Our Awful Situation

Archive for the ‘Terrorism’ Category

Charges dropped against ‘20th’ hijacker

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 13th, 2008

U.S. officials have said Saudi was subjected to harsh treatment:

The Pentagon has dropped charges against a Saudi at Guantanamo who was alleged to have been the so-called “20th hijacker” in the Sept. 11 attacks, his U.S. military defense lawyer said Monday.

Mohammed al-Qahtani was one of six men charged by the military in February with murder and war crimes for their alleged roles in the 2001 attacks. Authorities say al-Qahtani missed out on taking part in the attacks because he was denied entry to the U.S. by an immigration agent.

But in reviewing the case, the convening authority for military commissions, Susan Crawford, decided to dismiss the charges against al-Qahtani and proceed with the arraignment for the other five, said Army Lt. Col. Bryan Broyles, the Saudi’s military lawyer.

Crawford dismissed the charges Friday without prejudice, meaning they can be filed again later, but the defense only learned about it Monday, Broyles told The Associated Press.

The attorney said he could not comment on the reasons for the dismissal until discussing the case with lawyers for the other five defendants. Officials previously said al-Qahtani had been subjected to a harsh interrogation authorized by former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

National DNA database gets kickstart from feds

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 2nd, 2008

Its a brave new world:

With virtually no fanfare, President Bush signed into law a plan ordering the government to take no more than six months to set up a “national contingency plan” to screen newborns’ DNA in case of a “public health emergency.”

The new law requires that the results of the program – including “information … research, and data on newborn screening” – shall be assembled by a “central clearinghouse” and made available on the Internet.

According to congressional records, S.1858, sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., was approved in the Senate Dec. 13, in the House April 8 and signed by Bush April 24.

“Soon, under this bill, the DNA of all citizens will be housed in government genomic biobanks and considered governmental property for government research,” said Twila Brase, president of the Citizens’ Council on Health Care. “The DNA taken at birth from every citizen is essentially owned by the government, and every citizen becomes a potential subject of government-sponsored genetic research.”

Heading towards martial law

Posted by patriot on April 20th, 2008

Infowars has a report on some progress towards martial law:

Federal law enforcement agencies co-opted sheriffs offices as well state and local police forces in three states last weekend for a vast round up operation that one sheriff’s deputy has described as “martial law training”.

Law-enforcement agencies in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas took part in what was described by local media as “an anti-crime and anti-terrorism initiative” involving officers from more than 50 federal, state and local agencies.

Given the military style name “Operation Sudden Impact”, the initiative saw officers from six counties rounding up fugitives, conducting traffic checkpoints, climbing on boats on the Mississippi River and doing other “crime-abatement” programs all under the label of “anti-terrorism”.

Pentagon guiding public opinion through propaganda - well, duh

Posted by patriot on April 19th, 2008

Via the NY Times:

In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.

The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

Ah, good ol’ propaganda…

McCain generously applies “Al-Qaeda” label

Posted by patriot on April 19th, 2008

They’re all terrorists, right?

The New York Times today examines John McCain’s very Bush-like propensity to run around slapping the “Al Qaeda” label on everyone we’re fighting in Iraq, even though . . . it’s completely false to describe them that way.

Brown: the world should thank Bush

Posted by patriot on April 17th, 2008

Via CNN:

The president said he appreciates the contributions of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Britain has nearly 8,000 forces around Basra, in southern Iraq.

“We’re making progress,” Bush said. “Failure in Iraq will send a message to Iran that the United States and its allies were not intent on making sure they stay within the borders of their country. … It’s worth it to succeed.”

Brown added, “The world owes George Bush a huge debt of gratitude” for his efforts against terrorists.

That last line made me laugh. Oh, wait, what? It wasn’t a joke? Hmmm..

Afghan detainees not “abused” by military

Posted by patriot on April 17th, 2008

Riiight. Because getting kicked in the kidneys isn’t abuse:

Military interrogators assaulted Afghan detainees in 2003, using investigation methods they learned during self-defense training, Pentagon documents released Wednesday show.

Pentagon documents released Wednesday state U.S. military interrogators hit Afghan detainees in 2003.

Detainees at the Gardez Detention Facility in southeastern Afghanistan reported being made to kneel outside in wet clothing and being kicked and punched in the kidneys, nose and knees if they moved, according to the documents.

A 2006 Army review concluded that the detainees were not abused but that the incident revealed “misconduct that warrants further action.”

More airports prepping to use full body scanners

Posted by patriot on April 15th, 2008

Peekaboo, I see you!

Some travelers at key airports in New York and Los Angeles may be put through machines that see through clothing and provide a detailed image of a person’s body beginning later this week.

The TSA says the screener who reviews the images is in a booth, unable to see the travelers.

It’s the first expansion of the program since the machines were first put to the test in Phoenix, Arizona.

The “whole body imaging” machines have sparked complaints from privacy advocates.

But the Transportation Security Administration says that it has taken steps to protect individuals’ privacy and that 90 percent of the travelers in Phoenix preferred the imaging machine to a pat-down.

More domestic surveillance

Posted by patriot on April 12th, 2008

Big brother is set to start watching us more than he already is:

The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation’s most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea’s legal authority.

Report finds Boise most vulnerable in the West to attack

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 5th, 2008

What happens when you place mathematical theory before common sense? Via MSNBC:

Quick: Name the Western U.S. city most vulnerable to a terrorist attack. Is it Los Angeles, with its crowded roads that make quick escape impossible? San Francisco and its iconic bridge? Or Seattle with its Space Needle and busy port?

Try Boise, Idaho, with its, um, potatoes.

A new study funded largely by the Department of Homeland Security ranked 132 American cities according to vulnerability to terrorist attacks. Boise was the only city in the western half of the country to make the top 10.

It came from four years of work and a series of mathematical formulas developed by Walter W. Piegorsch, a professor at the University of Arizona, with help from Susan Cutter at the University of South Carolina and Frank Hardisty at Pennsylvania State University. The study was published in December by Risk Analysis, a well-regarded journal.

The researchers assessed the vulnerability of each city to a terrorist attack based on three things: socioeconomics, infrastructure, and geophysical hazards such as the potential for flooding or fire.

The analysis measured not whether a city would make an attractive target to a terrorist but rather how well it could withstand an attack, Piegorsch said.

“This wasn’t a question of what places a terrorist wants,” Piegorsch said. “The targetability is not an issue here; it’s the vulnerability if they were targeted.”

The researchers color-coded that vulnerability, assigning green to areas with low vulnerability to a terrorist incident and resulting casualties, yellow to those with high vulnerability but low casualties, and red to those with high marks in both vulnerability and casualties.

Sounds like more wasteful spending on fancy color coding charts and worthless studies by the department of Homeland Insecurity.

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