[3/31/06 Friday]

[Laura Mansfield - contributor, Strategic Translations] 12:01 am [permalink]
Iran To Launch 'Massive' Naval 'Holy Prophet' Tehran, March 29, IRNA -- Iran is to launch a massive joint naval wargame titled "Holy Prophet (PBUH)", beginning on March 31 with shooting of a Shahab II Missile into the air with the message of "Peace and Friendship" for the regional countries, Persian Gulf, and Sea of Oman littoral states.

Commander of the Islamic Republic Guard Corps Naval Force Admiral Morteza Saffari announced the news at a press conference here on Wednesday, adding, "The IRGC Naval Force, the IRI naval and Army forces, volunteer Forces and the IRI Disciplinary Forces will participate in the military maneuver.

The wargame would begin with the password "Muhammad the Messenger of Allah," according to the IRGC Naval Force Commander and last till April 6 in the northern coasts of the Persian Gulf up to 40 kilometers to the south, to Iran's border port city of Chabahar in the region.

Over seventeen thousand of Iran's armed forces and Basij mobilization forces, would take part in the naval wargame in which ,500 large and small naval vessels of various types would participate.

The IRGC official added, "The Command Headquarters of the wargame would be the IRGC Noah Naval Barracks, while five other army, Air Force and navy bases in three provinces would back up the massive operation."

Admiral Saffari announced the entire armed forces' of the country's full readiness to defend the territorial integrity of the motherland.

He added, "The latest local achievements of the country in defense industries, implementation of the experiences of the country's armed forces in planning and launching massive military operations in practice, evaluation of the conduct of our commanders, and providing a real atmosphere for our mobilization forces to display their defense apabilities are among the top objectives of the maneuver." The four-phased naval wargame is meanwhile planned to display the Islamic system's defensive capabilities.

Iranian made drones would be flied to collect information from the virtual enemy's camp, sea-to-air missiles capable of pursuing moving objects, helicopters capable of shooting air-to-sea, and air-to-land missiles, rapid reaction boats, Iranian made intelligent mines with multi-sensors, various naval rocket mine launchers, huge Iranian made naval rockets and up-to-date telecommunication facilities would be among the sea of equipment to be facilitated during the wargame.

(Description of Source: Tehran IRNA (Internet Version-WWW) in English -- official state-run news agency)

[3/30/06 Thursday]

[3/29/06 Wednesday]

[Laura Mansfield - contributor, Strategic Translations] 12:01 am [permalink]
The Capture of Terrorist 007 – [ed. Earlier this month ONE carried a piece by Laura Mansfield on cyber-terrorist 007. She sent us this news clip via email today…] The Capture of Terrorist 007 By J.J. Green / FederalNewsRadio -

There has been a breakthrough in the search for a notorious cyber fugitive with ties to al Qaida. A very skillful hacker called "Terrorist 007" has been caught.

"He has masterminded the takeovers of dozens of servers and empty directories on U.S based webservers," including a George Washington University server, says terrorism analyst Evan Kohlman.

Kohlman says Irhabi 007 or Terrorist 007 hijacked web servers all over the world "in order to host beheading videos, in order to host audio recording of Abu Musab al Zarqawi, (and) in order to host jihad training manuals."

But last fall Irhabi 007 disappeared from the cyber community and the terrorist message boards on which he'd become a legend.

Laura Mansfield, an independent intelligence analyst, ran into Irhabi 007 a number of times in cyber space. She says "he was basically telling people how to make suicide bomb vests" and turn Pepsi cans into bombs."

Authorities connected the dots after raiding a house in West London in connection with a bomb plot and finding stolen credit card information linking Younis Tsouli to American Internet providers on whose servers he had posted jihadi propaganda.

Later they discovered that 22-year-old West Londoner, Younis Tsouli is Irhabi 007.

For more on Irhabi 007 and his capture:

Laura Mansfield reports: http://www.theonerepublic.com/archives/Columns/Mansfield/20060310Mansfield007.html

The Washinton Post, "Terrorist 007, Exposed" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/25/AR2006032500020.html (registration required)

(Copyright 2006 by FederalNewsRadio.com. All Rights Reserved.)

[3/28/06 Tuesday]

The results of the interview were aired on CNN during Wolf Blitzer's prime time show, The Situation Room.

The following is an excerpt from CNN's transcript of The Situation Room located here.

BLITZER: Today, there are some troubling reports of a Hamas-endorsed Web site directed at children that preaches hatred and encourages suicide bombings and terrorism.

CNN has launched its own investigation into the veracity of these reports.

Closely following the story for us is our Internet reporter, Abbi Tatton.

Abbi, what are we learning?

TATTON: Wolf, this is a site that has been getting a lot of attention today, so much so that it's currently down.

It looks like it has been hacked. But what we did earlier today is save up a few of these pages to show you the contents. What are we talking about here?

First of all, the site is clearly aimed at children. There are cartoons all over the place -- this image here, a small child on the back of a horse with a large sword. Also, there are many disturbing images on the site.

As to reports that this site is new, that is not the case. Counterterrorism analyst Laura Mansfield tells us she has been following the contents of this site since it was registered in 2002.

As to whether it's promoting martyrdom, we had senior editor Octavia Nasr here at CNN look around and translate the contents. She says the site talks about the struggle. There are pictures of kids throwing rocks. They're called heroes on the site.

In the context of the struggle, there is glorification of images of suicide bombers. Now, the Beirut-based Web master, Laura Mansfield tells us, does have ties to Hamas, rather than the site being from Hamas itself. We tried to get comment from that Web master and from Hamas, but we were unable -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Abbi, thanks very much. Thanks to our entire Internet team for bringing that to us.

A history of this website over the past four years is available at the Way Back Machine.

Arabic language children's websites are among the various pro-jihad websites we monitor and translate for subscribers of our Strategic Arabic Translations.

[3/27/06 Monday]

[Jim Kouri - columnist] - 12:05 am [permalink]
Russians Gave Saddam US War Plans The Pentagon firmly believes that the Russian government gave Iraq President Saddam Hussein United States strategic war plans for the invasion of Iraq.

The Fox News Channel is reporting that the Pentagon believes the Russians had a "mole" in CentCom (US military's Central Command) who passed on secrets to the Russians who in turn passed on intelligence to Saddam's regime.

Documents confiscated by US forces after the Iraq invasion revealed communications between Russian government officials and the Iraqi military high-command before the March 2003 invasion by coalition forces. According to the Pentagon, the communications included handwritten notes.

According to a Moscow journalist, documents from Saddam Hussein’s leadership released by the US government reveal that the Russian ambassador to Iraq disclosed the US war plans to Saddam and his commanders.

Two documents dated March 2003, on the eve of the US-led invasion described details of the US military strategic and tactical plans.

One of the documents is a handwritten account of a meeting between the Russian ambassador Vladimir Teterenko and Iraqi military and diplomatic officials. The document details his description of the composition, size, location and type of US military forces arrayed in the Gulf and Jordan.

The document also includes the deployment numbers of tanks, armored vehicles, different types of aircraft, missiles, helicopters, aircraft carriers, and other forces and also their exact locations. The ambassador also described the positions of two Special Forces units, according to ABC News.

The second document is a typed account, signed by Deputy Foreign Minister Hammam Abdel Khaleq, which states that Teterenko told the Iraqis that "the United States was planning to deploy its force into Iraq from Basra in the South and up the Euphrates, and would avoid entering major cities on the way to Baghdad,"

According to Pentagon, this is exactly what happened. The documents also state that “Americans are also planning on taking control of the oil fields in Kirkuk.” The information was obtained by the Russians from “sources at U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar,” according to the document.

This document also includes an account of an incident in which several Iraqi Army officers (presumably seeking further elaboration of the US war plans) contacted the Russian Embassy in Baghdad and stated that the ambassador was their source. This caused great embarrassment to Teterenko, and the officers were instructed “not to mention the ambassador again in that context.”

Teterenko is mentioned in documents released by the Volker Commission, which investigated the Oil for Food scandal, as receiving allocations of 3 million barrels of oil — worth roughly $1.5 million.

While the recently released documents are being analyzed by several news organizations and intelligence think-tanks, there exists a classified version of the Pentagon report, titled "Iraqi Perspectives Project," which is not being released to the public.

These disclosures go far in explaining other events that have occurred in Iraq just prior to the invasion that toppled Saddam's regime. For example, sources have claimed that the saw plainclothes Russian military personnel helping with the transport of materials across the Iraq border into Syria. Several intelligence analysts have claimed some of the materials may have been chemical and/or biological weapons.

In addition, former Iraqi Air Force General, Georges Sada, has repeatedly claimed that the Russian military cooperated with Iraq in an advisory capacity and that the Russians were in Iraq right up to the time the invasion began.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also alarmed about the impact of foreign spies within the United States, especially Chinese and Russian operatives. The Russians have infiltrated both government and private sector organizations. The FBI are suspicious of Russia, Iran, and North Korea but have focused mostly on the Chinese. The feds estimate that the are over 2,600 Chinese front companies in the US.

These new disclosures, plus reports already reviewed, highlight the belief of many that Russia is not an ally or friend of the United States. As we pursue curtailing Iran's nuclear weapons program, the Russia is the last country we should trust to broker a deal.

[3/24/06 Friday]

[Mediacrity] 12:01 am [permalink]
The Times Op-Ed Page Sanitizes Hamas The New York Times Op-Ed Page prides itself on its fact-checking. In an essay on the Times website, the op-ed editor says that his staff fact-check each article on all things major and minor, and that "if news articles - from The Times and other publications - are at odds with a point or an example in an essay, we need to resolve whatever discrepancy exists."

Pretty air-tight, wouldn't you say? So perhaps someone can explain to me how the Times's eagle-eyed op-ed editors published today an op-ed piece, from The Economist's Jerusalem correspondent Gideon Lichfield, containing this amazing statement: "If Hamas in fact harbors long-term plans to destroy the Jewish state, as some fear, then such statements are ploys to give it time to build up its strength." [emphasis added]

As "some fear"? Hamas's aim to destroy Israel is not something that people "fear" but is rather an established, off-repeated goal -- stated by Hamas time and time again in every conceivable forum. It is, for example, the central obsession of the Hamas charter--which makes the "fear" pretty dang realistic, wouldn't you say?

Mind you, this sentence is the linchpin of the entire article, which uses the supposedly unsuccessful boycott of Cuba to argue against similar tactics against Hamastan. But his entire thesis is predicated on a false assumption -- that Hamas's goal of destroying Israel is not, in fact, its goal but rather something that exists in the minds of wimpy westerners.

Lichfield himself acknowledges that if Hamas really wants to destroy Israel, "unrestricted foreign aid will make it more dangerous."

This is not just an intellectually dishonest opinion piece -- it is factually incorrect, bad journalism. It is yet another example of the degradation of a once-great newspaper. [go to Mediacrity blog]

[Found in the ebag-from reader Gary Weiss] 12:01 am [permalink]
Department of Strange Bedfellows I'm on a State Department mailing list for consular notices. (I signed up for them just before a trip to India in 2002, so State could send an email to my empty apartment if war were to break out between India and Pakistan.) Today I received a consular notice, not from Delhi but the U.S. consulate in Cairo!

Here's what it says. This is the sum total of the email. Note that it reads like a spam, which is just what it is:

[3/23/06 Thursday]

[Mediacrity] 12:04 am [permalink]
CJR's Daily Lousiness I must confess that I had not been reading CJR's daily web product, known by the imaginative name CJR Daily, very much lately -- except to see whether it had covered the New York Times's latest credibility disaster.

So I just perused it today and I have to say that it is worse than I had expected. Practically unreadable, predictably slanted -- this is an offspring of the notoriously left-leaning CJR, after all -- and unsophisticated.

A good example of the Daily's output is this piece knocking the media for not gushing over the move to censure the president, and this one clapping the Los Angeles Times on the back for publishing stuff harmful to the military in Iraq. Attaboy!

Oh, the Daily can be negative when its ideological feathers aren't ruffled, or when a conservative media outlet is doing its job. Take this piece kicking Barron's last month for a story critical of Google's stock price. Hello? That's an investment weekly. Its job is to provide investment judgments of stocks. You'd think a journalism watchdog site would know that. (I suppose the Barron's/Dow Jones conservative editorial posture had absolutely nothing to do with this cheap shot.)

Speaking of which, I saw nothing in the Daily on the recent SEC subpoena of two reporters. Not surprising. They worked for Dow Jones!

The parent CJR is, of course, little more than a thinly disguised variation on The Nation, given that its "chairman" is none other than moonbat and former Nation publisher Victor Navasky. The David M blog has written extensively on the long-hidded CJR-Navasky ties, and I have as well, such as here.

With such underwhelming articles, it's little wonder that CJR Daily has had little impact -- as evidenced by the paucity of comments.

CJR is undisguisedly left-leaning, but CJR Daily is predictably left-leaning and just flat-out bad. Guess it had to figure out some way to differentiate itself!

UPDATE: The Daily did a damn good piece on March 21 skewering the World's Worst Media Columnist, Jon Friedman of Marketwatch.com. Much as I am pleased to read this moron's work being ripped to shreds, as I have on many occasions, I couldn't help but note that his employer is owned by the aforementioned, conservative Dow Jones.

Would the CJR Daily similarly dismember a Maureen Dowd or Frank Rich? Don't bet on it. [go to Mediacrity blog]

[3/22/06 Wednesday]

[Cliff Kincaid columnist] 12:05 am [permalink]
Traitors at NBC News Our readers have reacted with outrage to our report that NBC News secretly interviewed a Taliban terrorist in Afghanistan, "Commander Ismail," who kills U.S. military personnel. We asked: What's next? Exclusive footage of American troops being massacred while NBC News and Commander Ismail look on and film it for the evening news?

One reader responded: "Just wanted to thank you for the report about NBC and their seditious and treasonous acts. There can be no doubt that the big media outlets in this country have tried their best to undermine this country and this President at every turn…The New York Times should be tried under the treason and sedition laws for their part in aiding and abetting the terrorist in revealing the NSA wiretapping program. These traitors have weakened this country's defense, [they] triumph the rights of the terrorist bastard scum and blame President Bush for everything under the sun. They will stoop to ever deepening lows as evidenced by the childish and hateful behavior towards the President and the First Lady at Mrs. King's funeral. There is no bottom to the pit these snakes come from. Keep up the great work."

Another said: We need more articles of this caliber.  Thank you and your organization for hopefully pointing out one of the bigger problems with this war. News items and stories rarely invoke strong emotion or cause me to be physically ill. But your column today has done just that. I wanted to write you and thank you for your continued effort to highlight the treachery and betrayal that our news media regularly practices."

Another replied: "I as an American am so appalled by the conduct of the news agencies that I lack the words to convey my disgust. I am thankful that people like you are putting into words what so many Americans feel."

One said: "I just read your article about the NBC News people interviewing our enemy. I think in WWII if a newsman tried to interview the enemy, they would have been killed by the enemy-not like it is today…"

Another said: "Since the Viet Nam war, they have been allied to our enemies (no matter who they are) and have a sense of accomplishment in the defeat of America.  It's too bad the American people cannot recognize treasonous acts and bring those responsible to justice. If the Rosenbergs had committed their treasonous act in today's society, they would have been treated as heroes and been given their own nightly commentary show." [AIM]

[3/21/06 Tuesday]

[3/20/06 Monday]

[Laura Mansfield - contributor, Strategic Translations] 12:01 am [permalink]
Declassified documents from Iraq show 3,000 Saudi and Iraqi mujihideen depart Iraq in Nov 2001 to fight US in Afghanistan The newly declassified documents shed more and more light on the evolution of the violent insurgency in Iraq, and show that Saddam Hussein’s government was aware not just of the presence of Al Qaeda terrorist Abu Mus’ab Al Zarqawi, but also was aware that the Anbar province in Iraq was being used as a launch point for organized groups of jihadis headed to fight the United States in Afghanistan.

The document, addressed to the Security Board, Fedayeen Saddam at the office of the Presidency in Iraq, reports what it describes as a “rumor”, says:

there is a group of Iraqi and Saudi Arabians numbering around 3,000 who have gone in an unofficial capacity to Afghanistan and have joined the mujahidin to fight with and aid them in defeating the American Zionist Imperialist attack

This clearly indicates that Iraq was being used as a transit point or launch point for Saudi Arabian jihadis, as well as Iraqis, who wanted to go join the forces of Osama Bin Laden in Iraq in November 2001, nearly a year and a half before the US and Coalition forces commenced military action against Saddam Hussein’s regime.

The sheer volume of “mujahideen” that reportedly departed from the Anbar province, combined with the presence of Zarqawi in Iraq, indicates the presence of an organized Al Qaeda infrastructure within Iraq just a few months after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The Anbar province is Iraq’s largest province and is located east and southeast of Baghdad. Anbar borders the neighboring states of Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, making it a popular transit point for the insurgents moving in and out of Iraq.

A complete translation follows:

In the name of God the most Merciful, the most Compassionate

Republic of Iraq

The Presidency

Fedayeen Saddam

Security Board

SECRET AND PERSONAL

Number: 1/22/11836

Date: 12/1/2001

To: Iraqi Intelligence Service

Re: Rumor

Greetings.

1. In the report on the status of rumors for November of 2001 regarding Fedayeen Saddam in al-Anbar, there is an entry that indicates that there is a group of Iraqi and Saudi Arabians numbering around 3,000 who have gone in an unofficial capacity to Afghanistan and have joined the mujahidin to fight with and aid them in defeating the American Zionist Imperialist attack.

2. After presenting the matter to the Supervisor of Fedayeen Saddam, he ordered that the matter should be looked into for verification of the truth of the rumor.

Please review and inform us.

[Mediacrity] 12:01 am [permalink]
The Times Eats Crow -- But Still Doesn't Get It The New York Times Saturday ate a massive feast of crow, in an embarrassing front-page article and editor's note admitting that it had been suckered by a liar who claimed he was the famous "man in the hood" at Abu Gharib.

But while dining on a smorgasboard of black bird, the Times still doesn't get it. This piece, like an earlier unsigned article on the subject, still doesn't acknowledge the distinct possibility -- if not probability -- that nothing this man said was true and, again, obscuring his motive, which was clearly monetary. He is, after all, suing the government.

The story shows the extent to which the Times was sloppy in its reporting:

[3/17/06 Friday]

[Mediacrity] 12:01 am [permalink]
The Times, in Mourning, Reaches For Incoherence The New York Times has been in mourning since the Hamas electoral victory, which ripped to shreds one of the central tenets of the Sulzberger Indifference Template. The Myth of Palestinian Moderation looks pretty silly now, doesn't it? Still, the Times is trying hard to cope, and we see that in its editorial today bemoaning the Israeli raid on the Jericho "prison."

No, blaming America and Britain for -- I don't know.... blaming them for murderers being brought to justice? The horror! -- is not completely loony. It is actually quite logical, from the 43rd Street point of view.

First and foremost, whatever the mess, it is Times editorial policy that the Palestinians themselves are never to be held principally responsible. In this instance, as graphically recounted in the Times of London and pretty much everywhere except the New York Times, the Jericho "prison" was a sham. The prisoners lived a life of luxury and turned the prison into a suite of offices for the PFLP, one of the most murderous terror groups. This received little publicity outside Israel until recently, as IRIS noted.

But that is not the sole reason to "blame" anyone for what just happened. The one and only reason is that the Palestinians do not want to punish other Palestinians for murdering Israelis and Jews.

That is the central reason why the Jericho prison was a sham and why the raid was necessary. That is why Mohammed Abbas favored releasing the murderers, just as he had released four dozen terrorists from that same "prison" a couple of months ago -- which the Times almost completely ignored.

Nowhere is this Palestinian amorality mentioned in the Times, still remaining faithful to its Template but looking more and more foolish and incoherent by the day. [go to Mediacrity blog]

[3/16/06 Thursday]

[Cliff Kincaid columnist] 12:05 am [permalink]
Put the Times Under Surveillance Chronicles magazine has been very critical of President Bush and his foreign policy, especially the war in Iraq. But the March issue carries a surprising article by Srdja Trifkovic strongly supporting the President's NSA program monitoring "potential terrorists" on American soil. In the process, he rips the "inflammatory" coverage of this matter by the New York Times, which wants the public to believe that just about any ordinary "American" could be under surveillance.

Trifkovic focuses on Times reporter James Risen, who broke the NSA story and failed "to explore the identity of those 'Americans and others inside the United States' to have been subject to NSA surveillance." He adds, "The context of the article implied that most or all of those targeted were Muslims, of course, but that was not stated."

It turns out this is no accident. He explains, "The unwillingness of the Times to disclose the exact identity of the NSA eavesdropping subjects is reminiscent of its refusal to disclose the religious identity of the tens of thousands who wreaked havoc in dozens of French suburbs in November 2005."

Two purposes are served by this kind of coverage. First, "it presents President Bush as an out-of-control autocrat whose hoods may be eavesdropping on any of us at any time." Second, it glosses over the possible threat posed by American Muslims inside the U.S.

It is no accident that the March 2006 issue of Washington Report on Middle East Affairs carried a cover headline, "The NSA Spies on American Citizens." This pro-Arab magazine, which contains articles denouncing American imperialism and Israeli aggression, wants people to think that ordinary Americans are under surveillance.

Incredibly, the article was by Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst who has contributed articles critical of the Bush administration to publications associated with Lyndon LaRouche, the extremist Democratic Party presidential candidate who served time in prison on financial fraud charges and once called for bringing into being "a new Marxist International throughout the capitalist sector." McGovern once told me he knows nothing about LaRouche but believes his researchers "do some fairly good work."

It's no wonder Director Porter Goss is cleaning out the agency. [AIM]

[3/15/06 Wednesday]

[Mediacrity] 12:01 am [permalink]
The Times Buries The Truth In a brief, unsigned article buried deep within the newspaper yesterday, the New York Times admitted that a major "scoop" in the newspaper on Saturday may have been nothing more than a load of ca-ca.

The front-page article, by the Times's house terrorism apologist Hassan Fattah, told the grisly tale of the poor feller who was photographed in a black hood at Abu Gharib. However, Salon last night found that the Times had the wrong guy -- and, as the Times did not point out, that his story had big holes.

Might have been nicer if the piece had run on the front page, particularly given some details that were published in Salon that the Times tastefully omitted. In addition to questioning whether the fellow interviewed by the Times was the one in the photo, Salon also found that other details in the ex-prisoner's story were apparently wrong. That is, the names of prisoners supposedly humiliated at the prison were not correct. Which might well mean that he just made up stuff.

Too bad the Times didn't mention that. I guess saving the paper from embarrassment is a lot more important than admitting that it ran a piece that is looking more and more like a lot of hooey from start to finish. [go to Mediacrity blog]

[3/14/06 Tuesday]

[Laura Mansfield - contributor, Strategic Translations] 12:03 am [permalink]
New Ansar al Sunnah Army: Terrorists in Schools It would seem to be every parent's nightmare: several masked jihadis go into a school and indoctrinate the children with jihadi propaganda.

But a new video called Lions of Ramadi released this morning by the Ansar al Sunnah Army in Iraq shows just that.

A twelve-minute clip from the hour-long video shows the masked jihadis going into two classrooms in Ramadi, Iraq, handing out CDs, books, and candy to the children, and then inviting the children to recite Qu'ran and sing jihadi anthems.

The children don't seem to be particularly upset about it - in fact, they seem enthused, raising their hands to participate in the recitations, and eagerly accepting the gifts.

The school doesn't appear to be too upset about it either. At least one of the jihadis is wearing a visitor's batch.

The video may be downloaded here.

 

[3/9/06 Thursday]

[Ralph Peters - author and former Army intelligence officer] 12:03 am [permalink]
Missing N.Y.: Traveling from unit to unit here in Iraq, I've asked New York-area soldiers what three things they miss most about the greatest city in the world. I told 'em not to say "my family," since that's a given for every man and woman in uniform.

Some wouldn't follow orders (make 'em do more push-ups, Sarge), but here's what your fighting fellow citizens had to say from the "boroughs" of Baghdad:

"Penn Station Pizza, the New York Yankees and the Jersey Shore."
- Capt. Matthew Falvo,
Woodbridge, N.J.

"Junior's cheesecake, 24-hour diners and my daughter, Tiarah N. Bruno."
- Spec. April Rountree,
Brooklyn

"Family, being able to enjoy the freedom we have in the U.S. and the smiles on the kids who enjoy the freedom we're here to fight for."
- Spec. Jose Pimentel,
Queens

"Jones Beach, three-hour meals in a nice restaurant and driving my car."
- Capt. Rohin Sharma,
Massapequa

"Culture and activities - there's always something going on in the city. Sidewalks - you'd be surprised how important they are. And bagels - hard to find a good bagel joint in Baghdad!"
- Maj. Dan Koprowski,
Garden City

"My friends and family, the city - it's true, it never sleeps - and the 24-hour restaurants."
- Sgt. Tanasha S. Stachelczyk,
Brooklyn

"Real pizza, family and individualism."
- Staff Sgt. Richard Didymus, Jr.,
Poughkeepsie

Hey, who's your Bagh-daddy, New York?

[3/8/06 Wednesday]

[Jim Kouri - columnist] - 12:05 am [permalink]
Senators Rockefeller and Durbin May Take Polygraph Tests The United States government and its intelligence community are adopting a series of initiatives to discourage government employees from leaking classified information to journalists, The Washington Post reported in its Sunday edition.

The efforts include several FBI probes, a polygraph investigation inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws, the Post said.

During the Bush Administration, a nexus of politicians, government workers and members of the news media have worked overtime in leaking classified information. From the secret terrorist prisons to the National Security Agency's super-secret surveillance program, intelligence officials and the Bush Administration have had to watch their counterterrorism efforts neutralized for political reasons.

Special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation recently interviewed dozens of employees at the CIA, the NSA and other intelligence agencies as part of an intense and wide-reaching investigation. Many employees who possess security clearances at the CIA, FBI, the Justice Department and other agencies received letters from the Justice Department forbidding them from discussing even unclassified intelligence programs.

But people such as former deputy-undersecretary of Defense Jed Babbin don't think the Justice Department investigators and prosecutors have the guts to indict a US senator. Babbin said it would cause a battle royal on the Hill, if not a constitutional crisis.

He did say however, that any senator or Congressional staffer that holds a security clearance can be asked at any time to take a polygraph. The individual can of course refuse to take the test, but failure to do so is reason to remove that person's security clearance. Babbin further said that Senators Rockefeller, Durbin, and Wyden, and some on their staffs will soon be requested to take polygraphs.

Even FBI field offices are involved in the leaks investigation. For example, special agents from Los Angeles have already contacted Sacramento Bee reporters about their coverage of a terrorism case that was based on classified court documents. In that case, some suspect that court personnel might have leaked the documents to reporters with whom they may have congenial relations.

At CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, their internal security office has been conducting numerous interviews and performing many polygraph examinations of government employees in an effort to discover whether any of them have had unauthorized contacts with reporters, the Post said.

Some media watchers, lawyers and editors told the Post the incidents perhaps represent the most extensive anti-leak campaign in a generation and that they have worsened the already tense relations between mainstream news organizations and the White House.

But it's not only the Bush Administration that is frustrated with all the leaks and news stories. Recently Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA) said straight out that the New York Times, which ran a frontpage story on the top secret NSA spy program, should be prosecuted for their actions.

Some news stories have pointed fingers at Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), co-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, as a possible leaker. Others cited sources that pointed to senate staffers. Still others believe that liberal politicians in both parties are secretly leaking information to the news media for political reasons.

The debate over how much classified information the White House should share with lawmakers flared up when Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) defended himself against charges he leaked sensitive information.

Durbin actually took to the Senate floor to deny accusations that he disclosed classified information on Iraq after CIA Director George Tenet briefed the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 2003, which led many observers to say, "He doth protesteth too much."

But don't expect too much to come from these leak investigations. When the leakers are Democrats, they are called whistleblowers; when they're Republicans they're called leakers. Also, no senator has been disciplined for leaking since 1987, when Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was forced to give up his seat on the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee. It was discovered he leaked classified information to reporters. Now he's on the Senate Judiciary Committee which is currently investigating top secret information regarding the NSA surveillance activities.

[3/7/06 Tuesday]

[Cliff Kincaid columnist] 12:05 am [permalink]
The Media Hypocrites: The suppression of the controversial Muhammad cartoons by the liberal media has exposed their hypocrisy for everyone to see. In the final analysis, when they're scared or being politically correct, they don't really believe in exercising their First Amendment rights. This is called self-censorship.

Deborah Howell, ombudsman for the Washington Post, said that hundreds of readers of the paper had asked why the Post hadn't reprinted the cartoons and said that they "questioned the Post's journalistic courage." But don't worry. She reported that Executive Editor Len Downie made the decision based on "journalistic judgment, not courage."

During an appearance on Wolf Blitzer's CNN show on February 9, conservative commentator William Bennett saw it differently, correctly insisting that "…these mobs have silenced the mainstream media…"

Bennett appeared shortly after CNN had run anti-Semitic cartoons that have appeared in the Arab press.

"If I were a Jew watching what CNN just led in with, I might be a little upset, too," said Bennett. "But CNN doesn't have the solicitude for Jews it has for Muslims. Your policy is not to show these cartoons that were shown in Denmark, but to show one after another of the most anti-Semitic cartoons they could come forward with."

He went on to say, "I don't mean to pick on CNN, just because I work for you. But NBC, 'The New York Times,' other media—[they will show] the Virgin Mary in cow dung, that was fine. We can show that everywhere. Now, the Islamists have won, in that they have intimidated the major news media from showing these cartoons."

Blitzer shot back: "But, you know, on these—showing of these anti- Semitic cartoons, I think you will find that most Israelis, certainly most Jews, want the world to see some of these caricatures, in order to shed some light on what the—images that have been portrayed..."

Bennett noted this is because the Israelis have an open society and believe in "open debate and discussion," in contrast to the situations in most Arab and Muslim countries.

But I thought that CNN and the Post also believed in open debate and discussion. This is apparently not the case when it involves a possible violent reaction from radical Islam.

Our media have shown themselves to be cowards. Shame on them.

To the media we say: spare us any more lectures on the meaning of the First Amendment. [AIM]

[3/6/06 Monday]

[Bill Leonard, contributor, Member CA Board of Equalization] 12:03 am [permalink]
My Nomination for Column of the Year: I try to do a lot of reading. Even so, it is a rare occurrence that I read something in a newspaper that is truly exceptional.

Last week, Dan Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee penned a piece for his California Insider weblog column that I am still thinking about, and I have concluded it deserves special recognition. Dan is known as a chronicler of political baseball in Sacramento. This column is only about politics on the surface; at its core it is a wonderful lesson about economics that would impress Milton Friedman. Those of you who are economics or social studies teachers might consider spending time dissecting this column with your students. What Weintraub does in a few hundred words is more memorable than the hundreds of pages of what I recall wading through for college economics.

His basic thesis is that we need to look for an alternative to employer-managed health care. To illustrate his point, he talks about what life would be like if government mandated that employers sign us up for plans to manage our nutritional needs, or our housing, instead of letting us deal with these decisions and costs on our own as we do now. The result would most certainly be bad food and substandard housing - and probably shortages of both. Why then are we so wedded to the notion that health care consumers need something between them and the providers of the health care? It is exactly the right question to ask -- let the light shine on this column - [Leonard Blog]

[3/3/06 Friday]

[Cliff Kincaid columnist] 12:05 am [permalink]
A Film Worth Seeing With Hollywood set to bestow Oscars on films celebrating alternative lifestyles, are you looking for some wholesome entertainment? Consider taking your family to see Walt Disney Pictures' G-rated IMAX film Roving Mars. It is not only an excellent film, it tells the story of how the federal government can actually get things done. NASA has done something extraordinary in landing two Exploration Rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, on the planet Mars.

IMAX movies are the magnificent films presented on those huge screens. I saw Roving Mars in the National Air and Space Museum Lockheed Martin IMAX theater during a special screening at which director George Butler and producer Frank Marshall appeared. These are Hollywood heavy-hitters who have used their talents in a positive way.

You may begin watching the film and thinking that the pay-off is the look at the Martian surface, but the story of how the NASA team worked together on the mission and erupted into joy when they realized that the Rovers were landing safely is also a big highlight. These are very smart people who worked long and hard to make this mission a success. It makes you appreciate those in the federal government who take their jobs seriously and make America proud. This was a tremendous accomplishment.

Think about the planning that went into landing these spacecraft on Mars. Then think about how they had to plan to make sure that they landed safely. The Rovers had to descend to the planet surrounded by what look like large airbags, in order to cushion their landing and not get damaged or destroyed. Then they had to emerge from the debris, open up their solar panels for energy, and move around taking pictures and samples.

The film of the Martian landscape is combined with animation of other aspects of the mission, giving the audience an amazing eyewitness view of the entire process that landed the Rovers on the red planet. The Rovers, incidentally, are incredible machines that function like complicated robots directed from earth.

While the U.S. currently has two Rovers on Mars, the Chinese are moving forward aggressively with their own space program. I asked NASA Administrator Michael Griffin about this as he arrived for the Roving Mars screening on January 26.

"The Chinese are making a major new initiative in space," Griffin said. "The United States wants to cooperate with everyone but I think we need to cooperate from a position of leadership."

No evidence has been gathered so far to suggest that life ever existed on Mars. But more exploration needs to be done. If everything goes according to plan, Americans could be the first human explorers on the planet later this century. Or the Chinese, who are now planning a Moon landing, could beat us.

The rest of the story is up to us. [AIM]

[3/2/06 Thursday]