Saudi Arabia has announced it has foiled a terrorist plot by rounding up 172 would-be terrorists who were planning to blow up oil facilities and kill government officials.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia announced yesterday that an anti-terrorism sweep netted 172 Islamic extremists and had stopped plans to mount air attacks on the kingdom’s oil refineries, break militants out of jail and send suicide attackers to kill government officials.

A government official said the plotters had completed preparations for their attacks, and all that remained to put the plot in motion “was to set the zero hour.”

It was one of the biggest roundups since Saudi leaders began cracking down on religious extremists four years ago after militants attacked foreigners and others involved in the country’s oil industry, seeking to topple the monarchy for its alliance with the United States.

The Interior Ministry said the plotters were organized into seven cells and planned to stage suicide attacks on “public figures, oil facilities, refineries … and military zones,” including some outside the kingdom. It did not identify any of the targets.

The militants also planned to storm Saudi prisons to free jailed militants, the ministry said.

“They had reached an advance stage of readiness, and what remained only was to set the zero hour for their attacks,” the ministry’s spokesman, Brig. Mansour al-Turki, said in a phone call. “They had the personnel, the money, the arms.”

The ministry said some of the detainees had been “sent to other countries to study flying in preparation for using them to carry out terrorist attacks inside the kingdom.”

Brig. al-Turki said he didn’t know whether the militants who trained as pilots planned to fly suicide missions like those in the September 11 attack on the United States or whether they intended to strike oil targets in some other way.

“I have no information on what they were planning to do with the airplanes, but I assume, based on the possible use of airplanes in attacks, that they planned to fly the airplanes into specific targets,” he said.

The militants were detained in successive waves, with one group confessing and leading security officials to another group as well as caches of weapons, Brig. al-Turki said. He told the privately owned Al Arabiya television channel that some of those arrested were not Saudis.

The Interior Ministry said police seized large quantities of weapons and explosives and more than $5.3 million in currency during the sweep. State TV showed video of one cache dug up in the desert that included explosives, assault rifles, handguns and ammunition wrapped in plastic.

Saudi justice is swift and we can count on these people being executed as soon as all the information they have is given.

This is a big catch, as we don’t know how far their tentacles were extending.

From The Drudge Report:

Ex-CIA Director George Tenet says the intelligence extracted from terror suspects in the Agency’s “High Value Detainee” program, which includes so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” was more valuable than all the other terror intelligence gathered by the FBI, the National Security Agency and the CIA. In his first network television interview, the nation’s former top spy denied any torture took place, but tells Scott Pelley that the High Value Detainee program saved lives and allowed the U.S. government to foil terror plots. The interview will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, April 29 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

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The High Value Detainee program uses “enhanced” techniques said to include sleep deprivation, exposure to extreme temperatures, and water boarding, in which suspects are reportedly restrained as a steady stream of water is poured over their faces, causing a severe gag reflex and a terrifying fear of drowning. In Sunday’s interview, Pelley challenges Tenet on the “enhanced interrogations,” a topic that gets little play in his much-anticipated book, At the Center of the Storm. “Here’s what I would say to you, to the Congress, to the American people, to the President of the United States: I know that this program has saved lives. I know we’ve disrupted plots,” he tells Pelley. “I know this program alone is worth more than the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency put together, have been able to tell us.”

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The new program for interrogation came after the 9/11 attacks. When pressed by Pelley about whether interrogations included water boarding, Tenet insists he does not talk about techniques, and that what he means by “enhanced interrogation” is not torture. Whatever it is, it’s justified in his mind. “We don’t torture people. I want you to listen to me. The context is it’s post-9/11. I’ve got reports of nuclear weapons in New York City, apartment buildings that are gonna be blown up, planes that are gonna fly into airports all over again, plot lines that I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on inside the United States, and I’m struggling to find out where the next disaster is going to occur. Everybody forgets one central context of what we lived through: the palpable fear that we felt on the basis of the fact that there was so much we did not know.”

When 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured in a raid in Pakistan, the “enhanced interrogations” were apparently a surprise to him. According to Tenet, the captured terrorist told CIA interrogators, “I’ll talk to you guys when you take me to New York and I can see my lawyer.” Instead, he was reportedly flown around the world, kept in secret prisons and water-boarded. Tenet repeated his denial again and again: “Let me say that again to you. We don’t torture people. Okay?”

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But when asked by Pelley why the “enhanced interrogation” techniques were necessary, Tenet says, “Because these are people who will never, ever, ever tell you a thing. These are people who know who’s responsible for the next terrorist attack….[who] wouldn’t blink an eyelash about killing you, your family, me and my family and everybody in this town,” says Tenet. When Pelley presses, asking whether he lost sleep over the interrogations, Tenet says, “Of course you lose sleep over it. You’re on new territory.”

Developing…

I don’t care what they do to these scum to get them to tell us what they’re up to. I don’t care if they put panties on their heads, hold them on a leash, or waterboard them if it will get the information we need to protect ourselves.

Some may disagree with me about the panties, dog leash and waterboarding, but compared to slicing our heads off those are mild indeed.

First we had Al Qaeda, headquartered in Afghanistan, then we found out about Al Qaeda in Iraq or AQI, there is Al Qaeda in the Philippines, Al Qaeda in Bali,and now we have the official new Al Qaeda franchise, Al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa, which seems to be headquartered in Algiers or Casablanca.

CASABLANCA, Morocco — Two brothers blew themselves up outside American offices yesterday, marking the third terrorist attack since Tuesday in what bears the hallmarks of a new al Qaeda campaign in North Africa.

The attack yesterday, which injured one woman, followed the self-inflicted deaths of three militants in Casablanca on Tuesday and a pair of suicide car bombings Wednesday in neighboring Algeria that killed 33 persons.

The U.S. Embassy in Algeria warned Americans on Friday to be on guard against further attacks.

The bombings have stoked new fears of Islamic extremism in the two counties, both of which have allied themselves with the United States in its fight against terrorism.

But the attacks yesterday — one just outside an American cultural center and the other about 200 yards from the U.S. Consulate in Casablanca, were the first to be directed against obvious American targets.

The blasts occurred about 20 seconds apart. The bombers were identified as Mohammed Maha, who was born in 1975 and had no previous record, and his brother, Omar Maha, who was born in 1984 and was wanted in connection with Tuesday’s explosions.

Police arrested a third bomber as he tried to flee the scene in a fashionable district of the port city.

“He threw down his explosives belt and ran away. Police chased him and caught him,” said the owner of a coffee shop in the neighborhood, who declined to be identified.

A security official told the Reuters news agency that police subsequently arrested the leaders of the group behind the explosions yesterday and Tuesday.

In the earlier incident, three would-be bombers killed themselves in a poor neighborhood of Casablanca after police raided a safe house and fatally shot a fourth suspect, setting off their explosives so as not to be captured alive.

A senior police source said yesterday’s bombers clearly intended to attack the U.S. buildings. He said the two could not get closer to the buildings because of security fortifications.

On Wednesday, 33 persons were killed and more than 200 were injured in suicide car bombings in Algiers that targeted the prime minister’s office and a police station.

With all these Al Qaeda franchises popping up faster than McDonalds I wonder how low the franchise fee is. It appears to be the loss of a couple of bombers and as many civilians as they can get.

Pretty soon we’ll have an Al Qaeda in North America franchise and they’ll show themselves by doing something spectacularly horrible on our continent. Oh, they already did on Sept. 11, 2001.

The old saying is nits make lice. In this case it means the more Al Qaeda leaders we have killed, the more lower-ranked Al Qaeda have been promoted, and they have learned their jobs well.

Some quotes from this New York Times article:

As Al Qaeda rebuilds in Pakistan’s tribal areas, a new generation of leaders has emerged under Osama bin Laden to cement control over the network’s operations, according to American intelligence and counterterrorism officials.

The new leaders rose from within the organization after the death or capture of the operatives that built Al Qaeda before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, leading to surprise and dismay within United States intelligence agencies about the group’s ability to rebound from an American-led offensive.

It has been known that American officials were focusing on a band of Al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan’s remote mountains, but a clearer picture is emerging about those who are running the camps and thought to be involved in plotting attacks.

American, European and Pakistani authorities have for months been piecing together a picture of the new leadership, based in part on evidence-gathering during terrorism investigations in the past two years. Particularly important have been interrogations of suspects and material evidence connected to a plot British and American investigators said they averted last summer to destroy multiple commercial airliners after takeoff from London.

Intelligence officials also have learned new information about Al Qaeda’s structure through intercepted communications between operatives in Pakistan’s tribal areas, although officials said the group has a complex network of human couriers to evade electronic eavesdropping.

The investigation into the airline plot has led officials to conclude that an Egyptian paramilitary commander called Abu Ubaidah al-Masri was the Qaeda operative in Pakistan orchestrating the attack, officials said.

Mr. Masri, a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan, is believed to travel frequently over the rugged border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was long thought to be in charge of militia operations in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan, but he emerged as one of Al Qaeda’s senior operatives after the death of Abu Hamza Rabia, another Egyptian who was killed by a missile strike in Pakistan in 2005.

The evidence officials said was accumulating about Mr. Masri and a handful of other Qaeda figures has led to a reassessment within the American intelligence community about the strength of the group’s core in Pakistan’s tribal areas, and its role in some of the most significant terrorism plots of the past two years, including the airline plot and the suicide attacks in London in July 2005 that killed 56.

Although the core leadership was weakened in the counterterrorism campaign begun after the Sept. 11 attacks, intelligence officials now believe it was not as crippling as once thought.

This was all reported to the Times by the infamous “anonymous” sources because it wasn’t supposed to be for public consumption.

They climb over the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan to do their planning to have a new caliphate in the world.

Much is still not known about the backgrounds of the new Qaeda leaders; some have adopted noms de guerre. Officials and outside analysts said they tend to be in their mid-30s and have years of battlefield experience fighting in places like Afghanistan and Chechnya. They are more diverse than the earlier group of leaders, which was made up largely of battle-hardened Egyptian operatives. American officials said the new cadre includes several Pakistani and North African operatives.

Experts say they still see Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia as largely independent of Al Qaeda’s hub in Pakistan but that they believe the fighting in Iraq will produce future Qaeda leaders.

“The jihadis returning from Iraq are far more capable than the mujahedeen who fought the Soviets ever were,” said Robert Richer, who was associate director of operations in 2004 and 2005 for the C.I.A. “They have been fighting the best military in the world, with the best technology and tactics.”

Officials said other operatives believed to be plotting internationally are Khalid Habib, a Moroccan, and Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi. Mr. Iraqi, a Kurd who served in Saddam Hussein’s army, moved to Afghanistan to fight Soviet occupiers. Officials believe that he was dispatched to Iraq by Mr. bin Laden to deal with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose terrorist group allied with Mr. bin Laden. It took the name Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia before Mr. Zarqawi was killed in an American bombing in June of last year. American officials say they believe that Mr. Iraqi is now back operating inside of Pakistan.

American officials say they still know little about how operatives communicate with Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Zawahri.

“There has to be some kind of communication up the line, we just don’t see it,” one senior intelligence official said.

American counterterrorism officials said they did not believe that any one figure had taken over the role once held by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the operations chief who was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and is being held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

“To say that Al Qaeda was out of business simply because they have not attacked in the U.S. is whistling past the graveyard,” said Michael Scheuer, a former head of the bin Laden tracking unit at the C.I.A. “Al Qaeda is still humming along, and with a new generation of leaders.”

You can believe me or you can declare we brought this on ourselves by going into Iraq, but the fact remains we have Al Qaeda re-organizing, and it is not just to fight us in Iraq.

My gosh, the Congress has made it clear they plan to put a withdrawal timeline on the Iraqi war. If they only wanted to get us in Iraq it would seem reasonable they would wait us out and then disband.

What they want is complete Muslim control over all the Middle East and the return of the Ottoman Empire, then the entire world to be under Muslim control.

Even if we convert the best we can hope for is to be their dhimmies, or slaves. If we don’t convert we can say good-bye to our heads.

Whether or not the people who want us out of Iraq realize it, these people are on a quest and it only ends when we are all under their control.

They want us all to live in the sixth century with them, with their barbaric laws.

Islam is not a religion of peace and whether we withdraw from Iraq or not we will be fighting them until the Second Coming. I am convinced of that more and more every day.

Don’t blame us. We didn’t bomb buildings on 9/11 with no provocation. And besides, our Congress is trying to get us out of Iraq. Then the Muslims will all love us and we can roast marshmallows together around the campfire as we sing Kumbaya.

I’m too old to be affected a lot by this, but I look at my grandchildren and I wonder.

We in America have never known a life where we are silenced and where women are chattel. We may within the next generation if we are not successful now.

From The Religion of Peace comes a link to this story of a woman who was in the subway the day the Muslims attacked it with a bomb.

Then it happened. I have no memory of the actual blast, just the feeling I was falling into blackness. My body was tumbling in slow motion while thousands of tiny thoughts raced around in my mind.

I was certain I was having a heart attack. My fellow passengers were screaming at me, horrified I was dying. Something dreadful had happened.

I could hear someone saying: ‘Stay calm.’ Still the screaming continued. What had happened? Where did the train go?

A man reached down. I could see his arms coming towards me. I stretched out to him.

‘I need to stand up. Please help me up.’

The man bent down. I was slipping away. I couldn’t feel my legs.

The blackness lifted, replaced by shades of grey. A security or emergency light in the tunnel shone through what had been carriage windows, lighting my legs.

They resembled an anatomical drawing. I could see muscle, tendons, bone. And attached to these were my feet – still perfect, but dangling, as though they had been left hanging by a thread.

My dear God, my legs are gone.

Please go read the rest of the story of this courageous woman here.

A reader of my former blog by the name of Caleb has written an article about the surge, based on information from a source who is high up in the military structure of our country.

Caleb has given me permission to post this story on this site.

We have all heard what Gen. Barry McCaffrey has said, and now I want you to read the other side of that story.

I have graciously been offered the chance to do a guest post on a piece of information that I received regarding early results of “The Surge” in Iraq. Since this provides some optimistic early assessments, you will not likely see it on your TV news any time soon.

The writer of what is presented here cautions that it is still extremely early in the game, and it is no where near time to break out a cold Bud in celebration. The writer had occasion to talk to Gen. Petraeus and wrote about the conversation on March 20, 2007.

In one important point, Gen Petraeus said that, “People realize they’re not going to just leave them like we did in the past.” This has been a real sticking point with particularly the Shia in the southern half of Iraq. We left them hanging out before and the marsh Arabs (Shia) paid a terrible price at the hands of Saadam.

In another telling point, Gen. Petraeus said, “I walked down the streets of Ramadi a few days ago, in a soft cap eating an ice cream with the mayor on one side of me and the police chief on the other, having a conversation.” The general noted that this simple act wouldn’t have been possible just a few months ago. He noted, “And nobody shot at us.” The general points out that there is still a very long way to go, but major improvements are being noted.

When asked what tactics are working, the general said, “We got down at the people level and are staying. Once the people know we are going to be around, than all kinds of things start to happen.”

The general noted that where once they were scraping the bottom of the barrel for intelligence, now they have the beginnings of an intelligence overload. The general said, “After our guys are in a neighborhood for four or five days, the people realize they’re not going to just leave them like we did in the past. Then they begin to come in with so much information on the enemy that we can’t process it fast enough.”

The general reports that even the tribal leaders in Sunni al Anbar province have had enough of al Qaeda and the sectarian violence that they foment, all the civilian Iraqi deaths. The general reports that these tribal leaders are all entrepreneurial businessmen, and the violence is really hurting business and their wallets.

One of the civil projects that the violence had put on hold was a large hospital in the Sunni Triangle. Now we are there daily, the violence in down, and the hospital project is back on track. So are similar infrastructure projects. There is now work for the people to do to earn a living. The Sheiks have seen the misery that al Qaeda delivers and are encouraging the young Iraqis to join the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police and make a difference in their country. And they are turning out in droves.

Petraeus is using a similar formula in Baghdad’s Sadr City. They are clearing it neighborhood by neighborhood. The troops literally move in. They are mainly US Army and Marines with the Iraqi Army supporting them. That ratio is reversed, however, in some areas. The troops stay in the neighborhood. They do NOT go back to the large fortified bases every evening. Petraeus says that the results have been dramatic.

“We’re using ’soft knock’ clearing procedures and bringing the locals in on our side,” he said. The general notes that the local people fear and loath al Qaeda. This new procedure is allowing the locals to begin to trust our guys, and they are gradually coming over to our side. When they saw that we were just returning to our bases each evening and thus allowing al Qaeda to own the neighborhoods at night, they were afraid to help us for fear of being tortured and killed. Now they are seeing the change in our methods and responding.

Another big change has been our targeting of gathering places, like markets and mosques, for protective actions. Concrete barriers are being placed to prohibit vehicle bombs from getting into the heart of crowds of folks.

Also, with real jobs becoming more and more available, the people are less inclined to join local militias or groups like the Mahdi Army of Maqtada al Sadr. General Petraeus also notes that the Prime Minister, who is Shia, is actually getting out in Sunni areas like Ramadi and doing politician type stuff to win over the Sunnis to the central government.

General Petraeus estimates that about half of the al Qaeda leaders that were in Baghdad at the start of the surge have fled or killed or captured. He says that we are atritting then “at a fearsome rate.”

Another positive step by Petraeus has been his rewriting of the Rules of Engagement. They had gotten so PC that they were causing our trigger pullers to hesitate for that split second that gets you killed in combat. The general says that some commanders down from his level had placed even more restriction on the troops because they were afraid that their careers would be ruined by some JAG prosecution of soldiers for decisions taken in the heat of battle.

General Petraeus says that he has cleared up the ambiguities and has prohibited anyone other than himself from initiating changes in the rules. He also has prohibited lower ranking officers from issuing “supplemental guidance” to their troops regarding the ROE.

In a previous tour in Iraq, when he was in command near the Syrian border, Petraeus became known as “King David.” He is regarded by all that know him as one of the brightest and most capable officers in today’s Army. He just finished rewriting the military’s book on urban warfare and insurgencies before being appointed to replace Gen. Casey in overall charge of American troops in Iraq. Retired Gen. Paul Vallely said that Gen. Petraeus “was the perfect man for the job.” when he was appointed to his current assignment.

The person that wrote this assessment opines that early indicators are positive and that early signs are that we are winning. Gen. Petraeus cautiously noted that, “We’ll be able to evaluate the situation for sure by late summer.” The author here, who is a retired Army officer and current military contractor, says that our job now is to give Gen. Petraeus and his troops time and space to get the job done, to actually win this war.

I have been extremely critical of Pres. Bush for the restrictions that he has placed on our military’s methods and abilities to fight this war. I will continue to be. No war should ever be fought in a PC manner. It causes us unnecessary casualties. That said, nothing matches my loathing and disgust for the “cut and run” crowd of mostly Democrats, aided and abetted by some very whiny and wimpy Republicans. Am I questioning their patriotism? YES! Now let us all get together behind Gen. Petraeus and our marvelous warriors, and win this darn thing and then come home.

Eagles up!

Caleb

As usual we ask if anyone has dissenting opinions to express them in a kind way and please do not say anything bad about our military. They are not the politicians who sent them to war.

Under the terms of a plea deal Australian terrorist detainee David Hicks has received a sentence of seven years.

It’s not clear if he will be given credit for the five years he has already served, but he will serve his sentence in Australia under the terms of the agreement.

Update: The plea deal allowed the sentence to be capped at nine months to be served in Australia.

She certainly looks thrilled to be there to me. NOT!

Great Britain says GPS devices show the sailors and marines were 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters. They were, by the way, performing a mission for the UN.

Republicans in the House yesterday forced a bill that would protect the John Does in the recent lawsuit filed by the imams who were praying in the Minneapolis airport and then got on the plane talking loudly against President Bush and the war in Iraq. Some had asked for seat extenders even though they were all slim men.

House Republicans yesterday surprised Democrats with a procedural vote to protect public-transportation passengers from being sued if they report suspicious activity — the first step by lawmakers to protect “John Doe” airline travelers already targeted in such a lawsuit.

After a heated debate and calls for order, the motion to recommit the Democrats’ Rail and Public Transportation Security Act of 2007 back to committee with instructions to add the protective language passed on a vote of 304-121.

All 121 of the “no” votes were cast by Democrats, while 199 Republicans and 105 Democrats voted in favor.

Republicans said the lawsuit filed by six Muslim imams against US Airways and “John Does,” passengers who reported suspicious behavior, could have a “chilling effect” on passengers who may fear being sued for acting vigilant.

Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican and ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, offered the motion saying all Americans — airline passengers included — must be protected from lawsuits if they report suspicious behavior that may foreshadow a terrorist attack.

“All of our lives changed after September 11, and one of the most important things we have done is ask local citizens to do what they can to avoid another terrorist attack, if you see something, say something,” said Mr. King.

“We have to stand by our people and report suspicious activity,” he said. “I cannot imagine anyone would be opposed to this.”

Mr. King called it a “disgrace” that the suit seeks to identify “people who acted out of good faith and reported what they thought was suspicious activity.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi Democrat and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, opposed the motion over loud objections from colleagues on the House floor, forcing several calls to order from the chair.

“Absolutely they should have the ability to seek redress in a court of law,” said Mr. Thompson, who suggested that protecting passengers from a lawsuit would encourage racial profiling.

“This might be well-intended, but it has unintended consequences,” Mr. Thompson said, before he accepted the motion to recommit.

The motion to recommit was based on a bill introduced last week by Rep. Steve Pearce, New Mexico Republican, to protect “John Does” or passengers targeted in a lawsuit filed by six Muslim imams earlier this month in Minneapolis.

Mr. Pearce said the imams are “using courts to terrorize Americans.”

“If we allow this lawsuit to go forward it will have a chilling effect,” Mr. Pearce said.

A Republican memo issued prior to the vote cites the November incident when the men were removed from a US Airways flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix for suspicious behavior, the details of which were first reported by The Washington Times.

The men prayed loudly before boarding, did not take their assigned seats and formed patterns officials said mirrored the September 11 hijackers, asked for seat-belt extenders not needed, and criticized President Bush and the war in Iraq.

In a bipartisan way the members of the House have finally done something to benefit their constituents—the American people.

By a vote of 48-50 the Senate has rejected an amendment that would have removed a timeline from the military supplemental bill.

The Senate version requires withdrawal from Iraq to begin within 120 days. This is different from the House bill and will have to be reconciled in committee, but the vote is so close in both houses it is not veto-proof.

Maybe now President Bush will show he has plenty of ink in his veto pen since he has used it only once during his presidency. And, yes, Chuck Hagel was there to vote against the president once again.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he had hoped that the White House would “be willing to work with us” on language Democrats could accept, but “at this stage, he has been very non-negotiable. So we’ll see what happens.”

Other Democrats said they would support the nonbinding March 2008 timetable even though they wanted more.

“I want a deadline not only for commencing the withdrawal of our forces but also completing it rather than a target date,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

“This provision represents a 90-degree change of course from the president’s policy of escalation in the middle of a civil war,” he said, “I’m confident once the withdrawal of our troops begins, there will be no turning back.”

But Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a Republican presidential hopeful, said war critics were proposing a withdrawal “just at the moment we’re starting to turn things around in Iraq.”

Campaigning in Tallahassee, Fla., McCain said he had to get back to Washington, D.C., to vote against “the definite date for surrender act.”

He gave an upbeat assessment of events in Iraq since Bush announced an increase in troops last January, and said, “If we withdraw from Iraq prematurely, it would be the terrorists’ greatest triumph.”

The debate came on legislation that provides $122 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as domestic priorities such relief to hurricane victims and payments to farmers.

A Senate version of the bill with final language can take place as early as Wednesday.

America, we get what we vote for, and being angry because President Bush didn’t support all their pet projects caused a lot of conservatives to stay home. I wonder if they think things are better now from their political point of view.

I feel like I’m living Groundhog Day and it’s in the 70s.

Australian David Hicks has entered a guilty plea to one of two counts against him, that of supporting a terrorist organization.

He was taken to court late at night and his civilian attorneys were tossed off the case by the presiding judge, one because she was not a serving member of the military and the other because he refused to sign form demanded by the court saying he would conform to the regulations governing proceedings.

David Hicks has pleaded guilty to one count of supporting a terrorist organisation.

He pleaded guilty to a late night specially convened military commission after an apparent deal was reached between his defence attorney and the prosecution.

Major Michael Mori, Hicks’s military lawyer, entered the plea to the charge of material support for terrorism, which was broken into two counts or specifications.

Major Mori said Hicks pled guilty on specification one, and not guilty on specification two.

Specification one of the charge detailed Hicks’s links to terrorist organisations and his activities in Afghanistan where he met Osama bin Laden and completed al-Qaeda training courses.

Specification two simply alleged that Hicks entered Afghanistan from about December 2000 to December 2001 to provide support for terrorism and that he did so in “the context of and was associated with an armed conflict namely al-Qaeda, or its associated forces against the United States or its coalition partners”.

The plea raises the prospect that he will soon return to Australia.

It is unclear what sentence he will have to serve. There was no mention of how long he will have to serve, or if he will serve it in Australia.

The Military Commission will reconvene tomorrow (Tuesday) to enter a formal verdict.

Hicks was asked to stand when he entered his guilty plea. He showed little emotion, but at the end of the hearing he turned around and said to one of his supporters: “Good to see, mate.”

His father is reported to have left Guantanamo Bay before he entered the plea. Terry Hicks was told there was a late night hearing but declined to attend.

Maybe we’ll hear what his sentence is and where it will be served, but if he pled guilty to supporting Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and trained with them I would consider him to be a terrorist.

Military justice is not like civilian justice and we must all remember that. We must also remember he pled guilty to one charge and that charge is serious.