Taking the pill for past 40 years 'has put women off masculine men'

(Analyst's note:  Now we know ...  With this story, one only has to look at the pictures over time.  Simply click on the above title.)

Local Agents Bust Dozens in Major 'Phish Fry'

from KTLA News

LOS ANGELES -- Dozens of people are under arrest in Southern California, Nevada, North Carolina and Egypt in a major crackdown against identity theft.

The FBI launched "Operation Phish Fry" to bust an identity theft ring that has victimized thousands of people.

An FBI statement says an indictment unsealed Wednesday in Los Angeles charges more than 50 people in the United States with running the "phishing" scheme.

Egyptian authorities have charged another 47.

The FBI says it's the largest number of defendants ever charged in a cybercrime case.

Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles, says the suspects are accused of running a "phishing" scheme that used computer intrusion and fraud to obtain personal information that allowed them to withdraw money from bank accounts. Egyptian hackers used e-mails to direct victims to phony bank Web sites, where they were to asked to provide account numbers and passwords. Authorities say the thieves then raided their bank accounts.

A large number of marijuana plants were found during a raid of a home in Baldwin Village belonging to a "key" player in the phishing scheme.

The FBI says 33 people were arrested Wednesday morning, mostly in Southern California, Nevada and North Carolina.

Eimiller says victims lost about $2 million dollars.

2 Arrested After Connecticut Police Find Car Filled With Explosives

Two people were arrested after authorities in Connecticut stopped a car full of explosives in a New Haven residential neighborhood.

Police charged 38-year-old John Iannucci of Branford and 27-year-old Jessup Bollinger of New Haven with manufacture of bombs, illegal possession of explosives and other charges.

Both men were being held on $500,000 bond. It was unclear if they had attorneys.
New Haven Officer Joseph Avery says police don't know if the suspects planned to use the explosives, because they're not talking much to investigators.

FBI New Haven spokesman William Reiner told FOXNews.com that the bureau is now helping local police in the probe, but declined to elaborate.

Cops pulled over a motorist Tuesday night allegedly driving a car full of pipe bombs, rifles and a propane tank in New Haven around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to FOX 61.

SLIDESHOW: Bomb-Packed Car Case

A bomb squad was called in and a silver Mercedes was towed away, according to FOX 61. There have been no reports of injuries.

Authorities closed off a four-block area because of the danger posed by the explosives, but did not evacuate.

Click here for more from FOX 61.

Islamophobes urge Canadian government to ban burqas, niqabs in public -- no, wait...

by Robert Spencer

Actually it was a Canadian Muslim group -- a group that knows full well what these garments mean for the subjugation of women. But our enlightened multicultural Western governments know better, of course. "Muslim group urges gov't to ban burkas, niqabs in public," from The Canadian Press, October 7 (thanks to Maxwell):

TORONTO -- Middle Eastern garments designed to cover a woman's face are "medieval" and "misogynist" symbols of extremism with no basis in Islam, a Canadian Muslim lobby group said Wednesday as it urged Ottawa to ban the burka and the niqab.

The Muslim Canadian Congress called on the federal government to prohibit the two garments in order to prevent women from covering their faces in public -- a practice the group said has no place in a society that supports gender equality.

"To cover your face is to conceal your identity," congress spokeswoman Farzana Hassan said in a telephone interview, describing the issue as a matter of public safety, since concealing one's identity is a common practice for criminals.

The tradition of Muslim women covering their faces in public is a tradition rooted more in Middle Eastern culture than in the Islamic faith, Hassan added.

There is nothing in any of the primary Islamic religious texts, including the Qur'an, that requires women to cover their faces, she said -- not even in the controversial, ultra-conservative tenets of Sharia law.

Considering the fact that women are in fact forbidden from wearing burkas in the grand mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest site, it hardly makes sense that the practice should be permitted in Canada, she said.

"If a government claims to uphold equality between men and women, there is no reason for them to support a practice that marginalizes women."...

Federal Reserve - The People's Gov't and Associates at Work

(Analyst's note: Just received an interesting, absolutely must read e-mail from a friend in Maryland and one of the responses of which he speaks.)

Last week I sent a question to Senator Mikulski, asking what happened to 2,000,000,000 dollars that apparently has gone missing from the Federal Reserve. And other question like who has the oversight, who monitors it, with what regularity, where can citizens go to see and read about the results, etc.

In return two days ago I received a stupid response telling me about the clean water act and how that was going. I have/had no interested in my question to the clean water act and it was the response from one of her staff, thinking that they were being funny.

So I answered the clean water response with a - OK let's see how funny I can be. I told them that I personally know several people who write for the Annapolis Newspaper and the Maryland Gazette. I explained that I have received several responses to my serious questions, with no related answers - and that I thought they were intentional ridicules of a Maryland Citizen. I have them all here on my computer and thought I would send them to the Newspapers, FOX and my entire distribution list on my Internet account. I told them that I will personally call the Senator and request a meeting and I will send that email into her "EYES ONLY" And I promise to get together the largest group in the state of Maryland to see that she and her staff are not around after 2010 to ridicule Maryland Citizens.

Thus far today, I have received two answers to previously asked questions giving me much better, although incomplete, answers to my emails to the Senator. I want to know where the missing 2 trillion dollars from the Federal Reserve is? Who spent it, By what Authority, where did it go, and who signed the authority document? It is taxpayers money and we are entitled to know that. Please write to your representatives and ask them where it went - it was our money. Did we send it to Iran to help them build the bomb faster, Did we send it to Palestine to help the needy there???? Like the man said, "Show me My Money!)"


My Friend's Name
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. ______:

Thank you for getting in touch with me about the Federal Reserve.  It's great to hear from you.

I appreciate hearing your views and I understand your concerns.  Congress created the Fed in 1913 to serve as the central bank and set monetary policy for the United States.  It has two equally critical goals: to promote full employment and contain inflation.  Pursuing these goals requires the Federal Reserve be insulated against political pressures so that it can make decisions in the long term best interests of the economy.  At the same time, the Fed must be accountable for its actions.  This is especially true now after the Fed has taken such dramatic and unprecedented steps to head off the collapse of the financial system and the economy.

I supported amendments to the Congressional Budget Resolution (S. Con. Res. 13) and the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act (Public Law 111-22) that would have increased transparency at the Federal Reserve and required additional information about the Fed's use of monetary policy in response to the credit crisis.  But these amendments ultimately did not become law.

The Government Accountability Office currently audits the Fed, but it is prohibited from examining the agency's monetary policy actions.  The Federal Reserve Sunshine Act (S. 604) would provide additional authority to audit the entire Federal Reserve System by 2010 and report to Congress.

S. 604 is currently pending in the Senate Banking Committee.  Knowing of your views is helpful to me, and I will keep them in mind should this legislation come before the full Senate.

Again, thanks for contacting me.  Please let me know if I can be of assistance to you in the future.

Sincerely,
Barbara A. Mikulski
United States Senator


Please do not respond directly to this e-mail. The originating e-mail account is not monitored.
If you would like to get in touch with me again, please visit my Webform at http://mikulski.senate.gov/Contact/contact.cfm
 

Beck: US Newspapers Print More About ‘Jon and Kate’ Than Demise of the Dollar

Senate Health Bill Imposes $29B More in Taxes

Congressional tax experts (Congressional Budget Office) reported that the bill would impose more taxes on health care industries than originally thought -- levies that could be passed on to consumers

Riqa Bary Dependency Trial Court docs: Ohio terror imam Hany Saqr is Muslim Brotherhood leader

from the Jawa Report

One of the more interesting development that has come out of the Riqa Bary dependency trial thus far is the meticulously footnoted 35 page memorandum submitted to the Florida court by Rifqa's attorney, John Stemberger, concerning the Bary family mosque in Ohio, the Noor Islamic Cultural Center. According to Rifqa's affidavit, individuals from the mosque had reported her Christian faith to her father and the mosque leaders ordered him to get his daughter "in line", leading to the threats her parents have admitted to that prompted her to flee to Florida. Her affidavit also documents the Bary's families activity with the Noor Center.

We've reported on the Noor mosque previously, but there are important elements to the Stemberger memo worth additional attention concerns the head of the mosque, Hany Saqr, who is identified on the Noor website as the "founder, spiritual leader, administrator and chairman" of the mosque.
Saqr's name came up during the Holy Land Foundation terrorism finance trial (which resulted in convictions against the defendants on all counts) as one of the top leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in North America. Specifically, he was identified in a 1992 Muslim Brotherhood phone directory entered into evidence by the Department of Justice as a member of the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, and the Eastern region "masul" for the group. The image below (taken from the illustrated memo on the Florida Security Council's website) shows the cover of the directory and Hany Saqr's name listed on the board of directors page:  (Note: click on title above to see this full picture)

As Fox News reported after the memo had been submitted to the court, Saqr denied all the charges. Presumably, this includes his denial that he was identified in the court documents. But not only was the home phone number listed in the directory registered to his home address at the time (as it appeared on his Ohio drivers license), but the office number also went to his office in the pathology department at Ohio State University according to university records. Additionally, the home phone listed in the court documents was registered for several years following that time, including to the address Saqr used when he and his colleagues incorporated the American Islamic Waqf - the parent corporation of the Noor Islamic Cultural Center.

We'll wait and see if his supporters show up in the comments to deny this.

In the next few days we will have more info on Dr. Saqr, but for anyone who isn't familiar with the Muslim Brotherhood, we would recommend this 2004 Chicago Tribune article as an intro into the terrorist ties of the organization (that also came up during the Holy Land Foundation trial) and the secretive nature of their operations in the US. Stay tuned for more!

Jihad terror cell found in Hamburg, where 9/11 was plotted

(Analyst's note:  Remember the recent AQ warning to Germany found and posted here?  One can reason that it was more than just a warning.)

from Jihad Watch

"The danger is absolutely real."

"Terrorist cell found in Hamburg where 9/11 attacks conceived," from the Telegraph, October 7 (thanks to James):

An Islamic terrorist cell has been discovered in Hamburg, the city where the 9/11 attacks were planned eight years ago.

German intelligence services learned that a new militant group with ten members, headed by a German of Syrian origins, had sprung up in the port city....

The ten members are understood to have left Hamburg early this year to attend paramilitary camps in the Hindu Kush, however, two are thought to have recently returned.

All of them were said to have used Hamburg's Taiba Mosque as a meeting place, the same location frequented by the 9/11 leader Mohammed Atta and his accomplices. They went onto carry out the attacks on New York's World Trade Centre and Washington.
"It is to be assumed that these persons are absolutely prepared to carry out suicide or other attacks at home or abroad," the report said, according to Die Welt and Report Mainz.
"The members of the group have a basic commitment to jihad and belong to Hamburg's potentially violent pro-jihad scene."...

Anti-terrorist police set up a security cordon around the Oktoberfest in Munich, the world's largest beer festival, and fighter jets were put on standby.

"The danger is absolutely real," said Joachim Hermann, the Bavarian Interior Minister. "We know that increasing numbers are attending these training camps."

Your health records available to millions Including sensitive details about diseases, prescriptions, addictions, mental illness

(Analyst's note:  Troubling.)


By Chelsea Schilling

Would American citizens object if they knew 4 million health-related businesses distributed private details about their mental illnesses, cancer diagnoses, sexually transmitted diseases, prescriptions, addictions and sensitive genetic information?

Psychoanalyst Dr. Deborah Peel told WND most patients don't know that their highly sensitive information is being shared with thousands of law-enforcement agencies, insurance brokers, life and health insurance companies, credit bureaus, transcription vendors, disease registries, employers and banks every day – and the data can be used to discriminate against Americans.

"Part of the language that keeps people assured is they say things like, 'No unauthorized users can see your information.' That sounds pretty good," she said. "The problem is, they don't tell you how many authorized users there are."

Peel, founder of Patient Privacy Rights, the nation's leading consumer health privacy advocacy organization, said patients often have a false sense of security when they sign Health Insurance

Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, forms in doctors' offices. She warned that those forms only affirm that the patient has received notice that health-related businesses can share records.

PPR's website warns that this information sharing can effect Americans in a variety of ways. It posted the following list of examples:

• If a school or university learns your child has ADHD or is being treated for depression, they may deny admission.

• If a boss knows you take Xanax or Zoloft, they may reconsider your promotion.

• If you or your spouse have a serious or costly chronic illness, an employer may not hire you or your children. A bank may deny a loan or credit.

• If you get a genetic test, most researchers and companies claim to own your DNA. Hospitals freely use the DNA of all newborns. If you carry the breast cancer gene, you, your children and grandchildren may always be stigmatized, even if they aren't sick.....

Gulf officials deny plan to replace dollar

(Wall Street Journal) Arab officials in the Persian Gulf strongly denied a report that they're in secret talks to replace the U.S. dollar with a basket of currencies to price oil ...

Obama administration backs U.N. limits on free speech

(Anne Bayefsky) Islamic states quickly interpreted the president's penchant for "engagement" as meaning fundamental rights were now up for grabs ...

Surrendering U.S. Sovereignty at G-20 Summit

(Analyst's  note:  How is that change going?  This is a must read item.)


By Dick Morris and Eileen McGann

While all eyes were on the rantings of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations, the United States — under President Obama — was surrendering its economic sovereignty at the G-20 summit.

The result of this conclave, which France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy hailed as “revolutionary,” was that all the nations agreed to coordinate their economic policies and programs and to submit them to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for comment and approval.

While the G-20 nations and the IMF are, for now, only going to use “moral suasion” on those nations found not to be in compliance, talk of sanctions looms on the horizon.

While the specific policies to which the U.S. committed itself (reducing the deficit and strengthening regulatory oversight of financial institutions) are laudable in themselves, the process and the precedent are frightening.

We are to subject our most basic national economic policies to the review of a group of nations that includes autocratic Russia, China and Saudi Arabia. Even though our gross domestic product is three times bigger than the second-largest economy (Japan) and equal to that of 13 of the G-20 nations combined, we are to sit politely by with our one vote and submit to the global consensus. Europe has five votes (Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the EU), while we have but one.

And the process will be administered by the IMF, whose counsel to less-developed nations over the past two decades has consistently called for social pain and economic austerity. The IMF’s misguided policies have been responsible for more revolutions than Marx, Engels, and Lenin combined. Its bureaucrats’ arrogance is legendary, and its search for appropriate punishments to fit the crime of spending too much on the poor smacks of colonialism and imperialism. They are our new overseers.
This combination of the IMF and the G-20 will not only work to structure national economic policies but to limit executive compensation at financial institutions. The watchful, wise leaders of such nations as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia — among others — will monitor Wall Street to assure themselves that their compensation is not out of line. One particularly looks forward to the views of the Saudi monarchy on this question of excessive personal enrichment.

Perhaps as part of his public spasm of apology, President Obama also strove successfully to increase the voting strength of the debtor nations on the IMF from the current 43 percent to 48 percent. This is the economic equivalent of giving deadbeat debtors more votes on their bank’s governing board of directors.

Thus, the world’s most successful economy, ours — which is the only one that has produced reliable economic growth for three decades and has lifted real personal incomes almost every year — is going to subject itself to the burden of justifying its own economic policies in front of a global community of 20 nations, some of which do not even embrace free-market economies in the first place.

Indeed, it is only through access to our markets that nations have been able to escape poverty. Japan, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China and India have sequentially trod this path into prosperity.

Obviously, we live in a global economy. But the United States is 24 percent of it. We are entitled to more than one-twentieth of a voice, and it is the world that should be following our policies — not the other way around.

Much of the damage of the Obama administration can be undone at the next election. But such grants of sovereignty to autocratic, backward, bureaucratic and even communist nations will be hard to undo.

The world is recovering from its leftist obsession — e.g., the Angela Merkel victory in Germany. But by the time the voters discover how phony, failed and fraudulent these policies are, we may have given it all away already. Irrevocably.

Silent-but-deadly jihad: Al-Qaeda increasing use of suppository bombs

(Analyst's note:  Troubling.  How about simply running everyone through a bomb proof booth that is saturated with phone frequencies.  We might need more than one booth - giving us time to hose out those "caught in the act" of jihad.  Just a thought ... )

from Jihad Watch

No, we didn't get this story from The Onion. But the humorous potential is tempered by the fact that this tactic is already precipitating yet another wave of costly, inconvenient, and possibly even unhealthful security measures for travelers, as security agencies ponder the inclusion of full-body X-Rays at security checkpoints to catch devices such as these, as well as possible surgically implanted bombs.
"France: Daily reports Al-Qaeda 'suppository bomb'," from AdnKronos International, October 6 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

Paris, 6 October (AKI) - Al-Qaeda-linked suicide bombers are now using 'suppository bombs' to evade stringent security checks at airports and elsewhere, according to a report in French daily Le Figaro. The paper cites information from France's newly formed DCRI anti-terrorist services.

The devices are undetectable and were used in an assassination attempt in Saudi Arabia in late August, according to DCRI.

The target of the attack, prince Mohammed bin Nayef, son of the Saudi interior minister, suffered only minor injuries when his attacker, wanted Islamist Abul Khair detonated the bomb using a mobile phone. The attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda.

"Khair either swallowed the explosives or inserted them as a suppository," said senior French interior ministry official, quoted by Le Figaro.

The officials said palace security guards in Saudi Arabia had failed to remove Khair's mobile phone.

Security officials worldwide are now considering how to tackle the new threat.

Only X-ray's would have been able to detect the 'suppository bomb' device, but these are not being considered for general security controls, according to officials.

X-ray's are not used for general security scanning due to radiation risks as well cost.

One solution could be to detect and remove the cell phones needed to detonate the 'explosive suppositories', according to a police scientific expert quoted by Le Figaro.

More on potential security measures: "Travellers to Europe face full body X-rays after Al Qaeda suicide bombers ploy to hide devices INSIDE their bodies," from the Daily Mail, October 6:

Travellers to Europe face being treated like drug smugglers as security chiefs are expected to recommend new intrusive security measures.

French anti-terror chiefs are expected to propose the new measures, such as full body X-rays or handing in all electronic devices, after a terrorist tried to kill a Saudi prince with a bomb he had inserted into his body.

Al Qaeda's latest ploy was first pioneered by Abdullah Hassan al Asiri, who blew himself apart in Jeddah in late August in an attack on Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the Saudi anti-terrorism chief.

The 23-year-old terrorist blew himself into 70 pieces when he detonated the bomb - inserted into his rectum - with a mobile phone.

His body was said to have absorbed some of the impact of the explosion, however, leaving the prince only slightly injured.

However experts claimed such a blast would be catastrophic in the pressurised atmosphere of a passenger jet.

Now President Nicolas Sarkozy's new domestic intelligence directorate (DCRI) is considering draconian measures, police commanders told Le Figaro newspaper.

But some in the government are already slamming measures that would leave passengers being treated as drug smugglers.

'It is unthinkable when you think about the frequency with which some people fly,' a senior Interior Ministry official told Le Figaro. 'The health risks would be too high.'...

Feds Strip Sheriff Joe of Immigration Enforcement Authority, But Decline to Require Him Wear Pink Underwear

from ImmigrationProf Blog






Dawnt for Daily Kos reports that "America's Toughest Sheriff" Joe Arpaio announced yesterday that the U.S. government has removed Maricopa County, Arizona's authorization to assist in the enforcement of the U.S. immigration laws.  Why you might ask?  "Arpaio is currently under investigation by the Dept of Justice for civil rights violations, and by the Dept of Labor for labor violations. He is being sued by a number of individuals, organizations, and fellow local officials. 

The mayors of two cities in Maricopa County have called him out for what they allege is racial profiling."  ....

----------------------------------------------------
I just received these comments from Brittanicus which are too good to leave "buried" in the comments section of this article summary which one has to click to see.  Thus, I've incorporated them within the post.  My thanks to Brittanicus.

"The usual suspects are defying--THE AMERICAN PEOPLE--and are implicit in this weakening of our laws is Janet Napolitano, head of the Homeland Security. We all must realize with BLANKET AMNESTY on the immediate horizon, their using all the stops to collapse anything that smells of immigration enforcement. Anybody who has investigated the Democratic leadership would slowly weaken 287 G, that gave regular police training to question suspicious people about their immigrant status? Arizona County Sheriff Joe Ariapo was sure to be marked by Napolitano, because his deputies were having a incredulous success rate, in apprehending illegal aliens in his jurisdiction. However the corrupt lawmakers around the nation, have not been able to crush E-Verify? AS YET?

By now most business are conscious of the federal program E-Verify? It distinguishes US citizens and legal residents from illegal labor. Although not seamless, it has a 99.6 success rate and obviously will overtime become even more constructive to business that believes in the "Rule of Law." Opponents in both the business sector and even on Capitol Hill have released a torrent of abuse against the application. That includes its function is blind to counterfeit documentation and spurious ID and that even legal individuals can be rejected? SO--YOU GO TO THE SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE TO BE EXONERATED? ONLY ILLEGAL WORKERS WILL SHUN TURNING TO SSA FOR RESOLVING THIS ISSUE.

The open border conspirators are losing, as they did in a federal Maryland court a week previous. As E-Verify are perfected it needs to become a permanent tool in the incomplete arsenal of immigration enforcement. It needs to reach out to every company, big and small, in our country and every individual who works there? E-Verify eventually will expel foreign national from the workplace, without financial appropriations on a large scale. These people will self-deport when they cannot be hired anymore. Businesses facing huge fines and prison will be the ultimate deterrent. In time it will save our ailing schools, health care, home mortgages and government welfare system. Look to NUMBERSUSA for honest an answer, that includes costs to taxpayers for the new blanket AMNESTY. Which Senators and Republicans are anti-US American Worker and their immigration grades?

For an example Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has a miserable enforcement grade of "C-". He was out to erase E-Verify, under fund the border fence from the beginning of the Democratic administration. Then JUDICIAL WATCH is a public watchdog group Promoting Integrity, Transparency and Accountability in Government, Politics and the Law. They uncover misconduct by government officials and litigation to hold to account politicians and public officials who engage in corrupt activities. Finally CAPSWEB informs the public about the coming nightmare of OVERPOPULATION that is already exhibiting itself in our deteriorating infrastructure. TELL YOUR POLITICIANS YOU HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE AT 202-224-3121

SAY NO PRO –ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT LIBERAL SOCIALIST--SANCTUARY CITY--MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA.

Incidentally regarding the 2010 Census? Small states will miss out big time on federal dollars, while mass illegal immigrant states will gain more seats in Congress and too much power and influence? Of course ICE could check the immigration status of those who are counted, even though it's supposedly against US law? Or is counting 20 million plus (?) non-legal residence against the US Constitution?"

Press Release: Rep. Myrick Connects the Dots of the Recent US Terror Plots

 (Analyst's note:  Absolutely must read.  Eleven days ago Rep. Sue Myrick, co-chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Anti-Terrorism Caucus, put out the release below, connecting the dots between the spate of recently-foiled terrorist plots. Rep. Myrick is one of many in the House and Senate who do in fact now “get it.” )

“There is no current evidence that materially connects any of the terror plots recently revealed.  However, I have taken sentences directly from FBI press releases, and FBI investigative documents, and highlighted the clear connection below .  These plots are all tied together by one thing: a global ideology that is self-identified by its believers as jihadist, or “jihadiyya”.   It is hard to ignore this fact  when in these cases below several of these men very clearly, and very directly, state that they followed this ideology (jihad), and wanted to kill.

I find this connection disturbing seeing as these plots come on the heels of the Administration's efforts to rename 'jihadists' - which is what they call themselves - 'violent extremists'." 

- US Rep. Sue Myrick 

 

FBI Arrests Jordanian Citizen for Attempting to Bomb Skyscraper in Downtown Dallas: http://dallas.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/dl092409.htm  “Smadi made clear his intention to serve as a soldier for Usama Bin Laden and al Qaeda, and to conduct violent jihad.”

 

Illinois Man Arrested in Plot to Bomb Courthouse and Murder Federal Employees: http://springfield.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2009/si092409.htm “…Finton expressed his desire to receive military training and to travel to Gaza or other overseas locations to become a jihadist fighter.”

 

NC Boyd Case—New Charges…Possible Target was Marine Corps Base Quantico: http://charlotte.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2009/ce092409.htm “According to the indictment, during the period from 1989 through 1992, Daniel Boyd traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan where he received military-style training in terrorist training camps for the purpose of engaging in violent jihad.”

 

NY Transit Terror Case- indictment handed down- conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction—explosive bombs—in the United States: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/sept09/zazi_092409.html    Zazi has told FBI investigators that he "attended courses at an al Qaeda training facility" while in Pakistan.

Brooklyn Resident Indicted for the Conspiracy to Commit Murder Overseas and Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Terrorists: http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/nyfo092409a.htm   “According to the indictment and other documents filed by the government, in early January 2009, Kaziu devised a plan to travel abroad for the purpose of joining a radical foreign fighter group and to take up arms against perceived enemies of Islam.”

FTC to Regulate Blogging

Print Texas terror suspect made video for bin Laden, FBI says

Biowatch Quietly Protects Nation From Biological Terror Threat

from National Terror Alert

I’m always impressed by the countless men and women who quietly work behind the scenes to protect this nation from the threat of terrorism. It’s not often that you get even a small glimpse into the vital role many of them play, yet for every investigation and every plot that is thwarted there are dozens, perhaps hundreds, who played a crucial role. One such group, Biowatch, is featured in a USA today article.

Behind the scenes, system sniffs for biological attacks
A ringing telephone startled Tom Slezak from a sound sleep. It was 1 a.m. on Oct. 6, 2001. The caller gave Slezak three hours to pack for a chilling, top-secret mission: to protect Washington, D.C., and other U.S. cities from a major bioterror attack.

For all Slezak knew, an attack had begun. Hours earlier, a Florida photo editor named Bob Stevens had died after inhaling anthrax powder sent by mail, jolting a nation that was still reeling from the 9/11 hijackings. At the time, the scope of the anthrax attacks that eventually killed five people and sickened 17 others wasn’t clear.

Slezak got the call because he helped pioneer the genetic analysis of biological agents at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Today, eight years after the anthrax attacks, the system Slezak’s research team started, known as BioWatch, is quietly operating in more than 30 cities.

A federally funded, locally run program with an $80 million annual budget, it depends on a network of vacuum pumps that draw surrounding air through filters, sniffing for signs of biological agents.

[...]

The scenarios envisioned by Hooks and other Homeland Security officials are enough to keep anyone awake at night: A terrorist in a pickup in Charlotte, spewing a biological agent through an agricultural sprayer. A small plane releasing microbes into night skies upwind of Washington, D.C. Someone spraying anthrax from a briefcase in Pennsylvania Station in New York, the busiest transit hub in the USA, with 600,000 people streaming through each day.

“How many people would be infected? How far would it spread? They’d go right through there, jump on a train and be gone,” Hooks says. “Those are the kinds of things I worry about.”

The only way to know the detection system is capable of picking up such threats is to test it, says Omberg of Los Alamos. BioWatch analysts have released benign microbes upwind of likely terrorist targets and population centers. BioWatch sensors in the Washington, D.C., area have reliably picked up bacteria released near the Pentagon and Tysons Corner, a close-in office and retail hub in Virginia.

Real-world alerts, such as the tularemia incident in Washington, D.C., also have helped some cities gear up for a biological incident. Houston, even more than Washington, is home to the bacteria that cause tularemia, Francisella tularensis, which regularly triggers BioWatch alerts.

Read the full article

Good News for Terrorists: Democrat Revisions to the Patriot Act

If only terrorists would be so accommodating as not to change cell phones, the new curbs on the Patriot Act being pushed by Democrats in Congress would not be so dangerous. ....

New Shar'iah Charity Fund: Underwriting Radical Islam?

by Hana Levi Julian

A new global Islamic charity fund set to launch in early 2010 may become the vehicle to support something entirely different, according to Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, who warned that the new charity must be watched carefully. sharia

In an exclusive interview Monday with Israel National News, Jasser expressed deep concern that the World Zakat Fund, established in part by the Malaysian government, may be "nothing more than a ruse to give transnational Islamist movements and their controlling Muslim theocrats an economic power base."

The new fund will collect donations from the 2.5 percent "zakat" set aside under Shar'iah law by observant Muslims who have the wherewithal to save money. According to a statement released to the media, it is the first Islamic charity fund ever to be established.

The fund is hoping to raise nearly a billion dollars by the end of its first year. Humayon Dar, CEO of BMB Islamic, the Shar'iah adviser to the fund, said last week that donors have made soft commitments of approximately $50 million thus far.

That could grow to as much as $10 billion within the first decade, however: Dar estimated there are some 40,000 high-net-worth Muslims in the Middle East alone, including 400 billionaires. He added that between $20 billion to $30 billion in zakat is distributed in the Muslim world each year.
'Giving the Fox the Keys to the Henhouse'

Jasser told INN that he believes the fund would simply serve to consolidate financial power "in vast orders of magnitude" and then hand it over to the member nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

These are countries that have refused to abide by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, he pointed out, "and do not adhere to the same standards of human rights as Western nations."

Moreover, he said, "As far as I know, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mohamed Mahathir, has never retracted his comment from 2002 where he stated, 'A universal Islamic banking system is a jihad worth pursuing to abolish this slavery [to the West].'"

Giving OIC nations the collective ability to determine the distribution of "Muslim charity," he said, is "the epitome of giving the 'fox the keys to the henhouse.'"

'Benign Distribution of Funds by Radical Islamists?'
It is not yet clear where and how the funds from the new charity will be distributed, Jasser noted. "At this point, the effort is in its infancy, and the important details of where their monies will go is unknown."

However, he said, the controlling members of the fund's Shar'iah finance board merit some concern:

Dr. Ali al-Quradaghi is a member of the European Council of Fatwa Research, and a colleague of the global spiritual guide of the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. Yusuf Qaradawi, who has sanctioned terrorist activity in Israel and Iraq. Qaradawi has also called for the murder of Muslim apostates, and has expressed the intention of replacing Western capitalism with "integrated Islamic philosophy."
Syria's Abdul Sattar Abu Guddah, is closely affiliated with Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Usmani, who has been removed from numerous boards of Western banks, according to Jasser. Abu Guddah was on the board of the al-Baraka Bank, which was implicated in the financing of the 9/11 al-Qaeda terrorist attack on the United States. The allegations against the bank were later dismissed.

Abdul-aziz Fawzan Saleh Al-Fawzan is a Saudi Arabia-based Wahabi Islamist whom Jasser calls "a self-proclaimed hater of Christians."

In addition, the management board of BMB Islamic includes three members who hail from the International Islamic University in Pakistan. Jasser noted that in a seminar held recently by the university on Israel and Gaza, "The speaker provided an interpretation of the Koran, Chapter 5, which is anti-Semitic and incites violence."

University president Anwar Siddiqui led a discussion at the same conference with a panel of radical Islamists, Jasser said, "who called for the Islamic state in Gaza and the West Bank and for a boycott of America and Israel," among others.

"I cannot imagine how individuals as radical as this are going to distribute billions in funds in a 'benign' method globally," he said pointedly.

White House angry at General Stanley McChrystal speech on Afghanistan

The relationship between President Barack Obama and the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan has been put under severe strain by Gen Stanley McChrystal's comments on strategy for the war.

Will Social Security survive the recession? Tax revenue plummets while retirees seek early benefits

Gen. Petraeus Was Treated for Prostate Cancer

Petraeus underwent two months of radiation treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, and the treatment was successful, a spokesman says.

No Rush to Escalate

By E.J. Dionne Jr.

 At a White House dinner with a group of historians at the beginning of the summer, Robert Dallek, a shrewd student of both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, offered a chilling comment to President Obama.

 "In my judgment," he recalls saying, "war kills off great reform movements." The American record is pretty clear: World War I brought the Progressive Era to a close. When Franklin D. Roosevelt was waging World War II, he was candid in saying that "Dr. New Deal" had given way to "Dr. Win the War." Korea ended Harry Truman's Fair Deal, and Vietnam brought Lyndon Johnson's Great Society to an abrupt halt.

Dallek is not a pacifist, and he does not pretend that his observation settles the question against war in every case. Of the four he mentioned, I think World War II and Korea were certainly necessary fights.

But Dallek's point helps explain why Obama is right to have grave qualms about an extended commitment of many more American troops to Afghanistan. Obama was elected not to escalate a war but to end one. The change and hope he promised did not involve a vast new campaign to transform Afghanistan. ....

Billions in U.S. Aid Never Reached Pakistan Army

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The United States has long suspected that much of the billions of dollars it has sent Pakistan to battle militants has been diverted to the domestic economy and other causes, such as fighting India.

Arabs, China, Russia, Japan, France, Brazil, & India all PLOT TO DROP DOLLAR - Iran Already Done So

(Analyst's note:  Absolutely must read announcement.  The impact will be stunning.)

In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading

By Robert Fisk

In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.

Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.

The plans, confirmed to The Independent by both Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong, may help to explain the sudden rise in gold prices, but it also augurs an extraordinary transition from dollar markets within nine years.

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The Americans, who are aware the meetings have taken place – although they have not discovered the details – are sure to fight this international cabal which will include hitherto loyal allies Japan and the Gulf Arabs. Against the background to these currency meetings, Sun Bigan, China's former special envoy to the Middle East, has warned there is a risk of deepening divisions between China and the US over influence and oil in the Middle East. "Bilateral quarrels and clashes are unavoidable," he told the Asia and Africa Review. "We cannot lower vigilance against hostility in the Middle East over energy interests and security."

This sounds like a dangerous prediction of a future economic war between the US and China over Middle East oil – yet again turning the region's conflicts into a battle for great power supremacy. China uses more oil incrementally than the US because its growth is less energy efficient. The transitional currency in the move away from dollars, according to Chinese banking sources, may well be gold. An indication of the huge amounts involved can be gained from the wealth of Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar who together hold an estimated $2.1 trillion in dollar reserves.

The decline of American economic power linked to the current global recession was implicitly acknowledged by the World Bank president Robert Zoellick. "One of the legacies of this crisis may be a recognition of changed economic power relations," he said in Istanbul ahead of meetings this week of the IMF and World Bank. But it is China's extraordinary new financial power – along with past anger among oil-producing and oil-consuming nations at America's power to interfere in the international financial system – which has prompted the latest discussions involving the Gulf states.

Brazil has shown interest in collaborating in non-dollar oil payments, along with India. Indeed, China appears to be the most enthusiastic of all the financial powers involved, not least because of its enormous trade with the Middle East.

China imports 60 per cent of its oil, much of it from the Middle East and Russia. The Chinese have oil production concessions in Iraq – blocked by the US until this year – and since 2008 have held an $8bn agreement with Iran to develop refining capacity and gas resources. China has oil deals in Sudan (where it has substituted for US interests) and has been negotiating for oil concessions with Libya, where all such contracts are joint ventures.

Furthermore, Chinese exports to the region now account for no fewer than 10 per cent of the imports of every country in the Middle East, including a huge range of products from cars to weapon systems, food, clothes, even dolls. In a clear sign of China's growing financial muscle, the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, yesterday pleaded with Beijing to let the yuan appreciate against a sliding dollar and, by extension, loosen China's reliance on US monetary policy, to help rebalance the world economy and ease upward pressure on the euro.

Ever since the Bretton Woods agreements – the accords after the Second World War which bequeathed the architecture for the modern international financial system – America's trading partners have been left to cope with the impact of Washington's control and, in more recent years, the hegemony of the dollar as the dominant global reserve currency.

The Chinese believe, for example, that the Americans persuaded Britain to stay out of the euro in order to prevent an earlier move away from the dollar. But Chinese banking sources say their discussions have gone too far to be blocked now. "The Russians will eventually bring in the rouble to the basket of currencies," a prominent Hong Kong broker told The Independent. "The Brits are stuck in the middle and will come into the euro. They have no choice because they won't be able to use the US dollar."

Chinese financial sources believe President Barack Obama is too busy fixing the US economy to concentrate on the extraordinary implications of the transition from the dollar in nine years' time. The current deadline for the currency transition is 2018.

The US discussed the trend briefly at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh; the Chinese Central Bank governor and other officials have been worrying aloud about the dollar for years. Their problem is that much of their national wealth is tied up in dollar assets.

"These plans will change the face of international financial transactions," one Chinese banker said. "America and Britain must be very worried. You will know how worried by the thunder of denials this news will generate."

Iran announced late last month that its foreign currency reserves would henceforth be held in euros rather than dollars. Bankers remember, of course, what happened to the last Middle East oil producer to sell its oil in euros rather than dollars. A few months after Saddam Hussein trumpeted his decision, the Americans and British invaded Iraq.

The Fed Fighter: DealBook’s Ron Paul Interview

(Analyst's note:  Absolutely must read and consider this interview summary.  Don't miss the recommended reading list following this article.)

by Cyrus Sanati

The fallout from the credit crisis has put the financial system of the United States under a microscope. Banker pay, lending practices and regulatory oversight are now topics of mainstream interest for the first time since the Great Depression.

As Congress debates whether or not to give more power to the Federal Reserve to watch over the financial system, Ron Paul, the Republican congressman from Texas, is arguing, as he has for years, for the government to go in the opposite direction and actually cut the Fed’s powers.

In an interview with DealBook on Thursday, Mr. Paul discussed his new book, “End the Fed,” as well as his views on Wall Street.

The outspoken lawmaker contends that the government is essentially controlled by the Fed and in collusion with Wall Street, and has created an unsustainable economic system through the excess printing of money. He predicts that the system will eventually break down and the dollar will collapse, creating economic chaos.

Here are edited and condensed excerpts from DealBook’s talk with Mr. Paul.

Q.What would Wall Street look like without the Fed? Do you believe that Wall Street banks — which you’ve described as a “secretive cartel of powerful money managers” — would be able to manipulate interest rates if the Fed didn’t exist?

A.No, the interest rate would be set by savers. Capital would come from savings, which is what happens in a free market. So if there were a lot of savings then interest rates would go down. This would give information to the marketplace, which is the most important thing that has to be corrected without a central bank: sending the right information out to borrowers, investors and savers.

Right now we don’t have a free market in interest rates, so it is basically price controls.

Q.In your book, you argue that ending the Fed would put the American banking system on solid financial footing. With the banks still far from clearing their toxic assets, how is that possible?

A.Well, to get rid of the toxic assets, the Fed said we need to step in because the assets were illiquid. Illiquid means that they are worthless, and if they are worthless, we should take care of that problem like we did in 1921 and eliminate them and get it over with and get back to work again.

But to take these illiquid, worthless assets and dump them on the American taxpayers and not really get rid of them just prolongs the agony.

Q.It’s widely believed that the Fed is independent, made up mostly of academics, not politicians or business leaders. What specific powers do you believe the Wall Street banks have over the Fed that would allow them to influence it?

A.Well, we don’t have a full answer on that, but that’s obviously the reason the Fed doesn’t want a full audit. What we do know is that they do have influence over the Fed; I mean Wall Street was bailed out, and it wasn’t the first time.

We know that Lehman Brothers was allowed to go bankrupt, but Goldman Sachs came out very well outside of this mess. We want to know why this happened, what they did, who got these loans and why. Someone has always been in our Treasury or our Federal Reserve who is closely connected to Wall Street — Goldman Sachs more than anybody else.

Q.So do you think Goldman Sachs has the most influence at the Fed?

A.I think they have been in the news the most, but we might find out a lot of new things once we audit the Fed. We might find out that there are some international banks with influence.

The one thing the Fed is really fighting is to keep us from auditing any of the international agreements they have with other central banks and the international financial institutions — who knows who’s involved. The key issue is transparency, and I don’t think you will know the full extent until we have a true audit.

Q.Which brings us to your bill to audit the Federal Reserve. What would an audit show, and why do you think that information is important?

A.It is going to show what kind of promises the Fed made, what kind of loans they made, which companies benefited, which companies did not. We want to know about these international arrangements. You know if they can enter into arrangements with other countries and other central banks and issue new money and credit — they are literally a government unto itself.

The Fed is making appropriations that are off the books and didn’t go through Congress. That should be unconstitutional. They are making agreements with other governments. That’s treaty-making and we don’t even know about it. They always say it is to maintain an orderly financial system, but there is nothing orderly about it. They created problems, and it is something we deserve to know about.

Q.Congress is considering various ways to increase regulatory oversight of Wall Street. Do you believe that could help alleviate the severity of the financial boom and bust cycles?

A.No, it wouldn’t do a thing because it is a distraction. The real problem is the inflationary monetary policy of the Fed — you have to deal with the problem in order to correct it. I mean Congress is talking about more and more regulations, but that just won’t work.

In a market economy with a gold standard you do have market regulations. Bad businesses and bad banks – they go out of business. They would never be all at one time. F.D.I.C. kind of insurance would be private, banks would be rated by a private company and when they made bad loans, it would be known.

The better they ran their affairs, the lower their insurance rates would be and people would know every single day how a bank is doing, rather than allowing every bank to hide behind government guarantees.

Q.You mention in the book that your ultimate goal is to “repel legal tender laws and letting everyone get into the business of the production of money.” Can you explain what you mean by that? It sounds kind of chaotic.

A.This is kind of a theoretical argument, because I follow what [Austrian economist Friedrich] Hayek said in that you should have competing currencies in one economy. The market would decide if you use gold or silver or some other things – anything to restrain the printing press.

If we follow the Constitution, only gold and silver could be legal tender, but today that is not allowed and the only thing you can use is Federal Reserve notes (dollars). That means you get locked into the system.

Q.Some argue that your view on returning the United States to the gold standard is simplistic and not applicable to today’s sophisticated and interconnected financial system. How do you respond to that?

A.I think the system we have is not a very good system and it is in the process of causing us a lot of trouble. We had the biggest financial bubble in the world just burst and the dollar reserve standard has literally come to an end, so I would say everything we’ve had, especially since 1971, has been very, very impractical and has not worked anyway.

Q.So how close are you in convincing members of Congress to “end the Fed”?

A.They are not ready. They are only going to study it when they see the collapse of the dollar. Although the dollar is collapsing, it’s not happening fast enough for them to think about currency reform. They are talking about financial system reform with all these regulations that will make it worse, but they aren’t anywhere close to dealing with the currency issue. If they think they can double the money supply in a year, they aren’t close to talking about sound money.

That being said, I am excited that now at least people are beginning to take a look at the Federal Reserve. I am very positive about how the college kids have taken to reading Austrian economics. To me it is remarkable that 75 percent of the country said that we should limit the Fed, when a couple years ago they didn’t even think about it.

We now have every Republican on the audit bill and 119 Democrats, so it is very positive that attention is directed toward the Fed.

 --------------------------------------------------------

For additional reading on the troubled American Economy please consider reading the following" :

• Congressional Budget Office (CBO)  - The Long-Term Budget Outlook
• CBO warning on page14 - possible financial insolvency of our gov't - demand for higher interest rates - foreign & domestic lenders may not provide enough funds for the gov't to meet obligations.
  
• Problem magnitude cannot be underestimated on page 15
  
• Items NOT factored into the analysis on page 17
• U.S. Federal Reserve --  Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States 
• Current impact of U.S. credit markets on page 12
• U.S. Treasury Department - Treasury Bulletin 
• U.S. is deep in debt (nearly $7.9 trillion) to the rest of the world on page 48
  

Bombs and Bribes

by Ron Paul

What if tomorrow morning you woke up to headlines that yet another Chinese drone bombing on US soil killed several dozen ranchers in a rural community while they were sleeping?  That a drone aircraft had come across the Canadian border in the middle of the night and carried out the latest of many attacks?  What if it was claimed that many of the victims harbored anti-Chinese sentiments, but most of the dead were innocent women and children?  And what if the Chinese administration, in an effort to improve its public image in the US, had approved an aid package to send funds to help with American roads and schools and promote Chinese values here?

Most Americans would not stand for it.  Yet the above hypothetical events are similar to what our government is doing in Pakistan. ....

The Obsolescence of a Slur

Criticisms of Obama are increasingly met by cries of “Racist!” Are his critics racists?

By Victor Davis Hanson

The charge of racism has been leveled against critics of President Obama’s health-care reform by everyone from New York Times columnists, racial activists, and Democratic legislators to senior statesmen like Jimmy Carter (“It’s a racist attitude”), Bill Clinton (“some . . . are racially prejudiced”), and Walter Mondale (“I don’t want to pick a person [and] say, ‘He’s a racist,’ but I do think the way they’re piling on Obama . . . I think I see an edge in them that’s a little bit different”).

But are Obama’s critics really racists?

It is a serious charge. If true, it means the hope of a color-blind society is essentially over after a half-century of civil-rights progress. If false, it means that we have institutionalized vicious smears as legitimate political tactics — and, in the process, discredited the entire dialogue that surrounds racial prejudice.

How do we determine the accuracy of the “racism” charges? ....

'Almost a Lost Cause'

By Greg Jaffe

The rocket-propelled grenade and rifle fire was so intense that most of the soldiers spent the opening minutes of the battle lying on their stomachs, praying that the enemy would run out of ammunition. ....

IG Report Finds Paulsen, Bernanke Misled Public on Bank Rescues

Report says then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and other officials were wrong to contend that all nine banks receiving the first round of bailout support -- $125 billion -- were sound.

What Temple? Fatah says 'only a Muslim holy site' 'U.S. partner' demands Jews, Christians be banned from praying on Mount

Obama eligibility case survives 1st court test Judge hears arguments, refuses immediate dismissal demand

La Raza prez wants health care reform for illegals

(CNSNews.com) National Council of La Raza President Janet Murguia said that health care reform should include "everyone" ...

Bizarre Aspects of "Shovel Ready" ObamaCare

Panoply of weirdness in the health care bills working their way through Congress.

Doctors who treat the oldest patients will be fined by the government: The government will create a "hit list" of doctors who are in the top 10% of Medicare costs per patient nationwide. Those doctors on the list automatically lose 5 percent of their total Medicare reimbursements, which are already abysmally low. Because the most aged patients are the most costly to treat, doctors will shy away from treating the oldest segment of the population for fear it will relegate them to the hit list. Put simply, this stricture will dramatically reduce access to health care for our most vulnerable seniors. 

Video: "American Police Force?" - What is it? Under what authority does it exist? More from Hardin, Montana - absolutely

Current trends in cyber attacks on mobile and embedded systems

by Kurt Stammberger


.... With millions of new electronics devices connecting to the Internet every day, hackers are increasingly focusing on a new type of target: mobile and embedded systems. Such systems include point-of-sale terminals, Wireless routers, smart phones, networked office machines such as printers, and the utility infrastructure. ....

Terrorists nearing ability to launch big cyberattacks against U.S.

By Jill R. Aitoro 

The biggest threat to U.S. computer networks is terrorist organizations that will purchase software code from cybercriminals to penetrate sensitive systems, a possibility that could be just a few years away, information security and former intelligence officials said on Friday.

Although enemy states often are blamed for cyberattacks against the United States, it is not common because political and financial repercussions dissuade most countries from launching a widespread effort, James Woolsey, a former CIA director, said during a panel discussion at the International Spy Museum. The talk was part of the launch of a new gallery on cyber threats.

"We don't have the [degree] of strife [with] those that have these capabilities -- such as China and Russia," that would cause them to attack the United States, Woolsey said. "The ultimate problem we face is the possibility that we will have an enemy whose objective is total destruction."

Power plants are a prime target, he said, with the goal being to take down the electric grid. "Would anyone want to do that?" Woolsy asked. "Yes. We saw their faces on 9/11."

Al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist organizations are honest about what motivates them, he said. "They believe God wants to destroy the U.S.," Woolsey added. "That's a different kind of enemy." ....

A 20-Year-Old Puzzle: Have We Discovered what Iran is Really Up To? (Part One of Two)

(Analyst's note:  Consider this an absolutely must read series of articles.)

 

by Peter Huessy

 

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany have now met with representatives of the Iranian government in Geneva, hopefully to determine the nature of the latter country’s nuclear facilities and technology development. Is this finally the end game, at which we find the answer to a 20-year-old puzzle – are the mullahs in Tehran developing nuclear weapons? And is it sufficient to find out the answers to only this one puzzle? Or is it something very different?

 

Before we can answer that question, and before we analyze the agreements that flowed from the meeting, it would be useful to, in the words of former Secretary of Defense Les Aspin, “review the bidding.” First, what do we know? Second, what are reasonable inferences from what we know? Third, when combined with the historical record, how should we see what we know? And fourth, with this in mind, what then are our realistic choices going forward especially in light of the “deal” reached in Geneva?

 

What Do We Know?

 

First, what do we know? The Iranians are accelerating their production and development of ballistic missiles. The USAF specifically in a report in April says this includes long range intercontinental ballistic missiles. An analyst at MIT concurs. Uzi Rubin, the former director of ballistic missile defenses at the Israeli Ministry of Defense

says the Iranian current rocket capability approaches 3,000 kilometers and can reasonably reach over 4,000 kilometers in the near future, which would put all of Europe under the shadow of Tehran’s missiles. The longer-range rockets are now of the solid-fuel and multi-stage variety, which means they can be launched quickly and without the fueling process that has previously allowed us to discover potential launches through satellite observation.

 

We also know something about international assistance to Iran for their rocket programs. Bill Gertz, writing in the Washington Times, reveals that documents, the content of which were provided to him by an analyst at MIT, which in turn apparently were spirited out from some Iranian state-run industries, show widespread cooperation between Russia, China, North Korea and Iran in BOTH the development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. Other recent reports detail the purchase of nuclear trigger technology by Iran. British intelligence says that Iran is building nuclear warheads and re-started such work in the past few years.

 

Now what about the state of our defenses? In 2006, the Bush administration and Congress agreed to emphasize the protection of Europe from Iranian short and medium range rockets as well as develop additional deployments to protect against what were seen as emerging longer-range rocket threats. Now, as of 2009, the current capability of U.S. ballistic missile defenses for the defense of Europe can intercept rockets with roughly a 2,000 kilometer range. Much beyond that and we have to develop a better system. We hope to have available by 2015 the capability to have a Navy-based Standard Missile with a speed of 4.5 kilometers per second, (k/sec) compared to its current capability just above 3 k/sec. The faster speed would enable ship-based interceptors based on Aegis cruisers in the Baltic, Mediterranean and the Black Sea to protect portions of Europe from Iranian missile threats.

 

Such a sea-based capability was being pursued by the previous administration and in fact has been a long supported development by very strong missile defense supporters, including working groups led by the Heritage Foundation, the Center for Security Policy, the Marshall Institute, High Frontier, the Claremont Institute and the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, and at least as far back as 1995. Other ground-based capabilities such as the PAC-3 and THAAD missile defense systems can protect smaller areas against shorter range rockets, and are currently being planned for deployment not only with U.S. military forces overseas but also hosted by Turkey, Germany, Poland and Denmark, to name but a few. As for long-range rockets from Iran, the U.S. is in part protected by our deployment of interceptors in California and Alaska, but more capability is urgently required.

 

Logical Inferences

 

Any reasonable person would conclude the Iranian are building an arsenal of ballistic missiles, some of which are designed to carry nuclear weapons, to further their murderous aims against Israel, NATO, the United States and our allies in the region. Why else build rockets that now reach at least to Warsaw and probably beyond? We also know that there is a consortium of criminal cartels – from the oligarchs in Russia, to the ruling families in China, to the criminal regimes in Syria, North Korea and elsewhere, helping Iran with these military capabilities.

 

Michael Ledeen recently wrote of this organized opposition to the U.S. and its allies. This consists of a collective of regimes seeking monopoly control over resources, especially energy, free rein to build their empires, and the use of terror proxies combined with criminal cartels in pursuit of their aims. As part of this effort, they are using the tools of globalization to cross state lines, diminish the sovereignty of some governments, and escape both law and ethics. It is not altogether unreasonable to look at Iranian behavior in this light. So if Russia, China, North Korea and Syria are the very partners in Iranian “criminal” behavior, it would seem one very big stretch to see these same countries as seriously willing to “give us a hand” in reining in the terrorist ways of one of their “partner” states such as Iran.

 

Historical Lessons

 

How do these inferences stand up in light of the historical record? We know that the U.S. and its allies have been talking and negotiating with Iran for 30 years, the record of which was recently eloquently explained by Michael Ledeen in the Wall Street Journal. We also know that Iran has used these negotiations to hide their current nuclear technology facilities, design bureaus, and enrichment plants. We know the Mullahs have repeatedly lied and excel at the art of duplicity and concealment.

 

We also know Iran’s constitution calls on the country to export its brand of murderous Islam, and this consists in part of supplying weapons, sanctuary and financing to terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah who are in turn making war against Lebanon and Israel. And we know many of these weapons are supplied originally by Russia, as well as by China and North Korea.

 

We also know from U.S. military commanders and their testimony before the U.S. Congress that Iran is providing weapons, training and financing to terrorists killing Americans and their allies in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

We further know Iran has a long track record of murder – from the Marine barracks in Beirut to our Embassy in Lebanon, to the Israeli facilities in Argentina, and to the destruction of the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie. We also know the Iranian regime has repeatedly attempted to conduct terrorist attacks against Morocco, Egypt and some of the Persian Gulf states. In this light, how realistic is that Iran will trade its revolutionary goals because it might be fearful of being “isolated?”

 

Now why is Iran terrorism’s #1 practitioner? The notion remains firmly fixed in some quarters that much of this is due to the U.S. acting as some kind of “hyper-power,” as once described by former French President Chirac, himself hip-deep in the Iraq food-for-palaces swindle and long time protector of Saddam Hussein. Some even go back to the 1950s and the U.S. support of a “coup” that stopped a communist stooge from taking power in Iran as justification for the continued “hostility” of the Iranian regime toward the U.S.

 

We have been told repeatedly: If the U.S. would simply stop acting “unilaterally,” things would change. The “international community,” upon seeing the “softer approach” of a new American administration, would finally conclude the U.S. “deserved” to be helped in its efforts to eliminate the Iranian nuclear weapons program and subsequently with that of North Korea as well.

 

The central assumption that animated this world view comes straight out of the “blame America first” crowd first identified by the late Jean J. Kirkpatrick, our Ambassador to the UN. It comes down to seeing America as a “bad actor” in the world. It was quite simply that our allies would not help us deal with Iran because of the perceived political problem of being associated with our fighting in Iraq, enforcing the Patriot Act provisions, waterboarding terror subjects or maintaining the prison in Guantanamo Bay.

 

An additional complaint is that there has been “two decades” of neglect with respect to “arms control” and reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles. The Moscow Treaty of 2002 was viewed as “not real arms control” even though United States and Russian deployed weapons were actually reduced by over 60 percent, the largest percent reductions in strategic nuclear weapons ever. The treaty was submitted to the Senate and became the law of the land. The U.S. and Russia actually trusted each other to keep their declared number of deployed nuclear weapons within the boundaries of the treaty. The START I agreement verification measures, still in effect, could provide some of the “verify” in President Reagan’s famous dictum: “Trust, but verify.”

 

It is true the Moscow Treaty of 2002 didn’t contain the elaborate rules of the START or SALT treaties. It did not constrain the U.S., or the Russians for that matter, from deploying their respective nuclear forces consistent with their own view of their security and deterrent needs. It did, however, eliminate some 4,000 deployed strategic nuclear weapons as well as incidentally thousands of stockpiled weapons as well. 

 

This flexibility in the treaty and the associated assumption that the treaty wasn’t really the old fashioned “arms control” led to never-ending complaints that the U.S. lacked sufficient stature or moral credibility to insist that one NPT signatory – Iran – had to get rid of its nuclear weapons program or at the very least fully comply with the terms of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty when it, the United States, was “neglecting” arms control. The U.S. failure to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty during the Clinton administration also may have played a role in this view, but this was a common and pervasive complaint.

 

This was all viewed in the larger context of our bad polling numbers in Europe. President Bush was simply not liked. The U.S., in some polls, was viewed as a greater threat to world peace than either North Korea or Iran. This view was no doubt fueled by the cacophony of hatred and invective hurled at our 43rd President by his domestic political enemies. But it nonetheless gave many in Europe and elsewhere, we were told, a ready “excuse” not to help with our non-proliferation goals. And so while our European allies met repeatedly with Iran, little if any progress was achieved.

 

Similarly, at similar meetings designed to push forward the goals of the NPT, third world countries sided with Iran and refused to put counter proliferation high on the agenda as opposed to the responsibility of the permanent five to “rid the world of nuclear weapons” and “eliminate weapons in space.” And in the absence of progress with Iran, many of our European allies, as well as China, Russia and Japan, expanded their trade and investment ties with the Tehran Mullahs, all the while preaching to the U.S. that we lacked sufficient morale stature to call down this element of the “evil empire.”

 

So now the assumption seems to be we have regained our “moral stature.” Former Secretary of State

Albright is very pleased that our polling numbers are way up in Europe. She says “it is nice to be liked.” It apparently had little effect when the administration asked earlier this year for a greater military commitment to the Afghanistan Theater from our NATO allies where supposedly the U.S. is so much more admired. Some nations sent a few more troops but they were withdrawn immediately after the recent elections.

 

But now there apparently is the belief that our arguments with Iran will have such moral power that the Mullahs will be bewildered and cave in to our demands. Our allies will finally will take our side and make some hard choices. Russia and China will insist on Iranian compliance with UN resolutions and the terms of the NPT. And once we all threaten to implement “severe sanctions,” Iran will fold. Stay tuned.

 

In Part Two, we will examine the “deal” reached in Geneva and the way forward for the US and its allies.

 

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Peter Huessy is President of GeoStrategic Analysis, a defense consulting company in Potomac, Maryland.