Airline Security Less Than Perfect?

Americans Shocked to learn from the The New York Times,

“WASHINGTON Despite an immense investment in security, the U.S. aviation system remains vulnerable to attack by Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups, with noncommercial planes and helicopters offering terrorists a particularly tempting target, a confidential U.S. government report concludes.

“Intelligence indicates that Al Qaeda may have already discussed plans to hijack charter planes, helicopters and other general aviation aircraft for attacks because they are less guarded than commercial airliners, according to a previously undisclosed “special assessment” on aviation security by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security…

“A separate report issued last month by the Department of Homeland Security concluded that developing a clear framework for setting possible targets in order is critical because “it is impossible to protect all of the infrastructure sectors equally across the entire United States.” Many Democrats say the administration has lagged in this area”

Amazing to think that people can think of ways to commit crimes where cops aren’t around.
Leaving the world alone and allowing Americans to defend themselves are apparently not being considered as options.

When Did GWB Decide to Invade Iraq?

Today’s story from Democracy Now, “Arab American Publisher Says Bush Told Him in May 2000 He Planned to ‘Take Out’ Iraq” reminded me of this claim by director David O. Russell (Three Kings, I (Heart) Huckabees, etc.):

“I met George Bush. Terry Semel was running Warner Bros. and had him over in the summer of ’99. He hadn’t even gotten the nomination yet. I was invited to meet him with a small group of people. I told him, ‘I’m editing a movie right now that questions your father’s legacy in Iraq.’ And his face for a moment was like, What the tuck is this? And then he immediately said, ‘Well, then, I guess I’m gonna have to go back and finish the job.’ I guess they had been planning this for a long time, he and his cronies.”

Speaking of movies… I just saw Downfall, the Academy Award-nominated German film about the last days in Hitler’s bunker. It’s a little slow, being European and all, and you know the ending, but that aside it’s a powerful antiwar film: great acting, historical accuracy, & German dialog, rather than German-accented English — and unlike other antiwar films it doesn’t glamorize war: you can’t wait for the idealistic nihilistic nightmare to end and mundane everyday life to begin.

U.S. Military Continues to “Improve Detainee Handling”

According to a report from the American Forces Press Service, The US military has “conducted 10 major reviews, assessments and investigations”, and “these reviews represent more than 1,700 interviews and more than 16,000 pages of information”.
All of this in a desperate effort to convince the public that such incidents as the Abu Ghraib scandal won’t ever happen again. It makes me wonder though, why do you need 10 major reviews and 16,000 pages of documentation to know enough not to torture and sexually molest prisoners? The US military needs 1700 interviews and 16,000 pages of documentation to know enough not to do this;

Abu Ghraib photo

NORAD-NorthCom EXPAND at Peterson AFB

The expansion includes;

training rooms, offices for special operations and military communications, backup generators, a barbershop, shower rooms for those who work round-the-clock shifts and a 10-car garage for commanders.

The key to the expansion seems to be an attempt to avoid base closure;

The Defense Department’s hit list, due in May, isn’t likely to omit bases from closure just because they’ve had recent construction projects, he said, because a $50 million investment is “chicken feed” compared with the billions of dollars the Pentagon wants to save by closing a quarter of the nation’s bases.

However, referring to the new project, Hellman said, “It seems they’re making themselves pretty cozy there.”