Recently in Terrorism Category

Animal rights nutcases zig for great justice. Because it's OK to risk killing children to save laboratory animals..

I've written about this before. Not much to add, really...

Mother Jones published a list of songs that have been used to torture/interrogate detainees.

I bet former Rage Against the Machine band members unleashed a stream of unprintables when they heard they were on the list. Also, yet another example of people ignoring the real meaning of "Born in the USA".

And BARNEY? Sick.

So I could be in an FBI database.

FBI Hoped to Follow Falafel Trail to Iranian Terrorists Here By Jeff Stein, CQ National Security Editor

Like Hansel and Gretel hoping to follow their bread crumbs out of the forest, the FBI sifted through customer data collected by San Francisco-area grocery stores in 2005 and 2006, hoping that sales records of Middle Eastern food would lead to Iranian terrorists.

The idea was that a spike in, say, falafel sales, combined with other data, would lead to Iranian secret agents in the south San Francisco-San Jose area.

The brainchild of top FBI counterterrorism officials Phil Mudd and Willie T. Hulon, according to well-informed sources, the project didn’t last long. It was torpedoed by the head of the FBI’s criminal investigations division, Michael A. Mason, who argued that putting somebody on a terrorist list for what they ate was ridiculous — and possibly illegal.

What a fucking asshole.

SAN FRANCISCO -- As many as 14 people were injured this afternoon by a motorist who drove around San Francisco deliberately running them down before being arrested by police, who believe the same driver struck and killed a man earlier today in Fremont.

He drove ONTO THE SIDEWALK in his black SUV. He hit kids and old people. Wanker.

This columnist over at TPM Cafe says:

Editorial from today's NY Times: "The most frightening thing about the foiled plot to use liquid explosives to blow up airplanes over the Atlantic is that both the government and the aviation industry have been aware of the liquid bomb threat for years but have done little to prepare for it. What saved everyone was apparently superb intelligence work by the British, who apprehended the terrorists before they could carry out their scheme. It is unlikely that any of the scanning machines or screening personnel deployed at airports would have detected the potentially destructive materials before they could be carried aboard."

In other words, the Bush administration is not even meeting the bare requirements of fighting a war on terrorism: arming us to fight technologies they know are out there and which terrorists will use to kill us. It's just like it's ignoring the container ship issue. I wonder how many other of these technologies are out there which DHS knows about and does nothing to thwart.

This is a natural issue for the Dems to use in the fall. But I see no evidence they will. As other posters have written, the Dems have allowed the GOP to own the terrorism issue. Most of them (not all) shrink from criticizing the administration on this because they are scared. In their hearts, they think the Repubs are more credible on terrorism so they keep quiet.

That is why Bush never had to answer for being asleep at the switch on 9/11. And it's why the GOP, and not the Dems, are likely to benefit in November from exposure of the UK plot.

To put it simply. If Dems allow the GOP to use the terrorist issue against them, they do not deserve to control Congress or the White House.

And this is the NY Times editorial... which starts criticizing the Bush administration for falling asleep at the wheel on this one, but then inexplicably seems to applaud airlines for not letting people bring anything on the planes at all... ever again?

That makes us wonder if aviation authorities may have inadvertently hit on the wisest approach in their stopgap response to this latest plot. The Transportation Security Administration banned virtually all liquids and gels from carry-on luggage. That includes beverages, shampoos, toothpaste and other common items — everything but baby formula and medicines, and those have to be inspected.

Some passengers have complained about the inconvenience, and many more might complain if they were not allowed to keep their iPods, cellphones or laptops with them. But forcing passengers to check most of their items and bring very little aboard with them might be the surest and cheapest route to greater security.

Attention people: you do not want me on a plane without any water to drink or anything to read. You really, really, don't.

Guess I won't be flying for a while... but I knew that already, for other reasons!

That pregnant woman who was one of the people shot at the JCF in Seattle? Very impressive individual.

According to Brendan Kiley’s report from this afternoon’s press conference, the pregnant woman who was shot at the Jewish Federation in Belltown yesterday, Dayna Klein, 37, prevented the attack from being even worse—she not only saved her baby, but ended the shooting rampage.

Prepare yourself for this story, it’s stunning. It also alters the story that had emerged to date.

The Federation is reportedly a “highly secured” building with bullet proof glass, cameras, and a locked front door. Haq hid behind a large potted plant by the entrance. When a young teenager came to the entrance he emerged from hiding, put a gun to her head, and got her to let him in the building. Kerlikowske did not know how the teen got away, but once Haq was inside he started shooting. He was armed with two semiautomatic pistols, .40 and .45 caliber guns. He also had “substantial” extra ammunition. Kerlikowske said the guns were purchased legally from two guns shops in the Tri-Cities area, with the proper waiting period (roughly ten days). They were picked up on July 27, the day before the shooting.

Contrary to previous reports, Haq told his victims not to call 911. When Klein came into Haq’s sights, she put her arm over her abdomen to protect her baby and Haq fired at her, wounding her in the arm.

Klein then dragged herself into her office and called 911. Kerlikowske said there were approximately 18 people in the building, 17 of them female. Victims were jumping out of the second-story windows, running down the halls, and hiding in broom closets.

Haq, hunting down more victims, found Klein on the phone. He told her to get off the phone. She did not. She then coaxed Haq to get on the phone with the 911 officers.

Kerlikowske reports that during the 911 call Haq “was so enraged at first.” He told the 911 officers he wanted the U.S to leave Iraq, that his people were being mistreated, and that the US was arming Israel.

Kerlikowske added that Haq: “pointedly blamed Jewish people for all of these things.”

“I don’t care if I live,” Haq said to the officers. Kerlkowske said “it was clear he was losing the rampage that drove him to do what he did.”

The 911 officers convinced him to lay down his guns, put his hands on his head, and exit the building, where he was arrested without a fight.

'I am a Muslim American, angry at Israel' /
Six shot, one killed at Seattle Jewish Federation

On the eve of the Jewish Sabbath, a man claiming he was upset about "what was going on in Israel" opened fire at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle building, killing one person and wounding five women, one of them pregnant.