Salafist Saudi cleric Salman al-Ouda pens a denunciation of Awlaki’s bloodthirstiness: The single-minded pursuit of resistance and fighting will not improve the state of the people. It will not develop them morally, nor will it strengthen their faith. It can neither foster economic development nor stabilize society. It won’t build mosques, schools or factories. It [...]

Judging from David McCormick’s book review in the Weekly Standard, the new oral history Al-Anbar Awakening looks like an excellent through-the-participants-eyes understanding of what the Awakening was and wasn’t. And that goes a long way toward clearing out historical dross over the surge. Good for the Standard for printing this: The second volume of Al-Anbar [...]

“What Can President Ali Abdullah Saleh Do About His Failed State?” [Picture of a confused-looked Saleh with his right hand tucked behind the nape of his neck] “Yeah, Keep Scratching Your Head.” And then the attribution: “This ad is brought to you by A Cold Diss.” That’s the twelfth PDF’d page of the third issue [...]

So what to expect at NATO’s Lisbon summit tomorrow? The one where the alliance firms up its intentions for an endgame in Afghanistan? Not much in the way of firmness, judging from a press conference given by Amb. Mark Sedwill, NATO special representative to Kabul: Yet [Sedwill] conceded that even 2014 might not mark the [...]

Somehow I missed the Obama administration insisting that except for the KSM non-de-trial de-trial (Come on, you can give me that one, can’t you?), it’s come a long way from the Bush era: Officials said Mohammed’s uncertain future should not obscure what they see as significant and aggressive changes in national security policy, including banning [...]

In the course of arguing that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is functionally an appendage of al-Qaeda central, Leah Farrall observes that such an arrangement provides real operational implications for counterterrorists. What that snippet tells me (and with the caveat in place that it could be wrong) is that comms networks between branch and HQ [...]

I gawked a bit at the second issue of al-Qaeda’s Inspire magazine over at Danger Room this morning. But to call attention to something outside that post, take a look at Yahya Ibrahim’s advice to aspiring terrorists. (Around page 55 of this 74-page PDF.) Most of it is pretty expected: beware of snitches, take your [...]

Abdallah Umar al-Qurayshi, a top al-Qaeda operative in eastern Afghanistan, made the mistake earlier this week of hanging out in the Korengal valley, where a NATO airstrike ended him. My friend James Gordon Meek of the New York Daily News, an absolute beast of a reporter, overthinks it a bit: But taking Al-Qurayshi off the [...]

New America has a fascinating new poll out surveying the Pakistani tribal areas for what the drone strikes look over there. On first blush, it’s bleak, as you can learn from write-ups at Danger Room (cough) and from Adam Serwer. But there are also some hopeful signs. I wrote about some of them for the [...]

If you’ve got the time, it’ll be well spent by reading this excellent Quilliam Foundation report into the Islamic-extremist internet. When Thomas Hegghammer tells you something on the subject is worthy, pay attention. One of my favorite parts: The self-sufficient Jihadist bubble that consequently exists within these sites not only serves as a safe space [...]