Dead or alive? Taliban denies rumors of Mullah Omar’s death, blames…hacking

By Michelle Malkin  •  July 20, 2011 12:03 AM

What a day, huh?

Late-breaking news tonight is that Taliban “supreme leader” Mullah Omar may be dead. Or not.

In an uncanny turn of current events, the Taliban reportedly claims its phones have been hacked:

KABUL: Two Taliban spokesmen said their mobile phones had been hacked and false text messages sent out on Wednesday reporting the death of the movement’s supreme leader Mullah Omar, who is still alive.

“This is the work of American intelligence, and we will take revenge on the telephone network providers,” said spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, when contacted by Reuters to confirm the veracity of one text message.

The messages came from phone numbers used in the past by both Mujahid and a second spokesman Mohammad Qari Yousuf and said “spiritual Leader Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahid has died” and “May Allah bless his soul”.

No word on whether any graphic photos accompanied the “hacked” messages.

In related news: New Study Asserts Taliban Faction Closely Linked to al-Qaida

A new study says a key faction of the Taliban has been far closer to al-Qaida than some previous analyses have suggested, raising fresh questions about Pakistan’s alleged support for terrorist groups and the prospects for peace negotiations on Afghanistan.

Most terrorism experts have long believed that the Taliban and al-Qaida, while sharing a radical ideology, have markedly different goals.

According to this notion, the Taliban fight primarily for local or national issues and is not that interested in the al-Qaida agenda of global jihad against the West.
But a just-released study by the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point seeks to dispel that notion, at least in regard to one key Taliban group. Don Rassler, lead author of the report, says the Haqqani network shares al-Qaida’s ideology and ambition.

“We challenge the conventional assumption or perception that the Haqqani network is primarily a local actor. And we find that the organization over its three-decade-long evolution in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region has functioned as a strategic enabler of regional, local, and global forms of militancy,” says Rassler. “So what we’ve come down and found was that the Haqqani network while, yes, being a local actor and pragmatic as well, is also committed to the philosophy of expansive and global jihad as perpetrated by al-Qaida.”

The Taliban is not a single monolithic organization, but more of a collection of networks. Of those, the Haqqani network is seen as the most dangerous, believed responsible for some of the most spectacular and bloody terrorist attacks in Afghanistan.

***

End note: Speaking of hacking, here’s the story of a Harvard fellow and ethics scholar charged today with “hacking into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s computer network to steal nearly 5 million academic articles.”

And here’s another federal hacking crackdown…on a mob of intruders/”hactivists” operating under the shady “Anonymous” banner.

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Posted in: Islam,War

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Comments


  1. #1
    On July 20th, 2011 at 12:19 am, txvet2 said:

    Well, it’s about time the Mullah Omar rumor mill got wound up. We had the OBL rumor mill going for years before he finally went toes up.

  2. #2
    On July 20th, 2011 at 12:43 am, Sergeant Tim said:

    Rupert Murdock ‘hacked to death‘ hoax (by hacking).

  3. #3
    On July 20th, 2011 at 12:50 am, Hangfire said:

    He must not be dead.

    Barry Soetoro hasn’t started his Victory Tour II yet.

  4. #4
    On July 20th, 2011 at 12:56 am, Luther said:

    It seems unlikely that the Taliban had any hostility against the U.S. or terrorism ambitions prior to our occupation of the country for so many years, disrespecting their culture.
    The Taliban are sort of a mirror image of us. The Taliban chop off women’s noses with impunity as a tolerated aspect of their culture, while in the U.S. feminists like Lorena Bobbitt and Catherine Kieu Becker chop off male penises to politically correct ribaldry on shows like the Talk and the Tonight show.

  5. #5
    On July 20th, 2011 at 1:50 am, Hiraghm said:

    @michellemalkin – Hacking is a serious crime and grave privacy invasion. PERIOD. – :D

  6. #6
    On July 20th, 2011 at 1:54 am, Hiraghm said:

    Y’know, I don’t think I made any impression on Ms Malkin, at all…

    LulzSec is the group of crackers that cracked into Sony’s network (twice) a short while ago…

  7. #7
    On July 20th, 2011 at 1:55 am, Hiraghm said:

    The arrests came as a result of a distributed denial of service attack — when attackers try to jam a company’s website by getting large numbers of computers to contact it at the same time — on PayPal Inc. late last year, federal officials said.

    DoS != hacking.

  8. #8
    On July 20th, 2011 at 1:58 am, Hiraghm said:

    Do you think it’s a coincidence that all these “hacking” events are revealed/come about around the same time as Murdoch has to go before Parliment?

    Gird your underwear, this is all adding up to an attack on the freedom of the internet.

  9. #9
    On July 20th, 2011 at 2:29 am, bigbeachbird said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 12:56 am, Luther said:
    feminists like Lorena Bobbitt and Catherine Kieu Becker chop off male penises

    Is there any other kind?

  10. #10
    On July 20th, 2011 at 2:44 am, Ray said:

    Jeff Goldblum: I hope all your children are born with small penises, and that goes for the girls too! :)

    BTW, did anyone happen to get Mullah Omar’s cell phone number?

  11. #11
    On July 20th, 2011 at 2:50 am, Ray said:

    Jeff Goldblum: I hope all your children are born with small penises, and that goes for the girls too! :)

  12. #12
    On July 20th, 2011 at 2:55 am, Ray said:

    Jeff Goldblum: I hope all your children are born with small penises, and that includes the girls! :)

  13. #13
    On July 20th, 2011 at 3:03 am, Ray said:

    Was that moderation, or what? After changing the post two times and killing the browser two time, all three posts go through.

    I better go back to bed. Just got up because I had a bad dream about HACKING.

  14. #14
    On July 20th, 2011 at 3:08 am, rocketman said:

    ***
    Possibly a Predator Drone with a Hellfire Missile could “sushi” Mullah Omar. Much faster and more fatal than a “denial of service” attack. A hacking attack you can really believe in.
    ***
    When you really care–send the very best!
    ***
    John Bibb
    ***

  15. #15
    On July 20th, 2011 at 3:09 am, Ray said:

    And now I am suppose to lie in bed the rest of the night, knowing I am #13.

    Not having it. :)

  16. #16
    On July 20th, 2011 at 3:33 am, Hangfire said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 3:03 am, Ray said:
    I better go back to bed. Just got up because I had a bad dream about HACKING.

    What’s to dream about?

    I wake up hacking every morning. I sometimes even scratch.

  17. #17
    On July 20th, 2011 at 7:49 am, Whirled Peas said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 1:55 am, Hiraghm said:

    DoS != hacking.

    Not to put too fine a point on it… there is a difference between hacking and DoS attacks.

    Denial of service can be intentional/unintentional. Intentional=when someone bombards a site with constant PING requests (not necessarily but usually) from different locations using ‘bots’ with malicious intent.
    unintentional=when, for instance, Rush is pushing a particular product and gives out the web addy and listeners ‘rush’ to the site simultaneously. The server can’t handle the traffic and shuts down. This is also technically considered Denial of Service.

    Hacking on the other hand is an uninvited intrusion into a computer’s hard drive with malicious intent in mind. Another form of hacking is intrusion into a website’s source code and changing things that was not intended by the webmaster. Wikipedia is an example of ‘legal’ hacking as one can go there and change any definition or ‘history’ (if you will) on any subject. Liberals are notorious for that and there are some dopes that think Wikipedia is gospel and at the very least a legitimate ‘encyclopaedia’

    An example of intended hacking is allowing a ‘trusted’ party into your hard drive using the ‘Remote Access’ program which has started showing up in the Windows lineup of ‘convenience’ programs. Remote access is used when an end user gives permission for an outside entity (usually a technician) to get into the directory of a computer as if her/she were actually at the location of the computer in question. A dangerous situation if you don’t know/trust the ‘technician’ involved.

    Go ahead and slam me for not knowing what I am talking about…

    Peas OUT!

  18. #18
    On July 20th, 2011 at 7:53 am, Whirled Peas said:

    Oh… what I came here for…

    OBL and Mullah Omar are probably in some seedy bar in Casablanca listening to Sam play and watching the goats belly dance over a couple of beers.

    NOPE they don’t believe in gambling…

    Peas OUT!

  19. #19
    On July 20th, 2011 at 7:53 am, mondamay said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 7:49 am, Whirled Peas said:

    You are quite correct, and that is what Hiraghm was saying.

    “!=” is how “not equal” is expressed in most programming languages.

  20. #20
    On July 20th, 2011 at 7:55 am, Whirled Peas said:

    OBL and Mullah Omar are probably in some seedy bar in Casablanca listening to Sam play and watching the goats belly dance over a couple of beers.

    It’s too early! Make that a goat lap dance! Sheesh!! Talk about screwing up a punch line….

  21. #21
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:22 am, Dexter Alarius said:

    On behalf of un-skilled, no talent golfers everywhere, I must insist you cease misusing the term ‘hacker’!

  22. #22
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:23 am, ITookTheRedPill said:

    Taliban denies, blames… hacking

    Taliban “pulls a Weiner”

  23. #23
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:28 am, mondamay said:

    To be honest, I kinda feel Hi’s pain on the “hacking” thing, mostly the “witch hunt” aspect of it, rather than the semantics of the term.

    I remember the Leon Walker “hacking” case making big news back in January. Prosecutor Jessica Cooper (Mike Nifong in heels?) had this bit of brilliance to say:

    “The guy is a hacker,” Cooper said in a voice mail response to the Free Press last week. “It was password protected, he had wonderful skills, and was highly trained. Then he downloaded them and used them in a very contentious way.”

    All I can find about his job is that he was a “computer technician” for the county. There is nothing anywhere that indicates he was in cyber-security, which would be the only reason I can think of that a job would send you to any kind of “training” of this kind.

    It wasn’t an isolated quote. She made a several ridiculous statements equating IT professionals to hackers.

  24. #24
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:32 am, Whirled Peas said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:22 am, Dexter Alarius said:

    On behalf of un-skilled, no talent golfers everywhere, I must insist you cease misusing the term ‘hacker’!

    I used to resemble that :lol:

  25. #25
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:37 am, Whirled Peas said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 7:53 am, mondamay said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 7:49 am, Whirled Peas said:

    You are quite correct, and that is what Hiraghm was saying.

    “!=” is how “not equal” is expressed in most programming languages.

    Sorry, I missed the subtlety there… I wasn’t a programmer… I was a network tech.

    Programming isn’t my first language (pun intended) or second for that matter :lol:

  26. #26
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:42 am, Rogue Cheddar said:

    A new study says a key faction of the Taliban has been far closer to al-Qaida than some previous analyses have suggested, raising fresh questions about Pakistan’s alleged support for terrorist groups and the prospects for peace negotiations on Afghanistan.

    Most terrorism experts have long believed that the Taliban and al-Qaida, while sharing a radical ideology, have markedly different goals.

    Gee, ya think?! Please save us from all these experts!

  27. #27
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:43 am, Rogue Cheddar said:

    != Hacking != parsing != tedious.

  28. #28
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:44 am, Whirled Peas said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:28 am, mondamay said:

    It wasn’t an isolated quote. She made a several ridiculous statements equating IT professionals to hackers.

    This is what happens when you get lawyers talking about a subject that is totally foreign to them.

    Much like politicians talking about, oh… say… economics and/or business, or running a country for that matter!

  29. #29
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:45 am, babiesgrandma said:

    Dexter Alarius said:
    On behalf of un-skilled, no talent golfers everywhere, I must insist you cease misusing the term ‘hacker’!

    Is this also a correct usage in a sentence? My cat hacked up a fur ball this morning. She’s quite the hacker.

  30. #30
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:51 am, Whirled Peas said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:42 am, Rogue Cheddar said:
    Most terrorism experts have long believed that the Taliban and al-Qaida, while sharing a radical ideology, have markedly different goals.

    If they are anything like the weather, economic, unemploymemnt or housing ‘experts’, we are in DEEP doodoo!!

    “Terrorists unexpectedly blew up (you name it)… details at 11 pm…

  31. #31
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:54 am, mondamay said:

    Taliban and al-Qaida, while sharing a radical ideology, have markedly different goals

    Yeah. One wants to murder, subjugate, and oppress, and the other wants to terrorize, murder, subjugate, and oppress.

  32. #32
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:56 am, Whirled Peas said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:45 am, babiesgrandma said:

    Dexter Alarius said:
    On behalf of un-skilled, no talent golfers everywhere, I must insist you cease misusing the term ‘hacker’!

    Is this also a correct usage in a sentence? My cat hacked up a fur ball this morning. She’s quite the hacker.

    I used to be a hacker in the morning until I quit smoking.

  33. #33
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:58 am, Whirled Peas said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:43 am, Rogue Cheddar said:

    != Hacking != parsing != tedious.

    Very! oh ye of little words…

  34. #34
    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:58 am, Darthnoob said:

    “This is the work of American intelligence, and we will take revenge on the telephone network providers,” said spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid

    This is clearly a fake. he forgot to add some hearts and a smiley face.

    <3 :-) <3

  35. #35
    On July 20th, 2011 at 9:03 am, Dexter Alarius said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:32 am, Whirled Peas said:
    I used to resemble that

    Er, does that mean you got better…
    or you gave up the game?

  36. #36
    On July 20th, 2011 at 9:08 am, Whirled Peas said:

    Well… I’m off to make money to pay the IRS extortionists. The third and fourth generation entitlement parasites need to make the payments on their 72″ flatscreens.
    Stay vigilant (or vigilante, your choice)

    Peas OUT!

  37. #37
    On July 20th, 2011 at 9:12 am, Whirled Peas said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 9:03 am, Dexter Alarius said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 8:32 am, Whirled Peas said:
    I used to resemble that

    Er, does that mean you got better…
    or you gave up the game?

    Had to give it up.. cataracts and glaucoma… going blind slowly but surely… Couldn’t find the ball when I could see (the fairway wasn’t my friend) and I don’t know of a course that allows seeing eye dogs…

  38. #38
    On July 20th, 2011 at 9:18 am, Dexter Alarius said:

    Had to give it up.. cataracts and glaucoma… going blind slowly but surely…

    Sorry to hear that.
    Next time I’m out on the links, I’ll shank one into the woods in your honor.

  39. #39
    On July 20th, 2011 at 9:19 am, mondamay said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 9:08 am, Whirled Peas said:

    Well… I’m off to make money to pay the IRS extortionists. The third and fourth generation entitlement parasites need to make the payments on their 72″ flatscreens.

    Don’t forget their collection of Louis Vuitton luxury handbags.

  40. #40
    On July 20th, 2011 at 9:30 am, spaceycakes said:

    Don’t forget their collection of Louis Vuitton luxury handbags.

    please people–stop thinking that these are ‘Louis Vuitton luxury handbags’. Nineteen out of the twenty LV bags you see females carrying are fakes.

    So endeth my hiraghmesque rant.

  41. #41
    On July 20th, 2011 at 9:36 am, GladzKravtz said:

    That hacks me off.*

    *RIP dear Dad

  42. #42
    On July 20th, 2011 at 9:41 am, mondamay said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 9:30 am, spaceycakes said:
    Nineteen out of the twenty LV bags you see females carrying are fakes.

    What about the ones the guys are carrying?

  43. #43
    On July 20th, 2011 at 9:58 am, spaceycakes said:

    If I see a guy carrying LV luggage, it’s always the same kind of character–sunglasses and on a cell phone. Inside the terminal. Do you think someone who travels with $3000.00 luggage is flying ‘coach’? It’s all fake.

  44. #44
    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:03 am, MamaElk said:

    I have an idea! How about Mullah the Mighty Terrorist go to the closest American military base and stand in front of the gate waving his arms around screaming ” I’m not dead! See I’m here! Those damn hacker punks!” “Oh yeah and we will make Sony Playstation pay dearly for their non-service! I don’t want free games I want revenge!!!”

  45. #45
    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:03 am, MamaElk said:

    I have an idea! How about Mullah the Mighty Terrorist go to the closest American military base and stand in front of the gate waving his arms around screaming ” I’m not dead! See I’m here! Those damn hacker punks!” “Oh yeah and we will make Sony Playstation pay dearly for their non-service! I don’t want free games I want revenge!!!”

  46. #46
    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:03 am, MamaElk said:

    I have an idea! How about Mullah the Mighty Terrorist go to the closest American military base and stand in front of the gate waving his arms around screaming ” I’m not dead! See I’m here! Those damn hacker punks!” “Oh yeah and we will make Sony Playstation pay dearly for their non-service! I don’t want free games I want revenge!!!”

  47. #47
    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:04 am, spaceycakes said:

    like someone who carries a $3000.00 piece of luggage would fly ‘coach’.

  48. #48
    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:08 am, mondamay said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 9:58 am, spaceycakes said:

    Oh I wasn’t thinking “luggage”. I was thinking the metrosexual “I’m going to treat myself to a luxury handbag” type.

  49. #49
    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:21 am, spaceycakes said:

    oops–I just found out how others have double-posted. Sorry.

  50. #50
    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:26 am, MamaElk said:

    Stupid iPad! Very sorry folks….

  51. #51
    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:43 am, John Deaux said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:08 am, mondamay said:
    I was thinking the metrosexual “I’m going to treat myself to a luxury handbag” type.

    They refer to it as a European side bag.

  52. #52
    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:47 am, Ray said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:03 am, MamaElk said:

    I have an idea! How about Mullah the Mighty Terrorist go to the closest American military base and stand in front of the gate waving his arms around screaming ” I’m not dead! See I’m here! Those damn hacker punks!” “Oh yeah and we will make Sony Playstation pay dearly for their non-service! I don’t want free games I want revenge!!!”

    Oh yeah, and “DEATH TO AMERICA”. :)

  53. #53
    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:53 am, Ray said:

    spaceycakes, I think it is the site, not you. Must be hackers at it again. :)

  54. #54
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:12 am, cheapseat said:

    All I know is that one eyed goober hasn’t been seen on the battlefield in a hell of a long time. Another lead from behind el heffe.

  55. #55
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:14 am, Mister P said:

    Isn’t Omar ready to die of old age?

  56. #56
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:15 am, Rogue Cheddar said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:03 am, MamaElk said:

    I thought you had three ideas in a row until I saw you blaming it on your Ipad. You must’ve been hacked.

  57. #57
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:15 am, Mister P said:

    Isn’t Omar ready to die of old age?

  58. #58
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:15 am, Mister P said:

    Isn’t Omar ready to die of old age?

  59. #59
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:16 am, Rogue Cheddar said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 10:03 am, MamaElk said:

    I thought you had three ideas in a row until I saw you blaming it on your Ipad. You must’ve been hacked.

  60. #60
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:24 am, Dexter Alarius said:

    There’s an echo in here…
    here…
    here…

  61. #61
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:28 am, Dexter Alarius said:

    There’s an echo in here…
    here…
    here…

  62. #62
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:29 am, Paratus said:

    I think there’s an echo,echo echo.

  63. #63
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:31 am, Paratus said:

    There’s an echo echo echo.

  64. #64
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:36 am, ArizonaNeanderthal said:

    What is with all the double posts?

  65. #65
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:36 am, ArizonaNeanderthal said:

    What is with all the double posts?

  66. #66
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:38 am, ArizonaNeanderthal said:

    What is with all the double posts?

  67. #67
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:44 am, Dexter Alarius said:

    Hiraghm has obviously ‘hacked’ MM’s site in revenge for misuse of words.

  68. #68
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:48 am, ArizonaNeanderthal said:

    Bad posters-bad, except me of course 8-)

  69. #69
    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:53 am, mondamay said:

    Posts are taking up to 5 minutes to get through. Patience and trust (and the lack of an iPad) will see your posts through in all their singular glory.

  70. #70
    On July 20th, 2011 at 12:44 pm, Dexter Alarius said:

    Except I’m at a desktop with a fast connection, and it’s still taking a long time, and sometimes posting 2 or 3 copies without touching it after the first ‘submit’.

    Definitely something weird going on.

  71. #71
    On July 20th, 2011 at 12:45 pm, BobStevenson said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 2:29 am, bigbeachbird said:
    On July 20th, 2011 at 12:56 am, Luther said:
    feminists like Lorena Bobbitt and Catherine Kieu Becker chop off male penises

    Is there any other kind?

    Chaz Bono?

  72. #72
    On July 20th, 2011 at 3:05 pm, T-Bone said:

    If they can hack into the Talibans spokesmans cell phone, then they should be able to see who they called and when and any text messages that were sent. This should help them locate Omar. Why would they give themsleves away by sending fake messages?

    In fact, these spokemen are terrorists themselves. Why are they roaming free? They are aiding in harboring a fugitive. Oh yeah, they are in Pakistan which is a country also using aid from our tax dollars to fund the Taliban to kill our soldiers.

  73. #73
    On July 20th, 2011 at 3:31 pm, NJ-Aviator said:

    On July 20th, 2011 at 11:36 am, ArizonaNeanderthal said:

    What is with all the double posts?

    errrr.. triple posts….

  74. #74
    On July 20th, 2011 at 3:32 pm, Ilovemycountry said:

    Oh No! He needs to be alive, because if he got killed it would be bad for….

    The Taliban? Yes.

    The world? No.

    The Republicans? Yes.

    Good to see nothing has changed.

  75. #75
    On July 20th, 2011 at 4:55 pm, 1ConcernedMom said:

    This story reminds me of an e-mail I received that read:

    There is now conclusive evidence that Osama Bin Laden is dead.
    This week he registered to vote as a Democrat in Chicago.

    Does anyone know if Mullah Omar has recently registered to vote as a Democrat? :)

  76. #76
    On July 20th, 2011 at 4:57 pm, 1ConcernedMom said:

    I see Ilovemycrazycomments is back at it.

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