Rumors are circulating that up to forty al Qaeda operatives have been killed as the result of a biological weapons research program that went terribly wrong. The original report was in the Sun, which claimed that ALIM (al Qaeda in Magreb) was experimenting with a process to weaponize the bubonic plague. That in itself is no real surprise--reports have been extent for years about al Qaeda's efforts to produce delivery systems for biological weapons such as ricin--yet the deaths--confirmed by U.S. officials, suggest that al Qaeda may find itself the first victim of its plan.

Bubonic Plague is spread by bites from infected rat fleas. Symptoms include boils in the groin, neck and armpits. In Pneumonic Plague, airborn bacteria spread like flu.

It can be in the body for more than a week — highly contagious but not revealing tell-tale symptoms.

Deadly ... the plague bacteria causes horrific symptoms

The al-Qaeda epidemic began in the cave hideouts of AQLIM in Tizi Ouzou province, 150km east of the capital Algiers. The group, led by wanted terror boss Abdelmalek Droudkal, was forced to turn its shelters in the Yakouren forest into mass graves and flee.

The extremists supporting madman Osama bin Laden went to Bejaia and Jijel provinces — hoping the plague did not go with them.

A source said: “The emirs (leaders) fear surviving terrorists will surrender to escape a horrible death.”

An interesting development. The irony here is that the plague doesn't have to kill everyone in Al Qaeda to cripple the organization. The fear of contracting the plague will undoubtedly result in an attempt to isolate surviving cells from members of other cells would could potentially be carriers. Since al Qaeda uses human messengers to avoid the intelligence gathering capabilities of the U.S., their communications network could effectively be crippled.

Bad enough that George W. Bush won in Iraq. No sense in telling people that, yeah--he crushed Al Qaeda too. From NPR no less.

The mystery is solved.

How did Iraqi insurgent and terror groups get more than 80 women to blow themselves up?

Jassim repeated statements she had allegedly made to interrogators that insurgents organized rapes of women and that she would then try to coax the victims to become suicide bombers.

She said she was "able to persuade women to become suicide bombers … broken women, especially those who were raped."

Man, this is cold. The used Islam's feminine ideals as a weapon. The understandably despondent rape victims would be sent to Jassim who would explain to them that the only way to regain their honor was to martyr themselves. She would then sent them to the bombers for outfitting and a target.

The title reads:

Britons on trial over "airliner bomb plot"

I think I would have written it:

"Britons" on trial over airliner bomb plot

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist, armed himself with two pistols and shot over forty people, killing 12 at last count.

Predictably, no one wants to call it terrorism.

A senior administration official told NBC News that the shootings could have been a criminal matter rather than a terrorism-related attack and that there was no intelligence to suggest a plot against Fort Hood.

After all the demonstrations and self-righteous indignation, the Obama administration is reportedly getting ready to backtrack on bringing KSM to trial in Manhattan and instead--wait for it...

try in GUANTANAMO BAY!!!!!

Adding insult to injury:

the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), clears the Bush administration lawyers who authored the “torture” memos of professional-misconduct allegations.

While the probe is sharply critical of the legal reasoning used to justify waterboarding and other “enhanced” interrogation techniques, NEWSWEEK has learned that a senior Justice official who did the final review of the report softened an earlier OPR finding. Previously, the report concluded that two key authors—Jay Bybee, now a federal appellate court judge, and John Yoo, now a law professor—violated their professional obligations as lawyers when they crafted a crucial 2002 memo approving the use of harsh tactics, say two Justice sources who asked for anonymity discussing an internal matter. But the reviewer, career veteran David Margolis, downgraded that assessment to say they showed “poor judgment,” say the sources. (Under department rules, poor judgment does not constitute professional misconduct.) The shift is significant: the original finding would have triggered a referral to state bar associations for potential disciplinary action—which, in Bybee’s case, could have led to an impeachment inquiry.

I guess they figured this Kangaroo court stuff wasn't going to fly in the current political climate, but the Jacobins will be furious anyways.

The BBC:

Ok, chaps, you didn't get us last time around, here's what you need to work on.