“Terror” by Scare Quote

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Ten invented or scare quotes. That’s what the NY Post employs in an effort to discredit the AP’s latest report on the CIA-on-the-Hudson, this time describing surveillance of Muslim college students extending across the Northeast:

“civil rights”

“gotcha”

“workplace violence”

“workplace violence”

“civil rights”

“racist”

“racist”

“students”

“oppressed minority”

“suspect pool”

The concepts of civil rights, racism, oppressed minorities, and suspect pools are bracketed, presumably marking them as facetious or illegitimate concepts.

The Pentagon, currently seeking the death penalty for Nidal Hasan’s attack on Fort Hood, is accused of treating the attack as “workplace violence.”

The 9/11 hijackers, who did in fact enroll in flight schools to learn how to turn passenger jets into missiles, are accused of just posing as “students,” presumably in an effort to suggest that young adult Muslims studying at colleges ranging from Yale to Laguardia Community College who were surveilled by the NYPD must also be posing too.

And it’s not just by using quotation marks that the Post invents its own reality.

It suggests the NYPD has stopped “countless” terrorist attacks, when the number of total attacks in the last decade was fewer than 20, and the two most important–Faisal Shahzad and Najibullah Zazi–the NYPD missed.

Closely watching wannabe jihadis not only at home but across the country and around the world, the NYPD has foiled countless terror operations,

It supports the claim that the targets of surveillance here are wannabe jihadis by suggesting that Mike Bloomberg and Ray Kelly are simply not telling the public the evidence justifying their profiling of innocent Muslims.

The AP story also breathlessly notes that “the latest documents mention no wrongdoing by any students,” even though “Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg repeatedly have said that the police only follow legitimate leads about suspected criminal activity.”

Was the AP born yesterday?

There’s always a gap between what public officials say to the “gotcha” media and what they actually must do — especially when it comes to terrorism. If officials could candidly talk about the daily reports they get about possible lethal jihadist activity, the country would be in a state of permanent panic.

Never mind that the AP has published at least two documents showing reports sent directly to Kelly reviewing surveillance that admits no underlying leads. The Post is willing to assert, presumably having seen less raw data than the AP, that there must be more terrorism there, terrorism worthy of permanent panic if only we knew.

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Do We Really Want a Unipolar Middle East?

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As we’ve all been reading tea leaves about whether and when Israel will attack Iran, I’ve come to suspect we’re ignoring an equally important story. That is, to what degree is our post-Arab Spring policy in the Middle East serving Saudi Arabia’s purposes of aiming to obliterate the Shia–Iranian–pole of influence and not just our typical responsiveness to Israeli demands? And to what degree is that a catastrophic mistake of a magnitude equal to our mistake in invading Iraq (and to what degree is the plan an effort to recover from our loss in Iraq)?

I hope to raise this question more fully in a series of posts, but first some caveats and hypotheses. First, the caveats. I’m obviously not an expert in this field. I speak none of the languages in question. I think current events in the Middle East are more obscure than even they normally are. And I’m not sure my hypotheses are right. For all those reasons, I readily welcome being told I’m an idiot on this front by those with more expertise.

My hypotheses? Dick Cheney invaded Iraq as a middle term strategy to sustain US hegemony as the world transitions into peak oil. The strategy failed, miserably. On top of that failure, we’re faced with the crumbling of our old strategy in the wake of the Arab Spring. As a result, we’re pursuing (either deliberately or through lack of reflection) a strategy of making the Sunni pole–Saudi Arabia–even more powerful. And yet we’re doing this, bizarrely, at the same time we claim to be fighting a war against mostly Sunni terrorism. As such, the strategy seems as stupid as–and in many ways a repeat of–withdrawing troops from Afghanistan to fight in Iraq.

My thoughts on this have really solidified as I read two Bruce Riedel pieces–this recent column and one from last August. The recent one is so breathtakingly logically faulty as to merit mapping out Riedel’s argument–that Iran and Al Qaeda are likely to ally for an attack this summer–closely (note that Riedel’s argument is a response to Israeli spin in European papers about the Iranian threat).

  • Al Qaeda and Hezbollah had contacts prior to 9/11 and some of the hijackers took advantage of known Iranian documentation practices of not stamping passports to co-transit Iran
  • Al Qaeda terrorists we claim have cooperated fully have insisted there was no operational relationship between Iran and al Qaeda
  • Al Qaeda has frequently targeted Shiites
  • Al Qaeda has recently backed Syrian rebels while Iran has always been a key Bashar al-Assad backer

Therefore,

So despite their animosity, al Qaeda, Iran, and Hizbullah can probably also find new places to quietly cooperate, if only passively.

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Science Wins Out: Bird Flu Virus Experiments Will Be Published Without Redactions Despite Continued US Fear Mongering

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Back in December, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) asked that two papers pending publication on scientific research into deadly forms of the H5N1 bird flu virus be redacted when published. This was a bad decision for several reasons, as I pointed out:

At this point, if the details of just which precise mutations occur in the pathogenic virus that was developed are published, it should make no difference, because press reports have already confirmed that the most basic approach one could take, involving a simple genetic selection experiment, gives the result of the more pathogenic virus. It’s even likely there are other combinations of mutations that would make an extremely pathogenic virus if the selection process were repeated in a new experiment.

But the folly of the NSABB decision goes much deeper and is just another aspect of the hysteria that has gripped the United States since the al Qaeda attack on 9/11 and the anthrax attack just a few weeks later. One aspect of this hysteria has been an attempt to make far too many things secret. Much attention has been paid to the over-classification of intelligence information, but the over-classification of scientific information is just as insidious.

No matter how many bits of intelligence or scientific information are made secret, the fact remains that determined terrorists have a multitude of fully described weapons systems to employ in an attack. By stifling publication of basic scientific research into materials that could have weapons potential, the opportunity to develop useful countermeasures becomes significantly diminished.

The “genetic selection” experiments to which I referred are described in one of the two papers that were up for redaction. It showed that by simply passing the bird flu virus through ferrets multiple times, a version of the virus that is more deadly to mammals (and presumably humans) was produced. But as I pointed out in the post, bioterrorists already have available a number of deadly agents that don’t require further research to make them effective. By censoring the work on more deadly bird flu, flow of information to researchers who wish to develop treatments for the disease (and these researchers vastly outnumber bioterrorists) is inhibited. Although those wanting to censor the work intended to make the full details available to a select few, that “solution” is untenable in that it predetermines just who is “important” enough to receive the information. Free flow of information is key to research and one can never predict just who will make the next advance, so pre-selecting those who get the key information is a silly notion.

The good news is that scientific research is an international process, and so “advisory” boards hand-picked by the US “homeland security” lobby do not have the final say. Today’s New York Times, in a front page story, reports that the scientific papers will be published in their entirety. The narrow-mindedness of how the US government has come to stifle scientific thought comes through loud and clear in this article. The final decision on publication was made at a large meeting held by the World Health Organization in Geneva: Read more →

Another Empty Suicide Vest

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The name of the latest FBI-produced terrorist is Amine el-Khalifi. He is 29 and from Morocco. He was arrested today outside of the Labor Department in DC.

As is usual with most of FBI’s terrorist arrests of late, the FBI provided the suspect with the weapons he would have used to attack the target–in this case, the Capitol. As is usual, this appears to be an instance where the FBI found someone talking about violence–usually online–and then cultivated that violent desire over time.

So it seems like this is a now-familiar story.

I am rather amused that this particular FBI-written story includes an inert suicide vest.

He was carrying with him a vest that he believed was packed with explosives but that actually contained harmless material, officials said.

The man thought he was being assisted by members of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, but they were really undercover FBI agents, officials said.

[snip]

“The arrest was the culmination of an undercover operation during which the suspect was closely monitored by law enforcement,” Carr said in a statement. “Explosives the suspect allegedly sought to use in connection with the plot had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement and posed no threat to the public. [my emphasis]

I find that interesting only as a matter of coincidence. After all, we just charged Majid Khan, in part of donning what appears to have been an inert suicide vest.

I don’t know why, but I find it curious we’re adopting the same tactics that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed allegedly used to test Khan.

Update: Given the other targets this dude considered, it sure seems like the FBI picked a scary target, just like they did for the Scary Iran Plot.

El Khalifi expressed interest in killing at least 30 people and considered targeting a building in Alexandria and a restaurant, synagogue and a place where military personnel gather in Washington before he settled on the Capitol after canvassing that area a couple of times, the counterterrorism official said.

Also note, they appear to be cracking down on a bunch of other Moroccans who are out of immigration status. I guess they couldn’t convince those guys to join a terror conspiracy, and instead of us hosting them in a federal prison for the rest of their lives, they’ll be deported.

Update: Alright, this doesn’t make sense:

The affidavit alleges that over the next month, El Khalifi traveled to the U.S. Capitol Building on multiple occasions to conduct surveillance, choosing the spot where he would be dropped off to enter the building for the martyrdom operation, the specific time for the attack and the method he would use to avoid attracting the attention of law enforcement. El Khalifi also asked Hussien to remotely detonate the bomb he would be wearing on the day of the attack if El Khalifi encountered problems with security officers, and to provide El Khalifi with a gun that he could use during the attack to shoot any officers who might attempt to stop him.

On February 17, 2012, El Khalifi allegedly traveled to a parking garage near the U.S. Capitol Building. El Khalifi took possession of a MAC-10 automatic weapon and put on a vest containing what he believed to be a functioning bomb. Unbeknownst to El Khalifi, both the weapon and the bomb had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement. El Khalifi walked alone from the vehicle toward the United States Capitol, where he intended to shoot people and detonate the bomb. El Khalifi was arrested and taken into custody before exiting the parking garage.

The FBI says his own plan was to be dropped off at the Capitol building.

But what happened instead is he did a Deep Throat in a parking garage to get his empty suicide vest.

So whose plan was he implementing, again? Also, they decided to operationalize him in December, after first being tipped off to him in January. Actually pretty quick work for them.

Update: Here’s the complaint. Note it doesn’t say whether or not these conversations were taped. Also, this dude believed he’d get in the Capitol w/a gun and suicide vest loaded down with nails.

Israel: All Magnet Bombs Must Have the Same Culprit

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Israel has successfully gotten most major news outlets in the last few days to repeat their argument that because the bombs in Tbilisi, Delhi, and Bangkok are almost the same kind of bomb, they must have the same culprit.

Israeli officials said Wednesday that magnetic explosive devices found after a series of explosions in Bangkok on Tuesday were similar to bombs used a day earlier to target Israeli diplomats in New Delhi and in Tbilisi, Georgia.

[snip]

But an Israeli official familiar with the probes of the incidents, in which Israelis are working with local investigators in New Delhi, Bangkok and Tbilisi, said their findings showed a strong similarity among the bombs in the three locations, …

“It looks like it’s exactly the same kind of device,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.

[snip]

The Israeli ambassador to Thailand, Itzhak Shoham, told the Associated Press that Thai police had found two magnetic bombs that could be stuck on vehicles. “They are similar to the ones used in Delhi and Tbilisi,” Shoham said.

Of course, they go on to argue that because the bombs are all the same they must have the same culprit. And therefore that culprit must be Iran.

There’s a logical problem here, of course, given that Israel has not exactly denied that it was behind the magnet bomb attacks–technically undertaken by Iranian nationals–that killed a number of Iran’s scientists. So according to Israel’s logic, doesn’t mean they must be the culprit for these bombs? They’ve been engaging in magnet bomb attacks perpetrated by Iranian national for years.

Not that I necessarily think that’s what’s going on, but if Israel insists on using loud accusations to pretend Iran would be doing anything more than retaliating for Israel’s own terror attacks, then it ought to have to have readers apply its logic consistently.

Treasury Accuses Iran of Hacking

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The Treasury Department just added the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) to the other Iranian entities listed as Specially Designated National (other entities already covered include Quds Force and the National Police and their leaders). It sanctioned MOIS for a laundry list of reasons generally categorized as support for Syria’s human rights abuses, Iran’s own human rights abuses, and support for terrorism. Under the latter section, Treasury lists the following:

  • MOIS provides financial, material, or technological support for, or financial or other services to Hizballah, a terrorist organization designated under E.O. 13224. MOIS has participated in multiple joint projects with Hizballah in computer hacking.
  • MOIS provides financial, material, or technological support for, or financial or other services to HAMAS, a terrorist group also designated under E.O. 13224.
  • MOIS has facilitated the movement of al Qa’ida operatives in Iran and provided them with documents, identification cards, and passports.
  • MOIS also provided money and weapons to al Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI), a terrorist group designated under E.O. 13224, and negotiated prisoner releases of AQI operatives.

It is the official position of our government that Iran has facilitated the travel of al Qaeda operatives (this accusation may, in fact, date to pre-9/11 transiting of Iran on the same terms as others). And, not surprising, the government says Iran helped Hamas and Al Qaeda in Iraq.

But it’s the Hezbollah claim I’m most intrigued by. Treasury says that Iran’s intelligence service “participated in multiple joint projects with Hizballah in computer hacking.”

Hacking? We’re declaring hacking a terrorist act now? Like the StuxNet project we engaged in with Israel.

And what, precisely, is Iran alleged to have hacked? Because the most public allegations pertain to … drones. You know, the drones violating Iran and Lebanon’s airspace?

We’ve made that a terrorist act now?

DOJ Once Again Succeeds Where DOD Has Failed

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab?

Going to prison for life–Florence SuperMax in CO, which is a much tougher prison than Gitmo.

He has been in custody for 2 years and 53 days.

Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri? He has been in custody for roughly 9 years, 3 months, and 15 days, for a crime committed over 11 years ago. His trial process is only beginning.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? He has been in custody for just short of 9 years, for a crime he committed 10 years, 5 months, and 5 days ago. His trial won’t begin this year.

This sending terrorists to jail for the rest of their life isn’t that hard. It’s only hard when you try to invent an entirely new legal system to do the job, rather than using the perfectly functional legal system that has proven its ability to do this over and over before.

Update: Adam Serwer talks about how Abdulmutallab made us so scared we passed the NDAA. I would add, he also made us all subject to gate grope.

Majid Khan Charged with Musharraf Assassination as Musharraf Accused of Sheltering Bin Laden

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As Carol Rosenberg first reported, the government charged former US resident Majid Khan in Gitmo’s military commission on Monday. One of those charges–attempted murder in violation of the laws of war–pertains to his alleged attempt to assassinate Pervez Musharraf on March 8, 2002.

In that Majid Shoukat KHAN, a person subject to trial by military commission as an alien unprivileged enemy belligerent, did, on or about March 8, 2002, at or near Karachi, Pakistan, in the context of and associated with hostilities, intentionally and unlawfully attempt to kill Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in violation of the law of war, by wearing a vest containing an improvised explosive device and traveling to a mosque where he expected President Musharraf to be with the intention of detonating the vest and killing President Musharraf, which actions amounted to more than mere preparation and apparently tended to effect the commission of the offense of Murder in Violation of the Law of war.

That’s pretty ironic given that the same day Rosenberg reported the Khan charges, the Daily Beast reported an accusation, made by the former head of Pakistan’s ISI, Ziauddin Khawaja, that Musharraf knew one of his close allies was sheltering Osama bin Laden.

Ziauddin says that the safe house in Abbottabad was made to order for bin Laden by another Pakistani intelligence officer, Brig. Gen. Ijaz Shah, who was the ISI bureau head in Lahore when Musharraf staged his coup. Musharraf later made him head of the intelligence bureau, the ISI’s rival in Pakistan’s spy-versus-spy wars. Ziauddin says Ijaz Shah was responsible for setting up bin Laden in Abbottabad, ensuring his safety and keeping him hidden from the outside. And Ziauddin says Musharraf knew all about it.

Ziauddin first made the accusation last October.

I’m sure time will sort out both these accusations. But it sure doesn’t make (much) sense that Khan was trying to kill Musharraf at the same time as Musharraf was watching a close ally construct a compound for OBL.

Although maybe it explains how Musharraf knew not to show up on the day Khan allegedly waited for him wearing a suicide belt.

Update: Alternately, if KSM sent Khan with a “suicide vest” containing no explosives to a location where Musharraf was not scheduled to appear, would it really amount to an assassination attempt? This is from Khan’s Gitmo file, and appears to be based on his interrogation in CIA custody from 2004.

Detainee said he checked the vest and did not see any explosives inside, and also noticed there was no increase in security at the mosque as would be expected during a presidential visit.

Jamie Dimon: “I was safer in Beirut”… Maybe Because of Those Gold Bullions JPMC Sent Iran?

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The world’s richest drama queen complains he was safer in Beirut than being confronted by Occupy Wall Street.

For Jamie Dimon, the shelter of his Upper East Side mansion isn’t enough to keep him safe from the Occupy protesters. Instead, the JPMorgan Chase CEO said he felt safer halfway around the world that October day when protesters occupied the sidewalk outside his Manhattan home.

“That particular day, I was in Lebanon, Beirut doing business over there and I was probably safer over there too,” Dimon told Fox News.

Well, sure.

Dimon is the CEO of a company that materially supported Iran, Hezbollah’s sponsor.

Of course he was safe in Beirut.

I mean, maybe if he’d start sending $20M in gold bullion to Americans, like JPMC did for a bank in Iran, he’d feel safer here.

An apparent violation of the ITR consisting of a May 24, 2006 transfer of 32,000 ounces of gold bullion valued at approximately $20,560,000 to the benefit of a bank in Iran. JPMC did not voluntarily self-disclose this matter to OFAC.

But rather than sending gold bullion, JPMC is paying the cops that harass OWS.

Of course he’s safer where JPMC has paid off the terrorists rather than paid off the cops infringing on free speech.

When WAS DOJ Going to Get around to Telling Us about Awlaki? Part One

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Let me start by saying that I’m all in favor of DOJ releasing the information it has on Anwar al-Awlaki. I’m not complaining that they have released it. I’m just puzzling through why they have treated it as they have thus far. In this post, I’m going to review how the government came to tell one story at Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s trial last year, and another one–one that implicates Awlaki–last Friday. In a follow-up post, I’m going to explore why DOJ has refused to lay out the case they have against Awlaki before (including last October).

DOJ Hid Awlaki in October

As I have noted, when DOJ made its opening argument in Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s trial on October 11, 2011, prosecutor Jonathan Tukel said that Abdulmutallab told the FBI on Christmas Day 2009 that a guy named Abu Tarak had ordered him to attack the US.

And Abu-Tarak gave him the direction.

Remember, I said there were only three parts to the plan, he had to blow up a plane, it had to be a U.S. airliner and it had to take place over U.S. soil. Abu-Tarak reported that way, make sure it’s a U.S. aircraft, make sure it takes place over the United States.

And then the defendant told the FBI that on approximately December 6 or 7 he received the bomb from Abu-Tarak in Yemen. [my emphasis]

In the narrative they released last Friday, they said Awlaki gave that order.

Although Awlaki gave defendant operational flexibility, Awlaki instructed defendant that the only requirements were that the attack be on a U.S. airliner, and that the attack take place over U.S. soil. [my emphasis]

Now, the explanation I’ve gotten is that Abu Tarak is Awlaki, or rather, that Abu Tarak is an alias for Awlaki.

But assuming that explanation is correct (I’m not entirely convinced), it still permits several possibilities:

  • Abdulmutallab just made the name up in an effort to hide Awlaki–and, as we’ll see below–bomb-maker Ibrahim al Asiri’s role (but the FBI described Abdulmutallab as bragging about his ties to Awlaki and al Qaeda in his first interrogation)
  • The government already knew Abu Tarak was an alias Awlaki used (which doesn’t seem to be the case, since early reporting says Awlaki blessed the op, but didn’t say he was the cleric who ordered it)
  • Abdulmutallab later told the FBI that Abu Tarak was Awlaki’s alias
  • Abdulmutallab never confirmed Abu Tarak was an alias for Awlaki, but in later interrogations said that Awlaki had given the order to strike the US and therefore the government concluded that Abu Tarak must be an alias

(Here are two more of the most comprehensive stories based significantly on Abdulmutallab’s initial confession to give more of a sense of what they knew from Abdulmutallab’s first confession, on which Tukel’s opening was based.)

Dr. Simon Perry’s statement seems to rule out some of those possibilities, given that, even after reading redacted versions of 18 or 19 of Abdulmutallab’s interrogation reports, Perry treats Abu Tarak and Awlaki as different people: he describes Abu Tarak as someone besides Awlaki who significantly influenced Abdulmutallab.

Aulaqi was not the only influential fundamentalist in UFAM’s life. While residing at Abu Tarak’s residence in Sana, Yemen he was mainly confined to his residence and discouraged from any communication with the outside world (phone, email). During this period, UFAM spoke regularly with Abu Tarak and three other individuals who visited him daily, speaking with them about Jihad and martyrdom. [my emphasis]

Given Perry’s apparent understanding that Abu Tarak and Awlaki are different people, either Abdulmutallab never clearly said that Abu Tarak and Awlaki were the same person, any statement he made to that effect was redacted in the copies Perry read, or Perry wasn’t given the interrogation where Abdulmutallab made such a statement.(Note, however, that the only reference Perry makes to Abu Tarak cites the Christmas Day confession, so it’s possible Abdulmutallab never mentioned him again.)

With all that in mind, let’s review how Tukel told the story about Abu Tarak at the trial but is now telling a story about Awlaki at sentencing.

DOJ committed in August not to use information from “plea bargains”

Back in August, Abdulmutallab tried to mount a defense by making all of his confessions, one way or another, inadmissible. He wanted his initial confession thrown out because he had not received a Miranda warning, he wanted statements he made at UM Hospital thrown out because he was drugged up, and he wanted the statements he made while at Milan (pronounced My-Lan) Prison–all of them–excluded because they were made as part of a plea negotiation.

Defendant ABDULMUTALLAB met with government agents on numerous occasions at the Milan Correctional Facility. The government intended to obtain incriminating statements from Defendant regarding the alleged incident on December 25, 2009. In addition, the government engaged in plea negotiations with the Defendant during the meetings.
Before the meetings began, the government agents verbally agreed that they would not use any statements Defendant made, against him. Defendant relied on the government’s representation – as officers of the court – and made incriminating statements. See United States v. Dudden, 65 F.3d 1461, 1467 (9th Cir. 1995) (the government can grant the defendant varying degrees of immunity in an informal agreement). Allowing the government to use these statements at trial will violate the government’s agreement with Defendant.

In response to this motion, the government said it would not use any of these statements “at trial,” so the judge should deny his motion as moot, which she did.

Defendant also filed a separate motion to suppress statements made to agents on other dates. R.59: Motion to Suppress Statements Made to Government Agents at the Milan Correctional Facility. The government will not seek to offer those statements at trial either, and therefore that motion should be denied as moot.

So basically, the government committed, on August 26, 2011, not to use anything Abdulmutallab said while at Milan during “the trial.” Read more →