Fitzgerald: Mosques behaving badly

"'There are the bloodstains on the wall, and here it is dried on the floor,' says Abu Muhanad as he walks through a torture chamber in a Baghdad mosque where more than two dozen bodies have been found." -- from this news article

A Master-List of Mosques Behaving Badly should be compiled. It should include, from U.S. military records, all the shoot-outs in Iraq (and Afghanistan) with people who fired on American soldiers from mosques, or who ran to mosques in order to avoid capture and used them as places from which to attack Americans (until the Americans stopped, as they eventually did, from holding back).

It should also include all of the mosques in Western Europe that have been found to contain false papers (sometimes in false ceilings, as in the mosque in Milan on Viale Jenner), including forged passports. And don’t forget the mosques that have been discovered to contain AK-47s, explosives, and videocassettes of beheadings of Infidels, and audiocassettes to whip up the Believers to even greater deeds of derring-do against the Infidels. Yes, all that stuff has been found in mosques, that weaponry, those forgeries and counterfeits, those hysterical whippings-up of hatred for Infidels -- see what Saudi-supplied "literature" has been found in American mosques. By now the security services of the Western world are so used to all of that that they practically yawn at what they find, but that the rest of us have to piece it together from a story here and a story there. ....

Murtha-inspired Haditha charges called 'feckless'

By WorldNetDaily

Reinstating or restarting charges against a Marine officer over the military firefight in Haditha, Iraq, in which two dozen Iraqis died could do serious damage to the public's confidence in the military system of justice, according to lawyers for the officer.

"Unlawful command influence is 'the mortal enemy of military justice.' It is the acid that erodes an accused's right to receive a fair trial and the public's confidence in the fairness of the system," says a legal brief filed by lawyers working on behalf of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani.

"Remarkably, throughout the court-martial proceedings in the case, the government utterly failed to apprehend the seriousness of a charge of unlawful command influence. This colossal failure is evidenced by the half-hearted ... way in which it treated the matter ... and the feckless arguments it has presented ... in an attempt to reverse the well-supported and well-reasoned ruling of the military judge," the law firm said.

Chessani had faced charges that he failed to investigate properly the Nov. 19, 2005, incident in which 24 Iraqi men, women and children were killed after U.S. Marines were attacked by insurgents.

The charges – four Marines were charged with murder and another four with not properly investigating the attack – came about after the case was publicized in the media, where it was compared by war critics to the infamous My Lai massacre in Vietnam.

Defense lawyers contend insurgents deliberately attacked the Marines from hiding places where they surrounded themselves with civilians to use as shields. The defense insisted Chessani promptly reported the events to his superiors and that nobody in the chain of command believed there was any wrongdoing on the part of the Marines.

A Time magazine story alleging a massacre by the Marines, according to defense lawyers, was planted by an insurgent propaganda agent. Publishing of the story was soon followed by a May 17, 2006, news conference by Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa. The congressman announced he had been told by the highest levels of the Marine Corps there was no firefight and Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

"All the information I get, it comes from the commanders, it comes from people who know what they're talking about," Murtha told reporters at the time.

But the military judge assigned to the case, Col. Steve Folsom, dismissed the counts June 17 without prejudice, citing defense documentation of unlawful command influence – or the idea that a military judge may be influenced by what a commanding officer may have determined. Under those circumstances, prosecutors then must prove that the influence did not exist.

"The nature of the military makes its system of justice extremely vulnerable to improper influences and pressures; influences and pressures that are systemic in a military command environment," said the appeal brief filed by the Thomas More Law Center, which is defending Chessani.

"This is an important case not only for Lt. Col. Chessani, but for military commanders whose battlefield decisions should not be second-guessed by lawyers and for the military justice system as a whole. Indeed, the Haditha cases have caused a noticeable erosion of public confidence in our military system of justice," said Richard Thompson, president of the Law Center. "Affirming the military judge's ruling will go a long way to restoring the public perception of fairness in the military courts."

The appeal is being heard by a three-judge panel of the Navy and Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals in Washington. The Law Center has requested oral arguments in the case, but that ruling hasn't yet been issued.

Chessani has been under investigation and prosecution since March 2006 for his role at the battalion commander of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines during the battle of Haditha. Of the seven other cases filed after the military investigation, cases against Lance Cpls. Stephen Tatum and Justin Sharratt, Capts. Randy Stone and Lucas McConnell and Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz have been dropped. First Lt. Andrew Grayson has been acquitted, leaving only the case of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich untested in court and the appeal of Chessani's case.

The appeal brief said prosecutors are treating the issue of unlawful command influence as "a simple pushover."

"Indeed, Gen. James T. Mattis, USMC, the former consolidated disposition authority/convening authority responsible for referring the present charges to a general court-martial, testified under oath in this case that he was not concerned with appearances," the law firm said.

However, "It is a very serious matter, one going to the very heart and core of the military justice system."

The appearance of such influence was raised by the fact that Col. John Ewers, who was assigned to develop the prosecution in the case against the Haditha Marines, also was ordered to attend meetings at which members of the military judiciary decided how to handle the cases – multiple times.

"It is without serious contradiction that Col. Ewers' presence at these meetings was for the purpose of providing legal advice," the appeal brief said. "It should be noted that these meetings did not include defense lawyers for any of the accused; Appellee's defense counsel were never invited to any of these meetings, which inevitably took on a prosecutorial atmosphere."

Even Ewers expressed concern about the appearance of influence, at one point during his testimony saying, "I just didn't think it was a particularly good idea for me to get involved on giving advice on these cases. ... Just because from the appearance, in a nutshell."

Folsom's ruling said the government failed to prove that there was no inappropriate influence, resulting in the dismissal of charges.

Jihadis shift attention to war in Afghanistan

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - In the wake of setbacks suffered by Al Qaeda in Iraq, Afghanistan is becoming the preferred destination for Muslims, particularly from Arab nations, seeking to wage jihad against the West.

"You can predict that Afghanistan is reemerging as a battlefield," says Nicole Stracke, a security and terrorism researcher at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center. ....

U.S. at risk of cyberattacks, experts say

The next large-scale military or terrorist attack on the United States, if and when it happens, may not involve airplanes or bombs or even intruders breaching American borders.

Instead, such an assault may be carried out in cyberspace by shadowy hackers half a world away. And Internet security experts believe that it could be just as devastating to the U.S.'s economy and infrastructure as a deadly bombing.

Experts say last week's attack on the former Soviet republic of Georgia, in which a Russian military offensive was preceded by an Internet assault that overwhelmed Georgian government Web sites, signals a new kind of cyberwar, one for which the United States is not fully prepared.

"Nobody's come up with a way to prevent this from happening, even here in the U.S.," said Tom Burling, acting chief executive of Tulip Systems, an Atlanta, Georgia, Web-hosting firm that volunteered its Internet servers to protect the nation of Georgia's Web sites from malicious traffic. "The U.S. is probably more Internet-dependent than any place in the world. So to that extent, we're more vulnerable than any place in the world to this kind of attack," Burling added. "So much of what we're doing [in the United States] is out there on the Internet, and all of that can be taken down at once."....

Energy told to tighten cybersecurity policies

By Katherine McIntire Peters

The Energy Department's inspector general on Thursday released an audit of the department's certification and accreditation procedures for national security information systems that revealed a number of potentially serious weaknesses.

Auditors concluded that the problems were similar to those that led to the theft of classified information at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2006. "In our judgment, the findings in the report suggest the department could be at risk for similar diversions," they wrote.

Specifically, auditors found that the department had not fully developed and implemented adequate cybersecurity policies, and federal and contractor officials did not always use effective mechanisms to monitor the performance of security controls.

Auditors reviewed 65 systems at six major sites, the locations of which were omitted from the public version of the report for security reasons. The systems were managed by various components of Energy, including the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Office of Environmental Management and the Office of Science. Many of the systems reviewed were not appropriately certified and accredited for operation.

Inspectors found that information security officers for 31 of the 56 systems reviewed at five of the sites were granted system administrator access in violation of department policies. Such an arrangement is an inadequate separation of duties that essentially allows employees to supervise and approve their own work, which is why the practice is prohibited. What's more, the practice could be far more widespread, since officials at two sites told auditors similar situations existed for many of their systems that weren't selected for review.

Auditors also found that classified and unclassified systems were operating in the same environment at some locations, which raised the possibility that classified data could be transferred to unclassified computer systems. Additionally, employees at one site were allowed to manually change computer-generated passwords without oversight. User-created passwords are more vulnerable than computer-generated ones, which is why they are not permitted on national security systems.

Besides system risks, auditors found weaknesses in security and contingency planning. One of the most significant problems was that several sites did not have accurate inventories of hardware associated with and permitted for use with various systems.

"As a demonstration of the harm that can be caused by unapproved devices, we specifically identified an unapproved network device during our previous review at the Los Alamos National Laboratory that may have contributed to a significant theft of classified information," auditors noted.

The IG report recommended that Energy update its policies to reflect current security requirements. It also said the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, undersecretary of Energy and undersecretary for science should immediately implement controls to protect classified information systems.

Energy officials concurred. Auditors modified other recommendations after program officials provided more technical data.

"Without improvements, the department lacks assurance that its classified data and systems are secure from both internal and external threats," the auditors wrote.

Complex risks call for well-managed IT solutions

By Robert Charette

Information technology can help agencies meet their most important mission - protecting the public.

Nearly 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson said, "The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government."

According to Jefferson's theory, government's first duty is to manage the public's risk, giving everyone the opportunity to pursue individual happiness — the second duty of good government.

Government manages people's risk in three fundamental ways: first, as a regulator when individuals or businesses impose risks on others; second, as a risk manager, when individuals or businesses cannot manage risk themselves; third, as a provider of services to the public, which often entails risks that the government itself needs to manage effectively.

Consider the Securities and Exchange Commission. Its duty is to protect investors; maintain fair, orderly and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation. Without SEC's regulatory authority, how comfortable would people feel about investing?

Or take the Food and Drug Administration, whose duty is to protect and promote public health. Since May, FDA has tried to track down a salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 1,100 people. No private organization could easily take on that role.

The risks agencies manage today are more varied and complex than Jefferson ever imagined. FDA, for instance, is responsible for monitoring potential dangers involving food, drugs, medical devices, cosmetics and radiation-emitting products, to name a few.

Consider food safety. Risks have changed as the food supply has expanded globally and the amount of imported food FDA regulates has more than tripled in the past decade, straining its ability to conduct adequate inspections. In addition, more foods are genetically engineered, increasing from just one in 1994 to more than 50 today. FDA must ensure they all are safe to eat.

With risks becoming more complex, the use of information technology is essential for managing the public's safety. For instance, to improve health care and reduce costs, the Bush administration set a goal to provide interoperable electronic health records for most Americans by 2014.

While technology can help agencies manage risk, the IT solutions themselves frequently are not managed well. The FBI's first attempt to develop a virtual case file system is one example. The bureau canceled the project in 2005 after repeated budget overruns, missed deadlines and performance issues. The snafu with developing handheld computers to support the Census Bureau's 2010 count is another example. The agency canceled its plan to use the devices when it became clear that it wouldn't be able to properly test them by census time and development costs began to increase.

When the agency announced in April that it would not use handheld computers in the next decennial count, top officials blamed poor communication between the government and its contractor, Harris Corp. But that explanation is merely a euphemism for enterprise risk mismanagement.

With so many IT project blunders, it's not surprising that federal agencies have been slow to embrace enterprise risk management. More businesses, however, are using ERM, a holistic approach to managing the full spectrum of risks. They are integrating strategic, operational, financial and insurance risk management practices to better understand the risks that confront them. That way, risks become transparent to everyone in the organization, and a coordinated and cost-effective approach to managing them is possible.

ERM also helps with managing the strategic and financial risks associated with major IT programs, which many agencies typically don't take into account. At Census, a strategic decision was made to use handheld computers for door-to-door census takers to capture and transmit data for the 2010 count. This was a reasonable decision. But the risks it created — operational, financial, contingency and, especially, how those factors interacted with one another — were not accounted for.

A robust ERM approach would have increased the chances that the bureau's handheld project would have been successful. Given all the types of risks the project faced, however, it is doubtful that even a robust IT risk management plan would have been sufficient to ensure success.

Adopting ERM at a federal agency is much harder than in business. While the fundamental business of government is the management of risk, its basic practice revolves around politics, which is about power and control. Also, identifying risk in government is viewed as a negative. Who wants to be on the Government Accountability Office's high-risk list? So, making myriad risks transparent isn't a priority for most agencies.

Still, launching ERM in government is possible. The best way is to take a middle-out approach that concentrates on managing operational risks - those posed by people, processes and technology. Chief information officers, in cooperation with chief financial officers, are well-placed to begin the process because IT touches on not only operational, but financial and strategic risks, too.

CIOs can help identify the different types of risk IT creates and mitigates. With help from CFOs, they can begin to create the underlying processes necessary to manage risk not only within IT, but throughout the agency.

Agencies will find it progressively difficult to create the complex solutions necessary to protect the public without an agencywide approach to managing risk. Without one, Jefferson's goal of good government — the public's happiness — will be at risk as well.

Requirement to scan all inbound sea cargo sparks security concerns

By Gautham Nagesh

The legislative mandate to scan 100 percent of oceangoing cargo bound for the United States without additional resources could actually reduce security, according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office on Monday.

The 2007 9/11 Act requires the Homeland Security Department's Customs and Border Protection directorate to scan 100 percent of U.S.-bound cargo by 2012, with possible exceptions for specific seaports. According to the report, the requirement could redirect the current focus on high-risk containers.

"Officials from the European Commission and CBP stated that unless additional resources are made available, 100 percent scanning could not be met … it is unclear who will pay for additional resources -- including increased staff, equipment and infrastructure — needed to implement the statutory requirement to scan 100 percent of U.S.-bound container cargo at foreign seaports," the report said.

The 2006 Security and Accountability for Every Port Act required CBP to test the feasibility of scanning 100 percent of U.S.-bound containers. The 9/11 Act then made it a requirement, much like it directed CBP to scan all cargo on passenger planes. More than 11 million containers arrived at U.S. seaports in fiscal 2007, an average of 30,000 per day.

Under the current risk-management system, CBP officers posted at foreign seaports focus on containers at high risk of containing weapons, explosives or other items that could compromise national security. This approach is called targeting.

The method relies on an automated targeting system that assigns a risk score to all cargo shipments before they depart for the United States, based on their shipping information. The system allows agents to identify containers potentially connected to terrorists or other criminals. CBP scans the cargo using nonintrusive inspection equipment, including large-scale imaging machines that use X-rays or gamma rays to create images of the contents. Officers also search the containers before they depart for the United States

"According to CBP and [World Customs Organization] officials, if the scanned images of all containers must be reviewed, the reviews may not be as thorough because customs officers could lose focus due to the sheer volume of work. If images are not properly or thoroughly analyzed, a degradation of security could result," said the report.

A European customs official added that 100 percent scanning also could hinder the flow of international commerce, with the requirement disproportionately affecting trade with developing countries.

In addition to embedding U.S. officials at foreign seaports, CBP is working with international customs organizations to establish common security standards to identify high-risk containers globally. That includes expanding a customs-to-business program that expedites processing for companies that comply with predetermined security measures all along the supply chain. So far, 154 countries have pledged to adopt international customs security standards.

How secure are your systems?

By Allan Holmes

Ever since Congress passed the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act to improve the security of federal networks, security analysts and federal information technology managers have complained that the law has failed to make government systems more secure. The reason, they say, is that it is largely a reporting exercise that agencies must follow certain processes such as certifying and accrediting systems. What it doesn‚'t do is require agencies to measure how secure their systems actually are by taking actions such as conducting penetration tests to identify holes in networks that allow hackers in -- and then fixing them quickly.

For those reasons, security analysts say the report cards agencies receive on their compliance with FISMA are meaningless. In fact, Congress and others have charged that FISMA simply hasn't worked.

To begin a dialogue on potentially better ways to measure how secure an agency's systems are, Nextgov and the SANS Institute, a nonprofit cybersecurity research organization in Bethesda, Md., have teamed up on a Web-based tool. It's designed to provide federal officials a means to compare how secure FISMA says their systems are to what professional security analysts would say. As Alan Paller, director of research at SANS, points out, an agency can get an A on FISMA compliance, but receive an F from security analysts on how secure its systems are.

To find out how your FISMA grade stacks up with a grade that a SANS security consultant would give you, we invite you to take the FISMA vs. Security Perspective Test. The first part of the test grades your compliance with certain FISMA requirements. The second measures how well you follow what security analysts say are some of the best practices to secure systems. You'll receive a grade for each test and at the end you can compare which the two.

After taking the test, let us know your opinions about and insights from the test by going to The Forum to discuss your results and those of others. Just follow the link at the end of the test, or go The Forum by clicking here.

Commission finds U.S. vulnerable to electromagnetic pulse attack

(Compiler's note: I'm telling you this is describing "the big hit" that we must defend against about. rca)

By Katherine McIntire Peters

In the early 1960s, engineers in nuclear weapons testing programs in the United States and the Soviet Union noticed an unexpected phenomenon when warheads were exploded high above the Earth's surface. The electromagnetic fields produced by the detonations often resulted in damage to electrical systems on the ground. One test 400 kilometers above Johnston Island in the South Pacific destroyed a commercial telecommunications system in the Hawaiian Islands 1,400 kilometers away.

Now, a new report by the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack warns that a nuclear attack aimed at crippling the nation's technological backbone could be greater today than it was during the Cold War. Such an attack also would be easier to orchestrate, and potentially more devastating, than a direct hit to a major metropolitan area.

"The electromagnetic pulse generated by a high-altitude nuclear explosion is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences," the commission found.

To thoroughly understand the threat, the commission sponsored analytic tests to examine the specific vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure, including: electric power systems; telecommunications; banking and finance; petroleum and natural gas pipelines; transportation systems; food and water infrastructure; emergency services, space systems; government operations; and communications for keeping the citizenry informed. As a result, the 208-page report details the daunting complexity of modern life.

"The separation of these infrastructures into different domains tends to obscure the real interdependencies that sustain the effectiveness and daily operation of each one," the report found. To illustrate the point, the commission noted that the accidental severing of a single fiber-optic cable in New York City in 1991 resulted in a power failure that blocked 60 percent of phone calls into and out of the city, disabled air traffic control functions in the Washington-Boston flight corridor (the busiest in the nation) and crippled the operations of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"The increasingly pervasive use of electronics of all forms represents the greatest source of vulnerability to attack by EMP. Electronics are used to control, communicate, compute, store, manage and implement nearly every aspect of U.S. civilian systems," the commission reported.

"Should significant parts of the electric power infrastructure be lost for any substantial period of time, the commission believes that the consequences are likely to be catastrophic, and many people may ultimately die for lack of the basic elements necessary to sustain life in dense urban and suburban communities," the report noted. Such is possible, the commission said, because some critical electrical system components are no longer manufactured in the United States, and acquiring them in routine circumstances can take a year.

In July, the House Armed Services Committee received a preview of the report's findings in testimony by William R. Graham, chairman of the commission. "Our vulnerability is increasing daily as our use of and dependence on electronics continues to grow in both our civil and military sectors," Graham said.

"What is significant about an EMP attack is that one or a few high-altitude nuclear detonations can produce EMP effects that can potentially disrupt or damage electronic systems over much of the United States, virtually simultaneously, at a time determined by an adversary," Failure to address the vulnerability could both invite and reward an attack.

Graham noted that an adversary wouldn't have to have long-range ballistic missile capability to deliver an EMP attack. Such an attack could be launched from a freighter off the coast of the United States, using a short- or medium-range missile loaded with a nuclear warhead.

"Iran, the world's leading sponsor of international terrorism, has practiced launching a mobile ballistic missile from a vessel in the Caspian Sea," Graham said. "Iranian military writings explicitly discuss an EMP attack that would gravely harm the United States. While the commission does not know the intention of Iran in conducting these activities, we are disturbed by the capability that emerges when we connect the dots."

The commission found that large-scale, long-term consequences of an EMP attack could be reduced below the level of catastrophe through a coordinated effort by the government and private sector. In November, the commission will report on the progress of protecting the nation from an EMP attack.

Georgia: Terror fears over whereabouts of region's nuclear material

When the breakaway region of Abkhazia split from Georgia in 1993, the world's only known case of enriched uranium going missing was reported after up to 2kg of the potentially devastating material was stolen from a laboratory.

There are now fears that the organised criminal gangs that are rife in the region could exploit the confusion of the current conflict to loot other stocks.

Security services are worried that terrorist organisations such as al-Qa'eda could purchase weapons grade uranium and mix it with a detonator as basic as fertiliser to make a deadly device. While an estimated 15kg of uranium is needed to make a nuclear bomb just a small amount is needed for an unconventional device.

"There is no fear of a nuclear bomb coming out of this region but the bigger danger is that a small amount of uranium combined with conventional explosive terrorists could make a dirty bomb that would make an area the size of the City's Square Mile unusable for 30 or 40 years," said a security source. "The economic impact would be catastrophic." ....

DEVIL SENT DOWN TO GEORGIA

(Compiler's note: Received this material from a friend. rca)

The website is Russian so the captions are in Russian Cyrillic but the photos pretty well speak for themselves. Some gruesome pictures so be forewarned. http://www.navoine.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?p=551

RUSSIA UNLEASHES CHECHEN THUGS THE DOGS OF WAR: A ragtag group of mercenaries from this Vostok Battalion has made its ominous presence known in the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali.

OVER the weekend, photographic proof emerged that the Russians used
murderous Chechen mercenaries to do their dirtiest dirty work in
Georgia: The ragtag unit in question is so vicious that, last April,
Chechnya's Russian-installed "president" demanded it be disbanded.

War snaps taken by Russian photojournalist Arkady Babchenko have been
circulating among intelligence personnel. The shots reveal far more to
the West than Babchenko realized.

Amid photos of the horrors of war, grateful South Ossetians and
triumphant Russian troops, one series leapt out at me as a former intel
officer: Bearded irregulars riding atop Russian-built armored vehicles
(old BMPs, for the military-hardware buffs). The vehicles had been
splashed with white lettering.

What did the scrawls announce to the world? These thugs proudly
proclaimed that they're Chechens serving in the Vostok ("East")
Battalion commanded by Badrudin Yamadaev - who shares a reputation for gangland violence with his brother, Ruslan.

Last spring, mercenaries from the Vostok Battalion indulged in a bloody
gangland shoot-'em-up in the city of Gudermes, near their home turf. The
mafia-on-steroids brutality was too much even for the Chechens (which is
quite a standard). The province's puppet president publicly begged the
Kremlin and its generals to disband the unit.

The generals refused. At the time, their stubborn support for the outlaw
Yamadaev Brothers seemed baffling - a quiet Chechnya was a longstanding
Russian goal. But last week, it all made sense: Putin's military, which
had been planning the invasion of Georgia for many months, intended to
unleash the worst criminals in uniform it had on the Georgian people.

Why?

Two reasons: First, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wants the Georgians to
suffer - to really suffer. And Chechens are the world's subject-matter
experts in atrocities.

Second, this gives the Russian army itself a veil of deniability: When
Putin's spokesmen insist that the Russian military isn't involved in the
worst savagery in Georgia, they're technically telling the truth (if we
don't count air attacks and artillery bombardments), since the Chechen
thugs on their payroll are on the job.

But why would those Chechens paint up their armored vehicles to tell the
world they'd arrived in Georgia? First, they're proud of their fearsome
reputation. Second, they didn't want Russian regulars to mistake them
for the enemy and pull the trigger.

The result?

Contrary to Russian claims that "volunteers" from the North Caucasus
rushed in to aid their South Ossetian brethren, we now have proof that
the Kremlin sent in hired guns. It's no accident that Putin's code-name
for this operation is "Scorched Earth."

And there's plenty else to be outraged about - not all of it Russia's
fault. Images of dead and disfigured Georgian soldiers show them wearing
US-surplus canteens, boots and helmets, or equipped with antique US
anti-tank weapons. After the Georgians did all their tiny country could
to support us in Iraq, all we gave them was cast-off junk - thanks to
Congress and the State Department.

Our military was only allowed to train the Georgians for peacekeeping,
anti-terrorism and small-unit tactics. The Georgians gave us all they
had, and we gave them crap. The Bush administration should hang its
wobbly head in shame.

Meanwhile, Chechen rapists and butchers are celebrating - and picking
over the US gear the Russians captured and didn't even want.

Stories of Russian Atrocities in Georgia Mount: Where's the US Media?

Rick Moran
Giving credit where credit is due, the European wire services AFP and Reuters as well as the BBC, Times of London, and even the Guardian have been giving extraordinarily good coverage on the entire Russian-Georgia conflict.

It was Reuters reporters who first uncovered the fact that the Russians were lying about Georgian attacks on the city of Tskhinvali. The Russians claimed 2000 civilians were killed and the city nearly razed to the ground by Georgia. In fact, Reuters got a couple of reporters in the city and saw immediately that Russia had wildly misstated the number of casualties while downplaying the fact that it was their artillery that did most of the damage.

The BBC has been doing a bang up job reporting on the diplomatic ins and outs - the unbelievable naivete of the French who keep getting the Russians to sign pieces of paper on a cease fire and withdrawal and then promptly ignoring what they just promised to do.

Now the Times Online informs us that Russians have been forcing the people of Gori - an extremely important rail and road junction that is the lifeline for the capitol Tblisi - to leave. And they are killing them if they stay:

"We didn't have any guns, so he shot Georgi in front of me without saying a word," she said. "A neighbour helped me to bury him in our garden and then I just fled."

Manana Galigashvili, 53, whose husband Andrei stared vacantly from a bed behind her, said that Ossetian soldiers had returned later and torched the house. They, too, had left after a soldier threatened to slit their throats.

Frightened refugees told similar stories all over the city of Gori yesterday as the Russian army extended its reach deep into Georgian territory despite a ceasefire agreement signed by President Medvedev that requires them to withdraw.

Troops and tanks moved to within 25 miles (40km) of the capital, Tbilisi, setting up roadblocks and digging in defensive positions in the hills above the highway. A line of tanks faced towards Tbilisi outside the village of Kaspi, a day after soldiers had blown up the railway line linking the capital to Georgia's main port of Poti.

It has been 48 hours since President Medvedev signed an agreement that Russian troops would stop their movements and leave Georgia. But Putin sees no need to obey what is an unenforceable agreement so he continues his threats against the Georgian capitol, putting enormous pressure on President Saakashvili while the world waits and wonders whether Putin will take it upon himself to overthrow the Georgian leader.

But this move on Gori is perhaps the biggest threat to Georgian sovereignty. It basically cuts the country in two leaving the capitol defenseless and desperately in need of relief supplies. The Russians have also apparently blown up a railroad bridge that was a major link to the Black Sea port of Poti. In effect, Tblisi is isolated and ripe for Russian plucking any time they choose.

Back in Gori, the forcible depopulation of a city under threat of death represents an escalation in Russian brutality. So where's the American media? All we are getting from the New York Times is story after story that this is our fault, or Georgia's fault, or NATO's fault - anything but face the fact that Russia is raping and pillaging a tiny neighbor.

The Washington Post is doing slightly better in that they have been on top of the diplomatic representations by the EU and pointing out how incredibly ineffective they have been in getting the Russians to stop. But when it comes to the situation on the ground, the American media is nowhere to be found.

If Reuters and AFP can get the story, one would think our own media would be capable. Instead, for the most part, they seem much more eager to parrot Russian talking points than attempt to tell what is going on in the Caucasus.

Before Salmonella Outbreak, Disease-Ridden Mexican Peppers Repeatedly Stopped at Border

(Compiler's note: Now explain this one more time why the gov't solution to this problem took so long to find. rca)

Fresno, Calif. - Federal inspectors at U.S. border crossings repeatedly turned back filthy, disease-ridden shipments of peppers from Mexico in the months before a salmonella outbreak that sickened 1,400 people was finally traced to Mexican chilies.

Yet no larger action was taken. Food and Drug Administration officials insisted as recently as last week that they were surprised by the outbreak because Mexican peppers had not been spotted as a problem before.

But an Associated Press analysis of FDA records found that peppers and chilies were consistently the top Mexican crop rejected by border inspectors for the last year. ....

U.N.-funded school honors infamous terrorist

....The Al Quds Open University dedicated the ceremony last weekend at a major campus in the West Bank city of Qalqiliya to the memory of female suicide bomber Dalal al-Mughrabi, who led an attack in March 1978 that killed a total of 36 Israelis.

According to a faculty member who helped lead the graduation, the master of ceremonies announced the year's graduation cycle was dedicated to the "hero" Mughrabi, who planned and led an attack in which she and 10 other Palestinians infiltrated Israel by sea, landed on a beach, killed an American photographer and then hijacked and blew up a crowded bus. ....

Corsi rejected '9/11 Truther' arguments

Jerome Corsi, author of the New York Times No. 1 best-seller "The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality," has rejected the arguments from "9/11 Truthers" who allege the U.S. government brought about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

That Corsi supported those theories was an allegation made by the campaign for Barack Obama, the Illinois senator who is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, in a 40-plus-page response to Corsi's book. Obama's campaign staff titled the treatise "Not Fit for Publication," a play on Corsi's earlier best-seller, "Unfit for Command," about John Kerry.

"That the Obama campaign has chosen to portray me as a 9/11 Truther just shows how sloppy and inaccurate the research going into their rebuttal was," said Corsi, a senior staff writer for WND. "Let me make clear that I fully accept and endorse the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission that the Islamic hijackers who flew the airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were the sole cause of the attack." "There is no credible evidence that the U.S. government had any responsibility in the attack and it is irresponsible to suggest otherwise," he said.....

Court: Lesbians' desires trump doctors' religious rights

A state Supreme Court today ruled that constitutional freedom of religion does not permit doctors to refuse services to homosexual clients, even when those services would violate doctors' moral and religious convictions.

In a unanimous decision, the California State Supreme Court ruled against two Christian doctors at a San Diego area fertility clinic who refused to provide a medical procedure for artificial insemination to a lesbian couple.

According to court documents, the doctors claimed their religious convictions prohibited them from using intrauterine insemination (IUI) on any unmarried woman, regardless of sexual orientation.

The court, however, agreed with the lesbian couple that Dr. Douglas Fenton and Dr. Christine Brody had refused the treatment because of the lesbian couple's homosexuality and ruled that in doing so, the doctors violated California's Unruh Civil Rights Act.

Some lauded the decision as a victory for civil rights, while others lamented it as a loss of basic constitutional freedoms. ....

Report: Snipers sparked Russian-Georgian war

(Compiler's note: Most interesting. rca)

Sources in Georgia say the massive Russian onslaught into South Ossetia was prompted by Georgian snipers who apparently were picking off separatists in response to the killing of seven Georgian peacekeepers, then ran into a team of Russian peacekeepers and killed all but three, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

It happened in the days before Aug. 7, when Russian forces penetrated sovereign Georgian territory, the highly reliable sources said. South Ossetians, under fire from Georgian snipers, were not aware of where the shots were coming from and began shelling Georgian positions outside South Ossetia.

But the fleeing Georgians killed a number of Russian peacekeepers, triggering the conflict, according to the Georgian sources. ....

For years, Russian peacekeepers have occupied the so-called conflict areas of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, both of which are are recognized by the international community as belonging to Georgia. Up until the latest flare-up, Georgian peacekeepers worked with Russian peacekeepers to police the conflict regions.

Knowing of the Russian troop buildup and the warnings issued the month before, the question arises as to why the Georgians responded to initial South Ossetian artillery fire with its own that hit the South Ossetian capital.

Some analysts suggest that the Georgian government did not think the Russians would go beyond South Ossetia, since there had been prior skirmishes between Georgian and South Ossetian forces.

Other analysts, however, suggest that it may have been a calculated effort to force Russia's hand and thereby draw attention from the West to Georgia's relations with Russia and desire to be part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO.

U.S. gives flak jackets to terrorist-saturated forces

Part of multimillion dollar taxpayer-funded training program

....

The U.S. flak jacket transfer is part of a larger, multimillion-dollar American training program for Fatah forces.

Since the late 1990s, the U.S. has run training bases for PA militias. The U.S. also has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid and weapons to build up the PA militias.

U.S.-run courses are currently training a new advanced police force billed as the most professional, capable Palestinian security force ever assembled. The police units are being built up to assume security control of the West Bank following the planned creation of a Palestinian state and any Israeli evacuation from the territory.

The U.S. runs training bases for the PA police in the West Bank city of Jericho and also at U.S.-operated bases in the Jordanian village of Giftlik.

Gen. Keith Dayton, the U.S. security coordinator to the Palestinian territories, last year initiated the U.S. taxpayer-funded advanced program, which trains 500 to 600 PA cadets at a time at the American bases.

The course in Jordan lasts for three months and includes training in the use of weapons, conducting ambushes, fighting street crime, fighting terrorism and dealing with hostage situations, among other things, according to informed security officials.

After the cadets successfully complete the training in Jordan, the students continue with more advanced training courses at the U.S.-run base in the West Bank city of Jericho. ....

Shock admission: Italy made deal with terrorists

Ex-president reveals nation allowed bases, free movement for jihadists in secret pact

JERUSALEM – In an astonishing admission, the former president of Italy has confirmed his country provided Palestinian terror groups with sanctuary and the ability to establish internal bases in a secret pact in which the terrorists pledged not to target Italian interests.

"I always knew, though not by official documents and information kept from me, about the existence of an agreement based on 'don't harm me and I won't harm you' between the Italian Republic and organizations such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the PLO," Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga revealed in a letter to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Cossiga was responding to an interview the newspaper conducted last week with Bassam Abu Sharif, a top Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP, leader who claimed Italy provided his group in the 1970s with safe haven in a non-aggression pact. ....

U.S. Hospitals Take Mexican Drug Casualties

By: Phil Brennan

Mexico's war on drugs is costing American taxpayers big bucks, as the U.S. government is bringing Mexican casualties from the conflict to hospitals north of the border and paying for medical treatment.

According to The Los Angeles Times, El Paso’s Thomason Hospital has treated 28 victims of the Mexican drug war this year, at a cost of about $1 million. The costs are not confined to medical treatment. With the border area becoming a battle zone where drug gangs, seeking to finish the job by pursuing their victims even into hospitals, Thomason has had on occasion been turned into an armed camp.

The Times reported that on three occasions this year, the hospital was placed under maximum security, with local law enforcement providing additional protection for patients, visitors, and employees at the hospital.

Being the only hospital within a 280-mile radius that offers offer state-of-the-art trauma care, Thomason, the Times reported, has become an unwilling treatment center of choice for law enforcement officials and others in the vicinity wounded in Mexico's bloody drug turf battles.

More than 2,000 people have been killed this year, and more than double that number in the 20 months since President Felipe Calderon began deploying 40,000 troops across the country to crack down on narcotics trafficking, the Times recalled.

"We have not accepted these patients. They are brought here. We are mandated by law, federal law, to provide care, a medical assessment and treatment," James Vilenti, Thomason hospital's president and CEO, told KFOX-TV. ....

The War on Terror - War or metaphor?

(Compiler's note: This one is a "must read." So check out the original article for "the rest of the story." rca)

Prof. Jefferey F. Addicott*

I. INTRODUCTION

In remarks given in November of 2007, President George W. Bush, reminded the Congress that the United States of America remained in a state of war – the so-called War on Terror: “We are at war – and we cannot win this war by wishing it away or pretending that it does not exist.”[1] Considering the fact that President Bush never wavered in this view, his remarks came as no surprise. Nevertheless, even seven years after the al-Qa’eda terror attacks of September 11, 2001, there are many who still refuse to accept the premise that the United States is in a state of war. For them, the term “War on Terror” has nothing to do with a real international armed conflict; it is merely a metaphor, similar to the Johnson era “war on poverty” or the Reagan era, “war on drugs.”

According to their reasoning, since there is no “war,” terrorists should be dealt with in the same manner as they were prior to September 11, 2001, by the domestic criminal process.

Undoubtedly, the friction between those who believe that the War on Terror is a real war and should be fought under the international law of war verses those who do not has created deep fissures in the legal community and, by extension, in society as a whole. While individual citizens of every vocation in life are certainly entitled to their personal opinions on the matter, what ultimately resonates in a representative democracy is what the government asserts. In short, does the executive, legislative, and judicial branch of the United States government view the War on Terror as a real war? In other words, if one accepts the premise that the United States is in a state of war, then various actions taken by the government, e.g., the use of military commissions, targeted killings, and detention facilities is perfectly legitimate. On the other hand, if one does not accept the premise that the War on Terror is a real war, then a very strong case can be made in a number of arenas of interest that the United States has engaged in activities that clearly violate both domestic and international law. ....

Consequences of approaching the matter from a law of war perspective include not only a plethora of policy and legal challenges, many not yet fully appreciated, but also confusion from the general population. Unfortunately, this state of confusion often emanates from the government itself, particularly when it sends mixed signals in terms of where it chooses to prosecute al-Qa’eda terrorists. If al-Qa’eda terrorists are unlawful enemy combatants and the United States is at war, then all should be treated as such and tired (sic) by military commissions and not by domestic federal courts, e.g., Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE -- Chain Migration Puts Nearly Everybody In Line To Overwhelm U.S. Communities

As soon as we take a single skilled immigrant from a developing nation, around 17 different families may be put in line to follow because of our reckless Chain Migration policies. Our immigration policies literally "take a village" every time a new Anchor Immigrant is admitted to this country. ....

U.K.: Jihadist cell may have been plotting to attack Queen, other royals

Aabid Khan Update. "Islamic terror cell 'may have been plotting to attack Queen'," by Duncan Gardham for the Telegraph, August 18:

A terror cell caught with details of bomb-making and suicide vests may have been plotting to attack the Queen and members of the Royal family, it can be disclosed.

The cell, which included Britain's youngest ever terrorist, arrested on his way home from his GCSE chemistry exam, was found with information about the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh along with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex and the Princess Royal.

Also on the list were Princess Michael of Kent, The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and The Duke and Duchess of Kent.

Aabid Hussain Khan, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, had compiled pictures, maps and details of the opening hours of official residences from information available on the internet. ....

Covert Screener Testing Still Problematic; Managerial Problems Linger

‘TSA is limited in its ability to use covert test results to strengthen aviation security’

Last November, investigators for Congress’ investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), disclosed that they repeatedly were able to smuggle liquid bomb and incendiary explosives components through dozens of airport screening checkpoints.

Once on board a plane, HSToday.us noted in its report, “TSA, Legislators Lock Horns Over GAO Getting Explosives Past Screeners,” some of these components could have been assembled in as little as ten minutes and, if they had been successfully detonated, potentially have caused a “catastrophic” explosion, two senior GAO officials told lawmakers.

The GAO investigators told lawmakers they were able to slip past airport security screeners with liquid bomb-making components 19 times last year, and in 2006, got past screeners 21 times with incendiary devices and bomb detonators that could have “caused not insignificant explosions,” as one of the GAO investigators involved in the covert testing explained.

While the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has designed and implemented risk-based national and local covert testing programs to achieve its goals of identifying vulnerabilities in, and measuring the performance of, the aviation security system, and has begun to determine the extent to which covert testing will be used in non-aviation modes of transportation, a more recent GAO audit determined that TSA’s Office of Inspection (OI) “did not systematically record the causes of test failures or practices that resulted in higher pass rates for tests.” ....

OFAC adds more Iranian WMDs

The Office of Foreign Asset Control, OFAC, has named a number of Iranian entities as SDN/NPWMDs in connection with their reported contribution to Iran's Weapons of Mass Destruction nuclear programme. If you bank clients in the nuclear energy industry, even if only as suppliers of equipment, it is strongly suggested that you ensure that your clients are not, even indirectly, doing business with any of these companies. Note well that all of these firms are also known by their acronyms and/or other names. If you are unsure, go directly to the complete OFAC text, which appears at the bottom of this article.

The designated firms:

• ESFAHAN NUCLEAR FUEL RESEARCH AND PRODUCTION CENTRE, a/k/a NERPC (has several alternative names) [World-Check UID 588163 ]
  

• JABBER IBN HAYAN RESEARCH DEPARTMENT a/k/a JHL [World-Check UID 584120]
  

• JOZA INDUSTRIAL COMPANY [World-Check UID 815552]
  

• NUCLEAR RESEARCH CENTRE FOR AGRICULTURE AND MEDICINE a/k/a NRCAM [World-Check UID 584109]
  

• SAFETY EQUIPMENT PROCUREMENT COMPANY a/k/a SEPCO [World-Check UID 815548]
  

The complete text of the OFAC notice appears at:

http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/actions/20080812.shtml

Will terrorist financiers and money launderers take advantage of South Ossetia hostilities?

For those of you who are watching the disturbing developments in South Ossetia and Georgia; note well, whenever there is armed conflict resulting in civilian casualties and refugees, the United Nations and private charities are not the only one who react. Money launderers, particularly those involved in terrorist financing operations, look upon these as opportunities. Let's look at the types of activities they typically engage in as they seek to take advantage of the chaos and urgent needs in the aftermath of war.

Compliance officers at international banks whose clients often include charities might want to raise the level of awareness of their staff to financial crime by using these illustrations:

• Terrorist financiers divert desperately needed air relief, food and supplies whilst it is en route to the region. I personally would be watching the accounts and assets of Kurdish charities, particularly those linked to the PKK terrorist organisation, for an increase in activity.
  

• Small and previously obscure EU charities specialising in the Caucuses could be co-opted by terrorist groups, to then make a broad-based appeal for funds for South Ossetia, which, of course, never reach the needy.
  

• Financial professionals working for terrorist organisations might obtain large amounts of relief donations by using the name of a charity or NGO that is deceptively similar to that of a known, bona fide entity. Given the diplomatic and military support rendered to Georgia in the recent past by America, I would look for a terrorist financing group to try to raise funds inside the United States, properly assuming that donors would not vett the entity too closely, due to their emotional response to the Russian attack.
  

The other emerging threat is that money launderers, operating in the region for narcotics traffickers, will seek to move the proceeds of crime by disguising the wire transfers as relief funds in transit, hoping that compliance officers will not investigate in the rush to get relief to the injured, wounded and displaced refugees.

Remember, the emergency nature of the emerging South Ossetia/Georgia refugee problem operates to interfere with normal customer identification, due diligence and overall compliance functions.

NATO won't let Russia succeed in Georgia: Rice

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday that Russia is playing a "very dangerous game" with the U.S. and its allies and warned that NATO would not allow Moscow to win in Georgia, destabilize Europe or draw a new Iron Curtain through it.

On her way to an emergency NATO foreign ministers meeting on the crisis, Rice said the alliance would punish Russia for its invasion of the Georgia and deny its ambitions by rebuilding and fully backing Georgia and other Eastern European democracies.

"We have to deny Russian strategic objectives, which are clearly to undermine Georgia's democracy, to use its military capability to damage and in some cases destroy Georgian infrastructure and to try and weaken the Georgian state," she said.

"We are determined to deny them their strategic objective," Rice told reporters aboard her plane, adding that any attempt to recreate the Cold War by drawing a "new line" through Europe and intimidating former Soviet republics and ex-satellite states into submission would fail.

"We are not going to allow Russia to draw a new line at those states that are not yet integrated into the trans-Atlantic structures," she said, referring to Georgia and Ukraine, which have not yet joined NATO or the European Union but would like to.

Rice could not say what NATO would eventually decide to do to make its position clear but said the alliance would speak with one voice "to clearly indicate that we are not accepting a new line."....

In God We Trust

Hurry...NBC is taking a LIVE poll on "In God We Trust"

Here's your chance to let the media know where the people stand on our faith
in God as a nation. NBC is taking a poll on "In God We Trust" to stay on our
American currency. Please send this to every Christian you know so they can
vote on this important subject. Please do it right away, before NBC takes
this off the web page.

Poll is still open so you can vote. As of 6:24 p.m. on 8/17, the results
were 50/50.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/

Georgia Takes a Beating in the Cyberwar With Russia

Warfare is not just kinetic in today's cyber connected world. Here is an overview of Russia's cyber-attack in recent dust-off with Georgia.

Here also is a posting on Wired.com blog how other former Soviet satellites helped Georgia function during the recent cyber attack. It does not bode well for them as Russia appears determined to reassert dominance over the region.

They Fought and Must Now Fight Again!

By CHELSEA J. CARTER

IRVINE, Calif. — A former Marine sergeant facing the first federal civilian prosecution of a military member accused of a war crime says there is much more at stake than his claim of innocence on charges that he killed unarmed detainees in Fallujah, Iraq.

In the view of Jose Luis Nazario Jr., U.S. troops may begin to question whether they will be prosecuted by civilians for doing what their military superiors taught them to do in battle.

Nazario is the first military service member who has completed his duty to be brought to trial under a law that allows the government to prosecute defense contractors, military dependents and those no longer in the military who commit crimes outside the United States.

“They train us, and they expect us to rely back on that training. Then when we use that training, they prosecute us for it?” Nazario said during an interview Saturday with The Associated Press. ....

“This boils down to one thing in my mind: Are we going to allow civilian juries to Monday-morning-quarterback military decisions?” said Nazario’s attorney, Kevin McDermott. ....

Nelson and Weemer were jailed in June for contempt of court for refusing to testify against Nazario before a federal grand jury believed to be investigating the case. Both were released July 3 and returned to Camp Pendleton.

Lee ADDS: This is a direct result of Rep. John Murtha interfering with matters he has no business doing. First the Marine Corps held a trial and all were aquitted and now Murtha wants another bite at the apple. Our military should not be subjected to ‘third basing’ by anyone or anybody!

The Iran Scenarios

by Alan Caruba

These days you can read as many different scenarios regarding the likelihood that Israel will attack Iran’s nuclear facilities as there are experts putting them forth. History, past and present, may have already written the script.

....Militarily, Iran would prove to be an extremely difficult nation to invade or conquer. Thus, an Israeli strike would be limited to destroying or at least significantly delaying Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions. At issue is when Iran would be capable of manufacturing and delivering its own nukes.

The next question to be answered is what benefit Iran’s leaders would perceive in launching a nuclear attack on Israel? Any use of nuclear weapons by any nation would come with a huge price. Iran is already a pariah nation despite its oil.

Since 1979 the Iran government has deemed the U.S. the Big Satan and Israel the Little Satan. When people spend nearly 30 years shouting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”, history teaches that it is folly to ignore them or to suggest reasons to believe that it’s just bluster....

An Israeli attack, if followed by the collapse of the Iranian regime, would likely result in a relatively brief disruption in the flow of oil from the Middle East. The opening of the Strait of Harmuz would become an international priority, nor is the U.S. likely to be seriously affected because it imports much of its oil from Canada, Central and South America. It would surely increase the growing demands to open up ANWR in Alaska and authorization of off-shore oil exploration.....

A new government, even one led by Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, is not likely to take on the huge risks involved in an attack on Iran without explicit reassurances of U.S. approval and possible involvement. The problem for Israel is that such an attack would trigger war by a heavily rearmed Hezbollah based in Lebanon and a Gaza-based Hamas.

The irony is that all of Iran’s Arab neighbors would love to see Iran removed as an obstacle to peace in the region. Moreover, Iran represents Shiite Islam whereas other Muslim nations with the exception of Iraq are the majority Sunni sect. No love loss there.

Speculation will exist as long as the ayatollahs and the crazed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remain in power. In the end, like the sudden invasion of Georgia, the issue will be resolved by action, not talk.

Police investigating whether man died from police Taser

(Compiler's note: Is it just me or what? I'm becoming very tired of hearing about and watching our police and their "liberal" use of a weapon that can kill. The weapon should be used to help control NOT to deliver a form of punish the individual on the spot.)

....According to Severence, police told Oliver to get down and put his hands behind his back. Apparently, Oliver didn't put his hands behind his back quick enough and Severence said he watched police use a Taser three times. "They Tased him three different times. They just kept Tasing him. I told the police, 'You're going to kill that man,' so after they did it a third time, I just walked away," said Severence.

Severence said his friend saw police shock Oliver a fourth time.

Edwin Oliver said his brother has pins in his shoulders, which make it too difficult to put his arms behind his back. "He can't put his hands behind his back," he explained, "and they just start tasing him and tasing him until they killed him, and, you know, it's sad, it's so many incidents in South Florida with these Tasers, trigger-happy Tasers, and they're killing people and they try to justify it."

Oliver was pronounced dead at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Family and friends say Oliver had a heart condition and that is probably why he was wandering the streets asking for help.....

Arab world fears an Iran war may be impending

DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources report that the Iranian satellite carrier space launch Sunday, Aug. 17, was prompted by a joint caution to Tehran from Saudi King Abdullah and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

After their meeting Saturday, the spokesman of the presidential palace in Cairo, Suleiman Awwad, said: Iran should not present on a silver platter the “justifications and pretexts for those [US and Israel] who want to drag the region down a dangerous slope.”

This warning was interpreted by the London Arabic daily Al Quds as a warning to Tehran that an attack is impending by the US, some European nations and Israel.

The article recalled the fate of Saddam Hussein “who didn't adequately refute claims over Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction.”

Tehran immediately responded to the warning by launching the Safir satellite carrier into orbit, thereby exhibiting a ballistic missile capable of reaching outside the Middle East, as far as Britain and France, should they decide to join an American attack on Iran, as well as US military installations on that continent.

Our military sources report that the war scare in Cairo and Riyadh also infected Kuwait.

Last week, the small oil emirate placed its military on “war alert,” to avoid being caught off-guard by a possible conflict in the region. On Saturday, Kuwait boosted its naval force in the Persian Gulf to ward off a possible Iranian reprisal against its oil installations if attacked.

The scare was fed by the impending arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the USS Ronald Reagan, and the USS Iwo Jima in the Persian Gulf to reinforce the US strike forces in the region, as first revealed by DEBKAfile on August 11.

They are to join the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is patrolling the Arabian Sea opposite Iran, and the USS Peleliu, on beat in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. This deployment would be the largest naval task force the US and its allies had massed in the region since the 1991 Gulf War.

A US Pentagon spokesman last week denied that these forces were gathering to impose a partial naval blockade on Iran, but declined to disclose their mission. The denial apparently failed to convince the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Kuwait.

Russia says withdrawal from Georgia underway

....

The statement came amid uncertainty about whether Russia was fulfilling its promise of a military withdrawal from Georgia, with earlier media reports from the ground indicating Russian forces were not showing any sign of moving out.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said his country's troops would begin pulling back from their positions in the former Soviet republic on Monday, but he gave no firm deadline for completion of the withdrawal.

Russian tanks moved even deeper into Georgia on Sunday, digging in at a checkpoint barely 30 kilometres west of the capital, Tbilisi, the CBC's Mike Hornbrook reported from the city.

By midday Monday, residents of the central Georgian city of Gori were still waiting for Russian forces to begin their promised pullout.

Meanwhile, Russian troops set up new checkpoints along the main road from Gori to the capital, Reuters reported. ....

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf resigns

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced Monday that he will resign, just days ahead of impeachment in parliament over attempts by the U.S.-backed leader to impose authoritarian rule on his turbulent nation. ....

Musharraf dominated Pakistan for years after seizing power in a 1999 military coup, making the country a key strategic ally of the U.S. by supporting the war on terror. But his popularity at home sank over the years. ....

Read this SkyNews report for additional information

Libya to receive reparations for Reagan air strike

(Compiler's note: I'll bet the gov't wants to keep this one as quiet as possible. I had to read the first paragraph three times myself ... you may want to read the entire original article)

By Chelsea Schilling

Despite 189 American lives lost in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, the U.S. settled all lawsuits against Libya for terrorist killings and restored diplomatic relations with the country today – with reparations to be paid to Libya. ....

An Associated Press report reveals that foreign companies conducting business in Libya – including U.S. companies – will begin paying into a fund to award damages to both Libyan and American claimants. ....

When WND asked the State Department spokeswoman if oil companies would have any part in paying reparations, she said, "I don't have any information on that, but it has been established. I have no information on what the financial agreement will be or the financial compensation that will be paid."

While Thompson said Libyans will receive a settlement as part of the agreement, she declined to reveal the source of the money.

"None of this will be U.S. government funding," she said.

The State Department has provided little information about the agreement. It issued a short press release stating only the following:

The United States and Libya concluded a comprehensive claims settlement agreement on August 14 in Tripoli. Both parties welcomed the establishment of a process to provide fair compensation for their respective nationals, and thereby turn their focus to the future of their bilateral relationship. They also underscored the benefits an expansion of ties would provide for both countries as well as for the American and Libyan peoples.

The U.S now plans to open an embassy in Tripoli, confirm a U.S. ambassador to Libya and grant Gadhafi's government immunity from more terror-related lawsuits, according to the Associated Press. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to visit Libya before the year's end. ....

"This is done after the murder of my innocent daughter and 270 people killed," she said. "Gadhafi was the one who was behind the attack on that disco, and Reagan responded. Does that mean the Republican administration is saying that Ronald Reagan and Gadhafi are equivalent terrorists?"