culture  

Re: [Culture] Manipulating the Bullshit Alerts

William H. Magill
Tue, 03 Aug 2004 10:10:05 -0700

On 03 Aug, 2004, at 09:11, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Did Tommy Ridge strike fear into your heart when, on Sunday night, just after the Democratic Convention, he announced imminent attacks on the Stock Exchange? Gee, turns out his info was three or four years old. STOP THE BULLSHIT! SEND BUSH BACK TO THE RANCH!
 
Reports That Led to Terror Alert Were Years Old, Officials Say
By DOUGLAS JEHL and DAVID JOHNSTON
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Published: August 3, 2004


WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 -Much of the information that led the authorities to raise the terror alert at several large financial institutions in the New York City and Washington areas was three or four years old, intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Monday. They reported that they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terrorist plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/03/politics/03intel.html?th

You can read words, but you do not understand their meaning.

If you wish to consider Al Qaeda no threat, that is your perogative, but you should read the second paragraph of that same article:

"But the officials continued to regard the information as significant and troubling because the reconnaissance already conducted has provided Al Qaeda with the knowledge necessary to carry out attacks against the sites in Manhattan, Washington and Newark. They said Al Qaeda had often struck years after its operatives began surveillance of an intended target."

Yes, Al Qaeda has been studying US sites for many years, and the information found in the computer seized last week demonstrated exactly how long Al Qaeda has been "casing" the US.
In fact, much of the information discovered on that computer was 5 years old and older. Much of it obtained from the Internet before 9/11.


To quote the 9/11 commission report in the 8th paragraph of the introductory letter by Committee Chairman Tom Kean and Vice Chairman, Lee Hamilton:

"We learned about an enemy who is sophisticated, patient, disciplined, and lethal. The enemy rallies broad support in the Arab and Muslim world by demanding redress of political grievances, but its hostility toward us and our values is limitless. Its purpose is to rid the world of religious and political pluralism, the plebiscite, and equal rights for women. It makes no distinction between military and civilian targets. 'Collateral damage' is not in its lexicon."

And later in Chapter 12:

"Bin Ladin[sic] and Islamist terrorists mean exactly what they say: to them America is the font of all evil, the "head of the snake," and it must be converted or destroyed.

It is not a position with which America can bargain or negotiate. With it there is no common ground -- not even respect for life -- on which to begin a dialog. It can only be destroyed or utterly isolated."


T.T.F.N. William H. Magill [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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