Continued, excerpted:
In 1990, after his triumph in Afghanistan, OBL offered the Saudi royal family the use of his troops to battle Saddam Hussein, whose forces had invaded Kuwait. But King Fahd decided instead to bring in American forces.
The decision proved to be a financial coup for the family business, which helped build military bases for the outsiders, but it was turning point in Osama's life.
Embittered, he went to Sudan in 1992, where he built training camps and organized attacks with his al-Qaida group, especially against "infidels" from the United States.
He also made sure that the planning of terrorist activities remained in the family.
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"...an experienced intelligence expert, doubts that the entire bin Laden family has severed ties with Osama: "I haven't seen anything in the last 10 years that's convinced me that would be the case." (continued...)
Continued, excerpted:
According to Scheuer, members of the bin Ladin family who were doing business in the United States or studying at US universities were almost completely inaccessible.
"My counterparts at the FBI questioned one of the bin Ladens," the former CIA agent recalls. "But then the State Department received a complaint from a law firm, and there was a huge uproar.
We were shocked to find out that the bin Ladens in the United States had diplomatic passports, and that we weren't allowed to talk to them."
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Scheuer believes that these diplomatic privileges also helped the bin Ladens get out of the United States quickly after September 11, in a bizarre episode that has even been probed by the US Congress and an investigative commission.
Only two days after the attacks, when the US government had just reopened US air space, charter jets began taking off from various cities. Nine pilots flew 142 Saudi Arabians back to the kingdom.
On Sept. 20, 2001, the "bin Laden jet" took off from St. Louis, making stops in Los Angeles, Orlando, Washington and Boston. At each stop, the plane picked up more half-brothers, nephews, nieces and cousins of public enemy number one.
At that point, the FBI had already begun investigating two of the bin Ladens who were flown out of the country. They both lived in Falls Church, a suburb of Washington, and were officials in the "World Assembly of Muslim Youth."
Richard Clarke, for many years the chief of counterterrorism at the White House, has revealed that he was responsible for the flights.
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,359690,00.html
Snip: Assistant District Attorney Beth Freeman said Hernandez Soto was drunk and driving the wrong way on Interstate 485 early Friday when he hit a car driven by 18-year-old Min Chang head-on. Chang, a UNC Charlotte freshman, died in the fiery crash just north of Rocky River Road in northeast Charlotte.
Hernandez Soto has been charged at least three times with impaired driving and convicted at least twice, authorities said. Immigration officials told the Observer on Tuesday he's been caught entering the country up to three times in the same month.
Once, authorities caught him in the U.S. on two consecutive days, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman said. "He keeps coming back to our country and driving while impaired," Freeman told the judge Tuesday.
Pakistani convicted of supporting AQ
Snip: Paracha was convicted on all charges in the five-count indictment, which included conspiracy to provide and providing material support to the al Qaeda foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to provide and providing funds, goods, or services to Al Qaeda, and identification document fraud committed to facilitate an act of international terrorism.
The evidence at trial proved that Paracha, 25, agreed with his father, Saifullah Paracha, and two Al Qaeda members, Majid Khan and Ammar Al-Baluchi, to provide support to al Qaedaby, among other things, trying to help Khan obtain a travel document that would have allowed Khan to re-enter the United States to commit a terrorist act.
Statements from Khan admitted at trial revealed that, once inside the United States, Khan intended to carry out an attack on gasoline stations.
E-Coli found in Heyburn Idaho well
Snip: “We're not even supposed to take baths in it,” said the Heyburn resident. “We have to go into town to my daughter's place to take a shower. It's hard to live out here without water.”
Damron's well, at 850 W 433 S, has tested positive for E. coli bacteria. A Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) test in mid-November revealed an e. coli level of 93/100 ml and total coliform at 236/100 ml.
“That would be contaminated water,” said Scott Arnell, an environmental health specialist with the South Central District Health office in Burley. “At those levels there's a pretty high potential for sickness.”
Classic symptoms of E. coli infection are diarrhea and abdominal cramps. Damron said he believes the infected water has caused his wife to lose weight and may be causing skin problems on his arms. He also is concerned that the 8- and 12-year-old boys who live with them could be affected.
Court to decide if Americans must show ID anywhere / anytime or risk jail
Snip: One morning in late September 2005, Deb was riding the public bus to work. She was minding her own business, reading a book and planning for work, when a security guard got on this public bus and demanded that every passenger show their ID. Deb, having done nothing wrong, declined. The guard called in federal cops, and she was arrested and charged with federal criminal misdemeanors after refusing to show ID on demand.
On the 9th of December 2005, Deborah Davis will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in a case that will determine whether Deb and the rest of us live in a free society, or in a country where we must show "papers" whenever a cop demands them.