article CHINESE PRESIDENT Hu Jintao announced on State television Monday that it was time to clean up the interweb.
Seems that the web is not only cause of youthful addiction to games, but also can cause people to think in non-socialist and non-communist ways. Clearly bad all around. According to Reuters, President Hu said, "Internet cultural units must conscientiously take on the responsibility of encouraging development of a system of core socialist values."
And of course another matter of great concern is that Chinese children are becoming fat. This increasing trend toward childhood obesity is largely blamed on technology such as television and the interweb. Just like in the West, the leadership here certainly would not dream of holding parents accountable for raising their children.
Forbes estimates there are now more interweb users in China than the US, and it is fairly plain to see what can happen when so many people have uncontrolled access to the net. Just take a look at the US, where they had relatively free access to the interweb for many years. Fat children everywhere, and a government gone mad.
This whole idea of free exchange of information throughout the world needs to be stopped. It could lead to shared understanding and lasting peace in the world. Great Scott! What next, an end to global warming?
We need this new Chinese voice of law and order to help keep people in their places. So who you gonna call? Hu, that's who.
POLITICO MANCHESTER, N.H. —- Rudy Giuliani said if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, America will be at risk for another terrorist attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001.
But if a Republican is elected, he said, especially if it is him, terrorist attacks can be anticipated and stopped.
“If any Republican is elected president —- and I think obviously I would be the best at this —- we will remain on offense and will anticipate what [the terrorists] will do and try to stop them before they do it,” Giuliani said.
The former New York City mayor, currently leading in all national polls for the Republican nomination for president, said Tuesday night that America would ultimately defeat terrorism no matter which party gains the White House.
“But the question is how long will it take and how many casualties will we have?” Giuliani said. “If we are on defense [with a Democratic president], we will have more losses and it will go on longer.”
“I listen a little to the Democrats and if one of them gets elected, we are going on defense,” Giuliani continued. “We will wave the white flag on Iraq. We will cut back on the Patriot Act, electronic surveillance, interrogation and we will be back to our pre-Sept. 11 attitude of defense.”
He added: “The Democrats do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorist war against us.”
After his speech to the Rockingham County Lincoln Day Dinner, I asked him about his statements and Giuliani said flatly: “America will safer with a Republican president.”
Giuliani, whose past positions on abortion, gun control and gay rights have made him anathema to some in his party, believes his tough stance on national defense and his post-Sept. 11 reputation as a fighter of terrorism will be his trump card with doubting Republicans.
“This war ends when they stop coming here to kill us!” Giuliani said in his speech. “Never, ever again will this country ever be on defense waiting for [terrorists] to attack us if I have anything to say about it. And make no mistake, the Democrats want to put us back on defense!”
Giuliani said terrorists “hate us and not because of anything bad we have done; it has nothing to do with Israel and Palestine. They hate us for the freedoms we have and the freedoms we want to share with the world.”
Giuliani continued: “The freedoms we have are in conflict with the perverted, maniacal interpretation of their religion.” He said Americans would fight for “freedom for women, the freedom of elections, freedom of religion and the freedom of our economy.”
Addressing the terrorists directly, Giuliani said: “We are not giving that up, and you are not going to take it from us!”
The crowd thundered its approval.
Giuliani also said that America had been naive about terrorism in the past and had missed obvious signals.
“They were at war with us before we realized it, going back to ’90s with all the Americans killed by the PLO and Hezbollah and Hamas,” he said. “They came here and killed us in 1993 [with the first attack on New York’s World Trade Center, in which six people died], and we didn’t get it. We didn’t get it that this was a war. Then Sept. 11, 2001, happened, and we got it.”
AP JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday authorized the army to carry out limited operations against militants in the Gaza Strip, but ruled out a large-scale ground offensive in response to a new round of Hamas rocket attacks, Israeli officials said.
The decision was made at an emergency meeting that Olmert held with senior security officials following the fresh rocket fire. The violence has threatened to unravel a five-month cease-fire.
Two meeting participants said Olmert agreed to allow the army to carry out "pinpoint" operations to halt the rocket fire, but decided against a widespread offensive, essentially continuing current Israeli policy in Gaza. There have been growing calls in military circles for tougher action in Gaza.
The participants spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.
On Tuesday, the Islamic militant group said its members fired 41 rockets and 54 mortar shells in response to Israeli raids.
The Israeli military said it could confirm the launching of only six rockets and eight shells. Just two rockets reached Israel, causing no casualties or injuries, the army said.
The head of an Egyptian security delegation in Gaza, Maj. Gen. Burhan Hamad, called a meeting of all Palestinian factions Wednesday morning, urging them to maintain the calm "to avert any possible Israeli invasion of Gaza."
He condemned the rocket barrages, as well as the Israeli raids earlier in the week that killed nine Palestinians, most of them militants. Egypt frequently acts as a mediator between Israel and Palestinian militants.
Hamas is a partner in the Palestinian coalition government, whose platform calls for a long-term truce with Israel.
Israeli media, citing military officials, said the rocket bombardment apparently had been intended to create a diversion in order to capture an Israeli soldier near the Gaza border. The military refused to comment on the reports.
Hamas-linked militants have been holding a 20-year-old Israeli corporal, Gilad Shalit, captive since capturing him in a cross-border raid last June.
Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced the Gaza truce in late November, declaring an end to Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli attacks, including airstrikes at Gaza militants and invasions of towns in northern Gaza.
Israel has stopped most of military activity but kept Gaza in a stranglehold by frequently closing its vital border crossings, citing security threats. While Hamas rocket squads stayed on the sidelines, other groups, like Islamic Jihad, have kept up fire of homemade rockets almost daily at Israeli towns and villages just outside Gaza.
Tuesday's rocket barrage, coinciding with Israeli Independence Day, was the first sign Hamas was backing away from the truce.
"The cease-fire has been over for a long time, and Israel is responsible for that," Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida, told the Voice of Palestine radio station.
On a visit to Rome, Abbas called on Israel to "exercise the necessary self-control" and said the "truce violation is an exceptional act which will not last."
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas appeared to defend the attack.
"We made great efforts at keeping the truce and there was a positive Palestinian position, but unfortunately this position was met by expanding (Israeli) aggression and escalating it against the Palestinian people," he said.
Haniyeh's spokesman, Ghazi Hamad, also blamed Israel, but said the Palestinian government "affirms the importance of maintaining the truce and protecting it."
Peretz told Israel Radio late Tuesday that the Hamas claim of responsibility for the rockets attack was "a very serious matter, and we will have to deal with it."
Also Wednesday, the army ended a general closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The closure, put in place on Sunday for Israeli Memorial Day and Independence Day, had barred virtually all Palestinians from entering Israel. Thousands of Palestinians enter Israel each day for work, medical care and family visits.
guardian A human rights group today attacked a US decision to file murder charges against a Canadian national and alleged Taliban fighter who was captured in Afghanistan when he was 15.
Omar Khadr was wounded by US soldiers during a battle near Khost, Afghanistan, and taken into US custody in July 2002. He has spent most of the past five years in the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay.
During his capture he was shot three times and is nearly blind in one eye as a result of his injuries. The US military says Mr Khadr threw a grenade that killed a US Green Beret sergeant, Christopher Speer, and wounded another sergeant, Layne Morris.
Mr Khadr's Pentagon-appointed lawyer, Marine lieutenant colonel Colby Vokey, said the US would become the first country in modern history to try a war crimes suspect who was a child at the time of the alleged violations if a trial went ahead.
Mr Khadr has been charged with murder, attempted murder, providing support to terrorism, conspiracy and spying under rules for military trials adopted last year. The conspiracy charge is based on acts allegedly committed before Mr Khadr was 10, according to his defence team.
Amnesty International strongly criticised the decision to subject Mr Khadr to a military tribunal.
"To have held a 15-year-old boy in the harsh and lawless conditions of Guantánamo for five years has already been a travesty of justice - and to put him before an unfair 'military commission' trial simply adds to a disgraceful record in his case," said the Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen.
Ms Allen said the US authorities should transfer his case to a civilian federal court on the US mainland.
Toronto-born Mr Khadr faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
The Pentagon said Mr Khadr must be held accountable.
"The defence department will continue to uphold the law and bring unlawful enemy combatants to justice through the military commissions process," it said.
Mr Speer's widow and Mr Morris filed a civil lawsuit against Mr Khadr and his father. In February, a judge awarded them $102.6m (£51m).
Dennis Edney, a Canadian lawyer for Mr Khadr's family, said the new tribunal system, which allows coerced and hearsay evidence, "provides Mr Khadr with almost no chance of proving his innocence.
"The aim is to provide a showcase to justify the US administration decision to arrest Mr. Khadr and other men like him in the first place," Mr Edney told the Associated Press.
Mr Khadr's attorneys urged Canada and the US to negotiate a "political resolution" of the case to spare Mr Khadr a guaranteed conviction by "one of the greatest show trials on earth".
Several of Mr Khadr's family members have been accused of ties to Islamist extremists. His Egyptian-born father, Ahmad Said al-Khadr, was killed in Pakistan in 2003 alongside senior al-Qaida operatives and Canada is holding Mr Khadr's brother Abdullah on a US extradition warrant accusing him of supplying weapons to al-Qaida.
Mr Khadr will be the second prisoner to face terror charges under new military tribunals after the US supreme court in June struck down the previous military tribunal system at Guantánamo as unconstitutional. Congress then passed a law establishing a new system, which is also being challenged.
In March, the military tribunal at Guantánamo sentenced an Australian, David Hicks, to nine months in prison after he pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism - the first conviction at a US war crimes trial since the second world war.
Under an agreement with the court, he will serve his sentence in an Australian prison, but must remain silent about any alleged abuse while in US custody. Prosecutors say they plan to charge as many as 80 of the 370 men held at Guantánamo on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.
"We are increasingly concerned that with 80% of Guantánamo detainees now held in solitary confinement, there is mounting evidence that some are dangerously close to full-blown mental and physical breakdown," Amnesty said.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow Jones industrial average charged through 13,000 on Wednesday, powered by higher-than-expected earnings reports and data that calmed worries about the economy.
Dow component Alcoa Inc., the world's largest aluminum company, gave the blue-chip average an added bounce after saying it will explore strategic alternatives for several of its units, sending Alcoa's shares up 5.1 percent to $35.74.
Orders for durable goods -- costly and long-lasting manufactured items -- rose more than expected in March, according to the Commerce Department. The data helped to calm concerns about the U.S. economy that had cast a pall over the surprisingly strong earnings season.
"The earnings recession has been delayed -- again -- as earnings are now looking to post gains in the double digits for the quarter," said Tom Sowanick, chief investment officer at Clearbrook Financial LLC in Princeton, New Jersey.
"The Dow at 13,000 has no fundamental meaning but does have psychological value as a hurdle. Once we go through the hurdle, the natural thing is to think of 14,000."
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 49.57 points, or 0.38 percent, at 13,003.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 6.43 points, or 0.43 percent, at 1,486.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 6.58 points, or 0.26 percent, at 2,531.12.
Specialty glass maker Corning Inc. and beverage and snack company PepsiCo Inc. were among the companies reporting profits that topped Wall Street estimates.
The Nasdaq composite was lifted by Amazon.com Inc. after the online retailer said late on Tuesday quarterly profit more than doubled. Amazon shares shot up 20 percent to $53.65.
Aerospace manufacturer Boeing Co. posted higher-than-forecast earnings. The stock rose only slightly, its gains capped by a lackluster revenue outlook.
bbc Police in southern Greece are hunting the killers of two elderly nuns found suffocated in their hillside convent.
The motive appears to be robbery - the killers are believed to have taken a crucifix containing wood reputedly from the cross on which Jesus Christ died.
The two murdered nuns were 83 and 61 years old.
They were the sole occupants of the monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin near Astros, about 130km (80 miles) south-west of Athens.
A nephew of the younger victim said the mother superior had had a premonition that thieves would come to the hillside sanctuary, kill them and take everything.
Police say the two women were suffocated with pillows.
An inventory is being checked to determine exactly what was stolen.
This region of the Peloponnese is full of historic monasteries and convents, most of which contain valuable icons and gold artefacts.
Until now, their protection has been the faith and reverence for the Church of local people.
The double murder follows last year's widely publicised theft from a convent of a precious icon of the Virgin Mary said to possess miraculous powers.
The crimes are being portrayed as the end of an age of innocence, and theologians are calling on the Church to access European Union funds to beef up security.
media news WASHINGTON - The brother of Pat Tillman, the soldier who saw Tillman die and the naval officer who eulogized him told Congress in emotional testimony Tuesday that the military misled the nation and betrayed Tillman's family with false stories about how the former NFL star and San Jose native died.
Kevin Tillman, who served with his brother in an Army Ranger platoon, went further. With his mother, Mary Tillman, at his side and military brass sitting behind him, he accused leaders of "exploiting Pat's death" with "deliberate, calculated lies" that suppressed how other Rangers accidentally killed Tillman in a 2004 "friendly fire" incident in Afghanistan.
"This wasn't a misstep or error in judgment," said Kevin Tillman, who was speaking in public for the first time about his brother's death and how news about it was handled by the military. The Army and others, he said, "attempted to hijack his virtue and his legacy."
The purpose of the embellished story, he charged, was to deflect Americans' attention from some unsavory aspects of the war in Iraq, and that it worked - for a while.
The hearing was the first congressional inquiry into problems of notifying families in a timely and truthful manner about their loved ones' deaths on the battlefield, and the perils of distorting events in wartime to cast them in more positive light.
Chairman Henry Waxman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said his panel was looking into other "friendly fire" incidents and how the military handled information and informed families. Mary Tillman agreed the scope of the inquiry should go beyond her noteworthy son: "This really isn't about our family or about Pat. It's about what they did to the nation. They're diminishing true heroism. War is ugly, bloody and painful, and to write these glorious tales is a disservice."
Waxman and his panel also heard from Jessica Lynch, the 19-year-old Army supply clerk captured during the first month of the Iraq war and then rescued by U.S. forces. Lynch testified Tuesday that Pentagon accounts depicting her as a "G.I. Jane" emptying her rifle at Iraqi soldiers before her capture were a public-relations fabrication.
Lynch said she has been battling "misinformation and hype" since she returned from Iraq, badly injured, to discover a media depiction of her as "the little girl Rambo from the hills of West Virginia who went down fighting. It was not true."
The Defense Department's inspector general, Thomas Gimble, defended his investigation into the handling of Tillman's death. He noted that his March report found fault with nine officers - including four generals - and that they face possible punishment.
Tillman's case "was not well handled, but I don't see a cover-up," Gimble said.
Waxman, a Los Angeles Democrat, disagreed. "Even now, there seems to be a cover-up to prevent us from knowing what happened."
Waxman said his committee was just beginning to investigate how the Defense Department handled five different Tillman investigations since 2004, and a committee spokesman said additional hearings are likely.
The committee, known for its extensive investigations, heard from two key witnesses who played important roles in the case: Spc. Bryan O'Neal, who was just yards from Tillman when he was killed, and Senior Chief Stephen White, a Tillman friend who gave a eulogy at the May 2004 memorial service in San Jose.
O'Neal recalled how he and Tillman frantically waved and shouted as other members of the platoon fired on them. He recalled seeing blood everywhere, and seeing Tillman "slumped back on the ground, covered in blood. He was shot in the head. There wasn't much left of him."
Hours later, O'Neal said he was "appalled" when Lt. Col. Jeff Bailey gave him an unusual order: Don't tell Kevin Tillman, who was serving nearby, that his brother was killed by friendly fire.
"He basically said, `Don't let Kevin know, that he's probably in a bad place knowing his brother is dead.' And he made it known I would get in trouble, sir, if I spoke with Kevin on it being fratricide," O'Neal said.
Days later, O'Neal sent a brief report on the shooting for a narrative that led to a Silver Star being awarded posthumously to Tillman. But that narrative was changed substantially, and the citation for the award spoke about Tillman's valor under enemy fire.
Immediately after the hearing, Mary Tillman embraced O'Neal, whom she was meeting for the first time.
Under questioning, Gimble said his investigation was "unable to determine who in the chain of command altered that statement."
White was asked by the Tillman family to speak at the memorial service. He said an officer whose name he can't remember gave him a summary of how Tillman was killed, and White told the large crowd of how Tillman "took the fight to the enemy."
"I'm the guy who told America how he died. That was incorrect," White told the committee. He paused. "That does not sit well with me."
Because Tillman was so well known, his death was a difficult challenge for the military. Gimble's investigation criticized officers for waiting five weeks to tell the family how Tillman died.
There is growing evidence that Tillman's death was a prime topic at the highest levels of the military and Bush administration. When he was killed in April 2004, the White House was dealing with the bloodiest month in Iraq to date and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
Six days after Tillman's death, a White House speechwriter, John Currin, contacted the Pentagon to get more information about Tillman and how he enlisted, an e-mail released Tuesday showed. Currin wanted it for a speech by President Bush to the annual White House correspondents dinner.
A day after that e-mail, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of joint special operations, warned top generals that Tillman's death was likely caused by friendly fire. McChrystal was worried that Bush might include comments about Tillman in a speech.
He warned in the memo that "it was essential that you received this information as soon as we detected it in order to preclude any unknowing statements by our country's leaders which might cause public embarrassment if the circumstances of Cpl. Tillman's death become public."
Bush praised Tillman and his courage at the dinner, but made no specific comments about how he died.
McChrystal and another general, Philip Kensinger - who attended the San Jose memorial but did not tell the family how Tillman died - were severely criticized in Gimble's report, and face punishment under an ongoing review by a four-star general, William Wallace.
Gimble admitted to the House committee that he "did not look into" possible contacts between the Pentagon and White House over the case, and that investigators did not question Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about what he knew and when.
Instead, Rumsfeld sent a letter to the investigation that he did not know the true nature of Tillman's death for several weeks, Gimble said.
Kevin and Mary Tillman said they found that difficult to believe. Rumsfeld was keenly interested in Tillman's service and had written him a personal letter of thanks after his enlistment.
Mary Tillman said she felt "betrayed and foolish" after she learned how her son died, and urged Waxman's committee to "find out exactly what happened."
Jessica Lynch said she still hears some people say that the stories about her heroism - however false - at least inspired troops and the nation.
She doesn't accept that: "The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideals for heroes, and they don't need to be told elaborate lies."
earthtimes Brussels-NATO foreign ministers will try this week to ease Russian concerns over controversial plans by the United States to station missile defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, a move that Moscow says is a threat to its national security. "We seek collaboration with Russia on missile defence," said Victoria Nuland, US ambassador to NATO, ahead of the alliance's talks in Oslo with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
NATO foreign ministers will meet Lavrov in the Norwegian capital on Thursday. Talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk will be held the following day.
Ministers from the 26-nation alliance are also expected to call for additional cooperation among international aid agencies to promote security, good governance and development in strife-torn Afghanistan.
Separately, officials said ministers would underline NATO's determination to ensure security in Kosovo pending a final decision on the future status of the breakaway Serbian territory.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to use the meeting to try and convince Lavrov that America's planned deployment of 10 unarmed missile interceptors in Poland and a linked radar in neighbouring Czech Republic is not aimed at Russia.
Washington says its system will protect the US and Europe from long-range missiles fired by so-called "rogue states" including Iran and North Korea. "This is a threat we share with Russia," said Nuland.
Moscow, however, appears in no mood to accept US overtures.
Despite US Defence Secretary Robert Gates' statement after talks with Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov in Moscow this week that "misunderstandings" with Russia were being cleared up, Moscow remains deeply sceptical about the US blueprint.
Serdyukov has called the shield a "serious destabilising factor" while Yury Baluyevsky, head of Russia's Armed Forces General Staff, insists that the "true goal (of the shield) ... is the creation of defence against the nuclear potential of Russia and China."
With the US and Russia still sparring over the issue, NATO officials say talks with Moscow must focus on assessing the missile threat posed by Iran and North Korea.
Russia says Iran is unlikely to possess an intercontinental ballistic missile able to hit targets in Western Europe in the foreseeable future.
The US argues that the range and capability of Iranian and North Korean missiles should be looked at "strategically," over a 10 to 20-year period.
Washington is also seeking to counter Russian arguments that it was not consulted on the shield by promising "transparency" and consultation.
The US has offered to cooperate with Russia on developing defence technology, sharing intelligence about common threats and has said it is ready to allow Russian officials to inspect future missile bases.
While the focus in Oslo will be on Russia's opposition to the missile shield, Rice is also expected to underline the plan's benefits for Europe.
The US says its shield will be compatible with and complementary to NATO's planned theatre missile defence system in 2010 covering short-range missile threats to troops in small areas.
The NATO system could be "bolted on" to the US shield, agreed NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer last week.
Officials say that while the US system would cover long-range nuclear threats to the US and Europe, the NATO system would protect countries like Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, which are closer to Iran, from short-range missiles.
NATO also says the US system means the alliance will not have to invest millions of dollars in defending Europe from long-range nuclear threats.
While there is no alliance-wide consensus yet on merging the US and NATO missile systems, the plan is being studied by NATO military officials. Technical discussions are likely to be complicated, however.
Ministers are also expecting tough talks with Lavrov on UN proposals for supervised independence for Kosovo. Russia - along with Serbia - firmly opposes the plan but the US and most EU states are in favour of it.
On Afghanistan, ministers are expected to underline satisfaction with NATO's military progress in fighting a resurgent Taleban but call for more aid for the reconstruction and development of the country. The US also wants NATO to train and mentor Afghan army and police forces.
infowars Evidence points to multiple roaming backup teams with vans full of explosives A much underreported aspect of the 9/11 attacks is one that concerns transmissions, sightings, reports and statements alluding to multiple mysterious suspects in different vans packed with explosives that were stopped and detained in New York while the towers were burning and in the aftermath of the attacks.
Some evidence even suggests that some of these vehicles actually exploded, and at least one was reported by mainstream media sourcing the FBI as having been parked at the base of one of the towers when it exploded and aided the collapse of the tower.
At first it sounds outlandish, but were teams of "terrorists" with huge amounts of explosives roaming around on the ground in New York on September 11th ready to jump into action and attack whichever structures or buildings they were ordered to target?
The first, and most mysterious, piece of evidence to highlight comes from an actual transmission from audio from Channel 30 NYC, one of the emergency communications channels, on the morning of September 11 which makes reference to the discovery of a van full of explosives and two suspects located between 6th and 7th on King Street , some blocks away from the World Trade Center.
The bizarre thing about the transmission is that the responder makes reference to a mural painted on the side of the van depicting a "remote controlled plane" diving into New York City.
A full transcript follows the audio:
Begin Transcript: officer: [inaudible] officer: 5 the message about the plane officer: Sergeant [inaudible] seven five (Miller?) officer: 5 [inaudible] about the, 10-5 the message about the plane officer: 9414 hold up officer: 5 the message about the remote-control plane officer: [inaudible] on the air officer: [inaudible] officer: [inaudible] officer: [inaudible] Trinity and Liberty… all city wide task force units are to respond to Liberty Trinity Place officer: 10-4 the message is the plane [inaudible] officer: [inaudible] task forces c/o: [inaudible] and [inaudible] will be the mobilization point at this time [inaudible] officer: 10-4 c/o central who is [inaudible] officer: didn't find any mention about the plane (alt: didn't find any admission about the plane) officer: central, we need the bomb squad and EAQ over at King and……background noise….click officer: [inaudible] officer: [inaudible] units officer: [inaudible] on the air officer: 9415 you on? officer: 85[inaudible] this is uhh operator officer: [inaudible] officer: negat[inaudible] officer: [inaudible] giving up these [inaudible] (planes?) officer: [inaudible] I got a message on that uh plane, it's a big truck with a mural painted of a of a airplane diving into New York City and exploding [inaudible] know what's in the truck, the truck is in between 6th and 7th on King Street officer: [inaudible] officer: [inaudible] officer: [inaudible] officer: [inaudible] 10-5 10-5 officer: with a mural painted uh airplane diving into New York blowing up. Two men got outta the truck ran away from it, we got those two [inaudible] under. officer: kay great. officer: [inaudible] officer: [inaudible] are you holding those to guys [inaudible] (kay?) multiple voices/commotion: [inaudible] fucking beat the shit out of him. officer: [gasps] multiple voices/commotion: [inaudible] fucking shit out of him [inaudible] officer: all right listen you need any [inaudible] on those two guys over there? you all right over there kay? officer: we got both suspects under kay, we have the suspects who drive…drove in the van and that exploded we have both of them under kay let's get some help over here officer: now I'm sending you [inaudible] I just want to make sure you and your guys all right over there kay, that's all. officer: what's the location [inaudible] officer: put em up, put em up officer: you know we have both the [inaudible] driven that exploded. Is that correct? officer: what location? officer: location [inaudible] officer: [inaudible] officer: [inaudible] location [inaudible] officer: King Street between 6th and 7th officer: King Street and 6th and 7th avenue, King Street and 6th and 7th avenue officer: [inaudible] on the scene King 6 and 7, which unit are you kay? officer: [inaudible] officer: [inaudible] officer: [inaudible] explosion officer: which unit is on the scene at king street? officer: truck to Manhattan officer: [inaudible] 10 truck officer: [inaudible] 10 truck is heading a team toward 14 Trinity Place officer: all right you take care of that for me and get back to me multiple voices: [inaudible] officer: all right just check out that location let me know what you got officer: [inaudible]4 officer: [inaudible] on the air officer: on the air officer: [inaudible] officer: that fine with you? officer: CIT Units on the air, CIT officer: [inaudible] always available [inaudible] we're talkin
The indication is that the suspects ran away when the van was stopped and were then apprehended following some sort of struggle. It is then stated that the van has actually exploded.
Naturally the strangeness of this audio clip has lead to questions concerning its authenticity, yet this was cleared up soon after the clip emerged sometime last year, when it was discovered that reference to the mural van was also made in the February 2006 Norman Y. Mineta International Institute for Surface Transportation Policy Studies (MTI) report entitled: “ Saving City Lifelines: Lessons Learned in the 9-11 Terrorist Attacks ”. The report states: “There were continuing moments of alarm. A panel truck with a painting of a plane flying into the World Trade Center was stopped near the temporary command post. It proved to be rented to a group of ethnic Middle Eastern people who did not speak English. Fearing that it might be a truck bomb, the NYPD immediately evacuated the area, called out the bomb squad, and detained the occupants until a thorough search was made. The vehicle was found to be an innocent delivery truck.”
The Culhavoc blog site, which has covered this mystery in depth here , notes:
The MTI quote makes absolutely no mention of the truck exploding.
This report states that the truck was rented. Doesn't the MTI find it interesting that middle eastern men rented a truck and painted it with a mural depicting an attack currently taking place blocks away? Why would someone paint a mural of WTC being attacked by planes on a rented van?
In addition if this was an "innocent delivery truck" why did the suspects attempt to run away?
We have two middle eastern men in a van with a mural on the side of New York being attacked by a plane diving into it on the same day as two planes are flown into the twin towers. Is this alone not suspicious enough to warrant a full explanation in the MTI report?
Something about the mural also must have caused the officer heard on the transmission to believe that it depicted a remote controlled airplane packed with explosives. The remote controlled plane comments are interesting when put into context side by side with Operation Northwoods , the now infamous 1962 plan by the Joint Chiefs to carry out terror attacks on American soil to be used as a pretext to invade Cuba.
What happened to these two men? Why was the apparent explosion of the vehicle never reported? And why was first responder audio stating the vehicle had exploded subsequently ignored by all the official investigations into 9/11?
More Roaming Explosive Vans in NY on 9/11
Another transcript of 9/11 police radio transmissions, originally obtained by memoryhole.org in 2005 through a Port Authority Freedom of Information Request, reveals a second separate mention of a van with “terrorists” and explosives:
CPD - Ch . 018 - Radio (Ch . W) LT Police from page 148 of 1593 (in pdf pages) http://www.thememoryhole.org/911/pa-transcripts/pa-transcript027.pdf MALE C: Attention all 880(?) police units . Stand by for the (Inaudible) the Holland Tunnel . (01 :18:57) MALE D : (Inaudible) copy . MALE C : (Inaudible) from the Holland Tunnel exit, a tan Ford alpha van . New York tags . delta (Inaudible), November 8970 . Information has it this van was seen with possible terrorists in it, with explosives . That's from the Holland Tunnel desk, (Inaudible) 32nd . It's heading eastbound towards Le Havre(?) at this time . but they haven't caught it yet, and it may be coming towards this way . (01 :19:25)
The Holland Tunnel exit is a few blocks from King between 6th and 7th.
Could this be the same van that exploded on King St. as was reported on NYPD radio or is it a completely different van?
Certainly if the van had a mural painted on its side one would assume any sightings would include a description of this also. This is not the case here however, which suggests this may be an altogether different white van with 'terrorists" and explosives.
In a separate transcript first broadcast by NBC news , another mention is made of a white van with explosives and "terrorists" heading for the Holland Tunnel. Dispatcher: Jersey City police. Caller: Yes, we have a white van, 2 or 3 guys in there, they look like Palestinians and going around a building. Caller: There's a minivan heading toward the Holland tunnel, I see the guy by Newark Airport mixing some junk and he has those sheikh uniform. Dispatcher: He has what? Caller: He's dressed like an Arab.
Based on that phone call, police then issued a "Be-on-the-Lookout" alert for a white mini-van heading for the city's bridges and tunnels from New Jersey.
Is this yet another white van or is it again the same one? It is somewhat strange that the caller describes the man or men as "dressed like an arab". Certainly there was no mention of out of the ordinary dress when the two suspects from the King St. incident were apprehended.
Furthermore, why would any potential terrorist attract attention to themselves by dressing out of the ordinary? Why would any potential terrorist paint a mural of an attack they know is going to happen that day on their vehicle? Were these sightings hoaxes or deliberate distractions or were there actually people carrying out these actions, and if so on who's orders were they acting and why were they being so blatant?
These reports are very strange but they are in the record on 9/11.
In addition to these Holland Tunnel reports, The Jerusalem Post and others also reported that a white van with a bomb was stopped as it approached the George Washington Bridge:
American security services overnight stopped a car bomb on the George Washington Bridge. The van, packed with explosives, was stopped on an approach ramp to the bridge. Authorities suspect the terrorists intended to blow up the main crossing between New Jersey and New York, Army Radio reported.
It was reported that two or three men were arrested and the van contained tonnes of explosives.
CBS's Dan Rather also reported on this, a video of which appears below:
Could these two incidents at the Holland Tunnel and the George Washington Bridge have involved the same white van and the same group of "terrorists"? The George Washington Bridge is several miles north of the Holland Tunnel. It certainly becomes clear that the suspects detained at the GW Bridge were not the same suspects detained in King St. with the mural on their van.
The Five Dancing Israelis Arrested On 9-11
Another often documented instance of suspicious individuals seen in a white van on 9/11 is that of the so called " Five Dancing Israelis ". It was reported by the New York Times any many other outlets that Police received several calls from angry New Jersey residents on and after 9/11 claiming that a group of five "middle-eastern" men with a white van were videotaping the disaster with shouts of joy and mockery.
The following details are taken from whatreallyhappened.com's excellent datapage on this aspect of the story.
Some witnesses stated they saw the men set up video cameras aimed at the Twin Towers prior to the attack and were seen congratulating one another afterwards.
Witnesses saw them jumping for joy in Liberty State Park after the initial impact. Later on, other witnesses saw them celebrating on a roof in Weehawken, and still more witnesses later saw them celebrating with high fives in a Jersey City parking lot.
In each case the white van was mentioned and a group of three to five described. Could these reports have all pertained to the same group of middle easterners or was there more than one group? It was reported by ABC , the New York Post and the New Jersey Bergen Record that police stopped a group of five men in a white van on a ramp near Route 3, which leads directly to the Lincoln Tunnel at around 4.30pm on 9/11.
The police and FBI field agents became very suspicious when they found maps of the city with certain places highlighted, box cutters (the same items that the hijackers supposedly used), $4700 cash stuffed in a sock, and foreign passports. Police also told the Bergen Record that bomb sniffing dogs were brought to the van and that they reacted as if they had smelled explosives.
The Jewish weekly The Forward reported that the FBI finally concluded that at least two of the detained Israelis were agents working for the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, and that Urban Moving Systems, the ostensible employer of the five Israelis, was a front operation. This was confirmed by two former CIA officers, and they noted that movers' vans are a common intelligence cover . The Israelis were held in custody for 71 days before being quietly released .
It was also determined that the Israeli owner of Urban Moving Systems, Dominick Suter, dropped his business a few days after 9/11 and fled the country for Israel. He was in such a hurry to flee America that some of Urban Moving System's customers were left with their furniture stranded in storage facilities. Suter was later placed on the same FBI suspect list as Mohammed Atta and the 19 hijackers.
Several of the detainees discussed their experience in America on an Israeli talk show after their return home. Said one of the men, denying that they were laughing or happy on the morning of Sept. 11, "The fact of the matter is we are coming from a country that experiences terror daily. Our purpose was to document the event." How did they know there would be an event to document on 9/11? This is clear evidence of prior knowledge.
Below is a video of a report that includes footage of the afore mentioned Israeli chat show:
The fact that these men were exposed as Mossad agents raises the question, who were the other groups of middle eastern men spotted in white vans on 9/11 working for?
More Exploding Vans?
The following clip shows Jack Kelley a foreign war correspondent stating to USA today that the FBI believed that a truck full of explosives was parked beneath the buildings which exploded and weakened the structures aiding their complete collapse:
The next clip shows MSNBC news reporter Rick Sanchez stating that NYPD found suspicious devices and think a van with explosives was parked inside the WTC.
The next clip, which also contains the above two, shows many witnesses stating that they heard explosions inside and at the base of the buildings. It also contains MSNBC's Pat Dawson stating that the chief of safety for the New York City Fire Department had told him that they believed a secondary device had exploded somewhere inside one of the buildings:
So not only do we have reports of explosive vans from all over New York on 9/11, news reports also strongly suggest that the authorities believed that vans packed with explosives were used in the actual attack on the World Trade Center.
Another widely circulated report picked up by multiple mainstream outlets on 9/11 was the announcement by senior law officials within the State Department in Washington that a car bomb had exploded outside the their building.
The news anchors in the following British Channel 5 clip also make mention of a car bomb at the State Department and the bombing of a shopping mall in Washington DC.
These were not rumors generated as a result of "confusion" as is often the defense - the anchor cites a "senior U.S. law enforcement official" as the source. Why were these events reported and then never covered again?
It is commonly accepted that the breadth of the 9/11 attack was planned to be larger in scope because Flight 93 did not reach its target. Were the State Department and Washington Mall "bombings" intended to go ahead but for whatever reason failed or were called off? Was the media fed a script too early as in the case of Building 7, which was also reported to have collapsed by both the BBC and CNN up to 30 minutes before it actually fell?
By the evening of September 11, following a "perimeter walk around our building," the State Department publicly stated that no such bombing had taken place.
Why were senior State Department officials telling the media that there had been a bombing without even conducting a basic appraisal of the building's perimeter? Can this all be put down to "confusion" or were some elements of the 9/11 script changed according to how events were unfolding on the day?
Conclusion
There are reports from 9/11 of white vans with explosives and middle eastern suspects in at least eight different places in New York on that day:
1. King Street 2. nr. Holland Tunnel 3. nr. George Washington Bridge 4. nr. Lincoln Tunnel 5. Liberty State Park 6. Weehawken 7. Jersey City 8. World Trade Center These locations are represented by the blue placemarks on the map (click for enlargement).
There were at least three different parties involved: 1. The Israeli group detained near the Lincoln Tunnel 2. The mural van pair detained on King Street 3. Whoever it was that was detained near the GW Bridge
None of these groups were dressed in Arab garb so, if the documented call to police stating this was authentic, there may have been another group.
There are many more witness statements and reports of exploding vehicles in and around ground zero on 9/11, far too many to go into detail about.
Were all these reports and statements, including the NYPD transmissions inaccurate or false alarms? Or do they represent evidence of 9/11 being a much larger scale operation than we have been led to believe? Were all the mysterious suspects "backup" in case the planes never reached their targets? Were some involved in bringing the towers down?
We can only speculate on who these people were, what their roles were and who they were working for, but once again it is clear that the whole truth as to what happened on the day that changed the world is far from being told.
Note: More transcripts from 9/11 can be found here . Independent researchers may wish to look through them. There may be more references to suspicious vehicles contained within this myriad of documentation .
