12 Years Later: Remembering 9/11

September 11, 2001. New Yorkers were heading to the polls to vote on the next mayor of the city. It was a morning full of promise and baseball fans were excited about the Yankees' chances of making the playoffs, the Mets thinking about the future, and the start of the new football season. In other words, it was a day not much different than those September days we've been experiencing in the New

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Remembering 9/11 Eleven Years Later

On a morning not all that different than the one forecast for today, it was a bolt from the blue. The skies over New York City were a crisp bright blue with nary a cloud in a sky. It was a morning full of promise.

September 11, 2001 and New Yorkers were heading to the polls to vote on the next mayor of the city. People were talking baseball and the upcoming football season, just as they are

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Is Assad's Regime On Verge of Collapsing?

According to the recently defected former Prime Minister Riyad Hijab, Bashar al-Assad's regime controls no more than 30% of the country and it's on the verge of collapsing. “Based on my experience and my position, the regime is falling apart morally, materially, economically,” the former official, Riyad Farid Hijab, said at a news conference in Amman, Jordan. “Its military is rusting, and it only

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Aleppo Besieged As Assad and Rebels Claim Victories

The fighting in and around Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub, continues and the number of refugees is soaring. 200,000 have fled the city as a result of the brutal fighting on the streets and in the buildings of multiple neighborhoods around the city.

Both Assad and rebel forces have claimed victories. Assad's forces have claimed that they've overrun rebel held areas and retaken the city after

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And Then There Was One

Since the 9/11 attacks, the US has gone after al Qaeda all around the globe, and those efforts have paid off. The group is now down to essentially one recognizable face - Ayman al Zawahiri, who was Osama bin Laden's right hand man since the group came into existence.

Zawahiri is believed to be in the frontier provinces of Pakistan, and he's probably spending most of his time trying not to get

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The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 162

Despite the fact that there's been no work done on the WTC 9/11 Museum for months, that doesn't mean that the fight over what the museum will contain and display hasn't continued.

I find it mind-boggling that there's a fight over whether to include photos of the 19 Islamic terrorists who carried out the attacks. We need to see the faces of those who are responsible. It's like having a museum

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Foiled Underwear Bomb Plot Linked With UAV Airstrike in Yemen

Well, as I suspected yesterday, the foiled underwear bomb plot and the UAV raid that killed a major al Qaeda figure (and who was linked to the USS Cole bombing) were connected. "I was told by the White House that they are connected, that they are part of the same operation," Representative Peter King told CNN a day after news of the intercepted bomb that authorities said was intended to make its

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The US Army Releases Bin Laden Papers Online

The US has decided to release 17 declassified documents captured during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year.

The letters are posted on the Combatting Terrorism Center website of the US Army at West Point.

The accompanying report provides context, including how al Qaeda views itself and its allies, coreligionists, and relationships with countries such as Iran and Pakistan. For

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Al Qaeda, Down But Not Out A Year After Bin Laden's Death

Al Qaeda is hurting a year following the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of a US special forces unit in Pakistan.

But it isn't done by a long shot.

Terrorists continue to try to plan attacks, and they are using all kinds of methods to spread word of their plans.

One such plan and communications methods was intercepted just days after bin Laden was killed. A 22-year-old Austrian named

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Afghanistan-US Pact Means US Presence In Afghanistan For Foreseeable Future

Despite claims that US forces will be leaving Afghanistan by 2014, the fact is that the US will continue to maintain a presence in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future - a decade or longer.

The reasons have as much to do with geography as they do politics.

Afghanistan is vital not only because the US needs to continue to deny al Qaeda a breeding ground in the country that played host to al

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Assad's Deadly Crackdown Continues With Artillery Assaults Against Homs

Homs has been under fire almost continuously since the beginning of the year, and the artillery barrages continue today. Britain and France are pushing for more assistance to the Syrian resistance. "We cannot bring about a Syrian revolution ... if the Syrian revolution does not make an effort to rally together and organize so that we can better help them," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in

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Underwear Bomber Sentencing Underway With Expected Life Imprisonment

The admitted terrorist who sought to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on its way to Detoit is in court today for sentencing. It's widely expected that Abdul Farouk Abdul Mutallab will receive a life sentence.Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the privileged son of a wealthy Nigerian banker, returns to federal court in Detroit on Thursday to receive a mandatory life sentence for trying to blow up

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Syrians Bracing For All-Out Conflict

The UN is warning that the situation in Syria is reaching the point that we can call it a civil war. Syrians are bracing for an all-out war. I'd say we'd reached that point earlier this year and that Bashar al-Assad is doing all he can to crush an insurrection caused by his ongoing crackdown against protesters.

The crackdown has resulted in a splintering of his military forces and an increasing

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Feds Announce Arrest of Islamic Extremist in Tampa Terror Plot

Sami Osmakac, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in the former Yugoslavia, was arrested and charged with one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. His first appearance in federal court is scheduled for today. He allegedly sought to attack Ybor City nightclubs, law enforcement, other assorted businesses, and even attacking Tampa area bridges and infrastructure. Agents say

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