Quick Takes: News You May Have Missed

By: Aaron Klein

Published: August 24th, 2011

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Syria Preparing For U.S-NATO Attack

Syrian President Bashar Assad is taking military measures to prepare for a possible U.S.-NATO campaign against his regime, this column has learned.

While Assad struck a conciliatory tone in an interview today with his state-run television network, he also instructed the Syrian military to be prepared for an air or ground campaign if the international community determines his pledges of reform are not enough.

Last week, this column reported that Turkey secretly passed a message to Damascus that if it does not implement major democratic reforms, NATO may attack Assad’s regime, according to Egyptian security officials. The Egyptian officials said the message was coordinated with NATO members, specifically with the U.S. and European Union.

Assad has been widely accused of ordering massacres on militants and protesters engaged in an insurgency targeting his regime.

The Egyptian officials said Turkish leaders, speaking for NATO, told Assad that he has until March to implement democratization that would allow free elections as well as major constitutional reforms.

This past Thursday, Obama officially asked Assad to step down to pave the way for a democratic system in Syria.

According to informed Middle Eastern security officials, Assad asked his military to make specific preparations in the event of a U.S.-led NATO campaign similar to the military coalition now targeting Libyan leader Muammar Khaddafi.

Attacks Intended To Avenge Bin Laden’s Death

Last week’s deadly attacks that resulted in the deaths of eight Israelis were meant to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden, jihadist sources within an al Qaeda group in the Gaza Strip told this column.

The sources come from inside two al Qaeda-affiliated organizations, Jihadiya Salafiya and Jaish al-Islam.

The sources said both groups were planning to officially take credit for the attack but delayed their announcement fearing major Israeli reprisals inside Gaza.

According to Egyptian security officials speaking to this column, it was an al Qaeda front group headquartered in the Gaza Strip that was behind a series of coordinated attacks targeting Israelis near the southern border resort town of Eilat.

The officials said the attackers originated in Gaza, crossed into the neighboring Egyptian Sinai peninsula and then penetrated Israel along the Jewish state’s border with Egypt.

The Egyptian officials are coordinating a joint response to the attacks with Israel.

Radicals Serving Coffee Neat Fort Hood

How about some antiwar activism to flavor your coffee? A slew of radicals are behind Under the Hood, a coffee shop near the Fort Hood, Texas, Army base that is a central site of antiwar activities targeting enlisted soldiers.

Under the Hood opened its doors in 2009. It hosts the Fort Hood chapter of the Iraq Veterans Against the War organization, or IVAW, one of the nation’s largest anti-war groups.

As this column recently reported, IVAW aided in the petition for conscientious objector status of Pfc. Naser Abdo, the Muslim soldier arrested earlier this month after reportedly admitting he planned a terror attack on Fort Hood soldiers.

More than a year after the Fort Hood shooting massacre by Muslim U.S. Army major Nidal Malik Hasan, Abdo was caught with a bomb in a backpack and weapons stashed in a motel room meant for another attack at the base.

Abdo was eventually granted conscientious objector status after he wrote in an application that he was conflicted about “whether going to war was the right thing to do Islamically.”

Besides aiding in Abdo’s petition against being deployed, IVAW featured the volunteer recruit in its newsletter, branding him a “Muslim peacemaker.”

IVAW holds many of their events at the Under the Hood caf?.

Under the Hood was founded in 2009 by Cindy Thomas, a member of the radical anti-war group Code Pink.

Under The Hood says it provides support services for soldiers, including referrals for counseling, legal advice and information on so-called GI rights.

The section on Under the Hood’s website for GI rights forwards to a “GI Rights Hotline,” which says it is a “a consortium of more than twenty non-governmental, non-profit organizations located in more than fifteen states and in Germany.”

That list of organizations includes the Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild, Quaker House, another anti-war cafe and the War Resisters League.

The National Lawyers Guild has a long history of defending communists and Weather Underground members.

Under the Hood is blunt about its political activism, stating outright on its website that the cafe is an “anti-war” establishment.

Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief and senior reporter for WorldNetDaily.com. He is also host of an investigative radio program on New York’s 770-WABC Radio, the largest talk radio station in the U.S., every Sunday between 2-4 p.m. His new website is KleinOnline.com.

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About the Author: Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief and senior reporter for WorldNetDaily.com. He is also host of an investigative radio program on New York's 770-WABC Radio, the largest talk radio station in the U.S., every Sunday between 2-4 p.m (CHANGE TO 7-9 p.m.). His website is KleinOnline.com

Quick Takes: News You May Have Missed

Radicals Serving Coffee Neat Fort Hood

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