Category: Terrorism

This is the Face of Terrorism: Disney World Edition

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It appearsthat a seven-year-old Muslim boy was flagged as a terrorist, and prevented from visiting the US.

Why?

A 39-year-old Pakistani man of that name was arrested in New York two months after the terror attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001.

He was never charged with any terrorism offences, although he was convicted of fraud for having false papers and deported.

He is seeking compensation from the U.S. government, claiming to have been beaten up by guards during more than a year in detention.

It’s reasonable for a name to be flagged. What’s is unconscionable is that they cannot distinguish between a 7 year old from with a British passport, and a 39 year old Pakistani.

Considering the nature of the 911 terrorists, they were all fairly well to do, one wonders if might have just created a future terrorist.

This is Not About Reporter-Source Privilige

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A judge has ordered 5 reporters to testify about their government sources in the Anthrax mailings.

There will be hand wringing from the press and journalism schools, but considering the abuses in the use of anonymous sources, including this case, there is a deeper principle:

When a Source Burns You, There is No Privilege

A source can have any number of reasons to talk to a reporter, and the reporter has a moral obligation to protect his source, so long as the source does not knowingly lie to him.

It is clear that the Hatfill sources were deliberately lying. In so doing, the contract between reporter and source is broken.

Brits to US: Sod Off in Afghanistan!!!

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This is interesting, it appears that the British operating in Southern Afghanistan want the US to stop operations in their area.

A senior British commander in southern Afghanistan said in recent weeks that he had asked that American Special Forces leave his area of operations because the high level of civilian casualties they had caused was making it difficult to win over local people.

ther British officers here in Helmand Province, speaking on condition of anonymity, criticized American Special Forces for causing most of the civilian deaths and injuries in their area. They also expressed concerns that the Americans’ extensive use of air power was turning the people against the foreign presence as British forces were trying to solidify recent gains against the Taliban.

An American military spokesman denied that the request for American forces to leave was ever made, either formally or otherwise, or that they had caused most of the casualties. But the episode underlines differences of opinion among NATO and American military forces in Afghanistan on tactics for fighting Taliban insurgents, and concerns among soldiers about the consequences of the high level of civilians being killed in fighting.

The US military has a culture that is disastrous in a counter-insurgency situation.

There is a general disregard for civilian casualties, and an understanding of these consequences that I believe comes from an unwillingness to ascribe basic human motives to the indigenous population, along with an over-reliance on air-power.

This racism (and what else can you call dehumanizing someone in this way) is disastrous in a counter-insurgency situation, and the British are calling the US on this.

I understand the difficulties of dealing with a situation where the insurgents blend into the population, but if a police force were to, as a matter of policy, shoot hostages, there would be justified outrage.

This is worse than wrong, it’s aiding the enemy.

Musharraf’s Days are Numbered

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There are now reports that Musharraf will declare a state of emergency.

This is about his attempt to delay elections, as his only remaining constituency is the army.

His negotiations with Benazir Bhutto have fallen through, the Supreme Court has reinstalled its chief justice and is reviewing the request of his ousted predecessor Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan.

Considering Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, and its descent into failing state status, this is of concern.

Australian Government Lies Through His Teeth

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Well, it appears that the Australian government is using secrecy as an excuse for covering up their own incompetence:.

As an American, let me say to the Australian general public that I feel your pain. I am rather familiar with corrupt politicans screaming “terrorism” for political gain, and screaming “secrecy” to cover up their screw ups.

Secret material used to cancel the visa of an Indian doctor falsely accused of terrorism cannot be released as it may jeopardize investigations, Australia’s immigration minister said Tuesday.

Kevin Andrews said he wanted to release the “protected material” to demonstrate why he cancelled Mohamed Haneef’s working visa but the Australian Federal Police had advised him against it.

So they are claiming that they had a reason to kick him out of the country, but not enough to hold him, even though, as a result of his initial detention, he has detailed knowledge of Australian interrogation techniques.

Prime Minister John Howard this week ruled out an apology and Andrews dismissed calls for a judicial review of the case, which was the first time tough counter-terrorism laws introduced after 9/11 had been put to the test.Andrews had faced heavy criticism in Australia over his decision to exercise a little-used discretionary power to cancel Haneef’s visa then refuse to reinstate it when the terrorism case against the doctor collapsed last week.

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Haneef was charged with recklessly supporting a terrorist organisation but returned home at the weekend after more than three weeks in custody when the case against him collapsed due to lack of evidence and bungles by prosecutors.

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Prime Minister John Howard this week ruled out an apology and Andrews dismissed calls for a judicial review of the case, which was the first time tough counter-terrorism laws introduced after 9/11 had been put to the test.

And is desparately trying to avoid showing that they failed, and theat they are the threat to basic human rights that its critics have always said.

Another 911 is Inevitable, What Next?

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It’s a statistical certainty. When looking at the current “thwarted terrorist attacks”, it’s apparrent that what our state security apparatus is catching are not hardened trained terrorists, but rather fanboy terrorist wannabees.

Even so, if we were to have a competent anti-terrorist effort, another successful attack is inevitable. No defense is one hundred percent.

This is the question that Marty Kaplan asks:

But no more than King Canute could stop the tide, no more than a Big One in California can be prevented, no more than the hundred thousand people who will die in accidents this year will evade their untimely ends, an act of domestic terrorism is inevitable. What counts is how we think about it right now, how we prepare today for when it happens tomorrow, and how we handle it — politically, emotionally, morally — when, as it must, it occurs.

Is there any doubt that the Bush administration, and its dead-ender allies in the Republican Party and the media, will use an act of domestic terrorism as a fresh opportunity to further demonize their political opponents and further compromise the Constitution? Will they truly be able to resist the temptations of martial law, emergency powers, and the phony prerogatives of the unitary executive in wartime? In Britain, in Israel, in Spain, in Ireland, we have seen political leaders decline the invitation to demagoguery that domestic terrorism has offered, and instead to put violence in perspective, to refuse to compromise reason and democracy, to summon their citizens to remain themselves rather than become their enemies. When the unthinkable happens to us again, will the politicians who pissed away the unity following 9/11 in the sands of Iraq have the moral wherewithal to remind us that no matter how grief-stricken we may be, the sky has not fallen and the republic has not failed?

If I could manage to be smarter about risk than I usually am, I would worry less about the possibility of terrorism, and more about the probability that the same chickenhawks who exploited it before to sell us on war without end, will exploit it again to sing the virtues of temporary fascism.

We know that the Bush and his Evil Minions™ are incompetent, and that their code places power and personal loyalty above everything else.

Even if we grant them that they have some limits, and that they won’t let a terrorist attack happen for political gain, and I DON’T grant them the benefit of the doubt, we know that another attack will happen, and that they will use this as an excuse to consolidate political advantage.

How do we deal with this fact?

Behold the Power of Cheese

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You must remember, you can’t support George W. Bush unless you are so terrified that you are at risk of wetting yourself.

Thus we have Airport security officers alerted to possibility of terrorists conducting dry runs for attacks.

The seizures at airports in San Diego, Milwaukee, Houston and Baltimore included ‘wires, switches, pipes or tubes, cell phone components and dense clay-like substances,’ including block cheese, the bulletin said. ‘The unusual nature and increase in number of these improvised items raise concern.'”

Another attempt to keep us all in a state of fear so that we will accept whatever Bush does.

Pathetic.

Why Should We Believe the US Military Now

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You know the saying, fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me

U.S. says Iraqi militant nonexistent
The man known as Abu Omar Baghdadi is an actor and the group a front for Al Qaeda in Iraq, the military says.
By Tina Susman
Times Staff Writer

July 19, 2007

BAGHDAD — In March, he was declared captured. In May, he was declared killed, and his purported corpse was displayed on state-run TV. But on Wednesday, Abu Omar Baghdadi, the supposed leader of an Al Qaeda-affiliated group in Iraq, was declared nonexistent by U.S. military officials, who said he was a fictional character created to give an Iraqi face to a foreign-run terrorist organization.

An Iraqi actor has been used to read statements attributed to Baghdadi, who since October has been identified as the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq group, said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner.

Bergner said the new information came from a man captured July 4, described as the highest-ranking Iraqi within the Islamic State of Iraq.
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Bush has purged the military of anyone who might tell an unfortunate truth to the public.

If we want our government to work, we will need to de Bushify the bureaucracy and military after he is gone.

The problem is, that we need to de Bushify the courts too, and the Constitution makes that difficult.

Once Again, The Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor, and We Attack New Zealand

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There is an interesting story in the Los Angeles Times.

It appears that the bulk, if not the outright majority of the foreign fighters in Iraq killing our boys are Saudi.

Not Syrian. Not Iranian. Saudi.

About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis, he said.

Impeach Dick Cheney today. Impeach George W. Bush Tomorrow.

In America, Leaving a Tip is Felony Support of Terrorism

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Someone needs some face time on the nightly news, and this guy is brought up on charges.

I wish I lived in America, but that place seems to be gone now.

Loose mouth and loose change – $5 tip leads to terror finance rap

By George Smith, Dick Destiny
Published Thursday 12th April 2007 13:15 GMT

In the terror case against Hassan Abujihaad, formerly known as Paul R. Hall – sailor on the destroyer Benfold, the US government has another mangy cat in the GWOT.

“Material support of terrorism and disclosing previously classified information” are the beefs in the indictment against Abujihaad, according to a government press release from March. It sounds serious and the newsmedia did its usual listless job in reporting on it.

“Hassan Abujihaad, 31, is accused of supporting terrorism by disclosing secret information about the location of Navy ships and the best ways to attack them,” wrote Associated Press. “Investigators say he provided those secrets, in classified documents, to a suspected terrorism financier.”

If one looks at the indictment and evidentiary exhibits logged against Abujihaad, it’s thinner cloth.

Abujihaad bought videos from Azzam Publications and Babar Ahmad*, a London computer programmer locked up since 2004 and awaiting extradition for trial to the US, for running a website that promoted Islamic fighters in Bosnia, Chechnya, and Afghanistan, according to the press.

As for sending classified documents to Ahmad, what Abujihaad did do, and we’ll get to it in detail in a bit, is send rash e-mail, including video orders from the Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer upon which he served.

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Apparently, no plot. Abujihaad received an honorable discharge from the Navy in 2002 and wound up in Arizona, perhaps an unhappy young man, eventually acutely aware that he might be in trouble for his e-mails to Azzam.

However, when the US government argues that Abujihaad gave material assistance to Ahmad, one expects not to see the equivalent of mail order of three videos reclassified as terrorist activity. Yet this is exactly what is meant.

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In August, Abujihaad sends Ahmad thirty dollars for another video, Bosnian War.

In this order, he has overspent by five dollars. Ahmad writes “Please tell us what you want done with the remaining $5.”

“Dear Brothers, you guys can keep the remaining $5.00 and [add it] to the funds that you Brothers are spending in the way of Allah and the great Websites .. Azzam Pub.”

Material assistance to terror groups is, you read right, ordering three videos, overpaying slightly and telling the seller to keep the change. “By stating that he watched the video, [Abujihaad] demonstrated that he knew Azzam supported acts of terrorism.” Hmmm, maybe, but logically it seem to indicate many people not normally considered terrorists must now be included in the definition, too.

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It is a tale, and a bit of a sad one, in which someone which the book against, so far, does not show any serious involvement in terrorism. It is the story of a man who ordered videos and had loose lips when he should have kept his virtual mouth shut, a case of extraordinarily bad timing just prior to 9/11.

But since there is no shortage of experts who can be called upon by the government to insist, true or not, that Azzam Publications was allied with al Qaeda for the courts, Abujihaad’s fate looks grim.

This guy is Too Stupid to Cut His Own Meat

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In fact, I’d be worried if he knows how to consume oatmeal.

Never heard of Rand McNally, huh. Or the fact that this imagery is available through third parties for less than the cost of a air of expensive chows.

Why the hell is he a Democrat? It’s too f&^%ing stupid to be a Democrat.

There are real issues of privace with some of the stuff that Google is doing, like it’s new “Street” program, and they seem have lost the word “Don’t” from their motto*, but this objection is just asinine.

Google Maps aids terrorists, NY lawmaker warns

‘It’s only a matter of time’
By Dan Goodin in San Francisco
Published Monday 11th June 2007 20:24 GMT

Adding to the chorus of critics who say detailed images on Google Earth can aid and abet terrorists and snoops, a New York state lawmaker is calling on the company to blur potential terrorist targets.

The plea from Assemblyman Mike Gianaris follows the alleged discovery earlier this month of a plot by a Muslim terrorist cell to blow up fuel tanks and a jet fuel pipeline at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Some of the suspects planning the attack had used Google-produced images clearly depicting airport infrastructure after surveillance video they secured proved inadequate, according to an indictment in the case.

“It’s only a matter of time before someone uses the information Google Earth provides to do this country harm,” Gianaris was quoted as saying in an article in the New York Post. He objects to the satellite images carried on Google Earth and Google Maps that gives detailed views of skyscrapers, airports and other potential terror targets.

Gianaris is only the latest individual to criticize Google for making available images that have the potential to violate national security, privacy or other vital interests. In addition to officials in the US, Australia, India and South Korea complaining about sensitive facilities being clearly visible in online mapping services, other critics warn the rich detail could trample civil liberties.

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*“Don’t be evil.” Is the Google motto.

Nigeria: Gunmen occupy oil installation

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We are at or near peak oil, and even minor disturbances can cause major spikes in prices.

We are in for a bumpy ride.

Nigeria: Gunmen occupy oil installation

une 18, 2007: 09:18 AM EST

Jun. 18, 2007 (AFX International Focus) —

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) – Unidentified gunmen have occupied an oil pipeline switching center in Nigeria and are preventing local workers and security forces from leaving, company officials said Monday.

Some two dozen Nigerian workers and soldiers are being held after the attack Sunday on a flowstation in southern Bayelsa state, Italian energy giant Eni Spa (NYSE:E) said in a statement. No injuries were reported, it said.

The company statement didn’t say if crude output had been curtailed and a spokesman in Nigeria had no information on the attack. Government officials weren’t immediately available for comment. Eni operates in Nigeria through its Agip subsidiary.

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What the Other Matthew Said

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I couldn’t agree more.

I can’t speak for Mr. Yglesias, but in my case, it’s always Matthew, not Matt. Matt is my step-brother.

Matthew Yglesias:

This is a somewhat delicate issue to raise, but the war in Iraq seems to have spawned a wholly abusive use of the term ‘terrorist.’ The battle came about because ‘Coalition aircraft were called in to strafe fighters who attacked Coalition troops in Amarah and Majjar al-Kabir, two Shiite cities in the Mayson province bordering Iran, the military said.’ Surely, though, people who use force against soldiers are paradigmatic examples of people who aren’t terrorists — with terrorism being defined by the use of force against civilians.