



By Peter Vincent Pry
Hardening infrastructure will be key to minimizing the threat
Independent voices from the TWT Communities

Al Qaeda's decision to formally extend its terrorist franchise to what once was a nationalist movement in Somalia may be only a desperate joining of hands to prop up two militant groups that are losing popular support and facing increasingly deadly military attacks, analysts said.

The U.S. and Pakistan need to reset their strategic relationship, which has been "burdened" with too many expectations, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S said Wednesday.
The new U.S. ambassador to South Korea tried to stay out of the country's bruising politics in his first public speech Tuesday but ended up being dragged into a bitter fight over U.S.-Korea trade.

The Muslim militant suspected of building the bombs used in the 2002 Bali attack went on trial Monday on terrorism charges, a year after he was captured in the same Pakistani town where Osama bin Laden was hiding.

Al Qaeda's chief has called on Muslims from other countries to support rebels in Syria seeking to overthrow President Bashar Assad, saying they cannot depend on the West for help.

In "The Al Qaeda Factor," Mitchell D. Silber investigates the extent to which al Qaeda's "core" in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region has been involved in organizing terrorist plots against the West since the World Trade Center bombing in 1993.

In one of her first speeches since dropping out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Rep. Michele Bachmann on Thursday ripped President Obama's foreign policy agenda, saying the White House has fostered the spread of radical pro-Islamists and offended key ally Israel.

A U.S. admiral said Tuesday that special operations forces in Afghanistan are preparing for a possible expanded role as American forces begin to withdraw after a decade of war.
Hundreds of officers who lined the streets of Boston had little to do as fans quietly mourned their team's Super Bowl loss Sunday night, but 14 people were arrested across the state at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst when police in riot gear dispersed a rambunctious crowd.

On Feb. 5, President Obama provided his own Super Sunday show. In some respects, it was almost as bizarre as Madonna's performance at half-time. In his interview with NBC's Matt Lauer, Mr. Obama responded oddly to concerns raised last week by leaders of the U.S. intelligence community. They testified on Capitol Hill that the Iranian mullahs appear to be planning attacks on the United States.
It was like 2008 all over again for disappointed Patriots fans who watched as their team lost Sunday to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl for the second time in five years.

The defining moment of President Obama's 2008 campaign came on the night he clinched the Democratic Party nomination.
Set builders for "Code Name: Geronimo" are putting together a replica of Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan at an old New Mexico state penitentiary as filming begins this week.

Now that it's in full campaign mode, the Obama administration can't stop talking about things once regarded as secret. President Obama has been bragging about the once-shadowy SEAL Team 6 so much you'd think he was going to tap it to be his running mate.

The dramatic rescue of an American aid worker and her Danish colleague in Somalia by Navy commandos was a terrific encore to the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan nine months ago. However, all the White House-driven publicity for both events has helped turn the once-secret SEAL Team 6 into a household term, with likely negative consequences.
"The Pakistani government realizes that we have a lot in common on counterterrorism, and we still have a decent relationship with the [ISI] intelligence," he said.
"What they want is partnership and a better sense of respect," he said. "We have to be less arrogant."

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