Frank Freeman's Diary, September 2005

Kurt Nimmo, "New Orleans: A Bush Police State Incubator", Another Day in the Empire (Nimmo's blog), 6 Sept. 05. I agree with his comments until he spills over the dyke into "conspiracy nut" territory, with artificial enhancement of hurricanes, electromagnetic ray guns to set off earthquakes and the like.

'Israel has said the main Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt will be closed for six months.

'Palestinian officials have criticised the closure, implemented on Wednesday [7 Sept. 05].

'The move came as Israel's Supreme Court rejected an appeal against demolishing synagogues in Gaza's now abandoned Jewish settlements. ...'

As for the Israeli-Egyptian agreement for Egypt to patrol Egypt's common border with Gaza. A generous concession by Israel, permitting the Egyptians to patrol their own side ...... nothing else appears on the cards.

'WASHINGTON — The congressman who first made public claims that a secret Pentagon data mining project linked the Sept. 11 attacks ringleader to al-Qaida more than a year before the attacks took place says he does not believe the military's account of how the results of the project's work came to be destroyed.

'"I seriously have my doubts that it was routine," Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Penn., told United Press International. [Cf. above, under 2 Sept. 05.] ...

'Weldon ... said that there had been "a second elimination of data in 2003," in addition to the destruction acknowledged last week. ...

'Army Reserve Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, a civilian employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency who was a liaison to the project said that in early 2000, it produced a chart bearing the names — and in some cases photographs — of about 60 people thought linked to al-Qaida. [N.b. this was supposed to be a world project.] ...

'If copies of the chart held by the military were indeed destroyed, it could mean that the sole remaining copy is the one Rep. Curt Weldon says he gave to national security adviser Steven Hadley at a White House meeting on Sept. 25, 2001. ...'

'The head of Britain's security service, MI5, has warned that hard-won civil liberties may have to be "eroded" to protect people from terrorist attacks.

'In a speech [to Dutch intelligence officers] in the Netherlands, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller said the world had changed and a debate was needed.

'She said the suicide bomb attacks in London in July were a "shock", and that the MI5 and police were "disappointed we had not been able to prevent them". [Presumably those Dutch spooks were rolling in the aisles by this time.]

Britain now faces its own blowback
Intelligence interests may thwart the July bombings investigation
Michael Meacher, The Guardian (UK)

'Michael Meacher is the Labour MP for Oldham West and Royton; he was environment minister from 1997 to 2003.' {Note at end of article)

'The videotape of the suicide bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan has switched the focus of the London bombings away from the establishment view of brainwashed, murderous individuals and highlighted a starker political reality. ...

'... During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, the US funded large numbers of jihadists through Pakistan's secret intelligence service, the ISI. ...

'For nearly a decade the US helped Islamist insurgents linked to Chechnya, Iran and Saudi Arabia destabilise the former Yugoslavia. ...

'Less well known is evidence of the British government's relationship with a wider Islamist terror network. During an interview on Fox TV this summer, the former US federal prosecutor John Loftus reported that British intelligence had used the al-Muhajiroun group in London to recruit Islamist militants with British passports for the war against the Serbs in Kosovo [my emphases]. Since July Scotland Yard has been interested in an alleged member of al-Muhajiroun, Haroon Rashid Aswat, who some sources have suggested could have been behind the London bombings [of 7 July 05].

'... Loftus claimed that Aswat is a British-backed double agent, pursued by the police but protected by MI6.

'One British Muslim of Pakistani origin radicalised by the war in Yugoslavia was LSE-educated Omar Saeed Sheikh. He is now in jail in Pakistan under sentence of death for the killing of the US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 — although many (including Pearl's widow and the US authorities) doubt that he committed the murder. However, reports from Pakistan suggest that [like Hogan's Heroes] Sheikh continues to be active from jail, keeping in touch with friends and followers in Britain.

'... The Observer Research Foundation has argued that there are even "grounds to suspect that the (London) blasts were orchestrated by Omar Sheikh from his jail in Pakistan". [Or that MI5/6 carried them out themselves behind such a facade — my own comment.]

'... Astonishingly [Sheikh's] appeal to a higher court against the sentence was adjourned in July for the 32nd time and has since been adjourned indefinitely. This is all the more remarkable when this is the same Omar Sheikh who, at the behest of General Mahmood Ahmed, head of the ISI, wired $100,000 to Mohammed Atta, the leading 9/11 hijacker, before the New York attacks, as confirmed by Dennis Lormel, director of the FBI's financial crimes unit [my emphases].

'Yet neither Ahmed nor Omar appears to have been sought for questioning by the US about 9/11. Indeed, the official 9/11 Commission Report of July 2004 sought to downplay the role of Pakistan with the comment: "To date, the US government has not been able to determine the origin of the money used for the 9/11 attacks. Ultimately the question is of little practical significance" — a statement of breathtaking disingenuousness. ...'

'An apparent al-Qaeda tape broadcast on US television threatens new terrorist attacks on Los Angeles and Melbourne.

'The 11-minute tape was delivered to ABC News in Pakistan and played as Americans commemorated the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

'"Yesterday London and Madrid, tomorrow Los Angeles and Melbourne, Allah willing," a man thought to be an American terror suspect warns.'

'... American intelligence officials believe the man who appears on the tape to be Adam Gadahn of Orange County, Calif. Last year, Gadahn delivered a similar taped communique for al Qaeda. That tape was later deemed authentic. ...

'On Sunday [11 Sept. 05], [Los Angeles] Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the city's police department released a statement [saying] ... "The statement broadcast this (Sunday) morning on 'Good Morning America' should come as no surprise to anyone. The statement was meant to instill fear ..."

'The taped diatribe lasts 11 minutes. Like past tapes, it appears to include the same graphics and production techniques recognized by U.S. officials as part of al Qaeda's standard propaganda production. ...'

'A mysterious power cut which has hit a large portion of Los Angeles is being investigated by US authorities.

'The city was investigating the cause and extent of the outage. But Sgt Catherine Plows, a police spokeswoman said terrorism was not suspected.

'Electrical power was knocked out after power surges, and traffic was stuck at intersections throughout the city when stop lights went dark.'

'One day after utility workers cut power to half of Los Angeles by cutting the wrong wires and throwing the city into chaos, state and local officials demanded to know on Tuesday [today] exactly what went wrong.

'Los Angeles leaders ... summoned utility officials to explain why a seemingly minor mistake could wreak such havoc. And they demanded to know why it took so long to reassure the public that the outage was accidental.

'California power regulators cautioned that the state's grid had experienced wild voltage swings but said they were never briefed by Los Angeles power officials about why the outage was happening or how far it went. ...

'Though most of the 2 million people affected were without power for less than two hours, the blackout tested nerves a day after a suspected al Qaeda associate threatened attacks against Los Angeles on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. ...

'Ron Deaton, DWP [Department of Water and Power] general manager, told council members the power grid was designed to shut down to avoid even larger problems — like the 2003 East Coast blackout that left some 50 million people in the dark. ...

'A crew with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest city-owned utility in the country, mistakenly overloaded a circuit shortly after noon by cutting a bundle of wires in error.

'The resulting power surge triggered safety equipment to shut down power plants to prevent the problem from cascading. ...'

"The storm didn't discriminate and neither will the discovery effort", said Bush in New Orleans. Ostensibly about trash treatment of blacks.

But echoing an earlier famous Bushism, Our enemies never stop thinking of ways to harm our country — and neither do we.

Israel has completed its pull-out of troops from the Gaza Strip. But, as a BBC News 24 reporter pointed out, it still controls Gaza's borders, territorial waters and airspace.

One of Gaza's synagogues, which the Israelis say is against their religion to destroy, has been set on fire, apparently by Palestinians.

A Palestinian man was shot by Egyptian border guards after Palestinians surged across the Gaza/Egypt border.

'The United Nations is investigating the CIA's use of British airports when abducting terrorism suspects and flying them to prisons around the world where they are alleged to have been tortured.

'The inquiry, led by Martin Scheinin, a special rapporteur from the UN Commission on Human Rights, comes as an investigation by the Guardian reveals the full extent of the British logistical support. Aircraft used in the secret operations have flown into the UK at least 210 times since the September 11 attacks.

'Foreign Office officials have denied all knowledge of the secret flights, telling MPs on the foreign affairs select committee that the ministry has "not granted any permissions for the use of UK territory or air space", and suggesting to the Guardian that it was "just a conspiracy theory".

'Privately, Ministry of Defence officials admit that they are aware of the flights, and that they have decided to turn a blind eye. "It is not a matter for the MoD, said one. "The aircraft use our airfields. We don't ask any questions. They just happen to be behind the wire."'

An Israeli general stayed on his jet at Heathrow and returned to Israel, after being tipped off in Britain that he would be arrested for human rights abuses in the Gaza Strip if he disembarked.

'The Saudi Arabian authorities are refusing to reveal what action was taken against a diplomat suspected of sexually assaulting a child in London.

'The man was arrested at the end of July last year but was released after claiming diplomatic immunity.

'The [British] Foreign Office has refused to hand over papers on the case, despite a BBC freedom of information request.'

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has condemned the failure to address many issues in the UN "reform package", especially nuclear proliferation.

'The Pakistani army says it has destroyed a major al-Qaeda hideout in its biggest ever operation in the North Waziristan tribal region.

'The military says it has arrested more than 20 suspected militants near the Afghan border and seized a Chinese-made spy plane used to track army movements.

'The army says the operation, involving helicopter gunships and thousands of troops, is still going on.

No doubt dealing in fact with their own tribesmen, while humouring the US petro-cabal's "War On Terror".

One hundred and fifty people have been killed in attacks in Iraq, including 112 labourers looking for work in a Shia district of Baghdad. It's said the "suicide bomber" called them over with offers of work, then detonated the bomb. (How do we know this, since those within earshot would have been killed by this powerful bomb?)

"Al-Qaeda in Iraq" (for which read CIA-inspired black ops) said it was a reprisal for US-led operations against "militants" in the Sunni Triangle, and was the start of a war on the Shias.

Which, as ever, is all-too-convenient for those wanting to keep US troops in Iraq, and to provide one more excuse to invade further oil targets (Iran, then Saudi Arabia).

'WASHINGTON — Former members of the Sept. 11 commission on Wednesday [today] dismissed assertions that a Pentagon intelligence unit identified head hijacker Mohamed Atta as a member of al-Qaida long before the 2001 attacks. ...

'Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., had accused the commission of ignoring intelligence about Atta while it investigated the attacks. The commission's former chairman, Thomas Kean, said there was no evidence anyone in the government knew about Atta before Sept. 11, 2001.

'Two military officers, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott [Philpott], claimed a classified military intelligence unit, known as "Able Danger," identified Atta before the attacks. Shaffer said three other hijackers were identified, too.

'Kean said the recollections of the intelligence officers cannot be verified by any document.

'Bluntly, it just didn't happen and that's the conclusion of all 10 of us," said a former commissioner, ex-Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash.

'Pentagon officials said this month that they could find no documents to back up the claims.

'According to Weldon, members of "Able Danger" identified Atta and three other hijackers in 1999 as potential members of a terrorist cell in New York City. Weldon said Pentagon lawyers rejected the unit's recommendation that the information be turned over to the FBI in 2000.

'Weldon's spokesman, John Tomaszewski, said no commissioners have met with anyone from Able Danger "yet they choose to speak with some form of certainty without firsthand knowledge."'

Tony Blair has apparently won acceptance at the UN of a stance against "inciting terrorism". Defining terrorism will be problematical, as ever; once man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter.

What would happen to all those US/UK freedom fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan?

New "anti-terror" measures, including deportation of suspects, are to be introduced.

Seven Algerian men, acquitted in court on ricin terror charges, have been arrested pending deportation to Algeria.

'Security chiefs and ministers were divided over who should be first to be deported in the promised purge of Islamic extremists.

'Charles Clarke wanted to start with the "preachers of hate" while MI5 argued that the priority should be the removal of militants who it alleges are linked to terror cells.

'It is thought that the seven Algerians rounded up in raids yesterday include some of the men acquitted this year of involvement in a plot to poison Londoners with ricin.

'They were originally arrested alongside an illegal Algerian immigrant, Kamel Bourgass, who was jailed for life for murdering Detective Constable Stephen Oake in 2003. ...

'All seven men are understood to have been kept under surveillance for the past fortnight until Mr Clarke gave the go-ahead for the arrests after studying "detailed submissions" from police and the security services. [The British puppet government has ever danced to the tune of "its" "security" and "intelligence" services, as well as that of its American masters ...]

'The Home Secretary said he was using his existing powers to deport those whose presence "is not conducive to the public good for reasons of national security". Officials refused to detail the security threat posed by the seven, or to reveal their names. [My emphasis. The tiny conviction rate of all those seized under pre- and post-9/11 UK terror legislation shows the basic falsity of this "cause". The four supposed suicide bombers in the one genuine post-9/11 attack are of course dead, and can't answer back. (The UK media — freed from the legal restraints of upcoming trials — has by-and-large, in cowardly fashion, convicted them, without judicial-standard evidence.) We may as well be talking of the evidence of UFOs manned by aliens, or of pixies from Penzance ...] ...

'Bourgass was the only suspect found guilty of conspiring to cause a public nuisance [sic] through the use of poisons at the end of one of Britain's costliest investigations. ...

'Some officials in the Home Office are concerned about trying to deport men who were acquitted after a lengthy trial. One senior source said: "We don't want it to look like a case of 'If we can't secure a criminal conviction then we'll get you by kicking you out'."

'Amnesty International said: "Detainees must be allowed to properly challenge the grounds for their deportation ..." ...

'Diplomats admitted last night that they are still no nearer to a deal with Algeria on deportation, despite Tony Blair suggesting on August 5 that a memorandum of understanding that detainees would not be mistreated was close. ...'

"Intelligence is not knowledge". So says British Home Secretary Charles Clarke, in an interview on British Channel 4 News.

A new report has claimed that extremist and terrorist groups are operating in universities across the UK.

'[UK] Education secretary Ruth Kelly earlier told universities to clamp down on student extremists in the wake of the London terror attacks.

'But a report out next week says some 30 institutions including Oxford had "extremists and/or terror groups" detected in them, a newspaper [tomorrow's Guardian] said.'

Three mice infected with bubonic plague have disappeared from a bioweapons research lab in New Jersey. The FBI, which has been investigating for the last two weeks, has administered polygraph tests to the lab's employees.

'Some of the world's leading counter-terrorism specialists have been meeting in secret in Belfast [!!] this week, it has been revealed.

'While it has been combating loyalist [ie. Protestant] street violence [the worst in over a decade], the Police service of Northern Ireland has also been hosting a major counter-terrorism programme. [In this Brave New World, we have become used to such "coincidences".]

'Senior officers from the US, Canada, the UK and [sic Northern Ireland have been taking part in the event.'

The 43 police forces in England and Wales could be merged into massive "super-forces" under official proposals that have just been published.

'A report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary concluded the current police set-up was unfit for the 21st century and the fight against terror.

'Inspector of Constabulary Denis O'Connor said forces with more than 4,000 officers tended to perform best.'

'The task of rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina is a chance to wipe out poverty and remnants of racial injustice, President George W Bush has said.

'He said those hit hardest by the hurricane were already impoverished because of years of discrimination.

'"As we clear away the debris of a hurricane, let us also clear away the legacy of inequality," Mr Bush said at a memorial service in Washington.'

(BBC Ceefax, 16 September 05, p.117) "... Let us seize the opportunity to clear away the dark trash of southern poverty", I already hear my redoubtable buddy Col. Blitzenburger declaiming.

'USA[:] A Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified 9/11 mastermind [sic] Mohamed Atta as a terrorist in 1999, a congressman [Weldon presumably] has claimed.'

'A Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed Atta as a terrorist two years before the 2001 attacks, a congressman said Thursday 15 Sept. 05].

'The employee is prepared to testify next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee and was expected to identify the person who ordered him to destroy the large volume of documents, said Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa.

'Weldon declined to identify the employee, citing confidentiality matters. [Not to mention likely imminent threat to life.] Weldon described the documents as "2.5 terabytes" — as much as one-forth of all the printed materials in the Library of Congress [about the largest library in the world], he added. ...'

'WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is pressuring the Senate Judiciary Committee to close to the public next week's hearings on a former secret military intelligence unit called "Able Danger,", two congressional sources confirmed to Fox News.

'Witnesses from the Pentagon are expected to testify at that hearing; that's why they want it classified. Fox News has learned that committee Chairman Arlen Specter's office is vigorously resisting the request. ...

'[Rep. Curt] Weldon said a former Army officer will testify next week that he was also ordered to destroy data that included reference to Atta.

'"In the summer of 2000, he was ordered and, or [sic, he would go to jail if he didn't comply," the Pennsylvania Republican said. "He was ordered to destroy 2.5 terabytes of data specific to Able Danger, the Brooklyn (terror) cell and Mohammed Atta. He will name the person who ordered him to destroy the material."

'Other witnesses will include an FBI agent who will testify that she set up three meetings in 2000 between the FBI's Washington field office and the Able Danger [sic], but each was cancelled at the last minute, Weldon said. ...'

Iran's PM, Mahmoud Ahmedinajad, speaking at the UN's 60th-anniversary get-together, has reasserted Iran's right to pursue nuclear power.

'... a three-hour briefing provided to General [Hugh] Shelton in January of 2001.

'And furthermore, what [former DIA-Able-Danger liaison officer] Tony Shaffer will tell you in the hallway outside is that he personally briefed General Shelton on Able Danger, and in a briefing in the first quarter of 2001, and he will name the people in the room. He was giving a briefing on another topic, ... Door Hop Galley (ph[oto]) which is another classified program.

'In the course of that briefing — and there was a Navy admiral in the room, Admiral Wilson, in charge of DIA, and Richard Shiefren (ph) was in the room. Richard Shiefren (ph) was an attorney at DOD.

'In the course of that discussion, Richard Shiefren (ph) discussed Able Danger. ...

'My concern is if there were 2.5 terabytes of data that were destroyed in the summer of 2000, there had to be material in 2001 if you briefed General Shelton. where is that material> Where is that briefing? ...

'I can tell you, not to have this material covered by the 9/11 Commission, not to have it mentioned, for them to say, as they did initially, that it was historically insignificant — 2.5 terabytes of data about Mohammed Atta and Al Qaida, a three-hour briefing for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is historically insignificant? A briefing that included Richard Shiefren (ph) and Steve Cambone, in March of 2001, five months before 9/11, is historically insignificant? I don't think so.

'... I wanted to bring Tony Shaffer in to talk to you about the briefing that he was involved in with General Shelton in January of '01 and the briefing — again, this second briefing, as Tony will tell you, was not specifically about Able Danger. It was about a program called Door Hop Galley (ph[oto]). ...

'But during the briefing with Admiral Wilson and with Richard Shiefren (ph), the topic of Able Danger came up and Richard Shiefren (ph), who was the legal counsel at the Pentagon, knew about Able Danger.

'Somebody's got to join up the dots and answer the questions. If the 9/11 Commission won't do it, then Congress has to do it. ...'

'CIA Director Porter Goss is considering congressional requests for the release of a classified agency report on the September 11, 2001 attacks that is said to criticize former CIA officials including ex-director George Tenet, the spy agency said on Saturday [today]. ...

'The report is said by officials to paint a critical picture of Tenet, former deputy director of operations James Pavitt and former CIA counterterrorism chief Cofer Black, the New York Times reported on Saturday. [Tenet and Pavitt resigned last year ...]

'Prepared by the CIA's inspector general at the request of a joint congressional committee that reviewed the 2001 attacks, the document was sent to Congress last month. ...

'"[The requests] urged Porter Goss to review the IG report and to release a declassified version,", said [a] congressional aide, who requested anonymity because the CIA document remains classified.'

If we consider who didn't resign from the CIA, we may get a (even) better picture of the map of US power politics. A B ("Buzzy") Krongard, the agency's executive director and thus no.2 man — who may be implicated in pre-9/11 stock-option trading, and if so, may have had foreknowledge of the attacks.

British troops arrested in Basra"
BBC News online, 19:27 GMT (20:27 BST)

'Two British soldiers have been arrested in the southern Iraq city of Basra, sparking clashes outside a police station where they are being held.

'The men, said to have been under cover, reportedly exchanged fire with police after failing to stop at a checkpoint.

Two British tanks, sent to the police station where the soldiers are being held, were set alight in clashes. ...'

'Undercover' Britons held after Basra shootings
AP, The Independent (UK), 19 September 05

'British forces and demonstrators exchanged gunfire in the southern city of Basra today after the two British men were arrested for allegedly shooting at local security forces, killing one policeman and wounding another.

'Authorities said four civilians were wounded in the clashes that broke out after the arrest of the two men, identified by Basra security officials as British undercover officers dressed as Arabs.

'Basra, Iraq's second largest city ..., is headquarters for the 8,500 British troops deployed in the south of the country.

'The arrested men were taken to the city's main Felony Crimes department, said Ismail al-Waili, chief of the city's Security Committee. ...

'Shortly after the Britons were arrest[ed], British troops encircled the building and demonstrators began to gather, said al-Waili.

'Yesterday, about 200 members of the Mahdi Army, a militia group headed by the radical Shiite cleric Muqtadah al-Sadr, staged a show of force in Basra, blocking roads in the city centre and demanding the release of their local commander who had been arrested by British and Iraqi security forces. He was accused of launching raids against security forces in the city. 'After a tense stand-off lasting several hours, the militiamen withdrew when and the British forces.'

British vehicles crash into Basra jail
Sydney Morning Herald online, 19 September 05

'Tensions between British forces and Shi'ites in southern Iraq are at a dangerous and chaotic low after British armoured forces smashed down [a perimeter-wall section of] a jail and freed two British undercover soldiers who had been arrested by Iraqi police.

'Iraqi authorities in the southern oil city of Basra claimed that British armoured vehicles demolished part of its main jail and snatched the two men — thought to be commandos in Arab clothing who allegedly fired on Iraqi police officers.

'Britain's Defence Ministry, though, said the two men were released as a result of negotiations. But it stopped short of denying that the jail had been raided. ...

[Rioters earlier clashed with British armoured vehicles encircling the jail.]

'After nightfall, 10 British armoured vehicles returned to the jail, crashed through walls and freed the two captives, witnesses said. ...

'Basra authorities reported arresting two Britons, described as special forces commandos dressed in Arab clothing, for allegedly shooting two Iraqi policemen, one of whom died.

'British armour then encircled the jail where the two Britons were held. ...'

'GOVERNOR CONDEMNS JAIL RAID

'The governor of Basra has condemned [the] raid by British forces ... as "barbaric, savage and irresponsible".

'Mohammed al-Waili said: "A British force of more than 10 tanks backed by helicopters attacked the central jail and destroyed it".

'It was also reported that 150 Iraqi prisoners escaped during the attack on the prison.'

(ITV Teletext, 19 September 05, p.304)

Basra drama — how events unfolded
BBC News online

'... Tensions were already high in Basra on Monday [19 Sept. 05] morning following the detention on Sunday of a senior figure in the Shia Mehdi Army, suspected of being behind a series of attacks on British troops.

'Then two British soldiers, reportedly dressed as Arabs and driving a civilian car, attracted the notice of police at a checkpoint.

'According to the Iraqi authorities, they refused to stop, instead allegedly firing at the officers, killing one and wounding another. This has not been confirmed by the Ministry of Defence.

'After allegedly [Few "allegedly for the alleged July 7 London bombers, presumably dead and generally judged guilty by British media trials] declining to reveal their mission, the men were arrested and taken to the main Basra police station. ...

'Basra officials said the men were working undercover, which the Ministry of Defence has not confirmed.

'After learning of their arrest, the British military requested that they be handed over to coalition forces in accordance with agreed procedures.

'The Iraqi government in Baghdad apparently agreed and ordered the handover, but this seems to have been disregarded by the police.

'With fears for the prisoners' safety mounting [why?], British troops surrounded the police station, setting up a cordon.

'Iraqi demonstrators also started to gather, demanding that the soldiers be kept in detention and sent to jail [my emphasis]. Violent clashes broke out.

'The troops were pelted with stones and petrol bombs, attacked with rockets sic; fireworks or Katyushas?!] and their armoured vehicles were set alight, forcing them to withdraw. ...

'At 1630 BST, the British government issued a request that the faces of the two men be disguised by news outlets. ...'

Here's an image that may still be uncensored.

The two men broken out of an Iraqi jail yesterday were members of the UK's Special Air Service, the SAS. It was an SAS force that broke them out.

The men (who are white, incidentally) had been, according to the Iraqi police, disguised as Arabs and had a quantity of arms and munitions (including a grenade or rocket launcher).

They must have been involved in something really big for the SAS to rescue them in this spectacular manner.

The British say that the police were about to, or had already, handed the two over to local militia, and thus their lives were in danger.

Iraq's National Security Adviser says that the police have become infiltrated by militias, though he didn't know to what extent.

The militias, which are "Shi'ite", are described as having links with Iran.

Speculation: the SAS men were involved in preparing and/or carrying out a simulated Iranian attack. This may have been "hurried up" in order to distract from the US Senate's Judiciary Committee hearings on Able Danger (scheduled for tomorrow).

5 October 05: A senior British official says that Iranian Revolutionary Guards supplied the "explosive technology" to a Shia group in S Iraq which killed "all eight" British soliders killed in Iraq this year. See October 2005 diary, under 5 Oct. 2005.

Basra breakout: army statement
Full statement by Brigadier John Lorimer, the Brigade Commander of the 12th Mechanised Brigade
Times Online (UK), 20 September 05

'"I want to speak to you about yesterday's events in Basra.

'"During the morning, two British soldiers were detained at the Jamiat police station in Basra. Under Iraqi law, as MNF (Multinationa Force) sodiers, they should have been handed over to the coaliton authorities. [So, according to Lorimer, the Iraqi puppet state's laws have a built-in immunity for "coalition" soldiers, i.e. the tools of the American oil junta and its accolytes.] The Consul-General and I asked repeatedly for this but it did not happen.

'"During the day we went to exhaustive lengths to achieve the hand-over of the soldiers. And in fact, as a result, we understand that the Iraq Interior Minister personally ordered the release of the soldiers. [We might note that Iraqi interior minister Baqir Solagh Jabr susequently contradicted Lorimer's account of the rescue of the two SAS men in an interview with the BBC (reported by the UK's Independent 12 October 05).] However, that order seems to have been ignored. ...

'"I should put the scale of yesterday's disorders into context. British armoured vehicles being attacked by a violent crowd, including with petrol bombs, makes graphic television viewing. [Doesn't it just!]

'"But this was a small unrepresentative crowd (200-300) in a city of 1.5 million. The vast majority of Iraqi people in MND(SE) [which I presume is newspeak for the British military's section of the Iraqi People's Democracy] are law abiding and value the contribution made by colaition forces to maintaining stability and security. ...'

British Special Forces Carrying Out Staged Terror in Iraq?
Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet, 20 September 2005

'In another example of how the Iraqi quagmire is designed to degenerate into a chaotic abyss, British SAS were caught attempting to stage a terror attack [Watson states this without proof] and the media have dutifully shut up about the real questions surrounding the incident. ...

'... early reports cited as originating from BBC World Service radio stated that the car used [by the SAS duo] contained explosives. [Cf. The Times report below, under 21 Sept. 05.]

Hurricane Rita is due to strengthen to category 4 and hit Texas — or Louisiana. A new evacuation of New Orleans has been ordered, and city refugees in Texas are to be moved again to other states.

Basra mob attacks British troops sent to rescue their own
Alaa Habib, Sydney Morning Herald

Has photos of the two SAS men, uncensored when I saw the page today.

'... Iraqi police vented their anger in Basra as they inspected the damage from the British raid [on Basra's central jail].

'"Four tanks invaded the area. A tank cannon struck a room where a policeman was praying," said Abbas Hassan, a policeman, standing next to mangled cars outside the police station and jail that he said were crushed by British military vehicles. "This is terrorism. All we had was rifles." ...'

And from the UK's Times, this load of Jolly Hockey Sticks ...

Police station raid was diversion as SAS squad rescued comrades
Ali Hamdani and Daniel McGrory, The Times (UK), 21 September 05

'An SAS team used the noise of armoured vehicles bulldozing their through a nearby police compound to mask the raid that freed their comrades.

'The rescuers, from the same squad as the captives, blew out the doors and windows of the smart suburban villa with plastic explosive and hurled stun grenades at the militiamen guarding the two undercover soldiers. ...

'Brigadier John Lorimer, who commanded the operation, said: "I had good reason to believe the lives of the two soldiers were at risk."

'The soldiers had been beaten and rogue [!!] policemen had been touring the area with loudhailers urging demonstrators on to the streets to protest that the "British saboteurs" had been planning explosions in the city which would be blamed on followers of Moqtadr al-Sadr, the Shia cleric [my emphasis].

'The Iraqis displayed photographs of the explosives, weaponry and several bags of equipment allegedly found in the boot of the men's unmarked car when they had been stopped at a checkpoint. There were also wigs, Arab headdress and sophisticated communications equipment.

'The two soldiers are believed [this one takes the biscuit] to have been investigating a corrupt police unit in Basra who were colluding with Shia militia leaders. [And thought they'd give them a hand, no doubt.] Some of the men who later interrogated them are believed to be part of this same unit.

'The mob which quickly gathered outside the detention centre were shouting for the Britons to be hanged as spies. [Oh, those good old days of the Cold War are back! :-)] ...'

My thread "What WERE Those SAS Boys Up To in Basra?", posted on Usenet, 21 September 05.

And now, the event today that all the above bru-ha-ha was possibly speeded up to distract from (but perhaps they shouldn't have worried) ...

'WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — The Pentagon said Tuesday [20 Sept. 05] that it had blocked several military officers and intelligence analysts from testifying at an open Congressional hearing about a highly classified intelligence program that, the officers have said, identified a ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks as a potential terrorist a year before the attacks.

'The officers and intelligence analysts had been scheduled to testify on Wednesday about the program, known as Able Danger, at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

'Bryan Whitman, a Defense Department spokesman, said in statement that open testimony "would not be appropriate."

'"We have expressed our security concerns and believe its is simply not possible to discuss Able Danger in any great detail in an open public forum," Mr. Whitman said.

'Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and chairman of the committee, said he was surprised by the Pentagon's decision because "so much of this has already been in the public domain, and I think that the American people need to know what happened here." [As if he could expect the military to allow further exposure of grand treason and plot against the American republic!]

'Mr Specter said in a telephone interview that he intended to go ahead with the hearing on Wednesday [today] and hoped that it "may produce a change of heart by the Department of Defense in answering some very basic questions." ...

'Mr. Specter said his staff had talked to all five of the potential witnesses and found that "credibility has been established" for all of them.'

'A report on the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on allegations that a secret Pentagon program, dubbed Able Danger, turned up valuable information about the alleged ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks, Mohammed Atta, more than a year before the attacks occurred. ...'

Commentary by newscaster Kwame Holman is interspersed with video from the hearing itself, and/or of PBS interviews.

'KWAME HOLMAN: Eighteen months before the Sept. 11 attacks a since-disbanded intelligence unit named Able Danger identified 60 foreign terror suspects inside the United States [in fact, most of them were said to be abroad]. On that list were four of the subsequent 9/11 hijackers including Mohammed Atta, the alleged [!] ring leader of the attacks, who flew the first plane into the World Trade Center. However, attempts by Able Danger team members to share their information with the FBI in February of 2000 were blocked by Pentagon lawyers.

'The story of Able Danger first came to light in a New York Times story last month. [In fact in Government Security News on 8 August 05. See August 2005 diary.] But attempts this morning by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter to find out why the information wasn't shared hit several dead ends. At the start of an investigative hearing, Specter questioned whether the federal Posse Comitatus Act might have come into play.

'SEN. ARLEN SPECTER: That is a statute which was enacted shortly after the Civil War, which prevents the United States military from being engaged in law enforcement activities. If the Posse Comitatus Act precluded its information from being turned over by the Department of Defense to the FBI, then that is a matter which may require amendments to the Act. [Or how to eat your cake and have it. ...]

'KWAME HOLMAN: Specter had hoped to hear today from former Able Danger team members themselves. Army Reserve Col. Tony Shaeffer was a liaison officer to the Able Danger unit from the Defense Intelligence Agency. J.D. Smith was a civilian analyst on contract. Yesterday, however, the Pentagon notified Shaeffer, Smith and several others that permission to testify was denied.

''SEN. ARLEN SPECTER: It looks to me as if it may be obstruction of the committee's activities, something we will have to determine.

'KWAME HOLMAN: But Pennsylvania Congressman Kurt Weldon did testify, a senior Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, its was Weldon who first helped members of Able Danger, Smith included, to tell their story to the media.

'REP. KURT WELDON: He was prepared to state as he told us that he had an Able Danger chart with Mohammed Atta identified on his office wall at Andrew Air Force Base until DOD [Department of Defense] Investigative Services removed it. He was prepared to discuss the extensive amount of data collected about al-Qaida, underscoring the fact that Able Danger was never about one chart or one photograph but rather was and is about massive data collected and assembled against what Madeleine Albright declared to be in 1999 an international terrorist organization. He too has been silenced.

'KWAME HOLMAN: Speaking on behalf of Col. Shaeffer, Washington lawyer Mark Zaid said there was confusion among some in the Pentagon at the time whether the Army was compiling information on U.S. citizens.

'MARK ZAID: Those within Able Danger were confident they weren't compiling information on US persons. They were potentially people connected to US persons. Again I said they never identified Mohammed Atta in the United States. [This appears to contradict what Shaffer/Shaeffer said ...] Apparently the problem that came up was on the chart where his image was listed under Brooklyn, New York or something to that effect. It had Brooklyn. And those within the Army either in the legal level or some of the policy levels were apparently showing apprehension and concern that somehow that was then linking to data compilation of US persons.

'KWAME HOLMAN: And former Army Major Erik Kleinsmith said he later was directed by a Pentagon lawyer to destroy the information citing Army regulations prohibiting the military from compiling data about US citizens.

'SEN. ARLEN SPECTER: And did part of that operation involve operations within the United States?

'ERIK KLEINSMITH: No specific operation in the United States, only a presence that was known. [This tends to contradict what Sha(e)ffer said. He talked of a "Qaeda cell" within the USA.] We were unable to get to the details for the specific persons or information in the United States before we were shut down. [He talks as if he was a member of Able Danger.] ...

'KWAME HOLMAN: Responding elsewhere in the capitol this afternoon, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said the Senate Intelligence Committee ha jurisdiction over the Able Danger matter and that he has offered that committee a closed door briefing.'

'TELEGRAPH[:] Britain's top police officer [Sir Ian Blair] was accused last night of paving the way for "Judge Dredd law".'

... his underlings had to "clarify" one of his statements that soldiers/SAS men should assist the London police, explaining that he meant ex- soldiers/SAS men.

Britain is in danger of becoming a racially-segregated society, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality will say in a speech today.

Hurricane Rita (no surprise) is now a category 5 storm, with winds of 165 — correction 175 — mph, and is currently "targeted" at Galveston (and Houston), Texas, though it could veer east.

Bush has declared states of emergency in Texas and Louisiana, and a million people are being evacuated.

Rita petered out, but its fringes managed to overtop New Orleans levees and partially reflood the drained areas.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of launching "fake" air raids to terrify Gaza inhabitants after three huge blasts, evidently caused by Israeli warplanes. The raid was in reprisal for home-made rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza. The raids targeted "arms factories", etc.

Here's another reason for the evacuation of the 8000-odd Jewish colonists from the Gaza Strip. To get them out of the way, the better to implement the Final Solution.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, has decided by 22 votes to 1 (with 12 abstentions) to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear programme. This could bring sanctions against the country, but no definite date was suggested for their introduction.

'The US military wants to buy large quantities of anthrax, in a controversial move that is likely to raise questions over its commitment to treaties designed to limit the spread of biological weapons.

'A series of contracts have been uncovered that relate to the US army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. They ask companies to tender for the production of bulk quantities of a non-virulent strain of anthrax, and for equipment to produce significant volumes of other biological agents.

'Issued earlier this year, the contracts were discovered by Edward Hammond, director of the Sunshine Project, a US-German organisation that campaigns against the use of biological and chemical weapons. ...

'A;lthough the Sterne strain is not thought to be harmful to humans and is used for vaccination, the contracts have caused major concern.

'... Alan Pearson, programme director for biological and chemical weapons at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington DC [said:] "If one can grow the Sterne strain in these units, one could also grow the Ames strain, which is quite lethal." [The Ames strain was produced for the US bioweapons program before 1969, and was used in the US anthrax attacks of 2001.]

'The US renounced biological weapons in 1969, but small quantities [and more can be grown from them!] of lethal anthrax were still being produced at Dugway as recently as 1998. ...'

The anthrax used in the US attacks of autumn 2001, a substrain of the Ames variety, had a quality of "weaponization" (concentration of spores in the dispersable agent) known only to have been matched by the US bioweapons program, prior to its — official — abolition in 1969>. See "The Anthrax Putsch of Autumn 2001".

The mainstream media doesn't seem to have picked up on this story (as judged by a Google News search). Al-Jazeera , and The Times of India, for example, reproduce the story ....

In 2001, the attacks were apparently coordinated (in space and time) with the stages in the passage of the Patriot Bill. See "The "Patriot Act"" and the link given there. The notorious "Patriot Act" is soon up for renewal. (Cf, e.g, "Let sense, not fear, guide the Patriot Act", The Seattle Times, 29 Sept. 05.) Repeat show??

I've just read Government Security News's lengthy interview with Anthony Shaffer on 23 (and 24) August 05. Shaffer (or Shaeffer) was the DIA's liaison officer with the then secret project, which identified Mohamed Atta and other "future 9/11 hijackers" within the United States. (Government Security News broke the story to the public on 8 August 05.)

Shaffer says that, before Able Danger was founded, J D Smith (James Smith), working for the US army's Land Warfare Information Activity (LIWA), discovered a link (an associational link) between Atta and Sheikh Abdel Rahman (the "1993 WTC bomber"), through information purchased off the internet from information brokers, which was then subjected to data coordination technology.

Shaffer says that Able Danger discovered five cells (or rather the GSN interviewer says it for him), including two consisting of "future 9/11 hijackers", one of which was in the USA. (Apparently Atta was in both these latter cells. See below.) Curiously, twice in the interview Shaffer refers to Able Danger itself as a "cell".

Shaffer refers to a subsequent operation, "Dorhawk Galley" (presumably what Weldon referred to as Door Hop Galley, to do with China, and Condoleezza Rice, etc), "which happened in the spring of 2001". (Anything to do with that US military jet that "strayed" into Chinese airspace and was forced down on Hainan Island — possibly an exercise in planting technological disinformation on the Chinese?)

Shaffer refers to Able Danger as operational planning, not an intelligence operation. Ostensibly described so for technical purposes ...

After 2000, the Bush administration or its appointees weren't interested in keeping Able Danger going. The new DIA boss, General Rod Isler, said to Shaffer, "It isn't your job" ...

Able Danger found "two of the three cells that conducted 9/11, to include Atta", said Shaffer. (Presumably this means, Atta was a busy boy and featured in both cells: the US one, and another overseas one (the "Hamburg cell", presumably).

Dr Reid's barmy army
Comment
The [UK] Secretary of State for Defence is still doing his damnedest to hide the truth about Iraq
Richard Ingrams, The Observer (UK), 25 September 05

'It is hard, even for a compulsive newspaper reader like me, to find out exactly what is going on in Basra and, in particular, what went on last week when British troops demolished a police station in order to rescue two SAS men who had been arrested by the police.

'But what you can deduce, even if the media won't say as much, is that the situation there is considered so dangerous now that journalists daren't go there any more. Not surprising, considering that in recent weeks two of them have been murdered. [And, it should be added, journalist-murder is a hobby of the American military, if not the British.]

'But it is not only murderous Iraqis who are preventing the truth from emerging. The army, taking its instructions from Dr John Reid and his Ministry of Defence, is making it more difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to find out what is going on, even if they manage to get there in the first place.

'A Times reporter, Anthony Lloyd, was one of a group of six journalists allowed to visit Basra in the wake of last week's disaster. But he travelled courtesy of the MoD and was allowed only a day to ask questions before being put back on a plane.

'Those answering questions have been told in printed handouts what questions could be answered and what the correct answers were. The central message was that lat Monday's events were "of limited significance". There had only been a small crowd of protesters — "about 200 in a city of 1.5 millions" — while Dr Reid added that the three soldiers seen leaping from their burning tank "have injuries which are not serious".

'Army officers who spoke to the Times, however, gave a different version. They said the crowd numbered 1,000 and that British soldiers had fired live rounds into it, killing a number of civilians. One of the three injured guardsmen was in so serious a condition that he had been flown back to the UK.

'Thus the lies and deceptions which have characterised Mr Blair's operation from the start continue to flow from the mouths of ministers and their underlings.'

I disagree with this view. The "security" and "intelligence" and the special forces (principally the American, with their Brit sidekicks) are the prime agents of the upcoming Black Empire, and the incumbent politicians their frontmen (albeit willing ones).

Michael Keefer, "Were british Special Forces Soldiers Planting Bombs in Basra?", Centre for Research on Globalization, 25 Sept. 05. Relates some alleged incidents where American forces planted bombs on Iraqi drivers and nearly tricked them into delivering them to strategic points; etc.

Israeli PM Ariel Sharon has said he will wage unremitting war on Palestinian militants, after Hamas fired 30-odd rockets into Israel. The rocket attacks were themselves in reprisal for an explosion which killed 15 Palestinians. In an "unprecedented" move, Israel has stationed artillery pieces on the border with the Gaza Strip, and has commenced "practice" shots into "empty" Gaza land. 200+ "militants" have been arrested in the West Bank.

So it appears that the withdrawal of Jewish colonists from the Gaza Strip was a preliminary move to ethnic cleansing there. Perhaps (with the Gaza-Egypt border now unblocked), they hope to drive the population into Egypt. That may be the Gazans' best hope ...

An Israeli warplane launched a missile against a car travelling on the coastal Gaza road, killing Mohammed Khalil, the top Islamic Jihad leader in the southern Gaza Strip. Yesterday, two important Hamas men in Gaza were killed in a similar way.

Israel has made fresh airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, hours after Hamas said it's stopping rocket attacks. Israel says it's targeting "arms workshops".

Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has said, in effect, Please catch Osama bin Laden somewhere else (i.e. not Pakistan).

The alleged head of al-Qaeda in Spain or Europe, Abu Dahdah, was sentenced to 27 years for terrorist-related activities. But he was not convicted of charges of planning 9/11, which would have carried a sentence of 74,000 years.

An al-Jazeera journalist was sentenced to 7 years for collaborating with al-Qaeda.

A secret arms deal between British PM Tony Blair and Defence Secretary John Reid, and Saudi Arabia. (Guardian)

'WASHINGTON — (KRT) — It was shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, that Anthony Shaffer says he learned from a Pentagon contractor whose Able Danger data had not been destroyed that the information gathered by the project the year before included Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta, whose name and photo had quickly become recognizable around the world.

'"We had a coffee and talked about this issue," Shaffer said. "She's the one who brought it to my attention: 'Oh, by the way, here's one of the charts from before 9/11.' It was one of those open-source data runs, and it showed the picture."

'It was not, Shaffer said, the menacing Florida driver's license photo of Atta that has become a dark emblem of the Sept. 11 attacks.

'"Here is this gaunt figure," Shaffer recalled. "He's very distinctive. This is an older, more grainy photo we had of him. It was not the best picture in the world."

'But Shaffer said he has no doubt the face in the picture was Mohamed Atta the hijacker. "No," he said. "Same guy."

'Within days of the conversation with the contractor, someone associated with Able Danger brought the chart to Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., whose House subcommittee on military technology had funded Able Danger.

'The contractor did not return a message left on her home answering machine. But Weldon told the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that, on Sept. 25, 2001, he took the Atta chart to Stephen Hadley, then the deputy to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. She is now secretary of state and Hadley is national security adviser. ...'

"Abu Azzam", the "second-in-command of al-Qaeda in Iraq", is said to have been killed in a shoot-out in Baghdad, in a joint operation by US and Iraqi forces. CIA [surprise surprise] are said to have been involved.

It hasn't made any difference to the level of attacks [no surprise there either], a BBC TV news reporter commented.

Israel bombarded Gaza City with plane-launched missiles, and with artillery from across the border. Power was cut off in one section of the city.

FBI director Robert Mueller, in the UK, was interviewed on British Channel 4 News tonight.

John Crewdson and Andrew Zajac, "Ata known to Pentagon Before 9/11", Newsday (New York), 28 Sept. 05, reproduced on MediaChannel, 28 Sept. 05

At the UK ruling Labour Party conference, two gorillas manhandled 82-year-old refugee-from-Nazism Walter Wolfgang out of the conference hall after he called out "nonsense!" during Jack Straw's bullshit on Iraq. Another member of the audience who remonstrated with the heavies was also bundled out.

Outside the hall, Wolfgang was held by police under anti-terrorism laws, but not charged. Labour later apologized.

Tom DeLay, the US House majority-Republican leader, has been indicted by a state over something-or-other. DeLay is an important fund-raiser for President Bush.

Have they got their knickers in a twist over those two SAS men caught in Basra with a bootload of explosives and arms! (See above.) Not to mention the Able Danger of their big brothers in America.

The London Met Police, like the UK's "Labour" government, are of course only the frontmen and dogsbodies of the primary agents of Black Empire-construction: the "security", "intelligence" and special forces (which are themselves the sidekicks of their US equivalents).

US soldiers in Iraq exchanged pictures of themselves, sometimes grinning, with Iraqi corpses and body parts, for internet pornography.

A US judge has ordered 40 more pictures of inmate abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison to be published.

A bird-flu pandemic could kill up to 150 million worldwide, says the UN's David Nabarro.

New York Times reporter Judith Miller has been released from prison after 3 months after she agreed to say something. She had refused to reveal her source for a story about the "outing" of a CIA agent. It is widely believed to be "Scooter" Libby, Vice-President Cheney's chief-of-staff. The agent's husband had revealed the fraud about claims of Niger-Iraq uranium, and it is believed the outing was a White-House reprisal.

The reporter recently received a phone call, believed to be from Libby, though she isn't saying ...