Israel Unleashes First 'Skunk Bomb'

By David Hambling

Possibly because of excitement over the Russia-Georgia conflict last month, little attention was given to a new development in chemical warfare – the first use by the Israeli police of a new, smelly weapon to disperse demonstrators:

Israeli police say the new crowd-control method, which they call a "skunk bomb," was used for the first time Friday in the village of Naalin. Palestinians have been holding almost daily protests against a security barrier that Israel is building in the area.

Israeli police say a water-spraying device showered the liquid on the demonstrators, forcing most to rush off to change their clothes.

The weapons are described as an improvement over the rubber bullets and tear gas used previously, and "medical and legal authorities approved the use of the foul-smelling liquid."

According to the Jerusalem Post, "some demonstrators described the smell as similar to that of sewage, adding that it was hard to get rid of, even after a shower."

We've been waiting for this – Noah noted when the Skunk was developed in 2004. According to a report in the UK's Independent newspaper, the chemical involved is an artificial version of skunk liquid:

The foul-smelling liquid squirted by angry or frightened skunks at their victims was analyzed by Israeli defence scientists and a synthetic version created for use in a weapon they call the "skunk bomb". Fired with great care, and from a respectable range, it is designed to force civilian protesters to disperse. Security forces would not be keen to arrest the victims, and they would be equally unwelcome at home.

This may signal a shift towards classifying so-called malodorants as "riot control agents." There is a whole legal dance around the use of non-lethal chemicals, and the US Army has shown a strong interest in deploying them. The new 155mm XM1063 non-lethal artillery round is filled with an unknown chemical agent, and many suspect that this is a malodorant. It is set to go into production – if it is approved – in the next year.

Jason Sigger took exception to my suggestion that the XM1063 might count as a chemical weapon and so technically be banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention. However, the CWC defines a toxic chemical as "Any chemical which through its chemical action on life processes can cause death, temporary incapacitation or permanent harm to humans or animals." So I strongly suspect it would fall under this heading. But America specifically regards Riot Control Agents as being exempt from the CWC. Watch out for revelations about what the XM1063 actually contains, and expect to see lawyers making some money on this one.

Ironic Footnote: Oddly enough, malodorants were used earlier this year by eco-warriors of the Sea Shepherd group, as reported in The Australian:

Captain of the Steve Irwin Paul Watson denied any attack on the Yushin Maru No. 3, saying he had not even seen such a boat.

But he confirmed the group launched a “retaliatory strike” of butyric acid “stink bombs” at the Yushin Maru No. 2, about one hour after activists Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane were transferred to the Australian customs boat, the Oceanic Viking.

Islamic finance needs original structures, not copycats, says scholar

By BusinessIntelligence-Middle East staff

INTERNATIONAL. Shariah banking needs to develop more of its own products and avoid imitating conventional financial instruments in structures that compromise the spirit of Islam, a leading religious scholar has said.

Shariah instruments have to satisfy Islam’s objective of ethical and equitable investing while retaining a commercial proposition that can draw investors who plough in funds with the aim of reaping returns.

Scholars say Islamic bankers sometimes tailor Shariah instruments according to market demands to ensure they can be more easily sold as Islamic assets vie for investors that also have access to a wider range of conventional banking products.

“People tend to, to a certain extent, dilute some of the principles or objectives of certain contracts in order to accommodate conventional features,” Mohamed Akram Laldin told Reuters in an interview.

For example, in the Mudaraba partnership contract where the bank provides capital finance for a venture, the parties are required to share the profits but the bank bears any monetary loss. However, this is sometimes tweaked as investors demand capital protection, he said.

Akram cited the diminishing Musharaka and Takaful, or Islamic insurance, as examples of pure breed Islamic products that are not derived from conventional finance.

The diminishing Musharaka is a partnership where a bank gradually reduces its equity in a project and ultimately transfers ownership of the asset to the participants.

The US$1 trillion Islamic finance industry is growing 10% to 15% a year mainly because of a deluge of Middle East oil money. But religious scholars are worried that some industry practitioners could be watering down the strict requirements of Islamic law in a quest to broaden the sector’s appeal.

The Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions, or AAOIFI, a body that sets Islamic financial standards across the Middle East, rocked markets last year when it said 85% of Islamic bonds did not comply with Islamic law because of repurchase agreements.

Most Islamic bonds have been sold with a repurchase undertaking, a promise that the borrower will pay back their face value at maturity, or in the event of a default, mirroring the structure of a conventional bond. AAOIFI said this promise contravenes the obligation to share risk in the case of several types of Islamic bonds. The bonds should be bought at market value at maturity.

Akram, a Jordan and UK-trained scholar who has been involved in religious teaching for about 13 years, said the Islamic industry’s tendency to copy conventional instruments stemmed from a lack of experts skilled in both the Shariah and finance.

“We have this gap in the market, between the Shariah practitioners and market practitioners in terms of knowledge as well as exposure,” said Akram who sits on various Shariah advisory boards including HSBC Amanah.

“The result of this is you can see that there is a lot of conventional products that are being ‘Islamised’ because most of the product development team are people from conventional [markets] which have conventional practice.”

Shariah advisers are a small and influential breed, sitting on the Islamic boards of institutions and ruling on whether or not proposed Islamic products meet the Shariah conditions.

Global War on Terrorism: Reported Obligations for the Department of Defense

Since 2001, the US Congress has provided the Department of Defense with about $807 billion in supplemental and annual appropriations, as of September 2008, primarily for military operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT).

The DOD's reported annual obligations for GWOT have shown a steady increase from about $0.2 billion in fiscal year 2001 to about $139.8 billion in fiscal year 2007. The United States' commitments to GWOT will likely involve the continued investment of significant resources, requiring decision makers to consider difficult trade-offs as the nation faces an increasing long-range fiscal challenge. ....

U.S.-Canada border training simulates dirty-bomb attack

SWEETGRASS - A simulated attempt to smuggle a dirty bomb into the United States using the railroad drew a massive cross-border response here, testing the ability of state, federal and provincial agencies to react to an act of terrorism.

Six months in the planning and at a cost of $20,000, Thursday’s exercise involved eight Canadian agencies, seven federal agencies, seven state agencies and the Montana National Guard. ....

Border Scanners

TUCSON, AZ -- When it comes to border security the first line of defense is at the port of entry.

Now agents at the border will have a device which can detect radiation.

The goal of such a device is detect a "dirty bomb."

At the I-19 checkpoint just south of Tubac, Arizona Border Patrol agents are using a device that acts as an added layer of security.

It's called the Personal Radiation Device.

The agency began using the small black box in 2003. ....

Disaster Planning

By Marcia Hartman, MS

Four years after the transformative events of Sept. 11, 2001, the natural disasters of 2005 hit home the fact that domestic disaster preparedness isn't where we thought it would be. Not a day passes without a media article or news program mentioning disaster preparedness by the business community or government agencies.

The media frequently mentions radioactive "dirty bombs" as an ongoing threat. If a terrorist event occurs where you live (or even within 100 miles of your location), your hospital could receive victims. Typically only tertiary medical centers have on-staff health physicists to assist their emergency department (ED) in planning for this threat. The ED staff at most hospitals look to their diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine and radiation oncology professionals to provide advice for hospital policies and procedures and to guide them through the initial response.

Jerrold T. Bushberg, PhD, a clinical professor of radiology and radiation oncology at the University of California Davis Medical Center who has responded to radiological medical emergencies and provided response training to hospital staff, suggests several ways for medical professionals to increase their knowledge of disaster preparedness and aid the ED in planning. "Read and understand your hospital's radiological emergency management plan," says Dr. Bushberg, who also advises the California and federal Departments of Homeland Security and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on radiological response issues. "If one does not exist or lacks appropriate guidance or detail, participate in revising the plan."

He also suggests getting to know the person at your institution who handles emergency preparedness (EP)-one of seven "Environment of Care" areas evaluated by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Recently, JCAHO designated EP as an area of special emphasis during its inspections, with the commission requiring institutions to conduct at least two drills per year. "Suggest that one of the drills in the next few years center around a radiological emergency," says Dr. Bushberg. "Then participate in the development and execution of drills and/or tabletop exercises."

He urges staff to acquaint themselves with ED personnel and their environment to enable them to feel more comfortable should they participate in an emergency setting. "Beyond whatever technical assistance you may offer in the ED, one of your most important functions is to explain the radiation risks in a way that raises their level of comfort and lowers their level of anxiety," he says, "so that they can effectively focus on their primary mission of critical care."

Another option: participating in a "noon educational conference" on ED management of radiological emergencies. The Medical Response Subcommittee of the Health Physics Society's Homeland Security Committee, which Dr. Bushberg chairs, has prepared a 45-minute PowerPoint presentation on the subject (available at www.hps.org/hsc/responsemed.html) that includes talking points in the "notes section" and can be edited to suit your application.

Dr. Bushberg suggests developing your responses to questions that would likely arise during a radiological emergency event or drill (many of these answers should be in the plan or supporting educational material). Consider the examples below.

ED staff may ask:

Must all patients be decontaminated before treatment in the ED?

How do I know it's safe to treat a contaminated patient?

What dose of radiation can I receive and what is the associated risk?

How can I reduce my dose?

Should I treat contaminated patients if I'm pregnant?

Should I wear a lead apron?

Do we have to close the ED if it's contaminated with radioactive material?

Other clinical care staff such as surgical or pulmonary services may ask:

What special precautions are necessary for us to treat these patients?

What will be required before we're able to treat other patients in these areas?

Evaluate your role in response to a radiological emergency and ask yourself:

Am I fully prepared to provide the services described in the plan?

Could I offer more assistance beyond what is called for in the plan?

Evaluate the radiation safety aspects of the plan and ask yourself:

Are the other radiation experts (e.g., health physicists, radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians and technologists) effectively incorporated into the plan?

Does the radiation safety portion of the plan contain redundancies or gaps?

Finally, Dr. Bushberg recommends keeping abreast of consensus documents that provide recommendations on managing radiological emergencies from authoritative sources such as the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, International Commission on Radiation Protection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the IAEA. Then, make recommendations to modify your hospital's existing plans as necessary. The CDC and IAEA Web sites have considerable reference material available as portable document files.

A terrorist event is, without question, a profoundly disturbing event that no one is eager to contemplate. But response to such a disaster is less stressful if you discuss policies and make decisions before such an event occurs. After policies and procedures are in place, the hospital staff can train and drill with confidence and competence. The alternative involves trying to respond to an event for which no plan is in place, or with a plan that has insufficient detail. Inadequate preparation can needlessly delay patient care and cause avoidable loss of life. The time to act is now.

Marcia Hartman, MS, is a health physicist at the University of California Davis Medical Center and a member of the Medical Response Subcommittee of the Health Physics Society's Homeland Security Committee.

This Bailout Won't Be the Last

From U.S. News & World Report: Money & Business

What's your take on this huge financial bailout?
"It's more of the same. More debt and more inflation and more pressure on the dollar. Ultimately, although the markets are responding very favorably at the moment, I think it is going to be devastating to the dollar and to our financial situation in this country."

But don't we need to get these toxic assets off banks' balance sheets?
"Sure, they need to be removed. Somebody needs to suffer the consequences [but] not the taxpayer. Everybody knows that they have to be removed. They are priced too high. The assets don't have real value—some have zero and some have 10 cents on the dollar.

The people who had been making profits for all these years and dealing in all of this debt creation and derivatives—that now is becoming unwound—are claiming that it would be so painful if somebody went bankrupt and therefore we have to put so much burden on the taxpayer and on the dollar because the alternative is worse. But quite frankly, if they destroy the dollar and the dollar system, then they have a much bigger problem that they are going to have to deal with and it would be the collapse of the whole international monetary system—which is conceivable."

So instead of having taxpayers buy the bad debt, the market should take care of it by itself?
"Sure, prices need to go down. Bad debt needs to be eliminated. The taxpayer ought to be protected. Taxes ought to be lowered...We are following the same routine that we did in the Depression, and that is artificially try to keep prices up. People were starving in the Depression and the only thing they did was try to keep wages artificially high and keep food prices high. We are doing the same thing now—we are trying to keep housing prices high. Low prices for houses mean poor people could buy a house. This is the most important part of a free market economy and that is free market pricing. Without free market pricing, the market can't work. And this is in a way a major effort to price fix."

So you think the government should not have bailed out an y companies during this crisis?
"That would have been the best thing. It would have been painful, but housing prices would have come down sharper and faster, and it would have been over by now. But this whole idea of price fixing—that's what they are doing—has been trying to keep housing prices up and trying to stimulate home building. Well, if you have 100 percent more homes than the market really wants, you can't keep prices up and you can't stimulate home building. If the prices go down, then people will go out and buy homes again. So they should allow the liquidation of debt.

Before the Depression, [the government] generally allowed these kinds of problems to unwind. They were very severe. They would last six months or a year—a lot of liquidation of debt would be wiped off the books. And then it would go back to work again. What we've been doing now—especially since 1971—is preventing the real liquidation of the malinvestment and the excess of debt . . . If this process continues, we're going to own General Motors and Ford, then we will have to own the airlines. We are socializing our country without even a vote by the Congress. It's a horrible situation."

Will this bailout stabilize the crisis?
"I personally don't think so. It might be temporary, but no, there is much more involved. I mean, we are talking about trying to unwind trillions of dollars of derivatives . . . You have to get rid of all that stuff."

Will this bailout be the last?
"No, no. This won't be the last one. There will be something else later on. But that doesn't mean you might not have a few months of a reprieve. But it will continue."

Will we have to bail out the auto makers?
"Oh I think so. We are not going to let them fail. Our policy is such that everybody gets bailed out. It's like a drug addict, they've got to take their fix. It's too tough getting off these drugs. And the drug here is easy credit.

Peaceful demonstrations turn violent in Budapest

Violent clashes erupted between police and far-right extremists in Hungary Saturday after thousands of radicals joined by worried Roma rallied in Budapest, police said.

About 200 participants in an earlier far-right demonstration vandalised parked cars and restaurant terraces on Budapest's main Andrassy Avenue as police tried to drive them out of the city centre.

Police moved in on the extremist demonstrators after a group had attacked people leaving from the previous anti-racist demonstrations.

Eight people were taken into custody, a police spokeswoman said, adding that there were no reports of injuries. ....

Expats call for war on extremists

Al Ain: Pakistanis living in the UAE have asked for declaring a full fledged war against militants who have been mercilessly killing innocent people in different parts of Pakistan.

The devastating blast at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad has shocked the community that expressed its feeling of desperation and anger on the huge destruction and loss of innocent human lives in the incident.

"The government must end its reservations, if any, and take a stern action against militants," said Badar Iftekhar, a prominent Pakistani businessman in Al Ain. He said this has become a war of Pakistan and the international community should cooperate with Islamabad instead of pressurising its new administration.

---

According to Akram Farooqi, a prominent Pakistani community leader in the UAE, "the international community must come forward to help Pakistan instead of criticising our efforts against terrorists."....

SHAM bill -- H.R. 6899...MUST READ

"They want to pretend to be for drilling just enough to win the election but not do anything to actually produce more oil and gas." - Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich

The American people, struggling because gasoline still costs too much at the pump, asked Congress to provide real solutions. By an overwhelming majority, the American people chanted the mantra "Drill Here, Drill Now" and pleaded with Congress to lift the moratorium on domestic drilling.

But instead of heeding the call, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, just perpetrated a SHAM that may well turn out to be one of the cruelest hoaxes EVER played on the American people.

On Monday, just before 10 o'clock in the evening, Pelosi submitted a previously unseen 294-page bill to Congress and using procedural shenanigans available to the Speaker of the House, she demanded a vote take place within 24-hours. And on Tuesday evening, 15 Republicans joined 221 Democrats to actually PASS THIS FRAUD ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!

No amendments were allowed and only limited debate took place.

But wait! It gets worse.

Pelosi claims her bill was a compromise... a change of heart that ALLOWS off-shore drilling.

What Madame Pelosi didn't tell you (and what the liberal media isn't reporting) is that her SHAM bill -- H.R. 6899, the so-called "Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act" -- only allows drilling in those areas where THERE IS NO OIL and effectively extends the moratorium on domestic drilling where THERE IS OIL ! What Madame Pelosi also didn't you -- other than the fact that the bill does the EXACT OPPOSITE of what she says it does and effectively CUTS-OFF domestic drilling at a time when Americans are struggling over the escalating costs of gasoline -- is that her "sham bill" also RAISES YOUR TAXES , and is LADEN WITH ENOUGH PORK TO CHOKE A GOAT!

Expect more of this Soviet-style hi-jacking of the legislative process if Barrack Hussein Obama is elected President and Nancy Pelosi is his Speaker of the House.

If You Think We're Making This Up...

...don't take our word for it:

According to House Minority Leader John Boehner Pelosi's "sham" legislation; "would permanently lock up 80 percent of our nation's offshore energy resources - holding hostage billions of barrels of American oil..." According to Congressman Jeb Hensarling it's "a hoax bill that would permanently prevent exploration of nearly 90 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf for American energy and block energy production in arctic Alaska and the Inter-Mountain West." House Minority Whip Roy Blunt said; "I'm offended.... And the American people should be offended that we're not doing the job for them that really matters." Our friends at The American Conservative Union (ACU) claim that Pelosi and Democrats in Congress are playing; "'Let's Pretend' with the American people, pretending they are passing a bill to increase domestic energy production when they know it will do no such thing." ACU further states, "The bill prohibits drilling less than 50 miles offshore when the sponsors know that, to give an example, 95% of the known reserves off the coast of California are less than 50 miles out."

And in what is probably the CRUELEST CUT OFF ALL, Pelosi's sham bill just doesn't effectively cut off domestic oil production, IT RAISES TAXES AS WELL!

Pelosi recently gushed that B. Hussein Obama was "a leader God has blessed us with." And her legislative shenanigans prove that she'll be the willing Lieutenant of the man -- Barack Hussein Obama -- who once told us the solution to the our problems is to "inflate our tires" ... the man who told us ,"we can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times," ... the man who told us that drilling for more oil is "not real" and won't "solve our problems." NOW is the time to take our country back...

If At First You Don't Deceive, Try, Try Again!
"They want to pretend to be for drilling just enough to win the election but not do anything to actually produce more oil and gas."

Those are the words of former-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in an e-mail which he sent a short time ago titled; "New Left Wing Anti-Energy Strategy: Drill Nothing, Tax Everything."

Commenting on the supposed willingness of Pelosi and Obama to allow domestic drilling, provided certain vague and unspecified conditions are met -- Gingrich also said:

The New Left Wing Anti-Energy Strategy: Deceive, Deceive, Deceive..." "But when you read beyond the headline of Speaker Pelosi's statement and get to the details, it is clear she is trying to maneuver to block the Republicans from having a straight up or down vote on a powerful energy bill. "Since the original anti-energy Democratic strategy of 'no, no, no' has collapsed they have moved to a new strategy of 'deceive, deceive, deceive.' "Their goal is to sound pro-energy just long enough to avoid defeat in the November elections while making sure that any legislation is hopelessly weak..."

But you don't have to take this deception lying down. The election is less than 60 days away.

Politicians have a tendency to become accommodating when an election is just around the corner.

If you let them know -- in no uncertain terms -- that deception simply won't work, they'll do what you want... kicking and screaming all the way... but they will accommodate!

NOW is your chance to have a real effect and join other patriotic Americans to flood their offices with calls and faxes they cannot ignore!

Exposing the Real Obama Agenda! It's About The Socialism, Stupid!
When it comes to B. Hussein Obama's real agenda on energy policy, perhaps, Ann Coulter said it best years ago:

"When the free market does the exact thing liberals have been itching to do through taxation, they pretend to be appalled by high gas prices, hoping the public will forget that high gas prices are part of their agenda."

Coulter again:

"I would be more interested in what the Democrats had to say about high gas prices if these were not the same people who refused to let us drill for oil in Alaska, imposed massive restrictions on building new refineries, and who shut down the development of nuclear power in this country decades ago." "But it's too much having to watch Democrats wail about the awful calamity to poor working families of having to pay high gas prices. "Imposing punitive taxation on gasoline to force people to ride bicycles has been one of the left's main policy goals for years. "For decades Democrats have been trying to raise the price of gasoline so that the working class will stop their infernal car-driving and start riding on buses where they belong, while liberals ride in Gulfstream jets."

To put it more bluntly, it is really about control. When we are helpless and depend upon them, they gain power. In most cases, liberal politicians simply encourage dependency.

But some are more radical in their methods and more sinister in their motives.In fact, some Democrats in Congress have made what they're really after abundantly clear.

Recently, Congressman Maurice Hinchey called for the "Nationalization" of Oil Refineries:

"Maybe they'd be willing to have these companies owned publicly... owned by the people of the United States."

Congresswoman Maxine Waters flubbed a statement on the floor of the House which is being played over and over again on the Internet website YouTube:

"This liberal (talking about herself) will be all about SOCIAL____ (stops and stammers) uhhhh... uhhh... will be about... (stops again) basically taking over and the government running all your companies."

She's talking about SOCIALISM! It's all about SOCIALISM!

ExposeObama.com is the only nationwide organization at the forefront of the movement to expose Barrack Hussein Obama and extreme liberals in government and the media to the American people.

We're not backing-down when it comes to taking the fight for the hearts and minds of the American people directly to B. Hussein Obama and other extreme liberals in Congress! And we're not just going to Expose the Obama-Pelosi energy farce! We're going to STOP IT!

Floyd Brown
ExposeObama.com

Explosion at Pakistan Marriott hotel kills 40

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - A massive truck bomb devastated the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Saturday, killing at least 40 people and wounding at least 100. Officials feared there were dozens more dead inside the burning building.

The Marriott has been a favorite place for foreigners as well as Pakistani politicians and business people to stay and socialize in Islamabad despite repeated militant attacks. ....

Russia, China, Germany reject US evidence of Iran's covert nuke program

From Debka File

Russia, China and Germany refuse to countenance tougher sanctions against Iran notwithstanding the International Atomic Energy Agency’s report from Vienna that its inspections of suspect activities and covert projects were stalled by Tehran’s non-cooperation. Diplomats for the five permanent Security Council members and Germany, meeting at the State Department Friday, Sept 19, therefore failed to agree on a new round of sanctions ahead of their foreign ministers’ meeting at UN Center next week.

The meeting avoided discussing the timing and content of a fourth round of sanctions, only broadly calling on Iran - for the umpteenth time after numerous rejections - to accept the incentives on offer for halting uranium enrichment and cooperating with UN inspections.

The nuclear watchdog reported that Tehran had stalled its efforts to establish whether or not Iran was developing nuclear warheads, enriching uranium for military purposes, testing nuclear explosives or building nuclear-capable missiles.

Tuesday, Sept 16, the UN watchdog gave a closed meeting of the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency photos and documents proving Iran had tried to refit a long-distance Shehab missile to carry a nuclear payload. The also produced calculations and diagrams from Iranian missile and nuclear experts’ computers on nuclear detonations and how to build nuclear-capable missiles.

The next day, Wednesday, CIA chief Michael Hayden disclosed that the destruction of the Syrian reactor - as a result of intelligence collaboration with a “foreign partner” who first identified the facility’s purpose - spoiled a project “that could have provided Syria with plutonium for nuclear weapons.”

He did not name the foreign partner, but the reference to Israel was obvious. He also said the reactor was similar to the North Korean model.

"We were able last year to spoil a big secret, a project that could have provided Syria with plutonium for nuclear weapons," Hayden said, adding: “When pipes for a massive cooling system were laid out to the Euphrates River in the spring of 2007, there would have been little doubt this was a nuclear reactor."

The Bush administration released all this data in order to back up the IAEA report and tell the international community that the US and Israel were furnished with more intelligence confirming Iran’s covert nuclear projects and the clandestine partnershipn between Tehran, Damascus and Pyongyang. North Korea was also made aware that Washington had not missed its preparations for re-activating its nuclear reactor.

Nuclear watchdog officials asked Tehran to explain why its experts were busy making calculations for military projects, claimed to be non-existent. No answer has been forthcoming as yet. The Iranian representative only said the materials had been forged by certain parties as a provocation.

Nonetheless, Russian, Chinese and German diplomats attending the IAEA board meeting last Tuesday insisted that the evidence they saw did not prove Iran was engaged in developing nuclear weapons.

Despite the fact that leading world powers have tied themselves in knots to avoid keeping nuclear weapons out of Iran’s hands, Israel’s prime minister Shimon Peres plans to deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly next week announcing that Israel is against resorting to military action against Iran and relies on sanctions.

DEBKAfile’s political circles stress that the Israeli government has never confirmed the position embodied in his address.

Ahead of his address to the General Assembly, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, grandstanding as always, challenged the American presidential candidates to a public debate "over global issues, in the presence of the media at the UN. He also said that while "some say the idea of Greater Israel has expired, I say the idea of lesser Israel has expired, too."

Guess again who's to blame for U.S. mortgage meltdown

Analysts point not to greed, but to social activist politics

....In a nutshell, Liebowitz contends that the federal government over the last 20 years pushed the mortgage industry so hard to get minority homeownership up, that it undermined the country's financial foundation to achieve its goal.

"In an attempt to increase homeownership, particularly by minorities and the less affluent, an attack on underwriting standards was undertaken by virtually every branch of the government since the early 1990s," Liebowitz writes. "The decline in mortgage underwriting standards was universally praised as 'innovation' in mortgage lending by regulators, academic specialists, (government-sponsored enterprises) and housing activists."

He continues, "Although a seemingly noble goal, the tool chosen to achieve this goal was one that endangered the entire mortgage enterprise."....

New Al Qaeda Tape Surfaces Despite US Efforts to Block It

Nebraska Swift plant fires at least 86 over Ramadan demands

Russia approves hike in defence spending

.... The President spoke as the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, passed a 25 per cent increase in defence spending next year from $40 billion to $50 billion. Russia's three-year budget forecast includes further increases to $54.5 billion in 2010 and to $58 billion by 2011. ....

Walid Phares: To Contain Jihadism, You Need Pluralism and Democracy

The U.S. change of command in Iraq this week comes with violence levels at four-year lows and a slight reduction planned in U.S. troop figures. Although large-scale attacks remain a concern, many observers regard a weakening of al Qaeda in Iraq as a major reason for the reduction of bloodshed.

Walid Phares, a visiting fellow at the European Foundation for Democracy in Brussels and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, talks to RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel about Al-Qaeda's setbacks in Iraq and the future of its ideology.

He says young Muslim minds must be offered "a model of pluralism and democracy" as an alternative to a "fighting caliphate." ....

Current Credit Crunch Harbinger of Worse Things to Come?

Colonel Kenneth Allard (US Army, ret.)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in receivership. Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers going belly-up while AIG gets a government bailout to avoid even more chaos. And you thought Gordon “Greed-is-good” Gecko was only a fictional movie character? Personally, I’m glad to be living light years away from Wall Street as a transplanted Texan, where we long ago produced two people who had exactly the right idea about banks: Bonnie and Clyde.

I’m not entirely kidding but don’t miss the deadly serious point: things are going to get a lot worse unless we fundamentally change the way American financial firms operate, from Wall Street to Main Street. While former military officers aren’t expected to offer opinions on business issues, much of my writing and research since Enron has focused squarely on business leadership.I teach MBA’s and my2004 book, Business As War, argued that American business should exploit such cutting-edge 21st century techniques as business intelligence.

But it was only during a recent fight over identity theft that the vulnerability of our financial sector became vividly personal. Although I had never had an account with either of them, the fraud involved such prominent banks as Capital One and Bank of America, the latter easily the worst of the lot.

If you have ever wrestled with an inaccurate credit report, you can easily understand how the credit information game is played fast-and-loose by some banks. Capital One simply sent a blank check to a former address. Someone else cashed it by forging my name and introducing me to the world of steadily compounding credit card debt. The Bank of America account was opened using only a name and an address that were never cross-checked. Even worse, their “credit verification” data were entered electronically, without such rudimentary back-ups as a signature or a driver’s license photograph.

I did all the things you are supposed to do: placing innumerable telephone calls to bank voicemail systems (usually outsourced to Third World countries); writing angry letters to indifferent corporate offices and filing complaints with overworked local police departments. But eventually I cleared my name only through an expensive, year-long civil suit in Alabama. Even there, Bank of America stiffed trial subpoenas while an incompetent local judge declined to enforce sanctions.

So you might consider these tentative conclusions about the current state of the American establishment, financial and otherwise:

1. Who’s on first? Banks and credit reporting agencies have failed to verify the customers they are really dealing with, much less their ability to repay subprime mortgages or rising credit card debts. Often confused with data warehousing, better business intelligence systems are part of the answer. But even simpler common-sense practices – like picking up a phone and calling a prospective customer – can go a long way toward reducing fraud and bad debt.

2. The love of money: Really IS the root of all evil, but especially when banks are able to charge 37% interest on credit card balances, usury once available only from the Sopranos. With profits so high, small wonder that customer verification or preventing identity theft are all but ignored. The only thing that really matters is continuing to rake in all that swag so if some loans turn bad, what of it? Enough other schnooks will obediently pay their minimum monthly balances.

3. Bad structure compounds bad business. Wall Street now resembles what Marx gleefully prophesied – capitalists devouring other capitalists. But even he could never have imagined the perverse effects of aggressively decentralizing our financial institutions. Organized around innumerable stand-alone “profit centers,” effective leadership became impossible so what was everybody’s business became no one’s business. With disaster no longer being left to chance.

4. The best government money can buy. All you need to know about where the buck really stops is that two ranking Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee got sweetheart deals from the very same mortgage brokers they were supposedly overseeing. As George Costanza used to say, “Not that there’s anything wrong with it.” Indeed not, nor with those sky-high interest rates that are authorized by law, regulated by various Federal agencies and entirely controlled by the American Banking Association.
   

Free enterprise is a wonderful thing. On the assumption that these excesses might present opportunities, several of us here in San Antonio just launched a new start-up focusing on the competitive exploitation of business intelligence. With all that wreckage on Wall Street, a turn-around management firm seems like an awfully sure bet.

Editor’s note: Col. Allard will now be writing exclusive articles for FSM, using his background and expertise to discuss the military and emerging dimensions of national security – specifically, the economic and informational components of security, including business intelligence and cyber security. We welcome his contributions to a topic that is important to us all.

State-Local Discord Stalled Storm Aid at First

....Thousands of Houstonians waited, in some cases all day long at PODs — "points of distribution" — for food, water and ice and were turned away empty-handed Tuesday.

Why? A difference of opinion between state and local officials about the role of government in a disaster.....

U.S. Homeland Security To Utilize Physiological Screeners To Pinpoint Terrorists

Upper Marloboro, MD. (AHN) - The Homeland Security Department is pilot testing at a Maryland airport a prototype of a physiological screener to spot terrorists. The model bio-scans air travelers.

The model works like a lie detector machine by indicating large fluctuations in body temperature, pulse and breathing which are likely indicators of anxiety often exhibited by a terrorist or criminal. The prototype, called Future Attribute Screening Technology, scans passengers as they pass through a set of cameras.

According to Jennifer Martin, Homeland Security consultant, the FAST picks up things often not detected by human eye.

The department is on its second year of testing the system targeted to last five years. Over 2,000 screeners have been trained by the Transportation Security Administration to observe travelers and question those who appear to be agitated or nervous.

But agitation or nervousness must not be linked with criminal intent, warned Timothy Levine, Michigan State University expert on deceptive behavior. One possible cause of agitation is learning of a flight's delay. "What determines your heart rate is a whole bunch of reasons besides hostile intent... This is the whole reason behavioral profiles don't work," Levine told USA Today.

The FAST is one of the measures the Homeland Security has put in place to tighten security in U.S. ports of entry. Last week the department announced it granted $29 million to the New York City Police Department, which will attempt to prevent a radiological or nuclear attack in the Big Apple through the enhancement of regional capabilities to detect and stop illegal radioactive materials.

Making Better Use of Volunteers

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) should incorporate the resources of voluntary organizations such as the American Red Cross into its evaluations of mass care capabilities, congressional investigators determined in a report published Thursday, but FEMA disagreed with the recommendation.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) suggested that FEMA take some measures to improve its use of the capabilities of voluntary organizations in mass care situations, citing congressional directions to the agency in the Post-Katrina Emergency Reform Act to set up a comprehensive assessment system to evaluate national prevention and preparedness capabilities. FEMA, however, argued that it did not have the authority to follow the recommendation as stated because it cannot direct the activities of private sector resources. ....

Homeland Security 3.0: Making It National

by David Silverberg

WASHINGTON, DC—The next administration should leave the organizational structure of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as it is and concentrate on making homeland security a “national enterprise,” according to David Heyman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation, both Washington think tanks.

The two scholars unveiled their recommendations in a report, Homeland Security 3.0: Building a National Enterprise (to read the report, click here), which was unveiled at a press conference at the National Press Club yesterday. The report was the product of a task force that drew on the contributions of 23 other scholars, experts and executives.

A similar report four years ago, DHS 2.0 - Rethinking the Department of Homeland Security by the same authors provided the basis for the department’s Second Stage Review and its fundamental restructuring. (Click here to see the full report.) ....

Government plans bold financial rescue

Paulson says handling banks’ bad assets costly, but needed ....

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U.S. government should bail out of bailouts

The last thing government officials should do is try to bail us out of the economic crisis they are responsible for creating in the first place.

The lack of oversight provided by Chris Dodd and Barney Frank of the Banking and Financial Services subcommittee is unprecedented and should require the immediate dismissal of both men. Their decisions, which have in large part brought about the current market crisis, make the decisions made during Hurricane Katrina look like sheer genius.

Campaign contributions have a miraculous way of clouding any career politician's ability to make intelligent choices that would directly benefit the American public. They know those choices will greatly disappoint their 'masters' who run Wall Street and thus slow the flow of campaign money for re-election. ....

Government plans bold financial rescue

Paulson says handling banks’ bad assets costly, but needed ....

Nato plan for rapid-reaction force to counter Russian agression

Nato defence ministers were today reported to be considering the creation of a rapid-response military force to respond to Russian aggression.

The proposal, a compromise dreamed up by the Pentagon to reassure allies, was to under discussion at today’s Nato defence ministers meeting in London, the Los Angeles Times reported. ....

Taking a moment to remember those that made a difference...

(Compiler's note: MUST READ rca)

Once they were Soldiers....

Ed Freeman

You're an 18 or 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965. LZ Xray, Vietnam. Your Infantry Unit is outnumbered 8 - 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in.

You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is 1/2 way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter, and you look up to see a Huey, but it doesn't seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.

Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.

He's coming anyway.

And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the Doctors and Nurses.

And, he kept coming back...... 13 more times..... and took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.

Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman died last Wednesday at the age of 80, in Boise, ID......

May God rest his soul.....

Saudi Infiltration into U.S. Education

To hear and/or download the entire interview, click here.

Solution for the Wall Street Crisis

Cut off all medical, educational, legal and housing benefits to illegal aliens immediately. Deport all illegal immigrants now in jail.

Arrest, indict and try the CEOs and CFOs of Wall Street firms suspected of financial misdeeds.

Seize the assets of CEOs and CFOs when their chicanery is proven. Turn their ill-gotten gains over to the American people.

Fire Chris Cox, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, for his criminal negligence in allowing Wall Street to rape the American economy.

Replace him with Eliot Spitzer, who, before he was taken down by the money changers, was the only one going after the criminals on Wall Street.

Stop the Federal Reserve from bailing out multi-billion dollar companies at the taxpayers' expense.

Fire Ben Bernanke and let him get a job at NYU Film School.

Fire Hank Paulson and let him get a job as a celebrity chef.

Click here and here and here for additional information

Congressman's son caught smuggling immigrants

TUCSON, AZ - The son of a U.S. Congressman was arrested in Willcox Sunday, charged with human smuggling. According to court documents John F. Boyd, son of Democratic Florida Congressman Allen Boyd, attempted to drive through a Border Patrol checkpoint in Willcox on Sunday with five illegal immigrants, including a 6-year-old girl. ....

Russia ratchets up US tensions with arms sales to Iran and Venezuela

.... The head of the state arms exporter said that he was negotiating to sell antiaircraft systems to Iran despite American objections. Russia has already delivered 29 Tor-M1 missile systems under a $700 million (£386 million) deal with Iran in 2005.

....Reports have circulated for some time that the Kremlin is preparing to sell its S300 surface-to-air missile system to Iran, offering greater protection against a possible US or Israeli attack on the Islamic republic’s nuclear facilities. The missiles have a range of more than 90 miles (150km).....

Villagers Storm School to Save 300 Children From Suicide Bombers

Locals attacked the Islamic radicals who kidnapped 300 school children in northwest Pakistan on Thursday.
Hundreds of armed people from 10 villages took part in the action.

Two of the suicide bombers blew themselves up during the battle another one was captured.
The children escaped death thanks to the brave villagers.
AKI and ROP reported:

Local people in northwest Pakistan on Thursday fought three militants and freed about 300 school students who had been taken hostage earlier in the day.

The residents stormed the primary school building in the Upper Dir district of the North West Frontier Province, bordering Afghanistan, where three suicide bombers were holding the children. ....

China to buy 1/2 of Morgan Stanley

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley, the second-biggest independent U.S. securities firm, may sell a larger stake to China Investment Corp. and is in talks about a possible merger with Wachovia Corp., a person familiar with the matter said.

China's state-controlled fund may buy as much as 49 percent of the New York-based investment bank, said the person, who declined to be identified because the talks aren't public and may end in no agreement. Morgan Stanley resumed its decline on the New York Stock Exchange, falling as much as 22 percent.

It’s War!!… Obama Tells Supporters “Argue, Get In Their Face!” (Video)

Obama declares war!
Tells supporters in Nevada to, “Argue, Get In Their Face!”

Here’s the entire Obama speech from Elko, Nevada, yesterday.
(He tells the crowd to “argue and get in their face” at 24:50 of the 25:38 minute speech.)

The One does well with those traveling teleprompters.
Obama also forgets to mention to the crowd that he took more money from the troubled lender Fannie Mae than any other US Senator except one, Chris Dodd. ...

Community Organizer In Chief

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Barack Obama claims he worked for a "small group of churches" as a community organizer. In fact, he was hired by a radical Alinskyite group, and Saul Alinsky's own son has outed him.

Buried last month in the Boston Globe's letters to the editor was a three-paragraph letter congratulating Obama for putting on a great show at the Democratic National Convention.

That open-stadium rally in Denver, with it's packed crowd and perfectly timed chanting of key phrases, "had all the elements of the perfectly organized event, Saul Alinsky-style," opined the letter-writer. The reference was to the hard-boiled Chicago socialist and father of radical community organizing.

"Barack Obama's training in Chicago by the great community organizers is showing its effectiveness," the author continued. "When executed meticulously and thoughtfully, it is a powerful strategy for initiating change and making it really happen. Obama learned his lesson well.

"I am proud to see that my father's model for organizing is being applied successfully beyond local community organizing to affect the Democratic campaign in 2008," the author said. "It is a fine tribute to Saul Alinsky as we approach his 100th birthday."

The person who signed the letter, Lee David Alinsky, a longtime public TV producer in the Boston area, is indeed the son of the late radical. Alinsky no doubt felt compelled to make the tribute on behalf of Obama because Obama refuses to even acknowledge his Alinsky training in public.

He is quick to say that the community organizing he did in Chicago was "the best education I ever had, better than anything I got at Harvard Law School." But he never tells us who educated him, not even in the two memoirs he's written. He also fails to disclose who hired him. Obama claimed in the recent national service forum at Columbia University that he worked for "churches" while organizing on the South Side of Chicago.

Talk about putting lipstick on a pig. Obama in fact worked for a subsidiary of the radical Gamaliel Foundation, a Chicago-based Alinsky group, and he was paid by the radical Woods Fund, which supports Gamaliel. Gamaliel's Web site and history page make plain that it evolved from the Alinsky school of organizing. Its training methods acknowledge an "agitational" style of organizing.

Obama also fails to disclose that he himself became a trainer of community organizers for the radical Gamaliel network. He also won't disclose that he contributed to a Chicago forum called "After Alinsky," where he argued for a "systematic approach" to community organizing and more "power" to bring about social change.

Serving on Gamaliel's board of directors is John McKnight, who wrote a letter of recommendation for Obama to Harvard. McKnight is a noted "student of Alinsky" and former ACLU director who now teaches at Northwestern University.

McKnight also sits on the board of the National People's Action, or NPA, a particularly thuggish group of Alinskyite agitators who sing the following ditty when picketing the homes of business and government leaders: "Who's on your hit list, NPA? Who's on your hit list of today? Take no prisoner, take no names. Kick 'em in the ass when they play their games."

Some community organizers are well-meaning and harmless. But not the ones Obama threw in with. They intimidate and agitate for more government home loans, more government job programs, a ban on police profiling, more benefits for illegal aliens, felon voting rights, minimum wage hikes, "environmental justice" and so on.

What they do is not harmless. What they demand is not noble. But Obama wants to give them more money and power, and organize them on a "large scale." He can run from his radical organizing record, but he can't hide.

Email

Homeland Security lacking 'open source' intelligence

Posted by Stephanie Condon

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not met requirements to provide "open source" intelligence--that is, publicly available information--for state and local law enforcement, a new report shows.

The House Committee on Homeland Security released a report Friday criticizing the department after interviewing more than 350 state, local, and tribal law enforcement officials about the DHS's open source intelligence efforts.

While 82 percent of law enforcement officials surveyed said they use open source information, 60 percent said the DHS needed to establish a training program on how to use the department's open source material. Half of respondents said the DHS's open source products did not meet their needs.

"The proliferation of Internet use and other advanced forms of communication is rapidly leading to an information revolution among terrorists groups," the report says. "The sooner the Department of Homeland Security recognizes the value in this type of unclassified information, the sooner DHS analysts can analyze it and provide useful open source intelligence to state, local and tribal law partners."

The Homeland Security Act of 2002 requires DHS, whenever possible, to make available unclassified reports and analyses based on open source information like newspapers, Internet resources, or scientific journals. To reinforce that requirement, the House in July passed the Homeland Security Open Source Information Enhancement Act, requiring the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish an open source program.

Despite this, "DHS' efforts have lagged behind the rest of the Federal government," the report says. The Director of National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency have established stronger open source programs, even though the DHS is responsible for sharing terrorism threat information with state and local law enforcement.

"The Department is far behind the rest of the Intelligence Community in implementing a comprehensive open source intelligence program," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of the Homeland Security Committee. "I am convinced that the department must make a concerted effort to understand their intelligence needs and produce intelligence products that provide actionable recommendations for the cop on the beat."

Disaster victims suffer as FEMA drops ball again

NATURAL DISASTERS LIKE Hurricane Ike, which slammed into the Houston area Friday, cause all sorts of unexpected challenges. The need to bring ice, food and potable water to survivors isn’t among them.

Yet on Sunday – 36 hours after Ike blew through and three years after Hurricane Katrina supposedly prompted a major reorganization of the Federal Emergency Management Agency – residents of the nation’s fourth-largest city were waiting in vain for promised federal relief. Does the “F” in FEMA stand for “feeble”?

When state and local officials publicly complained, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff held a news conference to blame those delays on bad weather and those same state and local officials. “The federal government is leaning forward as far as it can” to provide assistance, he said.

Chertoff said FEMA had been hobbled when state officials handed his agency the “unexpected challenge” of preparing distribution points for the food, water and ice.

State officials said Sunday that they’d been surprised to learn that distribution was supposed to be their responsibility. “If I could have known something 18 hours ago, we could have made plans to pick up something a lot quicker,” said Houston Mayor Bill White.

By Monday morning, distribution centers were open and supplies were being handed out. But the inexcusable delay is clear evidence of yet another planning failure by FEMA.

Overseeing emergency preparations for a natural disaster – even those as serious as hurricanes Katrina and Ike – probably is far less demanding than responding to a bio-terror attack or pandemic illness, in which there are no forecasters to give advance warning and no playbook of past disasters to follow.

FEMA’s continued failures leave no doubt that the agency is unprepared to step up when called upon in a national emergency. Congress should hold hearings on the agency’s readiness as quickly as possible. When disaster strikes, citizens have a right to expect assistance, not excuses.

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FEMA Says No to Ice For Hurricane Survivors

Under New Policy, FEMA Says Ice is Not Its Responsibility

....

Besides preserving food when electricity is out, ice is essential in maintaining temperature-sensitive medication and feeding formulas and keeping people cool in the aftermath of disaster, relief and support workers say.

"This isn't for their gin and tonics," said Elise Hough, CEO of the Houston chapter of United Cerebral Palsy, who says she encountered a lot of indifference when she started raising the issue of FEMA's ice policy last month. "This is for people who are extremely sensitive to heat, and ice has a huge impact on their health and safety." ....

Charities Unprepared for Major Disaster, GAO Says

The American Red Cross and other disaster relief charities are unprepared to meet projected mass casualty needs during a natural catastrophe or terrorist attack in major U.S. cities such as Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Miami, a government report has found.

A large-scale disaster would "overwhelm" the Red Cross and other nonprofit organizations that have federal responsibilities for assisting the government in feeding and sheltering victims of natural disasters, concludes the analysis, which is to be released today by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. ....

Public Divided on Homeland Security

by Phil Leggiere

Thursday, 18 September 2008

Poll shows polarization in public opinion about homeland security. In the plethora of election season polls tracking every twist and turn of the presidential horse race, homeland security issues have been conspicuously absent this year. Partly for the obvious reason that global economic volatility has, at least for now, replaced terrorism as the most immediately pressing concern and anxiety, partly because of the lack of emphasis candidates have placed thus far in sharpening policy differences on homeland security. One poll, however, released this week by Associated Press and GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media , provides an interesting snap-shot of the American public’s current perspectives on the success of current US homeland security policy. Its results, in addition to documenting an America sharply polarized by party, also highlight the challenges the next administration, once the frenzy of the lection season ends, will face in mobilizing the public on counterterror policy. Click here to see poll. In the poll 516 respondents were asked for their opinion about which factors were more or less important in preventing a follow-up terror attack on US soil since 9-11. Although in aggregate 64% of those polled cited actions by the federal government as a major reason the US has not been attacked since 9-11, there was a dramatic divergence between Republican and Democratic respondents. While a vast majority of eighty-nine percent of Republicans agreed the US government’s policies during the Bush administration have been a major reason there's been no follow-up attack, only a very slight majority of fifty-three percent of Democrats believed federal activity has been a primary positive factor. Divergences in perspective on other factors were similarly polarized. For instance, seven out of ten Republicans saw the war in Iraq as a major factor in preventing terror in the US. Only a tiny minority of 20% of Democrats concurred. In fact nearly half, or 47% of Democrats believed the war in Iraq had no positive impact whatsoever on slowing or stopping terror. By contrast less than one in ten, or 8 % of Republicans felt the same way. Even in areas where sentiments were somewhat more convergent significant polarization remained. For example on the question of whether increased public vigilance of American citizens since 9-11 has been a major factor, the percentage difference between the two groups remained wide, 60% for Republicans versus 40% for the Democrats. In addition 54% of Republicans as compared to only 35% of Democrats believed efforts by state and local law enforcement as major deterrents. As striking as the party polarization was in responses, what also stands out in the poll is the wide diversity of perspectives on homeland security policy. When all respondents were aggregated only one factor (US government action) was cited as a major reason for the lack of an attack by a majority of all sources. All other opinions about what was working in counter-terror currently were shared by only a minority of respondents. The poll documents and dramatizes a growing paradox in American political life largely ignored by pundits. Though the American public, liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican, overwhelmingly support proactive efforts to insure homeland security, in terms of specific policy there’s a gnawing and apparently growing erosion of consensus about the most appropriate means to pursue that end going forward. Re-establishing a workable, and sustainable, consensus in a polarized county needs to be a priority item for the next administration.

Hackers break into Sarah Palin's e-mail account

WASHINGTON (AP) - Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin used for official business as Alaska's governor, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate.

"This is a shocking invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them," the McCain campaign said in a statement.

The Secret Service contacted The Associated Press on Wednesday and asked for copies of the leaked e-mails, which circulated widely on the Internet. The AP did not comply. ....

8 charged with exporting materials to Iran

MIAMI (AP) — Eight people and eight corporations have been charged with illegally shipping to Iran electronic parts that could be used in weapons, including microchips that have been found in improvised explosive devices in Iraq, federal officials said Wednesday.

The defendants, all of whom live outside the U.S., are charged with buying the goods in the United States and then funneling them to Iran through a third country. The defendants lied about the items' ultimate destination and use, officials said.

The items being shipped included global positioning systems as well as other technology that could be used for civilian purposes but also has military applications, such as computer memory, speech recognition technology and timers. Thousands of parts were shipped.

One type of microchip has been found in the triggering systems of IEDs in Iraq. More than 12,000 of part were ordered.

"This is very serious," U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of Miami said.

Brits facing al-Qaida retaliation?

LONDON -- Pakistan's new civilian president Asif Ali Zardari has flown to London for "crisis talks" with Prime Minister Gordon Brown to deliver what his aides call "a blunt warning" which has raised "serious concern" among Britain's intelligence chiefs, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Zardari will demand that Britain's SAS units must stop their "seek and kill" operations across the Pakistan border. The units are spearheading a new hunt for Osama bin Laden along the 1,500-kilometer border with Pakistan.

Zardari claims so far hundreds of "civilians" have died in the operations. He intends to tell Gordon Brown the continued attacks will "almost certainly" lead to new attacks on London by al-Qaeda. He has also indicated that if the attacks persist, Pakistan's army "may well have to defend our own sovereign territory." ....

Texas Officials Work to Avert Health Crisis After Ike (Update4)

Panel gets static on how to develop first responder system

BY OTTO KREISHER, CONGRESSDAILY

A House Homeland Security subcommittee Tuesday heard widespread agreement on the need for a nationwide communications system that will allow local, state and national first-responders to share information swiftly and seamlessly with each other in an emergency. But the panel heard considerable disagreement on how to achieve that.

The biggest gap appeared between the FCC and the Homeland Security Department, which are committed to developing a government-commercial partnership to build the system, and officials from well-resourced local jurisdictions and others who are concerned that the proposed network would interfere with their systems.

House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee Chairman Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and ranking member Charles Dent, R-Pa., appeared skeptical that the national proposal would serve their more rural constituencies.

FCC had tried to auction off part of the 700 megahertz spectrum to a commercial entity to obtain the funds and the expertise to develop the public sector emergency communications network alongside the private system. But the sole bid came in at about half the $1.33 billion minimum the commission set.

Derek Poarch, chief of the FCC Homeland Security Bureau, said the commission was preparing a draft proposal for a second auction, which he believed would be more attractive to the commercial sector.

That proposal would lower the threshold bid to $750 million, allow firms to bid for regional coverage and would relax some of the technical requirements of the first offer, Poarch said. It also would extend the license for the spectrum from 10 to 15 years, he said.

The draft proposal is to be reviewed by the FCC Sept. 25

Chris Essid, director of emergency communications at Homeland Security, supported the plan, calling it essential to the interoperability of first responders' communications. .....

Are Terrorists Plotting New Attacks On US and Europe?

According to the website HomelandSecurityUS.com, Islamic terrorist operatives may be dispatched, in place, and ready to execute a terror operation inside the U.S. and/or Europe

The article cites a disturbing communication discovered on a high level Arabic language forum. The post apparently suggests that some type of terrorist operation is now underway, targeting sites within the U.S. and Europe.

According to the website, information developed within the last 24 hours by a deep-cover intelligence operative, Islamic terrorists have been dispatched and may be in place, preparing to execute unspecified terrorist attacks.

Neither the targets nor the types of attacks were able to be identified from an analysis of the communications, although it appears possible that the European and American operations could be conducted in tandem. Also unclear is the timetable of potential attacks, although the wording pertaining to the “anticipated celebration” of the success of such attacks suggests that they will be carried out within the next few days.

Full Article

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Rusty, over at The Jawa Report reports a similar story.

“Al Qaeda” Warns of Sleeper Cell WMD Attack Against Texas

The al-Yaqin Media Center purportedly interviewed an al Qaeda soldier and then posted the transcripts to jihadi forums. The Nine Eleven Foundation has released a translation of it.

In the interview, the al Qaeda member claims that there are sleeper cells in the United States made up of Muslims of European decent and who are prepared to attack at any moment. He also claims that al Qaeda continues to seek WMD, implies that they already have them, and that “Texas is in our sight!”.

Time to evacuate Texas? Magic 8-ball says no.

Western intelligence has confirmed that al Qaeda does continue to seek WMD. They’ve also been public about their fears of Europeans in the al Qaeda organization carrying out attacks on the West. But the rest is just bluster.

Inactive sleeper cells in Houston that have been here since before 9/11, who have dirty bombs, and who are just waiting for the go-ahead from Osama bin Laden to kill tens of thousands of Texans? Not likely.

Read Full Article

Clandestine world of intelligence-gathering turns to an open market for data

By Bob Brewin

The global explosion in Internet-based new media has made open source information invaluable to intelligence agencies, CIA Director Michael Hayden said on Friday at the ODNI Open Source Conference in Washington.

Sections of the president's daily intelligence brief are "derived exclusively from open source intelligence" Hayden told the conference, which attracted more than 3,000 attendees from intelligence agencies, academia and industry. Those sections bear the stamp of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's Open Source Center.

Development of an open source intelligence organization was one of three key objectives for the ODNI when it was created in 2005, Hayden said, just behind the establishment of a central clandestine service branch and a security branch within the FBI. The Open Source Center, which is managed by the CIA and serves the entire intelligence community, has paid rich dividends since it went into operation in November 2005, he noted.

ODNI built the center around the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service which monitors overseas radio and television programs, and today uses that core capability to pump more than 300 foreign TV broadcasts into intelligence operations centers, Hayden said.

Doug Naquin, director of the Open Source Center, said media monitored by his analysts include blogs, chat rooms, and social networking sites such as YouTube and MySpace. Hayden said such media allows intelligence analysts to engage in the kind of social interaction with foreign societies that he had to do in person while serving as an Air Force attaché in the mid-1980s.

Monitoring these sites requires analysts to develop modern technical and analytical skills to integrate information derived from these sources, Naquin said.

Besides tracking new media sites, analysts must be able to figure out how participants interact in a chat room, for example, and understand the networks they use, he added. Analysts also must keep up with new forms of technology such as mobile phone cameras, Naquin said, and determine how they can be used to influence public opinion.

Glenn Gaffney, deputy director of National Intelligence for Collection, said agencies should recruit young analysts from what he called the "mash-up generation" who can integrate data from disparate text, data and video sources. The insights derived from such an exercise can make "open source the first source", Gaffney said, adding that these employees have the technical skills lacking in older generations of analysts.

Adversaries have learned to use new media to spread disinformation, and Naquin pointed out that "information does not have to be true to have an impact." Joe Goldberg, a CIA veteran who now serves as the director of business intelligence for Motorola noted an erroneous news story on the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Sun-Sentinel Web site on Monday, which said United Airlines had declared bankruptcy.

That story turned out to be six years old, but by the time United managed to get the facts out, the value of its stock had dropped 75 percent, he said.

Though open source information is unclassified, Naquin said the insight the Open Source Center derives from it is often so revealing that "we are pressed to classify it." Open source intelligence has become such a "formidable asset," Hayden said, that even though its origin is unclassified, "our interest in it is not."