Terrorism

Christopher Anzalone writes in a guest editorial for Informed Comment– which is particularly timely given the bloody attack by fundamentalist gunmen on a Mogadishu hotel, in which they killed 33 persons: From ‘Martyrdom’ Videos to Jihadi Journalism in Somalia: The Rapid Evolution of Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen’s Multimedia The Somali insurgent-jihadi group Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen (Movement […]

Afghanistan

Rudolph: Can You Pass the Terrorism Quiz?

Juan Cole

Jeffrey Rudolph writes in a guest editorial for Informed Comment Can You Pass the Terrorism Quiz? Misconceptions about terrorism, regularly promoted by the mainstream media, have facilitated harmful US government actions—two wars, domestic legislation that curtailed civil liberties, excessive national security spending. That basic, factual information about terrorism is so rarely reported thus serves to […]

al-Qaeda

Global Warming and al-Qaeda in the Greater Indian Ocean

Juan Cole

Politico says that the fate of the earth, i.e. the climate bill in the senate, is now in the hands of Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico. This is because he is seen as someone who could get a bipartisan consensus. But Democrats on the Hill are missing their big opportunity to appeal to Republicans […]

al-Qaeda

Al-Shabab behind Kampala Bombing

Juan Cole

The horrific bombings in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, during public celebrations of the World Cup finale, was carried out by Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahidin (Movement of Jihadi Youth), a radical Somali fundamentalist terrorist group. The BBC reports that al-Shabab has now taken responsibility. The group resents the nearly 6000 African Union troops sent to Somalia […]

al-Qaeda

Police: Shahzad has no Links to Taliban; Clinton Remarks Produce Firestorm in Pakistan

Juan Cole

Pakistani authorities doing the hard police work in Karachi of attempting to trace the network of friends and contacts of attempted Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad have come up empty-handed. There is nothing in Shahzad’s background that links him to the Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan (TTP or Taliban Movement of Pakistan), based in the Federally Administered […]

al-Qaeda

Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: Niass & Shahzad

Juan Cole

I received some snarky message after the Shahzad attempted bombing in Times Square, asking if I were still standing behind the idea of Islam as a religion of peace. It was a stupid comment. Classical Islamic law forbids murder and forbids terrorism, and it forbids aggression. Whether that makes it a religion of peace is […]

Afghanistan

Suspect Arrested in Times Square Bomb Plot; Afghan anger at NATO Grows

Juan Cole

As US authorities arrested Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-American recently returned from Peshawar, on suspicion of ties to the Pakistani Taliban and involvement in the Times Square bomb plot, bad news is coming from Afghanistan itself. Pashtuns in the affected areas appear to be angry at the US invasion of Marjah this winter and convinced that […]

al-Qaeda

From Waziristan to New York

Juan Cole

It is a measure of the inter-connected character of our globalized world that the security of New York may be tied to events in distant, rugged and mysterious South Waziristan, Pakistan– a remote area even most Pakistanis know little about. And, US security may depend more on school-building and improving lives in South Waziristan than […]

al-Qaeda

Wright: Assassinations Strengthen Religious Terrorist Groups

Juan Cole

Robert Wright argues that not only is assassination (including by drone) legally and ethically troubling, but there is reason to think that it is counterproductive when deployed against religious terrorist groups. He cites the study of Jenna Jordan [pdf], a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago, in Security Studies. She did a large-scale study […]