Posted on 08/25/2007 2:26:58 PM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
http://privateofficerbreakingnews.wordpress.com/page/2/
Target has their own crime lab! www.privateofficer.com
MINNEAPOLIS Mn. Nov. 19 2007 When people talk about Target, most people think about the retail stores festooned with red bullÂ’s-eye symbols. But did you know the Minnesota retail giant is also known around the world for its focus on solving crimes?
TargetÂ’s crime lab and forensic experts often provide the missing link to connect killers to their crimes.Their lab, which was designed to conquer more petty crimes committed in their own stores, is not run by law enforcement. However they now provide help solving crimes to police.To date, Target has offered assistance to more than 100 different agencies.
They don’t charge a dime. All they ask for is a department patch in return.The Dru Sjodin case was one of the first Target was consulted on. Some of her last moments were caught on tape. So were the movements of her convicted killer.”There’s no way of knowing what’s actually inside of his mind, but obviously he makes some observation towards that camera that’s up in the ceiling,” said a crime lab employee. “Not all the cases we work on have happy endings.”
This proved to be the case with Sjodin, whose body was found in a ravine months after she vanished. The surveillance video was a key piece of evidence in the prosecution of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.”This was very important because it showed Alfonso in close proximity to the area of the disappearance,” said the employee.
Rick Lautenbach, who manages the Target Forensic Service Lab here and in Las Vegas, said “When there’s a serious crime that perhaps we can help with and we have the means to do it, it’s important for us to be able to do that when we can.”
Most of the people running the lab are former law enforcement. Brent Pack is a former special agent with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Command. Earlier this year, he helped police put Anthony Albert Gomez behind bars.”One of the best things I like about the job is finding that one piece of evidence, that one thing that ties in a criminal to the crime,” said Pack, now a senior investigator with Target Forensic Services.
Gomez had recorded images of himself beheading a girl’s dog, before he left it on her doorstep in a box. When police arrested him, they called Target to get the images off his phone. Faced with the evidence, Gomez pleaded guilty.”It was gratifying to see his face in the paper not too long ago,” said Pack.
Target doesnÂ’t limit their scope to simply cracking cases in Minnesota. The impact of its crime lab spans the globe. Take, for instance, the murder of Kamila Garsztka, whose body was found floating in a marina in England. Her purse was found in her boyfriendÂ’s apartment.
Using video of Garsztka from cameras positioned all around the city, Casey Cottle spent over 80 hours enhancing and analyzing shades of color on her coat.”This light area goes all the way up over the shoulder. So it couldn’t be just a part of the jacket,” said Cottle. “There’s definitely something on the shoulder and to the investigation and in trial, that was a huge part.”Amilton Bento got a life sentence.
Target estimates law enforcement cases make up about 30 percent of the lab’s case load, and the rest focus on issues closer to the core of its business. Occasionally there is crossover.”If we can offer the same level of scientific ability to answer the questions that are before the court, or the questions investigators have, we want to be able to do that,” said Lautenbach.That is a mission statement Target plans to validate far into the future.”I know from being here 12 years that Target is sincere.
If all companies did what we do, that would be really powerful,” said Lautenbach.With all the sophisticated technology, some customers might wonder if Target is collecting information on its shoppers. While Target has security cameras, like everyone else, they emphasized to us they only use their lab to focus on criminal activity, not people’s buying habits.
http://privateofficerbreakingnews.wordpress.com/page/2/
Mother guilty of shopping daughter on line for sex www.privateofficer.com
Detroit Mi. Nov. 18, 2007
A Taylor mother shopped her 7-year-old daughter for sex not just once, but three times, police say.
The twist in the case was revealed Friday when law enforcement announced the arrest of Chad Gorzela, 32, of Saginaw on five child-sex felonies after uncovering evidence in the investigation of the Taylor mother earlier this year showing e-mail conversations between the woman and Gorzela to allegedly arrange sex between Gorzela and the 7-year-old.
The chats are very graphic,” said Sheriff Warren Evans.
The woman is serving a nine- to 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to all counts in August after she shopped her daughter for sex to an undercover Wayne County sheriff’s deputy. Following her arrest, police nabbed a Brownstown Township man, who pleaded guilty in October to trying arrange sex with the girl. The mom’s arrest then led police to Gorzela.
Evans and Prosecutor Kym Worthy said it was unclear how Gorzela and the woman connected. Evans said the chats did not discuss money. Authorities are not identifying the woman to protect the identity of her daughter. Gorzela turned himself in Thursday.
Evans said seven months elapsed between the time of the mother’s arrest and Gorzela’s because Gorzela erased his computer’s hard drive and was residing outside the area.
Enough evidence was obtained from the Taylor woman’s computer and Gorzela’s Internet provider to verify his involvement, Worthy said.
Gorzela has been charged with child sexually abusive activity, a 20-year felony; using the Internet for child sexually abusive activity, a 20-year felony; two charges of distributing child sexually abusive material, a 7-year felony; and using the Internet to distribute child sexually abusive material, a 10-year felony.
In the third case, Nicholas Alley of Brownstown Township pleaded guilty to child sexually abusive activity and will be sentenced Nov. 30. He, too, attempted to arrange sex with the 7-year-old.
http://privateofficerbreakingnews.wordpress.com/page/2/
Sex Offender Arrested At School www.privateofficer.com
Moreno Valley CA. Nov. 17 2007
A registered sex offender was arrested in Moreno Valley on Thursday for indecent exposure, lewd acts in a pubic place and annoying and molesting a child.
According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, a school resource officer responded to a report of a man exposing and masturbating himself in front of two women near Adrienne and Ellsworth avenues in front of the school. The officer saw a vehicle matching the description of the suspect’s and conducted a traffic stop.
The driver, Michael Espeleta, 46, was wearing only a pair of underwear and a shirt.The women positively identified Espeleta (pictured), who was taken in for further investigation.
Police learned that a similar incident had taken place on Nov. 8 near Vista Del Lago High School — a man matching Espeleta’s description had called a female student over to his car, supposedly to look at a piece of paper; she fled when she saw he had exposed himself and was masturbating. She subsequently positively identified Espeleta.
He was booked for three counts of indecent exposure, two counts of lewd acts and one count of annoying and molesting a child.Anyone with information on these or similar incidents is asked to call the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Team at (951) 486-6800.
November 22, 2007 Anti-Terrorism News
Happy Thanksgiving from UnitedStatesAction.com
(Iraq) Clashes between al-Qaida and rival Sunnis break out to the north and south of Baghdad
— 18 Sunni Awakening Council members, 2 police killed near Hor Rijab, and 19 Al Qaeda and
2 civilians killed in Baqouba
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/22/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq.php
(Iraq) Secretary of Iraqi Interior Ministry shot dead northeast Baghdad
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1859387&Language=en
(Iraq) Military says Iraqi, US troops detain 81 in Diwaniyah — on Wednesday
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071121/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestdiwaniyah_071121201002;_ylt=Ar4ht9RVWRLcBU0kbgLIHixX6GMA
(Iraq) US defends AP photographer’s Bill Hussein’s detention in Iraq
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/November/focusoniraq_November94.xml§ion=focusoniraq
(Iraq) U.S. cmdr says Shiite extremists acting as ‘surrogates’ for Iranians still operating in Iraq
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/21/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Iran.php
(Iraq) Top Qaeda militant arrested near Saddam hometown: police — Hussein al-Ajeeli aka Abu
al-Ajeeli
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=5f6226e2-7162-4771-bf25-1267091be08d&MatchID1=4602&TeamID1=6&TeamID2=7&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1157&PrimaryID=4602&Headline=’Top+militant+held+near+Saddam+hometown';
(Iraq) Ayodhya priest receives al-Qaeda threat
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14564953
(Afghanistan) Karzai says Taliban make contact for Afghan peace
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071122/wl_nm/afghan_nato_dc_1;_ylt=AnpB8WpYRmzgzR1eznGnPgbOVooA
Afghanistan: Taliban controlling more than half of Afghanistan, says report — Senis Council states
Taliban has “permanent Taliban presence” on 54 percent of the country
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.1580401044
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/22/wtaliban122.xml
(Afghanistan) Taliban comeback a matter of when, not if — Taliban regaining political legitimacy
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/taliban-comeback-a-matter-of-when-not-if/2007/11/22/1195321948670.html
(Pakistan) Suicide bomber, 35 militants killed in Pakistan — suicide bomber outside Saidu Sharif
airport - fighting in Swat valley continues
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2007/November/subcontinent_November911.xml§ion=subcontinent&col=
(Pakistan) Militants killed as army recaptures Kabal police station
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\11\22\story_22-11-2007_pg7_4
(Pakistan) Bomb blast hits music shops, bank in NWFP
http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=520867
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Bomb_blast_hits_music_shops_bank_in_Pakistans_NWFP/articleshow/2562026.cms
Pakistan: Top Baluch rebel leader killed - BLA’s Nawabzada Balach Marri
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.1584848009
http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/22/top3.htm
(Pakistan) Report: UK Think Tank: ‘N-sites vulnerable to militant attacks’
http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/22/top10.htm
— Pakistan Security Research Unit (PSRU) “The Security of Nuclear Weapons in Pakistan”
http://spaces.brad.ac.uk:8080/download/attachments/748/Brief_22finalised.pdf
(India J&K) Six insurgents surrender in Indian-administered Kashmir — including two self-styled
“commanders” of Harkatul-Jehadi-Islami (HUJI)
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1859474&Language=en
(India) Garlanding Rahul with grenades was Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)’s ‘plan’: official sources
http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=76557c73-6131-48c6-83b2-95c7c1957c54&MatchID1=4602&TeamID1=6&TeamID2=7&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1157&PrimaryID=4602&Headline=’JeM+wanted+to+garland+Rahul+with+grenades';
(India) Four suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba militants get 10-year RI for planning terror attacks in Delhi
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=98394c48-7af8-4f02-8619-73b1f9a965e5
(India) Army deployed after Calcutta riot — over writer who “hurt Muslim sentiments”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7105277.stm
(U.S.) 11 years for Hamas trial defendant — Abdulhalim Ashqar
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071121/ap_on_re_us/hamas_trial_1
— see also
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/11/sentence_in_chicago_hamas_tria.php
http://www.investigativeproject.org/article/554
(U.S.) South Carolina Pipe Bomb Trial: ‘Martyrdom’ Detonator Video Details Revealed In Case
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/nov/21/martyrdom-detonator-video-detailed-usf-students-ca/?news-breaking
(Iran) US military wary of Iranian pledges on arms flow
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/November/focusoniraq_November93.xml§ion=focusoniraq
Iran’s ex-nuke negotiator criticizes Ahmadinejad’s accusations of treachery
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/22/africa/ME-GEN-Iran-Ahmadinejad.php
Iran says it expects end to Security Council involvement in its nuclear file
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/22/europe/EU-GEN-Nuclear-Iran.php
Iran warns that threats against it will have regional repercussions
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/22/africa/ME-GEN-Iran-Nuclear.php
(Gaza) Salahiddin brigades attack Israeli forces
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1859412&Language=en
Egypt finds explosives likely destined for Gaza
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/November/middleeast_November337.xml§ion=middleeast
Militants dismiss Middle East peace push
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/November/middleeast_November339.xml§ion=middleeast
Annapolis Conference Planning: Palestinian Authority Objects to Use of ‘Terrorism’ in Draft
Document
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/136905
(Israel) IDF soldiers arrest 13 terror suspects in West Bank Wednesday night
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546694968&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(Saudi Arabia) Jihad and the Saudi petrodollar II
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7106382.stm
— (part I of series)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7093423.stm
(Algeria) ‘Over 80 suicide bombers ready to strike’ in north
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.1581507540
Tunisia trial of 30 suspected Islamists postponed until Dec. 1
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/21/africa/AF-GEN-Tunisia-Terror-Trial.php
Kenyan family loses bid to free Guantanamo detainee — suspicion of involvement in 2002
bombing on Israel-owned hotel in Mombassa
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071121/wl_africa_afp/kenyausattackstrial_071121175515;_ylt=AvKijqGqN1xKqTiu7wx5DPcTv5UB
Maldives police hunt for second bomb — believed to have been part of a plot by Islamic extremists
to attack tourism industry
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071122/wl_asia_afp/maldivesunrestcrime_071122060227;_ylt=AsQC_o2JPYx6eabLog_JPIwTv5UB
(Canada) News groups: Access denied to Gitmo case — regarding Canadian Omar Khadr
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071121/ap_on_go_ot/guantanamo_commissions_8;_ylt=AtzeDorPg7c214LyCz8EwVgTv5UB
Turkey lauds Iraqi Kurds for action against rebels: Anatolia
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071121/wl_mideast_afp/turkeykurdsunrestiraq_071121135209;_ylt=AnGwa648mVW8pSePhfP358btfLkA
(UK) Pakistani called British Muslims to jihad, court hears — Abdul Rahman
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071121/wl_uk_afp/britainpakistansecurityjihad_071121171205;_ylt=Apuy2G9H87ccHQxTGyfoLYbzPukA
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2914795.ece
(UK) From Scots college to jihad - first man in UK convicted over terrorist propaganda —
Abdul Rahman
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1836372007
(UK) British PM challenged on terrorism laws
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071121/ap_on_re_eu/britain_terrorism
(UK) Terror suspect fights for right to study sciences
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/22/ndpp222.xml
(UK) ‘Devastating blow’ to Government plans to extend pre-charge detention for terror suspect
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-7094604,00.html
(Germany) Militants attack new German minister within hours of oath — paint-bombs thrown
by suspected Communist militants
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=26&story_id=46243
(Indonesia) Bali bombers have last family visit - one bomber plans to ask the country’s top court
to review their case in a last bid to stop their execution
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22805776-23109,00.html
(Thailand) 4 suspected insurgents arrested in South
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=123837
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30057051
(Thailand) 2 Muslim brothers shot dead in Narathiwat
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30057050
Thailand: Parties differ on response to unrest in the south
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=1.0.1584608792
(Philippines) Blast in southern Philippines mall kills 1, injures others — second explosion in
two months in Kidapawan, North Cotabato
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/22/asia/AS-GEN-Philippines-Mall-Blast.php
(Philippines) 1 dead, 4 hurt in Kidapawan mall blast
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=100047
(Philippines) Gas not bomb caused October Makati mall blast — PNP
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view_article.php?article_id=102500
(Sri Lanka) 23 LTTE rebels killed in Sri Lanka - and 8 soldiers injured - in north and east
http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=520926
Sri Lanka bans charity for funding rebels
http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0WTTkmSdkVHSkkAphbQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBjb3ZrYjNkBHBvcwM0BHNlYwNzcg—/SIG=12ar30bmq/EXP=1195821074/**http%3a//www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/COL166749.htm
North Korea criticizes UN committee’s draft resolution on human rights
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/22/asia/AS-GEN-NKorea-UN-Human-Rights.php
Chinese gov’t not to blame for infected hard-drives? Seagate disks were programmed to upload passwords secretly to Beijing websites
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58819
Colombia halts Chavez-rebel hostage talks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071122/wl_nm/colombia_peace_dc_3;_ylt=AhOJMtcmV_9cnTpvvPLHVCuwv7kA
As fears mount, experts debate terrorist inroads in Latin America
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/200711211121columbiaterrorist.html
Commentary: Zakat-Jihad Activism
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/11/zakatjihad_activism.php
Other News:
Chechen president calls for women to wear headscarves
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/21/europe/EU-GEN-Russia-Chechnya.php
The Middle East Quarterly: “Should Muslims Integrate into the West?”
http://www.meforum.org/article/1761
(Netherlands) Amsterdam: Muslim missionizing in school
http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2007/11/amsterdam-muslim-missionizing-in-school.html
Netherlands: Child abuse in immigrant families
http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2007/11/netherlands-child-abuse-in-immigrant.html
Netherlands: Proposal to ban cousin marriages
http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2007/11/netherlands-proposal-to-ban-cousin.html
__._,_.___
If reposting elsewhere, please credit source of this research as UnitedStatesAction.com
decided to google Tehseen, The Paki working for EPA, in post 4164...very interesting.
http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/
Terror Moles in U.S. Government?
The Nada Prouty case is disturbing enough, but how safe does it make you feel to know we have other non-citizen terror moles working within our government?
This story ought to be a wake-up call.
Thanks to lax background checks, even after 9/11, the Hezbollah spy who managed to obtain sensitive jobs at the FBI and CIA is not the first terrorist supporter to infiltrate the U.S. government.
An alleged al-Qaida operative also infiltrated the Environmental Protection Agency, according to federal investigators and court documents obtained by WND.
The case, details of which are revealed here for the first time, involves Waheeda Tehseen, a Pakistani national who obtained a sensitive position with the EPA in Washington as a toxicologist even though she was not a U.S. citizen.
Like the Lebanese national suspected of passing secrets to Hezbollah, Tehseen lied about her citizenship on her government application, a falsehood that the government failed – in both cases – to catch in its security background investigation.
In hiring Tehseen in 1998, the EPA also missed another red flag in her file – her husband’s ties to Pakistani intelligence, which has a long history of clandestine support for both the Taliban and al-Qaida. Her husband served as a major in the Pakistani military specializing in intelligence.
FBI investigators say that while Tehseen had access to classified information as a toxicologist, she and her husband ran a charitable front for Osama bin Laden’s inner circle in Peshawar, Pakistan. She even got colleagues to donate to the front – called Help Orphans and Widows, or HOW – which, among other things, operated an orphanage and madrassa for more than 200 boys on the Pakistani-Afghan border.
Investigators say Tehseen, a “very devout” Muslim who wears a hijab, was really acting as a conduit for money funneled to bin Laden from the Missouri-based Islamic American Relief Agency, which the Treasury Department has blacklisted for helping fund bin Laden’s operations overseas. Treasury has frozen IARA’s assets, and the FBI has conducted raids on its offices.
Investigators also suspect the building she used for the orphanage doubled as a safehouse for al-Qaida.
So in 1998, the EPA hired a non-citizen with terrorist ties and failed to properly screen her? Ironic how that’s areound the time Bill Clinton passed on getting bin Laden.
Good work, Slick!
Perhaps someone could ask Mrs. Clinton about this one.
[There is a good clinton expose above this one on the page]
http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/
Attempted Bhutto Assassin Strapped Bombs to Baby
Another day, another horrifying account of the sheer savagery some people will stoop to in the name of their warped ideology.
KARACHI: The Oct 19 bombing on Benazir Bhutto’s procession in Karachi which killed over 170 people, was carried out by a person who used a one-year-old child strapped with fatal bombs, sources close to the PPP leader said.
The bomber repeatedly tried to carry the child to the back of Benazir’s truck and hand over the infant to either Benazir Bhutto or any other PPP leader on the truck but something always prevented him from reaching close by.
More here.
Meanwhile, horrifying new details emerged last night of the attempt by suicide bombers to kill Ms Bhutto on her return home from exile last month.
Investigators from Ms Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party said yesterday they believed the bomb, which killed 170 people and left hundreds more wounded, was strapped to a one-year-old child carried by its jihadist father.
They said the suicide bomber tried repeatedly to carry the baby to Ms Bhutto’s vehicle as she drove in a late-night cavalcade through the streets of Karachi.
“At the point where the bombs exploded, Benazir Bhutto herself saw the man with the child and asked him to come closer so that she could hug or kiss the infant,” investigators were reported as saying. “But someone came in between and a guard felt that the man with the child was not behaving normally. So the child was not allowed to come aboard Benazir’s vehicle.”
Ms Bhutto is said to have told investigators she recalls the face of the man who was carrying the infant. She has asked to see recordings made by television news channels to try to identify the man.
This news came as Pervez Musharraf was summoned to Saudi Arabia to receive marching orders from his benefactors.
PAKISTANI military ruler General Pervez Musharraf rushed to Riyadh for crisis talks with his Saudi royal family benefactors yesterday as his emergency rule came under threat from caretaker officials ordering the release of thousands of detained political workers and lawyers.
The officials, appointed to run the country’s national and provincial governments ahead of elections scheduled for January 8, were expected to do no more than maintain the status quo until the poll.
But last night, led by interim prime minister Mohammedmian Soomro, their first action involved ordering the immediate release of thousands detained in the security crackdown that followed the declaration of the state of emergency on November 3.
UPDATE: Hot Air links. Also at LGF.
Cross-posted at A Tangled Web.
Also here.
http://monkeytenniscentre.blogspot.com/2007/11/first-aid-lessons-gaza-style.html
[snipped from end of article, cartoons are on site]
The Red Cross also likes to lecture the Israelis on the laws of war. But while the Israelis sometimes bend the rules, and occasionally break them, members of Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups go out every day with the explicit aim of killing and maiming civilians, whether Israelis or Palestinian opponents. It’s also worth noting that Hamas, along with Hezbollah, is violating the Geneva Conventions by refusing to allow the Red Cross to visit captured Israeli soldiers.
For all the good work it does around the world, the fact that the Red Cross refuses to draw distinctions between the two sides, and continues to allow itself to be used by terrorists in Gaza and elsewhere, shames it.
Related: From the Red Cross First Aid Manual for Combatants, Gaza edition.
Lesson 1: Casualty with severed head:
1. Retrieve head from celebrating mob.
2. Carefully reattach head to neck as shown.
3. Remove video of beheading from internet.
4. Prop casualty up in a chair.
5. Call AP and Reuters, and get them to photograph the casualty, explaining to them that he’s in excellent health, but has suffered mild whiplash in a car accident, and is having a nap.
6. When AP/Reuters have gone, remove head again.
7. Wait 24 hours.
8. Call AP/Reuters and tell them casualty has been run over by Israeli bulldozer.
Lesson 2: Casualty suffering from multiple fractures and internal injuries after being thrown from roof by rival faction:
1. If casualty’s hands and feet were bound prior to his being thrown from rooftop, untie hands and feet and dispose of rope.
2. Place casualty in recovery position.
3. Call BBC and explain that casualty is impoverished fruit farmer who threw himself from rooftop after being driven to despair by Israel’s closure of Rafa border crossing.
Lesson 3: Casualty with multiple bullet wounds to abdomen after being shot by rival faction during protest/Friday prayers:
1. Check casualty for pulse and breathing.
2. If pulse and breathing are detected, administer two shots to the head from close range to finish casualty off.
3. Call France 2 television, and get them to produce a fake video.
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Posted by Mike at 9:23 AM
Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Middle East
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The Red Cross helpful as always....
First aid lessons, Gaza style. Never let it be said they don’t care!!!
Posted by Theo Spark at November 22, 2007 5:08 PM
[An interesting blog, gives ‘the rest of the story’ about talk radio shows............not a hate site]
http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/
22 November 2007
Talkers Tackle Thanksgiving Misinformation
THE REAL WAR
Libs Despise T-Day More Than Any Other Holiday
Forget the War on Christmas or Easter, what really sends the unhinged left into a tizzy is the notion of celebrating Thanksgiving.
What to the rest of America is a time for giving thanks and overeating means pure misery for our “progressive” friends. They wrongly see Thanksgiving as symbolic of brutal European colonizers and victimized Native Americans, without regard for the real truth.
One might recommend Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower, which provides a more fair and balanced view of Plymouth’s earliest settlers, native inhabitants of the region and their many competing interests. Philbrick makes it clear there were no saints in seventeenth century New England.
But the left isn’t interested in the truth, instead, they believe the unbalanced version of events taught to Seattle’s unfortunate schoolchildren. That has radio talk hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Michael Medved fighting back.
From Rush Limbaugh.com:
RUSH: Now, the real story of Thanksgiving: “On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible,” and this is what’s not taught. This is what’s left out. “The Pilgrims were a people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example. And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work. But this was no pleasure cruise, friends. The journey to the New World was a long and arduous one. And when the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford’s detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them, he wrote. There were no houses to shelter them. There were no inns where they could refresh themselves. And the sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims – including Bradford’s own wife – died of either starvation, sickness or exposure.
“When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats. Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper! This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end. Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than as a devout expression of gratitude grounded in the tradition of both the Old and New Testaments. Here is the part that has been omitted: The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belong to the community as well.” They were collectivists! Now, “Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter, which had taken so many lives.
“He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of the marketplace. ... Long before Karl Marx was even born, the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism. And what happened? It didn’t work! Surprise, surprise, huh? What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else, unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation! But while most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for well over a hundred years – trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it – the Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild’s history lesson,” every kid gets. “If it were, we might prevent much needless suffering in the future.” Here’s what he wrote: “’The experience that we had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years...that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing – as if they were wiser than God,’ Bradford wrote.
And from FOX News:
Seattle public schools want a side of political correctness served on your Thanksgiving table.
Washington state’s largest school district sent letters to teachers and other employees suggesting Thanksgiving should be “a time of mourning” for its Native American students.
The memo, from Caprice Hollins, the district’s director of Equity, Race & Learning Support, included an attachment to a paper titled “Deconstructing the Myths of ‘The First Thanksgiving.’”
It includes 11 “myths” disputing everything from what was served at the first Thanksgiving (no mashed potatoes or cranberries) and who provided the food to the nature of the Pilgrims themselves: Myth No. 3 calls the colonists “rigid fundamentalists” who came to the New World “fully intending to take the land away from its native inhabitants.”
But what got the Internet abuzz was Myth No. 11: “Thanksgiving is a happy time.” It was followed by “Fact: For many Indian people, ‘Thanksgiving’ is a time of mourning ... a bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal returned for friendship.”
Hollins would not defend her letter, but David Tucker, a spokesman for the district, said it was an effort to be sensitive to minorities in Seattle schools.
“One of the core elements in education is not just understanding your own life history but also those of others,” he said.
But one Seattle-area tribe says Thanksgiving is not somber on the reservation but a time to see friends and family, as it is for other Americans.
Native Americans in the Northwest celebrate the holiday with turkey and salmon, said Daryl Williams of the Tulalip Tribes. Before the period of bitter and violent relationships between natives and their culturally European counterparts, they worked together to survive, he said.
“The spirit of Thanksgiving, of people working together to help each other, is the spirit I think that needs to grow in this country, because this country has gotten very divisive,” he said.
Nationally syndicated talk show host Michael Medved was more blunt.
“The notion that now you have a major school system sending out a message that, no, rather than expressing thanks we should emphasize guilt on this holiday — that is sick, it is destructive and it is anti-American.”
Medved has just defined Seattle liberalism to its very core.
Happy Thanksgiving.
[Yes, Thanksgiving Day as we remember it will soon be a memory, as is Merry Christmas and Happy Easter and Columbus Day...granny]
UK’s families put on fraud alert
The chancellor urged people to monitor their bank accounts
Alistair Darling
Two computer discs holding the personal details of all families in the UK with a child under 16 have gone missing.
The Child Benefit data on them includes name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number and, where relevant, bank details of 25 million people.
Chancellor Alistair Darling said there was no evidence the data had gone to criminals - but urged people to monitor bank accounts “for unusual activity”.
The Conservatives described the incident as a “catastrophic” failure.
CHILD BENEFIT HELPLINE
0845 302 1444
In an emergency statement to MPs, Mr Darling apologised for what he described as an “extremely serious failure on the part of HMRC to protect sensitive personal data entrusted to it in breach of its own guidelines”.
MPs gasped as Mr Darling told them: “The missing information contains details of all Child Benefit recipients: records for 25 million individuals and 7.25 million families. “
The police are not aware of any evidence that it has been used for fraudulent purposes or criminal activity
Alistair Darling
Chancellor
The chancellor blamed mistakes by junior officials at HMRC, who he said had ignored security procedures when they sent information to the National Audit Office (NAO) for auditing.
Mr Darling told MPs: “Two password protected discs containing a full copy of HMRC’s entire data in relation to the payment of child benefit was sent to the NAO, by HMRC’s internal post system operated by the courier TNT.
The package was not recorded or registered. It appears the data has failed to reach the addressee in the NAO.”
He added: “The police tell me that they have no reason to believe that this data has found its way into the wrong hands.
“The police are not aware of any evidence that it has been used for fraudulent purposes or criminal activity.”
Fraud protection
The HMRC has set up a Child Benefit Helpline on 0845 302 1444 for customers who want more details.
The data was sent on 18 October and senior management at HMRC were told it was missing on 8 November and the chancellor on 10 November.
MISSING DATA INCLUDES...
National insurance number
Name, address and birth date
Partner’s details
Names, sex and age of children
Bank/savings account details
Mr Darling said banks were adamant that they wanted as much time to prepare for his announcement as possible.
He added: “If someone is the innocent victim of fraud as a result of this incident, people can be assured they have protection under the Banking Code so they will not suffer any financial loss as a result.”
Mr Darling said people should monitor their accounts “for any unusual activity”.
Chairman resigns
The Metropolitan Police are investigating the disappearance of the two discs and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which monitors HMRC, is investigating the security breach.
Uniformed officers were earlier checking HMRC’s offices in Washington, Tyne and Wear.
It is the latest and by far the most serious of a string of missing data incidents at HM Revenue and Customs.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Check your bank statements for odd transactions
Monitor your account if you bank online
Change your account password if it is a date of birth or name
Source: Apacs
HMRC chairman Paul Gray resigned earlier after the latest incident came to light.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said: “Let us be clear about the scale of this catastrophic mistake - the names, the addresses and the dates of birth of every child in the country are sitting on two computer discs that are apparently lost in the post, and the bank account details and National Insurance numbers of 10 million parents, guardians and carers have gone missing.
“Half the country will be very anxious about the safety of their family and the security and the whole country will be wondering how on earth the government allowed this to happen.”
‘Ancient’ computers
He urged the government to “get a grip” and said it was the “final blow for the ambitions of this government to create a national ID database” as “they simply can not be trusted with people’s personal information”.
Liberal Democrat Acting Leader Vince Cable said it was now the Treasury and not the Home Office that was “not fit for purpose”.
CHILD BENEFIT
Available to the parents, normally mother, of every child in UK under 16
Older children in full-time education still eligible
Taken up by almost 100%
It amounts to £18.10 a week for a first-born child
For subsequent children - it amounts to £12.10 a week
“Why does HMRC still use CDs for data transmission in this day and age? The ancient museum pieces it is currently using for computing must be replaced.
“After this disaster how can the public possibly have confidence in the vast centralised databases needed for the compulsory ID card scheme.
“Where does the buck stop after this catalogue of disasters?”
Giving his reaction, the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, said: “This is an extremely serious and disturbing security breach.”
Mr Thomas welcomed the Chancellor’s announcement of an independent review of the incident by Kieran Poynter of PricewaterhouseCoopers and said he would decide on further action once he has received the report.
“Searching questions need to be answered about systems, procedures and human error inside both HMRC and NAO,” said Mr Thomas.
The prime minister’s official spokeswoman said Gordon Brown has “full confidence” in Mr Darling. She added that Mr Darling has not offered to resign.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/7103566.stm
Published: 2007/11/20 19:51:09 GMT
© BBC MMVII
http://discussions.flightaware.com/viewtopic.php?p=38192#38192
Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:30 pm Post subject: Missing Aircraft Reply with quote
I am looking for a 2004 AMD Alarus CH2000 last seen at American Falls Airport, Idaho. Tail # N652AM Any information regarding it’s location please contact me. Thank You.
John Paul Hazen
Transportation Security Inspector
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Transportation Security Administration
State of Idaho
Office - 208-338-8219
Cell – 208-484-3727
Semper Fidelis
Russian opposition election candidate shot
Wed Nov 21, 2007
MOSCOW (Reuters) - An opposition politician running in Russian
parliamentary elections was shot and seriously wounded on Wednesday as
he entered his house in the southern Russian region of Dagestan,
Russian
media reported.
Farid Babayev, who will lead the regional list for the liberal
anti-Kremlin Yabloko party was in a serious condition in hospital, RIA
novosti news agency reported after an unidentified gunman fired on him
in the regional capital Makhachkala.
“The incident occurred at about 10 p.m., not far from his home. Farid
Babayev is now in hospital in a serious condition,” said his party
colleague and fellow electoral candidate, Ruslan Salahbekov, was quoted
as saying by Interfax news agency.
Dagestan is in the North Caucasus, next to Chechnya, and has been hit
by
an upsurge in separatist attacks in recent months and crime.
Babayev was not expected to win a seat in the December 2 parliamentary
elections, since Yabloko is only receiving 1-2 percent in opinion
polls,
well below the 7 percent national threshold required to enter the lower
house of parliament.
(Reporting by Conor Sweeney, editing by Andrew Roche)
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chechnya-sl/
http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2007/hrg071108p.html
SYRIA:
OPTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR LEBANON AND THE REGION
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Time: 2:30 PM
Place: 419 The Dirksen Senate Office Building
Presiding: Senator Kerry
Senator Lugar’s Opening Statement
Witnesses:
Panel 1:
+The Honorable C. David Welch
Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs
Department of State
Washington, DC
Panel 2:
+Mr. Robert Malley
Middle East and North Africa Program Director
International Crisis Group
Washington, DC
+Dr. David W. Lesch
Professor of Middle East History
Trinity University
San Antonio, TX
+Mr. Emile el-Hokayem
Research Fellow, Southwest Asia/Gulf Program
The Henry L. Stimson Center
Washington, DC
+... Additional witnesses may be added
Witness names in blue are links to the statement given.
Statements are only posted if provided electronically by witness.
Tehran paper attacks Ahmadinejad
By Sadeq Saba
BBC Iranian affairs analyst
In a rare attack on Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hardline newspaper has accused him of behaving immorally towards his political rivals.
The Islamic Republic daily, close to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has said Mr Ahmadinejad’s behaviour is dangerous for Iran.
The publication is seen as a newspaper with impeccable Islamic credentials.
The attack would be difficult to imagine without at least tacit support from Ayatollah Khamenei.
In a hard-hitting editorial on Wednesday, the Tehran paper said the president’s treatment of his critics was immoral, illogical and illegal.
Losing support
It was referring to a recent speech by Mr Ahmadinejad when he described people opposed to his nuclear programme as traitors and accused some senior former nuclear negotiators of spying for foreigners.
The paper said Mr Ahmadinejad was using this tactic to discredit his political rivals prior to the parliamentary elections due early next year.
It called on Iran’s judiciary to perform its duty and punish people who make baseless allegations and cause public anxiety.
Such a direct personal attack against President Ahmadinejad is indeed rare in official media in Iran.
It shows that the Iranian president is not only losing support among ordinary people because of economic hardship, he is also angering part of the establishment for using the nuclear issue to bolster his personal power.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7106335.stm
Published: 2007/11/21 18:41:22 GMT
© BBC MMVII
The Story of Christmas Seals
History of Christmas Seals, labels originally placed on mail during the
holiday season to raise funds for tuberculosis and now benefiting lung
disease programs. Discusses the events leading up to the sale of the
first Christmas Seals on December 7, 1907. From the American Lung
Association.
URL: http://www.christmasseals.org/history_02.html
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/24346
Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum
Site for this Leavenworth, Washington state, museum dedicated to
instruments used to open the hard shell of a nut. Features images of
historical nutcrackers (including wooden soldier nutcrackers from the 1800s),
faces on human-looking nutcrackers, and historical material about human
consumption of nuts. Also includes material about collecting antique
nutcrackers.
URL: http://www.nutcrackermuseum.com/
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/24947
Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation
The aim of this site is “to make the complete records of Howard
Carter’s excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun available.” Features a list of
all items found (with selected photos), archaeologist Howard Carter’s
pocket diaries (1922-1930), eyewitness accounts of the opening of the
tomb, maps and drawings, and a gallery of photos. Also includes
background about King Tut and Carter. From the Griffith Institute, part of the
University of Oxford.
URL: http://griffith.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/gri/4tut.html
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/24907
Holiday Retail
Collection of news stories related to the current winter holiday retail
season. Topics include toys made in China, toy safety, holiday price
cuts, sales figures, and other retailer and consumer actions. (Note:
Video clips may take a long time to load.) From MSNBC.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15714138/
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/24906
FamilyFun: Have a Happy Green Holiday
Collection of children’s craft activities for Christmas, Hanukkah,
Kwanzaa, and New Year’s Eve that “give a gift to Mother Earth ... [by
turning] holiday and household surplus into festive decorations and
eco-friendly packaging.” Includes instructions for a bubble packaging advent
calendar, new uses for old greeting cards, fabric wrapping (inspired by
Japanese furoshiki), and more. From FamilyFun magazine.
URL TRUNCATED, SEE LII ITEM
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/24919
Poynteronline: Election Coverage
Coverage of elections in general and the 2008 presidential election in
particular, with an emphasis on resources for journalists covering the
election. Features background, reading suggestions, ideas for story
angles, and other material of interest to journalists and also to general
audiences. From the Poynter Institute.
URL: http://poynter.org/subject.asp?id=50
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/24925
The Franklin Pierce Pages
This amusing site about 14th president Franklin Pierce bills itself as
“a moving tribute to America’s most obscure (and best looking)
president.” Includes nifty facts about Pierce, a description of events during
Pierce’s term of office (1853-1857), and a discussion of Pierce’s
involvement in allowing the first Jewish synagogue in Washington, D.C. Also
includes a quiz. From a group of enthusiasts.
URL: http://www.mindspring.com/~dbholzel/pierce/pierce.html
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/24905
Wildfire Zone
This website provides general information about what to do before,
during, and after a fire, and resources for San Diego County (California)
residents, such as vegetation and fire risk in specific areas of the
county and contacts related to fire recovery. Some documents available in
Spanish. A partnership of several California agencies; developed by
University of California Cooperative Extension, County of San Diego.
URL: http://www.wildfirezone.org/
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/24918
Scientists and the Franklin Institute: Making Their Cases
“The Franklin Institute’s Case Files are a unique repository in the
history of science and exist as the documentary record of The Franklin
Awards program which, since 1824, has recognized outstanding scientific
achievement, across all scientific disciplines.” Features commentary and
primary documents for scientists in the areas of computing,
transportation, cosmic inquiry, energy, and communications. Also includes audio
clips and suggested reading.
URL: http://www.fi.edu/case_files/
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/24911
Just a few from the newsletter, those with kids may find it a useful list.
granny...
http://poynter.org/subject.asp?id=50
Interesting website, all about elections, history, good and bad and comments on elections.
For writers and research.
A Glossary of Archaic Medical Terms, Diseases and Causes of Death
The Genealogist’s Resource for Interpreting Causes of Death.
Antiquus Morbus is a collection of archaic medical terms and their old and modern definitions. The primary focus of this web site is to help decipher the Causes of Death found on Mortality Lists, Certificates of Death and Church Death Records from the 19th century and earlier. This web site will be updated often and as new information is received. My intention is to collect and record old medical terms in all European languages. The English and German lists are the most extensive to date.
Each term is only listed once. Check under the other headings if the term is not in the alphabetical lists. Also, try the Google search tool below.
http://www.antiquusmorbus.com/
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/jan2000/olson.htm
Analysis of Criminal
Codes and Ciphers
Daniel Olson
Cryptanalyst Forensic Examiner
Racketeering Records Analysis Unit
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Washington, DC
Read about …
Introduction
Cipher Systems
Simple Substitution Ciphers
Solving Simple Substitution Ciphers
Keyword Number Ciphers
Telephone Key Pad Ciphers
Masonic Cipher
Tic-Tac-Toe Cipher
Code Systems
Sports Bookmaking Codes
Horse Race Bookmaking Codes
Numbers Bookmaking Codes
Drug Codes
Pager Codes
Conclusion
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/orgcrime/asiancrim.htm
Asian Criminal Enterprises
Asian criminal enterprises have been operating in the U.S. since the early 1900s. The first of these groups evolved from Chinese tongs—social organizations formed by early Chinese-American immigrants. A century later, the criminalized tongs are thriving and have been joined by similar organizations with ties to East and Southeast Asia.
Members of the most dominant Asian criminal enterprises affecting the U.S. have ties—either directly or culturally—to China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Other enterprises are emerging as threats, however, including groups from the South Pacific island nations.
These enterprises rely on extensive networks of national and international criminal associates that are fluid and extremely mobile. They adapt easily to the changes around them, have multilingual abilities, can be highly sophisticated in their criminal operations, and have extensive financial capabilities. Some enterprises have commercialized their criminal activities and can be considered business firms of various sizes, from small family-run operations to large corporations.
Asian criminal enterprises have prospered thanks largely to the globalization of the world economies and to communications technology and international travel. Generous immigration policies have provided many members of Asian criminal enterprises the ability to enter and live on every populated continent in the world today undetected.
There are two categories of Asian criminal enterprises. Traditional criminal enterprises include the Chinese triads (or underground societies) based in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau as well as the Japanese Yakuza or Boryokudan. Non-traditional criminal enterprises include groups such as Chinese criminally influenced tongs, triad affiliates, and other ethnic Asian street gangs found in several countries with sizeable Asian communities.
Asian criminal enterprises conduct traditional racketeering activities normally associated with organized crime: extortion, murder, kidnaping, illegal gambling, prostitution, and loansharking. They also smuggle aliens, traffic heroin and methamphetamine; commit financial frauds; steal autos and computer chips; counterfeit computer and clothing products; and launder money.
There are several trends among Asian criminal enterprises. First, it is more common to see criminal groups cooperate across ethnic and racial heritage lines. Also, some gangs and criminal enterprises have begun to structure their groups in a hierarchical fashion to be more competitive, and the criminal activities they engage in have become globalized. Finally, more of these criminal enterprises are engaging in white-collar crimes and are co-mingling their illegal activities with legitimate business ventures.
In the U.S., Asian criminal enterprises have been identified in more than 50 metropolitan areas. They are more prevalent in Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
How We Combat Asian Criminal Enterprises
The FBI participates in different working groups and initiatives to combat Asian organized crime on an international level:
* The FBI/National Police Agency of Japan Working Group meets annually to discuss ongoing investigations and policy matters for sharing intelligence, interagency investigative support, and FBI extraterritorial operations in Japan.
* Project Bridge is a working group under Interpol to help member countries coordinate investigations and information sharing between police agencies to fight Asian-alien smuggling syndicates.
* The Interagency Working Group on Alien Smuggling coordinates policy discussions and examines investigative issues relating to alien smuggling and the trafficking of women and children. It is sponsored by the National Security Council’s Special Coordination Group on International Crime.
* The International Asian Organized Crime Conference meets annually, bringing together law enforcement agencies from around the world to discuss new trends and exchange ideas on combating Asian organized crime.
* The Canadian/United States Cross-Border Crime Forum addresses cross-border crime issues and effective coordination between the U.S. and Canadian law enforcement.
* The International Law Enforcement Academy in Bangkok, Thailand, is run with assistance from the FBI and Australian federal law enforcement agencies. The academy provides training to law enforcement agents from several Southeast Asian countries.
Organized Crime home
Gangs:
Gangs of the world:
http://gangresearch.net/Archives/documents/alphabet.html
THE CHINESE TRIADS:
http://www.able2know.org/forums/about22031-0-asc-0.html
MANY INTERESTING SUBJECTS:
http://www.able2know.org/forums/index.php
MANY LINKS TO REPORTS ON CRIME, MAFIA, GANGS AND MORE:
http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/crimjust/orgcrime.htm
Violent Street Gangs in America
Statement of
Steven R. Wiley, Chief
Violent Crimes and
Major Offenders Section
Federal Bureau of
Investigation
Before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate
Washington, D.C.
April 23, 1997
http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/taku77/refer/gang.htm
Congressional Budget Submission
Fiscal Year 2008
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES
February 2007
Table of Contents
/
/ /
Money and “Guanxi”: Keys to Understanding Crime By Asians
By M. Cordell Hart
A Proper Perspective
The surge in crime perpetrated by Asians in the United States and elsewhere in the West over the last 15 years has ethnic and operational characteristics which are poorly described by the term “Asian organized crime” (AOC). The reason for this goes beyond the easy observations that Asians rather identify with their specific language/cultural group (i.e. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.) and that members of those specific groups do not mix well or easily with persons from another Asian group — whether in social affairs or in criminal concert. More importantly, the criminal activity of ethnic Asians — with the notable exception of Japanese Boryokudan — is rarely organized, at least in the way U.S. law enforcement defines the term.1
While triads and other Chinese secret societies have offices, ranks, oaths, and other features of a continuing hierarchy, the structures serve more to bond their members than to direct members’ activities. Clearly, the vast majority of triads do not have the same organizational function in crime as do the “families” which comprise La Cosa Nostra. Leaving aside certain differences in triad definition and operation specified by the Royal Hong Kong Police as appropriate to Hong Kong law and circumstance, experts have observed that triad members may engage in a variety of criminal enterprises, but operational direction rarely comes from the triad hierarchy and proceeds of the criminal activity are almost never given to the triad for distribution as profits. Triad members do contribute money to their sponsors in the triad, but the money is offered more in tribute than as an obligation.2
As for “criminally-influenced tongs,” they are just that: Chinese fraternal and mutual-aid societies that are controlled in some degree by individuals striving for illicit profits. Occasionally, tongs are influenced and used in the same way labor unions in the United States have been exploited, and some tongs’ hiring of ethnic Asian gangs3 to serve as guards and enforcers for tong social and business functions only supports the perception of criminality. By definition and history, however, tongs are not inherently criminal associations.4
Asian gangs are of immediate consequence because they recruit and introduce ethnic Asian youths to a career in crime. Too, gangs are of law enforcement concern for their violence and their provision of some facilities to assist larger criminal endeavors (i.e. “safe houses” and heroin distribution networks). Some gangs admit members from different ethnic groups, but most gangs are formed from only one ethnic groups.5
Money and “Guanxi”
In sum, the term “Asian Organized Crime” is handy but misleading, and while the esoterica surrounding Asian criminal organizations is immediately fascinating, the organizational structures alone are rather incidental to the phenomenon of crime as played out by ethnic Asians in the West. The real dynamics of this sector of Asian crime are better understood through an examination of the financial and personal ties, however remote, among participating individuals. Critical to this are information on Asian money movers and an understanding of the practice of “guanxi,” a fundamental part of the Asian mindset.6
“Guanxi” is essentially an Asian “social glue.” It is part of social interaction across a wide range, from close personal relationships to the extended, often unknowing, support arrangements found in Asian criminal enterprises. To our knowledge, courts have yet to rule on the applicability or admissibility of “guanxi” in criminal cases, but it seems likely that the concept of “guanxi” could be used either to specify an individual’s contribution to a criminal enterprise or to assist in his defense.
The Flow of Money
A common thread among Asian criminals — indeed, all criminals — is profits. (Crimes of passion have great societal impact, to be sure, but they are far less prevalent than crimes with a profit motive.) Examined coldly — and to deny the old comic book admonition — crime does pay, and it pays well. Leaving aside factors of morality and risk, criminal enterprises must be seen as viable economic endeavors. Otherwise, no person or series of persons would persist in the particular criminal behavior. Another common thread seems to be that Asian criminals — as with all Asians — prefer to move their money through financial and business channels that are closely identified with, or managed by, other Asians, whether that involves, for example, an ethnic Asian real estate agent, a chartered bank in Chinatown, or the so-called “underground banking system.”
While Asian crooks in the West are ingenious and flexible as to money laundering methods — now also involving credit cards and smart cards, and, likely, cybercurrency in the near future — the vast majority of their proceeds is thought to be handled in more traditional ways: placement in the underground banking system for wire transfer overseas, movement through corrupt banks and gambling casinos, physical movement abroad of cash and negotiable instruments, and the domestic purchase of real estate and other items of value. There are no dependable figures on the total number of dollars involved in any of those, but anecdotal information suggests the underground banking system is primary.
Money Taken Out of the Country
In an ongoing investigation of just one underground banking network, a U.S. law enforcement agency has determined that over $200 million was moved out of the United States in a four-year period. Accepting money from ethnic Asians in a 35-state area, that network charges a fee of 10% on increments of money up to $15,000. For larger increments of money, the fee is negotiated downwards. The specified amount of money of a single transaction is made available to the ultimate recipient in Asia in a matter of hours, even before the initial customer’s check clears his regular U.S. bank — though most transactions are made in cash. The network then moves the money from the regional representative to a regional hub in Houston, Texas, for direct transfer to Hong Kong, or from a regional representative, through various businesses, and on to an operation in California for transfer abroad. In both channels, wire transfers or the transportation of currency, postal money orders, etc., are used to move the money to Asia. The fee paid initially is distributed along the way.
Except for the structuring of deposits and withdrawals at commercial banks (keeping amounts below the $10,000 reporting threshold with an intent to evade reporting requirements under provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act) and in the purchase of postal money orders (keeping the amounts below the $3,000 reporting threshold), much of the money moved through this system is without direct criminal taint.7 For most Asians, it is largely a remittance system that guarantees the delivery of money to relatives and friends in Asia free from taxes and demands of corrupt officials. (To a much lesser degree, it is also a system used to move money from Asia to the United States.) However, proceeds of crime follow the same path. Of the numerous transactions that made up the approximate $200 million noted above, many were identified as proceeds of gambling, prostitution, and food stamp fraud. Further, there are indications that cash payments — originating in the United States — to Chinese alien smugglers are now being made in China, vice the United States, and that the money is then invested in China’s burgeoning private industry. Whatever the ultimate disposition of the money, the money source remains the United States and the conveyance remains the underground banking system.
Though probably reflecting an entirely different market from that noted above, information on one underground banking system operating between Hong Kong and Thailand provides some interesting dimensions. Over a two month period in 1988, approximately 10%8 of the 900 transactions moving money from Hong Kong to Bangkok involved persons or organizations identified in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Information System. Only 5%9 of the subjects involved in money moves from Bangkok to Hong Kong were so identified.
Money Brought Here
Japan is a most prosperous nation, and it has a thriving — and truly organized — criminal element: the Boryokudan, more commonly known as “Yakuza.” Although with ancient roots, it was during the years following World War II that modern organized crime groups took their forth in Japan. Since then, these groups have been changing their organization, diversifying, and more discreetly concealing their activities in an attempt to adapt themselves to the era of Japan’s high economic growth, the ensuing period of stabilized growth, and also to evade police control.10
Japan’s National Police Agency estimated in 1992 that annual revenues of Boryokudan were about $10 billion. The total annual income for all factions of Boryokudan is currently estimated at $13 billion. Given the traditional Japanese reliance on cash, and the relatively new and weak financial controls that could otherwise provide intelligence to Japanese law enforcement agencies, there is little need for Boryokudan to move money abroad for laundering. More likely as pure investments, or in an attempt to develop additional operational bases, Japanese businessmen with ties to Boryokudan have been known to purchase real estate and gambling casinos in the United States.
The Ken Mizuno Case is instructive.11 That investigation, in many ways continuing, is recognized as the second-largest non-drug money laundering case in U.S. history.12 It featured the first large-scale seizure in the United States of proceeds from foreign fraud and involved approximately $1 billion in proceeds. Of that amount, $440 million was determined to have accrued to Mizuno alone — and only $280 million of that has been located. The investigation succeeded as a result of effective cooperation between U.S. and Japanese authorities.
Importantly, the Mizuno investigation also revealed a vulnerability of the U.S. financial system to sophisticated introduction of capital from international criminal activities and a particular vulnerability of U.S. financial institutions, gambling casinos and their parent corporations to foreign criminal manipulation. Specifically, the investigation revealed a complex web of financial transactions, the majority of which essentially avoided and evaded U.S. reporting requirements as called for by the Bank Secrecy Act. Moreover, given the Asian predilection for gambling, as well as the recent expansion of the U.S. gaming industry to 22 market centers, the potential for money laundering has become enormous.13
NOTES
1. It is generally accepted that an organized crime group will feature, as a minimum, a chain of command, a process for leadership succession, functional specialties, standards for promotions/assignments, and implicit codes of behavior.
2. See “Chinese Triads — An Investigative Aid,” by Mr. George Harkin, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, dated 16 February 1996.
3. See “Asian Gang Survey Results,” by the New England State Police Information Network, dated April 1995.
4. See “Triads, Tongs and Street Gangs — A Baseline Assessment of Asian Organized Crime,” by the National Drug Intelligence Center, dated March 1994.
5. See “Asian Criminal Enterprise Briefing Book,” by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, dated July 1993.
6. The matter is extensively treated in three papers: “Chinese,” “On the Chinese Practice of ‘Guanxi”’ and “’Guanxi:’ An Important Consideration for the Law Enforcement Officer,” by M. Cordell Hart, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Note that personal ties between members and sponsors in triads are an extremely close form of “guanxi.”
7. Regulations covering non-bank financial institutions are currently being formulated.
8. This figure projects to 40% when considering matches with various romanized forms of names, Sino-Thai names, and simple nicknames.
9. No higher projection based on name variations is possible here, as almost all the remittances from Thailand to Hong Kong were by organizations, vice individuals.
10. See “White Paper on Police,” by National Police Agency, Government of Japan, dated 1989.
11. Mizuno was convicted in Japan of tax fraud, but is currently free pending appeal. U.S. authorities hope to deal with him in the United States, and, interestingly, Mizuno wants to be extradited to the United States. He has much money located somewhere here and probably expects to strike a deal with prosecutors that will leave him with some of the money and require no jail time.
12. The BCCI Case was the largest, although it did involve undercover agents posing as drug traffickers.
13. The U.S. General Accounting Office cited in its January 1996 report on money laundering that “the proliferation of casinos, together with the rapid growth of the amounts washed, may make these operations highly vulnerable to money laundering.” -——————————————
M. Cordell Hart is a Chinese linguist and writer/lecturer on Asian crime matters. He is the director of the Center for Asian Crime Studies and an analyst for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network at the U.S. Department of Treasury.
This paper reprinted with permission of the author.
Created: 00 Dec 0000 Updated: 00 Dec 0000
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