if errorists wanna blow up planes

WAR STUFF
* xymphora: "As I have stated before, considering the huge power that AIPAC wields with both the Bush Administration and Congress, the FBI must have had extremely high-level permission to conduct this investigation. The FBI would only obtain this permission if its suspicions of AIPAC were held with a great degree of certainty and related to matters of the utmost importance regarding American intelligence and security. To put it in context, the Franklin issue is tiny compared to the greater AIPAC issue, but what Franklin allegedly did was disclose very classified information... The Israelis would have wanted it, not for the content of the information (the focus on content is the Israeli spin), but because it would allow them to determine the American spy network in Iran, information they could have sold or traded to the Iranians... If Franklin did anything wrong, we must not forget that his is a small part of the greater AIPAC espionage story." LINK

* "In addition, information garnered during the investigation into alleged leaks from a Pentagon analyst to the two former AIPAC staffers suggests the FBI began probing AIPAC officials just before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks." LINK
thats four years ago - not the two years that has been hitherto reported... and they found their journo too = from wapo.

* "More than 200 members of the House of Representatives nearly half the body are co-sponsoring a bill that would tighten and codify existing sanctions, bar subsidiaries of U.S. companies from doing business in Iran and cut foreign aid to countries that have businesses investing in Iran... The legislation is expected to get a boost when one of the most influential lobbying groups, the American Israel Political Action Committee, holds its annual meeting in Washington this month. AIPAC has made the bill a high priority... "I believe that having a stronger, safer world and regional stability is far better than whether we can have crumpets and tea with European leaders," she said." LINK

* theres a local-ish story been dominating the headlines here for months - some woman got caught with a bunch of pot in bali and is facing forever in jail. i havent been following the case, but what appears to have happened, or at least what has been uncovered as a result of the case, is that baggage handlers at oz airports seem to have an elaborate drug distribution network. it seems that drugs are placed into someones bag at the departing airport, and then get picked up at the destination airport - with the passenger none-the-wiser. the only reason i mention this is that it (once again) highlights the folly of checking people's shoes for bombs. if errorists wanna blow up planes, they'll blow up planes.

* the other local-ish story is that there is an ozzie who is apparently still a hostage in iraq - and there are noises that there are negotiations and sort-of-ransoms that are being offered. itll be interesting to see if he gets sgrena'd

* ron points to that condi quote i was looking for the other day: "You see, this war came to us, not the other way around." LINK

* " The United States has netted another al-Qaeda No.3, the sixth No.3 to be downed dead or alive in its war on terrorism... the joke in media circles here is that will be the nomenclature for any al-Qaeda suspect besides Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri, the one-two who have evaded capture for more than three years." LINK

* xymphora: "It's possible that the recently announced (and seemingly innocuous) three-week delay (or here) in the start of the Israeli de-occupation of Gaza is intended to buy just enough time that the Zionist (American or Israeli) attack on somebody (Iran, Syria, or Saudi Arabia)" LINK

* ""The Americans were bombing whole villages and saying they were only after the foreigners," said Fasal al Goud, a former governor of Anbar province who said he asked U.S. forces for help on behalf of the tribes. "An AK-47 can't distinguish between a terrorist and a tribesman, so how could a missile or tank?"" LINK