Antiwar.com Blog

I was channel-surfing a few days ago & I saw an alarming local news alert. 200 pounds of explosives had been stolen from a heavily fortified secret government arms depot.

Why were they announcing this? Obviously because they had no leads and hoped for assistance from the public. As expected, a concerned citizen phoned in some information; an arrest was made & the suspect confessed.

“Suspect admits he participated in explosives theft”

“The materials included electric and non-electric blasting caps, various types of detonator cord, smokeless powder, grenades and grenade-type devices, assorted ammunition, binary explosives, and C-4 military explosives.”

The criminal mastermind? A 40-something-year-old drug addict with no fixed address.

The heavily fortified bunker?

“Broken alarm, security failures aided break-in”

There were no regular patrols or security cameras at the site. Locks on the steel doors to the five bunkers where the explosives were kept could be cut away with a torch. The alarm system inside the bunkers was broken for some time, with the full knowledge of the Sheriff’s Office bomb squad, according to Horsley.

“They kept trying to fix it. It never got fixed,” Horsley said.

It was still broken over the Fourth of July weekend, when police believe Michael Alexander Allan, 46, got a vehicle through a series of locked gates and used an acetylene torch to cut the locks off the thick, steel bunker doors. Stolen were 200 pounds of volatile explosives and blasting caps, enough to conduct several terrorist attacks, such as car bombings.

Allan was arrested in Union City on Wednesday night and much of the explosives was recovered.

Horsley said he had not been informed about the broken alarm, but declined to say who on his staff knew about the problem. No disciplinary action is planned.

“I can’t blame someone for a technical problem that they were incapable of fixing,” Horsley said. …

Exactly who is responsible for security at the site is unclear. The San Francisco Police Department, San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office and FBI all store property there, and security was described as a “shared responsibility.” The Sheriff’s Office recently eliminated a patrol in the area during budget cuts. …

Most of the 3,410 pounds of high explosives stolen last year were from companies with blasting permits. With little commercial resale value, the only motivation for such items is curiosity or criminal purposes, he said.

A ton or two of high explosives can do a lot of damage but a nuclear device might do more. Unfortunately, experts estimate that it will be several years before nuke-sensing equipment is installed to check containers entering US ports. And nukes are a-proliferating. The top guy at the International Atomic Energy Agency says that Abdul Khan, the (reportedly Islamist) father of Pakistan’s nuke program, had nuke-related contact with 20 governments and “large companies.”

“ElBaradei: Pakistan gave nuclear know-how to at least 20 countries”

Meanwhile (according to a report in The New Republic), Pakistani officials claim that the Bushies are turning a blind eye to Khan’s past proliferation in exchange for Pakistan’s capturing or killing a major al Qaeda leader just before the US election. (As I’ve noted elsewhere, Khan’s proliferating ways were known long before they were stopped.)

“PAKISTAN FOR BUSH – July Surprise?”

“Diplomatic and intelligence sources” leaked to the press this week the allegation that the Bushies, overruling the Pentagon and CIA, released Saudi terror suspects in exchange for that nation’s quiet support for the Iraq war. (Backstory for Fox News fans: As part of a Saudi and US government covert program requiring plausible deniability, money was funneled through charity organizations and given to jihadists fighting in Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden was one of those jihadists and, more often, one of the fundraisers. The Saudi government claims to have stopped funding bin Laden in 1989 but right up to, and perhaps after, 2001 al Qaeda received funds from the pre-1989 jihad funding charities. Iraq, on the other hand, is not known to have funded or armed al Qaeda at any time.)

“Saudis freed Britons in a secret swap of prisoners”

Which brings to mind the fact that last month the Tampa International Airport contradicted the Bushies and confirmed that on Sept. 13, 2001, when most US air traffic was grounded, 3 young Saudis – including one sharing a hijacker’s last name – accompanied by an ex-cop and an ex-FBI agent, flew to Kentucky, and then out of the USA. (The cop & agent returned to Florida.)

“TIA now verifies flight of Saudis”

And, last but not least, AG Ashcroft has squelched the testimony of a former FBI translator who wants to go public with information about alleged infiltration of the Pentagon, State Dept., and FBI, citing “certain diplomatic relations for national security.”

“Our Broken System”

It’s really a matter of trust.

The sensationally ignorant Charles Krauthammer has a new pro-Israel column in the Washington Post today. Krauthammer claims that the Palestinian intifada is over, due to two factors: The brilliantly effective Israeli strategy in attacking Hamas leaders with precision rockets, and the swell new barrier or wall or whatever it is. Krauthammer calls it a “separation fence”, a neat little turn of phrase.
The notion that Israel might be responsible for provoking the terrorism in the first place is completely off Krauthammer’s radar. To him, Arafat is unilaterally responsible, and Israel is only defending itself from his evil.
Amnesty International has continually issued reports critical of Israel for such things as destruction and confiscation of property, use of Palestinian children as human shields, murdering and arresting innocent people etc.
Ran HaCohen has written columns critical of Israel for their brutal tactics regarding the Hamas organization, and for building the peachy “separation fence”.
No matter, for Krauthammer, all that counts is Israel’s relentless drive for lebensraum.

We here at Antiwar.com are often very critical of Ariel Sharon, and rightly so. He has, after all, spent the last 50+ years killing civilians in a war few ever seem to get tired of. He’s directly responsible for tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths, and is now gleefully walling them in.

Indeed, its not terribly hard to find op/ed pieces that call him a genocidal madman. I’m not going to do that here, mostly because it makes it a lot harder to feel sorry for him.

But over the last few days, something interesting has happened. There exist those in Israel who are even further to the right than Mr. Sharon, and despite his past record, they really don’t feel he’s quite genocidal enough. In fact, they feel so strongly about this, some are plotting to kill him.

Although it may not look like it to those of us outside of Israel, Ariel Sharon has actually become something of a centrist, and in a society that has very strong opinions one way or the other on the Palestinian question, that is a very dangerous position to be in. He’s got to come down off the fence to save his own neck, and he knows it.

Two days ago when this story first started coming together, if you’d asked me which side he’d wind up on, I’d have guess the right. After all, this is Ariel Sharon we’re talking about. He’d probably decide he was going soft in his old age and get back to what he does best, killing Palestinians while the Right cheers. Miraculously though, it doesn’t look like that’s what is going to happen.

Instead, he has turned to one of his longtime rivals Shimon Peres, Labour Party Leader and founder of the Peres Center for Peace. The redoubtable Mr. Peres, to his credit, instead of taking the easy path to power has made his cooperation conditional, Israel must withdraw from the Gaza Strip, or he wants nothing to do with them.

Our Broken System
July 8, 2004

On Tuesday, July 6, 2004, Judge Reggie Walton made a decision and ruled on my case. Under his ruling, I, an American citizen, am not entitled to pursue my 1st and 5th Amendment rights guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States. The vague reasoning cited, without any explanation, is to protect “certain diplomatic relations for national security.” Judge Walton reached this decision after sitting on this case with no activity for almost two years. He arrived at this decision without allowing my attorney and I any due process: NO status hearing, NO briefings, NO oral argument, and NO discovery. He made his decision after allowing the government attorneys to present their case to him, privately, in camera, ex parte; we were not allowed to participate in these cozy sessions. Is this the American system of justice we believe in? Is this the due process we read about in our civics 101 courses? Is this the judicial branch of our government that is supposed to be separate from the other two branches in order to protect the people’s rights and freedom?

This court decision by itself would have been appalling and alarming enough, but in light of all other actions taken against my case for the past two years it demonstrates a broken system, a system abused and corrupted by the current executive, a system badly in need of repair.

Under this broken system the attorney general of the United States is being allowed to illegally gag the United States Congress regarding my case. And even worse, the United States Congress is readily complying with this illegal gag.

Under this broken system the attorney general of the United States is being allowed to hinder ongoing investigations such as the 9/11 Commission and the DOJ-IG.

Under this broken system the Attorney General of the United States is getting away with interfering and tampering with pending cases under the judicial process, such as my court cases, and the lawsuit by the 9/11 victim families.

John Ashcroft’s relentless fight against me, my information, and my case, on various fronts, from the Congress to the courts, and from the 9/11 Commission to the Inspector General’s Office, has been taking place under his attempt at a vague justification titled “Protecting Certain Foreign & Diplomatic Relations for National Security.”

On September 11, 2001, 3000 lives were lost. Yet this administration has hindered all past and on going investigations into the causes of that horrific day for the sake of this vague notion of protecting “certain diplomatic & foreign relations.”

As a result of the attack on 9/11, many thousands lost their loved ones and had their lives changed forever. Yet, this administration knowingly and intentionally let many directly or indirectly involved in that terrorist act go free – untouched and uninvestigated – by simply citing “protection of certain foreign & diplomatic relations for national security.”

Today, we are told that we are still under the threat of terrorists, and remain under various colors of the color-coded threat system invented and promoted by this administration. Yet, this same administration is relentlessly preventing any real investigations into finding out the facts, the real facts, regarding acts, semi-legit organizations, and people, involved in plots against this country and its people – under their sorry excuse of “protecting certain foreign & diplomatic relations.”

Isn’t it time to ask what diplomatic or foreign relations they keep referring to?

Isn’t it fair to demand that they should let the people know what kind of foreign relations are worth 3000 lives lost?

Isn’t it this administration’s obligation to justify these costs in lives and in our national security for the sake of maintaining certain foreign relations that benefit only the few?

Just take notice of the means this administration has used in my case alone to accomplish covering up and protecting those “foreign relations” in question, and to dodge any accountability themselves: illegal reclassifications, secrecy, gagging congressional inquiries, blocking court proceedings, stopping investigations, invoking the rarely invoked State Secret Privilege, asserting National Security.

It is apparent that this administration confidently expects us, the people, to sign blank checks unquestioningly. It is obvious that they believe they are entitled to unchecked power, unlimited authority, and unquestioning citizens’ support. To them, our Bill of Rights under the Constitution is nothing more than an inconvenient roadblock to overcome; our American system of checks and balances can be bypassed by overusing national security; and people’s dissent is a problem that can be diverted away by a culture of fear and complete submission to government authority.

As I have stated many times previously, I will continue this fight, since in taking my citizenship oath I pledged that I would support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Therefore, as an American citizen, I have the right and the obligation to defend the Constitution and laws of the United States against John Ashcroft’s assaults.

Three vigilantes have been reported arrested in Afghanistan, and the leader has been identified as an American. The nationality of the other two is unclear at this time, although early reports identified them as Americans also. BBC:

Three foreigners arrested in Kabul this week were on a freelance counter-terrorism mission, the Afghan government says.

They include at least one US national, Jonathan K Idema, a purported former US special services soldier who says he helped fight the Taleban in 2001.

The men were detained for illegally holding Afghans in a private prison.

The Interior Minister, Ali Ahmad Jalali, said their activities had no legal standing.

US officials say Mr Idema had tried to pass himself off as an American government or military official.

The BBC’s Andrew North in Kabul says this is the first official confirmation that Mr Idema and his group may have been acting beyond the control of US forces or the Afghan government in hunting alleged members of al Qaeda and the Taleban.

The interior minister said Mr Idema and his colleagues had arrested eight people from across Afghanistan and imprisoned them.

“They apparently said that their aims were to act against those carrying out terrorist attacks,” Mr Jalali told journalists in Kabul.

“But they did not have a legal relationship with anyone and the United States was also chasing them – they are actually rebels,” he said.

Warning

Earlier this week the US embassy warned journalists in Kabul about Mr Idema who says he helped anti-Taleban rebels fight the hard-line Islamic regime back in 2001.

“The public should be aware that Idema does not represent the American government and we do not employ him,” a US statement said.

Security sources have told the BBC that the US military circulated warning notices about Mr Idema some time ago, describing him as armed and dangerous and accusing him of interfering with military operations in Afghanistan.

Great. I wonder if they tortured their detainees and took pictures of them like the real US military did in Bagram and Abu Ghraib.

UPDATE: Well, does this shock anyone?

Afghan forces arrested three Americans on a freelance counter-terrorism mission after bursting into a private jail that the trio were allegedly running and finding prisoners hanging from their feet, officials said.

The US military, facing a widening investigation into prisoner abuse, quickly distanced itself from the three, who had been posing as American agents before their detention on Monday in Kabul.

UPDATE: Here’s lots of background on Idema. Thanks to commenter EC for the link.

The AP is reporting that the US military is now investigating the abduction of Wassef Ali Hassoun, who was even reported to have been beheaded, as an elaborate hoax. Apparently, Hassoun is safe at home in Beirut with his parents.

After the Islamic group Ansar al-Sunna Army denied abducting Hassoun and beheading him, reports began alleging that Hassoun was “safe” and had been released after promising to quit the US military. Conflicting stories from the family of Hassoun began surfacing. Now, it seems that the original story about the missing marine was probably correct:

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, who is now being held hostage by militants in Iraq, was thought to have deserted his unit when he was first reported missing on June 21, military representatives told NBC News. The officials believed Hassoun was headed for Lebanon and a reunion with his wife, they said. Hassoun, who is of of Lebanese descent, was originally classified as a deserter because of this theory, a Pentagon official told NBC News.

The Straits Times reports:

The intrigue began on June 19, when Corporal Hassoun, who was serving his second stint in Iraq, disappeared from his unit near Fallujah.

Reports about him first surfaced on June 27, with Al-Jazeera television claiming that a group called the Islamic Response Movement had lured and kidnapped him from a US base.

The brief video aired showed a blindfolded man in army fatigues seated in a chair with a hand holding a sword above his head. An identity card named him as Wassef Ali Hassoun.

The plot thickened when the New York Times quoted a marine officer as saying that Corporal Hassoun was betrayed by the Iraqis he befriended at his base.

Emotionally traumatised by images of his sergeant being blown up by a mortar shell, he wanted ‘to go home and quit the game’.

Chances of official termination of his deployment, however, were slim so he enlisted the help of the Muslims he had befriended to sneak home.

So, Hassoun went so far as to fake his own abduction and death in order to get out of the Marines. While there is no evidence that Hassoun quit for any moral or principled reason, the Imperial Forces shrunk a bit. Good.