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Posted on 09/11/2004 12:09:10 AM PDT by nwctwx
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POSTED: 6:01 am PDT September 29, 2004
UPDATED: 3:51 pm PDT September 29, 2004
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Washington state is making plans for random vehicle searches in state ferry lines to meet tougher federal security precautions, state officials told The Associated Press.
State transportation chief Doug MacDonald said Tuesday the random searches are "possible and even likely," beginning Oct. 9 as a way to satisfy new Coast Guard mandates for better screening for explosives or other terrorist paraphernalia.
The nation's largest ferry system carries 26 million passengers a year over 20 routes.
The state apparently won't have enough specially trained "sniffer dogs" by Oct. 9 to meet the new standard, said state patrol's deputy chief, Glenn Cramer, and Gov. Gary Locke's chief of staff, Tom Fitzsimmons.
Excerpted
Yep.
Kathy in Alaska posted it on another thread and I just had to bring it over here.
City Council Aide, Imam Indicted
September 29, 2004 — Federal prosecutors fighting what they've called a "culture of corruption" at City Hall took aim at seven new targets Wednesday, including a city council aide, a mayoral aide, and a politically connected imam.
The charges revolved around the activities of Shamsud-din Ali, the leader of an influential Philadelphia mosque known for his close ties to city Democrats, including Gov. Ed Rendell and Mayor John F. Street.
In a 122-page indictment, a federal grand jury accused Ali of overseeing a criminal enterprise that capitalized on those political friendships.
Among the charges, prosecutors said Ali extorted money from city vendors and paid a kickback to obtain a lucrative city contract for which he did no work, and improperly had a small company he owned installed as a partner in a business deal with the city's airport.
In many cases, U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said, Ali was able to get what he wanted because people believed he had the ear of top city officials, and the power to get what he wanted from city government.
"This enterprise used political influence as leverage and access to people in high places as a hammer," Meehan said. "This organization wrapped its tentacles around individuals, institutions, government entities or whomever it targeted as a source of profit, and simply applied pressure when necessary."
Charged along with Ali were Steven A. Vaughn, chief of staff to Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, and John Christmas, an aide to Street's chief of staff.
Prosecutors said the pair helped a company owned by Ali get a $60,595 payment from the city for what was supposed to have been its help collecting delinquent real estate taxes. Investigators said that in reality, the company was not involved in collecting the taxes.
Vaughn is additionally accused of accepting a $2,000 kickback from Ali as a prize for his effort. FBI agents used hidden cameras to record the meeting in 2001 when Vaughn allegedly accepted the payment from Ali.
Vaughn publicly denied the kickback allegations when they were first reported in newspapers last winter. His attorney, Michael Giampietro, said the videotapes purporting to show the alleged payment are "open to interpretation."
Ali's attorney, James Binns, did not immediately return a phone message Wednesday. In previous interviews, he has claimed that the government is persecuting him because he is Muslim.
Christmas' attorney, Charles J. Grant, also did not immediately return a phone call.
Also charged in the indictment was a manager at AAT Communications, a company that won city approval to install cellular phone antennas at Philadelphia International Airport. Prosecutors said he accepted $7,000 in kickbacks from Ali in exchange for making the imam's company a no-work partner in the antenna deal.
The charges were the third wave of indictments in an investigation that became public last October when police discovered an FBI bug in Street's City Hall office.
The city's former treasurer was charged in June with accepting cash and gifts from people seeking to influence city business decisions.
Others charged previously include executives at financial services firms, a lawyer who raised money for Street's campaigns, and Ali's wife, Faridah, who was accused of defrauding a community college adult education program run out of rented space at a religious school affiliated with her husband's mosque.
Those charges were repeated in the new indictment on Wednesday.
Neither Street nor Miller were accused of any wrongdoing, and both have previously denied any knowledge of subordinates engaging in influence peddling in their names.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/092904_nw_probeindictments.html
http://www.continuityofgovernment.org/pdfs/FirstReport.pdf
It is 11:30 A.M., inauguration day. Thousands await the noon hour when a new president will take the oath of office in the presence of members of Congress, the Supreme Court, family, and supporters. The outgoing president is meeting at the White House with his cabinet and top aides for a final farewell before attending the swearing in ceremony where the reins of power will switch hands. Television networks have their cameras trained on the West Front of the Capitol, beaming live coverage of the event into millions of homes around the world.
Suddenly the television screens go blank! Al Qaeda operatives have detonated a small nuclear device on Pennsylvania Avenue halfway between the White House and the Capitol. A one-mile-radius circle of Washington is destroyed. Everyone present at the Capitol, the White House, and in between is presumed dead, missing, or incapacitated. The death toll is horrific, the symbolic effect of the destruction of our national symbols is great, but even worse, the American people are asking who is in charge, and there is no clear answer.
The incoming president and vice president are surely dead, so the presidency passes through the line of succession to the Speaker of the House and then to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. But both of them were at the inaugural ceremony, as protocol requires, so the presidency passes to the cabinet officers—but which cabinet? The president-elect never took office and never confirmed a cabinet. The presidency passes through the line of succession to the cabinet officers of the departing administration, assuming they have not resigned by January 20th, as is standard procedure, and assuming that they were not at the White House bidding farewell to the outgoing president. Perhaps the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or another lesserknown cabinet member, was not in the area; then he or she would become president. Or maybe no one in the line of succession is alive, and a number of generals, undersecretaries, and governors claim that they are in charge. (snipped)
WASHINGTON, D.C.-September 29, 2004 — The Defense Department is testing out a new security blimp over Washington.
The large white object was spotted hovering over the Pentagon and the Capitol building early this morning. Pentagon police says it's fully equipped with surveillance cameras.
Authorities say it'll remain in the sky until tomorrow.
Have you seen this?
Police Step Up Security for IMF Meetings
By CURT ANDERSON
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Police in the nation's capital are stepping up security for this weekend's International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings amid a continued threat of terrorist attacks against certain financial institutions.
The extra precautions stem from an Aug. 1 decision by the Homeland Security Department to raise the terror threat to orange - the second-highest on a five-point scale - for the IMF and World Bank, as well as financial centers in New York and Newark, N.J.
Streets will be closed to all automobile traffic beginning Friday across a large swath of downtown Washington and pedestrians will be allowed access to certain areas only if they have identification showing a local address where they live, work or attend school. Parking garages in the area will be emptied of cars.
``These measures are being taken to ensure the safety and well-being of the persons involved in the meetings as well as the general public who may live, work or in any other way come in close proximity to this event,'' District of Columbia Police Chief Charles Ramsey said in a recent letter to area businesses and residents.
FBI and Homeland Security officials said Wednesday they have no new intelligence indicating an attack on the meetings might occur. The heightened alert for the financial institutions was announced after arrests of al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan and Great Britain produced evidence the buildings had been under surveillance for possible attack.
Although that intelligence was at least three years old, law enforcement officials said the heightened alert was necessary because al-Qaida is known to plan its attacks years in advance.
The meetings are taking place amid a full-scale effort by the FBI, Homeland Security Department and other agencies to head off what a steady stream of intelligence shows is al-Qaida's determination to launch an attack that would disrupt this year's presidential election.
The debate Thursday in Miami between President Bush and Democrat John Kerry is the latest in a series of high-profile events to occur amid this threat. Homeland Security spokeswoman Katy Mynster said officials have no specific information that terrorists are planning to target the debate, but she said an assessment of tactics used by terrorists in past attacks has been sent to Florida officials.
The IMF/World Bank meetings have in the past drawn violent protests, but since the 2001 terror attacks those demonstrations have waned. Debbie Weierman, spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office, said officials have no indications that violence should be expected at this weekend's meetings.
One subject that could generate demonstrations is the demand by some groups for 100 percent elimination of debt that impoverished countries owe to the IMF and World Bank.
In his letter, Ramsey urged people living and working in the vicinity of the Washington financial institutions to help by ``remaining vigilant and reporting conduct that strikes you as being odd or circumstances that appear unusual or suspicious.''
These could include people who appear to be overly interested in security practices or who may be trying to impersonate a legitimate worker, such as a utility worker. People taking pictures, unattended vehicles and packages and people who ``simply seem out of place'' should also be scrutinized closely, the letter said.
Source: AOL News, AP
Al Qaeda agent smuggles people into United States
IAN BRUCE, Defence Correspondent
September 29 2004
AN al Qaeda agent who helped plan the September 11 attacks has met leaders of a Salvadorean crime syndicate which controls the smuggling of illegal immigrants across the Mexican border into the US, according to intelligence sources.
The CIA fears Adnan el Shukrijumah, 29, a Yemeni with a £3m bounty on his head, is negotiating a deal to infiltrate terrorist network members into American cities to stage attacks in the run-up to the presidential elections in November.
El Shukrijumah was identified during surveillance of a meeting of Mara Salvatrucha gang leaders in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, where security forces are on alert for al Qaeda operations against British, Spanish and US embassies.
Mara Salvatrucha, whose first name is taken after a breed of soldier-ants, runs a base in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of the Texas state line, and controls street gangs in Los Angeles, Washington and New York.
The al Qaeda agent is known to have crossed into Honduras illegally from Nicaragua this summer to meet the gang.
El Shukijumah was identified in 2001 and from interrogation of captives at Guantanamo Bay as a key "fixer" who had a hand in the preparations for the hijacking of the aircraft used on September 11.
At that time, he lived in Florida and had a pilot's licence. He was named in May as one of seven al Qaeda suspects wanted in connection with new plots for attacks in the US.
In 2003, he escaped from Canada after authorities there claimed he was seeking radioactive material for a "dirty bomb".
John Ashcroft, the US attorney-general, described him earlier this year as "a clear and present danger to the US and a major threat to homeland security".
More than 60,000 illegal immigrants of non-Mexican origin were picked on the border along the Rio Grande River last year.
An intelligence source said the gang had been responsible for hundreds of murders, robberies and drug-related criminal activity as well as people-smuggling.
"It has a foothold in just about every Hispanic community across the US. A tie-up would give al Qaeda access to any city with minimal risk of discovery."
In another development in the war on terror, the Pakistani president said it would be won only if the Islamic world rejected extremism and if the West resolved its political disputes with Muslim nations.
Pervez Musharraf, who is visiting Italy, said the West must turn its attention to the causes of terrorism.
"The Muslim world needs to reject extremism and militancy and go on the path of social and economic development," he said after talks with Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the president.
He added, however, that the West had to play its part.
"We expect of the West – the European Union and the United States – to resolve all political disputes involving Muslims and also assist us in our social and economic development," he said.
Musharraf, speaking two days after the killing of an al Qaeda militant in Pakistan, said he had told Ciampi of his nation's efforts to combat terrorism.
"But I did indicate to him that the core issues which give rise to extremism, militancy and terrorism need to be addressed by the world," he said.
"Because if we don't do that, we may be winning the battle against terrorism but maybe we won't succeed in winning the war against terrorism, which [is caused by] the core issues of political disputes, poverty and illiteracy," he added.
An American survey, meanwhile, has found a 10% drop in the number of Americans who view international terrorism as a "critical threat". The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations found that 78% said the government's main objective should be protecting jobs.
Source: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/24961-print.shtml
Bush to seek $274M for biosurveillance
BY Dibya Sarkar
Jan. 29, 2004
The Bush administration will request $274 million in fiscal 2005 for an integrated biosurveillance initiative that will, among other things, develop a national data collection and analysis system for identifying possible bioterrorist incidents and other disease outbreaks.
The Health and Human Services Department would allocate $130 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue investments in disease surveillance, including better links with public health laboratories and improved capabilities at border health and quarantine stations.
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said the new system will better enhance CDC's traditional approach to disease surveillance by analyzing information sooner from across the country. Data would be collected from various sources, such as hospitals, nurse call-in lines and pharmacy sales, on a near real-time basis to detect disease patterns and prepare an appropriate defense, he said.
"For example if there's an unusual number of drug purchases in Boston, Mass., for a particular disease we will be better able to analyze what is happening and why," Thompson said this afternoon in a joint press conference with Homeland Security Department Secretary Tom Ridge.
The system would be different from the Health Alert Network, which primarily pushes information to public health and other facilities. The federal government and health officials have said for some time that they wanted a better system to analyze data and spot disease outbreaks quickly before they spread.
Thompson didn't describe the system, except that it will likely be Internet-based and more computers will be needed. He said issues of interoperability between different systems will have to be worked out, adding they are "still in the embryonic stages." More details would be released Monday, he added.
Additionally, $118 million would be used in DHS's BioWatch program, which has deployed sensors across 30 cities to collect air samples. The year-old program has collected a half-million samples already, but Ridge said it's a labor-intensive process to collect those sensors and analyze the samples. The money would help to double the program, but he didn't say if that meant doubling the number of cities participating in the program. That depended on whether the program gets the full appropriation.
Ridge said the department will also look at advanced technology in which the sensors would be able to analyze air samples immediately and transmit that information, saving time and effort.
"I have personally seen some models from different sources where they appear to have the capacity, but it needs to be refined," he said, adding there are prototypes out there.
Additionally, DHS's Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection division will use $11 million to develop a real-time system for harvesting data on the health of the population, animal, plant health and food supplies. Such data will be integrated with environmental monitoring and intelligence data for better decision making and better response.
The Agriculture Department will get $10 million to improve food and animal surveillance. The Food and Drug Administration will get the remaining $5 million to help coordinate the agency's existing food surveillance capabilities, establish connectivity with public health and environmental officials and integrate DHS's threat analysis.
Both men said agency cooperation is needed to create a more integrated and enhanced surveillance and response system. According to statistics provided by HHS, the total federal bioterrorism budget has swelled from $305 million in fiscal 2001 to $5.2 billion in fiscal 2004.
Source: http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0126/web-biosurveillance-01-29-04.asp
No more than the rights of "Our" Constitution for detainees at Gitmo!
Jesse Jackson has signed up as an advisor to Kerry
{This so pissed me off, they have everyone low on this CamPAIN!}
Islamist members of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party have questioned their leaders over whether Turkey's eventual European Union membership will erode Islamic values
{If Kerry won this is exactly what would happen here thanks to Europe!}
***WARNING***DISTURBING IMAGES***
ON THE NET... Disturbing Images
http://www.qal3ah.org/vb/showthread.php?s=35a131939f02c6396f1a8eb37b045bff&threadid=115518
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http://www.zaeer.net/up/pic/BRTSHNANO1.jpg
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http://www.qal3ah.org/vb/showthread.php?s=35a131939f02c6396f1a8eb37b045bff&threadid=115487
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Liberal judges are actually aiding and abetting terrorists and this is a HUGE mistake that our politicians need to correct or they should be held responsible for what acts occur as a result of their inaction. These idiots do not understand that rulings affecting privacy during a war actually protect the citizens and help capture the terrorists.
I can't blame you. Some of us have family on opposite coasts and we cannot spend a week driving to get to them....so we are stuck having to use air travel. Almost everyone I talk to would rather drive than fly given the option. As long as we allow profiling rules to override common sense, none of us will be safe in the air IMHO. There is no champion for the rights of the vast number of Americans who believe profiling is a necessity when our lives are at stake and there are continuous terrorist threats directed at our nation's air travel system.
Excellent post JP. Every word of it should bring the terror issue to the front page of every newspaper in the country, but we read not a word of it. Enemy forces accumulating south of the border, some staging attacks to take us out......perhaps it will soon be an upcoming "reality" show.
thank you layoutguru2.
FWI...Gold up $4 to $415.90 and USD dropped to $87.80. Haven't sees gold at this level in a long time!
Well said!
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