Axe - Now with More "Bom Chicka Wah-Wah"

This must have been tarded once before, since it is so re-tarded now.

Oh, snap, that's right, the Bush administration is awful at everything. The story (emphasis added):

WASHINGTON — A major CIA effort launched last year to hunt down Osama bin Laden has produced no significant leads, but has helped track an alarming increase in the movement of al-Qaida operatives and money into Pakistan's tribal territories, according to senior U.S. intelligence officials.

In one of the most troubling trends, U.S. officials said al-Qaida's command base in Pakistan increasingly is being funded by cash from Iraq, where the terrorist network's operatives are raising substantial sums from donations to the insurgency as well as kidnappings of wealthy Iraqis and other criminal activity.

The influx of money has bolstered al-Qaida's leadership ranks at a time when the core command is regrouping. The trend also signals a reversal in the traditional flow of al-Qaida funds, with the leadership surviving to a large extent on money from its most profitable franchise, rather than distributing funds from headquarters to distant cells.

Al-Qaida's efforts were aided, intelligence officials said, by Pakistan's withdrawal in September of tens of thousands of troops from tribal areas along the Afghanistan border where bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding.

Little more than a year ago, al-Qaida's core command was thought to be in a financial crunch. But U.S. officials said cash shipped from Iraq has eased those troubles.

"Iraq is a big moneymaker for them," a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said.

Read the full story here.

David Hicks - Australian Detainee at Guantanamo Pleads Guilty

Amazing how many people have been pleading guilty to terrorism recently. Almost makes it seem like someone beat the crap out of them. Hm....

From the New York Times:

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) -- An Australian terror suspect pleaded guilty Monday to a war-crime charge of providing material support to terrorism.

David Hicks was the first detainee to face prosecution under revised military tribunals set up after the Supreme Court found the Pentagon's previous system for trying Guantanamo prisoners unconstitutional. He is accused of fighting alongside al-Qaida in Afghanistan.

At the pretrial hearing, the 31-year-old Hicks entered the plea before a military judge in a courtroom on this U.S. naval base.

Hicks, a Muslim convert, is one of some 385 prisoners being held by the United States at Guantanamo. Officials have said they plan to prosecute as many as 80 Guantanamo prisoners, and some could face the death penalty.

Terrorism Suspect in Guantánamo Confesses to Planning 9/11

I'll let you read the full article in The Guardian. But for the summary: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Al-Qaeda terrorist, confessed today to being involved in 9/11, comparing himself and Al-Qaeda to George Washington against the British.

From the article [emphasis added]:

He allegedly also confesses to being a member of the al-Qaida council and the "military operational commander for all foreign operations". These include surveying the assassination of former American presidents, including Jimmy Carter, and planning to bomb suspension bridges in New York. In all, he has allegedly confessed to being responsible for 31 separate attacks or planned attacks, including ones on Heathrow airport, Canary Wharf and Big Ben in London.

It is not clear why Mohammed would have wished to confess to such a wide-ranging number of outrages. The alleged confession is likely, however, to stiffen the resolve of the Bush administration in pursuing its controversial policy of putting the biggest cases of suspected terrorism through the closed military hearings.

The procedures have come under intense criticism from human rights groups on the grounds that the defendants are not entitled to normal rights of legal representation, and the hearings are closed to public scrutiny.

To repeat, it is not clear why Mohammed would confess to crimes instead of continue to live in his top-secret military prison. But my thought is that it has something to do with this picture of himself:
Almost looks like someone beat the crap out of him doesn't it?

United States Captures Taliban Leader - By Making Pakistan Do It

One of the most important Taliban leaders (named Mullah Obaidullah) was arrested today in Pakistan because of pressure from the United States. This pressure, aka Bush's only accomplishment in the "war on terror," Comes a mere 5 years into the invasion of Afghanistan.

For those of you that have forgotten, Afghanistan was the country the United States went to war with, but then we subsequently left without accomplishing anything because we had to go to war with this other guy who posted an "immanent threat" aka "had more oil."

Amazingly, this capture came just a few days after [Vice] President Dick Cheney almost got killed... er... visited the middle east to try to threaten... that is to say, urge, the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan to do more to fight terrorism.

Wow. Look what Cheney can accomplish when he simply shuts the hell up.

Nothing, really. But other people can accomplish something and he can take credit. So that's a plus. 5 bucks says they captured this guy before his visit and were waiting until he could come there to take the credit. Any takers? Anyone? You? No? 2 to 1 odds. No? Oh well, you made the right decision.

Republican Donor Charged with Terrorism

GOP donor hit with terror charges - Politics - MSNBC.com

WASHINGTON - A New York man accused of trying to help terrorists in Afghanistan has donated some $15,000 to the House Republicans' campaign committee over three years. Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari pleaded not guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to charges that include terrorism financing, material support of terrorism and money laundering. From April 2002 until August 2004, the man also known as "Michael Mixon" gave donations ranging from $500 to $5,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, according to Federal Election Commission reports and two campaign donor tracking Web sites, http://www.politicalmoneyline.com and http://www.opensecrets.org.

The NRCC did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday about whether it would return the donations.

In the federal indictment, the government said Alishtari, 53, of Ardsley, N.Y., also known as Mixon accepted an unspecified amount of money to transfer $152,000 to Pakistan and Afghanistan to support an Afghanistan terrorist training camp. He also stands accused of causing the transfer of about $25,000 from a bank account in New York to an account in Montreal, money the government says was to be used to provide material support to terrorists.

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I guess the terrorists want the Republicans to win, contrary to what Neil Cavuto and Bill O'Reilly believe. But I suppose that doesn't surprise anyone.