be just

‘Head office has gone missing' - The Globe and Mail : "Most, although not all, terrorism experts believe that there is now no al-Qaeda “central,” the pre-9/11 organization. The bin Laden cadre has been isolated militarily and many of its original leaders have been killed or captured. What has replaced the pre-9/11 structure is an al-Qaeda brand, a spreading syndicate of autonomous al-Qaeda franchises and affiliates and a stunningly powerful media unit (as-Sahab, “The Clouds”) creating high-quality documentary films, iPod files, cellphone videos and websites – a six-fold production output since 2005, all of it aimed at radicalizing young Muslims."

‘Outrage’ in Israel as US Envoy Mentions Revoking Loan Guarantee -- News from Antiwar.com : "Israeli officials are riled up tonight after an offhand comment by US envoy George Mitchell in an interview with PBS mentioned that the US could hypothetically revoke loan guarantees to Israel if the nation refused to re-start negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Members of the ruling Likud Party vowed that Israel would not “give in to threats” while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that “everyone knows” the Palestinian Authority is to blame for the stalled peace process. One minister added that it was an empty threat. Even US Senators John McCain (R – AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I – CT) condemned Mitchell’s comment, saying that Congress would never allow the president to withhold any support for Israel under any circumstances . Mitchell, for his part, quickly backpedaled, insisting that he didn’t mean to suggest that revoking the loan guarantees was at all appropriate and ...

Yemen Eyes al-Qaeda Deal -- News from Antiwar.com : "Faced with an unwelcome level of attention in its newfound war against al-Qaeda, the Yemeni government is now taking the virtually unprecedented step of suggesting they would be willing to come to some sort of deal with the international terror organization."

Shabaab commander executed : "'We don't normally kill al Shebaab members. We arrest them and make them understand that Islam means peace. We have detained and then released many of them,' the spokesperson, Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abu Yusuf, told Reuters by telephone. 'This commander insisted that all people were infidels except his group ... We will execute al Shebaab members who insist that it can be right to kill the innocent. What else are we supposed to do to those who believe they will go to paradise for killing us and the whole human race?'"

At Least 140 Killed in South Sudan Fighting -- News from Antiwar.com : "A week of fierce fighting among tribes in the remote Warrap state in South Sudan has left at least 140 people killed and 90 others wounded. The UN has promised to investigate the killings."

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Egypt deports UK MP George Galloway : "George Galloway, the British MP leading the Viva Palestina international aid convoy to the Gaza Strip, has been declared 'person non grata' by the Egyptian government and deported from the country. The politician was picked up by Egyptian officials at the Rafah border crossing on Friday and driven to Cairo, the capital, where he was placed on a flight back to London. On arriving at Heathrow airport, in the UK capital, Galloway said: 'It's always been a badge of honour to be deported by a tin-pot dictator and that's what happened this morning. 'Having crossed the border from Gaza into Egypt ... my friend and I were bundled into a car, 25 officers, accepting no dissuasion, drove us straight to the airport, basically forced us onto the plane.'"

Wife says CIA bomber hated the United States - Yahoo! News : "ISTANBUL – A Jordanian doctor-turned-suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees at a base in Afghanistan is proudly regarded by his family as a martyr in Islam's holy war against the United States, his wife said Thursday. Covered in a black Islamic chador, Defne Bayrak, the Turkish wife of bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, lauded her husband's Dec. 30 attack to Turkish journalists in Istanbul. 'I am proud of him, my husband has carried out a great operation in such a war. May God accept his martyrdom,' Bayrak told the Dogan news agency."