Susan Rice trying to avoid Benghazi repeat, as Al Qaeda leader pushes for new attack
the State Department announced it will keep 19 embassies and consulates
closed through Saturday "out of an abundance of caution."
Sources tell Fox News that it comes as Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri
demands that key leaders of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula step up
their activities in the wake of recent killings of top terrorists in Syria.
National Security Adviser Susan Rice is playing a driving role
in the decision to shutter U.S. embassies and consulates over a major
terror threat, sources tell Fox News, claiming the former diplomat is
trying to avoid a repeat of the deadly Benghazi terror attack nearly a
year ago. Twenty-two U.S. posts were closed over the weekend, and the State
Department announced it will keep 19 embassies and consulates closed
through Saturday "out of an abundance of caution." Lawmakers are describing the threat as among the most serious they've seen in years. Sources tell Fox News that it comes as Al Qaeda leader Ayman
al-Zawahiri demands that key leaders of Al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula step up their activities in the wake of recent killings of top
terrorists. Daily politics news delivered to your inbox: sign up for our newsletter One Middle East diplomat tells Fox News that al-Zawahiri has been
"pressuring" AQAP, and that the pressure that local Al Qaeda figures
have been subjected to -- aimed at getting them to launch new terrorist
attacks on Western and American targets -- is "unprecedented." This is
what has led to the extraordinary volume of "chatter" picked up by U.S.
intelligence following a period of months of "absolute quietness" on
terrorist phone lines, computer outlets, websites and other channels.
Maryland Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the top Democrat on the House
Intelligence Committee, also said the intercepted threats came from
"high-level people" in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He told ABC's "This Week" the information was about a "major attack." Yemen is home to Al Qaeda's most dangerous affiliate, blamed for
several notable terrorist plots on the United States. They include the
foiled Christmas Day 2009 effort to bomb an airliner over Detroit and
the explosives-laden parcels intercepted the following year aboard cargo
flights.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) insisted there will be no "boots on the ground" in Syria because if there were, "there would be an impeachment of the president." McCain made the following statement to KFYI's Mike Broomhead on Thursday:
The fact is [Syrian President] Bashar Assad has massacred
100,000 people. The conflict is spreading. The king of Jordan cannot
stand. Lebanon is evolving. Iraq is now become a haven for al-Qaeda and
violence is greater than since 2008. The Russians are all in, the
Iranians are all in, and it’s an unfair fight. And no one wants American
boots on the ground. Nor will there be American boots on the ground
because there would be an impeachment of the president if they did that.
McCain sat down with Broomhead after a town hall
in Phoenix on Thursday, where the senator encountered a tough crowd
largely opposed to military action in Syria. McCain said at that event
he is "unalterably opposed to having a single American boot on the
ground in Syria." "The American people wouldn't stand for it," McCain said.
"Second of all, it would not be anything but counterproductive to do
that. American blood and treasure is too precious to do that." In an interview with HuffPost's Howard Fineman,
Secretary of State John Kerry said the Obama administration has "no
intention nor will we put American boots on the ground and get sucked
into a quagmire." “We are not -- I repeat -- we are not considering taking over or
assuming responsibility for their civil war. We may help them [the
Syrian opposition], as we have decided to do in response to the earlier
use of chemical weapons. The president ratcheted up the assistance to
the opposition. The opposition is there, and they are prepared to fight.
They haven’t asked us to come in and fight. And they will fight," Kerry
said. “There will be no American forces on the ground for any purpose.”
Putin appears emboldened by EU's tepid support of Syria strike at G-20 meetings
The tepid international support during the Group of 20 meetings for
the United States' proposed military strike on Syria appears to have
emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin, who vowed continued support
of Syria. Putin said Russia will continue to supply weapons and humanitarian
aid to Syria should the United States launch a punitive strike against
the Middle East country for a deadly chemical weapon attack that killed
more than 1,400 people. In the statement, the European Union agreed that the Aug. 21 chemical
attack outside Damascus appears to have been the work of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad but also said any potential military attack
against it should wait for a U.N. inspectors' report, according to The Wall Street Journal. "Will we continue to help Syria? We will," said Putin after a
20-minute meeting Friday with President Obama at the G-20 summit in St.
Petersburg, Russia. "We're helping them now. We are supplying arms,
cooperating in the economic sphere." On Saturday, European foreign ministers endorsed a message that
appears more strongly worded -- calling for a "clear and strong
response" to a chemical weapons attack that strongly points to the
Syrian government. But they also urged the U.S. to delay possible
military action until U.N. inspectors report their findings. The agreement was reached during a meeting in Lithuania of the European Union. Secretary of State John Kerry, trying to make the Obama
administration's case for a strike, thanked the countries for a "strong
statement about the need for accountability." "This is not the time to be silent spectators to slaughter,"
Kerry said at a news conference in Paris with French Foreign Minister
Laurent Fabius. “This is not the time to allow a dictator unfettered use
of some of the most heinous weapons on earth." Putin, one of al-Assad’s closest allied in his country’s roughly
2-year-long civil war, said he and Obama had a “very meaningful,
constructive and friendly conversation.” However, he said, they came no closer to an agreement on Syria or
that Syrian rebels were responsible for the sarin-gas attack that killed
hundreds of women and children. "I don't agree with [Obama’s] arguments, and he doesn't agree with mine," said Putin, according to The Journal. Spain and nine permanent G-20 countries joined the U.S. in signing
the first statement, which calls for a strong international response
against the Assad regime. However, 10 other nations declined to sign the statement. On Friday, Putin publically pointed out that Russian and seven other
G-20 countries were "categorically against" military action in Syria, as
are Pope Francis and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. He also noted earlier in the week that the British Parliament rejected Prime Minister David Cameron’s call of military action. “There are people who value their sovereignty, analyze the situation
and have the courage to make decisions for the benefit of their own
countries." Putin said. "It is a very good sign. It shows that the
multi-polar world order has indeed been strengthened." Obama has asked Congress to approve the use of force. A final vote in
the Senate is expected at the end of the coming week. A House vote is
likely the week of Sept. 16.
The Washington Times Reports Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI Does not want America to go to Syria.
Egypt judges recommend dissolving Muslim Brotherhood group
CAIRO – A panel of Egyptian
judges recommended Monday the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood
group, adding momentum to a push by authorities to ban the ousted
Islamist president's main backers. Since the military deposed Mohammed Morsi in a July 3 coup, it has
steadily intensified a crackdown on the Brotherhood, Egypt's largest
political organization. Hundreds of its members are in detention and
facing prosecution, many on charges of inciting violence. Morsi himself has been held in an undisclosed location since his
ouster. On Sunday, state prosecutors charged him with inciting the
murder of his opponents. A date has yet to be set for the trial, in
which 14 leading Brotherhood members are also charged. In its recommendation to Egypt's administrative court, the panel of
judges accused the Brotherhood of operating outside the law. It also
recommended the closure of its Cairo headquarters. The recommendation is nonbinding for the court, which holds its next hearing on Nov. 12. Both state and private Egyptian media have adopted the interim
government's line on dealing with the Brotherhood since the coup,
repeatedly describing the group's actions and those of other Morsi
supporters as acts of "terrorism." The 85-year-old organization had faced legal challenges even before
Morsi's ouster. Officially banned for most of its existence, it
flourished as a provider of social services to the country's poor and
eventually fielded candidates as independents or on the tickets of
other, legal parties. But its lack of legal status had left it open to recurrent security
crackdowns over the years. Thousands of its members had been imprisoned
on charges ranging from endangering national security to belonging to an
illegal organization. The Brotherhood rose to the forefront of Egyptian politics however
after the 2011 popular uprising that forced longtime autocrat Hosni
Mubarak from power. The group then formed a political party and won
majority seats in the parliament. Its candidate, Morsi, became the
country's first Islamist president. The distinction between the religious-based Brotherhood and its
political party however remained unclear, raising questions about
financing and legal status and driving many opponents to file lawsuits
seeking Brotherhood's dissolution.
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