An amazing portrait of Azzam al-Amriki (AKA Adam Gadahn), a Muslim convert now working PR for al-Qaeda. While the whole article is an intriguing biography, the last section detailing how individuals end up being recruited into revivalist and extremist groups, is especially poignant.

Quoted: Adam Gadahn, the first American to be charged with treason in more than fifty years, was born in Oregon, grew up in rural California, and converted to Islam at the age of seventeen. He is now twenty-eight. No one who knew him before his religious awakening ever thought that he would join Al Qaeda, and many people who knew him after he did are still perplexed. And yet, in a short time, Gadahn has become one of Osama bin Laden’s senior operatives. (He is believed to be hiding in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan.) He is a member of Al Qaeda’s “media committee,” and his responsibilities are thought to include those of translator, video producer, and cultural interpreter.

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redotting: mike

I was watching this guy do ventriloquism on Christmas. I think the stuff I was watching was older because I never saw this terrorist bit, which is way better...

This looks like it's going to be powerful.

Quoted: A history of world terrorist movement as told through the story of the enigmatic figure Jacques Verges. Communist, anti-colonialist, right-wing extremist? What convictions guide the moral mind of Jacques Vergès? Barbet Schroeder takes us down history’s darkest paths in his attempt to illuminate the mystery behind this enigmatic figure. As a young lawyer during the Algerian war, Vergès espoused the anti- colonialist cause and defended Djamila Bouhired, ‘la Pasionaria,’ who bore her country’s hopes for freedom on her shoulders and was sentenced to death for planting bombs in cafes. He obtained her release, married her and had two children with her. Then suddenly, at the height of an illustrious career, Vergès disappeared without trace for eight years. He re-emerged from his mysterious absence, taking on the defense of terrorists of all kinds, from Magdalena Kopp and Anis Naccache to Carlos the Jackal. He represented historical monsters such as Nazi lieutenant Klaus Barbie. From the lawyer’s inflammatory and provocative cases to his controversial terrorist links, Barbet Schroeder follows the winding trail left by this ‘devil’s advocate,’ as he forges his unique path in law and politics. Schroeder explores and questions the history of ‘blind terrorism’ through his penetrating investigation of this compelling man and leads us towards shocking revelations that expose long-hidden links in history.

Reminds of what Borat says when addressing the rodea crowd on behalf os Kazakhstan:

"We support your war of terror!"

Quoted: In this open letter to C-SPAN's CEO, I submit my purchase order for 6,251 congressional hearings and assert my fair use rights.

The magazine "Foreign Policy" wrote an interesting piece on terrorism and spoke to 100 experts across all party lines and job responsibilities to get a survey of what everyone outside of the Bush White House thinks. The shocker? Nearly ALL of them believe the war on terror is making us less safe and that we are waging a war if ideas using the wrong tools.

Quoted: “Foreign-policy experts have never been in so much agreement about an administration’s performance abroad,” says Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and an index participant. “The reason is that it’s clear to nearly all that Bush and his team have had a totally unrealistic view of what they can accomplish with military force and threats of force.”

I understand responding to terrorist threats but at what point do we become like the "Minority Report's" pre-crime unit?

Quoted: The planning was not far along, one U.S. official said, but authorities "take aspirations of that sort seriously."

Quoted: "At this time we have no indication of any imminent threat to the New York transportation system, or anywhere else in the U.S.," Richard Kolko, Washington-based FBI special agent, said in a statement to Associated Press Radio.