Letter to the Editor
The government of North Korea is making a ridiculous false assertion that the United States Secretary of Defense - Donald Rumsfield - is an illiterate dictatorial psychopath. This is just rhetoric and propaganda because all the world leaders know that Donald Rumsfield can read!!
Reference:
Yahoo Story
Letter to the Editor
It scares me when Bush's poll numbers drop below 50% because the only things the drive Bush's poll numbers up are terrorist events and war. Once the cloud of terrorism and was subsides the voters start to notice that the economy is collapsing, the deficit is soaring, education and health care systems failing, and the governments wants to spy on everything we do. So what scares me is with the presidential election heating up - Bush needs a war or terrorist event to distract America from his failed presidency. And I get nervous when Bush needs war.
----
Do I think Bush would start a war just to win an election? You bet I do!
What do I believe that? Well ....
The mainstream media is a puppet of the Bush administration.
Why is Bush trying to thrawt the 9-11 investigation?
You never hear anything about the anthrax attack anymore.
Bush is still searching for a reason for the Iraq war.
The mainstream media is a puppet of the Bush administration.
The government want to spy on everyone everywhere.
We're running an illegal concentration camp at Gotmo.
We know Bin Laden is in Pakastan - but we don't go after him there.
The mainstream media is a puppet of the Bush administration.
The government of Saudi Ariba funded the 9-11 terrorists - byt they are our "alies".
The war with Iraq was planned BEFORE 9-11.
A lot of Bush opponents are committing "suicide".
The mainstream media is a puppet of the Bush administration.
Interesting series of messages from a web site I came across. Apparently Al Gore got NEGATIVE 16022 votes in Precinct 216 of Seminole county Florida. Bush and the Supreme Court committed treason and the United States is occupied by a hostile force - the Bush Administration.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lana Hires [mailto:lhires@co.volusia.fl.us]
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2001 8:07 AM
To: jmglobal@earthlink.net; Glanca@ges.com
Cc: Deanie Lowe
Subject: 2000 November Election
Hi Nel, Sophie & Guy (you to John),
I need some answers! Our department is being audited by the County. I have
been waiting for someone to give me an explanation as to why Precinct 216
gave Al Gore a minus 16022 when it was uploaded. Will someone please
explain this so that I have the information to give the auditor instead of
standing here "looking dumb". I would appreciate an explanation on why the
memory cards start giving check sum messages. We had this happen in several
precincts and one of these precincts managed to get her memory card out of
election mode and then back in it, continued to read ballots, not realizing
that the 300+ ballots she had read earlier were no longer stored in her
memory card . Needless to say when we did our hand count this was
discovered.
Any explantations you all can give me will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks bunches,
Lana
* To: Support
* Subject: Memory card checksum errors (was: 2000 November Election)
* From: Guy Lancaster
* Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 11:41:08 -0800
* Organization: Global Election Systems Inc.
* References:
This is an overview on what memory card checksum errors are. Exactly what causes them is a separate question.
The memory card is very simply a programmable memory device with a battery backup. The Accu-Vote accesses this memory directly. If something goes wrong when the Accu-Vote is writing new data to the memory card or if the Accu-Vote crashes (as computers have been known to do) and writes to random memory locations, then the data on the memory card may be corrupted (nasty word I know but it fits). All this means is that the data is modified in an unintentional manner. This could also happen without an Accu-Vote through static discharge or some types of radiation (i.e. old airport scanners, cosmic rays???).
There are several mechanisms that we could use to detect this. We use the simplest of these which is to treat the data as a series of numbers and store totals of sets of those numbers as separate data known as checksums. If the data has been modified without updating the checksums, then the checksums will fail to add up.
The Accu-Vote keeps three different types of checksums for three different classes of data. These are text, counters, and precinct. The text checksums cover all the titles and names that are used mostly just for printing reports. Since the text data does not affect the other operations, we check it only occasionally and we allow most operations to continue after a warning.
The counters and precinct data are considered critical and the Accu-Vote is largely inoperable when these checksums fail. We do support the option to clear the counters if only they have been affected and then counting may be restarted. However there is no way to recover from corruption of the precinct data other than to clear and re-download the memory card.
All checksums are validated upon insertion of a memory card or at power on. Thus this is the most common time to detect problems. However the counter and precinct checksums are validated every time a new ballot is scanned. If an error is detected, counting is aborted.
Now to Lana's questions. The above should answer everything other than why erroneous data managed to upload. I see two possible explanations. One is that the data was corrupted after the checksums were validated. In this case the errors would show the next time the checksums were checked. The other possibility is the miniscule chance that the erroneous data managed to add up to the correct checksum. The checksums are stored as totals ranging from 0 to 65535 so the chance of this happening are less than 60,000 to 1 just based on that. Other factors add to this to make it extremely unlikely. However in this case the card would not later show checksum errors.
So John, can you satisfy Lana's request from this? I can't without more details.
Guy
* To:
* Subject: RE: Memory card checksum errors (was: 2000 November Election)
* From: "John McLaurin"
* Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 14:56:15 -0500
* Importance: Normal
* In-reply-to: <3A6746D4.6D7B0E4B@gesn.com>
Thanks Guy, - the pollworker did restart the unit and eventually put the unit back in election mode. It did not require redownloading the card. Am I missing something in your explanation to understand this?
John
* To: support@gesn.com
* Subject: Re: Memory card checksum errors (was: 2000 November Election)
* From: Guy Lancaster
* Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 12:23:47 -0800
* Organization: Global Election Systems Inc.
* References:
John McLaurin wrote:
You're probably missing the same details that I am. >From Lana's description she is referring to several checksum error events. One of them sounds like a simple counter error that could be cleared and restarted. I don't think this is the same event as the bad upload.
Guy
* To:
* Subject: RE: Memory card checksum errors (was: 2000 November Election)
* From: "Ian S. Piper"
* Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 14:35:01 -0600
* Importance: Normal
* In-reply-to:
Steve Ricke has been running tests on a specific unit from Seminole. He had a checksum error occur and had the same result of the card resetting to pre-election mode and being able to reset for election mode and continue. After that one error, he has since run thousands of ballots through without a repeat of the error. The original audit report for the Seminole corrupted memory card showed that it had experienced the same error when Mickey Martin and company were recounting ballots on November 9, 2000. Still testing.
Below is the sequence of events for this error. Hope it helps.
Ian
1. Ran test using memory card and accu-vote (Ser.# 71586) which had been corrupted in Seminole County, Florida.
2. Ran three 2000 ballot tests in election mode in McKinney.
3. Unit failed only once which was during the second 2000 ballot test (at about 1300 ballots),
4. Message on display "Corrupt count see official",
5. Pressed YES and NO buttons several seconds each with no change of message,
6. Turned unit OFF, then ON- resulted in "Please reinsert memory card" message,
7. Repeated turning unit OFF then ON with the same message result,
8. Reinserted card (Power ON) message displayed now "counter error ok to continue?",
9. if answered NO, returns to "Please reinsert memory card" message,
10. If answered YES, then message displayed is "Clear counters and recount?",
11. If answered YES, card is reset to pre-election mode and displays "Test ballots?",
12. We set card back into election mode. Ran another 2000 ballots without failure.
Will continue to try with other cards and accu-votes from other counties.
Steve Ricke
* To:
* Subject: RE: Memory card checksum errors (was: 2000 November Election)
* From: "Ian S. Piper"
* Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 14:55:06 -0600
* Importance: Normal
* In-reply-to:
I agree. Steve Ricke's sequence of events only relates to item 1 and how the memory card may have been reset. I thought it might shed some light on the subject.
Ian
* To:
* Subject: RE: Memory card checksum errors (was: 2000 November Election)
* From: "Ken Clark"
* Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 14:13:46 -0600
* Importance: Normal
* In-reply-to: <3A6746D4.6D7B0E4B@gesn.com>
From: owner-support@gesn.com [mailto:owner-support@gesn.com]On Behalf Of Guy Lancaster
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 1:41 PM
Now to Lana's questions. The above should answer everything other than why erroneous data managed to upload. I see two possible explanations. One is that the data was corrupted after the checksums were validated. In this case the errors would show the next time the checksums were checked. The other possibility is the [60k to 1] chance that the erroneous data managed to add up to the correct checksum.
My understanding is that the card was not corrupt after (or before) upload. They fixed the problem by clearing the precinct and re-uploading the same card. So neither of these explainations washes. That's not to say I have any idea what actually happened, its just not either of those.
So John, can you satisfy Lana's request from this? I can't without more details.
The problem is its going to be very hard to collect enough data to really know what happened. The card isn't corrupt so we can't post-mortem it (its not mort). Guy if you can get the exact counter numbers that were uploaded into the races (not just president) perhaps you could guess the nature of the corruption at least, but if I had to bet the numbers were just garbage and you won't be able to tell.
About the only constructive suggestion I have is to insert a line in the AV upload code to check that candvotes + undervotes = votefor*timescounted. If it happens, punt. That would have at least prevented the embarrassment of negative votes, which is really what this is all about. Then John can go to Lana and tell her it has never happened before and that it will never happen again.
Ken
* To:
* Subject: RE: Memory card checksum errors (was: 2000 November Election)
* From: "John McLaurin"
* Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 15:45:54 -0500
* Importance: Normal
* In-reply-to: <01d101c0818e$2218be80$3c03a8c0@obrien>
PS – this was not the same precinct causing both problems if my memory is correct – Sophie? Tab?
* To:
* Subject: Re: Memory card checksum errors (was: 2000 November Election)
* From: "Talbot Iredale"
* Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 13:31:04 -0800
* References:
John,
Here is all the information I have about the 'negative' counts.
1. Only the presidential totals were incorrect. All the other races the sum of the votes + under votes + blank votes = sum of ballots cast.
2. The problem precinct had two memcory cards uploaded. The second one is the one I believe caused the problem. They were uploaded on the same port approx. 1 hour apart. As far as I know there should only have been one memory card uploaded. I asked you to check this out when the problem first occured but have not heard back as to whether this is true.
3. When the precinct was cleared and re-uploaded (only one memory card as far as I know) everything was fine.
4. Given that we transfer data in ascii form not binary and given the way the data was 'invalid' the error could not have occured during transmission. Therefore the error could only occur in one of four ways:
1. Corrupt memory card. This is the most likely explaination for the problem but since I know nothing about the 'second' memory card I have no ability to confirm the probability of this.
2. Invalid read from good memory card. This is unlikely since the candidates results for the race are not all read at the same time and the corruption was limited to a single race. There is a possiblilty that a section of the memory card was bad but since I do not know anything more about the 'second' memory card I cannot validate this.
3. Corruption of memory, whether on the host or Accu-Vote. Again this is unlikely due to the localization of the problem to a single race.
4. Invalid memory card (i.e. one that should not have been uploaded). There is always the possiblity that the 'second memory card' or 'second upload' came from an un-authorised source.
If this problem is to be properly answered we need to determine where the 'second' memory card is or whether it even exists. I do know that there were two uploads from two different memory cards (copy 0 (master) and copy 3).
Tab
* To:
* Subject: RE: Memory card checksum errors (was: 2000 November Election)
* From: "John McLaurin"
* Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 16:56:06 -0500
* Importance: Normal
* In-reply-to: <011801c08195$f6781930$1404a8c0@gesn.com>
Tab,
I will be visiting with Lana on Monday and will ascertain the particulars related to the second memory card. One concern I’ve had all along is “if” we are getting the full story from Lana.
I’ll be back in touch and thanks for all of y’alls (that’s southern for all of you) help.
John
* To:
* Subject: RE: Memory card checksum errors Seminole Cty.
* From: "John McLaurin"
* Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 18:08:28 -0500
* Importance: Normal
* In-reply-to:
John Haranzo of Seminole reports that the unit Ian has in hand had two memory card failures during the recount of one precinct. (Mickey Martin was operating the unit which may explain everything) The third downloaded card was successful at completing the count at which point they shelved the unit. Because this seems site specific to the ration of card failures 7 in 130 precincts and in general we had few across Florida and Georgia. Could the AV download unit cabled to the Host be problematic and if so should that be sent to McKinney for testing.
John
* To:
* Subject: RE: Memory card checksum errors Seminole Cty.
* From: "Ian S. Piper"
* Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 17:14:31 -0600
* Importance: Normal
* In-reply-to:
I believe that Steve Ricke has already made that request to John Haranzo.
Ian
* To:
* Subject: Re: Memory card checksum errors Seminole Cty.
* From: "Steve Knecht"
* Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 17:41:08 -0800
* References:
The Marin unit cabled to their main computer was the culprit of a majority of their failures as well. I just assumed the AV unit was bad and we sent it back to McKinney. Could it have something to do with a signal coming in from the DigiBoard or some voltage associated with a signal??
* To:
* Subject: RE: Memory card checksum errors Seminole Cty.
* From: "John McLaurin"
* Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 09:36:23 -0500
* Importance: Normal
* In-reply-to: <003601c081b8$e66c59c0$72d8fc9e@default>
In Marin, did it sporadically corrupt cards?
* To:
* Subject: Re: Memory card checksum errors Seminole Cty.
* From: "Steve Knecht"
* Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 07:08:04 -0800
* References:
Yes. During the primary in March, there were times on uploads where they would recount a precinct using a feeder in one room on a memory card, bring it to the computer room for upload - and it would corrupt when they brought it in (about 7 precincts I believe) and inserted it into the machine connected to the computer - on one precinct 3 times.
* To: support@gesn.com
* Subject: Re: Memory card checksum errors Seminole Cty.
* From: Guy Lancaster
* Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 10:54:05 -0800
* Organization: Global Election Systems Inc.
* References:
Steve Knecht wrote:
> The Marin unit cabled to their main computer was the culprit of a majority of their failures as well. I just assumed the AV unit was bad and we sent it back to McKinney. Could it have something to do with a signal coming in from the DigiBoard or some voltage associated with a signal??
>
No, it would take a lightning strike or similar coming across the serial cable from the DigiBoard to corrupt the memory card. ;-)
However there are things that can go wrong inside an Accu-Vote that can cause it to corrupt memory cards and/or crash (ISR, lockup*, random jump to a different prompt, etc). Thus I recommend a procedure of recording such events and if any single machine experiences 2 or more occurances over the course of an election, it's grounds for requiring service. Don't worry about a single occurance on a machine unless there is other evidence to suggest problems with that machine.
* Note that there are 2 different types of lockup. The most common seems to be that the older scanner units would lockup during operation but the AV itself is working fine. Recent firmware (since 1.94p/1.94f<) will display an error message if you hold the NO button for more than 3 seconds while the AV is waiting for another ballot in a count mode. If this works, the AV is working and it's the scanner unit itself that has locked up. I don't believe that scanner lockups can affect the memory card. Ian, when do scanner lockups indicate a need for service?
Guy
* To:
* Subject: RE: Memory card checksum errors (was: 2000 November Election)
* From: "Ken Clark"
* Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 16:42:50 -0600
* Importance: Normal
* In-reply-to: <011801c08195$f6781930$1404a8c0@gesn.com>
From: owner-support@gesn.com [mailto:owner-support@gesn.com]On Behalf Of Talbot Iredale
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 3:31 PM
Given that we transfer data in ascii form not binary and given the way the data was 'invalid' the error could not have occured during transmission. Therefore the error could only occur in one of four ways:
(2) Invalid read from good memory card. This is unlikely since the candidates results for the race are not all read at the same time and the corruption was limited to a single race. There is a possiblilty that a section of the memory card was bad but since I do not know anything more about the 'second' memory card I cannot validate this.
Not necessarily. We grab a pointer to the head of the candidate counters for a race and then keep that pointer as the base for the current race. If that base was bogus (pointing at code say) because of some hardware glitch, then we would just happily walk the race looking at garbage. Next race the pointer base is changed and everything is okay. Now, this is still all "unlikely", but then again this has never happened before.
(4) Invalid memory card (i.e. one that should not have been uploaded). There is always the possiblity that the 'second memory card' or 'second upload' came from an un-authorised source.
If this problem is to be properly answered we need to determine where the 'second' memory card is or whether it even exists.
Heh. Second shooter theory. All we need now is a grassy knoll.
Ken
SCO's war against Linux and the public domain is being funded by Microsoft who is using these bogus lawsuits to undermine an operating system that they can't compete with. Lets look at some facts I gleaned off of an Article from Linux Universe
From SCO's quarterly 10-Q report:
Microsoft isn't giving SCO money to develop their highly outdated Unix software. This is abll about supporting lawsuits and attempting to steal the work of those who have given their software freely to the common good. The bottom line is - Microsoft is subsidizing this lawsuit. It seems to me that those who are suing SCO or being sued by SCO could bring Micorsoft into the suit as a party.
Also - in the debate over "which operating system is better" I think it's fair to say that Microsoft - by cheating - has admitted through their conduct that they can not beat Linux on the merits. Microsoft knows that in the long run - Linux will prevail.
The long term problem with Windows is that it is processor and archetrure bound. So is Apple's OS-X for that matter. Linux runs on anything. If they cane out with a new processor tomorrow someone would have a Linux kernel for it within a week. Linux runs on the big iron machines like IBM mainframes and with the new 2.6 kernel about to be released Linux leaps way past Windows on scalability. So - Microsoft has reason to be afraid.
Linux on the other hand is hardly user friendly. Getting applications to work is not trivial as it is for Windows. Security in Linux is almost laughable as compared to Windows or Netware from the perspective of fine grain access control - but - access control lists are finally making their way into the Linux model. So Windows isn't going to go away any ime soon.
This is a link on how to modify an X-10 wall switch to give you dimming control from the button. Why they don't build it this way is a mystery.
Amanpour: CNN practiced self-censorship
CNN's top war correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, says that the press muzzled itself during the Iraq war. And, she says CNN "was intimidated" by the Bush administration and Fox News, which "put a climate of fear and self-censorship."
As criticism of the war and its aftermath intensifies, Amanpour joins a chorus of journalists and pundits who charge that the media largely toed the Bush administrationline in covering the war and, by doing so, failed to aggressively question the motives behind the invasion.
On last week's Topic A With Tina Brown on CNBC, Brown, the former Talk magazine editor, asked comedian Al Franken, former Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke and Amanpour if "we in the media, as much as in the administration, drank the Kool-Aid when it came to the war."
Said Amanpour: "I think the press was muzzled, and I think the press self-muzzled. I'm sorry to say, but certainly television and, perhaps, to a certain extent, my station was intimidated by the administration and its foot soldiers at Fox News. And it did, in fact, put a climate of fear and self-censorship, in my view, in terms of the kind of broadcast work we did."
Brown then asked Amanpour if there was any story during the war that she couldn't report.
"It's not a question of couldn't do it, it's a question of tone," Amanpour said. "It's a question of being rigorous. It's really a question of really asking the questions. All of the entire body politic in my view, whether it's the administration, the intelligence, the journalists, whoever, did not ask enough questions, for instance, about weapons of mass destruction. I mean, it looks like this was disinformation at the highest levels."
Clarke called the disinformation charge "categorically untrue" and added, "In my experience, a little over two years at the Pentagon, I never saw them (the media) holding back. I saw them reporting the good, the bad and the in between."
Fox News spokeswoman Irena Briganti said of Amanpour's comments: "Given the choice, it's better to be viewed as a foot soldier for Bush than a spokeswoman for al-Qaeda."
CNN had no comment.
by Peter Johnson
© Copyright 2003 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
NOTE: The entire article here is posted in spite of what some people claim as their interpretation of copyright law. I am posting it for historical documentation reasons. Often these articles are taken down or changed after they are written. By archiving it in this way I preserve the historical record that this was actually said without the author being able to later change the fact that it was said, I mean no copyright infringement or plagery - but I assert a right to archive news released on the internet for the purpose of historical preservation. I further assert that this article is presented as NEWS and that the very definition of NEWS is that you're supposed to tell people what you found out. News is an announcement and I am announcing it.
Letter to the Editor
Bush claims he is "open for suggestions" as to what to do about Iraq. Ok - I have a suggestion. Why don't we get out of Iraq and go after Bin Laden in Pakastan and go after the Saudi's who are backing him. But Bush isn't going to do that because he made a deal not to go after Bin Laden. Seems to me that if you are going to fight terror you should go after the real enemy rather than trying to pass laws taking away rights from Americans. That's my suggestion.
Reference: Times of India
New Sacred Principle of the Church of Reality
The Principle of Bullshit recognizes that things that aren't true just aren't true. It doesn't matter how many people believe it - it doesn't matter that people have believed it for thousands of years - it doesn't matter if you want to believe it - bullshit is bullshit - and if it isn't true - it isn't true.
The Principle of Bullshit is all about refusing to live the lie. To be able to call something the way it really is. To be able to face the reality of being wrong so as to create a starting point to make a better choice. That you can truly pursue reality if you continue to believe in things that aren't real. You may have made a mistake - or millions of people might have made the same mistake for thousands of years. But when you know it's all bullshit then you have to call it - accept it - and move forward, If you're a realist then by definition you are supposed to give up what's not real - or at least admit your denial if you aren't ready to face reality.
The Tree of Knowledge is built on what is real and what is true. Bullshit that is passed off as reality pollutes the Tree of Knowledge and creates a weakness in knowledge itself. It inhibits growth and holds back our development. It keeps us from developing in a positive direction. Part of the dharma of the Church of Reality is the purification of knowledge. To expunge the bullshit and replace it with what's real. The Principle of Bullshit asserts a duty to resist the powers of bullshit and move towards reality the way it really is. It requires courage and strength of character to go against the herd mind and refuse to live the lie.
Letter to the Editor
It's amazing what the public will believe. Bush wants 87 billion dollars more to fight "terrorism" in Iraq but Bin Laden remains free in Pakistan and no one is going after Saudi Araiba who funded the 9-11 terrorists. Bush is ignoring the real enemies who were behind the WTC plane crashes and going after a false enemy who had nothing to do with it. Still having found no weapons of mass destruction it raises the question - what the hell are we doing in Iraq anyhow? Before we continue the attack - maybe we should try to identify who the enemy is.
Reference: Times of India
Letter to the Editor
Now that the Bush administration is groveling before the United Nations begging them to take over in Iraq for his messed up war, (Still no weapons of mass distruction - Still no Saddam Hussein) makes we wonder if we are going to rename "Freedom Fries" back to "French Fries". As it turns out - they were right and we were wrong. Maybe Bush's rich friends should give back that upper class tax break to pay for this war.
------
It's going to be interesting to watch Bush crawl back on his hands and knees begging the UN to forgive him. This is the price America will have to pay for allowing the Supreme Court to appoint a president other than the one elected by the people. Bush is a miserable failure.
Letter to the Editor
There really is no moral difference between abortion doctor killer Paul Hill who was just executed in Florida for the murder of a doctor and his bodyguard and the terrorists who crashed the planes into the world trade center. Both were religious terrorists using God as an excuse for mass murder and thinking of themselves as martyr to encourage others to murder for God. Whether Christian or Muslim - murder is murder - there's no difference.
Is God so impotent that he needs people like Paul Hill to murder doctors in his behalf? Is Jesus really that lame? Paul Hill is certianly not someone I want to be in Heaven with. Sure not going to win any souls here! What's scary is that there are a lot of Christian in America who actually believe in killing for Jesus. But as far as I'm concerned it's Christians like Paul Hill that make me thank God I'm an atheist.
------
So - where is Paul Hill now? Is he in Heaven or Hell? Neither. Paul Hill has ceased to exist. The problem with the concept of Heaven and Hell is - who goes where. The hijackers who killed 3000 people think that they would go to Heaven and be rewarded with 70 virgins. Do you think they are up there with 70 virgins? Not hardly! But - Paul Hill? Not hardly either.
The problem with those who believe this is "God's Work" is - why doesn't God do it himself? To believe in Hill is to believe that God is so lame that he can't kill people himself so God needs assassins who will do the killing for him. It is to say that God is an impotent psycopathic murderer who would like to kill himself but gets Christians to kill for him. Is this the kind of diety that I want to worship? Yeah right!
If this were actually true then God is the problem - not the solution. But - this will provide a moral masturbation experience for a lot of holier than thou bible thumpers who will get a self rightous rush out of thinking they are God's warriers in the battle against Satan.
Letter to the Editor
It would appear that the Bush Administration is positioning itself for an invasion of Venezuela next in it's phony war on terrorism. According to United Press International - a press organization controlled by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon (Moonies) - the FBI is accusing the oil rich nation of Venezuela of harboring al-Qaida terrorists. In the summer of 2000 Bush made an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the elected president and install one of his oil cronies in his place.
It interesting to note that although Bush talk tough on terrorism, that he is not going after Bin Laden. Only 2 months after 9-11 Bush struck a deal with Pakistan to let Bin Laden go free and get away with murdering 3000 Americans. We have already invaded Afghanistan and Iraq in a fake war on terror and now we are going to start a third fake war. I am ashamed to call myself an American.
References:
Bush Deal to let Bin Laden go Free
United Press International like the Washington Times is owned and controlled by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon who is the spiritual leader of the Moonie Cult.
---------
Analysis: Venezuela's Islamic links
By Martin Arostegui
Published 9/1/2003 4:11 PM
CARACAS, Venezuela, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Intelligence agencies are investigating links between Islamic terrorist networks and the Venezuelan government. While U.S. counter terrorist efforts in Latin America have until now tended to concentrate on the "tri border area" of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, it's believed that al-Qaida suicide bombers could also be hiding in Venezuela.
Investigators name two Venezuelan based al-Qaida suspects: Hakim Mamad Al Diab Fatah who was deported from the U.S. on suspicion of involvement with the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and Rahaman Hazil Mohammed Alan who is jailed in the U.K. for smuggling an explosive device onto a British Airways flight. American and British officials complain that their investigations are stymied because the government of President Hugo Chavez has dismantled U.S.-trained intelligence units which tracked terrorist connections among the half-million strong Venezuelan Arab community.
Chavez has instead brought in Cuban and Libyan advisors to run his security services according to American, British and other European diplomatic officials in Caracas.
Although the U.S. State department does not yet consider Venezuela as a state sponsor of terrorism, FBI officials express concern over "a lack of cooperation on the part of Venezuelan authorities." Despite repeated requests, U.S. law enforcement agencies have received no satisfactory explanation on the whereabouts of Diab Fatah, Venezuelan ID 16104824, who is associated with Hani Hanjour, the hijacker of American Airlines flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon.
Fatah attended the same New Jersey flight school as the suicide team and talked about blowing up airliners. He was arrested in the U.S. shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks but was deported when official inquiries through the Venezuelan government turned up nothing on him other than psychiatric records.
The U.S. legal attaché in Caracas at the time, Hector Rodriguez, informed the Venezuelan Interior Ministry of Fatah's flight number and 8 March 2002 arrival time to request that he be detained for questioning. But to the amazement of American authorities, the Venezuelan government says that there is no record of Fatah ever re-entering the country.
Venezuelan National Guard General Marcos Ferreira, who headed the interior ministry's border control department and forwarded the FBI request to Deputy Interior Minister Luis A. Camacho on 5 March 2002, believes that Venezuela's security service or Directorate for Intelligence Security and Prevention is protecting Fatah.
"DISIP fetched him directly from the plane and took him to a safe house," Ferreira tells UPI.
There is no independent confirmation of this account and the Chavez government discredits Ferreira by claiming that the general was involved in a May 2002 coup plot against the government. But the Fatah mystery appears to fall into a developing pattern of Venezuelan state involvement with terrorism.
British law enforcement officials are similarly perplexed about a fragmentation grenade which got smuggled on board a British Airways flight in the luggage of another Venezuelan Arab as the plane stopped off in Caracas last February 13 on it way to London. Mohammed Alan who boarded the plane with Venezuelan passport BO974970 was arrested upon arrival at London's Gatwick airport when X ray machines detected the device in one of his bags.
Britain's main airports had been on a high security alert all that week following tip offs that a major terrorist attack was being planned.
"The Venezuelans can't explain how the grenade got past security screening but the fact of the matter is that it got on the plane," says a British diplomatic official in Caracas. Chavez has since turned down an offer by the British ambassador to provide counter terrorist experts to assist Venezuela's security services.
According to intelligence sources, the smuggled hand grenade's serial number corresponds to weapons stocks of the Caracas based 3rd army Division and could have been the detonating system for a larger bomb. An unconfirmed report says that a thin sheet of plastic explosive was embedded within the box containing the grenade which Mohammed took on board the aircraft.
An account of the incident published in the Venezuelan magazine Tal Cual maintains that the alleged kamikaze carried the device in a backpack which he brought on board as hand luggage. An air disaster was only averted because the flight crew transferred the bag to the plane's luggage hold when it proved too bulky to fit into the passenger section's overhead compartments.
"He could no longer detonate the bomb in midair as may have been the original plan," says a source quoted in the magazine.
Britain's Scotland Yard cannot officially comment on the case until Mohammed Alan's trial opens. There is still no scheduled date. But members of a detective team sent to Caracas are reported to be "less than satisfied" with information which Venezuela's interior ministry has provided on the terrorist suspect.
Venezuelan police officials speaking on condition of anonymity say that Mohammed's identity is manufactured and that members of his supposed family have connections with Chavez government circles. They could also be connected with a Hizbollah money laundering operation centred around the Banco Confederado on the resort island of Margarita which channels money into the establishments of several Arabs in Venezuela with known radical ties,
A U.S. trained Venezuelan intelligence officer who formed part of the disbanded counter terrorist unit, Section 11, tells UPI that Chavez has been withholding key intelligence from U.S. authorities about the head of Hizbollah's financial operation, Mohammed Al Din, a contributor to Chavez's presidential campaign.
The source says that his unit was eliminated while it was investigating suspicious cash transfers between the Banco Confederado and Lebanon during 2001. A Section 11 undercover agent was killed in Margarita where Diab Fatah has been recently spotted according to Intelligence officers. The island is considered a stronghold of Chavez's state sponsored militias, the Circulos Bolivarianos.
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