MetaFilter posts tagged with terror and 911

The Chain of Command in Coercive Interrogations

digaman — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:53:05 -0800

“You could almost see their dicks getting hard as they got new ideas." A Vanity Fair reporter investigates the chain of command that tossed out the Geneva Conventions and instituted coercive interrogation techniques -- some might call them torture or even war crimes -- in Bush's Global War on Terror. UC Berkeley law professor John Yoo's now-obsolete 81-page memo to the Pentagon in 2003 [available as PDFs here and here] was crucial, offering a broad range of legal justifications and deniability for disregarding international law in the name of "self-defense." Others say that Yoo was just making "a clear point about the limits of Congress to intrude on the executive branch in its exercise of duties as Commander in Chief." [previously here and here.]

you can never quite tell...can you?

Prunedish — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 03:17:19 -0800

Mastermind? admitted planning attacks.... can you believe a verdict from partial transcripts edited by the US defence department that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed planned these attacks?

"Bush is fighting two wars, one against the enemy abroad and the other against the enemy at home."

bardic — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 17:43:14 -0800

"Why do they hate us?" was a fairly common question asked by Americans in the wake of 9/11. In his new book The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11, Dinesh D'souza gives us the answer: "the cultural left and its allies in Congress, the media, Hollywood, the nonprofit sector, and the universities are the primary cause of the volcano of anger toward America that is erupting from the Islamic world." Some reviews: WaPo, The American Conservative, Esquire. D'souza previously on mefi: [1] [2] [3]

All such matters will be taken seriously.

quonsar — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 18:13:44 -0800

Making any jokes or statements during the screening process may be grounds for both criminal and civil penalties.

Using Big Laws to Catch Little Terrorists

digaman — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 14:44:27 -0800

The terrorists in New Jersey have been captured. They're, uhm, like 15 years old. A fine example of how anti-terror laws like the Patriot Act can be subject to mission creep. (The "terrorists" at the Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Justice in Pittsburgh seem to be still at large.)

The Increasingly Unfriendly Skies

digaman — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 15:20:15 -0800

Is your name James Moore? If so, you may be a terrorist. Or at least the NSA thinks so, having added that name -- which also happens to be the name of the author of Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential -- to its mysteriously targeted and infamously mismanaged "No-Fly" list [previously discussed here.]

9/11 in Comics

nthdegx — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 10:13:17 -0800

9/11 in comics, including the black-covered The Amazing Spider-Man #36 in its entirety.

Parsing Terror

digaman — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 07:36:09 -0800

Osama bin Laden, littérateur and new-media star. A thought-provoking analysis of bin Laden's adept use of Koranic language and the Internet by Bruce B. Lawrence, an Islamic scholar at Duke who edited a new anthology of bin Laden's public statements called Messages to the World. The Western media -- says the millionaire mass-murderer formerly trained as a useful ally by the CIA via Pakistan's ISI -- "implants fear and helplessness in the psyche of the people of Europe and the United States. It means that what the enemies of the United States cannot do, its media are doing!" Know thy enemy. [via Arts and Letters Daily.]

Dick Cheney's Pre-Emptive Nuclear War on Terror

digaman — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 09:46:52 -0800

In case of emergency, nuke Iran. From the folks who brought you Operation Iraqi Freedom and the "last throes" of the insurgency, the latest strategy for enhancing homeland security and US global standing is to launch a nuclear first-strike against Iran in the event of another 9/11-style attack -- whether Iran has ties to the attackers or not. As Juan Cole points out, turning a Shiite Muslim nation into the next Hiroshima could have disagreeable consequences. (First reported by the American Conservative, not your typical liberal rag, and via DailyKos.)

Jihad U

digaman — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 08:03:48 -0800

President Bush pledged in 2003 that "A free Iraq will not be a training ground for terrorists... A free Iraq will not destabilize the Middle East." This past January, the CIA's National Intelligence Council observed that Iraq had become "a training ground, a recruitment ground" for jihadists. Now the senior Marine commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. James Conway -- in a statement that has not yet been picked up by the media -- acknowledges that the war is furnishing a new "a training ground" for foreign fighters trained in urban warfare who will export terror all over the world, saying, "But there's not much we can do about it at this point in time."

Zakaria on putting antiterrorism above politics

Ignatius J. Reilly — Sun, 28 Mar 2004 12:41:29 -0800

The danger is less that a state will sponsor a terror group and more that a terror group will sponsor a state—as happened in Afghanistan Zakaria: Stepping away from the partisan screaming going on these days, the 9/11 commission hearings and—far more revealing—the panel's staff reports paint a fascinating picture of the rise of a new phenomenon in global politics: terrorism that is not state-sponsored but society-sponsored. Few in the American government fully grasped that a group of people without a state's support could pose a mortal threat. The mistake looks obvious in hindsight, but was, sadly, understandable at the time of 9/11. What is less understandable is that this same error persists even today.

September 11th And The Bush Administration

acrobat — Thu, 04 Sep 2003 07:30:55 -0800

«Clearly, one of the most critical questions of the twenty-first century concerns why the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were not prevented. As I outline below, there are numerous aspects regarding the official stories about September 11th which do not fit with known facts, which contradict each other, which defy common sense, and which indicate a pattern of misinformation and coverup. The reports coming out of Washington do very little to alleviate these concerns.» 22 questions to chose from and decide which ones are nightmares of a conspiracy theorist and which ones must be answered.

Danf — Mon, 19 Nov 2001 07:19:26 -0800

A story about Rasa Nasir Khan a seemingly regular guy whose only crime is an expired visa and ethnicity, and a passion for hunting. He is one of over a thousand people being held in connection with 9-11 even though his jailers acknowlege that he has no connection whatsoever with terrorism.

Hildago — Sun, 18 Nov 2001 22:39:19 -0800

A story that seems to be good news no matter what side of the 'war' you're on. The dragnet around Bin Laden is reported to be closing quickly, and currently stands, says the Sunday Times, at about 30 squares mile. So, what happens next? (via Plastic.com)

mapalm — Sun, 18 Nov 2001 09:36:34 -0800

More Q & A on Terror and War
"A number of folks feel that current events -- particularly in the last few days -- have dramatically changed the logic and morality of what has been done in Afghanistan, calling into question much of the analysis and assessment that has been offered by critics of the war. Here are some of the questions we have been asked, and our brief replies."

prolific — Sun, 04 Nov 2001 11:41:48 -0800

David Greg Harth is not afraid. As part of his ongoing art project in which this New York artist stamps US currency with phrases, he's releasing 'I am not afraid' and 'I am not terrorized'. He needs help circulating the bills.

pardonyou? — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 11:34:41 -0800

Is The Media's "Whining" About Access Justified? A journalist criticizes his colleagues: "The disconnect between the U.S. media and the public they purport to serve has turned into a virtual chasm in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." What are/should be the limits on the ability of the press to obtain unfettered information in sensitive times?

BarneyFifesBullet — Fri, 21 Sep 2001 15:43:36 -0800

"Terror Sex"? Geez..."next on Oprah!", or maybe somewhere on cable.

bhmwks — Mon, 17 Sep 2001 07:40:29 -0800

"Bioterrorism: An Even More Devastating Threat" Here's a link to an article that appears in today's Washington Post. It details an "easier" way to eliminate "80 percent of people infected by inhaled spores". The print version includes a map with the best flight plan and release point to effect the best results. Is this Responsible Journalism? Is it necessary to publish this sort of weakness in America's country's defenses? I don't disagree that Bioterrorism is a threat to be concerned about, just the presentation & the flip attitude of how easy it will be to pull this off. Or do we need this kind of "the-sky-is-going-to-fall" reporting to shock us into action?

prozaction — Wed, 12 Sep 2001 20:04:52 -0800

Fear of flying? New security measures are being discussed. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta says, "These terrorist acts are designed to steal the confidence of Americans. We will restore that confidence."

Bernreuther — Tue, 11 Sep 2001 22:50:59 -0800

WAR: Hub Terror Suspects ID'd - as found in the Boston Herald. Two brothers mentioned, as well as some more detailed information about calls from the airplanes.

kaefer — Tue, 11 Sep 2001 20:32:22 -0800

Not over yet. Police find a truck packed with enough explosives to blow up the George Washington bridge. When will it stop?

Davezilla — Tue, 11 Sep 2001 18:53:12 -0800

One of Malaysia’s Petronas Towers Being Evacuated. Great. Is this gonna happen everywhere?

hotdoughnutsnow — Tue, 11 Sep 2001 16:28:09 -0800

Caution: This links might be inflamatory
A friend runs a site that is a portal dealing with middle-eastern news (for his safety, I will not link to it). He often receives hate-filled emails urging him to act out against various ethnic groups. This link was sent to him a couple of months ago; it is Islamic Resistance Support Association and is loaded with anti-american propaganda. [view at your own risk]