The Secretary-Generals Special Representative for Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, today appealed for an end to hostilities in Mogadishu as the city entered its fourth day of violence between heavily armed militia forces. "I am deeply disturbed by the daily reports of civilian deaths and injuries and of families fleeing for their lives," Ambassador Fall said. "Whatever the allegiances, the intermittent conflict between heavily armed camps has resulted in indiscriminate loss of life and has created fear and chaos for those civilians trapped in the crossfire. By taking their grievances to the streets, these armed groups have effectively unleashed a war on their own people. I appeal to leaders on both sides to step back from the brink and reconsider the damage they are inflicting on the population. The indiscriminate use of heavy machine guns, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and artillery in and between urban areas is unacceptable."
Ambassador Fall said that elsewhere in the country peaceful initiatives have given hope that Somalia can extricate itself from more than a decade of civil war. "For the first time in 15 years, we have a parliament in session in Baidoa, just 240 kilometers from the current centre of violence," Ambassador Fall said. "There is a tremendous hunger for peace throughout the country and it is difficult to overstate the importance of what is underway to secure it."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2006 00:00 ||
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Only by a miracle could these UN appeals have any effect. So far none has ever been noted in similar situations.
"There is a tremendous hunger for peace throughout the country ...
He might as well have delivered that from a pulpit except that these UN elitist asshats are largely idiotarian atheists(as distinct from intelligent ones).
(SomaliNet) The UN is under pressure by the United States (US) to get peacekeepers into Sudan's troubled Darfur region. Euro news reported Wednesday. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during a Security Council meeting in New York on Tuesday, urged the United Nations to pass a strong resolution to help implement last week's Darfur peace deal, saying it was time to end western Sudan's "long nightmare".
Currently some 7,000 African troops are striving to keep the peace in the region. This figure is approximately the size of France. However, Khartoum is yet to give a UN force the green light. The US, which unlike the UN describes the situation in Darfur as genocide, has appealed directly to the Sudanese president to let the troops in.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2006 00:00 ||
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But, but there's tea on Friday
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/11/2006 1:00 Comments ||
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Super "W" wants to fly in there with his bright red cape and save the blacks...he should save his men for Iran and the Red Dragon; down the road!! Let Kofi and the AU handle the mess of Sudan!
#4
I'd be willing to bet if the UN could be convinced that sending "peacekeepers" (I prefer the term kiddie diddlers) to Dafur runs counter to US or Israeli interests, they would be there tomorrow.
#5
I kind of concur w/smn. We need to keep our focus & finish the job in Iraq, monitor Afghanistan, and prepare/train for Iran. I have no issue w/our statesmen diplomatically pressuring the UN to do something about Darfur but I've no desire to got there and try to physically un-fuck that place.
#6
no desire to got there and try to physically un-fuck that place.
I hate to be so cynical, but I'm not sure that is even possible at this stage of the game with the governments that are in place. It is going to take more than strong resolutions from the UN. Hell, the UN can't even agree that genocide is taking place.
Of course, there is a bright side: the poor Africans are not being brutalized by their evil European colonial opressors.
May 11, 2006: Egyptian counter-terrorism police have killed the man they believe to be the leader of the crew that carried out the three bombings of Sinai resorts last month. The dead man, Nasser Khamis al Mallahi, was a local lad who went off to the big city to get a college education. He did, but came back bitter about the sorry state of Egyptian politics, his career prospects, and life in general. Mallahi turned to Islamic radicalism, recruited some of his buddies and formed a terrorist cell. No al Qaeda connection, except in spirit.
Actually, al Qaeda was not solely the brainchild of Osama bin Laden. The "al Qaeda" he formed in 1988 was not much to talk about until Egyptian Islamic terrorists, fleeing a government crackdown in the 1990s, hooked up with bin Laden in Afghanistan. The Egyptians provided experience, and managerial talent that took al Qaeda to another level, and September 11, 2001.
The Islamic terrorists in Egypt had the usual complaints. Corrupt and ineffective government left most Egyptians poor and uneducated. Socialism was tried in the 50s and 60s, and failed. Democracy was tried, corrupted, and wasn't working either. The elections were a joke, and rigged to keep any real opposition out. So now Islamic radicalism seemed the way to go. Killing lots of civilians, especially children and tourists, turned the population against the 1990s terrorists. The current crew are largely Bedouins from the Sinai.
The Bedouins have long been the hillbillys of the Arab world, even though the Prophet Mohammed considered himself one (actually, Mohammed was a townie, not a true Bedouin nomad). As such, Bedouins get not, or not much, respect. Egyptians have been looking down on Bedouins for thousands of years. Thus a bunch of radicalized Bedouin terrorists, killing lots of Egyptians at an Egyptian owned and operated resort town, is not expected to increase popular support for Islamic radicalism.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/11/2006 08:40 ||
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I'm surprised at a radical Bedouin. Egypt should be careful to not alienate them. I thought they pretty much were "live and let live" tribes, fiercely independent and especially loyal to the Jordanian royal family, even acting as King Abdullah's Border Patrol. Moses once fled the Egyptians to the desert, marrying a nice Midianite girl. This Bedouin tribe remained loyal to Israel, and God blessed their descendents through the sons of Recab because of it. The prophet Jeremiah even called them to Jerusalem, as an object lesson to Judah, just prior to the Babylonian exile and subsequent Babylonian Temple trashing. According to Jeremiah 32, the promise of a generational servant of God extending to the future accompanies the promise to Israel of a future restoration. That raises other questions, like why, and what, but I would think they could be used against the terrorists more readily than joining them. With everyone loosely allying with Al Q, the Sinai terrorists are also tied to those threatening the King. They cross borders on the same ancient caravan routes I think Bin Laden travels, and alone know where people hiding in remote areas that do not belong there are. Although he and Ahmadinejad pride themselves on their poor roots, they are imposters and not even worshipping Allah in the manner of the ancient way unique to them as descendents of Abraham...recruitment works both ways.
#8
I've got my Super-Duper accelrator pedal boot all shined up and ready to go. Git-er-done!!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/11/2006 13:43 Comments ||
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He did, but came back bitter and angry.....turned to Islamic radicalism, recruited some of his buddies and formed a terrorist cell. .... the lifelong dream of all muzzies.
Come n hear a sutra bout a man named Mohammed
Had himself nine wives, barely kept his family fed
Then one day, he was shootin at some Jews
And up through the ground come a bubblin crude Oil, that is, black gold, Arabic tea
Well, the first thing you know, old Mos a terrorist
Kinfolk said, hes a salafist!
Said the Caliphate is the place you oughta be
So he loaded up his camel and moved to Galilee West Bank, that is, bomb belts, gun sex
Well, now its time to say goodbye to Mo and all his kin
Got a few payloads thatll soon be droppin in
Youre all advised to back away from this locality
Or youll get a heapin helpin of radioactivity American, that is, burn in hell, blow your curly toed slippers off
BTW, I worked at Aramco for a long time - and the Bedu (who exist all over the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa) are fiercely independent, tougher than half-inch boot leather, and dragging around ancient arms from only God knows when. Real collector's pieces.
It is apparent they have replaced the Joooos as the Egyptian whipping boy for any and all crimes that Mubarak doesn't want to actually solve - because of the embarrassment and collusion, I'd say. The resort attacks were almost instantly blamed on them. My Opinion: Mubarak's trying to figure out how to have his cake and eat it too: invent Bedu Al Qaeda. The prick. He knows the US will "assist" him if the Al Qaeda label sticks.
In Saudi Arabia they are "officially" doted on and rather iconic figures like Old West Cowboys are in the US. In practice they aren't treated with much respect because they really ARE hillbillies. You'd have to see the messes they've created to believe me. But they are tough old sumbitches.
Always glad to welcome an Aramcon! There've been a bunch of y'all hanging out here -- I hope you got to miss the recent unpleasantness, what with Al Qaeda attacking compounds and offices over there.
#15
IOW, the Bedus are the anti-everybody Commie Vietnamese of the Egyptian-Sinai deserts. Is Egypt going to be like China vv HAINAN ISLAND and base the VARYAG?, ASW surface surfare hips, and subs near the dubious Viets??? * Btw, D*** GREAT DOG PHOTO.
London's High Court accused the British government on Wednesday of "an abuse of power" for refusing to allow nine Afghan asylum seekers who hijacked a plane to Britain to stay in the country as refugees.
"Sanctuary! Or else."
In a fiercely critical ruling, judge Jeremy Sullivan overturned the government's decision and said the conduct of the home office (interior ministry) deserved "the strongest mark of the court's disapproval". "It is difficult to conceive of a clearer case of conspicuous unfairness amounting to an abuse of power by a public authority," he said. The High Court ranks third in Britain's legal hierarchy below the Court of Appeal and House of Lords, which is the upper house of parliament and highest court in the country.
The nine Afghans, armed with knives and guns, hijacked a Boeing 727 plane in February 2000 after the aircraft left Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul on an internal flight. They ordered the pilot to fly to Stansted airport near London, where they told negotiators via radio they had fled the Taliban regime and would blow up the plane and kill everybody on board if they were not granted political asylum in Britain.
Apparently you can take the asylum seekers out of the Taliban, but you can't take the Taliban out of the asylum seekers.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2006 00:00 ||
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Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/11/2006 1:45 Comments ||
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Sullivan is the same nutcase who last month ruled "that taking away the passport of a terror suspect in Manchester who wanted to travel to Iraq to fight British troops was a breach of his human rights"
So it appears that wanting to fight against your own countrymen is a "human right"
It would be interesting to see how far the courts allow that right to go. Acts of terrorism perhaps?
That's right, terrorism is also legal according to Sullivan, if you only but mouth "refuge, refuge"
We need to save law from lawyers and judges. They're destroying it.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/11/2006 8:02 Comments ||
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nothing suprises me anymore - we are on the path to bitter failure in the UK no two ways about it, yes its all doom and gloom from me today but ive come to accept the fact the Uk is fcked beyond all repair unless some mega huge cival war broke out (heres hoping!). I am ashamed of my country and whats its turned into - a mish mash and fcked up laws in a multi cultural nightmare where the rights of the criminal are more then the rights of the law abiding, fcked beyond repair im afraid unless people start and stand up to this madness but lets face it that aint gonna happen with the brain washed mainstream media educated imbiciles that make up 95% percent of Britain.
#5
I share your pain, shep, from the other side of the Pond. This is getting out of hand. Another article I read about this trial sez the UK gov't has already spent between £20-30 million in prosecuting this case and providing benefits (!) to the 'refugees' and their families. That article also noted that the hijackers kept their hostages for 70 hours of negotiations on the tarmac and finally SAS had to storm the plane.
From East Asia Intel, subscription.
Concerns are growing in Seoul that a recent agreement between the United States and Japan to strengthen their stronger security alliance may weaken security ties between Seoul and Washington, deemed vital to deter North Korea. SKors want the US out, we can get out. They cannot have it both ways.
Analysts said President Roh Moo-Hyuns so-called "independent diplomacy" has made South Korea a reclusive country in East Asia where China-North Korea ties are also expanding. Independent diplomacy, in this case, seems to be synonymous for appeasement.
[snip]
Last week, Japan and the U.S. sealed a landmark plan to realign U.S. troops in Japan by 2014, giving Japan's military greater responsibility for security in the Asia-Pacific region. Now THAT will get the SKor's attention.
The United States and Japan agreed to bolster their military alliance and streamline American forces in Japan through the overhaul of U.S. bases there. It was the most sweeping reorganization of U.S. troops and bases in Japan since the U.S. military presence began at the end of World War II. SKor has had 50 years to get it right. They are an economic powerhouse. They are prosperous. They have a strong military. They have grown up. It is time to take responsibility.
The United States plans to use Japan as its main base for operations in Northeast Asia, including in the event of a crisis on the Korean peninsula. This will boost Japans role in regional security.
Analysts and media here described the accord as a shift away from U.S. military cooperation with its long-time South Korean ally. It really should not be that way. SKor should be able to pretty much stand on her own, with the US assets as backup.
"The agreement shows that U.S. trilateral Asian alliance is shifting toward Japan from South Korea," said Lee Keun, who teaches international relations at Seoul National University.
The Seoul-Washington alliance had been stronger than the Japan-U.S. alliance because the United States fought the 1950-53 Korean War and South Korea sent troops to help the U.S. troops in Vietnam, Lee and other analysts said.
But bilateral ties have loosened in recent years, especially since Roh Moo-Hyun took office in 2003 with a pledge not to "kowtow" to the United States amid a surge of anti-American sentiment. OK, Roh, you got your wish, now live with the consequences.
South Korea recently distanced itself from the United States over how to deal with North Korea's nuclear weapons drive. Seoul also rebuffed Washington's request to regulate the speed of inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation in order to reinforce U.S.-led pressure on North Korea.
Seoul's major newspapers also used their editorials to express concerns about the weakening security ties between Seoul and Washington. "The Roh administration's independent diplomacy has caused the weakening of ties with the United States and a smaller role for South Korea in the region," stated the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper.
The Joongang Ilbo also expressed concerns that U.S. bases in Japan could become command posts should a war break out on the Korean peninsula. So what?
In a sign that Seoul's alliance with Washington was unraveling, the U.S. last year rejected selling high-flying surveillance aircraft to South Korea. In contrast, the United States already approved the sale of the aircraft to Japan. Play nice with the NORKS, and don't ask for our special goodies. We do not want Kimmie or Hu to get their hot little hands on one.
But South Korea Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon played down concerns that the buttressed Washington-Tokyo military cooperation could weaken Seoul's military alliance with Washington.
"I understand there are some concerns that the U.S. Forces Japan would take a bigger role after the latest agreement. But what I know is that there would be no such change in the forces' supportive role," he added.
"This [U.S.-Japan] agreement does not bring about change to the supporting role of U.S. troops in Japan in the event of an emergency situation on the Korean peninsula," Ban said.
"In case of contingencies on the Korean peninsula, South Korea will play a leading role in cooperation with the United States," Ban said.
"We would take the leading role in close cooperation and consultation with our ally, or the United States, in case of any emergency on the peninsula."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/11/2006 17:16 ||
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jealous? TFB
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/11/2006 17:40 Comments ||
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Cause and effect is lost on most of the world, isn't it?
#3
South Koreans, what can you say about them?
As long as they have it all their way and are stuffing their pockets with cash, we are buddies. Ask them to work with us and you'd think we started World War 15. I think these skidmarks are ready for a taste of the real world.
#10
You're a veddy baad mon, Frank [wags index finger and frowns]. I have Mozilla Firefox here at work. It does not like toolbar buttons for editing, like links, bold, italic, etc. I must go back to the basic code cut and paste.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/11/2006 22:09 Comments ||
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#11
heh heh - the bait works - AP surfaces!
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2006 22:35 Comments ||
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LONDON (Reuters) - Four animal rights militants were jailed for (a combined)40 years on Thursday over the "appalling" desecration of the grave of a woman whose family bred guinea pigs for medical research.
The body of 82-year-old Gladys Hammond was dug up and stolen from a churchyard in central England during one of the most sustained campaigns ever launched by animal rights protesters.
Britain is home to some of the world's most vociferous militant groups but police say the six-year campaign of violence, threats and intimidation against family business David Hall and Partners was one of the worst they had encountered.
It prompted tough laws against animal rights activists whom government ministers branded as terrorists.
The family of brothers Chris and John Hall, who ran the business at Darley Oaks farm in rural Staffordshire, and their staff, were subject to firebomb attacks, had paint-stripper poured over their cars and bricks thrown through their windows.
Other incidents saw a golf course used by John Hall damaged; newsagents that supplied papers to the family were threatened and letters were sent to neighbours of the owner of a firm providing fuel oil to the farm, falsely claiming he was a paedophile.
But it was the attack in October 2004 on the grave of Hammond, Chris Hall's mother-in-law who had died seven years earlier, that grabbed national attention.
"BEYOND RATIONAL UNDERSTANDING"
"The desecration of Mrs Hammond's grave went way beyond any rational understanding of protest," said Detective Chief Inspector Nick Baker. "It appalled and disgusted people nationwide, including many animal rights protestors."
The grandmother's remains were only recovered last week, 18 months after being stolen.
Following a major police operation, involving up 50 detectives and costing 750,000 pounds ($1.4 million), Jon Ablewhite, 36, John Smith, 39, Kerry Whitburn, 36, and Josephine Mayo, 38, were arrested over the crime.
They eventually pleaded guilty to conspiring to blackmail the Hall family, and although it could not be proved they had dug up the grave, police said they were clearly involved.
Ablewhite, Smith and Whitburn were jailed for 12 years each while Mayo received a four-year term. I'm doing twelve years...for protecting Guinea Pigs. Well don't I feel like a fuckin asshole...
The gang, three of whom had criminal convictions dating back to 1987, were leading members of the Save The Newchurch Guinea Pigs (SNGP) campaign, police said. No comment fron the Newchurch Guinea Pigs. Ungrateful bastards...
"The desecration was not an isolated act but the culmination of a series of callous crimes all committed with one goal in mind -- to force the Hall family to stop breeding guinea pigs," Baker said.
To that end, the group can claim success. In January, exhausted by the relentless intimidation, the Halls quit breeding."This victory is a dramatic blow to an industry which can and will be defeated by kind-hearted activists," the SNGP said on its Web site at the time. I'm sure those "kind hearted" activists will be welcomed with open arms by their fellow inmates...
It was not the first success in the UK for campaigners who have threatened research carried out by Britain's multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry.
In January 2004, Cambridge University gave up plans for a 32 million pound primate research center over fears it would not be safe from militants.
The government reacted by introducing tough measures to clamp down on the activists, but only this week GlaxoSmithKline, Europe's biggest pharmaceuticals manufacturer, said shareholders had received letters warning them to sell their stock or risk having their names posted on the Internet.
A quarter of the world's top 100 medicines were discovered in Britain, home to industry giants such as Glaxo and AstraZeneca although the country accounts for less than 4 percent of the world drugs market.
#1
Since Gunea Pigs promary use is testing medicines for sabety, I wish we could ensure that none of these Idiots receive any medicines tested by Gunea pigs.
Unless I'm mistaken that eliminates all medicines at all, as well as all anesthetics and all antibiotics.
A painful death, not even aspirin, (Aspirin is sure death to Gunea pigs)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/11/2006 21:03 Comments ||
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#2
Dammit, I've got to start proofreading my posts.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/11/2006 21:06 Comments ||
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#3
Just don't tell the animal rights idiots what they do to guinea pigs in Peru.
#5
" 'Every effort must be undertaken' to resolve the matter through diplomacy, the chancellor said..."
Otherwise, the glass house of European Masters of Diplomacy comes crashing down. And that would be humiliating. Much better to put Israelis at risk of annihilation. Now THERE they have some expertise...
New White House Press Secretary Tony Snow is starting off in a combative mode against the press by issuing detailed rebuttals to what he considers unfair coverage of Bush.
The New York Times continues to ignore Americas economic progress, blared the headline of an e-mail sent to reporters Wednesday by the White House press office.
Minutes earlier, another e-mail blasted CBS News, which has had an unusually rocky relationship with the White House since 2004, when CBS aired what turned out to be forged documents in a failed effort to question the presidents military service.
CBS News misleadingly reports that only 8 million seniors have signed up for Medicare prescription drug coverage, Wednesdays missive said. But 37 million seniors have coverage. On Tuesday, the White House railed against USA Todays misleading Medicare story.
USA Today claims poor, often minority Medicare beneficiaries are not enrolling in Medicare drug coverage, the press office complained. But by April, more than 70 percent of eligible African Americans, more than 70 percent of eligible Hispanics, and more than 75 percent of eligible Asian Americans are enrolled or have retiree drug coverage.
White House sources said Snow, who started on the job Monday and has yet to give his first public press briefing, is determined to aggressively counter what the administration considers unfair assertions in both news and editorials about Bush. At the same time, he is eager to make the notoriously secretive administration more accessible to the press.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2006 12:56 ||
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I hope he can turn them on each other. By pointing out specifically who makes what distortions, the others can turn on them to see if they deny it or admit it.
In either case, it is letting bad school children check each other's papers.
#4
Tell the press up front that any representative who files a story with provably incorrect information will have his WH credential pulled and his organization banned for six months. That might make the lying sons of whores sit up and take notice.
Posted by: mac ||
05/11/2006 16:52 Comments ||
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#5
It's way past time to stop being polite and defensive with these seditious bastards.
#7
Mac---if Tony Snow does that, then it would force the MSM reporters to be more subtle about their lies. He needs some Swartzkopf or Honare in-yer-face medicine.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/11/2006 22:27 Comments ||
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#8
First thing that needs to happen is that Helen Thomas needs to have her WH press pass unceremoniously and publicly yanked, and then she needs to be banished to her rightful place on one of the top-floor ledges at the OEOB. I've always thought the only thing that building was missing was some gargoyles...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
05/11/2006 23:39 Comments ||
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#2
Agree with you on P&T as a general proposition, Spook, but if you're gonna dog 'em when they get it wrong, you gotta give 'em props when they get it right. (See also, e.g., Hitchens, Christopher.)
Posted by: Mike ||
05/11/2006 15:15 Comments ||
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#3
I too have issues with P&T's politics/philosophy (or, more correctly, their arrogant and patronizing way of expressing it), but I credit them with helping arm my high-school son to do battle against the LLL madness he's subjected to at school.
OTAY MESA, California (Reuters) - Dug by hand with the help of rogue mining engineers to link warehouses on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border, it was the longest, deepest and boldest drug smuggling tunnel found to date.
But before the Mexican gang had even punched through a concrete floor to emerge opposite a washroom in a distribution depot in Otay Mesa, California, a crack law enforcement team with expertise honed in the hunt for Osama bin Laden was on their trail.
Little known outside police circles, the Tunnel Task Force came to light with the January 24 discovery of the passageway that was used to haul tons of marijuana almost half-a-mile (800 meters) from Mexico.
Based in San Diego, the team pools the resources of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection, and it draws support from a special U.S. military unit.
U.S. authorities have identified tunnels as an emerging threat to homeland security in the wake of the September 11 attacks.. Since then at least 40 have been uncovered linking cities in Arizona and California with Mexico, and one ran under the border from Canada to Washington state.
Most were shallow and easy-to-detect "gopher holes" used by undocumented immigrants to scrabble north. But the most sophisticated were scooped out by cash-rich Mexican cartels burrowing ever deeper and further inside U.S. territory in a bid to reap billions of dollars in drug profits. The one discovered in January was fitted with lights and a ventilation system.
"What they now have to take into their business equation is that every single resource from the federal government is particularly geared to finding things like this, and we're getting better and better at what we do," said Frank Marwood, the special agent in charge of ICE in San Diego.
THE HUNT FOR BIN LADEN
The Tunnel Task Force was set up two years ago and meets weekly in a federal building close to the border. The search for tunnels is led by intelligence gathered by agents working with contacts on both sides of the border.
First indications that a big tunnel was under construction came as long ago as early 2005. Then in January, the team narrowed the search to an area east of Tijuana International Airport, and called in support from an El Paso, Texas-based military unit.
Originally called Joint Task Force Six, the combined-services unit was founded in 1989 to provide technical and intelligence support to federal police snaring drug traffickers on the Mexico border. It was renamed Joint Task Force North in 2004 and given an additional homeland security role.
Its members are specialists in hunting for tunnels. Some learned their skills in the U.S. war in Afghanistan, where the search for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden initially focused on the Tora Bora caves and tunnel complexes near the Pakistan border.
Given a stretch of ground, in this instance a strip of churned up clay between twin fences marking the Mexico border, the engineers use geo-science technologies including ground radar, magnetometers and seismic detectors to search for "discreet voids" left by man-made tunnels.
"It's getting to a point where we are planning to build our own tunnels to different depths and specifications to perfect the technologies that we are using to hunt for them," JTFN engineer Lt. Col. Steve Baker told Reuters.
While the breakthrough in the Otay Mesa hunt came from human intelligence, Baker predicts progress in the technologies will enable the team to "put the (traffickers) out of business in five years."
PROFESSIONAL MINERS
But the Tunnel Task Force experts have their work cut out for them. Experts say they are pitting their wits against professional mining engineers brought in to dig industry standard shafts and galleries.
Consultants brought in from the Kentucky coal fields to survey the Otay Mesa tunnel found that it had been chipped out by hand using pickaxes and electrical jackhammers to a depth equivalent to a nine-story building.
Neatly finished with a concrete floor, it made a straight run to its mark, and had been carefully built with a sloping gradient to allow ground water to sink to the lowest point on the Mexican side of the border, from where it was easily pumped out.
"The experts indicate that (it) could not have been completed without the help of someone with an excellent knowledge of mining, either building it or advising those who worked on it." Marwood said.
The Task Force believes that the clandestine route was open for about two months before it was discovered, during which time traffickers used wheelbarrows to haul marijuana and probably cocaine, heroin and amphetamines north.
So far only one man has been arrested and charged in the investigation into the tunnel, which authorities believe was built by either the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix drug gang or a band linked to Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
The discovery cost the gang millions of dollars. But agents say the cartels are unlikely to stop digging, and may even extend their high-stakes duel with the Tunnel Task Force to other, untried areas of the border in search of profits.
"Could they build a tunnel under the Rio Grande?" Marwood mused. "It really is just an engineering question. If the money is right for them, they can do whatever is possible."
"I have a friend who is president of his homeowner's association
in the Washington area. They are having a terrible problem with trash on the
side of the road that is around his association's homes. The reason
according to Wallace (my friend) is, there is being built just next to
them, six new homes.....big ones! Wallace said the trash is coming from
the Mexican work crews working at the construction sites. (McDonald
Bags, Burger King trash, etc) He has pleaded with the site supervisors
and the general contractor to no avail, called the City, County, and the
Police and got no help. So..................guess what some people in
his community did
They organized about twenty folks, named themselves The "Inner
Neighborhood Services" to go out at lunch time and "police" the trash
themselves. It is what they did while picking up the trash that is
HILARIOUS !!!!!!!!
They got some navy blue baseball caps and had the initials "INS"
in gold put on the caps. It doesn't take a rocket scientist, however,
to understand what they hoped people would think it means.
Well the day after their first pick up detail, with them wearing
their caps and some carrying cameras; 46 out of 68, of the construction
workers did not show up for work the next morning!!!!!!!!............
and haven't come back yet!!!!! It has been ten days.
Now the General Contractor, I understand is madder than hell,
but can't say anything publicly, because he could be busted for hiring
"illegal aliens". Wallace and his bunch can't be accused of
impersonating INS folks, because they have it on their home owner
association records the vote to form the new committee within their
association, plus they informed the INS about what they were doing in
advance, and the INS said basically according to
Wallace.............."Have at it"!
SO FOLKS, I THINK YOU COULD SAY THAT YANKEE INGENUITY TRIUMPHS
AGAIN!!!!!!!
#2
Suddenly it appears that lots of stuff is being (has been being) done against smugglers and illegals, both privately and publically. Good. Love the story, Besoeker! And the tunnel hunters are just too kewl for words. ;-)
#4
A similar tale of years ago was from a dry cleaners, located near an Army Reserve Center. The proprietor was a snarky leftist who decided to protest Gulf War II by cheating the reservists, en masse.
After several complaints from enlisted men, the Center MSG went to the dry cleaners to resolve the issue. The owner berated him, called him a fascist, and said the whole fascist Army could go to hell, that he was going to throw away any uniform that came through his front door.
The MSG pondered that for a second, then yelled "La Migra!!!"
Every employee dashed out the back door and kept running. With the owner screaming obscentities as the MSG exited, things only got worse, because the MSG then made a few phone calls.
Twice a week, for the next few weeks, a government car with two INS agents in it parked across the street from the dry cleaners for an hour, and enjoyed a large pot of fresh coffee and a dozen Krispy Kremes, paid for by the Reserve Center.
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.
#1
Another leak designed to compromise the GWoT. The left chimes in almost before it released. Coincidence that this surfaces just a Gen. Hayden's hearing are to begin? I bet it turns out just like the other NSA data collecting. All legit. All above board. Congress informed. Companies agreed after uber paranoid legal review.......
#4
'The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans' - good hope hope they got uk calls to and the rest of the worlds, if we got nothing to hide then why should it bother people, its about as dangerous as me evedropping on a conversation in a supermarket. Only those with things to hide are bothered - well them and thier slimy laywer types protecting them.
#5
Oh, ferchrissakes - this is justs record logs of phone numbers calling other numbers and time/length of call.
All phone companies keep them. And lawyers regularly subpoena them. Most phone companies have an office dedicated specifically to responding to subpoenas (mostly to make sure the phone company gets their money upfront - and it's a LOT of money).
Maybe they're bitching because the NSA doesn't want to pay? Or pay enough?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/11/2006 14:18 Comments ||
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#6
This is all so ridiculous, what the NSA is doing is stopping terrorist attacks. Its worth the price, b/c we are in the middle of a major war this country desperately needs to win. If this type record collecting helps stop a nuclear terrorist on our country, GREAT!!!!!!!! But it looks like the MSM is not going to let up its unrelenting war against the white house any time soon. And unfortunately, it seems like the media is winning.
#7
"...if we got nothing to hide then why should it bother people..."
Shep, I agree that most likely this wont have any negative bearing on the average citizen. With that said, the "nothing to hide" logic fits nicely on a bummper sticker. Just ask somebody who was falsely accused of a crime and how their life changed as a result. And when you think about it, when have'nt we been in some type of war. My point being, don't fall victim to the hysteria but people have every justification to be concerned about the protection their personal information in this day and age. And that includes personal information held by the goverment. Hell, I too have nothing to hide but still felt uneasy when I had to give my social security # in order to get a damn fishing liscence.
#10
Looks like the "Free America = Socialist Amerika is NOT at War and NO ONE is trying to kill us" Failed Left-MSM needs another Big Government bureaucracy they'll first vote for before voting against it before voting for it before voting against ................@, or was it the other way around? Like BILL CLINTON said himself, iff Bill was himself, he wouldn't beieve himself either, or will he [theme from DRAGNET
follows]!?
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Bush, please get a clue. In a couple more years, with Islam being the fastest growing religion in Mexico, and radical Islamic pockets springing up all over, not only will you have the continuing flood of illegals, but radical terrorist operatives as well. This is a bonafide national security emergency. Washington is clueless. Secure the border now!
#2
Bush won't do it. He is too busy sucking Fox's schlong. Republicans won't do it, too spineless to take some political flak and do what needs to be done. It will take a city disappearing in nuclear vapor to get these idiots to do anything.
Can we charge all of washington with treason and/or incompitance after?
Islamabad: In a startling revelation former Pakistani minister Benazir Bhutto said that during her tenure some Arab militant leaders and Pakistani generals, in association with Osama bin Laden, had planned to wage a war against the US.
She claimed that Osama had started his endeavour to pull down her Government after she vetoed the plan. Ramzi Yusuf (the mastermind behind the first World Trade Centre attacks in the US) tried to assassinate me, Bhutto said. Ramzi, she said, had toyed with the idea of the attack way back in 1990s and the US had then sought cooperation of her Government.
I offered to the US authorities to set up the FBI office in Pakistan in 1993 so that effective action could be launched to eliminate terrorism. As a result Ramzi Yousuf was arrested.
She also said that the Saudi King had told her in 1989 that he declined to provide money to destabilise her Government and terrorist activities started following the dissolution of her Government in 1990. The adviser to Saudi king told one of my ministers that Osama provided $10 million for toppling my government, she added.
In the 2002 elections, Musharraf had announced that if her Pakistan People Party (PPP) won the elections, it would be invited to form the Government.
But in her absence General Musharraf did not allow the party to form the government eventhough it had won, she recalls. He made all efforts to split her party and formed a government headed by Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali with one vote majority.
Bhutto is certain that President Musharraf will not apprehend Osama as it would amount to political suicide and he will have to seize the justification of his rule. Musharraf, during the Tora Bora operation, had told the US to leave the chase of Bin Laden to him but failed to keep his promise. Osama re-established camps and started recruiting people after the dissolution of her Government in 1996 she said.
Military dictatorship prevailed in Pakistan and there was no system of check and balance in the country Bhutto added. Chief of Pakistan Jamat-e-Islami party Qazi Hussain Ahmad recently said in an interview that Osama tried to topple Bhutto government by buying members of parliament to make her rival Nawaz Sharif the Prime Minister but gave up the plan mid-way.
Bhutto, who lives in self-exile, appeared in an interview with her husband Asif Ali Zardari. It was aired as a court in Islamabad issued summons to her and Zardari to appear before it on June 3 in a case filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The summons came as she recently met Sharif in London and tried to forge a political alliance to context the next polls.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/11/2006 11:49 ||
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#1
Not surprised. Pakland and Iran are the primary Islamic nutjob areas.
#2
Why would anyone believe anything a Pakistani says without a dozen corroborating outside sources?
Posted by: ed ||
05/11/2006 12:40 Comments ||
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#3
Why would she sit on this info for years after being deposed? My bull$hit meter is pegged. Bhutto is trying to hound Musharriff and came up with this dandy to get the US to side with her.
About 400 families of Masoori, Kalpar and Chakrani tribes have returned to Dera Bugti after 12 years, ARY ONE TV channel reported on Wednesday. They families said that they had migrated from Dera Bugti due to the brutalities of Nawab Akbar Bugti. Bugti tribesmen welcomed them on their return. Speaking on the occasion, local tribesman Sardar Mewa Khan demanded education and health facilities and jobs for the locals, the channel reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2006 00:00 ||
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BERLIN: An autopsy conducted on Wednesday on a Pakistani student, who died in custody after he was arrested for allegedly planning an attack on a German newspaper editor, supported investigators finding that he committed suicide, Berlin prosecutors said.
Guess they'll have to seethe about something else...
Amer Cheema, 28, was arrested in March while allegedly carrying a knife as he tried to enter the office of Axel Springer, the publisher of the daily Die Welt, which had reprinted cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (may his drip clear up peace be upon him).
Ummm... I thought Axel died in 1985? Would that be Axel Springer III or something? Or Axel Springer Verlag? Or did they have him stuffed and mounted?
German police have said that Cheema hanged himself in his Berlin cell on May 3 using a noose made from his clothes. Berlin prosecutors said that an autopsy was carried out on Wednesday by a leading German expert in the presence of two high-ranking Pakistani police officials, the prosecutor leading the case and an investigating judge.
"Now, obzerve clösely, zat dem cervicäl vertebrae hier, und hier haff pärted kompanie in dem most abrüpt männer!"
"Eeeewwww!"
The autopsy led to the determination that there are no indications of involvement by other persons in the death and the conclusions coincided with investigators previous findings in particular the situation in which the dead man was found, a statement from prosecutors said.
"Oh, ja! He vass vound hänging by the neck, dängling from his salvar kameez! Hier are dem pictures!"
"Eeeewwww!"
Pakistans Foreign Ministry earlier said in a statement that a team of experts from the Federal Investigation Agency were in Berlin on Wednesday to independently verify the circumstances of Cheemas death. The Foreign Ministry said that Cheemas body will be repatriated after an initial investigation is completed.
"Fritz!"
"Ja, Herr Überköroner!"
"Püt der body in dem böx!"
"Jawohl, Herr Überköroner!"
"Und make sure you get all of it!"
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2006 00:00 ||
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K.P.S. Gill, credited with crushing militancy in Punjab, wants to crack down on Naxalites in Chhattisgarh before the monsoon sets in.
The former chief of Punjab police, who was recently appointed special adviser to the Chhattisgarh government for a year to weed out Naxalites, submitted a detailed plan to the Union home ministry on May 5.
The plan will be taken up at a meeting headed by Union home secretary V.K. Duggal on Saturday, where he will discuss the operational details with Gill, director-general of military operations Madan Gopal, CRPF chief J.K. Sinha, Chhattisgarh police chief .P. Rathore and other senior officials.
While the home ministry and CRPF are unwilling to speak about the plan, sources said Gill wants to go after Naxalites before the onset of monsoon because lack of undergrowth in the forests at this time would make it easier for security forces to track them down.
Intelligence agencies believe that the Naxalites take cover in the states thick forests after carrying out attacks. Of late, such attacks have been on the rise, especially in the Dantewada area in the south, bordering Andhra Pradesh.
Gills plan is also believed to feature heavy participation by state police.
However, some voices in the home ministry say such an offensive would not work and that one cannot apply the same methods against Naxalites that Gill had used against militants in Punjab.
Punjab terrorism and the Naxal problem in Chhattisgarh are absolutely different in nature. Here you are talking about a well-groomed army of almost 10,000 people supported by tribals in several pockets, said a senior official, adding that if the offensive fails, it could hit police morale and boost rebel confidence.
Gill came to be known as supercop after his success in Punjab, but his critics accuse the officer of disregarding the rule of law and human rights.
Home ministry officials denied that the army would join the proposed crackdown but said help, such as the use of helicopters for para-dropping in forest and border areas, might be sought.
The ministry has, in principle, accepted Gills demand for more paramilitary forces. He had requested the Centre to sanction 10 paramilitary battalions (approximately 11,000 personnel) over and above the 8 battalions already in the state. A big chunk of the 600-odd CRPF companies (approximately 70,000 men), free from poll duty in Bengal and Assam, will soon be moved to Chhattisgarh.
Posted by: john ||
05/11/2006 00:00 ||
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The fragile state of the sectarian divide in Iraqi politics was exposed today when a fight broke out in parliament after a mobile phone ringtone played a Shia Muslim chant.
A procedural session of the Iraqi parliament was suspended as Shia and Sunni leaders stormed out to protest the ringtone and the subsequent scuffle, which erupted between the armed bodyguards of the Sunni speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and the hardline Shia politician, Gufran al-Saidi.
The mobile phone belonged to Ms al-Saidi, who is a member of the Islamist movement led by the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. According to Ms al-Saidi, one of her guards was holding her phone when it rang, playing a Shia prayer.
Mr al-Mashhadani sent one of his guards -- because of the risk of assassination in Baghdad, all Iraqi politicians come to parliament accompanied by armed men -- to ask her to turn it off. But the phone rang again, at which point a fight broke out in the lobby of the parliament building, with guards from both sides and a veiled Ms al-Saidi joining in.
Ms al-Saidi led a walkout on to the steps of the parliament building, where she told waiting television crews: "I demand an urgent investigation". She was joined by the independent MP, Mithal al-Alusi, a Sunni who leads the small Nation party, who said "those involved should be sued" and that bodyguards should be unarmed in parliament.
The incident will provide more fuel to Shia leaders who have already accused Mr al-Mashhadani, a Sunni who was appointed speaker last month to increase the representation of Sunnis in national politics, of being partisan and undiplomatic in his new role.
After 20 minutes, the protesting MPs were led back into the chamber by the outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari. Nouri al-Maliki, the incoming Prime Minister, said yesterday that he was on the verge of appointing a Cabinet, the last stage in the long and fraught process of creating a government of national unity.
Eighteen Iraqis were killed in scattered violence today. In the worst attack, gunmen opened fire on a bus full of employees travelling to a state-run electronics company in Baqouba, 55km (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
The gunmen stopped the bus, opened fire and threw a bomb on board, killing 11 people. The toll of yesterday's suicide attack in the northern city of Tal Afar rose today to 22 dead and 134 wounded, according to Iraqi authorities.
Posted by: john ||
05/11/2006 18:41 ||
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#1
This is why separation of church and state is an important element in democracy. Object lesson #2.
#8
Box of frogs mental they are. They would like my ringtone on my cell phone. It is Curly of the Three Stooges going, "Woob-woob-woob-woob-woob-woob-woob!!!
Forgot to silence it at a State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) meeting once. 12 people sitting around the table, meeting started, then my cell phone went off, heh, and it brought down the house.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/11/2006 22:13 Comments ||
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#9
Shia vs Sunni - Ima thinkr Highway to Hell - AC/DC for both
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2006 22:37 Comments ||
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#10
Easy to solve: require all phones in Iraq to use the same ringtone. The sound of a squealing pig, for example. Or Gregorian chants.
Or "Hava Nagila".
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/11/2006 22:51 Comments ||
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I wonder if the NYT and WaPo will run 1273 front page stories abot this?
The Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse incidents of late 2003, resulted in many changes in the way military U.S. military prison guards were trained, and how they operated inside prisons. In many respects, the prisoners have taken over.
In 2004, everyone assigned to these new prisons now receives a special 55 hour block of instruction on how to handle detainees. Initially, teams of trainers went to detention centers in Iraq and Afghanistan to make sure everyone got the instruction. Now, troops get the training before they head overseas. But this is not the most important factor in avoiding another Abu Ghraib. Experience is, and the fact that more and more people arrested by American troops are being turned over to Iraqi run detention centers.
Another major change is the disappearance of the desperate attitudes that pervaded the detention centers in late 2003, when the worst of the Abu Ghraib incidents took place. Back then, the anti-government attacks on American troops rose sharply, doubling in October and November, versus the previous six months. Good intelligence work, and follow up raids, were bringing in lots of suspects, and some of them were giving up useful information. But not enough. There was a lot of pressure on the interrogators and military police to help the troops getting hit by more and more attacks. Trained prison guards would have been able to handle it, but some untrained reservists were not.
In addition to the new training, there are a lot more restrictions on what guards and interrogators can do. One is the prohibition on the use of dogs during interrogations. Dogs are considered particularly "unclean" by Arabs, so as not to offend suspected terrorists, dogs are not to be sued to assist in interrogations. The use of MPs in interrogation has also been prohibited. Other changes were also being made, many of them based on the findings of investigations (like those of the abuse at Abu Ghraib and during the investigation into allegations of abuse at Guantanamo Bay).
As a result of this, in Iraq, you have a replay of World War II, where hard core Nazis among prisoners, would get organized, terrorize the anti-Nazi, or indifferent Germans, and carry out attacks on the guards. Same thing with hard core communists during the Korean and Vietnam war. Now, in Iraq, you have the Baath Party and Islamic radicals organizing trouble. These fellows have lots of experience in terrorizing Iraqis, and would use less radical prisoners as cannon fodder. For example, at prisons like Abu Ghraib, the guards would have to fire rubber bullets several times a day, just to deal with groups of aggressive prisoners. Usually a couple of Baath or Islamic toughs using less militant, and cowed, prisoners, as shields. Guards would regularly sweep prisons for weapons, and find dozens of homemade nasties. Even with informers among the prison population, the hard core guys were able to organize large scale violence, and nearly get riots going once or twice a month. MPs have found that their guard dogs work very well with prisoners. The guard dogs are very good at controlling small groups, but risk getting ripped apart if there's a large fracas.
All this is old news to anyone who knows about the very similar situations dating back to the 1940s. Even though today's prison guards have closed circuit TV, rubber bullets (and other non-lethal weapons), it's still a nasty business, that has become much harder because prison guards operate under so many additional rules and restrictions. Prison commanders are told that their careers depend on their being no more scandal. But the prisoners picked up on this as well, as abuse the guards by making endless complaints, which they know will trigger an automatic investigations. These cause interviews with the guards and prisoners, more paperwork, all to the great amusement of the unharmed prisoners. Abuse of prison guards will never become a big media story, but the story won't go away, and will only get worse.
Posted by: ed ||
05/11/2006 11:02 ||
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NABLUS, West Bank -- Palestinian gas stations started shutting down after an Israeli fuel company cut off deliveries Wednesday, deepening concerns about an already-looming humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. An end to fuel supplies could cripple hospitals, halt food deliveries and keep people home from work...
Dor Energy, the sole fuel provider to the Palestinians since interim peace agreements in the mid-1990s, cited growing debts for its decision...the company had threatened to cut off supplies twice this year, only to be paid at the last minute by the Palestinians.
Asaf Shariv, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Israel would "absolutely not" bail out the Palestinians. Shariv said that because the Palestinian government resells gasoline to consumers, there is no reason for it not to have money to pay its debts. But Palestinian officials said their cash-strapped government is one of the biggest users of gasoline and is unable to pay the bill.
Nope, no cause and effect there, none at all ...
Could be amusing if, say, Saudi Arabia writes a check to Dor Energy.
#1
They're deadbeats. Get first and last months payments before any deliveries.
Posted by: ed ||
05/11/2006 11:49 Comments ||
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#2
OK, I've had it.
CAN WE PLEASE HAVE A TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON FOOD GRAPHICS?!
I've hit one of those times in my diet when I stick to it religiously and don't lose any weight. To make it worse, I'm 1 1/2 pounds from the 75 lb mark.
Then the so-so drive-through Italian place near my house was replaced by a Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits.
Then one of the mediocre Chinese places in my neighborhood was replaced by an Indian restaurant.
And today, the day I'm supposed to get weighed, my co-workers went for sushi for lunch AND HALF THE DAMNED STORIES ON RANTBURG HAVE PICTURES OF CANDY!!!
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/11/2006 11:58 Comments ||
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#3
Now that's a righteous rant, Rob. Congrats on the weight-loss thing. It sounds like you've had to work real hard to get through it. If it helps, all of Rantburg's food graphics are certified low-carb.
#8
Nah. There's lots of fruits and veggies on that table. Apples and grapes will do for now.
(But, God, I can't wait for my next vacation.)
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/11/2006 14:20 Comments ||
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#9
The day is almost half over, Rob. Congratulations on your accomplishment thus far! I truly envy your self control. May I offer a cup of tea with your choice of calorie-free flavorants (lemon juice, skim milk or saccharine)? ;-)
Israel set a peace deadline for the Palestinians yesterday to become negotiating partners by the end of the year or else the government will move ahead with a plan to fix the borders on its own terms.
Another deadline to come and go.
Also, Israel accepted a decision by major Middle East peace brokers to resume some aid payments to the Palestinians a move that could ease intense economic pressure on the Hamas-led government. The Quartet of international mediators the United States, Russia, European Union and the United Nations agreed on Tuesday to create the new mechanism for funnelling funds to the Palestinians and will run it for a three-month trial period. The Hamas-led government said it appreciated the Quartets efforts to ease the burden on the Palestinian people but said they could have gone further, and in a statement criticized the fact that its own authority was likely to be bypassed. We were hoping that their decision could be more positive in dealing with the Palestinian government since it is an elected government that represents the Palestinian people.
The move follows fears expressed by some Quartet members that more pressure on the Hamas-led administration could cause the Palestinian government to collapse, unleashing a deeper humanitarian and security crisis in the West Bank and Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
GOOD, hope ISRAEL means it. The ball is now wid HAMAS, the PA, and the Pals. people - these either work wid ISRAEL, or be ready to become future Iranian-conrolled satraps/provinces and Shias, whether Pals. Sunnis like it or not.
#2
From an article I posted here yesterday. It sounds like they mean it.
Olmert said he intends to pull Jewish settlers out of heavily populated Palestinian areas in the West Bank while fortifying major settlement blocs and retaining the West Bank's Jordan River Valley. He said Israel prefers to negotiate, but would act on its own if Hamas didn't moderate.
Olmert originally had set a 2010 deadline for the pullback, but a top aide said last month that Israel planned to conclude the process before the end of President Bush's term in 2008.
Ramon said it wouldn't take more than 18 to 24 months. "I would like to believe that by the end of 2008 we will be deployed on a line that will signify Israel's final borders."
#3
I'm continually amazed at the stupidity of the Israeli government. Just when they have 'em where they want 'em, with the terrorist led government about to collapse, (despite the land giveaway debacle by a misguided and ill Sharon) what do they do? Start subsidizing them again. Un-f*cking-believable.
#4
It's a type of Honey Trap, by making things look a little better the israelis hope to get all the bad eggs in one basket (Then drop the basket)
Get them in a place that's hard to get out of, such as a fenced in, wall bordred, artillery plotted, and no retreat possible small hole.
Sounds wonderful.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/11/2006 21:48 Comments ||
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The Israeli Army is preparing to reoccupy parts of the Gaza Strip if the Hamas-led Palestinians government does not stop those launching missiles from the area, said Israeli commander of the southern area General Yoav Galant.
In statements to Israeli radio on Wednesday, he said, "A number of choices are being discussed, including the reoccupation of Gaza to halt the launching of missiles." He added that "we are talking about a more severe military action, and the price that we are paying due to the escalating Palestinian attacks is unbelievable." He said that he had obtained the approval of high-ranking Israeli Army officials, including former Defense Minister Shaol Mofaz, to attack Gaza or reoccupy parts of it. Galant pointed out that plans for the reoccupation of Gaza had been placed and that forces had been trained and were ready, warning Palestinians that the use of long-range weapons could lead to a wide-scale military operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh, this is gonna hurt a little
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/11/2006 1:05 Comments ||
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The Hamas-led Palestinian government has welcomed steps taken by the Middle East Quartet to resume payments but criticised an enduring political boycott. Ghazi Hamad, the government spokesman, said in a statement that: "The government appreciates the efforts deployed by the international parties to alleviate the economic siege imposed on the Palestinian people ... but deeply regrets the Quartet's insistence on attaching pre-conditions to the Palestinian government."
The Quartet - which comprises the US, the UN, Russia and the EU - announced what it called a "temporary international mechanism" on Tuesday to resume aid payments to the Palestinians, but without dealing directly with Hamas. The EU external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said details of the proposal should be fleshed out in the coming weeks.
The Palestinian Authority has been unable to pay employees for two months since the US and EU froze aid payments in protest over Hamas's unwillingness to change its founding principles. The Quartet reiterated demands after its meeting in New York that Hamas should renounce the use of violence, recognise Israel and respect previous international accords. It also called on Israel to stop settlement expansion.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Ain't worth the rubber it's printed on
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/11/2006 1:06 Comments ||
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Just becuz we want to destroy ISRAEL AND AMERICA AND THE WEST AND JUDEOCHRISTIANITY, etal doesn't mean they have to get angry and cut off our money, D*** IT. Just becuz America is a REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY doesn't mean our politicians or leaders have to explain anything to us, the voters.
#9
.....And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.
Palestinian militant group Hamas has urged supporters around the world to send it arms, fighters and money to back its fight against arch-foe Israel. "We ask all the people in surrounding Arab countries, the Muslim world and everyone who wants to support us to send weapons, money and men," Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal said. "You should not shy away from of this. This is resistance, not terrorism.'
They always say that before blowing a bus or shooting a few babies.
Prominent Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi says Muslims should boycott banks refusing to transfer funds to the Palestinians. The US has said it could penalise banks that help provide money to the Hamas-led Government. "We call on Muslims to boycott banks that do not transfer money to the Palestinians," he said. "The boycott would force them to cooperate."
Hamas, which has carried out about 60 suicide bombings against Israel since a Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000, won elections in January and formed its first government in March. Hamas, which has largely abided by a cease-fire for more than a year, has been under increasing Western and Israeli financial pressure to recognise the Jewish state, abandon armed struggle and accept interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals.
#3
"We call on Muslims to boycott banks that do not transfer money to the Palestinians."
Uhem Sheikhy Boy. See, the quirky thing about banks is, they view that type of thing as extortion. Not exactly the quality most banks look for in a valued customer. And seeing as how youre broke, currently have no income, and its the banks that tend to control the money...you might want to put a ixnay on the oycottbay talk. Just a suggestion.
#4
DepotGuy, normal people would follow your suggestions, but since they have displayed an incredible stubbornness in refusing to accept cause= effect....
#9
It was former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir who said that "as long as the Arabs hate the Jews more than they love their own children, there will never be peace in the Middle East."
Looks to me like they hate their children as much as they hate Jews - they encourage death for both.
Losers.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/11/2006 17:42 Comments ||
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#12
Golda is right. When their life means more to them than the death of some anonymous child or wife or sibling or gramma, then the Pals might change. Just might. But certainly never before that moment.
May 11, 2006: The U.S. Navy project to convert four ballistic missile submarines to commando/cruise missile boats, is well in hand, with the USS Ohio (SSGN 726) and USS Florida (SSGN 728) already in service. Michigan (SSGN 727) is scheduled to begin sea trials late this year, and Georgia (SSGN 729) is scheduled for completion in mid-2007.
That was fast
Conversion of the boats entailed converting two of the ballistic missile tubes for use as diver lockout chambers, able to accommodate up to nine men. Eight tubes have been rebuilt to permit them to be used alternatively for stowing Naval special operations forces equipment, cruise missiles, UAVs or UUVs, or for other (classified) purposes. The remaining 14 tubes have been converted to house up to seven Tomahawk UGM-109 or U/RGM-109E, Block IV cruise missiles each.
If the SOF (Special Operations Forces, usually SEALs) capable tubes are also used, each boat can carry up to 154 Tomahauks. In addition, the Poseidon missile command and control systems and spaces have been replaced by command and control facilities for SOF. Each boat can house a 66-man SOF team for relatively long periods, and up to 102 for shorter periods. In addition, each boat is fitted to carry either two "Dry Dock" shelters (storage bins for SOF gear or other equipment) or two midget submarines for SOF.
In addition to being used to support the land battle with precision attacks by Tomahwak missiles or SOF teams, the Navy has proposed developing modules that can permit the SSGNs to be used as forward joint task force headquarters.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/11/2006 08:57 ||
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#1
Need to put a couple in the Straits of Hormuz!!
#5
Submersible Ship, Guided Missle, Nuclear - "N"
indics both possibility of nuclear weapons on-board [tacmissles,nuke torpedoes, etc] +
type of ship power. In decades past the Navy would admit only to SSN/SSGN/SSN(A)subs being machinally nuke-powered, but not admit to type of weapons being carried [conventional or nuke].
Japans peace envoy warned yesterday Sri Lankas strained peace process was at its lowest ebb since he took the job in 2002, and called on Tamil Tiger rebels to resume talks amid fresh violence in the restive north. Yasushi Akashi, who sees a risk of a return to a two-decade civil war that killed over 64,000 people before a 2002 truce, said the onus was on the government and rebels and not the international community to avoid all-out war. Everyone should try their best to de-escalate an extremely tense and dangerous climate, Akashi told a news conference hours after two sailors were wounded when a claymore fragmentation mine exploded as they cleared roadside scrub in the far north. (The situation) is at its worst since I began my role as Japanese government envoy (in 2002), he added, wrapping up his peace bid before heading to neighboring India to brief government leaders there.
He said Sri Lankas main foreign donors - who pledged $4.5 billion in aid to foster peace - would meet in Tokyo later this month to assess where they stand. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who want a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east, have withdrawn from peace talks indefinitely, saying on Tuesday that Sri Lanka was moving toward the fringes of war.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2006 00:00 ||
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Iran's president on Thursday intensified his attacks against Israel, calling it a "a tyrannical regime that will one day will be destroyed," but also said he was ready to negotiate with the United States and its allies over his country's nuclear program.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has previously said Israel should be wiped off the map, told a cheering crowd of students in the Indonesian capital that it is every country's right not just the United States to use new technology to meet energy needs.
He said his country was willing to negotiate, but that the United States first must drop its "bad attitude."
"We are not only defending our rights, we are defending the rights of many other countries," he said. "By maintaining our position, we are defending our independence."
Ahmadinejad, known for his fiery rhetoric, is visiting Indonesia amid a deepening standoff over his country's nuclear program and suspicions it is developing nuclear weapons. This week, key U.N. Security Council members agreed to present Tehran with a choice of incentives or sanctions in deciding whether to suspend uranium enrichment.
Asked what it would take to begin talks with the United States to resolve the standoff, he said Tehran would talk to anyone except Israel, which Iran does not recognize.
"There are no limits to our dialogue," he said. "But if someone points an arm (a weapon) at your face and says you must speak, will you do that?"
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday she and her counterparts on the U.N. Security Council agreed to give Iran another two weeks to reconsider its position.
#3
Is MadMoud trying to say that America will be allowed to escape harm and destruction iff America lets Israel be destroyed. i.e allow Iran to achieve Regional Empire??? And the difference between Israel and Taiwan, the ME and Pacific, is ........!?
President Ahmadinejad's letter to President Bush was rejected by Washington, but second letter sent to White House by aides of spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei includes 'hopeful signs' for launching negotiations
The White House rejected a letter sent by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President George W. Bush in which he suggested "new ways for getting out of the current, fragile international situation" over Iran's nuclear program.
American officials said the timing of the letter was meant to coincide with and influence Security Council talks and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed it as unserious, saying "this letter is not the place that one would find an opening to engage on the nuclear issue or anything of the sort."
But Time Magazine said a second letter written by an aide to spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offers serious grounds for negotiations.
The two-page letter, Hassan Rohani, defends Iran's resolution to acquire nuclear know-how but makes an offer that the issue be taken off the UN Security Council and be dealt with by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Rohani wrote that Iran would "consider ratifying the Additional Protocol, which provides for intrusive and snap inspections," and that it would also "address the question of preventing 'break-out'," Time reported.
Nuclear experts consulted by Time said the letter offers "hopeful signs" that Iran may be willing to resolve the dispute over its nuclear activities.
As for US demands that Iran freezes uranium enrichment activities, which could allow the Islamic Republic to develop nuclear weapons, Rohani said Tehran would only agree "to negotiate with the IAEA and states concerned about the scope and timing of its industrial-scale uranium enrichment."
Although Rohani promised that Iran "Iran would accept an IAEA verifiable cap on enrichment limit of reactor grade uranium" on Iranian territory, that would not alleviate the concerns of the US and most of its European allies.
"In the context of Iran's domestic politics, which is the driving force behind Iran's the nuclear initiative, Rohani's proposals are significant because they have the imprimateur of the Supreme Leader, who would have approved them in advance," William Samii, the longtime senior Iran analyst at Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty, told Time.
"The important, if implicit message to Washington in Rohani's declaration," Samii said, "is you may not like hardline President Ahmadinejad, but we do have more pragmatic leaders with concrete proposals, like Rohani, whom you have known for years, and whom you can deal with now if you want. His proposals amount to recognition of Washington's concerns."
The letter is in contrast with remarks by President Ahamdinejad who lately said that western concerns over his country's nuclear activities are "big lies."
He also accused Western powers of trying to control the world's oil resources and creating a climate of fear that he said was forcing countries to stockpile weapons.
"The root cause of this is...the excessive demands of certain ruling powers over certain parts of the world," said Ahmadinejad, who arrived in Indonesia last Wednesday on a three-day visit.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Western nations yesterday of hypocrisy and said their expressions of concern over nuclear programs were a "big lie." The Iranian leader was speaking on a visit to fellow Muslim nation Indonesia, which said Tehran had been receptive to its offer to help mediate the Islamic republic's dispute with critics of its nuclear project.
"I'll tell you, they are not concerned with nuclear programs ... They are themselves engaged in nuclear activities and they are expanding day by day. They test new brands of weapons of mass destruction every day," Ahmadinejad told a news conference after meeting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "Big powers pretend (they) are concerned, but it's a big lie," the Iranian leader said.
Speaking of a letter sent to US President George W. Bush, which Washington shrugged off as an attempt to divert attention from the nuclear issue, Ahmadinejad said sending it was the right decision and that he had no comment on the US reaction.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2006 00:00 ||
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With access to records of billions of domestic calls, the NSA has gained a secret window into the communications habits of millions of Americans. Customers' names, street addresses and other personal information are not being handed over as part of NSA's domestic program, the sources said. But the phone numbers the NSA collects can easily be cross-checked with other databases to obtain that information.
#1
For the amount of money the NSA burns per FY, they had darned well better be listening for the enemy.
As for the ACLU and related traitors, if you are not doing anything wrong and don't assist the terrorists, you have nothing to worry about... commrade.
Kinda sux when you're not the one running the state, isn't it?
Posted by: N guard ||
05/11/2006 12:57 Comments ||
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#2
Actually, this is a VOLUNTARY program - the phone companies can so NO, just as Qwest did.
The NSA is not demanding anything - it simply asked for call records so that it coudl do traffic analysis and discover any nexus/networks that may be developing terror threats based on communications with known terrorist numbers.
And the "Record" are simply what number called what other number, and when.
As far as "easily cross checked" - pull another statement out of your ass. There are physical and logical limitations on doing such runs at such a scale, not to mentionthe Title 18 and other limitations on obtaining such data, for the NSA.
As for Pen Registers, the Supreme Court held that a pen register is not a search because the "petitioner voluntarily conveyed numerical information to the telephone company." Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 744 (1979). Since the defendant had disclosed the dialed numbers to the telephone company so they could connect his call, he did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the numbers he dialed. The court did not distinguish between disclosing the numbers to a human operator or just the automatic equipment used by the telephone company. Ths Smith decision left pen registers completely outside constitutional protection.
The only protection could be statutory. Which is is: he Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) Title III addresses pen registers. It places limitations only on law enforcement - and even then, its the least onerous restrictions: they can get a warrant for this - the requester only need say that it is of interest in an investigation to get the court order. Also, the law as written says there is no "privacy interest" with this sort of data since it is already in the hands of the phone company and the sending and receiveing parties, and is carried over a public network.
Again, there is no constitutional protection for information divulged to a third party under the Supreme Courts expectation of privacy test, and the routing information for phone and internet communications are divulged to the company providing the communication, the absence or inapplicability of the statute would leave the routing information for those communications completely unprotected from government surveillance.
(thanks to Wikipedia and other online sources for the legal stuff).
IMHO this is just a leak times to smear Hayden.
Someone at CIA (assuming thats the leak - hayden must have them scared shitless) should have their ass handed to them - and the USA today should be subpeonaed immediately for prosecution of criminal violation of laws I have cited here previously.
#3
What bothers me is that the Dems helped build this thing when they were in power, and _now_ they're sitting around, pretending it started on Sept. 12, (or Jan 2001) and that they're really a bunch of brave civil libertarians.
And one of their big experts in this is the guy who wanted to classify all cryptological research when he ran the NSA back in the 70's.
Posted by: Phil ||
05/11/2006 13:05 Comments ||
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#4
Imagine, if you will, a shadowy sinister organization that keeps track of every phone call you make - who you called, how long you talked. Imagine further that they use this information to extort money form you every month to support their ongoing enterprise.
Pretty damn scary, right? Well, it is going on now, even as you read this! The evil organisation is your phone company. The incriminating records are call detail records used for billing.
The use of 'pen register' in the topic here is misleading since it implies a tap on 'tens of millions' of phones. What the NSA is interested in is using the phone companies' call detail records for social network analysis.
Can this information be abused to stifle political dissent? Sure. But it is also a useful tool to chase down bad guys determined to do us harm. Believe it or not, such people do exist.
#6
To sum it up for morons and liberals (but I repeat myself)..
The Info the NSA got was that at 12:34 PM on 6 May 2006, phone number 888-555-1212 called phone number 888-555-2121 and talked for 6 minutes.
It is against the law for them to know who has those numbers, the location of those numbers, if they were land line or cell phone, if they were data or fax or voice, etc.
And thats whay all the NSA asked for and got was stripped down CDRs. To get anything more on US calls, they have to hand it over ot the proper agency (FBI, DEA), who will then have to establish probably cause, go to a judge and get a wiretap warrant.
The legal protections are still there. Your rights are still protected, and there is nothing the NSA can or will do to personally identify you unless one end of your call is overseas.
Hell, caller ID tells people you call more about you than the NSA got with this data.
Stop with the hysteria already.
The press is so full of shit and half-trughts that its obvious this was planted and slanted to damage Hayden and the President.
I want the sumbitches who leaked this at CIA shot. Out front of the building in Langley where all can see what happens to traitors who value their politics above their nation's security. Put their heads on f*cking pikes.
I thought anyone who was paying attention would have already known that this stuff has been going on for the last thirty years or so.
(Which is why the tone of the discussion is kinda bothersome to me. I keep wanting to tell these people to take their winnings, shove them up their behinds, and DON'T COME BACK TO THE CAFE' AMERICAIN EVER AGAIN! Shocked MY ASS.)
Posted by: Phil ||
05/11/2006 13:38 Comments ||
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#8
Note that the USA Today article makes a specific point to tell its allies (the terrorists) which telco to use by naming QWest as the only one not giving this info to the NSA.....
#9
Hell, if the NSA wants to know how many times I called my wife on my cellphone, they can have it.
Seriously, another blogger pointed out on The Strata-Sphere ...here is why this reporting is dangerous. Of course the leftwing nuts want to point out the brave groups speaking to power, so they alert the terrorists to shift all their communications over to Qwest because Qwest is not partnering with the NSA to help find potential 9-11 terrorists here in the country:
Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants.
Qwests refusal to participate has left the NSA with a hole in its database. Based in Denver, Qwest provides local phone service to 14 million customers in 14 states in the West and Northwest.
USA Today just tipped off the terrorist how to avoid detection and put the people in Qwests areas in danger because now it is known those areas have the least protection and should be targeted! What are these people THINKING! Someone needs to go to jail.
It is gonna take many more american civilian deaths to wake these morons up.
#10
Or have they? Maybe the NSA and Qwest is just setting up a honey trap. All the really good NSA gear being located in Colorado.
Posted by: ed ||
05/11/2006 13:53 Comments ||
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#11
SteveS: The use of 'pen register' in the topic here is misleading since it implies a tap
A pen register is not a tap. In the old days, a device was attached to a phone line which would record the dialing pulses on paper tape. What the NSA is collecting is exactly what is collected by a pen register.
The ECPA was codified in 18 U.S.C. 206. The definition in Section 3127 states, "such information shall not include the contents of any communication".
Applying pen registers without a court order is illegal. From Section 3121, "Except as provided in this section, no person may install or use a pen register or a trap and trace device without first obtaining a court order under section 3123 of this title or under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.)".
The article states that no warrants were issued for this program. Further, it says that Qwest strongly resisted the NSA arm twisting, and the NSA was unwilling to go to the FISA or even the Attorney General to enforce it. In fact, the NSA dropped their request.
Gen. Hayden was head of the NSA when this program was established. It's his responsibility. If the leak is accurate, the issue appears to have a lot more traction than the (legal) offshore comms monitoring issue. I hope the Administration hasn't been blindsided and is prepared to address this.
Posted by: Phil ||
05/11/2006 13:56 Comments ||
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#13
The ECPA was codified in 18 U.S.C. 206. The definition in Section 3127 states, "such information shall not include the contents of any communication".
Phone numbers are not content; they're envelope.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/11/2006 14:16 Comments ||
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#14
KBK you omit that the protections of a court order apply only to a demand for data by LAW ENFORCEMENT. And even then the protection is lowest, given that the courts have already established that this data has no constitutional protection, nor any reasonable expectation of privacy, and the burden is the lowest one there for law enforncement, with even a "SHALL ISSUE" clause.
Furthermore, this is not law enforcement, this is NSA action under a different title, and a different EO. And the NSA didnt demand it with legal repercussions like law enforcement - they REQUESTED it. A far different circumstance. The companies could have said NO just as Qwest did. If you are angry, go after the telcos, the volunteered the data. Call them evil when they are trying to help prevent another 9/11.
Another thing: the reference to a "pen register" as a technical term is only to enhance the drama and obfuscate the issue - it calls to mind a "tap" in the minds of non-techincal people, with all the connotations that carries. Any telecom pro knows this a CDR, not "pen register". Its data, not a device. If you want mention this device without sensationalism, then call it what it is: the CO swicth, like a big old AT&T ESS5 or Nortel DMS-100, not a "pen register". Same goes with the data - connection records, not complete Call records. This article and the hysterical reactions it generated formthe shrill leftists are due to the basically propagandistic use of loaded phrases and prejudicial language in an attempt to avoid revealing all the facts impartially.
The problem here is the intent of the press is to dramatize and publicise, not to tell the whole of the truth - and for obvious political reasons in terms of the timing of the confirmation of this completely legal program.
You cannot "unsay" a word - and the damage here was intentional and will be hard to get the WHOLE truth known now, in the proper neutral context becasue the poisoning of the well of public knowledge and prejudicing of the public discussion has already taken place by the slanted article and its writer and obviously politically motivated instigator.
#16
KBK: What the NSA is collecting is exactly what is collected by a pen register.
As you say, a pen register is a device connected to a specific phone. The data collected is the same, but there are no pen registers involved here. What we are talking about are existing phone company Call Detail Records.
There is NO sinister device connected to anyone's phone ( other than the telco switch ). To use the term 'pen register' is misleading and just adds to the hysteria.
#17
Let me try again with another help for liberal (morons) on this:
Say YOU are the NSA and I'm the phone company. You say "Hey I want to know about a bunch of calls so we can see if there are patterns we can detect - maybe it will help us prevent the next 9-11 if we can find patterns". I say "OK but I can't reveal this data to law enforcment or other individuals without a court order, but if it will help prevent an attack, here you go - with the provision that there will be NO identifying data sent with it and access will be properly legally restricted."
Then I tell you that 703-555-4567 called 704-555-9876 on Sep 11, 2002 at 3:06, and they talked for 5 minutes.
As NSA:
Do you know who those numbers belong to?
Can you give me an exact location? (and remember area codes no longer apply with VOIP and cell phones basically anywhere)
Do you know who made the call?
Can you tell if it was fax, data or voice?
Can you take any actions at all against the person?
What privacy has been violated?
And before you speak, remember you are legally barred from looking up the caller ID data, consulting any database or resouce from the phone companies or civil areas or other domestic enforcement agencies.
The answers are obvious - No you do not know who the numbers belong to, do not know who made the call, do not know how they communicated, do not know where they are or what they talked about, and in fact, no privacy was violated - since to make that call they had to give that data to the phone companies involved in order to complete and route the call. And no you cannot tke any actions since you dont know hwo the number belongs to. The ONLY way you can do this is to hand over "probable cause" to the FBI based on data you legally have, and have them get a court order for the CDRs and such. The most you can do is tip the FIB and then they are legally bound by the Constitution for further action.
Again, what private info can YOU tell me with ONLY that data - where's the violation?
Morally, ethically and legally and constitutionally: THERE IS NONE.
"the term pen register means a device or process which records or decodes dialing, routing, addressing, or signaling information transmitted by an instrument or facility from which a wire or electronic communication is transmitted, provided, however, that such information shall not include the contents of any communication..."
So the term also includes any modern computerized process which produces the same result.
"...but such term does not include any device or process used by a provider or customer of a wire or electronic communication service for billing, or recording as an incident to billing, for communications services provided by such provider or any device or process used by a provider or customer of a wire communication service for cost accounting or other like purposes in the ordinary course of its business."
This is interesting, because these days there is no practical difference between the billing/cost accounting records and processes and a pen register. So maybe this provides the way around the EPCA Title III that the Administration is going to need during the upcoming confirmation hearing. The question becomes, what is the privacy status of the billing records? There's been a lot of discussion lately about selling cell billing records.
What about the government collecting data on who sends mail to whom? All they have to do is scan the *addresses* in the From and To on the OUTSIDE of the letter, and the postmark date (remember they dont care about the name, the number, street city state and zip are what matters).
Is that wrong? Are you shocked they do this millions of times each day?
It happens every day - the USPS needs that data to deliver the mail, and you voluntarily provide it in a public place: the outside of the envelope. And they use automated equipment to do it. And this gives a hard and solid location, and usually a name as well - something a phone number does not.
Your phone company knows this kind of info, and any customer care rep or technicial can access this. As a matter of fact, they run analysis on YOUR call records in order to market services to you based on who where when and how long you call people. They even sell your number and aggregate analysis in call lists used by telemarketers.
So ask yourself, do you trust Qwest with yoru privacy more than you do an agency charged with your protection from 9/11 type attacks?
#20
Get more paranoid, OS. Everybody associated with intelligence, telecommunications or oversight knows what is going on and how it is done. So why is this coming out now? When Hayden is going to CIA? Either Hayden didn't do such a good job at NSA, Goss didn't finish at CIA, or the leak is legislative.
#21
Problems with wireless phones and privacy is that they are BROADCAST on publicly licensed spectrum. Used to be 9and still is) that you can pick off conversations with HAM equipment if its tuned right. Same goes for those cordless house phones just about everyone uses.
No expectation of privacy, and no protection for it. You give up that privacy when you get theat convenience. Like taking off the Burka - everyone knows who you are but you're not suffocating under all that masking.
#22
And before anyone throws this one out here's Franklins CORRECT quote:
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
Remember that!
Essential liberty is nto at issue: the privacy of CDRs is *not* essential to liberyt according to the Supreme court, and consider that you give them away every time you allow your caller ID to work. You give this data up as a convenience to make phone calls.
And its neither LITTLE nor TEMPORARY safety we are purchasing with this info. Preventing another 9/11 is hardly LITTLE, and reducing/degrading/eliminating terrorists' ability to operate freely within the US is hardly temporary saftey - it is permanent part of our existence from now on, 9/11 changed the nature of that threat forever.
Such cost of not purchasing such safety prior to 9/11 was large (destruction) and permanent (death) to those who paid the consequences that day in NY, the pentagon and that field in Pennsylvania.
It took me about five seconds to google my phone number, which produced my name, address, a map, and a satellite image of my house.
Agreed, VOIP is an issue for the NSA, and that is why there has been recent legislation requiring ISPs to provide the technical means to institute taps and monitoring (CALEA, as Phil mentioned).
As far as the USPS goes, sure, the information is developed when the envelopes are scanned, but is it retained (and for how long)? I'm pretty sure there are serious laws regarding the divulging of postal information without a court order.
No, I don't like to have all my personal information in the hands of the credit card companies, etc. with computers building the associations.
#24
Actually if its based on the envelope, there are few if any restrictions on mailing, as long as you dont open (tamper with) the envelope. No reasonable expectation of privacy there at all, no more than your voter registration records 9which you give up privacy of your name and address for in exchange to be able to vote).
And the USPS does retain records - although I think its more in aggregate to project demand and set proper shipping capacity.
FYI: Lichtbau and Risen released this info back in december.
So its pretty obvious that the timing and manner of presentation of this story ("Big Brother" used quite often on TV with the mock "Cocnerned Newperson Look", and the prejudicial and half-truth nature of the article as written) seems to obviously be purely politically driven, as if to smear Bush and prevent Hayden from being confirmed.
BTW, ham radios and scanners are 'cellular blocked'. Maybe 1% of today's hams could figure out how to remove the block. My GSM cell is lightly encrypted, and that takes care of the rest. None of the neighborhood snoops are likely to have interception ability, it costs several thou.
But I do have a hardwired landline that I use for banking and credit card access etc. I wouldn't think of touchtoning my cc numbers or partial ss numbers, much less announcing them over a radio.
#27
From what I can figure given my experiences, someone with an agenda found a ignorant gullible headline grubbing "journalist" (possibly with an anti-administration bias) and an ignorant/similar editor at USA today - and played them like a fiddle to drive this story (thats already been covered in the NYT 6 months ago) back onto the front page.
Put vanity, greed and prejudicial bias in a bowl, and mix with ignorance, and its doesn't take much "fruit-punch for the ego" to push that sort of person exactly where you want them to be - and do what you want, pretty much when you want.
And if the reporter or editor had BDS, its even easier: People driven by hatred are especially susceptible since hatred is self-blinding more than any other emotion.
I wonder what the politics of the USA Today writer and editor are? Anyone want to take bets?
I digress:
Regarding hate, look no further than Kos kids and their BDS (Chimpy Bushitler McHalliburton) or Fundy Islamist Splodeydopes, or even Fundy Pseudo-Christians like Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps and his sheep for examples of what rage and mindless fury can do in terms of manipulation.
Love and compassion cause you to see but look past transgressions and opposition, while hate and rage drive you to completely deny and destroy anything that runs counter to your hate.
#28
Well I'm old school (go figure heh) - any self respecting general HAM should be able to build an antenna and reciever based on the circuits and chips that are out there. I hand built (once I got certified) several custom receivers. Then again not everyone is a geek-at-heart like I am.
#29
Lots of old memes are being floated lately... a return to Abu Ghraib, campaign issues from the summer of '04, the return of the son of NSA wiretaps, etc. etc.
I think the public (and the blogs) are being used as a focus group to see which issues will stick this summer as we head into Campaign '06.
#30
I wonder what the politics of the USA Today writer and editor are?
Check this for more. As for our reporter, she made the morning shows, at least GMA:
Sawyer then interviewed Leslie Cauley, the USA Today reporter, with a "Big Brother: Why is NSA Tracking Your Calls?" headline on screen for much of the interview: We want to turn now to the reporter who broke this story in USA Today. She is Leslie Cauley and joining us this morning from Washington. Good to have you with us, Leslie. Let me get this straight. What are the odds that every person watching this show this morning has had the records of their phone calls turned over to the government?
It's a very good bet, Cauley replied. The short answer is the chances are that your cell phone calls as well as your home phone calls have been tracked."
"Cell phones, too! Sawyer exclaimed. Later, after Cauley pointed out that personal data such as names and address are not collected, Sawyer asked: Question about legalities there. Any chance that this information could be passed on to other government agencies, the FBI, CIA?"
Cauley asserted: "A high likelihood that in fact is what's going on right now."
Sawyer: "Well, as we said a seismic story this morning and thanks for joining us, Leslie. And it's certainly going to be part of the hearings when the new nominee for the head of the CIA appears because he's also the head of the NSA right now."
#31
Like anything else, I have nothing to hide and am therefore not threatened.
As for al Qaeda, find em and kill em all.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/11/2006 17:35 Comments ||
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#32
OldSpook:
The article Lichtblau and Risen released last December was qualitatively different. It concerned tapping communications of a small number of people who were making international calls and who were suspected of terrorist conncections. I think that was legal.
This program appears to be about monitoring the 'envelopes' of a very large number of calls, both ends of which are in the USA, and where there is no anticipation of wrongdoing. Expect a major uproar.
#33
What this program does (or at least can do) is create on a mega-scale a network map - something that would look like an airline route map, but with phone numbers instead of cities. You can find similar maps of server traffic. Its value is that when a 'suspect' phone number is identified one can immediately see the network of the numbers that connected with it. Let's say one of those numbers 'downstream' on that network also shows connections to another suspect number; that might constitute enough probable cause to obtain a warrant to tap a phone, or at least to identify the phone number owner for further investigation. At least it would if I was the judge. Automated, the system can do this analysis to billions of connections a day, world-wide, and identify patterns and connections worth closer investigation. It is probably the most powerful tool available to find a needle in a haystack, and does so with virtually no threat to innocent citizens. Assuming it is used in accordance with the law, opposition to it is the height of stupidity and/or political hypocracy.
The bad guys are now (actually, it came out first many months ago) on notice that the program exists, so they will certainly redirect their communication to less efficient paths. This makes it harder to catch them but it also makes it harder for them to operate. The ultimate downside will come when they actually believe the program has been stopped IF it actually IS stopped. Wheels within wheels.
"Since the disclosure last week of the N.S.A.'s domestic surveillance program, President Bush and his senior aides have stressed that his executive order allowing eavesdropping without warrants was limited to the monitoring of international phone and e-mail communications involving people with known links to Al Qaeda.
What has not been publicly acknowledged is that N.S.A. technicians, besides actually eavesdropping on specific conversations, have combed through large volumes of phone and Internet traffic in search of patterns that might point to terrorism suspects. Some officials describe the program as a large data-mining operation."
Reference December NYT story on Christmas Eve Link
And this from the NYT today:
The New York Times reported last December that the agency had gathered data from phone and e-mail traffic with the cooperation of several major telecommunications companies.
So nope, your assertion is flat wrong - this is looking more and more like a political hatchet job aimed at Hayden and trying to get Bush as collateral damage, aided and abetted by the complicit fools in the MSM, especially the DNC's broadcast arms (CBS, NBC, ABC) who are lying by omission, and distorting & sensationalizing the hell out of this.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2006 19:31 Comments ||
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#36
One thing to remember - that it would involve some SERIOUS lawbreaking by the NSA and NSA personnel to abuse this data in any way. Ask anyone who works there how protected "US Persons" are, and how seriously such subjects are treated. I know for a fact that its a career *ending* move if you scrap over the line in that area - and it always has been since the late 70's. The protocols and checks on gathering and retention of such data are extensive, punishments severe and swift.
Also read Sen Feinstiens comments today - she was obviously briefed on this program quite a while back and seems unconcerned (at least for now). The Senate Intelligence Committee (and probably the House as well) were thoroughly briefed on the NSA pattern-analysis program, just as they were on the NSA al-Qaeda intercept program that actually listened in on calls between known overseas terrorist numbers and domestic callers who were talking with them.
The Media is doing the liberals job by rushing to smear without forehought other than "getting" the administraiton and makeing a splash.
You are in charge of gathering information to prevent catastrophic loss of life. Your enemies are operating within the borders of your own country. You are a GS-13 NSA analyst that probably graduated at the top of your class and could easily walk into a corporate job that would pay 3 times your current salary. Why do you think that analyst is there? To catch you talking to your pot dealer over the phone? To support the agenda of a narrow minded politician? To take away your civil liberties or freedom of speech? I don't think so. How about to make a positive impact on the world by gathering and protecting information to prevent terrorists from carrying out acts of violence and to stop hostile countries from threatening the security of the United States and its allies. Because that is what the NSA does! I agree that the government should not have unrestricted unilateral power to surveil American citizens, or anyone for that matter. However, a tool like the database being discussed would be extremely valuable to the intelligence community in order for it to be able to respond quickly to an imminent threat. With appropriate oversight, such a system may prevent and probably already has helped prevent domestic acts of terrorism. Remember our elected officials still call the shots and make the rules. If politicians misuse the database then we as a society have a mechanism to remove them from office. It's called free elections. Everyone complaining about the NSA database voted in the last election right? Before you criticise the actions of our government, and I do feel that the current administration deserves criticism, remember that it is your government and you have the power to change it by speaking out and being politically active. Make your feelings known by writing to your congressmen and senators, and vote!!
To find unknown terrorist cells and networks hidden throughout the billions of people around the world, and here in the United States, you must rely on data "sifting", eg. Data analysis.
Well, I hope you are right, but I'm not so sure. The article you referenced appears to be concerned with international calls, i.e. one end terminating in the USA. This program appears to cover domestic calls (envelope only) with both ends in the USA:
The agency told the companies that it wanted them to turn over their "call-detail records," a complete listing of the calling histories of their millions of customers. In addition, the NSA wanted the carriers to provide updates, which would enable the agency to keep tabs on the nation's calling habits.
I've read 1984: I'm against the program.
I understand the goals and methods of the Isamists: I'm for the program.
President Bush has the hardest job in the world. The MSM has the easiest.
I understand the goals and methods of the Isamists: I'm for the program."
Heh. Were you against the program before you were for it or for it before you were against it? Both? All of the above? I'm starting to think that one or more of those Ks stands for Kerry.
#41
SteveS: one or more of those Ks stands for Kerry.
LOL. The problem is these things are like ratchets. You can put the program in place, but it's very hard to eliminate it later. Now all you have to do is wait for an abusive administration to come along (and it will eventually).
So my preference is to keep surveillance to a minimum, and to have proper checks and balances (which don't appear to exist in this case).
If we must have these programs, then have proper sunset provisions so they will be discontinued once the threat passes.
Right now, we need this program. But I have no confidence that Congress has the ability to monitor the situation or even understand it. But you can count on them to demagogue it.
#42
Is this the source of the other story that was up here a while ago regarding the NSA / FEDs tapping into the raw optical streams on some (many?) of ATT main switching centers?
#43
The NSA is probably doing less infringment into my privacy than the markiting companies that buy my credit card info, work my spending habits and monitary worth, then target me with advertisings.
I am certain the NSA and the GS 13s there have better things to do than listen to me and my wife fight say loving things to each other over the phone. Some folks who have a sence of over self importance and paranoia really need to get a life out there. Where I see this interesting is when the other intel is linked with the proper analysis it could help in getting warrants and running the trap on ashhats that we need to capture before they kill Americans.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/11/2006 21:44 Comments ||
Top||
#44
No content means no content. Just the 2 numbers and the length.
If, under the other NSA program, someone from Karachi calls someone in Virginia and a keyword is detected, then they take that US number and look for it in other foreign intercepts, in known terr DBs, and in this DB. They want to know who this local (now) suspect is talking to. If they find hits of local numbers that also received foreign calls where keywords were recognized, or were known terr numbers, then they are really onto something. A cell. That's the point. Period.
The courts have already ruled on this particular data - more than once. It is not an invasion of privacy. America wants to be safe, first and foremost. To the black helicopter crowd: stop parading your looney fears and focus on the facts. This is smart stuff and only demagogues and loonies could possibly be worried. So take another swig of Pepto, your conspiracy fantasies do not take precedence over America's safety.
#45
I beleive that this program is justifiable and needed. And that it must have sufficent oversight - and that it is getting that oversight as part of the laws and restrictions on NSA's ability to intercept and act on communications of US Persons.
Remember this is not the communications, but the external data about the communications - terminal IDs, start and end times, stuff that your phone company keeps, uses and sells to marketing companies.
I have worked in the IC (hence my moniker)and the respect for the legal and Constitutional protections of US Persons is utmost on behalf of the professionals in the IC.
The thing is, until that terminal ID is mated up with name/address, and singled out for attention by the proper legal DOMESTIC agency, its not considered a "US person". Remember this is all computer analysis - the volume of data alone prcludes any individual attention.
Its merely a nexus in a mapping of vectors based on terminal ID number and time.
And its set up in such a way that its quickly searchable for identifiable patterns - because the Telcos cannot do this themselves - they dont have the computers for it, nor is there any rela business need for that fast of a capability. But if you have a terrorist cell being activated, and you need to see if there is a call pattern and a number involved in it, then speed is of the essence. That is probably the reason they want this database.
Now the agency may have its overseas numbers checked against this matrix via a blind system - meaning there is a two-key + two person lock that needs to be passed, and nobody on the sending or reciveing end knows whats being queried. This limits "jsut digging" and insures that the law and rules are followed. They check a number against this nexus to see if they are in a "pattern of interest" region of the call databases time-space mapping. If so, it will be sent to the FBI or DHS as a Tip that this number and its call patterns may be of interest. But it will be done only under those circumstances (somethign triggers a number as "interesting") - and the recieving agency will, BY LAW, have to get a court order to get the Call Detail Records and set up surveillance.
I.e. the NSA data probably cannot be transferred or used by the FBI until they have a court order, and probably not even then - the FBI will have to go get the CDRs directly from the phone companies with their specific court orders.
To do it any other way would not produce legally actionable intelligence, and thus be a waste of very limited resources both at NSA and at FBI/DEA/DHS.
To put it another way:
Unless this data is used only as a "something interesting might be happening here" tip to the FBI, its not usable because the NSA has no way to operate inside the US against US Persons.
And unless the FBI jumps through the hoops and gets the court orders it needs (which for CDRs are pretty trivial), they cannot jump in and arrest the supposed terrorists.
And if the FBI or NSA messes up any of this, they will be forced to let the terrorists go, causing a huge uproar - and compromising any other intelligence they could have gathered to unwind any terrorist cells found with this data.
People "in the business" know these limitiations and costs, we know why the rules are there, and we play by them. Its what we do - protect and defend the Constitution and the people whose rights it preserves.
Jack Bauer is just TV - nobody that breaks as many rules as him would survive long.
So don't read into the conspiracy nuts, nor those who woudl ahve you beleive in this malevolent government thats silencing critics. Leave that tin-foil-hat BS to the Kos kids - who, if there was this big conspiracy they thing of from their insane fantasy of Fascist Nazi Bushitler, would be disappearing rapidly.
In sum: give it a rest. This program is legal and very unlikely to be abused, and very likely to help prevent terrorist actions by speeding our ability to link bad guys via Call Detail Records, once we find the first part of the terrorist cell.
And yes I would trust it in the hands of Hillary Clinton or John McCain, neiother of whom I would trust as far as I coudl throw them. Why? Because of the laws and the kinds if people that actually run and oversee things like this program. I know them - and have trusted them with my life in the past, and would do so again.
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