CIA Bomber's Wife: War Must Go On Against U.S. - TIME: "(ISTANBUL) — The Turkish wife of a Jordanian doctor who killed seven CIA employees in a suicide attack in Afghanistan says her husband was outraged over the treatment of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison and the U.S.-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Defne Bayrak, the wife of bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, said in an interview with The Associated Press that his hatred of the United States had motivated her husband to sacrifice his life on Dec. 30 in what he regarded as a holy war against the U.S."...
Friday, January 08, 2010
S. Korea to Transfer UAV, Missile Technologies to UAE | NOSInt
S. Korea to Transfer UAV, Missile Technologies to UAE | NOSInt: "Korea promised to transfer technology for its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), following its successful bid to build four nuclear reactors in the Middle East nation, a government source said Thursday.
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young made the commitment during his visit to the UAE in November to discuss bilateral defense issues as well as to support the landmark $20 billion deal, the source told The Korea Times.
Kim also offered to provide key arms technologies related to the homegrown Hyunmoo ballistic and cruise missiles to the UAE as part of efforts to expand defense cooperation between the two countries, he said on condition of anonymity."
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young made the commitment during his visit to the UAE in November to discuss bilateral defense issues as well as to support the landmark $20 billion deal, the source told The Korea Times.
Kim also offered to provide key arms technologies related to the homegrown Hyunmoo ballistic and cruise missiles to the UAE as part of efforts to expand defense cooperation between the two countries, he said on condition of anonymity."
The American Conservative -- No Exit
The American Conservative -- No Exit: "President Obama’s decision to escalate U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan earned him at most two muted cheers from Washington’s warrior-pundits. Sure, the president had acceded to Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s request for more troops. Already in its ninth year, Operation Enduring Freedom was therefore guaranteed to endure for years to come. The Long War begun on George W. Bush’s watch with expectations of transforming the Greater Middle East gained a new lease on life, its purpose reduced to the generic one of “keeping America safe.”
Yet the Long War’s most ardent supporters found fault with Obama’s words and demeanor. The president had failed to convey the requisite enthusiasm for sending young Americans to fight and die on the far side of the world while simultaneously increasing by several hundred billion dollars the debt imposed on future generations here at home. “Has there ever been a call to arms more dispiriting, a trumpet more uncertain?” asked a querulous Charles Krauthammer. Obama ought to have demonstrated some of the old “bring ’em on” spirit that served the previous administration so well. “We cannot prevail without a commander in chief committed to success,” wrote Krauthammer."...
[bth: worth reading in full.]
Yet the Long War’s most ardent supporters found fault with Obama’s words and demeanor. The president had failed to convey the requisite enthusiasm for sending young Americans to fight and die on the far side of the world while simultaneously increasing by several hundred billion dollars the debt imposed on future generations here at home. “Has there ever been a call to arms more dispiriting, a trumpet more uncertain?” asked a querulous Charles Krauthammer. Obama ought to have demonstrated some of the old “bring ’em on” spirit that served the previous administration so well. “We cannot prevail without a commander in chief committed to success,” wrote Krauthammer."...
[bth: worth reading in full.]
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Did Pakistani Spies Help CIA Bomber? - Page 2 - The Daily Beast
Did Pakistani Spies Help CIA Bomber? - Page 2 - The Daily Beast:... "The Afghan charges of ISI involvement in the deadly attack comes at a bad time for America’s putative ally, Pakistan. Only three weeks ago, Pakistan rebuffed a personal request from President Obama to target strongholds of 29-year-old Sirajuddin Haqqani, the son of a legendary mujahideen commander of the 1980s, now considered a major facilitator and supporter of the Taliban and al Qaeda. The proposal was first outlined in a letter from Obama to Pakistan’s President Zardari. It was hand-delivered by General Jim Jones, Obama’s national security adviser. General David Petraeus, the senior U.S. military commander, followed up with a personal meeting with General Ashfaq Kayani, chief of the Pakistani military. Yet despite all the arm-twisting, and a $5 million reward on Haqqani’s head by the U.S., the Pakistanis said no. A senior Pakistani security official told The Times of London that any confrontation with Haqqani could create more problems for the overstretched Pakistani Army. “We have drawn a red line and would not accept any cross-border strikes by U.S. forces.”
On December 30, the day of the attack on the CIA post, Afghan and international military forces seized several Taliban and Haqqani commanders near Khost, not far from Base Chapman, where the CIA officers planned to meet the Jordanian double agent. That led to initial speculation that the Haqqani network was behind the CIA attack, a view that some in American intelligence still hold. A Haqqani link would not exclude an ISI role in making the bomb. Jalaluddin Haqqani, Sirajuddin’s father, had extensive ties to Pakistani, U.S., and Saudi intelligence agencies. A senior U.S. intelligence analyst told The Daily Beast that the Haqqanis have worked with Pakistan’s ISI for more than 20 years."...
On December 30, the day of the attack on the CIA post, Afghan and international military forces seized several Taliban and Haqqani commanders near Khost, not far from Base Chapman, where the CIA officers planned to meet the Jordanian double agent. That led to initial speculation that the Haqqani network was behind the CIA attack, a view that some in American intelligence still hold. A Haqqani link would not exclude an ISI role in making the bomb. Jalaluddin Haqqani, Sirajuddin’s father, had extensive ties to Pakistani, U.S., and Saudi intelligence agencies. A senior U.S. intelligence analyst told The Daily Beast that the Haqqanis have worked with Pakistan’s ISI for more than 20 years."...
National security adviser: Airline bomber report to 'shock' - USATODAY.com
National security adviser: Airline bomber report to 'shock' - USATODAY.com: "WASHINGTON — White House national security adviser James Jones says Americans will feel 'a certain shock' when they read an account being released Thursday of the missed clues that could have prevented the alleged Christmas Day bomber from ever boarding the plane.
President Obama 'is legitimately and correctly alarmed that things that were available, bits of information that were available, patterns of behavior that were available, were not acted on,' Jones said in an interview Wednesday with USA TODAY."...
President Obama 'is legitimately and correctly alarmed that things that were available, bits of information that were available, patterns of behavior that were available, were not acted on,' Jones said in an interview Wednesday with USA TODAY."...
NCTC director Michael Leiter remained on ski slopes after Christmas Day airline bombing attempt
NCTC director Michael Leiter remained on ski slopes after Christmas Day airline bombing attempt: "The top official in charge of analyzing terror threats did not cut short his ski vacation after the underwear bomber nearly blew up an airliner on Christmas Day, the Daily News has learned.
Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center since 2007, decided not to return to his agency's 'bat cave' nerve center in McLean, Va., until several days after Christmas, two U.S. officials said.
'People have been grumbling that he didn't let a little terrorism interrupt his vacation,' said one of the sources.
The NCTC, the post-9/11 clearinghouse for intelligence to detect terror plots against the U.S., is under intense scrutiny for failing to 'connect the dots' on Nigerian bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab."...
[bth: Mr Obama here is one candidate for firing. Please hold somebody to account.]
Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center since 2007, decided not to return to his agency's 'bat cave' nerve center in McLean, Va., until several days after Christmas, two U.S. officials said.
'People have been grumbling that he didn't let a little terrorism interrupt his vacation,' said one of the sources.
The NCTC, the post-9/11 clearinghouse for intelligence to detect terror plots against the U.S., is under intense scrutiny for failing to 'connect the dots' on Nigerian bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab."...
[bth: Mr Obama here is one candidate for firing. Please hold somebody to account.]
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Suicide bombing kills 6 Russian police, wounds 16 - World news- msnbc.com
Suicide bombing kills 6 Russian police, wounds 16 - World news- msnbc.com: "MAKHACHKALA, Russia - A suicide bomber blew up an explosives-packed car at a police station in Russia's troubled North Caucasus on Wednesday, killing six officers and wounding at least 16 people, officials said.
The officers who died took action to prevent far greater devastation at the traffic police station on the outskirts of Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, where 150 officers were lined up outside for roll call at the time of the attack, city police chief Col. Shamil Guseinov said.
The bomber detonated the explosives at the station gate after police stopped him from driving through, Guseinov said. Those killed were at the gate, including three officers in a police jeep that blocked the attacker's path, he said."...
[bth: is there any reason to think the US will be spared this type of attack? When it happens will our delicate psyche be able to handle it?]
The officers who died took action to prevent far greater devastation at the traffic police station on the outskirts of Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, where 150 officers were lined up outside for roll call at the time of the attack, city police chief Col. Shamil Guseinov said.
The bomber detonated the explosives at the station gate after police stopped him from driving through, Guseinov said. Those killed were at the gate, including three officers in a police jeep that blocked the attacker's path, he said."...
[bth: is there any reason to think the US will be spared this type of attack? When it happens will our delicate psyche be able to handle it?]
Afghan minibus bomb kills 14 militants
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan - Afghan minibus bomb kills 14 militants: "KUNDUZ: Fourteen militants were killed in Afghanistan’s increasingly war-torn north when explosives detonated prematurely in a minibus being used by Taliban fighters, officials said on Tuesday.
“Fourteen Taliban placing explosives into a minibus were killed yesterday evening when the bomb went off,” said Abdul Rizaq Yaqubi, police chief of northern Kunduz province. “The bomb exploded while they were working to build a car bomb,” he added. The incident happened near Kunduz city in northern Afghanistan where Taliban-linked violence has increased steadily, having expanded from the traditional heartland in the south. In 2009, Afghanistan’s insurgency reached an eight-year high. Kunduz Governor Mohammad Omar confirmed the incident and the number of casualties. afp"
[bth: good]
“Fourteen Taliban placing explosives into a minibus were killed yesterday evening when the bomb went off,” said Abdul Rizaq Yaqubi, police chief of northern Kunduz province. “The bomb exploded while they were working to build a car bomb,” he added. The incident happened near Kunduz city in northern Afghanistan where Taliban-linked violence has increased steadily, having expanded from the traditional heartland in the south. In 2009, Afghanistan’s insurgency reached an eight-year high. Kunduz Governor Mohammad Omar confirmed the incident and the number of casualties. afp"
[bth: good]
CIA bomber coerced to work for Jordan spy agency - World - TheState.com
CIA bomber coerced to work for Jordan spy agency - World - TheState.com:... "The doctor also spoke openly about wanting to die in a holy war, Yousef said, adding that in Internet postings he called tirelessly for jihad against Israel and the United States.
'If the love of jihad entered a man's heart, it will not abandon him, even if he wanted so,' al-Balawi said in an interview published by the Ana Al-Muslim, or 'I, the Muslim,' Web site.
Jordanian intelligence was aware of these provocative statements when they arrested al-Balawi last March after he signed up for a humanitarian mission to the Gaza Strip with a Jordanian field hospital in the wake of Israel's offensive there, the counterterrorism officials said.
Al-Balawi was jailed for three days and shortly after that, he secretly left his native Jordan for Afghanistan, they said, suggesting he had agreed to take on the mission against al-Qaida.
Once in Afghanistan, al-Balawi provided valuable intelligence information that helped foil al-Qaida terror plots on Jordan, the officials said. His Jordanian recruiters then offered al-Balawi to their CIA allies as someone who would help them capture or kill al-Zawahri.
A former senior U.S. intelligence official said al-Balawi had provided high-quality intelligence that established his credibility with Jordanian and U.S. intelligence.
The former official said that information led to drone-launched missile strikes that led the CIA to kill a number of al-Qaida leaders. CBS News first reported al-Balawi's connection to the missile strikes."...
[bth: so he was coerced into spying for Jordan and the US.... So why wasn't he searched?]
'If the love of jihad entered a man's heart, it will not abandon him, even if he wanted so,' al-Balawi said in an interview published by the Ana Al-Muslim, or 'I, the Muslim,' Web site.
Jordanian intelligence was aware of these provocative statements when they arrested al-Balawi last March after he signed up for a humanitarian mission to the Gaza Strip with a Jordanian field hospital in the wake of Israel's offensive there, the counterterrorism officials said.
Al-Balawi was jailed for three days and shortly after that, he secretly left his native Jordan for Afghanistan, they said, suggesting he had agreed to take on the mission against al-Qaida.
Once in Afghanistan, al-Balawi provided valuable intelligence information that helped foil al-Qaida terror plots on Jordan, the officials said. His Jordanian recruiters then offered al-Balawi to their CIA allies as someone who would help them capture or kill al-Zawahri.
A former senior U.S. intelligence official said al-Balawi had provided high-quality intelligence that established his credibility with Jordanian and U.S. intelligence.
The former official said that information led to drone-launched missile strikes that led the CIA to kill a number of al-Qaida leaders. CBS News first reported al-Balawi's connection to the missile strikes."...
[bth: so he was coerced into spying for Jordan and the US.... So why wasn't he searched?]
US revokes plane bombing suspect’s visa | Antiwar Newswire
US revokes plane bombing suspect’s visa | Antiwar Newswire: "The State Department says it has revoked the U.S. visa of the Nigerian man suspected of trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight over Detroit on Christmas Day."
Spokesman P.J. Crowley said Tuesday that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's visa was one of several the agency has revoked since the Dec. 25 incident as the result of a review into security procedures ordered by President Barack Obama. Crowley would not say when the decision on Abdulmutallab's visa was made or how many others had been withdrawn.
The review was ordered to fix failures in the security process that allowed Abdulmutallab to board the plane with a valid U.S. visa. Abdulmutallab's visa had not been revoked despite the fact that his father warned U.S. officials in Nigeria in November that his son had fallen under the influence of extremists in Yemen.
[bth: so two weeks after he tries to blow up a plane we revoke his visa. Great going State Dept.]
Suspect in Deaths of 5 G.I.’s Is Freed, Iraqi Official Says - NYTimes.com
Suspect in Deaths of 5 G.I.’s Is Freed, Iraqi Official Says - NYTimes.com: "BAGHDAD — An Iraqi accused of being behind the killings in 2007 of five American soldiers has been released by the Iraqi government, according to an Iraqi official."
“According to my personal information, he was released two days ago,” the official, Alaa al-Taei, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said Tuesday.
The suspect, Qais al-Khazali, is accused of being a leader of a militia, Asa’ib al-Haq, or the League of the Righteous. He was transferred from American military custody to Iraqi hands last week.
That transfer came hours before the militia released a British computer expert, Peter Moore, whom it had held for two and a half years.
The American military and the Iraqi government have denied that the transfer was part of a deal for Mr. Moore’s release. The remains of three of the four men kidnapped with him have been recovered; the Iraqi authorities said they were close to a deal for clarity on the fate of the last man.
Calls to the Iraqi government Tuesday night to confirm the release of Mr. Khazali were not immediately returned. Some people connected with Mr. Khazali contended Tuesday night that he had not yet been set free....
[bth: this guy's get out of jail card came down to assisting the Min. of Interior in Iraq to loot funds from the public coffer, some say in the billions, then kidnap Brits so you can get away with murdering 5 Americans while dressed as Iraqi soldiers. We say we don't deal with terrorists, but this is clearly what happened. A Mass. soldier's dad waited over a year while American soldiers hunted for him. His body was later recovered. ... We let his killer out of jail, out of the justice system and to go freely to Iran.]
DOD Funds WPI Prosthetics Development | Worcester Business Journal
DOD Funds WPI Prosthetics Development | Worcester Business Journal: "Worcester Polytechnic Institute will use a $1.6 million allocation from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop advanced prosthetic limbs.
The money will go to WPI's Center for Neuroprosthetics and BioMEMS, which is part of the WPI Bioengineering Institute. The center's efforts are laying the groundwork for prosthetic limbs that will be fully integrated with the body and nervous systems and look and function like natural limbs.
As part of the DOD's recently approved appropriations bill, the allocation was sponsored by U.S. Sen. John Kerry, U.S. Sen. Paul G. Kirk and U.S. Rep. James McGovern. The allocation will be directed by the U.S. Army.
At WPI, the allocation will fund work on neural control for the advance prosthetics.
Dennis Berkey, WPI's president and CEO, noted in a statement that the neuroprosthetics center was launched with government funding secured in part by former U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.
In all, 30 WPI researchers from several science and engineering disciplines are currently working on projects related to neuroprosthetics.
The work focuses on regenerating soft tissue for use around an implanted limb and using engineered micro-wires to support stem cells and the regeneration of nerves. By regenerating nerves, researchers say it may be possible to connect prosthetic limbs directly to the nervous system."
The money will go to WPI's Center for Neuroprosthetics and BioMEMS, which is part of the WPI Bioengineering Institute. The center's efforts are laying the groundwork for prosthetic limbs that will be fully integrated with the body and nervous systems and look and function like natural limbs.
As part of the DOD's recently approved appropriations bill, the allocation was sponsored by U.S. Sen. John Kerry, U.S. Sen. Paul G. Kirk and U.S. Rep. James McGovern. The allocation will be directed by the U.S. Army.
At WPI, the allocation will fund work on neural control for the advance prosthetics.
Dennis Berkey, WPI's president and CEO, noted in a statement that the neuroprosthetics center was launched with government funding secured in part by former U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.
In all, 30 WPI researchers from several science and engineering disciplines are currently working on projects related to neuroprosthetics.
The work focuses on regenerating soft tissue for use around an implanted limb and using engineered micro-wires to support stem cells and the regeneration of nerves. By regenerating nerves, researchers say it may be possible to connect prosthetic limbs directly to the nervous system."
Comedy Of Errors: Cameras Didn't Work At Newark - wcbstv.com
Comedy Of Errors: Cameras Didn't Work At Newark - wcbstv.com: "t's a tale of shocking ineptitude: CBS 2 has learned a series of missteps unnecessarily added to the mayhem at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday. The six-hour delay stranded thousands of people, creating extreme crowding and chaos.
The mistakes made at the airport give new meaning to the term 'domino effect.' It was a cascading series of missteps that cry out for action.
The sign at the Transportation Security Administration screening post at Newark read: 'Premises Under Constant Video Surveillance.'
What is should add is: 'If We're Lucky.'
That's because CBS 2 has learned that when an unidentified man breached a secure area at Newark on Sunday night, delaying thousands of passengers for hours, the TSA cameras weren't working.
That's right – they weren't even recording, sources said, and needed a reboot, which the agency apparently didn't ask for. That set off a chain reaction of even more missteps that caused needless chaos and inconvenience for several thousand hapless passengers."...
[bth: WTF?]
The mistakes made at the airport give new meaning to the term 'domino effect.' It was a cascading series of missteps that cry out for action.
The sign at the Transportation Security Administration screening post at Newark read: 'Premises Under Constant Video Surveillance.'
What is should add is: 'If We're Lucky.'
That's because CBS 2 has learned that when an unidentified man breached a secure area at Newark on Sunday night, delaying thousands of passengers for hours, the TSA cameras weren't working.
That's right – they weren't even recording, sources said, and needed a reboot, which the agency apparently didn't ask for. That set off a chain reaction of even more missteps that caused needless chaos and inconvenience for several thousand hapless passengers."...
[bth: WTF?]
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Surge in casualties predicted in Afghanistan - Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times
Surge in casualties predicted in Afghanistan - Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times: "Americans should prepare to accept hundreds of U.S. casualties each month in Afghanistan during spring offensives with enemy forces.
The dire forecast was made by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, an adjunct professor of international affairs at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, in a periodic assessment of political and security issues he has conducted in the war zone since 2003.
“What I want to do is signal that this thing is going to be $5 billion to $10 billion a month and 300 to 500 killed and wounded a month by next summer. That’s what we probably should expect. And that’s light casualties,” said McCaffrey, who is also president of his own consulting firm in Arlington, Va., and has conducted numerous trips to the war zones to assess the political and military challenges at hand.
As of Dec. 20, there had been 305 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan in 2009, the large majority of those due to hostile action. The number of wounded as of the same date for 2009 was 2,102, with more than half of those unable to return to duty."...
[bth: the generals are setting the stage]
The dire forecast was made by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, an adjunct professor of international affairs at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, in a periodic assessment of political and security issues he has conducted in the war zone since 2003.
“What I want to do is signal that this thing is going to be $5 billion to $10 billion a month and 300 to 500 killed and wounded a month by next summer. That’s what we probably should expect. And that’s light casualties,” said McCaffrey, who is also president of his own consulting firm in Arlington, Va., and has conducted numerous trips to the war zones to assess the political and military challenges at hand.
As of Dec. 20, there had been 305 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan in 2009, the large majority of those due to hostile action. The number of wounded as of the same date for 2009 was 2,102, with more than half of those unable to return to duty."...
[bth: the generals are setting the stage]
Reuters AlertNet - US spy effort in Afghanistan 'ignorant'- US report
Reuters AlertNet - US spy effort in Afghanistan 'ignorant'- US report: "WASHINGTON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. military's intelligence chief in Afghanistan sharply criticized the work of U.S. spy agencies there on Monday, calling them ignorant and out of touch with the Afghan people.
In a report issued by the Center for New American Security think tank, Major General Michael Flynn, deputy chief of staff for intelligence in Afghanistan for the U.S. military and its NATO allies, offered a bleak assessment of the intelligence community's role in the 8-year-old war.
He described U.S. intelligence officials there as 'ignorant of local economics and landowners, hazy about who the powerbrokers are and how they might be influenced ... and disengaged from people in the best position to find answers.'
An operations officer was quoted in the report as calling the United States 'clueless' because of a lack of needed intelligence about the country."...
[bth: what is the major general trying to accomplish? I'd tend to agree with him except to state the obvious the US military with all of its vast resources should be able to assist in the intel world and also it bears mentioning that the US Army let OBL escape at Tora Bora despite pleas for resources when the CIA and rented Afghan allies had him cornered. Plus I'm not at all sure that the US military can do much in Pakistan whereas the CIA has greater operational latitude. So I wonder, what is this guy MG Flynn trying to accomplish by making such a public statement?]
In a report issued by the Center for New American Security think tank, Major General Michael Flynn, deputy chief of staff for intelligence in Afghanistan for the U.S. military and its NATO allies, offered a bleak assessment of the intelligence community's role in the 8-year-old war.
He described U.S. intelligence officials there as 'ignorant of local economics and landowners, hazy about who the powerbrokers are and how they might be influenced ... and disengaged from people in the best position to find answers.'
An operations officer was quoted in the report as calling the United States 'clueless' because of a lack of needed intelligence about the country."...
[bth: what is the major general trying to accomplish? I'd tend to agree with him except to state the obvious the US military with all of its vast resources should be able to assist in the intel world and also it bears mentioning that the US Army let OBL escape at Tora Bora despite pleas for resources when the CIA and rented Afghan allies had him cornered. Plus I'm not at all sure that the US military can do much in Pakistan whereas the CIA has greater operational latitude. So I wonder, what is this guy MG Flynn trying to accomplish by making such a public statement?]
British P.M. ‘Appalled’ by Protest Plan - NYTimes.com
British P.M. ‘Appalled’ by Protest Plan - NYTimes.com: "LONDON — A radical Islamic group planning a protest march through the streets of a town that has achieved iconic status in Britain for honoring the passing hearses of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan ran into a stiff rebuff from the British government on Monday."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a statement saying he was “personally appalled” by the group’s plan to march through the streets of Wootton Bassett, a town 70 miles west of London where townspeople have lined the sidewalks since April 2007 to mourn the passing corteges of British military casualties flown home to the nearby military airbase at Lyneham.
“Wootton Bassett has a special significance for us all at this time, as it has been the scene of the repatriation of many members of our armed forces who have tragically fallen,” Mr. Brown said. “Any attempt to use this location to cause further distress and suffering to those who have lost loved ones would be abhorrent and offensive.”
Home Secretary Alan Johnson, who is responsible for the police, said in a separate statement that he would support any request from the police or local government officials to ban the march. “I find it particularly offensive that the town, which has acted in such a moving and dignified way in paying tribute to our troops who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country should be targeted in this manner,” he said.
Plans for staging the march were laid out in a letter sent by Anjem Choudary, the leader of a group called Islam4UK, to the families of the 246 British soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the toppling of the Taliban in 2001. The organization describes itself as a “platform” for promoting the views of an extremist Islamic group, Al Muhajiroun, which praised the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States as heroes, but disbanded in 2005 in response to a British government order banning it.
A statement on the organization’s Web site said the march would be held “not in memory of the occupying and merciless British military, but rather the real war dead who have been shunned by the Western media and general public as they were and continue to be horrifically murdered in the name of democracy and freedom, the innocent Muslim men, women and children.”
Mr. Choudary, a 42-year-old lawyer and the British-born son of a Pakistani immigrant, did not say when the march would take place, but in his letter to the families of the dead soldiers, he spelled out his reasons for proposing it....
Monday, January 04, 2010
Sic Semper Tyrannis : The CIA and the passion of the wogs.
Sic Semper Tyrannis : The CIA and the passion of the wogs.: "'Last week, according to the Western officials, al-Balawi reportedly called his handler to say he needed to meet with the CIA’s team based in Khost, Afghanistan, because he said he had urgent information he needed to relay about Zawahiri.
His handler was a senior intelligence official, identified in Jordanian press accounts as Sharif Ali bin Zeid.
But bin Zeid was not just a Jordanian intelligence officer; he was also a member of the Jordanian royal family and was a first cousin of the king and grandnephew of the first king Abdullah.' MSNBC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes. Captain Sharif Ali bin Zeid, was a relative of the Zeid bin Shakir whom I previously mentioned.
Well, folks, in spite of all the self-serving bilge from CIA historians and Mike Scheuer (it's all about us - really!) this is a major set-back, AND A COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY ONE. Who is the juvenile ass that was running this operation?
The CIA decided that the 'take' sounded so appealing that they would bring this foreign espionage agent, recruited by the Jordanians but not a Jordanian intelligence man, into the CIA's operating base near the Pakistan border for de-briefing? They did it because he wanted it that way? HELLO!! Anyone home here? Anyone? They drove him from Pakistan? From the Quetta area? Hello!!
First of all, if they could pick him up, then they could have taken him to another location in Afghanistan, the region, Jordan or ANYWHERE ELSE but the damned base where the field team was located. What were they going to do, stage a dinner in his honor at the base? Were they going to dress him up in some uniform (an old CIA trick) to make him feel good?
What would have been wrong with de-briefing him in some distant place with the team sitting in by VTR?
Heads should roll, those that are left among the people who had any part in these stupidities. pl"
[bth: this from Col. Lang. This is looking ike a botch up by CIA for letting this double agent in so close to key CIA targets without being searched.]
His handler was a senior intelligence official, identified in Jordanian press accounts as Sharif Ali bin Zeid.
But bin Zeid was not just a Jordanian intelligence officer; he was also a member of the Jordanian royal family and was a first cousin of the king and grandnephew of the first king Abdullah.' MSNBC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes. Captain Sharif Ali bin Zeid, was a relative of the Zeid bin Shakir whom I previously mentioned.
Well, folks, in spite of all the self-serving bilge from CIA historians and Mike Scheuer (it's all about us - really!) this is a major set-back, AND A COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY ONE. Who is the juvenile ass that was running this operation?
The CIA decided that the 'take' sounded so appealing that they would bring this foreign espionage agent, recruited by the Jordanians but not a Jordanian intelligence man, into the CIA's operating base near the Pakistan border for de-briefing? They did it because he wanted it that way? HELLO!! Anyone home here? Anyone? They drove him from Pakistan? From the Quetta area? Hello!!
First of all, if they could pick him up, then they could have taken him to another location in Afghanistan, the region, Jordan or ANYWHERE ELSE but the damned base where the field team was located. What were they going to do, stage a dinner in his honor at the base? Were they going to dress him up in some uniform (an old CIA trick) to make him feel good?
What would have been wrong with de-briefing him in some distant place with the team sitting in by VTR?
Heads should roll, those that are left among the people who had any part in these stupidities. pl"
[bth: this from Col. Lang. This is looking ike a botch up by CIA for letting this double agent in so close to key CIA targets without being searched.]
NBC: Al-Qaida double-agent killed CIA officers - Afghanistan- msnbc.com
NBC: Al-Qaida double-agent killed CIA officers - Afghanistan- msnbc.com: "The suicide bombing on a CIA base in Afghanistan last week was carried out by a Jordanian doctor who was an al-Qaida double-agent, Western intelligence officials told NBC News.
Initial reports said that the attack, which killed seven CIA officers, was carried out by a member of the Afghan National Army.
According to Western intelligence officials, the perpetrator was Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, 36, an al-Qaida sympathizer from Zarqa, which is also the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant Islamist believed responsible for several devastating attacks in Iraq.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here
Al-Balawi was arrested by Jordanian intelligence more than a year ago. He had moderated the main al-Qaida chat forum before his arrest and was known online as Abu Dujanah al-Khurasan"...
Initial reports said that the attack, which killed seven CIA officers, was carried out by a member of the Afghan National Army.
According to Western intelligence officials, the perpetrator was Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, 36, an al-Qaida sympathizer from Zarqa, which is also the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant Islamist believed responsible for several devastating attacks in Iraq.
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Al-Balawi was arrested by Jordanian intelligence more than a year ago. He had moderated the main al-Qaida chat forum before his arrest and was known online as Abu Dujanah al-Khurasan"...
securities fraud - stock fraud |LawyersandSettlements.com
securities fraud - stock fraud |LawyersandSettlements.com: "Westbury, NY: A so-called 'pump-and-dump' stock fraud scheme that allegedly helped furnish a luxurious lifestyle for the former chairman and chief executive of DHB Industries will have another day in court early in the new year. The securities fraud litigation alleges that David H. Brooks was involved in fraudulently draining millions from the business, according to the December 31 issue of Newsday."
Brooks founded and formerly headed DHB Industries, a body armor company originally based in the Westbury area of New York but now headquartered in Florida under the name Point Blank Solutions Inc. Brooks left the company in 2006 after being charged with numerous counts of tax, accounting and securities fraud.
According to Newsday, Brooks earned $185 million in 2004 by knowingly making false claims about the company in an assumed effort to pump up the value of its stock. Brooks reportedly pleaded not guilty to the charges and, according to Newsday, is currently under house arrest in his Manhattan apartment.
He is scheduled to go on trial for criminal charges in late January. Another court dated related to the case is set for January 15.
Last August, shareholders settled another class action lawsuit against the company and Brooks for $35 million. However, US District Judge Joanna Seybert made the order of payment against DHB Industries, not Brooks, the alleged perpetrator of the securities fraud. As a result, an appeal has been launched with the intent of holding Brooks liable for the $35 million settlement. A federal appeals court in Manhattan will hear the appeal prior to the start of Brooks' criminal trial.
A lawyer involved in the case told Newsday that the appeal would be a worthy test of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which dictates a higher accountability from company executives. DHB had indemnified Brooks from having to make the payment. Sarbanes-Oxley requires chief executives and chief financial officers to forgo their stock market profits earned during periods when certified financial statements have been falsified, as prosecutors allege.
In indemnifying Brooks, the company is accused of flouting the law.
DHB, now doing business as Point Blank Solutions, is the largest manufacturer of protective body armor in the US for troops currently stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
[bth: Brooks made bad body armor, chiseled the quality assurance in 2003/04, drove up the stock price, dumped the stock before the military acted on the problem (even though they seem to have known about it) and made well over $100 million - perhaps $180 million personally. Ironically the government tags him on securities fraud. Its like getting Al Capone on tax evasion.]
Brooks founded and formerly headed DHB Industries, a body armor company originally based in the Westbury area of New York but now headquartered in Florida under the name Point Blank Solutions Inc. Brooks left the company in 2006 after being charged with numerous counts of tax, accounting and securities fraud.
According to Newsday, Brooks earned $185 million in 2004 by knowingly making false claims about the company in an assumed effort to pump up the value of its stock. Brooks reportedly pleaded not guilty to the charges and, according to Newsday, is currently under house arrest in his Manhattan apartment.
He is scheduled to go on trial for criminal charges in late January. Another court dated related to the case is set for January 15.
Last August, shareholders settled another class action lawsuit against the company and Brooks for $35 million. However, US District Judge Joanna Seybert made the order of payment against DHB Industries, not Brooks, the alleged perpetrator of the securities fraud. As a result, an appeal has been launched with the intent of holding Brooks liable for the $35 million settlement. A federal appeals court in Manhattan will hear the appeal prior to the start of Brooks' criminal trial.
A lawyer involved in the case told Newsday that the appeal would be a worthy test of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which dictates a higher accountability from company executives. DHB had indemnified Brooks from having to make the payment. Sarbanes-Oxley requires chief executives and chief financial officers to forgo their stock market profits earned during periods when certified financial statements have been falsified, as prosecutors allege.
In indemnifying Brooks, the company is accused of flouting the law.
DHB, now doing business as Point Blank Solutions, is the largest manufacturer of protective body armor in the US for troops currently stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
[bth: Brooks made bad body armor, chiseled the quality assurance in 2003/04, drove up the stock price, dumped the stock before the military acted on the problem (even though they seem to have known about it) and made well over $100 million - perhaps $180 million personally. Ironically the government tags him on securities fraud. Its like getting Al Capone on tax evasion.]
U.S. growth prospects deemed bleak in new decade | Reuters
U.S. growth prospects deemed bleak in new decade | Reuters:.... "Many predicted U.S. gross domestic product would expand less than 2 percent per year over the next 10 years. That stands in sharp contrast to the immediate aftermath of other steep economic downturns, which have usually elicited a growth surge in their wake.
'It will be difficult to have a robust recovery while housing and commercial real estate are depressed,' said Martin Feldstein, a Harvard University professor and former head of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Housing was at the heart of the nation's worst recession since the 1930s, with median home values falling over 30 percent from their 2005 peaks, and even more sharply in heavily affected states like California and Nevada."...
'It will be difficult to have a robust recovery while housing and commercial real estate are depressed,' said Martin Feldstein, a Harvard University professor and former head of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Housing was at the heart of the nation's worst recession since the 1930s, with median home values falling over 30 percent from their 2005 peaks, and even more sharply in heavily affected states like California and Nevada."...
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Sitting ducks of Helmand - Times Online
Sitting ducks of Helmand - Times Online: "Tactics used by the Taliban to cut supply routes in Helmand have forced the army to change the way it maintains its remote bases. Taliban mines block the only main road that connects the British bases, pushing the supply line out into the desert where it is vulnerable to ambushes and minefields.
The burnt-out shells of civilian lorries that line Route 611, the main north-south road through the upper Helmand valley, bear witness to the potency of Taliban tactics. Many of the wrecks are now booby trapped with improvised explosive devices, better known as IEDs.
To reach remote bases along the Helmand river, supply convoys are obliged to drive for days through Taliban-held territory, dodging IEDs, mortar fire and ambushes.
“Every time you step outside the wire everyone is a target,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Martin Moore, commanding officer of 10 the Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment. “We use helicopters but certain commodities just have to go by road.”"
- 13.25 miles per 24 hour period. Or 0.55 MPH assuming moving 24 hours/day, 1.1 MPH at 12 Hrs or 1.65 MPH at 8 Hrs. per day in motion.
- Slowest point was 2 miles in 6 hrs or 0.33 MPH
- Est. convoy spacing 158 ft. per vehicle
- Losses. 21 private sectory trucks or 1 vehicle every 5 miles.
- Lost 14 drives or 1 driver killed or missing every 7.6 miles.
- Lost 21 vehicles in the private convoy (not counting military) so at about $100K each excluding payloads means $2.1 million in lost trucks or $20K/miles in trucks lost alone excluding drivers or supplies.
- Question: Is this sustainable?]
The burnt-out shells of civilian lorries that line Route 611, the main north-south road through the upper Helmand valley, bear witness to the potency of Taliban tactics. Many of the wrecks are now booby trapped with improvised explosive devices, better known as IEDs.
To reach remote bases along the Helmand river, supply convoys are obliged to drive for days through Taliban-held territory, dodging IEDs, mortar fire and ambushes.
“Every time you step outside the wire everyone is a target,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Martin Moore, commanding officer of 10 the Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment. “We use helicopters but certain commodities just have to go by road.”"
Beyond the “green zone”, the lush valley that straddles Route 611, lies the Helmand desert, a mixture of wadis and sand banks broken by sharp mountain peaks.
Military convoys with up to 200 vehicles can stretch for six miles as they trundle along, kicking up dust and sand clouds. Afghan security companies often attach their lorries to British convoys for protection.
The convoys travel through a stretch of sand and shale that at times narrows to less than half a mile, allowing the Taliban to scatter mines across the route.
Last month I joined a convoy from Camp Bastion retracing the route of an October convoy to Sangin and its nearby forward operating bases that had become the most heavily fought over in recent times. The Taliban laid clusters of mines to block our progress but two strikes did little to hinder us and an ambush outside Sangin felt like a formality compared with the fighting in October.
Then 70 lorries — heavy equipment transporters, fuel tankers, lightly armoured Land Rovers and heavily armoured Mastiffs — had set off to resupply troops in Sangin with 400 tons of stores, rations and ammunition. The route, equivalent to driving from London to Brighton and back, took the Gurkhas eight days.
British commanders decided to attach 50 Afghan lorries carrying wheat seed to the convoy. The seed is vital to the counter-narcotics campaign in Helmand. At the last minute another 60 lorries, protected by Watan Risk Management, the Afghan security contractor, tagged onto the rear.
Travelling at night to avoid the risk of suicide bombers, the convoy first roared through Gereshk, a town that straddles Highway 1. Then, after a rendezvous with the civilian convoys, all 200 vehicles broke off into the desert.
A squadron of Viking armoured vehicles from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment pushed ahead to disrupt insurgents before they had time to lay ambushes and mines. Helicopters, drones and fighter jets prepared to attack Taliban positions.
However, it took six hours to navigate 2Å miles of desert as the Afghan lorries became stuck in the fine sand. As more vehicles got bogged down, the Taliban attacked the civilian lorries with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
“We don’t want to become decisively engaged with the enemy, it’s not what we’re equipped for,” said Major Patch Reehal, officer commanding 28 Squadron, as he described “one of the most gruelling logistic operations in modern military history”.
Taliban scouts on motorbikes shadowed the convoy, relaying messages to commanders as the lorries lumbered along.
As the Gurkhas approached the village of Hyderabad, the Taliban launched a second attack, firing 82mm mortar rounds. Some landed just 20 yards from the convoy. As evening fell the Afghan drivers refused to go any further, forcing the soldiers to pitch camp.
At first light the Gurkhas set off again. Almost immediately mines destroyed two civilian lorries. The convoy had driven into a freshly sown minefield. A bomb disposal team, led by Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, who was killed weeks later, flew in from Sangin to clear the mines. It took most of the day and night to secure a route as the mortar fire continued.
Meanwhile, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, the Rifles who had spent days guarding the convoy’s route into Forward Operating Base Inkerman, north of Sangin, were under sustained attack. Reehal sent half his force protection team to relieve the pressure on them.
As the rest of the convoy entered the green zone, another mine smashed the front of a heavy transporter and a second struck a Mastiff sent to recover it. The patrol moved slowly along an unlit section of Route 611. The Taliban unleashed another ambush from the mud compounds lining the track. A rocket-propelled grenade flew over the head of Reehal as he manned the top gun. His forward air controller broke his collarbone as he dived for cover.
Bullets ricocheted off the side of the major’s armoured vehicle. The Gurkhas swung their machineguns towards the muzzle flashes, loosing off round after round as flares illuminated the night sky. It took 30 minutes for the convoy to reach the safety of Forward Operating Base Jackson.
“The wheat seed got through, so strategically the operation had been a success. The enemy had lost face so they wanted to harass us on the return leg,” said Reehal.
Taliban scouts watched the patrol as it moved back towards the safety of Camp Bastion.
The Watan company lost 21 lorries, 10 of its drivers were killed and four were missing. After one ambush with rockets and mines, Lieutenant Andy Thackway, a convoy protection commander, said: “That is the closest contact I’ve ever had with the enemy in all my time.
“This isn’t the unusual situation it would have been a few months ago — this is just kind of: oh well, we’re stuck in the middle of the desert — let’s get the Bombay mix out.”
[bth: Some facts from this article.
- Approx distance 53 miles x 2 = 106 miles (London to Brighton x2)- 13.25 miles per 24 hour period. Or 0.55 MPH assuming moving 24 hours/day, 1.1 MPH at 12 Hrs or 1.65 MPH at 8 Hrs. per day in motion.
- Slowest point was 2 miles in 6 hrs or 0.33 MPH
- Est. convoy spacing 158 ft. per vehicle
- Losses. 21 private sectory trucks or 1 vehicle every 5 miles.
- Lost 14 drives or 1 driver killed or missing every 7.6 miles.
- Lost 21 vehicles in the private convoy (not counting military) so at about $100K each excluding payloads means $2.1 million in lost trucks or $20K/miles in trucks lost alone excluding drivers or supplies.
- Question: Is this sustainable?]
Iranian Cleric Haeri Shirazi: Don't Arrest The Protesters; Kill Them!
Iranian Cleric Haeri Shirazi: Don't Arrest The Protesters; Kill Them!: "Payvand.com - In a candid and shocking appearance on Iran's state television, a leading Iranian cleric ayatollah stated that instead or arresting and suppressing the opposition protesters, it would be better to kill them. 'The more of them are killed, the more beneficial. If the armed forces kill some of them, it is to our benefit.' Ayatollah Mehyaddin Haeri Shirazi said."...
[bth: worth reading in full. The Iranian govt. overreaction is about to occur. This will force a hardening of the opposition.]
[bth: worth reading in full. The Iranian govt. overreaction is about to occur. This will force a hardening of the opposition.]
Reports: Cartoonist Attacker Targeted Clinton - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News - FOXNews.com
Reports: Cartoonist Attacker Targeted Clinton - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News - FOXNews.com: "Danish media say the man who attacked an artist who depicted the Prophet Muhammad in a cartoon has previously been arrested in Kenya.
The Politiken newspaper reported Sunday that Danish intelligence knew the 28-year-old Somali man was held in Kenya in September for allegedly plotting an attack against U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said he was later released due to lack of evidence."...
[bth: part of our on going catch and release policy with terrorists. Jeez.]
The Politiken newspaper reported Sunday that Danish intelligence knew the 28-year-old Somali man was held in Kenya in September for allegedly plotting an attack against U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said he was later released due to lack of evidence."...
[bth: part of our on going catch and release policy with terrorists. Jeez.]
BBC News - US shuts embassy as al-Qaeda 'plans attack in Yemen'
BBC News - US shuts embassy as al-Qaeda 'plans attack in Yemen': "John Brennan was speaking after the US shut its embassy in Yemen. 'We're not going to take any chances' with the lives of staff, he said.
Britain also closed its embassy, after threats from an al-Qaeda offshoot which claimed a failed bomb plot in the US.
There are mounting fears that Yemen is becoming a leading al-Qaeda haven.
Mr Brennan, the White House Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, said the threat against Americans and Westerners would not ease until the Sanaa government did more to tackle militants inside the country.
'We are very concerned about al-Qaeda's continued growth there,' he said on Sunday, in remarks quoted by the the Associated Press news agency."...
[bth: we've got to be as geographically flexible and light footed as they are. That means no heavy troop presence. Instead, lots of CIA activity, air power and special ops soldiers.]
Britain also closed its embassy, after threats from an al-Qaeda offshoot which claimed a failed bomb plot in the US.
There are mounting fears that Yemen is becoming a leading al-Qaeda haven.
Mr Brennan, the White House Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, said the threat against Americans and Westerners would not ease until the Sanaa government did more to tackle militants inside the country.
'We are very concerned about al-Qaeda's continued growth there,' he said on Sunday, in remarks quoted by the the Associated Press news agency."...
[bth: we've got to be as geographically flexible and light footed as they are. That means no heavy troop presence. Instead, lots of CIA activity, air power and special ops soldiers.]
Saturday, January 02, 2010
CIA Attacker Driven in From Pakistan - ABC News
CIA Attacker Driven in From Pakistan - ABC News: ..."The attack also killed Captain Al Shareef Ali bin Zeid, a member of the Jordanian spy agency Dairat al-Mukhabarat al-Ammah, according to people who have spoken with bin Zeid's family. The Jordanian military released a statement acknowledging bin Zeid had been killed in Afghanistan, but did not mention he was working with the CIA."...
Exclusive: U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets | Danger Room | Wired.com
Exclusive: U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets | Danger Room | Wired.com: "America’s spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates — even check out your book reviews on Amazon.
In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media. It’s part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using ”open source intelligence” — information that’s publicly available, but often hidden in the flood of TV shows, newspaper articles, blog posts, online videos and radio reports generated every day.
Visible crawls over half a million web 2.0 sites a day, scraping more than a million posts and conversations taking place on blogs, online forums, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and Amazon. (It doesn’t touch closed social networks, like Facebook, at the moment.) Customers get customized, real-time feeds of what’s being said on these sites, based on a series of keywords."...
In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media. It’s part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using ”open source intelligence” — information that’s publicly available, but often hidden in the flood of TV shows, newspaper articles, blog posts, online videos and radio reports generated every day.
Visible crawls over half a million web 2.0 sites a day, scraping more than a million posts and conversations taking place on blogs, online forums, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and Amazon. (It doesn’t touch closed social networks, like Facebook, at the moment.) Customers get customized, real-time feeds of what’s being said on these sites, based on a series of keywords."...
CTV News | Pakistan Taliban claim attack on CIA in Afghanistan
CTV News | Pakistan Taliban claim attack on CIA in Afghanistan: "MIR ALI, Pakistan — The Pakistani Taliban claimed Friday that they used a turncoat CIA operative to carry out a suicide bombing that killed seven American CIA employees in Afghanistan as revenge for a top militant leader's death in a U.S. missile strike."...
U.S. forces close Mosul airport – source : Aswat Al Iraq
U.S. forces close Mosul airport – source : Aswat Al Iraq: "NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: U.S. forces closed the Mosul airport late Thursday after the end of the security company’s contract, which protect the airport and its staff, a source from the airport said on Friday.
“U.S. forces closed the airport and brought out all the staff after the end of the security company’s contract,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that the contract ended on Dec. 31, 2009.
“They refused to give the responsibility of protecting the airport to the Iraqi forces,” he added.
“Several flights to Dubai and Amman this week were cancelled,” he said."
[bth: odd]
“U.S. forces closed the airport and brought out all the staff after the end of the security company’s contract,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that the contract ended on Dec. 31, 2009.
“They refused to give the responsibility of protecting the airport to the Iraqi forces,” he added.
“Several flights to Dubai and Amman this week were cancelled,” he said."
[bth: odd]
Customs official confirms report of 2nd man held from Flight 253 | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Customs official confirms report of 2nd man held from Flight 253 | detnews.com | The Detroit News: "Detroit -- A federal customs and border protection official reversed himself today, admitting a passenger from Northwest Flight 253 was placed in handcuffs, searched and released after a canine alerted officers to his carry-on luggage.
Ronald G. Smith, chief U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in the Detroit area, sent an email to The Detroit News late Thursday apologizing that the information on the passenger -- which was reported to federal investigators by a pair of Taylor attorneys who were passengers on the flight -- was not made available earlier.
Federal officials had denied the details of the incident despite repeated accounts by attorneys Kurt and Lori Haskell of Taylor who say they saw a man get questioned by federal officials and be led away from the airport baggage area in handcuffs after a sniffer dog reacted to something in the man's carry-on luggage.
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The couple said the man, who appeared to be in his early 30s and of Indian descent, was taken to a room for questioning and later led out of that room in handcuffs.
In the email, which was also sent to the couple, Smith said he had just received a piece of information he did not have previously and hopes 'it will clear up the matter.'
Smith said the man was handcuffed and escorted to a room where he was interviewed and searched. Nothing was found. The man was not arrested or detained, and no further information was available about him, Smith said."...
[bth: so the eyewitnesses were telling the truth]
Ronald G. Smith, chief U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in the Detroit area, sent an email to The Detroit News late Thursday apologizing that the information on the passenger -- which was reported to federal investigators by a pair of Taylor attorneys who were passengers on the flight -- was not made available earlier.
Federal officials had denied the details of the incident despite repeated accounts by attorneys Kurt and Lori Haskell of Taylor who say they saw a man get questioned by federal officials and be led away from the airport baggage area in handcuffs after a sniffer dog reacted to something in the man's carry-on luggage.
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The couple said the man, who appeared to be in his early 30s and of Indian descent, was taken to a room for questioning and later led out of that room in handcuffs.
In the email, which was also sent to the couple, Smith said he had just received a piece of information he did not have previously and hopes 'it will clear up the matter.'
Smith said the man was handcuffed and escorted to a room where he was interviewed and searched. Nothing was found. The man was not arrested or detained, and no further information was available about him, Smith said."...
[bth: so the eyewitnesses were telling the truth]
CIA caught in dirty and secretive war against al-Qaeda on Afghan border - Times Online
CIA caught in dirty and secretive war against al-Qaeda on Afghan border - Times Online:... "The CIA’s main strike weapons are the drones that loiter over the border areas 24 hours a day, watching and listening to telephone networks. While the drones provide surveillance and electronic intelligence and carry out strikes, human intelligence is far harder to acquire among remote communities suspicious of any outsider.
Then there are the night raids against suspected insurgent and al-Qaeda linked leaders. It was an operation by what are euphemistically called “other government agencies” that was alleged to have killed a number of students in Kunar province on Saturday, causing widespread anger in Afghanistan."...
Then there are the night raids against suspected insurgent and al-Qaeda linked leaders. It was an operation by what are euphemistically called “other government agencies” that was alleged to have killed a number of students in Kunar province on Saturday, causing widespread anger in Afghanistan."...
Suicide bombing at CIA camp in Afghanistan likely revenge attack by Taliban warlord - a former ally
Suicide bombing at CIA camp in Afghanistan likely revenge attack by Taliban warlord - a former ally: ..."Haqqani's son Siraj, the Afghan Taliban's top field commander, introduced suicide bombs as weapons in this war.
Chapman hosted a provincial reconstruction team and was home to 'OGAs' - Other Government Agencies, a euphemism for spies.
The dangerous mission of these CIA paramilitaries, case officers and analysts was to hunt high-value targets from Al Qaeda and the local Haqqani Network.
It's that work that set the camp's fate for what has become a blood feud between the spy agency and the Haqqani family.
In the past year, CIA drones have killed Haqqani relatives in safehouses used by Al Qaeda leaders plotting strikes on U.S. interests globally.
'There is no doubt' Haqqani sees a motive for revenge, said Shir Khosti, an ex-Afghan official now living in Queens who often worked at Chapman with the CIA.
So does the CIA.
'If it wasn't personal before, it sure as hell is now,' a furious counterterror official said Thursday."
[bth: worth reading in full. Its personal now.]
Chapman hosted a provincial reconstruction team and was home to 'OGAs' - Other Government Agencies, a euphemism for spies.
The dangerous mission of these CIA paramilitaries, case officers and analysts was to hunt high-value targets from Al Qaeda and the local Haqqani Network.
It's that work that set the camp's fate for what has become a blood feud between the spy agency and the Haqqani family.
In the past year, CIA drones have killed Haqqani relatives in safehouses used by Al Qaeda leaders plotting strikes on U.S. interests globally.
'There is no doubt' Haqqani sees a motive for revenge, said Shir Khosti, an ex-Afghan official now living in Queens who often worked at Chapman with the CIA.
So does the CIA.
'If it wasn't personal before, it sure as hell is now,' a furious counterterror official said Thursday."
[bth: worth reading in full. Its personal now.]
Intel officer: CIA officers' deaths will be avenged - CNN.com
Intel officer: CIA officers' deaths will be avenged - CNN.com: "Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- An American intelligence official vowed Thursday that the United States would avenge a suspected terrorist attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of seven CIA officers.
Two of those killed were contractors with private security firm Xe, formerly known as Blackwater, a former intelligence official told CNN. The CIA considers contractors to be officers.
A current intelligence official confirmed that the casualties included a mix of people -- CIA staff and contractors. Six others were wounded.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred on Wednesday."....
Two of those killed were contractors with private security firm Xe, formerly known as Blackwater, a former intelligence official told CNN. The CIA considers contractors to be officers.
A current intelligence official confirmed that the casualties included a mix of people -- CIA staff and contractors. Six others were wounded.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred on Wednesday."....
Somali Rebels Vow to Send Forces to Yemen -- News from Antiwar.com
Somali Rebels Vow to Send Forces to Yemen -- News from Antiwar.com: "Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansour, a top official in the Somali al-Shabaab militia, today announced plans for the organization to send fighters across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen to take part in jihad there.
The al-Shabaab faction is one of the more hardline of various factions vying for control of Somalia, was presenting hundreds of new recruits at a rally in northern Mogadishu, and said that Yemeni factions should “be ready for our welcome.”"...
[bth: while we focus almost all our deployable forces into Afghanistan where we haven't caught or killed a senior al Qaeda leader in years, the al Qaeda forces shift easily into Yemen and back into Somalia. We need a lighter foot print in Afghanistan and some reprisal raids into Somalia and Yemen.]
The al-Shabaab faction is one of the more hardline of various factions vying for control of Somalia, was presenting hundreds of new recruits at a rally in northern Mogadishu, and said that Yemeni factions should “be ready for our welcome.”"...
[bth: while we focus almost all our deployable forces into Afghanistan where we haven't caught or killed a senior al Qaeda leader in years, the al Qaeda forces shift easily into Yemen and back into Somalia. We need a lighter foot print in Afghanistan and some reprisal raids into Somalia and Yemen.]
Washington's Blog - What the founding fathers said about fire arms
Washington's Blog:
...."What the Founding Fathers Said About Guns
A little research showed me that the Second Amendment had more to do with freedom than historical militias. Here's what the Founding Fathers actually said about arms:
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms, disarm only those who are neither inclined, nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants. They serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1764
What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Those who beat their swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who didn't.
-- Ben Franklin
Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them.
--Thomas Paine
A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.
-- George Washington
Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined…The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun.
--Patrick Henry.
Are we at last brought to such an humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? Where is the difference between having our arms under our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?
-- Patrick Henry, 3 Elliot, Debates at 386.
The Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms.
--Samuel Adams, debates & Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 86-87.
The right of the people to keep and bear…arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country…
--James Madison, I Annals of Congress 434 (June 8, 1789).
(The Constitution preserves) the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation…(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
--James Madison.
If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government...
-- Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist (#28) .
The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.
--Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-B.
To disarm the people is the best and most effective way to enslave them.
-- George Mason
The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States.
--Noah Webster, “An Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution (1787) in Pamplets on the Constitution of the United States (P.Ford, 1888)
[T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or the state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the People.
-- Tench Coxe, Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788."....
...."What the Founding Fathers Said About Guns
A little research showed me that the Second Amendment had more to do with freedom than historical militias. Here's what the Founding Fathers actually said about arms:
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms, disarm only those who are neither inclined, nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants. They serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1764
What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Those who beat their swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who didn't.
-- Ben Franklin
Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them.
--Thomas Paine
A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.
-- George Washington
Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined…The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun.
--Patrick Henry.
Are we at last brought to such an humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? Where is the difference between having our arms under our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?
-- Patrick Henry, 3 Elliot, Debates at 386.
The Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms.
--Samuel Adams, debates & Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 86-87.
The right of the people to keep and bear…arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country…
--James Madison, I Annals of Congress 434 (June 8, 1789).
(The Constitution preserves) the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation…(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
--James Madison.
If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government...
-- Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist (#28) .
The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.
--Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-B.
To disarm the people is the best and most effective way to enslave them.
-- George Mason
The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States.
--Noah Webster, “An Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution (1787) in Pamplets on the Constitution of the United States (P.Ford, 1888)
[T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or the state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the People.
-- Tench Coxe, Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788."....
Suicide Bombing in Afghanistan Devastates Critical Hub for CIA Activities - WSJ.com
Suicide Bombing in Afghanistan Devastates Critical Hub for CIA Activities - WSJ.com: ..."Among the casualties was the agency's base chief, former intelligence officials said. There had been only four publicly acknowledged CIA fatalities in Afghanistan prior to this attack.
The Taliban claimed responsibility Thursday for the bombing, which was carried out by suicide bomber wearing an Afghan National Army uniform. Some senior officials think the bomber may have been given access to the base because he was believed to be an informant, said two former intelligence officials.
Several former intelligence officials described the attack in Afghanistan as 'devastating' to the agency. A number of the officers killed had been counterterrorism operatives since before the 9/11 attacks. The base played a critical role in the CIA's significant operations in the country, including helping with drone attacks and informant networks in Pakistan."...
[bth: a painful reminder that the Taliban aren't all a bunch of men picking lice from their beards sitting in a cave. Why wasn't he searched? Had we become lax? Trusting? Have we underestimated the enemy? Was the payback the execution killing of the boys in the school earlier this week in Kunar?]
The Taliban claimed responsibility Thursday for the bombing, which was carried out by suicide bomber wearing an Afghan National Army uniform. Some senior officials think the bomber may have been given access to the base because he was believed to be an informant, said two former intelligence officials.
Several former intelligence officials described the attack in Afghanistan as 'devastating' to the agency. A number of the officers killed had been counterterrorism operatives since before the 9/11 attacks. The base played a critical role in the CIA's significant operations in the country, including helping with drone attacks and informant networks in Pakistan."...
[bth: a painful reminder that the Taliban aren't all a bunch of men picking lice from their beards sitting in a cave. Why wasn't he searched? Had we become lax? Trusting? Have we underestimated the enemy? Was the payback the execution killing of the boys in the school earlier this week in Kunar?]
White House Adviser Briefed in October on Underwear Bomb Technique - Declassified Blog - Newsweek.com
White House Adviser Briefed in October on Underwear Bomb Technique - Declassified Blog - Newsweek.com: "White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan was briefed in October on an assassination attempt by Al Qaeda that investigators now believe used the same underwear bombing technique as the Nigerian suspect who tried to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day, U.S. intelligence and administration officials tell NEWSWEEK.
The briefing to Brennan was delivered at the White House by Muhammad bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s chief counterterrorism official. In late August, Nayef had survived an assassination attempt by an operative dispatched by the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda who was pretending to turn himself in. The operative had tried to kill the Saudi prince by detonating a bomb on his body, but stumbled on his way into the prince's palace and blew himself up."
The briefing to Brennan was delivered at the White House by Muhammad bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s chief counterterrorism official. In late August, Nayef had survived an assassination attempt by an operative dispatched by the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda who was pretending to turn himself in. The operative had tried to kill the Saudi prince by detonating a bomb on his body, but stumbled on his way into the prince's palace and blew himself up."
Saudi officials initially thought the bomb had been secreted in the operative's anal cavity. But after investigating the matter more thoroughly, they concluded it had likely been sewn into his underwear, thereby allowing the operative to bypass security checks before his meeting with the prince. A main purpose of Nayef's briefing for Brennan was to alert U.S. officials to the use of the underwear technique.
U.S. officials now suspect that Nayef's attempted assassin and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian suspect aboard the Northwest flight, had the same bomb maker in Yemen, intelligence experts tell NEWSWEEK. At the briefing for Brennan, Nayef was concerned because “he didn’t think [U.S. officials] were paying enough attention” to the growing threat from Al Qaeda in Yemen, said a former U.S. intelligence official familiar with the briefing. (A senior Saudi official told NEWSWEEK Saturday that “we don't have any concerns that the U.S. government isn't sufficiently concerned about Yemen. In the latter part of the Bush administration and in this administration, the U.S. has been very focused on the dangers emanating from Yemen.”)...
[bth: I saw a briefing on underwear bombs in November. There is little doubt that the issue was understood. The problem is what to do about it and generating the political will to address it. Funding for equipment needed to detect this and the public will to undergo intrusive searches are 'incident driven'. Which means we are reactive and always too little too late in our response.]
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