The Political Conundrum!

It is unprecedented in American counter terrorism annals: in one day the nation was dealing with three separate Jihadist plots to blow up civilian and other targets inside the Homeland. Although the cases were addressed at different time periods by the FBI and other agencies, nevertheless, the thickening web of Terror attempts breached the crossing line of US national security. This week, authorities revealed three conspiracies by American Jihadists: Michael C. Finton, (other name: Talib Islam) a 29-year-old man who wished to follow the steps of American-born Taliban John Walker Lindh, was arrested after trying to detonate what he thought was a bomb inside a van outside a federal courthouse in Springfield, Ill. Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year old Jordanian national was arrested after placing what he believed was a bomb at a downtown Dallas skyscraper. But perhaps the most troubling case is of Afghan-born Najibullah Zazi who set up shop in suburban Denver, scouting the Web and visiting beauty supply stores in a hunt for chemicals needed to build bombs for Al Qaeda. Sources called the alleged plot one of the most significant terror threats to the U.S. since 9-11. Add to the list the North Carolina Jihad cell, led by Saifullah Boyd, which was planning on attacking civilian and military targets across the country.

The immediate question raised by an increasingly worried public is about the connection between all these terror cases: are they all connected? While law enforcement and certainly judicial authorities proceed in a bottom up reasoning, that is to build the case for a global connection between all what is happening with the help of legal evidence, analysts in the field of counter terrorism and conflict are already realizing the meaning of what is happening inside America.

The Zai case suspects

A girl waves behind a U.S. soldier from 2nd Platoon of the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, during a patrol in Molahel village in the mountains of Wardak Province on July 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov)

President Obama may not be able to meet his stated goal of closing the much-criticized Guantanamo Bay. Senior administration officials acknowledged for the first time that difficulties in completing the lengthy review of detainee files and resolving other thorny questions mean the president's deadline may slip.

Claims that an Afghan immigrant was on the verge of unleashing a terrorist attack on New York City on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 are missing a key element: explosives or the chemicals allegedly used to make them, the man's attorney said.

Two suicide car bombs killed 16 people and wounded about 150 others in separate attacks in northwestern Pakistan just days after the Taliban warned suicide strikes were coming if the military pressed forward with an offensive. A third bomb injured four in the restive region.

A possible World War II-era ship found buried in the ocean floor six miles off the East Texas-Louisiana shoreline is leaking oil, and authorities expect to spend several weeks removing all fuel from the vessel.

The Army is allowing the first commissioned officer to be court-martialed for refusing to go to Iraq to resign from the service, his attorney said.

CAIRO - Osama bin Laden demanded European countries pull their troops out of Afghanistan and warned in a new audiotape of "retaliation" against them for their alliance with the United States in the war.