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judy

Aug 23 2006, 03:17 PM

Fast-Food Jihadists In Britain

Der Spiegel provides an extensive look at the background of the British conspirators who plotted attacks on international flights, now detained by the UK. After repeatedly noting neighbors' evaluation of the young men as "nice boys", DS makes an interesting point about the twisted perspective of homegrown jihadis:

About 100,000 people live in this idyllic commuter town, which seems to have preserved many of the more pleasant aspects of old England without ignoring the present. When the British Empire disintegrated, about 15,000 Pakistanis moved to High Wycombe, which would eventually boast one of the island's first ethnic Asian mayors. The town is widely seen as a "successfully integrated community."
But for at least one resident of High Wycombe, Jennifer Baker, the world is no longer what it once seemed. Baker lives at Number 17, Hepplewhite Close. Late in the night of August 10, several police cars stopped in front of a house down the street, Number 31, and dragged a man from a red Nissan Micra, a man Baker says was always a "particularly nice boy."

This particularly nice boy was named Don Stewart-Whyte until six months ago, when he converted to Islam and took the name Abdul Waheed. He and 23 accomplices were accused of having plotted to blow up 12 airliners en route from Britain to the United States. According to Home Secretary John Reid, the authorities had amassed "substantial evidence" against the would-be attackers. This evidence presumably includes intercepted emails and wiretapped phone conversations, but also large sums of money, weapons and bomb-making chemicals. A suitcase containing explosive chemicals was found in woods near High Wycombe on Thursday. Videos featuring the likely martyrs surfaced on Friday, and on the same day authorities in the Pakistani city of Bahawalpur arrested Matiur Rehman, a high-ranking al-Qaida terrorist believed to be behind the thwarted attack.

The story seems eerily similar to the report on the Toronto homegrown jihadis written by the Globe & Mail two months ago. Once again, a Western nation has a number of its citizens, the children of apparently fully-integrated immigrants, turning into Islamist terrorists. The same disaffection with Western culture appears as a theme in both stories, along with the helpful appearance of charismatic Islamist imams and teachers who help transform the young adults into walking timebombs, quite literally.

Der Spiegel refers to these converts as "fast-food jihadists", and the description has its advantages. None of them seem particularly oppressed by the culture they rejected, either in Britain or in Canada. Most of them came from middle-class families. Yet all of them went through some kind of identity crisis that one would have expected from their immigrant parents and not from the assimilated generation of native-born Britons and Canadians. The suspects went shopping for a new philosophy and seized upon the easy, quick, and satifying answer that everyone around them was to blame for their unhappiness.

However, Der Spiegel's description of a "fast-food Mohammed" doesn't ring true. If anything, it is the West that has a fast-food image of Islam's founder, a military conqueror and a strict administrator whose history hardly embodies the concept of peace. The description of Mohammed's exploits in the Qu'ran is what attracts these followers; they do not accept the historically illiterate notion of Mohammed as a peace-bringer. Moderate Islam teaches the history of Mohammed in its historical context; after all, those centuries were a time of conquest, an era that only ran out in the early 20th century. Literal teachings of Mohammed do not give a warm and fuzzy image to the first Muslim, and Der Spiegel seems confused at best in that passage.

One question may nag readers: why have we not seen the homegrown jihadis here in the US? Well, we have, but not to the extent that the British and Canadian examples show. That does not mean they don't exist -- it means we have not discovered any at this time. The only analogous examples we have are John Lindh and Jose Padilla, and the less-than-intelligent ring of would-be terrorists captured in Florida. AQ would love to have native jihadis carry out an attack here, and I'd be surprised if they haven't met with some success in organizing something.

How can we prevent these disaffected citizens from transforming into traitors? Perhaps we can start by teaching children early about why Western freedoms and liberty hold the best promise for prosperity and happiness, and that life has intrinsic value. If we stop derogating our own culture and history, our children may learn to value it. They won't then be tempted to sample drive-through philosophy in any form, especially the most virulent kinds.
Link

beasty

Aug 23 2006, 03:23 PM

Many of the little jihadis aren't the poor and oppressed we're always hearing about. The poor have too much to worry about just surviving. These idiots have too much time and money on their hands.

judy

Aug 23 2006, 03:26 PM

QUOTE(beasty @ Aug 23 2006, 11:20 AM) [snapback]233276[/snapback]

Many of the little jihadis aren't the poor and oppressed we're always hearing about. The poor have too much to worry about just surviving. These idiots have too much time and money on their hands.

And educated in the US as engineers, both chemical and mechanical.

judy

Aug 23 2006, 03:53 PM

Sydney terrorism suspect jailed for 20 years

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 23/08/2006

Reporter: Leigh Sales

A Sydney court has handed down the most severe terrorism sentence ever in Australia. Faheem Lodhi will spend a maximum 20 years behind bars for plotting a bomb attack on Sydney to promote the cause of violent jihad.

Transcript

TONY JONES:

A Sydney court has handed down the most severe terrorism sentence ever in Australia Faheem Lodhi will spend a maximum 20 years behind bars - for plotting a bomb attack on Sydney to promote the cause of violent jihad. The judge found that if the bombing had gone ahead, it would have had a devastating impact on Australia's easygoing way of life. National security correspondent Leigh Sales reports.

LEIGH SALES:

If his 20-year sentence is anything to go by, Faheem Lodhi is Australia's closest brush with a home-grown terrorist act. Lodhi sat quietly in the dock, as he was sentenced for plotting to blow up an unknown target, possibly, the Australian Electricity Grid.

JUSTICE ANTHONY WHEALY:

"If carried out, it would instill terror into members of the public so that they could, never again, feel free from the threat of bombing attacks within Australia."

LEIGH SALES: .

.Justice Anthony Whealy told the court. Justice Whealy accepted the prosecution argument that even though Lodhi's planning was in its early stages, the attack would've had a devastating effect on the Australian national psyche. He drew a comparison to the Port Arthur massacre, saying the impact of that showed what a huge effect a major terrorist attack would have on the stability and security of this country. He said Mr Lodhi's not guilty plea indicated a lack of remorse.

JUSTICE ANTHONY WHEALY:

"I can gain no meaningful insight into the circumstances, which have transformed him from an otherwise respectable member of the community to a dangerous terrorist whose views are coloured by notions of the most extreme and fundamental kind."

LEIGH SALES:

Justice Whealy spoke at length about Faheem Lodhi's relationship with accused terrorist Willie Brigitte saying that, together, they were clearly exploring the idea of an Australian attack. Lodhi will be jailed in a maximum security prison and classified as a 'double-A inmate' - a relatively new classification for prisoners considered a special threat to national security. It means he'll face daily searches of his cell, and have to move cells every two weeks. Lodhi will live in an area similar to this, with no more than three hours outside a day, and next to no interaction with anybody. He won't be eligible for parole until 2019 and his lawyers are expected to lodge an appeal. Leigh Sales, Lateline.

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1722511.htm

Friend Judy

Aug 24 2006, 03:17 AM

QUOTE(beasty @ Aug 23 2006, 09:20 AM) [snapback]233276[/snapback]

Many of the little jihadis aren't the poor and oppressed we're always hearing about. The poor have too much to worry about just surviving. These idiots have too much time and money on their hands.

Well, yes and no. Most of the rock-throwers and a lot of Hezbollah fighters are from the poor and oppressed.

But suicide bombers and highjackers tend to be college-educated, or college-bound high school students, from middle or upper classes, with a sort of nihilistic world view and some exposure to Western life. From Chaucer's time to the French (and American) revolutions to Marxists to the Weathermen to jihadis, this is pretty much the standard profile of "revolutionaries".

But don't get me wrong. The kids who throw rocks at Israeli tanks and your typical Hezbollah fighter tend to actually BE the "poor and oppressed"--led by those revolutionary college students.

SpaceCowboy

Aug 24 2006, 03:29 AM

QUOTE(Friend Judy @ Aug 23 2006, 10:14 PM) [snapback]233438[/snapback]

Not to mention firebrand clerics who would never consider strapping on a suicide vest themselves. Like Max Boot, they contibute to the fight with words from far behind the front lines.

davis¹³

Aug 24 2006, 04:09 AM

Mad Max, Toadwarrior.

IPB Image

Bart Katz

Aug 24 2006, 06:11 AM

SRX

Aug 25 2006, 03:41 AM

QUOTE(Bart Katz @ Aug 23 2006, 11:08 PM) [snapback]233466[/snapback]

Where's your Lexus?

Carol

Aug 25 2006, 02:02 PM

The safest airline in the world, it is widely agreed, is El Al, Israel's national carrier. The safest airport is Ben Gurion International, in Tel Aviv. No El Al plane has been attacked by terrorists in more than three decades, and no flight leaving Ben Gurion has ever been hijacked. So when US aviation intensified its focus on security after 9/11, it seemed a good bet that the experience of travelers in American airports would increasingly come to resemble that of travelers flying out of Tel Aviv.
But in telling ways, the two experiences remain notably different. For example, passengers in the United States are required to take off their shoes for X-ray screening, while passengers at Ben Gurion are spared that indignity. On the other hand, major American airports generally offer the convenience of curbside check-in, while in Israel baggage and traveler stay together until the security check is completed. Screeners at American airports don't usually engage in conversation with passengers, unless you count as conversation their endlessly repeated instructions about emptying pockets and taking laptops out of briefcases. At Ben Gurion, security officials make a point of engaging in dialogue with almost everyone who's catching a plane.

There is a reason for these differences. Nearly five years after Sept. 11, 2001, US airport security remains obstinately focused on intercepting bad *things* -- guns, knives, explosives. It is a reactive policy, aimed at preventing the last terrorist plot from being repeated. The 9/11 hijackers used box cutters as weapons, so sharp metal objects were barred from carry-on luggage. Would-be suicide terrorist Richard Reid tried to ignite a bomb in his shoe, so now everyone's footwear is screened for tampering. Earlier this month British authorities foiled a plan to blow up airliners with liquid explosives; as a result, toothpaste, eye drops, and cologne have become air-travel contraband.

Of course the Israelis check for bombs and weapons too, but always with the understanding that things don't hijack planes, terrorists do -- and that the best way to detect terrorists is to focus on intercepting not bad things, but bad *people.* To a much greater degree than in the United States, security at El Al and Ben Gurion depends on intelligence and intuition -- what Rafi Ron, the former director of security at Ben Gurion, calls the "human factor" that technology alone can never replace.

Israeli airport security, much of it invisible to the untrained eye, begins before passengers even enter the terminal. Officials constantly monitor behavior, alert to clues that may hint at danger: bulky clothing, say, or a nervous manner. Profilers -- yes, that's what they're called -- make a point of interviewing travelers, sometimes at length. They probe, as one profiling supervisor recently explained to CBS, for "anything out of the ordinary, anything that does not fit." Their questions can seem odd or intrusive, especially if your only previous experience with an airport interrogation was being asked whether you packed your bags yourself.

Unlike in US airports, where passengers go through security after checking in for their flights and submitting their luggage, security at Ben Gurion comes first. Only when the profiler is satisfied that a passenger poses no risk is he or she allowed to proceed to the check-in counter. By that point, there is no need to make him remove his shoes, or to confiscate his bottle of water.

Gradually, airport security in the United States is inching its way toward screening people, rather than just their belongings. At a handful of airports, security officers are now being trained to notice facial expressions, body language, and speech patterns, which can hint at a traveler's hostile intent or fear of being caught.

But because federal policy still bans ethnic or religious profiling, US passengers continue to be singled out for special scrutiny mostly on a random basis. Countless hours have been spent patting down elderly women in wheelchairs, toddlers with pacifiers, even former US vice presidents -- time that could have been used instead to concentrate on passengers with a greater likelihood of being terrorists.

No sensible person imagines that ethnic or religious profiling alone can stop every terrorist plot. But it is illogical and potentially suicidal not to take account of the fact that so far every suicide-terrorist plotting to take down an American plane has been a radical Muslim man. It is not racism or bigotry to argue that the prevention of Islamist terrorism necessitates a heightened focus on Muslim travelers, just as it is not racism or bigotry when police trying to prevent a Mafia killing pay closer attention to Italians.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JeffJac..._could_teach_us

Rene

Aug 25 2006, 02:32 PM

A perspective from a Politically Incorrect filmmaker. Note that he's not
American. Wouldn't find work here for daring to buck the "mea culpa" mentality
of the Michael Moorian left.

QUOTE
Inside the mind of a suicide bomber

On July 15, MSNBC's "Connected" program discussed the July 7th London
attacks. One of the guests was Pierre Rehov, a French filmmaker who has
filmed six documentaries on the intifada by going undercover in the Palestinian
areas.

Pierre's upcoming film, "Suicide Killers," is based on interviews that he
conducted with the families of suicide bombers and would-be bombers in an
attempt to find out why they do it. Pierre agreed to a request for a Q&A
interview here about his work on the new film.

Q - What inspired you to produce "Suicide Killers," your seventh
film?

A - I started working with victims of suicide attacks to make a
film on PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) when I became fascinated
with the personalities of those who had committed those crimes, as
they were described again and again by their victims. Especially
the fact that suicide bombers are all smiling one second before they
blow themselves up.

Q - Why is this film especially important?

A - People don't understand the devastating culture behind this
unbelievable phenomenon. My film is not politically correct because it
addresses the real problem, showing the real face of Islam. It points
the finger against a culture of hatred in which the uneducated are
brainwashed to a level where their only solution in life becomes to
kill themselves and kill others in the name of a God whose word,
as transmitted by other men, has become their only certitude.

Q - What insights did you gain from making this film? What do you
know that other experts do not know?

A - I came to the conclusion that we are facing a neurosis at the
level of an entire civilization. Most neuroses have in common a dramatic event,
generally linked to an unacceptable sexual behavior. In this case, we are
talking of kids living all their lives in pure frustration, with no opportunity to
experience sex, love, tenderness or even understanding from the opposite sex.

The separation between men and women in Islam is absolute. So is contempt
toward women, who are totally dominated by men. This leads to a situation of
pure anxiety, in which normal behavior is not possible. It is no coincidence
that suicide killers are mostly young men dominated subconsciously by an
overwhelming libido that they not only cannot satisfy but are afraid of,
as if it is the work of the devil.

Since Islam describes heaven as a place where everything on Earth
will finally be allowed, and promises 72 virgins to those frustrated kids,
killing others and killing themselves to reach this redemption becomes
their only solution.

Q - What was it like to interview would-be suicide bombers, their
families and survivors of suicide bombings?

A - It was a fascinating and a terrifying experience. You are dealing
with seemingly normal people with very nice manners who have their own
logic, which to a certain extent can make sense since they are so
convinced that what they say is true. It is like dealing with pure
craziness, like interviewing people in an asylum, since what they say,
is for them, the absolute truth. I hear a mother saying "Thank God,
my son is dead." Her son had became a shaheed, a martyr, which for
her was a greater source of pride than if he had became an engineer, a
doctor or a winner of the Nobel Prize.

This system of values works completely backwards since their interpretation
of Islam worships death much more than life. You are facing people whose
only dream, only achievement goal is to fulfill what they believe to be
their destiny, namely to be a Shaheed or the family of a shaheed.
They don't see the innocent being killed, they only see the impure
that they have to destroy.

Q - You say suicide bombers experience a moment of absolute power,
beyond punishment. Is death the ultimate power?

A - Not death as an end, but death as a door opener to the after life.
They are seeking the reward that God has promised them. They work for God,
the ultimate authority, above all human laws. They therefore experience this
single delusional second of absolute power, where nothing bad can ever
happen to them, since they become God's sword.

Q - Is there a suicide bomber personality profile? Describe the
psychopathology.

A - Generally kids between 15 and 25 bearing a lot of complexes,
generally inferiority complexes. They must have been fed with religion.
They usually have a lack of developed personality. Usually they are
impressionable idealists. In the western world they would easily
have become drug addicts, but not criminals.

Interestingly, they are not criminals since they don't see good and
evil the same way that we do. If they had been raised in an Occidental
culture, they would have hated violence. But they constantly battle
against their own death anxiety. The only solution to this deep-seated
pathology is to be willing to die and be rewarded in the afterlife in Paradise.

Q - Are suicide bombers principally motivated by religious conviction?

A - Yes, it is their only conviction. They don't act to gain a
territory or to find freedom or even dignity. They only follow Allah,
the supreme judge, and what He tells them to do.

Q - Do all Muslims interpret jihad and martyrdom in the same way?

A - All Muslim believers believe that, ultimately, Islam will prevail
on earth. They believe this is the only true religion and there is no room, in
their mind, for interpretation. The main difference between moderate
Muslims and extremists is that moderate Muslims don't think they
will see the absolute victory of Islam during their lifetime, therefore
they respect other beliefs. The extremists believe that the fulfillment
of the Prophecy of Islam and ruling the entire world as described in
the Koran, is for today. Each victory of Bin Laden convinces 20 million
moderate Muslims to become extremists.

Q - Describe the culture that manufactures suicide bombers.

A - Oppression, lack of freedom, brain washing, organized poverty,
placing God in charge of daily life, total separation between men and women,
forbidding sex, giving women no power whatsoever, and placing men in
charge of family honor, which is mainly connected to their women's behavior.

Q - What socio-economic forces support the perpetuation of suicide bombings?

A - Muslim charity is usually a cover for supporting terrorist organizations.
But one has also to look at countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and
Iran, which are also supporting the same organizations through different
networks. The ironic thing in the case of Palestinian suicide bombers is
that most of the money comes through financial support from the Western
world, donated to a culture that utterly hates and rejects the West (mainly
symbolized by Israel).

Q - Is there a financial support network for the families of the
suicide bombers? If so, who is paying them and how does that affect the
decision?

A - There used to be a financial incentive in the days of Saddam Hussein
($25,000 per family) and Yasser Arafat (smaller amounts), but these
days are gone. It is a mistake to believe that these families would
Sacrifice their children for money. Although, the children themselves
who are very attached to their families, might find in this financial
support another reason to become suicide bombers. It is like buying
a life insurance policy and then committing suicide.

Q - Why are so many suicide bombers young men?

A - As discussed above, libido is paramount. Also ego, because this
is a sure way to become a hero. The shaheed are the cowboys or the
firemen of Islam. Shaheed is a positively reinforced value in this
culture. And what kid has never dreamed of becoming a cowboy
or a fireman?

Q - What role does the U.N. play in the terrorist equation?

A - The U.N. is in the hands of Arab countries and third world or
ex-communist countries. Their hands are tied. The U.N. has condemned Israel more
than any other country in the world, including the regime of Castro, Idi Amin
or Kaddahfi. By behaving this way, the U.N. leaves a door open by not
openly condemning terrorist organizations. In addition, through UNRWA, the
U.N. is directly tied to terror organizations such as Hamas, representing
65 percent of their apparatus in the so-called Palestinian refugee camps.
As a support to Arab countries, the U.N. has maintained Palestinians in camps
with the hope to "return" into Israel for more than 50 years, therefore making it
impossible to settle those populations, which still live in deplorable conditions.
Four hundred million dollars are spent every year, mainly financed by U.S.
taxes, to support 23,000 employees of UNRWA, many of whom belong to terrorist
organizations (see Congressman Eric Cantor on this subject, and in my
film "Hostages of Hatred").

Q - You say that a suicide bomber is a 'stupid bomb and a smart bomb'
simultaneously. Explain what you mean.

A - Unlike an electronic device, a suicide killer has until the last
second the capacity to change his mind. In reality, he is nothing
but a platform representing interests which are not his, but he
doesn't know it.

Q - How can we put an end to the madness of suicide bombings and
terrorism in general?

A - Stop being politically correct and stop believing that this
culture is a victim of ours. Radical Islamism today is nothing but a
new form of Nazism.

Nobody was trying to justify or excuse Hitler in the 1930s. We had to
defeat him in order to make peace one day with the German people.

Q - Are these men travelling outside their native areas in large numbers?
Based on your research, would you predict that we are beginning to see a
new wave of suicide bombings outside the Middle East?

A - Every successful terror attack is considered a victory by the
radical Islamists. Everywhere Islam expands there is regional conflict.
Right now, there are thousands of candidates for martyrdom lining up
in training camps in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Inside Europe,
hundreds of illegal mosques are preparing the next step of brain washing
to lost young men who cannot find a satisfying identity in the Occidental
world. Israel is much more prepared for this than the rest of the world
will ever be. Yes, there will be more suicide killings in Europe and the U.S.
Sadly, this is only the beginning.

American Congress for Truth

davis¹³

Aug 25 2006, 02:36 PM

scroooolllinnn wheelies

judy

Aug 25 2006, 10:14 PM

QUOTE(Rene @ Aug 25 2006, 10:29 AM) [snapback]233745[/snapback]

A perspective from a Politically Incorrect filmmaker. Note that he's not American. Wouldn't find work here for daring to buck the "mea culpa" mentality of the Michael Moorian left.

QUOTE
A - People don't understand the devastating culture behind this unbelievable phenomenon. My film is not politically correct because it addresses the real problem, showing the real face of Islam. It points the finger against a culture of hatred in which the uneducated are brainwashed to a level where their only sollution in life becomes to kill themselves and kill others in the name of a God whose word, as transmitted by other men, has become their only certitude.

He is right on the money!

It only took Ann Coulter 1 day to get her column out and she got fired for not being politically correct!

This Is War

September 12 , 2001---Note the date!

BARBARA OLSON kept her cool. In the hysteria and terror of hijackers herding passengers to the rear of the plane, she retrieved her cell phone and called her husband, Ted, the solicitor general of the United States. She informed him that he had better call the FBI — the plane had been hijacked. According to reports, Barbara was still on the phone with Ted when her plane plunged in a fiery explosion directly into the Pentagon.

Barbara risked having her neck slit to warn the country of a terrorist attack. She was a patriot to the very end.

This is not to engage in the media's typical hallucinatory overstatement about anyone who is the victim of a horrible tragedy. The furtive cell phone call was an act of incredible daring and panache. If it were not, we'd be hearing reports of a hundred more cell phone calls. (Even people who swear to hate cell phones carry them for commercial air travel.)

The last time I saw Barbara in person was about three weeks ago. She generously praised one of my recent columns and told me I had really found my niche. Ted, she said, had taken to reading my columns aloud to her over breakfast.

I mention that to say three things about Barbara. First, she was really nice. A lot of people on TV seem nice, but aren't. (And some who don't seem nice, are.) But Barbara was always her charming, graceful, ebullient self. "Nice" is an amazingly rare quality among writers. In the opinion business, bitter, jealous hatred is the norm. Barbara had reason to be secure.

Second, it was actually easy to imagine Ted reading political columns aloud to Barbara at the breakfast table. Theirs was a relationship that could only be cheaply imitated by Bill and Hillary — the latter being a subject of Barbara's appropriately biting bestseller, Hell to Pay. Hillary claimed preposterously in the Talk magazine interview that she discussed policy with Bill while cutting his grapefruit in the morning. Ted and Barbara really did talk politics — and really did have breakfast together.

It's "Ted and Barbara" just like it's Fred and Ginger, and George and Gracie. They were so perfect together, so obvious, that their friends were as happy they were on their wedding day. This is more than the death of a great person and patriotic American. It's a human amputation.

Third, since Barbara's compliment, I've been writing my columns for Ted and Barbara. I'm always writing to someone in my head. Now I don't know who to write to. Ted-and-Barbara were a good muse.

Apart from hearing that this beautiful light has been extinguished from the world, only one other news flash broke beyond the numbingly omnipresent horror of the entire day. That evening, CNN reported that bombs were dropping in Afghanistan — and then updated the report to say they weren't our bombs.

They should have been ours. I want them to be ours.

This is no time to be precious about locating the exact individuals directly involved in this particular terrorist attack. Those responsible include anyone anywhere in the world who smiled in response to the annihilation of patriots like Barbara Olson.

QUOTE

We don't need long investigations of the forensic evidence to determine with scientific accuracy the person or persons who ordered this specific attack. We don't need an "international coalition." We don't need a study on "terrorism." We certainly didn't need a congressional resolution condemning the attack this week.

The nation has been invaded by a fanatical, murderous cult. And we welcome them. We are so good and so pure we would never engage in discriminatory racial or "religious" profiling.

People who want our country destroyed live here, work for our airlines, and are submitted to the exact same airport shakedown as a lumberman from Idaho. This would be like having the Wehrmacht immigrate to America and work for our airlines during World War II. Except the Wehrmacht was not so bloodthirsty.

"All of our lives" don't need to change, as they keep prattling on TV. Every single time there is a terrorist attack — or a plane crashes because of pilot error — Americans allow their rights to be contracted for no purpose whatsoever.

The airport kabuki theater of magnetometers, asinine questions about whether passengers "packed their own bags," and the hostile, lumpen mesomorphs ripping open our luggage somehow allowed over a dozen armed hijackers to board four American planes almost simultaneously on Bloody Tuesday. (Did those fabulous security procedures stop a single hijacker anyplace in America that day?)

Airports scrupulously apply the same laughably ineffective airport harassment to Suzy Chapstick as to Muslim hijackers. It is preposterous to assume every passenger is a potential crazed homicidal maniac. We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now.

We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.

We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war.

http://www.anncoulter.org/columns/2001/091301.htm

davis¹³

Aug 25 2006, 10:18 PM

QUOTE

This is no time to be precious about locating the exact individuals directly involved in this particular terrorist attack. Those responsible include anyone anywhere in the world who smiled in response to the annihilation of patriots like Barbara Olson.

Any one who smiled deserves death?

<shakes head> and you claim she was right? By what standard?

judy

Aug 25 2006, 10:22 PM

Video Discloses Alleged Plot To Target Sears Tower

IPB Image

Federal Judge Denies Request To Ban Video
(obviously not a Carter or Clinton appointee)

(CBS) MIAMI Undercover video acquired by CBS 2's Miami sister station, WFOR-TV CBS 4, reveals an inside look at a suspected terror group leader accused in a plot to target U.S. landmarks, including the Sears Tower.

The suspected group was based in Miami and was allegedly led by a former Chicagoan.

As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, that Chicago suspect was apparently trying to recruit help with his mission when he was busted.

The “Liberty City 7”, as they have been dubbed, face terrorism charges after government agents uncovered an alleged plot to blow up buildings, including the Sears Tower, the Miami Federal Courthouse, and the Miami FBI offices, as well as other structures.

The undercover video shows Narseal Batiste, and others taking, what prosecutors claim, is an oath to the al Qaeda terrorist organization, as well as conversations in which Batiste tells and FBI undercover agent his plans for blowing up buildings.

It was a classic FBI sting, with hidden cameras rolling in a hotel room. The key players are the government informant, whose face is obscured, and the alleged ringleader of the terrorist plot.
FBI surveillance photos show Batiste, the former Chicago FedEx delivery driver, allegedly checking out Miami’s federal courthouse as a possible target.

The videotape of the front and side doors of that courthouse was to be given to the man they thought represented al Qaeda, a man Batiste first met when he entered a Miami hotel room hoping to make his dream of Islamic jihad a reality.

“My name is Brother Mohammed ali Hussein,” the informant said on tape.

“Ali Hussein,” Batiste asked.

“Yes,” said the informant. “My job is to determine if its worth it or not. My job is to say if these people are serious or not."

Batiste tries to convince him that he and seven other members of his so-called Moorish Science Temple, their mosque housed in a rundown warehouse in Miami, are very serious.

“What's the plan?” asked the informant.

“To build this army,” Batiste replied.

“Army? To build an army?” the informant asked.

“An Islamic army for Islamic jihad,” Batiste said.

“Jihad? To wage jihad?” the informant said.

“Yes,” confirmed Batiste.

Eventually, the others are introduced to the informant. On the tape, one by one, each pledges his allegiance. In another taped meeting, Batiste asks for money for boots and uniforms and more.

“Hand pistol machine guns,” Batiste said.

“Pistols? Machine guns. Pistol or machine guns? Two different,” the informant said.

“They make them in hand pistols. They make pistol machine guns. They're like pistols but they're also machine guns,” Batiste said.

At another meeting, also taped by the government, Batiste got down to specifics.

"We got to make a plan of attack," Batiste said.

They talk about waging war with an army of street gang members and two specific targets.

“I'm gonna tell you there's two major buildings that you gotta blow up. The Empire State Building and … the uh, and the uh, Sears Tower. With those two buildings down, all radio communication is out," Batiste said.

The video has been the subject of reports by WFOR-TV reporter Brian Andrews, and its broadcast has apparently upset some of the attorneys involved in the case.

The material shown on television and on the Internet was provided by prosecutors as part of the discovery process, and is part of the public record of the case. It includes hundreds of hours of CDs and DVDs, which CBS 4 has been examining for the material which was broadcast.

A federal judge denied a request for a temporary injunction that would have prevented CBS 2 sister station WFOR-TV CBS 4 in Miami and their Web site, CBS4.com, from showing undercover surveillance video of seven men implicated in a terrorism scheme that involved a plot to blow up the Sears Tower.

Attorney Ana Jhones had filed the request with Federal Court Judge Joan Lenard at the U.S. Courthouse in Miami, asking that CBS, and any other media outlet, be prevented from showing the undercover video showing her client, Narseal Batiste, the alleged ringleader of what prosecutors claim was a terrorist cell based in Liberty City.

The request was denied following a teleconference between Jhones, the judge, and attorneys for CBS.

Jhones argued in her motion that the audio and video tapes have not yet been published in the court file and are not available to the general public. She asked that the media be prevented from showing the material "in all media" until it could be determined if a "local rule" was violated in the sharing of the material with WFOR.

WFOR-TV has reported that the material was legally obtained from a source involved with the case, but has not disclosed the source http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_236144254.html

Nomarchy

Aug 25 2006, 10:25 PM

QUOTE

We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.

She's free to believe and express whatever she wants.

She's not entitled to keep her job, though.

In fact, any whining after being fired by a commercial establishment for associating it with your speech demonstrates that one doesn't really have the courage of one's conviction.

The right of free-speech does not entail the right to not be socially shunned or fired from a job on account of the views one has expressed.

davis¹³

Aug 25 2006, 10:40 PM

You're fired.

judy

Aug 25 2006, 11:13 PM

Dynamite found in checked bag at Bush airport

By KRISTEN HAYS
Associated Press

A stick of dynamite was found in a college student's checked luggage on a Continental Airlines flight from Argentina to Houston, authorities said, in one of six security incidents today affecting U.S. flights.

Federal authorities were investigating why the student, who got off the Continental plane in Houston before it continued to Newark, N.J., had the explosive, FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said. She said the student did not appear to be connected to terrorism.

Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Omero Longoria said the man told authorities he works in mining and often handles explosives. Longoria said federal officials were investigating whether the explanation was true.

In other incidents:

In Houston, the dynamite was found during a luggage search in a federal inspection station at Bush Intercontinental Airport shortly after Flight 52 landed at about 6 a.m. Marlene McClinton, spokeswoman for the Houston Airport System, said a bomb-sniffing dog "had a hit" on explosive residue during a further search.

She said Customs and Border Patrol and the FBI shut down the customs area and began questioning the passenger who had the luggage.

Dunlap confirmed that the explosive was dynamite. Dunlap also said the man, one of 173 passengers on the flight, was from Connecticut and attends Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. After landing at Newark Liberty International, the plane was kept from the terminal as a precaution, authorities said.

In Connecticut, authorities said they received an emergency call at about 8:25 a.m. reporting that a passenger on U.S. Airways Flight 554 had found the knife and reported it to a flight attendant. When the plane arrived at Bradley, state troopers boarded the aircraft, seized the knife as evidence and interviewed passengers.

No arrests were made and there were no threats involved, said Master Sgt. J. Paul Vance, state police spokesman.

Authorities do not know yet whether a worker inadvertently left the knife on the plane or a passenger brought it on, Vance said.

The FBI was also involved in the investigation.

In another incident, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Murray said American Airlines Flight 55 out of Manchester, England, was diverted to Bangor for security reasons.

"The TSA learned of a reported threat to the aircraft while it was en route," TSA spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said, declining to give further details.

McCauley said FBI agents were interviewing passengers and crew. She added that officers with dogs trained to detect explosives were also checking the plane.

The Boeing 767 carrying 167 passengers and 12 crew members was diverted at the request of the Transportation Security Administration, airline spokesman John Hotard said.

Hotard declined to say whether any passengers were removed from the flight, but he said the crew needed to be changed because of restrictions on how many hours they can work.

At Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport, law enforcement officers were questioning the passenger involved in the incident that led to the diversion of the U.S. Airways flight, airline spokesman Morgan Durrant said. The Charlotte, N.C.-bound flight had left Phoenix at 6:15 a.m.

Durrant did not disclose the nature of the problem between the passenger and the flight attendant. Officials at the airport and the FBI did not immediately return telephone calls.

A passenger interviewed by a television station said an air marshal tackled the man, but that it wasn't clear what prompted the incident.

Back in Texas, the crew of Continental Airlines Flight 2258 discovered a missing panel in the lavatory, and passengers were being screened and interviewed upon landing in El Paso, the TSA's von Walter said. It was not immediately clear where the flight originated, von Walter said. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4141246.html

Whose luggage is TSA going to check?

IPB Image

BTW-- the article didn't state... Was the 'college student' with the dynamite a Hindu, Buddist, Christian, Jew, Atheist or Muslim?

patheticJT

Aug 25 2006, 11:18 PM

QUOTE(Nomarchy @ Aug 25 2006, 10:22 PM) [snapback]233893[/snapback]

then there wont be any piss and moan from the left when employers/business owners/republicans fire wacko liberals for their point of view?

QUOTE(davis¹³ @ Aug 25 2006, 10:37 PM) [snapback]233908[/snapback]

You're fired.

then they piss and moan about the unemployment rate...................

Spot

Aug 25 2006, 11:25 PM

QUOTE(judy @ Aug 25 2006, 04:10 PM) [snapback]233923[/snapback]

Whose luggage is TSA going to check?

IPB Image

I think the baby may have something toxic concealed in it's diaper.

Terrorists are going to look for new angles of attack. I don't doubt they'll be looking to recruit mothers and old women.

judy

Aug 25 2006, 11:34 PM

It took almost 5 years to figure this out!

Conspicuous No More

After years of criticism and demoralization of the federal air marshal service (FAMS), its management finally has allowed their agents to dress in a manner that doesn't make them stick out like sore thumbs among airline passengers. Effective September 1 but likely already unofficially adopted, FAMS will allow air marshals to dress as casually as agents deem necessary:

Dana A. Brown, director of the Federal Air Marshal Service, said in a memo to air marshals that the dress code revisions will take effect Sept. 1 and replace a policy that some air marshals criticized for being so strict that they stood out on some flights.
Brown told air marshals in the memo that the policy was being amended to "allow you to dress at your discretion." He added that the new policy was designed to let air marshals blend in while concealing their weapons. ...

The previous dress code generally required air marshals to wear collared shirts, sport coats and dress shoes. The service loosened some of the restrictions a year ago, officials said.

FAMS never seemed to grasp that their mission required its agents to remain undercover. Instead, they enforced a standard that put its agents at greater risk, as well as the passengers around them. Terrorists who identified the agents ahead of time could make them their first point of attack; at the very least, their easy identification would lower the deterrent factor of having air marshals on board the aircraft.

Management insisted for years that the dress code would not blow the agents' cover, but the dress code they enforced seemed about thirty years out of date. Very few people fly wearing sport coats and dress shoes, even without the ties, as air travel has become less comfortable. The enforcement of the dress code made the agents about as covert as the narc at one's high school.

FAMS finally figured this out almost five years after 9/11. Let's hope that the government learned other lessons about security a little more quickly. link

CAN YOU SPOT THE AIR MARSHALL?
IPB Image

Nomarchy

Aug 25 2006, 11:34 PM

QUOTE(patheticJT @ Aug 25 2006, 04:15 PM) [snapback]233924[/snapback]

then there wont be any piss and moan from the left when employers/business owners/republicans fire wacko liberals for their point of view?
then they piss and moan about the unemployment rate...................

I am sure there will be, jt. My point still stands. In fact, you can predict what my reaction will be.

Much as I like to mix it up, most of the time (not always) I am careful when I write something.

Rene

Aug 26 2006, 12:03 AM

This should make a few PC leftist happy...

QUOTE
Controversial Muslim group

gets VIP airport security tour
------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted: August 18, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

The Department of Homeland Security took a Muslim group with known past ties to terror organizations on a VIP tour of security operations at the nation's busiest airport at the same time British authorities were working to break up a plot to blow up U.S. airlines.

On June 21, a senior DHS official from Washington personally guided Muslim officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations on a behind-the-scenes tour of Customs screening operations at O'Hare International Airport in response to CAIR complaints that Muslim travelers were being unfairly delayed as they entered the U.S. from abroad.

CAIR is a spin-off of the Islamic Association for Palestine, identified by two former FBI counterterrorism chiefs as a "front group" for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Several CAIR leaders have been convicted on terror-related charges.

During the airport tour, CAIR was taken on a walk through the point-of-entry, Customs stations, secondary screening and interview rooms. In addition, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents were asked to describe for CAIR representatives various features of the high-risk passenger lookout system.

In a meeting, Brian Humphrey, Customs and Border Patrol's executive director of field operations, assured CAIR officials that agents do not single out Muslim passengers for special screening and that they must undergo a mandatory course in Muslim sensitivity training. The course teaches agents that Muslims believe jihad is an "internal struggle against sin" and not holy warfare.

Customs agents involved in the CAIR tour at O'Hare tell WorldNetDaily they were outraged that headquarters would reveal sensitive counterterrorism procedures to an organization that has seen several of its own officials convicted of terror-related charges since 9-11.

"Isn't that nice of CBP," one agent said, to provide a "group like CAIR with a guided, behind-the-scenes tour of our customs facilities, explaining how programs designed to catch Muslim terrorists work."
CAIR says the tour allayed its concerns about profiling and that it "looks forward to continuing the relationship with U.S. Customs and Border Protection offices in the region, and to furthering understanding between the organizations as well as facilitating future communication in order to eliminate problems for Muslim travelers before they even arise."

The Muslim-sensitivity training course at O'Hare is taught by Margaret Nydell, an Arabic professor at Georgetown University, home to a large Saudi-financed center on Islamic studies.
A Customs and Border Protection supervisor described Nydell's instruction, along with CBP's companion training manual and video, as "politically correct drivel." "It's all about how Islam means peace and tolerance," he told WorldNetDaily. "We're told how to deal with Arabs and Muslims, that they are loving people and not terrorists. That jihad is struggle with sin and has nothing to do with violence."

The Department of Homeland Security invites CAIR itself to conduct sensitivity training for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and supervisors (CBP's counterparts) in Chicago. The course is taught by local CAIR officials Christina Abraham and Mariyam Hussain. More than 30 ICE staffers have gone through the CAIR awareness program so far.

CAIR - which is bankrolled by the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates, two countries that formally recognized the Taliban - also offers religious and cultural sensitivity training about Islam and Muslims to the military. In June, for example, CAIR trained more than 300 military personnel at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Ariz.

Also in June, CAIR was invited by the Pentagon to a ceremony dedicating the first Islamic center in Marine Corps history at Quantico headquarters outside of Washington.

Washington-based CAIR also has regular meetings with the FBI and Justice Department. In fact, FBI case agents complain the bureau rarely can make a move in the Muslim community without first consulting with CAIR, which sits on its advisory board. CAIR in the past has cried racism and bigotry when the bureau has moved unilaterally with investigations and raids in the community.

Source

QUOTE

All Muslim believers believe that, ultimately, Islam will prevail
on earth.
They believe this is the only true religion and there is no room, in
their mind, for interpretation. The main difference between moderate
Muslims and extremists is that moderate Muslims don't think they
will see the absolute victory of Islam during their lifetime, therefore
they respect other beliefs. The extremists believe that the fulfillment
of the Prophecy of Islam and ruling the entire world as described in
the Koran, is for today. Each victory of Bin Laden convinces 20 million
moderate Muslims to become extremists.
Source

Ahh!!! Isn't that just warm and fuzzy.

SpaceCowboy

Aug 26 2006, 12:05 AM

QUOTE(judy @ Aug 25 2006, 06:31 PM) [snapback]233926[/snapback]

Glad to finally see it.

Now it's time for guns in the cockpit.

judy

Aug 26 2006, 12:09 AM

QUOTE(Rene @ Aug 25 2006, 08:00 PM) [snapback]233940[/snapback]

This should make a few PC leftist happy...

Controversial Muslim group gets VIP airport security tour------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted: August 18, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

QUOTE
The Department of Homeland Security took a Muslim group with known past ties to terror organizations on a VIP tour of security operations at the nation's busiest airport at the same time British authorities were working to break up a plot to blow up U.S. airlines.

On June 21, a senior DHS official from Washington personally guided Muslim officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations on a behind-the-scenes tour of Customs screening operations at O'Hare International Airport in response to CAIR complaints that Muslim travelers were being unfairly delayed as they entered the U.S. from abroad.

CAIR is a spin-off of the Islamic Association for Palestine, identified by two former FBI counterterrorism chiefs as a "front group" for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Several CAIR leaders have been convicted on terror-related charges.

During the airport tour, CAIR was taken on a walk through the point-of-entry, Customs stations, secondary screening and interview rooms. In addition, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents were asked to describe for CAIR representatives various features of the high-risk passenger lookout system.[/b]

Ahh!!! Isn't that just warm and fuzzy.

Just when you think you have heard it all, you find out it was just the tip of the iceberg! There is no doubt about it.... Western Civilization is becoming just too stupid to survive.

SpaceCowboy

Aug 26 2006, 12:11 AM

QUOTE(judy @ Aug 25 2006, 07:06 PM) [snapback]233942[/snapback]

[/indent]
Ahh!!! Isn't that just warm and fuzzy.

Just when you think you have heard it all, you find out it was just the tip of the iceberg! There is no doubt about it.... Western Civilization is becoming just too stupid to survive.

PC leftists my arse. This is the federal executive controlled by George Bush.

Kindly take resopnsibility for your own poopy.

Rene

Aug 26 2006, 12:18 AM

QUOTE

Time to Profile Airline Passengers?
by Daniel Pipes
New York Sun
August 22, 2006

[NY Sun title: "Calls for Racial Profiling Increase After London Plot"]

The debate over profiling airline passengers revived after the thwarted Islamist plot to bomb 10 airplanes in London on Aug. 10. The sad fact is, through inertia, denial, cowardice, and political correctness, Western airport security services - with the notable exception of Israel's - search primarily for the implements of terrorism, while largely ignoring passengers.

Although there has been some progress since the attacks of September 11, 2001, most involves the scrutiny of all travelers' actions. For example, in 2003, the Transportation Security Administration, charged with protecting American airplanes, launched a passenger profiling system known as Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques, or SPOT, now operating in twelve U.S. airports.

Adopting techniques used by the U.S. Customs Service and by Israeli airport security, SPOT is "the antidote to racial profiling," TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis, said. It discerns, she said, "extremely high levels of stress, fear and deception" through "behavioral pattern recognition." SPOT agents observe passengers moving about the airport, with TSA agents looking for such physical symptoms as sweating, rigid posture, and clenched fists. A screener then engages "selectees" in conversation and asks unexpected questions, looking at body language for signs of unnatural responses. Most selectees are immediately released, but about one-fifth are interviewed by the police.

After the London plot, the British authorities instituted a crash-course in SPOT, learning directly from their American counterparts.

Building on this approach, an Israeli machine, called Cogito, uses algorithms, artificial-intelligence software, and polygraph principles to discern passengers with "hostile intent." In trial runs with control groups, the machine incorrectly fingered 8% of innocent travelers as potential threats and let 15% of the role-acting terrorists slip through.

While methods that target the whole population have general value - SPOT did discover passengers with forged visas, fake IDs, stolen airline tickets, and various forms of contraband - its utility for counterterrorism is dubious. Terrorists trained to answer questions convincingly, avoid sweating, and control stress should easily be able to evade the system.

The airport disruptions following the thwarted London plot prompted much discussion about the need to focus on the source of Islamist terrorism and to profile Muslims. In the words of a Wall Street Journal editorial, "a return to any kind of normalcy in travel is going to require that airport security do a better job of separating high-risk passengers from unlikely threats."

This argument is gaining momentum. A recent poll found that 55% of Britons support passenger profiling that takes into account "background or appearance," with only 29% against. Lord Stevens, the former chief of Scotland Yard, has endorsed focusing on young Muslim men. The Guardian reports that "some EU countries, particularly France and the Netherlands, want to . introduce explicit checks on Muslim travelers."
One politician in Wisconsin and two in New York State came out in favor of similar profiling. A Fox News anchor, Bill O'Reilly, has suggested that Muslim passengers ages 16 to 45 "all should be spoken with." Mike Gallagher, one of the most popular American radio talk-show hosts, has said he wants "a Muslim-only [passenger] line" at airports. In a column for the Evening Bulletin, Robert Sandler proposed putting "Muslims on one plane and put the rest of us on a different one."

The British Department for Transport reportedly is seeking to introduce passenger profiling that includes taking religious background into account. News from British airports indicates that this has already begun - sometimes even by fellow passengers.

Three conclusions emerge from this discussion. First, because Islamist terrorists are all Muslims, there does need to be a focus on Muslims. Second, such notions as "Muslim-only lines" at airports are infeasible; rather, intelligence must drive efforts to root out Muslims with an Islamist agenda.

Third, the chances of Muslim-focused profiling being widely implemented remain negligible. As the same Wall Street Journal editorial notes, "the fact that we may have come within a whisker of losing 3,000 lives over the Atlantic still isn't preventing political correctness from getting in the way of smarter security."
Noting the limited impact that losing 3,000 lives had in 2001 and building on my "education by murder" hypothesis - that people wake up to the problem of radical Islam only when blood is flowing in the streets - I predict that effective profiling will only come into effect when many more Western lives, say 100,000, have been lost.

What's really scary is he's probably right and there are those in this forum that would require those qualifiers.

QUOTE(SpaceCowboy @ Aug 25 2006, 05:08 PM) [snapback]233943[/snapback]

PC leftists my arse. This is the federal executive controlled by George Bush.

Kindly take resopnsibility for your own poopy.

CBP and ICE are under the thumb of the old politically correct and inept Immigration and Naturalization Service. The same outfit that sent a renewed visas to one of the 911 highjackers long after he was dead along with the Americans he took with him. The old harder nosed Customs personnel were pushed asside or made ineffective due to political insensitivities.

SpaceCowboy

Aug 26 2006, 12:28 AM

QUOTE(Rene @ Aug 25 2006, 07:15 PM) [snapback]233944[/snapback]

What's really scary is he's probably right and there are those in this forum that would require those qualifiers.
CBP and ICE are under the thumb of the old politically correct and inept Immigration and Naturalization Service. The same outfit that sent a renewed visas to one of the 911 highjackers long after he was dead along with the Americans he took with him. The old harder nosed Customs personnel were pushed asside or made ineffective due to political insensitivities.

Pushed aside by Tom Ridge? Michael Chertoff?

arebuntz

Aug 26 2006, 12:40 AM

QUOTE(SpaceCowboy @ Aug 25 2006, 08:08 PM) [snapback]233943[/snapback]

PC leftists my arse. This is the federal executive controlled by George Bush.

Kindly take resopnsibility for your own poopy.

It's gubment, it's systemic....

Russ Logan

Aug 26 2006, 12:50 AM

As far as who the TSA checks - I have the answer. Me.

A fifties-something (near sixty but we do not have to go there) bearded Leprechaun.

I get the second search, please-step-this-way, go-through-our particle-sniffer command almost everytime I fly.

Reason? Most likely because I am usually the only person on my ticket (and it's always an e-ticket), so I inconvenience no one else by the extra attention, but also -

-having a 2.5 inch metal plate in my shoulder and a titanium toe, I usually trip the "force-field fantatstic" when I go through.

It's a real amusement to me (and I really mean that).

BTW an agreeable demeanor whilst undergoing such procedure not only speeds it up but also lessens the anticipatory tension the screeners exhibit when they start the process. I imagine they get no few jerks who are surly, little old ladies with wounded pride, and moms-with cryin' kids, and teens with attitude in the course of their duties.

Just some observations from an aging road warrior.

judy

Aug 26 2006, 12:53 AM

QUOTE(Russ Logan @ Aug 25 2006, 08:47 PM) [snapback]233961[/snapback]

I just wish the TSA would pay as much attention to the cargo in the belly of the plane as they do to me everytime I travel.

Rene

Aug 26 2006, 01:19 AM

QUOTE(SpaceCowboy @ Aug 25 2006, 05:25 PM) [snapback]233949[/snapback]

Pushed aside by Tom Ridge? Michael Chertoff?

Tom Ridge was a major empty shirt. He let the FBI and DEA shred apart some great in progress financial, strategic and drug smuggling cases and didn't have the muscle to keep the FBI from forbiding ICE to use the name Bureau, hence their acronym ICE as opposed to something less confusing at the scene of a catastrophe like ICE. Yeah, a lot of folks in New Orleans were pissed when the guys with the ICE jackets didn't have ice. Then, whenever he had to take on one of these agencies, he'd run to the White House for support and get told to go back out and make it work. ICE and CBP are still a mess.

Chertoff is more of a political hack with the ability to get things done, but he never had the opportunity to see the original Customs template that this new inept outfit replaced.

QUOTE(judy @ Aug 25 2006, 05:50 PM) [snapback]233963[/snapback]

I just wish the TSA would pay as much attention to the cargo in the belly of the plane as they do to me everytime I travel.

I don't even wear laced shoes anymore and no change or watches on my person. Everything into my carry on until I get past security and lets not forget the TSA locks which allow you to walk away from your luggage at the X-ray stations in some airports since they have master keys.

Oh well...we adapt.

judy

Aug 26 2006, 01:21 AM

Too bad that Bernie Kerik withdrew his nomination for Homeland Security. He was the right man for the job at the right time.. IMO

IPB Image

Rene

Aug 26 2006, 01:25 AM

QUOTE(judy @ Aug 25 2006, 06:18 PM) [snapback]233979[/snapback]

Too bad that Bernie Kerik withdrew his nomination for Homeland Security. He was the right man for the job at the right time.. IMO
IPB Image

Yeah, but it wouldn't have looked well for him to head an agency tasked with enforcing immigration laws and him having hired an illegal alien as a nanny. I...don't...think..that would worked out.

judy

Aug 26 2006, 01:26 AM

QUOTE(Rene @ Aug 25 2006, 09:16 PM) [snapback]233975[/snapback]

I was flying between Islands in Hawaii and the dress was flip-flops, short shorts, tube and tank tops for most of the passengers and everyone was getting 'wanded' even after going through the medal detectors. I think it would be kind of hard to hide things under your skin.

Rene

Aug 26 2006, 01:28 AM

QUOTE(judy @ Aug 25 2006, 06:23 PM) [snapback]233982[/snapback]

The Haitian drug smuggler love to swallow harder drugs in little balloons and carry them internally. Those wands wouldn't work for them or plastic explosives. Maybe, the detonator cap.

judy

Aug 26 2006, 01:30 AM

QUOTE(Rene @ Aug 25 2006, 09:22 PM) [snapback]233980[/snapback]

Yeah, but it wouldn't have looked well for him to head an agency tasked with enforcing immigration laws and him having hired an illegal alien as a nanny. I...don't...think..that would worked out.

I guess not... can't hire a competent person with an illegal alien as a nanny, much safter to hire an incompetent person without an illegal alien as a nanny.

BTW--- what's the lastest count of illegals in this country? It's going to be harder and harder not to be in contact in some way or another with illegals.

Arturo_Vandelay

Aug 26 2006, 01:34 AM

QUOTE(judy @ Aug 25 2006, 06:23 PM) [snapback]233982[/snapback]

Not comfortably.

judy

Aug 26 2006, 01:39 AM

QUOTE(Arturo_Vandelay @ Aug 25 2006, 09:31 PM) [snapback]233987[/snapback]

Not comfortably.

I wouldn't like things under my fingernails either!

Arturo_Vandelay

Aug 26 2006, 02:00 AM

American Muslims on terrorism.

http://www.freemuslims.org/issues/terrorism.php

The Coalition believes that fundamentalist Islamic terror represents one of the most lethal threats to the stability of the civilized world. The existence of Islamic terrorists is the existence of threats to democracy. There is no room for terrorism in the modern world and the United States should take a no-tolerance stance on terrorism in order to avoid another tragedy, along the lines of 9-11. With the added threat of biochemical weapons, the call to defeat terrorism has never been so urgent.

Among Islamic scholars, the concept of jihad ranges in definition from the personal struggle against temptation to holy war. All calls for jihad to create an Islamic state should be rejected as heretic and a threat to modern society. The Coalition feels that the concept of jihad should be reinterpreted for a modern day context in which holy war is obsolete. No holy war needs to be waged; there is no clear and present threat to Islam; the only war that needs to be waged in the modern world is one against terrorists and extremists. As militant Islamic fundamentalism increases, the Coalition will wage a battle of minds as we bring Islam into the 21st century and introduce a doctrine which is compatible with democracy and modern living.

So far, the few Muslims who choose to speak up against militant extremist Islam have faced threats of violence and accusations of being anti-Islam. Even members of this Coalition face threats as they carry out their work. In effect, the message disseminated by radical Muslims is that merely discussing Islamic terrorism is to be construed as an attack on Islam.

SpaceCowboy

Aug 26 2006, 02:02 AM

QUOTE(Arturo_Vandelay @ Aug 25 2006, 08:57 PM) [snapback]233995[/snapback]

Well good for them.

davis¹³

Aug 26 2006, 02:24 AM

QUOTE(Russ Logan @ Aug 25 2006, 07:47 PM) [snapback]233961[/snapback]

Russ the toe bomber.

SpaceCowboy

Aug 26 2006, 02:24 AM

QUOTE

'Encouraging' news for Fox journalists

Friday 25 August 2006, 16:22 Makka Time, 13:22 GMT

Efforts to win the release of two US journalists snatched in Gaza are "encouraging", Siad Siam, the Palestinian interior minister, said one day before the deadline set by their captors was due to expire.

Siam told reporters in Gaza city: "Contacts are underway with Palestinian groups who are trying to secure the release of the two journalists. Things are at an early stage, but they are encouraging."

Asked whether Palestinian security services had located the kidnappers, Siam said it was too "early" to say.

"That should remain secret in order to support the efforts and I hope that they will be released. There is reason to be encouraged," added the minister.

Deadline looming

The minister was speaking one day before an ultimatum for the US to release all Muslim prisoners in its custody, set by their kidnappers, was to expire.

The US State Department rejected the demands, insisting the pair be released unconditionally, although US officials in the region have said they are working with Palestinian authorities to try to secure the men's release.

The so-called Holy Jihad Brigades demanded that all Muslim prisoners in the US be released within 72 hours, or Saturday at noon (0900 GMT); but did not say what would happen if the demands were not met.

The Hamas-led government, boycotted by the West, has repeatedly called for the two men to be released.

(all) http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6F3...7ED0541B5E1.htm

davis¹³

Aug 26 2006, 02:26 AM

Is that anything like a Maxwell Smart shoe phone?

Russ Logan

Aug 26 2006, 05:00 PM

Nah but it sure beat the ever-increasing frequency with which I would have to imitate Chester Goode ( Dennis Weaver's unforgettable role in Gunsmoke) due to the pain when my "degenerative bone disease" (what my podiatric surgeon called it) flared up. Works as good as the original and no more pain. Can't get my favorite FM or my darling wife on it however.

Brian_Lambchops

Aug 26 2006, 05:06 PM

QUOTE(Russ Logan @ Aug 26 2006, 09:57 AM) [snapback]234088[/snapback]

Having constant communication from the wife might not be all upside.

davis¹³

Aug 26 2006, 05:06 PM

Gonna have to send you back to the lab.

Arturo_Vandelay

Aug 26 2006, 05:10 PM

AM with a volume control would suit me.

davis¹³

Aug 26 2006, 05:15 PM

I usually tune in AM for the Bears for audio. They are definitely for them.

SpaceCowboy

Aug 28 2006, 02:31 AM

QUOTE

Hamza henchman defies law to praise 7/7 bombers
Dipesh Gadher

AN associate of Abu Hamza, the hook-handed cleric, has defied Tony Blair’s ban on glorifying terrorism by praising the July 7 bombers and describing how he would “love” to kill British troops fighting in Afghanistan.

Abu Abdullah said he supports suicide bombers using “household chemicals” to attack the West and believes the prime minister is a legitimate target for assassination because of his foreign policy.

Abdullah, a former spokesman for Hamza, who was jailed this year for his hate-filled sermons, said the 9/11 attacks were a “deserved punch in the nose” for America. He argues that high street banks ought to be destroyed because they charge interest, which is against the tenets of Islam.

Blair, when announcing the ban in the wake of last year’s London bombings, said Britain was tolerant but that there was “a determination that this very tolerance and determination should not be abused by a small fanatical minority”.

Abdullah, however, is apparently being allowed to operate unchecked by the authorities five months after a law was passed making it a criminal offence to glorify terrorism.

Abdullah, 42, is the self-styled “emir”, or leader, of a radical group called Supporters of Shariah, which Hamza founded when he ran the Finsbury Park mosque in north London.

After Hamza was jailed for seven years in February for inciting his followers to murder non-Muslims, Abdullah has taken over a movement claiming up to 3,000 sympathisers.

Abdullah is barred from preaching in most mosques but he has been spreading his views in private meetings or “study circles” at low-key venues, such as community centres in London and the home counties.

Unlike other so-called preachers of hate, Abdullah, a former youth football coach, was born and bred in Britain.

The fact that he remains at liberty to espouse his values — including rampant anti-semitism and homophobia — will fuel the concerns of foreign governments who have for years perceived Britain to be a “soft touch” on combating Islamist extremism, with some referring to the capital as “Londonistan”.

Earlier this month David Cameron, the Tory leader, criticised Blair for failing to do enough to clamp down on fundamentalists. Despite the introduction of legislation in March, nobody has been charged with the “glorification” offence.

Rachel North, a survivor of the King’s Cross Tube attack, said: “Given what we know about the roots of radicalisation, I’m surprised that this man has not yet been investigated and charged if he has committed a criminal offence.”

Abdullah, whose real name is Attila Ahmet, is of Turkish Cypriot origin and was born and raised in London. Before converting to Islam about eight years ago, he was a football coach in the Bexley youth league and was known to his colleagues as “Alan”.

Asked what he thought of the 7/7 suicide bombers, Abdullah said last week: “I wasn’t against them. We don’t celebrate each other . . . but these are my honourable brothers in Islam.” He described the attacks, in which 52 innocent people died, as “a wake-up call”. “Sometimes the innocent have to pay the price . . . of course it is solving things,” he said.

Abdullah claimed suicide attacks are “halal”, or lawful. “The martyr that goes amongst his enemies is going to shield his people,” he said.

Arrest the sorry arsed mofo.

We may need similar laws here one day. Likely a constitutional problem with that tho.

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