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To: SusieQ1065 who wrote (16196)9/14/2001 1:06:43 AM
From: 2MAR$  Respond to of 208838
 
German Internet Businessman Offers $10 Mln Bin Laden Reward
news.excite.com


Updated: Thu, Sep 13 10:38 AM EDT

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's most flamboyant Internet multi-millionaire Kim Schmitz offered up to $10 million on Thursday for information leading to the arrest of Osama bin Laden in the wake of terror attacks against the United States.

Schmitz, the ex-hacker portrayed in the tabloid press with fast cars and scantily clad women, posted a "Most Wanted" bulletin on his personal Web site, www.kimble.org.

"Spread the word, stop terror," Schmitz wrote in an e-mail received by Reuters.

The message contained a link to his Web site, which offers up to $10 million for "information leading directly to the apprehension or conviction" of Saudi-born dissident bin Laden.

Schmitz could not be reached for further comment.

U.S. investigators say Tuesday's terror attacks -- in which four passenger aircraft were hijacked and three flown in suicide missions into buildings in New York and Washington -- bear the hallmark of bin Laden, who lives as a "guest" of the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

Schmitz, who is reported to be worth about $200 million, most recently grabbed the headlines with a surprise offer to bail out ailing web retail service Letsbuyit.com earlier this year.

Schmitz was convicted of computer hacking in 1998 and since has made a fortune providing computer security consulting and, more recently, venture capital investment.

His Web site also features photographs of Schmitz racing cars, shooting an assault rifle and flying around the world in his private jet for lavish vacations with his model girlfriend and other friends.

The State Department offered a $5 million reward for bin Laden in 1998, when he was indicted in connection with bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa.



To: SusieQ1065 who wrote (16196)9/14/2001 3:43:15 AM
From: 2MAR$  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 208838
 
Line In The Sand
by Jim Brown

" The TV networks are starting to go back to normal programming.
Only the news channels are still broadcasting non-stop "attack
on America" reports. Miraculously, survivors are still being found
in the rubble even when adjoining buildings are still in danger
of collapse. The FAA has issued new rules for flying and opened
airports for operations again. The hijackers have all been
identified and arrests are underway for those accomplices which
can be located. But America has not yet gone back to business as
usual.

What business as usual may mean remains to be seen. The stock
markets will remain closed until Monday due to infrastructure
problems at the NYSE and continuing cleanup and rescue operations.
Just this afternoon the capital building was evacuated due to a
bomb scare. Vice President Chenny was relocated to Camp
David for unspecified reasons. New York airports were closed
again in late afternoon by the FBI for unspecified reasons. Four
men reportedly dressed as pilots were detained at a New York airport
when they tried to board a flight. The magnitude of the disaster has
caused extreme over reaction in all areas of security. While this
is going to be a nuisance for those affected it will undoubtedly
provide a safer environment. It will also provide a fertile
ground for pranksters and bomb hoaxes.

Travel as we know it has ceased. Amtrack is booked solid for
the next ten days. There are almost no rental cars available in
any major city. The new rules for air travel will make us feel
like we are traveling in Israel due to the security cautions.
No curbside check in, only passengers can go past security. Some
airports have prohibited parking at the airport. Stringent ID
checks will be required at every checkpoint. Armed sky marshalls
will be on most planes. Check in before boarding is now estimated
to take 2.5-3 hours. Carry on luggage will be subject to increased
searches. Sounds like a travelers nightmare.

Is it any wonder that airline reservations are being cancelled
in record numbers? Hotel reservations are evaporating at tourist
locations like Florida, California, Vegas, Atlantic City. The
American citizen is going to stay home for the foreseeable future.
The government has issued warnings for all Americans traveling
abroad urging them to curtail outings and keep a very low profile.
Can you say cancel European vacations?

The news media keeps referring to the spurt in building as the
buildings destroyed in New York are rebuilt. If they are going
to rebuild the WTC will they put a target on the side for the
next attack? After all this was the second time terrorists had
use the symbol of world capitalism as an attack point. There is
a rising amount of commentary that the skyscraper may be dying.
Do you think Morgan Stanley will want to put 50 floors of
operations in another 100 story building any time soon? Anyone
who thinks that this will never happen again is severely mistaken.
We are an open society and the strongest power in the world. This
also makes us the primary target for anyone wanting to make a name
for themselves in the future. Do you think Saddam Hussein would
pass on a chance to take out the Sears Tower if it was offered
to him? How about the TransAmerica tower in San Francisco? One
only has to compare the deaths and damage done to the Pentagon
compared to the damage to the towers. 120 killed and only the
impact area destroyed. Business as usual in the other sections
of the building.

Skyscrapers may be an endangered monument to modern building
techniques. Taking this attack to the next level, like the Tom
Clancy novel, it would be easy for Osama Bin Laden to lease
or buy a 747 somewhere in Asia and load it with explosives. That
flying bomb could come right through the air traffic control
system on a regular flight plan and until it deviated to its
target nobody would be any wiser.

To combat this in the future and it is only a matter of time
until it is attempted, corporations are likely to go back to
the distributed campus concept in an effort to protect their
business and employees. Being in a very highly concentrated
population center is not as meaningful with today's Internet
communications as it was when things went by courier and
mail. We are far less interested in the hassles of working
downtown than we are with safety concerns after the Oklahoma
bombing.

Consider that there are over 150,000 financial/market related
workers in the square mile around the NYSE. Am I the only one
that sees this as another bullseye? Most people do not want
to acknowledge the risk but Osama bin Laden has been trying
to buy/steal nuclear weapons for at least four years. Several
newspapers from that part of the world have claimed that he
was successful in getting some from Chechnya for $30 million
and two tons of opium. He is reportedly attempting to convert
to them suitcase weapons for obvious reasons. The FBI and the
US government has offered a $5,000,000 reward for him since
1999. fbi.gov
It is only a matter of time before some terrorist faction
explodes a nuke in a major city. Any guess on which city would
make the most likely target after all the TV press and market
shutdowns?

I am glad to see the markets remain closed until Monday. The
rescue needs to continue without the complication of massive
traffic and the influx of those traders. We will be doing a
special strategy session for next week in the weekend newsletter.

The coalition against terrorism is growing and the building
blocks are being put into place for a massive retaliation.
India has offered its airfields for staging. The United Nations
invoked article five and opened all NATO airfields to unrestricted
operations for coalition efforts. Several OPEC nations including
Saudi Arabia have offered their airfields as well. The U.S. needs
to build this coalition to prevent the idea that it is the U.S.
against Islam. The terrorists will try and spin this in that
direction to garner support. Regardless of the numbers of countries
in the coalition the terrorists are not stupid, we will still
be the eventual target for future attacks. It is stupid to
think that there will not be future attacks. There is no way
to wipe out these factions. Osama Bin Laden announced that he
had no involvement in the WTC attack but he was glad it happened
and then promptly dropped out of sight. The Justice Dept said
there could have been as many as 50 people involved in the WTC
attack in addition to the 18 hijackers. This was not a one man
show or a random event. The Laden terrorist group called Al-Qaeda
has huge amounts of money and thousands of members in dozens of
countries. There is no way the coalition can find and destroy
all the elements of this group, ever! Al-Qaeda is only one of
many groups that have as there sole goal terrorist attacks on
the U.S. and Israel. Every successful attack encourages an even
bigger effort for the next attack. If Al-Qaeda can be so
successful then others will try to match them or exceed them.
Not a pretty picture. The groups have now had several days to
spread out, go even deeper underground and make it harder for
the coalition to find them. Retaliation will not happen overnight.

Let me preface this paragraph with this fact, I am a republican.
I believe in the things George Bush stands for. However, I am
very disappointed in his performance so far. Enough of the calm
"we will find the people responsible and bring them to justice,
(pause)" rhetoric. Enough with the eight words and pause for effect
when speaking! Where is your emotion? Is he so paralyzed with doubt
and indecision that he doesn't know which way to jump? While
these are my impressions on the surface I know that in reality
he is biding his time until the plan is in place.

Intelligence is
being gathered, satellites are quietly taking pictures and monitoring
the dispersal from the terrorists strongholds. Governments are
being threatened with compliance or attack. Countries that will
not give coalition troops free rein for ground strikes against
terrorist locations will be faced with being put on the "harboring"
list and themselves being targeted. Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya and
other countries not immediately being targeted are watching closely.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~***~*~*~**~**~*~*~*~**~*~

Mr. Bush, maybe this is selfish on my part, but it is time to
stand up and be counted. The terrorists may have wanted to
teach us a lesson by such a massive attack. Unfortunately
the lesson may backfire on them. As the strongest power on
the planet we endure the many stings and barbs of lower level
attacks, kidnappings, harassment and embarrassments by turning
the other cheek. We do not want to appear as a bully to the
world. We are a diverse culture and we spend billions on things
like football games, CDs, trinkets and toys of all kinds. It is
hard to capture our attention on any one thing. We are wealthy,
spoiled and fundamentally decent. The terrorists of the world
think this makes us weak. We are not weak. We are the strongest
power on earth when provoked to wrath. We are currently in pain
from the bloody nose we received this week. We are fully awake!
Only a few times in history has anyone managed to provoke the
American psyche to the extent we were this week. The Japanese
did in 1941 with Pearl Harbor and paid the price. The American
people rose up in mass and mounted the biggest war effort known
to man and Japan paid dearly.

The pain and shock is clearing and the American public is wide
awake. Retailers have sold out of American flags in only two
days. Public mourning is rapidly turning into public outrage
and our elected officials had better pay rapt attention.
The president has a blank check. The coalition is gaining
speed and the eventual outcome is not in doubt. Bush may be
following the "speak softly and carry a big stick" plan
but he needs to ramp up his words to the point where countries
harboring terrorists begin to worry about their position. The
American people are awake and they are beginning to focus. Mr.
Bush, don't let this opportunity pass to rally Americans to
greater unity and purpose.

Don't let those 4700 people die in
vain. The country is uniting for a common cause and you need to
be our leader, even our cheerleader but not our counselor. We
will defend our freedom to the death and this is a message the
world needs to understand. They are looking at us and will measure
us by our response. If a 98 pound weakling can give us a bloody nose
and then run and hide with impunity then others will be tempted to
taunt the sleeping lion as well. Send a message to the world that
we are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore. Follow
it up with real action against Bin Laden and make the wannabe
terrorists reconsider their chosen profession. Maybe, just maybe,
we can create another decade of peace and prosperity before the
next generation of dissidents will need to be taught the lesson
again. Osama Bin Laden has finally stepped over the line and it
is time to make an example of him. The American people will settle
for nothing less! "

...from EM tonight