Israel Navy Intercepts Boats Bound for Gaza

At New York Times, "Israel Intercepts Two Boats Bound for Gaza":

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said on Friday that it had boarded two small boats that were sailing toward Gaza to challenge Israel’s maritime blockade of the Palestinian coastal enclave. There were no reports of violence or injuries.

The boats, one Canadian and the other Irish, were carrying 27 pro-Palestinian activists, journalists and crew members from nine countries. The military had stated that it would prevent the boats from reaching Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamic militant group Hamas.

The Israeli Navy initially notified the vessels that they were en route to an area under blockade and advised them to turn back, or to sail to a port in Egypt or Israel, the military said in a statement.

Also at Israel Matzav, "Here we go again... Flotilla refuses navy order to turn around; UPDATED WITH VIDEO."

U.S. Will Withhold Funds For U.N. Agency After Vote to Grant Membership to Palestinians

At Fox News and Memeorandum:

And at Pamela's, "It's Halloween! No Money for UNICEF Jihad," and "US Cancels Funding to UNESCO, "This was a failure of US power," said "Palestinian" official after UN Body Grants Full Membership to Jihad Terror State."

17 Die as Suicide Blast Hits U.S. Bus in Afghanistan

At New York Times, "17 Are Killed as Suicide Bomb Hits a U.S. Bus in Afghanistan."

KABUL, Afghanistan — At least five American soldiers, eight American contract workers and four Afghans were killed when a Taliban suicide car bomber attacked an armored shuttle bus in Kabul on Saturday, a military official said.

It was the single deadliest attack for Americans in the capital since the war began, military officials said, and follows brazen Taliban assaults on the American Embassy and NATO headquarters in the city last month.

A NATO official said all of the contract workers were Americans, but the coalition did not officially confirm that.

Such high-profile attacks have been seen as a shift in Taliban strategy as they struggle against a surge in American troops that has loosened the militants’ grip on the Taliban heartland in the South and compromised their ability to stage more conventional attacks on NATO forces. American officials see the latest assaults as the Taliban’s attempt to shake confidence in the Afghan government, which is taking over security from NATO in Kabul and other areas of the country.

Toronto Airport Security Employee of the Month!

Via Kathy Shaidle, "Toronto airport security employee hopes plane blows up! (video)"

German Officials Reopen 1980 Oktoberfest Bombing Investigation

This is interesting.

At Der Spiegel, "Oktoberfest Bombing Under Review: Officials Ignored Right-Wing Extremist Links":

It was less than two weeks before the Oct. 5, 1980 German parliamentary election, and the CSU and its then Bavarian state governor and chancellor candidate, Franz Josef Strauss, were not interested in right-wing extremist terrorism. In their worldview, the threat always came from the left. The social climate was toxic, and the Strauss camp, and others, treated left-wing extremist terror group the Red Army Faction (RAF) and its sympathizers as Germany's public enemy number one.

What did not fit into this worldview was the idea that right-wing extremist groups were at the same time developing their own, loosely defined terrorist network, with cells in Hamburg, Nuremberg, Esslingen near Stuttgart, as well as in Antwerp and Bologna. Not surprisingly, efforts to investigate the threat from the far right were half-hearted at best.

For three decades, the official explanation for the Oktoberfest attack involved the theory of a confused "sole perpetrator." In May 1981, after just eight months of investigation, the Bavarian State Office of Criminal Investigation (LKA) postulated this theory in its "final comment" on the case. The Federal Prosecutor's Office also noted that there was "no evidence whatsoever" that "third parties" could have influenced Köhler. Case closed -- or so it seemed.

Until now, this final comment was the only document relating to the case that had been made available to the public, while the investigation files on which it had been based remained unknown. Now SPIEGEL has evaluated these files for the first time, in addition to dossiers from the former East German secret police, the Stasi, and other records, some of which were formerly classified -- a total of 46,000 pages.

WikiLeaks May Shut Down

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of cyber-terrorists.

At Forbes, "Wikileaks to Close Over Funding Blockade?"

Muammar Gaddafi Allegedly Sodomized After Capture

It's pretty awful, but seriously? Folks are going to get worked up about this? The dude promised to go "house to house" to cleanse the "greasy rats" from Libya.

There's commentary at CBS News, "GlobalPost: Qaddafi apparently sodomized after capture." (Via Memeorandum.)

Or go straight to the source, "Gaddafi sodomized: Video shows abuse frame by frame (GRAPHIC)."

Hyatt's Houston Sugar Land Hotel Cancels Tea Party Event on Islam

From Pamela Geller, "The Quisling Cowards at the Hyatt Place Sugar Land Caved to Intimidation," and "Across the Pond the Hyatt's Craven Quisling Cancellation Makes News."

And following Pamela's links takes us to London's Daily Mail, "Hotel cancels Tea Party event after learning that anti-Islam activist was due to be a speaker."

Israelis Divided on Prisoner Swap

At Wall Street Journal, "Most Back the Exchange With Hamas, But Others Petition Court to Halt Move":

TEL AVIV — The initial phase of an Israel-Hamas prisoner swap began on Sunday, as mediators finalized the details of a controversial exchange to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli Sgt. Gilad Shalit, held prisoner for five years by Gaza-based militants.

Israel's prison service gathered 477 Palestinian prisoners at two jails for exit interviews and medical examinations before their release, scheduled for Tuesday, as several private citizens and a group representing victims of terror attacks in Israel submitted petitions against the releases to Israel's Supreme Court. The court has refrained from intervening in similar cases in the past.

Late Saturday, Israel's prison service published the names of the 477 prisoners—many of whom were involved in deadly terror attacks against Israelis over the past decade—starting the clock on a 48-hour period for legal challenges to the release. A total of 1,000 Palestinians are to be exchanged under the deal, which doesn't include Marwan Barghouti, a West Bank militant leader serving five consecutive life sentences after being convicted in Israeli court for masterminding the murder of civilians. The remainder of the 1,000 will be released at a later, unspecified date.

Continue reading.

It's heartrending. People want Gilad to come home. But the deal is going to weaken Israeli security. What a price to pay.

RELATED: At New York Times, "In Israel, Swap Touches Old Wounds." (Via A Soldier's Mother, "A Child's Murderer.")

Butcher of Ramallah to Be Released in Israel-Hamas Deal on Gilad Shalit

I've posted the picture before, of Abed el-Aziz Salha, hands covered with blood, screaming out the window after disemboweling two IDF soldiers who took a wrong turn. Dan Friedman has the story, "Two Israelis Will Not be Released From Arab Hands..."

More here: "The Savages of Ramallah."

UPDATE: Legal Insurrection links, "Butcher of Ramallah soon to be free."

Curious Parallels Between the Iranian Assassination Attempt and Fast and Furious

An essay from Steven Givler:

...Fast and Furious resulted in multiple deaths in Mexico and the United States, and inestimable damage to relations between our countries. It represents a far more serious transgression than Iran’s bungled assassination attempt. It was a betrayal of the American people – a steadfast refusal to enforce laws, which resulted in the endangerment of the citizens those laws are designed to protect. It also provided material aid to a brutal gang, and facilitated its countless acts of torture, murder, and intimidation. The Iranian operation was conducted by a nation known to be hostile to the US, but Fast and Furious was a stab in the back of a government with which we are supposed to be on friendly terms.

Gilad Shalit and the Price Freedom in Israel

More on the Shalit release, from Caroline Glick, at Jerusalem Post, "A pact signed in Jewish blood":

"The deal that Netanyahu has agreed to is signed with the blood of the past victims and future victims of the terrorists he is letting go. No amount of rationalization by Netanyahu, his cheerleaders in the demented mass media, and by the defeatist, apparently incompetent heads of the Shin Bet, Mossad and IDF can dent the facts."

RELATED: At Legal Insurrection, "“What happens after the next soldier is kidnapped?”"

Accusations Against Iran Fleshed Out

At WSJ (via Google):

Top U.S. officials Wednesday provided fresh details about an alleged plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's U.S. ambassador, seeking to bolster their contention that the Iranian government was behind the scheme.

The officials said they were skeptical at first about Iranian involvement, but grew persuaded when a $100,000 payment to the alleged plotters was traced to an elite Iranian military branch, the Qods Force. They described the logic for believing that the Qods Force chief knew of the plan, and alleged that an assassination was seen as a trial run for a broader string of attacks for which Iran was ready to spend $5 million.

The case they presented, however, relied heavily on inference and contained gaps, including a lack of direct evidence that the most senior Iranian officials knew about the alleged operation.

Check that Google link for the whole thing.

Israel and Hamas Agree to Gilad Shalit Release

At NYT, "Israel and Hamas Agree to Swap Prisoners for Soldier."

And at Israel Matzav and Yid With Lid.

Pat Condell: The World Needs to Stop Pretending Palestine is About Justice and Human Rights

Via Blazing Cat Fur:

Also from Linkmaster Smith, "Pat Condell Offering Simple, Sad Truth."

Awlaki More Important Than Bin Laden?

Could be.

See Ed Morrissey: "Video: Was Awlaki mission more operationally important than bin Laden?"

AQAP had become the most virulent arm of al-Qaeda in the past few years, and it was Awlaki who provided the inspiration for the most difficult of terrorists to find and stop — the home-grown jihadis, like the Times Square bomber and Nidal Hasan, among others. Getting both Awlaki and Samir Khan interrupts a network that not only recruited terrorists but repeatedly demonstrated its ability to launch operations against the US, including inside the US, something that bin Laden’s group failed to accomplish after 9/11. AQAP isn’t destroyed by this strike, but their best assets against the US have been and are not likely to be replaced. Getting bin Laden was a much bigger psychological coup, but Awlaki’s removal does more to make the US safer.

Awlaki's Operational Role in al Qaeda

Well, folks got Gleen Greenwald's side, so how about the pro-targeted killing argument?

Check Kenneth Anderson, at Volokh, "Anwar al-Aulaqi Apparently Killed by Drone in Yemen":

My view of this targeted killing is straightforwardly, congratulations, Mr. President. What has been visible publicly leaves little or no doubt in my mind that Al-Aulaqi was deeply involved in AQAP in operations, and indeed at the highest levels.

And at the update:

Who? As an international law matter, is Al-Aulaqi a lawful target? The US government sees him as taking part in hostilities, part of the operational leadership of an associated force with Al Qaeda, the AQAP. So, yes, he can be targeted with lethal force — and targeted without warning, without an attempt to arrest or apprehend as a law enforcement matter.

Where? Does it matter that he was in Yemen, and not an “active battlefield” in a conventional hostilities sense? The US government does not accept the idea that the armed conflict with Al Qaeda — or armed conflict generally — is confined as a legal matter to some notion of “theatres of conflict” or “active battlefields” or related terms that have been used in recent years by academics and activist groups. As I understand the US government position, it sticks by the traditional concept of “hostilities,” and that where the hostiles go, the possibility of armed conflict goes too (I try to explain this evolution of these views in this short essay). So the fact that he was present in Yemen does not make him beyond targeting, because he is not present in some “active” battlezone such as Afghanistan.

This claim — the conflict follows the participants — frequently leads to a complaint that this means the US might target him in Paris or London. The US position is that the standard for addressing non-state actor terrorists taking safe haven somewhere depends on whether the sovereign where the terrorist is hiding is “unwilling or unable” to address the threat. No, there won’t be Predators Over Paris; Yemen or Somalia is another matter, as President Obama has repeatedly and without cavil said in speeches over the last few years.

Still more at the link.

Anti-American Glenn Greenwald Responds to Awlaki Strike on Democracy Now!

I linked Greenwald early this morning, freakin' ASFL.

And here's this, perfectly said, at Jawa Report, "If It Were 1945, Glenn Greenwald and the Left Would Be Lamenting the Death of Hitler":

But this a$$magot has nothing to write about the victims of al Awlaki and other terrorists. His only concern is that the terrorists didn't get 'due process'...

Sometimes there's a downside to the 1st Amendment, and it's having to listen to drivel like this. And yes, I will continue to cheer the death of terrorists, whether they were once a fellow American citizen or not.

Be sure to watch the interview, if you can, where Greenwald speaks so proudly of al Awlaki's radicalism and seemingly justifies terrorism in response to U.S. aggression in Iraq.

Greenwald hates America. He routinely attacks American policy as equivalent to the Nazis. What's amazing is how well his hate goes over. But that's the left for you.

RELATED: At National Journal, "No Due Process in Awlaki's Killing, Civil Libertarians Worry," and at New York Times, "Awlaki Killing Incites Criticism on Left and Libertarian Right."

Ron Paul Decries Awlaki Killing

It's just too predictable. Is there any use of force this clown won't decry?

At LAT, "Ron Paul criticizes Obama for U.S. role in killing of Awlaki."

U.S. Jihadi Samir Khan Killed in Awlaki Drone Strike in Yemen

This really is an significant bonus to the story.

Background at WaPo, "A ‘proud traitor’: Samir Khan reported dead alongside Aulaqi":

A Saudi-born American of Pakistani heritage who was raised in Queens, N.Y., was reportedly among those killed in a U.S. drone strike targeting radical cleric and fellow U.S. citizen Anwar al-Aulaqi.

A self-proclaimed traitor to America, Samir Khan contributed to the efforts of al-Qaeda’s Yemen offshoot to promote itself among English-speakers. He was apparently a major force behind the widely-read English-language magazine Inspire, a mixture of ideology, first-person accounts of operations and do-it-yourself jihad advice. Copies of the magazine’s bomb-making and other sections have been found in the possession of several would-be attackers in the U.S. and Britain.

“I am proud to be a traitor to America,” wrote Khan, 25, in an article in the second issue of the online magazine, published in fall last year. He described his life as working in the “jihadi media sector” in North Carolina, before his beliefs turned him into a “rebel of Washington’s imperialism.” He believed FBI agents were watching him in America, including a man who feigned a conversion to Islam, and one who antagonized him, sparking a fist-fight about his online work.

And more background at this 2007 piece from New York Times, "An Internet Jihad Aims at U.S. Viewers."

And don't miss Michelle Malkin's post, "Second U.S. jihadi reportedly killed in drone attack; Plus: Refresher course on American bloggers vs. Samir Khan." She honors the work of Jawa Report, the blog that's been on the trail of Samir Khan for years, and whose publisher Rusty Shackleford was targeted by with death threats. See the post there: "American Traitor Anwar al-Awlaki Killed in Yemen! Upd: SAMIR KHAN, Threatened Rusty's Family, Dead! Obama Confirms, Awlaki DEAD -- Now with More Cowbell, M.C. Hammer Online Jihadis Confirm: Samir Khan Dead! Fingerprints Confirm!"