Loretta Napoleoni

The true story of the foiled "fertilizer plot," in which Muslim radicals planned to bomb a shopping center and a famous London nightclub using over a half ton of ammonium nitrate, has finally emerged. The jihadist cell in Crawley, a small town south of London, was dismantled thanks to the largest British counter-terrorism effort to … Continue reading “Explosive Revelations in UK ‘Fertilizer Plot’”

The biggest transfer of cash in history took place from May 2003 to June 2004 when the U.S. Federal Reserve of New York shipped $12 billion in bills of various denominations to war-torn Iraq. Over the course of one year, a fleet of C-130s carried, from New York to Baghdad, 484 pallets weighing a total … Continue reading “Playing Monopoly
With Iraqi Money”

The execution of Saddam Hussein took place at the beginning of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim religious feast that marks the sacrifice the prophet Abraham was prepared to make when God ordered him to kill his son. The symbolism is powerful but twofold: while Iraqi Shi’ites will regard Saddam’s death as a sign that God backs … Continue reading “The Shi’ites Have Their Revenge”

While ethnic cleansing plagues "liberated Iraq," Moqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the powerful Shi’ite Mahdi militia, has issued an ultimatum to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Sadr warned that if Maliki met President Bush in Jordan this week, the cleric and his 30 followers in Iraq’s parliament would pull out of the shaky ruling coalition, effectively … Continue reading “The Balkanization of Iraq”

The death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi triggered al-Qaeda’s latest propaganda war. Key figures rushed to celebrate his martyrdom. Even Mullah Omar, the former leader of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, emerged from his “prolonged isolation” to praise him on the Web. He called for thousand young Muslims to emulate his heroic life. Exploiting Zarqawi’s proletarian … Continue reading “The New Zarqawi Myth”

Intelligence services across the world are busy analyzing the latest speeches of Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and Ayman al-Zawahri, the three leaders of the jihadist movement, released almost simultaneously at the end of April. Their hope and objective is to break al-Qaeda’s code and access valuable information about future attacks. Encrypted in those … Continue reading “Al-Qaeda’s Code”

Once again, the latest twist in the never ending al-Qaeda saga has taken the West by surprise. It featured a renewed and shocking alliance between Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It is now clear that both men are united. To members and sympathizers of their fight, people scattered around the world, the words … Continue reading “A Deadly Duet”

Hamas’ history is deeply intertwined with the last stretch of Arafat’s life and his sudden death. It was the disappearance of Arafat’s secret treasury (estimated between $700 million and $2 billion) that paved the way to Hamas’ recent victory in the Palestinian elections. Everybody remembers the Fatah leadership’s desperate, and eventually unsuccessful, attempt to gain … Continue reading “Handicapping Hamas”

Last Sunday, a shocked world watched the televised confession of Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, wife of one of the Amman suicide bombers. The Iraqi woman, who failed to detonate her explosive belt in the Radisson Hotel on Nov. 9, appeared cold, detached, and unemotional. At a certain stage she stood up and paraded in front … Continue reading “Jihad’s Cheapest Weapons”

The Middle East’s newest tragedy was marked by three almost-simultaneous suicide missions against popular American hotels in Amman. The event, which took place on the 9th day of the 11th month, carries the signature of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the top representative of al-Qaeda in Iraq. In the warm night of early November, while the body … Continue reading “The Myth of Zarqawi”