Fighter jets were scrambled and bomb squads were called out after security fears on US passenger planes on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks -- but officials said the scares were nothing more than people ''making out'' in bathrooms and long toilet breaks.
A domestic Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Detroit was shadowed by F-16 jets today after two passengers were spending ''an extraordinarily long time'' in the plane's bathroom, spokesman Peter Kowalchuck told the Associated Press.
But officials later said the ''suspicious behaviour'' was two people ''making out'', US television network ABC News reported.
#3
because that cramped little public toilet is sooooooo sexy
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/12/2011 14:09 Comments ||
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#4
Awwwwwww, buzzkill...
TheFBI said today there was no "romantic" activity among passengers that led to F-16 fighter jets being scrambled to escort a Frontier Airlines flight into Detroit Sunday. "At no time were there ever two people in the bathroom and the same time," the FBI said in a statement released Monday.
Local and federal law enforcement officials had told ABC News Sunday initial reports of "suspicious behavior" by multiple passengers that prompted the emergency call for F-16s was suspected of being a couple "making out" in the plane's lavatory mid-flight. When the flight landed, the plane was taken to a remote area for security screening and three passengers were briefly taken into custody.
In the course of their investigation, the FBI found that one of the passengers, who felt sick, happened to get up and head to the bathroom at approximately the same time as another passenger. None of the three people taken into custody knew each other, the FBI said.
#7
Something tells me (my little voice that keeps me from having midairs when I fly my plane) that this is not just a "making out" episode.
I would certainly hope that the FBI starts digging deep into the backgrounds of the people involved, who they associate with, the whole bit.
We will not hear the whole story in public, but I hope that the FBI is serious about these incidents.
The open border policy of the O admin and their cavalier attitude about letting cartel members buy firearms and using them in crimes against US and Mexican citizens is not very reassuring in their attitude or ability to protect this country from our enemies.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/12/2011 20:32 Comments ||
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[Tolo News] Global terrorism will not end until the international community applies serious pressure on the Pak government, Afghanistan's former spy chief said on Saturday.
Amrullah Saleh, former chief of the National Directorate of Security, said Pakistain should not be called an ally in the fight against terrorism. He made the comments at a ceremony to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Afghan national hero, Ahmad Shah Massoud.
The leader of the change and hope coalition, Dr Abdullah, who was also at the memorial service in the Panjshir, said that Pakistain had not been an honest partner in the fight against terrorism. The wreath-laying was attended by hundreds of thousands of people including numerous top government officials on the day after the 10th anniversary of Massoud's liquidation.
"Consistent pressure on Pakistain either through diplomatic approaches or economic pressure is the only way" to end global terrorism, Mr Saleh said.
Dr Abdullah said: "There is no honesty at all. Today Pakistain fights very well against Pak Taliban who have turned against him. But it is still supporting the Afghan Taliban."
Massoud was killed by two Arabs posing as journalists two days before the September 11 attacks on the US. The legendary fighter had unsuccessfully tried to warn western leaders about the threat from terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Rantburgers have known this for years.
The general public however..........?
Posted by: Pablo ||
09/12/2011 14:37 Comments ||
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But note the circumstances. This is FOX sensationalism. Must be a slow news day.
Despite repeated assurances from President Obama and military leaders that the U.S. would not send uniformed military personnel into Libya, four U.S. service members arrived on the ground in Tripoli over the weekend.
According to Pentagon spokesman Capt. John Kirby, the four unidentified troops are there working under the State Department's chief of mission to assist in rebuilding the U.S. Embassy. Kirby noted the embassy in Tripoli was badly damaged during the conflict between Muammar Qaddafi's forces and the rebels.
Two of the military personnel are explosive-ordnance experts who will be used to disable any explosives traps left in the embassy. The other two are "general security," according to Kirby.
Kirby also made clear these troops are in no way part of a military operation on the ground. They are armed, however, if for some reason they need to protect themselves.
The troops are only expected to be there for a short while. After the assessment of the embassy is complete, they are expected to leave.
John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told Fox News the fact that four troops are on the ground is "no big deal," considering the embassy had been trashed. "You need this kind of expertise to make it safe for diplomats to return," Bolton said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/12/2011 14:15 ||
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#1
Oh, I'm pretty sure there were some special ops guys on the ground there doing some "advising"...
[An Nahar] Guinea Bissau Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior said Saturday Libya's ousted leader Moammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years... would be welcomed "with open arms" if he seeks exile in the west African country.
"The Libyan guide Moammar Qadaffy deserves all the respect of our government who will host him with open arms. He will be welcome in our country, if he needs exile in our country," Gomes Junior told the independent Radio Bombolom.
The prime minister made the statement on his return from the inauguration of Cape Verde's new president Jorge Carlos Fonseca. He made the same comments to the media there on Friday, adding "we will ensure his security."
Asked about the international arrest warrant against Qadaffy, Gomes said: "Guinea Bissau has not ratified the Rome Statute (that established the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... ), so doesn't take that into account."
The west African nation, known for its chronic political and military instability, had strong ties with Qadaffy's regime, which invested widely in hotels, agriculture and cashew nuts -- the country's main export.
Qadaffy visited the country in 2009, and provided support to the presidential campaign of President Malam Bacai Sanha. He also provided uniforms to the Bissau Guinea army and renovated several of its military barracks.
In early August, before rebel fighters launched an offensive in Tripoli, Gomes Junior told a conference: "Qadaffy and Libya are friends of Guinea Bissau. If the Libyan leader wants to come to Guinea Bissau we will receive him with open arms."
He condemned NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... Arclight airstrikes in Libya as a "flagrant violation of the rights of a sovereign country. Behind this, is the fact that westerners want Libyan oil."
The flag of the new Libyan authority, the National Transition Council (NTC) -- which was raised over the Libyan embassy in Bissau a week ago -- was removed on Thursday, an Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent reported.
Local media reports suggest the foreign ministry had ordered the flag be removed and the green flag of Qadaffy's regime re-hoisted, however no officials could be reached to confirm this.
Bissau joins a small pool of countries where it is believed Qadaffy could seek shelter, along with Niger, Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and may be in the process of being chased out now... and Venezuela, where he has been rumored to be seeking exile since his regime was toppled last month.
Rumors abound over the whereabouts of the man who ruled oil-rich Libya for over four decades.
Qadaffy on Thursday told Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... -based Arrai Oruba television by telephone he had not decamped to Niger, where a dozen of his aides are being held under house arrest.
Niger's neighbor Burkina Faso, meanwhile, denied claims it was hosting Qadaffy or any of his generals, and many among the NTC believe the fallen strongman is still on the run in Libya.
The African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... has not recognized the NTC as the legitimate government, and many of its members -- who were allied to Qadaffy's regime and recipients of his largesse -- have criticized the NATO campaign in the country.
The continental body, whose efforts to mediate the crisis were largely ignored, wants an all-inclusive transitional government put in place.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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...would be welcomed "with open arms"...
"...but don't forget the truckloads of gold & diamonds. Merely a formality..."
#2
G.B. is such a little pest hole that Khdaffy's money could only improve things. Besides which, it is one of those horrid little places that you would want to use a location for exile, sort of like Devil's Island with crumbling hotels.
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/12/2011 12:39 Comments ||
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#8
The pic is laeled Carla Del Ponte.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/12/2011 14:04 Comments ||
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#9
Well, I would not want to bring her home to mom, but she had an interesting part of her history on Wiki:
In 1981 she was appointed an investigating magistrate, and later public prosecutor at the Lugano district attorney's office. As public prosecutor, Del Ponte dealt with cases of money laundering, fraud, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, terrorism and espionage, often looking into the many international links forged in Switzerland's role as a global business centre.
It was during that period that she and Investigative Judge Giovanni Falcone uncovered the link between Swiss money launderers and the Italian drug trade in the so-called "pizza connection." Judge Falcone was killed by a large Mafia bomb. Del Ponte was more fortunate as the half a tonne of explosives planted in the foundations of her Palermo home were discovered in time for her to escape the attempted assassination unhurt. Falcone's death nurtured Del Ponte's resoluteness to fight organised crime. Her enemies in the Cosa Nostra call her "La Puttana" ("the whore"). She therefore became the first public figure in Switzerland to require round-the-clock protection and armour-plated car.
She may have gone into low earth orbit if that load of explosives went off.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/12/2011 16:10 Comments ||
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#10
Just out of curiousity: Isn't it kind of hard to slip 1000 lbs of high explosive into someone elses home without that person noticing it?
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
09/12/2011 16:37 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] A new transitional government will be formed in Libya within 10 days, the deputy chief of the National Transitional Council told news hounds on Sunday.
"A new government will be formed within one week to ten days," said Mahmoud Jibril, who serves as the "prime minister" of the NTC, the political wing of the rebellion that overthrew strongman Moammar Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland...
"This new government will include representatives from different regions in Libya," Jibril said.
Rebel forces are still "in the process of liberating Libya, and revolutionary combatant are still on the fronts," Jibril added, referring in particular to Bani Walid and Sirte, where regime loyalists are still holding out.
He said that another government will be formed once "Libya is liberated."
Jibril also hailed the "liberation of Tripoli without bloodshed" last month.
"We were expecting a bloodbath, but this was prevented by the maturity of the revolutionaries who were able to secure the capital," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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The United States must support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations this month or risk losing the little credibility it has in the Arab world. If we have so little credibility, loosing it will have little impact. You and I see that as a feature, not a bug, but al-Faisal uses it as a set-up line...
If it does not, American influence will decline further, Israeli security will be undermined and Iran will be empowered, increasing the chances of another war in the region.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia would no longer be able to cooperate with America in the same way it historically has. You mean you're out of oil? Guess we'll have to start kowtowing to French Guiana
Or drill, baby, drill at home ....
With most of the Arab world in upheaval, the "special relationship" between Saudi Arabia and the United States would increasingly be seen as toxic by the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims, who demand justice for the Palestinian people. Sort of the way Baraq sees out "special relationship with the UK
Saudi leaders would be forced by domestic and regional pressures to adopt a far more independent and assertive foreign policy. And new westerners to hold hands with and accept bows from so you can keep receiving their military support to keep your despised theocratic monarchy's citizens cowed.
Like our recent military support for Bahrain's monarchy, which America opposed, Saudi Arabia would pursue other policies at odds with those of the United States, including opposing the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Iraq and refusing to open an embassy there despite American pressure to do so. So you want to make common policy with Iran? We'll check back in a year and seeh how things work out for ya.
The Saudi government might part ways with Washington in Afghanistan and Yemen as well. Where your assistance is critical. Threatening us may have paid off in the past, but it's unlikely to when done in public. Especially with a President Perry. Better start making those campaign contributions now. Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former director of Saudi Arabia's intelligence services and a former Saudi ambassador to the United States, is chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies.
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/12/2011 12:38 Comments ||
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#5
Saudi Arabia is running out of oil, so it is said, and they have absolutely nothing to replace it with, even as the expense of supporting an under-educated, over-proud, severely inbred, rapidly growing dependent population continues to increase dramatically. We won't even mention the growing hordes of little scions of the House of Saud, each of whom has expectations commensurate with his bloodline.
#6
KSA does still have one thing to fall back on once the oil is gone - Mecca. Millions of Muslims making the haj provide a good deal of cash for the religious powerful to skim. Won't help the non-elite though.
So this guy al-Faisal and the Palestinian bid for statehood walk into a bar. Al-Faisal says, "Support this bid for statehood or lose all credibility in the Arab world!"
...crickets...
#8
Perfesser: I think a more appropriate track was their European only release "You're Gettin' Even While I'm Gettin' Odd", which is a very strange song indeed. Very slow and technical intro before the band comes in.
#9
Jive Turki Aug 2005: Very well. But there are other indications that Prince Turki, who has served since 2003 as the Saudi Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland, and before that for twenty-four years as the head of Istakhbarat, the Saudi intelligence service, may not be all that he appears to be. Janes Intelligence Review noted in 2001 that Turki, along with Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, was one of the early mentors of Osama bin Laden. Turki does not deny that he knew Osama well -- well enough to describe his behavior in some detail: At that time I would describe him as gentle and self-effacing, and hardly talking to anyone. Very shy. He added in a 2004 interview in Der Spiegel that Osamas presence, dignified and reserved, must have made an impression on the Afghans back then. But now the Prince distances himself from what Osama has become: There has been a remarkable transformation. Now he is in a self-deluding, maniacal stage where he believes that he is the anointed of God and everybody else is in league with the devil.
But when does Turki think that Osama stopped being dignified and become self-deluded and maniacal? Thats unclear. According to the Times of London in 2002, the Prince participated in a 1998 meeting which led to the deal between Saudi Arabia and the Taliban. Those present included Prince Turki al-Faisal al-Saud, then chief of the Istakhbarat, Taliban leaders, senior officers from Pakistans ISI secret service and Bin Laden. At that meeting, the Saudis paid at least £200m to Osama Bin Ladens terror group and the Taliban in exchange for an agreement that his forces would not attack targets in Saudi Arabia. The Washington Times lent credence to this with another salient detail: A bin Laden bodyguard, interviewed by the Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, said Prince Turki met the al Qaeda leader as many as five times in the 1980s and 1990s. He was part of a number of Saudi delegations in the 1990s which were aimed at persuading bin Laden to end his jihad against the kingdom. Against the kingdom, mind you, not against anyone else.
#10
A state is responsible for their own citizens and if rockets come from the territory of a state it is an act of war. Much simpler math than what we currently have. The US and Israel should support a Palestinian state and make things clear that if such a state attacks they will not only roll it into dust but salt the earth and displace the population.
#11
The United States must support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations this month or risk losing the little credibility it has in the Arab world.
If there we have so little credibility in the Arab world why "must" we support Palestinian statehood?
Oh, it is the NYTs -- a sinking ship among the few remaining MSM rags.
Shamans from tribes in Venezuela's Amazon jungle held a ceremony at the Miraflores presidential palace Saturday to help Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recover from his cancer treatment.
Translation: he's dying...
Chavez, who insists that he was "not sick but recovering" from cancer, greeted the shamans wearing a track suit in the colors of the Venezuelan national flag and wore a crown of feathers the visitors gave him.
Members of the Yekuana, Jivi and Wayuu communities danced, sang and prayed as they invoked their ancestors to protect the Venezuelan leader. The ritual was aimed at protecting Chavez "against enemies and bad health," said Miguel Morales, a shaman from the Jivi community.
Chavez thanked the shamans for the crown of feathers. "I consider it sacred and will keep it for my whole life," Chavez told them.
"The cancer was removed, and with the power of god and all the gods it has gone and will never return," said Chavez, 57.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh, wow, that is good news. If he's turned to witch doctors, that means the real doctors can't help him.
#8
There is a lot more to this than meets the eye.
Traditional Shaman are a very interesting group of people, because before the arrival of European medicine, they held the same position in society that today we hold doctors and similar professionals. So often the same degree of intellect and group cultural rules apply to both groups.
At some point, for example, in the 1950s or '60s, someone of influence persuaded them as a group as to the value of antibiotics, which they have seamlessly integrated into their practices in a pragmatic way. This also meant that they had to learn to recognize bacterial disease, as such. Again, no problem.
Now, such people also understand the importance of politics, and know that Chavez probably doesn't believe in what they do, and is doing this just to court the opinion of those Venezuelans that do. They also know that if they don't play ball, he could come down on their people like a ton of bricks.
So they will give him his little dog & pony show. And if he demands that they use magic so that he will be able to eat candy and poop emeralds, they will play along with that, too.
What he won't get, however, is what they really do, and why even with the advent of modern medicine they are still popular.
It is also why Shaman deserve some respect, because if you think about it, if you get a group of highly intelligent people working on finding solutions for 500 or more years, you are going to get something out of the deal. What it is may not be exactly clear, but you are going to get something.
H/T Weasel Zipper & to quote Zip, "The never-ending blasphemous Mohammed cartoons saga continues."
Four terror suspects arrested in Sweden at the weekend have ties to the Somali Islamist movement Shebab and were plotting an attack using bombs and firearms, a newspaper reported Monday.
Neither Sweden's intelligence agency nor the police have confirmed the report, and have released few details about the arrests.
"Police suspect the men were about to carry out a terrorist attack with firearms and bombs," Gothenburg regional daily GT said in its online edition.
"Police sources have told GT the suspects are linked to the terror network Shebab," the paper said, without disclosing its sources.
The Al-Qaeda linked militia has waged a years-long insurgency against Somalia's weak, Western-backed transitional government and controls much of the south and centre of the Horn of Africa country.
An elite counter-terrorism unit arrested four people in Gothenburg, Sweden's second city, and evacuated hundreds of people from a building hosting an art fair "after concluding that there was a threat that could endanger lives or health or cause serious damage," officials said on Sunday.
Police then searched the building, breaking open several lockers, the paper said.
It is not known why the venue was seen as a target, and art fair organisers have not been given an explanation, GT said.
The paper speculated that it could have been because of a Swedish artist, Lars Vilks, who has received death threats from Shebab for depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog.
Vilks had said publicly he planned to attend the event but in the end did not.
He has faced numerous death threats and a suspected assassination plot since his drawing was first published by a Swedish regional newspaper in 2007, illustrating an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression.
"Wherever you are, if not today or tomorrow, know that we haven't yet forgotten about you," a Swedish Shebab member, Abu Zaid, said in a video, according to US monitoring group SITE in November 2010.
According to Swedish news agency TT, the four suspects arrested late Saturday are aged 23 to 26 and are residents of Gothenburg.
Three of the men are born in Africa and the fourth in the Middle East, it said. The man born in the Middle East and two of the Africa-born men are Swedish citizens while another holds a Swedish residency permit, it added.
Swedish intelligence agency Saepo issued a short statement on Monday saying all information concerning the ongoing investigation was classified.
"Saepo's assessment is that there is no cause for widespread concern nor any reason to introduce tighter security measures," it said.
Prosecutor Agnetha Hilding-Qvarnstroem must decide by Tuesday whether to ask a court to remand the suspects in custody or release them.
#1
beat them then deport them and their families back to their sh*thole homeland
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/12/2011 18:59 Comments ||
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#2
SVT had reportage of a plot to blow up the bridge that way yesterday. Somalis have a real bad name here and they aren't doing themselves any favours. Deportation, a definite maybe, even so.
Theyve been accused of rampant thievery, spending billions of dollars like drunken sailors, groping children and little old ladies, and making everyone take off their shoes.
But the real job of the tens of thousands of screeners at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is to protect Americans from a terrorist attack.
Yet a decade after the TSA was created following the September 11 attacks, the author of the legislation that established the massive agency grades its performance at D-.
The whole program has been hijacked by bureaucrats, said Rep. John Mica (R. -Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
It mushroomed into an army, Mica said. Its gone from a couple-billion-dollar enterprise to close to $9 billion.
As for keeping the American public safe, Mica says, Theyve failed to actually detect any threat in 10 years.
Everything they have done has been reactive. They take shoes off because of [shoe-bomber] Richard Reid, passengers are patted down because of the diaper bomber, and you cant pack liquids because the British uncovered a plot using liquids, Mica said.
Its an agency that is always one step out of step, Mica said.
It cost $1 billion just to train workers, which now number more than 62,000, and they actually trained more workers than they have on the job, Mica said.
The whole thing is a complete fiasco, Mica said.
In a wide-ranging interview with HUMAN EVENTS just days before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Mica said screeners should be privatized and the agency dismantled.
Instead, the agency should number no more than 5,000, and carry out his original intent, which was to monitor terrorist threats and collect intelligence.
The fledgling agency was quickly engulfed in its first scandal in 2002 as it rushed to hire 30,000 screeners, and the $104 million awarded to the company to contract workers quickly escalated to more than $740 million.
Federal investigators tracked those cost overruns to recruiting sessions held at swank hotels and resorts in St. Croix, the Virgin Islands, Florida and the Wyndham Peaks Resort and Golden Door Spa in Telluride, Colo.
Charges in the hundreds of thousands of dollars were made for cash withdrawals, valet parking and beverages, plus a $5.4 million salary for one executive for nine months of work.
Other over-the-top expenditures included nearly $2,000 for 20 gallons of Starbucks Coffee, $8,000 for elevator operators at a Manhattan hotel, and $1,500 to rent more than a dozen extension cords for the Colorado recruiting fair.
The agency inadvertently caused security gaps by failing for years to keep track of lost uniforms and passes that lead to restricted areas of airports.
Screeners have also been accused of committing crimes, from smuggling drugs to stealing valuables from passengers' luggage. In 2004, several screeners were arrested and charged with stealing jewelry, computers and cameras, cash, credit cards and other valuables. One of their more notable victims was actress Shirley McClain, who was robbed of jewelry and crystals.
One of the screeners confessed that he was trying to steal enough to sell the items and buy a big-screen television.
In 2006, screeners at Los Angeles and Chicago O'Hare airports failed to find more than 60% of fake explosives during checkpoint security tests.
The sometimes rudder-less agency has gone through five administrators in the past decade, and it took longer than a year for President Obama to put his one man in place. Micas bill also blocked collective bargaining rights for screeners, but the Obama administration managed to reverse that provision.
Asked whether the agency should be privatized, Mica answered with a qualified yes.
They need to get out of the screening business and back into security. Most of the screening they do should be abandoned, Mica said. "I just dont have a lot of faith at this point, Mica said.
Allowing airports to privatize screening was a key element of Micas legislation and a report released by the committee in June determined that privatizing those efforts would result in a 40% savings for taxpayers.
We have thousands of workers trying to do their job. My concern is the bureaucracy we built, Mica said.
We are one of the only countries still using this model of security," Mica said, "other than Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, and I think, Libya."
#2
These poor Republican politicians. Contrary to true conservative beliefs, they created new agencies & bureaucracies and think they can be "contained" to their original purpose and size. This is the government! You should not be surprised that you created a monster, Dr. Frankenstein!
Posted by: American Delight ||
09/12/2011 23:03 Comments ||
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Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times is keeping this in the news
Reporting from Glendale and Rio Rico, Ariz.-- In the fall of 2009, ATF agents installed a secret phone line and hidden cameras in a ceiling panel and wall at Andre Howard's Lone Wolf gun store. They gave him one basic instruction: Sell guns to every illegal purchaser who walks through the door.
For 15 months, Howard did as he was told. To customers with phony IDs or wads of cash he normally would have turned away, he sold pistols, rifles and semiautomatics. He was assured by the ATF that they would follow the guns, and that the surveillance would lead the agents to the violent Mexican drug cartels on the Southwest border.
When Howard heard nothing about any arrests, he questioned the agents. Keep selling, they told him. So hundreds of thousands of dollars more in weapons, including .50-caliber sniper rifles, walked out of the front door of his store in a Glendale, Ariz., strip mall.
He was making a lot of money. But he also feared somebody was going to get hurt.
"Every passing week, I worried about something like that," he said. "I felt horrible and sick."
Late in the night on Dec. 14, in a canyon west of Rio Rico, Ariz., Border Patrol agents came across Mexican bandits preying on illegal immigrants.
According to a Border Patrol "Shooting Incident" report, the agents fired two rounds of bean bags from a shotgun. The Mexicans returned fire. One agent fired from his sidearm, another with his M-4 rifle.
One of the alleged bandits, Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, a 33-year-old Mexican from Sinaloa, was wounded in the abdomen and legs. Agent Brian Terry -- 40, single, a former Marine -- also went down. "I'm hit!" he cried.
A fellow agent cradled his friend. "I can't feel my legs," Terry said. "I think I'm paralyzed." A bullet had pierced his aorta. Tall and nearly 240 pounds, Terry was too heavy to carry. They radioed for a helicopter. But Terry was bleeding badly, and he died in his colleague's arms.
The bandits left Osorio-Arellanes behind and escaped across the desert, tossing away two AK-47 semiautomatics from Howard's store.
Howard said he does not own a gun, does not hunt, and does not belong to the National Rifle Assn. His love is helicopters -- a former Army pilot, he gives flying lessons. He said he fell into the gun-dealing business 21 years ago only to help support his career as a flight instructor. Howard spoke to a reporter for the first time in depth about why he cooperated with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Read more at site
In Glendale, after two decades in business, Howard is thinking about closing his Lone Wolf gun store. He also has second thoughts about helping law enforcement.
#2
In their letter, Issa and Grassley discussed a new email in which Newell told O'Reilly about a specific case that ATF agents had been aware of for three months involving a 22-year-old illegal gun purchaser whom the ATF allowed to buy nearly 700 firearms. The purchaser was on food stamps
[Dawn] Supporters of a political party in Pakistain used the anniversary Sunday of the Sept. 11 attacks to stage anti-American protests.
In Islamabad, about 100 people chanted and held up banners that repeated conspiracy theories alleging American or Israeli involvement in the attacks.
That's it? Usually they hire a couple thousand of the professional protesters to make a respectable crowd. Are they running out of money, or are people worried they might end up kissing a Predator sometime afterward?
Such theories have been commonly aired among Islamist and thug sympathizers since the attacks in 2001.
A smaller demonstration also took place in the central Punjabi city of Multan.
In the sprawling city of Bloody Karachi, around 100 people protested against the war in Afghanistan that was launched in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The demonstrations were organised by Jamat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamist political party, which frequently rallies its base by protesting against America and what it say is a US war on Islam.
Pakistain has been hit by hundreds of bombings since Sept. 11, 2001, by al Qaeda and Talibs.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Iraqi Shiite holy manMoqtada Tater al-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... ordered his followers not to launch any attacks on U.S. troops before a year-end deadline for their withdrawal from the country, in a statement seen on Sunday.
Sadr's remarks came just days after he backtracked on a call for popular anti-government rallies. American forces have accused militias linked to the holy man of largely being behind attacks on its soldiers.
"In order that Iraq can recover its independence through the withdrawal of the invaders from our territory, I judge it indispensable to halt all armed resistance operations until the complete withdrawal of the occupying forces," Sadr said in the statement originally issued Saturday.
"If the pullout is completed and there is no longer a single U.S. soldier on our territory, the military operations will end definitively but if that is not the case and Iraq remains in a state of dependency, they will resume with greater vigor," Sadr said.
He paid tribute to "the resistance for its actions" and said his movement was now working "hand in hand with the government to achieve the liberation of the country and supporting it against U.S. pressure."
In July, Major General Jeffrey Buchanan, front man for U.S. forces in Iraq, accused three Shiite militia groups of being behind attacks on U.S. troops.
He named them as the Promised Day Brigades, formed by Sadr in November 2008, and Ketaeb Hizbullah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, two splinter groups which broke away from Sadr's former Mahdi Army militia which fought U.S.-led troops from 2004 to 2007.
The holy man's bloc holds six cabinet posts and has 40 seats in parliament.
Sadr said in a separate statement on Monday that he was giving Iraq's government a "last chance" to implement reforms, after earlier calling for protests.
His statement comes as Washington and Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... deliberate over the size of a U.S. military training mission to last beyond year-end, after Iraqi leaders said last month they were open to such plans.
The new U.S. Army chief warned on Thursday against leaving too large a force in Iraq after 2011, saying too many boots on the ground could feed the perception of an American "occupation."
General Ray Odierno commanded U.S. forces in Iraq until last year and was one of the senior officers who spearheaded the troop "surge" in 2007, which the military believes turned the tide in the war and reduced sectarian violence.
He spoke amid a debate in Washington over the scale of a possible future U.S. military mission in Iraq and after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... endorsed a tentative plan for a force of 3,000-4,000 troops.
Some U.S. politicians have criticized that number of soldiers and say senior officers favor a larger force of at least 10,000, which would include a unit deployed in northern Iraq to defuse Arab-Kurdish tensions.
But Odierno told news hounds the United States had to carefully balance how many troops were needed to assist Iraqi forces while scaling back the American profile in a country where anti-U.S. sentiment still runs high.
"I will say when I was leaving Iraq a year ago, I always felt we had to be careful about leaving too many people in Iraq," said Odierno, who took over as army chief of staff on Wednesday.
"The larger the force that we leave behind ... (the more) comments of 'occupation force' remain," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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"Jordan and the future Palestine are stronger than Israel is today. It is the Israeli who is scared today," King Abdullah of Jordan said late Sunday in Amman.
Uh-huh, tough guy...
The king described a recent conversation he held in the US with "one of the Israeli intellectuals" who commented on events in the Arab world, arguing that they were good for Israel. "I replied and said that it was the opposite and that Israel's situation today is more difficult than ever before."
Abdullah reiterated that his country would not serve as an "alternative homeland to the Palestinians."
"We have too many of those even now!" he murmured...
According to the Jordanian leader, "Jordan is Jordan and Palestine is Palestine. We support all Palestinian rights and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state our policy hasnt changed. The subject of an alternative homeland must not be part of the discussion. It is unacceptable."
Abdullah sought to reassure everyone, saying "I have never heard from any senior American official whether Bush, Clinton or Obama any pressure on Jordan that the Palestinian solution should come at its expense."
"Jordan", the king added, "Will defend its rights and support its vision of a permanent solution that would ensure the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and a just realization of the right of return and adequate compensation."
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/12/2011 14:17 ||
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#1
Eventually we'll just have to stop playing Eurabian's game.
[An Nahar] The Gulf Cooperation Council on Sunday urged Syria to immediately stop its "killing machine" against anti-regime protesters, and reiterated its demand for serious reforms.
Ending a meeting in Jeddah, the six GCC foreign ministers issued a statement calling for "an immediate end to the killing machine" in Syria.
The group of oil-rich Arab monarchies also urged "the immediate implementation of serious reforms that meet the aspirations of the Syrian" people.
Last month, GCC states Soddy Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain recalled their envoys from Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... to protest against President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... 's crackdown on anti-regime protests that erupted in March.
The United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... says more than 2,200 people have been killed since then, mostly civilians.
The Syrian regime blames the violence on "armed terrorist gangs" backed by foreign agitators.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Hell, let them Kill each other. I don't care.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/12/2011 9:23 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
International Criminal Court
Shamans from tribes in Venezuela's Amazon jungle held a ceremony at the Miraflores presidential palace Saturday to help Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recover from his cancer treatment.
Supporters of a political party in Pakistain used the anniversary Sunday of the Sept. 11 attacks to stage anti-American protests.
Moqtada 
President-for-Life Bashir 
