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“New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham on Thursday [1/18/2024] announced the identification of a victim from the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

The victim was identified as John Ballantine Niven and has become the 1,650th person to be identified since 2001 through DNA analysis, according to the mayor’s office. Officials said that the remains of 2,753 have been recovered from the attack. Around 1,103 victims remain unidentified.

Neven was 44 years old, according to WABC. He was married and had an 18-month-old child at the time.”

–  Jessica Goodman, “9/11 Victims’ Remains Identified Nearly 23 Years After 2001 Attacks,” krmg.com, January 20, 2024

“A Connecticut man who pleaded guilty to planning to fight for the Islamic State group in Syria was sentenced to 12 years in prison on a terrorism charge Thursday [12/21/2023], a lighter punishment than what had been sought by prosecutors who called him a danger to society.

A judge imposed the punishment on Kevin McCormick, 30, a former Hamden resident, in federal court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where the U.S. attorney’s office called for a 20-year prison term. Judge Kari Dooley also ordered that McCormick be placed on supervised release with GPS monitoring for the rest of his life after the time behind bars.”

– Dave Collins, “Connecticut man gets 12 years in prison for failed plan to fight for Islamic State in Syria,” seattletimes.com, December 21, 2023

“Today [12/7/2023], Congressman Andrew R. Garbarino (R-NY-02) released a statement following the finalization of the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which includes much needed funding to address the shortfall in the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP). Specifically, this legislation will provide $444 million to address the WTCHP funding gap and $232 million to extend coverage for military and civilian 9/11 responders at the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA.

‘I am incredibly proud of the work Senator Gillibrand and I did to ensure $676 million in funding for the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) was included in the final version of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA),’ said Rep. Garbarino. ‘This funding will go a long way towards addressing the impending shortfall and ensuring that, in addition to those at Ground Zero, all survivors and first responders who ran towards danger at the Pentagon and in Shanksville receive the care that they deserve. I thank Speaker Mike Johnson for keeping the promise he made to me to stand behind our 9/11 first responders and survivors. Speaker Johnson upheld his commitment and worked closely with me to make certain the proposed funding amount was included. I, along with Congressman D’Esposito who is a critical partner in working to address the shortfall, will continue to fight for all those impacted by 9/11-related illnesses. We will not rest until the WTCHP is fully funded for all who need it.'”

–  Andrew Garbarino, “Garbarino, Gillibrand Secure Funding For 9/11 Health Care in Annual Defense Package,” garbarino.house.gov, December 7, 2023

“Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, ‘voluntarily’ admitted to an FBI agent that the plan had been to hit the White House or the Capitol as well as the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

The ‘confession’ by the man said to have been the operations director of al-Qaeda was given during an interrogation in 2007 at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba, Frank Pellegrino, a retired FBI agent, told the latest pre-trial hearing for Mohammed and the other 9/11 accused. A date has not been set for the full trial.

‘When we went in to speak to him, we were very comfortable that he was speaking to us voluntarily, given every opportunity to walk away.’ Pellegrino [said].”

– Michael Evans, “9/11 Suspect ‘Admitted White House was Fourth Target’,” times.co.uk, September 28, 2023

“The number of first responders from the New York City Fire Department who have died from 9/11-related illnesses has reached 343, matching the number who lost their lives on the day of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Two more members of the FDNY died this September from 9/11-related illnesses, shortly after the 22nd anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, according to a statement on social media from the fire department.”

– Maria Sole Campinoti, “FDNY First Responder Deaths from 9/11-related Diseases Now Equal FDNY Deaths from Attacks,” cnn.com, September 24, 2023

“A military judge at Guantánamo Bay has ruled a 9/11 defendant incompetent to stand trial after a military medical panel found that the man’s sustained abuse in CIA custody years earlier had rendered him lastingly psychotic.

A Guantánamo military commission spokesperson, Ronald Flesvig, confirmed on Friday [9/22/2023] the ruling by Judge Col Matthew McCall. The ruling means Ramzi bin al-Shibh will not be tried together with his four 9/11 co-defendants, whose case will now proceed without him.

A Yemeni, al-Shibh is accused of organizing one cell of the 19 hijackers who carried out the 11 September 2001 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.”

– Associated Press, “Judge Rules 9/11 Defendant Unfit for Trial After CIA Torture Made Him Psychotic,” theguardian.com, September 22, 2023

“New York City officials have identified two more victims of the September 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center, just days before the 22nd memorial anniversary of the attacks.

The man and woman identified are the 1,648th and 1,649th victims identified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, according to a news release from the mayor’s office. The two were identified through advanced DNA testing of their remains, says the release. …

These are the first identifications since September 2021, according to the release.

The man was identified through DNA testing of remains recovered in 2001 and the woman through DNA testing of remains recovered in 2001, 2006, and 2013, says the release.

The techniques used to make these identifications over two decades later ‘include recently adopted next-generation sequencing technology — more sensitive and rapid than conventional DNA techniques — which has been used by the U.S. military to identify the remains of missing American servicemembers,’ says the news release.

Despite these advancements in DNA technology, roughly 40% of the victims, or about 1,100 people thought to have died in the disaster, remain unidentified. A total of 2,753 people were reported missing in lower Manhattan after the attacks on the World Trade Center. Death certificates were issued for all 2,753, although the work to match the names of victims with remains from the site continues.”

– Kristina Sgueglia and Zoe Sottile, “Two New 9/11 Victims Identified, The First Identifications in Two Years,” cnn.com, September 8, 2023

“President Joe Biden has refused to approve some of the conditions that lawyers for the defendants in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had sought in a possible plea bargain, ruling out a presidential guarantee that the five men would be spared solitary confinement and provided care for the trauma of their torture in CIA custody, a White House National Security Council official said Wednesday [9/6/2023].

Biden’s refusal on the plea-bargain guarantees leaves it to military prosecutors and defense lawyers to try to hash out an agreement on a plea bargain. The terms under discussion would have the five Guantanamo detainees plead guilty and serve life sentences in exchange for being spared the death penalty.

Lawyers for the two sides have been exploring a negotiated resolution to the case for about 1 1/2 years. They had been waiting for about a year of that time to see if Biden would express opposition or support for some of the conditions that defense lawyers had been seeking.

Biden agreed with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s recommendation not to accept the proposed terms as a basis for plea negotiations, according to the National Security Council official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.”

– Aamer Madhani and Ellen Knickmeyer, “Biden Refuses To Grant Some of the Conditions That 9/11 Defendants Were Seeking in Plea Negotiations,” apnews.com, September 6, 2023

“A proposal to allow alleged perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks to plead guilty and avoid the death penalty poses a powerful dilemma for victims’ families, some of whom still want to seek the ultimate retribution after two decades of legal limbo. …

For some families of those killed in New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania say a deal without a trial could mean the entire truth about what happened on September 11, 2001 might never be told.

Others say that every year of delay means that more people pass away without seeing justice for their slain relatives — and increases the risk that the aging defendants themselves could die without ever being found guilty.

‘All 9/11 family members want justice and accountability. Too many of us have died in the last two decades without either,’ said September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, which backs the plea deal.

‘Plea agreements, which could be made right now, would offer finality: an end to the 9/11 military commission, clear admissions of guilt, and life sentences without parole or any possibility of appeal,’ they said.

But Dennis McGinley of the group 9/11 Justice said the deal would leave untold the full story behind the attack that killed his brother Danny in the south tower of the World Trade Center.

‘All this is, is… to prevent a trial from taking place where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is going to have to spill the beans,’ he said, referring to the self-described 9/11 mastermind also known as ‘KSM.’”

– France 24, “US Plea Proposal for 9/11 Suspects Splits Victims’ Relatives,” france24.com, August 27, 2023

“A Pakistani doctor and former Mayo Clinic research coordinator who sought to join the Islamic State terrorist group to fight in Syria and expressed interest in carrying out attacks on U.S. soil was sentenced Friday [8/25/2023] to 18 years in prison.

Muhammad Masood, 31, pleaded guilty a year ago to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors said he attempted unsuccessfully to travel from the U.S. to Syria via Jordan in 2020, then agreed to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with someone he thought would help him travel by cargo ship to IS territory.

But FBI agents arrested him at the Minneapolis airport on March 19, 2020, after he checked in for his flight.”

– Steve Karnowski, “Pakistani Doctor Who Sought to Support Islamic State Terror Group Sentenced in Minnesota to 18 Years,” apnews.com, August 25, 2023

Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“One of the men accused of plotting the 9/11 terror attacks isn’t mentally competent to stand trial or assist lawyers in his defence in a capital proceeding at the Guantánamo Bay military prison, a government medical board found.

Ramzi bin al-Shibh’s case has been running since 2008.

He’s accused of organising the terror plot’s Hamburg, Germany, cell, researching US flight schools, wiring money to some of the 19 primary 9/11 hijackers, and reporting information to Al Qaeda’s leaders in Afghanistan.

In April, a military judge in the case ordered three mental health experts to investigate the man’s condition, as US officials prosecute him alongside 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and three others.

A military medical board filed a report under seal on Friday [8/25/2023], which suggested that Mr bin al-Shibh has post-traumatic stress disorder with ‘psychotic features,’ three individuals who saw the report told The New York Times.

The findings could convince Col Matthew N McCall, the judge overseeing the case, to sever bin al-Shibh from the proceedings and try him separately from the other four alleged plotters.

Mr bin al-Shibh’s lawyers have alleged the man was harassed with noises, vibrations, and other de-stabilising techniques while in US custody. …

Mr bin al-Shibh was captured in Karachi in September 2002 and claims he was tortured in custody in captivity in US-affiliated facilities in Afghanistan, Jordan, Poland, and Romania,… He entered Guantánamo in 2006.”

– Josh Marcus, “Accused 9/11 Plotter Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh Isn’t Fit for Guantanamo Trial Because of Mental Illness, Board Finds,” independent.co.uk, August 26, 2023 

“The suspected architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and his fellow defendants may never face the death penalty under plea agreements now under consideration to bring an end to their more than decade long prosecution, the Pentagon and FBI have advised families of some of the thousands killed.

The notice, made in a letter that was sent to several of the families and obtained by The Associated Press, comes 1 ½ years after military prosecutors and defense lawyers began exploring a negotiated resolution to the case.

The prosecution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others held at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been troubled by repeated delays and legal disputes, especially over the legal ramifications of the interrogation under torture that the men initially underwent while in CIA custody. No trial date has been set. …

The letter, dated Aug. 1, was received by at least some of the family members only this week [starting 8/14/2023]. It asks them to respond by Monday to the FBI’s victim services division with any comments or questions about the possibility of such a plea agreement. The FBI had no comment Wednesday on the letter.”

-The Associated Press, “9/11 Defendants Might Not Face the Death Penalty, US Tells Families,” nbcnews.com, August 16, 2023

“Islamic State on Thursday [8/3/2023] confirmed the death of its leader, Abu Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi, and named Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Quraishi as his replacement, the group’s spokesperson said in an undated recording published on its Telegram channel.

It appeared to be the militant group’s first official announcement on his fate since Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said in April that Turkish intelligence forces had killed him in Syria.

Islamic State, a shadow of the organization that once ruled a third of Iraq and Syria, gave no details about the new leader.”

– Voice of America, “Islamic State Confirms Death of Its Leaders, Names Replacement,” voanews.com, August 3, 2023

“The U.S. post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and Pakistan have taken a tremendous human toll on those countries. As of September 2021, an estimated 432,093 civilians in these countries have died violent deaths as a result of the wars. As of May 2023, an estimated 3.6-3.8 million people have died indirectly in post-9/11 war zones. The total death toll in these war zones could be at least 4.5-4.7 million and counting, though the precise mortality figure remains unknown. Civilian deaths have also resulted from U.S. post-9/11 military operations in Somalia and other countries.”

– Costs of War Project, “Civilians Killed & Wounded,” watson.brown.edu, last updated August 2023

“A New York man was sentenced today [7/14/2023] to life in prison on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and five substantive counts of providing material support to ISIS in the forms of personnel, including himself, Australian citizen Jake Bilardi and others, as well as services, weapons, property and equipment, and false documentation and identification, all between January 2013 and June 2017, when the defendant was arrested in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to court documents, Mirsad Kandic, 41, of Brooklyn and Kosovo, was convicted by a federal jury in May 2022 following a three-week trial in Brooklyn. … Kandic was a prolific recruiter of foreign fighters for ISIS. He sent thousands of radicalized ISIS volunteer fighters from Western countries into ISIS-controlled territories in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.”

– Office of Public Affairs, US Department of Justice, “High-Level Member of ISIS Sentenced to Life in Prison for Material Support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization Resulting in Death,” justice.gov, July 14, 2023

Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari, 26, of Tampa, Florida, was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

According to court documents, Al-Azhari pleaded guilty to the charge in February 2023. Al-Azhari is a United States citizen who spent most of his life abroad and came to embrace dogmatic, Islamist/Salafist beliefs. In 2018, Al-Azhari was released from prison in Saudi Arabia following a conviction and sentence for supporting terrorism in Syria, after which he was removed to the United States.

Upon Al-Azhari’s arrival to the United States in or around December 2018, the FBI began investigating him for potentially providing material support to ISIS, which, at all relevant times, was designated as a foreign terrorist organization under federal law.”

– Office of Public Affairs, US Department of Justice, “Judge Sentences Florida Man to 18 Years in Prison for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS,” justice.gov, July 13, 2023

“A Houston man was sentenced today [6/29/2023] to 165 months, the equivalent of 13 years and nine months, in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization.

According to court documents, Kaan Sercan Damlarkaya, 23, attempted to join and support ISIS from August 2017 until his arrest in December 2017. He pleaded guilty July 8, 2019. In addition to wanting to join ISIS, Damlarkaya also provided information to ISIS supporters about the use of machetes, homemade construction of an automatic weapon and how to build and use explosive materials.”

– Office of Public Affairs, Department of Justice, “Texas Man Sentenced to Over 13 Years for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS,” justice.gov, June 29, 2023

Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“A group representing the families of 9/11 victims said on Tuesday [6/6/2023] that they were ‘shocked and deeply offended’ by the newly announced merger between the PGA Tour and its Saudi-backed competitor LIV Golf.

The group, 9/11 Families United, has repeatedly voiced its opposition to LIV Golf over its ties to Saudi Arabia, which has long faced accusations of assisting the terrorists who committed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

‘Saudi operatives played a role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and now it is bankrolling all of professional golf,’ Chair Terry Strada said in a statement.

The PGA Tour announced on Tuesday that it would merge with the upstart rival league to form one larger golf organization.”

– Julia Shapero, “9/11 Families ‘Deeply Offended’ By PGA Tour, LIV Golf Merger,” thehill.com, June 6, 2023

“At least 4.5 million people died in post-9/11 warzones, a number that continues to grow after more than two decades, according to a new report from Brown University. 

The vast majority of those deaths, in the range of 3.6 to 3.7 million, can be accredited to “indirect deaths,” or non-combat deaths, researchers with the university’s Costs of War project concluded.

Despite the staggering tally, those numbers are likely a significant undercount, the report, which is titled “How Death Outlives War,” concludes. …

Across wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya, children — particularly those under five years old — are the most vulnerable to indirect deaths, typically from malnutrition and disease.”

– Joseph Konig, “Report: 4.5 Million Deaths and Counting in Post-9/11 Warzones,” ny1.com, May 17, 2023

“Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Merrick B. Garland, the Attorney General of the United States, and Christopher A. Wray, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (‘FBI’), announced today [5/17/2023] that United States District Judge Vernon S. Broderick sentenced SAYFULLO SAIPOV to eight consecutive life sentences, two concurrent life sentences, and a consecutive sentence of 260 years in prison for carrying out a terrorist attack on October 31, 2017, in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (‘ISIS’), in which SAIPOV used a truck to murder eight victims and injure many more on a bike path in lower Manhattan.

On January 26, 2023, a jury convicted SAIPOV of all 28 counts in the Indictment, which charged SAIPOV with murder for the purpose of gaining entrance to a racketeering enterprise (ISIS); assault with a dangerous weapon and attempted murder for the purpose of gaining entrance to a racketeering enterprise (ISIS); providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization (ISIS) resulting in death; and damage and destruction to a motor vehicle resulting in death. On March 13, 2023, the same jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether Saipov should be sentenced to death, resulting in a mandatory sentence of life in prison.”

– United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, “Judge Imposes Eight Consecutive Life Sentences Plus 260 Years in Prison for 2017 Murder of Eight Victims and Attempted Murder of 18 Others in NYC ISIS Truck Attack,” justice.gov, May 17, 2023

Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“Florida is establishing September 11th as ‘9/11 Heroes’ Day’ to honor those who gave their lives for our freedom. 

Our middle and high school students, who were not alive during this time, will be required to have 45 minutes of instruction to learn about the attack on our country and those who gave their lives to save others.”

– Ron DeSantis via Twitter.com, May 9, 2023

“Turkish forces have killed the suspected leader of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced.

Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi is said to have taken over the group after his predecessor was killed last autumn.

Mr Erdogan told broadcaster TRT Turk the IS leader was ‘neutralised’ in a Turkish MIT intelligence agency operation on Saturday [4/29/2023]. 

IS has so far made no comment on the reported operation.

The BBC has been unable to independently verify President Erdogan’s claim.”

–  BBC News, “Suspected Islamic State Chief Qurayshi Killed in Syria, Turkey Says,” bbc.com, May 1, 2023

Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“From the first weeks after the 9/11 attacks, suspicions about a possible Saudi government role in the plot have focused on a mysterious, 42-year-old graduate student who welcomed the first two Qaida hijackers after they landed in Los Angeles in January 2000.

The Saudi student, Omar al-Bayoumi, claimed to have met the two terrorists entirely by chance; he said he was just being hospitable when he helped them settle in San Diego. Both the FBI and the 9/11 Commission supported Bayoumi’s account, dismissing the suspicions of agents who thought he might be a Saudi spy.

After nearly 20 years, however, the FBI has changed its story. In documents declassified last year [2022], the bureau affirmed that Bayoumi was in fact an agent of the Saudi intelligence service who worked with Saudi religious officials and reported to the kingdom’s powerful ambassador in Washington.

Those revelations have now become a central point of contention in a long-running federal lawsuit in New York, where 9/11 survivors and relatives of the 2,977 people who were killed are seeking to hold the Saudi government responsible for the attacks.

Lawyers for the families argue that the new evidence so contradicts earlier Saudi claims that they should be allowed to seek new information from the country’s intelligence service about Bayoumi and another official who reportedly aided the hijackers, Fahad al-Thumairy.

‘Saudi Arabia has a duty to tell the truth about the intelligence roles of Bayoumi and Thumairy based on its actual, complete knowledge,’ the plaintiffs wrote in a motion this month [April 2023].

The federal magistrate who is managing discovery in the case, Sarah Netburn, has so far sided with the Saudis, finding ‘no compelling reason’ to reopen the document search or order new interviews with Saudi officials. The families’ lawyers have asked the judge overseeing the case, George B. Daniels, to overrule her.”

– Tim Golden, “Focus of 9/11 Families’ Lawsuit Against Saudi Arabia Turns to a Saudi Student Who May Have Been a Spy,” propublica.org, April 27, 2023

“The U.S. has transferred a Guantanamo detainee back to his home country of Algeria, saying his continued detention was no longer necessary, the Department of Defense announced Thursday [4/20/2023]. 

Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush was captured in Pakistan in 2002 during an aggressive campaign by the U.S. to apprehend persons suspected of supporting terrorism following the 9/11 attacks. Last year a review board found that his continued detention at the Guantanamo Bay detention center was no longer necessary and ‘he could be safely transferred, noting his lack of any leadership role in al Qaeda,’ Amnesty International said. …

With his release, 30 detainees remain at Guantanamo. Of those 30 detainees, 16 are eligible for transfer; three are eligible for a review board assessment to see if they are also eligible for transfer; nine are involved in the military commissions process; and two detainees have been convicted in military commissions.”

– Tara Copp, “US Transfers Guantanamo Detainee to Algeria,” news.yahoo.com, April 20, 2023

“There are new calls to make Sept. 11 a federal holiday.

Three Hudson Valley congressmen, from both sides of the aisle, have introduced the September 11th Day of Remembrance Act.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R) says he wants to make 9/11 a federal holiday to ensure we never forget the day’s impact and consequences.

Rep. Pat Ryan says he was in his second year at West Point that day when all cadets swore to never forget the heroes lost.

And Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R) says he served as an NYPD detective in the years after 9/11 and continues to see the long term ramifications on first responders and survivors.”

– News 12 Staff, “Lawmakers Introduce Act To Make 9/11 a Federal Holiday,” longisland.news12.com, March 30, 2023

“The Senate voted Wednesday [3/29/2023] to repeal authorizations for the use of military force against Iraq [AUMF],  a significant moment as lawmakers aim to reassert authority in military intervention abroad.

The legislation now goes to the US House of Representatives for a vote. Speaker Kevin McCarthy has signaled support for it and said it would likely be brought to the floor. With bipartisan support for the repeal, the measure appears to have a good chance of passing the chambers, though it’s still unclear if lawmakers will try to amend it.

The vote comes on the heels of the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq.

The White House said it supports the measure to repeal the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for use of force in Iraq. If it passes both chambers, it would mark a formal conclusion to the conflicts and a symbolic reassertion of Congress’ ability to declare war.”

– Ali Zaslav, et al., “Senate Votes to Repeal Iraq War Power Authorizations, 20 Years After Us Invasion,” cnn.com, March 29, 2023

“A U.S. citizen who moved his family to Syria to join the Islamic State terrorist group has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

Emraan Ali, 55, a U.S. citizen born in Trinidad and Tobago, was sentenced Tuesday [3/27/2023] in Miami federal court, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in November to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

According to court records, Ali moved his family from Trinidad and Tobago to Brazil, and then to Turkey and eventually Syria in March 2015. He falsely told his children that they were going on vacation but actually intended to join IS, prosecutors said.”

– Associated Press, “U.S. Citizen Gets 20 Years for Joining Islamic State Group,” abcnews.go.com, April 2, 2023

Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“Abdullah el-Faisal believed every word in a speech by Osama bin Laden … and thought images of the coffins of US service members were laughable, New York prosecutors say.

They also believe the Muslim cleric is ‘one of the most influential English-speaking terrorists of our time,’ Assistant District Attorney Gary Galperin said during opening statements at Faisal’s trial on state terrorism charges.

Now, Faisal has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

A Manhattan court sentenced him Thursday after a nearly three-month trial in which he was found guilty of five terrorism-related charges. He is the first person to be tried under New York state terror laws passed after the September 11, 2001, attacks, the district attorney’s office said.”

– Brynn Gingras and Yon Pomrenze, “First Person Tried Under New York Terror Laws Passed in Wake of 9/11 Is Sentenced to 18 Years,” cnn.com, March 23, 2023

“Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., and New York City Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell today [3/23/2023] announced the sentencing of TREVOR WILLIAM FORREST, a/k/a ‘SHAIKH ABDULLAH FAISAL,’ a/k/a ‘SHAIKH FAISAL,’ 59, for recruiting, soliciting, and inspiring students and followers to pledge allegiance to, travel to, join and commit acts of terrorism on behalf of the Islamic State, a/k/a ‘ISIS’ or ‘ISIL.’ Faisal is sentenced to 18 years in state prison. …

Following a two-month long trial in New York State Supreme Court, FAISAL was convicted on all counts on January 26, 2023, after two hours of deliberation. …

As proven in the first-ever New York State terrorism trial, FAISAL used his public profile and personal network as the top English-speaking recruiter for ISIS to solicit and provide material support for the Islamic State’s acts of violence and terrorism against others through:

– violent jihadist advocacy and ISIS recruitment through different writings, speeches and recordings

– tradecraft instructions to others on how best to travel to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS and how best to avoid suspicion or arrest

– providing contact information of foreign fighters to facilitate entry into and support in ISIS regions and acceptance by ISIS partners

– strategizing with Islamic State fighters on battlefield tactics

– creating opportunities for women jihadi aspirants to meet and marry ISIS adherents

– inspiring others to commit their own violent acts in allegiance to ISIS.”

– District Attorney, New York County, “D.A. Bragg, P.C. Sewell: Radical Cleric Shaikh Faisal Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Recruiting Supporters and Facilitating Efforts to Join ISIS,” manhattanda.org, March 23, 2023

Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“A bipartisan plan to fill a funding gap for people sickened by toxins released in the 2001 terror attacks was rolled out Tuesday [2/28/20/23]  by lawmakers hoping to deal with the money shortfall before it becomes a crisis.

The bill — meant to cover shortfalls the World Trade Center Health Program is expected to face starting around 2027 — aims to fix a funding formula that has not kept up as higher enrollment and costs surged more than lawmakers expected when the program was made permanent in 2015. …

The laws enacting the program failed to adequately estimate the numbers of people who would apply, the increasing severity of cancer afflicting tens of thousands, and spiking inflation, its proponents say. There are more than 125,000 people in the program, including more than 25,000 diagnosed with cancer.

Democrats who controlled both houses of Congress last year failed to advance a bill to fix the problem, forcing Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) to scramble to add $1 billion to a year-end funding bill at the last minute. That money covers the program’s shortfall until about 2027.

The new bill unveiled Tuesday aims to cure the problem permanently.”

– Michael McAuliff, “NY Lawmakers – Republicans and Democrats – Unveil Bill to Close Funding Shortfall in 9/11 Health Program,” nydailynews.com, February 28, 2023

“The United States has repatriated two brothers to their native Pakistan after holding them for almost two decades without charges at the controversial Guantanamo Bay military prison.

Abdul Rabbani, 55, and Mohammed Rabbani, 53, were arrested by Pakistani authorities in their home city of Karachi in 2002 before swiftly being transferred to U.S. custody for allegedly operating al-Qaida safe houses.

The U.S. Defense Department on Thursday announced the repatriation of the brothers, who were never charged with a crime, to Pakistan, saying their detention was ‘no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States.’ …

Another Pakistani detainee, Majid Khan, who confessed to his role as an al-Qaida courier, was transferred from Guantanamo and resettled in Belize earlier this month after completing his sentence.

Khan, 42, was held in the detention facility for about 15 years. He was sentenced in 2021 to 10 years, with credit for the years he spent cooperating with his American interrogators.

Last October, the United States released the oldest prisoner at Guantanamo, identified as Pakistani national Saifullah Paracha, and transferred him to his home country.

Paracha, 75, had been held at the detention center since 2003 on suspicion of being tied to al-Qaida but he was never charged with a crime. …

The Pentagon on Thursday noted there are 32 detainees remaining at Guantanamo Bay, 18 of whom are eligible for transfer, nine defendants in military-run tribunals, and two others convicted.”

– Ayaz Gul, “US Returns Pakistani Brothers Held for Almost 20 Years at Guantanamo Bay,” voanews.com, February 24, 2023

“United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari (26, Tampa) has pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, namely, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (‘ISIS’). Pursuant to the terms of his plea agreement, Al-Azhari and the United States have agreed to the imposition of a stipulated sentence of 18 years in federal prison. …

According to the plea agreement, Al-Azhari is a United States citizen who spent most of his life abroad and came to embrace dogmatic, Islamist/Salafist beliefs. In or around 2015, Al-Azhari was convicted of advocating for Jaysh al-Islam, an armed Islamist group then participating in the Syrian conflict, in Saudi Arabia. Al-Azhari spent approximately three years in Saudi Arabian custody, after which he was removed to the United States. …

In or around April 2020, Al-Azhari began planning to carry out an attack in support of ISIS.  …

Between late April and May 2020, Al-Azhari also had multiple interactions with an FBI undercover employee (‘UC-1’) and a confidential human source (‘CHS-1’), during which Al-Azhari tried to buy guns from the UC-1, including a fully automatic rifle,… Al-Azhari … asked CHS-1 to obtain a Glock pistol and an unregistered silencer for him. Agents arrested Al-Azhari when he took possession of the gun and silencer on May 24, 2020.”

– U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida, “Tampa Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS,” justice.gov, February 24, 2023

Editor’s Note: Al-Azhari was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, in July 2023. See: Office of Public Affairs, US Department of Justice, “Judge Sentences Florida Man to 18 Years in Prison for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS,” justice.gov, July 13, 2023

According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“Victims of the 9/11 attacks are not entitled to seize $3.5bn (£2.9bn) in assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank, a US judge has ruled.

Lawyers pursuing the compensation argued these funds could satisfy court judgments they had obtained against Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban.

At the time of the attacks in 2001, the Taliban had allowed al-Qaeda militants to operate from Afghanistan.

The suicide plane attacks on America claimed 2,977 lives.

Judge George Daniels said he was ‘constitutionally restrained’ from approving access to the funds, which are frozen in the US, as this would amount to a ruling that the Taliban were Afghanistan’s legitimate government.

He noted that the Biden administration did not recognise the Taliban, which meant US courts did not have the power to do so either. …

‘The judgment creditors are entitled to collect on their default judgments and be made whole for the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history, but they cannot do so with the funds of the central bank of Afghanistan,’ Judge Daniels wrote in his 30-page judgement.

‘The Taliban, not the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan or the Afghan people, must pay for the Taliban’s liability in the 9/11 attacks,’ he added. …

The judge’s ruling is a defeat for those who had claimed some of the $7bn of Afghanistan’s central bank funds frozen at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.

‘This decision deprives over 10,000 members of the 9/11 community of their right to collect compensation from the Taliban,’ said Lee Wolosky, a lawyer who argued for victims’ compensation. ‘We believe it is wrongly decided and will appeal.'”

– Mattea Bubalo, “Judge Blocks 9/11 Victims’ Claim to Afghan Assets,” bbc.com, February 22, 2023

“U.N. experts say the predominant view among member nations is that the leadership of al-Qaida has passed to Sayf al-’Adl, who was responsible for Osama bin Laden’s security and trained some of the hijackers involved in the 9/11 attack on the U.S.

The panel of experts said in a report to the U.N. Security Council circulated Monday [2/13/2023] that no announcement has been made of Sayf al-’Adl replacing Ayman al-Zawahri, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Kabul last August.

‘But in discussions in November and December many U.N. member states took the view that Sayf al-’Adl is already operating as the de facto and uncontested leader of the group,’ the report says.”

– UN Report: Sayf al-’Adl Widely Seen as New al-Qaeda Leader,” abcnews.go.com, February 13, 2023

“A federal jury yesterday [2/7/2023] convicted Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, 46, a U.S. citizen and former resident of Bay Ridge, New York, of all five counts of an indictment charging him with conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS; providing material support to ISIS in the form of personnel, training, expert advice and assistance; receipt of military-type training from ISIS; and obstruction of justice. The jury also found that the defendant’s provision of material support to ISIS resulted in the death of one or more persons. The verdict followed a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis.

‘Mr. Asainov, a US citizen, traveled abroad to kill and train others to kill on behalf of ISIS. Now, he is being held accountable,’ said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen. …

‘As proven at trial, Asainov was a member of ISIS who was so committed to the terrorist organization’s evil cause that he abandoned his young family here in Brooklyn, New York, to make an extraordinary journey to the battlefield in Syria where he became a lethal sniper and trained many others to kill their adversaries, and even after being captured still pledged his allegiance to ISIS’ murderous path,’ said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. ‘There is no place in a civilized world for the defendant’s bloody campaign of death and destruction [Peace continued].'”

– United States Department of Justice, “American Citizen Convicted of Providing Material Support to ISIS that Resulted in Death and Related Offenses,” justice.gov, February 8, 2023

Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“James Bradley, aka Abdullah, 21, of the Bronx, New York, and Arwa Muthana, 30, of Hoover, Alabama, were sentenced to 11 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release and nine years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, respectively, for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).

In September 2022, Bradley and Muthana pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to ISIS before U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer. According to court documents, Bradley and Muthana are ISIS supporters who sought to travel to the Middle East to join and fight for ISIS. Bradley expressed violent extremist views since at least 2019, including his desire to support ISIS by traveling overseas to join the group or committing a terrorist attack in the United States.”

– The United States Department of Justice, “ New York Man and Woman Sentenced for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS,” justice.gov, February 3, 2023

Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“A Dayton-area man will spend 10 years in prison after police said he tried to go overseas, to join the terrorist group ISIS.

Twenty-three-year-old Naser Almadaoji, from Beavercreek, was sentenced on Wednesday [2/1/2023].

According to court documents, Almadaoji purchased a plane ticket for travel on Oct. 24, 2018, and was arrested after checking in and obtaining his boarding pass.

Almadaoji intended to travel to Astana, Kazakhstan, where he planned to be smuggled into Afghanistan so that he could join and receive military training from ISIS- Khorasan (ISIS-K) in support of both that terrorist group and ISIS, those documents state. …

He pleaded guilty in 2021, right before he was scheduled to go on trial.

‘Almadaoji was not just an ideological supporter of terrorism, he attempted to train to fight, assassinate, kidnap and kill, in hopes of employing violence in America on behalf of ISIS,’ U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker said in a statement.”

– WLWT Digital Staff, “Ohio Man Sentenced to Prison for Attempting to Join ISIS,” wlwt.com, February 2, 2023

Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“A Michigan man was convicted by a federal jury today [1/31/2023]  in the Eastern District of Michigan on charges of providing, attempting to provide, and conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization, in connection with his support for ISIS in Syria from 2015-2018. He was also convicted of receiving military-type training from ISIS while in Syria.

Ibraheem Izzy Musaibli, 32, of Dearborn, was convicted after a nine-day trial conducted before U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson in Detroit. The jury deliberated for approximately four hours before returning the guilty verdict. …

Evidence provided during the trial established that Musaibli, originally born in Dearborn, moved to Yemen in April 2015. From Yemen, he traveled to Syria in the fall of 2015 where he attended an ISIS-run religious training camp before undergoing military training where he learned to shoot, carry and otherwise handle a machine gun. Upon graduation from the ISIS military training camp, Musaibli swore allegiance to ISIS and its leader and remained with ISIS for over two and half years. Musaibli was eventually captured by Syrian Democratic Forces in 2018 and turned over to the FBI and flown back to the United States to face terrorism related charges.

Musaibli faces a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison when he is sentenced. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.”

– United States Department of Justice, “Michigan Man Convicted of Charges of Providing Material Support to ISIS,” justice.gov, January 31, 2023

Editor’s notes:

• Musaibli was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment on June 15, 2023 with five years credit for time served. See The Associated Press, “Michigan Man Gets 14 Years in Prison for Fighting for Islamic State,” nbcnews.com, June 16, 2023

• According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“More than two decades after the deadly Sept. 11, 2001, attack, the Fairness for 9/11 Families Act will compensate nearly 6,000 spouses and children the $2.7 billion they are owed.

In December [2022], the Fairness for 9/11 Families Act was passed by the Senate and Congress.

Last week, it was signed into law by President Joe Biden.

The Fairness for 9/11 Families Act includes a funding source for the lump-sum catch-up payments — totaling $2.7 billion — for the thousands of spouses and family members in the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund (USVSST). …

Direct family members of first responders who perished on Sept. 11, 2001, had been barred from receiving money owed to them from the USVSST and have been tirelessly advocating to right the wrong. …

Created in 2015, the USVSST is meant to provide compensation to American hostages and their families, as well as families of those who died on Sept.11. However, because some families received money from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF), they were precluded from receiving additional funds from the USVSST. …

Congress corrected this injustice in 2019, through the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund Clarification Act.”

– Kristin F. Dalton, “Biden Signs Bill Compensating 6K Families of 9/11 Victims with 2.7 Billion, From Fund They Were Previously Barred From,” silive.com, January 4, 2023

“$1 billion has been set aside in the 2023 federal spending bill for the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides health benefits to 9/11 first responders and survivors.

This new funding will enable it to continue providing uninterrupted service until at least 2027. …

The World Trade Center Health Program was established by the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010.

In 2015, the plan was reauthorized until 2090.”

– CBS New York Team, “2023 Federal Spending Bill Includes $1 Billion for World Trade Center Health Program,” cbsnews.com, December 24, 2022

“A last-second deal in the massive government funding bill will add $1 billion to the World Trade Center health program and buy several years before it runs into a budget crunch,…

Supporters and advocates had hoped to pass a $3.6 billion measure authored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., that would have permanently plugged the hole and covered military personnel who are ill from responding to the Pentagon attack in 2001. The health program is facing a $3 billion deficit over the next decade.

The 9/11 health fund money was unexpectedly left out of the original version of the $1.7 trillion spending, prompting outrage from advocates and New York lawmakers.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell blocked that at the behest of several of his members, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told the Daily News. …

Late Wednesday, Gillibrand and Schumer took a deal to get $1 billion to at least shore up the program. The money is being added as an amendment and will have to be voted on, but is expected to pass easily with McConnell’s support.

The move sparked both relief and anger. On one hand, the $1 billion probably pushes the worst problems for the health program until 2027. On the other, a stopgap like that does not fix the underlying formula used to fund the program, which helped cause the deficit.”

– Michael McAuliff, “Congressional Negotiators Agree to Add $1 Billion for 9/11 Health Fund in End-of-Year Spending Bill,” news.yahoo.com, December 21, 2022

“Congress will not consider additional funding for the World Trade Center Health Program, which has helped thousands of first responders access medical treatment for exposure to toxic debris after the September 11 terror attacks.

Since 2010, the program has helped fund the treatment of respiratory illness for first responders who were exposed to toxic debris from 9/11. …

The program covers the lifespan of all people exposed, including responders and survivors of the attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, the Shanksville crash site.

While the program was reauthorized in 2015 and extended through 2090 with bipartisan support, it is estimated to be too cash-strapped to take on any new claims after October 2024.”

– J.D. Allen, “Funding for 9/11 Health Program Is Left Out of Federal Omnibus Bill,” wshu.org, December 20, 2022

“An unusual terrorism case in Chicago came to a close Thursday [11/24/2022] when a federal judge handed a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence to a former DePaul University student who tried to aid the Islamic State with a computer script.

Before he was sentenced, Thomas Osadzinski, 23, told U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman that, ‘I failed everyone, and I failed myself.’ …

The judge also gave Osadzinski 10 years of supervised release.

Osadzinski’s prosecution was believed to be the first of its kind when it began three years ago – a terrorism case brought against a U.S.-based defendant involving computer code. …

Prosecutors said Osadzinski designed a process that uses a computer script to make Islamic State propaganda more conveniently accessed and disseminated by users on the social media platform Telegram.

Defense attorney Joshua Herman argued at trial that Osadzinski acted independently. He said … ‘there must be coordination with’ or direction from, the Islamic State to find Osadzinski guilty. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Melody Wells argued there was ‘nothing independent about this.’ She told jurors Osadzinski had been responding to Islamic State propaganda, which urged supporters to ‘strive patiently in the digital arena.’

In the end, the jury convicted Osadzinski of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State after a trial that featured roughly two weeks of evidence.”

– Sun-Times Media Wire, “Former Depaul Student Sentenced for Trying To Help Islamic State With Computer Program,” abc7chicago.com, November 18, 2022

Editor’s note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“A Danish woman evacuated from a Syrian detention camp last year was sentenced on Friday [11/18/2022] to three years in prison by a Danish court for aiding Islamic State militants and illegally travelling to and residing in conflict zones,…

The 35-year-old woman travelled to Syria with her husband in 2013. When trying to escape Islamic State’s so-called caliphate in 2018 with the help of human traffickers, they were captured by Kurdish forces, who sent her to the al-Roj detention camp in Kurdish-held territory in northeastern Syria due to their association with Islamic State. … The woman was separated from her husband during the escape attempt, and it is unclear what happened to him.

The woman pleaded guilty to aiding Islamic State by working as a housewife and to illegally travelling to and residing in a conflict area, her lawyer told Reuters. The woman accepted the three-year sentence.”

– Reuters, “Danish Woman Evacuated From Syrian Camps Sentenced for Aiding Islamic State,” reuters.com, November 18, 2022

Editor’s note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“A rough transcript of a 2004 interview George W. Bush and Dick Cheney gave to a government commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks provides a glimpse of the former president’s and vice president’s views of the seminal event that defined their eight years in the White House.

The April 2004 interview with the bipartisan 9/11 commission, which took place in the Oval Office, included discussion of intelligence warnings before the attacks and the events that unfolded on the day of Sept. 11, according to the copy of the 31-page document. It also describes Mr. Bush acknowledging that Air Force One had poor communications while he was on the plane shortly after the attacks began—and Mr. Bush’s assertion that he gave Mr. Cheney the authority to shoot down commercial airliners that were unresponsive.

The newly declassified document was released to the public Wednesday [11/9/2022]. …

The interview wasn’t recorded, but a note taker was present. The document was authorized for public release by the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel, a body of representatives from various federal departments. It contains few redactions.”

– Dustin Volz and Warren P. Strobel, “US Releases 9/11 Commission Interview with George W. Bush, Dick Cheney,” wsj.com, November 9, 2022

“A Pennsylvania man was sentenced yesterday [11/8/2022] to 208 months, more than 17 years, in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, aka ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Mustafa Mousab Alowemer, 24, of Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty in the Western District of Pennsylvania on Sept. 16, 2021 to one count of attempting to provide material support to ISIS in connection with his plan to attack a church in Pittsburgh.”

– United States Department of Justice, “Man Sentenced to More Than 17 Years in Prison for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS,” justice.gov, November 9, 2022

Editor’s note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“A U.S. citizen was sentenced to 20 years in prison today [11/1/2022] in the Eastern District of Virginia for organizing and leading an all-female military battalion in Syria on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization.

According to court documents, Allison Fluke-Ekren, aka Allison Ekren, aka Umm Mohammed al-Amriki, and aka Umm Mohammed, 42, a former resident of Kansas, traveled overseas and, from in or about September 2011 through in or about May 2019, engaged in terrorist acts in multiple countries, including Syria, Libya and Iraq. Fluke-Ekren ultimately served as the leader and organizer of an ISIS military battalion, known as the Khatiba Nusaybah, where she trained women on the use of automatic firing AK-47 assault rifles, grenades and suicide belts. Over 100 women and young girls, some as young as 10 years old, received military training from Fluke-Ekren in Syria on behalf of ISIS.”

– United States Department of Justice, “American Woman Who Led ISIS Battalion Sentenced to 20 Years,” justice.gov, November 1, 2022

Editor’s note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“On Sept. 26, 2022, Yusuf al Qaradawi died at age 96 in Qatar. The spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Qaradawi was the most well-known Muslim cleric in the West, infamous for his calls to murder Americans, Israelis, and others during the height of the Global War on Terror. Once called ‘the most popular and authoritative’ Sunni cleric in the world, Qaradawi’s death attracted little attention, at least as compared to his influence on world events. That reaction, perhaps even more than the death itself, is an important pronouncement: The post-9/11 era is over. …

‘Every person who has fought in these wars and left them,’ the war on terror veteran and writer Elliot Ackerman recently wrote, ‘has had to declare the war over for themselves.’ … There are no ticker-tape parades, and there will not be anything analogous to a ‘Victory in Europe’ day. The war against Islamist terrorism, while winding down, will no doubt continue.

But the forever war seems to have reached a turning point, leaving America searching to articulate its posture on the world stage. The muted attention given to Qaradawi’s death suggests the hateful cleric outlived the era he did so much to shape.”

– Sean Durns, “The End of the Post-9/11 Era,” washingtonexaminer.com, October 14, 2022

“The number of New York City firefighters who died from 9/11 related illness in the two decades since terrorists flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center has surpassed 300.

The New York City Fire Department’s Uniformed Firefighters Association announced the deaths of three additional firefighters who responded to Ground Zero over this weekend [September 17 – 18, 2022]. …

This comes as the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides medical monitoring and treatment of WTC-related health conditions for 9/11 responders and survivors, is reportedly running on a $3 billion deficit. …

The FDNY lost 343 members 21 years ago from the attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.”

– Danielle Wallace, “NYC Firefighters Dead From 9/11 Related Illnesses Surpasses 300 as World Trade Health Fund Sits at $3B Deficit,” foxnews.com, September 20, 2022

“A federal judge found that 9/11 families and other U.S. victims cannot recover billions of dollars from the Central Bank of Afghanistan to satisfy judgments against the Taliban. The report and recommendation, handed down by Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn on Friday afternoon [8/26/2022], is a victory for Afghan civil society groups, which argued in an amicus brief filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights that the $3.5 billion in blocked assets belong to the people of Afghanistan and should be used to alleviate the devastating humanitarian crisis there.

At issue are $7.1 billion that the previous government of Afghanistan placed in the New York Federal Reserve. President Biden froze the funds after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, and, in February, he signed an executive order effectively allocating half for humanitarian relief in Afghanistan, leaving half subject to litigation. A group of 9/11 families that won a 2011 default judgment against those responsible for the attacks had filed a motion arguing that more than $2 billion should be turned over to them. American victims of a 2016 attack in Afghanistan had filed a separate motion seeking $138.4 million, and other victims made similar claims against the remainder of funds.”

– Center for Constitutional Rights, “Judge Agrees With Afghan Groups: 9/11 Families Cannot Claim Billions From Central Bank of Afghanistan,” ccrjustice.org, August 29, 2022

“Families of 9/11 victims are asking New York City Mayor Eric Adams to rescind approval of a Saudi-funded golf tournament scheduled to reportedly take place at a Donald Trump-owned golf course in New York in October. The Aramco Team Series women’s golf tournament in question is scheduled to take place in New York October 13-15 [2022] …

9/11 families advocate Brett Eagleson said in a statement on Friday [8/26/2022] … ‘The fact that this news is breaking less than two weeks before 9/11 on the heels of the [Saudi-funded] LIV tournament in Bedminster [NJ] … It’s egregious, it’s in your face and its tone-deaf.’

Adams’ press secretary Fabien Levy told CNN, ‘While we disagree with the values of the Trump Organization, we cannot legally block their application.’ New York City officials also said that the tournament was agreed upon during former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration and that the current administration cannot break the agreement. …

The allegations of Saudi government complicity with the attacks on September 11, 2001, have long been the subject of dispute in Washington. Fifteen of the 19 al Qaeda terrorists who hijacked four planes were Saudi nationals, but the Saudi government has denied any involvement in the attacks.

The 9/11 Commission established by Congress said in 2004 that it had found ‘no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded’ al Qaeda.

Still, the victims’ families have pushed for further disclosures, and last year [2021], the FBI released a document that details its work to investigate the alleged logistical support that a Saudi consular official and a suspected Saudi intelligence agent in Los Angeles provided to at least two hijackers.”

– Artemis Moshtaghian, “Families of 9/11 Victims Asking NYC Mayor to Rescind Approval of Saudi-Funded Golf Tournament Reportedly to be Held at Trump Golf Course,” kten.com, August 29, 2022

“A medical program for survivors of the September 11 attacks is said to be ‘dangerously’ close to running out of funding and advocates are sounding the alarm and asking congress to step in.

The World Trade Center Health Program is short $3B and if Congress doesn’t plug that gap, advocates say people sick with 9/11-related illnesses will be at risk of losing their treatments.

‘We have countless responders and survivors that are on lifesaving medicine. Without the funds to pay for the prescription coverage, they’ll lose that,’ said Richard Alles, a retired FDNY Deputy Chief and the Director of 9/11 Community Affairs.

The healthcare program is not just for first responders like firefighters and police officers, it covers anyone who lived or worked south of Canal Street on 9/11 and for the year that followed, many of whom do not have health insurance.”

– Linda Schmidt, “Congress Called to Fund Medical Program for 9/11 Survivors,” fox5ny.com, August 25, 2022

“A study that assessed the brains of 99 World Trade Center (WTC) responders by using diffusion tractography, a 3-D imaging technique [using a combined MRI and PET scanner], showed that WTC responders with cognitive impairment (CI), a possible sign of dementia, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), have a different presentation of the white matter in their brains compared to responders with CI without PTSD. Led by researchers at Stony Brook University affiliated with the Stony Brook WTC Health and Wellness Program, the study suggests a specific form of dementia could be affecting WTC responders who also have PTSD. …

According to the authors … ‘Overall, the study supports the view that responders with CI have neurological changes consistent with neurodegenerative disease, but they are inconclusive as to the type of disease … Our findings do show that dementia due to PTSD is clearly different from non-PTSD dementia in this responder population.'”

– Emily Henderson, “Study Provides Evidence of New Form of Dementia Affecting WTC Responders,” news-medical.net, August 23, 2022

“British national El Shafee Elsheikh was sentenced to life in prison Friday for his role in an Islamic State scheme that took roughly two dozen Westerners hostage a decade ago. …

He is the most notorious and highest-ranking member of the Islamic State group to ever be convicted in a U.S. court, prosecutors said Friday [8/19/2022] at his sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. …

The convictions revolved around the deaths of four American hostages: James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig, and Kayla Mueller. … They were among 26 hostages taken captive between 2012 and 2015, when the Islamic State group controlled large swaths of Iraq and Syria. …

His lawyer, Zachary Deubler, said Elsheikh will appeal his conviction. Elsheikh’s lawyers had argued that his confessions should have been ruled inadmissible because of alleged mistreatment after he was captured by Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Forces in 2018. …

‘The behavior of this defendant … can only be described as horrific, barbaric, brutal, callous and, of course, criminal,’ [Judge T.S.] Ellis said.”

– Associated Press, “An Islamic State Member Is Sentenced to Life in Prison in the Deaths of Hostages,” npr.org, August 19, 2022

Editor’s note: According to most historians of the Islamic State, “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“The 9/11 Tribute Museum in Lower Manhattan closed on Aug. 17 [2022], just short of the 21st anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. New York has lost a unique testimonial to the darkest day in its modern history. The community of survivors, first responders, family members and witnesses that built it is losing its second home.

The Tribute Museum has no connection with the vast official statement that is the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. ‘Tribute,’ as its close-knit team calls it, was founded by the September 11th Families’ Association. …

Over the first 13 years of its existence, the museum received more than five million visitors — nearly half tourists from 141 countries—and its guides gave more than 500,000 tours. Then Covid-19 struck. Pre-pandemic, Tribute averaged 300,000 visitors per year; in 2021 it had just 26,000. The museum had no endowment; it relied mainly on admission income, and it had last been in the black in 2016. So in March,… [the museum] announced that, unable to cover its $2.5 million operating budget and unsuccessful in its appeals to New York state officials and foundations, the museum would close without help — help that it never found. …

Tribute was a genuine expression of New York’s living history, born from the loss and the defiant pride of the ordinary people whose lives, like so many on that terrible day, were changed in extraordinary and lasting ways. Now it is gone.”

– Dominic Green, “The 9/11 Tribute Museum: Loss Compounded,” wsj.com, August 31, 2022

“Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the perpetrators of the 9-11 attacks that killed almost 3,000 people in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania, was killed by U.S. drone missiles in Afghanistan’s capital, President Joe Biden announced yesterday [8/1/2022].

Zawahiri was killed in an over-the-horizon operation in downtown Kabul, where he was residing as a guest of the Taliban. The house was struck by two Hellfire missiles in a precision, counterterrorism operation at 6:18 a.m. Kabul time on Sunday [7/31/2022]. Zawahiri was the only casualty. ‘We are confident through our intelligence sources and methods — including multiple streams of intelligence — that we killed Zawahiri and no other individuals,’ a senior administration official said. ‘His death deals a significant blow to al-Qaida and will degrade the group’s ability to operate, including against the U.S. homeland.'”

– Jim Garamone, “U.S. Drone Strike Kills al-Qaida Leader in Kabul,” defense.gov, August 2, 2022

“Gina Haspel, 15 years before President Trump nominated her and the US Senate confirmed her as CIA director, personally oversaw the waterboarding of alleged USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri at a black site prison in Thailand in 2002, according to recent testimony at a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Waterboarding has been recognized as a war crime since World War II, when the US prosecuted Japanese soldiers for, among other charges, torturing American POWs with waterboarding. The confirmation by James Mitchell, one of two CIA contract psychologists who designed the agency’s infamous torture program [following the September 11, 2001, attacks], builds on documentation previously obtained by the National Security Archive that Haspel authored or authorized memos on al-Nashiri’s torture while she was chief of base at the prison from October through December of 2002. …

The testimony is crucial because the video evidence of torture was destroyed – by Haspel’s own orders. In 2005 after learning that the Washington Post was running a story on the agency’s black site prisons, Haspel, who was then the chief of staff to National Clandestine Service head Jose Rodriguez, drafted a cable authorizing the destruction of 92 videos of al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah being tortured. Rodriguez approved the memo and justified the destruction by telling then-CIA Director Porter Goss and others that ‘the heat from destoying [sic] is nothing compared to what it would be if the tapes ever got into the public domain.'”

– Lauren Harper, “Haspel Personally Observed CIA Waterboarding, Witness Testifies,” nsarchive.gwu.edu, June 23, 2022

“A U.S. woman pleaded guilty Tuesday [6/7/2022] to operating an all-female military group for ISIS in Syria.

Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, who became the leader of the ISIS battalion known as Khatiba Nusaybah, taught women how to use AK-47s and explosive devices, according to the U.S. Justice Department. …

Fluke-Ekren, who used to live in Kansas, was part of ‘terrorism-related activities’ in Syria, Libya and Iraq between 2011 and 2019 …

In 2014, prosecutors said Fluke-Ekren told a witness about her desire to carry out an attack on U.S. soil. … ‘Fluke-Ekren further said that she considered any attack that did not kill a large number of individuals to be a waste of resources,’ according to prosecutors … [and] ‘that it was important to kill the ‘kuffar’ (disbelievers) and die as martyrs on behalf of ISIS in Syria.'”

– Shauneen Miranda, “A U.S. Woman Pleads Guilty To Leading an All-female ISIS Battalion,” npr.org, June 8, 2022

Editor’s note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“Prosecutors have initiated discussions on a potential plea agreement to resolve the long-stalled case of five men held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center who have been charged with planning and providing assistance for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The discussions … are a significant development in a case that has been mired in pre-trial litigation at the U.S. base in Cuba for nearly a decade ….

The five defendants were arraigned in May 2012 on war crimes charges that include murder, terrorism and hijacking for alleged roles planning and providing financial and logistical help in the plot that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

The trial has bogged down largely over legal issues surrounding what evidence can be used against the men, who were held in clandestine CIA detention facilities and subjected to torture following their capture. It has also been repeatedly stalled by the pandemic and the logistical difficulties of trying five men, all with separate U.S.-based defense teams, on the difficult-to-reach base at the southeastern tip of Cuba.”

– Ben Fox, “Plea Discussions Launched in Stalled 9/11 Case at Guantanamo,” apnews.com, March 15, 2022

“No US government officials have been held accountable for creating, authorizing, or implementing the CIA’s secret detention and torture programs [following the September 11, 2001, attacks]. All but a heavily redacted summary of the landmark 2014 US Senate Intelligence Committee report on the covert CIA program (the ‘Torture Report’) remains classified. The portions that have been released make clear that the torture was as useless in producing actionable intelligence as it was brutal. …

Although such US detention-related counterterrorism violations have dramatically decreased, Washington has replaced capture with kill, conducting air strikes – often with armed drones that have killed thousands of civilians, including outside recognized battlefields. Its counterterrorism campaign has spread to 85 countries with scant transparency or oversight.”

– Letta Tayler and Elisa Epstein, “Legacy of the ‘Dark Side’- The Costs of Unlawful US Detentions and Interrogations Post-9/11,” hrw.org, January 9, 2022

“With the participation of at least 54 governments, the CIA secretly and extrajudicially transferred at least 119 foreign Muslims from one foreign country to another for incommunicado detention and harsh interrogation at various CIA black sites. At least 39 of the men were subjected to ‘waterboarding,’ ‘walling,’ ‘rectal feeding’ – a form of rape – and other forms of torture. The US military also held thousands of foreign Muslim security detainees and prisoners-of-war – including some women and boys – at its detention centers abroad including Abu Ghraib in Iraq, Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, and its naval base at Guantánamo, and also subjected many to physical and psychological abuse.

As of January 6, 2022, the US was still detaining 39 of the nearly 800 men and boys it brought to Guantánamo from 2002 to 2008. Twenty-seven of those who remain have never been charged. Many lack adequate medical care and even access to their medical records, making the prison a living legacy of the rights violations spawned by 9/11. The military commission system created to prosecute suspects at Guantánamo is fundamentally flawed. As a result, the five prisoners accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks have yet to be brought to trial, depriving them of due process and the survivors and the families of the nearly 3,000 people who died in the attacks of their right to justice.”

– Letta Tayler and Elisa Epstein, “Legacy of the ‘Dark Side’- The Costs of Unlawful US Detentions and Interrogations Post-9/11,” hrw.org, January 9, 2022

“Two decades after the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the arrival of the first terrorism suspects at Guantánamo Bay on January 11, 2002, many Americans may not recall details of the systematic abuses carried out by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US military against hundreds if not thousands of Muslims detained as part of what President George W. Bush swiftly declared a global ‘War on Terror.’ Yet for many people in countries outside the United States, memories of the US government’s brutal treatment of detained Muslims remain potent. And some abuses continue, handing a recruitment card to Islamist armed groups and lowering the bar for treatment of terrorism suspects worldwide.”

– Letta Tayler and Elisa Epstein, “Legacy of the ‘Dark Side’- The Costs of Unlawful US Detentions and Interrogations Post-9/11,” hrw.org, January 9, 2022

“At the heart of the [Military] commissions’ problems is their original sin, torture. The United States chose to secretly detain and torture the men it now seeks to punish. From the beginning, justice was an afterthought. As a CIA interrogator told a detainee, “[you will] never go to court, because ‘we can never let the world know what I have done to you.’” When the cases did land in court (or military commission), the government was well aware of the consequences of the black-site and other Guantanamo abuse [in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks]. The chief prosecutor who was serving when the CIA’s so-called ‘high value detainees’ arrived at GTMO has since said, ‘Rather than bolstering the prosecution’s case, allegations of abuse required further investigation and might leave the prosecution in a weaker position.’ He was correct. Torture impacts and undermines every aspect of these prosecutions.”

– John G. Baker, “Testimony of John G. Baker, Brigadier General, United States Marine Corps, Chief Defense Counsel, Military Commissions Defense Organizations, Department of Defense Before the Senate Judiciary Committee,” judiciary.senate.gov, December 7, 2021

“The FBI released hundreds of pages of newly declassified documents Wednesday [11/3/2021] about its long effort to explore connections between the Saudi government and the September 11th attacks, revealing the scope of a strenuous but ultimately fruitless investigation whose outcome many question to this day. …

Agents for years investigated support given to several of the hijackers upon their arrival in the U.S., focusing in particular on whether three Saudi nationals — including a Saudi Embassy official in Washington — had advance knowledge of the attacks.

Ultimately, investigators found insufficient evidence to charge any of the three with illegally supporting the hijackers, according to an FBI memo from May that closed out the probe and was among the more than 700 pages released Wednesday. The FBI noted in the memo that al Qaeda compartmentalized the roles within its major attacks and ‘did not make the attack plans known in advance to others’ for fear of word getting out.”

– CBS News, “FBI Releases Declassified Documents About Investigating Ties Between Saudi Government and Sept. 11 Attacks,” cbsnews.com, November 4, 2021

During an October 2021 hearing at Camp Justice, at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba: “…Majid Khan, 41, became the first former prisoner of the black sites to openly describe, anywhere, the violent and cruel ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ that agents used to extract information and confessions from terrorism suspects…He expressed remorse for hurting people through his embrace of radical Islam and Al Qaeda, but also found a way around a labyrinth of U.S. intelligence classifications to realize a decade-long ambition to tell the world what U.S. agents had done to him….Mr. Khan gained attention with the release of a 2014 study of the C.I.A. program by the Senate Intelligence Committee that said, after he refused to eat, his captors ‘infused’ a purée of his lunch through his anus. The C.I.A. called it rectal refeeding. Mr. Khan called it rape.”

– Carol Rosenberg, “For First Time in Public, a Detainee Describes Torture at C.I.A. Black Sites,” NYTimes.com, Oct. 30, 2021

“A suburban Baltimore high school graduate turned Al Qaeda courier, speaking to a military jury for the first time, gave a detailed account this week [around October 28, 2021] of the brutal forced feedings, crude waterboarding and other physical and sexual abuse he endured during his 2003 to 2006 detention in the C.I.A.’s overseas prison network….So, like other victims of torture, he said he manufactured tales that his captors wanted to hear: ‘I lied just to make the abuse stop.’ Mr. Khan offered the dark accounting Thursday [October 28, 2021] evening to a jury of eight U.S. military officers who on Friday deliberated for less than three hours and sentenced him to 26 years in prison, starting from his guilty plea in February 2012.”

– Carol Rosenberg, “For First Time in Public, a Detainee Describes Torture at C.I.A. Black Sites,” NYTimes.com, Oct. 30, 2021

“A suburban Baltimore high school graduate turned Al Qaeda courier, speaking to a military jury for the first time, gave a detailed account this week [around October 28, 2021] of the brutal forced feedings, crude waterboarding and other physical and sexual abuse he endured during his 2003 to 2006 detention in the C.I.A.’s overseas prison network. Appearing in open court, Majid Khan, 41, became the first former prisoner of the black sites to openly describe, anywhere, the violent and cruel ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ that agents used to extract information and confessions from terrorism suspects.”

– Carol Rosenberg, “For First Time in Public, a Detainee Describes Torture at C.I.A. Black Sites,” NYTimes.com, Oct. 30, 2021

“Farkhonda, twenty-four, was born southwest of the capital, in Ghazni, and as a toddler in early 2001 moved with her family to Kabul. … Farkhonda is part of a generation of young Afghans raised in a post-Taliban country, believing in the ideas of freedom and democracy they’ve learned from an early age. The American invasion didn’t bring only soldiers to Afghanistan, after all—it brought aid workers and entrepreneurs and teachers, too. … This is the flip side of the forever war, … one many Americans … tend not to consider when bandying about that term. For the vast majority of Farkhonda’s conscious existence, she’s lived in an open-ish society, where a young woman could study and work and dream. Was all of Afghanistan like this the past twenty years? No. But hers was.

Farkhonda says America’s withdrawal began to feel real ‘in the last three months. … The situation got tenser … and then the war spread everywhere. … It all happened so rapidly.’ She feels betrayed in particular by Ashraf Ghani, the democratically elected president whose flight from the country with a reported $169 million in cash birthed a denial and countless conspiracy theories …

Fear now reigns in Kabul, she says: ‘Almost every shop is closed, even the bakeries. You do not see a single woman on the streets.’ … I ask what she thinks will come next. ‘Honestly, I have no idea,’ she says. But she knows her objective. ‘Primarily, we have to get out of Afghanistan.’”

– Matt Gallagher, “Leaving Afghanistan Behind,” esquire.com, October 7, 2021

Nicholas Irving, former U.S. Army ranger, with three tours each in Iraq and Afghanistan, talking with Matt Gallagher for Esquire, said that he agrees with the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, “100 percent . . . . My stance is completely different than it was. What’s changed for me is nothing’s changed over there. We got bin Laden a long time ago. … It’s watching young guys go over there and do the same thing I was doing. The whole purpose of us going was so they wouldn’t have to.”

– Matt Gallagher, “Leaving Afghanistan Behind,” esquire.com, October 7, 2021

David Petraeous, the former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, interviewed by Matt Gallagher for Esquire, said about the U.S withdrawal from Afghanistan, “This is not going to end the endless war. It’s going to end our involvement in it … I fear that the endless war is actually going to get worse.” According to Gallagher, “He goes on to cite those fears, some of them prescient: An Afghan civil war. A refugee crisis. A safe haven for radical jihadism to flourish.”

– Matt Gallagher, “Leaving Afghanistan Behind,” esquire.com, October 7, 2021

“The United States invaded in the weeks after 9/11, at the behest of George W. Bush, to dismantle and destroy the Al Qaeda terrorist group who’d attacked us. We sought something between justice and vengeance. Once Al Qaeda and its Taliban enablers had been defeated, the original mission accomplished, we stayed. Once Osama bin Laden was killed, in neighboring Pakistan, we stayed. We stayed and we stayed and we stayed.

We stayed for democracy at one point, human rights at another. To nation-build, if you believed in counterinsurgency, or to ‘mow the grass’—a euphemism for killing terrorists that admits doing so will produce more—if you favored counterterrorism.

Somewhere along the way, the war lost public interest and support. Those matter in a republic, though one could be forgiven for getting lulled into thinking otherwise the past twenty years. The war’s justification became the war’s existence itself, and that’s a twisted reason to keep killing people in the name of country, as well as risking the lives of our own.”

– Matt Gallagher, “Leaving Afghanistan Behind,” esquire.com, October 7, 2021

“The FBI on Saturday [9/11/2021] released the first document related to the 9/11 attacks since President Biden ordered the declassification of more records last week, unveiling a memo detailing ‘significant logistic support’ that two of the Saudi hijackers received in the U.S.

The document, which is heavily redacted, comes from the secret FBI investigation into 9/11 — dubbed ‘Operation Encore’ — which centered on the two hijackers who lived in San Diego and who may have assisted them. …

The declassification is part of a push by families of victims from 9/11 who are suing Saudi Arabia for money and demanding to know if the government provided aid to the hijackers. …

Jim Kreindler, court-appointed co-chair for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the new document supports their case. ‘The findings and conclusions in this FBI investigation validate the arguments we have made in the litigation regarding the Saudi government’s responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. This document, together with the public evidence gathered to date, provides a blueprint for how al Qaeda operated inside the U.S. with the active, knowing support of the Saudi government.'”

– Catherine Herridge and Andres Triay, “FBI’s Investigation into 9/11: First Document Released Following Biden’s Promise to Declassify Materials,” cbsnews.com, September 12, 2021

“As an act of terrorism, 9/11 was a resounding success. The U.S. responded by decimating al-Qaida, but the organization survived in a weakened form. The Syrian civil war and the weakness of the Iraqi state provided new opportunities. Three offshoots of al-Qaida — al-Qaida in Iraq, the Islamic State group (ISIS), and Jabhat al-Nusra — came to play major roles in the first two decades of the 21st century. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s group contributed to turning the U.S. occupation of Iraq into a quagmire and sharpening Sunni-Shia tensions in the country and region. ISIS used territorial control on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border to declare a caliphate and launch or inspire deadly terrorist attacks from the region to Europe to North America and the Indo-Pacific. A large international coalition built and led by the United States destroyed that ‘state,’ but as we have seen the jihadi group is still with us. And in Idlib province in Syria, a large contingent of Jabhat al-Nusra fighters controls a significant swath of land. Meanwhile, 20 years after 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan, a local branch of ISIS poses a significant terrorist threat, as its August 26 [2021] attack on Afghan civilians and U.S. troops at the airport in Kabul shows.”

– Itamar Rabinovich, “Reflections on the long-term repercussions of September 11 for US policy in the Middle East,” brookings.edu, Tuesday, September 7, 2021

“The Bush administration’s decision to respond militarily to 9/11 and to destroy al-Qaida and its Taliban host was justified and successful. But the decision to stay in Afghanistan and to try to build a functioning local government was America’s first major mistake in formulating its post-9/11 policy. …

The second and greater error was the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. We now know that the claim that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was associated with al-Qaida was unfounded. We also know that he had no stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. The three principal decisionmakers, President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, were motivated in part by the sense that the military operation in Afghanistan was not a sufficient retaliation for the blow inflicted on the U.S. homeland.”

– Itamar Rabinovich, “Reflections on the Long-term Repercussions of September 11 for US Policy in the Middle East,” brookings.edu, Tuesday, September 7, 2021

“President Joe Biden on Friday [9/3/2021] directed the declassification of certain documents related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a supportive gesture to victims’ families who have long sought the records in hopes of implicating the Saudi government.

The order, coming little more than a week before the 20th anniversary of the attacks, is a significant moment in a yearslong tussle between the government and the families over what classified information about the run-up to the attacks could be made public. …

The order directs the Justice Department and other executive branch agencies to begin a declassification review, and requires that declassified documents be released over the next six months. …

Still, the practical impact of the executive order and any new documents it might yield was not immediately clear. Public documents released in the last two decades, including by the 9/11 Commission, have detailed numerous Saudi entanglements but have not proved government complicity.

A long-running lawsuit in federal court in New York aims to hold the Saudi government accountable and alleges that Saudi officials provided significant support to some of the hijackers before the attacks. The lawsuit took a major step forward this year with the questioning under oath of former Saudi officials, and family members have long regarded the disclosure of declassified documents as an important step in making their case.”

– News Wires, “Biden Orders Declassification of Documents Relating to September 11 Attacks,” france24.com, September 4, 2021

“A British national admitted Thursday evening [9/2/2021] in a federal courtroom near the nation’s capital that he played a leadership role in an Islamic State scheme to torture, hold for ransom and eventually behead American hostages.

Alexanda Anon Kotey, 37, pleaded guilty to all eight counts against him at a plea hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. The charges include hostage-taking resulting in death and providing material support to the Islamic State group from 2012 through 2015.

He admitted guilt in connection with the deaths of four American hostages — journalist James Foley, journalist Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller — as well as European and Japanese nationals who also were held captive. …

The plea deal sets a mandatory minimum sentence of life without parole. …

Kotey and [El Shafee] Elsheikh were captured in Syria in 2018 by the U.S.-supported Syrian Democratic Forces while trying to escape to Turkey.”

– Associated Press, “A Man Pleads Guilty in Islamic State Beheadings of U.S. Hostages,” npr.org, September 2, 2021

Editor’s note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.

“My fellow Americans, the war in Afghanistan is now over. I’m the fourth President who has faced the issue of whether and when to end this war. When I was running for President, I made a commitment to the American people that I would end this war.  And today, I’ve honored that commitment. It was time to be honest with the American people again. We no longer had a clear purpose in an open-ended mission in Afghanistan.

After 20 years of war in Afghanistan, I refused to send another generation of America’s sons and daughters to fight a war that should have ended long ago.

After more than $2 trillion spent in Afghanistan — a cost that researchers at Brown University estimated would be over $300 million a day for 20 years in Afghanistan — for two decades — yes, the American people should hear this: $300 million a day for two decades.

If you take the number of $1 trillion, as many say, that’s still $150 million a day for two decades.”

– Joe Biden via The White House Briefing Room, “Remarks by President Biden on the End of the War in Afghanistan,” whitehouse.gov, August 31, 2021

“We succeeded in what we set out to do in Afghanistan over a decade ago. Then we stayed for another decade. It was time to end this war.

This is a new world. The terror threat has metastasized across the world, well beyond Afghanistan. We face threats from al-Shabaab in Somalia; al Qaeda affiliates in Syria and the Arabian Peninsula; and ISIS attempting to create a caliphate in Syria and Iraq, and establishing affiliates across Africa and Asia.”

– Joe Biden via The White House Briefing Room, “Remarks by President Biden on the End of the War in Afghanistan,” whitehouse.gov, August 31, 2021

“My predecessor, the former President, signed an agreement with the Taliban to remove U.S. troops by May the 1st [2021], just months after I was inaugurated. It included no requirement that the Taliban work out a cooperative governing arrangement with the Afghan government, but it did authorize the release of 5,000 prisoners last year, including some of the Taliban’s top war commanders, among those who just took control of Afghanistan.

And by the time I came to office, the Taliban was in its strongest military position since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country.”

– Joe Biden via The White House Briefing Room, “Remarks by President Biden on the End of the War in Afghanistan,” whitehouse.gov, August 31, 2021

“Last night [8/30/2021] in Kabul, the United States ended 20 years of war in Afghanistan — the longest war in American history. …

In April, I made the decision to end this war. As part of that decision, we set the date of August 31st for American troops to withdraw. The assumption was that more than 300,000 Afghan National Security Forces that we had trained over the past two decades and equipped would be a strong adversary in their civil wars with the Taliban.

That assumption — that the Afghan government would be able to hold on for a period of time beyond military drawdown — turned out not to be accurate.”

– Joe Biden via The White House Briefing Room, “Remarks by President Biden on the End of the War in Afghanistan,” whitehouse.gov, August 31, 2021

“Although it was the longest military conflict in U.S. history, Afghanistan frequently was a forgotten war, overshadowed by the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent rise of the Islamic State extremist group.

In all, 2,461 U.S. troops were killed, including 13 in the past week, in a U.S. campaign that began Oct. 7, 2001, as an effort to topple the Taliban for harboring al Qaeda. The toll was far greater for Afghans: As many as 69,000 troops and police, and an estimated 47,000 civilians, according to researchers from Brown University’s Costs of War project.”

– Nancy A. Youssef and Gordon Lubold, “Last U.S. Troops Leave Afghanistan After Nearly 20 Years,” wsj.com, August 30, 2021

“A U.S. military C-17 carried the last American troops out of Afghanistan on Monday [8/30/2021], marking the formal end of the longest war in U.S. history but leaving between 100 and 200 Americans and tens of thousands of America’s Afghan allies to face a future of uncertainty and danger.”

– Nancy A. Youssef and Gordon Lubold, “Last U.S. Troops Leave Afghanistan After Nearly 20 Years,” wsj.com, August 30, 2021

“The image of Army Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue departing Afghanistan on Monday night [8/30/2021] will forever serve as a symbol of the end of a grueling, nearly two-decade war there.

Donahue, steely-eyed, in a helmet and fatigues and carrying a rifle, was photographed using night vision optics as he became the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan.”

– Elisha Fieldstadt, “The Last Soldier To Leave Afghanistan — Nicknamed ‘Flatliner’ — Was Uniquely Prepared for That Moment,” nbcnews.com, September 1, 2021

“Biden surrendered Afghanistan to terrorists and left thousands of Americans for dead by pulling out the Military before our citizens. Now we are learning that out of the 26,000 people who have been evacuated, only 4,000 are Americans. You can be sure the Taliban, who are now in complete control, didn’t allow the best and brightest to board these evacuation flights. Instead, we can only imagine how many thousands of terrorists have been airlifted out of Afghanistan and into neighborhoods around the world. What a terrible failure. NO VETTING. How many terrorists will Joe Biden bring to America? We don’t know!”

– Donald Trump, “Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America,” donaldjtrump.com, August 24, 2021

“The Taliban has declared the war in Afghanistan over, after its fighters swept into the capital, Kabul, and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

Victorious Taliban fighters patrolled the streets of Kabul on Monday [8/16/2021] as thousands of Afghans mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of rule. Scores of Afghans ran alongside a US military plane as it taxied on the runway and several clung to the side as the jet took off.”

– Zaheena Rasheed, Tamila Varshalomidze and Mersiha Gadzo, “Biden Defends Afghanistan Pullout Amid Airport Chaos,” aljazeera.com, August 16, 2021

“The U.S. House of Representatives moved Thursday [6/17/2021] to repeal a nearly two-decade-old war powers measure, marking what many lawmakers hope will be the beginning of the end of wide-ranging authorities given to the president after the 9/11 terror attacks. The vote was 268-161. The measure now heads to the Senate.

Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of California — who in 2001 and 2002 voted against two war power measures passed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks — was the sponsor of the repeal bill. The plan would end the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force, or AUMF, that greenlighted then-President George W. Bush’s plans to invade Iraq.

‘It’s been such a long time coming,’ Lee said ahead of Thursday’s vote. ‘It’s Congress’ responsibility to authorize the use of force, and that authorization cannot be blank checks that stay as authorizations for any administration to use the way they see fit.’ …

On Wednesday, the repeal drew the support of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for the first time. ‘It will eliminate the danger of a future administration reaching back into the legal dustbin to use it as a justification for military adventurism,’ Schumer said.”

– Claudia Grisales, “In Historic, Bipartisan Move, House Votes To Repeal 2002 Iraq War Powers Resolution,” npr.org, June 17, 2021

“The US has agreed to begin withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan as long as the Taliban upholds its commitment to ‘not allow any of its members, other individuals or groups, including al-Qa’ida, to use the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States and its allies.’

The accord states that the US will, assuming the Taliban lives up to its end of the deal, cut the number of American troops in Afghanistan to 8,600 in the first 135 days.

The US, as well as its allies and coalition partners, will withdraw all remaining forces from Afghanistan within 14 months.”

– Ryan Pickrell, “Trump Says Us Troops Will Start Leaving Afghanistan Immediately,” businessinsider.com, February 29, 2020

“Hours after the US and the Taliban signed a landmark agreement aimed at ending America’s war in Afghanistan, President Donald Trump said that he plans to start pulling troops out of Afghanistan immediately.

‘Everybody’s tired of war,’ Trump said at a White House press briefing Saturday afternoon [2/29/2020], adding that the 18-year conflict in Afghanistan, America’s longest-running war, has ‘been a particularly long and gruesome one.’

The US and the Taliban signed a conditional peace agreement Saturday morning.”

– Ryan Pickrell, “Trump Says Us Troops Will Start Leaving Afghanistan Immediately,” businessinsider.com, February 29, 2020

“The Authorisation for the Use of Military Force Act was drafted by the Bush White House in the week after the 9/11 attacks.

At its heart is a sixty-word sentence that gives the US president the power to ‘use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organisations, or persons’ that he or she determines was behind or helped the people who carried out the attacks. It was passed into law by Congress on September 16 [2001] with only one dissenting vote [Barbara Lee, D-Calif.].

The AUMF’s scope gave the president a free hand. It has no time or geographical limits; it technically allows the president to fight a perpetual global war. It also empowers the president to go after individuals as well as nation states. …

AUMF is so broad that it allows the President to target new enemies without the usual authorisation from Congress. The scope has grown from just the Taliban and al Qaeda – AUMF is now being used to justify strikes against groups that did not exist when al Qaeda attacked the World Trade Centre and Pentagon.”

– The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, “Legality of Drone Warfare,” thebureauinvestigates.com, accessed on August 30, 2022

[The 1st of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

“Between 2010 and 2020 the Bureau [of Investigative Journalism] tracked US drone strikes and other covert actions in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia. The comprehensive reporting on civilian deaths helped lead to greater official transparency on targeted killing, and provided the data needed to hold the White House to account.

Minimum Confirmed Strikes: 14,040

Total Killed: 8,858 – 16,901

Civilians Killed: 910 – 2,200

Children Killed: 283 – 454

The figures above are running totals of US actions and resulting deaths since the Bureau began recording data.”

– The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, “Drone Warfare,” thebureauinvestigates.com, accessed on August 30, 2022,

[The 1st of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

“Almost 40 strikes hit Afghanistan every day in September [2019], new Pentagon figures show, working out as more than 1,100 over the month, a significant rise.

The number of US strikes has been increasing in recent months, but this latest jump is dramatic. There were 1,113 strikes in September compared with 810 strikes in August, and 537 in July.

It follows the collapse of US and Taliban peace negotiations in early September. The talks were suspended by President Donald Trump after the killing of a US soldier in Kabul.”

– Jessica Purkiss, “Almost 40 Strikes Every Day in Afghanistan Last Month,” thebureauinvestigates.com, October 29, 2019

“A child has been killed in a US air strike in Afghanistan, the American military confirmed, in a rare admission of responsibility for civilian harm.

The US has, to our knowledge, so far admitted to killing only six civilians in strikes in 2019. The UN claims the number is much higher, with 430 deaths and injuries recorded in the first six months of the year.

In this incident, air support was called in when a joint US-Afghan ground operation came under fire in the Andar district in central Ghazni province on October 6 [2019]. US forces claim the air strike killed three Taliban fighters and a child, who was standing nearby.”

– Abbie Cheeseman, “Rare Admission of Guilt From US For Killing Afghan Child in Airstrike,” thebureauinvestigates.com, October 16, 2019

“President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday [9/7/2019] that he canceled a secret meeting with Taliban leaders that was poised to be held at Camp David on Sunday [9/8/2019].

In a series of tweets, Trump cited the death of a US soldier in a recent Taliban attack as his reasoning and said he’s also canceling ongoing peace negotiations.

This came less than a week after his top negotiator in ongoing US-Taliban talks said a peace deal had been reached ‘in principle.’ The deal would see 5,400 US troops withdraw from five bases in Afghanistan within 135 days.

The withdrawal of any of the roughly 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan is up in the air as the longest war in US history drags on.”

– John Haltiwanger, “Trump Says He Invited Taliban Leaders to Camp David for a Secret Meeting, but Canceled Because of a Recent Attack That Killed a US Soldier,” businessinsider.com, September 7, 2019

“President Donald Trump has revoked a policy set by his predecessor requiring US intelligence officials to publish the number of civilians killed in drone strikes outside of war zones.

The 2016 executive order was brought in by then-President Barack Obama, who was under pressure to be more transparent.

Since the 9/11 terror attack, drone strikes have been increasingly used against terror and military targets. …

There have been 2,243 drone strikes in the first two years of the Trump presidency, compared with 1,878 in Mr Obama’s eight years in office.”

– BBC.com, “Trump Revokes Obama Rule on Reporting Drone Strike Deaths,” bbc.com, March 7, 2019

“A Berlin-based civil rights group has filed a criminal complaint to the German authorities to issue an arrest warrant for [Gina] Haspel, over claims she oversaw the torture of terrorism suspects.

Following Haspel’s promotion to CIA deputy director last year [2017], the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) updated its legal briefing requesting her arrest. …

‘As head of the secret prison in Thailand, Gina Haspel followed each day of Abu Zubaydah’s torture from Aug. 4 to 23, 2002, and she alone had the responsibility to end this torture but failed to do so,’ reads the ECCHR submission to German authorities.

If the Senate Intelligence Committee approves the country’s first female CIA director, it’s not likely to be welcomed by women’s rights activists across the world.”

– Leela Jacinto, “Trump’s New CIA Chief Pick’s Torture Past Clouds Her Future,” france24.com, March 13, 2018

Editor’s note: The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) using the principle of universal jurisdiction in Germany, filed the criminal complaint against Haspel with the German Federal Public Prosecutor (Generalbundesanwalt). It is a follow-up to an earlier complaint on the US torture program filed in Germany by ECCHR in December 2014. As of September 2022, the documents are under consideration by German prosecutors as part of a preliminary examination. See European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, “Germany: Criminal Complaint against CIA Director Gina Haspel,” ecchr.eu, accessed on September 2, 2022, for more information.

 – Tom Kington, “Portugal detains ex-CIA officer for extradition to Italy for jail time in case of kidnapped Muslim cleric,” LATimes.com, Feb. 22, 2017

“As Donald Trump assumes office today [1/20/2017], he inherits a targeted killing program that has been the cornerstone of U.S. counterterrorism strategy over the past eight years. On January 23, 2009, just three days into his presidency, President Obama authorized his first kinetic military action: two drone strikes, three hours apart, in Waziristan, Pakistan, that killed as many as twenty civilians. Two terms and 540 strikes later, Obama leaves the White House after having vastly expanding and normalizing the use of armed drones for counterterrorism and close air support operations in non-battlefield settings—namely Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia.

President Obama deserves credit for even acknowledging the existence of the targeted killing program (something his predecessor did not do), and for increasing transparency into the internal processes that purportedly guided the authorization of drone strikes. However, many needed reforms were left undone—in large part because there was zero pressure from congressional members, who, with few exceptions, were the biggest cheerleaders of drone strikes.”

– Micah Zenko, “Obama’s Final Drone Strike,” cfr.or, January 20, 2017

 – Sheri Fink, James Risen, and Charles Savage, “C.I.A. Torture Detailed in Newly Disclosed Documents,” The New York Times online, Jan 19, 2017