U.S. May Reqire Visas From Brits

(NEWSER) - Pakistan’s president suggested today that Osama bin Laden could be dead, an assertion the US strenuously objects to, the New York Daily News reports. “He may be dead. But that’s been said before,” Asif Ali Zardari said. “It’s still between fiction and fact.” Zardari offered no proof for his claim. More»

Insurgent leader specialized in recruiting

(AP) - American troops acting on a tip killed the No. 2 leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq—a Moroccan known for his ability to recruit and motivate foreign fighters—in a raid in the northern city of Mosul, the US military said today. The man, known as Abu Qaswarah, was a charismatic leader who had trained in Afghanistan and managed to rally al-Qaeda followers in Iraq despite US and Iraqi security gains. More»

It may be creating more terrorists than it's killing: Gary Kamiya

(NEWSER) - Before 9/11, if the US president had announced that the government was going to "play God, reaching down from our high-tech heaven to kill whoever we want, whenever we want, wherever we want"—including US citizens, without a trial—the news would have been met with uproar. But that is indeed what we are doing today with our drones, "and nobody cares," writes Gary Kamiya in an extensive piece on Salon . As long as the government kills for the good of national security, the majority of Americans apparently have no problem with it, Kamiya writes. But how did this come about? He traces the shift in attitude back to the war in Afghanistan—which he calls "justified" in the wake of 9/11. Once the US established a precedent of killing Taliban members wherever they were found in Afghanistan or Pakistan, "it was a small step to killing bad guys in Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, and Libya." More»

US officials cite fear 9-year-old Micah Strachan would stick around

(NEWSER) - A 9-year-old boy from Britain with plans to visit Disney World was denied entry to the US this week; immigration officials cited a concern he wouldn’t leave the country. “Because you either did not demonstrate strong ties outside the United States or were not able to demonstrate that your intended activities in the US would be consistent with the visa status, you are ineligible,” said US officials in a rejection letter. The Telegraph notes that Micah Strachan's visa application included a letter from his school, as proof of his attendance. More»

Suicide bomber duo injure 40 near bank

(NEWSER) - A pair of suicide bomb blasts rocked Pakistan today, killing at least 26 people. Two bombers on motorcycles blew themselves up near a queue outside a Rawalpindi bank close to army headquarters, injuring 60, many of them women and children. "There were many people lying on the ground with bleeding wounds, and a motorcycle was on fire with one man under it," a witness told the BBC . More»