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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...

You are earnestly urged to believe that the attacks and dirty tricks used against Congressman Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican seeking re-election, have absolutely nothing to do with the following: 1 — Congressman Weldon took the lead in getting House approval of SDI — the missile defense that was bitterly opposed by the Clinton White House. (See this column "Go along to get along? Not this congressman," Oct. 16, 2006). 2 — The idea of a U.S. missile defense system is also opposed (for obvious reasons) by the enemies of the United States (first the Soviet Union, then the terrorists)...

The CIA's top leaders failed to use their available powers, never developed a comprehensive plan to stop al-Qaida and missed crucial opportunities to thwart two hijackers in the run-up to Sept. 11, the agency's own watchdog concluded in a bruising report released Tuesday. Completed in June 2005 and kept classified until now, the 19-page executive summary finds extensive fault with the actions of senior CIA leaders and others beneath them. "The agency and its officers did not discharge their responsibilities in a satisfactory manner," the CIA inspector general found. "They did not always work effectively and cooperatively," *snip* Yet the...

When the history of the Bush era is written, no scandal will impress the reader as more telling of the time and place than the one that has engulfed Curt Weldon, the deposed Republican congressman from Pennsylvania. To be clear, Weldon is not the perpetrator of this scandal but its victim. To understand how he got embroiled, a quick look back at a nearly forgotten chapter in the annals of the Clinton administration is in order. In January 1997, the Clinton White House went public with a 332-page report that bore the "Austin Powers"-like title, "Communication Stream of Conspiracy Commerce."...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress sent President Bush legislation Friday to intensify anti-terror efforts in the U.S., shifting money to high-risk states and cities and expanding screening of air and sea cargo to stave off future Sept. 11-style attacks. The measure carries out major recommendations of the independent 9/11 Commission. The bill, passed by the House on a 371-40 vote, ranks among the top accomplishments of the six-month-old Democratic Congress. The Senate approved the measure late Thursday by 85-8, and the White House said the president would sign the bill. Six years after the Sept. 11 attacks and three years after...

Investigation into pilfered documents reveals former president signed letter President Bill Clinton signed a letter authorizing former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger's access to classified documents that later came up missing, according to a newly released investigation report by the National Archives and Records Administration. The sensitive drafts of the National Security Council's "Millennium After Action Review" on the Clinton administration's handling of the al-Qaida terror threats in December 1999 suspiciously disappeared after Berger said he intended to "determine if Executive Privilege needed to be exerted prior to documents being provided to the 9/11 Commission." Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft testified...

Nearly 11 years after a fuel tank exploded on TWA Flight 800, killing 230 people off the South Shore of Long Island, a congressional committee voted yesterday to force the Federal Aviation Administration to act to prevent similar explosions. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee added language to the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act that would require the federal government to make so-called inerting systems standard equipment on commercial airlines. If passed by the full Congress, the FAA would have to require the installation of the safety equipment on the nation's commercial fleet to begin by the end of the...

WASHINGTON, June 20 — Federal environmental officials misled Lower Manhattan residents about the extent of contamination in their condominiums and apartments after the collapse of the World Trade Center, according to a preliminary report released on Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office. According to the report, made public during a Senate subcommittee hearing, the Environmental Protection Agency did not accurately report the results of a residential cleanup program in 2002 and 2003. More than 4,000 apartments in Lower Manhattan were professionally decontaminated in that program, and the agency reported that only a “very small” number of air samples taken in...

Shades of the Old Rudy! America's Mayor provided the most electrifying moment of Tuesday night's GOP presidential debate when he ripped into Rep. Ron Paul for suggesting that U.S. foreign policy invited the 9/11 attacks. "That's an extraordinary statement," said a clearly indignant Rudy Giuliani, as he demanded that Paul retract the assertion. "I don't think I've ever heard that before, and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for Sept. 11." Good for him. Most of Rudy's rivals doubtless thought it best just to ignore the Texas oddball's isolationist rant. But Giuliani decided otherwise - and he was right to...

Most terrorists seem like bumbling losers if they're caught before the act: That's certainly true of the Fort Dix jihadists who took their terrorist training DVD to the local audio store to be copied. It was also true of the Islamists arrested in Toronto last year for plotting to behead the prime minister, one of whose cell members had a bride who wanted him to sign a prenup committing him to jihad. The Heathrow plotters arrested while planning to blow up U.S.-bound airliners included a Muslim convert who'd started out as the son of a British Conservative Party official with...

"After a thorough reading of the report it would not be unreasonable to conclude as I have that there was a cover-up at high levels of our government and, it appears to have been substantial and coordinated...The question is why? And that question regrettably will go unanswered. Unlike some other cover-ups, this one succeeded.” – Independent Counsel David M. Barrett on the censoring of The Barrett Report. If you have been experiencing a sneaking suspicion that there is a lot of one-sided interest where investigations into political malfeasance are concerned at the US Justice Department, you’re not alone. From the...

The recent disbarment of Lynne Stewart is one of the latest examples of what is wrong with using the law-enforcement approach to dealing with terrorism. Not only is there the fact that all too often, treating terrorism as a criminal matter to be dealt with by law enforcement agencies, leads to terrorists going back onto the street, but there are problems with the lawyers. Stewart was convicted for providing material support to terrorists while she was representing Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman during his terrorism trial. One of the things she did was pass messages to Rahman's supporters – including exhortations...

I visited Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse in Florida, one of the tallest in the nation. I climbed to the top of the 175 foot tower. Though totally protected by a fence, a mild case of vertigo kept my back pressed against the hall while I enjoyed the spectacular view. Then it hit me. On 9/11 thousands of my fellow Americans, who simply showed up for work, were faced with the unimaginable horrifying choice of whether to be consumed by fire or jump from the towers. Innocent moms, dads, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters clueless of the danger were tortured...

If anyone watched the Fox News report titled, "Socks, Papers, Scissors" hosted by David Asman, the conclusion was that the Justice Department was aware that Berger stole and destroyed some of the most sensitive documents in the National Archives - and yet failed to notify the 911 Commission priof to Berger testifying. Berger was sworn in under oath - and gave his testimony to the commission who was unaware of what he did? It wasn't until much later that they were told - after the report was printed and distributed. A commission member said he was shocked to hear that...

More than six years after the Clintons left the White House, nearly half of the respondents in a new poll -- 45 percent -- worry that if they return, they could bring "high levels of corruption" with them. A Zogby International poll released Thursday in Washington highlights in particular concerns about former President Bill Clinton's ability to "behave honestly in the White House" if his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), is elected president in 2008. The poll results indicate that scandals which dogged the Clinton administration remain relevant to a significant number of voters. The 45 percent figure would likely...

The first face-to-face confrontation of the 2008 presidential race is looming over a US Senate inquiry into health problems suffered by workers at New York’s ground zero after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As the chairwoman of a Senate subcommittee investigating complaints that workers were misled about air quality after the collapse of the twin towers, Senator Hillary Clinton, the Democrat front-runner for the presidential nomination, confirmed last week that she is considering calling Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and the leading Republican contender, to testify at a public hearing. The health committee’s inquiry has...

Rockefeller mulls secret prison shutdown By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer 8 minutes ago The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee is questioning whether the CIA's secret prison program — which he fears has become a black eye to the United States — should continue. The review led by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., comes as the Bush administration deliberates an executive order, called for by Congress, that will establish new guidelines for the CIA's system for detaining and interrogating suspected terrorists. It is the agency's most publicly controversial intelligence collection program. Rockefeller says there is no doubt that intelligence from...

Rep. Duncan Hunter convened a hearing last week with the Joint Chiefs of Staff that put in place the final chess piece in a high-stakes battle to defeat the Senate's version of a far-reaching intelligence reform bill. Mr. Hunter, a California Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Committee and is a key ally of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, already had secured a letter of support from Gen. Richard B. Myers, the Joint Chiefs chairman. In the letter, Gen. Myers endorsed Mr. Hunter's — not the Senate's — version of the intelligence reform bill because it "maintains this vital...

March 19, 2007, 6:00 a.m. Copperheads, Then and NowThe Democratic legacy of undermining war efforts. By Mackubin Thomas Owens While recovering from surgery recently, I had the good fortune to read a fine new book about political dissent in the North during the Civil War. The book, Copperheads: The Rise an Fall of Lincoln’s Opponents in the North, by journalist-turned-academic-historian Jennifer Weber, shines the spotlight on the “Peace Democrats,� who did everything they could to obstruct the Union war effort during the Rebellion. In so doing, she corrects a number of claims that have become part of the conventional...

A federal judge said Wednesday that Sudan is responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole but he needs more time to determine damages for the families of the 17 sailors killed when terrorists bombed the ship in 2000. "There is substantial evidence in this case presented by the expert testimony that the government of Sudan induced the particular bombing of the Cole by virtue of prior actions of the government of Sudan," U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar said.

Judge Deborah A. Robinson imposed a stiffer penalty in the case than the Justice Department sought, fining Berger a total of $56,905, canceling his security clearance, and requiring monthly reporting to a probation officer for two years. Breuer said Berger has also picked up trash in Virginia parks for 100 hours to fulfill a community service requirement, and he criticized the renewed attention to Berger's case. "It never ceases to amaze me how the most trivial things can be politicized. It is the height of unfairness . . . for this poor guy, who clearly made a mistake," Breuer said.

The bell has just rung on the 2008 presidential sweepstakes and already more entries have crowded into the gates than the American grandstand can count, much less account for. That's all to the good, as the only winners over the past two decades have been named either Bush or Clinton. Still, since nothing less than the fate of the nation seems to be at stake, it is imperative that all candidates be measured... --snip--     Deeply frustrated by nine seasons of blockading by Clinton lawyers and Democratic congressmen, Mr. Barrett issued a statement saying, "An accurate title for the report would...

As the FNC story points out, the document-filching Clinton aide did agree to take a polygraph test as part of a plea deal reached in September 2005. Now, some GOP lawmakers want to know why the Justice Department won't follow through: The Justice Department should administer a polygraph test to former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger to find out what documents he took from the National Archives in 2002 and 2003, Rep. Tom Davis wrote in a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales dated Monday. Davis, ranking Republican on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is leading a group...

Damage from Berger's theft understated, Davis saysBy Jerry Seper THE WASHINGTON TIMES January 10, 2007 Samuel R. Berger's theft of documents from the National Archives compromised national security "much more than originally disclosed" and resulted in "incomplete and misleading" information being given to the September 11 commission, says the former chairman of the House Government Reform Committee. "It is now also clear that Mr. Berger was willing to go to extraordinary lengths to compromise national security, apparently for his own convenience," Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, Virginia Republican, said yesterday. "No one ever told the commission Mr. Berger had access...

A lengthy Senate investigation has debunked charges by a Republican congressman that military analysts identified Mohamed Atta and other Sept. 11 hijackers before the attacks, according to a committee aide familiar with the report. In a letter to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sens. Pat Roberts and John D. Rockefeller dismissed suggestions by Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., that defense analysts ignored analysis that could have prevented the attacks. Roberts, R-Kan., is outgoing chairman and Rockefeller, of West Virginia, is the senior Democrat who will assume the chairmanship next month. They concluded "there was no evidence Mohamed Atta or any...

(AP) WASHINGTON -- A lengthy Senate investigation has debunked charges by a Republican congressman that military analysts identified Mohamad Atta and other Sept. 11 hijackers before the attacks, according to a committee aide familiar with the report. In a letter to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sens. Pat Roberts and John D. Rockefeller dismissed suggestions by Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., that defense analysts ignored analysis that could have prevented the attacks. Roberts, R-Kan., is outgoing chairman and Rockefeller, of West Virginia, is the senior Democrat who will assume the chairmanship next month. They concluded "there was no evidence Mohamad...

Probe Finds Sept. 11 Hijackers Not Identified Before Attacks Last Update: 12/25/2006 11:30:20 AM United Press International The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee denies a congressman's claim that military analysts identified the hijackers before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist strikes. A summery of the committee's investigation obtained by the Los Angeles Times said claims that military analysts identified hijacker Mohamed Atta or his colleagues before the 2001 attack are false, the newspaper said Monday. The findings contradict statements made by Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., and some U.S. military officers that a program known as Able Danger identified Atta as a member...

Bill Clinton's former National Security Adviser, Sandy Berger, has already recanted his initial claim that he removed documents from the National Archives "inadvertently" back in 2003 while preparing for testimony to the 9/11 Commission. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in 2005 and paid a $50,000 fine. But now the report of the Archives' Inspector General has come to light, and it suggests Mr. Berger knew he was engaged in a bit of hugger-mugger when he secreted the after-action memos he was reviewing out of the building. According to the report, obtained by the Associated Press through a Freedom of...

Clinton administration National Security Adviser Samuel ‘Sandy’ Berger today said he “still can’t say for sure” what happened to several classified documents he removed from the National Archives in October 2003, but that they may have gone up in smoke. Mr. Berger, who was convicted of the crime, fined $50,000, sentenced to 100 hours of community service and barred from the Archives for three years, allegedly smuggled out some of the documents in his socks. Today his attorney released a statement from Mr. Berger in response to this week’s report on the Inspector General’s probe of the case. According to...

Triple Cross: How bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI--and Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him This is the most dangerous man I have ever met. We cannot let this man out on the street." —Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, 1997 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the years leading to the 9/11 attacks, no single agent of al Qaeda was more successful in compromising the U.S. intelligence community than Ali Mohamed. A former Egyptian army captain, Mohamed succeeded in infiltrating the CIA in Europe, the Green Berets at Fort Bragg, and the FBI in California—even as...

Peter Lance's new book, Triple Cross, (the complete title is: Triple Cross, How Bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets and the FBI -- And Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him) is out in bookstores on 11/21/2006. This is a link to the Able Danger Blog's review of the book. Here is the text of the Harper Collins' press release for the book: TRIPLE CROSS How Bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets and the FBI -- And Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him By Peter Lance In TRIPLE CROSS, five-time Emmy-award...

It was a real Cinderella story. When last heard from, Virginia resident Joe Sestak had been – in the words of the Philadelphia Inquirer – "unceremoniously fired" from his job as a deputy chief of naval operations. This was in August 2005. In January 2006, Sestak quietly retired from the Navy. Looking about for a new career, Sestak decided, improbably enough, on Congress. The nostalgic admiral eyed not the Virginia district in which he lived, but the Pennsylvania district in which he had last lived as a boy. More daunting still, he would be facing off against popular 10-term maverick...

"What I find ironic, if there is an investigation," Weldon told the media the day the raids were conducted, "is that no one would tell me until three weeks before the election. The incident was two-and-a-half years ago."

In his final debate against Joe Sestak, the embattled congressman blasted the media and landed a few key points. Labeling himself an underdog in an increasingly bitter race, U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R., Pa.) mounted a furious attack on Democratic opponent Joe Sestak in the pair's final debate yesterday. "My opponent can throw out all the crap he wants about my kids, but in the end, the people of this district will decide," Weldon told a mostly friendly audience at the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce event.