Machete-Wielding Muslim Man Attacks Israeli-Christian’s Ohio Restaurant, Several Wounded

AP Photo/Kantele Franko

by JORDAN SCHACHTEL12 Feb 20161632

Police have shot and killed a man who allegedly attacked patrons of a Columbus, Ohio, restaurant Thursday night, wounding several people. One of the victims is in critical condition, according to reports.

The suspected attacker is a Somali national named Mohammad Barry, CBS reports. There are also reports that Barry was on a terrorist watchlist.

“Law enforcement is concerned that this incident has the hallmarks of the type of so-called “lone wolf” terrorist attack that they have been working to stop,” the report reads.

The suspect entered the restaurant earlier in the day and asked for the owner. He was then told the owner was not at the restaurant, and he left the building, WBNS-10TV reports.

Thirty minutes later, allegedly armed with a machete, the now-deceased suspect entered the Nazareth Restaurant and Deli at 6:30PM local time, witnesses say.

The owner of the restaurant is an Israeli Christian who formerly lived in Nazareth, Israel, according to reports.

“He came in and started beating up on another man, I thought it was a personal thing. Then he just started down the row hitting everybody; people were bleeding,” a witness told a local ABC affiliate.

A waitress said of the events as they unfolded:

He looked straight at me but he went over to the booths and just started going down the booths. It all seemed to happen in slow motion.

Karan Bass, who was in the restaurant at the time of the assault, said:

He came to each table and just started hitting them. There were tables and chairs overturned there was a man on the floor bleeding, there was blood on the floor… I fell like five times. My legs felt like jelly. I just thought he was going to come behind me and slash me up.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now assisting with the investigation, policespokesperson Todd Lindgren revealed. The FBI is well-known as the nation’s preeminent domestic counterterrorism agency.

Police Sgt. Rich Weiner said there did not seem to be any “rhyme or reason” for the attack. He did not reveal the name of the suspect and did not explain why the FBI had gotten involved in the investigation.

Micki Zakas, one of the employees of the restaurant, had nothing but good things to say about the owner of the dining establishment.

“Everybody leaves here with a smile,” she told a local NBC affiliate. “It’s a real happy place, he [the owner] has been in business for 26 years, so he’s got a great reputation around here. The restaurant’s got a great reputation.”

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Iran Pledges to Defy U.S. Sanctions, Build up Ballistic Missile Program

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by JORDAN SCHACHTEL18 Jan 2016Washington, DC1,431

Iran will ignore recently-passed U.S. sanctions against its ballistic missile program, the regime’s defense minister pledged on Monday, promising to unveil new homemade weapons systems in the near future.

“[Any] attempt to impose new sanctions [against Iran] under irrelevant pretexts is indicative of the continued US hostile policy and acrimony toward the Iranian nation, and a futile effort to undermine Iran’s defense might,” said Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehqan on Monday.

U.S. sanctions enacted over the weekend will have minimal effect on Iran’s missile development programs, he added.

“Hence, sanctions against [certain] people and companies will have no impact on the development of the industry, and we will actually demonstrate [their ineffectiveness] by displaying new missiles,” Dehqan said, in comments reported by state-run PressTv.

The Defense Minister’s comments follow a statement from Iran’s foreign ministry statement pledging to thwart the United States’ “destructive” sanctions against Iran’s weapons program.

“We will respond to such propaganda stunts and disruptive measures by more robustly pursuing our lawful missile program and promoting our defense capabilities and national security,” read a statement from Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari.

On Sunday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it would impose sanctions against a number of individuals and organizations over Iran’s ballistic missile program.

“Iran’s ballistic missile program poses a significant threat to regional and global security, and it will continue to be subject to international sanctions,” read a statementfrom Adam Szubin, acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. “We have consistently made clear that the United States will vigorously press sanctions against Iranian activities outside of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – including those related to Iran’s support for terrorism, regional destabilization, human rights abuses, and ballistic missile program.”

The new sanctions come as Iran is expected to receive tens of billions of dollars in frozen assets in accordance with the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), agreed upon by the regime in Tehran and the P5+1 world powers.

On Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerryannounced the U.S. had granted Iran $1.7 billion dollars, repaying the Ayatollah’s theocracy a $400 million dollar debt plus $1.3 billion in interest. Kerry called the payment a “fair settlement.” President Obama agreed, claiming “the settlement could save us billions of dollars that could have been pursued by Iran.”

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Obama Frees 10 Guantánamo Detainees in Largest Recorded Single-Day Release

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File

by JORDAN SCHACHTEL14 Jan 2016Washington, DC2,948

The Defense Department announced Thursday that 10 Yemeni detainees have been set free from Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. All of them were sent to the Gulf state of Oman, the Pentagon said. Less than 100 detainees now remain at the military facility.

“The Oman transfer of 10 is the single largest transfer to a single country at one time under the current administration,” A Pentagon spokesman told the media.

Since the beginning of 2016, 14 detainees have been released from the detention facility. Previously released detainees include Al Qaeda terrorists and a man whopledged to kill Americans should he be allowed back home.

Moreover, the Obama Administration expects to release at least three more detainees by the end of January, officials told VOA.

There are now only 93 detainees at the Guantanamo detention center.

The detainees released are: Fahed Abdullah Ahmad Ghazi, Samir Naji al-Hasan Muqbil, Adham Mohamed Ali Awad, Mukhtar Yahya Naji al-Warafi, Abu Bakr Ibn Muhammad al-Ahdal, Muhammad Salih Husayn al-Shaykh, Muhammad Said Salim Bin Salman, Said Muhammad Salih Hatim, Umar Said Salim al-Dini, and Fahmi Abdallah Ahmad Ubadi al-Tulaqi.

Some of the aforementioned men were associated with Al Qaeda and/or had close ties to Osama Bin Laden’s inner circle, according to leaked files.

Speaking at a ceremony at U.S. Southern Command, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Thursday that the U.S. is “diligently” working “to close this chapter in our history.”

Lee Wolosky, a State Department envoy who negotiates transfers, told the media that the Administration will work to release 40 more of the alleged terrorists by this summer.

“Sustained diplomatic engagement led us to this important milestone,” said Wolosky. “We are very grateful to our friends and partners in the gulf and elsewhere who have resettled Yemeni detainees, and we expect to be in a position to empty Guantánamo of all detainees who are currently approved for transfer by this summer.”

In his State of the Union Address Tuesday night, President Obama pledged to continue “working to shut down the prison at Guantánamo,” claiming it serves as a “recruitment brochure for our enemies.” In 2008, he vowed to shut down the facility shortly after he took office.

A recent Politifact review found that Guantánamo is not a “key component” of jihadist recruitment. Groups such as the Islamic State rarely discuss the facility in their propaganda magazine, Dabiq, or through their various multimedia endeavors.

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Attkisson: ‘Overwhelming Body of Evidence’ Benghazi Rescue Teams Turned Back

by PAM KEY13 Jan 2016774

Wednesday on Newsmax TV’s “The Steve Malzberg Show,” while discussing her Benghazi investigation “Full Measure,” host Sharyl Attkisson said there is now “overwhelming” evidence that rescue teams sent to aid the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012 had turned back before arriving.

Attkisson said, “We also spoke to sources and have some email evidence that talks about special forces that were not far away in Europe that we were told were assigned to respond in the event of a case just like this, and yet were turned back according to witnesses. This is something that the president and the White House has steadfastly denied, but there’s now what I would call an overwhelming body of evidence that leads us to believe that somebody stopped a number of teams and potential rescuers from entering Libya or going to Benghazi to help while those attacks were underway. They could have gotten there. According to experts and people that have information we spoke to, they could have gotten there before the last two Americans died. Those attacks went on for eight hours.”

She added “We spoke to, again a CIA team leader expert, an anti-terrorism expert who says the only person who stops those forces that spun up automatically without waiting to be told—the only force is the commander in chief,  slash the White House, an authority that comes from him.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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Iran Seizes Two U.S. Navy Vessels, 10 American Sailors

Associated Press

by ADELLE NAZARIAN & JORDAN SCHACHTEL12 Jan 2016381

The Islamic Republic of Iran seized two U.S. Navy vessels while they were navigating the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, detaining the ships and ten American sailors near Iran’s Farsi Island, the Pentagon said.

Farsi Island is home to an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) military base.

It has been confirmed that the boats were captured by the IRGC, whose leaders are aligned with the regime’s hardliners and have expressed staunch opposition to the now-historic nuclear deal.

Key here: Iran’s Fars News agency says US sailors picked up by Revolutionary Guard Corps, from hardline camp & v. opposed to nuclear deal

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) January 12, 2016

Iran’s state-controlled Fars New Agencyreported that one of the 10 sailors who have been detained is a woman. They also noted in their article that each of the boats is equipped with three 50 caliber machine guns. The IRGC has also confiscated GPS equipment from the vessels.

Iran media says Revolutionary Guard navy confiscated GPS equipment belonging to 10 US sailors it has arrested, “our border was crossed.”

— Thomas Erdbrink (@ThomasErdbrink) January 12, 2016

Senior U.S. officials told news outlets it is unclear if the ships strayed into Iranian waters before Tehran’s navy captured the vessels. Iran claims the U.S. ships illegally entered Iranian territory.

Secretary of State John Kerry has called Tehran hoping to secure the sailors’ immediate release, according to reports, which state Iran has agreed to let them go “within hours.”

At the same time Kerry was said to be on the phone with Iranian officials, his Twitter account posted the following:

.@HHigginbottom and @ABlinken take part in @WhiteHouse’s#BigBlockOfCheeseDay tomorrow. Send them your toughest #foreignpolicyquestions.

— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) January 12, 2016

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told AP Tuesday that the U.S. Navy ships were in transit between Kuwait and Bahrain when they lost contact with their base of communications.

“We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and vessels will be returned promptly,” Cookstated.

Iran has assured the U.S. of the sailors’ “safety and well-being” and “will promptly continue their journey,” a senior White House official told Fox News.

However, a report by the Tasnim News Agency only makes reference to release of the ships’ crew. In fact, the report twice makes a point to suggest that the boat’s occupants would be released, indicating a divergence from statements issued by the White House. Furthermore, the article in the Fars News Agency does not indicate the crew’s imminent release and even makes reference to repeated calls from U.S. officials for the release of prisoners that are currently being held in Iranian prisons.

Officials also indicated that, contrary to suggestions of an imminent release, the crew could be spending the night in captivity.

Official tells @barbarastarrcnn the U.S. sailors may be spending the night in Iran https://t.co/DudzVAnlrOhttps://t.co/4hoJGjSrH3

— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom)January 12, 2016

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) appeared on MSNBC Tuesday afternoon, telling the far-left news network she hopes the issue will be resolved before the President’s State of the Union address.

“Hopefully this will be resolved, and it won’t be an issue that we’re talking about in a couple of hours,” she said.

Separately, U.S. Representatives Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) and Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) have invited the sister and brother-in-law of Amir Hekmati, an American who is being held hostage in an Iranian prison, as their guests for President Obama’s State of the Union Address.

They said in a bipartisan press release:

Today marks the 1,596th day of Amir Hekmati’s unjust imprisonment in Iran on charges fabricated out of whole cloth.

The House of Representatives has been adamant that we must secure his release.  To draw attention to Amir’s plight, his sister Sarah Hekmati (guest of Rep. Dan Kildee) and her husband Dr. Ramy Kurdi (guest of Rep. Matt Salmon) will be, by agreement of the whole house, seated together tonight at the President’s State of the Union address to Congress.

“It is our hope that bringing renewed national attention to Amir’s imprisonment will not only keep him in the nation’s prayers, but renew our diplomatic efforts to secure his release.

Update 5:45 PM ET: The U.S. sailors will be held hostage “through Wednesday,” senior defense officials tell The Daily Beast.

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