Dare to Speak...

Saif al-Adel, the former Egyptian military officer and onetime leading member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad group (EIJ), is widely reported to have been chosen as the temporary head of Al-Qaeda, until a new emir is chosen to replace Osama bin Laden. However, this alleged appointment has not yet been announced officially by Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda Central has made two public announcements since bin Laden’s death. The first was the confirmation of bin Laden’s death, and the second was the release of an audio recording which bin Laden had made a few days before his death, commenting on the ongoing Arab revolutions. These two releases prove that Al-Qaeda was able to continue its media work despite bin Laden’s death, and in spite of their likely concern that the Americans may have gained important information from the Al-Qaeda leader’s compound which could allow them to go after other figures in the group. But the lack of public statement about al-Adel’s appointment raises one inescapable ques...

EVERYTHING was in place to enable Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF head, to declare next month his candidacy for the Socialist primary, ahead of French presidential elections next year. Polls consistently showed that he was the most popular Socialist candidate, and the best placed to beat President Nicolas Sarkozy in a run-off. But Mr Strauss-Kahn’s arrest on May 14th in New York, for an alleged sexual assault, has thrown all those plans in the air, and looks almost certain to wreck his political future. Mr Strauss-Kahn was arrested when he was already aboard an Air France plane at Kennedy International Airport, just minutes before it was due to take off. New York police said he was charged with “a criminal sexual act, attempted rape, and an unlawful imprisonment in connection with a sexual assault” on a chambermaid in a Manhattan hotel. Reports suggested that Mr Strauss-Kahn had left his hotel room in a hurry. His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told Reuters that his client would plead n...

This interview originally appeared in TIME's  January 11, 1999  issue Tall and lean, he was dressed in a traditional shalwar kameez--baggy trousers and long shirt--under a military fatigue jacket, with a scarf to fight the desert cold. An AK-47 assault rifle stood at his side. He spoke softly, in Arabic, praising God in nearly every sentence, but his voice rose whenever he criticized the United States. That he did often during the four-hour interview, his first since the U.S. tried to kill him. Osama bin Laden, the Saudi financier accused of masterminding the Aug. 7 bombings that took 224 lives at two U.S. embassies in Africa, escaped an American missile attack on his headquarters in southern Afghanistan nearly two weeks after the embassy blasts. In the months that followed, bin Laden heeded the orders of his host, the Taliban militia that controls most of Afghanistan, to avoid public statements. The Taliban's leaders evidently didn't want to complicate their budding relat...

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Conversation with Terror

A  Pakistan news agency reports that the bin Laden raid on Abbottabad was aborted because of a helicopter crash which killed several passengers, believed to be Pashtu speaking Americans. Though this is from a news agency, it is an eyewitness account and unconfirmed. Veterans Today has received this story from several sources but most recently from our comments section. Thanks! If this story is true, it would be a disaster for the Obama presidency, deeply paralleling the unsuccessful hostage rescue attempt in Iran during the Carter presidency. If the story is true, our heartfelt sympathies for the families of those who may have died in this operation. As described below, the mission depicts real heroism and, despite political concerns and the usual finger pointing, represents, of all the stories told, something Americans can be proud of. True or not, there is a unpleasant ring of reality in this story that is lacking in all others, a reality proven out by the helicopter wrec...

To begin with, a story it would be apt enough to struck nail on the head. Once upon a time, there was a traveler. On his way through the vast desert, he halted at a place and erecting a tent with an idea of spending his night there. A camel out there said, “May I stretch my head inside, as it’s too cold out there?” The traveler agreed. After few minutes, the camel said obsequiously it’s too cold out there; can I stretch my legs inside. Again, the traveler agreed. This flow of intermittent requests went on and finally the traveler found himself under the blue sky. In the story, what happened with the traveler seems to be structuring up for Indians in general and Himachalis in particular. Though there is none denying the fact that India has since time immemorial followed the dictum of ‘Athithi Devo Bhava’, meaning – Guest is reverent like God. However, in the changing scenario when our resources are shrinking, more mouths are sprouting to be fed; corruption, red-tapism, w...