Transatlantic Plot Foiled 2

[Toedancer]

For dear kid and bf's flight out, which left at 6 (I think) we had to drop them at 3. UI will not hear about the security until tomorrow night. Sucks. Meantime I guess the 'radicalized' young man had his package melted as well as his thighs. He must have been some high not to show any reaction whatsoever.

Crotch Rocket/Foiled

[pookie]

So, a couple of weeks ago I booked an impulsive 24-hour jaunt to Chicago  to attend a christening.  Said jaunt began yesty morning and ended today.  Yikes!

First, I flew Porter - thank Christ for small mercies.  I was expecting more scrutiny at the regular security station - none happened.  I did get a full-body pat-down and my purse checked (somewhat desultorily) just before boarding.  That's when it got fun. Everything - but everything - had to go overhead.  Purses included. Then, thirty minutes into the flight they handed out the US customs cards which were to be "filled out prior to landing".  Um, filled out how, exactly?  Lots of delays as attendants retrieved purses etc individually so that people could get out pens.  As the flight was longer than an hour we were allowed to go the bathroom in the available window only if we were escorted by an attendant.  Otherwise we were not allowed to stand up.

I was expecting lots of scrutiny at US customs on landing but there was none.  Coming back, today, I was not subjected to any unusual searches but we had the same stringent requirements on board.  I was pulled aside at Customs, I guess because I had done the trip in so brief a time, but the guy opened my suitcase (a little one I ordinarily would have carried on board) and made a joke about what a "light" traveller I was.

So, all in all, I emerged relatively unscathed.

I, too, wonder about the new specification of "small purses" only.  Srsly? I was travelling with a fairly capacious leather tote, but that was before the newest rules issued this afternoon.  

By a strange coincidence a best buddy was also scheduled to fly to Chicago, but from Pearson.  On Boxing Day he arrived at the airport in plenty of time only to be informed that his flight was cancelled.  Yesterday he was in line waiting to clear US customs for NINE HOURS.  At some point he discovered that his flight had left an hour earlier.  He said there was a strange camaderie among the masses - that if it had gone any loger they would have set up their own alternate civil society.

I think Pearson is probably the worst place in the world to be right now, given the combination of sheer volume and the pre-clearing of US customss.

I'm treating my buddy to lunch tomorrow.

[lagatta]

The only  "small purses" I own are a tiny suede change purse I wear around my neck, under my clothing, with money for shopping and my OPUS card or public transport tickets, and an embroidered handbag made by Afghan women refugees, which I use as an "evening bag". I'm not the frigging Queen.

Has anyone noticed what a grossly sexist rule this is, and that it doesn't correspond in the slightest to the alleged terrorist's alleged deed? Meanwhile men have their passports and wallets in their sportcoat or trousers pocket.

Yes, suspect the hapless terrorist would have been better off dead, though I'm glad he didn't take anyone else to their demise - if this is true.

The problem for even those of us who avoid visiting the paranoid States is that some flights fly over their airspace or we have to change planes there. I've scrupulously avoided the latter for many years as I know I'm far from welcome in their country.

[Toedancer]

This entire episode is getting ridic. And until 'they' come clean I will regard all as B.S.
The 2nd man the FBI refuse to acknowledge

And tomorrow (or actually today) the Patriot Act is Done! Why is the media covering this up? G'nite.

[skdadl]

It's worth standing back from a lot of these early confused reports. It may be unfair of other Kossacks to call the diarist a troll -- she's just repeating things she's heard -- but maybe not.

You can see in those comments what a contentious place DKos is -- a lot of very tetchy people there.

[Toedancer]

Yesterday the FBI finally admitted to the 2nd person being handcuffed and questioned and then released Awful weird though. Why would the FBI tell 4 different stories if he was just an innocent person who had some veggies confiscated from his travel bag? Especially when there were eyewitnesses. That's just too incompetent to be believed.  

This whole story is seven kinds of weird. And now EL Al security is being trumpeted in the media as being the best in the world, they know how to invade a human body's personal space like no other, we got to have what they do in ALL the airports now, because ICTS just isn't up to the job. Apparently.

Ever get the feeling this latest affair is about stopping the free movement of people from place to place?

[Toedancer]

Well now that the whole world is going for scanners (gee wonder who profits) including Canada and it sure looks like Muslims are going to be targeted considering the woman from Quebec who was not allowed to fly to the states, the Imams of N.A. have issued a fatwa. Twenty imams issue fatwa against any attacks on Canada or the United States and it's no f'ing wonder. This is getting ridic.  As Chris Hedges recently pointed out, once government uses demonized Muslims to get the new justice system going, the rest of us will be next.

[Toedancer]

Time to stop the the one ticket meme the media has propagandized

While the New York Times published a correction on Dec. 30 saying it had erroneously reported Abdulmutallab's ticket was one-way, many outlets that have mentioned the one-way ticket haven't run corrections.

[Toedancer]

I haven't been able to let this story go because of all the contradictions between all the agencies. "No Smoking Gun" Claims Undercut by New Disclosures

The most chilling part is what the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), Michael E. Leiter admitted:

Leiter told the Committee: "I will tell you, that when people come to the country and they are on the watch list, it is because we have generally made the choice that we want them here in the country for some reason or another."

CongressDaily reporter Chris Strohm, citing an unnamed "intelligence official" confirmed that Leiter's statement reflected government policy and told the publication, "in certain situations it's to our advantage to be able to track individuals who might be on a terrorist watch list because you can learn something from their activities and their contacts."

An alternative explanation fully in line with well-documented inaction, or worse, by U.S. security agencies prior to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and now, Christmas Day's aborted airline bombing, offer clear evidence that a ruthless "choice" which facilitates the murder of American citizens are cynical pretexts in a wider game: advancing imperialism's geostrategic goals abroad and attacks on democratic rights at home.

Leiter's revelation in an of itself should demolish continued government claims that the accused terror suspect succeeded in boarding NW Flight 253 due to a failure to "connect the dots."

Ruthless Choices? WTF?    That's just :

[skdadl]

Y'know, I am not an Obama apologist, and anything is possible, but I wouldn't believe a word that came out of Leiter's mouth, including the conjunctions and prepositions, and yes, he is a Bush left-behind (a leftover?), there to cause trouble.

Blair is also a left-behind. The most disturbing thing about Obama is that he has kept so many of these nutbars in place.

Do I seriously believe that Obama and his closest advisers sat there in the Oval Office and said to selves, "Ok: let this guy try to kill some Merkins for us. That could be useful." ? No, I don't. Anything is possible, but incompetence seems to me the more obvious explanation. And whatever Michael Leiter thinks, I am unlikely to think. Ditto Admiral Blair.

[Toedancer]

No, your right, Obama wouldn't/didn't make that decision, because Obama has no power to. This Mostly water article on Obama as a puppet is somewhat out of date, but still applies. In fact I think it is much worse, afterall the only exports right now in the U.S. is military hardware $6.4 billion to Taiwan and drugs.

[Toedancer]

Regarding the b.s. and vague story the mumbai style terrrist attacks that were  coming to Europe, but were foiled by unmanned drones: Beware of Governments Trumpeting Terror Threats

There has been an increase in unmanned drone strikes in Pakistan lately   and that is being tied to the story of this new threat. But others in   the security establishment are wondering, again quietly, whether the new   alleged threat is being used as a cover for a drone offensive in   Pakistan, one that is understandably unpopular with the Pakistani   population (which often becomes collateral damage in the strikes) and   with the unstable Pakistani government.

AND

Meanwhile, a well-informed British source went so far as to tell CBS News   he's been told by law enforcement officials that the reports of a   foiled plot are, "a load of old rubbish which have been planted to   justify the increased drone attacks taking place in the tribal areas" of   Pakistan.

Yes I know pogge, more unnamed sources.

Re: the drone attacks in Pakistan, they are really pissed and Pakistan has cut off supply lines

Meantime Mullet and Gates have both lost what's left of their minds.
Gates says too few Americans are bearing the burdens while Mullen says less money will put the U.S. at risk

I wonder if Gates is still walking around with his little countdown clock in his breifcase? Gah, the wonder of the military taking over O's government is a sad spectacle.

[pogge]

Duelling anonymous sources are always fun.

Based on my own reading, yes the frequency of drone attacks has increased substantially in September -- double the previous month. But the closing of supply lines is supposedly in retaliation for separate, cross-border helicopter strikes. The drone attacks have been going on all along but the last time there were manned cross-border strikes (that were publicly reported) was in Sept. 2008 and the Pakistanis closed the Khyber Pass then too. Several times in that month.

As for Gates, he's quoted in Bob Woodward's recent book saying that the Americans are never leaving Afghanistan. If he doesn't want the current complement of troops to be stretched so thin, perhaps he should advise his boss to stop fighting so many wars at the same time. And then take his own advice.

I think keeping Bush's Defense Secretary was one of Obama's dumbest moves. Some of O's other bad moves I can put down to his politics being different than mine but this one was just dumb. How he could watch the Bush admin for eight years and then think bipartisanship was worth pursuing is just beyond me.

[sparqui]

Perhaps there is a better thread for this... Anyhow, remember that Ottawa IT programmer who worked for Foreign Affairs and was arrested for his role in a UK terrorist plot (he was accused as being the one responsible for building a detonator for a fertilizer bomb), well I stumbled across a great analysis of the case at Dissident Voice:

http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/10/canadas-war-on-islam-the-case-of-mahboob-and-momin-khawaja/

[Toedancer]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/virus-hits-drone-fleet/


Drones are infected with a virus, but they still keep flying over Afghanistan. Because the infection can't be determined, so until then stay tuned.....


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/07/us-usa-drones-idUSTRE7966FQ20111007


Now that's what they call 'precision'. It was earlier reported they would be 'suspended', but fuck eh they've killed at least 2,000 people so far since Obama, so Huzzah! carry on.


“We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,” Really? That's the best IT they can offer?