This article gives some insight into the flaws of the National No-Fly List associated with CAPPS and CAPPS II. Along with the horror stories of existing problems, there are examples of why the new plan for CAPPS II is even worse than the current one.

"Remember, this isn't just about privacy, it's also about accountability," Tien says. "It's not just Orwell -- it's Kafka."

A bigger problem with CAPPS II, though, is that it may not work very well at finding terrorists. In May 2002, Samidh Chakrabarti and Aaron Strauss, two graduate students in computer science (and a few other disciplines) at MIT, decided to see if they could come up with an algorithm that terrorists might use to beat a profiling system like the current version of CAPPS. After studying everything that is publicly known about CAPPS, the pair determined that anyone with the will and not very many resources could easily get around the system. They concluded that airlines would be safer if, instead of profiling, they instead selected a portion of fliers at random and subjected them to more thorough searches for weapons. (Chakrabarti and Strauss wrote up their findings in a term paper for a class, but it was picked up by First Monday, a peer-reviewed academic journal on the Web.)

'Please step to the side, sir'

] BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi capital sank into anarchy
] on Friday as residents went on a looting spree in full
] view of U.S. forces.
]
] As troops still battled to contain pockets of Iraqi
] fighters scattered around the city, thousands of ordinary
] citizens helped themselves to anything they could lay
] their hands on in shops, factories, schools, hospitals
] and government buildings.
]
] Young and old, men and women rifled through bomb-damaged
] buildings as well as areas unaffected by fighting.
]
] "Is this your liberation?" one frustrated shopkeeper
] screamed at the crew of a U.S. tank as a gang of youths
] helped themselves to everything in his small hardware
] store and carted booty off in the wheelbarrows that had
] also been on sale.
]
] "Hell, it ain't my job to stop them," drawled one young
] marine, lighting a cigarette as he looked on. "Goddamn
] Iraqis will steal anything if you let them. Look at
] them."

Is This Freedom, Ask Iraqis as Chaos Reigns

] CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., April 10 (UPI) -- Wives of Camp
] Pendleton Marines involved in the war in Iraq have been
] receiving crank calls from individuals claiming to work
] for the Red Cross who regretfully, and falsely, inform
] them that their spouses had been killed in action.
]
] In a statement, Camp Pendleton reminded military families
] that genuine casualty notifications are not made by
] telephone or by the Red Cross.
]
] "Individuals falsely identifying themselves as Red Cross
] representatives have made prank calls to Camp Pendleton
] spouses claiming that their loved ones overseas have been
] killed," the Marine Corps said in a brief statement. "The
] Marine Corps does not utilize the Red Cross for casualty
] notification. Marine Corps and Navy representatives
] conduct all casualty notifications in person for Camp
] Pendleton."
]
] Camp Pendleton is the home base of the 1st Marine
] Division, which battled its way into Baghdad and
] continues to engage Iraqi resisters.
]
] "I honestly can't even fathom someone with that
] mentality," a Marine wife named "Julia" told The San
] Diego Union-Tribune Thursday. "I can't even go there in
] my mind."
]
] "I would assume that a young spouse could believe that
] kind of call and her world could be shattered," she
] added.
]
] The Red Cross said last week that families of service
] members in Michigan, Delaware and Alabama had reported
] receiving similar

More G.I. wives get hoax casualty calls

] Nabhal Amin, deputy director at the Iraqi National
] Museum, blamed the destruction on the United States for
] not taking control of the situation on the streets.
]
] On Saturday, Unesco - the UN's cultural agency - has
] urged the US and Britain to deploy troops at Iraq's key
] archaeological sites and museums to stop widespread
] looting and destruction.
]
] Armed men have been roaming the streets of Baghdad since
] the city was taken by US troops on Wednesday.
]
] Shops, government offices, presidential palaces and even
] hospitals have all been looted.

Looters ransack Baghdad museum

Here's a great story detailing the history of Saddam Hussein. Feel free to forward to anyone who says that Bush is worse than Saddam..

=darwin

quoted:
===

Tales of the Tyrant
by Mark Bowden

What does Saddam Hussein see in himself that no one else in the world seems to see? The answer is perhaps best revealed by the intimate details of the Iraqi leader's daily life

The Atlantic | May 2002 | Tales of the Tyrant | Bowden

] THREE WEEKS AGO, based on early reports from Iraq, I
] suggested that war against repressive regimes no longer
] necessitates massive casualties. Opponents of the war
] fired back. Some argued that war was always immoral;
] others argued that this war was hasty or unjust. All
] agreed that the immorality of war was based on the
] immorality of killing. Now that Baghdad has fallen,
] here%u2019s my question to peaceniks: Are you against
] killing, or are you against war? Because what happened in
] Iraq suggests you may have to choose.

The redemptive side of war

] MOSCOW, April 11 (RIA Novosti correspondent Viktoria
] Prikhodko) - On Friday head of the State Duma committee
] on international affairs Dmitry Rogozin stated to
] journalists that the statement made by US Deputy
] Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz regarding the necessity
] for Russia, Germany and France to write off Iraqi debts
] "most probably was a careless rather than a well-thought
] idea." Rogozin stated that to forgive Iraqi debts to
] France, Germany and the Russian Federation was like
] mocking at common sense which would never be accepted.
] The head of the Duma committee was confident that it was
] the USA that should repay to Russia USD 8.5 billion of
] the Iraqi debt and about USD 2 billion for losses which
] Russian companies incurred in connection with military
] actions in Iraq.

RUSSIAN DEPUTY SPEAKS IRONICALLY OF WASHINGTON'S DEMAND TO WRITE OFF IRAQI DEBTS TO RUSSIA, GERMANY AND FRANCE

Thats Iraq, and Afghanistan, but who's keeping score? (Well, besides Fox News.)

With parties in the streets of Baghdad and the comment today from Iraq's UN ambassador that "its over," it appears that regardless of what you think about whats happening, it appears to be happening exactly according to plan.

Look for NK to quitely chill out over the course of a few months.
Look for at least a few countries to pursue domestic Al'Q cells with renewed vigor.

Hawks: 2 Doves: 0

] Rep. Lynn Woolsey wants peace to have a better chance.
]
] In ambitious legislation re-introduced in Congress this
] week, the Petaluma Democrat and 46 congressional
] co-authors have proposed the creation of a Department of
] Peace, a kind of counterbalance to the Department of
] Defense.
]
] The primary author of the bill to create the
] Cabinet-level department is Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio,
] who is also an announced candidate for president.
]
] With American tanks and airplanes pounding Iraq, the
] chances of a U.S. Department of Peace may seem more
] remote than ever. But Woolsey isn't worried about being
] drowned out by the din of war.

Woolsey backs Department of Peace bill

] Our vanguard entered Baghdad soon after nine o'clock this
] morning. The city is approached by an unmetalled road
] between palm groves and orange gardens.
]
] Crowds of Baghdadis came out to meet us: Persians, Krabe,
] Jew, Armenians, Chaldeans and Christians of diverse sects
] and races. They lined the streets, balconies and roofs,
] hurrahing and clapping their hands. Groups of
] schoolchildren danced in front of us, shouting and
] cheering, and the women of the city turned out in their
] holiday dresses.
]
] The people of the city have been robbed to supply the
] Turkish army for the last two years. The oppression was
] becoming unendurable, and during the last week it
] degenerated into brigandage. I am told that the mere
] mention of the British was punishable, and the people
] were afraid to talk freely about the war.

British welcome in Baghdad