The perceived threat is a politically driven fantasy -- and al-Qaida is a dark illusion.

Terror? What terror? We don't need to do anything. (Isn't there a game on, or something?)

the terror myth

Los Angeles International Airport was shut down early Saturday because of a possible security breach and a separate incident at an international terminal security screening station.

LAX Shut Down on Security Concern

China's pig population has become infected with a deadly bird flu virus.

Saudi Arabia buys military tanks from Pakistan. Pakistan buys naval patrol boats from Turkey and helicopters from the US.

On Thursday, the Taliban threatened to kill Rumsfeld.

Pakistani intellectuals have described as "insanity" recent Iranian threats of nuclear attack on the US.

The stand-down from the Imam Ali mosque was scripted, staged for effect.

Iran is feelling left out in Iraq and is trying to figure out what to do next. On Thursday, they decided to inform the world that the Philippines' hasty departure from Iraq was "correct, courageous and timely."

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades has adopted a strategy of kidnapping Israeli soldiers in order to swap them for Palestinian detainees.

The Iraqi media recently circulated rumors that Israeli soldiers were fighting in Najaf. The Allawi government has formally denied it.

Iraqi media report that most Baathist former government employees, dismissed by the US, soon will be reinstated.

An Iraqi newspaper quotes an Al-Mahdi Army fighter in Najaf as saying: "There is confusion. We do not know with whom we are fighting!"

"21 Yemeni nationals have been killed in US raids on Al-Fallujah and Samarra recently."

The attacks in Iraq may become a fixture of life in the country, much as with the IRA in Ireland previously. Najaf may become another Falluja.

Journalists, including those at AFP, refer to part of Thailand as the "troubled Muslim south." Thai officials call it a 'major transit' point for illegal weapons.

The government of India has a 'broadband' policy, which is now being amended to include deregulated Wi-Fi. They seek to have 20 million broadband subscribers by the year 2010.

At a science and technology expo of young North Koreans, which runs through September 5, two items of special note: a new species of potato, which promises to "bring about a turn in potato farming" and a new, more valuable species of hemp. Separately, researchers at the Pyongyang-based Hygiene Institute of the Academy of Medical Sciences are hard at work on ways to "efficiently use potato leftovers, which are produced after making starch," and on a search for a "more effective and efficient water sterilizing method."

Russia is having trouble recruiting young people to the engineering profession, especially in aerospace.

I will have a Vice President ... I will have a Secretary of Defense ... I will appoint an Attorney General ...

"I will have a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Consumer Services ..."

Note: No mention of a DCI or an intelligence director.

Did I mention values?

... jobs, jobs, jobs ... jobs blah blah jobs blah blah jobs blah blah jobs ...

... and not so much as a word linking jobs with education. Jobs are about people, not policy, not process.

Did I mention values?

NEO: Can you fly that thing?
TRINITY: Not yet.
TANK: Operator.
TRINITY: Tank, I need a pilot program for a military B- 212 helicopter.
TRINITY: Hurry!
TRINITY: Let's go.

He seems deeply confused about foreign relations. First he says, "to protect the American people, fundamental American values ... is the only justification for going to war." Then he talks about the importance of not having "to go it alone in the world." How does he expect other nations to join with us in the protection of American values, if our president is on record that the United States is unwilling to go to war to protect fundamental British values, or French values, or Italian values, or German values, or Spanish values, or Iraqi values, or Pakistani values, or Canadian values?

Did I mention values?

I will immediately reform the intelligence system.

How, please?

I will fight a smarter, more effective war on terror.

How, please?

For a man of details and nuance, he is rather short on both here.

Did I mention values?

We need to lead a global effort against nuclear proliferation – to keep the most dangerous weapons in the world out of the most dangerous hands in the world.

Bandwagoning, motherhood, and apple pie. Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar have been working on this for years now.

"In the past decade, the Nunn-Lugar has spent $4bn to help former Soviet states eliminate or secure weapons of mass destruction. Its successes range from dismantling one of the world's largest biological weapons production facilities in Kazakhstan to deactivating more than 6,000 nuclear warheads spread across Russia and the former Soviet Union."

... balanced budget ... balanced budget ... balanced budget ... I will immediately implement the recommendations of the 9/11 commission.

Does he have any idea how much it will cost to physically inspect every container ship?

http://www.machinevisiononline.org/public/articles/archivedetails.cfm?id=1419

"Some 200 million intermodal cargo containers carry an estimated $12.5 trillion in cargo by ship, rail and truck each year. Today, only 2 percent or of cargo containers are inspected at US ports, and of those inspected, the containers’ contents match the manifest only about 30 percent of the time. Experts estimate that fielding the necessary cargo inspection ... [ Read More (0.1k in body) ]

John Kerry's Acceptance Speech

I find it interesting that in the section describing the Afghan war against the Soviets in the 1980s, there is no mention of the role played by the United States in that conflict. Perhaps it's because the section is entitled, "Who is the enemy?"

The commission's recommendation to establish a cabinet-level director of national intelligence appears to have been motivated by the fact that Tenet's 1998 "We are at war" memorandum did not seem to have the expected effect on the Community. Later, they also argue that the current DCI job has too many concurrent responsibilities for a single person to perform properly.

A few selected excerpts:

Many dedicated officers worked day and night for years to piece together the growing body of evidence on al Qaeda and to understand the threats.

Al Qaeda had a pre-9/11 annual budget estimated at $30 million.

What to do?

Strengthen long-term US and international commitments to the future of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Confront problems with Saudi Arabia.

Secrecy stifles oversight, accountability, and information sharing. Unfortunately, all the current organizational incentives encourage overclassification. This balance should change; and as a start, open information should be provided about the overall size of agency intelligence budgets.

The system of "need to know" should be replaced by a system of "need to share."

We look forward to a national debate on the merits of what we have recommended, and we will participate vigorously in that debate.

Executive Summary of 9/11 Final Report

The official web site is Slashdotted. Many news outlets have cached the report. Get it here from NYT.

We present the narrative of this report and the recommendations that flow from it to the President of the United States, the United States Congress, and the American people for their consideration.

We have come together with a unity of purpose because our nation demands it.

Our mandate was sweeping.

In pursuing our mandate, we have reviewed more than 2.5 million pages of documents and interviewed more than 1,200 individuals in ten countries.

We learned about an enemy who is sophisticated, patient, disciplined, and lethal.

We learned of the pervasive problems of managing and sharing information across a large and unwieldy government that had been built in a different era to confront different dangers.

We came into this process with strong opinions about what would work. All of us have had to pause, reflect, and sometimes change our minds as we studied these problems and considered the views of others.We hope our report will encourage our fellow citizens to study, reflect -- and act.

The 9/11 Commission Report

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission) will release its final report at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 22, in Washington, D.C.

The Saudi police have made the grisly discovery in Riyadh of the frozen head of Paul Johnson, the American hostage decapitated by his captors last month.

Head of Kidnapped American Is Discovered in a Saudi Raid

The shrieks from the young Russian increased in volume as she sought for the breakthrough and Sugiyama’s resistance crumbled in a way that did scant justice to her brave efforts.

Russian teenager takes centre stage

Can we please stop talking about "contacts", "ties", and "relationships" in the context of international affairs, foreign policy, and justifications for war? It's all very pot meets kettle.

Everyone has seen the picture of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Hussein on an official visit to Baghdad. There is no disputing the fact that this qualifies as a contact. Debating whether the US relationship with Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war qualifies as "collaborative" or merely "associative" is beside the point. Ditto for Iraq-al Qaeda. The US had even stronger ties to Iran only years before.

Books like George Crile's "Charlie Wilson's War" and Steve Coll's "Ghost Wars" offer up ample evidence of years-long, sustained relationships between the US and the mujahideen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan.

"The Insider" starts with a scene in which a Hezbollah leader is interviewed for a segment on 60 Minutes. Does this qualify as "Ties" between Viacom and Hezbollah?