Today's Headlines and Commentary

Some good terrorist news to kick off your weekend (unless you’re a terrorist, that is)--and I don't get to say that a lot. Umar Patek has finally been sentenced to twenty years in prison in Indonesia for building the bombs in the Bali bombings—kind of light, considering that more than 200 people got killed, but it’s better than some people were predicting. The New York Times has the story, as does the Wall Street Journal. Rejoice! According to Leon Panetta, only a "small handful" of the twenty leaders in the Al Qaeda core remain at large. In an interview with Reuters, Panetta also said that Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Nayef reported a decline in interest among young Saudis in joining Al Qaeda. The Associated Press reports that three leaders of Boko Haram, the Nigerian Islamist terrorist group, have finally been added to a U.S. terrorist black list—along with a Basque gentleman. Amine El Khalifi, a Moroccan gentleman who was planning a suicide attack on the U.S. Capitol building before the FBI got wind of him, is to plead guilty this afternoon, says CNN. Now for the not-so-good news. The Afghan Taliban attacked the Spozhmai Hotel in Afghanistan, killing 20 people, because, according to the Times, "Afghans drank alcohol there and . . . there was prostitution and dancing." Sound reasons indeed. The Washington Post informs us, meanwhile, that ISAF commander Gen. John Allen said the Haqqani network's fingerprints were all over the attack. The BBC says that casualties at the hands of Somali pirates are "increasing." Meanwhile, the AP reports that Omar Khadr's lawyers are accusing the Canadian government of "stonewalling" his repatriation from Guantanamo Bay to Canada. The BBC reports on continued deliberations on the mental state of Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist who shot and killed 77 people and injured 242 last summer. The question of his sanity—although he himself "asked to be considered sane and to be acquitted"—remains undecided. Christopher Swift argues in Bloomberg that in order to defeat Al Qaeda, the United States must prevent Yemen from becoming a safe haven. And check out why one U.K. terror suspect (allegedly "an associate of the foiled 2006 plane bomb plotters") is arguing before British courts that he is enduring intolerable suffering at the hands of Parliament’s revamped control orders. Hint: He can’t get a date. It’s today's Moment of Zen. For more interesting law and security-related articles, follow us on Twitter, visit the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law’s Security Law Brief, Fordham Law’s Center on National Security’s Morning Brief, and Fordham Law’s Cyber Brief. Email us noteworthy articles we may have missed at wakeman.lawfare@gmail.com and  singh.lawfare@gmail.com.