AP: "The resolution should be amended, not defeated, because the president needs to be reminded that separation of powers does not mean an isolation of powers," Dean said in prepared remarks. "He needs to be told he cannot simply ignore a law with no consequences."
31 March 2006
more harsh words from Buckley
Bloomberg:
"Mr. Bush is in the hands of a fortune that will be unremitting on the point of Iraq,'' Buckley said in an interview that will air on Bloomberg Television this weekend. "If he'd invented the Bill of Rights it wouldn't get him out of his jam." ~ "it's important that we acknowledge in the inner councils of state that it (the war) has failed, so that we should look for opportunities to cope with that failure" ~ "The neoconservative hubris, which sort of assigns to America some kind of geo-strategic responsibility for maximizing democracy, overstretches the resources of a free country"
Zbig Brzezinski presents plan to quit Iraq
His four point plan calls for a gradual withdrawal, without declaring outright victory but also without conceding defeat.
grrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
Guardian: Iraq Accuses U.S. of Damaging Ancient City
Friday March 31, 2006 4:46 AM
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - American forces are damaging the ancient city of Kish and must withdraw from the 5,000-year-old archaeological site, an Iraqi ministry said Thursday.
The Ministry of State for Tourism and Antiquities Affairs said U.S. forces had set up a camp in Kish, near Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad.
In a statement, the ministry said the U.S. military was preventing anyone from entering this important archaeological site to assess the damage, which was not specified.
The U.S. military had no immediate comment.
Last year, the British Museum said that U.S.-led troops using the ancient Iraqi city of Babylon as a base had damaged and contaminated artifacts dating back thousands of years in one of the world's most important ancient sites.
The U.S. military then said all earth moving had been halted and that all engineering work were discussed with the head of the Babylon museum.
30 March 2006
Christian Science Monitor's reaction to Jill Carroll's release
Statement from the Publisher (excerpt)
We hope and trust in the power of divine grace: That continued prayer - and political and diplomatic efforts somehow moved by this profound mental and spiritual force - will help eradicate the whole plague of kidnapping and terrorism, of violent action and reaction. The people of a region known as "the cradle of civilization" have rights beyond the human and political to enjoy the blessings of a civil and calm society.
We're deeply thankful for the monumental labors that went on in agencies and offices of the United States government, within the government of Iraq, and among individuals in Iraq and worldwide. To everyone who offered private and published messages of support along the way, you have our heartfelt thanks.
Letters to the Editor I'm an Iraqi American living in Dubai. Hearing about Jill Carroll's story brought tears to my eyes knowing what horror she was living in Iraq and seeing the video sent out from her captors. I can't tell you how happy I am today to see her free! You go, girl! Believe me, your heart would make any inhumane thought become humane. God bless you for your family and friends. You are one amazing person. You have truly touched the hearts of everyone around the world. My regards to your mom especially; God has truly answered her prayers today. Zaina Streeter Dubai, United Arab Emirates What it took from the hearts of many people to free Jill Carroll (excerpt)It takes courage to stand for freedom - for freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of association, and for lives free from oppression and violence. Certainly, it took courage for Jill herself to hold out hope during captivity.
It took strength for her parents to calmly and resolutely demand her release in countless television interviews, not knowing when, or if, their pleas would reach Jill's captors or pay off.
And in a region which seems to drink in violence like mother's milk, it took courage for Muslim clerics to go against the grain of radical Islamist thinking and publicly and consistently denounce hostage taking and killing as a means to an end. Where does this courage come from? It can only result from a faith in freedom's enduring value as a God-given right, an ever-present condition that liberates individuals and societies, allowing them to walk on the path toward limitless possibilities. This is what makes hope more than just an empty gesture.
The wonderful thing about freedom is that the more people experience it, the more committed they become to it. And that is why hope for other hostages in Iraq and elsewhere is not in vain.
great question
from comments at Steve Clemons' Washington Note:
"Was Sibel Edmonds referring to Abramoff/Republicans and their connections to the 9/11 hijackers when she said this? Or perhaps she was referring to Hastert and the Turkish Council thing.
'The most significant information that we were receiving did not come from counter-terrorism investigations, and I want to emphasize this. It came from counter-intelligence, and certain criminal investigations, and issues that have to do with money laundering operations."
exactly!
Josh Marshall: "What this joke of a picture -- given what it's supposed to demonstrate -- tells me is that Kaloogian's bogus fact-finding mission probably didn't get outside the heavily fortified safe zones guarded by the US military. And that's not surprising since even a lot reporters don't venture beyond those areas much any more."
great question
Howard Kaloogian, a GOP Congressional candidate who faked a photo of Baghdad in his vain attempt to criticize the media's portrayal of Operation Clusterfuck, led Laura Rozen to ask one hell of an astute question:
what is in the water in San Diego that it seems to elevate such charlatans and blowhards
Plame Affair: more indictments likely for the Bush administration
so sayeth "sources close to the investigation"
"The danger to America from the Iraqi regime is grave and growing"
Judicial Watch:
"These are documents turned over by the Commerce Department, under a March 5, 2002 court order as a result of Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit concerning the activities of the Cheney Energy Task Force. The documents contain a map of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals, as well as 2 charts detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects, and “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts.” The documents are dated March 2001."
Iran gets 30 days
to stop its uranium enrichment, or else....
ummm... well... or else,
the UN might meet again and may even set another deadline!
Watch out mullahs, this could end up our casus belli, and you know what that means.
I'd bet Kaloogian was never even in Baghdad
And if he was, he surely didn't leave the safe confines of a protected area. He doesn't have the nuts. That may explain why he spent a nice semi-vacation in Turkey instead. I won't be holding my breath waiting for Howard add some of those Baghdad photos to his campaign website's gallery
And, this is priceless:
We originally posted a photograph not of Baghdad, Iraq but from Istanbul, Turkey where our delegation traveled on the way home to the United States. We apologize for this mistake. We have corrected it with a photograph we took from Baghdad. We took this photo of downtown Baghdad while we were in Iraq. Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it - in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism.What a f'ing freak. JUST ANOTHER TYPICAL LYING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS!
Colin Ferguson redux
In tomorrow's Baltimore Sun... John Allen Muhammad has been ruled competent to represent himself.
29 March 2006
28 March 2006
27 March 2006
Iraqi Interior Minister: security infiltrated by insurgents
UPI:
BAGHDAD, March 27 -- Iraq's security agencies have been infiltrated by police officers and administrators backing the Sunni insurgency against government forces and U.S.-led troops.
Iraqi Interior Minister Baker Jaber Solagh said in comments to the Saudi daily al-Sharq al-Awsat Monday that at least 3,000 "terrorists" had infiltrated his ministry's security institutions, including a major general in the police force, and who were involved in theft and kidnapping operations.
He revealed also that 500 suspected terrorists, including Arabs from various nationalities, and Europeans of Arab origin, had been arrested for carrying out terrorist attacks.
26 March 2006
party time for seal clubbers!
Reuters
Canadian hunters started shooting and clubbing harp seal pups on Saturday at the start of an annual hunt that is the focus of a tech-savvy protest by animal rights groups. This year, 325,000 young seals will be killed on the ice floes off the East Coast where the animals gather. ~ The first part of the hunt, which takes place near the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, usually takes about 10 to 12 days to complete. This year's quotes [sic: im sure they mean quota] is just over 90,000 seals.
that's nice, but don't stop there
ABC: Federal Agencies to Probe Safety at O'Hare
Hopefully they'll also investigate why every single flight out of O'Hare is delayed by at least an hour.
Dirty Money
in today's Washington Post:
Former DeLay Aide Enriched By Nonprofit
Bulk of Group's Funds Tied to Abramoff
more evidence that bumbling idiocy is genetic
This is priceless... a TPM reader shares his experience dealing with snake-oil salesman Neil Bush as he peddled his wares at the local middle school.
25 March 2006
iraq: not a quagmire
Islam Online:
BAGHDAD, March 25, 2006: US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said on Saturday, March 25, that militias, many with strong ties to powerful Shiite leaders and well entrenched in security and police forces, are killing more Iraqis than 'terrorists,' urging Iraqi leaders to rein them in. 'More Iraqis are dying from the militia violence than from the terrorists,' he told reporters during a visit to a Baghdad youth center newly renovated with US funds, reported Reuters. 'The militias need to be under control.'
24 March 2006
imperial payola
Josh Marshall points to today's example of the Bush family's continued fleecing of America.
when the Cuban embargo is just plain dumb
CNN: Cuba wants to donate baseball winnings to Katrina victims
Castro said he wanted to donate the money to victims of Hurricane Katrina, but U.S. officials say Cuba isn't getting any prize money. ~ A Major League Baseball official said the deal that allowed Cuba to play in the tournament, which was reached in February with the U.S. State Department and agreed to by Cuba, made it "crystal clear" that Havana would not receive any share of the profits, even for charity. "Cuba doesn't have a cut of the proceeds of the tournament, and there is nothing for Cuba to donate," MLB spokesman Patrick Courtney said by telephone from New York.
big mistake Hamas
Haaretz: "The day will never come when any Palestinian would be arrested because of his political affiliation or because of resisting the occupation,"
21 March 2006
stuff that makes my brain hurt
Proof of Big Bang Seen by Space Probe, Scientists Say
The oldest light ever detected appears to confirm the theory that the universe went from marble size to astronomical proportions in a split second. NationalGeographic.com
IEDs in Iraq from Iran .... or... ?
ummm.... what?
Now I've a couple of points to make here.Bush and his administration used the claim that Iran was responsible for these IED's in Iraq only recently, fully aware that back at the close of last year the UK Defense Minister had made a retraction of the same claim. For the first time I am aware of, it is now alleged that Bush Senior's FBI were involved in the original botched sting that led to the IRA gaining this design. According to the newspaper, a senior IRA member has confirmed their part of this story - including that they shared the design with other terror groups. The Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman is investigating the story - his office obviously thinks there is a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing here. Matthew Teague of Atlantic Magazine, who has been following up this story, says "a number of senior American politicians " are awaiting publication of his article this week before "raising the issue in Congress". Were those politicians aware of this at the time Bush and others made their claims and if so why did they remain silent? One hopes that, whetever else, they will now stand up and expose the narrative for war with Iran as being just as fake as the narrative for war with Iraq.
FBI Was Warned About Moussaoui
Agent Tells Court Of Repeated Efforts Before 9/11 Attacks - The Washington Post
20 March 2006
chertoff gets it...
memo to every United States' State Capital:
"In his remarks, Chertoff emphasized that the federal government would not supplant state and local emergency responders on the front lines of a disaster. 'The idea is to carefully understand your requirements, assess your capabilities, work with you to figure out what additional capabilities you need, and then draw upon the capabilities we have at the federal government to support you,' he said."
bad news for FBI headquarters
yeow
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The FBI agent who arrested Zacarias Moussaoui in August 2001 testified Monday he spent almost four weeks trying to warn U.S. officials about the radical Islamic student pilot but "criminal negligence" by superiors in Washington thwarted a chance to stop the 9/11 attacks.
megastorms and global warming
Last night, ironically as my wife and I were watching parts 1 and 2 of the 'Perfect Disaster' series on Discovery Channel, I heard the news about the cyclone [the largest to hit Australia in 30 yrs], which crashed into Queensland packing 180 mph winds.
The storm was an anomaly, right?
Wait, isn't that what we said last year about Katrina?
In fact, I remember hearing very similar dismissals of the record setting year of 2004.
Then again, maybe they weren't anomaies at all:
Warmer Oceans Tied to Stronger, Larger Hurricanes, Study Says "This study really shores up the link between rising sea temperature and the intensity of hurricanes,'' [link]And that brings me to last night's 60 Minutes interview with James Hansen [clip available at Think Progress]
How The Bush Administration Muzzles The Government’s Top Global Warming Scientist Yesterday, 60 Minutes aired a powerful segment documenting how the Bush administration has muzzled the government’s top global warming researcher, James Hansen. Watch an excerpt:So, in an era of unquestionably-stronger hurricanes and cyclones and an increasing frequency and intensity of tornadoes, why would the Bush administration continue its practice of quelching information that has such devastating impacts on our planet?
Emirates aided kin of Palestinian militants
NYT: Documents show money was given to the families of militants, others killed by Israelis
New York Times
In the last four years the United Arab Emirates has provided substantial financial support, through its Red Crescent Society, to families of Palestinians, militants as well as civilians, who have been wounded or killed by Israeli forces, according to Red Crescent documents.
The United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven small states including Dubai, where a government-owned company was due to take over some American port operations. Facing intense congressional opposition, the company said last week that it would sell its operations in the United States to an unrelated American company within six months.
things are going 'very, very well' in Iraq
Sydney Morning Herald: "Three years into the Iraq war, and with no end in sight, it looks as if the United States, in creating a quagmire for itself in the Middle East, has also created the ideal environment in which the terrorism bacillus can fester, and then infect the whole world,"
so true
Toronto Star: How to spot a baby conservative
Whiny children, claims a new study, tend to grow up rigid and traditional. Future liberals, on the other hand ...Mar. 19, 2006. 10:45 AMRemember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative. At least, he did if he was one of 95 kids from the Berkeley area that social scientists have been tracking for the last 20 years. The confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals. The study from the Journal of Research Into Personality isn't going to make the UC Berkeley professor who published it any friends on the right. Similar conclusions a few years ago from another academic saw him excoriated on right-wing blogs, and even led to a Congressional investigation into his research funding.
long-term consequences of irresponsible GOP spending
Thanks fellas. Way to handcuff America's economic future.
A Revealing Plan
Sunday, March 19, 2006; Page B06
WHAT WOULD IT take to get the federal budget in balance -- honest, no-gimmick, no-fooling balance -- without raising taxes? This is a question the Bush administration would prefer not to discuss, and for good reason: It would require cuts so deep and wide as to be unimaginable as a matter of politics and unwise as a matter of policy.
How can we be sure? Well, the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House members, has produced an alternative budget that treads where Bush will not. And it is a helpful document, not in the sense of being realistic but for exposing the airiness of administration claims of fiscal prudence. Balance could be achieved by 2011, it shows, but only if Americans are willing to sacrifice a good chunk of their health care, education, energy, transportation and foreign aid -- in fact, pretty much all of the federal budget outside defense and veterans.
What would go? Extra unemployment benefits and training to workers who lose their jobs as a result of foreign competition, heating assistance for low-income families, family planning funds, subsidized loans for graduate students and, after 2009, funding for the federal highway program. Also, Amtrak, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Agency for International Development and President Bush's Millennium Challenge Account. Substantially reduced would be funding for low-income schools, United Nations peacekeeping forces, the National Institutes of Health and block grants to states to pay for preventive health care for mothers and children. Head Start would be frozen at 2005 levels.
Average enrollment growth in Medicaid, which provides health care to poor people, was more than 7 percent annually between 2000 and 2004, and medical inflation itself is about 5 percent. Yet this budget would limit the growth in federal spending on Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which provides health care to uninsured children just above the poverty line, to 4 percent per year. The result? More poor people, and more poor children in particular, would go without care.
Some of the proposed cuts, such as eliminating farm subsidies or killing NASA's moon/Mars exploration program, are sensible. But they also are highly unlikely; just think how much trouble Congress had recently agreeing to a mere $40 billion in entitlement cuts.Altogether, the alternative budget would cut almost $700 billion over five years -- $332 billion in non-defense discretionary spending and $358 billion in entitlements -- while allowing for $299 billion in new spending on defense and veterans and $630 billion in tax cuts (extending the previous Bush tax cuts plus adjusting the alternative minimum tax). And, for discretionary spending, these cuts are from 2006 levels -- they don't even take into account how inflation over the next five years (projected to be a cumulative 11.4 percent) would further strain federal dollars.
Outside of defense, the amount spent on discretionary programs would be nearly a third less in 2011 than current spending, adjusted for inflation; it would amount to the smallest share of the economy (2.2 percent in 2011) at any time since 1962, when that number was first measured. And even that understates the magnitude of cuts required; the budget doesn't make room for war funding after the next fiscal year.
These budget cuts would be shortsighted and mean-spirited; they would transform the role of the federal government. We find much of this unthinkable, and we believe most Americans would, too. That's why Mr. Bush doesn't talk about the real-life consequences of his tax cuts, and the real-life people who will suffer from them after he leaves office. So we thank the Republican Study Committee for producing this document. If this is what you want government to look like, go ahead and support the extension of the president's tax cuts and oppose any tax increases.
19 March 2006
cronyism: alive and well in Maryland
Senator calls on PSC head to resign
"an egregious violation of the public trust."
and how.... !
E&P: "Anyone who hoped that the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq would inspire the country’s leading newspapers to finally editorialize for a radical change in the White House’s war policy has to be disappointed, again."
Jill Carroll: 3 wks past the deadline
Where is she and what is her condition? Why were we told that Iraqi and US authorities knew her captives' name and address a full month ago?
who do i believe?
Iraq's former Prime Minister, or a man with a horrific record of portraying truth and reality? Read the text of Cheney's interview with Bob Schieffer here.
Bill Clinton: movie star
When Richard Clarke's book, Against All Enemies, hits the big screen....? (don't get your hopes up, folks)
tons of reports this week
most thx to my invaluable favorites Infomaniac, ResourceShelf's Docuticker, and FAS:
various documents collected and released this week from
Operation Iraqi Freedom
The National Security Strategy 2006
RAND: New Orleans Population to Climb to About 272,000 in 2008
Juan Cole: "Saddam Was Trying to Capture Zarqawi"
CRS: Iran - U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses
DOJ: National Drug Threat Assessment 2006
Kennedy School of Gov't: The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
GAO: Agency Management of Contractors Responding to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (.pdf)
GAO: New Research Paper: The Palestinian Parliamentary Election and the rise of Hamas (.pdf)
Congressional Documents on Secrecy, 2006: "Drowning in a Sea of Faux Secrets:
Policies on Handling of Classified and Sensitive Information"
and from The Memory Hole: various reports from the State Dept's Future of Iraq Project
happy anniversary Iraq War
3 years and 2,318 soldiers ago America launched Operation Kill a Shitload of People who had nothing to do with 9/11
17 March 2006
TSA: Bang up job guys
thanks for making sure we all fly safely
In all 21 airports tested, no machine, no swab, no screener anywhere stopped the bomb materials from getting through.
incompetent... good... idiot... liar
The 4 most common responses given during the most recent Pew Research Center poll, when asked to describe the President using just 1 word
Iraq: don't call it a quagmire
Erbil, 16 March (AKI) - A Kurdish source in Baghdad has told a Kurdish national daily that the Mahdi Army, the militia of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, "has set up a shadow government in Sadr City in the centre of Baghdad". The source told the Aso daily: "this group was tasked with carrying out the affairs of the city in the place of the Iraqi government and institutions." The source explained that the Mahdi Army, accused of kidnappings and sectarian killings, has transformed the rundown Sadr city into an independent district with its security forces and its own courts which do not only judge local residents but also Shiites from other areas of the capital.
16 March 2006
"Halliburton makes our troops more comfortable in a difficult environment by bringing shelter, supplies, clean uniforms and mail from home."
Oh yeah, we also fail to protect our troops' water and subject them to germs and disease.
Deterrence
Neocon George toes the preemptive strike waters again w/ Iran in the latest iteration of the US National Security Strategy, released today.
15 March 2006
14 March 2006
British MP chit chats with Dr. Germ
BBC:
He said she told him that Iraq no longer had WMD. "I believed her," he added. When Dr Gibson asked if she was working on biological warfare she said Iraq had stopped work on this some time ago.
how stupid is this?
from Regret the Error... for some reason some dumbass PR newswire decided to report that Will Ferrell had died in a paragliding accident.
posted without comment
really... this speaks for itself. WBAL:
The reigning Miss Deaf Texas died Monday afternoon after being struck by a train in Austin.
13 March 2006
fascinating, spectacular, amazing... pick one
Pictures from this year's Russian Ice Festival... absolultely incredible!
this bear and cub are part of a larger (50m wide) sculpture
This entire ship is made of nothing but ice...
a Thai temple made entirely of ice, complete with rooms and hallways inside.
Many thanks to Bob Payton for these pics.
this bear and cub are part of a larger (50m wide) sculpture
This entire ship is made of nothing but ice...
a Thai temple made entirely of ice, complete with rooms and hallways inside.
Many thanks to Bob Payton for these pics.
too many f'ing guns on the street
when little girls get killed at their own surprise birthday parties by stray bullets
yes, it's awful... 1984ish... and won't stand up in court
but why did they use the non-public information in stories? And what info did they use? And you can guarantee someone gave them the login and password... you can't make the argument that the reporter hacked into the database, that's retarded.
Iraq: not a civil war
what if everything that's happening in Baghdad right now, were actually happening in New York? Larry Johnson's latest.
when you author a magazine article that suggests Ben Bradlee sold out a source
you don't make yourself unavailable for comment.
Beth Kseniak, spokeswoman for Vanity Fair, said the reporter who wrote the story, Marie Brenner, was traveling in India and was unavailable for comment.
Iraq: make sure you don't call it a civil war
The Post Chronicle: "Sectarian violence now has become the No. 1 problem in Iraq, more than the insurgency. Or on a par," says Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, the U.N. envoy to Iraq.
'not if, but when'
you have no idea how tired I am of hearing that... the latest from Douglas Farah at CTblog.
quick hits
The Chicago Tribune has a silly story [here] on how they could blow the cover of 2,600 some-odd CIA agents using information collected exclusively from the internet. Larry Johnson weighs in with a few thoughts of his own.
---------------
Bloggers everywhere are reinvigorating the effort to free Jill Carroll, encouraging them to link to this public service announcement at The Christian Science Monitor's website.
---------------
A little more from NationalGeographic.com on the geysers and... possibly... traces of life which have been detected on one of Saturn's moons.
inadvertently add 100,000 votes in 1 Texas county during last Tuesday's primary election.
---------------
Google completes its mission to take over planet Earth; shifts focus to Mars. Also, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is now in place and circling Mars... it is expected to provide more data than all previous Mars missions combined!
"I think our results are significant enough to redirect the planetary exploration program, placing Enceladus as the primary target of astrobiological interest in our solar system."--------------- Hacks and influence peddling at the CIA. Just how did one of Duke Cunningham's childhood friends [unindicted co-conspirator #1] receive a $2-3 Mil contract to deliver bottled water to CIA agents in war zones? Newsweek has this in next week's issue. --------------- Another WaPo editorial on Operation Clusterfuck --------------- A lengthy list of films made by the CIA are available at the National Archives, c/0 The Memory Hole, which may you may obtain via FOIA request. Coincidentally, if you don't know how to file a FOIA request, News University has developed this 1-2hr independant study course to guide you through the process. --------------- An update from the NYTimes on Dr. Wafa Sultan, the super-brave Muslim psychiatrist whose recent tirade on Al Jazeera and upcoming book have the Muslim world reeling. --------------- DEMOCRACY UNDER ASSAULT: Diebold voting machines
12 March 2006
10 March 2006
09 March 2006
08 March 2006
the pentagon's new map
ABCNews: "I think it's very hard to escape the conclusion that, in all probability, the Iranian government is knowingly killing U.S. troops."
Jack Abramoff: plain old garden-variety moron
Huh?
and your dumbass statement doesn't even make sense...
actually, change that... as my father-in-law just pointed out, it makes perfect sense:
"You're really no one in this town
unless you haven't met me,"
Hey Jackoff, I'm the only "no one" in this town... "Sure [it makes sense]. Every big shot in town now says he never met Jack."
Ha! Good stuff. RIP: moderate intelligent republicans
Their whereabouts unknown since the 1960s... yesterday their bodies were found buried under the Hart Senate Office Building.
Senate Intelligence Committee Republicans...
... just like those on the Judiciary Committee, proved yesterday that they (too) are a National disgrace!
aiding and abetting terrorists
Fun with Abdurahman Alamoudi, Grover Norquist and Mr. Bush. A must-read column at Onlinejournal.com [emphasis added is mine]:
Dubai port deal is nothing compared to Ptech
While Congress and the media focus on the potential dangers of a UAE-owned company running American port operations, any possible threat is dwarfed by the current insecurity of the US government’s computer infrastructure, which has been compromised by a company with alleged multiple connections to terrorist financing.
The company, once known as Ptech (now GoAgile), has been contracted to provide sophisticated computer software to several government agencies, including the Army, the Air Force, Naval Air Command, Congress, the Department of Energy, the Department of Justice, Customs, the FAA, the IRS, NATO, the FBI, the Secret Service, and the White House.
Shortly after 9/11, the company’s primary investor, Yassin al-Qadi (al-Kadi), was identified by the US government as a specially designated global terrorist. Officials describe al-Qadi as one of Osama bin Laden’s "chief money launderers," and allege he transferred as much as $3 billion to al-Qaeda during the 1990s.
Al-Qadi is a wealthy Saudi with connections to banking, diamonds, chemicals, construction, transportation, and real estate. He once headed Muwafaq, an Islamic charity the US Treasury Department described as an “al Qaeda front that receives funding from wealthy Saudi businessmen.”
Al-Qadi also maintained an unusually close relationship with notable US politicians. While attempting to defend Ptech, the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of Massachusetts (ADCMA) revealed the fact that al-Qadi “was prominent in Washington circles and even showed President Jimmy Carter and Dick Cheney around during their visits to Saudi Arabia.”
Al-Qadi told an Arab newspaper in October of 2001 that he “spoke to [Dick Cheney] at length” and they “even became friends.” Similarly, while speaking with Computer World Magazine, Ptech cofounder Oussama Ziade said that al-Qadi “talked very highly of his relationship with [former President] Jimmy Carter and [Vice President] Dick Cheney."
Ptech, under al-Qadi’s ownership, supplied the US government with what is known as enterprise architecture. According to Glenn Watt of Backbone Security, "Enterprise architecture is really the design, the layout, the blueprint if you will for the computer networks and computer systems that are going to go into an organization." In regard to Ptech, he said, “The software they put on your system could be collecting every key stroke that you type while you are on the computer. It could be establishing a connection to the outside terrorist organization through all of your security measures."
John Zachman, who is considered the “father” of enterprise architecture, said, "You would know where the access points are, you'd know how to get in, you would know where the weaknesses are, you'd know how to destroy it."
Former FBI counterterrorism analyst Matthew Levitt has said, “For someone like [al-Qadi] to be involved in a capacity in an organization, a company that has access to classified information, that has access to government open or classified computer systems would be of grave concern.”
While trying to play down such fears, Ptech cofounder Oussama Ziade, along with Ptech’s vice president of professional services, Joseph Johnson, have claimed many times to the press that al-Qadi had little to do with the company and did not give any money to Ptech after 1994.
Other Ptech employees, however, told the FBI that al-Qadi was introduced to them as “the owner” of the company.
Confirming this, Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, who is described by the conservative Front Page Magazine as “the world’s leading expert on Narco-Terrorism and a noteworthy authority on international terrorism, political corruption, money laundering, drug trafficking, and organized crime,” reported that al-Qadi made a $14 million investment in Ptech in 1998, making him the company’s major investor.
In total, according to Ehrenfeld, al-Qadi “invested at least $18 million directly in Ptech, $5 million through the Isle of Man, and $9 million indirectly through BMI, a now-defunct New Jersey-based Islamic investment firm with connections to other members on Ptech’s management and investors. . . . Al-Kadi also transferred $2 million USD to Ptech from Switzerland between 1997 and 2000, according to Swiss investigators.”
Adding further concerns, al-Qadi was only one of many Ptech investors and managers with alleged connections to terrorist financing.
Former Ptech board member Soliman Biheiri, who was recently convicted of lying to investigators regarding his affiliations with known terrorists, was in charge of the above-mentioned New Jersey investment bank, BMI, which according to court documents was used as a financial conduit for al-Qaeda and Hamas supporters. The FBI discovered the true principals behind BMI were actually Yassin al-Qadi and Hamas leader Musa abu Marzook.
Investigators also accuse Ptech’s Biheiri of using BMI to funnel $3.7 million from an Islamic charity, entitled the SAAR Foundation, to Islamist terrorists. The president and CEO of the SAAR Foundation was Yakub Mirza, who was also on Ptech’s board of directors, and who is said to have contacts high within the FBI.
Furthermore, Ptech’s vice president and chief scientist, Hussein Ibrahim, was the founder and president of the aforementioned BMI. In fact, Ptech, al-Qadi, Biheiri, Ibrahim, BMI, Mirza, and SAAR, all maintained financial connections with one another, as well as with other organizations and fronts allegedly connected to money laundering and terrorist financing, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Taqwa, the Safa Foundation, the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), and others.
Ptech’s chief architect, Suheil Laher, headed yet another Islamic charity entitled Care International, which the FBI and IRS claim was “engaged in the solicitation and expenditure of funds to support the mujahideen and promote jihad.”
Top Ptech investor and manager, Muhamed Mubayyid, served as Care’s treasurer, and has since been indicted for lying on tax returns and concealing the charity’s true activities. Mubayyid also donated money to the Alkifah Refugees Center, which maintained the same corporate office as Care, and from where the 1993 World Trade Center bombing was launched.
Also part of this financial nexus was Ptech founder Abdurahman Muhammad Alamoudi, who, according to the US Treasury Department, “had a close relationship with al Qaida and had raised money for al Qaida in the United States.” He has since been sentenced to a maximum of 23-years in prison for illegal dealings with Libya, including his admitted involvement in a plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. [there's much more to this story]
Alamoudi also founded a US Army chaplain program for which he served as a consultant for over a decade. A former Justice Department official has described the program as a “spy service for al-Qaeda."
Like al-Qadi, Alamoudi was also influential in elite Washington circles. According to The Washington Post, as head of the American Muslim Council, Alamoudi “met with senior Clinton and Bush administration officials in his efforts to bolster Muslim political prominence.”
In February 2003, Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby wrote:
“[In 2000] Alamoudi was one of several Muslims invited to meet with candidate [George W.] Bush in Austin, Texas. Alamoudi is certainly influential -- but he is also an open backer of terrorism. In October 2000, he was cheered at a pro-Palestinian rally in Washington, DC, when he declared: "We are all supporters of Hamas. . . . I am also a supporter of Hezbollah." Three months later he was in Beirut for a terrorist summit, along with leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and Al Qaeda.”
Amazingly, Alamoudi -- who allegedly has direct connections to the 9/11 conspirators -- was invited to a prayer service with President Bush three days after the 9/11 attacks.
There are indications that al-Qadi, Alamoudi, and other suspected terrorists were protected from prosecution by high-ranking US officials, effectively preventing the FBI from stopping 9/11.
FBI Agent Robert Wright, who was in charge of pursuing al-Qadi and his associates during the 1990s, said the FBI "intentionally and repeatedly thwarted and obstructed" his attempts to arrest terrorists, seize assets, and expand his investigation into the financial network of which al-Qadi allegedly was a part.
After his investigation into al-Qadi was shut down entirely in 1999, Wright completed a manuscript, entitled "Fatal Betrayals of the Intelligence Mission," which, he said, "outlines, in very specific detail, what I believe allowed September 11th to happen." The government has banned the manuscript from being released.
Approximately three months prior to the 9/11 attacks, agent Wright wrote a memo warning that American citizens would die as a result of the FBI’s incompetence. He said there was “virtually no effort on the part of the FBI's International Terrorism Unit to neutralize known and suspected international terrorists living in the United States."
According to former Justice Department prosecutor John Loftus, even after 9/11 “people in the intelligence community came and said-guys like Alamoudi . . . and other terrorists weren’t being touched because they’d been ordered not to investigate the cases, not to prosecute them, because they were being funded by the Saudis and a political decision was being made at the highest levels, don’t do anything that would embarrass the Saudi government." He went on to say:
“[W]ho was it that fixed the cases? How could these guys operate for more than a decade immune from prosecution? And, the answer is coming out in a very strange place. What Alamoudi and al-Arian have in common is a guy named Grover Norquist. He’s the super lobbyist. . .
Grover Norquist’s best friend is Karl Rove, the White House chief of staff, and apparently Norquist was able to fix things.”
Shortly after 9/11, several Ptech employees -- upon hearing reports of Yassin al-Qadi’s connections to terrorist financing – began pleading with the FBI to investigate the company. However, as reported by the National Review Online, “the bureau did nothing, despite knowing that Qadi was a primary financier of Ptech. . . . Frighteningly, when an employee told the President of Ptech he felt he had to contact the FBI regarding Qadi's involvement in the company, the president allegedly told him not to worry because [Ptech board member] Yaqub Mirza . . . had contacts high within the FBI. . . . After months of the FBI refusing to do anything substantive, it took the efforts of U.S. Customs, now a part of Homeland Security, to raid the business in December 2002 and jumpstart the investigation into the alleged terrorist financial network.”
Despite the raid, no charges were ever brought against Ptech.
Company cofounder Ziade, who has gone to great lengths to profess Ptech’s innocence, said all the “innuendo” made it impossible to attract new clients, forcing Ptech to become a “virtual company” and market its software through an unidentified third party.
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