Posted on 08/25/2007 2:26:58 PM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
Lowry: The CIA's record leading up to Sept. 11 was one of failure By Rich Lowry Article Last Updated: 08/25/2007 09:07:06 AM MDT
The new report from the CIA's inspector general about the spy agency's pre-9/11 failings could be titled, ''What We Did During Our Holiday From History.'' The stretch between the end of the Cold War and the Sept. 11 attacks was supposed to be a shiny new era of globalized peace and prosperity, to which an intelligence service was considered quaintly irrelevant.
The CIA conformed to the zeitgeist by remaining quaintly irrelevant. George Tenet presided over the agency, failing his way to the second-longest tenure of any director of central intelligence, a Presidential Medal of Freedom and a $4 million book advance. He made the Peter Principle work for him not just by advancing to his level of incompetence, but by benefiting from it handsomely.
Congressional Democrats pushed for the release of the scathing IG report, completed back in June 2005, to embarrass the Bush administration. But most of the failures identified in the report took place during the Clinton administration, which set the CIA's skewed priorities and selected Tenet in the first place. President Bush should be embarrassed only because he didn't fire Tenet upon taking office or after 9/11, while Bush also has failed to undertake a serious retooling of the sclerotic bureaucracy that is the CIA.
Tenet took terrorism seriously, ''sounding the alarm about the threat to many different audiences,'' in the words of the report. Maybe he should have gone on a lecture tour. Where Tenet fell down was in managing his agency. The thought may be father to the deed, but without the actual deed, the thought is only political cover in after-the-fact memoirs.
Tenet insists that he had a ''robust plan'' against al-Qaida. In reality, he only thought he had. He directed that such a plan be formulated, but according to the IG report, it never happened. Worse, Tenet did not ''work with the National Security Council to elevate the relative standing of counterterrorism in the formal ranking of intelligence priorities.''
In Tenet's defense, he operated within the context of a Clinton administration that basically was uninterested in intelligence. Tenet notes that the intelligence community lost 25 percent of its personnel in the 1990s and ''tens of billions of dollars in investment compared with the 1990 baseline.'' He implored the administration for funding increases in 1998 and 1999, but had to go ''outside established channels to work with then-Speaker Gingrich to obtain a $1.2 billion budgetary supplemental.''
Even with more resources, his managers repeatedly moved funds from counterterrorism programs to other needs, without ever raiding other programs to fund counterterrorism, according to the IG report. What could be more important than counterterrorism? Analytic resources were poured into addressing more pressing matters like the Balkans and the environment.
After 9/11, Clinton officials and Tenet argued whether the CIA had been granted the authority to kill Osama bin Laden, with the Clintonites, in a bout of retrospective bloodlust, insisting that it had. The IG report finds that restrictions on the CIA killing bin Laden had been ''arguably, although ambiguously, relaxed'' for a brief period in late 1998 and early 1999 (how Clintonian). But CIA managers refused ''to take advantage of the ambiguities,'' and even if they had, the agency didn't have the covert-action capability to kill bin Laden. Such was life during history's holiday.
What's more scandalous is how the CIA has escaped serious reform even today. Two CIA directors in a row have resisted the IG report's recommendation for an accountability board to evaluate the pre-9/11 performance of CIA officials. That word - not ''board,'' but ''accountability'' - raises hackles at Langley, where everyone is above-average at fighting al-Qaida. Even though as many as 60 CIA employees knew that two of the hijackers were in the U.S. before 9/11 and no one managed to get the word to the FBI, CIA Director Michael Hayden thinks holding anyone accountable for that or other failures would be ''distracting.'' And so the band plays on.
Press Release
For Immediate Release
November 23, 2007
Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691
FBI’s Top Ten News Stories
For the Week Ending November 23, 2007
1. FBI Releases 2006 Hate Crime Statistics
The FBI’s 2006 Hate Crime Statistics, released on November 19, 2007, includes data from hate crime reports submitted by law enforcement agencies from across the country. Full Story
2. FBI Laboratory to Increase Outreach in Bullet Lead Cases
The FBI Laboratory has undertaken an additional round of outreach, analysis, and review efforts concerning bullet lead analysis. Full Story
3. Baltimore: Former State Senator Sentenced on Racketeering Charges
Former Maryland State Senator Thomas L. Bromwell was sentenced for racketeering conspiracy and filing a false tax return. Bromwell’s wife was also sentenced for mail fraud. Full Story
4. Houston: Laredo Woman Sentenced to Prison for Kidnapping Scheme
Maria Christina Rodriguez, 31, a legal permanent resident alien, was sentenced to 168 months for her role in conspiring to hold two U.S. nationals hostage in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, until payments were made for their release. Full Story
5. New York: Former District Court Judge Sentenced
Former Nassau County District Court Judge David A. Gross was sentenced for conspiring to launder money obtained through the sale of purportedly stolen diamonds and watches. Full Story
6. Dallas: Operation Fish Bowl Defendants Sentenced to Lengthy Prison Terms
As a result of Operation Fish Bowl, three defendants were sentenced to substantial prison terms for their roles in a crack cocaine distribution organization. Full Story
7. New York: U.S. Army Officer Arrested in Gas-for-Cash Scheme
U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Joseph Crenshaw was arrested for participating in a scheme to accept bribes in exchange for stealing fuel from Camp Liberty in Baghdad. Full Story
8. Albany: Suspicious Powder Mailed to FBI Office
The FBI along with other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies is conducting a joint investigation into the mailing of 12 letters which contained a powdery substance. Full Story
9. Albany: Guilty Plea in Violating Airport Security
William Contreras Ramos pled guilty to entering an aircraft and airport area in violation of security requirements. Full Story
10. New Orleans: Former City Council Member Sentenced on Public Corruption Charges
Former New Orleans City Councilman Oliver Thomas was sentenced for soliciting and accepting illegal cash bribes. Full Story
# # #
http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel07/topten_112307.htm
[photo 2, close enough to read shoulder patches, photo3, dog at work, close with camera, glad it wasn’t a gun...granny]
Al Qaeda in Europe: New Islamist Video Threatens Germany, Austria
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2958508,00.html
Terrorism | 20.11.2007
New Islamist Video Threatens Germany, Austria
Image shows 13 headshots of members of Austria’s parliament with the
Austrian flag in the background
http://www.dw-world.de/image/0,,2958445_4,00.jpg
http://www.dw-world.de/image/0,,2822512_4,00.jpg
http://www.dw-world.de/image/0,,2326514_4,00.jpg
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
This screenshot taken from the video shows Austrian politicians
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has said his government is
taking seriously a new threat contained in an Islamist video demanding
that Germany and Austria pull their troops out of Afghanistan.
In the video received by the Austrian broadcasting corporation ORF on
Tuesday, Nov. 20, a group calling itself the Global Islamic Media
Front indirectly threatened attacks in Germany and Austria if the two
states do not pull their troops from Afghanistan.
It also demanded that Austria release two Islamists held in detention
there.
Austrian Interior Ministry spokesperson Rudolf Gollia said the roughly
four-minute-long video was predominantly focused on Germany and that
Austria was mentioned toward the end.
“The German soldiers still occupy Afghanistan and we repeat our call
from the last video that Germany withdraw its troops from
Afghanistan,” the video’s German subtitles say. “This only serves your
own security in your country.
“The same applies to Austria too. The Mujahideen have spared you so
far, therefore the number of dead soldiers is not particularly high.
But this will now change...”
Germany has some 3,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of the ISAF
mission. Three Austrian soldiers serve as part of ISAF in Kabul.
No immediate threat
“There is no identifiable, immediate threat, but nevertheless such a
message needs to be taken seriously,” the ministry’s Rudolf Gollia
said. Austria has not raised security levels for government members
depicted in the video.
The video, among other things, glorifies the terrorist attacks on the
United States of Sept. 11, 2001, and announces a winter offensive of
the Taliban in Afghanistan, he said.
Gollia said the video also mentions the arrest of two alleged Islamic
militants in September in Vienna over another Online threat, calling
their detention a “mistake.”
Schäuble said although Germany was taking the threat seriously, it did
not require a reappraisal of the general security situation by the
government.
ORF said it planned to air the video Tuesday evening. In an online
report, ORF also said the Austrian Interior Ministry had admitted to
having received a copy of the video “a few days ago” and that it was
“working closely” with Germany’s Federal Office of Criminal
Investigation.
DW staff (kh)
Missing radioactive material worries officials
CanWest News Service
Friday, November 23, 2007
OTTAWA - A record number of low-level radioactive materials, the kind terrorists could fashion into dirty bombs, have gone missing in Canada this year, raising concerns about the effectiveness of federal controls over nuclear materials.
News of the jump in thefts and lost material coincides with an International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Europe at which nuclear counter-terrorism specialists were told this week of an almost fourfold increase in nuclear smuggling since 2006, a further indication al-Qaeda-inspired radicals may be trying to obtain radioactive material for a bomb.
As of Wednesday, 26 radioactive sources have been reported lost and stolen so far this year in Canada, compared to 15 last year and a dozen in 2005 and previous recent years, according to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the federal nuclear regulator.
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2007
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=3f70290f-1bfe-4130-87d0-88fd09b65d33
Danish court jails three men for planning bombings
AFP
Friday, November 23, 2007
by Slim Allagui
A Copenhagen court on Friday sentenced two suspected Islamist militants
to 11 years in prison and a third to a four-year jail term for
planning terrorist bombings in Denmark.
The men were found guilty of acquiring chemicals and laboratory
instruments to make triacetone triperoxide (TATP) explosives, often used by
Islamist suicide bombers.
TATP devices were used in the July 2005 London bombings.
Mohammad Zaher, a 34-year-old Dane of Palestinian origin, and Ahmed
Khaldhahi, a 22-year-old Iraqi Kurd, were sentenced to 11 years each,
while Abdallah Andersen, a 32-year-old Dane who converted to Islam,
received a four-year sentence.
The three had risked life in prison.
A fourth man on trial, a 19-year-old Dane named Riad Anwar Daabas, was
acquitted.
“There is every indication that the group had concrete and serious
discussions about three possible targets in Copenhagen: the city hall
square, the parliament and political meeting (areas),” prosecutor Charlotte
Alsing Juul said Friday, insisting the plans “endangered state
security.”
She had called for the men to be sentenced to between 10 and 14 years
behind bars.
The four men on trial, who frequented a mosque known for its radical
interpretations of Islam, were part of a group of nine arrested in a
September 2006 swoop in Odense in central Denmark.
Six of them were released, including Daabas, while the three others
have been held in custody since then.
The Danish intelligence agency PET revealed in April that a Dane
identified only as Lars had infiltrated the group to obtain information. PET
had paid the man 84,000 kroner (11,750 euros, 16,700 dollars) for the
information.
Lars, 33, who had converted to Islam and went by the name Youssouf, was
a former municipal employee who wrote the intelligence agency an email
in December 2005 stating that he had met radical Muslims at the Odense
mosque.
The agency considered him credible and he was hired as an informant and
equipped with hidden microphones and recording materials, according to
Lars’s testimony.
The defence argued that Lars had encouraged the group to do and say
things they would not normally have done, and said he had bought and paid
for the chemicals used to make explosives.
Lars was considered an active member of the group, and helped identify
potential targets, the defence lawyers said.
Judge Folmer Theilmann however said Thursday that the court considered
Lars a “credible” witness and a “good citizen”.
The trial was the second terrorism-related case held in Denmark.
In the first case, which wound up in February, a Copenhagen jury found
four young suspected Islamists guilty of planning terrorist attacks in
Denmark or Europe.
However, the judges overturned the decision and acquitted three of the
four.
Justice Minister Lene Espersen, acting on the recommendation of
Denmark’s prosecutor general, meanwhile ordered one of the acquitted to appear
in a retrial with a new judge and jury.
No date has been set for the retrial.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
from:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/global-analyst/
THE TALEBAN’S NORTHERN FRONT
The insurgents are building their network in the province of Badghis,
in an attempt to open a gateway to Afghanistan’s north.
By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif
While the attention of the Afghan government and the media is focused
on major battles in the south of the country, the Taleban are making
major headway in a northern region.
Badghis, a north-western province wedged between Herat and Faryab, has
been the scene of heavy fighting for the past two months, and the
insurgents have occupied three of the province’s seven districts. They have
also established intelligence and operational networks in most district
centres.
This was the first of the north-western provinces to fall to the
Taleban in 1997. Now the insurgents are looking to repeat their earlier
success, using Badghis as a launchpad for operations in the provinces
further east, which include Jowzjan, Balkh, Takhar, and Badakhshan.
In Faryab, directly to the north of Badghis, the Taleban have
established a foothold in mountainous areas, and are trying to expand their
networks there as well. The Taleban have launched several sorties in both
provinces in the past two months and claim that the Bala Murghab,
Ghormach and Qades districts of Badghis are largely in their hands.
“We are trying to open up this route just as we did in the past,” said
Mullah Dastagir, a self-proclaimed Taleban commander in Badghis. “Our
policy is different up here. We have openly engaged the government and
foreign forces in the south, but in the north we are quietly expanding
our area. The government is weaker here than in the south and the
mountains have provided good terrain for our operations.”
Dastagir claimed that the Taleban were in control of many mountainous
parts of Badghis.
“We would like to occupy the province right away, since the capital
[Qala-ye Nau] and some of the districts are still under government
control. We could do it in one single attack, but we are waiting for a larger
operation. Our strategy is to go for many provinces at once,” he said.
The Taleban are increasing their military presence in the area and will
soon be ready for action, said Dastagir, adding, “We are trying to
work under cover now, and we see that people are welcoming us warmly. Soon
we will occupy the whole entrance to the north.”
The Taleban attacked Badghis’s Bala Murghab district on September 20,
in a three-hour battle that left four policemen and 20 insurgents dead.
Two days later, the Taleban attacked Qaisar, a district in Faryab,
resulting in the capture of an insurgent commander named as Rassulak.
On September 25, a police vehicle hit a roadside mine in the Ghormach
district of Badghis, killing three and injuring four. Officials blamed
the insurgents. When a helicopter belonging to NATO’s International
Security Assistance Force crashed in Ghormach the same day, the Taleban
claimed responsibility. Also that day, a Chinese road construction company
worker was kidnapped by the insurgents in the Qaisar district.
Afghan government forces launched a counter-offensive in the Ghormach
and Bala Murghab districts, and official reports put the death toll
among the Taleban at more than 20. The rebels denied this.
The governor of Badghis, Ashraf Naseri, denies that the Taleban are
gaining ground in his province.
“The Taleban’s claims that they have captured mountainous areas show
that they are weak,” he told IWPR. “They cannot fight on flat terrain;
they hide out in the mountains where normal people don’t live.”
But officials in Faryab confirm that the Taleban are making headway.
“Yes, they are coming to us through Badghis,” said General Khalilullah
Ziayee, Faryab’s security commander. “They are trying to attract people
to their side.”
The general insisted that the north would not go the way of the south,
where the insurgents control large swathes of territory.
“The Taleban do not have military operations in this province they way
they do in the south,” he continued. “They are acting covertly,
gathering intelligence. Sometimes they carry out attacks on motorbikes, just
to show that they are active here.
“Our mountainous areas like Qaisar, Almar and Kohistan are becoming
vulnerable. We have expanded our operational and intelligence activities.
We have increased our forces in some particularly exposed areas and
have even sent forces to Ghormach district to help the Badghis police. The
Taleban cannot operate freely.”
But residents of Badghis and other northern provinces say that the
Taleban now exert an influence that is felt in their daily lives.
“The Taleban have reached the area,” said Fazel Rahman, a resident of
Bala Murghab district. “It is not important how many buildings are under
the government’s control. The Taleban are present in the villages and
many people have joined them. Unemployment and the government’s failure
to help people have resulted in this situation – the Taleban are
getting stronger by the day.”
According to Fazel, clashes between the Taleban and government forces
most often result in victory for the insurgents.
“The police just return to their bases after the fighting, but the
Taleban remain to spread their message among the people,” he said. “The
government knows exactly where the Taleban are concentrated, but they
cannot do anything; they just watch as the Taleban gain ground.”
The Afghan government, backed by NATO, has recently deployed more
forces in Badghis to combat the Taleban’s growing influence. Brigadier
General Dieter Warnecke, the NATO commander for the northern region,
confirmed that the Taleban have established small centres in the north-western
part of Afghanistan from which to launch their operations.
Speaking at a press conference in September, he said the Taleban have
set up camps in Faryab where they plan attacks on other parts of the
north.
“According to our information, Pakistan and Iran play a significant
role in establishing and developing these centres in north-western parts
of Afghanistan,” he said. “For this reason, Faryab has become a
trouble-spot for us.”
Satar Barez, the deputy governor of Faryab province, agreed with the
NATO commander’s assessment.
“Currently the army, police and NATO forces have been deployed in
Faryab, particularly in Qaisar district,” he said. “This is the only thing
that can prevent the further expansion of the Taleban.”
He insisted the Taleban forces here consisted largely of mercenaries
and foreign fighters, and not local recruits.
“People in this region will not cooperate with these Taleban,” he said.
But many people are not optimistic about the government’s attempts to
stop the insurgents’ forward advance here.
Maulawi Sheikh Ahmad, a member of parliament from Faryab province,
blames the international troops for the Taleban expansion.
“It is the presence of foreign forces that has caused an increase in
the number of Taleban,” he said, speaking at the funeral of a former
militia commander in late October. “In the past, there were no foreigners
and no Taleban. Now that foreigners have come into the region, the
Taleban have followed. The foreigners have provoked them, and this will
result in people joining hands with the Taleban. Our people do not have
good memories of foreign operations in the south and the east.”
Political observers believe the high concentration of NATO and Afghan
forces in Badghis and Faryab is evidence that the government is taking
the threat seriously.
“The government’s statements that they have increased their deployment
of NATO and Afghan troops in Badghis and Faryab show that the Taleban
have a lot of influence in these provinces,” said Qayum Babak, an editor
and analyst in Mazar-e-Sharif. “Up until now, the government has been
underestimating the threat.”
Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is an IWPR staff reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif.
FROM POMEGRANATES TO POPPIES
Helmand’s farmers are chopping down their pomegranate trees for the
more lucrative opium plants, while blaming the government for failing to
help them.
By Mohammad Ilyas Dayee in Lashkar Gah
The beautiful red flowers of the pomegranate tree used to cover
Helmand, a province which was famous for the luscious red fruit. But these
days a different sort of flower blooms, as more and more of Helmand’s
sandy soil is given over to the opium poppy.
“I had 1,500 pomegranate trees five years ago,” said Abdul Jabbar, a
resident of Nawzad district. “They gave a very good yield. We loved the
orchard, and I would never have destroyed it, but what else could I do?
There was no market to sell the fruit. Birds would destroy the
pomegranates on the branch, or else we’d pick them and they would rot at home.”
He finally decided to cut his losses and grow poppy.
“The government says it’s against poppy, but drug traffickers go from
house to house and buy our crop and give us a lot of money,” he said.
“Find me a market for my pomegranates. Everyone hates poppy cultivation.”
Pomegranates cannot hope to compete economically with opium, which
provided Helmand’s farmers with an estimated 530 million US dollars in
2007. Last year, this one remote province in southern Afghanistan furnished
nearly half the world’s opium and its major derivative, heroin.
An average farmer can earn over 4,000 dollars per hectare for poppy,
while the yield for pomegranate is barely one-tenth of that. Added to
that is the problem of markets and storage.
But farmers like Abdul Jabbar say that they would prefer fruit to
opium, if only the government would provide storage facilities and help them
develop markets. The government, in turn, insists that farmers are not
asking for help but are rushing to cut down their trees to make way
for poppy.
While exact figures are difficult to come by, Helmand farmers say that
the majority of the province’s pomegranate orchards have been destroyed
in the past few years. This corresponds inversely to the astronomical
rise in opium production over the same period. The amount of land given
over to poppy in Helmand has nearly quadrupled in the past two years,
rising from some 27,000 hectares in 2005 to 103,000 in 2007, according
to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Runaway poppy production has been fuelled by the growth of the Taleban
presence, which has made control all but impossible. Widespread
corruption among government officials has contributed to the failure of a
loudly-trumpeted crop eradication effort, and leads to a disdain for the
law among citizens of the province.
Expensive alternative livelihood projects have mostly failed, in part
because of the same factors, the insurgency and corruption.
Opium is easier to store and sell than almost any other commodity,
insist Helmand’s farmers.
“I used to have 300 pomegranate trees, now I have just 20. The rest of
my land is being used for poppy,” said Jahan Gir Aka, a farmer in
Babaji district.
There was simply no market for the fruit, he said. “I believe that if
the government could find us markets at a national and international
level, all of Helmand’s farmers would go back to growing pomegranates,” he
added.
Another problem is the absence of adequate storage facilities for
pomegranates, which are perishable.
Naseem Kharotai has a shop in Bolan, near Lashkar Gah, and has 500
kilograms of pomegranates to sell.
“If I don’t sell them soon, they will rot,” he said. “If we had cold
storage, we could earn a good income on pomegranates. They aren’t very
expensive right now, but if we had storage facilities we could sell them
at a higher price in winter.”
Pomegranates keep well when stored properly, he said.
In neighbouring Kandahar, where the United States Agency for
International Development has helped provide cold storage and quality control,
earnings on pomegranates have nearly doubled.
But security problems have held back development in Helmand, and
farmers complain that the government has been slow to provide assistance. For
their part, officials say the farmers are not asking for help.
“Not a single farmer has come to us to ask for help in finding markets
of building storage facilities,” said Engineer Ghulam Nabi, the head of
the department of agriculture in Helmand.
Even if they did, the government has limited resources, he admitted.
“If the farmers come to us to demand markets and storage facilities, we
might be able to do something for them,” he said. “We don’t have the
capacity to do it on our own, but we could seek assistance from donor
organisations. The important thing is that the farmers should come to
us.”
The internationally-funded counter-narcotics programme, which in the
past few years has pumped well over 100 million dollars into alternative
livelihood programmes in Helmand, might be able to help.
But Engineer Abdul Manan, head of Helmand’s counter-narcotics
department, told IWPR that it was not the job of his office to help farmers with
other crops.
“No one has come to us to ask for such services,” he said. “If they do,
we can send them to the department of rural development. But we do
hope that farmers will turn to other crops than poppy for their
livelihood.”
It will take more than hope, however.
Nano Aka, a farmer in the Nawzad district, is against growing opium
poppy. But he too cultivates the crop because, even with the risk of
eradication, harvesting wages, tithes to local mullahs and bribes for the
government, it brings him more income.
“I really don’t like poppy,” he said. “No one would grow it apart from
the fact that it brings in money. Me, I like cultivating pomegranates.”
Mohammad Ilyas Dayee is an IWPR staff reporter in Helmand.
www.iwpr.net
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2007/11/terror-threat-issued-in-run-up-to.html
Friday, November 23, 2007
Terror Threat Issued In Run-Up to Annapolis Summit
Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (R) shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting in Jerusalem November 19, 2007, in this picture released by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO- Reuters).
US authorities issued an alert for possible terrorism in the run-up to the Annapolis Summit that is planned for next week.
The AP reported:
Federal authorities have advised local law enforcement agencies to be alert to possible terrorism threats because of the Middle East peace conference next week in Annapolis, Homeland Security and FBI officials said Friday.
Although intelligence reports indicate no credible threats by domestic extremist groups to the conference or Islamic or Jewish sites in the Annapolis area, “nonetheless, the Department of Homeland Security does not discount the threat of the lone wolf terrorist, including individuals radicalized by homegrown extremist groups or Internet content,” said a bulletin issued by the agency and the FBI.
The threat assessment bulletin highlights about a dozen groups, including the radical Islamic fundamentalist organization Hamas, and Hezbollah, the Lebanese umbrella organization of radical Islamic Shiite groups that is a bitter foe of Israel.
Homeland Security spokeswoman Laura Keehner said the bulletin was sent to law enforcement agencies “in an abundance of caution.”
“It’s basically saying we’re mindful of those who wish to do us harm,” she said.
http://michellemalkin.com/2007/11/21/war-on-christmas-showdown-in-fort-collins/?print=1
War on Christmas showdown in Fort Collins
By Michelle Malkin • November 21, 2007 09:02 AM
As Thanksgiving draws nigh, ’tis the season for War on Christmas skirmishes. In Fort Collins, Colorado, the city council staved off a move to secularize the city’s traditional Christmas displays:
City Council members heeded the call of “don’t mess with tradition” on Tuesday when they rejected a proposal to create a strictly secular, multicultural display of the holiday season starting next year.
The council’s 6-1 decision means the traditional show of colored lights, ornamented greenery and Christmas trees will remain on city property, as it has for many years.
The council also agreed to pursue a city-appointed task force’s idea to create an inclusive multicultural “religious” exhibition at the city museum. The educational display would create a wide- ranging exhibition showing how at least nine religions celebrate a winter holiday.
The decision came during a meeting that drew a crowd of 150 people, lasted more than three hours and included 43 speakers. Speakers implored the council to honor Christmas as the holiday celebrated by a majority of local residents.
The task force, on the other hand, wanted strictly white lights, bare garlands and secular symbols such as snowflakes because colored lights and ornamented trees were too suggestive of a religious Christmas.
The council decision echoed the opinion of Mayor Doug Hutchinson, who said 95 percent of the 200 e-mails he received recently said “don’t diminish Christmas . . . don’t mess with tradition.”
Local blog Slapstick Politics attended the marathon council meeting and reports here.
They’ve only just begun…
Bremerton - Bomb Squad Removes Suspicious Device
November 23, 2007
Bremerton police called in the state patrol bomb squad Sunday evening after discovering a suspicious device near the Westpark housing area.
The item was found at about 6:30 p.m. off of Russell Road. It was a large plastic water bottle wrapped in a sweatshirt and secured with electrical wire. The bottle’s opening was sealed with plastic, tape and a zip tie to possibly contain pressure. The bottle had broken into several pieces, possibly from pressure inside it.
It appeared to be some sort of pressure device, like a dry ice bomb, according to a police report.
The device was checked out by a robot, loaded into an explosives trailer and taken to the Bremerton firing range, where it was rendered safe.
Brisbane Australia - School In Lockdown Over Mystery Rash
November 21, 2007
This may turn out to be nothing, but as of right now 69 Students have been isolated, parents have been asked to stay away and 11 ambulances are on the scene at Stretton State College, south of Brisbane. Scientists are on scene attempting to determine what the students may have come in contact with.
A Queensland school has been placed in lockdown for scientific testing after several students developed rashes. Queensland Ambulance Service officers were called to Stretton State College, south of Brisbane, around 10.30am (AEST) after three students rapidly developed a rash.
An additional 69 students, all believed to be in Year Two, were isolated from the rest of the student population amid fears they may have come into contact with an unknown substance.
The three students were to be taken to hospital for observation while the remainder showered as a precaution.
The school has been placed in lockdown while Queensland Fire and Rescue Service officers conduct scientific testing of the area to determine the cause of the reactions.
Parents were notified but told they could not collect their children until the lockdown finished. They were advised to avoid the area, although up to 30 turned up at the school.
“The whole school is in lockdown at the moment, which means that kids are being held in the classrooms where they were at (at the time of the contamination),” the police spokesman said.
“It will be in lockdown until the QFRS have completed their scientific tests or until they are satisfied to such an extent that there’s no danger present.”
Eleven ambulances have been called to the school including the Special Operations Response team.
Bronx - ATF Agents Shoot Suspect With Hand Grenade During Undercover Operation
November 21, 2007
Two officers were injured and a suspect was shot and killed Tuesday night after what authorities say was an undercover explosives buy gone bad in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx.
Officials from the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms say they were trying to negotiate the sale of a grenade.
But when the suspect brought the grenade with him, agents tried to arrest him.
An ATF spokesman says the suspect tried to make a quick getaway, dragging an agent alongside his car. That’s when the agent fired once, striking the suspect in the head.
The bomb squad was called in to secure the area. The ATF agent and an NYPD detective were taken to the hospital.
Read More
Bronx - ATF Agents Shoot Suspect With Hand Grenade During Undercover Operation
November 21, 2007
Two officers were injured and a suspect was shot and killed Tuesday night after what authorities say was an undercover explosives buy gone bad in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx.
Officials from the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms say they were trying to negotiate the sale of a grenade.
But when the suspect brought the grenade with him, agents tried to arrest him.
An ATF spokesman says the suspect tried to make a quick getaway, dragging an agent alongside his car. That’s when the agent fired once, striking the suspect in the head.
The bomb squad was called in to secure the area. The ATF agent and an NYPD detective were taken to the hospital.
Read More
FBI Warns Al Sharpton Of Possible Package Threat
November 21, 2007
The FBI warned the Rev. Al Sharpton that an inmate at an upstate New York prison was talking about sending a “dangerous substance” in the mail to his New York City offices.
An official said the inmate might have sent as many as 12 threatening letters, some containing a powder believed to be harmless.
“A couple of the letters have already arrived and tested negative,” the official said speaking on condition of anonymity.
“For his safety, we have been advised that he or his staff should not open any packages or letters from a specific addressee or any mail that looks suspicious,” said lawyer Sanford Rubenstein, an associate of Sharpton.
Sharpton also sent word to National Action Network offices around the nation “of this potential danger,” Rubenstein said.
The FBI has confirmed the reported threat.
Nothing Found on Suspicious Plane That Flew In From Canada To Pasco Washington
November 21, 2007
This is one of those stories that asks more questions than it answers. For instance, isn’t Pasco Washington about 300 miles from the Canadian Border?
Investigators say the suspicious plane that landed at the Pasco Airport Tuesday flew in from Canada but never filed a flightplan or stopped for customs.
Investigators now say the suspicious plane that landed was coming from Saskatchewan.
They won’t say who was on the plane, only that it was just the pilot and a passenger.
Neither were detained and nothing was seized from the plane.
Investigators say the reason the plane was searched was because it didn’t radio or land after it crossed the U.S.-Canada border.
“We keep track of all international aircraft arriving in the U.S. from foreign countries and this particular one had not either given us advance notification and had not landed at an international airport that provides customs and border protection clearance,” said Mike Milne with Customs.
Customs enforcement says the plane was intercepted by a customs jet as it landed here in Pasco, but that it did land voluntarily, and it was after that that police surrounded the plane.
Firefighters To Help In Fight Against Terrorism - ACLU Speaks Out
November 23, 2007
Firefighters in major cities around the country are being trained for a new role in the fight against terrorism… As lookouts.
Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel don’t need warrants to enter a building. And now, they are being asked to keep an eye out for suspicious items like building blueprints or bomb-making materials that could be a sign of terrorist activity or planning.
The Department of Homeland Security began testing a program in December with the New York City fire department. It’s sharing intelligence information so firefighters are better prepared when they respond to emergency calls and it’s training them to identify materials and behavior that may indicate terrorist activities.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is opposed to the idea. Mike German, a former FBI agent who is now the National Security Policy Counsel to the ACLU feels this is another step toward Americans giving up personal privacy rights.
There are no doubt very good arguments on both sides of this issue.
Comments are open on this thread.
Eileen Sullivan of The Associated Press has written a very detailed article.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Americans have given up some of their privacy rights in an effort to prevent future strikes. The government monitors phone calls and e-mails; people who fly have their belongings searched before boarding and are limited in what they can carry; and some people have trouble traveling because their names are similar to those on terrorist watch lists.
The American Civil Liberties Union says using firefighters to gather intelligence is another step in that direction. Mike German, a former FBI agent who is now national security policy counsel to the ACLU, said the concept is dangerously close to the Bush administration’s 2002 proposal to have workers with access to private homes such as postal carriers and telephone repairmen report suspicious behavior to the FBI.
“Americans universally abhorred that idea,” German said.
The Homeland Security Department is testing a program with the New York City fire department to share intelligence information so firefighters are better prepared when they respond to emergency calls. Homeland Security also trains the New York City fire service in how to identify material or behavior that may indicate terrorist activities. If it’s successful, the government intends to expand the program to other major metropolitan areas.
As part of the program, which started last December, Homeland Security gave secret clearances to nine New York fire chiefs, according to reports obtained by The Associated Press.
“They’re really doing technical inspections, and if perchance they find something like, you know, a bunch of RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) rounds in somebody’s basement, I think it’s a no-brainer,” said Jack Tomarchio, a senior official in Homeland Security’s intelligence division. “The police ought to know about that; the fire service ought to know about that; and potentially maybe somebody in the intelligence community should know about that.”
Even before the federal program began, New York firefighters and inspectors had been training to recognize materials and behavior the government identifies as “signs of planning and support for terrorism.”
When going to private residences, for example, they are told to be alert for a person who is hostile, uncooperative or expressing hate or discontent with the United States; unusual chemicals or other materials that seem out of place; ammunition, firearms or weapons boxes; surveillance equipment; still and video cameras; night-vision goggles; maps, photos, blueprints; police manuals, training manuals, flight manuals; and little or no furniture other than a bed or mattress.
The trial program with Homeland Security opens a clear information-sharing channel which did not exist before between the fire service and Homeland Security’s intelligence division.
“We’re there to help people, and by discovering these type of events, we’re helping people,” said New York City Fire Chief Salvatore Cassano. “There are many things that firefighters do that other law enforcement or other agents aren’t able to do.” He added, “A normal person that doesn’t have this training wouldn’t be looking for it.”
Cassano would not discuss specifics, but he did say that some terrorism-related information has been passed along to law enforcement since firefighters and officers began the training three years ago. “They’ve had some hits,” Cassano said. “It’s working.”
Read Article
http://johnibii.wordpress.com/2007/11/23/report-us-military-vulnerable-to-chinas-war-systems/
Report: “U.S. Military Vulnerable to China’s War Systems”
By Bill Gertz
The Washington Times
November 22, 2007
The U.S. military is vulnerable to China’s advanced war-fighting systems, including space weapons and computer attacks that would be used in a future conflict over Taiwan, according to a congressional commission’s report released yesterday.
The full report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission also provides more details than the summary released last week, showing that China is engaged in a “large-scale industrial espionage campaign” with “scores” of cases involving spies seeking U.S. technology.
The full report presents a harsh assessment of China’s military buildup and plans for a war against the U.S. if Beijing decided to use force against the island nation of Taiwan.
Read the rest:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071122/NATION/111220068/1001
China Conducts Multi-Nation Cyber Defense Drill
November 23, 2007 by johnibii
VietNamNet Bridge – Yesterday, November 22, Vietnam took part in a regional network security protection rehearsal with 13 organisations from 12 Asia-Pacific economies.
The scenario was that the Chinese Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team (CNCERT) detected hackers launching large-scale attacks from many countries on the official site of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and they requested assistance from emergency response technical teams in Asia-Pacific, including Vietnam.
Read the rest:
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2007/11/756456/
[links to mentioned declassified papers in article, hidden____ __ ]
http://stopislamicconquest.blogspot.com/2007/11/phoenix-part-1.html
Monday, November 19, 2007
Phoenix, Part 1
In United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui, Criminal Case No. 01-455-A, the government, for once, had to present its case, under oath and under adversarial conditons, for its version of the events of 9/11. As a result of that, many documents were released to the public, which otherwise would likely not have been released.
At the link provided, you can see documents that the defense presented. The image above is from the now-famous “Phoenix Memo”, drafted by one Kenneth J. Williams and dated July 10, 2001. This memo was Defense Exhibit 129 at the Moussaoui trial. In this series of posts, entitled Phoenix, many documents from the Moussaoui trial will be referenced. To see these documents, merely go to the link and scroll to the appropriate exhibit number.
As you can see in the above image, the content of this memo can be summarized that agents in the FBI’s field office in Phoenix had become aware of people associated with Osama bin Laden (spelled by the FBI at the time as Usama bin Laden, thus abbreviated UBL), and who were attending schools learning about civil aviation.
This was described as an “inordinate number of individuals of investigative interest” on the first page of the memo.
In hindsight, we (supposedly) know a great deal about what happened. At the time, the agents of the Phoenix office had some information, some ideas as to how to interpret it, and some concerns and suspicions. Specifically, they felt “that a coordinated effort [was] underway to establish a cadre of individuals who will one day be working in the civil aviation community around the world.” Ominously, they were concerned that “[t]hese individuals [would] be in a position in the future to conduct terror activity against civil aviation targets.”
“Phoenix believes that it is more than a coincidence that subjects who are supporters of UBL are attending civil aviation universities/colleges in the State of Arizona.”
The Phoenix Memo was not written in a vacuum.
On April 13th of 2001, the Usama Bin Laden Unit (UBLU) sent out a tasking to all field offices (Defense Exhibit 428):
The memo warned that UBL’s organization was “capable of long term surveillance and planning in a target area that enables them to recognize and exploit vulnerabilities, including those that have a limited window of opportunity.”
The tasking then pointed out: “Historically, attack planning and execution have taken at least several months.”
With these thoughts in mind, having UBL’s people attending civil aviation schools — which takes “at least several months” to arrange and then actually do — may have reasonably come to mind as something that the UBLU was looking for.
The tasking also pointed out that explosives and arms were being smuggled for use against U.S. and Western targets.
The tasking finally directed:
Offices are requested to task all resources to include electronic databases and human sources for any information pertaining to the current operational activities relating to Sunni extremism. Recipients are again reminded that the information in this communication should not be used or referred to during discussions with sources/assets.
In other words, FBI personnel should check with their people on the streets, but should not let on why they were asking.
The tasking concluded by directing that anything turned up through investigations be communicated immediately to FBI Headquarters, Usama Bin Laden Unit:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the best America has to offer. FBI agents are intelligent, brave, loyal, dedicated, and well-trained. There are, of course, exceptions, and anyone can have a bad day. But, despite those exceptions and those bad days, the FBI is second to none.
Sure, there are bureaucrats who lose sight of the goal; but, to offset them, there are also highly talented agents — agents who are to law enforcement, counterterror and criminal investigation what Mozart was to music.
Having sent out such a specific tasking from headquarters earlier in the year, how was it that the FBI then failed to recognize in July the answer to the question that had been asked in April? Put another way, how was it that the best of the best failed to “connect the dots” of a picture, when they already had some vague idea what the picture looked like?
Did these Einsteins of investigation actually fail to “connect the dots”?
Or, was someone hindering them? Derailing the investigations, burying the leads, mischanneling the efforts — erasing the lines among the dots, and redrawing them where they shouldn’t be?
In the Phoenix series, we shall consider this question, examining declassified FBI documents and other official records.
This series is dedicated to Sibel Edmonds and the other whistleblowers, and to all those working on their cases, and to all who are interested in the truth about 9/11.
Posted by Yankee Doodle at 4:30 PM
Labels: FBI Corruption, Patriot Games, Phoenix, The Killing
2 comments:
pela68 said...
Hmmm. As we say in Sweden. There seems to be a dog buried here (something like “it smells fishy”)!
Nice one YD!
November 20, 2007 2:55 PM
Debbie said...
Have you read the book “The Volunteer”? Excellent read, and there is something mentioned by the author, a former Mossad undercover agent, on this very topic. The Mossad was shocked that the FBI would not investigate the leads they were given on these flight school students.
Debbie
Right Truth
http://www.righttruth.typepad.com
http://stopislamicconquest.blogspot.com/2007/11/phoenix-part-2.html
Friday, November 23, 2007
Phoenix, Part 2
We continue from Part 1.
Another defense exhibit from the Moussaoui trial was a declassified report.
The report had been classified Top Secret, and was the product of a February, 2002 joint inquiry by the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. One part of the report addressed pre-9/11 information on the use of aircraft as weapons:
A key finding was that going back at least to 1994, it was known to the US Intelligence Community that terrorists had been contemplating using aircraft as weapons:
These types of operations were mainly associated with Islamic terrorists, especially with Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network...
...although not all of the reports had been disseminated within the Intelligence Community. (Notice the classification at the top, crossed out upon release of the document for the Moussaoui trial.)
It should be noted that both Condoleeza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz had indicated that they were not aware of this possibility.
The report indicated that “Even within the Intelligence Community, the possibility of using aircraft as weapons was apparently not widely known.”
This would seem to support the statement made by Condoleeza Rice:
However, Rice’s statement strains credibility in light of the committee’s discovery that at least a dozen times such a threat had been reported within the US Intelligence Community:
Here is the list for your consideration (note again the crossed-out classification):
Many of these reports, most of which dealt not just with Islamic terrorists, but specifically with Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, found their way to FBI Headquarters:
(Some of the warnings even made their way to the FAA.)
Condoleeza Rice should have heard of at least one of these reports, yet she denies this.
Was she that incompetent?
Or were the people surrounding her that incompetent that she was never briefed on this?
Did anyone get fired as a result of this?
Indeed, Condoleeza Rice has since been promoted, from National Security Advisor to Secretary of State.
What about the FBI?
FBI Headquarters 1) received some of these reports about the plans of terrorists — especially Osama bin Laden & Co. — to use aircraft as weapons, and then 2) sent a tasking to all field offices specifically seeking information about Sunni extremists and their long-term plans.
We are to believe that FBI Headquarters then failed to understand the significance of the Phoenix Memo when it pointed out that suspicious individuals who were associated with Osama bin Laden were congregating in the civil aviation industry, “individuals [who] will be in a position in the future to conduct terror activity against civil aviation targets.”
Was FBI Headquarters so incompetent, as well?
Posted by Yankee Doodle at 3:15 PM
Labels: FBI Corruption, Patriot Games, Phoenix, The Killing
[there are photos of the declassified pages in both articles]
[link to diary is at end of article, I could not copy a url]
http://enews.ferghana.ru/article.php?id=2212&print=1
The Islam Karimov Gulag: Memoirs of an Uzbek prisoner
05.11.2007 21:21 msk
Ferghana.Ru
The author of the autobiographical notes presented here for the attention of the public and the press is Uzbekistan national Mukhammadsolykh Abutov who served eight and a half years in Uzbekistan labour camps for his religious beliefs.
This document requires no commentary; it needs only to be read. What Abutov went through has been the fate of thousands of his compatriots, citizens of a country with which enlightened Europe is seeking to establish “constructive dialogue”, and for this reason is removing the sanctions imposed after on Uzbekistan after the Andijon Tragedy..
«Stalin would have probably been jealous if he’d found out that there are people in this world even better than him at frightening people» - we read in Mukhammadsolykh’s testimony.
Three years after his release, Abutov is again in custody – this time in Russia since the Uzbekistan authorities are again persecuting him for religious motives and demanding his extradition.
continued
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