A typically subtle distortion is at work in this Nov. 21 New York Times story, "Global Forecast by American Intelligence Expects Al Qaeda's Appeal to Falter." You have to read halfway through the story before you find out that the report's more important point is that US power is also going to decline. This correlation should not be surprising. The Middle East's secular left forces consider political Islam and US imperialism to be twin "poles of terrorism." As we've said many times before, the terrorists love the GWOT.

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia Nov. 20 ordered the release of five Algerian detainees from Guantánamo Bay. In the first ruling on detainees' rights since the June Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush, Judge Richard Leon found that the government's evidence was insufficient that the men were planning to travel to Afghanistan to join al-Qaeda, the basis for ther classification as "enemy combatants."

US President-elect Barack Obama's pick to run the Department of Homeland Security, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, is described by the AP Nov. 20 as "tough on illegal immigration"—although she has been a skeptic on the border wall, having once said, "You build a 50-foot wall, somebody will find a 51-foot ladder." We've noted that she signed last year's state law imposing sanctions on employers who hire undocumented immigrants, but has opposed or vetoed other more draconian measures. In 2005, she declared a state of emergency for Arizona counties along the Mexican border, and pressured Homeland Security for stepped up enforcement.

On the heels of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama's second formal appointment—former Sen. Tom Daschle for secretary of health and human services—appears to be another tilt to the neocons. The New York Times Nov. 20 notes potential conflicts of interest related to his work for the Mayo Clinic. But we recall his comments as Senate majority leader in which he advocated "regime change"—and not for Iraq, but for Palestine. And not against Hamas, but against Fatah and Arafat. We noted his extremist comments to Fox News interviewer Tony Snow in June 2002:

Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri released a video statement Nov. 19 calling US President-elect Barack Obama a "house slave" who had aligned himself with the "enemies" of Islam. "You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims, and pray the prayer of the Jews, although you claim to be Christian, in order to climb the rungs of leadership in America," the militant leader said.

Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon acknowledged Nov. 16 while speaking to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that the US has held 12 juveniles at the Guantánamo Bay prison. The announcement came in response to a study released last week by the Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas (CSHRA). In May, the US reported to the CRC that only eight juveniles were detained in the prison. The study was based on information available through the US military and diplomatic sources. Other sources, including former detainees, the Red Cross and international sources, indicated to the CSHRA that the number of juveniles could potentially be higher. Eight of the 12 juveniles listed in the study have been released from the prison.

Now they tell us. From the New York Times, Nov. 10, links and emphasis added:

Secret Order Lets U.S. Raid Al Qaeda
WASHINGTON — The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials.

Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia Nov. 6 began habeas corpus hearings for six Algerians challenging their detention at Guantánamo Bay. The hearings are the first to be held since the Supreme Court granted detainees at the facility the right to challenge their captivity in Boumediene v. Bush in June. The government has not brought criminal charges against the men, but has said that they planned to join al-Qaeda in hostilities against the US. Lawyers for the men challenged the sufficiency of the government's evidence, and criticized Leon's decision to close the hearing to the public after he found that some of the evidence used against the six should be kept classified. His ruling on the petition is expected later this month.