The bartender on coincidental terror alarms. Here is virtual space to comment.
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August 3, 2004
Billmon: An Amazing Series of Coincidences
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NYT on the front page above the fold: Reports That Led to Terror Alert Were Years Old, Officials Say
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. …
Federal authorities said on Monday that they had uncovered no evidence that any of the surveillance activities described in the documents was currently under way. …
Senior counterterrorism and intelligence officials based in Europe said the information targeting the five buildings was developed by Qaeda operatives before Sept. 11, 2001….
Maybe this one will backfire?
Posted by: b | Aug 3 2004 6:32 utc | 1
Sibel Edmonds laid out highlights of her testimony to the 9/11 commission in this letter to Co-Chair Thomas Kean. She reports that credible and accurate intelligence about the 9/11 attacks was available before the event, but misdirected by FBI personel involved with translating the information.
Posted by: SME in Seattle | Aug 3 2004 7:29 utc | 2
RABAT, Morocco – (AP) — The United States has handed over five Moroccans detained at the Guantánamo Bay military prison in Cuba. They will face a police investigation, the country’s official news agency reported Monday.
The men, who were arrested in the U.S.-led war that ousted Afghanistan’s hard-line Taliban leadership, arrived in the North African kingdom Sunday, Morocco’s MAP news agency said. They were placed in the custody of Moroccan justice officials.
The prosecutor said the men were Mohamed Ouzar, 24, Mohamed Mazouz, 30, Radouane Chekkouri, 32, Abdellah Tabarak, 49, and Brahim Benchakroun, 24.
The United States, which faced international criticism for holding hundreds of suspects at Guantánamo without charges for at least two years, has been gradually releasing some prisoners from the naval base.
The military prison camp at Guantánamo Bay holds about 600 inmates. Human-rights groups have repeatedly expressed concerns about the U.S. military’s practice of holding the prisoners at the camp without charges.
A Google search of Abdellah Tabarak leads to this and several similar hits:
a source familiar with captives at the base said one of the detainees, No. 760, is a close associate of Osama bin Laden , Abdallah Tabarak. …
sources indicate that Tabarak was OBL’s bodyguard and provided key support enabling Bin Laden to escape Tora Bora.
so my questions would be, could the US not find charges to bring against such a key associate of Bin Laden, or perhaps did Mr. Tabarak make a deal?
Or was his transfer to friendlier confines part of someone else’s deal, coming on the heels of the rising terror alert this weekend?
If we are serious about finding Bin Laden, is this a means to that end?
Posted by: route66 | Aug 3 2004 11:41 utc | 3
Billmons new post is right on.
The Bushies are more than willing to scare the shit out of a bunch of sheeple out in the heartland. The fact is, middle america will likely never see any terrorist activity. It will be NY, DC, LA etc. Why those dum asses in the south don’t see through bushies bullshit, I have no idea. But like the Clinton fatigue that was claimed in 2000, the “alert fatigue” is pretty well in place. While loads of police and fireman were on alert, most everyone yawned and went about their business.
Crying wolf to many times is not a good thing.
Posted by: jdp | Aug 3 2004 11:56 utc | 4
Every time there is a new alert, one part of my mind gives the Bushistas a little benefit of the doubt…after all, we do have evidence that there are people who want to attack the U.S.
I think, maybe this time, they’re not just pulling another mind fuck. I’m not totally gullible, but I don’t want to totally discount such a warning in case it is true, and people are hurt.
…but each new false alarm is subsequently shown to be yet another political maneuver.
how much of a shit-eating bastard do you have to be to abuse the trust of the American people and use the threat of terrorism for psychological manipulation over and over again.
how whorish can the media be to play along?
…what’s that old saw about limits of freedom of speech? …if you yell “fire” in a crowded theater…
these actions go beyond the freedom of speech example and rise to the level of sadism, to the purposeful undermining of public safety, to selfish use of the deaths of other Americans for political gain (not to mention the tens of thousands of innocents in Iraq.)
It is beyond me how anyone can support this gang of crooks and creeps.
Surely there is a tipping point in all these attempts to generate fear. Surely this will backfire on Bush.
It’s too dispiriting to think that so many Americans are so stupid that Bush can get away with this.
Yet, the Bushistas attempts at voter fraud, mass psychological manipulation (paging Goering), and outright criminal acts are so glaringly obvious at this time, I’m afraid too many Americans are so stupid.
Posted by: fauxreal | Aug 3 2004 12:25 utc | 5
I left out these links on Abdellah Tabarak:
http://www.ummahnews.com/viewarticle.php?sid=1155
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Abdallah+Tabarak.
Posted by: route66 | Aug 3 2004 12:26 utc | 6
Fauxreal,
To be exact, it’s illegal to yell “fire” in a crowded theater WHEN THERE IS NO FIRE!!! Just because there was a fire three years ago, it doesn’t give you an excuse to panic people into believing there might be another fire about to start.
Posted by: Robert A. | Aug 3 2004 13:01 utc | 7
@route 66
Are you sure it’s the same guy? The ages differ.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Aug 3 2004 13:33 utc | 8
Every now and then Tweety would yell over his shoulder and ask the claques what they thought about this or that, and then, on cue, one side would cheer and the other would boo.
I didn’t see this.
But the description vividly describes what I have seen: The Vulgar and The Rude pitted against each other in a slew of shouts.
Manufacturing consent. Sure enough.
But also–Manufacturing slogans and thoughtlessness and two warring camps.
In other words:
Manufacturing conflict.
Manufacturing antagonism.
Manufacturing hatred.
Manufacturing goats and monkeys furiously shouting each other down.
And then, every so often TV will pause, and provide us with a talking-heads panel that asks: “What ever happened to cordiality and statesmanship? What ever happened to political discourse?”
Gee… I dunno…
Which is all to say–Television is a slur aimed at rationality. It has become the active enemy of democracy. It is destroying us from the inside out.
The revolution might not be broadcast…
but,
The devolution of our nation into brutes, boors, and bullies–certainly will be.
Posted by: koreyel | Aug 3 2004 14:50 utc | 9
My first reaction on Sunday was ‘this Tom Ridge announcment is most likely total bs to pull media coverage away from and to supress Kerry’s bounce’. I’ve become so conditioned by the administration’s prior terror chutzpa that this time I knew that the inevitable counter-information would soon discredit Ridge’s propaganda.
And there it is.
I recall that Clinton did the same thing during the impeachement trials: bombed some Serbs, and/or some Sudanese factories. I suspect every president has stooped low to control perceived losses in the polls. I wonder if Prez Kerry would. Probably. He’s a politician.
But to disrupt commerce, frighten [dare I say terrorize] his own people? The Bushies are despicable. We should throw the bums out.
If the next administration repeats the behavior, then of course we can throw them out too.
Posted by: gylangirl | Aug 3 2004 15:01 utc | 10
So the main plans were 3 years old, but the adminstration is now claiming that recent intel out of Pakistan supports their cries of wolf.
Let’s think on this from another perspective.
If you were a terrorist and you couldn’t hit America, wouldn’t you want to disrupt American equanimity and cause America to squander its resources? As much as possible?
What better way than to plant computers with bogus plans.
How difficult would it be to get details about US cities and buildings and traffic flows off the net and couple them into grotesque fictional plots?
Then all you would need to do was plant these computers in Pakistan with a few brown-skinned folk who would gladly take the fall–in essense: Suicide Idea Bombers.
What a fiendishly clever way to keep the West off balance and wasting its lucre.
Posted by: koreyel | Aug 3 2004 15:21 utc | 11
such an obvious no-brainer. lets see, it’s august….we should take bets on how many of these alerts they can try to pull off between now and nov. i wonder how much ‘new’info they have/can manufacture, to drag out at opportune moments.
Posted by: annie | Aug 3 2004 16:45 utc | 12
Perhaps they’re trying to figure out an excuse to get out of actually holding their convention in NYC. At any rate, how much longer will the public put up w/ such blatent manipulation? The risk now, especially now, of these alerts backfiring is quite high. People don’t appreciate being treated like idiots, esp by idiots. Is bushCo hoping that someone from the media, say someone working for Roger Ailes, not be outfoxed, will take it upon themselves to make sure that something really does happen wrt these threats? Most likely, they are relying on their comfortable assumptions that official sourcing is enough to accomplish this distraction and that the next news cycle will wash & spin this down the memory hole for another couple of weeks. They’ve already announced their “dirty war” against Kerry for this month. Let’s see if Cheney, Rummie et al have another 9-11 in store in Sept. As has been made clear previously, “From a marketing point of view, you don’t introduce new products in August.” Just throw in enough of a teaser to keep them near the tube…
Posted by: b real | Aug 3 2004 17:21 utc | 13
One importent point in this story: It did leak taht the information was very old and it did leak from multiple sources. Those professional folks must hate what´s being done with these alarms and they call the papers and newsstations by the dozent. Therefore I don´t think Rove/Ridge will try to pull this off again . This time the walls of secretcy had holes, the next time they will break down completely. One tool less in their box.
Posted by: b | Aug 3 2004 17:44 utc | 14
The fact is, middle america will likely never see any terrorist activity. It will be NY, DC, LA etc.
most likely true, but many of those folks have relatives, perhaps in some of the more likely spots… and some others may simply not wish a bunch of people to be killed anywhere in the US.
That said, I definitely agree that the whole thing is mainly a ploy. I like Koryel’s idea of Suicide Idea Bombers- with the admin acting like it is, they (real terrorists, that is) don’t have to do anything at all, just give the impression that they are. Not too hard at all. And works for eveyone!
Posted by: æ | Aug 3 2004 17:52 utc | 15
So when Bush was asked about giving out such detailed intel about this supposed “alert”, he opined that, “its our duty to let the people know what we know”! I have a question for the dumass, Isn’t it also your duty to let the people know what you and the F-U Cheney knew about 9/11? Why don’t they tell us that? Why the secret meetings with the 9/11 commision and no notes or tapes of that meeting? Don’t we have the right to know? I wanna see a pyramid of Cheney, Bush, Wofowitz, Rusmfeld, Sanchez, Feith, and Ilyawi. With Cheney’s wide ass at the bottom he can hold up all of them by himself!
Posted by: Max Andersen | Aug 3 2004 17:57 utc | 16
hey, if it’s their duty to let the people ” know what they know “, how about forking out a little info about those energy meetings mr. cheney?
maybe they are trying to discourage all those out of towners from making reservations to attend the mass demonstrations in nyc for the convention. i’m still going. anyone else here heading to ny for the aug 29 protest?
Posted by: annie | Aug 3 2004 18:55 utc | 17
OMFG, Max, did Bush really say that?
I don’t even listen to him anymore. I cannot stand to hear his voice, so I have no idea of the bullshit coming out of his mouth. I happened upon him speechifying this weekend, and the sneers as he leaned on his podium were enough to make me have to restrain myself from chucking a chuck taylor at his slimy face.
Yes, we should make a list of all the things the Bush crew has hidden from the American public. I’d love to send an email to the CNN whores and ask them why, if he cares so much about us, is he hiding the truth and telling lies?
…and, as mentioned above, to top it off John Ashcroft has a “state secrets” gag order on Sibel Edmonds to keep her from telling the American public that this administration doesn’t really give a fuck about intelligence, if the FBI scandals are any indication.
Edmonds is brave to name names anyway.
Posted by: fauxreal | Aug 3 2004 20:34 utc | 18
fauxreal:
…chucking a chuck taylor at his slimy face.
Hey… I ran a thousand full court games in those high tops. Let’s not waste a pair of those classic sneakers on some two-bit nothing-fuck sneak.
Billmon:
It is time to bring back the bar from oblivion.
Time to end the diaspora.
Time to fight these motherfuckers tooth and claw.
Wasn’t it Jack London who said (para-sailing here)–“Better to go out like a fiery comet than a sleepy and permanent planet”?
If we are going to go out…lets go out like men and stars and woman and novae–all united under one welkin.
You now know who you can trust with the keys.
Don’t give me any of that sissy-shit about “I make a poor manager.”
The time has come…
The fight is upon us. The time of effete liberalism is past. You’ve got the horses. You’ve seen the passion.
Goddammit…resurrect the bar.
Posted by: koreyel | Aug 3 2004 23:20 utc | 19
koreyel, never posted a comment on Whiskey Bar, but was an avid addict for the last five or six months. Comments to Billmon gave me more insight than all the other sites I read. Usually, very intelligent people with thoughts I shared–and if I didn’t agree–I could at least appreciate their arguments. I, too, miss comments on the Whiskey Bar. But, thank you Alabama for keeping the flame lit. Actually, I’m just glad Billmon is posting again.
Posted by: beck | Aug 4 2004 0:55 utc | 20
While we’re discussing serendipitous events allied with the Democratic Convention and the closure of the Whiskey Bar to comments, is anyone else just a bit concerned with the timing of Billmon’s closure to coincide with the pseudo-left gabfest? The fact is that a forum with a wide readership in the anti-consrvative electorate was shut down right before the convention esp after many tweedledee/tweedledum posts. And yes Billmon had made some of those but the overtly hostile attitude to Kerry is less evident there nowadays. Yeah I know; but even paranoids do have enemies.
Posted by: Routledge | Aug 4 2004 3:51 utc | 21
My husband just returned from a deployment in south Asia, during which he was largely cut off from news (or “news” as the case may be). On his first morning back he sat down with the WaPo, with its photos of D.C. and Transportation Authority police, tactically outfitted and with semi-autos at the ready, standing in front of the Capitol and on the Metro. “What in the hell is this? Whatever happened to the outcry over the creeping militarization of the police?”
“They wanna show the public they’re doing something.”
“Yeah, well, what they’re showing the public is that they live in a police state. What kind of training do these guys have? Look at their weapons, for crying out loud. What are they supposed to be accomplishing?”
“Um, high visibilty deterrence?”
“Who are they deterring?”
“You know… Terrorists.”
“Yeah, right. I’ll tell you what, people oughta be outraged about this.”
He pointed to a picture on an inside page showing Ambassador John Negroponte in Baghdad and one of his body guards, who’s armed just like the guy on the Metro. “Get a load of that. One’s in Iraq. The other’s on the D.C. subway, for God’s sake. Un-be-lievable.”
Poor man doesn’t even know yet about the “free speech zones” at the national conventions.
Posted by: Pat | Aug 4 2004 5:19 utc | 22
Posted that 1:19 on the wrong thread. Supposed to be over at Open to All Topics. Oh, well.
Posted by: Pat | Aug 4 2004 5:33 utc | 23
Hey Pat,
Glad to hear your husband’s home!
_____
Re: shouting Fire in a crowded theater three years after the fact – over and over and over and over again….
I guess I’ve also been wondering about Chicken Little Hawk and the Clear Skies are Falling Effect.
It’s a concept that I’ve finally been able to explain to my five year old who has spent a good portion of the summer insisting on going barefoot (ie. no real protection) while screaming everytime she gets the slightest boo-boo (ie. dip in the polls).
Then again, my kid is rational…..
Posted by: RossK | Aug 4 2004 7:09 utc | 24
Does anybody out there know of an attempt to create a chronology that matches up terror alerts with embarassing news for BushCo? I.e. somebody with time enough on their hands and access to Nexus/Lexis (sp?) search, who could demonstrate conclusively that the terror alerts crowded these stories out of the media?
I mean, this has been my impression (and that of a lot of other people) but it would be helpful to have some figures to back it up.
Posted by: prof fate | Aug 4 2004 16:35 utc | 25
Thanks, RossK.
I owe a debt of gratitude to, among others, Billmon, Bernhard, Jerome, Okie, and all the barflies for unknowingly helping to keep me sane and thinking (as good as ‘alive and kicking’) over these many, long months.
I got my spouse, my “old soldier,” back – all in one piece. Others are not so fortunate.
Posted by: Pat | Aug 4 2004 16:42 utc | 26
I’ve never addressed you, Pat, but I want you to know that it is nice to hear good news.
Posted by: beq | Aug 4 2004 17:11 utc | 27
Thanks, beq.
Maybe we need a permanent, open thread for good news. If the world, or our part of it, seems to be going to hell in a handbasket, good things – however small in the overall scheme – still happen, and regular reminders of such are necessary for our well-being.
Posted by: Pat | Aug 4 2004 20:35 utc | 28