Hi folks, I have a new article out at The Conversation focusing on what the recent merger between al Qaeda and al Shabab means for Australia.
Comments as always are welcome. Cheers.
Hello folks, well it’s a been a while since I’ve ventured onto the blog. A little bit of burn out coupled with a plate full of other exciting projects means I’ve let it slide. I’ll be getting back into it, but you may find a change of direction coming because I find myself increasingly disenchanted with the current state of play. In particular, I have an issue with the increasingly unaccountable nature of counter terrorism and the militarisation of CT more generally–as well reactions to acts of terror (or fear of them) that belie the values of democratic nations and human rights, not to mention being outright counter productive. And don’t even get me started on disengagement and CVE. But for now, I’m finishing up book research, juggling some other writing, and job hunting, which is keeping me busy. But hopefully that begins to subside soon.
Anyway, for those interested, here are links to two pieces I wrote recently.
One is on al Qaeda’s operational resilience, which I wrote last November, but was only published last month. This article originally appeared in “Al-Qaeda’s Senior Leadership”, a publication of IHS Defense, Security and Risk Consulting, in January 2012. Reproduced with permission © IHS (Global) Limited. All rights reserved.
The second is an op-ed I wrote on the AQ-al Shabab merger.
Happy reading, and feedback is as always, welcome.
Cheers
Hello all. I’m back. Sort of. At least I’m going to attempt to start blogging again as I try now to play post move catch ups. My reading pile is nightmarish, but hopefully I’ll get through it soon. Have a few book reviews and article reviews in the works and maybe even a blog overhaul (but I’m still pondering whether to do that or not).
Anyway, those of you who follow me on twitter may have already seen me tweet about this . But for those of you who are not on twitter, do read this great piece on how al Qaeda is explained by my friend and sometime critic Joanne Lock.
“I don’t understand how somebody could buy the land for $48,000, get the building permits, get a contractor, build for a period of time what is essentially the largest home compound in the area, where somebody lives for five years, and nobody asks who’s there or finds out who’s there,” she said.
I racked up many years in Canberra, and believe me so long as OBL & family snuck in to a house in a darkened car he could have lived undetected there too. In fact, he could probably have wandered around in pseudo disguise without much bother since most Canberrans go out of their way to avoid eye contact or saying hello. Yes, I’m a bit bitter and twisted from my experience there, being from the much friendlier state of Qld, but in all seriousness if no one saw him go in why would they think to ask it, which was pretty much probably the whole reason he was there.
Obviously a lot of questions have to be asked as to how and why he got there, but really.
Records going missing is pretty dodgy though, if true.
JulieAnn McKellog has done a great job pulling together this piece on al-Qaeda, so make sure you visit and have a look.
And do listen to Noman Benotman for some fascinating insight and excellent analysis. Also offering some great input and analysis from a range of different perspectives are Jarret Brachman, Bruce Hoffman, Don Rassler, and Fawaz Gerges.
A big shout out to JulieAnn (@jmckellogg on twitter) for her hard work on this piece, her attention to detail and for sewing it all together so well.
Am a bit behind in posting but for those who may not have seen it, FP/NAF’s AfPak channel had a roundtable with a few of us writing down some thoughts on al-Zawahiri’s appointment as amir.
You can find it here http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/06/16/the_zawahiri_era_begins
I also spoke with The Takeaway recently on what the future holds for al Qaeda, which you can find here
http://www.thetakeaway.org/2011/jun/17/what-does-the-future-of-al-qaida-look-like/
There’s more to come in the next little while as I slowly make my way through my list of things to write about either in article form, or here on the blog.
This is an interesting piece. I do hope, however, those pursuing this policy are thinking strategically about the implications of this. Sadly, I doubt it.
The Obama administration is engaged in a quiet and largely fruitless effort to persuade Egypt’s security services to arrest scores of terrorists who were released or escaped from prisons during the country’s recent revolution.
The issue has been raised at high levels since March, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the sensitive diplomacy.
Daniel Benjamin, U.S. ambassador at large for counterterrorism, last month provided the military council in charge of Egypt, led by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, with a list of about two dozen terrorists thought to be at large.
“I can’t go into intelligence and law enforcement activities, but I am quite sure we have voiced our concern about some of the people who are out and about,” Mr. Benjamin said after a speech in Washington and before he left for Egypt.
I am so glad to read this opinion piece by John McCain against the use of torture.
It is about time someone called out those attempting to exploit bin Laden’s death to justify torture, and show them to be shameful, and outright misleading.
Bin Laden’s death and the debate over torture – The Washington Post.
Folks I have a new article out in Foreign Policy on how al Qaeda will pick its next leader. Eagle eyed watchers will notice a confusion of terminology.
I spoke of al Qaeda’s executive council as the council that would have responsibility for amir selection. At one point, al Qaeda actually sought to have two high level councils in its top level structure. A command council, and an executive council, though the terminology for both varies. But the order of hierarchy was command council and then executive council, for the most part. Anyway, they ended up merging into one body.
It is therefore probably more accurate to refer to it as the command council. My mistake. I should have been more careful with my wording and given appropriate background. That’s what you get when you write when sleep deprived. Anyway, I note it because I’m a big fan of eating humble pie when you mess up. In fact I have a long overdue post to do outlining what I have gotten wrong since I started blogging.
the plan consists of storming buildings in Germany, France and Britain at the same time and holding the people inside hostage with the aim of forcing the release of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind 9/11 who is now sitting in jail in the United States awaiting trial for the attacks.
