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Bookshelf: With access to routine data, the government could have identified and connected all 19 of the 9/11 terrorists. Law and the Long War By Benjamin Wittes (Penguin Press, 305 pages, $25.95) By granting the right of habeas corpus to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, the Supreme Court recently knocked down the handiwork of both the executive branch and Congress. Meanwhile, the House passed a new surveillance bill last week, after years of bitter debate and temporary fixes. And yet who knows what the Supreme Court will say after the bill becomes law? Clearly we are still grappling with the basic...

Janet Reno's No. 2 possible AG for ObamaJamie Gorelick accused of treating terror suspects as mere criminals Posted: June 13, 2008 10:45 pm Eastern By Jerome R. Corsi © 2008 WorldNetDaily NEW YORK – A panel of Democratic Party legal heavyweights speculated Jamie Gorelick, former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, could be appointed attorney general if Barack Obama were elected president. In a panel chaired by Elena Kagan, dean and professor of law at Harvard Law School, Gorelick charged on the opening plenary panel of the American Constitution's Society two-day meeting in Washington that the Bush administration had...

U.S. officials are being advised in internal government documents to avoid referring publicly to al Qaeda and other terrorist groups as Islamic or Muslim, and not to use terms like jihad or mujahedeen, which "unintentionally legitimize" terrorism. "There' s a growing consensus [in the Bush administration] that we need to move away from that language," said a former senior administration official who was involved until recently in policy debates on the issue. Instead, in two documents circulated last month by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), the multiagency center charged with strategic coordination of the U.S. war on terror, officials are...

U.S. Frustrated By Elusive Justice Served to USS Cole Plotters May 04, 2008 It's been called "the forgotten attack" but it's one of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history. Eight years after the USS Cole was attacked by a motorboat packed with explosives, all of the six men convicted of the strike have escaped from prison, or been freed by Yemeni officials. Seventeen sailors were killed and 40 more wounded in the strike, blamed on Usama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Jamal al-Badawi, who helped organize the Cole plot, has reportedly escaped from Yemeni prisons twice. He is supposedly...

WINSTON-SALEM -- U.S. District Court Judge James Beaty Jr. on Tuesday denied a motion for sanctions filed by Duke University and the City of Durham and ruled that the legal team for 38 members of the 2005-06 Duke lacrosse team had violated ethical rules by using a Web site, news conference and news release to publicize the filing of their case. The players have filed a civil rights lawsuit against Duke and the city, demanding reparations arising from the since dismissed Duke lacrosse sexual offense case. Beaty also ruled, however, that the content published on that Web site -- www.dukelawsuit.com...

Not What They Supposed The terror connection missed by the Clintonistas. by Stephen F. Hayes Four months after the start of the Iraq war, two former senior Clinton administration national security officials took to the pages of the New York Times to demand accountability for the Bush administration's claims about Iraq and terrorism. Or, as they put it in their opening sentence, "Iraq's supposed links to terrorists." Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon wrote that the Bush administration's assertions about Iraqi support for terrorism were "suspect" and demanded scrutiny. One sure way to know the truth about Iraq and terrorism, they...

A new study commissioned by the Pentagon has reviewed over 600,000 documents captured in the invasion of Iraq, and the analysis shows no evidence of operational ties between Saddam Hussein’s regime and al-Qaeda. It did find operational ties and more between Saddam and other terrorist groups, however, which will likely be lost in an avalanche of I-told-you-sos: An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein’s regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist network.The Pentagon-sponsored study, scheduled for release later this...

Since murdering nearly 3,000 Americans on a single day six-and-a-half years ago, al-Qaeda has not ceased plotting new mass-murder attacks against the United States. The terror network’s rigorous training regimen puts a premium on schooling its operatives in counter-interrogation tactics. Defeating those tactics requires keeping jihadists in the dark about the treatment to which they may be subjected if captured. Al-Qaeda’s operational ignorance of our techniques makes our interrogations more effective, leading to intelligence that prevents new atrocities. These uncontroversial facts make it difficult to understand why congressional Democrats want to hand our enemies the playbook — literally, an actual...

After his release from 35 years in a Pakistani prison on espionage charges, Kashmir Singh stood at the Indian border and hugged the Pakistani Cabinet minister responsible for freeing him. The official thought he was embracing an Indian electronics salesman who entered Pakistan without a passport on a business trip and got swept up in the suspicions and enmity that have characterized the rivals' relations for 60 years. But three days after walking across the border to a hero's welcome, Singh told Indian reporters Friday: "I did the duty assigned to me as a spy ... I was a regular...

House Inaction Left America Open To Attack By SENATOR MITCH McCONNELL Posted Monday, February 25, 2008 4:30 PM PT In the wake of 9/11, Americans were stunned to learn that our own intelligence officials had information on some of the hijackers even before the attacks. Three years later, Congress created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to prevent similar gaps in intelligence gathering. Its nonpartisan director oversees 16 agencies and advises the president and Congress on how best to detect terrorist plots. But now, when it comes to intercepting the communications of terrorists overseas, the Democrats' leadership in...

In the wake of 9/11, Americans were stunned to learn that our own intelligence officials had information on some of the hijackers even before the attacks. Three years later, Congress created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to prevent similar gaps in intelligence gathering. Its nonpartisan director oversees 16 agencies and advises the president and Congress on how best to detect terrorist plots. But now, when it comes to intercepting the communications of terrorists overseas, the Democrats' leadership in the House of Representatives has decided that his advice is optional. The consequences of inaction are real: Last Saturday,...

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed planned and helped execute the 9/11 attacks that killed 3,000 Americans. He also planned the 1993 World Trade Center Attack, the attacks in Bali and Kenya that killed hundreds more, and attacks that never had the chance to take place thanks to his capture and interrogation by American intelligence agents. We know this because KSM himself openly brags about his atrocities as a point of pride. Now some have decided to help him commit his final atrocity -- by painting himself as a victim: On Monday, some six years after 9/11, military prosecutors filed charges against Khalid...

See link for video -- John Boehner leads Republicans out of the House, protesting the Democrats not addressing FISA extension.

The House will allow the current FISA legislation to lapse rather than address the differences between the their version of the extension and the one passed by the Senate on Tuesday. Democrats wanted yet another three-week extension to kick the can down the road again, and petulantly dropped consideration when both opponents and advocates of the Senate plan refused to agree. Now they're saying the lapse in the FISA legislation will have no effect -- as long as no new terrorist groups arise: Democrats insisted that a lapse would have no real effect. The expiration of the powers “doesn’t mean...

Hesham Islam's 'resume didn't add up,' official says In a stunning turn of events, a high-level Muslim military aide blamed for costing an intelligence contractor his job will step down from his own Pentagon post, WND has learned. Meanwhile, his rival, Maj. Stephen Coughlin, a leading authority on Islamic war doctrine, may stay in the Pentagon, moving from the office of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the office of the secretary of defense. However, sources say a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey is trying to block his new contract. The top Pentagon aide, Egyptian-born Hesham H....

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, with talent on loan from G-d, at the cutting-edge of societal evolution, with half his brain tied behind his back — just to make it fair, the all-knowing, all-caring, all-sensing, all-feeling,...

S.Amdt. 3913 to S.Amdt. 3911 to S. 2248 (FISA Amendments Act of 2007) Statement of Purpose: To prohibit reverse targeting and protect the rights of Americans who are communicating with people abroad. Not Voting - 5 Clinton (D-NY) Dorgan (D-ND) McCain (R-AZ) Nelson (D-NE) Obama (D-IL)

Federal authorities say a high-level Muslim Pentagon aide, who led a campaign to silence a Pentagon intelligence analyst for taking a hard line against Islam, is running an "influence operation" on behalf of U.S. Muslim groups fronting for the radical Muslim Brotherhood. Hesham H. Islam (left), Muslim aide to the deputy secretary of defense, with Muslim military chaplain Abuhena M. Saifulislam (right) Hesham H. Islam, a special assistant to deputy Defense secretary Gordon England, recently criticized Maj. Stephen Coughlin, one of the military's leading authorities on Islamic war doctrine, for making the connection between the religion of Islam and terrorism....

February 1, 2008 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - If we are to believe the Hillary Clinton campaign line, the main attribute which qualifies her above all others is that, "She is ready to lead on day one." She derives this alleged standing from what can only be called political osmosis, having been the wife of Bill Clinton, serving as his "co-president." This echoes a theme which Bill stated often during the 1992 presidential campaign, suggesting that a vote for him was a bargain because the lucky voter would get "two for the price of one," thus providing a...

Bill Clinton takes on heckler January 31, 2008 Posted: 02:00 PM ET Watch Bill Clinton take on a heckler Thursday. (CNN) – Bill Clinton engaged with a heckler head on Thursday at a Denver campaign stop. The former president had just begun his speech when a man began to shout about 9/11 conspiracies. As security attempted to escort him out, Clinton stopped his speech, saying, "What are you screaming about? Let him talk." "Are you one of those it-was-an-inside-job guys? Let me tell you something… I let you be rude and interrupt me, scream at the top of your lungs....

Antoin "Tony" Rezko was arrested early Monday at his Wilmette home by federal agents on an alleged bond violation, the Tribune has learned. Investigators had in recent weeks become concerned about the movement of some of his finances, a source said. Rezko, who is scheduled to stand trial on corruption charges in less than a month at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, was taken into custody due to an alleged bond violation, a source confirmed.

The man crowned as America's first black president for his unprecedented personal connection to the African-American community has abdicated the throne. By injecting himself into the Democratic primary campaign with a series of inflammatory and negative statements, Bill Clinton may have helped his wife's presidential hopes in the long term but at the cost of his reputation with a group of voters that have long been one of his strongest bases of political support. Illinois Senator Barack Obama won an overwhelming victory in South Carolina with the support of African American voters who made up 53 percent of the vote,...

Why Bush really demoted Richard Clarke by Jack Cashill This is the fourth in a six-part series detailing the risks to American national security if Barack Obama (or Hillary Clinton) should ever choose to let Richard Clarke back into government. Clarke is currently one of Obama’s top national security advisors. “When George Bush came into office, though he kept Clarke on at the White House, he stripped him of his cabinet level rank.” So lamented Leslie Stahl during the March 2004 60 Minutes profile that would make Richard Clarke ace crowd surfer in the intellectual mosh pit of the anti-war...

The first secretary of the Homeland Security Department says waterboarding is torture. "There's just no doubt in my mind — under any set of rules — waterboarding is torture," Tom Ridge said Friday in an interview. Ridge had offered the same opinion earlier in the day to members of the American Bar Association at a homeland security conference. "One of America's greatest strengths is the soft power of our value system and how we treat prisoners of war, and we don't torture," Ridge said in the interview. Ridge was secretary of the Homeland Security Department between 2003 and 2005. "And...

An aggressive, non-stop campaign by China to penetrate key government and industry databases in the United States already has succeeded and the United States urgently needs to monitor all internet traffic to critical government and private-sector networks “to find the enemy within,” SANS Institute Director of Research Alan Paller told SCMagazineUS.com. “They are already in and we have to find them,” Paller said. Paller said that empirical evidence analyzed by researchers leaves little doubt that the Chinese government has mounted a non-stop, well-financed attack to breach key national security and industry databases, adding that it is likely that this effort...

Election '08: If Hillary Clinton is proud of her experience and record of change, why are 2 million pages of her White House files locked up? Watching your husband is not experience.The last time Sen. Clinton was a genuine agent of change was when she led the secretive Health Care Task Force in 1993-94 that labored mightily to propose a Godzilla-size bureaucracy that would have nationalized one-seventh of the nation's economy. To receive medical care you would have gone to the equivalent of the Department of Motor Vehicles. That proposal was one of the key factors in the GOP tsunami...

Ex-Lawmaker Charged in Terror Conspiracy Jan 16 02:42 PM US/Eastern By LARA JAKES JORDAN Associated Press Writer 19 Comments WASHINGTON (AP) - A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan. The former Republican congressman from Michigan, Mark Deli Siljander, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to...

War On Terror: If the New Hampshire debates settled anything, it's which party has the stomach to take on radical Islam. The Democrats couldn't even identify the enemy. Not once. Really.We scanned the transcripts of Saturday's debates hosted by ABC News and tallied up the references to Islamic terrorism. The rhetorical divide between Democrats and Republicans on that score alone — ignoring the yawning gaps in policy — is stunning. None of the four Democrat presidential candidates — despite running for an office that demands they lead the ongoing global war against Islamic extremists — could bring himself or herself...

NOTE: Although Hillary Clinton touts her foreign policy experience, being right there with her husband, the New York Times' Patrick Healy reports that she did not have a security clearance and did not sit in on NSC briefings. Now recall this from the late David Hackworth. Monica Lewinsky did have TOP SECRET clearance. Perhaps she should be the one in the Dem primaries touting her experience. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DEFENDING AMERICA David H. Hackworth 17 March 98 LOOSE LIPS, SINK SHIPS.. While at the Pentagon, Monica Lewinsky traveled with Defense Secretary William Cohen, sat in on briefings where the highest secrets...

WASHINGTON – It's no longer just a charge of copyright violation in the case of Michael Savage v. Council on American-Islamic Relations. Now the radio talk star is going for the legal jugular in his battle with the group that bills itself as a Muslim civil rights organization. The San Francisco-based talker has amended his lawsuit against CAIR for misusing audio clips of his show as part of a boycott campaign against his three-hour daily program to include charges the group "has consistently sought to silence opponents of violent terror through economic blackmail, frivolous but costly lawsuits, threats of lawsuits...

ABC News' Jonathan Greenberger reports: If she makes it to the White House, Sen. Hillary Clinton said today her husband will take on the same responsibilities as traditional presidential spouses, with no access to National Security Council meetings. "I think he would play the role that spouses have always played for presidents," said Clinton, in an exclusive interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. "He will not have a formal, official role, but just as presidents rely on wives, husbands, fathers, friends of long years, he will be my close confidante and adviser as I was with him."

Seven days prior to events which would set the world on-edge, newly-hired Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria "Torie" Clarke offered an equally startling admission to Agency France Presse wire service, but which received scant attention within U.S. media. On September 5, Ms. Clarke--lured back into government service by pal Mary Matalin on Vice President Dick Cheney's staff, from a high-paying post as Manhattan office director for the venerable public relations firm of Hill & Knowlton--the former PR chief to Senator John McCain and one-time George Bush (the elder) staffer would divulge to foreign media that the United States, via the Pentagon and...

U.S. networks build their own fortress America Why CBS eye no longer watches the world ANTONIA ZERBISIAS As Mohammed Atta and his fellow hijackers were boarding the planes they would crash on 9/11, the U.S. media were preoccupied with shark, not terrorist, attacks. If only journalists had focused more on foreign affairs. Perhaps then Johnell Bryant, a Florida government official, might have called the FBI when Atta showed up in her office in 2000 talking about bombing U.S. cities and crowing about Osama bin Laden. As she told the New York Times in 2002, "I didn't know who he was...

View the photo essay at the link - http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2007/11/questions-for-clintons-vin-gupta-and.html

The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China Rep. Christopher Cox, Chairman Member, House Leadership Chairman, House Policy Committee Member: Committe on Commerce, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight Rep. Norman Dicks, Ranking Democrat Ranking Member: Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Member: Committee on Appropriations Rep. Porter Goss, Vice Chairman Chairman, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Member: Committee on Rules Rep. Doug Bereuter Member: Committee on International Relations, Committee on Banking and Financial Services Rep. James V. Hansen Chairman, Committee on Standards of Official Conduct Member: Committee...

It may seem odd to call a 24-year veteran of the House of Representatives an outsider. But Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has made a career out of bucking Washington's insiders. And his latest stand is a tribute to the way representative democracy is supposed to work. You see, Hunter did not rush with the Washington crowd to "reform" the nation's intelligence system. In fact, he is being cast as a villain for blocking a bill that all the insiders were pushing. Hunter correctly saw that the bill would have gutted the ability of our...

Huma Abedin & Hillary Clinton May 6, 2000     Syed Zainul Abedin VARIATIONS: Syed, Sayed, Zainul, Zainal, Zaiunul, Abedin, Abedīn, etc Huma Abedin's father, Syed Zainul Abedin, was born in India, in 1928 [prior to the partition]. It is possible that he was named for the fourth Imam, Ali Ibn el Hussain, Zainul Abedeen, also known as Zayn al-Abidin. Syed Zainul Abedin's undergraduate education was at Aligarh Muslim University, and his graduate education was at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his PhD, in American Civilization, in 1974: Franklin Library, University of Pennsylvania: Syed Zainul Abedin He seems...

Finally, Hillary Clinton is getting some moderately tough questions. People are finally noticing that in answering questions, she follows the advice of Yogi Berra: "If you come to a fork in the road, take it." At Tuesday's Democratic debate, when asked whether she supports Spitzer's plan to license illegals.....Clinton's response can be summarized as: Yes, no, maybe, sorta, kinda. Before the press corps relapses into its coma and Clinton's competitors go back to hiding from her shadow, let's see if she can answer a few more questions:

Trail Of Terror: The Council on American-Islamic Relations is cheering a mistrial in a major terror case as a "stunning defeat" for the U.S. government. But the celebration may be premature. Federal prosecutors say they'll retry the case against leaders of the Holy Land Foundation, the nation's largest Muslim charity, which they accused of funneling more than $12 million to Hamas terrorists. CAIR, an unindicted co-conspirator in the case, also cheered a similar outcome in a federal case against Muslim activist Sami al-Arian in Florida. As in the Holy Land case, jurors deadlocked on several terror counts. But prosecutors threatened...

RICHMOND -- Two Republican state legislators are accusing Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and other Democrats of embracing radical Islamic organizations that support terrorism, an allegation that has outraged the governor and Muslim leaders, who say the GOP is resorting to fear-mongering to win votes. As Republicans work to retain their majorities in the General Assembly, the two delegates from the Shenandoah Valley say they are conducting an investigation into Democrats' ties to the Muslim American Society and Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center, both in Falls Church.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III ordered an internal investigation into whether bureau agents interfered with midterm congressional elections by disclosing a corruption probe that undermined the re-election bid of Republican Rep. Curt Weldon weeks before the Nov. 7 vote. The internal probe was disclosed in a Senate Judiciary Committee report containing the FBI's written answers to questions posed by committee members. Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, asked why FBI agents searched the office of Mr. Weldon's daughter and a business associate three weeks before the elections. The publicity from the raid contributed to the Pennsylvania Republican's defeat and...

My friend, David Brooks, does his best to reinforce the Hillary-Is-Inevitable consensus in Washington right now. He may regret this, though: On "This Week With George Stephanopoulos," Clinton could have vowed to vacate Iraq. Instead, she delivered hawkish mini-speeches that few Republicans would object to. She listed a series of threats and interests in the region and made it clear that she’d be willing to keep U.S. troops there to handle them. If Clinton is that comfortable with a permanent occupation of Iraq at this point in the election cycle, how comfortable do you think she's going to be next...

Director of National Intelligence Says U.S. Didn't Connect Available Information

2008 candidate Giuliani’s speech just one of a slew of issues causing anger NEW YORK - Once again, the city will pause for four moments of silence to mark the attacks that killed more than 2,700 people. Family members will lay flowers where the twin towers fell, and the names of victims will be read. But much will be different on the sixth anniversary of Sept. 11, after tense arguments about where to hold the ceremony, whether a presidential candidate should be allowed to speak and if it's still fitting to put on such a large-scale commemoration. Firefighters, first responders...

A little over three years after Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, Fred D. Thompson provided advice to a colleague about one of his law firm’s new clients: The man representing the two Libyan intelligence officials charged in the terrorist bombing. The colleague, John Culver, a partner at the Washington firm of Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn began advising the two suspects’ Libyan lawyer in February 1992. Mr. Thompson, according to a memorandum from that era written by his secretary, held “discussions with Culver re: Libya” that same month. At the time, Libya was facing international...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2007 – President Bush is urging Americans to light candles and ring bells to honor terrorism victims and servicemembers during “National Days of Prayer and Remembrance” tomorrow through Sept. 9. Bush carved out the symbolic calendar days to encourage Americans to remember the 2,974 people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and to reaffirm the global terror war’s foundation, according to a proclamation the White House released yesterday. “During this year's National Days of Prayer and Remembrance, we honor the thousands of victims who died in the brutal and ruthless attacks in New York...

From late 2004 until mid-2006, a little-known data-mining computer system developed by the US Department of Homeland Security to hunt terrorists, weapons of mass destruction, and biological weapons sifted through Americans' personal data with little regard for federal privacy laws. Now the $42 million cutting-edge system, designed to process trillions of pieces of data, has been halted and could be canceled pending data-privacy reviews, according to a newly released report to Congress by the DHS's own internal watchdog

CONCORD, N.H. -- Democratic rivals criticized Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday for her comment that a terror attack before the election would help the Republicans. On Thursday, the New York senator told supporters in Concord that she could defeat any Republican nominee, in part because she already knows how her opponents will go after her and because she is good at handling the unexpected. [snip] Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd said in his own statement, "Frankly, I find it tasteless to discuss political implications when talking about a potential terrorist attack on the United States."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20381551/site/newsweek/ In September 2006, during a famous encounter with Fox News anchor Wallace, Clinton erupted in anger and waived his finger when asked about whether his administration had done enough to get bin Laden. “What did I do? What did I do?” Clinton said at one point. “I worked hard to try to kill him. I authorized a finding for the CIA to kill him. We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody has gotten since.” Clinton appeared to have been referring to a December 1999 Memorandum of Notification (MON) he signed that...

The War on Weldon Gets Scarier, Part II © Jack Cashill WorldNetDaily.com August 21, 2007 This the second in a four part series detailing how and why a collaboration of Democratic activists conspired to unseat Pennsylvania congressman, Curt Weldon, in the November 2006 elections. Read Part 1. I met Congressman Curt Weldon for the first (and only) time in July 2006. He graciously consented to assist me in some research I was doing. I, in turn, was able to help connect some of the dots in the chain of forces aligned against him. All dots led to former national security...