"The future masters of technology will have to be lighthearted and intelligent. The machine easily masters the grim and the dumb." -- Marshall McLuhan, 1969
27B Stroke 6 | Dem's Privacy Changes in 9/11 Bill Challenge Administration
Topic: Civil Liberties
5:17 pm EST, Jan 9, 2007
Ryan Singel at 27B Stroke 6 chimes in on an element of the Democrats' 911 bill. This sounds really good to me.
Most notably, the bill removes the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board from the White House -- turning it into an independent agency. Currently the 5-member board serves at the pleasure of the president and only the chair and vice-chair need Senate confirmation. Critics charge that the board has no independence and since it serves inside the White House, can only effectively work as an insider, even though its charged with and attempting to be a public-facing board. These contradictions were glaringly obvious in their first public meeting in December, when it refused to take questions from the press and admitted the panel knew, but would not reveal, the number of Americans targeted yearly by the President's warrantless spying program.
The Democratic Congress's idea of what the panel should look like may well lead to a veto or a court challenge. Each member would serve for a six-year term (meaning they could not be fired), the board would have to report to a bevy of Congressional oversight committees, no more than three members can be from the same political party, and the board can issue its own subpoenas to require people not in the government to turn over records.
Additionally, other agencies, including all intelligence agencies, will have to appoint privacy and civil liberties officers, who themselves will have to report often to Congress and the Privacy and Civil Liberties boards on their activities and investigations. The chief privacy officer of the Department of Homeland Security, currently the only privacy officer mandated by Congress, also gets expanded powers to issue outside subpoenas and use the same powers as the Inspector General to force cooperation from Homeland Security employees.
Pajamas Media: America’s Boots on the Ground in Somalia
Topic: War on Terrorism
11:36 am EST, Jan 9, 2007
The al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic Courts Union’s surprisingly rapid retreat in the face of Ethiopia’s military campaign in Somalia has puzzled many observers. How could the Ethiopians roll up the jihadists so quickly? Pajamas Media has learned that one significant factor is that U.S. air and ground forces covertly aided the Ethiopian military since its intervention began on Christmas day.
U.S. ground forces have been active in Somalia from the start, a senior military intelligence officer confirmed. “In fact,” he said, “they were part of the first group in.”
These ground forces include CIA paramilitary officers who are based out of Galkayo, in Somalia’s semiautonomous region of Puntland; Special Operations forces; and Marine units operating out of Camp Lemonier in Djibouti.
Pajamas Media previously reported that Ethiopia’s use of helicopter gunships capable of targeting the Islamic Courts Union’s ground forces was a decisive factor in the army-to-army fighting against the ICU. A senior military intelligence source says that some of the gunships earlier described as Ethiopian were in fact U.S. aircraft. This has been confirmed by Dahir Jibreel, the transitional government’s permanent secretary in charge of international cooperation, who said that U.S. planes and helicopters with their markings obscured have been striking targets since December 25.
The ground forces have been serving in the role of military advisors. Their duties include identifying ground targets for the Ethiopian air force.
New Saddam Hussein Video: Body with neck gash after Hanging
Topic: Current Events
4:07 am EST, Jan 9, 2007
(Update: Google removed the video. The link has been changed to a copy on YouTube.)
A new Saddam Hussein video has surfaced on Google Video. In this video, Hussein's body is on a gurney and the cover is removed to reveal his head, which has a huge gash in the neck where bone is exposed.
This unattributed video is currently linked on FoxNews's main page. FoxNews provides a translation of the dialog in the audio, which clearly suggests the person taking the video was trying not to get caught.
In the first publicly acknowledged military action against Somalian territory since 1993, the U.S. targeted key Al Qaeda operatives on the run in Somalia. Among them is Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a.k.a. Harun Fazul, suspected of masterminding the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, for which he was indicted in the U.S. Previous CT Blog posts provided background on the Al Qaeda operatives in Somalia and targeted in the strike, and the slow recognition of Al Qaeda's role in the ICU:
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross: "Islamic Courts Abandon Kismayo, Establish 'Shadow Governments,'" January 1: "Thus far, ICU forces have been melting away as the Ethiopians advance. This is reminiscent of the Taliban's dispersal after Kandahar fell in Afghanistan. There is confirmation that the three suspects in the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings who were in Somalia escaped during the ICU's retreat."
"Somalia's Terrorists," Dec. 29: "Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, members of al-Qaeda's Somali cell, had returned to Somalia. They were financed by Sudanese al-Qaeda operative Tariq Abdullah (a.k.a. Abu Talha al-Sudani), who operated between Somalia and the UAE. Mohammed and Nabhan were involved in preparations for the 1998 embassy bombings, and masterminded the November 2002 Mombasa attack on the Paradise Hotel."
Douglas Farah: "The Wrong Questions on Somalia," Jan. 8: "But there is ample evidence, from their own statements and actions, that the Court leadership that triumphed was a intergral link in the Islamist narrative, woven and rewoven in different conflicts around the globe."
"Blind Spots on Somalia," Dec. 18: "One of the most astonishing statements in today's Washington Post look at Somalia comes from John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence. Negroponte said that "I don't think there are hard and fast views," on al Qaeda in Somalia..."
"A Belated Acknowledgement on Somalia," Nov. 30: "Finally, rather than pretending Somalia is an unimportant side show in fighting Islamists in Africa, a senior official has actually acknowledged what is really happening. Jendayi Frazer, the State Department's head of Africa, told reporters that al Qaeda is operating 'with great comfort' in Somalia."
Bumping Cypherghost's link through to BoingBoing, but this burning Elmo video is one part of a three part series that starts with this video. Watching the chared, burning robot flailing its metal limbs against the ground and laughing manically evokes some of the moredisturbing scenes from the Animatrix. The future is machines that don't break down, they die.
The US has launched an air strike against members of a suspected al-Qaeda cell in a village in southern Somalia.
The targets were reported to have been tracked by aerial reconnaissance and then attacked by a US gunship based on a US military base near Djibouti.
There has been no official confirmation from the Pentagon that the air strike took place, but correspondents say a statement is expected within hours.
The attack was carried out by an Air Force AC-130, a heavily-armed gunship that has highly effective detection equipment and can work under the cover of darkness.
The gunship flew from its base in Dijibouti down to the southern tip of Somalia, Martin reports, where the al Qaeda operatives had fled after being chased out of the capital of Mogadishu by Ethiopian troops backed by the United States.
Once they started moving, the al Qaeda operatives became easier to track, and the U.S. military started preparing for an air strike, using unmanned aerial drones to keep them under surveillance and moving the aircraft carrier Eisenhower out of the Persian Gulf toward Somalia. But when the order was given, the mission was assigned to the AC-130 gunship operated by the U.S. Special Operations command.
Meanwhile, a jungle hideout used by Islamic militants that is believed to be an al Qaeda base was on the verge of falling to Ethiopian and Somali troops, the defense minister said Monday.
Linden Lab is making the source code for the Second Life Viewer available to everyone. Talented developers from around the world will be able to collaborate with Linden Lab to refine and enhance the experience for all residents of Second Life.
The Second Life source code is available under the GNU General Public License, version 2.0, with a FLOSS exception, as well as under alternative terms for proprietary applications.
Nanochick wrote: I think its about time that the Memestreams Community and the people who work hard coding Memestreams in their free time get the recognition they deserve. Therefore, I have nominated memestreams for a "Weblog Award", and I hope others in the community will do the same.
Thanks Nano! I don't think anyone has nominated us for a Bloggie before. Frankly, if everyone who regularly reads this site nominates us, we stand a reasonable chance to get past the first round. That would certainly be fun. Apparently you can nominate a blog to multiple categories. I think "Best Community Blog" and "Best Kept Secret" are probably the best two for us, but I won't discourage other nominations. :) Just do it quick. Voting closes on January 10th.
This desk calendar provides information on terrorist incidents throughout recent history along with information on key groups and people.
Now available for download from the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) website. There does not appear to be a place where you can buy a printed copy. These would have made splendid Christmas gifts..
The NCTC also has a kids website, which aside from coloring book images of the mascots Little Lady Liberty and Beaker The Eagle, doesn't appear to have anything even remotely of interest to kids. It's not nearly as cool as the NSA Kids site.
