Via Josh Gerstein at Politico: The lawyers who successfully sued the Government over Bush's warrantless NSA electronic surveillance of the defunct Islamic charity al-Haramain and two of its attorneys have filed a request for $2.26 million in legal fees.

The motion is here. The hourly breakdowns by lawyer (I've removed the names but they are in the pleading) for Dec. 2005 through July, 2010, are:

• Lawyer 1: 2,497.6 hours.
• Lawyer 2: 235.1 hours.
• Lawyer 3: 682.2 hours.
• Lawyer 4: 912.7 hours.
• Lawyer 5: 284.6 hours.
• Lawyer 6: 343.5 hours.
• Lawyer 7: 467.2 hours.
• Lawyer 8: 19.7 hours.

This appears to be in addition to the $612k the plaintiffs asked for in damages back in April (available here.) The Court's March, 2010 ruling finding that the government violated FISA when it intercepted communications related to the Al-Haramain charity is here. [More...]

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today the U.S. is actively seeking cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is on a U.S. "capture or kill" list.

This weekend, a video interview of al-Awlaki, an excerpt of which was released in April, was posted in full on radical Islamic websites.

"Oh, America, if you transgress against us, we will transgress against you, and you keep killing our people, we will kill your people," Anwar al-Awlaki says in the video. "This is the image that we need to present. These American soldiers heading to Afghanistan and Iraq will be killed. We will kill them if we can, there in Fort Hood, or we will kill them in Afghanistan and Iraq."

He praised the actions of Maj. Nidal Hasan, charged in the Fort Hood, Texas killings, and according to CNN, urged others to follow in Hasan's footsteps: [More...]

The Guardian reports that an increased number detainees released from prisons like Camp Bucca and Camp Cropper in Iraq are re-joining al Qaeda..

Iraqi security officials blame the U.S.-run prisons, saying they have caused a revitalised Sunni insurgency.

Major General Ahmed Obeidi al-Saedi, who leads the sixth division of the Iraqi army in south and west Baghdad, claims as many as 80% of detainees have either aligned, or realigned with militant groups, mostly to al-Qaida in Iraq, or its affiliates. He said 86 former inmates of the US prisons, known as Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca, have been rearrested since 10 March.

...."We ask them, did they finish their time in prison rehabilitated psychologically and they say 'no, it was the perfect environment to reorganise al-Qaida'."

[More...]

Dennis Blair, the Director of National Intelligence, is resigning at the request of President Obama.

Among the agencies Blair has supervisory authority over is the National Counterterrorism Center. Analysts at the NCTC have been blamed for failing to connect intelligence dots and for not sharing information about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who planned to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day.

Blair took a big hit from the Senate Intelligence Committee this week when it released a declassified report on the failed attack. (More from the report here.)

While Blair, as Director of National Intelligence, is responsible for supervising the NCTC and 15 other intelligence-related agencies, the actual Director of the NCTC is Michael E. Leiter. Will he keep his job? The FBI and State Department were also found to have contributed to the intelligence lapses that failed to prevent Abdulmutallab from boarding the plane. Is anyone being canned from those agencies? Or is Blair just expendable and a convenient fall guy? [More...]

Abu Baseer al-Wahishi, the leader of al Qaida Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), released a tape today through the group's media arm, al-Malahem, expressing support for cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is in hiding after President Obama placed him on a "capture or kill" list. The U.S. suspects al-Awlaki of providing spiritual guidance to suspected Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Malik Hasan, and the Christmas Day airplane bomber, Umar Farouk

He also threatened attacks against the United States if al-Awlaki was harmed. And speaking about Abmudullatab, al-Wahayshi says on the tape:

"That was a failure but tell me, what will success be like...It will inevitably be a disaster for you (Americans), for we are enamored with the attacks of September 11."

The tape was an open letter to the American public. [More...]

Now we know how the Obama Administration wants to make its end-run around Miranda rights: by passing a law allowing police to delay bringing a suspect before a judge after arrest, so they can have more time to make them talk before a lawyer is appointed to represent them.

Shameful. Just a year ago, the Supreme Court decided Corley v. U.S. which said anything longer than 6 hours is unacceptable unless a judge isn't available.[More...]

Waziristan seems to be the current hub for training would-be terrorists. The Times Square suspect reportedly said he trained there, as did Najibullah Zazi. Why Waziristan?

Supposedly, Pakistan was having success rooting the Taliban out of Waziristan and a few weeks ago, suggested they'd be done in a few months.

Is Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mahsud a big factor? Reportedly, he survived a recent drone attack. Are U.S. drone attacks the problem? Juan Cole has more. [More..]

Police are seeking a white male in his 40's in connection with yesterday's foiled Times Square car bomb.

Police investigating a failed car bomb left in Times Square have videotape of a possible suspect shedding clothing in an alley and putting it in a bag and found a substance that resembled fertilizer in the parked SUV, Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Sunday. The surveillance video shows a white man in his 40s taking off one shirt, revealing another underneath.

It was an "amateurish" device, according to New York's Mayor. The reports on the car's plates, which didn't match the vehicle, are conflicting. Some say the car's owner, who is apparently not a suspect, sent the plates to the junkyard. (Then wouldn't he still have the car or did he sell it? Did the driver steal the plates from the yard and put them on the Pathfinder he just bought, and if so, it shouldn't be hard to find the buyer. If he put plates on a stolen car, that's a bit trickier.) Others say the vehicle the plates were registered to was at the junkyard in the past few weeks. It's a bit confusing. Also not known: the motive or target of the Pathfinder driver.

Times Square had a bomb scare this evening, causing police to evacuate the area. A fire started in a parked car, and after breaking through the car windows, an incendiary device was found inside.

All reports indicate the vehicle contained gasoline, propane and possibly gun powder. Incindiary devices are not explosive devices, but are lethal.

Officers proceeded to dismantle the device on the scene.

This does not sound terror-related to me, particularly since it was an incendiary but not explosive device, but the story is developing, so stay tuned.

One evacuated tourist was apparently not concerned. ""We can't get to our show," was her comment.

Update: Police don't suspect terrorism.

Zarein Ahmedzay, a high school friend of Najibullah Zazi's who traveled to Pakistan with him, has pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.

He said he, admitted plotter Najibullah Zazi and a third, unidentified man met with the leaders in Pakistan in in the summer of 2008, where they offered to join the Taliban and fight U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

''They told us we would be more useful if we returned to New York City ... to conduct operations,'' he said. Asked by the judge what kind of operations, he responded, ''Suicide-bombing operations.''

Ahmedzay faces a maximum life sentence but his lawyer says he expects a benefit from his guilty plea.

The third friend, Adis Medunjanin, is still fighting the charges. His lawyer says his case is different.

Two American lawyers and an Islamic charity have submitted their bill for damages following a federal court ruling the Bush Administration subjected them and Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation to illegal wiretapping. The tab as of now (not including attorneys' fees and costs): $612,000.

Judge Vaughn Walker ruled on March 31 (pdf) they were victims of Bush's NSA warrantless electronic surveillance program in violation of FISA, had directed them to submit a statement with their damages. On Friday, they filed this pleading (pdf).

The lawyers and the charity were illegally wiretapped for 204 days. Their bill reflects actual damages at the rate of $100 per day for each day of violation, pursuant to 50 U.S.C. § 1810(a). In addition, there are punitive damages of of $183,600 for each of the three plaintiffs pursuant to 50 U.S.C. § 1810(b). [More...]

A plea deal has been reached in the case of the teenage Somali pirate brought to New York last year. A change of plea hearing has been set for May 10.

No details are available yet as to what Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse will plead guilty to, or whether he will get a sentence break for cooperating with the Government.

In January, Muse was charged with two more hijackings. I wonder if they've figured out how old he is yet. More on his background here.