Today's Cool News

Torturing Children for the President

Advice from Uncle Binnie

Current affairs got you down?  Tired of hearing the same old tired opinions from the blowhard pundits about Obama's preacher or Geraldine Ferraro or Eliot Spitzer or any of the other names in the news these days?

Well you're in luck because soon we will be enjoying the wit and wisdom of Uncle Binnie.  Not sure if we'll be saying "Hey Man, Ayman"... but this is a message you'll want to see and not hear whateverthefuck that means.

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is expected to release a new message within the next two days, the U.S.-based terrorism monitoring service SITE Institute said on Wednesday.

The message is entitled, "The Response Will Be What You See, Not What You Hear," SITE said in a release.

It said an announcement of the pending message was posted on Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, by the administrator of the al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Ekhlaas Internet forum.

       

This is more exciting than getting a sneak peak at John Hagee's next rant.

Whatever happened to Ayman's offer to answer our questions?  It seems he doesn't want to be rushed.

More Proof the War in Iraq Has Nothing to Do with Corporate Profits

Have you heard about the latest part of the new Bush stimulus package?  Let's sell some weapons to the Iraqis.  That should guarantee some American jobs.. and what are the Iraqis going to say, "No, we don't want your weapons."???

From Military.com:

In a move that could be the most enduring imprint of U.S. influence in the Arab world, American military officials in Baghdad have begun a crash program to outfit the entire Iraqi army with M-16 rifles.

The initiative marks a sharp break for a culture steeped in the traditions of the Soviet-era AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle, a symbol of revolutionary zeal and third-world simplicity that is ubiquitous among the militaries of the Middle East.

"We in the U.S. know that the M-16 is superior to the AK ... it's more durable," said Army Col. Stephen Scott, who's in charge of helping the Iraqi army get all the equipment it needs to outfit its forces.

"The Iraqis have embraced that ... and the fact that it is U.S. manufactured and supplied. They are very big on U.S.-produced [foreign military sales] materials," he said in an interview with military bloggers this month.

So far, the U.S. military has helped the Iraqi army purchase 43,000 rifles - a mix of full-stock M-16A2s and compact M-4 carbines. Another 50,000 rifles are currently on order, and the objective is to outfit the entire Iraqi army with 165,000 American rifles in a one-for-one replacement of the AK-47.

(snip)

A system that registers each rifle with the individual who receives it using biometric data such as thumb prints and eye scans is meant to address concerns over U.S. weapons winding up in enemy hands. A July 2007 Government Accountability Office report concluded that as many as 190,000 weapons delivered to the Iraqi army were not accounted for and could've wound up in terrorist caches.

Wouldn't It Be Cool if China Invaded North Korea?

Well, they may be thinking about it... if only to keep us all radiation free:

From a fun little rag called Space War: the World at War publishing an Agence France Presse story.

China has contingency plans to dispatch troops into North Korea and secure nuclear weapons in the event of instability in the hardline communist state, according to US experts who have talked to Chinese military researchers.

Any intervention by Beijing would be done as far as possible after consultations with the United Nations, but unilateral action was not ruled out, the experts said in a report published on the websites of two US think tanks.

(snip)

A spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry on Tuesday said she was unaware of any Chinese strategy to send troops into North Korea to secure nuclear weapons, but did not outright deny that such a plan existed.

Sleep tight...

Could Biometrics Save America From the Scourge of Icelandic Shoppers?

You may already be carrying around the national identification card of the future... your body.  While that may sound scary, a national biometrics database will make sure your children aren't threatened by Icelandic shoppers who outstayed their welcome ten years ago.

We start with the national database from the Washington Post:

The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad.

Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement here. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives. And in the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists. The FBI will also retain, upon request by employers, the fingerprints of employees who have undergone criminal background checks so the employers can be notified if employees have brushes with the law.

"Bigger. Faster. Better. That's the bottom line," said Thomas E. Bush III, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, which operates the database from its headquarters in the Appalachian foothills.

The increasing use of biometrics for identification is raising questions about the ability of Americans to avoid unwanted scrutiny. It is drawing criticism from those who worry that people's bodies will become de facto national identification cards. Critics say that such government initiatives should not proceed without proof that the technology really can pick a criminal out of a crowd.

And we're not just talking any criminal.  Why, biometrics could keep us safe from shoppers from Iceland who threaten the very moral fiber of our nation.

From the International Herald-Tribune:

Iceland's government has asked the U.S. ambassador to explain the treatment of an Icelandic tourist who says she was held in shackles before being deported from the United States.

The woman, Erla Osk Arnardottir Lillendahl, 33, was arrested Sunday when she arrived at JFK airport in New York because she had overstayed a U.S. visa more than 10 years earlier.

Lillendahl, 33, had planned to shop and sightsee with friends, but endured instead what she has claimed was the most humiliating experience of her life.

She contended she was interrogated at JFK airport for two days, during which she was not allowed to call relatives. She said she was denied food and drink for part of the time, and was photographed and fingerprinted.

On Monday, Lillendahl claimed, her hands and feet were chained and she was moved to a prison in New Jersey, where she was kept in a cell, interrogated further and denied access to a phone.

She was deported Tuesday, she told reporters and wrote on her Internet blog.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir told U.S. Ambassador Carol van Voorst that the treatment of Lillendahl was unacceptable.

"In a case such as this, there can be no reason to use shackles" Gisladottir said. "If a government makes a mistake, I think it is reasonable for it to apologize, like anyone else."

Van Voorst has contacted the officials at JFK airport and asked them to provide a report on Lillendahl's case,

And now according to Lillendahl's blog, an apology and lawsuits may be on the way.

"According to news today here in Iceland the Foreign Ministry received a letter from the DHS, where they regret the treatment Erla got, admit it was out of proportion, and that they will review their processes in the light of this incident. We can also thank, Mrs. Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, FM of Iceland, and the U.S. Ambassador in Iceland, Mrs.Carol van Voorst, who is a great representative for her nation. Hopefully these three women have started something, that will improvethe situation for all of us...

It was also mentioned in the news, that several American laywers have contacted Erla encouraging her and offered their help to sue the US government..."

See, that's what happens when you start giving Guantanamo prisoners access to lawyers.  The next thing you know, the Icelandic shopping cabaal will think it has Constitutional rights too.  Sheesh.

Have You Seen This Masked Man?

It appears the CIA has seen him..;. but like most of the folks our spooks are seeking, Mokhtar Belmokhtar alias Khaled Abu Al Abbas got away again.

From El Khabar:

Well-informed security sources about counterterrorism issues unveiled that US security forces northern Mali tried to eliminate Mokhtar Belmokhtar alias Khaled Abu Al Abbas, who has escaped many murder attempts the most recent one in September 2006 in an ambush set by Malian agents in Kidal. The same sources added that Belmokhtar has escaped the operation while he lost four men. The US forces track of the GSPC Northern Mali and in the Sahel countries in tight collaboration with local populations and arms smugglers.

In case you missed him at your local post office, here's more on our friend from the GSPC (Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat)

It Hurts But it Works

"It hurts but it works."  I was once in the uncomfortable position of hearing those words just hours after I had my gall bladder removed.  The speaker was my hospital "roommate" describing the effects of a GSW to the penis. 

Those words came back to me reading this story about Waterboarding in the Washington Post.  A former CIA interrogator says the technique is so effective, it appears to even get Allah's attention.

From the Washington Post:

A former CIA officer who participated in the capture and questioning of the first al-Qaeda terrorist suspect to be waterboarded said yesterday that the harsh technique provided an intelligence breakthrough that "probably saved lives," but that he now regards the tactic as torture.

Zayn Abidin Muhammed Hussein abu Zubaida, the first high-ranking al-Qaeda member captured after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, broke in less than a minute after he was subjected to the technique and began providing interrogators with information that led to the disruption of several planned attacks, said John Kiriakou, who served as a CIA interrogator in Pakistan.

Abu Zubaida was one of two detainees whose interrogation was captured in video recordings that the CIA later destroyed. The recent disclosure of the tapes' destruction ignited a recent furor on Capitol Hill and allegations that the agency tried to hide evidence of illegal torture.

"It was like flipping a switch," said Kiriakou, the first former CIA employee directly involved in the questioning of "high-value" al-Qaeda detainees to speak publicly.

In an interview, Kiriakou said he did not witness Abu Zubaida's waterboarding but was part of the interrogation team that questioned him in a hospital in Pakistan for weeks after his capture in that country in the spring of 2002.

He described Abu Zubaida as ideologically zealous, defiant and uncooperative -- until the day in mid-summer when his captors strapped him to a board, wrapped his nose and mouth in cellophane and forced water into his throat in a technique that simulates drowning.

The waterboarding lasted about 35 seconds before Abu Zubaida broke down, according to Kiriakou, who said he was given a detailed description of the incident by fellow team members. The next day, Abu Zubaida told his captors he would tell them whatever they wanted, Kiriakou said.

"He said that Allah had come to him in his cell and told him to cooperate, because it would make things easier for his brothers," Kiriakou said.

Ahh so that's what Allah said.  The compassionate, the merciful...

Reality Television Run Amok: Paintballing with Terrorists

Okay, this has to be a put-on, right?  To sum up this story, the BBC has a show called "Don't Panic, I'm Islamic" so they paid some accused terrorist trainers to go paintballing.  Except the BBC thinks the guy wasn't a terrorist but rather a "Cockney Comic."  Perhaps the two aren't mutually exclusive?

I know you wouldn't believe it if I didn't link to...

From the Times (of London) Online:

The BBC funded a paintballing trip for men later accused of Islamic terrorism and failed to pass on information about the 21/7 bombers to police, a court was told yesterday.

Mohammed Hamid, who is charged with overseeing a two-year radicalisation programme to prepare London-based Muslim youths for jihad, was described as a “cockney comic” by a BBC producer.

The BBC paid for Mr Hamid and fellow defendants Muhammad al-Figari and Mousa Brown to go on a paintballing trip at the Delta Force centre in Tonbridge, Kent, in February 2005. The men, accused of terrorism training, were filmed for a BBC programme called Don’t Panic, I’m Islamic, screened in June 2005.

(snip)

Ms Suleaman told the court that Mr Hamid was keen to appear in the programme. She said: “He was so up for it. We took the decision that paintballing would be a fun way of introducing him.

“There are many, many British Muslims that I know who for the past 15 or 20 years have been going paintballing. It’s a harmless enough activity. I don’t think there is any suggestion, or ever has been, that it’s a terrorist training activity.”

(snip)

Phil Rees, who produced the show, told the court that he was impressed by Mr Hamid’s sense of humour while looking for someone to appear in the documentary. He said: “I think he had a comic touch and he represented a strand within British Muslims. I took it as more like a rather Steptoe and Son figure rather than seriously persuasive. I saw him as a kind of Cockney comic.” Mr Rees, who now works for the Arabic TV station al-Jazeera, gave Mr Hamid a signed copy of his book Dining With Terrorists.

That's right, I left the best for last, his book, "Dining with Terrorists."

No Prayers for Peace in the Bakassi Peninsula

One always wonders if this is the year when they finally "Immanentize the Eschaton."

This time it may not be Fernando Poo, but rather the Bakassi Peninsula.

From allAfrica.com:

In a move that may spell trouble with Nigeria's eastern neighbour, the Senate yesterday nullified last year's controversial ceding of the Bakassi Peninsula and other parts of Nigeria's territory to the Republic of Cameroon

It requested President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua "to forthwith stop any further transfer of any part of this country unless the agreement is ratified by the National Assembly."

Bakassi was handed over to Cameroun by former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, allegedly out of respect for a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

(snip)

Senators also unanimously rejected a prayer by the movers of the motion calling for restraint in a possible confrontation with the Republic of Cameroon. It was therefore resolved that "Senate sympathises with the people of Bakassi and other parts of the country for the hardship caused them by the unfortunate cession of their ancestral homes to Cameroon and calls on the Federal Government to immediately take steps at ameliorating their suffering."

Surfing the Net for Hezbollah

It's apparently a crime to tell your Hezbollah buds what you found while doing computer searches.... well if you worked for the FBI/CIA.

From CBS News:

(CBS) A woman who previously worked as an FBI agent and a CIA analyst is expected to plead guilty to charges involving her disclosure of information to people outside the government, CBS News has learned.   

Sources say the woman, from Lebanon, entered the United States on a student visa and earned citizenship through a sham marriage.

While officials say there is no evidence of actual espionage and no evidence that she was working as a spy, she is accused of passing information to sympathizers of Hezbollah, a group the U.S. has labeled a terrorist organization.

Sources say she came under suspicion after performing a number of computer searches unrelated to cases she had been assigned to.