War against terror

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]So alarmed was the Staples clerk at the prospect of the ten year old learning to fly, that he informed the police, the Greenfield Recorder reports. The authorities moved into action, leaving nothing to chance. A few days later, Olearcek was alarmed to discover a state trooper flashing a torch into to her home through a sliding glass door at 8:30 pm on a rainy night.

It just goes to show you how paranoid some people are. This is especially stupid. What are they worrying about, midget hijackers?

[ralphwiggum 6]

i guess the people who were in decision making process reminded themselves of that 15yr old who crashed a plane into a highrise in Florida about 3 months after 9-11.

Quote[/b] ]Shortly before Christmas, the FBI issued a terror alert to beware of drivers with maps, or reference books.

that pretty much stops any prospect of me going to mid states.

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]Shortly before Christmas, the FBI issued a terror alert to beware of drivers with maps, or reference books.

Now that's just fucking stupid. Do they think that only the terrorists need maps? That good Americans don't need maps because they can magically find their way to anywhere in the US?!?

[Acecombat 0]

Quote[/b] ]Shortly before Christmas, the FBI issued a terror alert to beware of drivers with maps, or reference books.

Now that's just fucking stupid. Do they think that only the terrorists need maps? That good Americans don't need maps because they can magically find their way to anywhere in the US?!?

Time to bring around those new GPS device fitted cars

[toadlife 3]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/34776.html

....I started playing MS FS 4.0 when I was 11....

That's just pathetic (the story about the mom buying FS). I too got FS 5.0 when I was young - probably 10 or 11. :P

[Acecombat 0]

Quote[/b] ]Man's Vendetta Leads to Terror Hoax

Wed January 14, 2004 10:41 AM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A man with a grudge called authorities to falsely accuse relatives of being al Qaeda members and planning attacks on Chicago landmarks, the FBI says.

Abdul Rauf Noormohamed, a U.S. citizen born in India, was charged with making false statements to the government in anonymous telephone calls the FBI says were motivated by a family dispute. He faces up to five years in prison.

Noormohamed, 59, was released on $100,000 bond on Tuesday following his arrest on Monday at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as he was preparing to fly to Egypt.

Investigators do not know the nature of the family argument or why the Chicago resident was traveling to Egypt, an FBI spokesman said Tuesday.

The anonymous caller warned that bombs were being assembled to blow up landmarks including the Sears Tower and O'Hare, the FBI said.

The calls began four weeks ago and prompted officials to waste hours looking into whether the family members belonged to Osama bin Laden's extremist group, the agency said. He also accused some of his relatives of belonging to Islamic Jihad.

"Given our heightened state of alert, it's unconscionable for someone to exploit the situation to settle a personal vendetta," FBI special agent in charge Thomas Kneir said.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArt....4126371

[Gadger 0]

I saw the last samurai the other night, really made me think, after all the samurai themselves during this time period were terrorists of sorts, in the next century will we be watching films portraying Saddam as a hero? I sure hope not

[iNeo 0]

I saw the last samurai the other night, really made me think, after all the samurai themselves during this time period were terrorists of sorts, in the next century will we be watching films portraying Saddam as a hero? I sure hope not  

I don't think it's possible to portray him as a hero..

Btw Gadger I played against you on the #DK# AA the other hour Griffin-[sWE] here

[WhoCares 0]

Brazils War on Terror

Quote[/b] ]...

The pilot, Dale Robin Hirsch, raised his middle finger at police while undergoing recently introduced Brazilian security measures that require U.S. citizens to be fingerprinted and photographed upon entering the South American country.

...

Brazil's decision to implement the policy on Jan. 1 in retaliation for a similar U.S. program to fingerprint and photograph visitors who need visas for the United States has soured relations between the two countries.

...

Ten crew members from the same American Airlines flight 907 from Miami were also denied entry to Brazil after refusing to cooperate with security officials. They were waiting in the airport for a return flight to the United States, police said.

...

U.S. citizens have been subjected to long lines at Brazilian airports since the new security measures were implemented, prompting Secretary of State Colin Powell to complain that Americans were being discriminated against.

...

On the other hand:

Quote[/b] ]... It has taken to handing out roses and "Rio Loves You" T-shirts to U.S. visitors and on Wednesday laid on hip-wiggling Samba dancers at its airport arrival gate.

[theavonlady 2]

Quote[/b] ]...

The pilot, Dale Robin Hirsch, raised his middle finger at police while undergoing recently introduced Brazilian security measures that require U.S. citizens to be fingerprinted and photographed upon entering the South American country.

...

If he was truly aggravated at the whole process, then he was foolishly obnoxious.

If on the other hand, he fisrt said something like "OK, let's begin the fingerprinting", then he's humorously obnoxious.

[WhoCares 0]

While surfing Reuters...

U.S. Military Lawyers Challenge Terror Trial Rules

Quote[/b] ]...

. "If there is no right to civilian review, the government is free to conduct sham trials and condemn to death those who do nothing more than pray to Allah."

The military defense lawyers filed the brief in connection with suits, set to be heard by the Supreme Court, filed by relatives of Guantanamo prisoners who are asking that civilian courts be allowed to consider the legality of their detention.

...

The process calls for defendants to be brought to trial on charges approved by the Defense Department, judged by U.S. military officers, with any appeals of convictions or sentences going to a special panel named by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and then to Rumsfeld and ultimately Bush to decide.

Bush "asserts the power to create a legal black hole" in which defendants brought up on charges may not challenge the jurisdiction, competency or even the constitutionality of the military tribunals, the five lawyers said.

...

"This court (the Supreme Court) has never given the president the ability to proclaim himself the superior or sole expositor of the Constitution in matters of justice," the brief stated.

...

[Gadger 0]

Hey iNeo, i remember ya in that game, you pnwed me pretty good

[ralphwiggum 6]

oh the irony!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/22/60minutes/main595214.shtml

Quote[/b] ](CBS) Did it ever occur to you that when President Bush says, "Money is the lifeblood of terrorist operations," he's talking about your money -- and every other American's money?

Just about everyone with a 401(k) pension plan or mutual fund has money invested in companies that are doing business in so-called rogue states.

In other words, there are U.S. companies that are helping drive the economies of countries like Iran, Syria and Libya that have sponsored terrorists. Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports.

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"The revenue that is generated from the work that these companies are doing, we believe, helps to underwrite and support terrorism,†says William Thompson, the New York City comptroller who oversees the $80 billion in pension funds for all city workers.

He says he wants everyone with a retirement or investment portfolio to know what these companies are up to: “We're going to increase the public visibility on this issue until these companies change their practices.â€

He’s actually identified specific companies that have invested in these rogue countries, including Halliburton, Conoco-Phillips and General Electric. And he points out that New York's pension funds own nearly a billion dollars worth of stock in these three Fortune 500 companies, which have operations in Iran and Syria.

What was Thompson’s reaction when he found out about this? “Anger that there were companies that could be contributing to attacks on our nation,†he says. “You’d think to yourself, well, why would they do that? … I didn't think they could. And more than anything it was, you thought, that the law prevented them from doing this.â€

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In fact, U.S. law does ban virtually all commerce with the rogue nations, but there's a loophole that G.E., Conoco-Phillips and Halliburton have exploited: The law does not apply to any foreign or offshore subsidiary so long as it is run by non-Americans.

“These three companies, as far as we were concerned, appear to have violated the spirit of the law,†says Thompson. “In the case of Halliburton, as an example, they have an offshore subsidiary in the Cayman Islands. That subsidiary is doing business with Iran.â€

That subsidiary, Halliburton Products and Services, Ltd., is wholly owned by the U.S.-based Halliburton and is registered in a building in the capital of the Cayman Islands – a building owned by the local Calidonian Bank. Halliburton and other companies set up in this Caribbean Island, because of tax and secrecy laws that are corporate friendly.

Halliburton is the company that Vice President Dick Cheney used to run. He was CEO in 1995 to 2000, during which time Halliburton Products and Services set up shop in Iran. Today, it sells about $40 million a year worth of oil field services to the Iranian Government.

In the case of Iran, Thompson says they earn most of their revenues through their oil industry. So what is the connection between that oil business and terrorism and weapons of mass destruction?

“The Iranian Government is receiving dollars from it. And then turning around and exporting terrorism around the world. It benefits terrorism. At least that's our belief,†says Thompson.

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60 Minutes decided to ask Halliburton's subsidiary about its work in Iran. But we weren't allowed to enter the building with a camera. So we went in with a hidden camera, and were introduced to David Walker, manager of the local Calidonian Bank, where the subsidiary is registered.

60 Minutes was expecting to find a bustling business, but, to our surprise, Walker told us that while Halliburton Products and Services was registered at this address, it was in name only. There is no actual office here or anywhere else in the Caymans. And there are no employees on site.

We were told that if mail for the Halliburton subsidiary comes to this address, they re-route it to Halliburton headquarters in Houston.

“If you understood what most of these companies do, you would, they're not doing any business in Cayman per se. They're doing business, international business,†says Walker. “Would it make sense to have somebody in Cayman pushing paper around? I don't know. And some people do it. And some people don't. And it's mostly driven by whatever the issues are with the head office.â€

Does that mean the head office is calling the shots? If it is, that would be against the law, which says the subsidiary must be completely independent of the U.S. company. But 60 Minutes’ attempts to ask headquarters in Houston about this were rebuffed.

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In a letter to New York City Comptroller Thompson, Halliburton says its Cayman Island subsidiary is actually run out of Dubai. 60 Minutes went there and learned that it shares office space, phone and fax lines with a division of its U.S.-based parent company -- which raises more legal questions about its independence from Houston. But once again, our inquiries went unanswered.

In its letter to Thompson, Halliburton insists it is complying with all U.S. laws. But he and legal experts we consulted believe they are dancing right along the edge of legality.

“If the intent was to try and prevent United States-based companies from doing business in these "rogue" nations, then it appears as if they've gotten around what the law had intended,†says Thompson, who filed a shareholder’s resolution calling on the company to review and justify its operations in Iran. “Halliburton attempted to block the shareholder resolution. They went to the SEC and asked for permission not to put this before shareholders.â€

Did the SEC take it up and rule on it?

“Oh, absolutely. The SEC ruled against Halliburton and said that it had to be put in front of the shareholders,†says Thompson, who plans to file the resolution at the next shareholders meeting in April.

He’s also taking issue with GE and its electrical work in Iran, as well as Conoco-Phillips' gas production business in Syria: “If there are nations that wind up increasing their resources because these companies are doing business there, and we're attacked because of it, it in fact undermines our entire country.â€

<snip>

[Tim Pink 0]

Hey Everyone.

This whole war on terror is a giant Vortex that is sucking all countries in to its terrible eye.

The thing that annoys me the most is how our wonderful PM Mister John Howard has given the go ahead for the construction of an american base on australian soil, its like he's painting a giant bulls eye on our asses.

its just not right that we all have to live with this fear of being killed for absolutely no reason, i mean what did a little girl in the U.S do 2 deserve such Anti American Hatred from political groups like the Taliban, This Little girl probably cant even spell her own name and some terrorist is plotting how to blow up innocent people around her(and even her).

Its just not right.

Tim

[Apollo 0]

Mailbox company's are a well known way to go around local trade laws of many country's ,it's what makes places liker the Cayman islands ,or Panama for ex. interresting.

But now ,hold tight ,i knew of all this ,and although i can't give tyou a source on that right away ,there is another quite shocking thing of Haliburton that i kown ,namely:

Haliburton had oil contract's for offshore rigs in the Persian gulf with IRAQ ,Prior to the Iraq war.

Yes indeed ,right before the latest Iraq war Haliburton had still "illigal" contract with Iraq.

[Acecombat 0]

Afghan probe finds U.S. killed 10

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- An American airstrike in an Afghan village earlier this month killed 10 civilians, President Hamid Karzai has said.

The U.S. military had said it killed five militants during a January 17 raid against suspected Taliban leaders in southern Uruzgan province and insisted it fired only on armed men.

But Karzai said an Interior Ministry investigation into the attack, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of the capital, Kabul, established that 10 civilians had died.

http://www.cnn.com/2004....ex.html

Ah nothing new folks just some poor afghani civilians dead amid more GUIDED munitions strike

[theavonlady 2]

New terror tactic. Sounds forewarning:

Quote[/b] ]Terrorist bid to build bombs in mid-flight

Intelligence reveals dry runs of new threat to blow up airliners

Jason Burke, chief reporter

Sunday February 8, 2004

The Observer

Islamic militants have conducteddry runs of a devastating new style of bombing on aircraft flying to Europe, intelligence sources believe.

The tactics, which aim to evade aviation security systems by placing only components of explosive devices on passenger jets, allowing militants to assemble them in the air, have been tried out on planes flying between the Middle East, North Africa and Western Europe, security sources say.

[ozanzac 0]

Quote[/b] ]....by placing only components of explosive devices on passenger jets, allowing militants to assemble them in the air....

Seems a bit ambitious!!!

[theavonlady 2]

Seems a bit ambitious!!!

Diabolical is a more appropriate word.

Read the article all the way through - not just the snippet I quoted.

[ozanzac 0]

Seems a bit ambitious!!!

Diabolical is a more appropriate word.

Read the article all the way through - not just the snippet I quoted.

Wow, now I'm just speechless. But how would one expect to assemble a bomb without at least his or her actions alerting someone? Perhaps this is why some airlines and safety authorities aren't too keen about groups of people waiting around lavatories.

[theavonlady 2]

I see the day in the near future where bedpans will be passed down the aisles.

[Longinius 1]

Quote[/b] ]Perhaps this is why some airlines and safety authorities aren't too keen about groups of people waiting around lavatories.

I wish this was the case, I am however quite sure it has more to do with the fact that they want people buckled down for safety reasons.

[theavonlady 2]

Quote[/b] ]Perhaps this is why some airlines and safety authorities aren't too keen about groups of people waiting around lavatories.

I wish this was the case, I am however quite sure it has more to do with the fact that they want people buckled down for safety reasons.

You just want the lavatory freed up for yourself.

Back on topic...............

Things are only getting worse:

Quote[/b] ]U.S. Terror Expert Warns of Dirty Bomb

Sun Feb 8, 4:22 PM ET  

By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Terrorists have the will and some of the expertise to make a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapon, and are "doing everything they can" to acquire the materials, the U.S. State Department's top anti-terror official said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Or, more practically speaking:

Quote[/b] ]Arab Newspaper Says Al Qaeda Has Ukrainian Nukes

Sun Feb 8,12:24 PM ET

CAIRO (Reuters) - A pan-Arab newspaper said Sunday that the al Qaeda organization led by Osama bin Laden bought tactical nuclear weapons from Ukraine in 1998 and is storing them in safe places for possible use.

But don't just blame the Ukraine:

Quote[/b] ]At Least 7 Nations Tied To Pakistani Nuclear RingSun Feb 8,12:00 AM ET

By Peter Slevin, John Lancaster and Kamran Khan, Washington Post Staff Writers

VIENNA, Feb. 7 -- The rapidly expanding probe into a Pakistani-led nuclear trafficking network extended to at least seven nations Saturday as investigators said they had traced businesses from Africa, Asia and Europe to the smuggling ring controlled by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Now I'll turn around and count to ten so you naughty boys can put the nukes you took back on the shelf.

Or should I count down to zero?  

[denoir 0]

This will be an end of the Mile High Club (proud member since 1998)

[Balschoiw 0]

Interesting read on US operations in a really little part of Afghanistan:

Don´t scream about the source, the article is not bad