War On Terror

Obama Would Veto Defense Bill Over Detainee Provisions

Susan Crabtree | May 24, 2011, 6:35PM

President Barack Obama

The White House is threatening to veto the annual must-pass House Defense Authorization bill over language limiting his ability to transfer detainees overseas or try them in civilian court, among other issues.

In addition, the White House is taking strong exception to language dramatically expanding the president's power to wage the war on terror indefinitely, among other provisions.

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Pakistan

Kerry: Pakistan And U.S. Are At A Critical Crossroads

Susan Crabtree | May 17, 2011, 1:35PM

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), fresh from a trip to Pakistan aimed at repairing deeply frayed relations with the United States, said Tuesday the two nations are at a critical crossroads and cautioned against either side taking precipitous action.

Kerry spent the weekend meeting with Pakistani officials and trying to determine steps that would assuage the deep distrust between the two nations after the discovery of Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan and his subsequent killing in a covert operation by a Navy SEALs team.

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Osama Bin Laden

U.S. Officials Interviewed OBL's Wives, White House Confirms

Susan Crabtree | May 13, 2011, 2:45PM

Osama Bin Laden

The White House confirmed Friday that Pakistan has allowed U.S. officials to interview three of Osama bin Laden's wives, all of whom were living with him at his Abbottabad compound before a Navy SEAL team stormed it and killed bin Laden nearly two weeks ago.

In the aftermath of the U.S. raid on the hideaway, U.S. lawmakers and officials have accused at least some elements of the Pakistani government of helping harbor bin Laden and have been watching Pakistan's reaction to his killing closely. The wives, one of whom was injured during the raid, were taken into custody by Pakistani security forces after the SEALs left the compound.

White House spokesman Jay Carney was tight-lipped about the interrogation aside from confirming that it had occurred. He would not say who questioned the women or whether they cooperated.

"I can't characterize the interaction except to say that we have had access," Carney said, "And we obviously appreciate the cooperation we've received from the Pakistani government."

The White House and the Pentagon have not said exactly when this week U.S. officials questioned the wives. The Pakistani Taliban on Friday took credit for twin suicide bombings that killed at least 80 people outside a paramilitary training center in Shabqadar, Pakistan earlier in the day. A Taliban spokesman said the explosions were in retaliation for the killing of bin Laden.

Carney said the U.S. government remains in a "state of high vigilance" since the raid.

"We take very seriously the fact that while al Qaeda is weakened, it is not dead," Carney said.

President Obama plans to deliver a major speech on the events in the Middle East and North Africa and U.S. Policy in the region Thursday at the State Department.

From Carney's descriptions, the speech will be "fairly sweeping and comprehensive" focused on the democratic uprisings in the region that have taken place since January and how the U.S. has responded to the upheaval.

"[The President] has always viewed the future of the region through the prism of democratization and the yearning of the people...in the region for greater political freedom, participation in their government, desire for responsive governments that address their grievances," Carney said. "I'm sure he will call as he has in the past on the governments in the region to respond to those demands through peaceful political dialogue."

Obama plans to focus on the irony he sees in some leaders' violent crackdowns in the name of stability when those brutal actions are only leading to great instability in the country and the region, Carney told reporters.

At one point during the press briefing, Carney was asked whether he had information about Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's whereabouts and reports that he was no longer in Tripoli and is likely injured.

"Nothing I can share," Carney replied.

Barack Obama

Obama Will Meet With Troops Responsible For OBL Raid

Susan Crabtree | May 6, 2011, 12:07PM

President Barack Obama will meet Friday afternoon with several members of the military assault team responsible for conducting the raid on the Abbottabad compound and killing Osama bin Laden.

White House press secretary Jay Carney confirmed Friday morning that the President plans to spend some time this afternoon with "special operators" involved in the operation.

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Afghanistan

Levin: Bin Laden's Death Paves Way For Swifter Troop Drawdown In Afghanistan

Brian Beutler | May 2, 2011, 3:31PM

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)

Given that President Obama's not going to bring the war in Afghanistan to an early end as the result of Osama bin Laden's death, a key question is whether his administration will green light a robust troop drawdown starting in July, or whether the withdrawal will happen more slowly, as some in his administration would like.

That's the pivot, and there will be increasing pressure on Obama from Democrats to use bin Laden's death in Pakistan to make the case for a swifter reduction.

TPM SLIDESHOW: Osama Bin Laden: 9/11 Mastermind, Longtime U.S. Enemy Killed In Pakistan

"I think there's going to be a lot of strong feeling on the part of most Democrats and many, I think many independents, and even some Republicans that the decision of the President to reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan should be a robust reduction," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) told reporters on a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon. "I don't think that's going to change, and I don't expect the decision of the President -- his instinct to have a reduction, and I believe a robust reduction following conversations with him -- that that instinct would be reinforced."

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Congressional Medal of Honor

Obama Credits Military Sacrifice And Bravery In OBL's Killing

Susan Crabtree | May 2, 2011, 12:50PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama, at an awards ceremony for two posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor recipients from the Korean War Monday, took the opportunity to thank the U.S. military and their families, saying Sunday's killing of Osama bin Laden couldn't have been accomplished without their bravery, leadership and sacrifice.

The President specifically hailed the leadership of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who were on hand for the awards ceremony.

"I think we can all agree this is a good day for America," Obama said. "Our country has kept its commitment to see that justice is done. The world is safer and it is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden."

"Today we are reminded that as a nation, there's nothing we can't do, if we put our shoulders to the wheel, to work together .. to remember the sense of the unity that defines Americans," he continued.

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Afghanistan

Reid: Obama Has No Plans To Change Afghanistan Strategy In Wake Of Bin Laden Killing

Brian Beutler | May 2, 2011, 12:00PM

Harry Reid (D-NV)

President Obama has communicated to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that he plans to stick with the current timetable for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan -- this despite the fact that Osama bin Laden was found and killed in Pakistan, and that Afghan leaders view this as proof that allied actions in their country are misguided.

"The President has a timetable to begin withdrawal of Afghanistan," Reid told reporters in a Capitol briefing Monday morning. "He's indicated he's going to stick with that. I think that's appropriate."

Though lawmakers and administration officials have consistently said that bin Laden's death doesn't indicate an end to hostilities in the Global War on Terror, some experts and advocates have argued that the Obama administration should use Sunday night's development to pivot toward a hastier resolution of hostilities in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Doesn't look like that's in the works, though.

Osama Bin Laden

WH Says Bombing Of OBL Compound Considered, But Never Authorized

Susan Crabtree | May 2, 2011, 9:55AM

President Barack Obama

More than a month before U.S. military forces launched a deadly raid on Osama bin Laden's compound Sunday, President Obama ordered the development of multiple military plans aimed at killing or capturing the notorious fugitive leader of al Qaeda.

Obama's national security team began drawing up several different options back in March, including plans to bomb the Abbottabad compound located 35 miles north of Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, according to administration officials.

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Osama Bin Laden

U.S. Authorities Homed In On Osama For Last Nine Months

Susan Crabtree and Ryan J. Reilly | May 2, 2011, 12:02AM

Osama bin Laden

It was the best kept and most closely guarded secret for the last nine months: a select handful of U.S. national security and administration officials tracked a high-value courier for Osama bin Laden to a dusty dirt road leading to a compound 35 miles north of Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.

After months of intelligence gathering and meetings at the highest levels of the U.S. government, a small team of Navy Seals Sunday raided the compound, engaged in a firefight and ultimately killed bin Laden, the notorious leader of al Qaeda who had evaded capture and death since masterminding the 9/11 attacks that killed almost 3,000 people.

TPM SLIDESHOW: Osama Bin Laden: 9/11 Mastermind, Longtime U.S. Enemy Killed In Pakistan

The CIA pinpointed the compound in August and first informed President Obama about the intelligence in September of last year. As evidence mounted in mid-February that bin Laden and his family were living in the compound, the President and the National Security Council began holding a series of "intensive" meetings about a covert military strike aimed at killing him, according to administration officials.

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Libya

GOP Senator: Are There Al Qaeda Elements Among Libyan Rebels?

Susan Crabtree | March 29, 2011, 12:07PM

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK)

Update: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton downplayed the likelihood of an al Qaeda contingency among the Libyan rebels, but she acknowledged "we are still getting to know those who are leading the transitional national council."

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) wants to know much more about the Libyan rebels the U.S. and NATO allies have been aiding with air strikes and humanitarian assistance for more than a week.

"There have been several reports about the presence of al Qaeda among the rebels," Inhofe said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday. "What do we know about this?"

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Robert Gates

Gates and Mullen: Iran And Al Qaeda Biggest Losers in Middle East Fallout

Susan Crabtree | March 1, 2011, 4:39PM

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates are optimistic about results of anti-government movements in the Middle East and called Iran and al Qaeda the "biggest losers" in the ongoing fallout.

"Iran is the real loser here whether they want to admit it or not," Mullen told reporters during a briefing Tuesday at the Pentagon. "They had no hand in the change ... except the one they used to slap back their own people."

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Al Qaeda

King Taps Journo As Senior Committee Investigator

Susan Crabtree | February 16, 2011, 12:40PM

Rep. Peter King (R-NY)

Rep. Peter King (R-NY), the fiery Irishman who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, may have attracted a rash of criticism for holding one of his first hearings on the radicalization of U.S. Muslims and homegrown terrorism, but his decision to hire a respected New York scribe as a top staffer is a sign he is serious about truly digging into holes in the nation's counter-terrorism programs and policies.

King has tapped James Gordon Meek, an eight-year veteran of the New York Daily News and a respected reporter on the terrorism beat, to join the committee staff as a senior investigator.

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CO-SEN

Norton Hits Obama For Not Going To War Against Islam (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | June 18, 2010, 5:38PM

Colorado senate candidate Jane Norton (R)

Colorado Senate hopeful Jane Norton (R) has given her campaign website a facelift. And as part of that facelift she's hitting Barack Obama for...not going to war against Islam.

The site, screencapped below features a still frame from a new ad, attacking Obama and Washington liberals for abandoning the War on Terrorism.

The ad includes a May 26, 2010 Reuters headline saying "Obama doctrine to make clear no war on Islam." This is supposed to be a bad thing.

Watch:

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Iraq

Biden: Killing Of Two Al Qaeda Leaders Is A 'Milestone' For Iraqi Forces

Christina Bellantoni | April 19, 2010, 1:51PM

Vice President Joe Biden

Vice President Joe Biden said this afternoon that the killing of two Al Qaeda leaders is a "milestone" that shows the Iraqi people are standing up to terrorists and lays the groundwork for smooth transition to full troop withdrawal this summer.

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