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ABC News: Pakistani Military Sources Say Zawahiri May Be Dead

Today, according to Pakistani military sources, U.S. aircraft attacked a compound known to be frequented by high level al Qaeda operatives. Pakistani officials tell ABC News that al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant, may have been among them.

U.S. intelligence for the last few days indicated that Zawahiri might be in the location or about to arrive, although there is still no confirmation from U.S. officials that he was among the victims.

The attack took place early this morning Pakistan time in a small village a few miles from the border with Afghanistan.

Villagers described seeing an unmanned plane circling the area for the last few days and then bombs falling in the early morning darkness.

Eighteen people were killed, according to the villagers who said women and children were among the fatalities.

But Pakistani officials tell ABC News that five of those killed were high-level al Qaeda figures, and their bodies are now undergoing forensic tests for positive identification.

Officials say Zawahiri was known to have used safe houses in this area last winter and was believed to be in the area again this winter.

Zawahiri, who appeared just last week in a new videotaped message, had increasingly been taking the operational reins of al Qaeda, and is thought by U.S. officials to be the current true mastermind of the terrorist group.

Pakistani officials tell ABC News that the bodies of the five suspected al Qaeda figures will be recovered at first light in Pakistan, but it will still take a day or two for any kind of positive identification. U.S. officials in Washington did not comment.

GOOD – let’s hope it is al-Zawahiri.

Developing……..

Michelle Malkin: AL-ZAWAHIRI: DEAD OR ALIVE?

Andrew Cochran at The Counterterrorism Blog is tracking the latest rumors of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s possible demise.

Check out Zawahiri’s FBI Most Wanted Terrorist poster.

In this television image from Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera, Osama bin Laden, right, listens as his top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri speaks at an undisclosed location, in this image made from undated video tape broadcast by the station on April 15, 2002. A pre-dawn airstrike killed at least 17 people in a remote Pakistani tribal area Friday, Jan. 13, 2006, and U.S. networks said American jets were targeting a suspected al-Qaida hideout that may have been frequented by high-level operatives, possibly the terror group’s No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri. There was no confirmation from either the Pakistani or U.S. government.

Technorati Tags: GlobalWaronTerror, OsamaBinLaden, , Aymanal-Zawahiri,

U.S. Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, speaks with reporters at the Department of Justice, Friday Jan. 13, 2006, in Washington. General Gonzales agreed to testify at a Senate hearing on the NSA domestic spying program.

ASSociated Press: Gonzales to Testify on Domestic Spying

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Friday he will testify publicly at a Senate hearing on the Bush administration’s domestic spying program, in the face of questions from lawmakers and legal analysts about whether it is lawful.

Gonzales said he reached an agreement with Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to answer questions about the legal basis for the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping on telephone conversations between suspected terrorists and people in the United States.

“We believe the legal authorities are there,” Gonzales said at a news conference at the Justice Department. “The president acted consistent with his legal authority in a manner that he thought was necessary and appropriate to protect the country against this new kind of threat.”

The attorney general said he will not discuss operational aspects of the program at the hearing, which is expected to occur next month. Specter said Sunday that he had asked Gonzales to testify publicly.

A meaningless hearing for show purposes…….

Previous:

NSA Surveillance Watch: AP Poll- Most Say U.S. Needs Warrant to Snoop? – RECYCLED

NSA Surveillance Leak Case Watch: Vice President Cheney Strongly Defends Eavesdropping Operation

Cox & Forkum: One Man’s Whistleblower

Global War on Terror Watch: Why the NSA Monitors Communications of Al-Qaida

NSA Surveillance Leak Case Watch: President Bush Defends NSA Surveillance

NSA Leak Case Watch: New York Times’ Reporter James Risen

NSA Leak Case Watch: Justice Deptartment Probing Domestic Spying Leak

NSA Surveillance Watch: President Had Legal Authority to OK Taps

NSA Surveillance Watch: Carter and Clinton Executive Orders Authorizing Secret Searches Without a Warrant

NSA Surveillance Watch: Calls for Congressional Hearings

NSA Surveillance Watch: President Bush defends Spying as “A Necessary Part of My Job to Protect” Americans from Attack

Technorati Tags: NationalSecurityAgency, NSA, AssociatedPress, NSASurveillance, NSALeakCase, NewYorkTimes, RasmussenPoll

Death penalty opponents, from left, Shayna Gelender, Bill Babbitt and Lucas Nevarez hold signs during a rally in opposition of the scheduled execution of San Quentin death row inmate Clarence Ray Allen in San Francisco on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2006. Allen, 75, California’s oldest condemned inmate, lost another legal battle to stay alive when a federal judge on Thursday dismissed his claim that executing him next week would be unconstitutionally cruel and unusual because of his age and health problems.

The ASSociated Press is reporting that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has DENIED Clarence Ray Allen clemency.

Updates to follow.

Update #1

Reuters: Schwarzenegger denies clemency to aged murderer

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Friday he would not spare the life of the state’s oldest condemned man, Clarence Ray Allen, who is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, a day after he turns 76.

Allen, who is legally blind, uses a wheelchair and suffers from chronic heart disease and diabetes, would be the second-oldest man executed in the United States in recent decades.

“His conduct did not result from youth or inexperience, but instead resulted from the hardened and calculating decisions of a mature man,” Schwarzenegger said in statement explaining why he denied clemency.

A Fresno, California businessman who turned to crime in middle age, Allen was sentenced to death for ordering in 1980 the killings of three people while serving a life sentence for murder. Allen says he is innocent and his lawyers have filed last-ditch appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay his execution.

Update #2

Los Angeles Times: Governor Denies Allen Clemency

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today denied Allen clemency. Barring a last-minute reprieve by the courts, the governor’s decision means Allen will become the second-oldest person put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976.

He is set to die by injection Tuesday for ordering three slayings while behind bars for another murder.

Allen, who turns 76 on the eve of his execution, has been on death row for more than 23 years. He often uses a wheelchair and had to be resuscitated after suffering a heart attack last year at San Quentin Prison.

“The spectacle of Mr. Allen being wheeled into the death chamber, unable to walk and unable to see those who have come to witness his execution, violates all standards of decency and would amount to nothing more than the purposeless and needless imposition of pain and suffering prohibited by the Eighth Amendment,” said Annette Carnegie, one of Allen’s attorneys.

Schwarzenegger said Allen’s age and health did not matter and noted that he committed his crimes at the age of 50. “His conduct did not result from youth or inexperience, but instead resulted from the hardened and calculating decisions of a mature man.”

Allen’s death sentence has been delayed by 23 years of appeals. He “should not escape the jury’s punishment because our system works deliberately and carefully,” Schwarzenegger said.

In his two years in office, Schwarzenegger has denied three petitions for clemency based on claims of innocence, mental incompetence, and good behavior or good deeds in prison. The last time a California governor granted clemency was in 1967, when Gov. Ronald Reagan spared a mentally ill killer.

BIG JAB for Clarence on the 17th.

Justice for his victims…….

Previous:

Clarence Ray Allen Watch: California Supreme Court Refuses to Block January 17 Execution

Clarence Ray Allen Watch: NO Clemency Hearing Vs. NO PUBLIC Clemency Hearing

Clarence Ray Allen Watch: NO Clemency Hearing

Clarence Ray Allen Watch: Americans With Disabilities Act – The Latest Excuse

Clarence Ray Allen Watch: Asks for STAY of Execution

Clarence Ray Allen Watch: Petitions California Governor Schwarzenegger for Clemency

Technorati Tags: ClarenceRayAllen, JosephGrodin, ArnoldSchwarzenegger, SanQuentin

We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street.

We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members.

But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process.

As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future.

Signed,

N.Z. Bear, The Truth Laid Bear
Hugh Hewitt, HughHewitt.com
Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.com
Kevin Aylward, Wizbang!
La Shawn Barber, La Shawn Barber’s Corner
Lorie Byrd, Polipundit
Beth Cleaver, MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
Jeff Goldstein, Protein Wisdom
Stephen Green, Vodkapundit
John Hawkins, Right Wing News
John Hinderaker, Power Line
Jon Henke / McQ / Dale Franks, QandO
James Joyner, Outside The Beltway
Mike Krempasky, Redstate.org
Michelle Malkin, MichelleMalkin.com
Ed Morrissey, Captain’s Quarters
Scott Ott, Scrappleface
John Donovan / Bill Tuttle, Castle Argghhh!!!

Flap agrees…….

Technorati Tags: JackAbramoff, Hastert, Drier, JohnShadegg, HouseofRepresentatives, HouseMajorityLeader, TomDelay, RepublicanParty,

U.S. President George W. Bush (R) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington January 13, 2006. Bush said on Friday he was not going to prejudge what the United Nations Security Council would do if Iran is brought before the 15-member Council over its nuclear program.

ASSociated Press: Bush, Merkel Urge U.N. Action on Iran

President Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel stood together Friday in urging U.N. intervention if Iran does not retreat from a resumption of its nuclear program.

The world needs to “send a common message to Iran that their behavior … is unacceptable,” Bush said.

Merkel used similar words, and she also condemned statements by Iran’s leader challenging
Israel’s right to exist. “We will not be intimidated by a country such as Iran,” she said.

Make NO mistake……this is a SHOW. Germany will NEVER stand with the United States against Iran.

The Quotes:

Bush assailed what he called Iran’s efforts “to clandestinely develop a nuclear weapon, or using the guise of a civilian nuclear weapon program to get the know-how to develop a nuclear weapon.”

Taking the matter to the Security Council, as Germany, France and Britain recommended on Thursday, is the logical next step, Bush said.

“We want an end result to be acceptable, which will yield peace, which is that the Iranians not have a nuclear weapon in which to blackmail and-or threaten the world,” Bush said.

“It’s very important for non-transparent societies to not have the capacity to blackmail free societies,” Bush asserted.

In two years of difficult negotiations between European nations and Iran, “Iran refused every offer we made,” Merkel said.

The United States and Israel are ALONE with regards to Iran’s nuclear program.

Stay tuned…….

Previous:


Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Threatens to End Random Nuclear Inspections

Iran Nuclear Watch: Israel Wants West to Deal More Urgently with Iran

Iran Nuclear Watch: Kofi Annan – Iran Interested in “Serious and Constructive Negotiations”

Iran Nuclear Watch: Condoleezza Rice Calls on United Nations to Confront Iran’s Defiance

Iran Nuclear Watch: TALKS = DEAD END

Iran Nuclear Watch: “Highly Probable” Iran Referral to United Nations Security Council

Iran Nuclear Watch: Britain Calls for United Nations Security Council Action Against Iran

Iran Nuclear Watch: Rafsanjani – Sanctions FUTILE

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Removes United Nations Seals on Nuclear Facilities

Iran Nuclear Watch: Five Permanent Members of the U.N. Security Council Send Messages To Iran To Halt Nuclear Plans

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Ready to Remove UN Seals at Nuclear Sites

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Confirms Resumption of Atomic Fuel Research

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Will Resume Atomic Fuel Research

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Seeking Components to Manufacture Nuclear Bombs and Ballistic Missle Capability

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Resumes Nuclear Fuel Research

Iran Nuclear Watch: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – “Israel Completed Holocaust”

Drudge Report Watch: ‘United States planning a military strike against Iran’

Iran Nuclear Watch: Is Washington Planning a Military Strike?

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Says Still Wants to Enrich Uranium in IRAN

Iran Nuclear Watch: Russians Helping with Missle Threat to Europe

Iran Nuclear Watch: Holocaust Is a “MYTH”

Iran Nuclear Watch: Israel Readies Forces to Strike Nuclear Iran

Technorati Tags: Iran, Russia, Israel, JavadVaeedi, MahmoudAhmadinejad, PeterGoss, Turkey, AliLarijani, GlobalWaronTerror, France, Italy, Austria, ArielSharon, UnitedNations, InternationalAtomicEnergyAgency, CondoleezzaRice, Mohamed ElBaradei, JacquesChirac, MohammadSaidi, JackStraw, AkbarHashemiRafsanjani, AngelaMerkel, GeorgeWBush

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger points to his stitched-up upper lip, suffered in a motorcycle accident, when asked if he had renewed his motorcycle license in Fremont, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 12, 2006. Schwarzenegger’s announced plans to improve infrastructure including freeways, to relieve traffic congestion, as part of his Strategic Growth Plan.

OC Register: This governor should be terminated

By Michael Schroeder – a former Chairman of the California Republican Party and former President of the California Republican Assembly

At some point, an elected official’s actions can become so erratic that they call into question his basic competence as a leader. It simply needs to be said. Those who raised serious questions in the beginning as to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s basic competence have been proven right. Gov. Schwarzenegger to date has not shown that he possesses the basic skills needed to competently govern.

Gov. Schwarzenegger should not run for re-election and should no longer enjoy the endorsement of the California Republican Party if he does so.

Flap saw this a few days ago but has NOW been picked up by a few blogs:

Dan Weintraub

OC Blog

Steve Frank

So, what should California Republicans do?

Governor Schwarzenegger is an “empty suit” and does NOT MERIT re-election.

Will the Governor win re-election in November 2006? DOUBTFUL.

Is there a likely SUCCESSFUL Republican challenger to Schwarzenegger in the June Primary election? NO.

Flap supposes there could be a last minute Republican challenger but would have to be a self-funded candidate ($25 million). VERY DOUBTFUL.

Jim Gilchrist may run and siphon off 15-20% of the November vote assuring Schwarzenegger’s defeat. LIKELY

Would Republicans feel comfortable supporting Steve Westly in the June Democrat primary in order to deny Phil Angelides the Democrat nomination for Governor? PERHAPS.

California Republicans are in a BOX. – with NO easy way out.

Just consider – if Gray Davis had NOT been recalled…………

Stay tuned……..

Previous:

The Arnold Schwarzenegger Files

Technorati Tags: ArnoldSchwarzenegger, California, Election2006, CaliforniaRepublicanParty, SteveWestly, PhilAngelides, CaliforniaDemocratParty

Canadian Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper (L) greets supporters while attending an election rally in Toronto, Ontario January 12, 2006. Two new polls gave the Conservative Party a strong lead in the run-up to the January 23 federal election, and a projection based on several surveys said they could be within three seats of a majority.

The Globe and Mail: Seat projection puts Harper on cusp of majority

The Conservative Party will come within a few seats of winning a majority government, if current levels of voter support hold up, according to projections by the Strategic Counsel.

The Liberal Party would form the Official Opposition but would have only about a dozen more MPs than the third-place Bloc Québécois, the projections suggest.

The Adscam Scandal and the other foolishness of Paul Martin has come home to roost in Canada.

The projections, which are calculated by running this week’s Strategic Counsel poll of more than 3,500 Canadians through a mathematical formula, are that the Tories will win 152 seats on Jan. 23, followed by 74 for the Liberals, 60 for the Bloc and 21 for the NDP. There are 308 seats in the House, so a party needs 155 to form a majority.

Canadian Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper holds up his party’s spending plan during an unveiling in Oakville, Ontario January 13, 2006.

The Regional Breakdown of the polling:

– British Columbia is on track to elect 26 Tories, six Liberals, three NDP MPs and an Independent.

– All 28 ridings in Alberta will go to the Conservatives.

– Manitoba and Saskatchewan will not change, once again electing a combined 20 Conservatives, four Liberals and four NDP MPs.

– The Greater Toronto Area will elect 35 Liberals, eight Tories and two NDP MPs while the rest of Ontario will elect 49 Tories, four Liberals and eight New Democrats.

– Montreal will have 21 Bloc MPs and seven Liberals, while the rest of Quebec will elect 39 Bloc MPs and eight Conservatives.

– Atlantic Canada will elect 15 Liberals, 13 Conservatives and four NDP MPs.

– All three seats in the territories will go to the Liberals.

See Good Bye to the Corrupt Liberal Party and Political Hack Paul Martin……..

Stay tuned….. election is January 23rd…….

Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper in Halifax.

Previous:

Canada Election Watch: Tories Surge in Polls

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin Watch: Canada Blames U.S. for Gun Violence

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin Watch: USA – Don’t Dictate to Me

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin Watch: C’EST LA VIE

Canadian Adscam Scandel: Canadian Government Falls on No-Confidence Vote

Technorati Tags: StephenHarper, PaulMartin, Canada, Conservative, Party, LiberalParty, Tories, CanadaAdscamScandal, Adscam