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Thread FIFTEEN: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1178024/posts |
Posted on 07/18/2004 6:57:48 PM PDT by JustPiper
Picture credit: TheCabal
"I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat"
CIA: 9/11 Plotters Transited Iran, Govt Tie Unseen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About eight of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers passed through Iran before attacking the United States, but there is no sign of official Iranian complicity, the CIA (news - web sites)'s acting director said on Sunday.
We are the "Stotters" who make ourselves aware of the enemy who wishes to do us harm
Meet It!
Greet It!
Defeat It!
Just turned on Fox11LA now.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/10/06/wbin06.xml
>>>Was it a set-up or a LEO request?
I don't know. I have the video here on my computer. It looks like it was translated by someone that speaks in a British accent. So I know StillProud didn't translate it. The English text was made into the video.
Jill, why did you need StillProud to translate the video when it already had the translation texted in?
PERSONAL OPINION: As of last night, it still was busy on the internet.
Earlier in the week it was busier.
There has not been quiet or a pause; at least I haven't seen that.
Ahmed, Saad, Ackmed, Goobly Goop....
/political incorrectness.
From your link comes this snippet:
"The company did not say whether the film had been recorded before or after the atrocities.
The tape was handed to its office in Kabul, which is one of the few media outlets still functioning in Afghanistan. Bin Laden has previously used the channel as a conduit to the outside world."
===
===
"Cindy, here's another link that supports the date you show for the photos. Those photos came from a video which according to this link could have been from either before or right after 911."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/10/06/wbin06.xml
Not really. We didn't bomb the crap out of this one...
Placemark. G'night all and stay safe.
THAT was funny!
A different volume and chapter
I thought we were supposed to be on the downside of cycle 23? LOL
After Long Review, Government Says It Found No Evidence of Suspect Trading by Terrorists
By Marcy Gordon
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - After an extensive investigation, the government has found no evidence that terrorists tried to profit from stock and options trading ahead of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday.
The SEC was among several federal agencies that investigated, starting soon after the attacks, whether such market manipulation occurred. The agencies, working with stock and options exchanges, reviewed more than 9.5 million transactions that took place during the weeks preceding Sept. 11, 2001.
"In the course of that review, we did not develop any evidence suggesting that anyone who had advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks traded on the basis of that information," the SEC said.
That conclusion, included in the final report issued Thursday by the Sept. 11 commission, was the government's first public statement on the findings of the trading probe. It could not immediately be determined when the investigation was completed.
More:
http://info.mgnetwork.com/printthispage.cgi?url=http%3A//ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBUKJTEZWD.html&oaspagename=www.tbo.com/ap/story.htm&image=tbologo80x60.jpg
The Coast Guard is now boarding and searching all foreign vessels in U.S. waters. But will it stop terrorists?
Thursday, July 22, 2004
By Jaquetta White
Business writer
For three weeks, Coast Guard Lt. Suzanne Gille has spent the better part of her days asking questions, tons of questions.
"What's behind this door?" "Why is the door locked?" "Who has the key?" "What happens if the key is lost?" she asked in rapid succession Sunday while aboard the Genmar Strength, a Liberian-flagged crude oil tanker that was anchored in the Mississippi River near Belle Chasse.
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It's not that Gille is especially curious. Asking questions is her job.
"We may ask the same question to five different people," Gille said.
Gille is part of a U.S. Coast Guard team assigned to inspect foreign-flagged ships for security compliance. Since July 1, Coast Guard inspectors such as Gille have been required to board every foreign-flagged ship calling on U.S. ports. In the past, such boardings were random.
The boardings are called for in two new regulations designed to thwart terrorism in U.S. ports.
Since July 1, the Coast Guard has boarded 1,249 foreign-flagged ships in various U.S. waters to check for their compliance with security rules. Twenty-four ships were denied entry into or expelled from the country. Another 50 were detained because they raised security concerns, such as failing to have a proper lock on the engine room. The rest were deemed safe enough to proceed to port.
In the lower Mississippi River, the Coast Guard has conducted 261 boardings. Ten ships were detained; none was turned away.
About 20 Coast Guards members in 10 teams inspect ships in the lower Mississippi.
No dogs, X-rays in use
Although many in the maritime industry say the new rules and Coast Guard boardings have already made the nation's ports and waterways safer, others have their doubts.
For example, the Coast Guard teams don't use bomb- or drug-sniffing dogs, radiation detectors or X-ray equipment. The inspectors don't pop open containers or peek behind every door. They mostly make sure the ship is adhering to its security plan, even though the inspectors cannot demand to see the plan.
That raises some red flags for Margaret Wrightson.
"We just don't know whether that process is effective yet," said Wrightson, director of homeland security and justice for the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Wrightson co-authored a congressional report released in June that studied the new regulations.
Vincent Monica, an agent for Marine Endeavors Shipping Co., the company representing the Genmar Strength in the United States, isn't sure the security inspections or the rules that come along with them have done much to improve security. Monica said ship crews have always been alert for terrorist activity because piracy still occurs.
For him the biggest change has been in the amount of paperwork that shippers have to do. Asked whether he thinks ships are safer from terrorists, he said: "If somebody wants to do something, they'll find a way."
But George Duffy, president of NSA Agencies, which is the local representative for several shipping lines, said he gives the new system an A+. He said the new regulations are enough to keep potential terrorists away.
"There's more due diligence in making sure that the ships are secure," Duffy said.
Verifying safety measures
The Coast Guard is responsible for enforcing the International Ship and Port Security Code and its domestic counterpart, the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. Both went into effect July 1. The codes require the Coast Guard to verify that each foreign ship has an alarm system, monitors its entrances and has a system to prevent people from wandering into a restricted area, such as the engine room.
Furthermore, ships must receive security certificates from their home country. Ships that don't have them can be turned back.
The new rules are not limited to vessels. Ports and other maritime transportation businesses had to submit security plans to the Coast Guard by Dec. 31. The plans detail the steps each would take to develop or improve their security plans.
During the boarding of the Genmar Strength, it was clear that inspectors were concerned about security, such as making sure the vessel has someone who monitors people boarding or leaving the ship and that the engine room has a lock.
After meeting briefly with the ship's captain, Gille inspected the Genmar Strength with the ship's first officer, Telmo Cordeiro, while her partner, Chief Warrant Officer Doug Chapman, stayed with the captain to verify security documents, including the security certificate, records of past ports of call and records of security drills.
For the most part, the inspection is only a check to ensure that the crew is working to be safer, Gille said.
"What we're looking for is intent," she said. "The purpose is to create a safe framework."
"The idea is that if there is an imminent threat, we'll prevent that as well," said Jolie Shifflet, a Coast Guard spokeswoman in Washington, D.C. But the primary purpose of the boardings is to hold vessels accountable for their own security.
"Just like when you do a safety inspection, the point is to make sure the crew has in place procedures that would make it safe and secure," Shifflet said.
Some ships 'high interest'
Shifflet said the Coast Guard seldom conducts armed boardings with dogs and radiation or X-ray equipment. Those boardings are usually reserved for "high-interest" ships. Shifflet declined to say what percentage of ships calling U.S. ports are considered high interest.
However, she said ships from Panama, Cyprus, Antigua, Bolivia, Honduras and Malta raise extra security concerns because they often have trouble passing safety and environmental checks.
Other ships, such as the Genmar Strength, are left in the hands of the Coast Guard inspectors who, despite their limited access aboard the ships, must determine whether a vessel is secure. They do that by asking questions. Lots of questions.
Many of the questions are aimed at scoping out whether the ship's crew is competent and truthful. Gille, for example, said she might ask the same question of five people to see whether the answers are consistent.
Aboard the Genmar Strength, Gille was not allowed to view the ship's security plan, which details the measures the crew has in place to improve security. To view it, Gille would need a good reason and the approval of the ship's flag state, which approved the plan. So she has to rely on a set of general security questions to determine the ship's potential threat.
"It's difficult because we're not seeing their plan," Gille said. "We have to believe what they say."
Wrightson said she is concerned because the Coast Guard is relying not only on the inspectors to ask adequate questions but also on other countries to do proper security checks before approving security plans.
The Genmar Strength eventually passed its security inspection, although it did have one minor glitch involving the crew's understanding of how to use the vessel sign-in log. The crew member in charge of controlling access at the gangway had in some cases failed to require visitors and crew members to sign out.
"There are some minor things that need to be tweaked," Gille said. "They're compliant with the code. It's just a matter of personal training. The intent is there."
. . . . . . .
Jaquetta White can be reached at jwhite@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3494.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1090485853254090.xml
Right, could even be older than 911.
And we still don't know the answer to the question, did Al Jaz somehow get the Italian site to run the photos this time, or did the Italian site just do it for some reason unknown.
But at least we know about when they were generated originally.
>>>After Long Review, Government Says It Found No Evidence of Suspect Trading by Terrorists
I DON'T believe this AT aLL! Maybe the word Terrorist needs to be DEFINED in that review.
Thank you ma'am. I try...
Soldier Home From Iraq Strikes It Rich In Lottery
"The Massachusetts National Guardsman will be getting $200,000 a year for life, thanks to a winning scratch-off lottery ticket... That $10 winning ticket will pay him about $143,000 a year after taxes."
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