the organization. "Absolutely it's imploding. It's imploding because it's not a message that resonates with a lot of Muslims," said Dell Dailey, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism.

Pakistan's military has ordered its forces to open fire if U.S. troops launch another air or ground raid across the Afghan border. Pakistani officials warn that stepped-up cross-border raids will accomplish little while fueling violent religious extremism in nuclear-armed Pakistan.

Even after an extra U.S. Army brigade joins the fight against the insurgency here in January, three times that many reinforcements will be needed shortly thereafter, the highest-ranking U.S. general here said Tuesday.

While Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb made good on its promise to attack Mauritania, killing yesterday 12 soldiers in an ambush, I looked for the Middle East Times at how the West's assessment of the situation on the ground is seriously flawed. In fact, both Al Qaeda and the U.S. are vocally opposed to the new regime that emerged after the August 6 coup.
For an extensive coverage of Al Qaeda in Mauritania, please view The Croissant (available to subscribers only for a small fee).

For the details, please read my entire piece here.

Here is an excerpt:
Al-Qaida and the United States are not usually on the same side of an issue. One exception though: Mauritania. After the bloodless military coup of Aug. 6 in this North African country, both al-Qaida and the U.S. were quick to denounce very vocally the new regime.

While it is true that this coup puts a stop to the recent democratization process, it would have been wise for the West to read between the lines and assess that one of the major reasons for this event was to stop the Islamists.

Mauritania has a history of coups: The country has had 31 coup attempts since 1978; some were successful. Sheikh Sidi Ould Abdallahi, the president that was unseated, was the first democratically elected leader of Mauritania in 2007. He was a civilian and a democrat but had been contested within his own majority and the country had witnessed a major political crisis in the three months preceding the coup.

Abdallahi made mistakes that made him unpopular with the population and the very powerful military. He opened up the prisons, freeing at the same time dangerous Islamists. According to a Mauritanian intellectual: "This was a mistake because, in a country with an oriental mentality where the despotic [need] remains very strong, this democratic concession was seen as a sign of weakness." Thus the Islamists have been all the more active for the past two years. Furthermore, the president made several gestures to please the Islamists, such as re-establishing the Muslim week-end (Friday and Saturday), building a mosque in the presidential palace, allowing the creation of an Islamist political party that legitimized Islamists.

A plane carrying the U.S. and Mexican heads of the International Water and Boundary Commission disappeared Monday while touring floods along the Rio Grande.