This is the latest indication that the Pakistanis have been hosting Al Qaeda all along. As soon as their government decided instead to fight them, suddenly *poof* they’re everywhere.

Sources: U.S.-born al-Qaida spokesman caught
Gadahn, 31, reportedly held in Pakistan; $1 million reward on his head

KARACHI, Pakistan – Adam Yahiye Gadahn, a U.S.-born spokesman for al-Qaida, has been captured in Pakistan, government sources said Sunday.

Gadahn was arrested in recent days, two officers who took part in the operation told The Associated Press. A senior government official also confirmed the arrest. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

An intelligence source confirmed the report to NBC News, adding that Gadahn was detained in Sohrab Goth, a suburb of Karachi, and was later moved to the capital Islamabad.

The arrest is a major victory in the U.S.-led battle against al-Qaida and will be taken as a sign that Pakistan is cooperating more fully with Washington. It follows the recent detentions of several Afghan Taliban commanders in Karachi . .

A U.S. court charged Gadahn with treason in 2006, making him the first American to face such a charge in more than 50 years. He could face the death penalty if convicted. He was also charged with two counts of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Gadahn, 31, grew up on a goat farm in Riverside County, Calif., and converted to Islam at a mosque in nearby Orange County . .

Psychologically, this will be a bit of a blow to the wingnuts. If only the Bush Administration had pulled this off, catching the treasonous terrorist Muslim moonbat. Their reactions will have to be muted, and then they’ll have to work to disconnect Obama from it somehow . .

CORRECTION: The militant is apparently not Gadahn as was previously reported everywhere:

Now, CBS News’ Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad writes that earlier reports the detained individual was Gadahn proved false. According to a Pakistan security official who spoke with CBS News on condition of anonymity, the arrested individual is in fact “a Taliban militant leader who is known as Abu Yahya.”

Website Dawn.com had further reported that Abu Yahya and Gadahn were the same person but were also incorrect. Too bad, woulda been good news.

Under Obama, more targeted killings than captures in counterterrorism efforts

. . Although senior administration officials say that no policy determination has been made to emphasize kills over captures, several factors appear to have tipped the balance in that direction. The Obama administration has authorized such attacks more frequently than the George W. Bush administration did in its final years, including in countries where U.S. ground operations are officially unwelcome or especially dangerous. Improvements in electronic surveillance and precision targeting have made killing from a distance much more of a sure thing. At the same time, options for where to keep U.S. captives have dwindled.

“Over a year after taking office, the administration has still failed to answer the hard questions about what to do if we have the opportunity to capture and detain a terrorist overseas, which has made our terror-fighters reluctant to capture and left our allies confused,” Sen. Christopher S. Bond (Mo.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said Friday.

Capturing terrorists has got to be a difficult, dangerous task. It risks our people and property, and it strains international relations.

They may pretend to believe it to be the ultimate weapon against the terrorists, but I’m not buying they’d be so forgiving upon the deaths or captures of our own during one of those dangerous operations. The Republicans would be howling screaming mad at Obama and the administration, and there’d be charges of stupidity, incompetence and recklessness flying all over the place.

Clearly, the technology and the capabilities of the drone programs have sharpened, and, with better intelligence, the anti-terrorist forces have extended ranges and strike capabilities. Why shouldn’t Obama put this all to good use?

Just because they’ve gotten a lot better at taking out terrorists doesn’t necessarily mean it’s any easier or less risky to capture them, does it?

Bush Official Criticizes Obama For Killing Too Many Terrorists

Just how unpopular are President Barack Obama’s anti-terrorism policies with his Republican critics? Even when he’s killing terrorists they find flaws . .

“That doesn’t mean I think they are not illegitimate,” he added. “No, we have every right to kill the other side’s warriors. But at what cost? When we do not have an effective detention policy the only option we have is to kill them before we can detain them. And if we don’t detain them, we don’t know what they know and what they are up to.”

The realities of detention are a bitch:
1.) Abduction.
2,) Transport.
3.) Incarceration.
4,) Interrogation.
5.) Production of intel.
6.) Assessment of intel.
7.) Action.
8.) Assessment of action.
9.) Assessment of source.
10.) Legal processing.
11.) International politicking and relations.
12.) Life-long housing.

Yes, they are. CPAC yesterday:

Bush Official Criticizes Obama For Killing Too Many Terrorists

Just how unpopular are President Barack Obama’s anti-terrorism policies with his Republican critics? Even when he’s killing terrorists they find flaws . .

“That doesn’t mean I think they are not illegitimate,” he added. “No, we have every right to kill the other side’s warriors. But at what cost? When we do not have an effective detention policy the only option we have is to kill them before we can detain them. And if we don’t detain them, we don’t know what they know and what they are up to.”

I’m certainly no counter-terrorism expert, so I’m not embarrassed to admit I’m confused by this.

But here I go: If we knew pretty much everything about all the terrorists out there, wouldn’t we then . . kill them? Starting with the leaders, kill them all, wipe them out? Isn’t that the best possible realistic outcome for us in order to stop them cold?

– Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is dead, say officials

– Al-Qaeda leader killed in North Waziristan drone strike

– Son of feared Taliban leader killed by missile fired by American drone

This isn’t good enough?

This is one of the worst editorials the Washington Post has ever been mistaken to print. Richard Cohen is a middling dolt, but this particular missive is an emphatic admission of his marginal faculties and cowardice. Why either he or WaPo would invite the guaranteed scorn is a mystery.

Obama administration is tone-deaf to concerns about terrorism
By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, February 2, 2010

There is almost nothing the Obama administration does regarding terrorism that makes me feel safer.

Already, this is bullcrap– safer than what? This is a weak rhetorical tactic.

Whether it is guaranteeing captured terrorists that they will not be waterboarded, reciting terrorists their rights, or the legally meandering and confusing rule that some terrorists will be tried in military tribunals and some in civilian courts, what is missing is a firm recognition that what comes first is not the message sent to America’s critics but the message sent to Americans themselves. When, oh when, will this administration wake up?

And by “Americans themselves”, Richard means his quivering knees. He wants terrorists to be waterboarded, which is brutal, illegal and un-American. No, Richard.

He wants terrorists to be denied the rights that are unhappily guaranteed by the Constitution:

The principle that the Constitution applies not only to Americans, but also to foreigners, was hardly invented by the Court in 2008. To the contrary, the Supreme Court — all the way back in 1886 — explicitly held this to be the case, when, in Yick Wo v. Hopkins, it overturned the criminal conviction of a Chinese citizen living in California on the ground that the law in question violated his Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection.

In case Cohen’s making some argument that he felt ’safer’ with the Bush Administration here, they ‘Mirandized’ Richard Reid, the shoe bomber. So, operating in violation of the Constitution? No, Richard.

And all this military/civilian court ‘madness’? Name the last ‘Global War on Terror’ criminal tried in civilian court that didn’t get convicted and isn’t currently sitting in a penitentiary. Your beloved stalwart hold-me-daddy Bush Administration tried and convicted Richard Reid in civilian court. So, civilian courts are weak and scary? No, Richard.

This is what passes for editorial material in the Washington Post?

. . . But the paramount civil liberty is a sense of security and this, sad to say, has eroded under Barack Obama.

A ’sense of security’ is the pre-eminent civil liberty? I’d like to see somebody try to sue for that. Richard Cohen is almost too stupid for comment.

Repeatedly, the administration has shown poor judgment. Abdulmutallab’s silence is a scream that something is wrong.

Underwear bomber talking again

You can stop shrieking now, Rich.

The Republicans and the usual hacks have gone berserk, accusing President Obama of failing in the war on terrorism by waiting three days before mentioning the Northwest 253 attempted bombing.

Obama Seeks to Reassure U.S. After Bombing Attempt
By PETER BAKER and SCOTT SHANE

HONOLULU — President Obama emerged from Hawaiian seclusion on Monday to reassure the American public and quell gathering criticism as a branch of Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the thwarted attack on an American passenger jet on Christmas Day.

. . and . .

HANNITY: Well, what do you make of the handling of the whole situation — you know, “the system worked,” Janet Napolitano tells us. The president — you know, when we finally got a remark out of him, he says it’s an isolated extremist, which we don’t know to be the fact, but he said that. And then he talks about a systemic failure days later, but only because of president criticism.

ROVE: Yeah.

HANNITY: When you look at the entire incident in total, what does it tell you?

ROVE: Well, it tells me that we got the gang that’s not got its act together. First of all, I think it was a mistake for the president to have the incident happen on Christmas and for him not to be heard from for four days. The White House sent out its people to spin the press in that they were trying to reassure the American people. Well, I don’t understand why keeping the president off the stage and then not having him explain it for four days is supposed to reassure us.

Plenty of that going on. But, as usual, their thinking has been particularly narrow. Consider this: The underwear bombing was 100% a response to air strikes against Al Qaeda in Yemen.

The strikes resulted in the deaths of at least 35 militants and lead to the arrest of at least two dozen others. The attacks were carried out on December 17 and December 24 . . .

How do I know this to be true? Because Al Qaeda said so:

According to the group, the young man’s actions were in response to the military attacks in Yemen that were backed by United States intelligence and directed against suspected Al Qaeda cells in three locations in Yemen.

In other words, Al Qaeda got hurt in Yemen, and they were pissed. They sent out a rookie with a dubious plan and it failed, although it’s shocking he got as far as he did.

And what did Al Qaeda say about their failure? They actually bragged about it:

“[Abdulmutallab] managed to penetrate all devices and modern advanced technology and security checkpoints in international airports … defying the large myth of American and international intelligence, and exposing how fragile they are, bringing their nose to the ground.”

There you go. So, knowing what the background was that caused all the events to occur, would you prefer that the President cancel his vacation to come back to ‘reassure the nation’? Or was waiting a couple days the smart thing to do?

Well, do you care what Al Qaeda think? Or how they operate? Do you care that they surely would have bragged about being able to yank the chain of the Most Powerful Man (and nation) On The Planet? Do you think they care about p.r., these terrorists?

Or are you so very scared by this attempt that you need Daddy to hold you tight?

He’s so sure of himself and his actions that he fails to see that he misses the moment to be president — to be the strong father who protects the home from invaders, who reassures and instructs the public at traumatic moments.

He’s more like the aloof father who’s turned the Situation Room into a Seminar Room.

Maureed Dowd votes for ‘Hold Me, Daddy.’ After all of the “Terror! TERROR!” of the Bush years, I vote for the guy who’s bent on actually beating Al Qaeda.

New York’s Representative Peter King is here to save your day. And save the United States and the world from terrorism, and from the useless incompetence of this cowardly president, Obama (*hhhhock, PTOO*).

I contend that an easy way to understand the difference between how the left and the right go about things is something like this: Liberals see the world as a machine, and, when it begins to break down, they want to grab a wrench and start tweaking the nuts and bolts. On the other hand, Conservatives see the world as a cotillion and God as the judge. When things are going wrong, you’re not winning the prizes. You’re dancing poorly: your footwork’s clumsy, posture’s bad, your clothes are tattered and torn.

Your ability to make the world a better place then differs pretty wildly. With the first, it depends upon how well you understand the machine and the ways it works. Diagnose the problem, get into a particular part of the works, bring the right parts, use the right tools, put it back together.

With the second, it’s all about how you appear. Worse, it’s how you appear in the judge’s eyes. Worse yet, really, it’s about pretending to know how you appear in the judge’s eyes. Why were the Founding Fathers so successful in pounding out a lasting political document? Because they were Godly men. …and DONE. See? Hold your head high on the final curtain call, that’s how Ronald Reagan would have done it.

It leads to some comedy, especially in the ‘Presidential’ sense. Like serious network discussions about how great Mitt Romney’s hair is and how broad Fred Thompson’s shoulders are.

It also leads to a lot of ridiculous arguments between people who all think they know how things should appear because they, of course, really know what He wants, the Holder of Great Aesthetic Sense, the Ultimate Rewarder. And, when talking broadly, about giant systems and states and nations, it sure is frustrating for them, how people can’t see through to playing their part. You know, getting their steps down and their bow ties on straight, the stuff that Keeps America Safe.

Like here. I agree that the Northwest 253 bombing attempt was a serious failure of our national security, of our defensive systems, and that it points to things that need repairing. But I differ with Peter King as to what should be done.

Anyway, here’s your shot, Peter: “Name one other specific recommendation the President could implement right now to fix this…”

There. Exactly how George W. Bush ‘fix’ed everything.

When a guy reportedly gets on board a Detroit-bound plane with 80 grams of PETN, which is pretty much TNT, the system failed. That’s the truth, that’s what people need to hear–this was a terrifying failure. Whose system failed and how, those are now literally the burning questions. Coulda been Amsterdam’s with the Americans’ sharing the blame in not making clear enough their security demands. But this is a failure, and sensible people want to know who and what is to blame.

The system worked, after the fact? This is classic Bush-era smiley-face government administration. Your Homeland Security person is supposed to be the type who couches everything in sober worry and caution, not mindless happy-speak. If she’s gotta go, she’s gotta go.

Here are some idiots with 10 grams of PETN:

Found over here:

“I was on this flight today and am thankful to be alive. My wife and I were returning from an African safari and had this connecting flight through Amsterdam. I sat in row 27, which was 7 rows behind the terrorist. I got to see the whole thing take place and it was very scary. Thanks to a few quick acting people I am still alive today.

“You can see what time I am writing this as I am having a hard time sleeping tonight. Just thought some of you would like to know what I saw, Merry Christmas.”

La Familia last week:

Hitmen behead drug rivals
Published: 8:41AM Saturday October 17, 2009
Source: Reuters

Authorities in Mexico say drug hitmen have beheaded 10 rivals, chopped up their bodies and left them in plastic bags on an isolated road in western Mexico in the latest gruesome attack in a raging drug war.

The body parts filled 18 bags and were dumped in a delivery truck abandoned on a back road in the Pacific state of Guerrero along with a message from the La Familia (The Family) cartel that is fighting for smuggling routes in the area.

“La Familia doesn’t kill innocent people. Those who die deserve to die,” read a hand-scrawled message left on top of the bags.

Breaking yesterday:

La Familia Michoacana’s Increasing Woes
October 22, 2009 | 2331 GMT

The heads of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the FBI announced the results of Project Coronado, a 44-monthlong multiagency operation against the Mexican drug trafficking organization La Familia Michoacana (LFM), the morning of Oct. 22. According to the officials, 1,186 individuals across 19 states were arrested and $33 million, 1,999 kilograms of cocaine, 2,730 pounds of methamphetamine, 29 pounds of heroin, 16,390 pounds of marijuana, 389 weapons, 269 vehicles and two synthetic drug laboratories were seized over the course of the operation.

LFM is one of the most violent and ambitious criminal organizations in Mexico, but also one of the smallest. This kind of operation is thus sure to have a serious impact on LFM’s operations both at home and abroad, especially as Mexican authorities have been stepping up operations against the group in its home state of Michoacan.

LFM was formed more than 20 years ago as a vigilante group aimed at kidnappers, drug traffickers and other criminals operating in the southern Mexican state of Michoacan. As the years passed, LFM itself became involved in the drug trade, particularly in methamphetamine trafficking. The group later formed an alliance with the Gulf cartel and came under the control of Los Zetas. LFM, as it is currently known, formed in 2006 after several of the groups’ leaders split from Los Zetas. Since then, LFM has developed a reputation as one of the most strange and violent drug-trafficking organizations in Mexico due to the purportedly Christian-based teachings of its ideological leader, known as El Mas Loco, who advocates the torture and murder of LFM opponents as a representation of divine justice. LFM’s reputation has won it the title of the most dangerous criminal organization in Mexico according to former Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora. in Mexico

For some background on the ultra-violent ultra-Christian drug cartel, you can go here. If this is what they’re willing to do after only one high-ranking member is arrested, it makes you wonder what they’ll do next now that ‘El Chivo’, Francisco Javier Frias Lara, is also now in custody.

Mexican state awash in recent violence

(CNN) — In recent days, Michoacan, the home state of President Felipe Calderon, has become a flashpoint of violence in Mexico’s deadly war against drug cartels. Since Calderon went after the drug cartels shortly after coming into office in 2006, more than 10,000 people have died across Mexico, about 1,000 of them police.

Video from the scene of the slain officers showed three signs, known as narcomensajes, left by the killers that stated the same thing: “So that you come for another. We will be waiting for you here.”

Mind numbing. When will this end?

Police find 12 tortured bodies in Mexico

MEXICO CITY – Prosecutors said they found the bound, blindfolded and tortured bodies of at least a dozen people Monday on a roadside in the western state of Michoacan, which has become a flash point in Mexico’s war on drugs.

Michoacan, President Felipe Calderon’s home state, is at the center of his drug war and has been wracked by a wave of killings and arrests in recent weeks.