Use the Department of Homeland Security feed to display threat color in a dancing banana.
Archive > July 2005
Two members of the peaceful religion of Islam who bombed London on July 7, 2005 were able to do so only because the US government let them walk.
Seattle Times: “The Justice Department blocked efforts by its prosecutors in Seattle in 2002 to bring criminal charges against Haroon Aswat, according to federal law-enforcement officials who were involved in the case. British authorities suspect Aswat of taking part in the July 7 London bombings, which killed 56 and prompted an intense worldwide manhunt for him.”
Liberation, via Informed Comment: “Out of ‘the 13 presumed terrorists identified by the British only 8 were arrested and 5 escaped. The arrests were part of an operation which recovered 600kg of explosives,’ said the senior French police officer, who yesterday revealed to Libération the fact that amongst the five who escaped from the operation was Mohammed Kahn, one of the alleged suicide bombers who struck on the London Underground. This Briton of Pakistani descent has been on the list of Scotland Yard’s “targets” for the last 15 months, only with a different age and a different first name – Kayoun instead of Sidique, but “it’s the same man” who gave the police the slip.”
Square America: a gallery of vintage snapshots and vernacular photography, updated daily. Via the recently relocated gmt+9.
Here is a story I made up:
There was once a lonely old woman. She had no one to talk to, and no one to spend time with. She was a very lonely woman. One day a stray cat came to the door of the lonely old woman. It was meowing because it was hungry. She was delighted to see the cat and decided that the right thing to do was to feed him. She brought out some tuna and a dish of cream, and the cat gobbled it up. This made the cat happy and the old woman was not as lonely. The next day the same cat returned to the old woman, but another cat also followed it. The cat had told another stray that there was an old woman to feed them. The woman was pleased with more company and happily fed both of the cats big dishes of tuna and cream, and both the old woman talked to the cats and was not as lonely as the day before. The next day four cats came – the word was spreading amongst the cats about the friendly old woman. By the end of the week 8 cats were showing up regularly and the old woman was running out of food. She went to the fish market to get some more tuna. The man behind the counter asked her, “What do you need with all this fish?”
“I am feeding some stray cats.” she said.
“If you feed them, more and more cats will come. Eventually there will be too many and you won’t be able to feed them any of them. It will be too hard.” said the man.
“But right now there are only 8 cats and that is not too many for me to feed.” replied the old woman.
“But you have to think about the future, soon the day will come and you will have 8,000 cats wanting food. What will you do with 8,000 cats?” asked the man.
The woman thought for a moment and then said, “Right now there are 8 cats and that I know I can do. If it gets to be 8,000 I will figure it out.”
The man scowled, “You’re being foolish. You should just stop feeding them all together, or your will regret it.”
The old woman walked out the door with her fish and felt worried.
On her way back home the old woman thought long and hard about what the man had said. “Maybe he’s right.” she thought, “Even though I can feed them now I might not be able to do it forever, and it might become too much for me.” More doubts entered her mind when she walked up to her door to be greeted by 3 or 4 new cats. There were now at least 12, and the old woman was surprised. “Oh no, maybe he’s right!”, she thought. She ran into her house and closed the door. After a few minutes she calmed herself down and decided that her panic was silly. After taking a deep breath she thought, “I’m an old woman, and I don’t have all that many years left to feed cats, or do much else for that matter. I might as well do what I please.” So the woman went back outside and fed the cats, and they purred and rubbed up against her and she hugged them and didn’t feel very lonely at all.
The woman kept feeding the cats every day, and every day more and more cats did come. And as the months passed, she grew less and less lonely. And even though there were many cats, there weren’t too many and she loved finding ways to feed them all. She was very happy. One day, just before she was going to get more fish, she passed away. But right before she died she saw a line of hundreds of cats, one by one, making their way to her door, and as her eyes closed she realized she had never felt more loved. And she was never lonely again. THE END.
Let’s watch Possum Belly Masseuse.
July 13, 2004: Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan is arrested in the United Kingdom as a suspected agent of Al-Qaida. He is put to work by the United States government in a sting operation against Al-Qaida.
August 2, 2004: After a briefing from the United States government, the New York Times publishes the name of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan as working for the United States government in a sting operation against Al-Qaida.
August, 2004: The United States goes on ‘orange alert.’ By remarkable coincidence, this occurs at the same time as the Democratic National Convention.
August 8, 2004: National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice uses the international television chanel CNN to name Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan as working for the United States government in a sting operation against Al-Qaida. By remarkable coincidence, this occurs at the same time as the Bush administration wants to appear to have ‘done someting’ about terrorists. While revealing one’s spies is a form of shooting ones’ self in the foot, at least it shows that one has a gun.
August, 2004: British intelligence, no longer able to use Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan as ‘bait’ to capture other A-Qaida members, arrests thirteen of Khan’s contacts. Five suspected members, having been warned by the United States government via both news briefings (NYT) and directly (NSA Advisor Rice) that their contact Khan was a plant, escaped. One of the five that escaped was Mohammad Sadique Khan.
September 16, 2004: Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge acknowledges that revealing Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan was working for the United States government in a sting operation against Al-Qaida was a mistake. Ridge calls this “regretable.”
July 7, 2005: Four bombs explode in London, killing dozens and injuring hundreds. One of the bombers responsible was Mohammad Sidique Khan.
Analysis: Because the United States government revealed Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan was working for the US in a sting operation against Al-Qaida, Mohammad Sidique Khan was warned in time for him to escape arrest – thereby allowing him to participate in the recent bombing of London. George W. Bush and his team are willing to make the world pay any price to keep and expand their power.
“A lot of the hyperbole surrounding western hacker culture makes me smile compared to what these guys are doing day in day out.”
The film version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy could have been too Hollywood, too dull, too special-effect-y, or too in-joke. It is none of these – it is a delight start to finish. Portland pleasanteers can buy a ticket and a drink for themselves and the companion of their choice for only ten dollars at the Laurelhurst Theater.
