• Canada thwarts plot to blow up U.S.-Canada rail line

    Shaun Best / Reuters file

    A Via Rail Canada passenger train pulls into Dorval Station in Montreal, in this July 22, 2009 file photo. Canadian police authorities said on Monday they had arrested and charged two men with an "al Qaeda-supported" plot to derail a passenger train.

     

    By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Canadian security forces say they have thwarted an al-Qaeda-backed plot to blow up a rail line between Canada and the United States, and officials announced two arrests on Monday afternoon.

    Canadian authorities hold a press conference after two men were arrested and charged in an alleged "al Qaeda-supported" plot to blow up a U.S.-Canada rain line.

    The suspects had sought to attack a passenger train that left from the U.S. bound for Toronto once the train crossed the Canadian border, sources told NBC News. The suspects may have scouted trains departing from New York.

    Canadian officials worked closely with the FBI throughout the investigation, which began last year.

    Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced the two accused, Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto, were conspiring to carry out a terrorist attack against a "VIA Rail Canada" passenger train. VIA runs trains in partnership with Amtrak.

    Authorities said the men were planning to attack a route, not necessarily a specific train.

    Exactly how the men planned to attack was still unclear, only that it was a threat to kill people, officials said.

    The men were receiving support from al-Qaeda elements in Iran, according to officials, who added that there was no information to indicate the support was state-sponsored.

    Charges against the pair include conspiring to carry out an attack against, and conspiring to murder persons unknown for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group, officials said. Police were searching the suspects homes Monday afternoon.

    The men "had the capacity and intent to carry out these criminal acts," but "there was no imminent threat to the public, rail employees, train passengers or infrastructure," James Malizia, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said.

    The suspects will appear in a Canadian court tomorrow for bail hearings.

    In a statement, Amtrak said it was aware of the situation and is working with Canadian authorities during the ongoing investigation.

    Check back for updates on this developing story.

    NBC's Jon Dienst and Rich Esposito contributed to this report

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  • How to protect 500,000 along a 26-mile route? London beefs up marathon security

    Authorities around the world, from Los Angeles and Chicago to London, which is preparing for its own marathon this weekend, are taking a closer look at their security plans for major events. NBC's Tom Costello reports.

    By Alastair Jamieson, Andy Eckardt and Keir Simmons, NBC News

    LONDON -- British authorities ordered more police on the streets for Sunday's London Marathon in the wake of the Boston bombings, but experts warned it was "virtually impossible" to guarantee the safety of the hundreds of thousands who will attend the event. 

    A police source said additional patrols by uniformed officers were planned to reassure the public in the wake of deadly attack.

    While British security officials have been in contact with their counterparts in the U.S. following Monday's blasts, the U.K.'s threat level for international terrorism hasn't been changed from "substantial" -- the third of five categories on the scale.

    At least 500,000 spectators are expected to watch Sunday’s race and Prince Harry is due to hand medals to the winners.

    NBC's Keir Simmons reports on how nations from the United Kingdom to China have been offering their support and condemning the apparent act of terrorism that rocked the Boston Marathon.

    The course takes the 36,000 runners right past major sites - including Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace – as well as through Canary Wharf, the giant riverside financial district targeted twice by the Irish militants in the 1990s.

    Even in a city that has spent recent decades under the threat of bombs – first from Irish Republicans, more recently jihadists – such a public event poses a security headache.

    Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, said that the force was "taking more more precautions than we might have done otherwise."

    "We will make sure we've got more officers on the street looking after people, making sure they're kept safe, but we've no reason to think they'd be any less safe than before the terrible events in Boston,." he said. "We'd be professionally irresponsible if we didn't take some reasonable steps."

    Sang Tan / AP

    Backdropped by Buckingham Palace, a jogger crosses the Mall in London on Tuesday. It will be transformed into the finishing area for Sunday's London Marathon.

    Metropolitan Police Commander Christine Jones declined to give details of what changes might be made, if any, to the event's security plan. She said officers would “continue to review all the intelligence” available.

    London Marathon chief executive Nick Bitel insisted the event would go ahead. “We will be reviewing our security in the coming days, in the light of what has happened in Boston," Bitel told ITV News.

    "I don't want to talk about specifics of what security we have had in the past, or will have on Sunday. All I can say is that it will be of an appropriate level to meet whatever threat assessment is made, in conjunction with the police," he added.

    Hugh Robertson, a British government minister, called for crowds and runners to attend in London as normal.

    “The very best way to show solidarity with Boston is to get out there on the streets of London to cheer the runners on and to show that we won’t be defeated by this sort of activity,” he told the London Evening Standard newspaper.

    Runners will be encouraged to wear a black ribbon at the start of the race to honor victims of the Boston bombing, and a 30-second silence will be observed, organizers said Wednesday. 

    NBC News national security analyst Michael Leiter said it was “virtually impossible” to make a marathon completely secure because of its 26.2-mile long route.

    “You just have to do the best you can to keep people safe and maintain resilience," he said. “It’s important we don’t alter our lives because that provides the terrorist – domestic, international, whoever it may be – with a huge victory.”

    Helmut Spahn, executive director of the International Centre for Sport Security, told Reuters: "There has to be a clear analysis of the situation and certainly no over-reaction. More police, more military is not always the best solution. To have a 100 percent security is very, very difficult if not near impossible.”

    Sang Tan / AP

    A sign warns of road closures linked to the forthcoming London Marathon.

    The German port city of Hamburg is also hosting a marathon Sunday. More than 400 police officers will be on duty.

    Organizer Frank Thaleiser said about 22,000 athletes were registered for the event.

    "It is impossible to fully control the entire 42 kilometers along the running course, but we have also advised our 3,000 helpers to be extra vigilant and to watch out for abandoned bags or suspicious packages," he said.

    "But it does not make sense to position 100 police officers at the finish line, that would only generate panic," he added.

    Professor Richard English, director of  the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at Britain's University of St. Andrews, urged people to not be rattled by the Boston attack.

    "The chances of people being killed or injured by terrorism are statistically very slight, despite the appalling nature of what happened [on Monday] in Boston," he said. "Continuing normal life makes sense ... In the absence of a well-grounded threat to specific races, the likelihood is that marathons, and most other public occasions, will continue to be safe in the U.S."

    NBC News' Ian Johnston contributed to this report.

    Related:

    Full coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings from NBC News

     

     

    This story was originally published on Wed Apr 17, 2013 2:29 AM EDT

  • Alleged Federal Reserve bomber is victim of 'racist conspiracy', father says

    AFP - Getty Images

    Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was arrested in Manhattan after he tried to detonate what he thought was a live bomb, but was actually a dummy provided in a sting operation, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said.

    By Reuters

    NEW YORK — A Bangladeshi man arrested in a sting operation denied on Tuesday charges that he attempted to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in New York last month with what authorities say he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb.

    During a brief hearing in Brooklyn federal court, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, pleaded not guilty to a two-count indictment charging him with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, al-Qaida. He faces life in prison if convicted.

     


    Nafis appeared in court wearing a tan, prison jumpsuit and did not speak during the hearing. His lawyer and a lawyer for the government, James Loonam, said discussions were being held about a possible plea negotiation.

    His lawyer and a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn declined to comment to reporters.

    From Bangladesh, the suspect's father has denied his son was involved and said he was the victim of a "racist conspiracy."

    Nafis was arrested on Oct. 17 after pulling up to the Federal Reserve near Wall Street and attempting to detonate what he believed to be a van packed with explosives.

    Quazi Nafis, 21, the former student accused of plotting to blow up the Federal Reserve, had tried to find likeminded people on Facebook to join him in his violent jihad. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

    The inert explosives had been provided to Nafis by an undercover agent as part of a sting operation, federal authorities said.

    A criminal complaint unsealed last month against Nafis said he traveled to the United States in 2012, and eventually moved to Queens, New York.

    The complaint alleged he scouted out targets for a potential attack, considering the New York Stock Exchange and a high-ranking government official identified as U.S. President Barack Obama. He eventually settled on the Federal Reserve Bank, the complaint said.

    Federal Reserve plot suspect thought he had 1,000-pound bomb

    Nafis attempted to recruit others to his plan, claiming he was in contact with al-Qaida operatives, the complaint said.

    One of the individuals he brought onboard was an undercover agent working for the FBI, who monitored Nafis' activities and helped arm him with the inoperable explosives, federal authorities said.

    Nafis is scheduled to appear next in court on Jan. 9.

    NBC News security analyst Michael Leiter discusses Quazi Mohammad Reswanul Ahsan Nafis' alleged attempt to blow up the New York Federal Reserve, including how the FBI helped identify him early as a radicalized student.

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  • Four Calif. men arrested for plotting attacks against US in Afghanistan

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    Four men, including a former member of the U.S. Air Force, have been arrested in southern California and charged with plotting to kill Americans overseas by joining up with al-Qaida to engage in "violent jihad" or Islamic holy war, the FBI said late Monday.

    Other charges the men face include plotting to bomb government facilities and conspiracy to kill Americans.

    The authorities said Sohiel Omar Kabir, 34, traveled to Afghanistan where he planned to introduce the other suspects to his al-Qaida contacts. Kabir is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Afghanistan and served in the U.S. Air Force from 2000 to 2001, according to the Associated Press.

    Also arrested were Ralph Deleon, 23, of Ontario, Calif.; Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales, 21, of Upland; and Arifeen David Gojali, 21, of Riverside.

    If convicted, the men face up to 15 years in prison.

    The FBI said in its complaint that Kabir introduced Deleon and Santana to radical Islamic teachings in 2010, including those of al-Qaida leader Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed by a U.S. drone in Yemen in September 2011. The U.S. has said that that al-Awlaki was the inspiration behind a series of attacks and plots against Americans.

    NBC's Richard Engel reports on a U.S. drone strike which killed American-born radical cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki in Yemen.

    In one conversation with an FBI confidential source, Santana and Deleon discussed their preferred roles when it came to carrying out attacks. Santana stated that he had experience with firearms and that he wanted to become a sniper, while Deleon said he wanted to be on the front line but that his second choice was handling explosives.

    Both men also indicated they were willing to kill people they perceived to be enemies.


    Training at paintball courses
    Deleon is a lawful permanent resident alien who was born in the Philippines, and Santana is a lawful permanent resident who was born in Mexico and has applied to become a U.S. citizen, according to the FBI.

    In July 2012, Kabir traveled to Afghanistan, where he continued to communicate with Santana and DeLeon and arrange for their travel to join him there, according to the complaint.  Kabir said that he would wait for their arrival before heading to a training location and that they would meet members of the Taliban and al-Qaida when they arrived.

    In September 2012, Deleon and Santana recruited Gojali, a U.S. citizen. The three men discussed how to raise funds for a trip to Afghanistan, and how to train and carry out attacks. To prepare for terrorist training overseas, the men started training in southern California at firearms and paintball facilities.

    With a power vacuum caused by the current uprising in Yemen -- and the severe wounds suffered by the Yemeni president that have forced him to hospital in neighboring Saudi Arabia -- the U.S. is accelerating its covert operations to eliminate al-Qaida linked operatives in the troubled nation. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

    Santana, Deleon and Gojali were arrested on Friday and then handed over to federal authorities  following their hearing in a U.S. district court in Riverside, Calif., on Monday afternoon. Gojali's hearing will be continued on Nov. 26. Kabir is in custody in Afghanistan, the FBI said.

    Since the Sept. 11 2001 attacks, the U.S. government has stepped up surveillance efforts to catch both domestic and foreign militants, but has repeatedly warned that such groups continue to pose a threat.

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Afghan 'insider' attack marks grim milestone for US troop deaths

    In light of recent attacks, troops are told to "build trust, but make sure you have a bodyguard present." NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    Updated at 5:54 p.m. ET: An apparent insider attack by Afghan forces has killed a U.S. service member and a contractor, officials said Sunday – bringing the total number of U.S. troops killed inside Afghanistan to 2,000 according to some measures.

    A U.S. official confirmed the latest death in the 11-year-old conflict on Sunday.

    The American service member killed was a soldier. The American contractor was working as a trainer for either the Afghan army or police, according to NBC News.

    On Saturday night, an Afghan soldier approached Americans, killing a soldier and a contractor; with that, the number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan is around 2,100 in the United States' 11-year-war in the country. Insider attacks have become increasingly common – and no one seems to have a good answer about how to stop them. NBC's Lester Holt and Richard Engel report from Kabul.

    The attack happened Saturday at a checkpoint on a highway in Wardak Province, a defense official said. Two Afghan National Army soldiers approached the checkpoint and had a brief conversation with the troops there. One of the ANA soldiers then shot and killed the American service members and the contractor, officials told NBC News.

    With a suspected "insider" attack at a checkpoint. the US military has suffered its 2,000th death in the war in Afghanistan.  NBC's Atia Abawi and Mike Viqueira report.

    A brief firefight ensued, and left at least three Afghan Army soldiers dead - including the initial shooter, officials said.

    The Afghan military claimed the Americans were killed by a mortar attack, but the American military insisted that is not true, that the Afghan soldier opened fire and they returned fire.

    The dead U.S. soldier was identified as Sgt. 1st Class Riley G. Stephens, 39, of Tolar, Texas. Stephens was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), based at Fort Bragg, N.C.

     

    The U.S. toll in Afghanistan has climbed steadily in recent months with a spate of attacks by Afghan army and police against American and NATO troops, and questions about whether allied countries will achieve their aim of helping the Afghan government and its forces stand on their own after most foreign troops depart in little more than two years. The U.S. is preparing to withdraw most of its combat forces by the end of 2014.

    The Associated Press reported Sunday that the latest death was the 2,000th member of the U.S. armed services killed inside Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion on Oct. 7, 2001.  However, that AP figure did not include those who died after sustaining injuries in Afghanistan or those killed in other countries as part of the same campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban.

    TODAY's Lester Holt heads down the road to Sangasar, the physical and spiritual heart of the Taliban. He speaks with American and Afghan soldiers along the way.

    According to icasualties.org, an independent monitoring organization which uses the wider definition, the latest death brings the toll of U.S. service members to 2035. At least a further 1,190 coalition troops have also died in the Afghanistan war, it says.

    The Brookings Institution, a Washington-based research center, said 40.2 percent of the deaths were caused by improvised explosive devices, with the majority of those after 2009 when President Barack Obama ordered a surge of 33,000 troops to combat heightened Taliban activity. According to the Washington-based research center, the second highest cause, 30.6 percent, was hostile fire.

    Tracking civilian deaths is much more difficult. According to the U.N., 13,431 civilians were killed in the Afghan conflict between 2007, when the U.N. began keeping statistics, and the end of August. Going back to the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, most estimates put the number of Afghan deaths in the war at more than 20,000.

    The 2001 invasion targeted al-Qaida and its Taliban allies after the Sept. 11 attacks, which claimed nearly 3,000 lives in the United States.

    "The tally is modest by the standards of war historically, but every fatality is a tragedy and 11 years is too long," Michael O'Hanlon, a fellow at the Brookings, told the AP. "All that is internalized, however, in an American public that has been watching this campaign for a long time. More newsworthy right now are the insider attacks and the sense of hopelessness they convey to many. "

    Attacks by Afghan soldiers or police — or insurgents disguised in their uniforms — have killed 52 American and other NATO troops so far this year.

    The so-called insider attacks are considered one of the most serious threats to the U.S. exit strategy from the country. In its latest incarnation, that strategy has focused on training Afghan forces to take over security nationwide — allowing most foreign troops to go home by the end of 2014.

    As American troops draw out of Afghanistan, officials say the removal plan is on track but that time is precious and the Taliban threat is worrisome. NBC's Lester Holt reports.

    Although Obama has pledged that most U.S. combat troops will leave by the end of 2014, American, NATO and allied troops are still dying in Afghanistan at a rate of one a day.

    Even with 33,000 American troops back home, the U.S.-led coalition will still have 108,000 troops — including 68,000 from the U.S. — fighting in Afghanistan at the end of this year. Many of those will be training the Afghan National Security Forces that are to replace them.

    "There is a challenge for the administration," O'Hanlon said, "to remind people in the face of such bad news why this campaign requires more perseverance."

    The Associated Press and NBC News' Courtney Kube and Atia Abawi, in Kabul, contributed to this report.

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  • Gitmo's youngest and last Western detainee returned to Canada

    Reuters

    Omar Khadr is seen at left in an undated family handout photo and in the most recent artist rendering from a courtroom.

    By NBC News staff and wire services

    A one-time teen al-Qaida fighter who was also Guantanamo Bay’s youngest prisoner and last Westerner has been transferred to his native Canada on Saturday, the Canadian government confirmed.


    Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Omar Khadr, 26, was flown from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Saturday on a U.S. government plane and transferred to Millhaven maximum-security prison in Bath, Ontario.

    Khadr's case has been controversial both in Canada and abroad given his age when he was captured, the nature of his detention and hearing, and the reluctance of Canadian officials to accept his return.

    "I am satisfied the Correctional Service of Canada can administer Omar Khadr’s sentence in a manner which recognizes the serious nature of the crimes that he has committed and ensure the safety of Canadians is protected during incarceration,” Toews said.

    A U.S. war crimes tribunal in 2010 sentenced Khadr to 40 years in prison, although he was expected to serve just a few more years under a deal that included his admission he was an al-Qaida conspirator who murdered a U.S. soldier.

    Khadr was 15 when he was captured in 2002 in Afghanistan, and has spent a decade at Guantanamo, the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

    Khadr admitted planting 10 roadside bombs in Afghanistan as part of an al-Qaida cell and throwing a grenade that killed an American special forces medic, Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer of Albuquerque, N.M.

    Over a decade since the war began, TODAY's Lester Holt visits the battlefields outside Kandahar Province and the Horn of Panjwai to see where things stand.

    Khadr was the first person since World War II to be prosecuted in a war crimes tribunal for acts committed as a juvenile. He was the youngest prisoner still at Guantanamo, but younger boys were previously held there.

    Khadr, born in Toronto, was taken to Afghanistan by his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, himself a senior al-Qaida member and confidant of Osama Bin Laden.

    Bin Laden apprenticed the boy to a group of bomb makers who opened fire when U.S. troops came to their compound. Khadr was captured in the firefight, during which he was blinded in one eye and shot twice in the back.

    In a written statement, Toews said Canada received Khadr's application for transfer from the United States on April 13. He said U.S. officials assured Canada it would receive a videocopy of an interview with Khadr, but it, along with other videos of interviews and unedited reports, was not sent until this month.

    Former Canadian Ambassador Gar Pardy, however, said Canada's Conservative government -- which cultivates an image of being tough on crime -- dragged out the transfer.

    "I think the government was mainly very mean-spirited in how it handled the case," Pardy said to CTV News.

    Toews said he continues to be concerned that Khadr "idealizes" his father and denies Ahmed Khadr's association with al-Qaida. The Canadian public safety minister said he is also troubled by how "radicalized" Khadr has become from his time in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Guantanamo Bay.

    Girls in Afghanistan were not allowed to attend school under Taliban rule, but now millions of girls across the country attend classes. It's a dramatic social change the Taliban is still fighting. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    “From the age of 15 to 26, he has been in some kind of jail, incarcerated. He has had no normal adolescent development at all,” CBC’s Susan Ormiston told CBC News.

    Khadr's defense team and human rights groups had argued he was a "child soldier" who should have been sent home long ago for rehabilitation and challenged the notion that a battlefield killing amounted to a war crime.

    Khadr was prohibited under the deal from calling witnesses at his sentencing hearing that would support defense claims that he was a "child soldier," forced into fighting the U.S. by a radical father who was an associate of bin Laden.

    Khadr's sentence will expire on Oct. 30, 2018.

    The U.S. Department of Defense also confirmed Saturday that it transferred Khadr to Canada, leaving 166 detainees at Guantanamo.

    In the 2008 presidential election campaign, President Barack Obama promised to close the Guantanamo prison during his term, but that pledge has gone unfulfilled amid security concerns and opposition from Congress, which enacted laws making it more difficult to transfer prisoners from Guantanamo.

    Reuters contributed to this report. 

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  • Honor student pleads guilty in 'Jihad Jane' terror plot

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    A Maryland honor student who hoped to attend Johns Hopkins University on a full scholarship instead pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to help a Pennsylvania woman known as "Jihad Jane" plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who had offended Muslims.

    Mohammed Hassan Khalid, 18, is believed to be the youngest person ever charged with terrorism in a U.S. civilian court.

    During a short hearing at the federal courthouse in Philadelphia, Khalid pleaded guilty to a single charge of providing material support to terrorists, the Philadelphia Daily News reported. Khalid faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when sentenced. No sentencing date has been set.

    Khalid, who moved with his family from Pakistan to suburban Baltimore in 2008, had been accepted on a full scholarship at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University, according to the Daily News.


     

    "This is the saddest case I've ever been involved with in my career," the Daily News quoted Khalid's lawyer, Jeffrey Lindy, as saying. "He's a smart kid who understands what's happening. But how much can an 18-year-old brain comprehend about a life-altering experience like this?"

     

    According to filings by U.S. prosecutors, Khalid began communicating online with fellow jihadists in the United States, Ireland and South Asia as early as age 15.

    One of them was Colleen R. LaRose, the suburban Philadelphia woman who called herself "Jihad Jane." LaRose pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. The artist had offended some Muslims by drawing a cartoon with the head of the prophet Mohammed on a dog's body.

    U.S. officials have said the "Jihad Jane" case is unusual because it involves a green-eyed, blonde American woman who boasted that her appearance and U.S. passport allowed her to conduct terror activities without drawing suspicion.

    "Today's plea, which involved a radicalized teen in Maryland who connected with like-minded individuals around the globe via the Internet, underscores the evolving nature of violent extremism today," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Lisa Monaco.

    'Black Flag'
    Khalid helped LaRose raise money and recruit other conspirators online "to wage violent jihad in and around Europe," U.S. officials said. In addition, Khalid helped LaRose hide a stolen U.S. passport and, officials said, hoped "he could personally provide it to the mujahideen."

    Khalid also communicated with one of the plot's alleged leaders, Ali Charaf Damache, an Algerian living in Ireland. Damache, who used the alias "Black Flag," is charged with conspiracy to provide material support for terrorists. He was arrested in 2010 in Ireland on an unrelated charge and the United States is seeking to extradite him on the American terror charges.

    According to the Philadelphia Daily News, in a July 2009 email cited in the indictment Khalid told LaRose: "I have waited for this ‘donation’ moment for so long and I want to make sure that everything is true so that the money reaches ... the hands of brothers who are true to their intentions and are REAL mujahids (fighters engaged in violent jihad) not some fbi hungry agents ...”

    LaRose was arrested in October 2009, shortly after returning from a visit to meet Damache in Ireland.

    The FBI arrested Khalid in July, when he was still a juvenile, but the case was not unsealed until September, when he turned 18. Under the plea agreement, he faces adult charges.

    In a statement, Zane Memeger, the U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia, highlighted Khalid's youth.

    "This case has demonstrated that age is not a limiter to threats to our nation's security," Memeger said. "Regardless of a defendant's age or background, we are committed to keeping our communities and our country safe through the investigation and prosecution of violent extremist activity."

    Khalid was a legal U.S. resident but, unlike his siblings and parents, he did not become a naturalized American citizen. As a result, Lindy said, Khalid is likely to be deported back to Pakistan after he finishes serving his U.S. sentence.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Panetta recalls nail-biting moments of Osama bin Laden raid

    Handout / Reuters

    A hand-written memo by then CIA Director Leon Panetta in which U.S. President Barack Obama authorised a Navy SEAL team operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden at his hideout in Pakistan one year ago.

    By The Associated Press

    With the first anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death approaching, Leon Panetta has spoken of the nerve-wracking moments of the night of the raid by U.S. Navy SEALs.

    The picture in Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's office captures the "mission accomplished" moment. 

    It shows Panetta, then the head of the CIA, and a group of U.S. commandos and others in the CIA operations center on the night of May 2 with their arms around each other — a quiet celebration just after U.S. helicopters crossed back over the border into Afghanistan. 

    Not until then — 90 minutes after U.S. special operations forces had lifted off from the heavily fortified compound in Pakistan where they went in search of Osama bin Laden — was he sure they could breathe a sigh of relief. 

    "We got the job done," Panetta said Friday as he recalled the long silences and the tense, heart-pounding moments before Adm. William McRaven's words finally came through loud and clear. 

    "Geronimo EKIA" — the code name for bin Laden, and the signal for "enemy killed in action." 

    Abbottabad - One year after Osama bin Laden

    With the first anniversary of the al-Qaida leader's death approaching, Panetta spoke to reporters on his plane as he flew back from a series of meetings with defense leaders in South America. Perched on a table inside the Airstream trailer — dubbed the Silver Bullet — that serves as his office inside his C-17 transport plane, Panetta traced back through the nerve-wracking moments of that night. 

    And he talked about its impact over the past year. 

    "I don't think there's any question that America is safer as a result of the bin Laden operation," he said. 

    While al-Qaida and its offshoots remain a threat, he said, the military and intelligence communities have learned to work better together since Sept. 11, 2001. Still, he acknowledged, there is no single, completely effective way to destroy the terror network. 

    "The way this works is that the more successful we are at taking down those who represent their spiritual, ideological leadership, the greater our ability to weaken their threat to this country," he said. 

    The story of the raid is well-known: The SEALs and special operations forces that flew deep into Pakistan; the wrenching moment when one of the helicopters went down in the heat, landing hard with its tail on the wall; the SEALs' assault on the house where they believed bin Laden and his wives had been living for several years; and what Panetta on Friday called the "fingernail-biting moments." 

    Nearly one year after the death of Osama bin Laden, some Republicans are accusing the Obama administration of using the event for political gain. NBC's Mike Viqueira reports

    "We knew that there were gunshots and firing, but after that we just didn't know," said Panetta, describing the nearly 20 minutes of silence after the SEALs went into the house. 

    PhotoBlog: Osama bin Laden's hideout revealed

    Then came confusion. McRaven, commander of the operation, told him that he thought he'd picked up the word "Geronimo." 

    "The way he said it was like, you know, 'We think,'" said Panetta. "It wasn't ideal. We were still waiting." 

    A few minutes later came the KIA message. Then came the long flight out of Pakistan. 

    "By that time they had blown the helicopter that was down and we knew we had woken up all of Pakistan to the fact that something had happened," Panetta said with a laugh. "The concern was just exactly what were they thinking and how were they going to respond." 

    The moment they crossed the border, he said, was "the moment when we finally knew the mission had been accomplished." 

    Then they could embrace the victory. 

    The raid created a deep fissure into the already rocky U.S.-Pakistan relations. U.S. officials, including members of Congress, were irate that the al-Qaeda leader had been able to hide — virtually in plain sight — in a Pakistani military town. Some suggested there was at least some knowledge of his hiding place. 

    Pakistani leaders, meanwhile, were outraged that the U.S. had launched a military mission deep within the country's borders without alerting them, violating their sovereignty. Islamabad's military commanders were embarrassed that the U.S. was able to carry out the raid without being detected. 

    The bin Laden saga has continued in Pakistan. His three wives and their families were deported early Friday to Saudi Arabia. Officials have said that the wives and as many as eight children and some grandchildren were living in the compound when it was raided. 

    The anniversary has triggered security warnings for Americans in Pakistan. The U.S. Embassy said its employees would be restricted from restaurants and markets in Islamabad for the next two weeks. While there was no mention of bin Laden, the period includes the anniversary date.

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  • US offers 'safe passage' to Afghan Taliban leaders

    By Fakhar ur Rehman, NBC News, and Alastair Jamieson

    ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The United States and Afghanistan have agreed to "give safe passage" to representatives of the Afghan Taliban to help them to enter future peace talks, officials announced Friday.

    It may  represent a significant step forward towards the resumption of peace talks that were suspended in Qatar last month, and  comes just weeks ahead of a NATO summit in Chicago on the future of Afghanistan. 

    Speaking at a joint press conference with U.S. Special Envoy Marc Grossman and Pakistani Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani,  Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Javed Ludin said: "Time is short, peace is urgent."

    New blow to US-Afghan links? Congressional delegation meets Karzai foes

    "We need to find and encourage and create safe passage for peace talks," with the Afghan Taliban, he added.

    His comments came after the three countries held their sixth meeting aimed at political reconciliation in Afghanistan.

    A U.S. Embassy official confirmed to NBC News that the countries have agreed to allow and facilitate travel of the Afghan militants to participate in any future talks. The official said details of how it would work in practice have not been announced.

    U.S. sees Taliban talks suspension as tactical move

    Jilani announced the establishment of two new groups, one to represent the efforts of the three countries at the United Nations, and another responsible for "safe passage." "Safe passage will be to help bring Afghan Taliban in to peace talks," he told NBC News.

    Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

    Rahmat Gul / AP

    More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

    Launch slideshow

    Talks were suspended last month amid a string of public setbacks that have scandalized and angered Afghans, notably U.S. soldiers' burning of copies of the Koran and the killing of 16 Afghan villagers for which a U.S. soldier is in custody.

    Dr Gareth Price, senior research fellow at Britain's Chatham House think thank, told msnbc.com the move could be seen as a "confidence-building measure".

    "The US has made clear it will remain in Afghanistan in some form - that's the stick, if you like, so maybe this is the carrot," he said.

    On Tuesday, White House sources told Reuters that President Barack Obama's administration may hand over a Taliban detainee at Guantanamo Bay prison directly to the Afghan government in order to help revive peace talks.

    As foreign forces prepare to exit Afghanistan, the White House had hoped to lay the groundwork for peace talks by sending five Taliban prisoners, some seen as among the most threatening detainees at Guantanamo, to Qatar to rejoin other Taliban members opening a political office there. 

    Sources: Scant evidence 'torture' aided war on terror, Senate probe finds

    While that plan has not been scotched entirely, several sources familiar with preliminary discussions within the U.S. government said the United States may instead, as an initial gesture meant to revive diplomacy, send one of those detainees directly to Afghan government custody. 

    The sources identified the detainee as a former Taliban regional governor named Khairullah Khairkhwa, who is seen by American officials as less dangerous than other senior Taliban detainees now held at the U.S. military prison in Cuba. 

    Karzai slams NATO over 18-hour Kabul gunbattle

    More than a year ago, the White House launched what began as a secretive diplomatic bid to coax the Taliban, the Islamist group that ruled Afghanistan until 2001, into peace talks. That campaign has become central to U.S. strategy as officials conclude the Afghan war will not end on the battlefield alone. 

    Five alleged members of the Taliban are being detained in Afghanistan after authorities discovered a huge amount of explosives in a truck. NBC's Lester Holt reports.

    It remains far from clear whether the Taliban would embrace sharing power in Afghanistan and whether the militants are cohesive enough to agree on a joint diplomatic approach. 

    But Washington's strategy, before the summit in Chicago, is to build on what officials see as military progress against the Taliban, and encouraging signs from the Afghan and Pakistani governments, to heap pressure on the Islamist group. 

    The Chicago summit is expected to further detail plans for the withdrawal of most of NATO's 130,000 troops there by the end of 2014 and set the course for future ties between Afghanistan and the West.

    After an 18-hour assault, the Taliban took responsibility for the destruction. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    U.S. efforts to broker the talks were dealt a blow last month when the Taliban suspended its participation and appeared to reject even minimal restrictions for prisoner transfer. 

    'Deplorable': U.S. defense chief condemns urinating Marines video

    Meanwhile, President Obama has reviewed potential threats to the United States before next week's anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, but there is no concrete evidence al-Qaida is plotting any revenge attacks, the White House said on Thursday. 

    U.S. Navy SEALs shot bin Laden last year in a raid on the al-Qaida leader's compound in Pakistan before dawn on May 2 local time, which was May 1 in the United States. The killing is touted by the Obama administration as one of its top national security accomplishments. 

    Osama bin Laden's widow, kids leave Pakistan

    "At this time, we have no credible information that terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida, are plotting attacks in the United States to coincide with the anniversary of bin Laden's death," White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Thursday. 

    Slideshow: After the raid: Inside bin Laden's compound

    Farooq Naeem / AFP - Getty Images

    U.S. forces found and killed the al-Qaida leader in the affluent Pakistani town of Abbottabad, where he had been living in a large compound.

    Launch slideshow

    That assessment was echoed in an FBI and Department of Homeland Security intelligence bulletin issued on Wednesday to state and local law enforcement agencies. 

    The bulletin said U.S. agencies "have not detected signs of homeland plotting by these groups in the intervening months." 

    Abbottabad: One year after bin Laden

    Despite the lack of evidence of a threat, the bulletin cautioned that al-Qaida "probably would view a homeland attack on this anniversary as a symbolic victory that would help reassert the group's global relevance following the major leadership losses and operation setbacks it has suffered over the past year." 

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Sources: Scant evidence 'torture' helped war on terror, Senate probe finds

    By Reuters

    WASHINGTON - A nearly three-year-long investigation by Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats is expected to find there is little evidence the harsh "enhanced interrogation techniques" the CIA used on high-value prisoners produced counter-terrorism breakthroughs.

    People familiar with the inquiry said committee investigators, who have been poring over records from the administration of President George W. Bush, believe they do not substantiate claims by some Bush supporters that the harsh interrogations led to counter-terrorism coups.

    The backers of such techniques, which include "water-boarding," sleep deprivation and other practices critics call torture, maintain they have led to the disruption of major terror plots and the capture of al-Qaida leaders.

    One official said investigators found "no evidence" such enhanced interrogations played "any significant role" in the years-long intelligence operations which led to the discovery and killing of Osama bin Laden last May by U.S. Navy SEALs.

    'Tortured' Gitmo prisoner seeks release of secret videos

    The debate over the effectiveness of enhanced interrogations, which human rights advocates condemn as torture, is resurfacing in part because of a new book by a former top CIA official.

    In the book, "Hard Measures," due to be published on Monday, the former chief of CIA clandestine operations Jose Rodriguez defends the use of interrogation practices including water-boarding, which involves pouring water on a subject's face, which is covered with a cloth, to simulate drowning.

    Slideshow: Life goes on in Guantanamo

    John Moore / Getty Images

    President Obama's one-year deadline to close the facility has long passed as shutting it down has proven complicated and controversial.

    Launch slideshow

    "We made some al-Qaida terrorists with American blood on their hands uncomfortable for a few days," Rodriguez says in an interview with CBS News' "60 Minutes" that will air on Sunday. "I am very secure in what we did and am very confident that what we did saved American lives."

    Expert: War on terror at 'critical' point as al-Qaida looks to regroup in Africa

    For nearly three years, the Senate intelligence committee's majority Democrats have been conducting what is described as the first systematic investigation of the effectiveness of such extreme interrogation techniques.

    The CIA gave the committee access to millions of pages of written records charting daily operations of the interrogation program, including graphic descriptions of how and when controversial techniques were employed.

    The wives and children of Osama bin Laden are taken to a chartered flight out of Islamabad after being deported to Saudi Arabia.

    Sources agreed to discuss the matter on condition of anonymity because the report has not been finalized.

    The committee members' objective is to conduct a methodical assessment of whether enhanced interrogation techniques led to genuine intelligence breakthroughs or whether they produced more false leads than good ones.

    Report: Bin Laden told followers to kill Obama, Petraeus

    U.S. intelligence officials have acknowledged that while the harshest elements of the interrogation program, including water-boarding and other tactics which cause severe physical stress, were in use, the CIA never carried out a scientific assessment of the program's effectiveness.

    The Bush Administration only used water-boarding on three captured suspects. One of them was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

    Slideshow: After the raid: Inside bin Laden's compound

    Farooq Naeem / AFP - Getty Images

    U.S. forces found and killed the al-Qaida leader in the affluent Pakistani town of Abbottabad, where he had been living in a large compound.

    Launch slideshow

    Other coercive techniques included sleep deprivation, making people crouch or stretch in stressful positions and slamming detainees against a flexible wall.

    The CIA started backing away from such techniques in 2004. Obama banned them shortly after taking office.

    One source cautioned there could still be lengthy delays before any information or conclusions from the Senate committee's report are made public.

    Hidden in plain sight: Inside a secret CIA prison

    One reason the inquiry has taken so long is that in 2009, committee Republicans withdrew their participation, saying the panel would be unable to interview witnesses to ensure documentary material was reported in appropriate context due to ongoing criminal investigations.

    Current and former U.S. officials have said one key source for information about the existence of the al-Qaida "courier" who ultimately led U.S. intelligence to bin Laden was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

    KSM, as he was known to U.S. officials, was subjected to water-boarding 183 times, the U.S. government has acknowledged.

    Officials said, however, that it was not until some time after he was water-boarded that KSM told interrogators about the courier's existence. Therefore a direct link between the physically coercive techniques and critical information is unproven, Bush administration critics say.

    Supporters of the CIA program, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, have portrayed it as a necessary, if distasteful, step that may have stopped extremist plots and saved lives. 

    Former Vice President Dick Cheney discusses his new memoir, "In My Time," with TODAY's Matt Lauer. In the exclusive interview, Cheney defends the Iraq war, says waterboarding "worked" and tells Lauer the greatest achievement of the Bush administration was preventing further attacks on U.S. soil after 9/11.

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    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Israeli embassy, U.S. tourists among likely targets of Bangkok bomb plot

    By Robert Windrem
    NBC News

    Police raids in Bangkok, Thailand, which netted a suspected Hezbollah operative Thursday and the makings of bomb-making materials Saturday, represent "one of the most credible Israel-focused threats overseas in a long time," said NBC News analyst Roger Cressey, and "very much the real deal" adds NBC News analyst Mike Leiter.

    The two analysts referred primarily to the Saturday raid where police confiscated more than 8,800 pounds (4,000 kilograms) of urea fertilizer and several gallons of liquid ammonium nitrate found in a warehouse in Samut Sakhon, on the western outskirts of Bangkok.

    Officials in the U.S. and Israel said Hezbollah could have been planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in downtown Bangkok, near various tourist sites, say Cressey and Leiter. Hezbollah, a Shi'ite Islamist group in Lebanon backed by Syria and Iran, is on the U.S. blacklist of foreign terrorist organizations.

    The raid caused both the U.S. and Israel to issue public travel warnings urging their citizens to be cautious.

    Information that led to the raid was relayed to Thai police by Israeli intelligence. Police detained a Swedish national of Lebanese origin with alleged links to pro-Iranian Hezbollah militants on Thursday. The intelligence indicated a plot could be carried out between between Friday and Sunday.

    Cressey said the fear was that Hezbollah was constructing a large bomb that would have caused a devastating blast in an area that many Americans visit.

    "There would have been a lot of collateral damage," said Cressey, a former member of the U.S. National Security Council staff.

    Moreover, both analysts note they've been told the threat may not be over, that at least one other operative is being sought. Leiter, former director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, says there is a fear about plots against "secondary targets", either tourist or Jewish, in the Thai capital.

    As for the rationale for the attack, Cressey said, "All theories make sense. Can't rank order them yet," while Leiter noted, "It's pretty consistent with the increase in tension between Israel and Iran." Iran has vowed revenge for the killings of its nuclear scientists, which it has blamed on Israel and the U.S.

    One possibility raised by both is Hezbollah revenge for the Israeli killing on Imad Mugniyah, the Hezbollah leader who died in a car bombing in downtown Damascus nearly four years ago on February 12, 2008.  Mugniyah was responsible for many anti-American and anti-Israeli terrorist attacks, including the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut in 1983, the Marine Barracks bombing in 1983 and the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992. Hezbollah vowed revenge for that killing but never carried out attacks that it tied to Mugniyah's death.

    Background on the incident from the Associated Press:

    National police chief Priewpan Damapong told reporters the suspect, named as Atris Hussein, had given police an address where bomb-making material was being kept.

    Priewpan said the suspect had maintained that his group had not planned an attack in Thailand but intended to transport the substances to a third country, which he would not name.

    Asked about the discovery, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told reporters: "I have been informed. I would like to ask people not to panic. We are currently in control of the situation."

    Thai officials have seemed irritated by travel advisories issued by the U.S. and Israeli governments, followed by several more since Friday. Foreign Minister Surapong Towijakchaikul said diplomats from countries that had issued warnings would meet with him for an explanation on Monday.

    Tourism is a big money-earner for Thailand, and ministers are keen not to deter travelers, especially after the hit to tourism from severe flooding in 2011 and political unrest in 2010.

    Yingluck also instructed the defense ministry to consult U.S. embassy officials to discuss its terror warning and seek a retraction.

    However, an embassy spokesman later said the terror warning to its citizens was valid and the United States had no plan to rescind it.

    Defence Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha told reporters in the northern city of Chiang Mai on Sunday that Thailand was not the target, although officials have also said that areas of Bangkok frequented by Westerners and Israelis could be hit.

    Yuthasak said that a second suspect had managed to leave the country.

     

  • 'Relief,' then a release: Students explain bin Laden bashes

    Anna F. Curtis, journalism student at University of Missouri

    Huge celebration in University of Missouri's Greektown. Champagne, fireworks, crowd surfing.

    By Ian Sager, TODAY.com

    It started as a murmur, but quickly grew into a roar.

    Chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" riccochted across the campus of The Ohio State University, building and evolving until it found a sympathetic audience near the famed Mirror Lake.  

    If this were any night but Sunday, May 1, 2011, the revelry would have been chalked up to pent-up finals stress, or a successful sporting victory. But, this was not the case as college students across the country had the monster pulled from their their closets, and in Columbus, that meant a dip in the chilly water despite air temperatures and weather patterns that were less-than ideal.

    Nearly ten years after 9/11, the children who watched the towers fall fill America’s colleges and universities, and on the evening the world learned of Osama bin Laden’s death, many took to the streets, celebrating the death of their generation's boogeyman. 

    'There is finally justice'
    Though they were young at the time - most were between the ages of 8 and 12 - many millennials cast the al-Qaida chief's death as a pivotal moment in their development. They came of age of age under the shadow of 9/11 and its vestiges: the war on terror, color-coded terror alerts and seemingly endless security lines at airports -- and Sunday offered the chance to shed a portion of that weight.

    "We watched the second plane hit the tower, and just watching that was painful," University of Oklahoma senior Steve Sichterman told msnbc's Contessa Brewer. "We were just solemn, and so it is really a great thing to know there is finally justice for those 3,000 plus people that were killed."

    “It was really a feeling of relief," said Oklahoma student Timothy Marquis when asked how he reacted to news that bin Laden was dead.

    "For ten years we had been searching for him and I remember being in middle school and seeing the attacks on 9/11. Relief came from the feeling that we finally got him," he told Brewer.

    At The Ohio State university (user-submitted image below) students plunged into Mirror Lake, a tradition usually saved for the hours surrounding a football game against Michigan.

    David Krogh

    Students at The Ohio State University jump into Mirror Lake, a tradition marked and remembered during Beat Michigan Week.

    Similar scenes were acted out across the country (sans lake, but with the same energy and excitement).

    George Washington and American students helped fill the area outside the White House.  

    Demi McLaren, 20, a sophomore history and secondary education major at American told the Washington Post "someone put, ‘Party on the White House lawn,’ on Facebook,” then immediately packed into a car with six other students. “We knew it was going to be a rager.”

    Boston Common rocked late into the night thanks to the city's many colleges. Penn State looked like it had just won the Rose Bowl (user-submitted image below). From the looks of pictures submitted to msnbc.com, West Virginia University, known for its couch burnings after Mountaineer football games, lost many a living room centerpiece during the course of the evening. 

    Robert A. Kolodzieski

    At Penn State University. Absolute once in a lifetime experience! USA! Can't believe this has happened after ten years.

    'Intense sense of closure'

    In addition to pouring outside, college students took to the Internet in heavy numbers in the hours following the announcement pf bin Laden's death. They searched for a semi-private place to vent, support one another and above all, find closure.

    University of Delaware celebrations were branded an "intense sense of closure for people who were frightened little kids in '01" on Twitter. 

    Of course, there are students who contend that the fun - which, it must be said, took place for many amid the stress of finals - was less meaningful and more effervescent.

    Sean Morrow, a senior at Clark University in Massachusetts, told the Associated Press, that it "is kind of surreal to watch people celebrating someone's death."

    Morrow contends he understands it because, for him and many others his age, bin Laden was their boogeyman, "the main negative person of our generation."

    "That’s why I think we all went out to celebrate what is not only for the victims receiving justice, but for all those men and women overseas that have fought for so long and are going to continue to be fighting the war on terror," he told the news service.

    John F. Ryan

    Virginia Military Institute celebrates on Sunday.

    Despite the overwhelming scenes of glee, millennials' reactions remain mixed, much like older generations that celebrated in similar fashions across the country. The one common thread seems to be that the evening will go down in history a "where were you when moment."

    “Without a doubt, just like with September 11th, we’re all going to remember where we were," University of Oklahoma student Sichterman explained.

    "We have all the country songs to remember where we were, and we’ll remember where we were on May 1st, 2011.”

    Toby Keith, the gauntlet has been thrown.

    Click here for more on the reaction across college campuses and in cities: Ohio State; Oklahoma State; Penn State University; Boston; Washington

    Click here and here for more images and accounts of spontaneous celebrations from the evening the world learned of Osama bin Laden's death.

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