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Politics : World Affairs Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (3189)	1/8/2004 3:48:30 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3959

Terrorism "made in U.S.".... US extremists to be sentenced over bomb plot Texas couple had arsenal capable of killing thousands Julian Borger in Washington Thursday January 8, 2004 The Guardian Three Americans are due to be sentenced next month for their involvement in a plot to explode a cyanide bomb capable of killing thousands of people, in a case that has served as a reminder that homegrown terrorism is still a menace in a country permanently braced for another attack from abroad. It is still unclear for what the bomb and the arsenal of other weapons unearthed in the small town of Noonday, Texas, would have been used. The conspirators - rightwing extremists who were caught with forged identity passes to the United Nations and the Pentagon, and a variety of racist and anti-government pamphlets - have refused to cooperate with investigators, who believe others involved in the plot may still be at large. The central figure in the case, William Krar, is a small-scale manufacturer of gun components who has pleaded guilty to possessing a chemical weapon and faces a possible life sentence. The plot was uncovered by accident in early 2002 when Krar and his partner, Judith Bruey, posted a package to a third conspirator, Edward Feltus, a member of a rightwing group called the New Jersey militia. The package, filled with fake identity documents and a note saying "we would hate to have this fall into the wrong hands" was delivered to the wrong person. When investigators searched a storeroom rented by Krar and Bruey in Noonday, 100 miles east of Dallas, they found half a million rounds of ammunition, 65 pipebombs and briefcases that could be detonated by remote control, as well as 800g of almost pure sodium cyanide. According to the Los Angeles Times, the cyanide was already packed in an ammunition canister, next to a variety of acids and bombmaking formulas. Investigators believe that such a bomb would send up a cloud of poison that could kill everyone inside a large building. "It was clearly one of the most lethal arsenals associated with the US paramilitary right in the past 20 years," said Daniel Levitas, the author of a book on rightwing extremism, The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Right. It is, however, far from an isolated incident. Mark Potok, who keeps tabs on hate groups at the Southern Poverty Law Centre in Alabama, says up to 40 major conspiracies involving domestic terrorism have been uncovered since the 1995 Oklahoma attack by a rightwing war veteran, Timothy McVeigh, which killed 168 people. One foiled plot, by Ku Klux Klan members in 1997, was aimed at blowing up a Texan oil refinery and could have killed up to 30,000 people in the immediate vicinity. But domestic conspiracies have received much less publicity than foreign threats. "There is no question at all that had William Krar been a Muslim, this would have been announced from the steps of the justice department," Mr Potok said. The arrests were announced locally in Texas but received hardly any press coverage. Mr Levitas said Mr Krar had been arrested on previous occasions on gun charges but then released. "He came on to the radar screen of federal authorities and promptly fell off their radar. It points to a failing of the justice department to exercise due diligence." A series of anthrax letter attacks which took place in the weeks after September 11 2001 are also thought by FBI investigators to have been the work of an American fanatic. The case has not yet been solved and has similarly been largely forgotten. The justice department has denied taking domestic terrorism less seriously than foreign threats, saying it pursued all violations vigorously. guardian.co.uk Quizz: How many of those militia freaks know how to fly an airliner (Boeing 737/747...)? How many of these rightwing nuts have the know-how to develop anthrax spores? And the $60,000 question: how many of them work for the US gov and US law enforcement agencies??? Talk about a morass, huh?

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (3189)	1/8/2004 4:16:13 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 3959

Told you so.... () Argentina and US row over Cuba Reuters in Buenos Aires* Thursday January 8, 2004 The Guardian Diplomatic relations between Argentina and the US deteriorated into mudslinging yesterday after Washington said the country's left-leaning government was too soft on communist-run Cuba. Roger Noriega, US assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, told reporters on Tuesday he was "disappointed" that officials visiting Cuba had failed to meet dissidents, a reference to foreign minister Rafael Bielsa's recent trip. Last year Argentina restored full diplomatic ties with Cuba under its new president, Nestor Kirchner. "We consider the declarations aggressive... and inopportune," the vice-foreign minister, Jorge Taiana, told local radio. Mr Kirchner has also won few friends in Washington with his criticisms of the International Monetary Fund, blaming it for Argentina's economic collapse in 2002. The diplomatic spat could overshadow a scheduled meeting between Mr Kirchner and President Bush next week in Mexico. Some US officials have said there is a growing alliance emerging between Cuba and Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina, countries which have swung to the left in recent years amid a backlash against free market policies advocated by Washington. guardian.co.uk (*) Message 19423113 As I said, the Judeocons' monomania for Israel is alienating the US's closest partners.... Soon, all of South America will turn anti-US --but who cares? Wolfowitz and Perle don't, to be sure. After all, there aren't any Palestinian terrorists down there... Hezbollah doesn't have an office in Rio... Peru doesn't support Arafat, does she? Hence there's really no grounds to trouble the President with Latin America.... Actually, the whole world can turn into Armageddon and civil war can break out in the US --it just doesn't matter so long as sweetie Israel is safe.... Gus

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (3189)	1/8/2004 9:49:28 PM
From: ChinuSFO	Respond to of 3959

Hey Ray, here is a math problem for you to solve. There are 5 US software engineers all unemployed because they live in the US and not in Israel, India, Taiwan etc. 5 out of 5 unemployed which statisticizes to 100% unemployment. Suddenly, 5 people employed as lettuce pickers, who were employed yesterday but could not be counted suddenly get counted because of law changes!!! Yahoo. Now job growth is 100%, unemployment goes to how much? You guessed it right.

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (3189)	1/10/2004 4:51:16 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 3959

Follow-up to my post #3194: Security spat tears at Brazil's ties with U.S. Larry Rohter/NYT Saturday, January 10, 2004 iht.com Excerpt: The United States has identified the border region where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay come together as a haven for Islamic terrorists. There is also a flourishing traffic in counterfeit and contraband passports; on Wednesday, for instance, a Brazilian police officer about to board a plane in São Paulo was arrested with 36 blank Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Mexican passports. [...] ROFL!

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (3189)	1/10/2004 5:41:46 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3959

Ooops... Daydreamer that I am!! I thought the US-Libya understanding would last a coupla months at least --heck, it hasn't even lasted a coupla weeks! Again, I told you so: Libya's failure to pass the Israeli litmus test spelled the flop of any rapprochement with the US: J'lem sources: PMO officials leaked news of Israel-Libya talks By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, Reuters and Haaretz Service Sources in Jerusalem said on Friday that officials in the Prime Minister's Office apparently leaked details of secret contacts between Israel and Libya in a deliberate effort to sabotage attempts to establish diplomatic ties between the two nations. The initiative to explore prospects for forging ties with Libya was being pursued by Israel's Foreign Ministry despite opposition from some Sharon aides, one Israeli official said. Meanwhile, in Paris on Friday, Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abderrhmane Chalgam denied any talks had taken place with Israel. "No contact at any level can take place without the minister of foreign affairs," he told reporters. "These are rumors." According to Chalgam, the rumors were spread by Arab countries' security services, Channel One reported Friday. According to an Israel Radio report, citing an Arabic-language newspaper, Libya has sent a harsh letter to Israel, via a third party, announcing that it is suspending contacts with Jerusalem due to leaks to the press of meetings beteen representatives from the two countries. According to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, a Pan-Arab daily published in London, Libya accuses Israel of not displaying the minimum level of political ethics in international relations. The newspaper quotes a senior government source in Jerusalem as saying that the letter is a harsh blow to Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's efforts to open a new page in relations between Israel and the Arab world. But the Foreign Ministry told Israel Radio on Friday that it had no knowledge of such a letter. On Wednesday, the media reported that Foreign Ministry official Ron Prosor had visited Paris to meet with an Arab official to investigate the possibilities of establishing ties with Tripoli. Earlier in the week, Labor MK Ephraim Sneh confirmed and Shinui MK Ilan Shalgi confirmed that they and a number of Palestinian officials had met with the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi in a European country in August. Sneh also indicated that the Libyan leader could go as far as to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. haaretzdaily.com U.S. Refuses to Lift Sanctions on Libya Mon Jan 5, 9:28 PM ET WASHINGTON - President Bush refused to lift U.S. sanctions against Libya on Monday, saying Moammar Gadhafi must take concrete steps to fulfill a pledge to scrap his chemical and nuclear weapons programs. Bush said he was keeping in force a declaration of national emergency first issued by President Reagan in 1986 when the United States blocked Libyan assets in the United States, accusing Gadhafi's regime of sponsoring terrorism. The U.S. sanctions have denied Libya access to hundreds of millions of dollars in property and bank assets, according to U.S. estimates. Bush, in a written notice, said Libya's promise last month to abandon weapons of mass destruction marked "an important and welcome step toward addressing the concerns of the world community." "As Libya takes tangible steps to address those concerns, the United States will in turn take reciprocal tangible steps to recognize Libya's progress," Bush said. "Libya's agreement marks the beginning of a process of rejoining the community of nations, but its declaration of December 19, 2003, must be followed by verification of concrete steps." The declaration of national emergency has been renewed every year since 1986. Bush said that "the crisis between the United States and Libya that led to the declaration of a national emergency ... has not been fully resolved, although there have been some positive developments." The United States abstained from voting last year when the United Nations Security Council acted to end U.N. sanctions against Libya. The U.N. acted after Libya agreed to compensate families of the victims of the Pan Am 103 bombing and to take responsibility for the actions of Libyan officials in the bombing. Explaining Monday's decision to keep U.S. sanctions in tact, Bush said the United States has "serious concerns" about other Libyan policies and actions, including Libya's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, Libya's role with respect to terrorism, and Libya's poor human rights record. The White House noted that while Bush is keeping the sanctions in place, he has the power to modify or end the declaration of national emergency whenever he believes it appropriate. story.news.yahoo.com

To: Raymond Duray who wrote (3189)	1/12/2004 11:09:20 PM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 3959

Airline Passengers: Background Check Jay Stanley Communications Director, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Monday, January 12, 2004; 1:00 PM The U.S. government plans to push ahead this year with a vast computerized system to probe the backgrounds of all passengers boarding flights in the United States. The government will compel airlines to hand over all passenger records for scrutiny by U.S. officials and passengers will be scored with a number and a color that ranks their perceived security threat. This is the land of the free, Ray! You-re going to get a tattoo in your arm like the Nazis used for the jews!