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To: HipShot

Yup. Or stage a false attack on themselves via "Chechen rebels"....

Putin has been saying some strange things recently about how there really never was any problem with security of nuclear material....

hmmmmmm

He HAS to know that we know Russia gave/sold AQ the nukes and other....and if/when one goes off, the source can be confirmed...

No wonder he is talking about their wonderful defense systems!


3,025 posted on 08/19/2004 10:52:43 AM PDT by jerseygirl
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To: All

From Mutter's RE North Korea:






Downer's North Korea mission fails


By Catherine Armitage
August 19, 2004


THE international effort to end the North Korean nuclear crisis appears at risk of unravelling, despite Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's high-profile mission to the secretive Stalinist state.

North Korea declined to commit to even attending the next round of scheduled six-nation talks on nuclear disarmament, and gave Mr Downer only negative messages to convey to the US.

Mr Downer emerged from four hours of talks with North Korean counterpart Paek Nam-Sun and National Assembly president Kim Yong Nam declaring his much-hyped mission to Pyongyang to be "highly productive" and the North Koreans "interested and reflective".

But there appeared to be no positive outcomes.

Mr Downer said it "remains to be seen" whether the North will attend the next round of six-nation talks in Beijing, which had been scheduled for September or October.

He said it was disappointing that the North Koreans still had not committed to attending a working-level technical meeting that was meant to take place before the formal talks. "But they have not said they will not attend," he said.

And the North Koreans remained "pretty negative" about a June deal offered by the US, asking him to "relay messages about areas of disagreement".

The crisis erupted two years ago when the US said Pyongyang had admitted to conducting a secret nuclear program in contravention of international agreements.

It has since denied the admission, thrown out United Nations nuclear weapons inspectors, withdrawn from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and threatened to launch a nuclear attack.

After a year of glacial progress in talks involving South Korea, Japan, Russia and China, as well as North Korea and the US, Washington at the most recent session in June proposed that Pyongyang commit to dismantling its nuclear facilities and freeze their development within three months, after which it would receive US aid.

But the North is thought to be stalling in the hope of a better offer if US President George W. Bush loses November's presidential election. Democratic candidate John Kerry has criticised Mr Bush's insistence on multi-nation talks, raising the prospect that he would negotiate with North Korea one-on-one.

Mr Downer urged North Korea to focus on its "common elements" with the US position: a nuclear freeze and eventual dismantling of nuclear programs, economic assistance, lifting of sanctions and a security guarantee.

The Australian



news.com.au/common/story_...01,00.html



3,026 posted on 08/19/2004 10:57:30 AM PDT by jerseygirl
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To: jerseygirl; All; gopwinsin04
From the "holiest of holys, now holier than ever" department:

Smoke Billowing from Imam Ali Mosque!

CNN producer says area around Mosque has been decimated.

Moqtada Al Sadr may not be inside mosque after all, damage for now has been restricted to the two minarets. (long pole like thingys on the outside)

US Marines now 'ringing' the mosque.. (dont know if that means a telephone call or bullet wise)

Could be a final warning telephone call

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1194722/posts

3,028 posted on 08/19/2004 11:01:07 AM PDT by HipShot (EOM couldn't cut the head off a beer with a chainsaw)
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Airport Screener Training Laptops Stolen In SeaTac
POSTED: 5:48 am PDT August 19, 2004

SEATTLE -- Six laptop computers containing sensitive information used in training for airport screeners have been stolen, but the degree to which security was compromised remains unclear, The Seattle Times reported.

A trainer who reported the theft called it a "breach of national security." A spokesman for the training contractor, Lockheed Martin, denied the loss posed a security risk. An FBI spokeswoman said the agency initially decided not to investigate but might reconsider.

The Times did not identify the trainer and said she could not be contacted.

The theft is being investigated by the internal affairs section of the Transportation Security Administration, spokeswoman Jennifer Marty, declining to give more details.

The case involves laptops similar to one that was reported stolen last fall from a hotel meeting room in Philadelphia during a break in a training session, The Times reported Thursday.

According to an investigation report by a King County sheriff's deputy, a Lockheed Martin trainer reported six laptops were taken July 28, a day after a training session at the Doubletree Hotel near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The trainer told deputies she asked that the laptops and other equipment be placed in a storage area after the session, only to find that the aluminum shipping crate containing the six computers was gone the next day.

She said she was "astounded" to learn that the storage area was easily accessible, 10 feet from the hotel's back door and open to employees.

According to the investigation report, the trainer said "the computers contained training information concerning airport security and training methods for airport screeners."

The Transportation Security Administration requires that such laptops be kept in secure places, such as a locked hotel room, locked car trunk or locked training room, and that they be password-protected with additional password security for training documents.

Trainers are told to report thefts of the devices as a risk to national security to assure FBI attention, Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Wendy Owen told The Times.

"When we talk 'sensitive,' we're talking about information we prefer not to have out there but obviously not detrimental to the safety and security of the nation in any way, shape or form," Owen said.

TSA employees said the laptops contained "sensitive security information," a term defined by the Department of Homeland Security as material that could be "detrimental to the safety of passengers in transportation."

Owen said the information consisted of TSA screener training programs that typically include instruction in how to read X-ray machines and how to use a metal detection wand -- details which agency employees said could help a terrorist evade security measures.

"You're basically looking at a blueprint of the training process for TSA," said Carlos Yeager, a former Sea-Tac screener. "That's shocking. That's not supposed to be out there for everybody to have."

FBI Agent Roberta Burroughs said that after being assured by Lockheed Martin and TSA the laptops contained "nothing sensitive, the agency decided last week not to get involved in the case.

With Lockheed Martin acknowledging that sensitive material was involved, that decision could change, Burroughs said.

"It is certainly interesting," she said.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/3665551/detail.html

3,032 posted on 08/19/2004 11:08:02 AM PDT by Oorang ( Those who trade liberty for security have neither)
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