Gotta Wear Shades

Just out on the wires:

U.S. al-Qaida member threatens embassies U.S. al-Qaida member threatens embassies

CAIRO, Egypt - An American member of al-Qaida threatened foreign diplomats and embassies across the Islamic world in a new video Sunday, saying they would targeted as "spy dens."

The 1 hour, 17 minute video also featured a computer-animated recreation of a March 2006 suicide attack that killed U.S. diplomat David Foy in Karachi, Pakistan, and testimony from a man who claimed to be the bomber.

"We shall continue to target you, at home and abroad, just as you target us, at home and abroad, and these spy dens and military command and control centers from which you plotted your aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq," said Adam Gadahn, a Californian also known as Azzan al-Amriki.

Gadahn was charged with treason in the United States last fall and has been wanted since 2004 by the FBI, which is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction. He last appeared in a video in May, threatening the United States with an attack worse than those of Sept. 11, 2001.

The authenticity of the video, which was first carried on the Web site of terrorism expert Laura Mansfield, could not be independently confirmed but it featured the logo of al-Qaida's media production house, as-Sahab.

The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group also said it had obtained a copy of the video. Militant Web forums have been announcing the imminent arrival of a new video featuring Gadahn for days.

In the video, which had Arabic subtitles, Gadahn wore a traditional Arab red-and-white checkered scarf and spoke in English. It was not known when the footage was filmed because he did not describe any specific events.

"Years of bitter trial and experience have revealed the danger (embassies) pose and shown that the only way to deal with them when they refuse to leave of their own accord is to expel them by force," Gadahn said.

Al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman Zawahri, also appeared in the terror group's latest video, outlining what he described as the crimes of Western countries against the Islamic world. As he spoke, the video showed images of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as mosques being destroyed.

The March 2006 attack that killed Foy, which was claimed by al-Qaida, also killed three Pakistanis and wounded about 50 others a day before President Bush made an official visit to Pakistan.

So, while we've been busy in Iraq, Osama & Co. are planning more strikes. The only good news here is that they are talking about hitting embassies, not cities.

Or, could this warning be to divert our attention from an attack here in the US? Nukes in a city or a Beslan-type school massacre?

Notice how Al Qaeda draws attention to destroyed mosques, but fails to point out that Al Qaeda itself is the side destroying the mosques with an indiscriminate suicide-bombing campaign.

More importantly, why are these guys even still talking?

Also on the wires today, President Bush is meeting with Afghanistan's President Karzai: Bush, Karzai target Afghan security woes. Here is what I consider to be the key quote:

Ahead of his arrival, Karzai offered a reminder of the trouble that remains nearly six years after U.S. and coalition forces entered his country. In the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the United States and its allies have essentially gotten nowhere lately, Karzai said.

"We are not closer, we are not further away from it," Karzai said in an interview with CNN's "Late Edition," which aired Sunday. "We are where we were a few years ago."

Karzai ruled out that bin Laden was in Afghanistan, but otherwise said he didn't know where the leader of the al-Qaida terror network was likely to be hiding.

Bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is believed to be living in the tribal border region of Pakistan. His ability to avoid capture remains a major source of frustration for U.S.-led forces and a political sore spot for Bush.

Why are these guys even still talking?

Because we haven't found them yet.

Why haven't we found them yet?

Officers: Iraq Could Drain Terror War / Diversion of Afghan Forces To Gulf Raises Concerns, dated Sunday, September 1, 2002

As the Bush administration intensifies talk about toppling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, military officials are confronting what some see as a looming problem: that by launching a war in the Persian Gulf, the administration will divert attention and resources from the military campaign against al Qaeda and terrorism.

Although Pentagon officials are proceeding to refine plans for a war against Iraq, military officers warn that a major campaign in the Middle East would place a serious drain on intelligence gathering and Special Forces units, two central components of the military's efforts to hunt down al Qaeda and Taliban members in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

How to balance these conflicting stresses on U.S. forces is among the key factors being assessed by war planners, and could contribute to the shape and timing of any military campaign against Iraq. At the moment, with Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader, and his lieutenants still being sought along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and elsewhere, some military officials worry that the administration may be shifting the focus to Iraq too soon.

Why haven't we found them yet?

Because Bush was so determined to attack Iraq, a place which had nothing to do with 9/11, that, against the advice of his military leaders, he began diverting resources from the hunt for Bin Laden as early as the summer of 2002!

So now, here we are, five years later, bogged down in Iraq, with no end in sight.

Meanwhile, Bin Laden & Co. are still at large -- and they have nuclear weapons!

Yes, indeed, Mr. President; thanks to you not finishing the job in Afghanistan, but rushing into Iraq instead, we have to wonder when our nation will be devastated by the blinding flash, intense heat and tremendous shockwave of nuclear terrorism.

Well, Mr. President, I'll give you this much: thanks to your incompetence, our future is so bright, we gotta wear shades!