Military officials from the Pentagon warned Iran not to disrupt oil shipments in the Persian Gulf as Iran threatened to interfere with the passageway. Pentagon spokesman George Little said that the Strait of Hormuz is a vital economic lifeline needed for the stability in the region. It is 34 miles wide and 20 percent of the world’s oil shipments go through it.

Lt. Rebecca Rebarich, spokeswoman of the U. S. Navy’s 5th fleet, warned Iran with regards to its plan to disrupt shipments in the strait. She said that the U. S. Navy would have a robust presence in the region and would counter any actions that hinder the freedom of navigation.

The warnings came as Iranian officials issued threats that it would use the passageway to retaliate if the West imposes sanctions towards Tehran’s oil exports. The sanctions were due to the suspicions that Iran is still developing its nuclear program.

Last Tuesday, Iran’s Vice President Mohamed Reza Rahimi threatened to close the passageway, which would cut off oil exports, if the West imposes sanctions on his country’s oil shipments. AS the tension in the region builds up, the Iranian navy is currently on a 10 day naval exercise. This includes dispatching warships and drones over the Strait of Hormuz.

Two Americans who were jailed in Iran for more than two years for spying are now back in New York last Sunday. They maintained that they were innocent and were held hostage because of their nationality. Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were arrested together with their friend Sarah Shourd while hiking near the Iran-Iraq border last July 2009.

The two were freed last Wednesday after Oman paid the $1 million bail. Shourd was released last year after paying $500,000 bail. Bauer and Fattal were sentence to eight years in prison last month. Washington has already denied the group was spies and President Barack Obama stated that they should not have been detained.

At a press conference, both Bauer and Fattal said that the case against them was all lies and they were depicted as being involved in an American-Israeli conspiracy to destabilize Iran. They added that no evidence was presented against them and they were convicted of espionage because they’re Americans.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic ties. Several countries worked for the release of the American hikers. Their release coincided with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York to attend the UN General Assembly.

President Barack Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to a young former Marine who fought his way through an ambush in an Afghan ravine to rescue three dozen fellow marines and recover the body of four dead American soldiers. He did all that despite being ordered to stay put.

The awarding ceremony was held at the White House and the president described Dakota Meyer as a humble young man who disregarded his own safety to save men that he considered as his brothers. He became the first person from the Marine Corps to receive the award, which is the United States’ highest award for valor, for actions during the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Meyer is now a sergeant in the inactive reserve. He was an infantry corporal when an American and Afghan column headed to the village of Ganjigal in Kunar Province. The group was a mix of American trainers, border police officers and Afghan soldiers. They walked into an ambush along the way.

Corporal Meyer and another Marine who were assigned to the group to secure the flank were hundred yards away from the trapped team. He heard their call for help from the radio and asked for artillery support to suppress the Taliban rebels. Officers denied the request, which left the men to fight on their own. He was also told to stay in place but decided to rush towards the ambush site to help the troops.

A tipster told authorities that the Al Qaeda is plotting to launch an attack to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks. But a senior Federal official said that the tip is more likely to be false.

Federal authorities are now questioning the credibility of the tip from a reliable source that the terror group had planned to attack targets in the United States, which are New York and Washington. The two cities were placed on high terror alert.

But the federal authorities can’t find any corroborating evidence with regards to the tip from the source. An official was quoted as saying that the threat is turning to be less credible. They are questioning the credibility of the information at this moment because they can’t find any other clues to back it up.

The official said that they would not rest until they review all the available information. Officials first learned about the Al Qaeda mission in midweek. A CIA informant approached intelligence officials and said that three men of Arab descent had been ordered by the new Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks with another set of attacks on United States soil.

Police were already keeping a close watch of 17-year old Jared Cano when they got a tip that he was planning to plant a bomb in his old high school when classes resume after the summer break. Authorities found plastic tubing, shrapnel, fuse and timing devices in his apartment.

Cano is said to be planning something worse than the Columbine mass shootings. He was already arrested a couple of times for various crimes. His most recent one involved breaking into a house and stealing a handgun. Because of that, the court ordered him to be placed on a police watch list. This is why officers check up on him from time to time.

Aside from the materials for making a bomb, police officers said they found schematic drawings of the Freedom High School as well as a journal that contained statements about Cano’s plan to kill administrators and students that would be nearby.

His criminal record shows that he was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, burglary, altering serial numbers on a firearm, and drug possession. None of them stuck on court. They were either dismissed or no action was given except for including him in the police watch list.

A little over a month after a Navy SEAL team killed Osama bin Laden, there are reports coming out of northwest Pakistan that a missile strike from the U.S. forces has killed Ilyas Kashmiri. He was the commander-in-chief of the Kashmiri militant group Harakat-ul Jihad-i-Islami. He was said to be a possible replacement for bin Laden.

If the reports are true then this would be another huge victory for U.S. intelligence. Officials say that Kashmiri was involved in planning and directing terrorist attacks. The American drone-fired missile strikes stroke another blow into the al Qaeda organization.

Pakistani and American officials warned that the death of Kashmiri is still unconfirmed. The United States placed $5 million reward money on his head. But this didn’t stop his supporters to rally in Karachi, Pakistan to protest the ongoing American drone attacks.

Pakistani officials stated that a missile that was fired from a pilotless U.S. drone killed Kashmiri in South Waziristan, which is a violent Pakistan tribal region. Some of his followers were killed in the attack as well. Sources said that most of the bodies were no longer recognizable.

Kashmiri was said to be responsible for the attack against a Pakistani naval base near Karachi, which placed him on top of Pakistan’s wanted list. India also wanted him dead because of the terrorist attack in Mumbai last 2008 that killed 163 people.

The United States Department of Justice charged six Pakistani Americans for helping the Taliban based in Pakistan. Three of the people charged are already in custody, including two imams at mosques in southern Florida. The remaining three are still at large and currently in Pakistan.

The six people who were tagged as Taliban supporters are Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan; his sons Izhar and Irfan; his daughter Amina and her son Zeb; and Faisal Ali Rehman. Izhar and Hafiz are imams at mosques in Florida where they were arrested. Irfan was arrested in Los Angeles. Rehman, Amina, and Zeb are in Pakistan.

The six Pakistani Americans are charged for being supporters of the Pakistani Taliban. Aside from the conspiracy charges, Hafiz, Rehman and Zeb were charged for providing material support to the terrorist organization.

The Department of Justice said that Hafiz founded and controlled a madrassa, which is a religious school for Muslims. This madrassa is used by the Pakistani Taliban to train child terrorists to kill the U.S. troops in Pakistan.

As part of the evidence, the Department of Justice said they have tapes of Hafiz and Irfan in conversations that encouraged violence against the United States troops in Afghanistan and the Pakistani state.

Al Qaeda’s online propaganda arm didn’t call for a major terrorist plot after its leader, Osama bin Laden, was killed in Pakistan. Instead the terrorist group urges its members around the world to plan their own attacks.

The message posted online praised Bin Laden for his long term tactics and visions but goes the opposite direction when it incites militants to carry out individual acts of terrorism, which require little preparation.

The message is clear that without the Al Qaeda founder, the organization’s core is weakened. Even before Bin Laden’s death, it was observed that factions have already formed within the terror group. With no apparent heir to the leadership position, the future of the group is bleak and unclear.

Some intelligence analysts believe that a power struggle is happening within the Al Qaeda and this is the reason why there is still no announcement of a successor after more than a week of Bin Laden’s death. Losing him was a big blow to the organization.

Intelligence analysts from the C.I.A. and other agencies are looking at the computer files and documents that were taken from Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. They are surprised how the terror leader is in touch with the other members.

Osama bin Laden pondered on how many more Americans need to die so that the United States would leave Middle East alone. This and other private thoughts were revealed through notes left by the al Qaeda leader.

It was bin Laden’s mindset that more bloodshed is needed to make the U.S. change its foreign policies with regards to the Middle East. He reportedly told his followers that small attacks would not have the desired effect.

This revelation comes from bin Laden’s writings that were found in his den in Pakistan. It was seized by the Navy SEALS team and brought to the United States after he was killed. It has been said that the stash could be compared to a small college library and it included five computers and at least a hundred digital storage devices. There was also a diary which Bin Laden updates by hand.

United States intelligence officers are sifting through the data and commented that Bin Laden continued to be hands-on even when al Qaeda is a defensive stance. He didn’t seem like he had the ability to coordinate attacks from his Abbottabad lair but he did managed to have his input in al Qaeda missions in the past year.

Pentagon released several videos of Osama bin Laden as proof that the al Qaeda leader was very much alive and in control before the pre-dawn raid that ended his life. In the videos, bin Laden looked haggard as he watched television news coverage about himself.

In the video, bin Laden was alone in a room in front of a TV connected to a satellite receiver. There was no audio with the video but it showed the terror leader watching a broadcast of al Qaeda’s terror messages. In one scene he was joined by his deputy Ayman al Zawahiri while walking in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan. Another scene features the burning twin towers of the World Trade Center.

The video tapes were found in bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. Aside from the tapes, there are computer disks and handwritten notes that convinced intelligence analysts that the al Qaeda leader has been in control of the terror network until the end.

The compound where bin Laden was found was an active command and control center. It was clear that bin Laden was involved in the planning and tactical directions of the terror organization. And it seemed that he was obsessed with other people perceived him to be. There is a video clip that showed him practicing his speech.