Tuesday, June 12, 2007

US Army Pushes For Amnesty Bill Fast Track So It Can Recruit Illegal Aliens

Treasonous Army failed to reach recruitment targets for May, turns to illegals
prisonplanet

A senior US defense official today urged the Congress to fast track a section of the stalled immigration bill that would allow the military to recruit illegal aliens, after recruitment figures released by Pentagon showed that the Army failed to reach its targets for May.

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM, provision in the immigration bill was expected to help boost military recruiting by allowing illegal aliens to enlist as way to obtain citizenship, Bill Carr, acting deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy, told a veterans’ group representatives.

“In other words, if you had come across (the border) with your parents, yet you were a minor child and have been in the U.S. school system for a number of years, then you could be eligible to enlist,” he said. “And at the end of that enlistment, then you would be eligible to become a citizen.” Carr said.

The Pentagon has declared war on US soveriegnty. The Defense Department is treansonously attempting to strong arm Congress into passing a blanket amnesty bill in order that it can facilitate a huge influx of illegal foreigners into the United States armed forces.

In its first significant slip in two years the Army National Guard met only 88 percent of its goal and the Air National Guard met 77 percent of its goal, according to a report released today.

While many media reports have suggested the immigration reform bill is dead, The White House thinks otherwise. President Bush has vowed to get it passed next week when he returns from a European trip,

The US armed forces has already seen an influx of foreign troops, an average of 20% of ground troops in Iraq are now non citizens, this is set to rise to 50% over the next year with foreign recruitment stations facilitating the supply.

Last month the AP also reported that the Santa Fe Police Department is considering the possibility of recruiting Mexican nationals to fill vacant police jobs. Current regulations prohibit non-citizens from serving as police officers, but as a total amnesty would legalize all illegals this problem would dissolve.

Law departments are arguing that they, like the armed forces, should be allowed to recruit foreign nationals into vacant positions.

There now exists a situation in the US where foreigners are being recruited to the armed forces and soon enough to law enforcement.

Think about this, non-US citizens wearing the uniform of American soldiers. These troops would be more likely to fire on US citizens and follow extreme orders. Every empire, when it represses its own people, brings in foreign troops to do the job. Urban warfare drills we have covered over the years show that the military is being prepared for this.

As this issue has raged on and tensions have continued to mount we have also seen that 'Immigration Protests' are being used as a cover for a racist ethnic cleansing movement. The fallout of increased tensions could lead to rioting and may provide the perfect pretext to begin round-up and internment procedures that have been previously outlined in the REX 84 program and were cited in the recent Kellogg Brown and Root contract to construct detention camps which was given to them by Homeland Security.

Add to all this the fact that there is a huge push for a North American Union underway, which is continuing apace in relative secrecy and without Congressional oversight. We have issued several reports, the latest here, covering the fact that a wide range of US administrative law is being re-written in stealth under this program to "integrate" and "harmonize" with administrative law in Mexico and Canada, just as has become commonplace within the EU.

Social, political and economic forces are pulling America apart and driving her toward a bloody conflict that may fracture and Balkanize the nation. The move to cement a legal force of underling workers that will do the dirty work for America while at the same time wiping out middle class opulence and sustainability is a direct avocation of a creation of a massive underclass of illegal, third world, uneducated and poor slaves.

This only serves to benefit one section of society, the elite.

Mideast 'may see full-scale war'

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UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen has warned that the Middle East could see full-scale war.

He said a fresh effort was needed to contain the current violence, or energetic diplomacy to try to bring peace.

"The picture which emerges is very dark, and apparently getting darker," he said.

"So there are reasons for real concerns in the international community."

Roed-Larsen, the current UN envoy for Lebanon-Syria issues who for many years was the top UN Mideast envoy, said "the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East has changed fundamentally over a few years".

"A few years ago, as it had been over many, many decades, the centre of gravity for all the conflicts were the Israeli-Arab conflicts," he said.

"Now, there seems to be four epicentres of conflict in the region with their own dynamics, the Iraqi issues, the Iranian issues, the Syrian-Lebanese issues, and of course the heart of hearts, the traditional conflict, the Palestinian-Israeli issue."

Bush Amnesty to Pardon Illegal Alien Child Molesters, Gang Members & Tax Evaders

Bush "sure" immigration reform bill will pass, tax amnesty provision remains
prisonplanet

President Bush has announced that he is sure that the amnesty immigration bill is going to pass when he returns from a European tour despite the Senate having voted twice within nine hours last week not to move it towards a final vote.

"I'm going to work with those who are focused on getting an immigration bill done and start taking some steps forward again. I believe we can get it done. I'll see you at the bill signing." Bush insisted.

Bush intends to personally visit to the Capitol next week to revive the plan for legalizing millions of unlawful immigrants.

The White House insisted on Sunday that the bill is not dead , despite media reports suggesting the fate of the bill is in severe doubt. Fox News even ran a piece by Bill O'Reilly which catagorically stated that the deal has "collapsed into chaos" and "gone down".

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, who championed the legislation, insisted on CNN on Sunday however: "This bill is alive and well, and we are more determined than ever to get it through."

He then said two or three more days are needed to "wrap it up" with some commentators predicting the bill could pass before Independence Day on July 4.

One part of the bill that has also been overlooked is the fact that it not only provides total amnesty for those who have illegally entered the country and those who have employed them, but also it provides total tax amnesty for illegal aliens.

The Boston Globe reported that the Bush administration insisted on the removal of a provision in the initial version of the bill, proposed by Kennedy (D-Mass.), requiring payment of back taxes and any related fines to the Internal Revenue Service as part of the road to citizenship.

"It is important that the reformed immigration system is workable and cost efficient," spokesman Scott Stanzel said. "Determining the past tax liability would have been very difficult and costly and extremely time consuming."

Illegals applying for a green card to become a legal U.S. resident would have to pay a $5,000 fine, noted Stenzel, but it had nothing to do with taxes owed .

According to Kennedy's office, Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff had also called for the tax provision to be removed, saying it would be "too challenging to accurately determine the amount of an applicant's back taxes" because many do not receive paychecks, making an accurate audit difficult.

While Proud US citizens and New Hampshire residents Ed and Elaine Brown, who have refused to pay unlawful incomes taxes, currently have federal SWAT teams hiding in the woods around their property with armored vehicles and helicopters ready to conduct a military style raid on them, 12 million illegal aliens who have already violated the law are set to be given a total tax amnesty.

If US citizens do not pay taxes, which are unlawful anyway, an amnesty might enable them to avoid penalties and interest. However, they still have to pay any amount due in back taxes. By contrast, the immigration reform bill rewards each and every illegal alien with permanent US residence and totally erases any back payments.

The Feds can use guns, tanks, planes and drones against a peaceful, self-sustaining elderly couple who simply want to be left alone but they can't manage to protect the borders and are getting ready to grant tax amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.

2 Iraqi bridges bombed in 2 days - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

2 Iraqi bridges bombed in 2 days - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

2 Iraqi bridges bombed in 2 days
6 U.S. soldiers wounded as car bomb brings down major highway span
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:02 p.m. ET June 11, 2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Suspected al-Qaida bombers stepped up attacks on key transportation arteries, striking a bridge north of the capital Monday a day after shutting the superhighway south of Baghdad with a huge explosion that collapsed an overpass and killed three U.S. soldiers.

The latest attack, a parked truck bomb, blew apart the bridge that carries traffic over the Diyala River in Baqouba, police said on condition they not be identified by name because they feared retribution. There were no casualties, but motorists and truckers now must use a road that runs through al-Qaida-controlled territory to reach important nearby cities.

Baqouba is the capital of Diyala province, which is swarming with al-Qaida fighters. Those militants were driven out of Baghdad by the four-month-old U.S. security operation and out of Anbar province west of the capital by Sunni tribesman who rose up against the terrorist group.

The attacks on the bridges were only the latest in a campaign to deepen turmoil in Iraq, especially on the vital transportation network linking Baghdad to the rest of the country. Such bombings — especially suicide attacks — are an al-Qaida trademark and one of the group’s many and ever-shifting tactics against U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Earlier this month, a bomb heavily damaged the Sarhat Bridge, a key crossing 90 miles north of the capital on a major road connecting Baghdad with Irbil, Sulaimaniya and other Kurdish cities.

In March and April, three of Baghdad’s 13 bridges over the Tigris River were bombed. The attacks were blamed on Sunni insurgent or al-Qaida attempts to divide the city’s predominantly Shiite east bank from the mostly Sunni western side of the river.

The most serious attack, an April 12 suicide truck bombing, collapsed the landmark Sarafiyah bridge and sent cars plunging into the brown waters of the Tigris. Eleven people were killed.

U.S. forces used bulldozers Monday to push aside the rubble of the overpass that crashed onto Iraq’s main north-south highway just east of Mahmoudiyah, a dangerous triangle of death city with a large al-Qaida presence.

The suicide truck bombing 20 miles south of Baghdad not only brought down a section of the bridge, it killed three U.S. soldiers at a checkpoint and wounded six other American soldiers along with an Iraqi interpreter, the U.S. military said in a statement issued at its Camp Victory headquarters at Baghdad International Airport.

Targeting all transit systems
Paul Kane, a fellow with the International Security Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, said the attacks on bridges are an extension of earlier insurgent attacks on “electric generation sites, infrastructure for water and also the obvious target of oil pipelines.”

Kane noted that Iraq does not have railroad service so insurgents “may be at the end of the transit list. If anything, it means they’re trying to be creative and they’re running out of targets.”

Tumult arose in Iraq’s fragile political structure Monday when lawmakers declared themselves fed up with the parliament speaker and voted to oust the controversial Sunni politician from his powerful post.

Mahmoud al-Mashhadani is a physician who was jailed by Saddam Hussein and who had said from the parliament speaker’s chair that those who attack American forces should be treated as heroes. He was voted out in a closed session of the Shiite-dominated 275-member legislature.

His ouster appeared to have grown out of a shouting match Sunday with lawmaker Firyad Mohammed Omar, a Shiite Turkoman.

Omar had complained to the speaker about the heavy-handedness of al-Mashhadani’s bodyguards; al-Mashhadani responded abusively, according to lawmakers who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Omar told fellow legislators that the speaker’s guards had assaulted him.

Seeking a replacement for House speaker
Al-Mashhadani’s deputy, Khaled al-Attiyah, who chaired the closed session, will assume the duties of the speaker until a replacement is chosen.

“It’s an illegal decision made by a juvenile house,” al-Mashhadani told the U.S.-funded Radio Sawa in an interview posted on the Internet.

Al-Mashhadani is part of the Accordance Front, parliament’s largest Sunni Arab bloc with 44 of the house’s 275 seats. Salim Abdullah, a fellow lawmaker from the Accordance Front, said it would offer a replacement for al-Mashhadani within a week.

The speaker’s job is allotted to a Sunni member of parliament according to an agreement among lawmakers who struggled for months to chose their leadership, a prime minister and government.

“We agreed to replace him because we want to improve the house’s performance,” Abdullah told The Associated Press.

But al-Mashhadani told Radio Sawa that if his performance as speaker were below par, Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s was “much worse.” The level of competence of President Jalal Talabani, a Sunni Kurd, was “even worse because he does nothing,” the former speaker said.

Britain’s next leader makes Iraq trip
The man expected to become Britain’s next prime minister, meanwhile, met with Iraqi leaders in an unannounced visit. Treasury chief Gordon Brown has vowed to study his country’s participation in the Iraq war in the face of growing opposition at home.

Brown, slated to succeed Tony Blair this month, was on a one-day fact-finding mission, British officials said.

In London, the House of Commons rejected a motion by Britain’s opposition Conservative Party calling for a formal inquiry into the decision to go to war in Iraq. By a vote of 288 to 253, the lower house of parliament sided with Blair, who has ruled out such an inquiry while British troops are deployed in Iraq.

Like so much in Iraq these days, even final exams for high school seniors aren’t going as planned: Iraq’s Education Ministry delayed the start of finals after some of the test questions were leaked to students, an official said.

A week of final exams had been due to start Tuesday with the Islamic education test, but that was put off until July 1 while authorities investigate reports of cheating, an official said, on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Iraqi police, morgue and hospital officials reported 34 deaths in sectarian violence across Iraq on Monday, including 17 bodies dumped on Baghdad streets and believed to be the victims of Shiite death squads.

The al-Qaida front group Islamic State in Iraq posted a video showing what it said were 14 captive members of the Iraqi security forces. The hostages were shown in uniform standing in three rows; one of them repeatedly sighed and looked up at the ceiling. It wasn’t clear when they were seized. The video was provided to the AP on Monday by the Virginia-based IntelCenter.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19149029/page/2/

CBSNews.com: Lieberman: Bomb Iran If It Doesn't Stop

CBSNews.com:Lieberman: Bomb Iran If It Doesn't Stop

Lieberman: Bomb Iran If It Doesn't Stop
June 10, 2007(CBS) The United States should launch military strikes against Iran if the government in Tehran does not stop supplying anti-American forces in Iraq, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday on Face The Nation.

"I think we've got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq," Lieberman told Bob Schieffer. "And to me, that would include a strike into... over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers."

The Indepedent former Democrat from Connecticut said that he was not calling for an invasion of Iran, but he did say the U.S. should target specific training camps.

"I think you could probably do a lot of it from the air, but they can't believe that they have immunity for training and equipping people to come in and kill Americans," Lieberman said.

Lieberman, who has been one of Congress's most outspoken supporters of the Bush administration's Iraq war policies, said that continuing the fight in Iraq and confronting Iran are necessary for achieving a wider peace in the Middle East.

If the U.S. does not act against Iran, "they'll take that as a sign of weakness on our part and we will pay for it in Iraq and throughout the region and ultimately right here at home," Lieberman said.

He said that he has seen evidence that the Iranians are supplying insurgents and foreign fighters in Iraq.

"By some estimates, they have killed as many as 200 American soldiers," he said.

The Senator said he was not calling for an end to the limited diplomatic efforts that are underway between Washington and Tehran.

"We can tell them we want them to stop that, but if there's any hope of the Iranians living according to the international rule of law and stopping, for instance, their nuclear weapons development, we can't just talk to them," Lieberman said. "If they don't play by the rules, we've got to use our force, and to me that would include taking military action to stop them from doing what they're doing."

Navarro On Prospect of War With China And/Or Russia - On the Money - Ka-Ching! - CNBC.com

Navarro On Prospect of War With China And/Or Russia - On the Money - Ka-Ching! - CNBC.com

Thursday, 7 Jun 2007
Navarro On Prospect of War With China And/Or Russia
Posted By:Peter Navarro
Topics:South America | Europe (West) | Europe (East) | Middle East | Defense | Russia | China

Tonight’s OTM segment at 7:30ish est. should be essential viewing – if for no other reason than to get a sneak peak at the latest in U.S. naval technology. The DD(X) destroyer bears an interesting resemblance to the old civil war Monitor of Monitor vs. Merrimac fame but comes in a Star Wars package. Check out this little quote from defensetech.org:

The attack would come quickly, and it would be awful. Cruising far offshore, the U.S. Navy's DD(X) destroyer launches 20 artillery shells in less than a minute. As the satellite-guided weapons fall back to Earth at 830 mph, computer algorithms alter their flight paths so that the 250-pound projectiles all strike the same patch of ground at the same time, reducing everything in the vicinity to rubble and dust. If more firepower is needed, the destroyer can unleash another 580 artillery rounds, as well as 80 Tomahawk missiles. And when the attack is over, the ship simply vanishes. On a radar screen, the DD(X)'s stealthy hull makes the 14,000-ton vessel look like just another fishing boat, casting its nets into the sea.

The broader topic at hand is whether the U.S. is destined to go to war with either China or Russia – or both. The latest Pentagon report on Chinese militarization clearly indicates that China is morphing into a threat that stretches beyond a conflict over Taiwan into any one of a number of conflicts over strategic access to oil and natural resources. The concern is the broad development of a number of weapons that directly challenge the U.S.

For example, China’s counterspace program, which includes an antisatellite weapons capability, has at its root the object of rendering U.S. space assets deaf, dumb, and blind. It’s new DF-31 intercontinental ballistic missile has extended China’s reach and range. It’s new nuclear subs will be capable of hitting the continental U.S. And the Russians are supplying China with a wide range of ships and planes.

Here are some possible triggers for war with China:

1. Taiwan – One scenario here is some type of internal unrest in China caused by anyone of a number of events such as a severe economic downturn, the collapse of the Three Gorges Dam (and the loss of millions of lives), a Chernobyl-like event in its nuclear program, and so on. In such a case, the central government might try to use Taiwan as a rallying cry and distraction for a restive population, putting the U.S. right in the crosshairs.

2. The Middle East – China is clearly jockeying for position in the Middle East, particularly in Iran. If China continues to supply Iran with nuclear technologies and/or missiles that in turn are used against Israel, this could quickly escalate into first an Iran/Israel conflict (and possible nuclear exchange) and then more direct conflict with China should it come to Iran’s aid. There is also the matter of the critical sea lanes that bring Middle Eastern crude to China – which could be subject to blockage by U.S. naval forces in times of conflict.

3. Latin America – China is cozying up to Venezuela and may wind up helping Hugo Chavez create Latin America’s largest military force in exchange for access to Venezuelan oil reserves. Whether the U.S. would stand by and let this happen is an open question in light of the Monroe Doctrine and long standing strategic interests.

4. North Korea – Until the little dictator of Pyongyang passes into the night, this country remains a wild card. China remains conflicted over how much to support NK but if push comes to shove – say, if NK launches a nuke or attacks SK – China will have to take sides. Could be against the U.S.

As for war with Russia, this remains a more remote possibility. The more likely scenario is that in a world of high oil prices, the Russian oligarchs will simply bleed the West as dry as they can.

If oil prices were to collapse, however, the Russian economy may well go down the toilet as well. In such a case, anything can happen – and remember that Russia still has about 4000 nukes pointed our way.

As a final thought on this, the U.S. is clearly provoking the Russian bear, moving as it is to develop financial ties, energy resources, and military bases in former territories of the USSR or former areas of Russian influence – from the Ukraine and Georgia to Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Peter Navarro is a CNBC contributor, business professor at the University of California-Irvine, and author of The Coming China Wars.

The Columbus Dispatch : Nuke 'disaster' seems very real



The Columbus Dispatch : Nuke 'disaster' seems very real

Nuke 'disaster' seems very real
Biggest National Guard drill tests troops' readiness
Monday, May 14, 2007 3:28 AM
By Jeb Phillips
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


MUSCATATUCK URBAN TRAINING CENTER, Ind. -- The scenario: A nuclear bomb has exploded in Indianapolis. There are mass casualties and 300,000 fleeing people are clogging the roads. The water is tainted. Seven hospitals are destroyed.

Carlson's School for Special Needs still stands about 55 hours after the blast. Intelligence comes in that people may still be inside, although by now they might be dead.

Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Stichler of the Ohio National Guard's 52nd Civil Support Team (Weapons of Mass Destruction) has a floor plan of the school. He's telling his "surveyors" the situation. They need to take radiation readings. They are trying to see if this building is salvageable.

"What if the people are alive?" Sgt. Adam Swager asks.

At this point, about 7:30 on Saturday night, there are several reasons an observer might have trouble taking this scenario seriously, other than knowing it's a scenario.

This is not Indianapolis. It's a corner of an abandoned mental-hospital campus called Muscatatuck that the Indiana National Guard has converted into a kind of training city. It's a spooky place, something you might have a nightmare about as a kid, a 52nd team staff sergeant said, but it's not the way you'd imagine a big city after a bomb.

Some of the 52nd team members, and a Dispatch reporter-photographer team embedded with them, have been awake since 1 a.m. They had flown here from Mansfield, in C-130s loaded with the vehicles and operations trailers. With so little sleep, it's hard to take anything seriously.

But this is Vigilant Guard, the largest National Guard exercise in history. About 450 Ohio National Guard members, and more than 1,500 troops from other states, have come to see how they and local responders might deal with a nuclear terrorist attack.

Hurricane Katrina showed there was a lot of work to do in that area, officials at the exercise say.

The 52nd, based at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, is "a HazMat team on crack," one of its members said. When civilian fire and police have done all they can to detect biological, chemical or radiological dangers, the 52nd is called in. It has a mobile lab, tons of protective gear, and detection instruments.

It has 22 full-time members. You don't see them often, but they're at Red, White & Boom, at Ohio State football games -- just in case.

Mostly they deal with chemical and biological agents. A nuclear explosion is further down the training list, another reason an observer might not take this particular exercise too seriously.

But the 52nd does. So Swager, who was attached to the Ohio unit for Vigilant Guard from a unit in Michigan, asked his question.

"Tell them you are searching the building to make sure there are no hazards there," Stichler answers. He reminds them to put all the survivors in one room.

Swager and Staff Sgt. Dustin Hartman, a survey-team chief from Pickerington, dress in white Tyvek suits. It's the same material as a FedEx envelope, with gloves, masks, air respirators, rubber boots, all sealed with tape. Heavier-duty suits would protect them from chemicals, but radiation was going to penetrate any suit they had anyway.

Swager and Hartman set off on an all-terrain vehicle to the school building about 100 yards away.

They took a water sample from a hydrant near the building and needed to initial it with the time and date.

"We're having trouble recalling the date," Hartman radios back to the control center. A captain replies that it's May 12. It's funny to some of the observers following the surveyors, though at least one couldn't remember the date either.

Hartman and Swager circle the building, taking radiation readings (an observer uses a remote to make the detector read high radiation levels), and then they get to the front.

And just like that, there are people banging on the door from the inside, yelling "Help us! Please!"

Now, even to the civilians trailing Hartman and Swager, this seems pretty real.

A man inside the building has blood on his face and leg. A woman screams for water. It's at least 80 degrees inside.

"There are five children in the basement!" one of the women yells.

Hartman calls to them, "We are here to help you. We are going to find your kids." He tells the people inside to stay in a room where there's less radiation.

Then he and Swager, using a building map, find a ramp to the basement. They put their sensor to every door, calling readings back to the captain, and yelling for the kids. The sensor indicates one room is particularly hot with radiation.

Hartman and Swager radio the captain, asking if they should enter the room to search for the children. They get the OK, run in, yell, and run out.

They check every room they could that isn't locked. No children, though one says to the other, "I just know there is a kid under a bed and we're going to miss it."

But there are no kids. They check the entire building. Near the end, they're told the building was a write-off. Too much radiation. Check the rooms quickly, and then get out.

The people are still inside, near the front of the school.

"Did you find our kids?" one asks.

"We checked every room that was open and found no children," Hartman says. "There is a good possibility they got out."

That pacifies them. The survivors are people who live around Muscatatuck, paid to act as victims, and they had done their jobs.

Hartman and Swager drive to a decontamination post, where team members help them carefully remove their suits to avoid touching contaminants on the exterior.

Team members got about six hours of sleep yesterday morning. In the afternoon, they receive a report of a suspicious powder and go to identify it. Turns out it's cornstarch playing the role of cornstarch. At 7 p.m., a report comes in of a nearby camp with high levels of radiation.

"Let's be ready to pull out on the road in 10 minutes," said Lt. Col. David Seitz, the team commander, after the briefing.

Ten minutes later, they're off.

To view daily reports from Vigilant Guard, go to Dispatch.com.

jeb.phillips@dispatch.com

Danger Room - Wired Blogs - Hit Anywhere on Earth with ICBMs, "Cans of Whup-Ass"


Danger Room - Wired Blogs - Hit Anywhere on Earth with ICBMs, "Cans of Whup-Ass" (Updated)

Hit Anywhere on Earth with ICBMs, "Cans of Whup-Ass" (Updated)
By Noah Shachtman June 12, 2007 | 9:55:00 AM Categories: Ammo and Munitions, Missiles

The Pentagon doesn't just want to blast any target on Earth, in an hour. The military wants to strike everywhere and anywhere, just about instantly, with "cans of whup-ass."

Let me explain. For the last few years, the Defense Department has been dissatisfied with how fast they can smack enemies overseas. It can take hours and hours for cruise to hit, for example. And there will be instances when there aren't hours and hours to spare. So the Pentagon has been searching for ways to, in the words of U.S. Strategic Command's Lt. Gen. C. Robert Kehler, "strike virtually anywhere on the face of the Earth within 60 minutes." The boys at Stratcom call the concept "Prompt Global Strike," or PGS.

The initial plan was to do PGS with conventionally-armed Trident missiles. But the problem is, those submarine-launch missiles look and fly almost exactly like the nuclear-tipped variety. Which means they could wind up starting World War III. Congress is not exactly pleased at the prospect (although they haven't totally killed the idea, either).

PGS Plan B is to launch the missiles from land, instead of from subs. Dispatched from California, those missiles might have a different trajectory than the current nuclear ICBMs. And they could be open to international inspectors. So they might be more palatable. Maybe.

Northrop just got an $8.7 million contract to flesh the concept out, Defense Industry Daily tells us. And that's where the cans of whup-ass come in.

In order to make maximum use of existing system elements and reduce the cost and development risk associated with a future acquisition, Northrop Grumman will make use of Orbital's Minotaur rocket, and a delivery vehicle designed to carry and dispense multiple BLU-108B/B sensor fused weapons to the target area. DID has covered these BLU-108 "cans of whup-ass" before; they're tuna-can shaped explosively-formed penetrators (EFPs) [like the "superbombs" that have wreaked so much havoc in Iraq -- ed.] with millimeter-wave sensors that use parachutes to spread out in the air, then fire downward through the thin top-armor of enemy vehicles to kill those in their coverage area.

So an ICBM launches in California, and 20 minutes later, a storm of miniature, parachute-dropped "superbombs" rains on Iran's nuclear parade? Okay, that is pretty bad-ass. But this missile is still going to look awfully nuke-like when it takes off. And think about the intelligence that would be required for the President to fire one of these cans-of-cans off. We're talking about launching the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile attack.

UPDATE: That Iran strike is looking a whole lot less likely, after the digital equivalent of a back-of-the-envelope sketch from DANGER ROOM pal Allen Thomson. Let's say you wanted to launch an ICBM at the Mullahs from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. You'd only have two choices, really: Send the thing over Russia -- dropping debris over the U.S., and risking a nuclear holocaust in the process -- or fire the missile in a low-earth orbit back over the South Pole. Then, the ICBM would only head in Russia's direction, not fly over it. Of course, as Thomson notes, if you go "the long way around the Earth, [it] takes considerably longer to get to the target than the direct path. So if you're interested in prompt strike-on-demand, you pay a price." He figures it'd take 63 minutes, from California to Tehran, taking the scenic route -- as opposed to 27 minutes, the short way. That's fast. But is it faster than, say, a cruise missile launched from the Persian Gulf?

Hits on Korea and other Asian targets would be more feasible, though.

PipelineNews.org - FBI Director Mueller Warns Of Al-Qaeda Nuke Threat

PipelineNews.org - FBI Director Mueller Warns Of Al-Qaeda Nuke Threat

FBI Director Mueller Warns Of Al-Qaeda Nuke Threat
June 11, 2007 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a speech delivered today to the Global Initiative Nuclear Terrorism Conference being held in Miami, Florida, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III warned that al-Qaeda is actively seeking to obtain nuclear weapons

"Al Qaeda has demonstrated a clear intent to acquire weapons of mass destruction. In 1993, Osama bin Laden attempted to buy uranium from a source in the Sudan. He has stated that it is Al Qaeda's duty to acquire weapons of mass destruction. And he has made repeated recruiting pitches for experts in chemistry, physics, and explosives to join his terrorist movement."

Calling nuclear terrorism "one of the most dangerous and deadly threats we face" Mueller suggested a three step approach to stop such an attack – securing "loose nuclear material," sharing intelligence and standing "strong together" to develop a "global response."

Mueller stated that al-Qaeda thinks "big" and that a nuclear attack would produce many times the impact of 9/11.

He cautioned that while al-Qaeda remains the biggest concern that other groups and individuals, including homegrown terrorists with only a philosophical connection to bin-Laden's message, must not be overlooked.

While the threat is high, the FBI and other intelligence agencies have made strides recently in their ability to identify suspicious containers. In 2005 for example, a joint operation led by the United States was mounted when a radiation sensor was tripped at the Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka.

Though the substance was eventually identified as non-weapons grade material before it entered the U.S., Mr. Mueller said the danger, "illustrates the need for a quick and a coordinated response."

Key to that coordination lies in the training of foreign governmental partners in the methods of detecting WMDs with 5,000 participants having been so-far trained, and that though this effort is still in its initial stages that it can't be allowed to fail.

©1999-2007 PipeLineNews.org LLC, all rights reserved.

http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=mueller61107.htm

Browns likely under attack again

Keene Free Press
It appears that Ed and Elaine Brown are under attack for the second time in a week. Ed Brown reported earlier today that his electricity and internet are cut off, and that there were men prowling around in his woods. His phone is now disconnected.

Update 9pm:
We found no Federal blockade outside the Brown's home. We did not approach the house, because we could not make phone communication with the occupants.

We did notice one black Federal government vehicle in the parking lot of the Residents Inn nearby.

New Brown raid may be imminent, says govt. watchdog

From NHfree.com
June 11, 2007

Michael Hampton of HomelandStupidity.us says he believes another Federal raid or show of force is imminent in Plainfied, New Hampshire. He also says Washington agents are now occupying a room at the Lebanon Residence Inn.

Hampton, a Manchester blogger who monitors Federal Internet usage, says the same patterns which preceded their June 7 show of force are recurring now.

"Last week the day before the raid, they started reading (Ed Brown Internet discussions) from their laptops and their Verizon data cards," he says.

"And they read...some of Ed Brown supporters' Myspace profiles a lot more frequently...Today they're doing it again, same pattern...And now they've switched over to the Verizon data cards, within the last minute or two, which means they're on the move. SOMETHING is imminent. Maybe another dry run, maybe a raid, I don't know."

He continues:

"At least one of them is operating out of the Residence Inn, 32 Centerra Parkway, Lebanon, as of earlier today,"

Direct link to Hampton's posts:
here

Hampton can be reached at: (603) 206-4321
I can be reached at: (603) 721-1490

- Dave from NHfree.com

Man Faces 7 Year Sentence Under "Wiretapping Law" For Filming Police


OK for police and government to film and wiretap US citizens though

prisonplanet

A man has been charged in Carlisle, Pennsylvania with filming police officers during a routine traffic stop and faces up to seven years in prison for "wiretapping".

Brian D. Kelly is charged under a state law that bars the intentional interception or recording of anyone's oral conversation without their consent, reports the Patriot News.

The criminal case relates to the sound, not the pictures, that his camera picked up.

His camera and film were seized by police during the May 24 stop, he said, and he spent 26 hours in Cumberland County Prison until his mother posted her house as security for his $2,500 bail. Police also took film from his pockets that wasn't related to the traffic stop, he said.

Kelly, just 18 years old, is obviously extremely scared and has apologized profusely for not knowing the law. he has sought the help of the ACLU in the case.

The charge however is bogus because the law is not adhered to by police officers themselves. An exception to the wiretapping law allows police to film people during traffic stops.

In addition police routinely carry microphones that are wired up to their vehicles to record conversations without the knowledge of anyone whom they stop or question.

This is not the first time this has happened either. Last year a North Middleton Twp. man was charged in a street racing case that involved a wiretapping charge. Police claimed the man ordered associates to tape police breaking up an illegal race after officers told him to turn off their cameras.

Furthermore, just last month a 48-year-old man from Dover, New Hampshire was arrested for "wiretapping" for allegedly recording police while they were investigating him for driving while intoxicated.

In addition we have previously covered stories where camera crews have been threatened with arrest for filming peaceful demonstrations, and where cops have been caught stealing protestor's cameras.

Filming in public is a right every American citizen has under the first amendment, which is why the cops in the case above had to steal the camera and the footage, because there was no legal basis to seize it.

It seems that filming and photographing is now deemed to be a threat per se. Pick from any number of stories archived at www.freedomtophotograph.com for example.

In Seattle, police banned a photography student from a public park. He was taking photographs of a bridge for a homework assignment. The officers who ban him from the park do so without the knowledge of park officials and have no authority to do so.

In Texas a man was first threatened by neighbors and then reportedly accosted and sprayed with pepper spray by police. He was walking around his neighborhood, filming with his new video camera.

In New York, National Press Photographers Association members staged a protest in the New York subway system to bring attention to a proposed law to ban photography in the subway system.

In Philadelphia a magazine photographer was detained and questioned after a parade for taking architectural shots while waiting for a subway train.

In Harrisburg, PA a man was swarmed by 8 Police and accused of being a member of Al-Qaeda after shooting pictures of his new car under a bridge.

We have recently exposed how some police now do not understand that they are violating the rights of individuals. In other cases we have witnessed police pull out pocket constitutions from cars and question their legality.

In addition we have a government which has been mired in scandal for wiretapping US citizens without warrant, yet when the tables are turned US citizens face the full wrath of the corrupt judicial system.

Though clearly Brian D. Kelly had no criminal intent and is likely to escape with just a fine, the case sets a dangerous precedent. US citizens can be arrested and charged for filming on public streets.

It also sets the precedent that those who enforce the law are also above the law.