What are the odds of being on a commercial air flight with a terrorist? After crunching the numbers, Nate Silver tells us: Not very high (emphasis is Nate’s).

The New York Times has a weirdly disconnected article about the United States “widening the terror war to Yemen” that reads as if it was written a year ago and pulled out now because there’s a handy news hook. Here are the opening paragraphs:

Why, when Iranian troops crossed the Iraqi border earlier this month to take possession of an Iraqi oil well and raise the Iranian flag, didn’t American forces do something? That’s the question in the minds of people across the Middle East, and it’s promoting a common Arab conception: that the United States and Persian Iran have been cooperating with one another all along – at the...

Amid all of the inspiring stories about heroism on Northwest flight 253 when a terrorist tried to set off a detonator, officials now say there are two sobering facts: FACT ONE: The fact that suspect Umar farouk Abdulmutallab got on board with the device indicates a serious — potential grave — achilles heel in existing scanning machines, precisely the kind of achilles heel Al Qaeda likes to find and...

Members of al-Qaeda address a crowd and take photos in Yemen’s southern province of Abyan, where the government and Saudi Arabia have been bombing al-Qaeda positions. They said they had no issues with the Yemen Army, and warned civilians not oppose al-Qaeda or its war against America. With news emerging that the Nigerian terror suspect who tried to bomb a U.S. plane may have received instructions from...

Has it come to this? In the future will TSA inspectors at airports ask you “Boxers or briefs or explosives?” and then check to see whether your underwear was made by Fruit of the Loom or Al Qaeda? Perhaps: ABC News reports that Al Qaeda bigwigs may now be clothes horses since they’ve created a new wardbobe item for the best dressed murder-to-be terrorist: suicide underwear — most recently...

According to the Dutch newspaper, NRC Handelsblad, the Acting Dutch Prime Minister Wouter Bos today thanked Dutch video director and producer from Amsterdam, Jasper Schuringa, for his actions aboard the Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Bos thanked Schuringa on behalf of the Dutch Cabinet for the role he played in subduing the alleged terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and possibly preventing...

When one looks back at the stated goals of Osama bin Laden, one might conclude that much of what he sought has come to pass. As bin Laden is reported to have said in 2004, “We are continuing this policy of bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah.” According to Patrik Etschmayer of Switzerland’s Nachrichten newspaper, in a decade that...

Federal officials are now saying that a failed attempt by a Nigerian national to light an incendiary device on a Northwest Airlines flight was an attempted terrorist act — with possible Al Qaeda connections. New details are emerging in a story where when passengers realized the passenger was up to no good, they tackled him. The Washington Post reports: A Nigerian national, claiming to be acting on behalf...

Not in remonstrance, but just to ask we not forget… and to do what we can to help… within our reach… in your own way… to go beyond your reach also by helping those who are already helping… From Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens The chimes were ringing the three quarters past eleven at that moment. “Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask,” said Scrooge, looking intently...

‘OBAMA: ‘I PROMISE THINGS AND THEN FIND MYSELF DOING THE OPPOSITE.’ From the worldwide team at WORLDMEETS.US., we wish all the readers and posters at the Moderate Voice a very Merry Christmas and happy holiday. In the spirit of the season, it’s time for media outlets large and small to begin their reckonings of 2009. This article by columnist Elias Harfoush of Saudi Arabia’s Dar...

For those wondering whether U.S.-Russian relations really have been “reset”, this article from Russia’s Gazeta newspaper should provide food for thought. We must permit our minds to let go of our memories, tormented as we are by past grievances, and understand that only with the United States can the European Union and Russia save northern civilization. These are the words of none other than...

I really don’t understand these people sometimes. Out here in New York, Eric Massa is releasing a special video right before Christmas Eve which will likely not come as a very nice present in the Christmas Stockings of our troops overseas. Washington, D.C.- Today House member Eric Massa (D-NY 29th District) renewed his call for an “up or down” vote on funding for the additional 30,000 troops...

Osama bin Laden’s closest relatives, including a wife and children who disappeared from his Afghan camp at the time of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, are living in a secret compound in Iran, reports The Times of London. “There has been uncertainty about the family’s whereabouts for the past eight years, with reports that some of the children had been killed in bombings, while others had joined...

Social and legal analysts from all political and economic persuasions are at a loss for satisfying and complete explanations of America’s dropping violent crime rates. A similar phenomenon is occurring simultaneously in many other advanced western nations – even with better healthcare systems than ours. May I suggest a few obvious explanations that we all may have over-looked? The U.S. and many advanced...

Last week I bookmarked a story from MSNBC that reported the Army general of U.S. forces in northern Iraq threatened to court-martial and jail personnel who became pregnant or impregnates another service member, including married couples assigned to the same unit. I was too busy to pursue the story, expecting an outcry from my sisters in journalism. Wrong. Not much of a peep out of them. This man’s army...

Al Franken did a supremely right thing, and Pres. Obama signed it into law:

Army cadets during the invocation before President Obama addressed them on his decision to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, at West Point, December 1. So what do Iraqis have to say about President Obama’s newest surge — in Afghanistan? Writing for the Iraqi News Agency, Mahmoud Ibrahim Al Hoyan has penned a reaction reminiscent of the kind of content we were translating back in the...

During my twenty years of military service I was fortunate enough to spend only a couple of Christmases overseas, away from my loved ones. Even during those holiday seasons I was assigned to peacetime duties in friendly countries, among people who loved and respected Americans, America and our way of life. Thus, I cannot even begin to fathom the emotions that tens of thousands of our brave men and women serving...

Guest post by Michael Lieberman Michael Lieberman, a Truman National Security Project fellow, is an associate at Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Washington D.C., where he works on international regulatory and compliance issues. (The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Steptoe & Johnson LLP.) This post was originally published at Partnership for a Secure America. ********** President Obama...

Did you know that, not taking into account the recent announced troop increase in Afghanistan, some 220,000 women have engaged in combat operations* in Iraq and Afghanistan? I had no idea that so many of our women in uniform had actually seen combat. And while I knew that women in our military are still barred from performing certain duties or from certain assignments, I didn’t know that a whopping twenty-five...

UPDATE: FBI says the “US citizen and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) operative David Headley had allegedly discussed with Pakistan-based co-conspirators the logistics of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008. “This has been stated in an affidavit submitted last week by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in a Chicago court. Headley had talked of the ‘potential landing sites for a team...

Why is the USA not allowing India to interrogate American national David Headley, the Mumbai 26/11 terror attack suspect of Pakistani origin. Is it because Headley is also an American spy? This has become a hot news topic in the Indian media. Headley, and accomplice Tahawwur Hussain Rana, was arrested by FBI in October for conspiring to bomb public places in India. David Headley was born in Washington, D....

Guest post by Jared Stancombe Jared Stancombe, a 2009 graduate of Indiana University, is currently an analyst for a U.S. government agency responsible for national security. He is also in the officer selection process for the U.S. Marine Corps. He lives in Washington, D.C. Obama’s decision to send approximately 34,000 new troops to Afghanistan is a necessary decision to finally disable al-Qaeda’s...

Just when you thought Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad couldn’t say anything more outrageous, he tops himself again. According to this analysis from Germany’s Die Welt of the Iranian leader’s comments during a visit to Isfahan, the site of four China-built nuclear reactors, Ahmadinejad not only claims to have “documents” proving that Washington seeks to prevent the emergence...