It is time that we wake up America!  The Rio Grande Valley along the Texas-Mexican border is a war zone…and it is going to be a battlezone for freedom if we are not careful. If the battles between the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels aren’t enough to scare the crap out of you (along with the viciousness of the Gulf Cartels’ henchmen, Los Zetas), then examine more closely the gunning down of Edgar Eusebio Millán Gómez. As the public face of the Mexican government’s war on drugs, his being killed on the doorstep of his apartment in Mexico City, no less, holds in it the risk that the cartels will be emboldened (see Washington Post article). We are witnessing the first real protracted battles of the War on Terrorism in our Hemisphere.

“This could have a snowball effect, even leading to the risk of ungovernability,” Luís Astorga, a Mexico City-based sociologist and drug expert, said in an interview. “It indicates terrible things, a level of weakness in our institutions — they can’t even protect themselves.”

Already, there have been more than 6000 deaths in this Drug War within the country that lies to the south of our porous border. Millán Gómez’s murder is not the first high level (and visibility) murder.

Before Millán Gómez was slain, assassins also killed Robert Velasco Bravo, the head of the federal police agency’s organized crime tactical analysis office, as well as two other top police officials, all of them in Mexico City. One of the killings was in Coyoacan, an old-money haven popular with tourists.

The message seems clear. The Drug Lords and their cartels reign supreme in Mexico. I don’t care about the Merida Initiative! It won’t work (IMO of course). Merida is the appropriation of funds for the U.S. to help Calderon quell the violence and stop the drug trade. Who the hell are we kidding? The problem is that the problem is going to become more difficult to stop.

The worst part of all of this is the International connections to the Mexican Drug War…the first battles on the War on Terrorism in the Western Hemisphere are being fought today in Mexico. In his post on the Counterterrorism Blog, Doug Farah connects the dots for those who cannot or do not already see (anyone who has a familiarity with counter-narcotics issues already knew this).

It is worth remembering that the chaos the traffickers are wreaking in Mexico is not just aimed at the Mexican state, it is also aimed at undermining the already-battered viability of our southern border. The hundreds of dead across the border states of Mexico show where the battles are being fought.

The easier it is to cross dope, weapons, illegal aliens from around the world, the higher the profits for the traffickers.

And the FARC rebels in Colombia are now in a direct business relationship with Mexican trafficking organizations, according to the recently-captured FARC documents resulting from the raid that killed rebel leader Raul Reyes.

The FARC, in turn, is allied with Nicaragua (Ortega) and Venezuela (Chavez), who in turn are allied with Iran, which in turn runs Hezbollah, which in turn is actively working to expand its beach head in Latin America.

Remember Monkey Point? StormBlog is one of the only places, I dare say, that discussed the Iranian foothold in South America. Its been quiet down there recently. No news, but its there!

In his own blog, Farah connects the dots for those who do not already see them!

It is not a conspiracy to see all these developments as inter-connected. As I often tell military audiences and others, every piece of the mosaic, looked at individually, is serious but not alarming. But when the tiles of the mosaic are assembled into a picture, even if the picture is a bit blurry, it is astonishing and dangerous.

Wake up America! The battles along our border are alot more important than keeping all of those Mexicans from swimming across the Rio Grande! or walking through the desert. We need to worry about the so-called, “Other Than Mexicans.” Our Southern Border with Mexico is indeed and battlezone. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the Battle of the Rio Grande will soon expand.

As my “regular readers know, I have been writing on the brewing invasion of the U.S. related to the war in Mexico for quite some time now. A different view can be found here. Also see a more recent view of this issue written by Snooper.

[I needs ta git me a "posse"]

counter narcotics, Edgar Eusebio Millan Gomez, FARC, Los Zetas, mexico drug cartels, Monkey Point, Washington Post

3 Comments »

There are many recent history conspiracy theories. Perhaps one of the most offensive is that surrounding the events 13 years ago this morning when Terry Nicols and Timothy McVeigh exploded a bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building (Yes, there are some people who continue to maintain that there was an Islamic connection, when it was an act of domestic terrorism.). A traffic stop just 90 minutes afterward led to the arrest of McVeigh.

The crime scene that morning covered a 20 sq. block area. However, a truck axle found 650 feet away from the building revealed a VIN and led to investigators learning that it belonged to a Ford truck that had been sold to Ryder truck rentals.

The Ford people were quick to tell us that the 1993 twenty-foot Ford truck had been sold to Ryder and it was a rental. Ryder? That immediately piqued our interest because Ryder was the same brand that had been used in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 in New York City. Did this mean that the perpetrators were Middle Eastern? This was a thought that certainly ran through our heads. As we all now know, the bombers weren’t Middle Eastern and the Ryder truck usage was merely coincidental, but at the time we figured that a connection could be a possibility.

Not too long after, FBI investigators traced the truck to “Elliott’s Auto Body, a rental agency in Junction City, Kansas, where a “Robert Kling” had rented it on April 17 a little after 4:00 PM.” Located just 244 miles, or a 4 hour drive from Oklahoma City…too close for comfort to be insignificant to the investigation. Interviews with the people at Elliott’s Auto Body quickly found the paperwork showing that the truck had been rented to “Robert Kling” who supposedly lived in Idaho. This phony address led to the conclusion that no Robert Kling existed (and in fact, not only not in Idaho, but anywhere in the 50 states). This led the FBI to send an artists to Junction City to do a composite sketch.

The result of the artist’s work was an image of what we called Unknown Subjects (Unsubs) in the FBI lexicon. In this case, there were two images, and with Unsub #1, or John Doe #1, the image was very close, as it would turn out, to that of the actual bomber, Timothy McVeigh. Unsub #1, the primary person, was the one who actually went to the rental counter and rented the truck. Eldon Elliott, the owner, later testified that he remembered Timothy McVeigh’s face because McVeigh, unlike most clients, had waived damage insurance on the vehicle.

(But a witness at the rental agency also remembered something else—McVeigh was accompanied by another man. As Simple Truths, the seminal book on the Oklahoma City bombing, describes it, the search for Unsub #2 would receive more public and media attention than anything else in the case.)

With the faces of the perpetrators, the FBI’s investigation was accelerated. At first they were surprised that neither suspect looked like a Middle Easterner (please now, eliminate the conspiracy theory from your minds)…they were white, make Americans. The next day, “John Doe #1″ and “John Doe #2″ were introduced to the American public. AG Reno also announced a $2 million reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the bombers.

What else went on during this time?

● There was talk of a possible third man, an Oklahoma resident named Abraham Ahmad, who had left Oklahoma on the day of the explosion. On his way to Amman, Jordan, he was stopped on a connecting leg of his trip in London for “acting nervous.”

● there was a spotlight on three Middle Eastern–looking men who had been arrested in Oklahoma and Texas…held on immigration charges after stopping an Oklahoma state trooper to ask directions on Wednesday (Later found to have nothing to do with this case.)

At that point, the FBI started to question motive for the bombing.

After basically rejecting the notion that the motive for the bombing was drug related (DEA employees were among those missing in the attack), they concluded a possible “connection to survivalist or extremist religious cults,” considering that the Oklahoma City bombing occurred exactly two years following the Branch Davidian stand-off in Waco (now in the news because people are drawing relationships between Waco and El Dordado where newly pubescent teen girls were being impregnated in the name of a polygamist “religion”). Perhaps not coincidently, on the same day as the Oklahoma bombing, “a member of another right-wing extremist group, the Order, was executed in Arkansas for the murder of a pawnshop owner whom he thought was Jewish.”

The real break in the case came when the manager of the Dreamland Motel recognized the man federal agents had only known as Robert Kling, as “Tim McVeigh.” A bit more digging determined that in a routine traffic stop, an Oklahoma State Trooper has queried the name, Timothy McVeigh that very same day, April 19th, seventy-five miles from the bombing site when, about an hour and a half after the explosion. The car didn’t have a license plate.

The driver, Timothy McVeigh, explained he’d just bought the car and that’s why he didn’t have the plate. When Hanger asked if he had insurance or registration, he said that because the car was newly purchased—although he didn’t have any kind of receipt—all the documentation was being sent to his new address.

As he gave Trooper Hanger his driver’s license, the officer saw that he did happen to be carrying something: a gun. The traffic violator was sporting a Glock semiautomatic pistol on a shoulder holster. He also had ith him an ammo clip and a knife.

Time for jail, Mr. McVeigh. He was escorted into Hanger’s patrol car, after being ordered to leave his locked car by the side of the road. So, there it was—a nearly undisturbed crime scene. It was sort of like one of the Egyptian tombs. We caught quite a lucky break.

It was also quickly learned that McVeigh’s NY State concealed weapon permit was not legal in Oklahoma…he was put in jail.

Note that the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism has an extensive data base of information relating to the Oklahoma City bombing. One element is a feature called “Today in Terrorism” the results for today are shown below:

April 19, 2000 - Philippines: Abu Sayyaf beheads 2 hostages because demands ignored, including release of Arab terrorists in US jails. See 3/20.

April 19, 1995 - United States: An explosion at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City killed 168 people and injured hundreds of others.

April 19, 1995 - Japan: Over 400 injured during chemical attack on the Yokohama subway, Aum Shinrikyo responsible.

April 19, 1980 - Colombia: Founding of M-19. The “April 19 Movement (M-19),” formerly a leftist guerrilla group, has made peace with the government and become a legitimate political party.

There is one other thing. For those who may wonder my identity or why I am interested in terrorism, a minor clue is that this event, the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, is in fact, the moment when I began my new life. See discussion of federal building security here and here.

Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Branch Davidian, El Dorado, Terry Nicols, Timothy McVeigh, Waco

7 Comments »

According to the Homeland Security undersecretary for intelligence and analysis, Charles Allen, even though there are indications of clear intent, there is no sign of al Qaeda actually trying to move jihad terrorists into the United States from Mexico (not just yet, at least). Let us hope this revelation does not reduce our vigilence on the southern border and our efforts to stop illegal immigration.

“We do know that going back to 2004, the southern border is something that al Qaeda’s central leadership has looked at. But we know of no specifics of where al Qaeda has really endeavored to cross our borders in the south,” he said.

Of course, the contrast is that at least one Islamic militant has been caught trying to enter the United States from Canada by land to attempt an attack…before 2000.

al Qaeda, illegal immigration

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Only the audacity of the Muslim American Brotherhood could lead them to compare the incarceration of Sami Al-Arian to the plight of Dr. Martin Luther King. It is outrageous on its face, and ludicrous in its intent.

In the tradition of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Cesar Chavez - Dr. Al-Arian believes the hunger strike is his only way of protesting the gross miscarriage of justice that he has been subjected to - after being imprisoned for over 5 years despite the U.S. government’s repeated failure to convict him before a jury of his peers, and its subsequent failure to abide by agreed upon conditions for his release.

More on this subject is found at the Counterterrorism Blog and at the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

Needless to say, Gandhi, Dr. King or Cesar Chavez never wrote a letter like this, soliciting funds for terrorist attacks:

… I would like to discuss with you a very important matter concerning the future of work in Palestine and the ability of the Islamic movement to confront the great challenges before it. In short, you are well aware that this movement, represented by its branches, Hamas and the Jihad, is being threatened by the enemy, the neighboring regimes, and even worldwide. Preserving the spirit and flame of jihad against the enemy is a general Islamic responsibility and cannot be left to rest upon the shoulders of the few among our nation. Nevertheless, these few shoulder the responsibility of the nation’s honor, even putting their souls in their hands to prove that Islam is capable of responding to oppression, aggression, and desecration of the sacred places and Muslims’ dignity.

The latest operation, carried out by the two mujahideen who were martyred for the sake of God, is the best guide and witness to what the believing few can do in the face of Arab and Islamic collapse at the heels of the Zionist enemy and in keeping the flame of faith, steadfastness, and defiance glowing.

Audacity is a simple word to express the absolute and utter insult to the memory of Dr. King on this day. Throw the key away!

Dr. Martin Luther King, muslim american society, Sami al Arian

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Despite Democratic Congressional objections, DHS is planning to launch the National Applications Office to allow more government police and security agencies to tap into detailed satellite images.  Sec’y Chertoff said a “charter has been signed” to create a new office.  It will be a clearinghouse for requests from law enforcement, border security, and other domestic homeland security agencies to view feeds from spy satellites.

“I think the way is now clear to stand (the office) up and go warm on it.”

Currently these spy birds are used to monitor volcanic activity, hurricanes, floods, and various environmental and geological shifts.  Obviously the intention is to capture images for terrorism investigations and actions against illegal aliens.  Not so fast however!

Committee leaders say the charter for the National Applications Office is “wholly inadequate,” said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity since the letter is still being drafted. They plan to criticize the department for allegedly failing to outline the legal framework and other “standard operating procedures” governing the program.

Furthermore, the Government Accountability Office has not yet vetted the program’s privacy guidelines, which was made a condition for the National Applications Office to receive congressional funding, the aide said.

Further, in the area of cybersecurity, Chertoff it plans to expand use of an existing system known as Einstein, that will, among other things, monitor visits from Americans and foreigners visiting .gov Web sites.

Let the games begin!

Chertoff, DHS, National Applications Office, National Reconnaissance Office, spy satellites

2 Comments »

Again?  More like still!%@#*&!.  In Ciudad Juarez, just over the El Paso Texas border, 200 people have been murdered this year alone (22 on Easter Weekend).  Behind all of this violence in ”El Chapo,” the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel.  In total, the murder count is over 700 in 2008.  All of this is happening in spite of the Calderon anti-drug initiative, proving, perhaps that nothing will stop the drug lords from continuing to kill each other and innocent bystanders along with law enforcement officers in their insane spree of violence.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is such a nice guy though.

Police say Mexico’s most wanted man, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who leads a consortium of traffickers from the Pacific state of Sinaloa, has taken his fight for control of smuggling routes to Ciudad Juarez, targeting the dominant Juarez cartel amid a much lighter army presence there than in other cities.

Look at that face!

WANTED

(Aliases: El Chapo, Chapo Guzman, El Rapido)

DOB: December 25, 1954
POB: Mexico
Nationality: Mexican
Citizenship: Mexico
Height: 5 feet 8 inches
Weight: 165 pounds
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown

Of course there is hope along with unsubstantiated speculation that El Chapo has been killed in Guatemala during a gunbattle outside a water park in Teculutan, a drug-trafficking stronghold in northeastern Guatemala.

Let is be so, but as with other terrorists, the likelihood of the terror ending even if the head of this snake is chopped off is limited.

Ciudad Juarez, El Chapo, El Paso, pipsqueak

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Well, I was busy for alot of the day, and never got to write this.  Doug Farah at CTBlog (and his own blog) beat me to it.  Its time for all of the people arguing to relax the border wake up to the very real danger.  I’ve written about this so many times before!  In this case, 3 Afghan men with legal Mexican passports tried to enter the U.S.

Three Afghani Muslim men caught posing as Mexican nationals last month while en route to Europe were part of a human smuggling operation and carried what are now believed to be altered but genuine Mexican passports for which they paid $10,000 each, Indian investigators told The San Antonio Express-News.

The key point is this: “At issue to some U.S. national security experts is whether another of Mexico’s embassies and consulates abroad might be implicated in selling travel documents to people from countries like Afghanistan where terrorist organizations are active…”

Here’s more for the disbelievers and those who want to have an open border!

Travelers from Islamic countries carrying passports that are valid but altered with fake names and photographs are among the most difficult to detect, he said. In the black markets of human smuggling, real national passports with embedded security bar codes rank among the most valuable travel documents because they enable their bearers to more easily slip through airport inspections.

“If you’ve got a Mexican passport you’ve already crossed the bridge,” Conway said. “And you can become part of the flood of people who cross into the U.S. If terrorists wanted to exploit the infrastructure in place, they can. It’s there.”

We are dealing with a very persistent enemy…they have multiple faces and skin colors…they come from many different countries…

So, here is the question for the moment: HAVE TERRORISTS CROSSED? (the U.S.-Mexican border). Of course they have!…Border security critics assert no terrorist has ever crossed; they would be wrong.

…the heart of a central question regarding just how much of a national security threat is posed by a small category of border-jumping migrants known in homeland security agencies as “Special Interest Aliens.”

Terrorists across the border???

According to unearthed intelligence reports, court records, interviews with federal agents and a variety of open sources, other border jumpers that can be publicly tied to terrorism since Al-Qaeda began its international bombing campaign against American targets in the mid-1990s are:

– Kuwaiti national Nabil al-Marabh. Listed as number 27 on the FBI’s list of Most Wanted Terrorists for alleged links to the 9-11 hijackers and other plots…

– Palestinian Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer. Found guilty of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction after authorities uncovered his 1997 plot to bomb a New York City subway…

– Ahmed Ressam. Convicted of plotting the 1999 “millennium” bomb attack on the Los Angeles International Airport after he was caught trying to cross into Washington State in a car loaded with explosives and bomb components…

– Algerian Abdelghani Meskini and Abdelhakim Tizegha. Convicted of charges related to the thwarted 1999 “millennium” plot…

– Mohmoud Khalil and Ziad Saleh. Among a group of men, including members of the designated terrorist group Hamas, arrested in January 2005 in connection to a wire fraud, trademark violations and alien smuggling investigation…

– Ahilan Nadarajah and Saluja Thangaraja. Reputed members of the Tamil Tigers caught at the Mexico border in 2001 after being smuggled through Thailand, South Africa and Brazil en route to Toronto Canada…

Close the freakin’ border! Control the documents…make them more secure than they are…or will be under the current regulations and guidelines.

And here is the point…

One territory where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina meet, known as the “Tri-Border” region, home to tens of thousands of Arab immigrants, has been under unrelenting scrutiny by American intelligence services since 9-11.

The U.S. Treasury Department in December designated nine people and two organizations in the Tri-Border region it says “provided financial and logistical support to the Hezbollah terrorist organization.” A department fact sheet accuses some of the men of trafficking in weaponry, another of running Hezbollah front businesses in Chile. Another man is named as an expert in illegally acquiring Brazilian citizenship and bogus Paraguayan travel documents.

I don’t know how many times I have written about the Tri-Border region…or about so many of the other issues relating to illegal immigration. We’ve got a problem here, and now, more than 6½ years after the attacks of September 11th, we are still playing politics with immigration.

I’ve written about this many times before:
Terrorists Have Been Arrested at Texas Border
Breaching America: Iraqi Chaldean Christian Granted Asylum
Chaldean Christians - Aliens in Search of Religious Freedom
Border Security - The Danger of Illegal Immigration from Islamic Countries - Part 4
Border Security - The Danger of Illegal Immigration from Islamic Countries - Part 3
Border Security - Breaching America: The Latin Connection

border security, Hezbollah, immigration, State Department, Tri Border region

4 Comments »

It is not beyond belief that the next terrorism threat is domestic, and its from the radical right.  American political history foretells this possible threat upon the transition from a conservative Republican to a liberal Democrat adminstration.  This has occured 3 times before; in 1932, 1960 and 1992 when, within 2-3 years, the U.S. experienced upsurge of radical right-wing, paramilitary movements.

Those who have read here for any time know that I have called for a return to the American Middle.  Whether or not that middle re-emerges depends largely on the degree of political polarization that has already occurred and whether any new Administration can move the extreme ends of the spectrum back toward the center.  There are those who clearly do not even believe in the existence of the middle.  I dispute that belief.  And yet the polarization of America cannot be more evident than in what we now see in this country.  To a degree I attribute this to fear…of the unknown and the misunderstood…people grasping for the straws of hatred filtered images of September 11th and crutched by militant language shielded by the anonymity of the Internet.

In each case, these angry movements spun off terrorist cells that plotted assassinations and bombings. Significantly, these upsurges characterize only the shift from conservative to liberal administrations. Paramilitaries remain few in number and marginal under GOP administrations.

Yes, this danger lurks…no longer so far beneath the surface that it cannot be seen by the general public.  While he and I do not always agree, my blogbuddy Snooper wrote a few months ago, Why Left and Right Must Unite…Part 2 in which he kindly referred to two of my posts: The “American Middle” - Recapturing the Country from the Extremes and A Nation Divided by Opinion and Personal Ideology. Why is this important? Because he and I do not always agree, and yet, from different (not saying opposite because of our many points of agreement) perspectives, we both fear that the polarization of America is rushing toward a dramatic split based on political ideology greater than any previously experienced.

In the 1930s, as in the 1960s and 1990s, conservative critiques painted liberal administrations as not just naive or weak but actively treacherous, plotting to sell out the country to its enemies. Facing such a threat — however imaginary — radicals resorted to the age-old American tradition of taking up arms to resist tyranny. Witness the very name of the Minutemen.

Could it happen again? Imagine a scenario in which a Democratic administration withdrew from Iraq, and conservatives denounced the betrayal of sacrifices made by the armed forces. Then consider all the personnel who have cycled through private security companies in Iraq and elsewhere, whose knowledge of military organization and weaponry could make them an effective nucleus of a new militia movement. If a disintegrating economy were fueling popular fear and unrest, the elements would be in place.

I personally see (and fear) the dramatic split in American society. The disagreements are so obvious…we talk of freedoms…we talk of rights…but we do not talk about or seek common ground. Instead, we are allowing our differences…or race, of religion, or expression and of political attitude…do exactly what bin Laden and his cohorts (and other terrorists of the jihad) seek to accomplish…a rending rather than a blending of American society.  Yes, as Snooper wrote, “we must avert another American civil war.”  My question is who and how?

american terrorism, radical right

9 Comments »

With all of the discussions relating to illegal immigration and our porous borders, the relationship to terrorism remains a developing issue.

For just a brief walk on the “lighter side of terrorism” (is there really a lighter side of terrorism??? - well anyway).  Think that’s all?

Consider that someone actually spent alot of time creating this stuff. Consider that someone spent alot of time creating and spreading the Zotob virus and its variants.

Of course, there once was H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds.”

Here is the story.

And now we take you back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Now, for those of you who want(ed) and real discussion of illegal immigration and terrorism, maybe go to one of those wannabee sites.

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That’s really a question, but one that has people worried.  So many people stress over “Muslims this and Muslims that” and forget that terrorism isn’t just the jihad!  It is the FARC in Columbia that has been troublesome as a indigenous terorrist group for more than 40 years.

When Colombian forces entered Ecuador earlier this week after an air raid, killing Raúl Reyes, a senior FARC commander and 16 other rebels, Colombia’s vice-president, Francisco Santos, told the 65-member UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva that the FARC documents also revealed the group was seeking to acquire uranium to build a radioactive “dirty bomb.” Santos presented no evidence to back up the claim. Analysts said that, even if FARC had the ambition to obtain radioactive material, it was very unlikely to have got far with such a plan.

Colombia is worried about a document on the laptop of a slain rebel leader indicating the guerrillas were trying to obtain uranium, but has no evidence they intended to use it as a weapon, the vice president said Wednesday.  Later, he was backing off slightly. 

“What I said was, ‘Take note. To put the FARC and the word uranium in the same sentence is to make anyone’s hair stand up,’” Santos said in a telephone interview from Brussels, Belgium. “Don’t take it lightly.” The FBI, which has an office in Bogota, also has “no information or intelligence regarding the FARC attempting to use WMD,” or weapons of mass destruction, spokesman Richard Kolko said in Washington.

FARC’s motives have nothing to do with the jihad. However, common objectives can often create strange bedfellows.  FARC connected to Chavez in Venezuela — Venezuela connected to Amadinejad.

See more information and another’s point of view on this at Right Truth.

dirty bomb, FARC, Francisco Santos

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I’ve said it before.  These times require special skills, insights and instincts. This is especially true of foreign policy and affairs.  I repeat a point I’ve already made…a number of candidates haven’t a clue about our enemy. IMO, ignoring Samantha Power’s off-the-record “Hillary is a monster” remark, it is more important to note what she said about Obama’s stance on Iraq.  In another interview, Professor Power called Obama’s 16-month withdrawal plan “the best-case scenario.”

“[Obama] will, of course, not rely on some plan that he’s crafted as a presidential candidate or a U.S. senator,” Power told the BBC in what the Clinton campaign flagged as eyebrow-raising remarks.

“He will rely upon a plan - an operational plan - that he pulls together in consultation with people who are on the ground to whom he doesn’t have daily access now, as a result of not being the President,” she said.

Obama is freaking guessing!  Forget about all of the other trumped up reasons (you) people (ultra-conservatives) have come up with as to why Obama shouldn’t be President.  Its foreign policy stupid! (ala “its the economy stupid!”).  Foreign policy my dear reader(s) is the critical and most essential qualification in a President today. Do not tell me about how this experience can be hired or appointed.  When “that call comes at 3am,” the instincts of the POTUS are what I want to depend upon in a crisis.  Do not tell me that the POTUS can call the State Department (ala Mitt Romney’s comment).  That’s lame IMO.

Frankly, I choose to depend on someone like Senator McCain in a time of crisis (at least he’s the best of the bunch running).  Frankly, in the worst case scenario, I’d even rather depend on Senator Clinton, especially if she’s able to roll over and ask the former POTUS for advice (assuming that he’s actually on the “next pillow” at the time).  Also see: John McCain: ‘America’s a right-of-center nation’

Sadly, for our country, the people on the current national stage who seem to have the best experience and insight into foreign policy and affairs are not running (or any longer) and most likely will not make it into the Cabinets of either party.  Wanna know who I think these people are?  There have been clues before.  If you do want to know my opinions, leave me a comment.

Department of State, foreign policy next pillow talk, foreign policy pillow talk, Obama, Samantha Power, Samantha Powers, State Department

4 Comments »

Undoubtably with the benefit of the passage of time, I can now look back on the T-Sq. bombing in hindsight.  I believe that those who blamed anti-war groups or worried about terrorists were wrong (the passage of time makes it easy to look back…frankly, its easy enough to edit or modify a post whenever the turn of events warrant).  CTs ”know” when something is or isn’t (terrorism).  So very simply, it appears that we’ve got a repeat bomber or copycat. 

We also have a posturing opportunity for politicians.

There is some (old) suspicion that this bombing is somehow related to an incident on the Canadian border last month.  What are the politicians saying?

John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president and a former Navy lieutenant commander, called the Times Square explosion “unacceptable.”

“We cannot allow this to happen to the men and women serving in our military whether they are at home or abroad,” McCain said.

New York Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said “federal, state, and city authorities should be given every resource and every tool to swiftly complete that investigation.”

Excuse me Mrs. Clinton! Get your cohorts in the House of Reps. to pass a renewal of the FISA to give our authorities “every resource and every tool to swiftly complete that investigation.”  Pass a new FISA now!  And give our federal and state and local law enforcement authorities the tools they need to pursue these bastards…and to find them before they harm anyone.  Its not just FISA…its all of the other efforts that need to be re-upped.  Most people, in fact most politicians, aren’t privy to the reasons why our guys need to be able to do things to extract information…to predict or pre-empt or pursue those who perpetrate these acts.

Yes, unacceptable. But is it terrorism, anarchy or neither?

There is also suspicion that this incident is related to similar bombings in New York City in 1997 and in 2000 (and maybe even in 2005).

One such bombing that is being re-examined is the 2000 explosion outside the Barclay’s Bank Building on Wall Street, law enforcement sources said. News reports from that time quote police officials as describing the small bomb as a “homemade device” in a “military ammunition box.” The Times Square bomb that exploded early Thursday was a military ammunition box filled with explosive powder, NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly said.

[:]

One official stressed there is no known link between the Times Square explosion and the unsolved bombings dating back ten years . But there are enough similarities to take a look “as a precaution,” the official said.

Another source said it was “prudent” and a “routine step” to re-examine these past incidents for any past clues.

Investigators said they are also revisiting two 1997 bombings. One was outside a Swiss Bank building near City Hall. The other case involved a crude pipe bomb explosion along West 57th Street near a Planet Hollywood restaurant.

Police have already said they believe the suspect from Thursday’s blast could be the same man behind October’s explosion outside the Mexican Consulate and the 2005 blast at the British Consulate. In those cases, the suspect was seen on a bike was reported seen throwing crude devices and then speeding away.

[:]

Sources said Thursday’s bombing mirrors two early ones in Manhattan that also happened in the predawn hours with bicycle-riding bombers leaving behind broken glass at the Mexican Consulate on October 26th, 2007 and at the British Consulate on May 5, 2005.

I remember the British Consulate bombing personally…mostly because it made it hard for me to get to a meeting that day at a very nearby building.  My opinion?  If this was terrorism, there would have been alot more BOOM! and damage.  And it wouldn’t have been in the middle of the early morning.  Frankly, its pretty chicken poop…anti-war activist?  What was proven by the act?

Spree also waited to post on this event.  See her post here.

anarchy, anti war, British Consulate, New York City, terorrism, Times Square bombing

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Just a short entry on the National Bio Agro Defense Lab.  Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that she likes Kansas’ chances to win a five-state contest to land the new national biodefense laboratory.

Sebelius told reporters during a news conference that after a series of meetings this week in Washington, D.C., she was confident the state had a solid proposal for the $450 million National Bio and Agro Defense facility. Sebelius met with federal officials earlier in the week while attending the annual National Governors Association meeting.

‘That’s always a push-pull in Washington, who makes the decision,’ Sebelius said. ‘Right now the proposal is set up so that Homeland Security makes the decision on merits. If that is the case, Kansas is in great shape.’

She described the state’s lobbying efforts as a ‘full-court press,’ noting that business, academic and congressional leaders participated in meetings.

The decision is still 8 months away.

Governor Sebelius, Kansas, NBAF

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It was bound to happen, and now it did.  Its now man against machine (sort of)…

Actually, “man’s best friend” against machine…but who’s really gonna care?

robotics

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If you think that terrorism is only perpetrated by Muslims, think again.  There are plenty of wacko “redblooded” Americans who do stupid things.  Like Michael S. Gorbey who was arrested near the Capitol Bldg carrying a shotgun and in car reportedly rigged with a propane tanks and wires according to U.S. Capitol Police. He also carried a shotgun and a backpack containing a samurai sword.

Gorbey apparently has a criminal record.

He was spotted about a block away from the U.S. Capitol, near the Russell and Dirksen Senate office buildings at approximately 1:00 p.m. Capitol police drew their weapons after spotting the man and forced him to surrender.  Gorbey reportedly gave himself up without resistance.

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Following his arrest, Gorbey reportedly told authorities that he was going to the U.S. Supreme Court building where he had an appointment with Chief Justice John Roberts at 2:00 p.m. Friday afternoon.  That appointment, however, was not officially corroborated.  A witness, though, also told authorities that the suspect asked for directions to the Supreme Court Building — which is less than a block from the Capitol.

Now, I know ths area quite well since it a straight shot from Union Station down 1st St. to the Dicksen, Russell and Hart Senate Office Buildings. Later in the day, the car was found to have no actual explosives in it. This guy is clearly a wackjob who has both a crimiinal record and was questioned by police in 1994 suspected of flying over retricted airspace near Camp David.

Police said Gorbey was spotted in Lower Senate Park around 1 p.m. Friday and was tackled by Capitol Police officers. The park, near the three Senate office buildings, is located near Union Station, a busy train and subway station near the Capitol.

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Capitol Police arrested the man about 1 p.m., just after he was spotted walking with the shotgun at First and D streets NE, authorities said. No shots were fired.

Wack jobs abound in “these here” United States. This is a reminder that the threat is not just from Islamists.  Terrorists don’t all wear turbins.  They don’t all drive camels.  Some smoke Camels and drive pick-up trucks.  Terrorists don’t all come from Arab countries, because some come from right here…even Utah (please draw no implications from the reported home state of Gorbey - that is not my intent at all)!  But there are plenty of people out there like Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols and Eric Rudolph who are somehow bent on hurting Americans and executing a terrorist act.

Capitol Police, Michael S. Gorbey, Washington Post

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