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To: Clappy who wrote (51689)	5/18/2002 7:40:14 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 65232

LOL! ;-)

To: Clappy who wrote (51689)	5/18/2002 8:11:19 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 65232

Senate's Shelby Blasts FBI on Flight School Memo Sat May 18, 3:51 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Richard Shelby said on Saturday the FBI (news - web sites) "failed the American people" in its handling of key information about potential attacks prior to Sept. 11. The comments to CNN intensified scrutiny of Bush administration handling of intelligence data on suspected terrorists in the United States months before the hijack attacks on New York and Washington. The U.S. blames the Sept. 11 strikes on militants linked to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network. While questions persisted about what President Bush (news - web sites) and senior government officials might have known about potential threats, developments this week illustrated the government had varying degrees of information. Bush, whose popularity appears to be unaffected by the criticism, last August was alerted in his daily CIA (news - web sites) intelligence briefing to the possibility of a hijacking by al Qaeda. The White House said it was non-specific information and stressed nothing indicated planes would be used as missiles. But the FBI acknowledged that a memorandum written by an agent in Phoenix in July urged superiors to investigate eight men of Arab descent who were attending U.S. flight schools in the Phoenix area and might be connected to Osama bin Laden. That information was not shared with other agencies and apparently was not investigated more closely. "I believe that the FBI has failed the American people in that regard," Shelby, an Alabama Republican, said in the interview. "Nothing was done on it. The FBI was either asleep of inept or both." NOT FIRST WARNING Shelby said details of the memo were never conveyed to the White House, the CIA or Congress. "It stayed in the FBI," Shelby said. The New York Times reported separately on Saturday that the Phoenix memo was not the first warning that suspected al Qaeda militants were interested flying. In a 1996 confession a Pakistani, Abdul Hakim Murad, said he planned to use his training from U.S. flight schools to fly a plane into CIA headquarters outside Washington or another federal building, the Times reported. And a report for the CIA released on Friday said in 1999 that bin Laden could crash a plane into the Pentagon (news - web sites), the CIA or the White House. The White House and other senior government officials have all said that before Sept. 11 it was never imagined that an attack might involve hijacked airliners. But the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) alerted airlines in July that terror groups were known to be planning and training for hijackings. The information provided no specific threat or credible information about attacking any U.S. carriers. On Sept. 11, suspected terrorists hijacked four planes, two each operated by United Airlines (news - web sites) and American Airlines (news - web sites) . Both carriers said no government advisories in the months before the attacks contained specific information about potential hijackings. The furor over questions about what the government, specifically the White House, might have known ahead of Sept. 11 have not damaged Bush's standing with the public. A Newsweek poll released on Saturday showed Bush's approval ratings still at 73 percent. But opinion was more evenly split on whether Bush did all he could with the information he had before Sept. 11. The poll found that 48 percent believed he had, while 39 percent said the White House could have done more. An overwhelming 77 percent of the 1,002 adults surveyed May 16-17 believe that the FBI should have investigated all Arab nationals taking pilot training considering the information law enforcement had in advance of the attacks.

To: Clappy who wrote (51689)	5/19/2002 1:56:26 AM
From: Dealer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 65232

A Southerner is having his breakfast (coffee, grits, biscuits, and jam) when a Northerner chewing obnoxiously on gum sits down next to him. The Southerner ignores the Northerner who, nevertheless, starts a conversation. Northerner: "When you Southern people eat bread, do you eat the whole slice?" Southerner: "Yep." Northerner: (after blowing a huge bubble) "We don't. Up North, we only eat what's inside. The crusts we collect in a container, recycle it, then transform them into biscuits and send them to the South." The Northerner has a smirk on his face. The Southerner listens in silence. The Northerner persists: "Do you eat jam with biscuits?" Southerner: "Yep." Northerner: (cracking and smacking his gum between his teeth and chuckling). "We don't. Up North after we eat fruit for breakfast, we put all the peels, seeds, and leftovers in containers, recycle them, transform them into jam, and then send it down South. Then the Southerner asks: "Y'all have sex up North?" Northerner: "Why of course we do", the Northerner says, as he pops another big bubble. Southerner: "And what do y'all do with the condoms once ya use 'em?" Northerner: "We throw them away, of course. Southerner: We don't. Down South we put 'em in a jar, recycle 'em, melt 'em down into bubble gum and sell 'em to Yankees."