“In August [17, 2006], Col. Peter Devlin, the senior Marine intelligence officer in Iraq, filed a secret report concluding that the U.S. military had lost al Anbar, in western Iraq, and that al Qaeda was now the dominant factor in the province. ‘The social and political situation has deteriorated to a point that MNF [Multi-National […]
8/17/2006
“A classified Marine intelligence assessment dated August 17, 2006, found that AQI [al Qaeda in Iraq] had become the de facto government of the western Iraqi province of Anbar, which…makes up about a third of the landmass of Iraq. The Marine report’s downbeat conclusion: AQI had become ‘an integral part of the social structure in […]
8/17/2006
On August 17, 2006, senior Marine intelligence officer in Iraq, Colonel Pete Devlin, concluded in an intelligence assessment titled ‘State of the Insurgency in al-Anbar:’ ” ‘AQI [al Qaeda in Iraq] is the dominant organization of influence in al-Anbar, surpassing nationalist insurgents, the Iraqi Government, and MNF [Multi-National Forces] in its ability to control the […]
8/17/2006
After The New York Times broke the news of the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) warrantless surveillance in December 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) “asked the federal courts to rule that the program was illegal and to bring it to an end. …On August 17, 2006, U.S. District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor…rejected almost […]
8/15/2006
In an August 2006 White House meeting to discuss the use of secret prisons to detain terror suspects overseas, Secretary of State Condoleezza “Rice gave an impassioned speech. The [9/11] attacks had happened on our watch, she said, so the perpetrators should be tried on our watch. ‘Democracies don’t disappear people,’ she said.” [The 15th […]
8/15/2006
“[I]n August 2006…a ‘threat report’ generated by International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) regional command (north) zeroed in on suicide bombers recruited by al-Qaida. ‘Reportedly a high-level meeting was held in Quetta, Pakistan, where six suicide bombers were given orders for an operation in northern Afghanistan. Two persons have been given targets in Kunduz, two in […]
8/15/2006
A National Security Council meeting in mid-August 2006 focused on the holding of detainees in secret prisons around the world. “The [Bush] administration had to close the secret sites, [Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice said forcefully. They were doing more harm than good. America was a nation of laws, and it was important for the […]
8/15/2006
“In an unusual face-off in front of the president [Bush] at a National Security Council meeting in August 2006, [Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice argued that the CIA prisons should be closed and [Vice President Dick] Cheney argued that they should not. Rice won–Bush effectively closed the prisons weeks later–but so far the president has […]
8/11/2006
“As a shocking reminder of al Qaeda’s resilience and undying willingness to perfect its terror plots, a reconfigured version of Bojinka [the plot to blow up multiple U.S.-bound flights originating from Asia, with liquid-based bombs] was uncovered by British intelligence in August 2006 [as identified in a New York Times article from August 11, 2006]–this […]
8/10/2006
“On August 10, 2006, authorities announced the apprehension of more than twenty suspects who were part of a plot to blow up seven transatlantic flights bound for the United States from Britain. Just as [shoe bomber Richard] Reid had exploited the inadequate screening of footwear, these plotters realized that they could sneak liquid explosives through […]