On Wednesday Sept. 5^th, German police stopped a major terrorist attack. The planned bomb consisted of 730 kilogramms of hydrogen peroxide to be mixed with other chemicals. The explosive power would have been equivalent to 550 kilogramms of TNT. The IHT reports the possible targets were the Ramstein US Air Force Air Base and Frankfurt International Airport. The suspects had been under observation for 10 months, the chemicals had been clandestinely rendered harmless by German authorities. What caused the final arrest? Two things: 1) they had just recieved a call from north Pakistan urgently ordering them to follow through within 14 days. 2) a local village policeman blew the surveillance cover by literally telling them at a routine road stop that they were on a watch-list. German intelligence immediately knew the policeman had blown their cover. How? They had bugged the car [Spiegel, rough translation].
posted on Sep 8, 2007 - View this thread

Transcript of the most recent Osama bin Laden tape. [pdf]
posted on Sep 7, 2007 - View this thread

Newsfilter: U.S. Seeks Silence on CIA Prisons
"The Bush administration has told a federal judge that terrorism suspects held in secret CIA prisons should not be allowed to reveal details of the "alternative interrogation methods that their captors used to get them to talk...the government, in trying to block lawyers' access to the 14 detainees, effectively asserts that the detainees' experiences are a secret that should never be shared with the public."

Previously: (1) (2)
posted on Nov 4, 2006 - View this thread

Terror Network Visualization. An interactive flash visualiztion of known terrorist links
posted on Jan 25, 2006 - View this thread

9/11 in comics, including the black-covered The Amazing Spider-Man #36 in its entirety.
posted on Dec 4, 2005 - View this thread

Bob Parson's may have (somewhat) changed his tune when it comes to inhumane treatment of prisoners, but there are still plenty of ways to show your support for the little terrorist resort that could (toture people)
posted on Jun 22, 2005 - View this thread

While the proverbial road to hell is paved with good intentions, the internal government memos collected in this publication demonstrate that the path to the purgatory that is Guantanamo Bay, or Abu Ghraib, has been paved with decidedly bad intentions. The policies that resulted in rampant abuse of detainees first in Afghanistan, then at Guantanamo Bay, and later in Iraq, were product of three pernicious purposes designed to facilitate the unilateral and unfettered detention, interrogation, abuse, judgment, and punishment of prisoners: (1) the desire to place the detainees beyond the reach of any court or law; (2) the desire to abrogate the Geneva Convention with respect to the treatment of persons seized in the context of armed hostilities; and (3) the desire to absolve those implementing the policies of any liability for war crimes under U.S. and international law.

Regarding the Torture Papers, which detail Torture's Paper Trail, and, then there's Hungry for Air: Learning The Language Of Torture, and, of course, there's ( more inside)
posted on Mar 14, 2005 - View this thread

I feel safer already! Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security lowered the terror alert-level for the financial-services sector in the NY/DC area from orange to yellow, which has nothing, repeat nothing, to do with the election. "We don't do politics here at this department," days DHS deputy secretary James Loy. When the alert was jacked up back in August, some felt otherwise.
posted on Nov 11, 2004 - View this thread

Let the Eagle Soar [mp3] John Ashcroft has resigned as attorney general, saying "the objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved." He leaves behind a legacy of DOJ Accomplishments in the War on Terror (many of which seem to have been accomplished by non-DOJ parties) despite not actually convicting anyone of terrorism. I feel safer already.
posted on Nov 9, 2004 - View this thread

Why the 9/11 Fund was a Mistake. The final numbers for the 9/11 fund are in. Controversy remains. As does litigation. The settlement was attacked as "corporate welfare." The price tag has grown. RAND wonders "What Have We Learned About Compensating Victims of Terrorism?"
posted on Sep 26, 2004 - View this thread

‘Staying the Course’ Isn’t an Option "If Bush is re-elected, there are only two possible outcomes in Iraq:

Four years from now, America will have 5,000 dead servicemen and women and an untold number of dead Iraqis at a cost of about $1 trillion, yet still be no closer to success than we are right now, or The U.S. will be gone, and we will witness the birth of a violent breeding ground for Shiite terrorists posing a far greater threat to Americans than a contained Saddam."
posted on Sep 26, 2004 - View this thread

An interesting assessment of the war on terrorism. I love it when blogs seem to be filling a void in media coverage. This one is taking a critical look at the war on terrorism and seems to be finding some holes. If you go past the partisan talk (and it seems like that blog is slanted, even though it claims to be centrist), there's a lot of interesting links in there.
posted on Sep 16, 2004 - View this thread

The supreme court ruling that Guant?namo Bay prisoners can challenge their detention in the US is something that renews hope that America is not going down the drain. Slowly everyone understands the madness this administration wanted to drag us all in.
posted on Jul 6, 2004 - View this thread

Remarks by President Bush Long, but worth it.
posted on Jun 3, 2004 - View this thread

International Terrorism at a 35 year low, says U.S. Department of State. So - does that mean that the war on terror is being won? (via Anxiety Culture)
posted on May 10, 2004 - View this thread

When does politics become treason? Lincoln did it...almost. Why shouldn't GW Bush follow suit ? The Neocon Case for Imprisoning and Executing Congressional War Opponents.: ' "Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged" - that's what President Abraham Lincoln said during the War Between the States. ' Right then. Where's the noose? Step this way, my traitorous friends. I'll flip ya' for first in line.
posted on Jan 18, 2004 - View this thread

A martyr in the "war against terror"? Russian Pvt. Yevgeny Rodionov, 19, was killed in capitivy in Chechnya in 1996. (pic) Today, there is a folk movement to have him venerated as a saint. Another unusual diversion in the complex and uneasy dance between the church and the right wing in Russia.

(Warning: last link includes poorly-disguised swastika; English text by Boris Badenov)
posted on Nov 27, 2003 - View this thread

Homeland Security: falling apart before its even built. The bastard child of Bush's 'small government' ideology and Congress's desperate attempt to secure the nation is unsurprisingly falling apart for lack of support both in funds and from the executive branch. Isn't something worth doing and this important, worth doing well?
posted on Sep 8, 2003 - View this thread

«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.
posted on Sep 4, 2003 - View this thread

al queda and pakistan an excellent interview supporting an excellent frontline presentation on al queda - is the US winning or losing the war on terrorism?
posted on Nov 21, 2002 - View this thread

Ten days ago in Yemen, a car carrying several men, including an American citizen, was blown up. They were deliberately killed by a missile fired from a CIA drone aircraft. The American is from Lackawanna, New York, about nine miles away from my house. When I first heard about this bombing, I thought of Orlando Letelier. Where are the lines now separating law enforcement and war, targeted strikes and murder?
posted on Nov 13, 2002 - View this thread

Violence and Repression in Western Afghanistan. "A man who was severely beaten by Ismail Khan's forces described to Human Rights Watch the effect of the repression: 'At any time I feel that I am in danger. When I leave my house, I do not know if I will return. I do not know whether something will happen to me, if there will be some car crash, or that I will be hit in the back of the head.' Another witness talked about how his community's hopes after the hated Taliban regime was ended have been deflated: 'What has changed in Afghanistan? All our hopes are crushed. We are completely disappointed. Look-all the same warlords are in power as before. Fundamentalism has come into power, and every day they strengthen their power.'

The light of liberation and liberty descends upon Afghanistan.
posted on Nov 6, 2002 - View this thread

TRANSCRIPTS:
A case on Iraq - Rumsfeld's testimony to Senate Armed Services Committee, 9.19.02.
The National Security Strategy of the United States of America.
GAO e-Government Proposal.
Senator Byrd on the Department of Homeland Security.
Today's bumper crop of limited audience government info links. "Maybe only 50,000 people want to know what's going on in Libya, but those 50,000 people are really important. You don't want to have more planes blow up. But maybe six million people want to watch Jerry Springer. Well, who owns the airwaves? Basically we do." Do you think that unprocessed, source texts are getting filtered effectively to the public?
posted on Sep 22, 2002 - View this thread

How many more terrorist cells are out there? Living less than half an hour from Lakawanna, where a group of men trained by Al Queda were just arrested, I'm rather nervous.
I couldn't help but be reminded of another another recent thread when MSNBC reported that the men were turned in by the local Muslim community.
posted on Sep 13, 2002 - View this thread

"Learn (America) that we can topple you along with the other big enemies" Could the US be so easy to topple? We've been told that we're not fighting a traditional war anymore (ignoring possible actions on Iraq), but it seems like a relatively small catalyst like 9.11 could forever damage the principles of due process and judicial review. Ironically, the secret and undemocratic FISC secret court may provide hope with their criticisms of the Justice Dept's blatant abuse of power, but sadly AP lists what we've lost already. If there is a formula for toppling the US in this 'new way of war,' then it sounds like we're doing it ourselves by slowly embracing the oppression of the last failed superpower. Something to think about amongst the rah-rah patriotic cheerleading that will mark the anniversery of 9.11.
posted on Sep 9, 2002 - View this thread

A bit of a sea change at CNN.com: the "War on Terror" news heading, which has been part of the right column of CNN's home page since late September 2001, is gone, and not coincidentally, the massive non-news of the arrest of actor Robert Blake is the lead story. Not the growing world outrage over the Israel action in Jenin, nor the death of four Canadian soldiers by an errant US bomb.
posted on Apr 19, 2002 - View this thread

Not to complain about the ever-expanding war on terror, but... Afganistan just might become a little stickier than our leaders had hoped. A recent raid on regrouping troops went not too well, with a combined force of Afgan and U.S. troops beating a quick retreat. Is the U.S. miring itself in not one but several Vietnam's?
posted on Mar 3, 2002 - View this thread

"We must not declare victory too soon," or the inevitable fingerpointing will begin.
posted on Jan 16, 2002 - View this thread

Bush: Drug users=terrorist lackeys George W. Bush says if you just quit drugs, terrorism will go away.
posted on Dec 14, 2001 - View this thread

"Just as the War Against Drugs would make some kind of sense if they honestly called it a War Against Some Drugs, I regard Dubya's current Kampf as a War Against Some Terrorists. I may remain wed to that horrid heresy until he bombs CIA headquarters in Langtry." Recent thoughts from Futurist, author, and stand-up comic Robert Anton Wilson.
posted on Dec 5, 2001 - View this thread

Howard Zinn speaks at a high school. Parents get upset.
posted on Nov 20, 2001 - View this thread

Al-Queda's Endgame? This report from Decision Support Systems, inc. supports the "Al-Qaida has successfully laid a trap for the United States" model. More inside. (found at Linkwatcher)
posted on Nov 8, 2001 - View this thread

With the FBI advising how to handle suspicious mail [pdf], the fine people who send you junk snail mail are changing their methods. The Canadian and American Direct Marketing Associations are recommending that their members ''consider notifying consumers by phone or e-mail that a direct-mail piece is on its way so they are not alarmed when it arrives." One cancelled campaign involved mailing marbles to some prospective clients.
posted on Oct 24, 2001 - View this thread

Anthrax case becomes criminal investigation as Law Enforcement intensifies its searche for a Summer Intern who worked in the office.

He is said to be from the Middle East. Hopefully unrelated, but evidence is mounting... i.e. - employees received a strange letter before the WTC attack containing a white powdery substance and a "Cheap" Star of David charm...
posted on Oct 8, 2001 - View this thread

This didn`t seem too important to many but the last pieces of evidence associating Bin Laden and company to the WTC attacks was released, and is detailed by the Sunday Times. It`s surprising that many people were ready to go to war without this info...
posted on Oct 7, 2001 - View this thread

On September 30th, there was a peace protest in Washington D.C. I'm surprised no one else linked to this -- about 50 students from my college attended and joined the crowd of a few thousand. I would have gone, but I'm dubious about the efficacy of public protest despite the fact that I'm an affirmed pacifist. What do you folks think? Will a totally non-military action be an appropriate response? (And is there any possiblity of the US acting in such a way?) Is the loss of a single additional human life in this new war justifiable?
posted on Oct 3, 2001 - View this thread

Americans threatened to attack Afghanistan two months ago. Was the terrorist attack a pre-emptive strike?
posted on Sep 21, 2001 - View this thread

Well, here we go. Macau authorities have arrested five Pakistanis of (officially) overstaying their visas. They also may be (again, speaking officially here) robbery suspects. But about halfway down the page, we find this little three-liner: ''According to preliminary investigations, the documents seized [in the arrest] appear to contain instructions to attack American targets in the SAR and Macau in the case of an American attack on Afghanistan,'' the [government] source said.
posted on Sep 17, 2001 - View this thread

Realism Urgently Needed - Or Not? David Ignatius's column today in The Washington Post addresses the question of effectiveness in the war against terrorism. He tells the sobering story of the CIA's collaboration with the terrorist Ali Hassan Salameh. The downside: "The most obvious (lesson) is that collecting intelligence about terrorists is a truly dirty business. This world cannot be penetrated without help from members or friends of the terrorist network". The upside: "Paradoxically, these tragic days have probably been an ideal time for the CIA to be recruiting new sources of intelligence about terrorism. The barbaric attacks Tuesday aroused disgust around the world --- not least among civilized Muslims. Some of these disgusted Muslims will surely want to help the United States and its allies put the terrorists out of business." The crucial moral question: It's really a classic means/ends debate. Is it right - or just acceptably expedient - to collaborate with known terrorists in order to strike out at those we don't yet(or otherwise will never) know about?
posted on Sep 16, 2001 - View this thread

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]
posted on Sep 11, 2001 - View this thread