WSJ reports:

President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. will pull out all of its troops from Iraq by the end of December, drawing the nine-year war to a conclusion.

The announcement signals the imminent end of a war that has cost the U.S. more than $800 billion dollars and claimed the lives of 3,525 American service members.

Obama administration officials had considered extending the U.S. troop presence beyond the end of the year, leaving a force of between 3,000 and 5,000 for contingencies. The proposal was controversial, dividing administration officials. But the president’s announcement will settle the debate and spell an end to the U.S. troop presence.

Military leaders wanted to keep a presence in Iraq to serve as a training role, and a deterrent to Iranian meddling in Iraq’s affairs.

But negotiations with a divided Iraqi government foundered over the issue of whether U.S. forces should be given a measure of immunity from Iraq laws while serving in the country. The military routinely demands such protections as a condition of deploying troops abroad, but Iraqi officials balked.

Even with a full troop withdrawal, a very small number of military personnel will remain in Baghdad and at U.S. diplomatic facilities to help Iraq with matters such as purchases of American weapons systems, including Abrams tanks and F-16 fighters. But there will be no long-term military-led training program.

***

Commenter canb0nly1:

I’m having a sense of dejavu

Lemme Google that for ya…

Before 9/11, there was 10/12. The USS Cole bombing, eleven years ago today, should have taught us all that the jihadists’ war on the infidel West started a long, long time ago.

The Navy will remember in Norfolk today.

Have you forgotten? Too many have:

Remember: The flame of Muslim outrage is eternal.

Never forget: The American heroes who gave their lives.

Electronics Technician 1st Class Richard Costelow
Mess Management Specialist Lakina Francis
Information Systems Technician Tim Guana
Signalman Seaman Recruit Cherone Gunn
Seaman James McDaniels
Engineman 2nd Class Mark Nieto
Electronics Warfare Technician 3rd Class Ronald Owens
Seaman Recruit Lakiba Parker
Engineman Fireman Joshua Parlett
Fireman Apprentice Patrick Roy
Electronics Warfare Technician Kevin Rux
Petty Officer 3rd Class Ron Santiago
Operations Special 2nd Class Timothy Sanders
Fireman Gary Swenchonis Jr
Ensign Andrew Triplett
Seaman Apprentice Craig Wibberly
Hull Maintenance Technician 3rd Class Kenneth Clodfelter.

***

Flashback October 12, 2001…

A forgotten day of infamy
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
10/12/01

BEFORE 9-11, there was 10-12. On this dark day, one year ago, a bomb ripped through the U.S.S. Cole – and tore apart the lives of 17 American families who lost loved ones in the terrorist attack. The Cole, a guided missile destroyer sent to enforce the United Nations embargo on Iraq, had been refueling at the Yemeni port of Aden when a pair of suicide bombers rammed their explosive-packed skiff into the American ship.

A year later, the Cole crewmembers and their families have been largely forgotten. Despite former President Clinton’s swaggering promise to track down the attackers (“We will find out who was responsible and hold them accountable.”) not a single suspect has answered for the despicable murders on Oct. 12, 2000. Yemen – long a safe haven for terrorists — refuses to cooperate with our Federal Bureau of Investigation. Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind both the 10-12 and 9-11 attacks, continues to breathe free while American widows grieve.

One of those young widows is Sharla Costelow. Her husband Richard, a chief petty officer on the Cole, died while lunching in the chief’s mess when the explosion hit. A communications technology whiz, he had been promoted at sea a month before the attack. In a paper he wrote during his Chief’s initiation process, Costelow reflected on his new responsibilities: “To instill excellence in today’s generation is a tough job. A Chief must be ready for the challenges that this job creates. I will be ready. I have to be. The future of the Navy depends on it. I will not sit back and take it easy. I will strive for excellence in all that I do.”

Chief Costelow — 35, dedicated to the defense of his country, and devoted to his family — now lies buried in a field of fallen heroes at Arlington National Cemetery.

“There are still days when I get depressed, and angry, and can’t stop crying,” Mrs. Costelow told me in a phone interview earlier this week. The pain, she said, “didn’t end with the death of my husband. It’s part of our daily lives.” She preserves the memory of her husband and the Cole by maintaining a website and writing letters to Congress — which have been ignored.

The great Christian author C.S. Lewis wrote: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Shame on those government officials who refuse to hear the Cole families’ pleas for answers – and accountability. “It’s been swept under the rug,” Mrs. Costelow noted. But she won’t be silenced. She supports the current action in Afghanistan against bin Laden, but she is upset that “so many people had to die because of these terrorists. I feel strongly that our government at the time of the Cole attack was totally negligent.”

Mrs. Costelow wants to write a book about her experience, but in the meantime, her children (Dillon, 14, Brady, 6, and Ethan, 4) keep her going — along with her religious faith. On her website memorial to her husband, Mrs. Costelow posted an image of an eagle along with a scriptural passage that inspires her: “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary (Isaiah 40: 31).”

The most difficult thing to deal with, Mrs. Costelow said, is the irreplaceable loss suffered by her boys. “The love of their father, the look in his eyes, the feeling from his heart – they won’t ever have that again.” Her youngest son, Ethan, still has trouble sleeping sometimes because “he’s afraid the bad guys will come and get him like they got his dad.”

Never forget Ethan Costelow’s fear. Never forget his father’s bravery and his mother’s grief. This is why we are at war with the evil forces of terrorism. This is why we must win.

Christians remained in mortal danger among the sharia enforcers. The war on infidels never ends.

In Egypt over the weekend, the repression against Coptic Christians reared its bloody head again:

Egyptian Christians turned their fury against the army on Monday after at least 25 people were killed when troops crushed a protest using tactics that deepened public doubts about the military’s ability to steer Egypt peacefully toward democracy.

In the worst violence since Hosni Mubarak was ousted, armored vehicles sped into a crowd late on Sunday to break up a protest near Cairo’s state television. Online videos showed mangled bodies. Activists said corpses were crushed by wheels.

Tension between Muslims and minority Coptic Christians has simmered for years but has worsened since the anti-Mubarak revolt, which gave freer rein to Salafist and other strict Islamist groups that the former president had repressed.

The ruling military council called on the interim government to investigate the clashes urgently and said it would take necessary measures to maintain security, state TV said.

But much of the anger from Sunday’s violence targeted the army, accused by politicians from all sides of worsening social tension through a clumsy response to street violence and not giving a clear timetable for handing power to civilians.

From AP, more on the crackdown:

There is no precise breakdown of how many Christians and Muslims were among the victims, but the 26 are believed to be mostly Christian. Officials said at least three soldiers were among the dead. Nearly 500 people were injured. Egypt’s official news agency said dozens have been arrested.

Much smaller skirmishes broke out again Monday outside the Coptic hospital where many of the Christian victims were taken the night before. Several hundred Christians pelted police with rocks outside while the screams of grieving women rang out from inside the hospital. Some of the hundreds of men gathered outside held wooden crosses and empty coffins were lined up outside the hospital.

There were no word on casualties from the new clashes.

Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s 85 million people, blame the ruling military council that took power after the uprising for being too lenient on those behind a spate of anti-Christian attacks since Mubarak’s ouster. The chaotic power transition has left a security vacuum, and the Coptic Christian minority is particularly worried about a show of force by ultraconservative Islamists, known as Salafis.

In recent weeks, riots have broken out at two churches in southern Egypt, prompted by Muslim crowds angry over church construction. One riot broke out near the city of Aswan, even after church officials agreed to a demand by ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafis that a cross and bells be removed from the building.

Aswan’s governor, Gen. Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, further raised tensions by suggesting to the media that the church construction was illegal.

A three-day period of mourning begins tomorrow for the victims. Photos of the protests here.

***

Related: Updates on Pastor Nadarkhani in Iran…

Iran’s supreme leader to hear the case. Gulp:

The court case of an Iranian pastor facing a possible death sentence for apostasy is being referred to Iran’s supreme leader, the pastor’s lawyer told AFP on Monday.

“The court has decided to ask the opinion of Mr (Ali) Khamenei,” Iran’s supreme leader, in the matter of pastor Yusef Nadarkhani, lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah said.

Ayatollah Khamenei has ultimate authority in the Islamic republic.

However the move to involve him in the case is unusual, and suggested that a final verdict in the case — which has garnered international attention — could be delayed.

Nadarkhani’s lawyer had previously been expecting a verdict any time from last Saturday.

Nadarkhani, a 32-year-old pastor of a small evangelical community called the Church of Iran, was arrested in October 2009 and condemned to death under Islamic sharia law for converting to Christianity when he was 19.

Sharia law allows for such verdicts to be overturned if the convicted person “repents” and renounces his conversion.

The Indian Church weighs in:

The Indian Church has joined many international voices to condemn the conviction of Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani who is facing execution for refusing to convert to Islam from Christianity.

Nadarkhani was arrested in 2009 for apostasy and was sentenced to death under Islamic Sharia law. Before his arrest, the 32-year old pastor led a congregation of about 400 Christians in Rasht, a major business centre in northwest Iran.

The National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), in a letter to the Embassy of Iran in New Delhi, expressed concern over the arrest and scheduled execution of Nadarkhani, and appealed for his release.

NCCI is the apex body of the Protestant and Orthodox churches in India.

“Pastor Nadarkhani has been repeatedly persecuted by the Iranian authorities for his Christian religion and his refusal to renounce his Christian faith,” said the letter signed by the general secretary, Rev. Dr. Roger Gaikwad.

Gaikwad appealed that the Iranian authorities do not subject Nadarkhani to torture or other ill-treatment, and that he will be given access to family and any necessary medical attention.

While pleading to pursue all avenues to repeal the death sentence of Nadarkhani, Gaikwad also highlighted the continued persecution of religious minorities which he said was also a matter of grave concern.

“We urge to you that Christians and other minorities will be allowed to practice their choice of religion in Iran,” he said.

The ACLJ has the very latest on Christian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who faces the death penalty in Iran because he refuses to renounce his faith.

The mullahcracy has cooked up bogus charges that now include being a “Zionist” and traitor:

In a troubling development, Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani’s attorney, Mohammed Ali Dadkha, has acknowledged the possibility of the charges against him being changed. Recall, throughout the last two years and most recently at the Iranian Supreme Court, Pastor Nadarkhani was on trial for apostasy and nothing else. Now, as Fox News reported, the Iranian government is claiming that Pastor Nadarkhani was charged with a number of crimes including being a threat to national security and a Zionist, but not apostasy.

The charge of being a Zionist and thus a traitor, terms that imply he is some kind of spy for Israel and opponent of the Islamic Republic, is among the most serious accusations that can be made in Iran. Unfortunately, we know that this is the charge Iran levies to justify executing people who were actually arrested, imprisoned, and tried on completely different charges. While these new charges may be, as I said before, an attempt to deflect media and international attention, the fact that it is possible the Pastor could actually face these charges means that his life is in more danger now than it has been at any other time since the trial began.

It is also becoming more difficult to confirm that he is still alive. Throughout Pastor Nadarkhani’s two-year imprisonment, he has traditionally only been permitted to have one visitor per week. This is one barrier we have to overcome each day when we try to get solid confirmation that he is alive. We can confirm that our contacts in Iran have reported that as of yesterday evening, Pastor Youcef was still alive, but that is becoming more and more difficult to confirm each day.

More on the trumped-up charges via Fox News:

In a ruling from the Iranian Supreme Court obtained by FoxNews.com, Nadarkhani was sentenced to execution by hanging for breaking Islamic law by conducting Christian worship and baptizing himself and others.

Nowhere in the ruling is there a mention of these new charges, which were first reported by Iranian news agency FARS.

Nadarkhani’s lawyer, Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, says he has not received any of these new charges from the Supreme Court, according to the ACLJ.

“The opinions of these new charges come from the political branch. Not a single judicial figure, a prosecutor or member of the court has spoken to these new charges,” Dadkhah said through a translator.

Hello, U.N.? Hello, State Department?

The European Center for Law and Justice, an affiliate of the ACLJ and an non-governmental organization with consultative status at the U.N., is looking at taking action at the United Nations this week.

“We have not seen any new charges from the court,” an official for the U.S. State Department said. “We continue to seek additional information.”

If you haven’t signed the petition to save Nadarkhani, go here right now and spread the word.

***

Previous:

9/29 Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani faces execution for refusing to renounce Christianity: Where are the Hollyweirdos and Euroweenies now?; Update: White House statement; Britain, EU stand up

9/30 Pastor Nadarkhani update: State Department, Boehner weigh in

Whoa.

Fresh reports that a second U.S. jihadi was killed in the drone attack that allegedly took out al Qaeda spiritual guru Anwar al-Awlaki.

His name will be very familiar to longtime blog readers.

It’s Samir Khan:

A young American who edited al Qaeda’s English-language magazine, and had urged Muslims to mount deadly attacks on U.S. targets, was killed in the same CIA drone strike that eliminated Anwar Awlaki in Yemen Friday, U.S. officials said.

Khan, 25, was the Saudi-born, New York-raised editor behind “Inspire” magazine, the English language online publication of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP. Khan had become a rising figure in jihadist propaganda and an “aspiring” Awlaki, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

But while Awlaki relied on sermons to recruit jihadis, Khan used sarcasm and idiomatic English in an attempt to appeal to Western youth. As Khan himself has said, “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that I [am] Al Qaeda to the core.” He titled a rebuke of toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak “A Cold Diss.” Khan’s ability to use American vernacular, like a graphic depicting graffiti that reads, “Jihad 4 Eva,” had prompted concerns that young Muslims with an interest in jihad and al Qaeda would be drawn to a voice similar to their own.

“He does appear to be increasingly involved with operational activities [of Al Qaeda]“, a U.S. official told ABC News in 2010.

I repeat: God bless our military.

***

My friends at top counterjihad blog The Jawa Report have been on Khan for years and helped shut down several of his jihad-inciting blogs after tracking him across the Internet (he went by the name “Inshallahshaheed”).

In 2007, I noted Khan’s death threats against the founder of The Jawa Report, who goes by the nom de blog Rusty Shackelford:

Charlotte,N.C.-based Internet jihadist Samir Khan, who’s still hate-blogging, threatens the life of pseudonymous Jawa Report founder Rusty Shackleford after the Jawas wreak hot-linking havoc on the jihadist’s cyber-assets:

O Allah kill Rusty Shackleford and terrorize his family.

O Allah kill Rusty Shackleford and terrorize his family.

O Allah kill Rusty Shackleford and terrorize his family.

May this Kaafir rot in this world and be tortured forever in the Hereafter.

The Jawa Report continued to flag Khan’s online activities and his ties to jihad plotters.

Khan kept the American bloggers in his crosshairs:

In October 2007, the New York Times outed Khan.

In October 2010, Jawa Report broke the news of Khan’s coming out as an al Qaeda traitor working in America:

MSM followed up:

The text of Khan’s manifesto:

This is the story of the Muslim American jihadi, Samir Khan. After working a few years in the jihad media sector in America, he packed his bags and left for Yemen to help the mujahidin. This is an account of how he happily became a traitor to America and why he chose to make such a decision.

Therefore, I am proud to be a traitor in America’s eyes just as much as I am proud to be a Muslim; and I take this opportunity to accentuate my oath of allegiance (bai`yah) and the mujahidin of the Arabian Peninsula’s bai`yah to the ferocious lion, the champion of jihad, the humble servant of God, my beloved Shaykh, Usama bin Ladin, may Allah protect him. Verily, he is the man that has shook the thrones of the tyrants of the world. We pledge to wage jihad for the rest of our lives until either we implant Islam all over the world or meet our Lord as bearers of Islam. And how reputable, adventurous and pleasurable is such a life compared to those who remain sitting, working from nine to five?

As Rusty put it after digesting Khan’s manifesto:

This makes two Americans who are in charge of al Qaeda media — Adam Gadahn in Pakistan/Afghanistan for their as Sahab label and Samir Khan in Yemen for the English side of their al Malahein label.

This should drive home the point that the global jihad is not an Arab or a Pakistani problem. Violent jihad is not only being imported from these countries, but we are now exporting the future leaders of the jihad.

Think about that for awhile.

For those who have serious reservations about targeting American citizens using drones, I wonder if this changes anything for you? Does that fact that Khan openly and gleefully admits that he is a traitor change your mind? Or do you still think that people like Khan, Adam Gadahn, and Anwar al-Awlaki can’t be targeted due to some overriding principle of “justice” only happening within the confines of US courts?

Exit quotation from FBI Assistant Director Mark Giuliano in April 2011:

An an official “statement for the record” to the The Washington Institute for Near East Policy yesterday, FBI Assistant Director Mark Giuliano noted that al Qaeda central remains a threat, but that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is now the greatest threat to the homeland. Why? Because Americans like spiritual leader Anwar al-Awlaki and chief propagandist Samir Khan know our security weaknesses:

I believe the most serious threat to the homeland today emanates from members of AQAP. AQAP leaders such as Anwar Aulaqi and Samir Khan have published articles on the internet detailing their intent to strike the United States. Several key AQAP figures were born or educated in the United States and understand our culture, our limitations, our security protocols, and our vulnerabilities. They use this understanding to develop and refine new tactics and techniques to defeat our security measures and attack us.

***

Reax from Rusty at the Jawa Report here: “As long time readers know, Samir and I have had personal disputes over the years. It was Samir, then blogging as Inshallahshaheed, who threatened to kill my family. He even made this nice little graphic to go along with the threat. He who laughs last, laughs loudest. Also, the guy not killed in a drone strike. He laughs loudest, too.”

As regular readers know, The Jawa Report has been at the forefront of demonstrating the potent capabilities of online American bloggers/activists to play a critical role in combating jihad. The Jawas have done heroic work unmasking jihadi operatives online and on YouTube.

Last March, I linked to the Jawas’ story of the citizen who turned in the American “Jihad Jane” operative who pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a Muslim terror plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who offended Islam.

I’ll say again what I said then: Be sure to send thanks and praise to the vigilant bloggers and watchdogs looking out for us and acting.

Yesterday, I asked the State Department several times if it would be making a statement about the impending execution in Iran of Christian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani.

Late last night, they finally did — first via Twitter and then directly from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Keep spreading the word, putting pressure on your representatives to speak out, and letting your friends, workers, and faith leaders know.

Every public condemnation counts:

Press Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
September 30, 2011

The United States is deeply concerned by reports of the Iranian government’s continued repression of its people. Despite statements from Iran’s Supreme Leader and President claiming support for the rights and freedoms of Iranian citizens and people in the region, the government continues its crackdown on all forms of dissent, belief, and assembly.

We are particularly concerned by reports that Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is facing execution on charges of apostasy for refusing to recant his faith. This comes amid a harsh onslaught against followers of diverse faiths, including Zoroastrians, Sufis, and Baha’is.

Iran’s government continues to arrest journalists and filmmakers. They are restricting access to information by jamming incoming satellite broadcasts and filtering the Internet.

The United States stands with the international community and all Iranians against the Iranian government’s hypocritical statements and actions, and we continue to call for a government that respects the human rights and freedom of all those living in Iran.

GOP House Speaker John Boehner has added his voice:

Iran is drawing widespread criticism over reports that an Iranian pastor faces execution for refusing to recant his Christian faith and return to Islam. “Religious freedom is a universal human right,” Boehner said. He said that the prospects that Nadarkhani could be executed “unless he disavows his Christian faith are distressing for people of every country and creed.

“While Iran’s government claims to promote tolerance, it continues to imprison many of its people because of their faith. This goes beyond the law to an issue of fundamental respect for human dignity,” said Boehner.

The stalwart ACLJ continues to lead the defense of Pastor Nadarkhani and reports that the death sentence still stands. The pastor’s attorney based in Iran says to please keep up the pressure:

Today, ACLJ attorneys confirmed with Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani’s attorney in Iran, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, that the death sentence still stands. Mr. Dadkhah stated that at the end of yesterday’s hearing, three of the five judges appeared to be leaning toward annulling Pastor Youcef’s sentence. Recognizing, however, that the judges’ decision is not final and may be swayed by outside pressure before delivering the final verdict, he urges the international community to continue to cry out for Pastor Youcef’s unconditional release until he walks free from the jailhouse.

More from ACLJ’s Jordan Sekulow here.

Let’s hope it really happened this time.

In December 2009, Reuters reported that al Qaeda recruiter and Fort Hood jihadist spiritual advisor Anwar al Awlaki was killed in an airstrike in Yemen.

He counseled the 9/11 jihadists, hailed Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan as a “hero,” reportedly inspired both the Christmas day would-be underwear bomber and another cargo plane jihadi plot, and has been on the lam since 2002.

The 2009 report turned out to be false.

Today, the New York Times reports again that Awlaki has been killed…in an airstrike in Yemen.

A missile fired from an American drone aircraft in Yemen on Friday killed Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who was a leading figure in Al Qaeda’s affiliate there, according to an official in Washington.

Many of the details of the strike were unclear, but the official said that the drone fired a Hellfire missile and killed Mr. Awlaki, whom the United States had been hunting in Yemen for more than two years.

Yemen’s Defense Ministry confirmed Mr. Awlaki’s death, and both Yemeni and American officials hailed the strike as a significant success in the campaign to weaken Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a group American officials believe to be the most dangerous Qaeda affiliate.

Military.com is carrying an AP piece reporting the same:

Al-Awlaki would be the most prominent al-Qaida figure to be killed since Osama bin Laden’s death in a U.S. raid in Pakistan in May. In July, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Yemeni-American was a priority target alongside Ayman al-Zawahri, bin Laden’s successor as the terror network’s leader.

The 40-year-old al-Awlaki had been in the U.S. crosshairs since his killing was approved by President Obama in April 2010 — making him the first American placed on the CIA “kill or capture” list. At least twice, airstrikes were called in on locations in Yemen where al-Awlaki was suspected of being, but he wasn’t harmed.

Al-Awlaki, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, was believed to be key in turning al-Qaida’s affiliate in Yemen into what American officials have called the most significant and immediate threat to the Untied States. The branch, led by a Yemeni militant named Nasser al-Wahishi, plotted several failed attacks on U.S. soil — the botched Christmas 2009 attempt to blow up an American airliner heading to Detroit and a foiled 2010 attempt to ship explosives by cargo plane to Chicago.

***

Obama’s far left flank will be unhappy if the mission to kill Awlaki, an American citizen, was successful. They will again decry such drone strikes against American citizens as unprecedented and lawless.

On this, I will come to Obama’s defense.

Awlaki’s membership and leadership in al Qaeda is undisputed.

We are at war.

The Supreme Court set the precedent for Obama’s and our military’s actions in 1942.

I’ve referred before to the Quirin precedent.

Reminder from April 2010 (NYT):

It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for targeted killing, officials said. A former senior legal official in the administration of George W. Bush said he did not know of any American who was approved for targeted killing under the former president.

But the director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, told a House hearing in February that such a step was possible. “We take direct actions against terrorists in the intelligence community,” he said. “If we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that.” He did not name Mr. Awlaki as a target.

The step taken against Mr. Awlaki, which occurred earlier this year, is a vivid illustration of his rise to prominence in the constellation of terrorist leaders. But his popularity as a cleric, whose lectures on Islamic scripture have a large following among English-speaking Muslims, means any action against him could rebound against the United States in the larger ideological campaign against Al Qaeda.

The possibility that Mr. Awlaki might be added to the target list was reported by The Los Angeles Times in January, and Reuters reported on Tuesday that he was approved for capture or killing.

“The danger Awlaki poses to this country is no longer confined to words,” said an American official, who like other current and former officials interviewed for this article spoke of the classified counterterrorism measures on the condition of anonymity. “He’s gotten involved in plots.”

The official added: “The United States works, exactly as the American people expect, to overcome threats to their security, and this individual — through his own actions — has become one. Awlaki knows what he’s done, and he knows he won’t be met with handshakes and flowers. None of this should surprise anyone.”

As a general principle, international law permits the use of lethal force against individuals and groups that pose an imminent threat to a country, and officials said that was the standard used in adding names to the list of targets. In addition, Congress approved the use of military force against Al Qaeda after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. People on the target list are considered to be military enemies of the United States and therefore not subject to the ban on political assassination first approved by President Gerald R. Ford.

Both the C.I.A. and the military maintain lists of terrorists linked to Al Qaeda and its affiliates who are approved for capture or killing, former officials said. But because Mr. Awlaki is an American, his inclusion on those lists had to be approved by the National Security Council, the officials said.

At a panel discussion in Washington on Tuesday, Representative Jane Harman, Democrat of California and chairwoman of a House subcommittee on homeland security, called Mr. Awlaki “probably the person, the terrorist, who would be terrorist No. 1 in terms of threat against us.”

Federal prosecutor and war on terror legal expert Andrew McCarthy defended the targeted assassination of Awlaki in April 2010 and illuminates how the Left/Democrats will be tied up in knots:

The only reason for calling attention to Obama’s targeting of Awlaki is its demonstration of the illogic of the Left’s position on treatment of the enemy. According to the report, a U.S. official told Reuters that “Awlaki is a proven threat,” and therefore someone who could properly be targeted for killing. But by leftist standards — including those urged by Attorney General Holder when he was in private practice filing briefs in support of American-born “dirty bomber” Jose Padilla — Awlaki is most certainly not a proven threat. He has not been convicted in a court of law.

So here is the Obama Left’s position. If an alien enemy combatant, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, mass-murders 3000 Americans and is then captured outside the U.S. in wartime, we need to bring him to the United States and give him a civilian trial with all attendant due process rights. If an alien enemy combatant is sending emails from outside the U.S. to an al Qaeda cell inside the U.S., the commander-in-chief needs a judge’s permission (on a showing of probable cause) to intercept those communications. If an American citizen terrorist outside the United States — say, Awlaki in Yemen — is calling or emailing the United States (or anyplace else), the commander-in-chief needs a judge’s permission to intercept those communications. If we capture an alien enemy combatant conducting war operations against the U.S. overseas, we should give him Miranda warnings, a judicial right to challenge his detention as a war prisoner, and (quite likely) a civilian trial. But, if the commander-in-chief decides to short-circuit the whole menu of civil rights by killing an American citizen, that’s fine — no due process, no interference by a judge, no Miranda, no nothing. He is a proven threat because … the president says so.

That’s OK with me — I think the flaws in the equation are the various lawfare devices by which we now tie the commander-in-chief’s hands with legal processes. War is not supposed to be litigation. It’s not about rights for the enemy but rather victory for the American people. But why do I think the Left will suddenly be OK with (or, at least, muted in its criticism of) targeted assassination because the president’s name is now Obama rather than Bush?

Some were not, of course. Last fall, the ACLU filed a cockamamie lawsuit on behalf of Awlaki. It was thrown out by a judge in December and the ACLU and its prog comrades gave up appealing in February.

More McCarthy context and analysis:

We are a political society, not a legal one. The executive branch typically has vast legal authority, but its exercise of that authority is hemmed in — thank goodness — by politics. As I’ve noted before, if five guys sitting in a circle pass a single marijuana joint around, each hand-to-hand exchange is actually a felony violation, punishable (under federal law) by up to 20 years’ imprisonment. Yet, no prosecutor would ever bring such a case. He would be fired and the president who appointed him would sustain a lot of political damage. The lesson is clear: People see the sense in having a weighty penalty available for drug-distribution offenses but expect the executive branch to use it responsibly.

I think the same principle applies here. In Ex Parte Quirin, the 1942 German-saboteur case, one of the terrorists was an American citizen and he was here to conduct terrorist attacks — which the government knew at the time he was apprehended. But, even though war had been declared, the government didn’t assassinate him or his German confederates. They were captured and given a military trial before being executed. Another U.S. citizen, Jose Padilla, was sent by al-Qaeda after 9/11 (i.e., after Congress authorized military force) to conduct terrorist attacks. He wasn’t assassinated either; he was arrested in Chicago, held for a few years as an enemy combatant, and eventually convicted in a civilian trial (albeit for terrorist crimes unrelated to the post-9/11 plot).

The Obama administration is not, by authorizing Awlaki’s assassination, green-lighting his killing under all conceivable circumstances. The administration, I suspect, is just making sure that if he’s found congregating in a sanctuary with other terrorists, we can bomb the sanctuary — we don’t have to forfeit a worthy military operation just because one of the terrorists happens to be an American citizen. But if he’s found under other circumstances, where there is no demonstrable military value in killing him, he will be captured, held, interrogated (one hopes), and tried — either by a civilian or (I would hope) a military court.

This seems like common sense to me. The unfortunate thing is that the assassination authorization should never have been made public. Clearly, the administration leaked it to underscore the president’s willingness to fight al-Qaeda aggressively. All the leak has done, though, is cause unnecessary legal headaches. If the administration had handled this top-secret authorization appropriately, chances are: Awlaki would, at some point, have been either killed or captured; the attendant circumstances would have made it obvious why the option chosen (kill or capture) was chosen; and no one would ever have thought to ask whether Obama had authorized his assassination.

Shall we now look for mass Code Pink demonstrations and calls to prosecute Obama for war crimes like we saw under the Bush administration? Will progs start hounding Obama officials the way they still hound Bush lawyers such as John Yoo?

I leave you with this link to Awlaki’s timeline of jihad activities and two words if the reports of his death are true:

Good riddance.

***

Oh, and four more words: God bless our military.

(Refresh your memories on Awlaki’s jihadi rants inciting violence against our troops by Muslim infiltrators.)

Over the years, I’ve highlighted the plight of Muslim apostates around the world.

See here, here, and here, for example.

One of the early blog campaigns I was involved in focused on Abdul Rahman, the Christian convert who fled Afghanistan in 2006 and found safety in Italy after Muslim mobs demanded he be killed for abandoning Islam.

See:

Many more Abdul Rahmans
Abdul Rahman update
Abdul Rahman has landed
Abdul Rahman: Safe for now
Abdul Rahman “vanishes”
Abdul Rahman seeks asylum
Abdul Rahman to be released
Steyn on Rahman and Islam
What are you praying for?
The religion of pieces
Condi Rice calls Karzai
Free Abdul Rahman
Canada supports Abdul Rahman
Rally for Abdul Rahman
Bush: “Deeply troubled”
Video: “I am not an apostate”
Who will save Abdul Rahman?
“We will cut him into little pieces”
Save Abdul Rahman
A Christian on trial

To oppose the Koranic mandate of death for apostasy is to take on the entire sharia-enforcing Muslim world.

Which is why you never hear purported anti-death penalty bleeding-heart celebrities say a peep about it.

It takes no guts or brains for Hollywood liberals (hello, Alec Baldwin) and America-bashing Brit journalists (hello, U.K. Guardian editors) to bemoan the execution of a convicted Death Row cop-killer who was able to pursue every last legal avenue for more than two decades.

It tells you everything about their selective outrage that they have nothing to say about the latest impending execution in Iran of a Christian pastor:

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, the head of a network of Christian house churches in Iran, could be executed as soon as midnight Wednesday in Tehran for refusing to recant his religious beliefs and convert to Islam, said the chair of a commission that monitors religious freedom around the world.

A statement by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent advisory group appointed by the president and Congress, “expressed deep concern” for the man’s fate.

After four days of an appeals trial for apostasy, Nadarkhani refused to recant his beliefs.

Leonard Leo, chair of the commission, said the pastor “is being asked to recant a faith he has always had. Once again, the Iranian regime has demonstrated that it practices hypocritical barbarian practices.”

Leo said that while the trial is closed to the press, the commission collects information from sources in Iran and around the world. A release by the group says their responsibility is to “review the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally.”

“I would be disappointed if at the end of this whole maelstrom, there was no statement by our government on this situation,” Leo said. “At some point the United States has to stand up for the right of this pastor and for human rights more broadly and call countries to account for what they are doing.”

The commission’s statement also called the trial a sham and said Iran is violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party.

Take action here.

ACLJ has been helping with Pastor Nadarkhani’s defense. Support them here.

***

Alec Baldwin’s first reaction when I sent out a reader’s tweet wondering why he didn’t seem to care about the case. He mocked:

Minutes later…

It’s progress. Anything to spread word of the story helps.

***

More:

*Facing Execution for the ‘Crime’ of Being a Christian In Iran:

In 2010, the Iranian regime carried out 546 executions, more than at any other time during the preceding decade, and representing an increase of around 25 per cent on the previous year. Increasingly, execution is becoming Tehran’s favored method for dealing with anyone it deems an opponent — like Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, an Iranian pastor who has refused to recant his Christian faith.

Pastor Nadarkhani’s case is another grim illustration of the volatile situation faced by religious minorities living under Iran’s Islamist clerics. Even though the state formally recognizes the existence of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, these minorities are under no illusions about their subordinate status.

Since 2009, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole Iran’s election to claim a further term as the country’s president, the crime of “moharebeh” — waging war against God — has frequently been invoked against those who question the Islamic legal codes which underpin the state.

*To Hang an Apostate:

Yousef Nadarkhani sentenced to die for changing his religion.

Yesterday it was reported that Yousef Nadarkhani faced the death penalty in Iran unless, on the fourth and final opportunity, he recanted his Christianity.

This seemed too incredible to be true. However, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) speedily provided original judgments and unofficial English translations. And, on the basis of the translations, it was clear: a man was actually sentenced to hang just for converting from one religion to another.

CSW now report that Nadarkhani refused to recant on the fourth and final opportunity. If CSW and the source they are relying on are correct, this means that Nadarkhani can now be hanged unless the Court decides otherwise.

*In Algeria, distributing CDs about Christianity will get you five years in jail.

*Jordan Sekulow, ACLJ:

Evangelical conservatives are fighting for freedom and basic human rights around the world. Our main adversaries are often theocratic governments.

Christians, like Youcef Nadarkhani, a pastor in Iran sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic for his faith, are on the front line of the global fight for religious freedom. On September 25, a court in Iran is set to decide whether he is a convert from Islam to Christianity. If the court finds that Youcef is an apostate, he can be executed.

Pastor Nadarkhani’s Iranian lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, a Muslim, has been sentenced to 9 years in prison and banned from practicing law by the Iranian government, essentially for representing individuals such as Pastor Nadarkhani.

The ACLJ is working with Mr. Dadkhah, a well-known human rights attorney who founded the Defenders of Human Rights Center along with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.

A conservative Christian legal organization and a Muslim human rights attorney are battling theocracy together. This isn’t new for the ACLJ. In Pakistan, our office works with brave attorneys, some of whom are Muslim, willing to defend persecuted Christians.

***

Flashback: Texas executes Mexican citizen despite pleas from Obama, UN

***

This morning, I asked Press Secretary Jay Carney if the White House would weigh in.

At 2pm Eastern, this statement was released from the press secretary’s office:

The United States condemns the conviction of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani. Pastor Nadarkhani has done nothing more than maintain his devout faith, which is a universal right for all people. That the Iranian authorities would try to force him to renounce that faith violates the religious values they claim to defend, crosses all bounds of decency, and breaches Iran’s own international obligations. A decision to impose the death penalty would further demonstrate the Iranian authorities’ utter disregard for religious freedom, and highlight Iran’s continuing violation of the universal rights of its citizens. We call upon the Iranian authorities to release Pastor Nadarkhani, and demonstrate a commitment to basic, universal human rights, including freedom of religion.

Good for the White House. May every other civilized country’s officials raise their voices and do the same.

***

More on White House reax.

Still no statement from State Department, which pleaded to save the life of a convicted Mexican child rapist. But they did tweet about World Heart Day today…

***

Update: Britain and the EU add their voices.

“I deplore reports that Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, an Iranian church leader, could be executed imminently after refusing an order by the Supreme Court of Iran to recant his faith,” Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website.

“This demonstrates the Iranian regime’s continued unwillingness to abide by its constitutional and international obligations to respect religious freedom,” the statement said. “I pay tribute to the courage shown by Pastor Nadarkhani who has no case to answer and call on the Iranian authorities to overturn his sentence.”

***

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Thursday joined calls for Iran to free a pastor facing the death sentence for refusing to renounce his Christian faith, AFP reported.

“I urge the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect its international human rights commitments, including on freedom of religion or belief, and strongly appeal to Iran not to sentence Pastor Nadarkhani to death,” Ashton said in a statement.

“I call for Mr Nadarkhani’s immediate and unconditional release.”

I didn’t want to waste any more energy and space than I needed to yesterday on NYT wackadoodle Paul Krugman’s two-minutes-hate blog post about post-9/11 America. But on the morning after, it is worth calling out the smug coward who flung his op-ed crap against the wall and then deliberately turned off his comments section to avoid any heat in the Times’ kitchen.

After ten years, the sum total of Krugman’s 9/11 reflections can be summed up in three words:

BUSH! NEOCONS! SHAME!

He writes:

“Te (sic) atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue.”

Koward Krugman gripes about partisan hijackers, while dashing off his own petty, partisan snipes.

His 181-word turd demonstrates perfectly the leftist approach to combating Islamic jihad:

Cut and run.

My advice to Koward Krugman is that he shouldn’t be complaining about anyone else’s wedges when he’s using a pair taller than Lady Gaga’s to drive Americans apart.

I would also advise him that there are plenty of constructive ways to illuminate bipartisan government failures since 9/11. I’m reprinting my day-after-9/11-anniversary column from eight years ago below to show you how I did it.

Koward Krugman’s problem is that he’s a lazy intellectual slob who hurriedly hits the “publish” button before the sand in his little kitchen egg timer empties. He hurls Molotov cocktails at his political enemies, while hiding behind his hallowed desk at the Fishwrap of Record.

Shame on him. Shame on the New York Times.

***

Spitting on their graves
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
9/10/03

Across the nation, public officials will strike somber poses and shed television-friendly tears and bow their blow-dried heads in memory of the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

They’ll hold hands, light candles, and pass around a plateful of platitudes: “Never forget,” they’ll intone. “Let’s roll,” they’ll thunder. “God bless America,” they’ll warble in perfect harmony.

They’ll assure us that they are committed to fighting terror and securing our borders and doing whatever it takes to protect the homeland from another horrific mass murder at the hands of freedom-hating fanatics. And then?

And then, from Washington state to Washington, D.C., they’ll go back to work, roll up their sleeves, and spit on the graves of the 9/11 dead.

Your pious city councilwoman will return to the office to draft a resolution condemning the common-sense detention and deportation of Middle Eastern illegal aliens suspected of terrorism.

Your politically correct police chief will refuse to cooperate with federal authorities in criminal investigations of illegal visa overstayers and border-crossers and ship-jumpers.

Your pandering mayor will stealthily renew his policy of preventing city employees from reporting illegal aliens.

Your indignant local librarian will promote fear-mongering and misinformation about the Patriot Act.

Your regional Chamber of Commerce president will join forces with Canadian and Mexican government representatives to put business interests ahead of border enforcement.

Your tuition-thirsty university president will lobby behind closed doors against federal efforts to track foreign students and ensure that they go home when required. Your vote-hungry governor will encourage document fraud through his support of insecure foreign-issued identification cards and driver’s licenses for “undocumented workers.”

Your race card-fearing congressman will court Arab and Muslim special interest groups and donors who have coddled Islamists on college campuses, in prisons, and in the U.S. military in the name of “diversity.”

Your grandstanding senator will block funding for long-delayed homeland defense measures — such as a national entry-exit system to monitor temporary foreign visitors — even as he whines about the need for more money to ensure our safety.

Your incompetent Transportation Security Administration will stonewall pilots who want training to be armed, squander tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on lucrative contracts for weapons-detection equipment that doesn’t work or get used, and continue to ban racial profiling.

Your indifferent Interior Department will look the other way as underequipped and understaffed park rangers along the southwestern border remain vulnerable to drug smugglers and terrorists.

Your bloated Homeland Security Department will keep Clinton-era holdovers in pivotal positions, reduce routine inspections at seaports in the name of efficiency, and continue to shortchange interior enforcement against deportation fugitives and asylum con artists in favor of duct tape tipsheets and cosmetic color-coded alerts.

Your corrupted State Department will appease Saudi terror-backers, reward butt-covering managers, assuage European travel industry tycoons, and continue to defend lax visa screening policies.

Your Democratic presidential candidates will unanimously endorse the very kind of amnesty policies that allowed several al Qaeda operatives to infiltrate this country and hatch terrorist plots.

And your Republican Party elites will continue to spurn immigration enforcement reformers within their own ranks for fear of alienating ethnic constituencies that will never vote for them anyway.

To those who lost their lives on Sept. 11 because their government failed to enforce its borders, laws, and sovereignty, the politicians and bureaucrats and civic leaders will ostentatiously offer one measly day a year of dedication in rhetoric — and 364 days of desecration in deed.

***

Update: Oh, dear. Krugman mustered up a few more seconds to dash out an obligatory follow-up to his weekend word turd.

Shorter Krugman: Yeah, yeah, heroes, blah blah. Bush still sucks!

Comments closed yet again on the post.

Watch this. It’s a reminder of what it was like to take the famous elevator ride up the World Trade Center to the “Top of the World.” I first rode the elevator on a visit to NYC when I was 8 years old. Still get goosebumps thinking about it:

***

Related: If you have never read Allahpundit’s poetic 9/11 Twitter memorial, read it now.

Related: Building the World Trade Center

Vigilance is a way of life, not a one-time event:

Background:

April 2005 – Mohammed Atta was on dry run flight witnessed and reported by actor James Woods.

***

Update: Reports coming in this afternoon about three passengers who locked themselves in a bathroom on American Airlines Flight 34 from Los Angeles to JFK in NY this afternoon.

Dry run? Aborted terrorist attack?

Or yet another “misunderstanding?”

We’ll see:

Three passengers caused a scare on a flight from Los Angeles to John F. Kennedy airport when they refused to come out of a bathroom.

A security official initially said fighter jets had been launched. Another security official said later that they had been set to launch and it was not immediately known whether they were in the air.

The three passengers on American Airlines Flight 34 went into a bathroom and were “not compliant.”

The passengers are reportedly now back in their seats.

The flight is set to arrive at JFK at 4:25 p.m. Investigators are waiting for the plane to land.

More updates via Twitter compiled here.

The plane reportedly landed safely at JFK; FBI confirmed that an air marshal was on board.

Update: 6:40pm …The incident has been deemed “not terror-related.” Just “some unruly passengers.”

Hmmm.

Update 8:48pm Eastern….It was three men, according to this report.

I’d like to know their names, wouldn’t you?

***

Flashbacks:

July 12, 2011 – What happened on United Airlines Flight 944?

May 13, 2011 – What Happened on AA Flight 1561?

Funny how you can scream “Allahu Akbar” at the top of your lungs and still have authorities proclaim your motives unknown.

It’s not the first time.

Flashback.

Flashback.

Flashback.

Flashback.

Flashback – It’s the jihad, stupid.

Taken this morning at the Sept. 11 memorial event in America the Beautiful park, Colorado Springs, CO

At 8:46am this morning, ten years ago, murderous jihadists crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

At 9:03am this morning, ten years ago, murderous jihadists crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

At 9:37am this morning, ten years ago, murderous jihadists crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.

At 10:15am this morning, ten years ago, the official notification of the downing of United Airlines Flight 93 into a field at Shanksville, Pa. by murderous jihadists was received by the feds.

This is a day to honor the 2,977 innocent men, women, and children slaughtered by evil Islamic jihadists — and to vow that “Never again” remains America’s operational stance, not an empty slogan.

Let nothing overshadow their memories today.

Remember: “Let’s roll!”

Remember: The heroes.

Remember: The angels on loan from God.

Remember: The 9/11 babies.

Remember: Falling Man.

Remember: Barbara Olson.

Remember: Father Mychal Judge.

Remember: Rick Rescorla.

Remember John O’Neill.

Remember: Kevin Cosgrove.

My family and I attended a moving 9/11 tribute this morning. Various politicians spoke, but U.S. Northcom commander Gen. Charles H. Jacoby, Jr. gave the most trenchant remarks. He recounted his experience 10 years ago, when he was evacuated from the Pentagon that fateful morning. He, too, called it the Pearl Harbor of his generation — and reminded the large crowd of the service and sacrifices of America’s men and women in uniform.

Over and again, the word “resolve” has been and will be invoked today.

Remembrance is worthless without resolve.

Resolve is useless without action.

But what is it exactly that you resolve?

This has been my resolution for the past several years:

Lan astaslem: Arabic for “I will not submit/surrender”

As I said on the 5th anniversary of the jihadi attacks on America, and which I underscore and repeat today:

Remembrance. Resolve. Recognition. Those have been major themes of this blog over the past several years in covering everything from the battle over the Ground Zero memorial to the fight over the Flight 93 memorial to the terror-coddling by CAIR to our persistently stupid open-door policies to jihadis to the Mohammed Cartoon rage to the plight of Abdul Rahman to the blogger whistle-blowing on “Fauxtography.”

…None of us can know exactly how we would act in Todd Beamer’s or Barbara Olson’s or Robert Stethem’s or Fabrizio Quattrocchi’s shoes. But we can gain strength in their memory, in the reinforcing presence of each other’s company, in making our refusal to submit public, and in working to honor this anniversary vow in small ways and large–long after the memorial candles have been blown out.

May God bless America.

Blessed Americans, may we all resolve to keep and protect it.

***

Not everyone is feeling love of country today. In case you need to be reminded of the poisonous loathing some on the Left continue to harbor, read this piece of crap from New York Times columnist and self-proclaimed conscience of liberalism, Paul Krugman.

***

Forget the NYT. Read blog round-ups from:

The Anchoress

Melissa Clouthier

Bookworm

Kim Priestap

Teresa Monroe-Hamilton

Tom Elia

Tim Sumner, 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America

It’s been six months since Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi gave his “I am still in charge” speech, ranted about rats and drugged-up children, and appealed to his “son” Barack Obama for help.

Now, it finally appears Libyans are done with him — freedom-fighters are celebrating across the Twittersphere, though the identity of the “rebels” on the ground is still somewhat murky as always with these revolts.

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s four-decade-long rule over Libya was crumbling at breakneck speed Sunday as hundreds of rebel fighters swept toward the heart of Tripoli and dissidents said they had secured control of many parts of the capital.

With rebel leaders saying that Gaddafi’s compound was surrounded, that his son Saif al-Islam had been captured and that his presidential guard had surrendered, the six-month-old battle for control of Libya appeared to be hurtling toward a dramatic finale.

In an audio statement broadcast on state television late Sunday, Gaddafi made what came across as a desperate plea for support. “Go out and take your weapons,” the Libyan leader said in the brief broadcast. “All of you, there should be no fear.”

By late Sunday, rebel fighters had converged on the capital from four directions, and opposition flags were fluttering over buildings across the city. Thousands of people poured onto the streets in areas under rebel control to celebrate, stomping on posters of Gaddafi, setting off fireworks and honking horns, even in the symbolically significant Green Square in the heart of the city, previously the scene of near-daily pro-Gaddafi rallies.

Among many unresolved questions:

Has anyone seen Islamofascist tool Cynthia McKinney?

Where is that damned Lockerbie bomber?

And has Leon Panetta turned on the cable TV news yet?

***

Update 10:16pm Eastern…News outlets reported that the vacationing President Obama held a phone conference with his national security team for a Libya briefing. Which reminded me of the classic IMAO spoof Obama phone call photo…

The White House also released a written statement:

“The future of Libya is now in the hands of the Libyan people”…”The universal pursuit of dignity and freedom is far stronger than the iron fist of a dictator.”

As I noted, a vigilant gun dealer in Killeen TX is being credited with blowing the whistle on the jihadi plotter who visited his store.

Cam Edwards at NRA News interviewed the hero. Meet Greg Ebert and give thanks for those unafraid to say something when they see something amiss.

Accused Fort Hood jihadist Nidal Hasan still awaits his court martial scheduled for next March — and still maintains his rank and salary while the wheels of justice grind slowly.

In June, the FBI exposed a Seattle jihadi plot against the military with two Muslim avengers who compared themselves to Hasan.

And also in June, the feds arrested Muslim Marine reservist Jonathan Melaku in an attempted Pentagon bombing. He was also tied through ballistics to a series of Beltway-area military building target shootings.

Now, via Fox News, there’s word of another plot on American soldiers on American soil. Possibly three conspirators are allegedly involved.

I guess I’m supposed to be silent about this.

Shhhhhhh:

At least one U.S. military serviceman has been arrested after raising concerns over another possible attack on Fort Hood, Fox News has learned exclusively.

Pvt. Nasser Jason Abdo, an AWOL soldier from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was arrested by the Killeen Police Department near Fort Hood and remains in custody there. Authorities, however, will not say if Abdo is the one who raised security concerns.

Abdo was allegedly found with explosives and jihadist materials at the time of his arrest, a senior Army source confirms to Fox News. He was arrested at around 2 p.m. Wednesday after someone called authorities to report a suspicious individual.

Bob Jenkins, a Fort Campbell spokesman, told Fox News that Abdo was also being investigated for child pornography found on his government computer.

Abdo went AWOL on July 4. On the eve of his first deployment to Afghanistan — after only one year in the Army — Abdo applied for conscientious objector status. It was denied by his superiors at Ft. Campbell but later overturned by the Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Army review board.

***

Just as an alert citizen helped bring down the Fort Dix plot in NJ, it was an alert citizen in Killeen TX who reportedly helped crack this latest alleged plot against Fort Hood.

Rep. John Carter reports:

House Army Caucus Co-Chairman John Carter (R-TX31) is praising Killeen police and a local gun dealer who have apparently stopped another attack on Fort Hood through early detection and teamwork

Carter, a former Texas judge, says a full investigation of the attempt should answer whether the suspect or suspects had previously been identified by the Army as security threats, what actions had been taken in the event there was any prior display of suspicious activities or behavior, and whether there are any links to known terrorists groups or individuals.

If you see something, say something — even if the usual suspects will whip out their “Islamophobia!” tar brushes faster than Quick Draw McGraw.

***

Flashback: Homegrown hate crimes against our troops

Flashback: The massacre at Fort Hood and Muslim soldiers with attitude

Flashback: Muslim soldiers with attitude

Flashback: Muslim US sailor/jihadist Abujihaad

Flashback: Fort Dix jihadists convicted; Thank you, Brian Morgenstern